Doha, January 26 (QNA) - Under the slogan of "Nurturing the Next Generation: Promoting a Culture of Knowledge-sharing and Professional Pride in Customs", world countries mark on Thursday the International Customs Day (ICD) that coincides with Jan. 26, each year.
This year international customs day is the 70th anniversary since the inception of the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC), which is currently known as World Customs Organization (WCO). The celebration is an occasion to advance the customs action, optimize its capability, boost shared cooperation and coordination among the states in consistent with the organization's standards, as well as highlighting the work conditions and challenges facing customs employees worldwide.
Accordingly, the State of Qatar celebrated the International Customs Day by holding a wide range of events that were dedicated to the excelled employees affiliated with the General Authority of Customs (GAC), including customs inspectors, those who had accomplished distinguished seizures, graduates of customs officials holding Bachelors degree in Border Management, along with the graduates holding diploma in customs sciences from the Community College.
The events also highlighted several achievements made by GAC, including its contribution during 2022, in the preparatory works that followed the organization of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament, through launching programs of managing important events, as part of customs clearance system.
In addition, the GAC has largely contributed to managing temporary admission of imports of the tournament, such as sports and logistic equipment, technological devices for sports teams, organizers and work teams, in addition to inspecting the entry of shipments and other merchandise through all ports in the State of Qatar, to ensure provision of key commodities, supporting food security system and achieving commodity stability.
Meanwhile, good achievement rates have been made with the end of the time period of the GAC's strategic plan for the years 2018-2022, where most of the projects assigned to GAC's relevant departments were accomplished, and the GAC is currently following up on the remaining strategic projects in their final phases, such as risk management and intelligence program, anti smuggling and customs security mechanisms and elevating the percentage of evaluation for cybersecurity standards.
The strategic plan of GAC for the years 2018-2022, is the second strategic plan where results-based strategic planning approach has been used, and from there GAC made transition from main strategic result, from which three intermediate results were derived.
Through these main and intermediate results, GAC seeks to upgrade the mechanism of vetting the merchandise and providing customs solutions, as well as ensure provision of requirements for the vital projects, and attain an environment that is attractive to investment, and achieves interests of clients and partners, and promotes the role of the private sector as an strategic partner in the economic development. 

In a message, published Thursday on the World Customs Organization (WCO) website, Secretary General of the WCO Kunio Mikuriya, called on the global customs community to facilitate the exchange of knowledge throughout this year and beyond, and to think about the best ways to support the newly appointed officers, and increase the sense of pride for being part of this institution and global customs.
This year's celebration is special because it marks the 70th anniversary of the World Customs Organization, which is dedicated to international cooperation and knowledge sharing, Mikuriya said. 
This year's theme is about putting human capital, especially the new generation, at the center of customs transformation, an approach that the WCO has been advocating for a number of years. Young customs officers often have certain strengths, but they need to be acquired, Mikuriya added. 
However, it must be recognized that some customs organizations do not have the processes and methodologies in place to manage knowledge and ensure its transfer, he added, stressing that the customs administrations were invited to focus on this issue and develop a knowledge management system that enhances the identification and provision of knowledge and know-how in all its forms.
He pointed to the importance of expanding cooperation between stakeholders in customs and gathering multidisciplinary points of view, in order to enable some customs departments to cooperate with academic circles, which will ensure the acquisition of customs knowledge through careful analysis of data, and support it with expert opinions, skills and experiences.
The celebration of International Customs Day, which officially falls on Jan. 26, allows members of the WCO, its secretariat and partners around the world to dedicate themselves to advancing a specific theme each year. (QNA)