Customs authorities of Eastern and Central European countries will strengthen cooperation in preventing and combating customs offenses and smuggling and will receive new IT tools to facilitate data collection, analysis and information exchange
This was stated during the 27th meeting of the national contact points of the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Eastern and Central Europe (RILO ECE), which the Moldovan Customs Service held on October 16-17 in partnership with the EU High-level Advisers Mission to Moldova. This large-scale event brought together representatives of the RILO ECE network from Moldova, Albania, Croatia, Estonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovakia, Georgia, Poland, Greece, RILO West-East, RILO for Asia and the Pacific, and RILO for South Africa-East, it was attended by representatives of the World Customs Organization, the EU High-level Advisers Mission for Moldova, the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center, the Universal Postal Union, EUBAM, EUPM Moldova, FRONTEX and partners from the private sector. According to the Moldovan Customs Service (CS), the purpose of the event reflects the importance of strengthening the RILO ECE network in its challenging mission to support World Customs Organization member administrations by providing operational support, facilitating mutual administrative assistance and promoting regional cooperation with other law enforcement agencies and authorities. The agenda of the meeting included a number of topical issues related to administrative assistance in the customs field, the most important results of the current year, as well as the establishment of cooperation priorities for the future. Alexandru Iacub, Director of the Customs Service of Moldova, mentioned during the forum that this event is undoubtedly a valuable opportunity to strengthen the administrative cooperation between customs authorities and other key institutions, being an important tool that contributes to border protection and prevention of criminal activities that may threaten national and international security. Over the course of 2 days, the meeting provided a platform for discussions between delegates from RILO Member States, sharing experiences and best practices in the field of law enforcement, focusing on trends in smuggling, interoperability, as well as recommendations for improving the mechanisms used by RILO ECE to prevent and combat cross-border crime and facilitate legitimate trade. Increased attention was paid to the topic of new developments of IT tools to facilitate real-time information exchange, data visualization, as well as the development of digital solutions for customs authorities to collect, analyze and manage data in the field of anti-fraud. The participants of the meeting reaffirmed the importance of mutual administrative cooperation in the customs field, both at regional and international level under the auspices of the World Customs Organization, through the exchange of data and information, cooperation and support in joint operations aimed at preventing and combating customs offences and smuggling. // 18.10.2024 - InfoMarket.
