9/29/2020 World Customs Organization

On 25 September 2020, the Members of the WCO - West and Central African (WCA) Region held their first virtual
Conference of Directors General of Customs. This important activity, chaired by General Toumany Sangare, Director
General of Guinea Customs and Vice-chair of the WCA region, and organized with the support by the WCO Secretariat,
brought together 20 out of the 23 WCA Customs Administrations and all of its regional structures (Regional Office for
Capacity Building, Regional Training Centers and Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices).
The conference elected Mr. Guénolé MBONGO KOUMOU, Director General of the Customs of the Republic of Congo as
the new Vice-Chair of the WCA Region and thanked the outgoing WCA Vice-chair for his leadership during his mandate
which has lasted more than two years and which has enabled the WCA region to strengthen cooperation and progress
with reform and modernization.
The Directors General made decisions that will support the region to improve the functioning, monitoring and audit of the
regional fund. This fund is fed by annual and voluntary contributions of the WCA Customs Administrations and contributes
to the well-functioning and the activity of the WCA regional structures.
In order to assist the Region to pursue its collaboration and activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference
decided to hold a series of virtual meetings and to use parts of the regional funds to purchase licenses, equipment and
interpretation services for video-conferencing. These licenses and equipment will be acquired and managed by the
Regional Office for Capacity Building located in Abidjan and will enable it to organize the Region’s statutory meetings in a
virtual and more independent manner and contribute to the organization of other regional online-activities.

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