As part of the U.S. Government’s technical assistance to Central Asia, and integral to the U.S. Government’s New Silk Road initiative, CLDP has been tasked by the U.S. Department of State to assist in trade facilitation in Central Asia. Consequently, CLDP is working to further the goals of the U.S.-Central Asia Trade Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). In particular, CLDP is tasked with developing a regional Customs Working Group into a mechanism for cooperation among customs services in Central Asia in Afghanistan.

On June 9-13, 2014, in conjunction with the Central Asia TIFA meeting, hosted by USTR, CLDP organized the inaugural meeting and workshop of the Customs Working Group. In attendance were 14 customs officials, private sector representatives, and WTO negotiators from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan (observer status to the TIFA). The participants exchanged information on customs reforms aimed at trade facilitation occurring in each country, discussed the areas of future capacity building and collaborative work, and received training on WTO standards in trade facilitation, customs valuation, and intellectual property enforcement.

On September 9-11, 2014, CLDP supported the second meeting of the Customs Working Group in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with expert support by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the World Customs Organization (WCO). The program included training on customs valuation and risk management, and a visit to the OSCE Customs Training Center near Bishkek. The program participants, comprised of customs officials from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, also discussed the organizational structure of the Customs Working Group, the Memorandum of Understanding regimenting the work of the Customs Working Group, questions for further exploration in subsequent meetings, and other organizational questions. The participants included 15 customs officials from Kyrgyzstan, who were not members of the Customs Working Group, but attended and benefitted from the capacity-building portion of the training.

CLDP’s ongoing support of the Customs Working Group aims to further the understanding of international best practices among customs officials in the Central Asia region, to provide opportunities for interaction, thereby increasing communication and cooperation amongst them, and to lead to increased trade facilitation through harmonization of customs procedures in Central Asia and Afghanistan.