DUSHANBE, September 25, 2014, Asia-Plus – The World Customs Organization (SCO) Secretary-General Kunio Mikuriya will pay visit to Tajikistan from September 30 to October 3, according to the Customs Service under the Government of Tajikistan.

While in Tajikistan, Mr. Mikuriya will hold talks with high-ranking Tajik officials and visit customs control points on the Tajik-Afghan border and at the Dushanbe airport, the source said.

It will be first visit of the WCO secretary-general to Tajikistan.

Mr. Mikuriya has a BA in law from the University of Tokyo and a PhD in international relations from the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies.  During his career, Mikuriya has held various high-level positions in Japan''s Ministry of Finance.  From 2002 to 2008, Mikuriya was the WCO Deputy Secretary General.  On June 28, 2008, he was elected WCO Secretary General, and he took up this post on January 1, 2009.  On June 30, 2013, he was re-elected to a second five-year term.

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.  The WCO is noted for its work in areas covering the development of international conventions, instruments, and tools on topics such as commodity classification, valuation, rules of origin, collection of customs revenue, supply chain security, international trade facilitation, customs enforcement activities, combating counterfeiting in support of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), integrity promotion, and delivering sustainable capacity building to assist with customs reforms and modernization.  The WCO maintains the international Harmonized System (HS) goods nomenclature, and administers the technical aspects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Customs Valuation and Rules of Origin.

The WCO is internationally acknowledged as the global center of customs expertise and plays a leading role in the discussion, development, promotion and implementation of modern customs systems and procedures.  It is responsive to the needs of its members and its strategic environment, and its instruments and best-practice approaches are recognized as the basis for sound customs administration throughout the world.  The WCO’s primary objective is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of member customs administrations, thereby assisting them to contribute successfully to national development goals, particularly revenue collection, national security, trade facilitation, community protection, and collection of trade statistics.