The 18th Governing Council of the World Customs Organization, East and Southern Africa region took place in Mangochi, Malawi, on the 23rd and 24th May 2013. The meeting was hosted by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) at the Sunbird Nkopola Lodge.
The Governing Council (GC) meeting deliberated and made decisions on the recommendations of the 18th Regional Steering Group meeting which took place from the 20th to 22nd May, 2013 at the same venue. Prior to these meetings, the RTC Heads – ROCB meeting and the Governance Committee meeting were held on the 15th to 17th May, and the 16th & 17th May, 2013, respectively, in Blantyre – Malawi.
The WCO also facilitated the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) / Economic Competitiveness Package (ECP) workshop for Heads of Customs of the region on the 22nd May, 2013, in Mangochi, Malawi. All the meetings
were successfully hosted by MRA. The Governing Council meeting was attended by a number of dignitaries, including the WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya and Malawi’s Deputy Minister for Finance Dr. Cornelius Mwalwanda and Director Generals and Heads of Customs or their representatives from 19 of the 24 East and Southern Africa (ESA) member states. Alongside the different issues that were discussed at the meeting, a number of reports were also presented and deliberated upon. These included reports from the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), the ESA Regional Vice-Chair, and the Executive Director of the WCO ESA Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) as well as from other organs of the ESA region. Other regional institutions and stakeholders also attended and presented reports at the meeting.