Customs & Trade Facilitation

On 25 February 2019, the Council organized a one-day workshop alongside the 25^th Meeting of the ASEAN Customs Enforcement and Compliance Working Group (CECWG) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The workshop brought ASEAN customs administrations together with third-party experts and private sector companies spanning various industries such as consumer goods, food & beverage, technology, pharmaceuticals, express shippers and e-commerce platforms, to discuss policy solutions and public-private partnerships to tackle illicit trade and counterfeits.

On 25 February 2019, the Council organized a one-day workshop alongside the 25^th Meeting of the ASEAN Customs Enforcement and Compliance Working Group (CECWG) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The workshop brought ASEAN customs administrations together with third-party experts and private sector companies spanning various industries such as consumer goods, food & beverage, technology, pharmaceuticals, express shippers and e-commerce platforms, to discuss policy solutions and public-private partnerships to tackle illicit trade and counterfeits.

On November 30, the US-ASEAN Business Council and AmCham Singapore co-hosted a roundtable discussion in Singapore featuring Executive Assistant Commissioner (EAC) Brenda Smith and her team from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade. EAC Smith and member companies had a wide-ranging discussion on the CBP’s work on customs modernization, the role of technology in supporting trade facilitation, the U.S. Single Window, e-commerce, blockchain and the CBP’s perspective on free trade agreements and regional economic issues.

On October 22, the Council held a one-day workshop alongside the October 2018 meeting of the ASEAN Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation Working Group (CPTFWG). The workshop explored the potential of emerging technologies like distributed ledger technology, advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and global data standards to support trade facilitation and trade integration in ASEAN.

Council Senior VP and Regional Managing Director Ambassador Michael Michalak and Council members presented on potential future improvements to the newly launched ASEAN Single Window at the Third Symposium on the ASEAN Single Window in Singapore.

Council Senior VP and Regional Managing Director Ambassador Michael Michalak and the leadership of the Council’s Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee present on emerging policy issues at the joint consultation with the ASEAN Customs DGs in Langkawi, Malaysia.

Shay Wester of the US-ASEAN Business Council joins Director-General of Indonesian Customs and Excise Heru Pambudi, Director General of Cambodian Customs Dr. Kun Nhem, and representatives of other business associations for a press conference ahead of the Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee’s annual Dialogue Partner Consultation with the ten ASEAN Directors-General of Customs.