APEC adopts anti-terrorism action plan on customs and transport

APEC adopts anti-terrorism action plan on customs and transport    Senior officials of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have endorsed a “Counter Terrorism Action Plan Combined Report” at their meeting in Bangkok on Oct. 14-15. Prepared by the APEC Secretariat, the report outlines a raft of measures designed to enhance secure trade in the region.
   Among the measures are the introduction of the World Customs Organization’s standards for electronic customs reporting, planned for implementation “by 2005 wherever possible,” and the implementation of a container security regime that assures the in-transit integrity of containers and steps to identify high-risk containers.
   The report says that 16 countries of APEC would implement this year cooperative arrangements with the private sector to enhance supply chain security. Eight countries of the 21-country Asia-Pacific group now have supply chain security standards based on the WCO task force work.
   The action plan also addresses the issue of protecting ships in international voyages and the protection of international aviation.
   “The measures that have been taken as part of this action plan are expected to add to business confidence and ensure a greater level of safety in the region,” APEC said in a statement.
   The action plan also summarizes the capacity building needs of individual APEC economies.
   The full report is posted at:
https://203.127.220.66/apec/apec_officials/som/pdfs/2003_CSOM_025_CTAPlanRptFora.pdf .
   The member countries of APEC are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.