Strengthening Customs Cooperation in Risk Management and Time Release Study

       On 24 June in Brussels, the delegation of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan held talks with representatives of the Capacity Building Directorate of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

      During the meeting, the parties reviewed the implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in May 2024 between the State Revenue Committee and the JICA-WCO Program. The objective of the document is to build capacity in customs risk management and conduct a Time Release Study (TRS) along the Trans-Caspian route.
The Memorandum provides for a series of activities for the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Key goals include the training of national risk management trainers and expanding opportunities for sustainable implementation of the TRS methodology.

       To date, three Working Group meetings have been successfully held under the JICA-WCO Program:

• the first in September 2024 in Astana,
• the second in February 2025, also in Astana,
• and the third in April 2025 in Tbilisi, supported by the Revenue Service of Georgia and the JICA Office in Georgia.

       The next Working Group meetings are planned for November 2025 and April 2026. The Kazakh side expressed its readiness to host both events.

       During the negotiations, representatives of the State Revenue Committee and the JICA-WCO Program noted the successful implementation of the current stage of cooperation and expressed interest in continuing work under the Customs Administration Modernization Program (MTP) in new areas. Prospects for expanding the scope of topics and organizing specialized training programs for regional countries were discussed.

       Following the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to joint initiatives and agreed to continue the dialogue on identifying new areas of cooperation and planning the next steps.