On November 26, Vice Minister Sun Yibiao met with Mr. Adedze Kodjo, Commissioner for Customs and Indirect Taxes Department of Togo Revenue Authority in Beijing.

Vice Minister Sun expressed his gratitude to Togo Customs on its support to China Customs in the WCO and reiterated China Customs’ willingness to work together with Togo Customs, support each other and expand exchanges and cooperation. Consequently, he put forward five proposals on future cooperation. Firstly, the two sides shall increase the exchanges of personnel and establish a liaison mechanism between the departments of international cooperation of both sides. Secondly, the two customs shall promote cooperation on capacity building under the framework of the Chinese government’s project of assistance to African countries and the WCO China Customs Cooperation Fund. Thirdly, exchanges on risk analysis and application of container scanning equipments shall be promoted to improve the management of customs procedure. Fourthly, cooperation in combating smuggling of endangered wild animals and plants, drugs and ammunition and other forms of customs frauds shall be enhanced to safeguard the normal trade order. Fifthly, cooperation in mutual administrative assistance shall be pushed forward and bilateral cooperation documents between the two customs shall be negotiated towards signing in due time.

Mr. Kodjo agreed with Vice Minister Sun’s proposals and reiterated that Togo Customs valued its cooperation with China Customs and was willing to work with its counterpart to promote pragmatic cooperation in customs issues.