7th WCO PICARD Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco
The 7th WCO PICARD Conference was held from 25 to 27 September 2012 in Marrakesh, Morocco. The annual PICARD Conference is a joint initiative of the WCO and INCU, and this year's conference was hosted by the University of Cadi Ayyad with support from the Customs Administration of Morocco.
Over 230 delegates representing WCO Members, the academic world, the private sector, other international organisations and other interested parties attended the conference. The Conference was co-chaired by the Vice-President of INCU, Professor Michael Wolffgang (University of Muenster), and Professors M’barek Benchanaa and Abdullah Ait Ouahman (University of Cadi Ayyad).
The Conference focused on three main topics: The Impact of Regional Economic Integration and Preferential Trade Arrangements on Customs Services; Emerging and Evolving Risks; and Customs Strategic Human Resource Management.
In his welcome speech, the Secretary General of the WCO, Dr Kunio Mikuriya, stated that the annual PICARD Conference is aimed at promoting high level exchanges on Customs education and professionalism and to encourage more research in cooperation with universities and research institutes.
In addition to research papers and the panel discussions, this year’s conference also included specific workshops on Customs Competence Development and Professional Education Recognition, IT Developments and Human Resource Management Challenges, and Women in Leadership.
During the Conference, a draft PICARD 2020 strategic document on the future of the PICARD Programme was introduced and discussed by delegates. This draft strategic document will be further updated in the coming months and then presented to the next Session of the WCO Capacity Building Committee for consideration.
More confenrence information: http://incu.org/
Author: Mikhail Kashubsky