Between Wednesday 20th and today, 22nd of February 2019, the Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation, Dr Kunio Mikuriya paid an official visit to Malta.
Within the actual visit programme, Dr Mikuriya has met the Honourable Prime Minister, Dr Joseph Muscat, the Honourable Minister for Finance, Prof Edward Scicluna, the Director General of Malta Customs, Mr Joseph Chetcuti and the Management of the Customs Department to discuss several aspects of Customs within Small Island Economies.
The World Customs Organisation advances the importance of small island states in world economies, with Customs acting as catalysts for such growth. This actually falls within the WCO’s strategic plan and Mr. Mikuriya is conducting meetings in order to listen to members’ priorities and how they envisage the way forward.
Against the motto chosen for this year’s International Customs Day, ‘Smart Borders for Seamless Trade, Travel and Transport’, Mr. Mikuriya showed interest in Malta’s initiatives in Blockchain technologies. He is aware that Malta wants to project itself as a leader in seizing the opportunities of this technology.
Dr Mikuriya also toured the containers’ monitoring and scanning facilities which Malta Customs operates at the Freeport.