Azerbaijan, Greece plan joint customs action plan

Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee and the Greek Customs Service plan to prepare a joint Action Plan outlining the key areas and specific measures for cooperation, Report informs.

According to the State Customs Committee, the proposal was discussed during a meeting between delegations from the customs authorities of Azerbaijan and Greece held in Athens as part of the sixth meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic, Industrial and Technological Cooperation between the two countries.

The Azerbaijani delegation was led by First Deputy Chairman Bahruz Guliyev, while the Greek delegation was headed by Dimitrios Bourikos, Director General for Customs and Excise at the Independent Authority for Public Revenue.

The sides discussed sharing best practices and expanding cooperation. The Greek side presented recent improvements to its customs system, including expanded digitalization, the development of risk- and data-based customs management using modern technologies, and related projects.

The meeting also highlighted Azerbaijan's experience in measuring and analyzing the time required for customs procedures through the Time Release Study (TRS), which was described as being of interest to the Greek side.

The Azerbaijani delegation also shared information on its TR S experience, the organization and development of its canine service, cooperation within the World Customs Organization, and capacity-building efforts.

The sides further discussed establishing ties between the customs academies of the two countries, expanding the exchange of experience on authorized economic operators, and creating working groups of experts in priority areas.