Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh congratulates Mr. Nakanishi Takafumi on successfully ending his working term in Vietnam.

At the reception, the Deputy Director General congratulated Mr. Nakanishi Takafumi on successfully ending his working term in Vietnam. Vietnam Customs highly appreciates his contributions to promoting the friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the years.

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh also congratulated Mr. Hidaka Yoshihito and wished him achievements in the working term in the country, thereby promoting the relationship between Vietnam Customs and the Embassy of Japan.

Cooperation between the two sides has been implemented in all fields and obtained achievements, the Deputy Director General said.

The two sides have exchanged information on the handling of customs offenses. In recent years, Japan has actively provided information, legal regulations, the experience of modern customs, customs clearance processing model, specialized inspection model, and operating models of outsourced IT systems and the trend of developing smart customs model to Vietnam Customs, the Deputy Director General said.

The Japanese side has also supported Vietnam Customs in implementing capacity-building programs through short-term training programs in Japan and Vietnam. Since 2000, Japan Customs has supported capacity building by sending experts for both long-term and short-term periods under JICA's programs or projects to teach and exchange experience in key operations such as risk management, post-clearance audit, customs value, origin, customs procedures, and customs clearance of goods.

Every year, Japan Customs receives Vietnamese Customs officers to train in Japan in operational activities. Statistics show that more than 8,000 Vietnamese Customs officers have been trained by Japanese experts in the country and in Japan, including training within the framework of JICA projects.

Non-refundable aid projects for container scanners in HCM City and Hai Phong have also helped Vietnam Customs access modern customs control equipment and expedited the investment and procurement of equipment of Vietnam Customs.

The VNACCS/VCIS project supported by Japan since 2014 has helped accelerate the customs process and shorten customs clearance time; improved the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises, promoted economic growth, attracted investment, tourism, and administrative reform in the customs area and ministries and government agencies towards e-government.

In the past two years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the two sides have held online workshops to introduce and exchange experiences on modern customs management and development, and plans on digital transformation towards the smart customs model.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs has implemented support forms to promote the partnership between Vietnam Customs and the business community, including Japanese firms in Vietnam.

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh hopes that the achievements will promote the cooperation between the two governments as well as the two customs administrations in a sustainable and strong manner.

Vietnam Customs suggested that the Japanese Embassy continue to strengthen and prioritize support for Vietnam Customs in areas such as the training and development of human resources; sharing experiences on modern customs management, smart customs, National Single Window; supporting Vietnam Customs School to build a Regional Training Center of the World Customs Organization (WCO); supporting the Department of Goods Verification in goods classification and analysis.