Deputy General Director of Vietnam Customs Luu Manh Tuong spoke at the conference. Photo: T.Bình

Deputy General Director of Vietnam Customs Luu Manh Tuong and Major General Le Van Phuc, Deputy Commander of the Border Guard Command, co-chaired the conference.

In his speech at the conference, Deputy General Director Luu Manh Tuong emphasized that in recent years, the Border Guard Command and the General Department of Vietnam Customs have implemented a cooperation mechanism in the context of the complex Covid-19 pandemic.

Under these circumstances, the leaders of the two sides have directed the forces at border gates and checkpoints to coordinate well in facilitating entry and exit, import and export activities, while also effectively coordinating in border control, preventing and combating smuggling, and transporting goods across the border illegally.

To evaluate the results of cooperation between the two sides, the General Department of Customs and the Border Guard Command signed Plan No. 3550/KH-BĐBP-TCHQ dated July 24, 2024, on organizing a summary of five years of implementing the cooperation mechanism and Plan No. 4211/KH-BĐBP-TCHQ dated August 14, 2024, on inspecting the implementation of the mechanism in seven provinces and cities: Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Ha Tinh, Da Nang, An Giang, Long An, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Presiding over the conference, Deputy General Director Luu Manh Tuong and Major General Le Van Phuc directed the units to report on the cooperation results, to delve deeper into discussing difficulties, inadequacies, and emerging issues in the cooperation work, and from there propose solutions to address them.

The focus is on key contents such as: implementing the mechanism with the practical situation in the locality, with current legal regulations in performing assigned functions and tasks; cooperation results in information exchange; patrol, inspection, control work, and application of professional measures to detect, investigate, and handle violations; cooperation in implementing the National Single Window, the ASEAN Single Window, etc.

Scene of the conference. Photo: T.Bình

The report at the conference showed that in implementing the cooperation mechanism between the two forces, in Quang Ninh, the Quang Ninh Customs Department and the Quang Ninh Border Guard Command have developed plans and actively coordinated closely, supporting each other in performing tasks. This has contributed to ensuring the stable border, national defense, and security situation in the locality, maintaining national border sovereignty, ensuring social order and safety, and preventing the formation of security hotspots.

Regarding the coordination of inspection and control of means of transport for entry and exit, baggage of entry and exit passengers, and import and export, from September 2019 to June 2024, the two sides coordinated to carry out procedures for 1,134,020 vehicles; 20,799,405 people; and coordinated supervision of 598,038 import and export customs declarations, with a total value of 76.7 billion USD.

Regarding coordination in patrolling, inspection, control, and applying measures to detect, prevent, investigate, and handle crimes and violations of the law, the Quang Ninh Customs Department and the Quang Ninh Border Guard Command coordinated to arrest 77 cases, 85 subjects, and 46 vehicles; the value of seized goods in violation: nearly 17 billion VND; the total amount of fines was 732 million VND. Of which, 3 cases, 3 subjects, and 1 vehicle were handled criminally...

Based on the practical situation, the Quang Ninh Customs Department and the Quang Ninh Border Guard Command proposed that the General Department of Customs and the Border Guard Command review, amend, supplement, or sign a new cooperation mechanism to replace the Cooperation Mechanism No. 3929/QC-BĐBP-TCHQ; every year, the two forces study, arrange, and coordinate to organize training and capacity building to support each other in professional and technical work...