The smart customs model is a trend of developed countries and both Vietnam Customs and Japan Customs are in the progress of researching, developing and deploying this model.

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh chaired the conference at
headquarter of General Department of Vietnam Customs. Photo: T.Bình

On May 14, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh and Deputy Director General of Japan Customs Genshin Hideaki chaired a conference on the smart customs model.

Due to the impact of Covid-19, the conference was held online between two points at Vietnam and Japan. The conference also complied strictly with the regulations on pandemic prevention of each country.

Opening the conference, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh emphasised that in the last two decades, Japan had provided Vietnam Customs with valuable support. This support has helped Vietnam Customs reach a new and sustainable level of development, contributing to the development of Vietnam. In particular, Vietnam Customs appreciates the VNACCS/VCIS system along with the process of technical support, training and human resource development for Vietnam Customs.

“To implement the Resolution of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which emphasised the national digital transformation strategy, building a digital government in the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, Vietnam Customs was building a development strategy for 2021-2030 with a smart customs model, striving to become the leading agency of the Government of Vietnam in digital transformation and become a modern Customs authority. Therefore, we wanted to research and learn from the experience of Japan Customs and other partners in building a smart and modern customs model," Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said.

According to the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, the reason for choosing Japan Customs to serve as reference and learn from experience was that Japan Customs was one of the Customs authorities with a modern management level in the region and the world. The VNACCS/VCIS system supported by Japan for Vietnam Customs was an achievement in the reform and modernisation process of Vietnam Customs, making a significant contribution to the development of the country.

Vietnam Customs wished to promote the valuable experience of operating the VNACCS/VCIS system to develop modern smart customs.

Deputy Director General of Japan Customs Ghenshin Hideaki
made a speech. Photo: T.Bình

On the other hand, Japan Customs was also an important, close, reliable partner and supported Vietnam Customs in technical terms and capacity building.

Therefore, Vietnam Customs wished to learn more about the experience of Japanese Customs in building a smart customs model to be used as a reference and applied in the process of designing and developing a smart customs model in the future.

According to Deputy Director General of Japan Customs Ghenshin Hideaki, over the past years, to facilitate trade and meet management requirements, Japan Customs has upgraded the NACCS/CIS system and has integrated with the National Single Window System to facilitate import and export activities.

In the new development trend, in 2020, Japan Customs built a medium- and long-term development orientation through the "Intelligent vision 2020 - intelligent customs idea", which focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) use in customs operations.

With the common point in the development orientation of customs authority of two countries, which was focusing on a smart customs model, Hideaki suggested that two sides should continue to hold more seminars and information exchange sessions to achieve the most effective cooperation.