OSCE supports customs integrity development in Kazakhstan

A three-day workshop on promoting integrity in customs administration supported by the OSCE Centre started in Astana on 15 April 2013.

It was organized by the the Customs Control Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the World Customs Organization (WCO) to introduce the WCO Integrity Development Guide, a comprehensive toolkit designed to promote integrity in customs administrations of WCO member states.

Experts from Japan, Iceland and Slovenia will share their expertise and good practices with some 30 customs administration officers from all of Kazakhstan’s regions.

Ambassador Natalia Zarudna, Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana, emphasized that capacity building is key to enhancing the efficiency of the national customs authority, in particular to fight corruption.

The training programme aims to assess the impact of corruption in customs, facilitate the sharing of good practices and explore the use of private-public partnerships in anti-corruption efforts. It also provides recommendations for integrity development action planning in line with the Revised Arusha Declaration.