Belarusian and Azerbaijanian Customs Officers Exchange Best Practices on Intelligent Video Control Systems
The visit took place on February 4-8, 2018 hosted by the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Republic (SCCAR) with the logistical support of IOM Mission to Azerbaijan. A total of 10 officials from the State Customs Service of the Republic of Belarus (SCCRB) and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine (SFSU) (3 females and 7 males)) took part in a numerous meetings and site visits learning best practices applied by the SCCAR as well as sharing their own experience with the host party.
Joint Belarus and Ukraine delegation had an opportunity to discuss in details a variety of customs operations issues in particular those relevant to IVCO project implementation: video monitoring, vehicle registration plates recognition systems, automated vehicle weight control systems, electronic data exchange as well as other IT systems used by customs, risk analysis tools and techniques, etc. Over the course of the visit SCCRA shared very relevant practices applied in Azerbaijan to be used by the SCCRB and SFSU not only for IVCO project implementation, but also those related to the use of vehicle X-Rays at the road border crossing points, development and use of mobile applications addressing the needs of specific target groups crossing the borders, development of interagency data exchange systems including those based on “single window” principle, etc.
The visit considerably contributed to the strengthening of capacity of both Belarusian and Ukrainian customs specialists via enchasing their experience in a number of fields, including customs IT system, data information exchange, risk management and customs control, border security and other. Visiting customs officials were able to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge on the development and use of intelligent video control systems used by border services, studied best practices in the afore-mentioned domain and establish working contacts with their counterparts from Azerbaijan.
The visit is organized within the framework of the EU-funded project “Introduction of an automated intelligent video-control system at road border crossing point Novaya Huta – Novi Yarilovychi at the Belarus-Ukraine frontier (IVCO)”*
Key purpose of IVCO (“Introduction of an automated intelligent video-control system at the road border crossing point Novaya Huta – Novi Yarilovychi at the Belarus-Ukraine frontier”) project action is To increase the effectiveness of customs procedures at BCPs along the common border through enhanced pre-arrival processing capacity, leading to reduced border crossing time. The project is being implemented by the International Organization on Migration (IOM). The European Union-funded IVCO project is being implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The project activities include regular cross-border meetings and operation of expert working groups to strengthen coordination and cooperation, procurement of equipment, IT hardware and software, construction as well as professional development training and study visit for staff of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, including customs officers performing their regular duties at Novaya Huta – Novi Yarylovychi border crossing point (BCP) at the common border of Belarus and Ukraine. The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine are the recipients of the international technical assistance provided in the framework of the project.
