South Korea's customs agency Korea Customs Service said Tuesday that it will host an international conference in Seoul starting from Wednesday, under the theme of global cooperation and digital customs.

Taking place between Wednesday to Friday, Korea Customs Week 2023 will be the first large-scale international customs conference held by the agency. The event will be attended by customs authorities from 75 countries, with 600 domestic and overseas entrepreneurs and officials, including the World Trade Organization and the World Customs Organization.

The event is designed to foster international customs collaboration, to build a safe global economy for trade based on the spirit of solidarity and cooperation.

Korea Customs Week 2023 aims to discuss ways to incorporate new technologies into customs administration with recent artificial intelligence and big data trends. It also plans to exchange information to detect illegal goods such as drugs, while establishing an e-commerce customs system.

In addition, it will encourage multilateral agreements on the role of customs authorities to revitalize trade and resolve overseas customs difficulties on nontariff barriers through business meetings.

The event was made possible thanks to the international community's high evaluation of KCS and its technology, with Korea's active role in attracting all four regional affiliates of the WCO, the Korea Customs Service said.

Specific programs include a custom leaders roundtable, a seminar on global tariff issues, a one-on-one business meeting, and a customs technology exhibition.

The roundtable, led by the Commissioner of Korea Customs Service, plans to share experiences and perceptions on policies from each country while strengthening cooperation and solidarity to establish a reciprocal and sustainable global trade system.

There will be bilateral meetings with 25 countries to discuss signing mutual support agreements on customs. Discussions on cooperation with the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat on the introduction of “Single Windows,” a data exchange between government authorities and economic operators, will also take place.

The seminar will be held in a total of eight sessions, covering the incorporation of state-of-the-art new technologies into customs administration, cooperation related to risk transactions, and trade facilitation.

In particular, with the customs authorities in the neighboring Asia-Pacific region, a joint drug smuggling response declaration is planned to take place, focusing on strengthening contact systems and human exchanges to crack down on drug issues.

For the business meeting, 29 Korean companies will discuss tariff and customs-related issues directly with the heads of 19 overseas authorities. It will be a venue for networking with overseas customs authorities and communicating difficulties related to customs clearance, the KCS said.

The exhibition plans to promote a world-class domestic tariff system incorporating high-tech technologies and support domestic companies with new customs technologies to enter overseas markets.

“We will put utmost efforts to establish the event to be the Korean version of the Davos Forum, where key customs officials, private companies, and academics gather to discuss the present and future of the global customs administration,” said an official at the Korea Customs Service.

By Kim So-yeon (sera13@heraldcorp.com)

Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)

Lee Kwon-hyung (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com)