While visiting Azerbaijan, INCU Advisory Board Member, Mr Lars Karlsson gave a one-hour interview with a respected Azerbaijani journalist, Mr Mir Shahin Agayev, about customs, security and trade, which later aired on Azerbaijani television.
In his interview, Mr Karlsson talked about current trends in Customs and international trade, recent developments in Azerbaijan Customs administration (particularly the role of information technology and automation in customs procedures) and shared his views about the future of Customs administrations world-wide. He stated that he was happy to see that the gap between the quality of management of Customs administrations of developing countries and developed countries is continuously narrowing, with customs modernisation processes being implemented in many developing countries.
Drawing on his long and diverse experience in customs administration he reiterated the importance of private sector participation in the capacity building of customs administrations and border agencies in order to facilitate trade. He stated that the role of customs would become more important as the role of trade is becoming a key factor in the development process of countries.