WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa, met with World Trade Organization (WTO) representatives to discuss issues related to electronic trade at WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 November 2019. He highlighted the need to further strengthen the collaboration between both Organizations through WCO’s work in the field of e-commerce.

Deputy Secretary General Treviño Chapa exchanged views with Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to WTO from Australia and Japan, H.E. Frances Lisson and H.E. Junichi Ihara, as well as with the Deputy Permanent Representative to WTO from Singapore, M. Wu Ye-Min. They agreed to set-up regular communication and coordination with the WCO and congratulated WCO for the initiative.

As part of the ongoing WTO negotiations related to electronic trade, Deputy Secretary General Treviño Chapa followed up on the previous discussions during a meeting with the three co-conveners of the Joint Statement on E-Commerce Initiative (JSI), namely Australia, Japan and Singapore. As WTO is going through an important stage with regards to its future work on digital trade, the Deputy Secretary General highlighted that it was opportune to promote WCO’s expertise on this matter.

During his visit in Geneva, the Deputy Secretary General also met with representatives of the European Union to WTO and highlighted the importance of the work carried out by the WCO in developing the Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce, raising awareness on Customs’ perspective in the discussions in Geneva.

During a meeting with representatives of the United States National Foreign Trade and the Information Technology Industry Councils, Mr. Treviño Chapa stated that customs administrations play a prominent role in the implementation of international trade policies and hence the importance of a strong collaboration between the WCO and the WTO.