President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Kunio Mikuriya.
The head of state hailed the successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and WCO, expressing his satisfaction with the fact that Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee is one of the active members of the World Customs Organization. President Ilham Aliyev noted that the large-scale reforms carried out in the Azerbaijani economy, including in the field of customs, are already yielding very good results. The head of state emphasized that despite the decline in trade turnover the amount of the collected customs duties increased compared to the previous period.
President Ilham Aliyev praised Azerbaijan customs system's active role in enhancing regional and international cooperation, hailing the importance of the operation of regional customs bodies, as well as the training center in the country.
The head of state expressed his hope that the visit of Secretary General of the World Customs Organization Kunio Mikuriya to Azerbaijan will contribute to the expansion of the bilateral relations.
Praising Azerbaijan's great achievements in a number of areas, including the application of modern technologies in the customs system, human resources management, improving the professional level of staff in the customs sphere, Secretary General of WCO Kunio Mikuriya noted that all this was possible thanks to the strong political support.
Kunio Mikuriya thanked President Ilham Aliyev for supporting this area.
Hailing Azerbaijan's excellent organization of international events in the customs sphere, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya emphasized the importance of the conference on "Economic security: Aspects for trade facilitation and protection" being held in Baku.
They exchanged views on the prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the World Customs Organization.