Sub-Regional ‘Green Customs’ Workshop commences
Abdul Latheef Adam

A workshop titled “WCO-UNEP JOINT Sub-Regional Workshop on Green Customs for South and West Asia Members in cooperation with Maldives Customs Service” has commenced this morning at Maldives Customs Service.

A special ceremony was held at Meerubahuru Maalan of Customs building, to inaugurate the workshop, which was honoured by the Minister of Environment and Energy Dr. Maryam Shakeela.

This workshop is being attended by officers from all South Asian Countries and also includes a participant from Iranian Customs. 15 Officers from Maldives Customs Service are given opportunity to participate in the workshop, which is scheduled to be continued until 8th of this month. This workshop is facilitated by officials from WCO and UNEP, and other overseasexperts in the field. 

Green Customs Initiative is a unified collaborative approach at a global level to address the issue of cross-border movement of environmentally sensitive commodities such as Ozone Depleting Substances, toxic chemicals and hazardous waste, endangered species of flora and fauna and modified living organisms. These are all covered under various Multilateral Environmental Agreements. Individual Agreements have individual border enforcement components in them. Green Customs umbrella provides a common platform to implement border enforcement measures of these otherwise separate agreements.