U.S. partners with World Customs Organization to strengthen global security

[News_Editor]

U.S. partners with World Customs Organization to strengthen global security

2011-01-07 05:44:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday announced a new partnership with the World Customs Organization (WCO) to strengthen global security.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the agreement was reached in order to enlist other nations, international bodies and the private sector in increasing the security of the global supply chain.

Napolitano remarked that the strategy includes a series of new initiatives to make the system stronger, smarter and more resilient. The U.S. expects that the partnership will maintain the engine of commerce, jobs, and prosperity protected from any threat.

"Securing the global supply chain is part and parcel of securing both the lives of people around the world, and the stability of the global economy," Napolitano said.

The announcement was made during a meeting at the European Policy Centre in Brussels where Napolitano discussed the three main elements of this international effort with shipping and cargo stakeholders, security experts and government officials.

The project focuses on preventing terrorists from using the global supply chain to plan and execute attacks, protecting critical elements of the supply chain system (such as transportation hubs) from attacks, and building resiliency of the system.

"The recent air cargo incidents show the necessity for international cooperation in enhancing trade security using a risk management approach as embodied in the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards," said WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya.

Mikuiriya added that his organization and the DHS will strengthen cargo screening standards worldwide and deploy state-of-the-art technologies to better track and detect precursor chemicals that can be used to produce improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The Project Global Shield, launched by the DHS, the WCO, INTERPOL, and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, has the participation of 60 countries working together to ensure that chemicals entering their countries are being used in safe and legal ways.

Currently, DHS requires the screening of all cargo on passenger planes within and departing from the United States, as well as 100 percent of U.S.-bound high-risk air cargo.

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