______
2009/SOM1/SCCP/032
Agenda Item:10vi
Japan-Canada Relations, 80 Year Partnership Across the Pacific - Miles Apart, Minds Together
Purpose: Information
Submitted by: Canada, Japan
/ First Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures MeetingSingapore
24-26 February 2009
JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT
BY
MR. NAOKI IDA (JAPAN) AND MS. PAULINE DIMILLO (CANADA)
Japan-Canada Relations, 80 Year Partnership across the Pacific
～Miles Apart, Minds Together～
With this slogan, Canada and Japan are celebrating the 80th anniversary of the beginning of our rich and fruitful diplomatic relations. Our Customs Administrations took advantage of this event to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation which builds on the Arrangement Regarding Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters that was signed in June 2005, to further intensify our bilateral Customs cooperation and exchange of information, through the Container Security Initiative. On June 5th, 2008, former Director-General Aoyama, Japan Customs and Tariff Bureau, and former President Jolicoeur, Canada Border Services Agency, met in Ottawa to sign the Memorandum of Cooperation on Container Security which includes the Posting of Canada Border Services Agency Officers in Japan and the Posting of Japan Customs Officers in Canada.
As agreed in this memorandum, the Container Security Initiative operations were simultaneously implemented in Tokyo and Vancouver on January 28th, 2009. On a pilot basis, the Canada Border Services Agency and Japan Customs stationed border officers at a key strategic location in each other’s country. At the moment, a Canadian officer is based at theCanadianmission in Tokyo,covering the ports of Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe, and a Japanese officer is based at the CBSA office in Vancouver, covering the Port of Vancouver.
The Container Security Initiative is a multinational program that protects the primary system of global trade - containerized shipping - from being exploited or disrupted by terrorists. Container Security Initiative partnerships allow for the deployment of officers to certain foreign locations to perform risk assessment activities and to coordinate with host countries’ customs administration for the examination of high-risk containers prior to lading. Both the CBSA and Japan Customs and Tariff Bureau have Container Security Initiative arrangements with the United States, and Japan has officers stationed in the US under the program.
The Container Security Initiative supports the World Customs Organization Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade — more commonly known as the WCO SAFE Framework — and applies directly to the WCO core elements of risk management and outbound inspections on high-risk containers and cargo, including the use of non-intrusive inspection equipment as per the framework.
Our two countries will continue to strive towards the implementation of the WCO SAFE Framework, and are looking forward to the continuation of our bilateral Customs cooperation in the 21st century.