CAREC Workshop on Training Needs Assessment

Background and Objectives

The 7th Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Customs Cooperation Committee (CCC) meeting in September 2008 requested the Asian Development Bank for assistance in conducting a study to, among other purposes, determine the training needs of relevant CAREC stakeholders in the areas of customs administration and trade facilitation.

The workshop was held on 20-21 February 2009 in Guangzhou, PRC to

  • discuss the results of the training needs survey;
  • discuss and verify the common areas of concern and the specialized/customized training needed for particular countries/institutions; and
  • present a draft capacity-building framework for trade facilitation.

Consensus reached at the workshop include:

  • training approaches need to adapt to CAREC region’s needs and be consistent with the overall CAREC objectives for trade facilitation;
  • focus should be on enhancing available capabilities and facilities in the region;
  • need to strike a balance between focusing on common needs (regional) and specific training needs (national); and
  • need to involve other government agencies, the private sector, and non-government organizations in the capacity building exercise.

A matrix was developed to match training needs against each of the priority areas under customs cooperation and intergrated trade faciliation agenda pursued under the CAREC program.

Participants

The seminar brought together customs and transport senior officials (public sector) and the representatives of freight forwarders associations, road carriers associations and logistics groups (private sector) from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, PRC, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Event Materials

Key Documents

Reports

Presentation Materials