How to Connect the PICARD Program to Regional Capacity Building Activities From the Perspective of the WCO Asia Pacific Region

Abstract

There is one WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) and seven Regional Training Centres (RTCs) in the Asia Pacific (A/P) region. The WCO and these regional bodies have jointly organised many capacity building activities, namely regional, subregional and national workshops. The topics covered align closely with those addressed at WCO PICARD conferences. The difference is that the conference is more focused on academic or theoretical aspects of the topics, while the workshops are more focused on practical ones. This article discusses how to combine these academic contributions with the work of the WCO regional structures in the future in three ways, (1), with the creation of a centre of excellence, in which ROCB and RTCs can play a more important think-tank role, (2), including the outcomes of the WCO capacity building workshops in higher levelresearch (for example, publishing PICARD conference papers via other channels), and (3), introducing useful research outcomes into future capacity building activities. The article also suggests how WCO regional structures can be more involved in the PICARD program and how such structures can play a unique role in promoting and transferring the key findings of high-quality research into practical outcomes.