The Director of the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) Mr. Bonaventure Ebayi and the Field Officer-Law Enforcement Mr. Adan Mohamed Alio participated in the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Enforcement Committee Meeting that was held from 2nd to 5th March 2010 at the Headquarters of WCO in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was attended by National Contact Points, heads of RILOs and representatives of regional and other international organisations such as CITES. The meeting reviewed various reports of operations undertaken by different Customs Administrations, RILOs and other affiliate organisations for the year 2009. Various proposals for activities to be undertaken during 2010 were received and considered for approval. The committee subsequently endorsed a number of the proposals related to the work of customs.
During the meeting the LATF Director made a courtesy call on the Secretary General of WCO, Mr. Kunio Mukuriya and briefed him on some of the major challenges in fighting illegal trade in wild fauna and flora. He commended the Secretary General of WCO for his outstanding leadership and the Permanent Technical Committee of WCO for inviting Lusaka Agreement Task Force to the meeting. Mr. Mukuriya assured the Director LATF that WCO will continue to support LATF’s effort in fighting Environmental crime. The LATF Director also gave an overview on the Lusaka Agreement and outlined the activities undertaken and achievements made by the Task Force during the year 2009. In his remarks, the Director further thanked RILO Eastern and Southern Africa as well as RILO Asia – Pacific for their cooperation with LATF in 2009 and requested other RILOs to support LATF enforcement activities by sharing information on wildlife seizures and related illegal activities.
From right to left, Director LATF, Secretary General WCO and Field Officer-Law Enforcement