The 2013 WCO IT Conference and Exhibition today announced the agenda and names of speakers for the opening day of the event.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and attended by His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. The event will run from 14 – 16 May at Atlantis – The Palm in Dubai.
WCO IT Conference and Exhibition 2013, organized by Dubai Customs, marks its debut in the Middle East under the theme ‘Effective Solutions for Coordinated Border Management’. The conference will discuss ways to facilitate legitimate trade, border security, and customs coordination between countries, in addition to critical topics such as control and inspection systems, transport and logistics. The conference will host 19 activities including three roundtable discussions, three sessions, 10 speeches and three specialized technical seminars.
The event will be headlined by over 75 speakers and moderators from the public, military and academic sectors. The speakers have been selected for their expertise, extensive experience and remarkable achievements in customs to add versatility to the discussions.
The conference will open with a speech from His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, followed by addresses from His Excellency Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone and Director General of Dubai Customs, and Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary-General, World Customs Organization.
Subsequently, four keynote speeches will be delivered by Philippe Amon, Chairman and CEO, SICPA; Susanne Aigner, Deputy Director, Compliance and Facilitation, WCO; Juma Al Ghaith, Executive Director, Customs Development, Dubai Customs, and J. Scanlon, Secretary General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
A roundtable discussion titled ‘Integrated, Collaborative or Coordinated Border Management’ will headline the opening day of the WCO IT Conference and Exhibition. Moderated by George Weise, Executive Vice-President for Sandler and Travis Trade Advisory Services Inc, the roundtable will feature Major General Carl Modey, Commissioner, Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority; Mohamed Sharaf, CEO, Group Chief Executive Office, DP World; Antti Hartikainen, Director General, National Board of Customs, Finland; Roger Smith, Deputy Director-General, Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand, and Barry Hore, Chief Operations Officer, South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Later in the day, Mark Hill from Digital Coding and Tracking Association (DCTA) will deliver a keynote speech, followed by a session titled ‘E-Government an Added Value to Trade’ moderated by David Evans, Head of Tax and Customs work for BULL Information System, that will see experts such as Nick Small, Director of Electronic Solutions at Crown Agent; Tom Butterly, Deputy Division Trade and Sustainable Land Management Division of the European Economic Commission, and Elie Sawaya, Deputy Managing Director, Bureau Veritas, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sharing perspectives on the role of e-government and technology in enhancing cross-border trade.
The event is expected to witness the participation of more than 800 international, regional and local personalities representing the World Customs Organization and customs departments of more than 100 countries.