Regional Green Customs Workshop, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

The regional Green Customs Workshop for countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) was held back-to-back with the ECA Enforcement Network Meeting in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 11-15 October 2010. Participants included customs and Ozone officers, resource persons representing the Montreal Protocol, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Basel Conventions, CITES as well as international organisations WCO, OSCE, UNODC, SECI and UNCTAD. The workshop included specific training and case studies related to CITES, Basel/Rotterdam/Stockholm Conventions and Montreal Protocol, as well as several sessions facilitated by WCO on a range of relevant issues. In preparation of the meeting, participants were requested to complete a pre-meeting questionnaire and to complete the WCO e-learning modules for Green Customs, CITES and Montreal Protocol.

At the back-to-back meeting of the Enforcement Network of European & Central Asian countries, Gold and Silver medals of honour were presented to the winners of the ECA Ozone Protection Award 2010 for Customs & Enforcement officers in recognition of their efforts to prevent illegal trade in ODS, ODS alternatives and ODS equipment.

The awardees from Armenia, China, Croatia, European Commission, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation and Serbia presented their cases and each presentation was followed by lively discussion. In addition, representatives of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan received certificates of appreciation for their enforcement efforts and capacity building initiatives.

A media briefing and more information can be found here:

http://fr1.estis.net/sites/ecanetwork/default.asp?site=ecanetwork&page_id=A78A0571-E3CC-413A-B276-F68066D5EC15