Lahore: Customs Lahore Enforcement Central Region on Thursday held World Customs Day celebrations at the Wagha Border.
Mr. Tariq Pasha Sahab senior Advisor of Prime Minister (SAPM) was the chief guest while a large number of customs officers including Chief Collector Enforcement Mr. Zulfiqar Ch, Chief Collector Appraisement Ms Rabab Sikandar, Collector Enforcement Ali Abbas Gardezi, Collector Multan Mr. Tahir, Collector AIIP Mr Asad Raza Rizvi, Deputy collector Headquarter Enforcement Ms Sobia Kiran, Additional Collector Ms Aneeqa Afzal, Additional Collector Ms Mehreen Naseem and others were present on the occasion. Director I&I Saima Shehzad and Additional Director Rizwan Bashir were also there.
Mr Tariq Pasha said that Pakistan Customs has still to do a lot to achieve excellent. In order to make the service a brilliant one the officers are required to do more.
“I would say that the service has achieved only 20 percent of the excellence for which we need to go a long way ahead, he added.”
The chief collector said it is an International Customs Day. Every year on the 26th of January, Customs organizations around the world celebrate International Customs day to commemorate the anniversary of the inaugural session of the World Customs Organization, held in 1953. Keeping in line with tradition, we are gathered here today to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Customs Organization.
This day is observed to raise awareness about Customs authorities’ role in the smooth movement of goods across the country’s borders and to applaud all Customs agencies working systematically to ensure effective trade management.
WCO has a practice of setting its goals in the shape of a slogan each year.
The slogan for this year is: “Nurturing the next generation: Promoting a culture of knowledge-sharing and professional pride in Customs,” he added.
He added that this is everybody’s duty to promote knowledge for ensuring transparency.
“Culture is an integral part of the process by which an organizational identity is constructed. Knowledge management initiatives, per se, are not culture change projects, rather in modern day organizations, it is a tool for promoting knowledge and knowledge-based decisions,” he said to foster and retain talent, it is imperative that Customs administrations establish mechanisms for the effective and continuous transfer and management of knowledge, he concluded.
Officers and officials of customs were given certificates in recognition of their outstanding performance by Chief Guest and Chief Collectors. The ceremony was concluded by destruction of illegally imported and contraband goods.
World Customs Day celebrations were also held at Customs House Multan. Collector Faisalabad Saeed Watto, Collector Qurat-ul-Ain, collector Lahore Ambreen Tarar, DG Muhammad Sadiq, Chief Collector Enforcement Lahore Chaudhry Zulfiqar, Tariq Pasha, DG IOCO Mubashir Baig, Collector Lahore Airport Asad Rizvi, Collector Appraisement Lahore Muneeb Sarwar, Collector Sialkot Nayyar Shafique attended the event.
