The 13th Partnership in Customs Academic Research and Development (PICARD) Conference, jointly organized by the Trade Ministry and the World Customs Organization (WCO), will be hosted by Turkey from Oct. 9 to Oct. 11.

According to a written statement from the ministry, the PICARD Conference, which was held in Brussels in 2006 for the first time, will be held in Malatya province this year.

PICARD will bring together about 200 people from WCO member countries with the aim of increasing the professional knowledge of customs workers, developing cooperation between countries in customs education and research areas, and providing long-term planning to customs career development strategies with the contributions of the academic community.

The conference will be attended by WCO Secretary-General Kunio Mikuriya, high-level representatives from various countries and the heads of customs administrations.

The PICARD Conference will focus on issues such as the facilitation of transboundary trade, e-commerce, policies to be followed in the regulation of international e-commerce, innovative approaches and practices in customs, innovative methods in the use of digital data in customs, data usage in providing security and intelligence, border management in conflict zones, prevention of corruption in customs and performance enhancement work.

Founded in 1952 as an independent and intergovernmental organization with the aim of ensuring and improving the effective and efficient functioning of national customs administrations, the WCO has 182 members that constitute 98 percent of international trade. Turkey, one of the founding members, is actively involved in various events, cooperative works and projects under the auspices of the organization.