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The Regional Trade Facilitation and Customs Cooperation Program is part of the broad Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Its objective is twofold:
- promoting concerted customs reforms and modernization, and serving as a regional forum to address issues of common interest; and
- supporting an integrated trade facilitation approach through interagency cooperation and partnership with the private sector as a long term objective.
The Program is participated in by eight ADB developing member countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, People's Republic of China (PRC), Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Program is currently coordinated by the Customs Cooperation Committee (CCC), consisting of the heads of customs administrations of participating countries. The importance of the CCC's guidance reflects the country-driven process of the Program.
The CCC endorsed a Common Action Plan in its First CCC Meeting in Urumqi, PRC in August 2002 and created two working groups for its implementation, one chaired by the PRC and the other by Uzbekistan. Four expert groups were created to study:
- simplification and harmonization of customs procedures (chaired by the PRC),
- development of simplified transit systems (chaired by the Kyrgyz Republic),
- data sharing and ICT for customs modernization (chaired by Uzbekistan), and
- risk management and post-entry audit (chaired by the PRC)
Additionally, a task force was created, chaired by Kazakhstan, to initiate pilot-testing of joint customs control.
Supported by ADB, the Program has achieved visible progress, including:
- revision of Customs Codes
- reengineering of customs business processes and development of customs modernization plans
- customs modernization and infrastructure development
- bilateral customs cooperation
- training and regional forums
See Milestones for more details.
Projects 
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