On 01 October 2025, the World Customs Organization (WCO) announced that as part of Phase II of its and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO) Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) in Uzbekistan, a virtual session on the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme was held on 22 September 2026. The session aimed to monitor progress and update the Action Plan to strengthen the AEO programme in the country further.
This virtual meeting followed the AEO workshop held in April 2025, which focused on building stakeholder capacities and resulted in the development of a national AEO enhancement plan. The follow-up session reviewed implementation progress, identified challenges and opportunities, and updated the Action Plan accordingly.
During the session, customs officials monitored the implementation of the AEO enhancements, addressed challenges, and refined the Action Plan. The outcomes included stronger public-private partnerships for trade facilitation, standardised AEO treatment, and increased efficiency in clearance procedures.
The WCO will continue to support Uzbekistan in its efforts to enhance the AEO Programme in the country.
More details are available at:
The SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP)
The SECO-WCO GTFP is the first joint initiative between SECO and the WCO. Throughout its first phase, from 2018 to 2023, the GTFP supported fifteen (15) Customs administrations (CAs), strengthening Customs management, facilitating cross-border trade, promoting the adoption of international standards and best practices, improving market access, and contributing to national and regional economic growth.
Based on the GTFP’s positive results and remarkable impact, SECO and the WCO decided to pursue a second phase of the programme to support our partners further.
Overall objective
Building on the achievements and lessons learned of the first phase, the purpose of Phase II is to continue strengthening the organisational and technical capacities of beneficiary Customs administrations, to successfully lead, plan, and implement sustainable and transparent Customs reforms, with better involvement of the private sector and relevant stakeholders and apply international standards and best practices, particularly those of the WCO and the World Trade Organization (WTO) related to trade facilitation.
Areas of support
1. Organisational Development
Strengthening Customs’ organisational capacity to manage reforms, ensure Customs administrations can fulfil their mission, and improve national and regional competitiveness.
2. Trade Facilitation
Supporting the implementation of efficient Customs procedures to facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and reduce trade-related costs. Additionally, include compliance topics related to trade facilitation measures to equip Customs administrations with the technical skills and necessary expertise to implement effective and efficient Customs controls, thereby ensuring compliance with laws, promoting competitiveness, maintaining revenue security, and safeguarding societal protection.
3. Continuous Learning and Public Goods
Promoting multidisciplinary cooperation among neighbouring Customs administrations through regional support, peer-to-peer learning, and best practice sharing. It also develops learning materials and expands the pool of experts for the global Customs community.
Partners
The GTFP Phase II is designed to assist the Customs administrations of beneficiary countries in close coordination with the ministries of finance and commerce, other government agencies, national committees on trade facilitation, stakeholders, and the private sector involved in the importation, exportation, and transit of goods. Furthermore, it will be a coordinated endeavour with the SECO Headquarters in Switzerland, SECO Country Offices and the Swiss Cooperation Offices (SCOs) in beneficiary countries.