On 25 May the WCO announced a “Meeting of the Governing Council for the WCO East and Southern Africa region” that was hosted in Gaborone, Botswana from 23 to 25 May 2012. At the invitation of the Mauritius Revenue Authority’s Director of Customs, James Lenaghan, in his capacity as Vice-Chair of the WCO East and Southern Africa region, the Secretary General of the WCO, Kunio Mikuriya, attended the 17th Meeting of the Governing Council for the WCO East and Southern Africa (ESA) region hosted by the Botswana Unified Revenue Authority (BURS) in Gaborone, Botswana on 24 and 25 May 2012. The meeting discussed a wide range of topics including the report of the Secretary General on current WCO activities, the reports of the Regional Vice-Chair and Chair of the Regional Steering Group, and the outcome of the High-Level Regional Workshop on Promoting Trade Facilitation, Proper Revenue Collection and Integrity by Strengthening the Customs-Business Partnership.