U.S. and Indonesia Pledge Customs Cooperation
for Increased Trade and Crime Prevention

November 17, 2006

bahasa Indonesia

Today, U.S. Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe and Ministry of Finance Director General for Customs and Excise Anwar Suprijadi signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Customs Mutual Assistance on November 17 at the Directorate General for Customs and Excise in Jakarta.

The MOU establishes a framework for customs mutual assistance between the United States and Indonesia including technical assistance, information sharing, and law enforcement cooperation to facilitate increased trade, while preventing transshipments and other customs crimes.

Explosive growth in the volume and complexity of international trade means that greater demands are being placed on customs administrations around the world. Since government resources are often unable to keep pace with trade expansion, customs administrations rely on mutual assistance as a powerful investigative tool.

“The United States and Indonesia share a healthy and strategic trade partnership. Total trade between our two countries reached $15 billion in 2005, including $12 billion dollars in Indonesian exports,” Ambassador Pascoe said. “Today’s agreement will help us build upon this relationship, ensure our markets remain open to each others’ goods, and facilitate even greater trade and exports for the benefit of both our economies and peoples.”

The MOU will assist in the gathering of evidence for criminal and civil cases involving trade fraud, money laundering, violations of export control laws, and drug smuggling. It will also permit our customs to exchange information and provide mutual assistance on a range of other issues, including combating terrorism and trafficking in persons.

In June 1967, the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), informally known as the World Customs Organization (WCO), adopted a model bilateral convention on mutual administrative assistance for its members to implement as part of a national customs policy. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has used this model as a basis for negotiating Customs Mutual Assistance arrangements with 58 other foreign administrations since. Domestic and foreign courts then recognize each arrangement as a legal basis for wide-ranging cooperation.

***