Continuing good practice, in November 2022, the Lithuanian Customs, together with the Estonian Tax and Customs Board and the Latvian State Revenue Service, signed the Action Plan of the Customs Administrations of the Baltic States for 2023 - 2025 (Baltic Plan), according to which the trilateral activities are being implemented successfully.
The Baltic Plan aims at unifying customs control activities and procedures at the EU's external border, strengthening the capacity of the dog handlers, developing plans for the modernization of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition System, uniform application of the Customs Union Code, application of latest knowledge in the customs laboratory, implementation of sanctions, and optimization of the customs processes, etc.
State of play of the Action Plan together with other matters of interest are discussed during the annually meetings of the Heads of the Baltic States Customs and Tax Administrations.
Baltic Sea Task Force on Organised Crime
The Baltic Sea Task Force on Organized Crime was created on May 04, 1996 in Visby (Sweden) due to the decision taken by the Heads of Governments of the Baltic Sea States. It comprises 11 personal representatives of the Heads of Governments of the Baltic Sea States (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden).
Purpose of the project is to strengthen the capacities of member countries in preventing and combating organized crime, promoting close cooperation between law enforcement authorities of member states.
Lithuanian Customs officers participate in the activities of the Operating Committee of the Baltic Sea Region on fighting organized crime. The Committee should facilitate cooperation and promote the exchange of information on joint operational measures and actions.
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was created in 1996. Lithuania became a member of the ASEM in 2004.
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is a unique, informal platform for dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe on the big challenges of a fast-changing world, such as Connectivity, trade and investment, climate change, but also broad security challenges such as counter-terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyber issues.
Today ASEM comprises of 53 members: 51 partner countries (the 28 Member States of the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland on the European side and the 10 ASEAN countries plus Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Russia on the Asian side) and 2 institutional partners (the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat).
ASEM main purpose is to provide a platform to foster political dialogue, strengthen economic cooperation and tackle global challenges together. In many respects, recent developments in the international landscape have increased the value of ASEM as a key building block for an open, cooperative and rules-based international system.
Lithuanian Customs officers take part in the meetings of the ASEM Customs Directors-General and Commissioners, as well as the meetings of the ASEM Working Group on Customs Matters (AWC) and the ASEM Customs Trade Day.
Last updated: 15-07-2024