Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presided over as Chief Guest at the inaugural session of the first ever three-day-long Global Conference on Cooperation in Enforcement Matters (GCCEM) on 30 October, in New Delhi.
The genesis of the GCCEM was laid in the suggestion made by the Union Finance Minister at her last year’s address at the Inaugural function of DRI Foundation Day in 2022, emphasising the importance of greater cooperation and collaboration among international enforcement agencies for timely intelligence sharing and also directed that in the year of India’s G20 Presidency, CBIC and DRI must hold an international conference towards this end.
Against this backdrop, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) under Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), in consultation with World Customs Organisation (WCO), Brussels, is hosting the global conference from 30th October to 1st November 2023 with the theme ‘It takes a Network to fight a Network’.
Congratulating CBIC and DRI for ensuring the global conference sees the light of the day, Sitharaman stated “The global conference on cooperation in enforcement matters is a major step forward in networking and collaborative efforts by the law enforcement agencies across the world, eventually benefitting not just India’s economy but also the world economy.”
The aim of the international conference is to facilitate sharing of insights, best practices and to serve as a catalyst for enhancing collaboration with Indian Customs’ partner Administrations and for building new partnerships. The WCO has collaborated with Indian Customs to ensure wide participation by Member Administrations and international organisations, including WCO’s Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILOs) and senior representations from the WCO Secretariat.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was the Guest of Honour and Secretary General, World Customs Organisation, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, was the Special Guest at the Inaugural Session. Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, CBIC, along with Members of the Board and other senior officers of the Department and various Law Enforcement Agencies / Organisations of India also graced the
occasion.