On April 11, the first meeting of the leaders of the tripartite customs offices of China, Japan and the ROK was convened in Tokyo, Japan.  Mou Xinsheng, Director of the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC), Mr. Yukiyasu  Aoyama, Director General, Customs and Tariff Bureau, Japanese Ministry of Finance, and Mr. Yun-Kap Seong, Commissioner, Korea Customs Service, the Republic of Korea attended the meeting together with the delegations respectively led by them.  The tripartite customs offices exchanged their experiences in terms of law enforcement respectively and explored in depth on issues of common concern such as giving full play to the role of functional offices of the customs, guaranteeing the trade safety and convenience, IP protection, promoting the regional economic and trade interflow and providing quality services for the

enterprises.  The parties concerned have reached consensus on the establishment of a tripartite customs cooperative mechanism and signed a " Summary for the Meeting of the Customs Leaders of China, Japan and the ROK".

Director Mou Xinsheng of the GACC delivered a key-note speech entitled "Creating a New Phase of Cooperation for the Customs of China, Japan and the ROK based on the Current Situation and with the Perspective of the Future".  In the light of the current situation of the sustainable and rapid development of the tripartite economic and trade relations among China, Japan and the ROK, Director Mou proposed that the tripartite customs' cooperation should be strengthened in terms of trade safety and convenience, law enforcement of the customs, cracking down on terrorism, customs capacity building and IP protection. He also said that the tripartite customs should grasp the opportunities and go with the tide, so as to jointly make due contribution to the economic prosperity and social development of their respective countries and regions.

Director Mou laid his emphasis on introducing the following information, namely the earnest implementation of IP protection by the Chinese government and the Chinese customs offices, the establishment of the leading group for IP protection by the State Council with Vice-Premier Wuyi as the head, the promulgation of the "Regulations for IP Customs Protection" by the State Council and the substantial human and material input rendered by the Chinese customs offices for the implementation of IP protection as well as China's achievements obvious to all.  Hence, the Chinese customs were granted the "Government Institution Award" by the Global Anti-Fake Organization and 15 Chinese customs officers were conferred the honorable title of "Outstanding Law Enforcement Customs Officers" by the World Customs Organization.

In his speech, Director Mou also stated that the Chinese customs is willing to continuously undertake the work of the Information Liaison Office of the Asia-Pacific Region of the World Customs Organization, as the term of which will be expired by the end of 2007, thus making contribution to the cooperation and development of the customs in the region.  Toward this issue, the customs offices of Japan and the ROK expressed their high appreciation and active support.

As the East Asian Region becomes one of the most vibrant regions in the development of the world economy, China, Japan and the ROK are playing an ever important role in the development of regional and world economy.  According to the statistics of Chinese customs, beginning from 2004, Japan and the ROK have become China's second and third trade partner respectively.  Friendly cooperative relations have been maintained between the Chinese customs and the Japanese customs as well as between the Chinese customs and the ROK customs.  In January of 2007, the "Progress Report on Cooperation for 2005 - 2006" was ratified by the 7th meeting of

the leaders of China, Japan and the ROK in Cebu, the Philippines, at which, the cooperative achievements of the three countries were confirmed and listed as one of
the progress areas.  And with regional trade safety and convenience, law enforcement cooperation, cracking down on terrorism, IP protection and capacity building as key topics for discussion, the current customs leaders' meeting of China, Japan and the ROK have created a precedent for multilateral cooperation of the tripartite customs of China, Japan and the ROK based on the current situation and with the perspective of the future.  It is decided that the next meeting will be held in the ROK in 2008.