Pakistan Customs together with the partners of the United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel (‘CT Travel’) Programme, and with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Office (UNODC) Country Office Pakistan, is hosting a two-day National Consultation Workshop with all relevant stakeholders in Pakistan on Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) system ‘goTravel’ to support the identification, detection and interception of individuals involved in organized crimes and terrorist activities. The opening session was presided over by Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Mr. Asim Ahmad and attended, among others, by Her Excellency Leslie Scanlon, the High Commissioner of Canada, Member Customs (Operations) Mr. Mukarram Jah Ansari, Dr. Jeremy Milsom, UNODC Country Representative, Senior Legal Officer from UNCTED Mr. Jean-Phillippe Morange alongwith over 30 representatives from different stakeholders and national agencies involved in border management, policing, policy development, immigration, data management and sharing, passenger processing, facilitation and human rights. While addressing the inaugural session, the Chairman FBR stressed upon the need for a broader consultation amongst the national stakaholders to ensure a broad-based consensus and support. He also expressed hope that discussion from this Roundtable will lead to a better understanding of the ‘goTravel’ system as well as providing the basis to move forward for deployment of such systems in future. The two-day workshop is aimed at providing a platform for consultation to establish a comprehensive understanding of Pakistan’s existing level of API and PNR implementation. It will also focus on legal, operational, and technical capacities, in order to identify specific areas for capacity-building support and technical assistance in this domain. The event would also enable an understanding of the country’s requirements and challenges in establishing an operational API and PNR.
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