MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – The training level of Belarusian customs service personnel fully meets European standards, said Professor Alfonsas Laurinavicius, head of the International Trade and Customs Chair of the Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania, on 23 September.

“As far as the training of personnel for the Belarusian customs service is concerned, I think it is fully up to European standards. Our curricula are very close. Certainly there are some hindrances relating to the Bologna Process, international law but I think they will pass,” said the scientist.

Alfonsas Laurinavicius remarked that European countries eagerly use the best customs personnel training practices of Belarus and Lithuania. The two countries have established close ties in this sphere. “We have cooperated with the Belarusian State University for ten years already in curriculum compilation and in discussing what kind of knowledge is needed today. Customs officers work at the border and we need an access to a greater space and markets. This is why we have to train specialists that can research markets. In the near future we will more tightly cooperate in personnel training and in other matters. We will create research centers to study topical issues together,” said the expert.

He said that globalization brings about more and more new problems. At the international conference, which is taking place in Minsk, specialists from different countries can reveal the most acute problems and discuss ways to handle them.

The scientist said that now Belarus and Lithuania are preparing a joint training program on international trade and customs affairs. “Customs affairs cannot be studied separately from international trade because private business and the state should work together,” said Alfonsas Laurinavicius. He said he hopes that Ukraine will participate in the program apart from Belarus and Lithuania.

The international conference “Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia: the present and prospects” is scheduled to take place in Minsk on 22-23 September. A roundtable session involving representatives of science from Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Latvia and other countries is supposed to take place on 23 September. The scientists will discuss international cooperation in customs affairs at the universal and regional levels, experience of the European Union in creating the customs union, the implementation of international law norms in national legislations, improvement of customs laws of the Customs Union member states. The roundtable session will also touch upon the modern state and the most important areas of research, customs personnel training, cooperation of customs authorities, economic entities, and business communities in the customs regulation of foreign trade.