Turkey, South Korea sign customs protocol

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Containers are seen at a port in Busan, about 420 km (262 miles) southeast of Seoul June 27. South Korea will exports its customs technology to Turkey.

Turkey and South Korea signed the “Ankara and Seoul Customs Protocol” on June 26 in Istanbul with the participation of Turkey’s Customs and Trade Undersecretary Ziya Altunyaldız and  South Korea’s Customs President Yungsup Joo.

“Our primary goal with this protocol is for the two customs offices [in Turkey and South Korea] to first exchange information and then cooperate in all areas in which they have expertise,” Altunyaldız said at the signing ceremony.

In particular, Turkey is hoping to benefit from South Korea’s technological expertise in cargo
systems, passenger registration, and tax exemption sales procedures via new computing and smart systems.

“We knew South Korea was a global role model for these systems and we sent our staff to South Korea to examine them. They took a look and now we are working to import these systems to Turkey,” said Altunyaldız.

In addition to all these applications, Turkey is also planning to join forces with South Korea in the coming period to combat drug trafficking and other forms of customs fraud. “There will be special joint customs agencies to fight against drug trafficking and customs fraud,” said Altunyaldız.

“Turkey helped us during the Korean War. After this event, we kept supporting one another. There have been protocols before. After this protocol I believe our relations will be even stronger and we will continue to help one another,” said Joo at the signing.