VZCZCXYZ0005
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBS #0644 1191428
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281428Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7360
INFO RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 8644
RUEAORC/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 000644 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CBP FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND FOR THE OFFICE 
OF THE COMMISSIONER 
THE HAGUE FOR CBP/CDAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD BE
SUBJECT: BELGIUM'S DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMS RUNNING HARD TO BE 
ELECTED TO HEAD THE WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Belgium's Director General of Customs, Noel 
Colpin, is running hard to be elected as the new Secretary 
General of the World Custom Organization.  He has the full 
support of his government.  He has worked very closely with 
the Embassy for many years and was Belgium's chief negotiator 
on a number of major U.S. initiatives with Belgium, including 
the Department of Energy Megaports program and the Container 
Security Initiative, run by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  Belgium's Director of Customs, Noel Colpin, called on the 
Ambassador on April 23 to promote his candidacy to become the 
next head of the World Customs Organization.  His platform 
includes improving the links between import and export 
regimes and establishing a "SWIFT" for customs agencies. 
(NOTE: SWIFT is a Belgian company which provides the backbone 
of the world's financial markets, by serving as an exchange 
for data for financial transactions.  END NOTE).  His aim is 
to move beyond the web of bilateral arrangements between 
customs agencies to set up an integrated global system 
relying on standardization and "e-customs" and to provide a 
single platform for customs information exchanges, both for 
trade facilitation but also for enhanced security. 
 
¶3.  Colpin is aware that there are five other European 
candidates and three others from non-EU countries. 
Nevertheless, he asserted that he is the only Customs 
Director General running for the position. 
 
¶4.  COMMENT:  The Embassy has worked with Colpin for many 
years.  He was the GOB negotiator on Belgium's model 
Megaports program (with the Department of Energy) and on the 
successful Customs and Border Patrol Container Security 
Initiative program in Antwerp.  He is very pro-U.S. and has 
had very good cooperative working relations with the Embassy. 
 He has been particularly useful in helping to resolve 
difficult dual-use cases.  He also helped the Embassy on 
numerous occasions by unblocking goods of U.S. companies 
being held up in the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge.  He has 
a reputation as being able to broker compromises in difficult 
situations, not an uncommon trait for Belgians in general. 
.