FBR chief seeks consensus on system to detect organised crime, terror activities

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Customs together with partners of the United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel (‘CT Travel’) Programme and 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 organised crimes and terrorist activities.

The opening session was presided over by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Asim Ahmad and attended, among others, by Leslie Scanlon, the High Commissioner of Canada, Member Customs (Operations) Mukarram Jah Ansari, Dr. Jeremy Milsom, UNODC Country Representative, Senior Legal Officer from UNCTED Jean-Phillippe Morange along with 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.

Addressing the inaugural session, the FBR chairman stressed the need for broader consultation amongst national stakeholders to ensure a broad-based consensus and support. He also expressed hope that discussion from the 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.