Havana, Cuba.-The head of the General Customs of Cuba, Pedro Pérez, opened today the 38th Meeting of National Directors of Customs of Latin America, Spain and Portugal, in the 1930 hall of the Hotel Nacional.

At the opening ceremony, Perez described the experience of collaboration as fruitful through the multilateral agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance among the Directors General of Customs of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP) signed in 1981.

He also pointed out that it was essential to promote the cooperation and unity of action in the activities of those present in the forum, since they are a determining factor in the progress of regional cooperation.

Mexico’s General Manager of Customs, Ricardo Treviño, referred to the work of his country as permanent secretariat of the COMALEP and highlighted as the greatest achievement of this organization the positioning of human resources as the center of management of the customs authorities.

Treviño also recognized the importance of this type of forum not only to share experiences and knowledge for the prevention of bad customs practices, but also for the consolidation of ties of friendship and cooperation between countries.

Representatives from China, France, India and Italy participate as observers, as well as invited international organizations including the International Monetary Fund.

Cuba is hosting this meeting for the second time, the first time was in 1995.