Kunio Mikuriya

Kunio Mikuriya (御厨 邦雄, Mikuriya Kunio) is the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO).

Career

Mikuriya has a BA in law from the University of Tokyo and a PhD in international relations from the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. During his career, Mikuriya has held various high-level positions in Japan's Ministry of Finance. He also had assignments as Counsellor in Japan's Mission to the WTO and a negotiator for Japan during the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations.^[1]

WCO

From 2002 to 2008, Mikuriya was the WCO Deputy Secretary General. On 28 June 2008, he was elected WCO Secretary General, and he took up this post on 1 January 2009.^[2] On 30 June 2013, he was re-elected to a second five-year . Mikuriya has called for successful completion of the Doha Development Round,^[3] lobbied against the U.S. 100% container scanning law,^[4] advocated enhanced trade facilitation measures during the global economic downturn,^[5] and supported the contribution of Customs to environmental protection.^[6]

Publications

• Mikuriya, Kunio (2003), The Challenges of Facilitating the Flow of Commerce in a Heightened Security Environment, in UNECE (2003), Cosgrave-Sacks, Carol and Mario Apostolov (eds.), Trade Facilitation – The Challenges for Growth and Development.^[7]
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2004), Legal Framework for Customs Operations and Enforcement Issues, (Chapter 3 of the World Bank's Customs Modernization Handbook).^[8]
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2006), The Customs Response to the 21st Century, Global Trade and Customs Journal, Vol.1, No. 1.^[9]
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2007), Supply Chain Security: The Customs Community's Response, World Customs Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2.^[10]
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2012), Chapter 1.7 Expansion of Customs – Business Partnerships in the 21st Century in: The World Economic Forum (2012) The Global Enabling Trade Report 2012, 77-84,
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2013), Some thoughts about illicit trade, WCO news, No. 71, June 2013: 14-17,
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2013), Together, we are prepared for all eventualities, WCO news, No. 73, October 2013: 10-20,
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2014), Communication: sharing information for better communication, WCO news, No. 73, February 2014: 12-13,
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2014), Ready to implement the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement!, WCO news, No. 74, June 2014: 10-11,
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2014), The WCO Council tackles the tough challenges facing Customs worldwide, WCO news, No. 75, October 2014: 10-11,
• Mikuriya, Kunio (2015), Coordinated Border Management – An inclusive approach for connecting stakeholders, WCO news, No. 76, February 2015: 10-11.

References