14 March 2004	Sunday	22 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 13: The Iranian customs administration will establish a customs training centre for ECO-member countries in Tehran to equip officials with the latest technology and update their skills.

An official source in the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) told Dawn on Friday that the decision in this regard was taken during the third meeting of the ECO Council of Heads of Customs Administration in Islamabad recently.

Training on different customs matters will be imparted to the officials of the member countries, added the official.

He said Pakistan Customs would also impart training to all member countries especially to Afghanistan.

According to the official, Islamabad has already approved an initiative of training for Afghan customs officers and to fund all training activities including lodging, messing and internal travel in Pakistan.

The official said Pakistan had also offered to train a batch of six to 10 Afghan customs officers in the country to enable them to establish a customs training institute in Kabul.

The Turkish customs administration has also shown its interest to arrange new training studies in 2004 for the customs officials of ECO member countries, the official said.