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World Customs Organization Secretary General Highlights Customs–Police cooperation at the INTERPOL Partners’ Conference 2026

• Customs plays a key role in protecting society by identifying risks, detecting illicit movements and securing global supply chains.
• The WCO–INTERPOL partnership demonstrates how Customs–Police cooperation can strengthen intelligence-led responses to transnational crime.
• Building a safer world requires stronger partnerships across sectors and borders, ensuring that investments deliver greater impact, resilience and shared security.

At the invitation of Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza of INTERPOL, World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Ian Saunders attended the INTERPOL Partners Conference 2026, held at INTERPOL Headquarters in Lyon, France, from 30 June to 1 July 2026.

The event provided the Secretary General the opportunity to reinforce the value of Customs–Police cooperation in addressing increasingly complex criminal modi operandi. In addition, the SG shared how structured partnerships, intelligence-led enforcement and coordinated operational action can help protect society and secure global supply chains. Finally, the SG met with Secretary General Urquiza to further identify more avenues for strengthening the WCO–INTERPOL partnership at both the strategic and operational levels.

Partnerships for impact

Under the theme “Investing in a safer world”, the Conference brought together representatives from law enforcement, government, international and regional organizations, development agencies, and the private sector to discuss how stronger partnerships can drive coordinated action, strengthen global security, and deliver practical impact against transnational crime.

On the second day of the event, Secretary General Saunders delivered remarks to set the scene for the plenary panel titled “Impact Through Partnership: Multistakeholder Collaboration in Action”. The session focused on the future of these relationships in terms of collaboration. The discussion also provided an opportunity to emphasize the importance of structured cooperation between Customs, Police and other partners.

Customs at the intersection of trade and security

From the perspective of the WCO, the Secretary General stressed that effective responses to transnational crime require strong partnerships, sustained investment and closer cooperation across sectors and borders. He also focused on the value of Customs–Police cooperation in addressing increasingly complex criminal threats.

Secretary General Saunders also highlighted that Customs administrations are uniquely positioned at the intersection of international trade, security and the protection of society, with direct insight into the flow of cross-border goods and a key role in identifying risks, detecting illicit movements, securing supply chains and preventing criminal networks from exploiting logistics systems and marketplaces.

In his intervention, the Secretary General stated that “the WCO-INTERPOL partnership has enabled great things and will continue to do so. By bringing together our knowledge, information, resources, and the attention of our members operating at the national level to ensure that cooperation becomes true practice, transnational criminal organizations will find the environment a bit more hostile.” He further emphasized that this makes structured cooperation between Customs, Police and other partners essential.

Turning cooperation into action

The Secretary General emphasized the value of operational cooperation between the WCO and INTERPOL, including through initiatives such as Operation Global Gateway, carried out under the WCO’s Programme Global Shield, and Operation Thunder, jointly coordinated by the WCO and INTERPOL to combat wildlife and forestry crime. These operations demonstrated the importance of coordinated, intelligence-led enforcement in strengthening risk analysis, supporting operational action and enhancing the collective understanding of emerging threats.

On the margins of the Conference the Secretaries General of the WCO and INTERPOL held a bilateral meeting during which they discussed the continued strengthening of cooperation between the two Organizations. In this context, they underlined the importance of continuing to formalize the relationship to reflect the current operational realities and future priorities of both Organizations.

As a next step, the WCO and INTERPOL will continue working towards the finalization of an updated Memorandum of Understanding and the further implementation of their joint action plan. This will help translate the strengthened partnership into closer information exchange, more coordinated operational cooperation and sharing of practical tools in support of Customs and Police worldwide.

(Source: https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2026/july/world-customs-organization-secretary-general-highlights-customs-police-cooperation-at-the-interpol.aspx)