Expanded cooperation between countries, individual agencies, and the private sector represents the future of secure, efficient trade and travel. In an increasingly competitive global economy where security concerns must be addressed, public and private entities must collaborate to share information, invest in infrastructure, and modernize processes to build secure supply chains and support economic prosperity.
To respond to the demands of rising workloads and shrinking budgets, government authorities will not be able to rely exclusively on their own resources to maintain security and facilitate travel and trade flows. Co-creating processes, policies, and partnership programs is essential to meeting the needs of both border authorities and industry. As a key part of internationally recognized innovations such as Coordinated Border Management, Trusted Trader, Trusted Traveler, and Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programs, partnerships function as a force multiplier for government and industry as they execute their missions.
Government and industry must conduct outreach to capitalize on each other’s expertise and create mutually beneficial solutions to complex problems. By establishing lines of communications through which customs and other border management services regularly hold dialogue with the private sector, new ideas constructive criticisms, and feedback can be shared in order to advance progress on challenging issues.
Optimizing the allocation of shared resources in infrastructure, technology, and personnel deployment have been shown to improve efficiency, mitigate risk, and lower costs. Recent legislation and regulations now allow for more of these creative cost-sharing opportunities in the United States and elsewhere. Smart investments in a number of areas will lead to economic gains made from faster, more secure trade and travel.
In order to fully exploit available information to build a secure and efficient supply chain, trade data must be effectively collected and shared. The best organizations identify key data sources wherever they reside, and leverage relationships with other agencies, international agreements, and industry partnerships to establish the information advantage customs agencies need to identify high-risk shipments and passengers prior to arrival at the port of entry.