To strengthen cooperation between France and the United States in customs matters and improve the facilitation of travelers and goods, the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Mr. Thomas Cazanave, and the Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Ms. Kristie Canegallo, signed today a Joint Declaration of Intent.
Improved collaboration as outlined in the Joint Declaration is expected to include intelligence, inspections, investigations, targeting and operational cooperation, and exchange of best practices in the customs field. Additionally, this customs cooperation is expected to focus on securing container traffic, major port and airport facilities, express freight, e-commerce, and the financial flows of criminal organizations.
Enhanced collaboration is also expected to cover combatting arms and drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, and threats to national security. The collaboration is expected to occur between entities in their Ministries such as the French Customs Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Operations, as well as the French National Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, including in French communities in the Pacific, Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna.
Cooperation is expected to intensify between CBP’s National Targeting Center and the French Customs Risk Analysis and Targeting Service for risk analysis and targeting of controls on passengers and cargo.
The Joint Declaration of Intent additionally places emphasis on working together to secure the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics through the sharing of best practices.
On this occasion, the Minister and Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary reaffirmed their common commitment to further strengthen operational cross-border cooperation between their Ministries to better combat the most current and sensitive threats to the flow of goods, national security breaches, narcotics, fentanyl, forced labor, arms trafficking, economic and fiscal fraud, and money laundering.