US officials told: Pakistan Customs better than others in the region: Haroon

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister/Federal Minister on Revenue, Haroon Akhtar has said Pakistan is a responsible state and committed to the global fight against terror and eradicating the menace of smuggling and money-laundering from its soil and the region. "Our customs and its standards are at par with the world and, in some cases, even better than some of the best customs in the region," he said talking to a high-level delegation from US Control and Border Security (EXBS) which called on him m at his office at the FBR House in Islamabad on Saturday.
The EXBS Country Director Shelly Atkinson led the US delegation which also included officials from the US Department of Homeland Security and US Embassy in Pakistan. Member Customs FBR Mohammad Zahid Khokhar and other senior officers of FBR were also present. Haroon Akhtar Khan informed the delegation that their entire system is now fully computerized and they have made some major inroads against smuggling and money-laundering by unearthing some substantial cases in recent years.
He also offered to send officers from Pakistan Customs for training to the US to learn from the US experiences and share with them what Pakistan had been able to achieve in modernizing its customs and securing its borders.
"We would like this cooperation to be further strengthened and consolidated in intelligence-sharing and exchange of resources," he said. Haroon Akhtar Khan told the US delegation hat Pakistan is a much better and equally safer place than what the international media sometimes tend to show it to the outside world. He said Pakistan have come a long way in the fight against terror, and success on this front owes to the massive sacrifices of our nation as well as our military and paramilitary officers and soldiers who have laid down their lives in stamping out the forces of evil from our soil.
He also briefed the US delegation on Pakistan's economy saying that it is relatively much better than it was a few years ago. "Our democratic experience is going very well and the second democratic government is now on the verge of completing its full five-year term which shows the strength of our democratic institutions. Shelly Atkinson thanked the Minister and the FBR for giving her and her colleagues valuable insights into the working of Pakistan Customs which, she conceded, had been excelling in many areas and doing far better than some of the countries in the region.
"We look forward to benefiting from the Pakistani experiences by engaging one or two Pakistani instructors to be part of the learning and capacity-building programmes in the US Department of Homeland Security," she said.