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08 March 2004

Malaysia Joins Container Security Initiative

March 8 Customs and Border Protection press release

Malaysia will implement the U.S.-Malaysia Container Security Initiative (CSI), according to a March 8 press release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The goal of CSI, which now includes 18 ports around the world, is to protect the global trading system and the trade lanes between CSI ports and the United States from potential terrorists.

Following is the text of the press release:

(begin text)

Government Of Malaysia To Implement Container Security Initiative
Begins Targeting And Pre-Screening Cargo Destined For U.S.

03/08/2004

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner and Datuk Abdul Halil Bin Abdul Mutalib, Director-General of Customs of the Government of Malaysia, today announced the implementation of the U.S. - Malaysia Container Security Initiative at the port of Klang, Malaysia.

CBP and the government of Malaysia signed a Declaration of Principles to cooperate in the Container Security Initiative (CSI) on January 20, 2003.

"The primary purpose of CSI is to protect the global trading system and the trade lanes between CSI ports and the U.S. By implementing CSI, the government of Malaysia is helping to make a safer, more secure world trading system," Commissioner Bonner said.

As part of the CSI program, CBP has deployed a team of officers to the port of Klang to work with their Malaysian counterparts to target cargo containers destined for the United States. Officials of the Malaysian government are responsible for examining any container identified jointly with CBP officers as a potential terrorist risk. The port of Klang is the 18th CSI port to become operational since CSI was proposed in January 2002.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that unifies U.S. Customs, Immigration, and Agriculture Inspectors and the U.S. Border Patrol.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=March&x=20040308122610AJesroM0.1095087&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html