KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) -- All containers and cargo destined forthe United States will be checked and examined by the US Customs in PortKlang as part of a special cooperation programme between Malaysia and theUS.

Customs Deputy Director General (Management) Datuk Abdul Rashid Bolongsaid the cooperation started today but would officially be launched onMarch 18.

"All containers arriving in US ports soon can be called as cleancontainers. There should be no problems for the US to accept them. Oncethey arrive in US, they become like green lane clearance," he toldreporters after launching the Joint World Customs Organisations(WCO)/ASEAN Regional Workshop On The Customs Data Model and the UniqueConsignment Reference (UCR) here Monday.

He said this programme would eliminate the physical examination of allcargo in US ports unless there was something wrong with the process inMalaysia.

Five US Customs officers would be stationed in Port Klang and they wouldreceive assistance from the Malaysian Customs, he said.

The cost and expenses of these US officers would be the responsibility ofthe US Government, while Malaysia would only provide the cooperation, headded.

Abdul Rashid said this cooperation had nothing to do with US policy ondangerous cargo or containers from this country.

"We just want to make sure we will get the guarantee that our containerscan disembark in US ports without any hassle or problem. That is thereason why examination is being done here," he said.

The workshop is being attended by 21 member administrations representingthe Asia Pacific region to understand a standard operating procedure usinginformation technology as tools.

The Senior Technical Officer of WCO, Dietmat Jost, said the MalaysianCustoms was very active in developing the data model and was the pushingforce behind getting it into the WCO.

WCO was founded in 1952 and currently has 162 members.

-- BERNAMA