U.S. Embassy Press Releases 376 Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 603-2168-5000 Fax: 603-2148-9192.

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, announced today that CBP officers will be deployed to the port of Tanjung Pelepas as part of CBP's Container Security Initiative (CSI).

CBP officers will work with host government personnel to target any cargo container that poses a potential risk for terrorism destined for the United States. Officials of the Malaysian government will inspect containers identified as a potential terrorist risk.

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 expanding CSI to the port of Tanjung Pelepas, the government of Malaysia is helping to make a safer, more secure world trading system," Commissioner Bonner said.

CBP deployed a team of officers to the port of Klang on March 8, 2004 to work with their Malaysian counterparts to target cargo containers destined for the United States.

"We agree that CSI is essential in securing an indispensable, but vulnerable link in the chain of global trade: containerized shipping," said Datuk Abdul Halil Bin Abdul Mutalib, Director-General of Customs of the Government of Malaysia. "We recognize the importance to deter and interdict any terrorist attempt to disrupt global trade or to attempt to make use of commercial shipping to further their own schemes."

CSI was proposed by Commissioner Bonner in January 2002 and has been accepted globally as a bold and revolutionary initiative to secure maritime cargo shipments against the terrorist threat.

Eighteen countries have entered into a CSI agreement with the United States. CSI, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection initiative was launched in January 2002 and is operational at 25 of the world's major seaports in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the protection of our nation's borders. CBP unified Customs, Immigration, and Agriculture Inspectors and the Border Patrol into one border agency for the United States.