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Background
“Trade facilitation" refers to simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures, e.g. practices and formalities involved in collecting, presenting, communicating and processing data and other information required for the movement of goods in international trade.
Trade facilitation can have a significant impact on economic development and poverty reduction. Studies by the OECD Trade Committee show that the benefits of trade facilitation reforms are multiple and occur on different fronts and for different stakeholders (i.e. government, private sector and consumers). More efficient international trade procedures and customs operations can significantly reduce trade transaction costs, which results in increased volumes of trade and welfare gains, particularly for developing countries. They can also increase competitiveness and the attractiveness for foreign investors, enhance revenue collection and help prevent corruption and smuggling. Hence, committing resources to support such reforms is a sound and cost-effective investment that can have multiplier effects for development.
The modalities for negotiations adopted on 1 August 2004 by the WTO General Council (i.e. the “July Package”) and the 2005 WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration recognised that multilateral rules in the area of trade facilitation are important to make the process of trading smoother and simpler, yet emphasised the vital importance of delivering effective technical assistance and capacity building to developing and least-developed countries for negotiating and implementing a set of multilateral trade facilitation commitments.
Objective
The OECD/DAC project aims to strengthen the design, delivery and evaluation of technical assistance and capacity building for trade facilitation, in a way that is consistent with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and other DAC Guidelines.
Outputs
The project will deliver two inter-related outputs:
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(2) Second, a good practices paper and recommendations for strengthening trade facilitation capacities in developing countries (in Phase 2) – to be completed by October 2006.
These outputs aim to be of relevance to development assistance practitioners, trade and customs officials and private sector representatives in OECD and partner countries involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of trade facilitation measures.
To facilitate consultations with these stakeholders, an OECD Regional Forum on Trade Facilitation will be organised in Cameroon on 27 and 28 September 2006.
Collaboration and complementarity with other relevant work
The OECD/DAC project harnesses and complements the research on trade facilitation undertaken by the OECD Trade Committee. In addition, it will develop synergies with work underway in a number of bilateral and multilateral agencies (e.g. the World Customs Organisation, UNCTAD and the World Bank).
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