Trade facilitation takes a fillip from Nairobi talks

NAIROBI, Dec 19: Trade facilitation that packs in a set of coherent mechanisms to cut cost of commodity movements across the borders is one of a few tools for multilateral trade that gained momentum during the Nairobi WTO meet.  
Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, a new public-private platform, came out as a springboard for promoting global trade in an easier manner of transaction under the terms of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) brokered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).    
The facilitation alliance was lunched formally Wednesday (December 17) in the Kenyan capital on the sidelines of the 10th WTO ministerial conference (MC10).
The Centre for International Private Enterprise, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) along with the governments of Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States jointly launched platform with an avowed aim of supporting developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) in implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
During the conference, the WTO received six more ratifications for the TFA. The instruments of ratification were handed over to the WTO director-general, Roberto Azevedo. The latest signatories are Myanmar, Norway, Vietnam, Brunei, Zambia and Ukraine. Thus, the number of WTO-member countries under the pact stands at 63.
The forerunners in ratification of the TFA were Hong Kong, China, Singapore, the United States, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, the European Union (on behalf of its 28 member-states), Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Guyana, Côte d'Ivoire, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Kenya.
TFA was adopted at the 9th ministerial conference in the Indonesian resort island Bali in 2013. This happens to be first multilateral trade treaty in the 20-year history of the WTO.
Bangladesh is yet to endorse the agreement. On this score, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed told the FE that the government is considering the matter. "We have discussed the issue in cabinet. We will work on it."
Earlier, a senior official of the commerce ministry in Dhaka told the FE that as the TFA would enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO memberships accepted the agreement, Bangladesh might wait for such 'auto acceptance'.
 TFA contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and issues of customs compliance.
The benefits of the deal were highlighted and repeated several times at the conference and sideline events.  
Quoting several studies, it was said that implementation of the agreement could add over $1.0 trillion to global trade flows,  reduce trade costs by 14.3 per cent on average and create up to 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries.
Trade facilitation emphasizes replacing paper works in customs with electronic systems. A study by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific) last year mentioned that Bangladesh could save at least $131 million per year by fully implementing the paperless trading mechanisms.
A sidelines event titled Trade and Development Symposium (TDS) was organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) on December 14-17. In a session Thursday at the symposium, organised by Southern Voice and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), experts discussed different aspects of facilitation as regards LDCs.  
With Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya presiding, speakers in the sessions underscored smooth implementation of trade-facilitation measures in the LDCs as well as other developing countries.
They also identified some barriers, including noncooperation of exiting customs officials in implementing TFA in developing countries.
Meanwhile, 15 donor countries have pledged $90 million for phase-two Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), which is a dedicated window of the WTO for handing out aid for trade to LDCs, which include trade facilitation.
The support was confirmed at a pledging conference in Nairobi on December 14, on the sidelines of the MC10 of the WTO. The second phase of the EIF will begin on 01 January 2016.
EIF, however, has a plan to generate funds worth $300 million for seven years. Asked, RatnakarAdhikari, executive director of the EIF, said many donors couldn't make their pledge as some of the countries entered into election cycle while some others into budget cycle.
"Once they have finished the cycles, we will get their commitments and our target will be achieved," he added.
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