2003-2004 ANNUAL REPORT

TRADE DEVELOPMENT

Major achievements in 2003

The Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development held a successful second International Forum on Trade Facilitation with over 500 participants, in cooperation with 12 other international organizations. The Forum's theme was "How can trade facilitation be enhanced in a new security environment?" and it was concluded that the solution may lie in a collaborative approach among international organizations in defining security standards. The role of trade facilitation in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Round was also discussed and the Forum emphasized the urgent need for technical assistance and capacity-building for countries in transition and developing countries, in order to spread more fairly the benefits of trade facilitation.

Following up to the International Forum, a meeting was organized jointly with the World Customs Organization on trade facilitation and security. This meeting examined the division of responsibilities among international organizations involved in this area.

As part of a wider UNECE project looking at the challenges, opportunities and consequences arising from EU enlargement for non-acceding countries, and especially the Western Balkan countries and CIS, the Committee organized several events to look at the principal trade, business and investment issues. These included a workshop on trade, business and investment in a wider Europe and one on EU enlargement: regulatory convergence with nonacceding countries. During both workshops a major focus was on technical harmonization and standardization and the potential contribution of UNECE. As a result, it was concluded that further economic cooperation and integration between the enlarged EU and nonacceding Euro-Asian countries was necessary to reduce disparities within the region and develop a zone of prosperity and stability. Strategies for accomplishing this goal need to include greater regulatory convergence and harmonization, reduced trade transaction costs, increased stimuli for SMEs, and better targeted training and capacity-building programmes in the EU new neighbouring countries.

Based on the first workshop, a publication was also produced: "Beyond Enlargement: Trade Business and Investment in a Changing Europe." It presents to policy makers some of the opportunities for further economic integration within the region after EU enlargement and raises some issues that need to be addressed to ensure that Europe develops in a positive manner, promoting sustainable prosperity throughout the continent.

The Committee, in cooperation with the Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation, held a briefing for the Missions of UNECE member States and country representatives on issues of current concern regarding the multilateral trade negotiations, in order to help with the preparations for the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancún, Mexico. A briefing was also organized immediately after the WTO Ministerial Meeting to discuss the results.

The Working Party on Technical Harmonization and Standardization Policies (WP.6) organized two international seminars: one on regional experiences in good governance for regulatory practices in Bratislava, with particular emphasis placed on the situation in the Balkan region, and a second, larger seminar on good regulatory practices in Geneva. The objective of these seminars was to help governments ensure that safety and other legitimate regulatory requirements decided on a national level do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.

As a result of previous work with the countries of the CIS subregion on the practical implementation of UNECE Recommendation "L" (International Model for Technical Harmonization), the CIS members decided to use its principles and mechanisms in the CIS agree ment on the harmonization of technical regulations which was prepared by the CIS standardization bodies at their meeting in Armenia in May 2003.

The Trade Promotion Directory with the essential contacts for trade in all member States was published on the Internet. Participants in the Multiplier Point Network of national centres for promoting the Committee's work were constantly updated on trade, industry and enterprise development activities.

UN/CEFACT adopted a technical standard for electronic business extensible mark-up language (ebXML), which will be the basis for work on a new United Nations recommendation on electronic business. The technical specifications for technology-neutral electronic business core components were launched as basic building blocks for work in this area. Recommendations 23 and 28 were revised, and two updates were issued of both UN/LOCODE (code for trade and transport locations) and UN/EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport). More information can be found at www.unece.org/cefact/

The United Nations Electronic Trade Documents project (UNeDocs) is an implementation activity to assist countries with the development of aligned trade document systems in paper and electronic formats that can be used by SMEs. During 2003, UNeDocs developed a digital trade document as proof of concept (see the UNeDocs web site: www.UNeDocs.org) and began work on a feasibility study for implementation.

The Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards continued its work on updating and creating internationally harmonized quality standards (approximately 20 standards were revised and two new standards adopted). Work on internationally harmonized trade descriptions for fruit and vegetables to be used in electronic commerce as well as internal quality and maturity requirements was continued. Two training courses and two expert meetings on meat were organized in the Russian Federation in cooperation with the Ministry for Science, Industry and Technology of the Russian Federation and the St. Petersburg Customs Academy. The Working Party also supported other capacity-building activities for SMEs in cooperation with EAN International, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Government of Israel.

The Capacity Building Project for Sustainable Development of the Russian Timber Sector strengthened its work on the sustainable use of woody biomass for energy production and expanded its activities in the UNECE region. The focus on distance-learning programmes allowed for a wider sharing of the project's results with an increasing number of regions and countries. The project also strengthened its cross-sectoral and interregional approach in trade and environment and, in particular, in biomass trade.

An inter-regional seminar and two workshops were organized by UNECE as the lead organization in the inter-regional e-Mediterranean (e-Med) project funded by the United Nations Development Account (see http://www.unemed.net/). One of the conclusions coming out of this project was the need to work toward the establishment of an interregional MEDPRO committee to promote trade facilitation and e-business implementation in the region and especially in countries that are not applying for EU membership.

Major challenges for 2004

The Committee will host the International Forum on Challenges for Trade and Enterprise Development in a Changing Europe in May 2004 in Geneva. The purpose of this Forum will be to enable the non-acceding countries to better understand the benefits and new opportunities arising from the changing trading environment in Europe. The expected outcome of the Forum will be a cluster of recommendations on areas of action where UNECE and other international organizations could assist non-acceding countries to integrate more effectively into the regional and global system of trade.

A joint UNECE/OSCE workshop will be organized on "The Economic Dimension of Security in Europe: Facing New Challenges in a Changing Environment". The workshop will explore how integration in the region will affect the future shape and direction of the economic dimension of security in the next decade and assess how cooperation in the region could be strengthened in order to enhance security and conflict prevention, which are the prerequisites for a stable and prosperous Europe.

A new UN/CEFACT recommendation on electronic business will be developed, a number of existing UN/CEFACT recommendations will be updated and, simultaneously, more focus will be placed on the implementation of Trade Facilitation Recommendations, particularly in countries in transition.

In cooperation with SITPRO, the Simpler Trade Procedures Board of the United Kingdom, a set of ten international trade documents in paper and electronic format will be drafted for implementation under the UNeDocs project. A feasibility study for UNeDocs implementation in Serbia and Montenegro will also be completed.

Additional resources need to be obtained to support expanded and new work under UN/CEFACT in support of electronic business standards, given that current UNECE secretariat resources are not sufficient. Following the obtaining of these resources, additional commercial repositories and registries for electronic business standards will need to be initiated. A solution also needs to be found to the issue of intellectual property rights in UN/CEFACT work.

Practical results should be achieved from the technical projects of the Working Party on Technical Harmonization and Standardization Policies (WP.6), namely the harmonization of technical regulations in the telecommunications and earthmoving machinery sectors. Also, significant progress should be made in the definition of best practices by the WP.6 Ad Hoc Advisory Group of Experts on Market Surveillance, established in 2003 in order to follow up on the 2002 Market Surveillance Forum.

The Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards will continue both its development of standards and its capacity- building activities. In particular, seminars on food quality and international trade will be held in one or more CIS members (e.g. Georgia, Republic of Moldova) and cooperation with other United Nations regional commissions will take place. Work with the Russian Federation on the development and implementation of standards for meat will be continued and, if possible, extended to other CIS members.

The Multiplier Point Network will be expanded to all UNECE member States and to more regions in countries with economies in transition. Also, there is a need to further encourage communication among Multiplier Points as well as between the Network and the secretariat.

The strengthening of sustainable forest management at the enterprise level will remain a prominent goal of the Capacity Building Project for Sustainable Development of the Russian Timber Sector. Special attention will be given to cooperation with all relevant certification systems and with environmental non-governmental organizations. Developing the trade logistics of woody biomass for energy production is still a major challenge for all project partners and cooperation in this field will be steadily expanded to other UNECE member States. The dissemination of project results through training and specialized working groups will be actively pursued.