Geneva, 16 May 2003
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) organized, in cooperation
with 12 other international organizations, a second International Forum on
Trade Facilitation – a topical event in the light of the preparations for
the forthcoming Fifth WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancún, Mexico, in
September.
Participants from industrialized and some transition and
developing countries, as well as representatives of the business community,
strongly supported the idea of including trade facilitation in the WTO negotiations.
This would be a new step in trade liberalization that would save billions
of dollars to the sluggish world economy. Yet representatives of certain developing
countries, notably Ambassador Puri of India, while recognizing the benefits
of trade facilitation reiterated their reservations regarding the need for
binding rules. However, they did not exclude completely the possibilities
of changes in this position before the next WTO Ministerial Meeting.
Even though a large part of the debates at the Forum focused
on the positions of various actors in the WTO, it was emphasized that while
the WTO remit remains focused on the legal framework, practical work on developing
international standards and recommendations remains the responsibility of
other organizations, such as the UNECE and the World Customs Organization.
The Forum indicated the urgent need for technical assistance
and capacity building for transition and developing countries, in order to
spread the benefits of trade facilitation more fairly among the different
participants in international trade. A number of efforts are already being
underway. European Union Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, told the Forum that
the EU has earmarked 500 million Euro for capacity building in trade facilitation.
The World Bank has developed a number of initiatives to promote trade facilitation
through public/private partnerships with private business.
UNECE and the other UN regional commissions have prepared
an interregional project for capacity building, which will be financed from
the UN Development Account. A number of contributions focused on the UNECE-led
project aimed at creating electronic trade documents, based on the UN standards
for paper documents, which can be easily transferred from electronic to paper
versions and vice versa.
The second major issue discussed at the Forum was the relationship
between trade facilitation and supply chain security. The Deputy Customs Commissioners
of the United States, Douglas Browning, and of Russia, Leonid Lozbenko, pointed
out that this was a new issue which needed further exploration. They commended
the UNECE on initiating a discussion on loopholes that could exist in supply
chain security and on possible solutions.
Douglas Browning said that the conditions for global trade
had deteriorated in the last two years. "Customs administrations are
obliged to look for processes that protect both our people and the trade on
which our people depend. What is important is that we continue working together
towards a harmonious balance between real security and real facilitation."
Participants in the Forum concurred that today’s increased
security measures in international trade are imposed for reasons external
to the trading system and are not an issue of protectionist trade policy.
The major issues are technical. The Forum reached the conclusion that the
technical improvements aimed at more reliable controls of international trade
flows may also help trade facilitation.
Participants in the Forum agreed that even if international
supply chains cannot be made entirely secure, it is necessary to begin work
on developing urgently needed global standards for security in international
trade, for example a new standard for container security. Mr. Lozbenko stressed
that Customs administrations are not alone in guaranteeing the security of
the international supply chain. Not only the World Customs Organization, but
also other organizations, such as UNECE and ISO, and all Governments have
responsibilities in securing harmony between trade facilitation and security.
Ministers of Trade from Tunisia and Angola and Deputy Customs
Commissioners from Ghana and Malaysia spoke about the significance of trade
facilitation measures in their countries. The UNECE Trade Facilitation Forum
confirmed the potential of multilateral organizations to create conditions
for economic growth and security for all. The UNECE Forums have become the
major global networking event in the area of trade facilitation, which encompasses
customs, administrative, security, financial and various sectorial issues.
The Chairman of the Forum, Ambassador Wasescha of Switzerland, reaffirmed
in his Conclusions the will of most participants in the Forum to maintain
this platform for a global exchange of views in the future.
For further information, please contact:
Mario Apostolov, Forum Coordinator
Tel. + 4122 9171134
e-mail: [email protected]