Summer holidays well and truly over, we are now in the thick of initiatives to improve the efficiency and security of international trade. Whilst we know that we are making a difference, we are currently going through a period where it feels as though the tide of trade restraint is stronger than we have faced for some considerable time. The failure of the WTO Cancún Ministerial Meeting is a missed opportunity and whilst of the Singapore issues 'trade facilitation' fared best, there will be a severe delay in the achievement of any rules based multilateral trade facilitation agreement.
Security issues are currently evolving from a vast number of organisations and authorities with little or no coordination between the instigators of the actions. Whilst there are very ambitious and intensive initiatives to monitor and control both imports and exports there no realistic appreciation of the likely full impact or cost of these initiatives. The ultimate answer to counter terrorism, increased security, is not a huge increase in border control, but the development of efficient integrated supply chains. Use of sophisticated risk management must ultimately win through.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 47, October/November 2003
