In September 2003 there is a unique opportunity to initiate negotiations on a WTO agreement on trade facilitation. An agreement within the WTO will improve the efficiency of border management procedures worldwide and this will reduce barriers, reduce costs and increase trade. It will start a process that will initiate a progressive improvement in the international trade process. A recent IMF study indicated that a fifty per cent reduction in border inefficiency would save international trade in the region of $325 billion, which is disproportionately loaded on the shoulders of developing countries.
It is vital to improve the understanding of the opportunity that a WTO agreement gives developing countries and this has to be achieved at the very latest by June 2003. In pursuit of this objective SITPRO has been actively promoting its vision of the way forward.
In December, we were invited by The National Europe Centre and the European Commission DG Trade, to share our thoughts on a WTO agreement on trade facilitation at a Trade Seminar in Canberra. The Trade Minister - Mark Vaile, opened this Seminar. Our novel approach to a trade facilitation agreement was accepted with interest. Discussion with the participants also enabled us to cover the broad range of SITPRO activities and raised significant interest in some of our other initiatives. We achieved broad support for our approach from the seminar participants and this will be used to assist in the persuasion of countries in the Asia Pacific Region.
Working with the Commonwealth Business Council and sponsored by DFID we are planning to arrange two roundtable discussions for developing countries on the specific topic of a trade facilitation agreement in the WTO. The first will be in New Delhi in March and another will follow in April, hosted by the South African Revenue Service.
In January we took an opportunity to visit New Delhi to establish foundations for our event in March, through discussions with the British High Commission, the Ministry of Finance and senior business representatives. We outlined the benefits that a WTO agreement would give both government and business in developing countries. Whilst there was not time for detailed debate, everyone that we met accepted our ideas very positively.
At the end of January we were asked to present our views on a WTO agreement on trade facilitation to the All Africa Customs Conference 2003, which was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of South Africa. The primary focus for this Conference was 'The New Partnership for Africa's Development' (NEPAD). This forum gave us an opportunity to share our views with 150 of the most senior customs officials from throughout Africa. Despite the desperate economic problems a large proportion of these countries face, most participants addressed trade facilitation very positively. They were clearly sceptical about the commitment of the European Union and the United States to the WTO and the plight of the developing countries within it. Surprisingly in this environment the SITPRO ideas on a trade facilitation agreement appeared to be accepted without any direct opposition by the African delegates. Only the World Customs Organisation took a very negative position primarily because they see a WTO agreement undermining their strength in this area. In fact it should do the opposite and establish the WCO as the primary organisation to ensure the technical coherence of the agreement and its effective implementation. This visit also started to build the foundations for the roundtable meeting in April in South Africa. We now have an excellent base to assist African administrations in the development of their longer-term customs strategy.
We still have daunting programme of work to ensure that some key developing countries are able to take a more rational view of trade facilitation and the WTO for the meeting in Cancún in September but we have made very significant progress over the past two months.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 43, February/March 2003
