Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 1

The Role of ESCWA in Promoting Trade

Facilitation

Nabil SafwatChief, Transport and Trade Facilitation Team(TTF)

Globalization and Regional Integration Division (GRID)Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)

Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 2

Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 3

Trade Facilitation Issues in ESCWA

Intra-regional trade is less than 10% of international trade in the region

Major causes are complexities in border formalities Administrative procedures Required documentation Unpredictability of high costs and delays

Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 4

Trade Facilitation Approach in ESCWA

Development of an integrated transport system (ITSAM)

Improvements in infrastructure Improvements in trade flow operations,

logistics and procedures throughout the supply chain

Institutionalization of public / private sector interactions

Legal and administrative reforms

Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 5

Integrated Transport System in the Arab Mashreq (ITSAM)

An integrated transport network

An associated information system

A methodological framework for analysis and policy formulation

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Improvement of Infrastructure in support of

Trade Facilitation

Roads Agreement (1st UN treaty in ESCWA) Adopted on 10 May 2001 11 Signatories by 31 Dec 2002 4 Ratifications by 1 May 2003

(5 required for entry into force) Railways Agreement (2nd treaty)

Adopted on 14 April 2003 8 Signatories by 17 April 2003

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Improvements in operations, logistics and procedures

Trade Efficiency Study (1999)

Trade Facilitation Field Study (2000)

(Five countries-Six volumes)(Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, UAE)

Studies on Application of EDI and ICT (1999, 2001 and 2003)

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Institutionalization of public/private interactions

Guide to the establishment of National Transport and Trade Facilitation Committees (2003)

Four Countries issued Cabinet decrees to establish NTTFC

Two countries took positive steps towards establishing NTTFC

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Factors for Success of Trade Facilitation measures

Political will Long term commitment Clear vision Adequate resources Close cooperation between

public and private sectors Capacity building Technical assistance

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Capacity Building Projects

Capacity building in developing inter-regional land and land-sea transport linkages

All five UN regional commissions; ESCWA coordinator Five years ( 2002-2006) USD 1.25 Million from UN Development Account

Capacity Building in trade facilitation and electronic business in the Mediterranean

Three UN regional commissions ECE,ESCWA and ECA; ECE coordinator Two years (2002-2003) USD 600,000 from UN Development Account ESCWA countries are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria

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E-Med Trade Facilitation Project Flowchart - ESCWA

National TTF workshops(Fall 2003)

National Studies(Spring 2003)

ESCWA main activities Activities by others

E-business training tools

Regional e-business seminar for SMEs (Fall

2003)

Regional seminar to review lessons learned and look ahead (Spring

2004)

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National TTF Studies

Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria: National consultants

Egypt: Dutch Consultant thru’ World Bank Regional Consultant thru’ ESCWA National Experts thru’ Egyptian Government

Should complement previous ESCWA studies

Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 13

Current Improvements in the region

New Customs Laws

(Lebanon: April 2001; Egypt: underway) Accessions to existing int’l conventions EDI and ICT applications New regional agreements NTTFCs Development of ITSAM

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Role of regional commissions

Implementation of trade facilitation measures, standards and recommendations must be done at the regional and sub-regional levels.

Int’l and national implementation plans must

include a regional dimension

Hence, involvement of regional commissions is a must

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Recommendation to the 2nd

Int’l Trade Facilitation Forum

CEFACT and the Int’l Trade Facilitation Forum should work together on making more resources available for capacity building and technical assistance activities in developing countries to be implemented in full coordination with the UN regional commissions in their respective regions.

Nabil Safwat, Trade Facilitation Forum, 15 May 2003 16

THANKS

Thank Trade Division of ECE

Thank you