Improved trade facilitation boosts competitiveness, encourages investment, stimulates increased diversification, reduces corrupt practices, and creates sustainable jobs for men and women by increasing access to regional and global markets. Increased trade coupled with stronger linkages to regional and global value chains (GVC), and the adoption of digital technologies creates better jobs for women, young entrepreneurs, and other marginalized communities who can do well on the more level playing field of digitally supported export-oriented markets.
We implement trade facilitation through a multi-disciplinary approach across multiple government agencies in close cooperation with the private sector and civil society, with whom feedback loops and public-private dialogue can create feedback loops for the private sector to communicate trade barriers and for government to communicate trade reforms. Trade-related transactions costs are incurred at the border and behind the border. Our approach involves streamlining border processes to focus on trade facilitation rather than revenue collection, which paves the way for increasing DRM though stimulating increased trade and investment. Reducing the regulatory burden through implementing regulatory good practices and building trade capacity encourages investment and job creation. We view global and regional treaty commitments such as the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) as an important starting point for technical assistance efforts since they identify specific trade facilitation reforms to which a country has formally committed and now needs to implement, often through a TFA-mandated inter-agency national committee on trade facilitation.
IDG minimizes barriers to trade including loosening border restrictions and utilizing technology to conduct more efficient trade. We provide technical expertise on border regulatory issues including safety, public health, service sector competitiveness, and the environment to Indo Pacific economies. We also actively engage with small businesses to conduct cross-border trade and engage with regional and global supply chains.
The Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity is working to improve trade facilitation through the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), building the trade facilitation capacity of government officials, and improving food safety procedures. The Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity is working directly with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Ministry of Commerce National Committee for Trade Facilitation (NCTF) to implement the WTO TFA and develop training programs for Bangladeshi customs officers and trade representatives. To improve food safety to bolster agricultural trade, the Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity is working to build Government of Bangladesh institutional capability and expertise to develop and adopt science-based policies and regulations to comply with internationally recognized hygiene, standards, practices, and procedures.
EDGE initiated an assessment of the current state of compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) by the twelve EDGE countries. (Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Ukraine are WTO members; Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus are in the accession process; and Kosovo is not a WTO member.)
EDGE representatives participated in events and meetings organized by regional organizations and donors working on and supporting the regional trade facilitation efforts.
IDG prepared recommendations for an MCC program design intended to improve customs administration, clearance processes, and cross border trade and security in Tunisia. IDG recommended legal and regulatory framework reforms to streamline customs clearance with clear and precise standards, processes, and procedures for importing and exporting to increase predictability, efficiency, and security. Highlighting these areas, the proposed program design sought to improve trade facilitation in Tunisia, reduce the time and cost of transporting goods to the marketplace, and create predictability and transparency in customs.
IDG guided the establishment of a modern Customs Clearance Zone (CCZ) at the Port of Odessa, which would allow the efficient clearance of imports. IDG also assisted in developing plans for a Single Window system, a centralized submission portal where cross-border traders can submit official documents for increased efficiency and cost savings. IDG worked with the Government of Ukraine to create laws that simplify and expedite customs clearance processes, decrease unnecessary customs inspections, and remove legal gaps in goods valuations.
IDG conducted five trade analyses on LEAP II including identifying constraints to trade in Southern Africa, gathering data on informal cross-border trade in Liberia, assessing the customs sector in Timor-Leste, and analyzing inter-regional trade monitoring data in the Sahel. For each activity, IDG developed and agreed the design of the analysis with the Mission, implemented primary and secondary data collection, analyzed the data using rigorous methodologies, drafted a comprehensive report, and presented results to facilitation learning.
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