16 December 2015Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Yann DuvalChief, Trade Facilitation Unit

United Nations ESCAP

ESCAP Activity Report to 2015 AFACT

Plenary Meeting

UN ESCAP Trade Facilitation Programme & Way Forward

Legislative•Enabling paperless trade (Res. 68/3)•Regional Arrangement on cross-border paperless trade facilitation (Res. 70/6)

Knowledge• ESCAP-WB Trade Cost Database• Paperless Trade Guides & Impact

analyses• Global Trade Facilitation &

Paperless Trade Implementation Survey

• Trade Process Analysis Database

Capacity Building• Business Process Analysis• Single Window & Paperless

Trade Implementation• Trade & Transport Facilitation

Monitoring Mechanism• Agricultural & SME trade

facilitation• (WTO TFA support)

UNNExT*

APTFF*

ARTNeT*

ISG-CBPT*

*Regional Cooperation platforms and mechanisms: ISG-CBPT: Intergovernmental Steering Group on Cross-Border Paperless Trade; UNNExT: United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade and Transport in Asia and the Pacific; ARTNeT: Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade; APTFF: Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum; ROC-TF: Regional Organizations Cooperation Mechanism for Trade Facilitation

ROC-TF*

Legislative•Enabling paperless trade (Res. 68/3)•Regional Arrangement on cross-border paperless trade facilitation (Res. 70/6)

UN ESCAP Trade Facilitation Programme & Way Forward

Interim Intergovernmental Steering Group on Cross-border Paperless Trade Facilitation (ISG-CBPT)

Established as per ESCAP Resolution 70/6 to a) further improve the draft text of

the regional arrangement as a potential intergovernmental agreement,

b) prepare a draft roadmap for the implementation of substantive provisions in the draft text, and c) other functions as agreed by the Steering Group

first meeting held on 1 - 3 April 2015 with a decision to create Legal and Technical Working Groups

The second meeting is to be held on 31 March – 1 April 2016 in Bangkok

ISG-CBPT

Jointly and regularly meet to carry out their mandated Tasks. Met physically twice in 2015

Legal Working Group 1) Focus on negotiating and finalizing draft text of regional agreement2) Use physical meeting as a primary arrangement for work (Interim meeting on 19 -21 January 2016, Bangkok)

Technical Working Group1) Focus on preparing a draft road map for the implementation of

substantive provisions in the regional agreement2) Use both physical and virtual meetings

3rd Legal and Technical Working Groups meetings on 28-30 March 2016

Legal and Technical Working Groups of the ISG-CBPT

Knowledge•ESCAP-World Bank Trade Cost Database

•Paperless Trade Guides & Impact analyses

•Global Trade Facilitation & Paperless Trade Implementation Survey

•Trade Process Analysis Database

UN ESCAP Trade Facilitation Programme & Way Forward

– Objective: to assess the progress made in implementing trade facilitation and paperless trade measures in Asia and the Pacific.

• Covers implementation of 38 Trade Facilitation Measures in 119 economies; 44 in Asia-Pacific

• GLOBAL REPORT Launched at the 7th APTFF on 20 Oct. 2015

– Main components of the survey includes • key WTO related trade facilitation measures• Paperless trade measures

UNRC Joint Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation 2015

http://unnext.unescap.org/UNTFSurvey2015.asp

• Over 50 product and country specific import and export process cases are included, based on studies conducted since 2009.

• Data typically available for each trade process case, includes

– number of steps/procedures involved, – stakeholders involved,– number and type of documents, – activity diagrams, – time and cost of the procedures, as well

as – time-procedure chart.

• Enables TF practitioners to compare procedures across countries as a basis for making improvement

Trade Process Analysis Database (online test version, Oct. 2015)

tpad.unnext.org

Capacity Building•Business Process Analysis•Single Window & Paperless Trade Implementation

•Trade & Transport Facilitation Monitoring Mechanism

•Agricultural & SME trade facilitation

•WTO TFA implementation support

UN ESCAP Trade Facilitation Programme & Way Forward

Unnext.unescap.org

2nd UNNExT Masterclass on Single Window in the context of the WTO TFA [12-21 Jan. 2015]

Other recent Trade Facilitation Capacity Building events:• Regional Workshops on Agricultural TF and Paperless Trade

[Dec. 2014; May 2015] & on Paperless TF for SMEs [Feb. & May 2015]• National Workshop on WTO TFA implementation, Nay Pyi Taw,

Myanmar [Jul. 2015] and on Agri TF in Dhaka, Bangladesh [Oct. 2015]• Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum & Workshops on TF

Monitoring, e-SPS and WTO TFA implementation, 19-23 Oct. 2015

Thank You www.unescap.org/our-work/trade-investment/trade-facilitation