Regional workshop on WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations

The Sub Regional workshop on WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations will be held on June 21 and 22 at Hotel Trans Asia.

The objectives of the workshop are to take stock of the latest development of the WTO negotiations on trade facilitation, raise participants' awareness of specific trade facilitation technical issues and discuss technical assistance and capacity building needs, analyse specific proposals made at the WTO concerning Articles V, VIII and X of GATT, Identify and assess the priorities for SAARC Member countries and discuss future perspectives of the negotiations and different negotiation strategies.

The opening ceremony will be addressed by Secretary, Trade, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Marketing Development Dr. R. M. K. Ratnayake, Chief, Trade and Logistics Branch, SITE, UNCTAD Peter Faust and Director General of Customs Sarath Jayathilake.

According to a spokesman 25 international participants and 25 local participants will attend the workshop. The sessions will be addressed by eminent speakers in the field of WTO trade facilitation negotiation. Dayaratna Silva, WTO Permanent Mission in Geneva of Sri Lanka and M. S. M. Niyaz Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agents, Sri Lanka will be among the speakers.

There will be sessions on Trade and transport facilitation in the development process, Introduction to Trade Facilitation (TF) and to the WTO negotiations on TF, Introduction to the technical aspects of TF and to the main WCO instruments, Introduction to GATT Article X, to GATT Article, National experiences related to Article X, Introduction to GATT Article VIII, Specific proposals related to GATT Article VIII, National experiences related to Article VIII, Introduction to GATT Article V, Specific proposals related to GATT Article V, National experiences related to Article V, Private sector expectations from the WTO negotiations on trade facilitation, Implementation of the output of WTO negotiation on trade facilitation: Importance of the Annex D of the WTO July Package, Specific proposals on the implementation of TF measures, Special and Differential Treatment, and Technical Cooperation and Issues and challenges of the WTO negotiations on trade facilitation.

WTO negotiations on trade facilitation as part of the Doha Development Round were launched in 2004 on the basis of the Annex D of the "July package" to clarify and improve article V, VIII, and X of GATT 1994. Since then, developing countries have taken an active part in trade facilitation negotiations and have submitted a large number of negotiating proposals, in several cases as co-sponsors with other countries.

The WTO negotiating group on trade facilitation (NGTF) has made considerable progress in developing proposals to improve Articles V, VIII and X to further expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods. However, the negotiations currently focus on the capacity building and special and differential treatment provisions of the July Package.

It has become clear that developing countries, and least developed countries in particular, require assistance to better understand the different trade facilitation measures and their implications to asses the country's trade facilitation needs and priorities and to define negotiation strategy that will allow these countries to participate more effectively in the negotiation process.

With assistance from the Governments of Sweden and Spain, UNCTAD has established a Trust Fund to support developing countries members of the WTO in defining a negotiation strategy and in formulating the modalities for an effective implementation of the negotiated commitments.