Fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade, 8 July 2013, Geneva
The UK welcomes the joint statement on Trade Facilitation Assistance on behalf of 27 governments and organisations.This statement demonstrates the UK's and wider development community's strong interest in working with developing and least-developed countries.
Fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade, 8 July 2013, Geneva
We issue the following statement on behalf of 27 governments and organisations. Taken together, our support for trade facilitation programs has global reach. It has assisted developing and least-developing countries in different regions to achieve significant results - cutting border clearance times, increasing revenue collection, and simplifying procedures for traders.
Trade facilitation reform delivers tangible benefits to economic growth and development. The widespread recognition of these benefits is reflected in e pursuit of trade facilitation initiatives in many developing and least-developing countries and regional cooperation bodies around the world. A World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement would add significant momentum to these initiatives, leading to even greater reductions in trade costs.
Because of the tangible economic benefits for developing and least- developing countries, we attach particular importance to assisting in the implementation of trade facilitation reform. A total of more than $381 million was committed to trade facilitation programs in 2011. This represents an increase of 365% (in real terms) of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to trade facilitation compared to the 2002-2005 average. Since 2006, over $1.2 billion ODA for trade facilitation has been disbursed. This underlines the strong and sustained support globally for trade facilitation efforts.
A WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement would build on the progress made to date. We recognise that there are WTO Members that will require support to fully implement the Trade Facilitation Agreement, complementing the support provided to date. Developing and least-developing WTO Members can be confident of our ongoing support for their implementation of a WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
Statement issued on behalf of :
WTO Members
Australia Canada Denmark European Union Finland France Germany Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States
Organisations
African Development Bank Asian Development Bank European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Inter-American Development Bank International Monetary Fund Islamic Development Bank Group Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Development Programme United Nations Economic Commission for Europe World Bank Group World Customs Organisation