International trade, trade facilitation & fundamental transit policy issues VPoA Meeting, Livingstone, Zambia, 2 June 2015 William Petty, Head – Regional Committee for Africa

2 Simplified processes reduce costs – OECD estimated that up to 7% of the total value of international trade is absorbed by the cost of documentation alone 1 day in transit = 1% reduction in trade volumes (Djankov et al, 2010: Trading on Time) 1 day in transit = 6% reduction in exports for perishable goods Uganda: factory to ship time from 58 days to 27 days = increase in exports by 31% Cutting waiting time can also have a positive impact on broader issues – criminality, environment, HIV Why trade facilitation?

3 Exporting bananas to Poland Sources:

4 Vienna Programme of Action: Transit policy reform – e.g. UN TIR Convention Intermodal and road infrastructure Simplification & harmonisation – WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Effective regulatory environment for transport: Fair competition Level playing field to allow the best service providers to rise to the top How to reduce trade costs?

5 Transit policy Transports Internationaux Routiers Managed by the IRU since 1949

6 Geographical scope of the TIR Convention Based on TIR Convention of 1975

7 CountryNumber of TIR Operators (19/05/2015) Number of TIR Carnets (2013) Afghanistan-50 Armenia592,200 Azerbaijan4810,300 Kazakhstan33825,000 Kyrgyzstan12122,200 Macedonia1,94929,300 Moldova73377,450 Mongolia-100 Tajikistan-3,500 Turkmenistan227,500 Uzbekistan2237,500 TIR Implementation in LLDCs