NEWSBLOG

Alliance for the Implementation of
Trade Facilitation in Developing Countries
This Newsblog provides a quarterly update on the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation. It covers the main activities of the Alliance in Germany and recent developments in Alliance projects abroad.   
For questions and reactions, please get in touch with us via tradefacilitation@giz.de.
    German Alliance News

    The Alliance is expanding its client outreach and communication. In cooperation with our members, we are developing a website, which will be launched by the end of September 2018. The website will provide regular updates on our projects and network.

    As decided at the third bi-annual working meeting in March, private sector representatives and governmental institutions together with GIZ started project preparations in Indonesia, Ukraine and Nigeria. At our scoping missions, we are jointly considering and determining trade facilitation priorities from all aspects. If you are interested in contributing to and joining any of our projects, please contact us for further information.

    To further sustain the collaborative approach of the Alliance, Bosch will host our fourth bi-annual working meeting on September 20th and 21st 2018 at their modern engineering site in Abstatt. We are looking forward to welcoming all existing and prospective members of the Alliance.

     
    News from Projects      

    We are continuously working to accomplish the objectives of the Alliance to make trade faster and easier for all stakeholders. Please find information on our country projects in this section. Feel free to contact us if you would like to get involved.

    MONTENEGRO

    Project Success and Closure Celebrations
    After two years of working together with the Customs Administration of Montenegro and express operators, the Alliance is proud to announce that full electronic pre-arrival processing of customs declarations system in line with the WTO TFA was successfully implemented in Montenegro. As a result, the same day delivery rate in Montenegro has increased by 100% due to faster border clearance. This success was celebrated together with all involved stakeholders in a project closure workshop in Budva on 6th July. Other customs administrations from the region, which are in the process of implementing the same system based on the Alliance approach, joined the workshop as well. 

    INDONESIA

    Exploring Trade Facilitation Project Potential
    After a first scoping mission in May 2018, a wide range of stakeholders have expressed interest in the Alliance approach and a potential cooperation with a view to making cross-border trade procedures simpler and more efficient. In a second visit to Jakarta at the end of July, the Alliance team validated the context and requirements for a number of proposed trade facilitation interventions. Subsequently, the Alliance will discuss these potential interventions with all involved ministries, agencies and the private sector at the next National Committee on Trade Facilitation meeting.
    Since August 2018, we have been supported by a national advisor in Jakarta for the further development of the project. 

    ARGENTINA

    Addressing the Number of Containers that Face Long and Costly Delays at Border Checks
    The German Alliance and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation are jointly engaging in Argentina, leveraging each other’s networks and strengths. The VUCE team of the Ministry of Production and the Alliances project team are currently preparing the project concept. This will focus on the high percentage of imports and exports placed in the red and orange channels. For the orange channel, the major cause of problems is the lack of a complete, clear and binding list of documents required by all government agencies concerned in order to receive permission to trade abroad. By addressing this challenge for key export and import products to be nominated by companies, the transaction costs of foreign trade will be lowered. The project also facilitates public-private dialogue. In May 2018, a seminar was hosted by the Alliances to inform companies about customs infringements with the opportunity for companies to ask questions and comment on still existing problems.

    SERBIA

    Testing and Launch of Pre-Arrival Processing 
    The project implementation of the Pre-Arrival Procedure in Serbia is currently in its last phase. Serbian Customs and express operators are discussing final adjustments for the efficient functioning of an IT system that was developed for the Pre-Arrival Procedure. It is expected that implementation will be completed in September 2018. During a final workshop, we will be able to assess the impacts of the project and gather further lessons learned from the public-private co-implementation of the project. The success of the project in Serbia has already inspired four other countries in the region to start similar projects and implement electronic pre-arrival processing with the Alliance approach. In a joint regional workshop in July lessons learned and good practices for the implementation were exchanged with other customs authorities of the Balkans region. Further information on the project can be found here.   

    UKRAINE

    Realising New Opportunities through Trade Facilitation  
    In recent years, the Ukraine has laid the foundations for stronger integration of Ukrainian business in international trade. The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU and the ratification of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) open up new opportunities. It is no surprise that there is a strong interest among business members of the German Alliance in the Ukraine. The reforms of the Ukrainian customs codex offer provide additional momentum. The specific objective of a potential project will be determined in consultations with Ukrainian stakeholders starting in autumn. If you are you interested in being informed more closely and possibly becoming involved in the project, please contact the Alliance Secretariat.

    MOLDOVA

    Pre-Arrival Processing
     
    Project champion DHL-Express submitted the proposal for a pre-arrival processing project in Moldova to developpp.de at the end of June. Following the general acceptance of a concept note by developpp.de in early March, DHL-Express, Moldovan Customs, the business community and GIZ Moldova held extensive consultations on the project design and targets. The project is geared towards increasing the number of express shipments being released within one hour of their arrival to 65% over a period of 24 months. As a first successful activity, Moldovan Customs took part in an exchange with the six project countries already implementing pre-arrival processing in the wider Alliance context.

    Global Alliance News  

    The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation coninues to work on its current project countries and is continuously screening for potential new projects.

    Please contact us for more information on the Global Alliance projects where the GIZ Team is involved.

    Further projects of the Global Alliance are implemented in Vietnam, Colombia, Brazil and Sri lanka. Please find more information here    .

    GHANA
    Expedite Release of Goods through Risk-Based Pre-Arrival Processing
    Implementation activates in Ghana are ongoing. The project has been formalized within Ghana’s National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC). A first meeting of the NTFC Technical Working Group on Pre-arrival processing with 15 Ghanaian private sector project stakeholders took place at the end of July to discuss implementation issues and the way forward. To further strengthen public-private support and ensure continued buy-in and political support, the Alliance organized a public-private dialogue with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and ICC Ghana on the role of the private sector for the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.

    KENYA

    Expedite Release of Goods through Risk-Based Pre-Arrival Processing
    Over 50 public and private stakeholders participated in a kick-off workshop week on a Time-Release Study in Mombasa at the beginning of May.  All Kenyan border agencies and a multitude of representatives from the private sector contributed to the event, mainly focusing on the scope of the study, which will be finalized by the end of October 2018. The Alliance and the Kenyan Department of International Trade are currently in the process of drafting an Implementation Agreement, covering the institutionalization and the capacity development for pre-arrival processing and risk management.

    MOROCCO

    Streamlining processes for Agri-Food Products 
    Alongside multiple Moroccan border agencies and local and international agri-food companies, the Alliance is designing and implementing electronic systems to address the most prominent boarder issues. A paperless, automated data exchange between weigh bridges at Morocco`s main ports and those who use the data will make trade faster and more secure. Additionally, the Alliance will support Morocco in joining an initiative led by the International Plant Protection Convention to introduce and share electronic phytosanitary certificates between countries. The project team will organise study visits to and from key European ports to ensure we learn from international best practice, bring in technical expertise to design and install the new systems and organise training sessions for those who will use them. Agri-food traders will be directly involved in piloting the new systems and will collect data on how the time and cost of importing and exporting are being effected.

    NIGERIA

    Project Scoping Mission
    The Global Alliance members jointly decided to start project preparations in Nigeria, the second largest African economy.  Since German Alliance members also expressed interest in project development in Nigeria at the last work meeting, a number of German companies have joined the scoping process in Nigeria. A project tailored to targeted reforms could release unexploited potential for trade facilitation, underpinning the government’s as well as business priorities in this regard. The project team has completed a first fact-finding mission in Abuja and Lagos and met with public and private sector representatives. In a business roundtable on July 19th representatives from German, Nigerian and international companies and associations exchanged views on how cross-border trade can be improved.  

    Best regards,

    Daniela Zehentner-Capell, Co-Chair of the Alliance Steering Group, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

    Philipp Kruschel, Head of the Alliance Secretariat, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

    Mattia Wegmann, Programme Manager Alliance for Trade Facilitation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

    Upcoming Events

    • 20-21 September 2018: Alliance Working Meeting at Bosch in Abstatt
    • 24-25 September 2018: Tag der deutschen Industrie Berlin
    • 14 November 2018: Mittel- und Osteuropa Wirtschaftstag Hamburg

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    Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH
    Philipp Kruschel
    Köthener Straße 2-3
    10963 Berlin
    Deutschland

    +49 30 338 424 834
    philipp.kruschel@giz.de