Regional Workshop highlights significance of Trade reforms for Pacific economies ^Featured

“The implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement will increase competitiveness in the Pacific. By streamlining trade and increasing transparency, it will boost exports, lower costs for business, and deepen regional integration among the Pacific islands,” said Mr. Shiu Raj, Director of Economic Governance Program at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) when opening the workshop.

“One of the greatest obstacles to trade in the Forum Island Countries is the high cost, bureaucratic procedures and burdensome multiple documentation requirements related to the clearance of goods at the border.”

Pacific WTO and non WTO members present at this workshop will exchange information on the results of the six in-country (Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement needs assessments and discuss a way forward towards its finalisation and submission through relevant Cabinet/ Parliamentary processes for approval and notification to WTO, but also on identifying regional approaches for implementing trade facilitation reforms. A roadmap on trade facilitation capacity building for the region will be developed this week.

The two day workshop is organized by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat with support from the International Finance Cooperation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group. This initiative is part of the collaboration between the World Bank and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in April this year, to take forward the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement in the Pacific region.

ENDS

Source: Pacific Islands Forum