Regional : Knowledge Solutions for Trade Facilitation in Asia and the Pacific

Industry and trade / Trade and services

Trade facilitation is a key factor in strengthening a country's economic competitiveness by lowering the cost and improving the efficiency of trade across borders, thereby boosting trade and economic growth. Trade facilitation promotes integration of enterprises into regional and global value chains by minimizing unnecessary trade-related costs, especially for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises for which these can be excessively large. The importance of trade facilitation and logistics was amplified during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic when maintaining trade flows, particularly easing the flow of vaccines and other medical supplies, food, and other goods essential to deal with the crisis, and expediting digitalization became critical.

Much progress has been made in reforming trade facilitation in Asia and the Pacific, but many challenges still hinder the seamless and faster movement of goods and services across borders. Challenges include cumbersome customs procedures, weak coordination and harmonization of systems across borders, suboptimal utilization of digitalization, inadequate transport and trade infrastructure and logistics, difficulties in administering standards and technical regulations (e.g., sanitary and phytosanitary measures), inefficient transport arrangements, poor access to trade finance, and inadequate measures to facilitate trade in services.

While resources have been developed by international organizations, the absence of a mechanism to systematically collect, store, and share trade facilitation program and project information results in inadequate documentation and application of experiences, lessons learned, and good practices in designing and implementing trade facilitation measures. The inability to tap a wider pool of experts or practitioners when needed often results in the provision of the same recommendations and traditional programs and projects, irrespective of DMC needs. Insufficient assessment and analysis of knowledge needs results in a scarcity of upstream knowledge work that can solve persistent challenges affecting trade facilitation. The scarcity leads to weak stakeholder capacity to effectively design and implement trade facilitation measures, exacerbated by limited opportunities for sharing experiences, inadequate financing for capacity building, and unexplored opportunities for leveraging partnerships for capacity building with regional and international institutions.

Opportunities for DMCs to participate in global and regional trade expanded

Knowledge solutions for trade facilitation in ADB DMCs fostered

Knowledge resources on trade facilitation programs and projects improved

Operationally relevant knowledge products and events on trade facilitation completed