OVERVIEW ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALMATY PROGRAMME OF ACTION - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• OVERVIEW ON THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALMATY PROGRAMME OF ACTION

Sixth Inter-Agency Meeting on the Implementation

• f the Almaty Programme of Action

2 November 2010 – New York

Sandagdorj Erdenebileg, Chief, Policy Development, Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting Service, OHRLLS

• Since the last IACG Meeting…

… LLDCs’ special needs and the importance of the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action have gained broader support and recognition

• Increased research on LLDC-specific topics,
• Increased mainstreaming of the APoA in the Agencies.

… increasingly broader approach to the APoA in the UN and the General Assembly

• Away from looking at APoA as sectorial transport issue,
• towards understanding its overall impact on trade, economic development and

achievement of the MDGs, Secretary General’s Report on APoA in 2010 features, for the first time, an

• verview of the Achievement of the MDGs within the LLDCs.

… tangible progress has been achieved in building an international consensus on the further implementation of the APoA

• Midterm Review Outcome,
• GA Resolution 64/214.

• Progress towards the MDGs

+ Solid Economic Growth: LLDCs as a group achieved an average annual growth rate of 7.8 per cent in the period 2003-2007, which slowed down to 6 per cent in 2008, + The rate of cellular subscription and Internet users significantly increased in all countries the same period, + Primary education: almost 70% of LLDCs have improved primary education between 2003-20008, + Gender parity in primary education: almost 80% of LLDCs have improved gender parity in primary education, + The number of adults living with HIV in LLDCs fell by 12.7% (weighted average) between 2001 and 2007, + Between 2000 and 2008, the weighted average of the mortality rate of children under five dropped by 24% in LLDCs, — In 14 LLDCs, more than 20% of the population is undernourished, — 42 per cent of the countries still have a maternal mortality ratio that is higher than 500 per 100,000 live births, — In 18 landlocked developing countries the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is below $1,000, — There is still wide-spread poverty in many LLDCs.

• Almaty Programme of Action: selected

achievements…

• Implementation of risk-based inspection regime and post-destination

clearance programme for pre-approved traders in Malawi.

• Implementation an electronic export system and improvement of the

risk-based inspection system in Paraguay.

• Introduction of an automated import and export customs clearance

system at the Chittagong port in Bangladesh.

• Establishment of one-stop border post initiatives between Kenya

and Uganda at Malaba, between Zambia and Zimbabwe; between Zimbabwe and Mozambique; and in West Africa on borders of Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and Mali.

Fundamental Transit Policy Issues

• … which have borne remarkable fruit.

Fundamental Transit Policy Issues

• 16%

46 55 Number of Days

• 17%

8 10 Number of Documents Export

• 14%

52 60 Number of Days

• 31%

10 14 Number of Documents Import Percentage Change 2009 2005 Required….

Source: www.doingbusiness.org/Downloads

• According to the Doing Business 2010 Report, Rwanda and

Kyrgyzstan were among the top performers.

• Landlocked and transit developing countries in all regions have

continued to make substantial progress in facilitating transport and trade across borders:

• Some key achievements…
• Ethiopia has set up the Dry Port Services Administration and has

started to construct of a dry port on the gateway to Djibouti.

• Further dry ports are being constructed in Burkina Faso, serving

Côte d’Ivoire and the Niger, as well as another on that will link Burkina Faso to seaports in Ghana by railways.

• Railway integration has recently made progress in South

America: in May 2010, Paraguay and Brazil formalized a project funded by the Brazilian Development Bank to link Paraguay’s railway system with the railroad linking Paranagua in Brazil and the Chilean city Antofagasta, in effect creating an inter-oceanic railway corridor.

Infrastructure Development and Maintenance

• Some key achievements (contd.)
• Establishment of road funds in 27 African countries.
• Amendments to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian

Highway Network were adopted in September 2009, providing as a result road connectivity to all landlocked countries in the region.

• Concerted efforts are under way by the ECA, AUC and UN-

OHRLLS to elaborate and conclude an intergovernmental agreement on the Trans-African Highway.

Infrastructure Development and Maintenance

• LLDCs’ share in world trade remains low
• The impressive export growth witnessed in LDCs in this decade can

be attributed to only a handful of them and driven largely by the surge in commodity prices, which saw oil and mineral prices rising significantly.

• While trade has expanded in LDCs, their share of the world’s overall

trade remains below 1%.

International Trade and Trade Facilitation

32 083 774 27 794 051 15 074 798 World 15.1% 15.3% 12.0% in % of world 4 830 429 4 244 545 1 813 518 Transit developing countries 0.8% 0.7% 0.5% in % of world 265 080 182 117 72 611 Landlocked developing countries 2008 2007 2003 (millions of current US$) Exports and Imports of merchandise

• Vulnerability owing to heavy reliance on

export of price-volatile commodities

The recent global economic crisis has pointed out the structural weaknesses of landlocked developing countries, in particular relating to their low productive capacities and heavy reliance on the export of few “low-value – high-bulk” commodities.

International Trade and Trade Facilitation

Selected Commodity Prices (index: 2000=100) 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 Jan2005 Jul2005 Jan2006 Jul2006 Jan2007 Jul2007 Jan2008 Jul2008 Jan2009 Jul2009 Jan2010 Jul2010

Agricultural Raw Material Minerals, Ores and Metals Crude Petroleum Food

• Tariff preferences and their utilization in 2008

International Trade and Trade Facilitation

69.9 77.1 9 262 12 010 4 800 48 906 65 973 Landlocked developing countries 81.0 89.0 35 930 40 375 6 230 27 590 74 305 Least developed countries 77.2 81.5 237 047 291 031 141 887 569 882 1 010 570 Developing countries excluding BRIC

Utilization percentage rate (excluding minerals and arms) Utilization percentage rate Exports actually entered under preferential regime Exports eligible for preferences Dutiable exports Duty-free exports - MFN=0% Total exports

Exporting group

Utilization of tariff presences remains low, largely owing to complicated Rules of Origin and Cumulation requirements.

All in Million United States dollars Source: International Trade Centre. Note: BRIC stands for Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China.

• Trade Facilitation under the DOHA Round
• One of the only areas in the currently ongoing negotiations that has

reported progress.

• A draft consolidated negotiating text is available based on all members’

suggestions and proposals

• Pledge by World Trade Organization members to provide extensive

technical assistance to help developing countries to negotiate effectively in the negotiations and to assist with implementation.

• The negotiating mandate states that if technical assistance is not

forthcoming a member needing this assistance will not be required to implement.

• Currently: 22 LLDCs are Members of the WTO and 8 are Observers

International Trade and Trade Facilitation

• Trade Facilitation under the DOHA Round (contd.)

Negotiations aim to clarify and improve relevant aspects of Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 1994 with a view to further expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.

• Article V: Freedom of Transit
• Article VIII: Fees and Formalities connected with Importation and

Exportation

• Article X: Publication and Administration of Trade Regulations

Key Provisions of Article V: Freedom of Transit

• Goods (…) shall be deemed to be in transit across the territory of a contracting party when the

passage across such territory (…) is only a portion of a complete journey beginning and terminating beyond the frontier of the contracting party across whose territory the traffic passes. Traffic of this nature is termed in this article “traffic in transit”.

• There shall be freedom of transit through the territory of each contracting party, via the routes

most convenient for international transit (…) , for traffic in transit to or from the territory of other contracting parties No distinction shall be made which is based on the flag of vessels, the place of

• rigin, departure, entry, exit or destination, or on any circumstances relating to the ownership of

goods, of vessels or of other means of transport.

• (…) such traffic coming from or going to the territory of other contracting parties shall not be

subject to any unnecessary delays or restrictions and shall be exempt from customs duties and from all transit duties (…)

International Trade and Trade Facilitation

• Trade Facilitation under the DOHA Round (contd.)

Key Provisions of Article VIII: Fees and Formalities connected with Importation and Exportation

1. (a) All fees and charges of whatever character (…) imposed by contracting parties on or in connection with importation or exportation shall be limited in amount to the approximate cost of services rendered and shall not represent an indirect protection to domestic products or a taxation

• f imports or exports for fiscal purposes.

(b) The contracting parties recognize the need for reducing the number and diversity of fees and charges referred to in subparagraph (a). (c) The contracting parties also recognize the need for minimizing the incidence and complexity of import and export formalities and for decreasing and simplifying import and export documentation requirements.

Key Provisions of Article X: Publication and Administration of Trade Regulations

1. Laws, regulations, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general application (…) shall be published promptly in such a manner as to enable governments and traders to become acquainted with them. Agreements affecting international trade policy which are in force between the government or a governmental agency of any contracting party and the government or governmental agency of any other contracting party shall also be published. (…) 2. No measure of general application taken by any contracting party effecting an advance in a rate of duty or other charge on imports under an established and uniform practice, or imposing a new or more burdensome requirement, restriction or prohibition on imports, or on the transfer of payments therefore, shall be enforced before such measure has been officially published.

International Trade and Trade Facilitation

• Massive investments in transboundary

infrastructure are needed

• ESCAP estimates an investment requirement of about $24 billion to put in place

8,200 km of missing links in the Trans-Asian Railway Network, including around $9 billion for 2,600 km of missing links in landlocked developing countries. For the Asian Highway, an investment needs study in 2005 estimated the required funds to improve and upgrade 26,000 km of the Asian Highway US$ 18 billion.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, about 30 per cent of the corridors connecting the 15

landlocked countries to major seaports needs to be upgraded. This is estimated to cost about $1.5 billion, with maintenance costs close to $1 billion annually.

• Total external financial commitments to African infrastructure projects rose to

nearly $40 billion in 2009.

• The share of ODA allocated to the transport, storage and communications

sectors in landlocked developing countries increased to 8 per cent on average for the group in 2008, with peaks of over 30 per cent in the cases of Mongolia, Paraguay, Swaziland and Uzbekistan.

International Support Measures

• Net ODA received in 2008, in % of GNI

International Support Measures

5 10 15 20 25 Turkmenist an Kazakhst an Azerbaijan Uzbekist an Paraguay Macedonia, FYR Swaziland Armenia Bolivia Republic of Moldova Mongolia Bot swana Nepal Tajikist an Chad Lesot ho Bhut an Kyrgyz Republic Zambia Lao P.D.R. Mali Niger Zimbabwe Uganda Burkina Faso Et hiopia Cent ral Af rican Republic Rwanda Malawi Burundi Af ghanist an

45.7% 43.7%

• LLDCs’ special needs and the importance of the implementation of the Almaty

Programme of Action have gained broader support and recognition

• Midterm Review Declaration (Res.63/2): broadly recognized LLDCs’

specific challenges

• Noted progress made in transit policy reforms, increased international

support (ODA, market access, debt relief) and greater support by international community to LLDCs

• Identified specific bottlenecks related to trade facilitation:
• Excessive number of documentation for import/export
• Multiplication of scheduled and unscheduled roadblocks
• Lack of adjacent border controls
• Unnecessary customs convoy
• Insufficient application of IC
• Non transparency of trade and customs laws
• Underdeveloped logistics sector
• Absence of competition in transit transport services sector

Implementation and Review

• The Midterm Review Declaration…

… identified specific actions to be undertaken by all

stakeholders to accelerate implementation under each priority:

Implementation and Review

LLDCs and transit developing countries:

• strengthen legal frameworks for transit transport operations
• effectively implement trade facilitation measures
• make efforts towards eliminating customs convoy practice
• Improve border infrastructure facilities
• Widen and deepen public and private sector cooperation
• Mobilize investment from all sources

Donors and multilateral, regional, financial and development institutions:

• provide appropriate, substantial and better coordinated technical and

financial assistance, notably in the form of grants or concessionary loans

• effectively operationalize the Aid for Trade Initiative, so as to support trade

facilitation measures and trade-related technical assistance

• facilitate access to and encourage transfer of technologies related to transit

transport

• Resolution adopted by the General Assembly,

A/RES/64/214

• Acknowledges progress made by landlocked and transit developing

countries in policy and governance reform efforts and recognizes greater attention to the establishment of efficient transit systems ….

• … but notes that landlocked developing countries continue to be

marginalized in international trade and face challenges in their efforts to achieve their development goals Identifies priority areas:

• Recognition of Freedom of Transit of LLDCs
• Need to provide landlocked and transit developing countries with appropriate,

substantial and better-coordinated technical and financial assistance

• Need to attract private investment, including foreign direct investment
• Importance of international trade and trade facilitation, including the

harmonization of trade and transit transport facilitation procedures

• Operationalization of Aid for Trade
• Transfer of technology, including information and communications technology
• South-South and triangular cooperation

Implementation and Review

• Efforts by the LLDCs
• Institutionalized biannual meeting of Trade Ministers
• 2005: Asunción, Paraguay
• 2007: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• 2009: Ezulwini, Swaziland
• Institutionalized annual meeting of Foreign Ministers
• 9th Annual Ministerial Meeting of Landlocked Developing Countries, 24

September 2010, New York

• Establishment of the International Think Tank on LLDCs in

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

• Text of the Draft Agreement was adopted at the Ministerial Meeting in

October 2010.

• Secretary General of the United Nations will be depository.
• The Agreement will be open for signature this year.

Implementation and Review

• The Way Forward - Priorities
• 1. Revitalize the work for the implementation of the Almaty

Programme of Action

• 2. Assist LLDCs in strengthening their analytical capacities
• Commission specific studies, particularly on trade facilitation, to support

LLDCs’ effective participation in the WTO negotiations

• Support the International Think Tank
• 3. Implement technical assistance programmes in the areas of

trade and trade facilitation, border-crossings and capacity buildings

• 4. Prepare for the High-Level Meeting on the Role of International

Cooperation, Infrastructure Development, Aid for Trade and Trade Facilitation for the Effective Integration of Landlocked Developing Countries into the Global Economy, Kazakhstan, June 2011

• 5. Update the Road Map and the Matrix

• Thank you