Trade and Transport Facilitation- A Review of Current Issues and Operational Experience

SSATP Working Paper May 31, 1996 Regional Integration
http://www.ssatp.org/sites/ssatp/files/publications/SSATP-WorkingPapers/SSATPWP…
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Carlos F. de Castro
SSATP, The World Bank
SSATP Working Paper No. 27
Trade and Transport Facilitation- A Review of Current Issues and Operational Experience
This joint World Bank/UNCTAD review proposes ways and means to improve the competitiveness of a country's international trade by: increasing the quality and reducing the associated costs of international transport; and reducing any possible transaction cost, adapting commercial practices to international standards, and removing any unnecessary trade barriers within the economic, social, and political context of that country. This report is organized as follows: Chapter 1 of the review provides definitions and introduces some basic concepts and criteria. Chapter 2 outlines a cross-sectoral approach to competitiveness and cost in international trade and transport-related transactions. Chapter 3 reviews the UNCTAD experience in trade and transport facilitation, while Chapter 4 describes the World Bank experience on these matters. Chapter 5 describes the contents of a facilitation program and reviews its critical stages (identification, preparation, and execution) and the instruments available to strengthen the program's implementation. Finally, Chapter 6 proposes an agenda for Bank and UNCTAD staff intervention in facilitation by: 1) reviewing experiences in project implementation; 2) discussing lending implications when introducing policy reform; and 3) discussing the institutions' technical cooperation objectives.

Air Transport Airlines Bank lending bills of lading Boxes bulk cargo CAF Cargo carriage carriers CIF Combined Transport combined transport documents Commodities competitiveness Consignment consumers container handling container vessels containerization containers Contractual Arrangements Customs Customs Procedures debt Depots diseconomies distribution services distribution systems division of labor drayage economic growth economic integration economies of scale exports foreign exchange forwarding freight freight forwarding GATT GDP GNP Gross Domestic Product Gross National Product Handling horizontal integration imports industrial economies industry logistics inefficiency insurance insurance premiums Intermodal transport International Trade inventories inventory inventory management ITC labor force laws letters of credit liability loading logistics costs LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT manufacturing Multimodal Transport oil OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries packaging ports price differences producers production capacity Production costs production processes productivity profitability Road transport savings shipments Shipping ships stocks Structural Adjustment telecommunications TRADE BARRIERS Trade Competitiveness Trade Facilitation trade flows Trade Logistics traffic transaction costs transit transit times Transport transport documents transport services transshipment trucks warehousing working capitalTrade facilitation Transport facilitation competitiveness International Trade Project implementation Policy reform Technical cooperation Computer programs Information systems transport costs
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