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The meeting was a contribution by UNCTAD to the High-Level Mid-Term Review of the Almaty Programme of Action (APA).
The purpose of the meeting was to review the recent progress made in matters related to trade facilitation for the benefit of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and look at new opportunities for the next APA half term of 5 years until 2013. The Chairīs summary of the meeting will be transmitted as a contribution to the High Level Mid-Term Review Meeting to take place on 2 and 3 October 2008 in New York.
The meeting was attended by around 50 representatives from diplomatic missions in Geneva and from Trade and Transport Ministries from capitals, as well as from international organizations and private sector companies, and other agencies dealing with transport and trade.
In reviewing the steps taken in the first half term of the APA, the meeting took note of the realities faced by both landlocked (LLDCs) and transit developing countries. For LLDCs these include well-known issues such as the distance to and from sea ports, the obstacles presented by border crossings, the dependency on the infrastructure of transit countries which all contribute to increasing the transport cost. However, LLDCs are also faced with a number of challenging recent developments such as global supply chain security requirements, raising fuel costs and increasing concerns about environmental impacts of land transport.
The meeting also took note of a number of findings and news approaches resulting from activities emanating from the APA. In particular, the meeting noted with interest the UNCTAD managed projects focusing on transit corridor and cluster development as well as the World Bank studies on transit systems, which had found that predictability, transparency, market liberalization and proper implementation are the corner stones for well functioning transit systems.
In concluding the meeting, the following concrete areas of action were identified by the participants:
- Deepening the understanding of the costs of landlockedness by implementing capacity building programmes aimed at setting up collaborative mechanisms on specific corridors, and developing competences accordingly.
- Promoting targeted projects within transit and landlocked countries to implement, when required, core reforms related to facilitation.
- Developing transit corridor performance measurement systems.
- Creating and maintain a repository of best practices regarding transit facilitation and related policy areas.
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