UNCTAD has reached agreement with the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración, or ALADI) to strengthen cooperation in the area of non-tariff measures (NTMs).
The agreement builds on more than a decade of cooperation between the two organizations in the area of trade policy.
ALADI has adopted the new UNCTAD classification of NTMs (released in 2012) for the purpose of collecting official data on the non-tariff measures of all ALADI members.
In accordance with the agreement, UNCTAD will also support ALADI in expanding NTM data collection to several Central American countries.
The ALADI database systematizes official NTM regulations for trade in goods, and provides the in-depth information necessary for analysing the various impacts of these measures, which are growing in importance in world trade.
The UNCTAD-ALADI agreement will contribute to work related to a global online database on trade policy measures (known as WITS-TRAINS, a joint endeavour between UNCTAD and the World Bank).
Under the wider Transparency in Trade (TNT) programme implemented jointly by UNCTAD, the World Bank, the International Trade Centre and the African Development Bank, UNCTAD is the lead and coordinating agency on matters related to NTMs.
