Trade Facilitation
Sector: Trade Facilitation Total Cost: $21 million Status: Ongoing
This program supports the simplification, harmonization, and modernization of Nepal's trade processes to meet international standards. This will contribute to Nepal's national goals of promoting and diversifying exports, and help the country fulfill its commitments to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and related international standards on customs.
Sector: Trade Facilitation Total Cost: $1 million Status: Ongoing
This technical assistance will help strengthen the Nepal Department of Customs' (DOC) capacity to execute reform measures aligned to the strategic priorities of the 4-year national strategy, the Customs Reform and Modernization Strategies and Action Plan (CRMSAP) 2017-2021.
Sector: Trade Facilitation Total Cost: $2.03 million Status: Ongoing
This regional technical assistance supports the operations of the Customs Subgroup of the SASEC Trade Facilitation Working Group, for improved coordination and cooperation among Customs officials in the SASEC countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka). It also seeks to promote experience and knowledge exchange on international best practice on Customs reform and modernization in South Asian countries. Finally, it helps develop a framework for interface of modern Customs administration systems between and among SASEC countries.
Sector: Trade Facilitation Total Cost: $48 million Status: Closed
This program's intended impact is to increase trade, including intraregional trade, of SASEC countries by reducing or removing non-tariff barriers, specifically institutional, administrative, and technical barriers to trade in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. The intended outcome is to support a more efficient, transparent, secure, and service-oriented processing of trade in the subregion.
SASEC Trade Facilitation
Sector Strategy
- Implement the SASEC Trade Facilitation Strategic Framework 2014-2018, focusing on customs modernization, standards and conformity assessment strengthening, cross-border facilities improvement, through transport facilitation, and institution and capacity building
- Support the strategic priorities of South Asia Free Trade Agreement cooperation framework
Key Facts
- The full potential of multimodal transport networks and logistics hubs will never be optimized without faster and least cost border-crossing points that facilitate trade and move people, goods, and vehicles more efficiently around the region
- Business process analysis shows progress between 2006–2012 for certain products, yet average time and costs of trading across borders in South Asia is still relatively high in comparison with other developing regions
Key Challenges
- Increasing intra-regional trade in South Asia, which made up only 4.3% of the region’s total trade in 2010
- Eliminating barriers including lengthy administrative procedures, and unnecessary documentation requirements, and coordinating harmonized trade regulations
- Establishing effective automation and streamlining of customs and security procedures
- Building efficient transit arrangements
- Strengthening cooperation between governments to create efficient and integrated border management arrangements, including single-window systems
Unlocking the Future: Faster, Cheaper Trade
- Increasing intra-regional trade in South Asia by developing trade facilitation systems that meet international standards
- Assisting SASEC member countries implement policy, regulatory, and institutional reforms for customs modernization and harmonization to reduce time and costs of trading across borders
- Upgrading infrastructure at border-crossing points to facilitate intraregional trade in South Asia