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CHAPTER I: COOPERATION AREAS
1. TRADE
1.1. Trade Working Groups in 2016: Trade Facilitation
Trade facilitation has become one of the important topics in the global economic agenda. The COMCEC
Trade Working Group (TWG) has specifically focused on the trade facilitation issues, which is also one
of the important output areas of the COMCEC Strategy.
In this respect, the 7th Meeting of the Trade Working
Group has elaborated on an important aspect of trade
facilitation, which is compliance with international
standards. The TWG has convened on February 25th,
2016, in Ankara, Turkey with the theme of
“Strengthening the Compliance of OIC Member States to
International Standards.” During the Meeting, the
participants deliberated on standards as non-tariff
barriers, development of quality infrastructure, and
strengthening the compliance of member countries with
international standards. The research study prepared for
the meeting, highlighted the importance of compliance
with international standards for the OIC Member
Countries, especially for improving export
competitiveness and trade facilitation through the
elimination of barriers on trade. In this respect, active
membership of the Member Countries to the relevant
international standards organizations is of particular
importance. The study indicated that, at present, there is
a varying degree of involvement on the part of the
Member Countries; 55 OIC Member Countries are members of Codex, while this figure is 35 and 11 for
the ISO and IEC respectively. However, the study highlighted that there is still need for more active
participation of the Member Countries to the technical work of international standardization bodies for
increasing inclusiveness and large-scale adoption of international standards.
The following challenges, among others, have been identified by the above-mentioned research as well
as the participants of the 7th Meeting of Trade WG:
 Low level of trade integration
 Inefficient standards related national infrastructure
 Low level of conformity assessment and mutual recognition
After the deliberations, the Working Group has come up with the following policy recommendations
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 7th MEETING OF THE TRADE WG
 Developing/Strengthening a National Quality Infrastructure.
 Supporting the Member States’ Efforts for their Active Participation in the work of International
Standardization Bodies.
 Strengthening SMIIC for the Adoption of Harmonized Standards for the development of Quality
Infrastructure in the OIC for Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade.