Proceedings of the 13th Meeting of
The COMCEC Trade Working Group
9
According the presentation, the final field visit case study country was Bangladesh, an LDC that
has seen rapid income growth over the last decade due in substantial part to its strategy of
external engagement, in particular through key sectors like ready-made garments. Bangladesh
has ratified the TFA and has listed most of the first four articles in Category A, with the
remainder in Category B. In the data, there is evidence of substantial progress, but also key
areas where performance is well within the global best practice frontier. The country has a
Trade Portal and a Customs Portal, which together provide a rich resource for the trade
community. Development of the Trade Portal relied on external assistance, but has also helped
ensure better coordination and cooperation among the various agencies involved in border
clearance. The Single Window is still being rolled out, but this process seems likely to continue,
in particular as transaction processing is incorporated in addition to information availability.
Benefits identified by stakeholders include increased compliance rates, decreased clearance
times, and improved integrity thanks to greater availability of relevant information on rules
and procedures.
Furthermore, Dr. Shepherd summarized the report’s general recommendations in the
following points:
1. Progress on trade information availability depends on a general commitment to
transparency in government.
2. The trade community as a whole needs to be involved in changes.
3. Even low and middle income countries can effectively adopt ICTs as part of the
solution to reduce information costs.
4. Important to be ambitious in TFA notifications.
5. Successful countries go well beyond the TFA.
6. Real scope for South-South technical assistance.
7. Important synergies between Single Windows and TIPs.
4.3 Discussion
In response to questions from the participants, the following points were clarified:
Question: Most of countries are using Asycuda System. Why you did not choose any country
which uses Asycuda System?
Answer: The choice of case study countries was driven by the need to cover all three OIC
regional groups, as well as to identify strong performers. There was no intention to privilege a
particular customs transaction processing solution over others (such as Asycuda World).