Proceedings of the 13

Meeting of

The COMCEC Trade Working Group

There are examples of OIC member countries using regional agreements as an "anchor" to

support upgrading their trading environment, including chapters on transparency in trade

agreements, as well as extending regional initiatives, where applicable, for Single Windows to

cover TIPs. Given the trade links and other connections among the OIC member countries,

there is a scope for the member countries to make use of successful experiences elsewhere to

develop home-grown initiatives to improve the public availability of trade-related information.

Knowledge transfer from high performing OIC countries can help other members improve

information availability, and ultimately promote trade within the group. On the other hand, it

should be noted that trade facilitation is an ongoing worldwide effort and not limited to the

OIC or developing countries. The world is also the witness of the continuous review and renew

of trade facilitation programs by the developed countries. Therefore, the best practices and

lessons learned in trade facilitation outside the OIC countries should also be seen an

opportunity, and knowledge transfer can be even achieved through administrative

arrangements such as MOU, internship, exchange of experts, workshops.

Instruments to Realize the Policy Advices:

COMCEC Trade Working Group:

In its subsequent meetings, the Working Group may

elaborate on the above-mentioned policy areas in a more detailed manner.

COMCEC Project Funding:

Under the COMCEC Project Funding, the COMCEC Coordination

Office calls for project proposals each year. With the COMCEC Project Funding, the Member

Countries participating in the Working Groups can submit multilateral cooperation projects to

be financed through grants by the COMCEC Coordination Office. For the above-mentioned

policy areas and their sub-areas, the Member Countries can utilize the COMCEC Project

Funding and the COMCEC Coordination Office may finance the successful projects. The projects

may include seminars, training programs, study visits, exchange of experts, workshops and

preparing analytical studies, needs assessments and training materials/documents, etc.