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Authorized Economic Operators

In the Islamic Countries:

Enhancing Customs-Traders Partnership

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Indeed, Agadir agreement has already turned into a regional MRA. Likewise, GCC is composed

of countries with significant trade between each other. Most of the member states have an AEO

program or already initiated one. Therefore, in the future a regional AEO in GCC may be

expected.

Box 5.2 provides guidelines for the design of a successful regional AEO/MRA.

TPS-OIC is a preferential trade system for OIC countries proposed by COMCEC in 2002 to

promote trade between OIC Member States. When the system become operational it may serve

as the basis for regional AEO among OIC Member States. For TPS-OIC to be operational the

necessary conditions are as follows: (i) 10 Member States have to fulfill two conditions at the

same time, namely the ratification of the three TPS-OIC Agreements and (ii) the submission of

the list of concessions to the TNC Secretariat. These conditions have been met in 2014.

However, there are some practical steps that need to be completed.

In conclusion, the OIC Member States are composed of heterogeneous groups of countries. It is

not easy to gather all these countries and form a regional AEO with 57 countries for securing

the entire supply chain. However, a good start has been made: There are already 12 members

with AEO schemes among the member states. To increase the prospects of a safe and secure

supply chain among all OIC Member States, the beginners can design their AEO programs with

a regional AEO perspective from the outset. In fact, it is more likely that countries with trade

which is above a certain threshold will unite and initiate a regional AEO. Another alternative is

to design and operationalize bilateral/sub-regional/regional MRAs across OIC Member States

in order to increase the effectiveness of AEO programs to achieve supply chain security and

facilitation of trade.