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.