FACILITATING INTRA-OIC TRADE:
Improving the Efficiency of the Customs Procedures in the OIC Member States
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Like in designing the legal framework, international cooperation is essential in this
process. Relevant international agencies such as UNECE and the World Bank have
remarkable technical expertise. Moreover, financial assistance in the form of loans and
grants are provided by some of these agencies and donor countries.
Experience sharing and technical cooperation programs among the countries also have
substantial benefits. These programs are organized by bilateral dialogues or under the
auspices of international and regional organizations.
Meeting the Human Resources Constraints
Improving the skills of the human resources require a systematic approach. Most of the
government agencies in many countries are hiring the professional people who are
graduated from universities or technical schools. Most of these people do not have too
much practical information at the beginning but gain the professional knowledge over
the years through experience and trainings.
In most of the developing countries and the LDCs, the rate of people graduated from
such schools is relatively low. Moreover, the quality of the education system in the
universities and the technical schools is lower than the developed countries. Therefore,
they are facing difficulties in human resources
Implementing the new trade facilitation measures require skilled labor force in most
cases. Therefore, the countries need to take some steps to meet these needs. Countries
may choose between: i) recruiting new, expert staff; ii) training existing staff in a
training centre; iii) on-the-job training; and iv) importing trained staff through personnel
exchange with other ministries/agencies (Moise 2013).
For some of the measures, training the existing staff could be the cost effective option.
However, especially for the measures including use of information and communications
technology recruiting new staff will be required.
The relevant agencies shall firstly evaluate the capability of the existing staff and then
decide on the options to be used to meet the needs.
Infrastructure and Equipment
Upgrading the infrastructure and the equipment require financial resources. Some of the
countries do not consider the trade facilitation as the priority which impedes allocation
of financial resources. For these countries, the governments shall recognize the vital role
of trade facilitation for economic and social development. On the other hand, there is a
strong evidence from the country experiences which suggests that, improving the
customs procedures increase the government revenues. Therefore, investing in this area
is also revenue generating.