Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
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Step 5. After building and fostering BAC with neighboring countries, the focus of BAC efforts
should be shifted to regional cross-border trade and customs programs. The following points
below illustrate the main activities that should be implemented to achieve high levels of
regional BAC:
 Establish protocols for centralized, regional customs clearance (e.g. case Uganda and
EAC);
 Develop and maintain regional risk management systems, including common risk
profiles, databases, and risk assessment and targeting tools (e.g. case Albania);
 Pursue harmonization of national AEO programs to pave the road towards a regional
program (e.g. cases Uganda, Malaysia, and Abu Dhabi);
 Harmonize rules concerning imports of food and pesticides (e.g. case Uganda);
 Create common, simplified regional certificates of origin (e.g. case Uganda);
 Set up trade and customs helpdesks to provide guidance and information for the
trading community (e.g. case Uganda);
 Design and provide regional customs education programs to build common
understanding and trust, as well as to bridge cultural, linguistic and other gaps
between border control agencies in different countries; and
 Establish a regional trade facilitation body or working group to plan, implement and
monitor progress of regional BAC activities.
Step 6. The last and often the most challenging step in BAC, is to extend the cooperation to
cover large regions, even the entire world. The main steps for the global BAC include the
following points:
 Ratify relevant international agreements, conventions, and treaties related to BAC;
 Pursue mutual recognition agreements on AEO programs, air cargo security and other
areas of border management with the key trading partners (e.g. case Malaysia);
 Start collecting pre-departure and pre-arrival shipment data from all trading partners
to improve accuracy of risk management; and
 Participate in active supranational policymaking that has an impact on global BAC
(especially WCO and WTO).
These six general steps on the road towards higher levels of BAC provide a viable plan for
developing BAC within the OIC context. It should be noted, however, that different OIC
countries currently have different levels of BAC in place. While more advanced countries may
focus primarily on steps 5 and 6, less advanced countries, that may lack physical
infrastructure, legal framework or funding, should start building BAC first nationally across
different border control agencies and then with their neighboring countries and the most
important trading partners. Broader regional as well as global cooperation follows naturally
when BAC already exists at the national level. Even so, all BAC efforts should consider the
unique context of each country where border operations take place. The different settings
imply different challenges that must be addressed on a case-by-case basis. The six-step
roadmap above provides general guidelines, as there is no best solution that would fit any
country or border-crossing everywhere.
Implementing all six steps might take a great deal of time and effort for the less developed
countries. Therefore, OIC and COMCEC might choose to introduce their own capacity building
program to educate and train people in these countries on the theory and practice of BAC.
These activities should be aligned with and complementary to the ongoing capacity building