COMCEC Trade Outlook 2019
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countries to establish coordination mechanisms for trade facilitation among the stakeholders
within each country. Most recently, article 23/2 of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation
stated that “Each Member shall establish and/or maintain a national committee on trade
facilitation”, making national trade facilitation bodies (NTFBs) a requisite of the global trading
regime39.
In this respect, the Sixth Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working Group was held on September
17th, 2015 in Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Establishing Well-Functioning National Trade
Facilitation Bodies in the OIC Member Countries”. After detailed deliberations, the Working
Group came up with the following policy recommendations for trade facilitation bodies in the
Member Countries;
- Establishing effective communication systems within the framework of the work of the
NTFBs
- Involving the private sector in the activities of the NTFBs
- Extending technical assistance to the member states for establishing/maintaining NTFBs
- Designing Performance Evaluation Criteria for the Existing NTFBs
The Seventh Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working Group was held on February 25th, 2016
with the theme of “Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States to International
Standards”. During the Meeting, the participants deliberated on standards as non-tariff barriers,
development of quality infrastructure, and strengthening the compliance of member countries
with international standards. The research study prepared for the meeting, highlighted the
importance of compliance with international standards for the OIC Member Countries,
especially for improving export competitiveness and trade facilitation through the elimination
of barriers on trade. In this respect, active membership of the Member Countries to the relevant
international standards organizations is of particular importance. The study indicated that, at
present, there is a varying degree of involvement on the part of the Member Countries; 55 OIC
Member Countries are members of Codex, while this figure is 35 and 11 for the ISO and IEC
respectively. However, the study highlighted that there is still need for more active participation
of the Member Countries to the technical work of international standardization bodies for
increasing inclusiveness and large-scale adoption of international standards.40
The following challenges, among others, have been identified by the above-mentioned research
as well as the participants of the 7th Meeting of Trade WG:
 Low level of trade integration
 Inefficient standards related national infrastructure
 Low level of conformity assessment and mutual recognition
After the deliberations, the Working Group has come up with the following policy
recommendations:
 Developing/Strengthening a National Quality Infrastructure.
 Supporting the Member States’ Efforts for their Active Participation in the work of
International Standardization Bodies.
 Strengthening SMIIC for the Adoption of Harmonized Standards for the development of
Quality Infrastructure in the OIC for Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade.
39 COMCEC Coordination Office, 2015b.
40 COMCEC Coordination Office, 2016a.