COMCEC Trade Outlook 2019
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In addition to compliance to the international standards, border agency cooperation (BAC) is
another important aspect of trade facilitation in global agenda. According to the WTO Trade
Facilitation Agreement, which was also ratified by 27 OIC Member Countries, the concerned
countries committed to cooperate in the following issues regarding cross border cooperation:
 alignment of working days and hours,
 alignment of procedures and formalities
 development and sharing of common facilities
 joint controls
 establishment of one stop border post control
The level of border agency cooperation of the OIC Member Countries varies according to the
several indices measuring the countries’ level of border agency cooperation. According to World
Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI), which measures the efficiency of the clearance
process scaling from 0 to 5, the Asian Group countries have the highest average score of 2.53 in
the efficiency of the clearance processes, followed by the Arab Group Countries with the score
of 2.46. On the other hand, African Group Countries have the lowest average with the score of
2.30.
Moreover, OECD External Border Agency Cooperation (BAC) Indicator, scaling from 0 to 2,
measures the border agency cooperation with neighbouring and third countries. Accordingly,
the average of external cooperation for the Arab Group is 1.15, followed by the Asian and African
Group countries with the score of 1.11 and 0.82, respectively41.
Considering the importance of BAC for trade facilitation as well as increasing intra-OIC trade,
the 8th Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working Group held on October 6th, 2016, was devoted to
“Improving the Border Agency Cooperation among the OIC Member States for Facilitating
Trade.” The research study and the participants of the working group highlighted the major
challenges faced by the Member Countries, among others:
 Lack of coordination and cooperation among border agencies
 Long, costly and inefficient customs procedures
 Lack of harmonized working hours among the countries
 Inadequate information exchange among the border agencies
TheWorking Group has come up with the following policy recommendations in order to address
the challenges faced by the Member Countries regarding the border agency cooperation:
 Promoting the adoption of international standards in customs and other relevant cross
border trade and logistics matters as well as accession to the relevant international
conventions for harmonizing and simplifying rules and procedures related to the cross
border trade and logistics operations,
 Promoting mutual recognition arrangements/agreements for border controls and trusted
traders,
 Enhancing information exchange among the border agencies of the Member Countries
through enhancing connectivity of information and communication technology systems,
providing regular knowledge exchange platforms and participating in relevant
international networks,
41 COMCEC Coordination Office, 2016b.