COMCEC Trade Outlook 2017
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Trade Facilitation:
An important project developed by the COMCEC towards facilitating trade among the Member
States is the Standard and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC). SMIIC entered into
force in May 2010 following the ratification of its Statute by the tenth Member State.
SMIIC is an affiliated institution of the OIC which is responsible for contributing to the
development of standards in the OIC Member States. SMIIC aims at realizing harmonized
standards and eliminating any standard related factor that adversely affects the trade among
the member countries.
After the ratification of its Headquarters Agreement by the Republic of Turkey on March 31st,
2011, headquarters of SMIIC was formally established. As of October 2017, number of SMIIC
Member States was reached to 33.
Till today, SMIIC has successfully accomplished a series of events including capacity building
programs, forum, seminars and visits to the relevant organizations in the Member States in the
area of standards and metrology. One of the important activities of the SMIIC was trainings.
SMIIC Information System (IS) Training was held on 19-21 April 2016 in Istanbul. Also the
Committee on Standards for Conformity Assessment (SMIIC/CCA) has been established to
prepare guides/standards on criteria for bodies involved in testing, calibration, certification,
inspection, accreditation, their operation and assessment, and other related standards and
especially halal conformity assessment and accreditation guidelines or standards. First meeting
of SMIIC Committee on Standards for Conformity Assessment (SMIIC/CCA) was held on 23-24
March 2016, in Istanbul.
To enrich the depth of the efforts, Financial, Terminology and Technical Committees were
established under the SMIIC which dwell upon technical aspects of the relevant topics. The
Technical Committees are Halal Food Issues, Halal Cosmetic Issues, Service Site Issues,
Renewable Energy, Tourism and Related Services, Agriculture Processes and Transportation. A
mechanism with great future potential for cooperation, SMIIC Metrology Committee works
actively towards achieving uniformity inmetrology and laboratory testing amongst OIC Member
States since its first convention on 23-24 September 2013 in Dubai, UAE.
Regarding trade facilitation, the COMCEC TradeWorking Group has devoted its several meetings
to its different aspects and for each meeting, a research report has been prepared for producing
and disseminating knowledge on the current status of trade facilitation in the Member
Countries. These reports also provides policy recommendations for the member countries for
facilitating trade by utilizing a set of tools and policies. In this regard, the study titled
“Facilitating Intra-OIC Trade: Improving the Efficiency of the Customs Procedures in the OIC
Member States” was prepared specifically for the 3rd Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working
Group suggests that following factors are important in implementing the customs reforms in the
Member States in order to improve their trade performances:
•Political will
•Establishment of well-functioning coordination mechanism among the relevant government
agencies and private sector,
•Improving the legal framework,
•Institutional arrangements,