Establishing Well Functioning National Trade Facilitation Bodies (NTFBs)
In the OIC Member States
97
Achievements
The NTFB’s main achievement has been to get private and public sectors to work together at the
highest hierarchy level, as in the PEMUDAH. The private sector provides perspectives of what is
needed on the ground, and the public sector sets the agenda and provides knowledge of trade
policy.137,138
The institutionalized meetings are successful because every member knows that there is a structure
and a meeting where they can debate about issues that concern them. There is mutual respect during
meetings, allowing members to discuss issues openly, listen to each other, and work together. 139
Public agencies are represented by civil servants rather than ministers, as technical representatives
are more operational in the field.140, 141
PEMUDAH has consistency in holding meetings at the highest level of both public and private sectors.
Furthermore, its communication strategy is also, as in Jordan, remarkable. The permanent secretariat
issues invitations with agendas included, minutes of meetings are kept and also validated by
stakeholders afterwards.
In PEMUDAH (FGTAB) follow the traffic light approach to follow up on the issues. The Permanent
Secretariat of both chairman’s (from public and private sectors) assess them on which are the most
important issues that haven’t been reported as in compliance (red light), which need to be addressed
(yellow light), and those that are already in compliance (green light).
Another best practice is that in every meeting, stakeholders are benchmarking themselves (in a
written way) with the top performers of the Doing Business WB publication, in the following manner:
Benchmarking with World Bank Doing Business Indicators
FGTAB examines the Doing Business Trading across Borders indicators, such as the number of
procedures, time necessary for completion, and costs associated with all procedures in order to raise
awareness of international best practices. Then, members submit feedback on areas where reforms
could be initiated to make the flow of trade more efficient for the betterment of Malaysia’s trading
environment.
“Traffic Light” Methodology: This is a methodology for monitoring the progress of each project in
order to achieve the desired outcome for the past year.
The Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia is the person in charge. Though he may not be in
attendance at every meeting, he receives and analyses six-month reports from the different focus
groups.
137 Ms. Chan Kum Siew, Director Regularity Review, MPC.
138 YBhg. Dato' Sri Saw Choo Boon, President Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, Co-chairman PEMUDAH
139 Ms. Chan Kum Siew, op. cit.
140 Ms. Bahria Bt. Mohd Tamil, op. cit.
141 Ms. Chan Kum Siew, op. cit.