Establishing Well Functioning National Trade Facilitation Bodies (NTFBs)
In the OIC Member States
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Permanent members meet the second week of each month, and co-opted members with special
knowledge are invited depending of the subject matter of the meetings.
The PEMUDAH website is an information platform that provides all information relating to
PEMUDAH and the FGTAB. It is also a platform that anyone can use to make complaints or report on
trade issues.
The website provides all information about PEMUDAH and its resources: a detailed profile, news and
events, online services, and gallery.
It also features a business section with resources such as:
• A list of improvements for each year since PEMUDAH’s creation
• Yearly business reports, “Doing Business in Malaysia”
• Archives
• Idea bank
Working language: FGTAB meetings are held in English. Most of the website is available in both
Malay and English and thus accessible to locals and to the world. However, most reports are only
available in Malay on the website, but in English in published versions.
One of the challenges for stakeholders is to take ownership of the issues: the private sector
sometimes gets the sense that government officials act more like rulers than facilitators.
Challenges have been identified as follows. Lack of coordination between stakeholders that do not
belong to the hierarchies. Sometimes, the same issue is dealt on multiple occasions, affecting
efficiency because are not implemented and come up in different fora.
4.3.2.4. Conclusions, Future Plans and Recommendations
Malaysia is very responsive and constantly promotes business and trade facilitation. To that end,
they practice benchmarking according to the WTO Doing Business Indicators, in order to go a step
further in trade facilitation. Some of the future plans are:
Malaysia has published a Logistics and Trade Facilitation Master Plan (2015–2020), outlining
strategic steps for optimizing the sector’s contribution to the national economy. To monitor and
coordinate the implementation, a National Logistics Task Force will be established under the
supervision of the Ministry of Transport and lead the development of the logistics industry and trade
facilitation.
Stakeholders are considering the possibility of including a committee that unites trade and logistics
in their master plan. It will be critical to keep up the good functioning if stakeholders follow their
Terms of Reference, which are the following:
• To take stock of provisions identified under TFA
• To identify issues and areas of concern in meeting Malaysia’s obligation under the agreement
and the deadline set to implement the provisions of the agreement
• To formulate a work program and action plan to implement the agreement
• To coordinate with implementing agencies in the implementation of the agreement