Taking place during the 36th United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) ForumM (26 April - 7 May 2021)
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has affected nearly every country in the world, both on a national health level but also on an economic level. Despite curfews and lockdowns – which have generally been necessary to reduce the spread of the pandemic – trade has continued to flow and, in some cases, even increase. The electronic data exchange, enabled by the Single Window of many countries, has enabled trade to cross borders. This has helped to underline the pertinence and facilitations offered by a Single Window.
Objective
This webinar will be organized around round tables aimed to
- Remind the importance of the Single Window concept and outline the latest trends. These include the advances in the recently revised UNECE Recommendation 33, the results of the White Paper on Core Principles and the results of the new Recommendation 38 on Pandemic Crisis Trade-Related Response.
- Receive feedback from country experiences on how their Single Windows have helped to keep trade flowing during the Pandemic, any changes or adaptations they have needed to make, linkages to other programs, and any other pertinent topics
- Brainstorm any additional guidance which might be useful and discuss next steps in UN/CEFACT’s Single Window development and how this could relate back to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Target Audience
Single Window implementors and related stakeholders, government officials, trade representatives and others.
Agenda
Table 1 : Latest trends (10:00-11:00)
Moderator: Mr. Aleksei BONDARENKO, UN/CEFACT Vice Chair BIO
- Welcome speeches:
- Update on related, recent UN/CEFACT deliverables
- Recommendation 33 on Single Window Implementation revision
- Recommendation 38 on Trade Information Portals
- White Paper on the Core Principles for Managing Risks and Contingencies in the Operation of a Systemically Important Single Window
- Recommendation 47 on Pandemic Crisis Trade-Related Response
Table 2: Country experience (11:00-12:30)
Moderator: Ms. Estelle IGWE, UN/CEFACT Vice Chair BIO
- Georgia Single Window experience with COVID
- Australia Single Window experience with COVID
- Kyrgyzstan Single Window experience with COVID
Table 3: Country experience (13:30-15:00)
Moderator: Ms. Estelle IGWE, UN/CEFACT Vice Chair BIO
- Morocco Single Window experience with COVID
- Mr. Youssef AHOUZI, Acting Directing General, Portnet BIO
- Cameroun Single Window experience with COVID.
- Dominican Republic Single Window experience with COVID
Table 4: Related experiences around the world (15:00-15:55)
Moderator: Mr. Aleksei BONDARENKO, UN/CEFACT Vice Chair BIO
- Return on experience from the African Alliance on e-Commerce (AACE) December 2020 conference on the topic
- Technical barriers to trade, UNECE studies
- Return on recent, related experiences from Latin America
Conclusions (15:55-16:00)
- Mr. Aleksei BONDARENKO, UN/CEFACT Vice Chair BIO