Members of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine, have decided to develop a regional trade facilitation strategy, modelled on proposals made by UNECE, Turkey, Greece and Ukraine.This decision was made at a joint meeting of the BSEC working groups on Customs and Trade on 26 September in Istanbul, based on proposals made at a UNECE-BSEC seminar on Trade Facilitation and Single Window the previous day. Experts from Turkey and the UNECE, working with specialists from Greece and Ukraine, will revise an earlier (2012) concept paper on trade facilitation, and will present it to the other BSEC members by 1 December 2014.
This strategy will build upon the UNECE’s Trade Facilitation instruments; Turkey’s experiences in the WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations; the Greek National Trade Facilitation reform programme, implemented with assistance from UNECE; and the experience of Ukraine in drafting a trade facilitation strategy and implementing concrete projects in cooperation with UNECE. Member countries will also assess the possible steps towards implementing a Port Community System using the best practice experience of the Port Community System in Odessa. The strategy will include targets for the implementation of trade facilitation instruments.
For more information, please contact:
Mario Apostolov
Regional Adviser, UNECE Trade
tel.: +41 22 9171134
e-mail: [email protected]