DHAKA: Bangladesh will soon ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organisation as more than 50 nations have already approved the deal to simplify their trade rules, a government official said.
The WTO had adopted the TFA in its ninth ministerial conference in Bali in December 2013 to save money and time spent on international trade, by simplifying the rules of customs and tariff.
“We know that more than 50 countries have already ratified the deal and we are also ready to approve it, as Bangladesh is also a member of the WTO,” said Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior secretary to the commerce ministry.
The TFA will be put in place once two-thirds of the 161 WTO members formally accept the agreement.
The cost of doing business, particularly in the least-developed countries, is higher as importers and exporters have to pay extra money as bribe in customs, transportation and to process other documents.
The cost of doing business will fall by 10-15 percent, if international trade goes paperless, the WTO estimated.
The implementation of the TFA has the potential to increase global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion a year, according to WTO’s flagship World Trade Report (WTR) released on October 26 in Geneva.
The report said developing countries will benefit significantly from the TFA, capturing more than half of the available gains.
If the TFA is implemented properly, export from the developing countries is estimated to increase between $170 billion and $730 billion, and developed economies’ exports to increase between $310 billion and $580 billion in a year, according to the WTR.
Fuller and faster implementation of the TFA will also increase overall world export growth by up to 2.7 percent and global GDP growth by 0.5 percent, the report added. The TFA is expected to help developing countries diversify their exports, the WTR said.
If the TFA is fully implemented, developing countries could increase the number of new products being exported by as much as 20 percent. The least developed countries are likely to see a much bigger hike of up to 35 percent.
Developing countries are expected to enter an additional 30 percent more foreign markets and LDCs a further 60 percent.
“The world is more connected than ever before. More and more developing countries are seeking to join global trade networks. Yet, all too often, outdated and uncoordinated customs processes slow down the movement of goods and raise costs to prohibitive levels,” said Roberto Azevedo, WTO director general, in a statement yesterday.
“By standardising, streamlining and speeding up customs processes around the world, the WTO’s TFA will help to solve this problem.”
