NEWYORK: The Customs and Trade Facilitation Symposium ‘Finding Solutions to Cross-Border Challenges’ will bring together business, government, and operational experts from all over the world. Representatives from leading international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) will also participate to consider the most effective means of facilitating the global movement of goods while balancing security and risk at national borders.
“International trade is critical to keeping the global economy moving forward,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “In a world of just-in-time delivery and highly integrated global supply chains, unnecessary and burdensome barriers to trade can cost companies and national economies billions of dollars.
“This symposium will help forge a path toward removing the red tape that can complicate cross-border commerce.”
The programme will feature a panel on implementation of the historic WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and discuss how the agreement will enhance coordinated border management, the challenges to implementation and the role of donors and the international trade community in ensuring that countries receive proper assistance.
ICC Secretary General John Danilovich said “ICC and USCIB have worked to foster trade facilitation and customs modernization. For businesses to remain competitive, they need to be able to rely on efficient customs regimes and smooth logistics when exporting goods.
Limiting cross-border impediments is especially and increasingly vital not only for small- and medium-sized enterprises but also for emerging, innovative industry sectors.”
Panel discussions will also focus on supply chains and on balancing security and trade facilitation by strengthening cooperation between business and Customs administrations through so-called authorized economic operator programmes, and other country level partnerships. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of WCO, and Xiaozhun Yi, Deputy Director-General of the WTO will deliver keynote speeches during the event.
Symposium participants will be offered a unique opportunity to witness logistical processes that affect trade at the Port of Miami on a specially organized tour on 22 February.
The Symposium is organized back-to-back with the biannual meeting of the ICC Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation to take place on 24-25 February 2015 in Miami.
