Trade promotion capacity building - ADB

Under a recently approved R-CDTA for the purpose of supporting trade facilitation in the Asia and Pacific, ADB aims to promote trade negotiations and trade facilitation policy formulation as well as the implementation skills of developing member country officials. ADB will partner with knowledge institutions specialized on trade to further build the capacities of selected DMC officials for handling trade negotiations, trade facilitation, and other matters related to trade.

In 2014, ADB granted technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of customs administrations in ASEAN to ultimately facilitate the free flow of goods and increase intra- and extra-regional trade. ADB believes that regional knowledge sharing and capacity-building on best practices in customs administration is essential for addressing trade facilitation issues. Knowledge sharing on trade facilitation can also contribute to enhanced coordination of border management and operations within and among countries. Consultation meetings were held with Customs agencies and site visits to border-crossing points were conducted in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam in July- August 2015 to identify knowledge gaps and country specific requirements. Discussions were held with Customs administrations in Brunei Darussalam for accession to the Revised Kyoto Convention and Authorized Economic Operators; with Myanmar on support for human resource management and capacity-building and with the Philippines Bureau of Customs to identify forms of support. Capacity building initiatives have started in Myanmar and in the Philippines. These initiatives have been very much appreciated by the recipient countries. A total of 117 trainees participated in the trainings.

ADB-initiated subregional programs also seek to enhance the capacity of country governments and institutions to engage in regional cooperation. In CAREC, for instance, capacity development activities related to trade and trade facilitation include trainings and workshops on CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement, economic corridor development, and enhanced capacities of CAREC countries for effective implementation of TTFS 2020.