1 / 22

Transport and Trade Linkages: Central Asia & Eastern Europe

Transport and Trade Linkages: Central Asia & Eastern Europe. Henry Kerali Senior Transport Specialist The World Bank. Presentation Outline. Central Asia Transport & Trade Status review Main trade corridors & linkages Trade & transport trends Impediments & suggested reforms

tadhg
Download Presentation

Transport and Trade Linkages: Central Asia & Eastern Europe

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Transport and Trade Linkages:Central Asia & Eastern Europe Henry Kerali Senior Transport Specialist The World Bank

  2. Presentation Outline • Central Asia Transport & Trade • Status review • Main trade corridors & linkages • Trade & transport trends • Impediments & suggested reforms • Transport & Trade Facilitation in Southeast Europe (TTFSE) • Current issues, project objectives & key actions • Project components & achievements • Recommendations & Scaling-up

  3. Exports from Central Asia Source: TRACECA (Tons/Year) 2001

  4. Imports to Central Asia Source: TRACECA (Tons/Year) 2001

  5. Main International Corridors

  6. Southern linkages for Central Asia

  7. Central Asia Corridor Performance

  8. Impediments to Trade & Transport • High transportation and handling costs • Poor transport infrastructure and transport performance • Trade barriers of neighbouring countries • Long and costly customs procedures and other inspections • Lack of coordination between countries in the region • Impediments amount to between 10 – 15% for roads and 2 – 10% for rail • Transportation costs amount up to 50%

  9. Suggested Reforms • Need for regional trade and transport policy • Diversification of the transport industry including forwarding, handling, containerization, etc • Regional harmonization and implementation of customs procedures • Promotion of trade and transport standards • Common and transparent transit fees • Development of rail shuttle services • Implementation of international freight handling standards, e.g. TIR, ASYCUDA, etc.

  10. Trade and Transport Facilitation in Southeast Europe(TTFSE) World Bank supported project

  11. The Issues • The high cost and uncertainties of trade and transport in Southeast Europe are major constraints on economic recovery and development in the region • Complicated, opaque and non-standardized border procedures affect the business environment and deter foreign investment (the Paper Curtain) • Countries concerned with high level of corruption, smuggling, organized crime • Customs administrations do not have aligned legislation and procedures with EU standards

  12. Project Objectives • Reduce non-tariff costs to trade and transport • Reduce smuggling and corruption at border crossings

  13. Actions (1) • Getting donors on board to complement / coordinate / provide assistance • Regional approach/mechanisms: • Regional Forum: Steering Committee • Public – Private Partnerships (PPP) • Training programs for transport operators, freight-forwarders, importers, exporters • TTFSE website • Survey of users

  14. Actions (2) • Focus on Customs procedural reforms • Border Inter-agency awareness and cooperation • Pilot approach: 27 selected border crossing points and in-land stations • National Coordinator • Performance monitoring: overall Customs and pilot indicators • Local Project Teams

  15. Country & Regional Program • Regional Investment Program: US$120 m • WB $78 million • US Government (grant) $13 million; • Others: France, Austria • Each project was designed to be country specific, but supported the development objectives by the selection of elements under similar components

  16. Common Components • Supporting customs reform • Strengthening mechanisms of interaction and cooperation between private and public parties at regional, national, and local levels • Disseminating information and providing training to the private sector

  17. Achievements in 2 ½ years … • Significant reduction of waiting time at the border and inland pilot points (50% and more) leading to US$8million savings annually • Improved dialogue among Customs administrations through regional consultation and information sharing (8 RSC meetings) • “Institutional awareness”: the facilitation role of border agencies vs. revenue collection & control classic roles • Transparent and public Customs performance monitoring system in place

  18. Achievements in 2 ½ years .. • User participation in the evaluation of border agencies’ performance • A collaborative culture of partnership between the public and the private sectors • Certified learning opportunities in road transport operations (85 locations and on-line) • Detailed information available to the public at: www.TTFSE.org

  19. Achievements in 2 ½ years. • Revenue collected by Customs doubled through risk management and selectivity approach • Higher than estimated trade volumes increase (e.g almost doubled in Romania) • EC – WB Policy Notes from lessons learned

  20. Scaling-up TTF • REPLICATE the program to other/all borders, and cross-border projects in SEE • EXPAND the approach and methods to railways, inland water-ways, ports, airports • STREAMLINE international transport documentation & linkages • REPLICATE the program to other regions, e.g. Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, etc.

More Related