The push for simplification of trade processes and procedures in the context of trade facilitation is nothing new. For decades, countries around the globe have been adopting strategies and spending resources to minimize cumbersome trade processes and garner maximum benefits from bilateral, multilateral and regional trading agreements. As a member of the international trading system, and more as a least developed country (LDC), Bangladesh has been focusing on the issue of trade facilitation for several decades now.

How much of international trade costs can be mitigated through implementation of trade facilitation measures and policies? What measures and policies affect trade costs the most? This paper presents findings from an initial analysis of new non-tariff trade cost estimates and their determinants, based on a bilateral database of comprehensive trade cost maintained by ESCAP. Although trade costs consist for the most part of non-tariff trade costs, tariff cuts accounted for a very significant portion of trade costs reduction between 1996-99 and 2004-07.

This report assesses the quality of Lao PDR’s trade statistics by comparing Lao PDR’s export/import data with its trade partners’ import/export data (mirror data). While the mirror technique is constrained by the fact that partners’ data also can have some problems, it is a useful method to obtain a snapshot of the quality of trade data. First of all, it should be recognized that publicly available Lao PDR statistics compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) is not consistent with the Harmonized System (HS) classification.

Recent research by various international organizations including the World Bank, OECD, ADB and UNCTAD suggest that customs and administrative procedures have substantial effects on trade flows between countries. These procedures and practices can act as significant barriers to international trade and it is not surprising that these have become the focus of attention, now that tariff and other quantitative barriers have and continue to be reduced. Since becoming a full fledge member of the WTO, China has made significant progress in the trade liberalization process.

Recognizing the need for greater efficiency in procedures related to international trade, this study was undertaken to examine the processes involved in the export of vegetable ghee from Nepal to India and China and in the import of textiles from India. This research was conducted as part of a regional study by the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) on Improving Regional Import-Export Procedures and Processes

This report, prepared by a team of young Cambodian researchers assembled under the Trade-Related Assistance for Development and Equity (TRADE) project,1 examines the possible environmental impact to result from intensified production and international trade in rice, cassava, and fish.

Trade, economic development, and climate change issues are closely linked and this has significant implications for the design of climate change policies especially for developing countries. Developing countries regard the objective of economic development and growth as being as important as the objective of climate change mitigation, and therefore prefer to use emission intensity reductions as targets for their climate change policies.

Theoretical and empirical works related to international trade are confined to models which have labour and capital as explicit factors of production. Although income inequality and trade openness have been given importance in the literature, the role of quantity and quality infrastructure has barely been investigated in this context. Similarly, growth regressions have highlighted the role of infrastructure and trade openness in economic growth, while inclusive growth has not received much attention.

This paper provides a snapshot of current protectionist dynamics making extensive use of the GTA database. Two methods of estimating the trade covered by crisis-era protectionism are also examined. Although the method used in recent WTO report may use a more appropriate level of tariff line disaggregation for some discriminatory measures, overall, it is argued that GTA's estimates provide a better estimate of the amount of global commerce affected by global era protectionism. This paper also confirms the contemporary importance of “murky” protectionism.

This study empirically investigates how the quality of trade facilitation (both on-theborder and behind-the-border factors) in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and in their transit countries impacts LLDC trade. It uses an augmented gravity model incorporating trade facilitation variables. Two sets of gravity models are estimated, one to explain LLDC exports and the other to explain LLDC imports. The main contribution of this study is the consideration of trade facilitation environment in both LLDCs and transit countries.