ONGOING INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS FOR TRADE FACILITATION IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES
Monideep Dey provides the following summary of recent ongoing international efforts to facilitate trade for developing countries, specifically for export.
World Bank
Monideep Dey attended the World Bank Group (WBG) held its annual meeting from October 15-19, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Topics focused on developmental efforts, particularly in Africa, where WBG emphasizes several of its projects. The Bank Information Center (BIC) report on World Bank Group Forest - Sector Impacts published in May 2019 was discussed, including deforestation and carbon incentives in agribusiness related to forests. The importance of government policies that drive businesses in a systematic and integrated manner was stressed. A session on the African Free Trade Agreement was held highlighting the opportunities that the lie ahead for Africa, and the importance of non-tariff barriers and the national quality infrastructures as potential obstacles to progress. The session on Global Value Chains, Trade and Development presented progress and challenges ahead as developing economies benefit from participating in the global market through GVCs. The WBG Flagship Report, Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains was discussed.
ISO
The use of ISO technical and conformity standards for global trade has become more important for developing countries as they attempt to enter the global trading system to improve their economies. ISO has established as a strategic objective that its work and standards should assist developing countries in their economic growth, and for improving the quality of life for its citizens as specified in the SDGs. The following are specific recent developments at ISO for this initiative:
As far back as 2015, ISO and IEC held a conference on Using and Referencing International Standards to Support Public Policy, attended by more than 60 countries, to support the use of international standards by developing countries.
At the 2017 DEVCO meeting attended by Monideep Dey, DEVCO established two working groups to assess the needs of developing countries, and a breakout session was organized on the National Quality Infrastructure defined as necessary for the effective operation of domestic markets, and its international recognition is important to enable access to foreign markets. At the 2018 ISO General Assembly and DEVCO meeting, establishing the market relevance of ISO standards was emphasized, particularly for developing countries that seek to assess the benefits of ISO standards to meet their needs.
At its 2019 Plenary Meeting attended by Monideep Dey, CASCO conducted a session on “Strategies to enhance developing countries’ participation in standardization.” A report, including recommendations from the session was issued, and a plan of action to implement the recommendations is in development. At the 2019 DEVCO meeting, a similar breakout session was organized on Future Trends in Conformity Assessment that assessed the needs for developing countries, but also the needs of developed nations in rapidly emerging technologies. A report, including recommendations from the session was issued.
In 2019 ISO conducted regional workshops on the fundamentals of conformity assessment and the CASCO toolbox, and published a comprehensive report on Good Standardization Practices.
These initiatives at ISO is a recognition of the critical role ISO technical and conformity assessment standards play in the international market, and the need to focus initiatives that directly benefit developing economies.
Presentations were made by experts from developed nations outlining their mature national quality infrastructures that have developed over time. BIPM presented the history of development of NQIs in developed nations based on national priorities when conformity assessment was a secondary consideration. However, for developing countries conformity assessment is equally important because the goal is to improve trade opportunities.
Presentations were also provided by developing economies, particularly by Trinidad and Tobago, and Brazil, that have have major initiatives in the development or improvement of their national quality infrastructure. The importance of regional initiatives was stressed. The conference was an excellent exchange of information between developed nations and developing economies. A plea was made by Mozambique for donors to address the totality of the needs of the receiving nations, without conditions, to ensure value of the assistance.
This newsletter from Deytec, Inc. is published to inform subscribers of developments in the field of public policy, regulation and standardization in developing economies.
The principal consultant of Deytec, Inc., Monideep Dey, PhD, served as a Convenor of ISO TC 92 SC 4, Fire safety engineering, WG 7, Verification & validation of fire safety calculation methods from 2013-2017; and has been active in ISO CASCO form 2017 to present.
