Morocco, 19-21 November 2014
The WCO was invited to a seminar on Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade, held in Casablanca, Morocco, from 19 to 21 November 2014. Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB) are often defined as measures other than Customs tariffs that potentially distort international trade. The seminar was organized by the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade and the Islamic Development Bank Group and aimed at promoting Intra-regional trade and Economic Regional Integration among the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) developing member countries.
The WCO experts were invited to make a presentation on WCO tools and approaches to risk management as well as to moderate a panel discussion on strategies of reducing trade costs in OIC African Countries.
Participants discussed possible ways of dealing with NTBs in the context of the multilateral trade negotiations at the WTO, explored ways and means likely to contribute to the elimination of NTBs and in particular consulted on possible ways to tackle border coordination – from infrastructure investment to practical details, for example alignment of business hours.
During its interventions, the WCO had the opportunity to introduce the WCO Mercator Programme and to underline the positive role that Customs can play in trade facilitation.
For more information on the seminar, please see http://www.icdt-oic.org/ , "Latest events".