China, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have called for faster approval of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) by World Trade Organization (WTO) members.
"WTO ratification will determine when this agreement comes into force," said Yi Xiaozhun, WTO Deputy Director General, at a symposium on trade to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of WTO on the sidelines of the 12th China-ASEAN Expo on Friday.
With the agreement adopted, the focus has now shifted to respective capitals. The TFA was made in Bali in December 2013, the first multilateral trade agreement since the establishment of the WTO in 1995.
The TFA will speed up the clearance of goods across borders, boost trade volumes and create millions of jobs. "The significance of the TFA lies in the fact that it will be a catalyst to revitalize sluggish global trade," said Moon Jae-do, ROK's second vice minister of trade, industry and energy.
He said the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) forecast that the agreement will boost global exports by over 1 trillion U.S. dollars, while the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) expects it could reduce worldwide trade costs by between 11 percent and 14 percent.
However, the TFA will only enter into force when two-thirds of the WTO members formally accept the agreement. So far, only 16 of 108 members have accepted the protocol of the agreement, including China, Malaysia, Singapore and the ROK.
"China submitted the acceptance letter to the WTO on Sept. 4, which is an important move to push forward the implementation of TFA. China expects more WTO members to accept the agreement," said Wang Shouwen, Chinese vice minister of commerce.
"TFA will benefit trade and investment in the region and the world, and we intend to verify it before the MC10 in Kenya," said Sun Chanthol, Cambodia's commerce minister.
Somchith Inthamith, deputy minister of industry and commerce of Laos, said the country has established a special committee to ratify the agreement as soon as possible and Indonesia is expected to approve the agreement before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the forum attendees pointed out that a critical issue is how to raise the implementation capacity of developing countries, and in particular, the least developed countries.
"Experience sharing could be an effective approach," he said. The WTO also created a Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility to help ensure that developing countries receive the assistance needed to reap the full benefits of the TFA and to support its full implementation by all members.
