16-17 June 2015 Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Sangwon Lim Trade and Investment Division United Nations ESCAP ESCAP Activities Report to AFACT 2015 Mid-term StC Meeting

2 Update on ESCAP Work Programmes and Projects  Implementation of ESCAP Resolution 68/3 and 70/6 1.First Meeting of Interim Intergovernmental Steering Group on Cross-border Paperless Trade Facilitation, April 2015, Bangkok Discussed and improved the draft text of regional arrangement Decided to create legal and technical working groups under it to carry out the tasks of a) further improving the draft text of the regional arrangement as a potential intergovernmental agreement, b) preparing a draft roadmap for the implementation of substantive provisions in the draft text

3 Organized a back-to-back Capacity Building Workshop on Cross- border Paperless Trade Facilitation on 31 March 2015 More details at intergovernmental-steering-group-cross-border-paperless-trade- facilitationhttp:// intergovernmental-steering-group-cross-border-paperless-trade- facilitation 2. Operation of Legal and Technical Working Groups Bangkok Official invitation for nomination of participants issued to seat of governments of ESCAP members Work of the working groups to start end July 2015 onward First physical meeting: 9 – 11 September 2015, Bangkok Second physical meeting: 4 – 6 November 2015, Bangkok (tentative)

4  2 nd WCO-UNESCAP UNNExT Masterclass 12 – 21 January 2015, Cheon-an, ROK Theme: Single Window in the Context of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Participated by over 30 officials from more than 20 ESCAP members

5  Trade and Transport Facilitation Monitoring Mechanism (TTFMM) An integrated method to monitor trade and transport facilitation performance, by combining three relevant methods – Business Process Analysis (BPA), Time/Cost/Distance Methodology and Time Release Study (TRS) TTFMM implementation projects in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan kick started as a joint project with ADB  Global Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Survey Joint initiative among five UN regional commissions Almost complete, and result to be released in early July

6  Other work programmes 1. UN Development Account Projects UNNExT workshop on Paperless Trade Facilitation for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Central Asia: 4-6 May 2015, Almaty Development of guides on agriculture, transit and SMEs National workshops in target developing countries 2. National Capacity Building Support Advisory services on Single Window legal gap analysis for Maldives 3. BPA Database Development of online version in process 4. New UNNExT Briefs on paperless trade and Single Window

7 ESCAP Work Programmes in 2015  Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum 2015: October 2015, Wuhan, China, in partnership with the China International E- Commerce Center (CIECC)  Fourth Trade and Investment Week: 2 – 6 November 2015  3 rd UNNExT Masterclass: 1 st Quarter 2016 (TBC)  Trade and Transport Facilitation Monitoring Mechanism (TTFMM)  Implementation of ESCAP Resolution 68/3 and 70/6: operation of the Interim Intergovernmental Steering Group on Cross-border Paperless Trade Facilitation and its working groups

8 Thank you ESCAP Trade and Investment Division UNNExT Website ESCAP Resolution 68/3