Facilitating Trade in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Implementation Policy Agenda

Abstract

The purpose of this note is to provide insight and contribute to the discussion on trade facilitation implementation issues of relevance to Latin American and Caribbean countries.Identifying and sequencing trade facilitation needs from the perspective of the entire value chain supports the objective of trade facilitation itself: enhancing a country's ability to seamlessly dock into the network of global value chains, and allowing global value chains to integrate efficiently into a country. In this sense, it can be argued that trade facilitation should result in business facilitation that not only encompasses the reform and modernization of border agencies, but also requires improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business-to-business importing and exporting processes, and comprises private sector training and capacity building, leading to improved overall predictability in international commerce.