Boksburg Group takes another look at trade facilitation issues

Representing developing nations at WTO
ALAN PEAT
THE FOURTH round table meeting of the Boksburg Group – a group representing the developing nations, which was established in June 2003 to discuss the sort of issues that might form part of a “Trade Facilitation Agreement” within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – recently took place in Mombasa, Kenya.
This follows meetings in Singapore and Kingston and the creation of a comprehensive working document.
The group was established to compensate for the utter lack of discussion on trade facilitation at the Cancun Round of the WTO.
“Since then, however, we have seen the unbundling of trade facilitation from amongst the Singapore Issues and the acknowledgement by the developed countries of the serious concerns created by agricultural subsidies,” said consultant Edward Little, an adviser to the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) who attended the Mombasa meeting.
“Bearing this in mind, as well as the forthcoming WTO meeting due to take place in Geneva in March, there was a need to take another look at the position taken by the Boksburg Group. This to see whether the issues were still valid or required change or expansion.”
The group’s working document concentrated on trade facilitation factors – especially those which would stimulate trade and increase the world’s trading system in order to deliver greater prosperity to all participants by improving the regulatory flow of goods.