NEWS RELEASES
CANADIAN INITIATIVE ON TRADE FACILITATION YIELDS RESULTS AT APEC MINISTERIAL MEETING
October 23, 2002 (11:00 a.m. EDT) No. 125
CANADIAN INITIATIVE ON TRADE FACILITATION YIELDS RESULTS AT APEC
MINISTERIAL MEETING
International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew, in Mexico today for an APEC meeting of ministers, welcomed a new World
Bank study supporting Canadian efforts to cut the cost of conducting trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
"This study highlights the impressive economic benefits of trade facilitation," said Minister Pettigrew. "Increasing trade
efficiency is key for the private sector. It will cut the cost of doing business by removing administrative impediments to
trade in areas such as customs, standards and business mobility."
The study reveals that further action on trade facilitation could increase trade between APEC countries by approximately
$420 billion (US$280). The study supports Canada's efforts to implement the APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan, aimed
at cutting transaction costs by five percent over the next five years in the Asia-Pacific region.
The study was released during the APEC Joint Ministerial Meeting being held in Los Cabos, Mexico, on October 23 and
24, 2002. The World Bank prepared the study for APEC in cooperation with experts from the Institute for International
Economics and the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada. Canada coordinated the project through the APEC Committee on
Trade and Investment and the study was funded by APEC.
The study entitled The Economic Impact of Trade Facilitation Measures: A Development Perspective in the Asia-Pacific
Region is available on the APEC Secretariat Web site at: www.apecsec.org.sg/pubs/freepubs.html#2002
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A backgrounder is attached.
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Sébastien Théberge
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister for International Trade
(613) 992-7332
Media Relations Office
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 995-1874
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Miriam Van Dyck
World Bank
(202) 458-2931
mvandyck@worldbank.org
Lawrence MacDonald
World Bank
(202) 473-7465
lmacdonald@worldbank.org
Backgrounder
MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD BANK STUDY: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TRADE
FACILITATION MEASURES: A DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC
REGION
• A new approach to measuring trade facilitation is used: Seven indicators of trade facilitation are generated to measure the
efficiency of (1) port logistics; (2) customs procedures; (3) regulatory environment; (4) standards harmonization; (5)
business mobility; (6) e-business use; and (7) administrative professionalism and transparency in each APEC economy.
• The analysis considers how much trade in the APEC region might increase under various scenarios of "improved" trade
facilitation. A practical scenario for targeting pilot projects calculates the increase in trade that would be associated with
bringing those APEC members that have trade facilitation measures below the APEC average halfway up to the APEC
average. The results show that for APEC as a whole there would be an increase in intra-APEC trade of about
US$280 billion dollars.
• The model reveals that the greatest gains would come from improvements in the area of port and customs efficiency.
Significant gains would also result from improvements in regulatory standards and harmonization, e-business usage and
administrative transparency and professionalism.
• In terms of the distribution of the export gains, large APEC exporters such as the U.S., Japan, and Korea would see the
greatest increase in dollar terms with investment in improved port facilities (US$46 billion, US$38 billion, and US$11
billion respectively). Many APEC economies (Russia, Hong Kong, Chile, Chinese Taipei) would see large double-digit
increases in exports to the APEC region (44%, 34%, 22% and 18% respectively).
• The study will assist in better targeting capacity building projects. For example, in Peru, where the port logistics indicator
is almost the lowest among APEC members, an improvement halfway up to the APEC average would increase imports by
about US$2.7 billion. An improvement in its standards harmonization indicator would increase imports by approximately
US$1.5 billion. Given limited resources to fund projects and make improvements, Peru might do better to focus on port
logistics, but the possible gains from focusing on standards harmonization are significant and should not be ignored.
Similarly for Indonesia, focusing on improving port logistics would yield an efficiency gain of some US$10.8 billion, but
potential increased efficiency worth about US$3.5 billion from increased transparency and professionalism and about
US$2.3 from standards harmonization suggests that these areas could benefit from for projects as well.
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