PRESS/93
3March 1998
MAJOR COMPANIES TOPARTICIPATE INWTO TRADE
FACILITATION SYMPOSIUM
Some oftheworld 'sleading corporations willpresent thepractical problems traders facewhen
moving goods across borders during theWTO Symposium onTrade Facilitation on9-10March 1998
atthenewWTO conference facility.
Among thepanellists attheSymposium arerepresentatives from theUnited States 'Federal
Express, General Motors, General Electric Information Systems andMattel; theNetherlands 'Shell;
Switzerland 'sGondrand AG;India'sLemuir Group; United Kingdom 'sSITPRO andMarinade Ltd.;
Xerox Brazil; theBank ofBotswana; andMalaysia 'sMultimedia Development Corporation.
Alsoparticipatingarethefollowingindustrygroups:theFederationofGermanIndustries,French
Wine andSpirits Exporters, Federation ofDutch Entrepreneurs andtheBritish Services Association.
NGO participants include theInternational Chamber ofCommerce, International AirTransport
Association (IATA), International Chamber ofShipping, International Road Transport Union, the
International Union ofRailways, Lima Chamber ofCommerce, Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce andFIATA.
TheWTO Director-General, Mr.Renato Ruggiero, willgivetheopening address. The
Symposium, tobechaired byWTO Deputy Director-General Anwarul Hoda, willalsofeature
presentations bythefollowing intergovernmental organizations: theUNEconomic Commission for
Europe, UNCTAD, theWorld Customs Organization, theInternational Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO,
theInternational Monetary Fund, theWorld Bank, andtheWTO.
TheWTO Symposium aimstoidentify themainareaswhere traders faceobstacles when moving
goods across borders byproviding adirect interface between thepractical level(traders) andthetrade
policy level(officials incapitals andinGeneva). Itisintended toplace WTO members inaposition
tomove tothephase ofanalytical work ontrade facilitation, inorder toassess thescope forWTO
rules inthisarea, assetoutintheWTO Singapore Ministerial Declaration.
Attached isthefullagenda oftheSymposium, including thecomplete listofspeakers. For
more information, please contact Mr.Markus Jelitto oftheWTO, tel.739.5885/fax: 739.5770.
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WTO TRADE FACILITATION SYMPOSIUM
Geneva, 9-10March 1998
Agenda
Purpose: Theobjective oftheSymposium onTrade Facilitation istohelpidentify themainareas
where traders faceobstacles when moving goods across borders. TheSymposium will
provide adirect interface between thepractical level(traders) andthetradepolicy level
(officials incapitals andinGeneva) inthisrespect andisintended toplace WTO
Members inaposition tomove tothephase ofanalytical work ontrade facilitation,
inorder toassess thescope forWTO rules inthisarea, assetoutintheSingapore
Declaration.
Organizational
Matters: TheSymposium willtakeplaceinthenewWTO Council Room. TheDirector-General
willdeliver anopening address. Deputy Director-General Mr.Anwarul Hoda will
chair theSymposium.
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MONDAY, 9MARCH 1998
Chairman: Mr.Anwarul Hoda, Deputy Director-General, WTO
9.15 Opening Address
Mr.Renato Ruggiero, Director-General, WTO
9.45 I. INTRODUCTION OFTHE TRADE TRANSACTION PROCESS
Factual overview ofthedifferent stages ofthetransaction chain.
Mr.Fermin Cuza, Mattel Inc., USA
Mr.Michael Doran, SITPRO Chief Executive, UK
II. ISSUE-ORIENTED PRESENTATIONS BYTHEPRIVATE SECTOR AND
OTHER EXPERTS
InthefourPanels ofthissection, speakers willgiveshort (10-15 min.)
presentations todeepen theunderstanding ofthemainissues intherespective
sector, andtooutline themostpressing problems forbusiness intherespective
area. AttheendofeachPanel, themoderator willopenthefloorforalimited
numberofconcreteremarksandquestions(circa.20minutes)fromtheaudience
andwillprovide ashort summary (5minutes) ofthepanel discussion.
10.45 PANEL 1 Physical Movement ofConsignments (Transport andTransit )
Moderator: Mr.Abdelmalek Dahmani, President FIATA, Tunisia
a. Problems offreight-forwarders andproviders ofmultimodal transport in
facilitating tradewithreference toregional differences inthetransport sector.
Mr.Raghu Dayal, Corporate Director, Lemuir Group, India
Mr.Juerg Hammer, Gondrand AG,Switzerland
b. Differences between express carriage ofgoods andnon-express freight
forwarding; overview ofthemain problems express carriers faceindifferent
world regions.
Mr.Kenneth Glenn, FedEX, USA
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c. Themain rules andpractices which govern theairtransport sector -
International AirTransport Association (IATA).
Mr.Robert Davidson, Assistant Director, Facilitation Services, IATA
d. Themain rules andpractices which govern theseatransport sector -
International Chamber ofShipping (ICS).
Mr.Brian Parkinson, Head ofTrade Facilitation, ICS
e. Themain rules andpractices which govern roadtransport androadtransit -
International Road Transport Union (IRU).
Dr.Peter Krausz, Central andEastern Europe Officer, IRU
f. Themain rules andpractices which govern therailtransport sector -
International Union ofRailways (UIC).
Dr.Manfred Erdmann, Freight Director, UIC
13.00 -14.30 Lunch break
14.30 PANEL 2 Import andExport Procedures andRequirements, including Customs and
Border Crossing Problems
Moderator:Mr.KlausKrinke,FederationofGermanIndustries,Germany
a. Private sector views onthemostimportant practical problems theirbusinesses
faceintheareaofcustoms andborder-crossing.
Mr.JuanAntonio Morales Bermudez, Lima Chamber ofCommerce, Peru
Mr.Danny Meyer, President, Zimbabwe National Chamber ofCommerce,
Zimbabwe
Mr.David Wakeford, ICI, UK
Mr.Nicolas Ozanam, Deputy Director General, French Wine andSpirits
Exporters, France
b. Practical problems fortraders intheareaofcustoms valuation.
Mr.Peter Zubrin, General Motors, USA
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c. Practicalproblemsfortradersthroughcustomsirregularities-costsforbusiness,
consumers, andgovernments andtheimpact ofcustoms irregularities onsmall
andmedium-size enterprises.
Mr.David Phillips, Transparency International
d. Persisting obstacles fortradecaused through documentation requirements and
procedures.
Mr.Adriaan Snoodijk, Federation ofDutch Entrepreneurs (VNO-NCW)
andUNICE, Netherlands
17.00 PANEL 3 Payments, Insurance andother Financial requirements which affect Cross-
Border Movement ofGoods inInternational Trade
Moderator: Mr.Radu Negrea, Romanian Banking Association, Romania
a. Overview ofthefacilities andproblems related topayments, insurance and
other financial requirements inthedeveloped world.
Mr.Norman Rose, British Services Association, UK
b. Overview ofthefacilities andproblems related topayments, insurance and
other financial requirements inthedeveloping world.
Mr.Henrique Rzezinski, Xerox Brazil, Brazil
c. Theroleofexchange control formalities andother formalities related to
payments, insurance andother financial requirements which could create
obstacles totrading, withreference toopportunities toreform.
Mr.Moses Pelaelo, Bank ofBotswana, Botswana
d. Financial requirements related tointernational trade -Avenues toreform;
Experiences with"Bolero" anditspotential forthefuture.
Mr.ÅkeNilson, Marinade Ltd., UK
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TUESDAY, 10MARCH
Chairman: Mr.Anwarul Hoda, Deputy Director-General, WTO
9.15 PANEL 4 ElectronicFacilitiesandtheirImportanceforFacilitatingInternationalTrade
Moderator: Mr.Christiaan vanderValk, ICC
a. Theimportance ofelectronic facilities fortheconduct ofinternational trade -
Aviewfrom aprovider ofsuchservices.
Mr.AlecAbsalom, GEInformation Systems, USA
b. Theimportance ofelectronic facilities fortheconduct ofinternational trade -
Aviewfrom auserofsuchservices.
Mr.Nick Mansfield, Shell, Netherlands
c. TheroleofEDIFACT forfacilitating international trade, withreference to
itspotential forsmall andmedium-size enterprises.
Dr.Nadadur Janardhan, ESCAP
d. Modernization ofcustoms administrations byuseofinformation technology
-TheChilean experience.
Mr.Enrique Fanta Ivanovic, Director General ofCustoms, Chile
e. Trade Facilitation andElectronic Commerce -Aperspective from Asia.
Dr.Chun-Kwong Han, Multimedia Development Corporation, Malaysia
III. PRESENTATIONS BYINTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Theorganizations specified below willidentify theexisting instruments relevant to
trade facilitation intheirareaand/or thepractical assistance theyaregiving. They
willindicate fromtheirperspective thereasons fortheexisting problems andexplain
howfartheirwork hassofaraddressed these problems.
11.00 UN/ECE
Mr.Henri Martre, Chairman ofCEFACT,
Ms.Carol Cosgrove-Sacks, Director Trade Division, UN/ECE
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11.20 UNCTAD
Mr.Hans Carl, Chief, Trade Facilitation Section, UNCTAD
11.40 WCO
Mr.Douglas Tweddle, Director, Compliance andFacilitation Directorate
12.00 ITC
Mr.Carlos F.Cattani, Senior Adviser onTrade Finance Services
12.20 IMF
Mr.Adrien Goorman, Senior Economist, TaxAdministration Division
12.40 World Bank
Mr.Jayanta Roy,Principal Economist, Middle EastandNorth Africa Department
13.00 -14.30 Lunch break
14.30 WTO
Mr.Heinz Opelz, Director, Market Access Division, WTO
15.00 IV. GENERAL DISCUSSION
Open exchange among allparticipants ontheissues raised during theSymposium,
possible conclusions thatmaybedrawn, aswellasonfuture work ontradefacilitation
invarious fora, including theWTO.
18.00 Concluding remarks bytheChairman
END