The Inaugural Meeting of GTI Trade and Investment Committee (TIC) was held on 14 December 2016 in Incheon, Republic of Korea (ROK). At the 16th GTI Consultative Commission Meeting (28 APR 2016, Seoul, ROK), the GTI member countries approved the restructuring of the former GTI Trade Facilitation Committee into the Trade and Investment Committee (TIC) which will tackle broader issues on trade and investment and the Customs Sub-Committee (CSC) under TIC which will handle trade facilitation agendas in customs domain. The government officials from the GTI member countries, experts from International Organizations, GTI partners (chamber of commerce and industry, EXIM Bank, local government) and others took part in the first meeting of TIC.
The participants approved the new Terms of Reference (ToR) for TIC, shared the results of GTI Customs Sub-Committee (CSC) and Local Cooperation Committee (LCC), had in-depth discussion on future cooperation under the new TIC, took inputs from the GTI partners on developing future cooperation activities, discussed project proposals and adopted the Work Plan for 2017.
Launching the GTI TIC which will be the key platform to boost trade and investment among the GTI member countries, the participants welcomed the result of GTI LCC and shared a common opinion that local governments are main participants and beneficiary in economic cooperation in the Greater Tumen Region (GTR), and the central governments need to pay attention to the their opinions on trade and investment such as simplifying customs procedure and improving infrastructure and transportation.
The session for exploring the ways on future cooperation under TIC was one of the highlights for the Meeting. Based on the “Concept Note for Future Cooperation of TIC” from the Ministry of Commerce of China, the participants exchanged their ideas on priority areas to handle under TIC and agreed to make a new Action Plan and Roadmap in trade and investment sector of GTI to accelerate cooperation among the GTI member countries under new TIC.
As another highlight for the Meeting, GTI partners (Chamber of Commerce and Industry, EXIM Bank and local government) engaged in trade and investment activities in GTR provided valuable insights on developing future cooperation in TIC. The inputs covered broad areas and ideas for boosting trade and investment in GTR, which include mutual cooperation in business laws, creating a database of rules and procedures related with customs and trade, bottlenecks identified by private enterprises (e.g. delays in customs clearance), progress of GTI NEA EXIM Banks Association and outcome of GTI International Trade and Investment EXPO.
Regarding potential joint projects in TIC, the participants shared diverse ideas including workshop on enhancing trade and investment in GTR, study on how to promote transportation route in GTR, feasibility study on establishing an economic corridor in GTR, study on implementing Free Economic Zone or Free Trade Agreement, study on implementing WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. They agreed to draft their ideas into official project proposals for circulation among the TIC members and discuss the project proposals at the upcoming TIC pre-meeting for approval.
Finally, the participants adopted the Work Plan of TIC in 2017 which mainly includes annual meeting, two pre-meetings for drafting an Action Plan and Roadmap, partnership building, etc.
Mongolia will host and chair the 2nd GTI TIC Meeting in Ulaanbaatar in 2017, and the GTI Secretariat will closely communicate with Mongolia to successfully organize the next meeting.