The 3^rd GTI Trade and Investment Committee (TIC) Meeting & GTI Customs Sub-Committee (CSC) Meeting were held on 3^rd December 2018 in Kemerovo, Russia. UNESCAP and GTI Secretariat co-organized the 8^th International Seminar on Trade Facilitation in North-East Asia with the theme of “Cross-border Paperless Trade: In support of Reinvigorating Trade” on 4^th December. Also, UNESCAP held the 2^nd UNNExT Task Force meeting on Cross-border Electronic Data Exchange in cooperation with GTI secretariat on 4^th~7^th December.

The TIC & CSC members reviewed the progress and achievement since the 2^nd meeting (16~17 November 2017, Ulaanbaatar), shared information on trade facilitation and investment promotion efforts in their respective countries, and discussed potential activities and projects and Work Plan for 2019.

The members welcomed the outcomes made under TIC and CSC, such as the implementation and completion of projects “Study on the Soft Environment of Regional Supply Chain Connectivity”, and “AEO Cooperation Scheme among Customs Administration”, and the successful organization of “Policy Dialogue on Industrial Park (5 September 2018, Changchun, China)”, GTI Workshop on FTAs/RTAs Information Sharing (25 October 2018, China), 6^th GTI International Trade and Investment EXPO (13~16 September 2018, Donghae, ROK), and 7^th Trade Facilitation Capacity Building Workshop (20~22 November 2018, Jeju, ROK).

To seek for opportunities for future cooperation in TIC & CSC, the participants shared information and insights on their best practices in promoting trade facilitation and investment promotion, including the harmonization of AEO security criteria, time-release study, WTO TFA capacity building program, etc. GTI Secretariat and member countries continue to discuss future cooperation activities and projects.

In particular, TIC meeting had a special session, “Trade and Investment Opportunities of Kemerovo Region’. Stakeholders in the Kemerovo region gave presentations on the regional industry including coal mining, metal industry, and tourism. It might be a good opportunity to explore a new way to cooperation with Kemerovo as a new friend of GTI.

This year’s International seminar discussed the current issue of the cross-border paperless trade. Government officials and experts from UNESCAP, World Customs Organization (WCO), and the private sector shared experiences and insights on cross-border electronic data exchange and e-commerce. (Further details on the International Seminar are available from the ESCAP ENEA website，https://www.unescap.org/subregional-office/east-north-east-asia)

The 4^th TIC & CSC meeting and the 9^th International Seminar on Trade Facilitation will be hosted and chaired by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs, the People’s Republic of China, in 2019.