The 4th GTI Trade and Investment Committee (TIC) Meeting & GTI Customs Sub-Committee (CSC) Meeting were held on 12~13 December 2019 in Changchun, China with the participation of TIC and CSC members and experts from partner organizations including UNESCAP, WCO, GIZ, etc.
Also, UNESCAP and GTI Secretariat co-organized the International Seminar on Trade Facilitation in North-East Asia with the theme of “The Trade-Transport Facilitation Nexus: Developments and Possible Approaches for North-East Asia” (12 Dec.) and the 7th UNNExT Task Force Meeting on Cross-border Electronic Data Exchange (11 Dec.).
During the meetings, the TIC and CSC members reviewed the progress and achievement since the 3rd meetings, shared information on trade facilitation and investment promotion efforts respectively by each country and discussed future cooperation activities and Work Plan for 2020.
TIC meeting discussed the stock-taking on the Roadmap for Trade and Investment Cooperation of GTI (2017-2020) and decided to elaborate the extended Roadmap next year. It introduced Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND) as a new cooperation partner to members and called to seek for opportunities for cooperation.
CSC meeting reviewed a new project proposal proposed by Mongolian customs: Promotion of SMEs’ Export-Oriented Production by Enhancing the Implementation of Inward and Outward Processing Procedures. CSC confirmed that members will support the project and share the best practice on the Inward and Outward Processing if the project would be adopted successfully.
The members acknowledged the outcomes made under TIC and CSC, such as the implementation and completion of projects “Prospect of ‘Trade & Investment Cooperation in GTR” conducted by Chinese Association of International Trade (CAIT), the 7th GTI International Trade and Investment EXPO (17~18 October 2019, Wonju, ROK), and the 8th Trade Facilitation Capacity Building Workshop (19~21 November 2019, Busan, ROK).
This year’s International Seminar discussed cross-sector topic, trade-transport facilitation nexus. Government officials and experts from UNESCAP, WCO, academia and the private sector shared policy perspectives, experiences, and insights on the related issues.
The 5th TIC & CSC meetings and the 10th International Seminar on Trade Facilitation will be hosted and chaired by Korea.
