THE New Research by OECD on trade facilitation has emphasized on the need for concluding the Doha Round, in a view that multilateral agreement will cut red tape in international trade thereby dramatically reducing trading costs and add a substantial boost to the global economy.

The OECD has determined that the comprehensive implementation of all measures currently under negotiation in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Round would reduce total trade costs by 10 percent in advanced economies and by 13-15.5 percent in developing countries. Reducing global trade costs by just 1 percent would increase worldwide income by more than USD40bn, most of which would accrue in developing countries, the report says.

The OECD report has analysed forthcoming impact of all the sixteen policy areas under negotiation at the WTO, including the availability of trade related information, the simplification and harmonization of documents, the streamlining of procedures, and the use of automated processes and advanced rulings. The analysis reveals that that trade facilitation not only benefits importers. By reducing trade costs, facilitation also helps boosts exports significantly, thus allowing firms greater participation in the global value chains that characterize international trade.

Some of the Salient features mentioned in OECD Report are :

•  In some African countries, revenue losses from inefficient border procedures are estimated to exceed 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP);

•  Harmonizing and simplifying documents would reduce trade costs by 3 percent for low-income countries and by 2.7 percent for lower middle-income countries;

•  Streamlining procedures would bring further trade cost reductions of 2.8 percent for upper middle-income countries, 2.2 percent for lower middle-income countries and 1 percent for advanced economies;

•  Automating processes would reduce trade costs by more than 2 percent for all countries studied; and,

•  Ensuring the availability of trade-related information would generate cost savings of 2 percent for advanced economies, 1.4 percent for lower middle-income countries and 1.6 percent for low-income countries.