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What is the official name of
the national trade facilitation
coordination mechanism? |
AFPRO
Afghanistan Pro committee to
promote efficient trade, transit
and transport procedures and
methods. |
| What motivated the establishment of the TF working group? |
AFPRO was established in 2006 to
enable the private sector to
head Afghanistan's development
within a competitive
market-based economy in which
the Government is the policy
maker and regulator of the
economy, not is competitor.
Trade facilitation issues in
Afghanistan are: High transit
costs, High trade transaction
costs, and Long truck and rail
journey time |
| What year was it established? |
2006 |
| Do you have other national bodies dealing with WTO issues and/or with TF? |
A WTO Unit in the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry supported
by an inter-ministerial task
force on WTO matters |
| Was the working group based on a previously existing multi-agency group/committee (for example a trade and transport faciltiation committee)? |
No |
| What is the current status of the working group (running, pilot phase, study) |
Stopped it's
activities in Jan. 2009. |
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| Has the working group been set up as an ad hoc group, or a legal entity/organization? |
Stand alone permanent
governmental body. |
| What specific documents were necessary to institutionalise the group and which body and at which level made the decisions? |
Presidential decree. |
What is the scope/manadate of the working group? |
To act as a focal point to
collect and disseminate
information on best
practices;
Forum to research solutions
for reducing trade
transaction costs and
lowering truck and rail
journey time. |
| Does the working group have terms of reference? |
-
- |
| Which is the coordinating agency |
CEO from Chamber of Commerce. |
What is the structure of the group
(Chair/co-chair, sub-groups etc.)? |
Executive Committee (Chairman:
CEO Chamber of Commerce, Vice
chairmen: DG Customs from MoF
and DG Transit and Trade
Facilitation Directorate of MoCI.
4 working groups were
established: Trade Facilitation,
Transport and Transit
Facilitation, Training, PPP and
Investment Projects. |
| Do you have a permanent technical secretariat? |
Yes. A Secretariat with one
assistant was established and
located in the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry. |
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| Do you have a formal budget for the operations of the working group? |
No. Funding for the Secretariat
was provided by the UNCTAD TF
project WBK financed. No
agreement was reached on a
sustainable business plan and
annual budget. |
| If yes, what major items are covered by it? |
This question is not applicable. |
| What are the sources of funding? |
TA |
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| What are the objectives of the working group? |
- Facilitation
- Regulatory
- Development Policy
- Training
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Does the working group have a
working plan? |
No |
| How do you monitor progress in implementing the working group? |
This question is not applicable
(see question 2). |
| How often, and in which form and to whom is the working group reporting? |
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| What public or quasi-public agencies participate in the working group? |
President Office, High Council
of Ministers Secretary Office,
Ministries of Economy, Finance,
Mine, Energy & water,
Communication, Agriculture,
Environment, Central Bank of
Afghanistan. |
| What private associations or entities participate? |
National traders and Private
Sector. |
| What is the level of seniority of the participants? |
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| Does the working group meet regularly? |
Several meetings took place
between June 2006 and June 2008. |
| What is the level of participation in each of the meetings ? |
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| Do you use different meetings formats (such as focus groups, brainstorming, Citizen jury's etc?)? |
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| How do you keep all stakeholders informed of the working groups' meetings and new documents, upcoming events etc? |
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| How does the group interface with other working groups / committees working on similar issues? |
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| Do you undertake special information session for the general public or particular stakeholders? |
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| What was the impact of the work of the group? |
Most of the meetings of AFPRO
actually dealt with
organisational matters, such as
procedures and financing issues
and very little substantive
issues. Even on the
organizational matters no
agreement was reached on budget,
work plan etc. |
| How does it benefit your countries' responsiveness to the WTO negotiation process? |
AFPRO Secretariat staff
participated in the preparation
and the organisation of the WTO
TF self-assessment |
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Have there been concrete operational outcomes? |
Conducted a study on "Trade
Route Analysis: Kabul to Karachi
vs Bandar Abbas" |
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| What are the crucial success factors? |
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| What are the greatest obstacles? |
- Lack of sufficient
government commitment
- The Afghan Private
Sector has not been
interested to participate in
AFPRO activities preferring
to raise their concerns and
problems through the Chamber
of Commerce.
- Lack of financing
commitment to establish a
permanent Secretariat;
- Lack of realistic goals
and results and ToRs for
AFPRO and the working
groups;
- Lack of understanding of
the role of AFPRO amongst
stakeholders;
- AFPRO never functioned
as a training institute for
its stakeholders
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| What are the main lessons learned? |
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| What are the plans for further development of the working group? |
- Strengthen existing
professional representative
organisations and ensure
regular and direct
consultations with the
government.
- The inter-ministerial
task force on WTO issues can
also follow up on the trade
facilitation issues and may
set up a sub-group for the
TF, following the successful
example of the organisation
of the WTO self assessment
and other WTO TF related
activities, such as the WTO
questionnaires on aid for
trade and trade
facilitation.
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