The World Customs Organization (WCO) announced that at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum 2024 (PF24), it hosted a panel session on 12 September 2024 focusing on digitalisation, Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs), Single Window and Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs).
One of the WTO’s most significant annual outreach events, the Public Forum, occurred from 10 to 13 September 2024 at WTO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The event brought together more than 4000 representatives from civil society, academia, business, the media, government, and inter-governmental organizations and over 600 speakers in over 130 sessions. This year’s Public Forum, titled “Re-Globalization: Better Trade for a Better World”, explored how re-globalization can help make trade more inclusive and ensure its benefits reach more people.
The WCO has been playing an active role in the WTO Public Forum for a number of years by organizing sessions, providing speakers and sharing information, with the aim of raising the profile of Customs and its relevance in cross-border trade.
Given the WCO’s theme for 2024, “Customs Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose”, this event was a great opportunity for high-level engagement with the trade, academics and others to reiterate the importance of Customs for international trade. “Customs for Better Trade & Better Trade for a Better World”.
The panel session hosted by the WCO “Leveraging Digitalization in Customs for Inclusive Trade”, comprised speakers from Customs, the WTO and the private sector. The session was moderated by Dr. Boriana Rukanova from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.
WCO Secretary General (SG) Ian Saunders began by highlighting several WCO tools that support Customs in the area of digitalization. These tools, including the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), the WCO Data Model, Single Window, Coordinated Border Management and others, highlight Customs' important role in creating a more equitable trading environment. The SG noted, “To ensure digitalization becomes a winning strategy, Customs administrations must invest in capacity building, foster international cooperation, and embrace innovation. With WCO support, Customs can enhance border efficiency and contribute to a secure and inclusive global trading environment.” Having more robust Single Window Systems is valuable for everyone, including governments and MSMEs, for Customs processes' predictability, efficiency, and transparency. The SG also announced an important joint initiative of WCO, WTO and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to develop a comprehensive paper aimed at assisting WCO Members in making their AEO programmes more scalable and accessible to MSMEs, which is indeed a significant step towards creating a more inclusive and supportive global trading environment for such companies, ensuring they can fully benefit from the opportunities that AEO programmes offer.
Angela Ellard, Deputy Director General (DG) of the WTO, spoke about WTO members ’ digitalization initiatives and how the WTO supports them in overcoming the challenges in their journey towards digitalization. The Deputy Director General highlighted that digitalization is a very important part of the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The WTO Trade Facilitation Committee and TFA Facility play an important role in terms of experience-sharing and capacity-building support to WTO members. Also brought to participants' attention was the role of the informal Working Group on MSMEs, which supports them in joining AEO programmes and becoming more competitive in international markets. She also highlighted the importance of Single Window systems to enhancing global trade inclusiveness.
Niti Wityatem, Deputy DG and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Thai Customs Department discussed his administration’s ongoing digitalization projects. Among the main challenges in this process are the absence of domestic regulations, the lack of budget, and the lack of public awareness. The CIO noted that the Thai AEO programme was developed based on WCO standards in 2011 and welcomes companies of all sizes, including MSMEs. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Single Window and online exchange of origin documents among ten ASEAN members were highlighted as regional success stories in the movement toward digitalization.
Valerie Picard, Head of Trade at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and member of the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG), talked about the importance of cooperation between public and private sectors in the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and in digitalization. The ICC underlined that it is important to take the private sector on board when developing digitalization procedures because they are end users of the system. Reference was made to the different levels of development in terms of differences in national legal frameworks. The ICC also highlighted the importance of the Digital Standards Initiative (DSI), which contributes to the digitalization of trade and Customs as well as to the support of MSMEs. Noting that standardizing data requirements is essential for MSMEs, the ICC emphasized that a uniform approach to data would also facilitate trade finance for these companies. Increasing MSMEs’ awareness of AEO programmes was highlighted as an important element in bringing more of these companies into such programmes.