Trade and Transport Facilitation Audit in South Asia (TTFA)

CUTS International along with Centre for Policy Dialogue, Sustainable Development Policy Institute and Institute of Policy Studies, acting as partner organisations to South Asian Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment are conducting a project titled “Trade and Transport Facilitation Support (South Asia)”. This project is being supported by Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The project targets to assess the costs arising from poor trade and transport facilitation which obstruct the smooth intra-regional trade in South Asia. The main objective of the study is to identify the bottlenecks related to trade and transport in South Asian Region and assessment of the benefits of removing these bottlenecks based on the regional standard.

The duration of this project is of 8 months from November 2013 to June 2014.

The goal of the project is to contribute towards economic growth and poverty alleviation in south Asia by enhancing economic integration in the region. Secondly, the enhancement of intra-regional trade in South Asia through better trade and transport facilitation measures, by finding answers to important questions vis-à-vis trade facilitation in South Asia and using those answers to influence future policy making on trade facilitation.

The study will address the following Objectives:

Defining a regional benchmark for an acceptable level of trade and transport facilitation in South Asia.

Identifying trade and transport related bottlenecks in the region and assessing the benefits of removing these bottlenecks based on the regional benchmark, and estimating the required investment.

Creating a network of reform minded organizations/professionals at both Track I and Track II levels in South Asia as well as outside the region.

Conducting advocacy at the regional as well as national levels to ensure buy-in of the recommendation made by the analytical works from the governments of South Asian countries as well as the SAARC Secretariat.

Activities are divided among four partner organizations and the lead organization of this project, South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE). In order to achieve the goals and objectives, SAWTEE will coordinate the project at the regional level and will undertake national-level activities in Nepal. National-level activities in other South Asian countries will be undertaken by:

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in Bangladesh;

Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International in India and Bhutan;

Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan and Afghanistan;

Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) in Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Specific activities that would be carried out under the project by CUTS International:

Activities	Purpose
Literature review (November 2013 – December 2014)	It will help in increasing the understanding related to transit issues It will also give a narrative description of the current scenario of transport facility related to trade in South Asia
Design of Questionnaire (December 2013)	To examine the study questionnaire developed by SAWTEE To provide comments on the study questionnaire
Pre-test of Questionnaire (January 2014)	To assess the accomplishment of the questionnaire at one border point
Field Research (January- February 2014)	To assess the real situation of transport facilitation in India and Bhutan
Preparation of Draft Report ( March- April 2014)	To prepare a report covering all the contents for getting comments from SAWTEE
National Consultative Meeting (April 2014)	To Present the study report on national level and get feedback from stakeholders
Dissemination Meeting (June 2014)	To participate and present the finding of the project

The following outcomes are expected from this project:

Identification of regionally acceptable benchmark for transport facilitation in South Asia and to estimate the cost (investment) required for it;

Increase in awareness about trade and transport facilitation requirements amongst the relevant policy-makers and prioritisation of policy measures in the context of new transport and transit projects that are underway and/or proposed in South Asia

SAWTEE has undertaken this project with support from AusAID. SAWTEE has divided its activities among four partner organisations:

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)

Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International

Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS)

Trade, Transport and Transit Facilitation in South Asia
Imperative of Bridging Macro-Meso-Micro Gaps
October 29-30, 2014, Kolkata, India
Agenda | Backgrounder | Report

Action oriented advocacy and lobbying to provide a push to Regional Integration and Economic Cooperation in South Asia
Kolkata, October 29, 2014