Eighty percent of international trade volumes are transported on ships and, for many developing countries, the share is even higher. For half a century, UNCTAD has accompanied developments in maritime transport and ports through its annual flagship publication, the Review of Maritime Transport.
The Review of Maritime Transport is the 50th anniversary issue of UNCTAD’s longest standing flag ship publication. The short course will start out with key findings from UNCTAD’s latest issue of the Review of Maritime Transport (RMT). The presentation will discuss the seven key trends that are currently redefining the maritime transport landscape and shaping the sector’s outlook. These trends entail challenges and opportunities for developing countries which require continued monitoring and assessment for effective and sound policymaking. One of the key conclusions of UNCTAD’s work in this field is that in order to improve access to international shipping services, policy makers need to invest not only in hard infrastructure, but also in trade, transport and transit facilitation reforms.
The second part of the short course will accordingly look at trends and challenges towards the implementation of trade facilitation reforms. To achieve the necessary political will and interagency coordination, countries need to create and sustain national trade facilitation committees (NTFCs). In the NTFCs, all relevant stakeholders collaborate to coordinate and implement trade facilitation reforms. NTFCs need to involve the public and private sector, as well as users and providers of trade supporting services.
