DUSHANBE, October 10, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The Government of Tajikistan is pooling efforts with UN agencies to implement the UNECE recommendations for removing regulatory and procedural barriers to trade in goods, as identified in the UNECE study “Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in Tajikistan: Needs Assessment.”

According to the Tajik Embassy in Geneva, the recommendations address priority needs in the areas of trade facilitation and quality assurance, with an eye to supporting the successful implementation of Tajikistan’s post-accession plan to fulfill its WTO commitments.

As the recommendations are detailed and extensive, the UNECE has been assisting the Government in sequencing implementation within the context of a phased approach to ensure the sustainability of efforts.  The UNECE has also brought in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to support implementation, including the mobilization of the required financial resources.

UNCTAD and UNECE will support the consolidation of an institutional mechanism that would serve as a national trade facilitation committee. The committee will ensure the broadest possible participation of relevant public and private sector stakeholders in all policy decisions on trade facilitation, including the implementation of UNECE recommendations.  On its part, UNIDO will be acting as a lead agency for implementing the recommendations pertaining to strengthening standardization, quality assurance, accreditation and metrology (SQAM) Infrastructure.

In addition, the Government of Tajikistan requested the UNECE to integrate the recommendations emerging from the study into country’s Aid-for-Trade (AfT) action matrix, which was developed in 2010 within the context of the AfT Roadmap for SPECA initiative.  The Government will request the UN Country Team in Tajikistan to integrate the updated AfT action matrix   into the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).

The UNECE study was carried out in 2013, and features a detailed analysis of regulatory and procedural barriers to trade, highlighting their causes, how they interact to undermine the country’s export competitiveness and the extent to which these barriers could be addressed through regional cooperation.  It also provides practical, action-oriented recommendations, which build on international best practices and UNECE recommendations, norms, standards and guidelines in the areas of trade facilitation and regulatory cooperation. The recommendations were born out of extensive discussions with key public and private sector stakeholders to ensure national ownership, relevance and responsiveness to the country’s immediate and long-term trade needs and development goals.