MACHINE NAME = WEB 2

Trade with Sudan made cheaper and quicker as 'trade roadmap' is adopted

06 January 2017

Seeking ways to boost its economy, the East African nation of Sudan aims to remove unnecessary costs and reduce the time to trade across its borders by 40%, boosting exports by at least 25% by the end of 2021, according to a new plan launched by the Sudan Working Group on Trade Facilitation in December 2016.

The plan, which comes as Sudan became the first country to complete UNCTAD's Empowerment Programme for National Trade Facilitation Committees, aims to both boost GDP and improve the county's standing in international logistics rankings: Sudan placed 184 out of 189 countries in the World Bank's Trading Across Borders index in 2016.

The plan includes making it easier for Sudan to trade 10 key products representing almost half of Sudan's exports. The value of these exports was worth more than $1.5 billion in 2015.

TOP 10 KEY PRODUCTS OF SUDANESE EXPORTS

  • Cotton
  • Gum Arabic
  • Sesame
  • Groundnuts
  • Hibiscus Flower
  • Senna Pods
  • Livestock
  • Meat
  • Vegetables and Fruits
  • Hides and Skins

The 31 actions included in the National Trade Facilitation Roadmap 2017-2021 were drafted with the assistance of UNCTAD.

Although not a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Sudan intends to use the roadmap as a way of implementing at least 70% of the measures included in the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement which aims to streamline cross-border trade around the world.

"I have this image of 2011," the chairman of the Sudan Working Group on Trade Facilitation, Brigadier Ali Giddo Adam, said.

"As a group, we could not even understand all the implications of the different measures being negotiated within the WTO… but now, much has changed, and thanks to the Empowerment Programme, we have even a set of national experts that can support mainstreaming trade facilitation into Sudan's policies," he said.

UNCTAD support for Sudan takes place in cooperation with the World Customs Organization (WCO) and is financed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom as part of the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Capacity Building programme.

UNCTAD's Empowerment Programme for National Trade Facilitation Committees is being implemented in more than 10 African countries.