Assessment of Diverse International Trade Facilitation Measures: The Case of Jordan and Hong Kong

Jordan - 11 August 2017

Trade facilitation by way of simplifying trade procedures has long been worked by various international organizations. After the World Trade Organization reached its Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), enforcing the agreed-upon trade facilitation measures became mandatory upon all members of the WTO, of which Jordan belongs. In this research, the WTO TFA and other trade facilitation scopes, particularly those used by the so-called “Annex D” organizations are reviewed and assessed. In addition, the trade facilitation statuses of Jordan and Hong Kong are compared and contrasted. The assessment of various international organizations’ trade facilitation measures showed that each international organization used to focus on different scopes of trade facilitation as covering transportation, logistics, and infrastructure. For the comparative analysis between Jordan and Hong Kong, the OECD trade facilitation indicators show that Jordan’s scores on “Fees and Charges,” and “Governance and Impartiality,” etc. are lowest. When comparing both regions’ Logistic Performance Index (LPI), Jordan needs to improve particularly in the areas of “Customs,” “Infrastructure,” and “Logistics Competence.” Most importantly, Jordan needs to follow Hong Kong’s dedication to implementing on all articles of the WTO TFA without any exception. It is suggested that Jordan should start to working on “Uniform Forms and Documentation Requirements” for its cost-effectiveness. All these suggestions from the analysis with Hong Kong are expected to provide Jordan with practical steps to improve its trade facilitation and trade industry.

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