Lars Karlsson: CapacityNow

Gabon and the Kyrgyz Republic have ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), putting the total number of ratifications from members at 102. Only 8 more ratifications are needed to bring the TFA into force.

The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the Agreement.

In addition to Gabon and the Kyrgyz Republic, the following WTO members have also accepted the TFA: Hong Kong China, Singapore, the United States, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, China, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, the European Union (on behalf of its 28 member states), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Guyana, Côte d’Ivoire, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Kenya, Myanmar, Norway, Viet Nam, Brunei, Ukraine, Zambia, Lesotho, Georgia, Seychelles, Jamaica, Mali, Cambodia, Paraguay, Turkey, Brazil, Macao China, the United Arab Emirates, Samoa, India, the Russian Federation, Montenegro, Albania, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, Madagascar, the Republic of Moldova, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Iceland, Chile, Swaziland, Dominica and Mongolia.

We are soon there! This is the game changer of a century for global trade and development. 

Today the Nobel Prize in the memory ofAlfred Nobel is handed out by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf at the annual ceremony in Stockholm. 

The highlight of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm occurs when each Nobel laureate steps forward to receive the prize from the hands of the King of Sweden. 

This is the list of Nobel Prize winners 2016:

The Nobel Prize is handed out in line with the will of Alfred Nobel in recognition of academic, cultural, and/or scientific advances. The prize is always awarded on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. This year 120 years since the death of Nobel. 

It is great day for my country and for the world. Sweden has always been a leader in development and I am proud of this, the most honorable prize in the world in academic reseach and science. 

World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Enabling Trade Report provides us with a timely opportunity to assess how good at trade China actually is.

The Global Enabling Trade Report measures 136 countries on their capacity to facilitate the flow of goods over borders and to their destination. This is a much broader measurement than simply assessing tariffs and relative openness to imports and exports, as it takes into account things like the efficiency of border administration, infrastructure, transport services, use of technology and the wider operating environment. This is important because businesses in too many parts of the world still find it too hard to generate revenue and growth as a result of unnecessary delays and barriers.

With the Enabling Trade Index published every two years, here are some of the key takeaways that we learn about China’s record at enabling trade in 2016:

1. China ranks 61 in the WEF Enabling Trade Index. 

This is a slight improvement on 2014 when it ranked 63. At this measurement, WEF states that the country performs well in comparison with other large emerging markets. For example, it is the only one among the world’s 10 most populous countries to feature in the top half of the index. However, it still ranks some way behind the best nations in East Asia and the Pacific – Singapore (first), Hong Kong (third) and Japan (16th) – as well as the United States, which this year holds still at 22nd.
2. China’s infrastructure is a great asset. 

Of the seven pillars we measure, the country performs best in our transport infrastructure category, where it ranks 12th globally. This is important given the major investments the country has made in this area. It invests more than the US and Europe combined. By comparison, infrastructure spending in many G20 markets is currently declining. The focus for China now must be to ensure that similar investments remain targeted, generating value alongside wider economic stimulus.

3. China remains relatively closed to exports from other countries. 

From the above table, WEF says that China, which is the largest economy according to purchasing power parity, has some way to go before it can rank among the world’s most open economies. According to the WEF index, with average applied tariffs of 11.1%, the country ranks 121st out of 136 countries for domestic market access. There are signs that this is changing, with the country committing to open up duty free and quota-free access to its markets for least developed countries. This, of course, in turn helps China’s own economic development, as lower-priced inputs for its manufacturing sector for commodity-exporting countries help enhance its own competitiveness. At the same time, it should also be mentioned that Chinese goods exports also face relatively high tariffs, at around 4.5% of the value of the goods sold.

Source: World Economic Forum