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Trade Facilitation in Central Asia

image of Trade Facilitation in Central Asia

Central Asia's trade performance has displayed remarkable resilience to recent economic shocks. Nevertheless, the region’s dependence on a limited number of export commodities and a narrow range of trading partners exposes it to significant risks. Central Asian governments are therefore prioritising improved connectivity to integrate better into global value chains, reduce geographical disadvantages, and increase imports and exports. Trade facilitation plays a pivotal role in achieving these goals by reducing trade costs and fostering integration. However, Central Asia still faces substantial challenges, and, despite significant improvements in recent years, it falls behind most of the regions covered by the OECD's Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFI). This report takes stock of TFI progress in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, presents preliminary results for Turkmenistan for the first time, and showcases areas of TFI improvement. It also evaluates remaining trade barriers and provides recommendations to for trade facilitation reforms, including the need to prioritise trade community feedback to streamline procedures, digitalise and harmonise standards, and implement systemic border agency co-operation mechanisms. A co-ordinated approach to improving trade facilitation across the region could reduce trade costs substantially, lifting both trade turnover and growth.

English Also available in: Russian

Tajikistan

This chapter describes Tajikistan’s progress in creating an enabling environment for international trade. It shows the improvements in matters of simplified documentation requirements, the reduction and streamlining of fees and charges, and more inclusive mechanisms for trade community involvement. It also analyses the advances made in expanding trade and customs portals to create a Single Window and the challenges faced by Tajikistan despite the progress made. Finally, it addresses the way forward with strategic recommendations to address the remaining challenges in improving the country’s trade facilitation performance, particularly on information availability and cross-border co-operation.

English Also available in: Russian

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