UNESCAP’S SURVEY ON DIGITAL & SUSTAINABLE TRADE

 

Latest Context

Recently, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) released its Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation and India is at the forefront of the trade facilitation efforts.

Key Features of the Survey

• The survey conducted by the UNESCAP is a fact-based survey rather than a perception-based survey. The survey covers the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement along with a set of nearly 60 trade facilitation measures which are categorised into 11 categories.  namely,

• Transparency; Formalities; Institutional arrangement and cooperation, Transit facilitation; Paperless trade; Cross-border paperless trade; Trade facilitation for SMEs; Agricultural trade facilitation; Women in trade facilitation; Trade finance for trade facilitation; and Trade facilitation in time of crisis.

• It covers 140 economies.
• UNESCAP conducts the survey every two years.

Main Highlights of the Survey

• It put India at the forefront of global trade facilitation efforts. India registered a very impressive score in the survey by achieving a score of about 93% in 2023, which is an improvement from 90% in 2021.
• In various sub-indicators, India achieved remarkable success i.e.  100% score in Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation, Transparency, Formalities, and Paperless Trade.
• A significant improvement in the “Women in Trade Facilitation” component, which registered an increase from about 66% in 2021 to about 78% in 2023, which pointed out India’s commitment to gender equality and women empowerment in the trade sector.
• Remarkable Initiatives: Single Window Interface for Facilitation of Trade (SWIFT), Turant Customs (it encompasses Faceless Customs, Paperless Customs, and Contactless Customs.), Pre-Arrival data processing, and e-Sanchit
• India was found the best-performing country in the South Asia region, crossing several developed nations including Canada, France, the UK, and Germany.

Significance: It highlighted the importance of various initiatives taken by India with a view to ease of doing business and fostering a trade-facilitative environment in the country.

UNESCAP: It was founded in 1947. Its headquarter is in Bangkok. There are five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It is one of them.

 

 

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