Seminar : Trade facilitation on the agenda
The seminar that was conducted by UNCTAD experts aimed at building the capacity of CONAFE members.
From 26 February to 1 March 2018, Douala hosted a training seminar on module 3 of capacity building of CONAFE member. The meeting, which was organised by the National Trade Facilitation Committee of Cameroon (CONAFE), in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was themed adoption of a Trade Facilitation Roadmap. The objective of this third training module was to present the methodology for the development of a national roadmap for the implementation of trade facilitation measures.
The seminar held under the general coordination of Mr. Yves Edoa Effa, representative of the Secretary General of the Prime Minister's Office who doubles as Chairman of CONAFE and was attended by representatives of about fifty public and private companies as well as Committee members.
According to the UNCTAD facilitators and experts, Mr. Oswaldo Agatiello and Ms. Rosine Uwamariya, the National Trade Facilitation Roadmap is a comprehensive document that sets out a strategic vision for the implementation of trade facilitation reforms. It also lays down a timeline for implementing such a vision and outlines a set of activities to be carried out, including performance indicators.
It should be noted that the development of a national roadmap for trade facilitation is done in three main phases namely the Initiation Phase, the Design Phase and the Validation Phase. Generally speaking, a trade facilitation roadmap provides a common vision for all stakeholders (public and private). It also provides for continuity of relations with government agencies in the area of reform and complements other planning tools regarding trade facilitation and provides backstopping to the work of a National Trade Facilitation Committee.
Participants at the four-day meeting came up with some recommendations, including the urgent finalisation of the design and validation phases of the national trade facilitation roadmap for Cameroon, the popularisation of the roadmap as soon as it is validated by the competent State Authority, the Prime Minister's Office, which is CONAFE's administrative supervisory authority, the mobilisation of international partners in order to obtain the necessary technical assistance for the implementation of the national road map and the organisation, in 2018, of the last training module on the training of trainers.
The seminar, whose first two modules were organised in May 2017 and December 2017 respectively in Douala, Cameroon, forms part of the capacity building programme of National Trade Facilitation Committees (CNFE). The programme is being implemented in Cameroon for a better coordination of the implementation of trade facilitation measures