SELA and CICTE join efforts to facilitate trade in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) launched the Virtual Workshop “Integrated border management: trade facilitation through supply chain security.”

During the meeting, the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Clarems Endara, emphasised that “administrative failures, criminal or terrorist acts, such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, piracy, among others, generate scenarios that threaten the free flow of goods and services, compromising the security, profitability and competitiveness of trade and leading to operational distortions and higher logistics costs.”

In this regard, he stressed that, in order to facilitate trade in the region, it is necessary to ensure the continuous improvement of security and border management systems. Therefore, it is necessary “to use standardised instruments to achieve and maintain a level of harmonisation and uniformity in the processes and activities that take place along the supply chain.”

Organisations such as the World Customs Organisation (WCO), the World Bank and the OAS, among others, have developed a series of guidelines and recommendations with the aim of achieving a regulatory framework to secure and facilitate global trade. To that end, coordination and collaborative work among manufacturers, shippers, warehousers, consolidators, customs brokers, carriers, importers, exporters, ports, airports and terminal operators, as well as international organisations, will be essential.

“From SELA, we express our willingness to comply with the objectives set by our membership to design public policies to reduce costs and barriers to trade, open new markets and position Latin American and Caribbean trade in international markets,” the Permanent Secretary highlighted.

The Virtual Workshop “Integrated border management: trade facilitation through security in the supply chain” will continue until 21 October with the objective of sharing regional experiences that promote and encourage coordination and cooperation in the implementation of international standards related to border management security.