In order to present the new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a two-day workshop will be held on April 28 and 29, 2014, in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in Belgrade. The conference is organized by the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Western Balkans Trade Logistics Project implemented by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and Ideas Center in Geneva.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications Mr. Stevan Nikčević will open the workshop.

Assistant Minister Bojana Todorović will present the importance of this topic for the completion of the process of Serbia’s accession to the WTO.

The two-day workshop will enable representatives of businesses, ministries and government departments responsible for trade, commerce, customs, agriculture, sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade to learn about the new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), and examples of best practices in trade facilitation will be presented.

The workshop will consider in what way the obligations from the new TFA contribute to improving business through transparency and predictability, reduction of time and costs associated with document processing and clearance of goods, as well as improving the efficiency of the services on the border. The workshop will aim to identify the steps that the Government of Serbia should take in order to achieve conformity with the TFA.

The workshop will bring together prominent international experts from the World Bank/IFC, Ideas Center, UNCTAD and the EU, as well as representatives of local institutions responsible for issues of importance to trade facilitation. Representatives of the private sector will be informed and will be able to give their suggestions for upcoming initiatives aimed at facilitating trade.