OSCE-UNECEHandbook of Best Practices at Border

Crossings – A Trade and Transport Facilitation Perspective

Jeannette Kloetzer, Deputy Head, OSCE Centre in Astana

UN High-Level Global Thematic Meeting on Internatio nal Trade, Trade Facilitation and Aid for Trade, Almaty, 13-14 Septe mber 2012

osce.org

� OSCE rationale and scope of action� The OSCE’s mandate and activities in

Customs, trade and transport� The Handbook of Best Practices at Border

Crossings

Outline of the presentation

� Regional security organization (56 OSCE pS + 12 Partners for Co-operation)

� Political dialogue and practical work

� Three dimensions of activities , a network of 15 field operations

OSCE rationale and scope of action

OSCE Landlocked Countries

� Out of 31 landlocked developing countries globally , 9 are OSCE participating States, 2 are OSCE Partners for Co-operation

� OSCE assists its participating States to tackle non -physical barriers to transport

Examples of OSCE engagement

� Regional & national capacity-building/awareness rai sing activities on the UNECE Harmonization Convention, WCO SAFE Framework of Standards and Revised Kyoto Convention: Moscow, Belgrade (2006), Almaty, Tbilisi, Kyiv (2007), Astana, Balkanabat, Ashgabat, Tashkent (2009), Skopje (2011), Dushanbe (2012)� EATL, TEM & TER Meetings : Tashkent and Turkmenbashy (2010), Almaty and Astrakhan (2011) � OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe (since 2009)

OSCE/UNECE Handbook of Best Practices at Borders

� Idea emerged in 2007 , following the Belgian Chairmanship of the OSCE

� Extrabudgetary project was developed

� Received funding from the Governments ofBelgium, Finland, France, Kazakhstan and the U.S.

� Stakeholders meetings and assessment visits in fall 2008 (Minsk & Bishkek)

Inception, fundraising, preparatory process

On-site assessment visits

On-site assessment visits

� Allowing for the exchange of national experiences and expertise

� Providing concrete guidance and access to practical examples

� To become a reference document and a source of inspiration for national policy makers when drafting and implementing transport, trade and border policies

Overall Goals

� High and mid -level officials from transport, trade and finance ministries, customs agencies, as well as senior BCP staff

� Transport, freight and logistics communities as well as business associations

� Civil society, academia and researchers

Target audience

� Balance (security and facilitation; between concepts; geographical)

� Focused (on trade and transport)� Innovative (benchmarking)

� Challenges ( diversity of the contents, vast amount of references to be consulted)

Important considerations

� 9 chapters and 2 Annexes� 265 pages in total

� Over 120 international best practice examples and case studies� Original version in English , Russian translation forthcoming as well as translation in other languages

Handbook Content

� Comprehensive overview of the relevant international legal instruments tools and standards at the disposal of policy makers

�Ways and methods to increase inter-agency co-operation and to harmonize procedures both domestically as well as internationally

� Examples of how to improve policies for control, clearance and transit

Scope of the handbook

� Better balance security and trade facilitation and build stronger partnerships between Government and the private sector

� Examples of risk-based approaches incl. through increased selectivity and profiling

� Need to introduce a solid human resource management system incl. training on the use of IT

Scope of the handbook

� Provides a comprehensive overview of border agency performance measurement methods based on the assumption that what gets measured also gets managed properly

� In conclusion: the Handbook is a useful resource for LLDCs globally!

Scope of the handbook

� High-level awareness raising and capacity building activities are foreseen for 2012-2013

� Upon request of national authorities , OSCE stands ready to provide tailor-made seminars can be organized on specific aspects of the publication

Road ahead

� Access the OSCE or UNECE websites

� Contact OCEEA or the UNECE Transport Division to obtain hard copies or CD-ROMs

� Copies of the publication have been distributed through the 15 OSCE field operations

Accessing the Handbook

Web-Access

www.osce.org/eea/88200

http://www.unece.org/trans/publications/wp30/best_practices.html

Thank you for your attention!

Contacts:� Jeannette Kloetzer, Deputy Head, OSCE Centre in AstanaE-mail: jeannette.kloetzer@osce.org