Public and private sector experts from APEC member countries exchange ideas on Customs Transit, Free Trade Agreements and the use of tariff benefits since Tuesday (11.9.2018) in the Chilean city of San Pedro de Atacama.
The statement notes that in 2019, Chile will host the meetings that will take place within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC, for its acronym in English) For this reason, work will be carried out in four large committees aimed at facilitating and liberalizing trade among the 21 member economies.
Preferential Customs Transit
One of the committees is the Trade and Investment Committee, from which the Customs Procedures Subcommittee, to which the Chilean National Customs Service is registered, emerges and which offers this workshop called “Implementation of APEC Guidelines on Preferential Customs Transit”, will be extended until this Wednesday.
For the Subcommittee, one of the most important issues has been the transit of goods through a third country and its impact on the preferential treatment provided for goods covered by free trade agreements, the document stated.
Because of this, it is important to know the different visions that exist between the public and private actors in the logistics chain, in such a way that develop a Manual of Good Practices that promotes harmonization of this regulation among APEC countries.
Diego Garcia, Advisor to the APEC Chile 2019 Secretariat, commented that “the importance of being in San Pedro today is that the topics addressed here are closely related to what we are planning for next year in our country. We have in mind, within the framework of the connectivity priority, many initiatives with their respective deliverables that are related to the work of Customs and the actors involved, such as work on single window interoperability; seeking common standards in the Authorized Economic Operator programs, in order to better link SMEs in international trade and also work on global value chains, among other issues.”
Bioceanic Corridor
On the other hand, the decision to hold this APEC meeting in the Antofagasta Region is linked to the The Puerto Murtinho-Northern Chile Ports Bioceanic Corridor project will link southern Brazil with the ports of northern Chile -Antofagasta, Mejillones, Puerto Angamos, Iquique and Arica-, crossing Paraguay and part of the Argentine provinces of Salta and Jujuy..
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
