The Procomex Alliance Institute announced the celebration of the IX OAS International Seminar “Coordinated Border Management, OAS Integrated Program and Electronic Commerce Operations”. It will take place on May 24 and 25 in Sao Paulo, with the participation of the public and private sectors of Brazil and 15 other countries in the region. It will have the enormous challenge of defining the establishment of commitments and consolidation of the Regional Technical Working Groups with a focus on Coordinated Border Management for Agriculture and Health. Why follow it closely?
The answer to this question lies in the fact that logistics chain security This is a central issue for the competitiveness of Latin American economies. To be more precise, Procomex, an alliance of business associations with 130 members to date, believes that “Brazil and the region can be more competitive if foreign trade processes become more agile and transparent.”
Based on this idea, Procomex works towards the harmonization of border processes, This is why a platform has been created where the public and private sectors can do things in a coordinated manner with enough confidence to generate public policies that bring about improvements in trade management at a regional level.
Highlighting this importance of partnership between the public and private sectors, Procomex supports Brazilian Customs by strengthening the figure of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO), in particular through dialogue meetings and exchange of experiences from 2014.
With the vision of making Brazil more competitive by mobilizing a force to work with other countries for the common good, Procomex expanded the concept of Authorized Economic Operator at a regional level in 2017. Thus, the Customs Directors of the States Parties to MERCOSUR and other countries in the region made progress in multilateral negotiations, signing the "“Saint Paul Declaration” in 2018, which is a Regional Action Plan, That is to say, a commitment to work on the integration of the validation processes of the national AEO Programs with the rest of the countries, to strengthen the security of the supply chain.
With this progress achieved, customs and representatives of Health and Agriculture of MERCOSUR and other countries in the region signed an “Addendum to the Declaration of San Pablo” in 2019 to promote coordination with other agencies involved in border control and achieve greater efficiency in trade.
Thus, thanks to the intense support of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, it was achieved in 2022 the “Multilateral Mutual Recognition Agreement at the regional level”, signed by the directors of Customs of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Additionally, the eleven customs offices signed a “Complementary Commitment to the San Pablo Declaration” to integrate some border control agencies (Agriculture, Health, Security Agency and others) into trade facilitation processes, reaffirming the importance of the integrated AEO.
So, what has to happen at the IX OAS International Seminar? The great objective-challenge that the 2023 edition of Procomex and which has the intense support of the Organization of American States, the World Bank and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation is to improve the productivity of border control agencies in the Americas and the Caribbean region through coordinated border management.
Defining this is not an easy task, but Procomex believes that there is a solid foundation and an opportunity to build on the design and objectives of the Regional Mutual Customs Agreement.
Precisely, this regional push for trade facilitation is being led in a coordinated manner by multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, Global Alliance, Organization of American States, Inter-American Development Bank, Regional Group of the Private Sector for the Americas and the Caribbean (WCO), Andean Development Confederation, SELA and Procomex (among others).
For this reason, we anticipate a list of the next steps to take into account in this event:
- The project to promote Coordinated Border Management will be presented to representatives of public institutions in the countries of the region.
- The work agenda will be announced to representatives of Customs, Agriculture, Health and Security Agencies.
- The extension of the Abdendum to the São Paulo Declaration will be signed.
The initiative is an ongoing conversation. Therefore, the meeting is expected to yield even more benefits. César García, Senior Consultant at Procomex, He explains: “At the same time, we are supporting the Organization of American States in another regional event that they are coordinating to convene political-institutional authorities and present to them the work of the technical groups of Customs, Agriculture, Health and Security Agencies. Also, the Regional Private Group supports these efforts to achieve results effectively.”
In short, the IX OAS International Seminar invites in a special way to establish a space for technical dialogue at the regional level to advance in the Coordinated Management of Borders based on the concept of a secure logistics chain, as well as to work with others and, consequently, to increase competitiveness in the region.
Date: May 24 and 25, 2023
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Website: http://www.procomex.org.br/
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.
