APEC economies are pressing ahead with efforts to accelerate trade and economic growth through the elimination of costly delays to the flow of goods as they cross international borders, undeterred by the unexpected challenge to implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation now facing members of the World Trade Organization.
Senior customs and trade officials from the APEC region are currently meeting in Beijing for the first time since WTO members failed to enact a protocol on 31 July required to proceed with adoption of the agreement that would ease trade bottlenecks through greater simplification of customs rules and processes.
This has been excerpted from an 18 August 2014 news release by APEC and is available in its entirety at:
http://www.apec.org/Press/News-Releases/2014/0818_TFA.aspx