The leaders, ministers and officials of the APEC member economies are convening this week in Port Moresby. Their urgent task is to ensure Asia-Pacific trade and digital development, and keep rising uncertainty in the global economy in check.

The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) is Jamaica’s principal border management entity, and its core mission of facilitating trade, optimising revenue collection and delivering high quality customer service, underpins the necessity for the Agency to conform to international best practices that govern Customs administrations worldwide.

The Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Belgium Dilyor Khakimov has met with Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WTO) Kunio Mikuriya in Brussels, UzDaily.uz reported.

The 2018 edition of the WTO’s flagship publication finds that digital technologies — namely the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and Blockchain — will have a profound impact on global trade, adding up to 34 percentage points to trade growth by 2030 thanks to lower costs and higher productivity. 

Please click here to read the report.

The latest monthly round-up of updates to key free trade agreements and trade preference programmes involving the US, EU and Japan covers developments in October 2018.  Trade agreements, rules of origin, tariffs and schedules are all covered in depth in the re:source by just-style strategic planning tool.

For full details, please click here.

At the end of the second quarter (April – September) of the fiscal year 2018/19, the Jamaica Customs Agency's (JCA) revenue out-turn stood at $111.316 billion, approximately 1.7 per cent or $1.843 billion above the targeted collection of $109.472 billion, and 10 per cent or $9.709 billion over the previous year's collection of $101.607 billion. In the last fiscal year, Customs successfully collected $207.848 billion, surpassing the target by $0.075 billion or 0.04 per cent.

The 18th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2012, adopted a decision to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with an indicative date of 2018.¹The free trade area is to include all fifty-four (54) African countries with a population of more than one billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US $3.4 trillion.² Subsequently in June 2015, at the twenty-fifth summit of the African Union held in South Africa, negotiations towards

Trade issues continue to be at the forefront of various multi-lateral and multi-sectoral policy dialogues, predictably, with the further escalation of trade tensions broadly acknowledged as a key risk dimming global economic prospects in the medium-term. Amidst increased uncertainty, there is an urgent call to uphold the vital role of an open and rule-based trade system as an engine of inclusive economic growth and sustainable development, working towards uplifting people’s welfare.

The role played in turbulent times deserves some credit and at least 15 minutes in the spotlight.

Here is the link for the Peru - Thailand Free Trade Agreement:  http://www.sice.oas.org/Trade/PER_THA_FTA/Index_e.asp