AN EXPLORATION OF THE NEED FOR AND COST OF SELECTED TRADE FACILITATION MEASURES IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WTO NEGOTIATIONS

Synthesis report

VI. Limitations of the study

It is important to stress the exploratory nature of this study and its limitations. First,
the study only covers 5 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, such that the results may not
apply directly to all countries in this region of the world. Second, the research team
members and their respective institutions often had difficulty gathering some of the information
necessary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the trade facilitation situation and to
estimate the cost of implementation of various trade facilitation measures, as some of the
information may have been available only to selected Government agencies (or not at all).
Third, because of the limited time and financial resources available, the private sector
surveys are of limited scale and scope, such that the survey results may not be fully
representative of the views of the relevant private sector stakeholders in the countries
studied.

Overall, while the study is useful in gaining an understanding of the trade facilitation
situation and the need and priorities of the private sector in a wide spectrum of countries in
the Asia-Pacific region, it is clear that more detailed national level studies should be
undertaken, if possible as an integral part of the implementation of a WTO agreement on
trade facilitation. The need for a continuous assessment exercise to take place during
and possibly after the negotiations was stressed in a number of proposals (TN/TF/W/63,
W/29,W/41).

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