ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been ranked 100 among 121 world economies featured in The Global Enabling Trade Report 2009 a drop of 16 places. Pakistans neighbors secured slightly better positions even though their ranking deteriorated, India placed 76 and Sri Lanka 78 compared to 71 & 70 last year. Bangladesh slipped one spot to 111 while Nepal improved to 110 from 116.
East Asian economies - Hong Kong and Singapore - occupy the top two positions in the Enabling Trade Index ranking, followed by Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, according to The Global Enabling Trade Report 2009, released by the World Economic Forum. Canada, Norway, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Germany complete the top 12 standings.
The Report, second edition, aims at presenting a cross-country analysis of the large number of measures facilitating trade. The Enabling Trade Index captures the free flow of goods over borders and to destination.
The Report comes at a crucial time for global trade, as overall economic activity declines, trade volumes drop and public authorities adopt counter-cyclical stimulus policies and institutional reforms.
The Enabling Trade Index, featured in the report, measures the factors, policies and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to destination. The index breaks the enablers into four overall issue areas: market access, border administration, transport and communications infrastructure and the business environment.
Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund Arthur Bayhan, the partner institution for the World Economic Forum in Pakistan, said: Pakistan needs to put immediate attention to facilitate an environment conducive to trade and investment, including a transparent and efficient border administration, well developed transport infrastructure and highly efficient services.
He said in improving its ranking in the Global Enabling Trade Report Pakistan would play a crucial role for trade transactions between Afghanistan and India. Pakistan would be a transport hub for Central Asia to reach the sea transport facilities in Karachi and Gwadar. Furthermore, through the new trade corridor and Karakoram Highway Pakistan would increase its competitiveness in trade and investment.
Pakistan ranked 111 in the market access pillar, 63rd in business administration, 80 in transport and communications infrastructure and 102 in business environment.
The current challenge is to ensure not only that countries not pull each other down further by restraining trade, but that they help recovery by trading with each other. Further enabling trade across borders can mitigate the effect of the global crisis, as measures facilitating trade will reduce the transaction cost of trade and therefore partially offset the effects of the demand slump. The report provides guidance on measures that need to be taken, said Robert Z. Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of Trade and Investment at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, USA. Professor Lawrence is also academic adviser and co-editor of the report.
Over the last two years, the World Economic Forum has engaged key industry leaders, academics and international organizations active in the area of trade to identify the main obstacles to trading across borders and to develop the Enabling Trade Index. The goal was to construct a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue and to create broad-based support to counter protectionist sentiment from building in the present crisis, said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
The report also features a number of contributions from trade experts and industry practitioners exploring different aspects of trade enablement. A particular focus has been placed this year on customs, one of the key areas of the Doha negotiations on trade facilitation. Also included are detailed profiles for each of the economies covered by the study.
The report also features a number of contributions from trade experts and practitioners with relevant knowledge and experience in reducing barriers to trade and national trade performance. Also included is an extensive section of data tables, including each indicator used in the Enabling Trade Indexs computation.
