Capacity Building from a practical perspective Arild Haraldsen

Capacity Building – from a practical perspective Arild Haraldsen General manager Nor. Stella Private non-profit foundation for e-business and trade procedures Vice chair UN/CEFACT BUREAU

Global trade A prerequisite for global trade is standardisation and harmonisation of procedures world wide This does not mean one common standard nor one world A world of standards is a world of common denominators and bridgeheads for communication Example: a common denominator for the exchange rate between dollars and swiss franc Therefore: Globalisation is about glocalisation – standards developed by local or regional demands or characteristics Example: a common e. Invoice (datamodel) developed by UN/CEFACT used as a denominator for a syntaxic presentation adopted to national regulations for accounting ) This is in fact interoperability in practice

To achieve economical growth world wide There are three ways to obtain this By international agreements (WTO – DOHA-round) By regulatory decisions made by each country that indicate progress towards large scale goals To use a competent organisation such as UN/CEFACT and the willingness of national institution(s) or actors to be part of a capacity development process. UN/CEFACT is not “just another” standardisation organisation – it is under the banner of UN, (UN/ECE) which covers more than 50 European countries. But in fact it has a global “market” with considerable support from Asia and part of Africa

Capacity building Capacity Building is much more than training and includes the following: Human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively. Organizational development, the elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures, not only within organizations but also the management of relationships between the different organizations and sectors (public, private and community). Institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organizations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities Use of ICT-standards and UN recommendations. ICT should be an enabler, and not a driver for Trade Facilitation, as stated earlier

Some facts about the norwegian approach The Norwegian Government as such does not give capacity-building The Government gives « aid for trade » through multilateral organisations such as WCO and World Bank It is up to the countries recieving this, to set up practical projects Capacity building is delivered from the customs departement through WCO Switzerland Norway has pressed for setting up a TF Committe in WTO.

Bu Nor. Stella is giving ”Capacity bulding” to norwegian SMEs on trade facilitation Capacity building for SMEs in international trade based on UN/CEFACT standards Open courses in Business: International delivering terms for goods to different regions Remburs/documentary credit Contract terms Etc Technical courses: EDIFACT (Customs) XML (Shortsea. XML, e. Invoice) Modelling (BPMN, UML, UMI etc) Tailored made courses on request by companies Capacity building based on interactive discussions and specific work items

Providing a solution: An Example Shortsea. XML – a project to develop standardised XMLmessages between all actors in the value chain of transport by sea or waterways. The project was lead by Nor. Stella The messages are developed by using UN/CEFACT standards (Core Components, UMM, NDR, eb. XML, etc) Focus was shortsea-routes in Europe The focus has expanded to routes from Europe to northern parts of Africa There is also an interest in this in South-Africa. There is also a demand for this solution in Asia (Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China) The solution will be implemented by norwegian ports as a first step to create a ”single window”-solution in Norway Lessons learned: Developing standards by the experts within UN/CEFACT, creates solutions for more efficient trade across borders in Europa, in Asia, in Africa

What to do? The Economies in transition have asked for support to TFprojects as implementing fx « Single window » , etc UN/ECE has raised the question of availability of «concrete expertise of practioners » that can help and support TF-projects « on the spot » Such experts are available in UN/CEFACT as such, with over 200 experts in area that can support those countries. This should be arranged in cooperation with the countries, UN/ECE and UN/CEFACT The funding could come from « aid for trade » or other programs channelled through some mulilateral organisations (WCO, World Bank or others) But it is of the outmost importance that economies in transitions also participate in the developement of standards inside UN/CEFACT in order to influence its content, and speed up the processes for « deliverence» to the market when the market needs it.