现代物流和国际贸易.docVIP

Trade Logistics in Developing Countries: The Case of the Middle East and North Africa As the pace of global integration continues, developing countries will compete increasingly in terms of their ability to link with global and regional markets competitively and efficiently. An inefficient trade and transport facilitation system can create obstacles and incurs real costs in terms of the product value –international agencies estimate that outdated trade administration procedures and the failure to adopt IT-supported trade facilitation account for seven per cent of the value of the goods traded. For countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, improving the efficiency of trade logistics is a critical priority. The region is losing global market share in key export sectors and non-oil exports are among the lowest in the developing world – with less than one per cent of world market share in non-fuel exports relative to more than ten per cent in countries of the East Asia/Pacific region and more than four per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean. With respect to foreign direct investment, the region’s performance also lags considerably behind other developing regions – net FDI is less than one percent of GDP for the region as a whole, compared with 2.6 per cent for Latin America and the Caribbean and 1.8 per cent for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Improve the efficiency of trade logistics in Middle East and North Africa: Critical Issues for Policymakers These case studies point to a number of difficulties for exporting firms in the Middle East and North Africa region including generally poor quality and costly transport services, long shipping times, obstructive bureaucracy, inadequate trade-related services such as insurance, finance and transport intermediaries and others. Among the more important areas of concern for policymakers include the following. 1. A Fragmented Trucking Industry The trucking industry, a key conduit for goods in most Middle East a