UN Global Survey on Digital n Sustainable Trade Facilitation

• The UN Regional Commissions jointly conduct the UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.
• As per the latest Survey, India’s rank moved up from 78.49% in 2019 to 90.32% in 2021.
• India’s overall score has also been found to be higher than many of the OECD countries and the average of EU,

Key points:

• India is the best performing country when compared to South and South West Asia region (63.12%) and Asia Pacific region (65.85%).
• The overall score of India has also been found to be greater than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland etc. and the overall score is greater than the average score of EU.
• India has scored 100% in transparency, 95.83% in formalities, 66% in the “Women in trade” component, 88.89% in institutional arrangement and cooperation: and 96.30% in paperless trade.
• Cross-Border Paperless Trade: 66.67% in 2021 (from 55.56% in 2019)
• Among developed countries, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Japan and Belgium have scored more than 93%.
• In South Asia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were behind India with a score of 64.5% and 60.2%

UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation:

• The Survey currently covers 143 economies around the globe, and 58 measures related to the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), as well as emerging regional economies.
• Also, conduct survey on global initiatives on paperless trade or e-trade, such as the recent Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (CPTA).
• The survey is conducted jointly by all five UN Regional Commissions and a growing number of global and regional partners every two years.
• The Survey leads to the production of a Global Report and five Regional Reports, which aim at providing insightful information for policy makers to harness trade as a key means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN Regional Commissions:

• The Regional Commissions are the regional outposts of the United Nations in their respective regions.
• They are also an integral part of their regional institutional landscape. Stationed in five regions of the world,

• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE),
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP),
• Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC),
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA)

• Their objective is to foster economic integration at the subregional and regional levels, to promote the regional implementation of internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to support regional sustainable development by contributing to bridging economic, social and environmental gaps among their member countries and subregions.