Global Survey of 143 economies on Digital Trade Facilitation:

Context:

United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific’s (UNESCAP) has released its latest Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.

• It is done every two years and aims to review the progress of trade facilitation reforms in their respective member states.
• The survey has been carried out since 2015 jointly by the five United Nations Regional Commissions (UNRCs) — ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA.
• The 2021 survey includes an assessment of 58 trade facilitation measures covered by the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

 

India’s performance:

1. India has scored 90.32 percent compared to the 78.49 percent in 2019.
2. India’s scores on five key indicators: Transparency: 100%; Formalities: 95.83%; Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation: 88.89%; Paperless Trade: 96.3%; Cross-Border Paperless Trade: 66.67%.
3. India’s overall score is higher than many OECD countries, EU region average.
4. India is also the best performing country when compared to South and South West Asia region (63.12%) and Asia Pacific region (65.85%).