This is the fourth of the seminars organized under the project entitled "Regional Economic Integration of Laos into ASEAN, Trade and Entrepreneurship Development (RELATED)" of the Lao-German Development Cooperation, together with the European Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lao PDR (ECCIL) and Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of ESCAP.
The seminar aims at the following objectives:
• to introduce into Trade in Goods in ASEAN.
• to present the concept and content of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), such as tariffs, rules of origin, non-tariff measures, trade facilitation, customs, standards and conformance, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures.
• to give an overview over other relevant Trade in Goods – related agreements in Asia.
• to present the application of ATIGA in Laos.
• to show the impact of ATIGA on import and export procedures, cross-border trade and business operations in Laos and in ASEAN.
• to share and discuss the experiences of companies in Laos utilising ATIGA.
• to inform the business sector in Laos about opportunities and challenges of ATIGA.
• to present existing support tools, such as information platforms, enquiry points, trade repositories, self-certification processes, re-lated to ATIGA to the business sector in Laos.
• to present services offered by development partners to support the implementation of ATIGA and other related trade agreements in Laos and in ASEAN.
The participants of the seminar will include government officials and private sector enterprises involved in the ASEAN Economic Integration, trade and investment, transportation and logistics and customs.