Team Leader, Customs Reform and Modernisation · Asian Development Bank, Sub-regional Trade Facilitation Programme · 2011 · Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal
The challenge
Trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal moved through land border crossings where the physical infrastructure had been improved but the soft infrastructure, the policies, regulations, procedures and institutions governing clearance, had not. The Asian Development Bank needed a diagnosis of that soft infrastructure and a roadmap that the four countries could act on in sequence.
Our role
Team leader and customs reform and modernisation expert on the ADB Sub-regional Trade Facilitation Programme (RSC-C13496, contract A73739).
What we did
A policy, regulatory and institutional review of border management at priority crossings in the four countries, against international practice; recommendations for automation and single window measures to reduce clearance time and cost; and a sequenced reform roadmap that ordered the recommendations by dependency and feasibility.
What was delivered
A review of border-management soft infrastructure across the BBIN countries and a sequenced reform roadmap for the Bank and the four governments.
