Transport facilitation: Experts workshop in Peru

This issue of the FAL Bulletin analyze s transport facilitation and its impact on national competitiveness.

Modernization of Customs and Implementation of Single Window Systems for Foreign Trade: Results of an International Seminar-Workshop

An international seminar-workshop entitled "Facilitation of trade and transport in Latin America: situation and outlook" was held at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on 29 and 30 November 2005, organized jointly by the ECLAC Division of International Trade and Integration and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The event was attended by about 50 persons involved in customs modernization and/or the implementation of single window systems for foreign trade in 20 Ibero-American countries.The main purpose of the seminar-workshop was to exchange ideas, opinions and proposals concerning the efficient implementation of trade facilitation instruments. The conclusions reached at this event point to the need to seek convergence among the existing trade agreements associated with trade facilitation in Latin America. Customs modernization requires the re-design of processes and procedures in order to achieve interoperability among the systems, and single window systems for foreign trade can only be implemented successfully if clear political leadership is established with broad participation from both public and private organizations.

Report on Expert Group Workshop on macroeconometric modelling in the Caribbean: new challenges and new directions

.--I. Background and justification.--II. Critical issues in macroeconometric modelling in the Caribbean.--III. Critical issues in macroeconometric modelling in the Caribbean.--IV. Economic modelling to determine the impacts of climate change in the Caribbean.--V. Wrap up

Evaluation report of the regional workshop on the measurement of poverty in the Caribbean

1. The member and associate member countries of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (ECLAC/CDCC) have committed to pursuing and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a common set of goals and targets to bring all people up to minimum acceptable standards of human development by 2015. 2. However, in spite of various capacity-building initiatives, Caribbean countries continued to experience difficulties in addressing additional demands of monitoring and measuring progress created by the Millennium Development Goals and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals. Therefore, it was necessary to implement activities to ensure the further building/strengthening of institutional capabilities for generating reliable social, economic and environmental statistics among Caribbean States. 3. The ECLAC project entitled “Strengthening the Capacity of National Statistical Offices in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals” sought to build and strengthen institutional capabilities for generating and compiling reliable social, economic and environmental statistics in the Caribbean subregion, through the provision of technical support, as well as the conduct of training workshops for statisticians and policymakers. 4. Within the objectives of that project, ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean convened a regional training workshop on the measurement of poverty in the Caribbean in Port of Spain, to build the capacity of government officials and other relevant stakeholders. 5. The overall objective of the workshop was to develop and strengthen the national technical capacity of public officials in data processing, systematization and dissemination of poverty indicators and measurement in the Caribbean subregion. The workshop further sought to review and discuss the current approaches to poverty measurement and monitoring in an effort to identify methods to ensure that monitoring and reporting of the Millennium Development Goals were conducted according to internationally agreed upon methodologies. Furthermore, the workshop also intended to review different methods of poverty measurements, including the multidimensional methodology for the measurement of poverty. 6. Participants were introduced to different methods of poverty measurements and other aggregation proposals which would enable countries to better measure progress towards Goal 1 on poverty, report on it and apply evidence-based approaches to national policymaking and planning.

Evaluation report national training workshop on capacity-building for the collection of data

.--A. Introduction.--B. Summary of evaluation.

Evaluation report of the national training workshop on capacity-building for the production of reliable disaggregated data

.--A. Introduction.--B. Summary of evaluation.

Report of the training workshop on the ECLAC methodology for assessing the macroeconomic, social and environmental impacts of natural disasters

.--Attendance.--Opening.--Agenda.--Special aspects of disasters in the context of small island States in the Caribbean.--Methodological and conceptual aspects of assessment.--Sector evaluation.--Infrastructure.--Economic (productive) sectors.--Information systems.--Effects of damages.--Institutional capacity.--Definition of the reconstruction strategy.--Closing remarks by presenters of the methodology.--Feedback, critique and comments on the ECLAC methodology.--Disaster assessment experiences.--Policy implications.--Follow-up.