The World Trade Organization (WTO) promoted the Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) in order to foster international trade by simplifying cross-border trade procedures, which reduced not only transit time but also costs. When fully implemented, the TFA is expected to substantially reduce trade costs by 10%-18% (OECD, 2018 ) and at the same time to increase exports by more than 3 trillion dollars per year (WTO, 2015).
UNCTAD just released a real-time database that comprises standardized data from national trade facilitation committees (NTFCs). This allows scholars and practitioners to follow and study the implementation of the commitments made by each country under the TFA agreement. The video below provides more details on this interesting and promising database.