Policies to improve the supply chain: What needs to be done?

As the agenda of trade facilitation achieves more prominence on the international stage, the prioritization of interventions takes on increasing importance. Discussions of trade facilitation often take in anything that might promote trade other than tariff reduction. In its broadest sense, trade facilitation can include both eliminating nontariff measures (NTMs), often defined as policies other than tariffs that impede trade (compare UNCTAD, 2010), reforms to customs and border measures, improvements in transformation and communications infrastructure, regulatory issues, and broader improvements in transparency and accountability that could impact trade. From the business standpoint, the classification of methods of trade facilitation is not as important as taking action that will in fact promote trade.