The Chamber of Commerce and Customs Trade Union participate in a workshop to enhance private sector’s participation in facilitating trade within the economic recovery program
SMA NEWS – ADEN THE CAPITAL
The Aden Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Customs Brokers Association in the capital, Aden, participated on Wednesday in the training workshop organized by the Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in cooperation with the Aden Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on enhancing private sector participation in facilitating trade: Guidelines for effective communication and advocacy.
The training workshop included a team from the administration of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Aden, led by Eng. Ashraf Mohammed Khanbari, Deputy General Manager of the Chamber, and a team from the administrative body of the Customs Brokers Union, headed by Mr. Saif Mahdi Talib, Head of the Customs Brokers Union, and the workshop administrated by Mr. Abdul Wahab Al-Aoudi, Head of the Trade Facilitation Team in The Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP).
At the beginning of the workshop, Mr. Abdul Wahab Al-Aoudi welcomed the participants, noting the great role of the Chamber of Commerce in representing merchants and companies in the private sector and taking care of their interests in a way that reflects positively on the commercial process according to the state of the country and in a way that is compatible with the economic situation and the circumstances surrounding it, noting at the same time the important role of the Customs Brokers Union in realizing and confronting the actual difficulties that hinder the facilitation of the commercial process in ports, stressing the importance of the workshop participants from both groups implementing the guidelines for advocacy through what will be presented in it so that the private sector can reach the desired results and make its voice heard as it is the true bearer of the national economy.
In the workshop, the communication and advocacy expert, Ms. Toleen Bakir, ERLP Program Advisor, explained the most prominent points of enhancing the private sector’s participation in facilitating trade, clarifying who the stakeholders are and how to identify them, and the mechanism of the needs analysis process related to them, in addition to what advocacy strategies are and how to implement them on the ground, and benefit from digital tools in them, as well as their legal compliance and ethical standards.
The training workshop presented an overview of the World Trade Organization agreements, their impact, Yemen’s accession to its membership, and their repercussions, and showing examples of successful experiences in the field of trade facilitation in different countries were also reviewed.
During the workshop, the participants discussed and implemented practical applications on the effectiveness of the facilitation approach and communication skills by projecting them onto a number of areas related to trade and economic development in the country for the purpose of facilitating trade and reforming and strengthening the trade process.
At the conclusion of the training workshop, certificates of participation in the training were distributed to the participants from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Aden and the Customs Brokers Union, who expressed thanks to the organizers of the workshop, expressing their appreciation for the information presented therein and the strategies they trained on to be applied for their importance in the practical reality to enhance the privet sector’s participation in the process of facilitating trade.
