This Regional Trade Facilitation Roadmap has been developed according to the methodology described in the “Guide to drafting a National Trade Facilitation Roadmap” of the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), appropriately adapted in order to be applicable in a regional, rather than National context, as well as the International Trade Centre (ITC) guidelines on designing a regional trade facilitation roadmap. Its purpose is to provide the Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI) member States with a common vision to ensure that all Trade Facilitation (TF) stakeholders (including public and private agencies) are aligned on the strategic Goals indicated in this document so that they are able to move in the same direction and achieve better results.

The document opens with a vision statement for implementing TF reforms in the Horn of Africa (HoA) that is further developed in a series of strategic Goals to be achieved within the next three years, with a description of the Activities that is necessary to put in place in order to reach them, including milestones and indicators for measuring performance.

This Roadmap is mainly addressed to policymakers in HoAI member countries, Multilateral Financial Institutions and other donor agencies that plan to fund or implement trade facilitation measures in the region, and provides guidance for setting up objectives, timelines, responsibilities and technical assistance programmes needed for implementing the Goals and Activities described.

Profiled chapter outline: Baseline current situation (Chapter 2)

1. Low trade integration in the HoA and main causes
2. Imbalanced nature of trade flows between HoAI nations
3. Unknown volumes of informal trade at HoA borders
4. Road insecurity
5. Non-Tariff Barriers identification
6. Lack of transparency of regulatory information
7. Cumbersome and uncoordinated procedures at border posts
8. Mandatory testing and verification requirements
9. Limited availability of banking services at the HoA borders.