This report presents the results of the 2021 United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation for eight countries in North and Central Asia, reviewing the progress of trade facilitation reforms and provides a detailed analysis based on 58 trade facilitation measures covering both binding and non-binding WTO TFA measures, as well as measures beyond the scope of the WTO TFA.

The analysis presented in this report confirms that digital trade facilitation measures can result in significant benefits to the countries in the subregion. Full Implementation of binding and non-binding WTO TFA measures could decrease trade costs by 5.7%. In contrast, digital trade facilitation measures, enabling the seamless electronic exchange of trade data and documents across borders, will help reduce trade costs by 13% for North and Central Asia in a full implementation scenario. In this regard, the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (CPTA) could support countries in gradually moving to "less paper" and then to paperless and cross-border paperless trade by providing a dedicated, inclusive and capacity-building focused intergovernmental platform.

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