WHEREAS, GFP Partners seek to promote international trade and develop commercial exchanges, in particular in developing and transition countries, through facilitating trade and transport procedures;

 

WHEREAS, GFP Partners seek to help developing and transition countries improve their external trade competitiveness by enhancing cost-efficiency in delivery of transport services at border interfaces;

 

WHEREAS, GFP Partners desire to cooperate in executing activities conducive to the development and implementation of more efficient and effective international trade and transport procedures;

 

WHEREAS, GFP Partners are supportive of the United Nations Millenium Development goals for a global partnership for sustainable development;

 

NOW THEREFORE, GFP Partners agree on joining the Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade (GFP) operating under the following provisions.

 

 

This Memorandum of Understanding is concluded between all organizations and companies which are listed in the Partners List on the GFP/UN Trade Facilitation Network website (http://gfptt.org), concerning collaboration on the Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade (GFP).  The objective of this Memorandum of Understanding is to provide the framework for collaboration, under which collaborative activities and projects would be undertaken and specific program areas agreed between these organizations and companies.  Notwithstanding the above, the work of Partners will continue to be undertaken according to their respective procedures, priorities and work programmes. This Memorandum does not constitute a binding obligation by any GFP Partner to provide support for any individual project, activity or product.  Partners can join the GFP in different categories, which are described here below, all Partners being asked to adhere to the provisions of the present Memorandum of Understanding.

 

The GFP will aim to pull together all interested parties, public and private, who want to help achieve significant improvements in transport and trade facilitation, in particular, in developing and transition countries.  The Partners will then design and undertake specific programs towards meeting this objective, making use of their respective comparative advantage in the subject matter in a coordinated fashion.  In furtherance of this purpose, the areas of collaboration are expected to include the following: (i) sharing agendas of common interest; (ii) pooling resources and expertise, where appropriate, to carry out research work or design and implement pilot projects; and (iii) sharing knowledge and ideas.

 

 

Core Partners are Institutions, Corporations, or Associations joining the GFP and undertaking to take charge of specific areas of the GFP agenda, as listed on the GFP website. Core Partners will manage specific knowledge topics as defined in the GFP agenda and on the GFP website, upload new information whose details may be available on the website of the Core Partner concerned, define internal information flows to update the GFP site, and conduct a quarterly review of the site.  If needed, the Core Partners are eligible to receive assistance in uploading their content. Individuals associated with Core Partners will receive automated notifications on the topics and activities of interest, indicating changes that took place during the previous month.

 

 

Sponsoring partners are partners, Institutions, Corporations, Associations or Individuals, who agree to pay an annual contribution to help constitute the GFP operational budget.  These contributions will be received on a distinct GFP account in the World Bank.  Management of this account and decision on use of its resources are made by the Steering Committee.  Sponsorship categories are defined as follows:

 

Sponsor:                         $1,000 up to 2,999

Silver Sponsor:                $3,000 up to 4,999

Gold Sponsor:                  $5,000 or more

 

Sponsoring partners will be duly recognized on the GFP website and their sponsorship categories adequately highlighted.

 

 

Regular Partners are Institutions, Corporations, Associations or Individuals joining the GFP without making any commitments beyond adhering to the present Memorandum of Understanding. Regular Partners will be given the right to enter information about themselves and to submit information related to their activities to the GFP Secretariat for posting on the GFP website. Alternatively the GFP Secretariat may authorize a Regular Partner to directly post information, if no objection is raised by Steering Committee members.  To do so they will need to nominate a main contact person and a web contact person, responsible for the data provided by the Partner and related individuals. For any questions on membership, please contact admin@gfptt.org.

 

 

The GFP is managed by a Steering Committee, the membership of which is presently as follows: International Chamber of Commerce, World Customs Organization, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the World Bank.  Membership of the Steering Committee may evolve if necessary to adequately represent the membership of the Partnership at large.  The Steering Committee will meet at least twice a year ahead of the full GFP meetings. Any strategic decision of the GFP, including those relating to rules for new partnerships and members of the Steering Committee, will be made by Steering Committee by consensus.  Each Steering Committee member will designate a main contact person, entitled to make decision between the meetings.  For the Steering Committee to deliberate validly, a quorum of half the members plus one will be required.

 

 

The Secretariat supports the Steering Committee, particularly, in the relationship with the Partners, in implementing the management rules defined by the Steering Committee, in maintaining the electronic mailing list and the GFP website, in preparing the agenda for and organizing Steering Committee and GFP meetings, and in producing annual progress reports.

 

The GFP Secretariat is presently hosted by the World Bank in Washington D.C.  However, subject to agreement of the Steering Committee, the Secretariat could be relocated at any time with any of the GFP Steering Committee members.

 

 

Full GFP meetings, comprising all GFP Partners, will take place twice a year in order to review progress and the results achieved, taking account of meeting dates and venues for the individual organizations and the business to be transacted.    For the time being, the meetings will take place in locations rotating between the World Customs Organization in Brussels, the UNCTAD in Geneva, and the World Bank in Washington.  Alternative locations can be proposed by Steering Committee members and will then be decided upon by the Steering Committee.

 

 

 

In keeping with the GFP purpose and scope as defined in Section 2, all Partners find it to be in their mutual interest to promote international trade by lowering trade barriers and, in particular, by facilitating international transport, external trade procedures and cross-border processes, and by strengthening productive capacities.  Consequently, all GFP Partners will give consideration to pursue:

·        The development of a comprehensive framework of transport and trade facilitation benchmarks, combining qualitative assessment with a holistic set of data on efficiency of trade and transport transactions;

·        The definition of systematic approaches to measurement, based on a set of facilitation indicators on transportation and cross-border processes, to be systematically collected;

·        The monitoring and publishing on a regular basis of data on these facilitation indicators;

·        The design and implementation of suitable capacity building programs;

·        The development and implementation of trade facilitation norms, standards, strategies and instruments to enhance the efficient flow of information throughout the entire trade transaction process;

·        The simplification of trade procedures, and elimination thereof in cases where they serve no useful purpose;

·        Any commonly agreed initiative aimed at promoting trade and transport facilitation through education, training and targeted technical assistance activities;

·        Sharing and dissemination of knowledge regarding the various GFP topics, and posting relevant documents on the GFP website.

 

 

·        Contributing to agreed programs of actions, either in kind (staff time, travel, technology), or in budgetary means;

·        Providing intellectual collaboration on research and development programs related to the GFP purpose; in doing so, each GFP Partner will cover its own expenses, to the extent feasible.

·        Continuing to manage the development of the GFP initiative;

·        do their utmost to leverage additional means of support for the purpose of GFP by using respective comparative advantages, as for an example in the case of the World Bank, through its relationships with major donor countries.

 

All results of research, surveys and studies carried out with GFP funding or support will be shared between all GFP Partners as soon as they become available.

 

 

The Secretariat will produce an annual report of progress against objectives and program of actions with  related recommendations.  Subject to the respective policies of GFP Partners on the disclosure of information, these reports will be exchanged, shared with the senior management of GFP Partners, and form the basis of joint annual reviews of activities.  After review and approval by the GFP Steering Committee, the annual report will be made available in June of each year, before one of the bi-annual full GFP meetings, and subsequently made public.  

 

Progress on action plans and use of resources agreed under the GFP will be reported on a semi-annual basis to the Steering Committee and update reports will be posted on the GFP website. 

 

 

Any program of actions under the GFP shall be consistent with the procurement requirements of the funding body for the program. Necessary and appropriate procurement rules, requirements and guidelines will be circulated by the funding Partners, where appropriate.

 

8.1       Any candidate willing to apply to enter the GFP will submit a request to the GFP Secretariat through the GFP website (http://gfptt.org).  Regular Partnership will be granted subject to assessment of the candidate status and activities in terms of  compliance with the content of the Memorandum of Understanding.

 

8.2       Core Partners are, as of June 1, 2004, the International Road Transport Union, the World Customs Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, TIACA and the World Bank. Actively contributing Regular Partners may become Core Partners. The submission of a request to become a Core Partner implies a commitment to manage specific knowledge topics as defined by the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will consider such requests and, if appropriate, adopt them by consensus.

 

8.3              Any Partner wishing to leave the GFP may do so at any time, upon written notice to the GFP Secretariat.

 

8.4              The GFP Steering Committee may decide to terminate the membership of any partner for serious breach of this Memorandum of Understanding or conduct that may bring the GFP or its members into disrepute.

 

 

GFP Partners may mention their collaboration with the GFP under this Memorandum of Understanding in their internal reporting and in press releases to the public, but shall not make any reference to the collaboration with individual partners, such as the World Bank, in any manner in their advertising of their commercial products or services or in the solicitation of any contracts or other business, whether to be financed by the World Bank or not.  GFP Partners understand and agree that the name of any GFP Partner may not be used in any manner whatsoever that conveys or suggests, directly or indirectly, this Partner’s endorsement or support of their products or services.  Use of any Partner logo shall be compliant with the Policy on the use of name and emblem of the Partner organization and is to be strictly limited to documents published by the GFP Secretariat with the explicit consent of the Partner concerned for such use. All draft reports prepared by the GFP Secretariat will be circulated to GFP Partners for their review, within a defined period of time, before being made publicly available.

 

10.       Intellectual Property.

 

Any intellectual property rights arising from any work managed by the GFP Secretariat under the collaborative activities agreed and carried out under this Memorandum of Understanding shall belong to the GFP unless the Steering Committee and funding party agree otherwise. Any industrial or commercial exploitation of any intellectual property rights, including the ownership of know-how, arising from the work shall be designed for the purpose of the GFP. Nevertheless, when the work/know-how/products are developed by one or more Partners and made available to the GFP, their intellectual property rights will be fully respected.

 

 

A request for the modification of this MoU may be made at any time by Core Partners or Steering Committee Members, by means of a notification in writing addressed to the  GFP Secretariat. The Secretariat shall decide upon the steps, if any, to be taken in respect of such request within a maximum of 6 months from the time of receipt.

 

This MoU is concluded for eight years. Its duration will automatically be extended for a further eight years if none of the Steering Committee Members object at the latest one year before the expiration of the first eight year period.  This MOU will enter in force upon approval by the Steering Committee.

 

 

For the Steering Committee organizations:

 

International Chamber of Commerce

 

World Customs Organization

 

United Nations Conference on trade and Development

 

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

 

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

 

The World Bank

 

 

 

The office responsible for the coordination of all matters related to the implementation of this Memorandum of Understanding is the GFP Secretariat:

 

Presently the World Bank:                   

 

                        Marc Juhel                                    Monica Alina Mustra                        

                        The World Bank                            GFP Secretariat

                        1818 H Street, N.W.                      The World Bank

                                                                           1818 H Street, N.W.

                        Washington, D.C.  20433, USA       Washington, D.C.  20433, USA

                        Tel: 1 (202) 473-2392                    Tel: 1 (202) 458-8963

                        Fax: 1 (202) 522-3223                   Fax: 1 (202) 614-0468

                        mjuhel@worldbank.org                   mmustra@worldbank.org 

                                                                            admin@gfptt.org

                                   

For GFP Partners:                   

 

Data as indicated on the Partners List on the GFP website (http://gfptt.org).