Digital and sustainable trade facilitation in Latin America and the Caribbean: regional report 2023

This report presents the results for Latin America and the Caribbean of the fifth United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, conducted in the first half of 2023 with the participation of 163 countries (26 from the region). The average regional implementation rate across the 31 core measures is 71%, slightly above the average for all participant countries (69%). Despite being severely hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the countries of the region have continued to advance in the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization. Going forward, the considerable progress made at national level will have a greater impact on trade flows and production integration if the implementation of trade facilitation measures is coordinated among groups of countries. In recent years, there have been several promising developments in this regard, mainly at the subregional level, including the electronic cross-border exchange of trade documents and the increasing number of mutual recognition agreements of authorized economic operator schemes. Stepping up these efforts should be a priority in the coming years.