Relying solely on customs data to assess global trade flows can be limiting for countries because it only provides information about the destination and origin of goods, not how those were produced or which country contributed the most value.
Therefore, utilizing constructed data on trade in value-added forms of production is becoming crucial, as many countries specialize in different stages of production rather than focusing solely on final goods.
This was observed on Thursday at the beginning of a two-day “capacity strengthening program” for agri-food trade policy analysis.
The Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Bangladesh in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) - South Asia Regional Office organized the program in Dhaka by bringing together participants, experts, and stakeholders from leading institutions in India and Bangladesh.
It focused on new paradigms in agri-food trade policy and global value chains, domestic agricultural policies, border policies and international trade dynamics including the role of World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Agreements.
The program included real-life case studies on coffee, maize and edible oil and hands-on demonstrations of trade patterns.
It highlighted the example of the Bimstec Agricultural Trade Monitor Plus (BATM+) dashboard by IFPRI that uses 8-digit data for understanding trade patterns, and trade policies, among others.
It aims to support all Bimstec member countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) in developing the trade statistics needed to monitor and manage their performance in the global economy.
Dr. Zaidi Sattar, Chairman, PRI; Prof. C. Veeramani, Director and Professor, Centre for Development Studies; Prof. Aparna Sawhney, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Dr. Mamata Pradhan, Research Coordinator, IFPRI, emphasized the significance of such capacity building workshops in bringing together different stakeholders to discuss and address contemporary issues in the agri-food trade sector.
“Policies related to agri-food trade are critically important for South Asia and the BIMSTEC region. We welcome the capacity building effort of IFPRI and PRI in this area of agri-food trade policy,” Dr. Shamsul Alam, former State Minister for Planning of Bangladesh, said.
“Structurally, trade has changed fundamentally, however the links to agri-food trade remain blurred. Moreover, while the contours of trade have changed in some places of the world, commensurate change in terms of analysis and study of trade has not happened. For trade to realize its full potential, we need an analytical rethink and given the gap, we see a significant value in collaborative capacity development of different agencies working on trade and investment in the BIMSTEC region,” Dr. Mamata Pradhan of IFPRI said.
