I am pleased to welcome you all to Sweden and to Stockholm. Having very recently been appointed Minister for Trade I am especially glad to be able to welcome experts from all over the world who are working with something that is a cornerstone of Swedish trade policy namely facilitating trade procedures.

Simpler trade procedures for national and international trade have long been of high priority for Sweden. In fact as early as 1957, some visionary Swedish business people started work with the harmonisation of documents, which then formed the basis of the work carried out by UN/CEFACT and its predecessors.

Today harmonisation of documents can still be an issue in many countries, but globalisation of trade presents us with new challenges and technology provides great scope to develop efficient solutions. International studies estimate the costs for trade procedures at 2–10 per cent of the value of trade in goods. Economic development is important for all countries and reducing these unnecessary costs by implementing simpler trade procedures is a crucial element. Simplified trade procedures could save millions for one single company. The icing on the cake would be increased predictability and better customer relations.

UN/CEFACT has delivered many important tools for the implementation of trade facilitation measures. We need further tools for the important work ahead with trade facilitation in all countries.

I hope you will enjoy your visit to our beautiful capital and wish you all success in your work.

Ewa Björling
Minister for Foreign Trade