ICCB President Mahbubur Rahman left Dhaka for Colombo on Monday to attend the two-day Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum beginning Tuesday.

United Nations Social and Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) are going to jointly organise the event.

Mahbubur Rahman has been invited by UNESCAP and ADB to chair a session on E-trade for SME Integration in Regional or Global Value Chains and to be a panelist at the high-level Panel Discussion on “Enhancing Public-Private Collaboration for Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade”, said a press release.

ICCB secretary general Ataur Rahman accompanied its chief.

The forum will be attended by 200-300 participants as in the previous years and will consist of government officials, traders, public and private service providers from central Asia, South and Southeast and East Asia as well as the South Pacific.

The forum includes sharing of experiences and knowledge on trade facilitation among the countries of the greater Asia and Pacific region, including LDCs and LLDCs; fostering increased understanding and exchange of views between public and private stakeholders along with trade facilitation standards developers and technical assistance providers; learning about and drawing lessons from ongoing implementation of national and regional trade facilitation measures; and introducing relevant international tools, instruments and facilities aimed at increasing the efficiency of regional and global cross-border trade using the latest tools invented by the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific.