Commercial Law Development Program, Office of General Counsel, United States Department of Commerce: Improving the legal environment for business worldwide

On February 8-13, CLDP, in coordination with Association Arbitri and the University of Zenica, held a four-day training on oral advocacy to prepare law students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Belarus for the 28th Willem C. Vis Moot competition (Vis Moot) taking place virtually next month. Following the training, University of Zenica organized its first virtual Pre-Moot competition with participation from 30 law schools from the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, East Asia and the United States. The training focused on how to deliver an argument, the importance of structure, time management, alternative arguments, and how to respond to arbitrators. This is the tenth year that CLDP has provided training to Vis Moot teams in the Balkans region, which is part of larger efforts to promote international arbitration standards and practice in the region.

On March 10, CLDP hosted a virtual discussion of Bangladesh’s National Strategy for AI with 13 Bangladeshi government and non-government officials. Speakers from the U.S. Department of State and the Brookings Institution provided an overview of the governmental approaches to AI and the Bangladesh National Strategy, and industry experts from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft spoke on how Bangladesh might create a better business environment for growth in AI industries. A developing country’s approach to AI will affect growth and availability of digital services and the ability of U.S. tech companies to offer services and products using advanced technologies and without cumbersome restrictions, and is affected by related policies, including those that do not restrict the free flow of data. CLDP conducted this discussion as part of its work under the Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership, a global U.S. initiative to advance connectivity and digital trade, to improve policy and regulatory environments for ICT sector growth, and to enhance cyber security. 

On February 16-18, CLDP, in coordination with Arbitration Initiative Georgia, hosted the 10th Annual Tbilisi Vis Pre-Moot, a virtual simulated oral advocacy competition that helped law students from the Caucasus prepare for the 28th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. As the competition was held virtually, CLDP had the unique opportunity to invite law schools from around the globe to compete with teams from the Caucasus. This year’s competition was comprised of fourteen teams from the Caucasus, Eastern and Western Europe, South Asia and the United States. CLDP opened the competition with a substantive training that helped the teams to hone their arguments for the pre-moot and subsequent competitions. More than fifty arbitrators and legal professionals helped to judge the subsequent competition rounds.Through the Vis Pre-Moot competition, CLDP helped develop skills in legal analysis, advocacy, and international arbitration for future lawyers in Georgia and the Caucasus, which will help improve the contracts enforcement mechanism in the Caucasus and encourage regional cooperation and implementation of international best practices in regional arbitration.. 

On November 17-18, 2020, CLDP, in collaboration with ITA and CBP, conducted a virtual workshop setting forth best practices for border agency coordination and publication of trade-related information to facilitate trade for more than 100 regional representatives from across Central America.

Inefficient agency coordination and disjointed publication of information collectively reduce the efficacy and transparency of the regulatory process in El Salvador, further engendering distrust between the private and public sectors. To address these areas of need, CLDP conducted a workshop that set forth best practices on optimizing operations through intergovernmental cooperation and centrally published information.

Participants included Salvadoran private sector representatives and officials from the Ministries of Agriculture, Customs, Defense, Economy, Finance, Health, Infrastructure, Medicines, and Ports. They were joined by their counterparts from the Guatemalan, Honduran, and Costa Rican Ministries of Economy, Customs, and Agriculture. From the Salvadoran private sector, the American Chamber of Commerce in El Salvador and the Commission of Associations to Facilitate Trade in El Salvador (CIFACIL) participated.

The workshop saw high-level participation from both governments with opening remarks from the Salvadoran Secretary of Commerce, Jorge Miguel Kattán; Salvadoran Minister of Economy, Maria Luisa Hayem; CLDP Deputy Chief Counsel, Joe Yang; and the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, Ronald Johnson. Following the workshop’s inauguration, experts showcased best practices for effective coordination among agencies, consolidation of information related to import and export procedures, and uniform publication of information across agency websites. Representatives from the governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras presented to regional and USG counterparts as well as the private sector on their efforts to identify publication gaps across ministerial websites and create internal strategies to ensure compliance with the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement’s (WTO TFA) publication of information commitments. In addition to government-to-government presentations, the Salvadoran private sector representatives shared their experience navigating websites of Salvadoran trade ministries and suggested areas for improvement. The workshop concluded with an interactive panel discussion where each country representative discussed their respective efforts to encourage trade through enhanced transparency initiatives and increased collaboration both internally with regional counterparts and externally with the private sector.

In preparation for the workshop, the Salvadoran participants performed internal assessments of their respective ministry’s implementation of Article 1 of the WTO TFA. Specifically, participants compiled an inventory of current procedures and documents related to TFA Art. 1.1 that can only be found or completed in paper form, current procedures and documents related to Art. 1.1 that can only be found or completed online/through the internet, and current plans or strategies to publish the procedures, documents, and information related to TFA Art. 1.1 online. In addition, participants examined TFA Art. 8.1, border agency cooperation, and identified the gaps in communication and cooperation between their ministries to support publication of trade information. The Article 1 assessment exercise served as the foundation for El Salvador to improve its interagency coordination and enrich its TFA Art. 1.4 transparency notification, which outlines the official sites where trade-related information is published. The Salvadoran government is working with the private sector to finalize the notification and plans to submit the updated notification to the WTO in the coming weeks.

As a result of this workshop, the Salvadoran government has improved its interagency coordination, and increased its understanding of the importance of publishing trade-related information in a non-discriminatory, easy-to-access manner. This workshop is part of a multiphase effort to promote transparency, cooperation, and coordination for the Salvadoran government, and to improve interregional trade in Central America.