Meet TINA3.0 – The United Nations’ New Advisor For Trade Negotiators In Asia And The Pacific

Bangkok (ESCAP news) – The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) today launched the latest update of its Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser (TINA), an online tool designed to assist trade policymakers and researchers in carrying out analytical tasks commonly conducted as part of trade negotiations.

TINA was developed in close consultation with current and former members of trade negotiation teams throughout the Asia-Pacific region, using state of the art methodologies and technologies. The latest update features a trade agreement text analysis module as well as partial equilibrium impact assessments for tariff liberalization, least developed country status graduation, and tariff preference loss scenarios.

Many of the intense tasks undertaken for trade liberalization negotiations require specialized analytical and data management skills and are time-consuming when performed manually. TINA automates many of such tasks, enabling countries with limited resources to benefit from the same level of preparation as those afforded to teams of larger economies.

“As we work together to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, many economies in the region need help in effectively preparing for trade negotiations and assessing the benefits of prospective trade deals,” said United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana at the launch.

Ms. Alisjahbana further highlighted, “Member States about to graduate from the least developed countries status are in most need of international support measures, as they must negotiate new trade agreements to secure some of the trade preferences they previously received.”

Since its inception in 2018, TINA has assisted several countries in the region. For example, at the request of the Government of Bangladesh, TINA has been used to help them with the Bangladesh-India trade agreement feasibility study. Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vanuatu have also benefitted from a new key feature of TINA, which evaluates the trade impacts of least developed country status graduation and resulting partial withdrawal of preferences by major trading partners such as the European Union, the United States, China and India. This feature is significant as it identifies sectors and markets most likely to be impacted, thus drawing policymakers’ attention to accord higher prioritization to those sectors.

“One of the most promising features of TINA3.0 is its stated ability to use the partial equilibrium model to identify the most affected sector(s) of an economy when it graduates out of the least developed country status. This software promises to help the planners and policy makers understand the overall impact on the graduating economy. It may be of great use to Bangladesh at this stage,” shared Dr. Md. Jafar Uddin, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily slowed down some negotiations, trade agreements have continued to grow - in number, scope and complexity. 184 trade agreements are currently in force involving at least one Asia-Pacific country, with another hundred either signed or under negotiation as of December 2020.

For more information on the Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser: https://tina.trade/

© Scoop Media