German Alliance for Trade Facilitation

The BMW Group stands for worldwide free trade. As a company that operates in international markets and maintains a global production network, barrier-free market access is a decisive success factor for us. The members of the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation are involved in tailor-made sustainable projects to remove barriers to cross-border trade. This benefits both the companies involved and the partner countries. The German Alliance for Trade Facilitation thus makes a significant contribution to growth, prosperity and employment in the global economy.

Our chemistry is used in almost all industries. Our products are manufactured at more than 347 locations worldwide and supplied to customers all over the world. Free global trade is essential for this. The German Alliance for Trade Facilitation supports these efforts in very concrete ways in order to facilitate trade in different countries. In particular, cooperation with local authorities represents a high added value for globally active companies such as BASF, because free world trade enables us to supply our customers more reliably and faster.

Over 100% more customs clearances within one hour of the arrival of goods using digital customs processes: this success has been achieved by GIZ together with companies, associations and partner countries in projects of the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation. The partners in the German Alliance are working together to reduce time and costs in cross-border trade. GIZ ensures that German Alliance projects bring about sustainable changes for all parties involved, for partner countries and for the economy.

Developing countries need fair trade. In this regard, we are making much greater leaps in development than with public money. Reducing trade barriers helps developing countries to participate in local, regional and global trade. The costs of trade are reduced, and fair competition can take place. At the same time, these simplifications help local producers and create new opportunities for investment and development — and this is also true for German companies. We need the expertise of German industry so that we can improve trade with developing countries in a targeted manner. This is what we are achieving together with our partners in the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation.

Moving up the value chain and tapping into global markets is one of the main challenges for many developing countries. Often, high transaction costs impede the access of domestic businesses to global markets. Overcoming trade barriers is crucial to tackle this challenge. Government, business and development organizations need to join forces to work together on reducing red tape at the border and making trade and customs procedures faster and easier. In its targeted trade facilitation projects worldwide, the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation aims to reduce time and costs for trade procedures, benefiting businesses and governments alike.

We encourage companies to join forces with this important initiative.

As the world’s most international company, at DHL, in offering logistics solutions to our customers, we see firsthand the negative impact of overly bureaucratic and costly customs and border controls. The German Alliance for Trade Facilitation offers us and many other German businesses the opportunity to help change the landscape, working together with the German government to improve the trading environment via well-defined, outcome-oriented projects in target countries. Combining the expertise of the business community with the development expertise of GIZ maximizes the opportunity to deliver real sustainable growth. Supporting trade is our business, and supporting the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation was an opportunity that we could not and would not want to miss.

With its broad range from premium cars to heavy commercial vehicles, Daimler AG is one of the largest international automobile manufacturers. Our value creation is global and interconnected, which is why we rely on free trade. In the German Alliance for Trade Facilitation, we are therefore committed to the sustainable removal of trade barriers of all kinds. The German Alliance’s very concrete and specific projects in developing and emerging countries strengthen local companies and facilitate their integration into global value chains. In this way, the German Alliance creates win-win situations for everyone involved.