The first attempt of using the Cloud Computing technology to link different IT systems of customs administrations is made in Africa. Namibia and Botswana have recently launched, with the USAID (the government organization in the USA that administers helps to the less developed Countries), and the Microsoft support, a pilot project that foresees the development of a virtual interface on the Internet based on the cloud computing technology, that will allow to Customs and operators of the two Countries to electronically exchange data, information and documents, reducing transaction costs on the goods imported and exported between the two Countries.

(continues... in Italian)

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The UNESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific of the United Nations), which is one of the five regional arms of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (a body that deals, among other things, with the promotion and economic development as well as with the technical and financial assistance to Less Developed Countries), is working on the text of an intergovernmental agreement on dry ports (see the working draft). The document aims to promote the development of a network of dry ports of international importance, in order to improve trade between coastal and inland areas, reducing the transit time for goods especially in the landlocked Countries of Asia. The draft of the agreement will be discussed in a meeting to be held in Bangkok from 20 to 22 June 2012.

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