Despite the substantial progress made by ASEAN in modernising border procedures and improving governance, further advances in trade facilitation remain essential. Rising trade volumes, increasingly complex supply chains, and the rapid growth of parcel trade continue to place pressure on border agencies and highlight the need for seamless, predictable, and efficient procedures. Moreover, uneven implementation across Member States means that businesses still face delays, duplication, and additional costs when moving goods across borders. Strengthening trade facilitation in all areas can not only reduce transaction costs as foreseen by ASEAN Strategic Plans, but can also enhance ASEAN’s competitiveness and resilience in an evolving global trade environment.
Facilitating Trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Trade facilitation reforms since the conclusion of the TFA are estimated to have helped to reduce trade costs by almost 5% on average worldwide. Impacts from reductions in border bottlenecks and red tape are strongest at a regional level in Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, with up to 6% decreases in trade costs resulting from trade facilitation reforms (Figure 5.1). Further trade facilitation reforms are critical for promoting competitiveness and economic growth through trade costs reductions. Continuing to improve the efficiency of border processes can deliver up to ten percentage points more in trade costs reductions in Asia-Pacific than those experienced so far.
Note: The figure presents the trade cost implications of fully implementing trade facilitation reforms as measured by the TFIs. Analysis using trade costs (manufacturing and agriculture) from the UNESCAP – World Bank database for the period 2012‑22. The Asia-Pacific region includes ASEAN Member States.
Source: (OECD, 2025[1]).
OECD TFI analysis also shows that, on average, a 10% improvement in trade facilitation policies is associated with an increase in the number of export markets by more than 6% for the Asia-Pacific region (Figure 5.2). This underscores the contribution of trade facilitation reforms to finding new markets and sectors (referred to as “extensive margins”), which is important as they have potential to address disruptions and support diversification in supply chains as a risk management strategy. Increased access to more comprehensive trade-related information, streamlined documentary requirements and border processes, and enhanced use of digital tools by border agencies can all facilitate access to new markets by reducing the costs of entering those markets (OECD, 2025[4]).
Trade facilitation policies can also play an important role in boosting existing trade relationships (referred to as “intensive margins”). Analysis shows that a better trade facilitation policy environment can enhance the intensive margin of trade by up to 7% for the Asia-Pacific region (OECD, 2025[4]). This can be particularly important for those supply chains where changing suppliers during a shock can be more challenging, such as when using customised inputs (i.e. inputs designed to meet the exact requirements of a final product). For instance, in smartphone manufacturing, a company might request custom-sized OLED screens with specific resolutions and touch sensitivity, while in the aeronautics industry, custom-engineered alloys or composite materials can be designed for specific weight, strength, or heat resistance for an aircraft component. Simplifying documentary requirements relevant to such customised inputs or including their suppliers in certified trader programmes can help reduce the costs and time involved in trading these inputs, maintaining access during shocks and enabling traded volumes to be increased swiftly to meet demand spikes (OECD, 2025[4]).
Percentage change (%) in exports
Note: The figures highlight the percentage increase in exports from a 10% improvement in the average trade facilitation performance as measured by the TFIs (average across the 11 policy areas). The results for the intensive and extensive margins rely on different explained variables and modelling approaches. The Asia-Pacific region includes ASEAN Member States.
Source: (OECD, 2025[4]).
Improvements in operational practices matter most. On average, a 1% improvement in implementation in practice of trade facilitation measures (such as the proportion of trade transactions that can be processed in advance or the coverage of authorised operator programmes) can enhance trade by almost 1.2% for the Asia-Pacific region (Figure 5.3). This implies that it is not only important to introduce the laws and regulations to make tools such as pre-arrival processing, certified traders programmes, post-clearance audits or NSWs accessible to traders, but to ensure that in practice they gradually cover larger shares of trade transactions. Improving operational practices in transparency matters almost as much as improving automation tools. This highlights that accompanying the introduction of new or adjusted regulations with more time between publication and their entry into force or with user manuals is linked to increasing the share of trade processes and documents that can be lodged electronically (OECD, 2025[1]).
Note: The figure shows the coefficients of the TFI variables (by category: regulatory framework and operational practices) regressed against trade flows, controlling for other variables. Estimates use trade flows based on the USITC ITPD-E database for the period 2012‑19. The Asia-Pacific region includes the ASEAN Member States.
Source: (OECD, 2025[1]).