The concept of aligned documents is not new although it has been largely ignored in Pakistan. It started in 1960 when the UN Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) created a working group to formulate recommendations for the reduction, simplification, and standardization of external trade documents.
The first recommendation of the Working Party on Facilitation of International

Trade Procedures was a model format, known today as the “UN Layout Key”
prepared on the basis of recommendations from governments and international organisations. The Layout Key provided guidelines for positioning information
on an A4-sized page so that the same information always appears in the same location, regardless of the document.

Over time the UNECE Working Party continued to develop recommended codes and abbreviation to help simply trade documents and avoid misinterpretation. These efforts were supported in countries by “national trade facilitation committees,” that encouraged cooperation among the many public and private sector participants in international trade transactions. In recent years the Working Part has become the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. It has played a key role in the development of today’s electronic commerce.

Trade facilitation is a concept still in its infancy in Pakistan with low awareness and knowledge. The Trade and Transport Facilitation Project initiated this concept and introduced several documents. Some of these are aligned to the international standards while some are transition between conventional forms and aligned documents.

This objective has three dimensions, which are:

1. Analysis and Assessment: A documents inventory is being constructed which will serve as a repository of all the trade documents in use in Pakistan.

2. Development and Implementation: Documents will be drafted on the standard format and introduced to the stake holders for their recommendations and observations and finally implementation.

3. Training: to create understanding, appreciation and acceptance of this activity.

With both IT infrastructure and knowledge lacking there is a long path for Pakistan to cover in order to come at par at least with some of the developing countries or under developed countries. Urgent actions to remove complexities in the current systems and procedures, alignment to international standards and adoption of modern information technologies are imperative.

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