The Bali trade facilitation agreement must be ratified to boost airfreight, industry leaders tell the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) ninth World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Shanghai (China) this week.

Only the US, Singapore and Hong Kong have ratified the trade facilitation agreement signed in Bali (Indonesia) in 2013 at a meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A further 105 of the WTO’s 160 member states will have to ratify it if the deal is to come into effect.

The agreement aims to help the movement, release and clearance of goods with measures for cooperation between customs and other authorities.

WTO deputy director general, Xiaozhun Yi, tells the WCS audience that the agreement has, “35 facilitation measures”. World Customs Organisation secretary general, Kunio Mikuriya, adds that: “WCO can play a role in providing tools to its members to consistently apply the agreement.”

IATA’s director general and chief executive officer, Tony Tyler, says that his association has been urging governments to ratify the deal because it could reduce airfreight’s time on the ground.