Drafting process and validation

The drafting process for a Roadmap document will go through three major phases. First, during the Initiation Phase, a high level authority needs to mandate (request) the development of a document that describes the national trade facilitation reform programme. This authority also needs to nominate the Lead Editor or Drafting Team that will be to lead the drafting process.
The second phase is the Conception Phase that consists of drafting the document itself. It includes three stages: 1) engaging stakeholders, 2) discussion with stakeholders on existing issues and possible Activities to be undertaken as well as 3) defining the performance indicators to measure the achievements and results of the different Activities. The outcome of the second phase is a consolidated draft Roadmap document.
Finally, in the Validation Phase, the document is presented to the decision makers of the key stakeholder organizations to achieve formal endorsement. This document needs to include any act of the Parliament or the Prime Minister that may be required to start the implementation of the Activities included in the Roadmap.
The three phases are illustrated in the graphic below:

The three phases “Initiation”, “Conception” and “Validation” are sequential, meaning they are only executed once and in this particular order. However, the Conception Phase, the three sub-stages (stakeholder engagement, identifying issues and Activities as well as establishing Goal Performance Indicators) are iterative in nature. Thus, they might need to be repeated several times. Each step can unveil further issues in the export and import processes or new proposals how to address these issues. Consequently, it might be necessary to revisit previous findings, to redefine the Activity or include new ones, to reconsider the Goal Performance Indicators and to (re-) engage stakeholders.