Telling the trade stories of least developed countries

Located in West Africa, Sierra Leone’s population of 8.8 million (2023) is very diverse, with 15 ethnic groups, each with its own language, and a common language, Krio – a combination of English and several local languages. Its main exports are diamonds (63%), cocoa and coffee. A 2024 World Bank Macro Poverty Outlook for Sierra Leone revealed the country’s 2023 poverty rate to be 25.3%. Since 2005, Sierra Leone has developed three Poverty Reduction Strategy documents and is currently implementing its Medium-Term National Development Plan 2024-2030. The EIF’s partnership with Sierra Leone began in 2009 following a 2006 Integrated Framework-supported Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS). This DTIS was conducted by the World Bank and aimed at prioritizing and sequencing policy reforms and other interventions for mainstreaming trade into national poverty reduction and development strategies. Despite considerable constraints, Sierra Leone achieved significant progress in a range of areas specified in that analysis, including legal and regulatory changes to advance the overall business climate and improved institutional capacity for the formulation and implementation of trade policies. A DTIS Update followed in 2013, which was also conducted by the World Bank. This built on the progress made through the initial DTIS and aimed to complement and assist in its full realization.

Stretching along the Indian Ocean coastline from southern to eastern Africa, Mozambique is endowed with rich arable land, water sources, energy, and mineral resources, including newly discovered natural gas deposits off its coast. The country is strategically located as a gateway to global markets for its bordering landlocked neighbours – Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini. Mozambique’s main economic sectors are agriculture, mining and extractive industries, energy, transport and logistics, as well as tourism. There is also a growing manufacturing and industrial sector focused mainly on textiles, cement and agro-processing. Mozambique also provides services, including financial, telecommunications and retail services. Of its population of around 33 million, 70% are mainly employed in agriculture, primarily in small-scale or subsistence farming.

Guinea-Bissau is a coastal West African country with a population of some 2.2 million people (2024) that is bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south and east. Fishing, tourism and agriculture are the main drivers of the economy, with a high level of dependence on the cashew sector. This single crop is grown by some 69% of the country’s subsistence farmers, with 5% of the country’s land dedicated to cashew production. Cashew accounts for more than 90% of the country’s export earnings and 10% of government tax revenue. Guinea-Bissau imports most of its basic food, including rice, wheat flour and sugar, which are staples in the country. The EIF has been supporting Guinea-Bissau since 2010 with a goal of achieving four key milestones: 1) establishing government policies that boost trade and economic development and ensuring that trade is integrated into national development and poverty reduction strategies; 2) improving coordination of development partners’ activities; 3) increasing Aid for Trade (AfT); and 4) strengthening the country’s productive sectors and export capacities.

The environmental footprint of digital transformation could undermine efforts of containing global temperature rise to within 1.5°C by 2050. Just 35% of the population in least-developed countries used the internet in 2023, but LDCs are increasingly destinations of digitalization-related waste. Given the global volume of electronic waste, LDCs can support sustainable digital transformation through responsible e-waste management.

Since 2013, the year after Vanuatu's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) has invested approximately USD 6.5 million in Vanuatu to strengthen institutional capacity for trade, revive the tourism sector and enhance trade facilitation.

The EIF programme has been supporting Uganda since 2009. The collaboration aims to realize the country’s trade policy vision and help Uganda better integrate into the global economy. Improved trade capacity and performance, fostered by in-country development programmes such as that of the EIF, have undoubtedly supported Uganda’s ongoing economic achievements.

Digital technology touches every aspect of human lives and all the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While digital transformation can help the 45 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to sidestep traditional development pathways, the real challenge is the growing digital divide between the LDCs and the rest of the world. As richer parts of the world become increasingly adept at leveraging digital technology for value creation, the LDCs risk falling further behind.

The NIU mechanism is a means to implement priorities identified by the governments through EIF support while functioning as a valuable public good that can be used by various partners active in the Aid for Trade (AfT) sphere.

The EIF's efforts to support Angola through a pro-poor trade agenda crystallized moreover under a recent partnership between the Government of Angola and UNDP.

Since the start of the partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and the EIF and the establishment of the NIU, the EIF has supported Ethiopia in strengthening its institutional and productive capacity within trade-related sectors. These initiatives were targeted at addressing issues highlighted in the 2016 UN Conference on Trade and Development-led Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) Update.

The EIF support to Malawi began in 2012. The Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), sought to use the EIF partnership to unlock Malawi's latent trade potential through targeted support in three strategic areas: i) strengthening the capacity of the MTI to develop trade policies and strategies and to participate more effectively in the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements; ii) addressing challenges faced by smallholder farmers to trade; and iii) supporting the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) to better promote exports and investments for the agro-industry, including working with the World Bank in establishing the groundwork for an agro-processing special economic zone.

EIF’s support to Somalia has been limited and has exclusively focused on the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by supporting capacity-building around skills to navigate the trade landscape.

The partnership between Bhutan and the EIF stretches back to 2009. Directly contributing to several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, the EIF facility was well aligned to work within the context of Bhutan's development philosophy. The EIF supported the development of Bhutan's trade agenda roadmap, improving policies supporting pro-poor trade and strengthening institutional coordination, including human capacity for trade and development. Beyond this, the EIF contributed to building the productive capacity of farmers SMEs and facilitated the country's ability to leverage additional funding through catalytic project support.

Tuvalu, a small set of islands in the Pacific Ocean, is having to work harder than most other least developed countries to find ways of improving the lives of its population. Trade for development provides an opportunity, but its size, insularity and remoteness constrain trade in terms of supply capacity, global and regional market access and trade competitiveness.

The Government of Benin established a partnership with the EIF in 2003, embarking on the development of a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) and Action Matrix, along with evidence‑based and government-led analysis of constraints and opportunities for making trade work for economic prosperity and poverty reduction. The DTIS was completed in 2005, with an update ten years later. Together, the studies have provided a roadmap for progress toward the goal of supporting small businesses to trade and develop the kinds of jobs that improve lives and spur sustainable economic development.

At their core, these challenges are inter-related and point to the importance of promoting a more active industrial policy, together with the ongoing trade policy effort at the heart of the AfCFTA. This is particularly key for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) situated in Africa.

In countries where farming sustains families and economies, sustainable trade in agricultural products means everything

The Government is targeting its precious ylang-ylang, vanilla and cloves – key cash crops with global demand. Through the partnership with EIF, cooperatives, trainings for female entrepreneurs like Houria and small business support in the form of vats, labels and processing items have laid the foundation for increased trade for the country.

In The Gambia, one of the industries ripe with potential for growth identified by EIF and the government was the cashew. By supporting the cashew’s entire chain of production – from farmers’ fields to the development of a new cargo facility – the EIF equipped cashew farmers with new skills and the food safety certification needed to export to markets such as the European Union (EU).