Telling the trade stories of least developed countries

Having achieved independence in 2002 and boasting a population of only 1.3 million people, Timor-Leste is the youngest and the second least-populated country in Southeast Asia. Despite this, the country has achieved significant progress in terms of human development, mainly driven by revenue from offshore oil and gas. According to the World Bank, the proportion of Timorese living in poverty declined from 50% in 2007 to an estimated 42% in 2014. Surplus oil and gas revenues go into a sovereign fund, the Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund, which was established in 2005. According to the World Bank's Timor-Leste Economic Report 2021, the country has also achieved significant declines in child and maternal mortality rates, increases in youth literacy, and improvements in energy and transport infrastructure.

The United Republic of Tanzania, with a population of 64 million, comprises the Tanzania mainland and the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago of islands located in the Indian Ocean. The country is a member of the East African Community and part of the Great Lakes Region. • The Enhanced Integrated Framework’s (EIF’s) partnership with the United Republic of Tanzania has worked towards trade diversification by enabling policies and strategies, institutional arrangements for Aid for Trade (AfT), and investment and enhanced value addition in sectors such as honey, seaweed, anchovies and horticulture. In the seaweed value chain, average productivity per unit acre has almost doubled as a result of using new deep-sea harvesting methods and equipment.

Centrally located on the African continent, Chad shares a border with six countries. Chad is Africa’s fifth-largest country and its largest landlocked country. Due to its geography, Chad is reliant on neighbouring countries – such as Cameroon and Sudan – for access to seaport infrastructure. Chad’s history of conflict and its dependency on oil have resulted in a number of social, political, and economic challenges that disproportionately impact its poorest citizens. While the country’s main exports are oil and gold, agriculture is a crucial driver of the economy, with the majority of Chadians relying on subsistence farming and livestock rearing. Gum arabic, sesame, cattle, and cotton are Chad’s primary agricultural exports.

Rwanda is a landlocked country of some 13.2 million people (as of 2022) located at a high elevation in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa. It is the fifth most densely populated country in the world and is surrounded by Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Uganda. Situated a few degrees south of the equator, Rwanda enjoys a temperate tropical climate and is home to fertile soils and numerous lakes. Rwanda's history has been deeply impacted by the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, which resulted in the loss of more than a million Tutsi lives. However, in recent decades, the country has made significant socioeconomic development progress.

The Central African Republic, a vast country with a small population of five million, is testing the potential for achieving lasting peace through trade for development to improve livelihoods and build a better future for this and coming generations.

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.

Since beginning its partnership with the Government of the Union of Comoros in 2011, the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) has provided around USD 7.4 million in funding – a significant proportion of the total average of USD 40 million in Aid for Trade (AfT) from various partners between 2008 and 2019. The EIF also contributed to increased AfT from other development partners, helping to finance 18 priority areas identified by the Government's Medium-Term Plan for Trade Integration for Comoros (2012-2015) and within the framework of the island's Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2010-2014 (DSRP). This was achieved through a multi-donor roundtable organized by the Government through the NIU and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and with the support of France as the donor facilitator.

The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)'s support in Senegal focused on five key areas: better integration of trade into national development strategies; strengthening of institutional capacities in the public and private sectors; improvement of the business environment; development of agricultural value chains, mainly in the mango and cashew nut sectors; and development e-commerce capability.

Since 2017, the EIF has focused on measures to support institutional capacity to integrate Mauritania into global trade. This has included improving coordination among agencies related to trade policy; mainstreaming trade into development strategies; implementing DTIS priorities; and strengthening dialogue and coordination between development partners through a National Trade Facilitation Committee. To deepen the economic reforms being undertaken by the Government of Mauritania, more than 780 public, private, and civil society officials were trained, with 68% of these being women.

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.

South Sudan is pursuing regional, continental and international trade. Africa’s youngest country, with a population of just over 12 million people , is already a member of the EAC. With the support of the EIF and other Aid for Trade (AfT) development partners, it aims to become a member of the WTO and the AfCFTA. Oil revenues, which make up more than 90% of the country’s exports, have played an important part in the country’s progress since its independence from Sudan in 2011. However, the Government of South Sudan recognizes that this is not a sustainable option to lift the population out of poverty, internal conflict, and persistent humanitarian crises, all of which are compounded by vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. Agriculture employs 95% of the population – but only about 4% of South Sudan’s vast arable land is under cultivation due to insecurity.

With support from the EIF, Zambia intensified its trade growth and diversification efforts directed at different levels to achieve systemic improvements. These were: first, on strengthening linkages to both the private sector and the Government around key products, such as honey; second, on building the institutional capacity of the Government and trade-related organizations, mainstreaming trade in the country’s development framework, and improving the trade regulatory environment; and third, exploring new markets for Zambian products.

A journey that began in 2001 with Cambodia’s first EIF-supported Cambodia Trade Integration Study (CTIS) — as on the first three Integrated Framework DTIS pilot countries, alongside Madagascar and Mauritania — continues to date with the EIF’s partnership with the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The first Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) in 2003 identified a range of challenges facing the country, including lack of capacity in understanding and analysing international trade policies; low productive capacity in the agricultural sector; lack of standards in both the public and private sectors; and poor infrastructure in the processing, marketing and transport sectors. Three projects followed in the years between 2004 to 2008, focusing on trade negotiations, trade policy and statistics.

Since 2004, the EIF and its predecessor, the Integrated Framework (IF), have worked with the Government of Lao PDR to build a comprehensive and efficient framework for AfT harmonization and coordination, resource mobilization, and trade and private sector development. The Diagnostic Trade Integrated Study (DTIS) in 2006, and its subsequent updates in 2012 and 2022, have been used as key instruments for prioritizing the country’s trade development and resource mobilization efforts.

The Kingdom of Lesotho is diversifying its economy from a heavy reliance on the textiles and clothing industry through the development of, and investment in, the untapped horticulture sector, particularly production of deciduous fruits on a commercial scale. 

The EIF supported Madagascar’s DTIS in 2003 as one of the first three Integrated Framework DTIS pilot countries, along with Cambodia and Mauritania.

To promote economic growth, EIF support to Liberia centred on tackling supply-side constraints to trade. The goal of enhancing trade was to reduce extreme poverty, estimated to exceed 80% in 2003. The EIF’s engagement also demonstrates its commitment to fostering partnerships that promote local ownership of Liberia’s development agenda. Initially, support focused on establishing strong institutional structures and strengthening capacity to develop policies and mainstream trade into national strategies.

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.

EIF support contributed significantly to policy reviews, alignment of legislation, development of consumer protection standards, and enhancing the capacity of sector stakeholders, including through recruitment of technical staff.

The partnership between The Gambia and the EIF began with country-led evidence‑based research and analysis to identify its pro-poor trade priorities. The resulting policy-guiding document – the 2007 Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) – identified diversification and domestic production of goods and services in the areas of tourism, groundnuts and other agriculture products and fishing as sectors with the potential to spur sustainable development.

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.