Trade policy

20 September 2024
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.
10 October 2023 - Daniel K. Kalinaki
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.
22 August 2023 - Kudzai Makombe
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.
10 August 2023 - Farai Samhungu Peter Donelan
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.
3 August 2023 - Farai Samhungu Peter Donelan
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.
27 July 2023 - Kudzai Makombe Peter Donelan
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.
25 July 2023 - Kudzai Makombe Hang Tran
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.
20 July 2023 - Kudzai Makombe Hang Tran
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.
14 March 2023 - Jonathan Said
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.
22 November 2022
Countries with high environmental credentials like Bhutan should be supported to trade with an automatic recognition and prioritization of their exports as clean and green. This will be a big boost to build productive capacity and help increase climate and trade ambition.
15 November 2022 - Sofía Baliño
Along with the damage posed to ecosystem and human health, climate change is already affecting what and how countries trade with one another. For instance, changing temperatures and weather patterns have an impact on crop yields, and therefore agricultural trade. Climate change can cause severe and costly disruptions to trade-related infrastructure, as sea level rises threaten seaports and rising temperatures affect and degrade railways. Tourism is another sector that is both crucial for trade and where changing weather conditions are affecting where people travel and the infrastructure that tourism relies on.
9 August 2022 - Annette Ssemuwemba
Building evidence does not only happen through research and analysis; it also comes from sharing experiences. For example, EIF support has been directed to sectors in which women are predominantly engaged, so female-owned businesses can expand and access new regional and global markets. Responses to the M&E exercise indicate a wide recognition that these efforts result in strengthening women’s economic and financial independence.
Ratnakar Adhikari (EIF) and Taffere Tesfachew (UNTBLDC) discuss how LDCs can benefit from technology on their path towards structural transformation
Guided by its Gross National Happiness, Bhutan has considerably improved its economic, environmental, social and governance situation in the past four decades.
How can LDCs be supported to improve their trade performance and sustainably raise their share of trade in the global economy?
16 November 2021 - Abha Calindi
Manufacturing has traditionally driven economic growth in developing countries. A new book by the World Bank highlights the potential of the service sector in driving development. What are the implications of this shift for least developed countries? 
12 October 2021 - Marie-France Boucher
Trade is key to sustainable development and growth. This knowledge can spur action from governments and businesses, but only if the word gets out.
28 September 2021 - Helen Castell
A United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report on findings from its Productive Capacities Index (PCI) h
29 June 2021 - James Ellsmoor
For SIDS and LDCs, tapping into the remote working revolution requires internet infrastructure
On avoiding risks and challenges for countries striving to reduce poverty and tackle climate change
1 June 2021 - Deanna Ramsay
Looking ahead to the next decade of action to transform economies Thriving economies produce. What they produce could be export commodities, human enterprises, linkages to supply chains, data innovations, i.e. the whole range of things that generate profit today.
11 May 2021 - Deanna Ramsay
A pandemic. Development hurdles. Structural impediments. What is there for least developed countries in Africa to improve trade?
4 May 2021 - Deanna Ramsay
Tourism, apparel and sustainable development strategies are covered in new series of policy briefs from the Enhanced Integrated Framework
16 February 2021 - Désirée Van Gorp
Multinationals and governments need to recognize the trade world’s interconnectedness, and its impact
9 February 2021 - Simon Hess
Seeing impacts in a complicated trade landscape requires learning and adapting
28 January 2021 - Violeta Gonzalez Behar
Originally published on World Economic Forum on 19th January 2021 as part of the 
26 January 2021 - Deanna Ramsay
Guinea trying out south-south cooperation venture with Tunisia Trade in Guinea today centres mostly around the export of gold and bauxite, which is used to create aluminum. The country has the world’s largest deposits of the red rock, and aluminum prices are increasing.
14 January 2021 - Moono Mupotola
Originally published by the International Trade Centre (ITC) International Trade Forum Magazine on 9 December 2020
12 January 2021 - Deanna Ramsay
Country embarking on a new tourism strategy as part of its building of trade sector When one thinks about tourism hotspots, Burundi is not the first that comes to mind. But, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t get there.
17 December 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
Academy training youth for a global trade
8 December 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
Country working toward regional and global trade goals in a post-conflict scenario. Becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) isn’t automatic – it’s a process that involves commitments and consensus, questions and responses, meetings and negotiations.
2 December 2020 - Jenny Larsen
As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic kick in, hopes for better progress, at least in the short term, appear to be fading.
26 November 2020 - Dr. Neil Balchin
Breaking down the data on productive capabilities, debt and more in the world’s poorest countries
19 November 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
Trade practitioners discuss the country’s trade landscape, and what their daily work entails
17 November 2020 - Dr Cheikh Tidiane Dieye
LDCs face a variety of challenges. Apart from a few rare and often unstable and reversible economic successes, LDCs, and especially those in Africa, which represent over 80% of the group's members, have not properly benefitted from the expansion of the global economy and international trade seen in recent decades. Some have even become relatively deindustrialized, despite increased access to imported intermediate products, particularly those destined for the manufacturing sector. LDCs continue to integrate into global value chains mainly by exporting unprocessed products and intermediate products that are raw material‑intensive. However, this route is too long and too complex, and, to make matters worse, is controlled from end to end by multinational firms that are reluctant to consider a change of course.
8 October 2020 - Fabrice Lehmann Carlos Cordon
Multiple sourcing and proximity sourcing are shaping into long-term trends as global firms hardwire resilience and agility into their supply chains.
7 October 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
With digital conference covering the major topics in global trade, what matters for the world’s poorest countries?
1 October 2020 - Maria Sokolova
In trade for development, more female trainers could make a big difference
22 September 2020 - Dmitry Grozoubinski
Geneva Trade Week garnering inputs from far and wide
9 September 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
From a focus on fisheries to WTO membership, analysis of the country’s economic situation offers ways to move forward
26 August 2020 - Michelle Kovacevic
Like the Pacific, independence from colonialism is what kickstarted the development of Quality Infrastructure in the Caribbean.
26 August 2020 - Michelle Kovacevic
Trade ministers in the Pacific approve the region’s first strategic framework on quality infrastructure
14 July 2020 - Brendan Vickers Salamat Ali
Although LDCs are home to 13.3% of the world’s population, their share of COVID-19-related medical imports is just 1%.
6 July 2020 - Michelle Kovacevic
Government and private sector worked together to create jobs in new ‘industry’
30 June 2020 - Fabrice Lehmann
The collapse in trade provoked by the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the fragility of carefully constructed supply chains in the global fashion industry, and the asymmetries with which they are governed.
16 June 2020 - Michelle Kovacevic
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFRPRI) Senior Research Fellow discusses the challenges and opportunities for food security in least developed countries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic
27 April 2020 - Axel Addy
Trade ministers are playing an essential role in the pandemic response
9 April 2020 - Trudi Hartzenberg
Poverty, inequality and exclusion are key factors contributing to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on all African countries.
Originally published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on 27 March 2020
What are international institutions pledging in the wake of the pandemic?
31 March 2020 - Anabel González
Originally published by Peterson Institute for International Economics on 27 March 2020
26 March 2020 - Padmashree Gehl Sampath
The possibility of reconfiguring manufacturing processes through new digital technologies and data provides opportunities to reboot industrial development in least developed countries.
24 March 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
A compendium of recent news on the global pandemic and what some of the world’s poorest countries are doing
18 March 2020 - Simon J. Evenett
The right trade policies would help the world combat current pandemic
2 March 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
The Trade Experettes founder discusses the blossoming global network of female experts from ‘all walks of trade’
27 February 2020 - Marc Auboin Violeta Gonzalez Behar
Originally published in World Economic Forum Agenda on 10 February 2020
11 February 2020 - Simon J. Evenett Johannes Fritz
The latest version of the Global Trade Alert, which monitors state interventions that affect world commerce, explores whether developing country access to large overseas markets has changed during the current era of populism.
Mainstreaming biodiversity across economic sectors is a key issue to be discussed at the CBD COP15 in China in 2020, where the post-2020 global biodiversity framework is due to be agreed upon.
31 January 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists Martin Kaufman and Papa N’Diaye discuss trade, climate change mitigation and technology in Part II of their interview.
23 January 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
Country is addressing its fragility through renewed efforts to stimulate economy
21 January 2020 - Deanna Ramsay
International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists Martin Kaufman and Papa N’Diaye discuss the impacts of the current trade tensions, and the prospects for developing economies in an unsteady global landscape.
16 January 2020 - Michelle Kovacevic
Education key for an informed trade and policy future
7 January 2020 - Rodrigo Polanco
In order to be effective, existing and future home country outward FDI measures need to be customised to the needs and realities of LDCs.
19 December 2019 - Mia Mikic
Countries that have already implemented trade-cost reducing reforms – for example trade facilitation, infrastructure, and data flows – will be better positioned to take advantage of any opportunities that arise from the trade war.
9 December 2019 - Rashid S. Kaukab
There is urgent need to better understand trade and climate change linkages in the context of least developed countries (LDCs).
3 December 2019 - Deanna Ramsay
Carefully calibrating its trade support and compliance to international standards, country is targeting more exports
Least developed countries (LDCs) confront a challenging global trade landscape, from slower long-term growth rates and rising protectionism to a weakening nexus between trade and GDP growth.
26 November 2019 - Deanna Ramsay
Deputy Director General in the Department of Planning and Cooperation at the Lao PDR Ministry of Industry and Commerce discusses harmonizing trade, regional integration and managing resources wisely
26 November 2019
Lao PDR's Deputy Director General Phouvieng Phongsa, Department of Planning and Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, discusses trade and development in his tiny, landlocked country.
20 November 2019 - Trudi Hartzenberg
Despite impressive progress in the negotiations, it is still not possible to trade under the AfCFTA as the negotiations of preferential tariff concessions and rules of origin have not been completed.
5 November 2019 - Brendan Vickers Hilary Enos-Edu
Many least developed countries are vulnerable to recurrent natural disasters, which exacerbate existing challenges, disrupt long-term investments and divert resources away from development to reconstruction.
31 October 2019 - Daniel Gay Kevin P. Gallagher
The international system governing the environment and economy is under pressure, but it is in trade where least developed countries (LDCs) may lose most from cracks in the global order.
The Enhanced Integrated Framework’s Trade for Development News is launching a new series of articles focusing on three major trade conversations happening today.
29 October 2019 - Michelle Kovacevic
Vanuatu became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) back in 2012, and has made immense economic progress.
16 October 2019 - Simon J. Evenett
With the spotlight on the Sino-US tariff war, a worrying trade policy dynamic implicating many countries has been overlooked.
14 October 2019 - Deanna Ramsay
From research to action, Uganda focusing on facilitation to spur economy and create jobs
14 October 2019
 Director of Trade at the Uganda Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives discusses the country's recent trade successes.
14 October 2019
Uganda's Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives discusses Uganda's trade policies, what's been accomplished, and what's left to be done.
23 April 2019 - Deanna Ramsay
Digital system set to streamline procedures for trade from LDCs to the EU
28 January 2019 - Deanna Ramsay
In countries where farming sustains families and economies, sustainable trade in agricultural products means everything
15 October 2018 - Deanna Ramsay
Increasing agricultural proceeds, processing and marketing are critical in Malawi’s development plans
14 August 2018 - Deanna Ramsay
With cashew prices surging and armed with solid trade policy, the country is looking to boost its farmers and processors
9 August 2018
Malawi's farmers have been cultivating new crops with the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi, supported by the Government of Malawi and EIF
27 July 2018
The EIF’s Daria Shatskova talks development in the world’s poorest countries with UNDESA’s Daniel Gay
19 July 2018 - Deanna Ramsay
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.
A study published two years ago — the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) update — has helped to push forward the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s reform agenda, by providing a roadmap for how the small African and Arab country can strategically diversify its exports to grow its wealth and reduce poverty
7 June 2018 - Deanna Ramsay
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).
25 April 2018 - WTO
Those countries granting preferences to LDC imports often condition the benefits on the imports meeting minimum "LDC content" as set out under their rules of origin schemes
9 April 2018 - Lynsey Grosfield
Forty-four African countries have signed on to an African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), twenty-eight of which are among the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
12 March 2018 - Deanna Ramsay
In scales and makeup of trade negotiations, for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) there is more than meets the eye
3 March 2018 - Michelle Kovacevic
A new study for Tanzania — the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) update — highlights opportunities for developing and improving trade opportunities for Tanzanian businesses and investors.
3 March 2018
A new study for Tanzania — the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) update — highlights opportunities for developing and improving trade opportunities for Tanzanian b
25 January 2018 - Simon Hess Michelle Kovacevic
You may not expect a graduate of an arts degree to say that a trade policy course was their favourite subject, but if you ask Zondwayo Duma from Zambia, that’s exactly what he’ll tell you
16 January 2018 - Michelle Kovacevic
The year is 2017 and Cambodia has stepped into a role that has been out of its reach for years — the voice of the 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the Word Trade Organization.
11 November 2017 - Ratnakar Adhikari Joe Natuman
Originally published by Thomson Reuters Foundation News
Representatives of the government, public and private institutions, donors and international organizations met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 23 to 24 February 2016
New UNCTAD-EIF study of the fisheries sector in The Gambia shows trade policies have to be inclusive if they are to reduce poverty