Search the Resource Guide

Global Advocacy

The global advocacy category covers services that are designed to promote the use of trade as a development tool and to encourage sup­port for developing countries’ efforts to improve their trade capacity building. This includes analysis and dissemination of trade-related information, promoting understanding of the relationship between trade and development, and supporting policies. Some agencies pro­vide information on and support for the interactions between their more specialized interests and trade.

undp

United Nations Development Programme(undp)

Summary of activities included in this category
Trade and Sustainable Development
unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
Improving understanding of the needs of transition economies

Legal and Regulatory Framework

Assistance under this category includes helping countries to bring their own regulations into conformity with international rules, more general help to improve their legal institutions, and training officials to deal with such rules. A number of the agencies specialise in par­ticular areas, rather than trying to provide expertise on the legal rules in all sectors. For several, the aim is to balance trade-related obli­gations with other national (or international) interests.

undp

United Nations Development Programme(undp)

Summary of activities included in this category
Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development
unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
Regulatory cooperation and standardization policies
Promotion of knowledge-based development
wipo

World Intellectual Property Organization(wipo)

Summary of activities included in this category
Legislative Assistance
Modalities of legislative assistance
Progressive development of patent laws
Progressive development of trademark, industrial design and geographical indication laws
Progressive development of copyright laws
Building respect for intellectual property

Supply Capacity

In line with the trade focus of this Guide, support activities to develop supply capacity are considered to be those that aim to increase the availability of goods and services for export. There is no easy distinction between this and building more general capacity to pro­duce, and this distinction is becoming less pertinent as borders open and competition in local markets from imports increases. Some agencies do not make this distinction in their projects.

undp

United Nations Development Programme(undp)

Summary of activities included in this category
Productive capacity, inclusive business and value chains

Compliance support infrastructure and services

Assistance in this category is closely related to that under the Legal and Regulatory Framework, but places more emphasis on building the institutions in developing countries to implement such legal frameworks, and less on the details of compliance. It is an area where the specialised agencies again have the main role

unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
Agricultural quality standards

Trade Policy Development

Agencies’ assistance to trade policy development is generally provided in four areas: design and implementation of trade policy; specific developing country issues in trade (such as commodity exports and preferences); support in trade negotiations; and assistance in man­aging the interactions between trade and other policies.

undp

United Nations Development Programme(undp)

Summary of activities included in this category
Mainstreaming trade

Trade promotion capacity building

This category includes both direct support to exporters and the building of institutions in-country which will provide such support. It is different from many of the other categories in its direct relationship to the private sector.

unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
Trade promotion capacity building

Trade Facilitation

This category covers the development, harmonization, and implementation of the rules and procedures which govern how goods cross borders.

undp

United Nations Development Programme(undp)

Summary of activities included in this category
Arab connectivity and trade facilitation
unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
UNECE support
Trade facilitation and electronic business
Successful projects

E-commerce Services & Digital Economy

This category includes capacity building activities directed to development of e-commerce from the perspective of the physical and regulatory factors, for example reducing barriers to trade across distance via electronic marketplaces, development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks. 

unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
E-commerce Services & Digital Economy