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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.

cdb

Caribbean Development Bank(cdb)

Summary of activities included in this category
Events
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.

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
wto

World Trade Organization(wto)

Summary of activities included in this category
Technical assistance

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.

wto

World Trade Organization(wto)

Summary of activities included in this category
Online courses, face-to-face seminars or workshops and internships

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

Market and Trade Information

Market information and trade information services are different in their focus and methods. Market information is about sub-sectors and products, while trade information focuses on the aggregate level, including data on trade flows, policies affecting trade, and trends in these. Market information is usually targeted at traders. Trade information is, broadly speaking, intended to be used by policy-makers.

wto

World Trade Organization(wto)

Summary of activities included in this category
World Trade Report and International Trade Statistics

Trade Facilitation

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

unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

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

World Trade Organization(wto)

Summary of activities included in this category
Joint technical assistance activities and Trade Facilitation Facility

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

Physical Trade Infrastructure

Like Supply Capacity, this is a category where the boundary between trade support and more general support to production or develop­ment is not clearly defined. Some agencies try to allocate spending on individual projects partially to trade and partially to other purposes; others focus on the principal purpose of a project or a type of activity.

unece

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE(unece)

Summary of activities included in this category
Sub-programme on transport
Transport of dangerous goods
Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations
Intelligent Transport Systems
TIR customs transit and border crossing facilitation