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.

ireland

ireland

Summary of activities included in this category
The European Centre for Development Policy Management
TRADE POLICY DEVELOPMENT
LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
TRADE RELATED FINANCIAL SERVICES

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.

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL)
UNCTAD Trust Fund for Accession

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.

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
Support for Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)
Norwegian Oil for Development (OfD) Initiative
The Clean Energy for Development Initiative
The Norwegian Fish for Development programme

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

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
UNIDO portfolio
russian federation

russian federation

Summary of activities included in this category
Support of UNIDO projects on trade-related development services

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.

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
WTO Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF)
russian federation

russian federation

Summary of activities included in this category
Assisting the Government of the Republic of Belarus in Accession to the World Trade Organization through Strengthening National Institutional Capacity and Expertise
Trade supported by IDA

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.

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
Private sector development support through the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO)
Statistics for Development in Malawi

Trade Facilitation

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

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
Trade Facilitation Support Programme
Support to the World Customs Organization’s Columbus Programme Phase II – Capacity Building for WCO members
russian federation

russian federation

Summary of activities included in this category
Support of IMF- AFRITAC programme aimed at strengthening the capacity of the sub-Saharan countries

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. 

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
Support through multilateral organizations

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.

norway

norway

Summary of activities included in this category
Support through the World Bank and the regional development banks