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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.

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Support for UNCTAD’s Information Economy Report
Support to the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECPDM)

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.

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Support to OECD Policy Framework for Investment
Support to Advisory Centre for WTO Law (ACWL)
mexico

mexico

Summary of activities included in this category
The Programme for International Development Cooperation

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.

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Bi-lateral support to partner countries

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

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Support for Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF)
Support for UNIDO’s trade capacity-building programs

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.

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Support through EIF for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to LDCs
Support to UNIDO for the implementation of activities under the Trade Capacity-Building Programme
Support to International Trade Centre’s technical assistance
Support to WTO technical assistance
mexico

mexico

Summary of activities included in this category
• Supporting multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations
new zealand

new zealand

Summary of activities included in this category
Support to the Mekong Institute
Support for Office of the Chief Trade Advisor (OCTA)
Support for the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS)

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.

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Support to Finnpartnership program
Support to projects in various countries funded from Local cooperation funds
Support to ITC’s programmes that support national trade promotion agencies
mexico

mexico

Summary of activities included in this category
Competitiveness and Innovation Program Mexico-European Union (PROCEI) (2012-2016)
European and Latin American Business Services and Innovation - ELAN Network (January 2017-January 2018)
Enterprise Europe Network– EEN (2011-2018)
Confederation of European Retired Experts (2016-2018)
Low Carbon Business Action in Mexico (2016-2018)
Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO) (2016-2017)

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.

finland

finland

Summary of activities included in this category
Support to ITC’s work related to market and trade information
new zealand

new zealand

Summary of activities included in this category
Statistics New Zealand Helpdesk