ITC provides a wealth of information and resources on trade for businesses in developing countries. The tools below (some of them joint projects with other organisations, such as the WTO, UNCTAD, World Bank Group, are intended to explore and facilitate trade with other countries.
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We provide tailored support, aligned with national objectives, to grow trade opportunities for micro, small and medium businesses in developing countries.
<p>AIM for Results is an intervention approach that strengthens the performance, efficiency and effectiveness of TISIs and builds their capacity to provide more effective support to the internationalisation needs of their clients, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).</p><p>AIM stands for Assess, Improve and Measure. It is a holistic and targeted integrated three-step-approach focusing on measurable results in order to improve the managerial, operational and service delivery performance of TSIs. The three pillars of AIM are offered either as a single module or as a complete performance improvement programme, depending on the needs of the beneficiary institutions.</p><p> In 2017, the project aims to improve the operational and managerial performance of 40 TISIs applying ITC’s AIM For Results methodology.</p>
<p>The aim of the programme is to <strong>increase the participation of women-owned businesses in trade in order to increase economic growth and job creation in Commonwealth countries</strong>. With interventions at the beneficiary-, firm-, institutional-, national- and inter-national level, it will: </p><ul><li>Address policy change at the national level, making trade-related policies gender responsive;</li><li>Facilitate new/better linkages with buyers and investors internationally; connecting women to opportunities and facilitating gender sensitive business practice; </li><li>Support BSOs and the private sector to strengthen the business environment for women owned businesses;</li><li>Support BSOs to target women owned business directly to improve capacity; combining face to face training with coaching, mentoring and exposure to buyers.</li></ul>
Working close to businesses to overcome trade barriers
In international trade, Non-Tariff measures (NTMs) are put in place for legitimate purposes such as health and safety. However, many businesses, notably in developing countries, struggle to understand the objectives of the NTMs and how to comply with them.
Policymakers may also not be fully informed on the difficulties traders face when importing or exporting.
Having documented trade regulations in more than 100 countries and interviewed more than 30,000 traders in 70 countries, ITC brings more transparency on NTM issues.
Our Non-Tariff Measures Programme:
Identifies trade obstacles to support decision makers to effectively reduce trade costs related to NTMs
Establishes national mechanisms to solve NTM-related trade obstacles experienced by small and medium-sized businesses in developing countries
Provides trainings to companies, trade and investment support institutions (TISIs) and policymakers so they can better understand these trade obstacles and their effect on competitiveness
Increases the transparency of trade regulations and related procedures
<p>This project, which is financed by the preference funding from Denmark, supports ITC’s ongoing work under its non-tariff measures (NTMs) programme, which aims at <strong>creating the evidence base that decision makers need to effectively reduce trade cost related to NTMs and create a business environment conducive to inclusive trade</strong>. The programme ensures that the concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about regulatory and procedural trade obstacles are brought to the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders, <strong>enabling them to take concrete actions to address these</strong>. The work also contributes to<strong> increasing the transparency of NTMs</strong> and related procedures, and provides thought leadership through research and analysis, informing national, regional and multilateral trade policy making.</p><p>The following outlines the vision for the 3-year horizon of the preference funding with a detailed results planning and budget breakdown for the 500K W1 allocation for 2018, 800K for 2019, 800K for 2020 and 300K for 2021.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
<p>Clothing is one of the largest industries in the world economy employing 60 to 75 million people worldwide. The negative social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry have been well documented, demonstrating that these impacts mostly occur within the upstream portion of the value chain. Improving traceability is a priority in order to determine how and where parts and components in production processes have been sourced and what are the environmental, social and health risks in the value chain. The action will support enhanced transparency and traceability in garment value chains, through the development of an IT 'track and trace' platform that offers customized and open self-assessment and data sharing solutions for value chain stakeholders. Alongside the implementation of this platform, ITC will deliver a training and continuous improvement programme and, in collaboration with private sector partners, implement in a subset of textile and garment oriented countries.</p>
We deliver customized solutions for least developed countries (LDCs), enabling them to increase their participation in the global economy and reach development goals through exports. We focus on creating access to digital technologies and capabilities in LDCs, where current internet penetration is at 27%, as this is increasingly critical to ensure opportunities are universally shared. We also assist LDCs in their bid for WTO membership, and support their implementation of WTO agreements.
The new Asia-Pacific Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that came into force in January 2022 covers a third of the world economy and will eliminate 90% of tariffs among 15 East Asian and Pacific countries. The agreement will also reduce costs and improve policy cooperation for the benefit of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises which are the engine of most economies. ITC will focus on the ability of these enterprises to compete on sustainable and specialty goods and services.
