Trade Policy Development - ITC

ITC supports developing country policymakers to integrate the business sector into the global economy through improved policy effectiveness for export development and trade promotion.

ITC’s objective is to foster a conducive business environment by facilitating the inclusion of the private sector perspective in international trade negotiations and national policy and regulatory reforms. ITC approaches this work from three angles: (i) business implications of regional integration; (ii) organized business participation in public-private dialogue on addressing non-tariff barriers to trade including services regulatory reforms; and (iii) LDC accession to WTO.

To deliver the above, ITC supports the work of decision-makers through the provision of information and training. It facilitates public-private dialogue to obtain sound and sustainable formulation and implementation of trade policies. Information is disseminated through in-country networks made up of public-private stakeholders. Finally, ITC facilitates and disseminates best practices allowing the business community in LDCs to learn from the experience of other countries that are engaged in building dialogue mechanisms and in finding a voice for the business community to influence the government’s policies.

The key to service sectors regulatory reforms is that policy objectives are achieved with minimum market distortions. ITC assists business associations (coalition of services) to articulate their positions and to influence services policy and reform. ITC engages and supports empirical research to back up technical capacity-building and enhanced private sector participation in business reform dialogue.

ITC also supports governments to strike an appropriate balance between business interests to reduce costs and their socioeconomic objectives using a three-step public-private dialogue methodology.

Importantly, the agency prioritizes pro-competition policy and regulatory reforms in the logistics and transport sectors, by adopting a coherent and synergetic approach to maximize benefits of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement implementation for developing countries’ SMEs.

In order to engage effectively in the multilateral trading arena, developing countries need to build sustainable capacity for better informed trade policy development. ITC works with local institutions from the private and public sectors to build national capacity in trade policy. ITC assists local institutions to bridge the gap between public and private sectors in order to establish a more informed platform for trade policy formulation. In addition, the organization has enabled strategic partnerships between key national institutions that lead trade policy formulation and the World Trade Institute (WTI) in Bern, Switzerland, ensuring access to global experts in the field of trade policy. As a result, future trade policy specialists have access to world-class training in trade policy development.