No. 2, April 2020

Index

• Bringing in NGOs.
• Learning to listen.
• Taking off with trade.
• Why services matter.
• Financing for small firms.
• No one leaves home unless...
• Creating wealth, reducing poverty: a key to transform economies and meet the Millennium Development Goal to end poverty by 2015 is ensuring that trade becomes part of development policy, with a central role for women and small business.
• Rubberwood: an export that conserves the environment.
• Working with NGOs: focusing on development is the key to partnership between trade agencies and non-governmental organizations.
• ITC launches 15-point plan to help small businesses survive the pandemic.
• More than one in six young people out of work due to COVID-19.
• New business-NGO partnerships help the world's poorest: innovative approaches to reduce poverty through trade are bringing business, NGOs, government and aid agencies together in new ways.
• News Brief.
• OECD countries invite Costa Rica to join as 38th member.
• Afreximbank and ITC join forces to prepare African businesses grow through trade.
• COVID-19 to slash global economic output by $8,5 trillion over next two years.
• Investing in skills for inclusive trade.
• SWOT analysis: NGOs as partners.
• World Bank Group: 100 countries get support in response to COVID-19.
• Collaborating with an advocacy NGO: Oxfam is a major non-governmental organization in trade policy debates. It also has a role in local trade development. What kind of collaboration is possible with an advocacy NGO? Natalie Domeisen and Peter Hulm of Trade Forum spoke to Online Charveriat, head of Oxfam's trade office in Geneva.
• Invest in business advocacy for WTO negotiations: in more than half the world, business interests are not sufficiently integrated into national trade negotiating positions. This can lead to governments agreeing to trade rules under which, afterwards, their firms may not be able to do business. Instead, informed, timely and targeted business advocacy can help countries conclude beneficial agreements.
• Who are...
• In pictures: strategies to take off with exports.
• Partners in trade policy: in Kenya, ITC teams up with a non-governmental organization to broaden the debate on trade in services.
• Processed wood products: the challenging U.S. market.
• The beauty of resistance: Hidden treasures come to light as Afghans return home.
• Women and e-commerce in Central America: Women-owned enterprises in Central America catering to the global gifts and home-decor industries are becoming export competitive using e-commerce tools.
• Grass-roots NGOs develop trade: non-governmental organizations can bring complementary skills, knowledge and commitment to trade development projects, particularly those helping poor communities.
• Geneva could become the international centre of sustainable finance: The Swiss city is making great strides in becoming a hub for sustainable finance.
• A viable reality: Including refugees economically: International Trade Forum had the opportunity to talk with Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to discuss the economic opportunities for refugees and host communities and the impact that the COVED-19 crisis has had on them.
• Coffee Kids: helping families of poor producers: coffee Kids gives coffee-growing communities a hand up, not a handout.
• Using European funds to leverage private finance for sustainable development: How is the EU enabling small businesses in Africa and the European neighbourhood to flourish, and societies to reap the benefits?
• Fair trade: what does "fair trade" mean? You won't find one single answer. Here we look at the market profile of fair trade--the players, controversies, benefits and drawbacks.
• Real capital and digital footing for the forcibly displaced: Giving refugees the financial and digital means to access work.
• Trade forum's choice.
• Across three continents: a journey from bananas to chips: a Peruvian entrepreneur, far from the capital, turns plaintain bananas, a low-return commodity, into chips, a high-value export. Finding a training partner in management skills proved the key to moving this Peruvian exporter up the value chain.
• Responding to urgent humanitarian and development needs.
• The current work plan of the WTO Informal Working Group on MSMEs: Recognizing trade financing as a decisive factor in achieving economic growth and Sustainable Development Goals.
• Bridging the MSME financing gap for sustainable development: Three strategic approaches to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Fair trade as a business model: don't look at fair trade as a charity--treat it as a business model, argues Paola Ghillani, former head of the Max Havelaar fair trade organization in Switzerland.
• How trade concessions can improve refugee self-reliance.
• Linking business communities to export markets: Romania's national strategy connects regions, towns and villages. The aim is to build a broader base of exporters and a new range of exports that meet demands in new markets, especially in the European Union.
• US importers eye 2005 nervously: US importers and retailers of textile and apparel are now focused on the shift in market dynamics post-2004. Speculation is mounting as it looks ever more likely that quotas will end for WTO members.
• Anticipating the humanitarian crisis with innovative financial means: Impact investing as a response to long-term displacement.
• Bringing global finance to small businesses: Facilitating SMEs in West Africa through impact investment funds.
• CSR: a stepping stone in regional markets: a Botswana entrepreneur, inspired to make his continent a safer and cleaner place, is using his South-South connections to expand his waste sanitation business.
• NGOs in trade development: international players.
• Changing mindsets with ACCESS! to markets: targeted programmes help women exporters get the assistance they need.
• Angel investing is on the rise in Africa: Turning big dreams into reality through entrepreneurial finance.
• If you can't sell it, don't make it: Oman used ITC's tools for an integrated solution to diversify exports in its oil-fuelled economy.
• Incubating the future of business in Iraq: Displaced entrepreneurs rebuild their lives thanks to tailored access opportunities.
• Tropical nuts: strong demand in the United Kingdom.
• Cambodia's silk road to poverty reduction: wiped out by the Khmer Rouge, the ancient Cambodian tradition of women weaving and wearing silk is enjoying a renaissance.
• The new ITC: responding to what countries and clients want.
• Creating the right business environment for SMEs: Bringing SMEs and the banking system closer to each other by fine-tuning rules and approaches.
• Entrepreneurs on the move: Mohamed Abdullahi arrived in the Dadaab refugee camp in Garissa County, Kenya in late 2010. Having always wanted to return to his hometown of Mogadishu in Somalia, he was able to do so in late 2019 to start pursuing various business interests. He told the International Trade Forum about his experience as an entrepreneur.
• ITC supports 2009 International Colloquium of Women Leaders in Liberia.
• Jamaican Prime Minister at ITC.
• New directions for: African financial services: debates thrive between African and developed nations over a "Marshall Plan" for Africa, debt cancellation and support for small firms. To ensure competitiveness, Africa's own financial institutions must point the way in supporting trade and investment.
• Swaziland's Prime Minister visits ITC.
• Encouraging African Business at the World Economic Forum: business matchmaking and development advocacy go hand-in-hand for ITC at the latest gathering in Cape Town.
• ITC's World Export Development Forum.
• Aid for trade: Montreux meeting brings business voice to aid for trade assessments: from trade policy to project design, listening to the voice of business is the key to making sure that Aid for Trade really boosts exports.
• Bringing online jobs to Gaza's youth.
• Business & professional services fast-growing markets: business and professionals services form more than a third of global service exports--and their share continues to grow.
• Trade development in action.
• Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress: ITC launches a project to reduce poverty in Pakistan by strengthening small-scale agribusinesses.
• South African firms look to expand their share of UN procurement: the latest annual meeting of UN buyers allowed South African firms to make new business contacts, building on an ITC partnership with South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry.
• European buyers meet organic farmers in Uganda: European importers of organic products meet Ugandan exporters and farmers face to face on ITC's Buyers' Tour.
• ITC is poised for new progress: after 12 years at the helm of ITC, J. Denis Belisle leaves a thriving trade development organization with confidence in its future.
• Simple measures, better lives: Building a new market provides economic opportunities for women and youth in the host community of Kigoma, Tanzania.
• Weaving into fairness: How training in traditional weaving saves lives and, as a plus, the environment.
• World Cup 2010: ITC supports Tourism Development kick-off.
• From negotiations to export capacity: a report on ITC's annual meeting.
• Isatou Jobe's secret ingredient for success: A restauranteur's success shows young people can 'tekki fii'--or 'make it here'--in the Gambia.
• New Director of Programme Support.
• Path for growth confirmed at ITC annual meeting: with an increase in delivery of 21%, 2002 was a very good year for ITC. Its achievements underline ITC's relevance to trade development and confirm a path for growth in providing trade-related technical assistance.
• Tahiti limes from Colombia to the world: Frutas Verdes del Patia focuses on organic, setting an example for other farmer organizations in the country's most conflict-ridden region.
• Trade to work for peace in Peru and Ecuador.
• Viet Nam integrates trade defence into its policy: for successful trade defence, business and government need a shared system and understanding. ITC worked with the newest WTO member to set up the foundations.
• African TPOs meet.
• ITC Trade Information Workshops in 2006.
• Mexico's new trade and investment agency.
• NEW ITC PUBLICATIONS: Resources on trade and export development for exporters, trade support institutions and policymakers For free download please visit www.intracen.org/publications.
• New trade and investment agency in Sierra Leone.
• A cup of tea from Sri Lanka: Trade capacity building and technical assistance focused on training, skills development improves SME export competitiveness in Sri Lanka.
• Get Connected: E-applications in the textile and clothing sector.
• ITC Incorporated Joint Venture Model Agreements.
• Meet our readers: meet a long-standing partner at the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• Source-it: Global material sourcing for the clothing industry.
• World Markets in the Spice Trade, 2000-2004.
• ITC hosts Competitiveness Tools Fair at headquarters.
• World Tariff Profiles 2006: a joint publication of WTO, UNCTAD and ITC.
• Afro-Arab trade fair uses Internet cafe.
• Bangladesh launches national version of Export Quality Management book.
• Asian automotives SMEs meet in Singapore.
• Taking farmers back to school: Come with us to Tanzania and see how cinnamon growers are benefitting from an engaging training programme.
• New books and technical papers.
• HappyCulture, an innovative approach to beekeeping: A new programme on modern beekeeping techniques to engage Guinean youth and revive the honey sector.
• NEW ITC PUBLICATIONS: Resources on trade and export development for exporters, trade support institutions and policymakers.