Trade facilitation and SMEs

SMEs suffer from disproportionate high costs to trade. Read about the particular trade challenges of SMEs and how they stand to benefit from trade facilitation.

Implementation of the WTO Trade Faciliation Agreement for SMEs

Trade facilitation is expected to bring net welfare gains to the international economy by reducing costs and time of cross-border trade. Multinational firms and enterprises connected to global value chains and regional production networks are assumed to benefit most from trade facilitation gains (*). This raises the question of how (M)SMEs can benefit from trade facilitation.

SMEs are a key driver for economic development in terms of employment and economic growth. At the same time, they are under-represented in international trade and are disproportionately affected by regulatory burdens and costs. Hence trade facilitation reforms may open up further opportunities to connect to international trade for SME. However, specific measures may be necessary to ensure that SME can adjust to the changes and can reap the benefits of TF reforms.

This itinerary presents the practical aspects of implementing trade facilitation measures including those of the WTO TFA, in view of SMEs. Governments designing trade facilitation reforms may include SME specific measures that allow them to overcome their constraints and address their specific needs of SME

The itinerary is to raise awareness of policy makers on how to implement the WTO TFA with SMEs in mind, by understanding their concerns and needs and finding solutions for them.

(*) OECD work on GVCs/TiVA has highlighted the fact that the more frequently products cross borders in the course of their manufacture, the more significant trade facilitation policies become. (OECD 2015, TAD/TC/WP(2014) 25/FINAL, page 6)

The WTO TFA itinerary has been developed with support of the International Trade Centre