Under the ITC Trade Facilitation programme for 2021, ITC will i) operationalize a Trade Information Desk at Dan-Issa border (Niger/ Nigeria) and provide assistance to small-scale traders in complying with border formalities; ii) Enhance access to information on trade formalities in Burkina Faso through the official launch and promotion of a National Trade Facilitation Portal; iii) Pilot the newly introduced advance ruling mechanism in Niger to ensure its effectiveness; iv) develop and share recommendations towards the simplification of cross-border formalities with NTFCs in beneficiary countries; v) Develop, publish and disseminate a publication on integrated risk management; vi) develop a NTFC monitoring tool blueprint; and vii) organize a donors’ conference in selected West African beneficiary countries to present the project proposals developed by NTFC to request technical assistance for the implementation of category C measures

Based on a country prioritisation assessment carried out by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), ITC is providing technical assistance, funded by Denmark, to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Vietnam to support them in the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, with a particular focus on public/private sector TFA capacity-building and establishment/enhancement of Trade Facilitation Portals.

To assist the Administrations of the Region for better implementation on PCA in accordance with the WCO PCA Guidelines and case studies to enhance participants’ technical knowledge in this respect.

This TFA scoping mission resulted in the WCO and Burkina Faso agreeing to partner up in the areas of TRS , Advanced Ruling Mechanisms and Project Management under the WCO-WACAM Project. Other areas for support were also identified, including PCA.