Overview

The second WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) retreat for least developed countries was held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 14-15 June 2019. This event, that was attended by 28 Geneva-based delegates from 26 countries, was organized at the request of the LDC Group and was co-organized by the focal point for the LDC Group, the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF) and Summit Alliance International (SAI); and funded by the TFAF, SAI/BKP by DFID/TAF2 and Australia Aid/DFAT.

The opening of the Retreat was conducted by His Excellency Mr. Ahmad Makaila, Ambassador of the Republic of Chad; with following presentations from the WTO Secretariat, WCO, UNCTAD, the World Bank Group, Zambia, Summit Alliance International and Mrs. Mina Aryal from the Mission of Nepal. Participants also actively shared their experiences.

The event focused on the TFA notification requirements and current notification status of LDC Members; as well as on the process to find donors. A workbook was created for this event by the TFAF that provided the current status of TFA notifications for each LDC WTO Member, and the LDC implementation status for reach provision of the TFA. The international organizations also presented the type of support they can provide to assist LDCs in the notification and implementation processes

Successful outcomes

Since its conclusion, ten WTO Members (more than half of those) participating in the workshop have submitted a total of 16 notifications with the WTO Trade Facilitation Committee.