East African Exporters Look Forward to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
Awareness about customs controls and improved coordination between border agencies can help manage the costs of doing business. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most affected and often miss the opportunities to access new markets. The International Trade Centre partnered with the EAC and the East African Business Council to organise two-day workshops on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organisation. In November 2020, ITC, under MARKUP, organised the workshops in Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. The next workshop will be organised in Burundi from 13-14 April 2021.
Within the framework of MARKUP, ITC trained around 70 local businesses. The workshop equipped private sector representatives to successfully take advantage of the TFA and contribute to the design, implementation and monitoring of trade facilitation reforms to resolve cross-border trade inefficiencies.