MOBILIZATION OF ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF

1  BACKGROUND

1.1.  The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) recognizes that building the capacity of developing and least developed Members is crucial to the implementation of the Agreement. For the first time in a WTO Agreement, assistance and capacity building is linked to the architecture of the Agreement and engages recipient and donor Members. This implementation partnership forged by the TFA "presents a new challenge to both donors committed to providing the technical assistance and the developing countries receiving the assistance".^[1]

1.2.  The Committee on Trade Facilitation (CTF) is tasked with reviewing the progress in the provision of assistance and capacity building (Article 21.4 of the TFA). The Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF) supports the CTF with this task by collecting and sharing information on TACB mobilization and challenges.

1.3.  In 2024, TFAF looked at information reported by donor Members and multilateral agencies to understand the mechanisms through which technical assistance and capacity building (TACB) is provided to Members. Key findings in 2024 were that TACB interventions varied between developing and LDC Members and across thematic areas of the TFA. TFAF noted that "leaving Members behind", and "leaving TFA Articles behind" are a threat to the full implementation of the TFA and the trust placed into the newly designed Special and Differential treatment mechanism of the TFA.