The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which was agreed by WTO members at the Ministerial Conference in Bali in December 2013, is the first multilateral trade agreement concluded since the establishment of the WTO in 1995. The 2015 World Trade Report is the first detailed study of the potential impacts of the TFA based on a full analysis of the final agreement text.
The Report’s findings are consistent with existing studies on the scale of potential benefits from trade facilitation, but it goes further by identifying and examining in detail a range of other benefits from the TFA. These include diversification of exports from developing countries and least-developed countries to include new products and partners, increased involvement of these countries in global value chains, expanded participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in international trade, increased foreign direct investment, greater revenue collection and reduced incidence of corruption.
The Report also looks into the challenges of implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement and examines how a new facility, launched in 2014 by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, will provide support to help developing countries implement the Agreement.
Source: WTO
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