26 Nov 2015

The United Kingdom has donated GBP 500 000 (CHF) 738 182 to the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement to help developing and least developed countries implement the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

According to a press release from the World Trade Organisation, this is part of a broader GBP 180 million commitment the UK has made to support trade facilitation in these countries, through bilateral, regional and multilateral programmes.

The release says the facility became operational in November 2014 when the General Council adopted the Trade Facilitation Agreement Protocol, inserting the new agreement into the WTO legal framework.

It further says the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) will enter into force once two thirds of WTO members have completed their domestic ratification process.

“To date, 51 WTO members, including several developing and least developed countries, have ratified TFA,” says the release.

It states that these include Pakistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hong Kong China, Singapore, the United States, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, China, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, and the European Union ( on behalf of its 28 member states).

The release says since 2002, the UK has donated GBP 8 084 143 (CHF 11 923 845) to WTO trust funds. Ends