The Trade Facilitation Support Program (TFSP) was launched in June 2014 to support countries to improve their cross-border trade environments and align their trade practices with the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA).
TFSP’s funding assists countries—particularly developing countries—achieve the full and effective implementation of the WTO TFA measures and related trade facilitation reforms. This includes:
In recent years, TFSP has also expanded into cross-cutting topics, such as gender, digitalization, public health, food security, climate/the environment, and emergency response.
The TFSP currently partners with 58 countries worldwide, with the largest share of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Support is also provided to fragile and conflict-affected states.
The program has a proven track record of helping countries to significantly improve their alignment with the WTO TFA. The TFA Tracking Tool helps countries to monitor and report on progress.
Recognizing the important roles of both the public and private sectors in trade facilitation, the World Bank Group implements the TFSP by drawing on the unique expertise of both the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The program is funded by nine donor partners: Australia, Canada, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The World Bank Group works very closely with the WTO, and other partners and donors in supporting developing countries in improving border processes and procedures.
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