Project Management Unit for the Trade.Com Facility for ACP Countries

The rationale for this project is that, by providing specialised advisory, technical and administrative support to the Regional Authorising Officer (RAO) the capacity and skills of ACP countries and regional organisations to design and implement their own trade strategies and to effectively participate in international trade negotiations will be significantly enhanced

The impact of the project support is as a result of the  combination of the advisory support provided in four, inter-related, action areas:

Building the analytical and institutional capacity to conduct effective trade policy analysis and formulation by:

• Strengthening national and regional providers of trade-related research and training
• Supporting major stakeholders to participate in systematised public-private sector dialogue for trade policy formulation
• Enhancing trade-related research, training and consultancy capacities and skills at local and regional level
• Undertaking diagnostic trade studies for policy-makers to assist them in the formulation of comprehensive trade policies in complementarity with the WTO trade policy review mechanism.

Strengthening of the institutional capacity and skills for the implementation of trade policies and international trade agreements by:

• Identifying institutional trade support services critical for the successful implementation of trade policies, trade development activities and international agreements
• Piloting of schemes for institutional capacity building in trade support services, providing support to the adaptation of trade-related laws, regulations, procedures and guidelines in conformity with WTO rules, regional integration objectives and best international practices
• Disseminating international practices on institutional
• Capacity-building and lessons learned in implementation

Reinforcing capacities of national and regional institutions to design and implement trade strategies and long-term capacity building programmes.

Facilitating the implementation of the Hubs and Spokes Network Programme component by:

• Directly targeting the international trade negotiators and providing them with advisory services and training to enable them to define their trade negotiation agendas in a co-ordinated way, consistent with national and regional long-term interests
• Mainstreaming of trade policies in development strategies and negotiation agendas

Areas of expertise covered by the project assistance provided are: international trade policy and trade regulation, trade facilitation, tariff issues, trade negotiation, WTO issues, regional integration programmes, trade mainstreaming in development plans, trade-related training, SPS and TBT, TRIPS and general trade-related institutional capacity-building.