ITC issues Annual Report on work in 2016

An estimated $685 million worth of international trade and investment deals catalysed. Over 6500 businesses – half of them owned and operated by women – enabled to become more competitive or connect to international buyers. A flagship research report providing cutting-edge analysis on how to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome market access challenges arising from standards and regulations. Trade intelligence tools that helped businesses and policymakers discover new export products and markets. A call to action that inspired pledges to connect 600,000 women entrepreneurs to international markets by 2020.

These and other highlights of the International Trade Centre’s work in 2016 are covered in ITC’s new annual report, which was released this week. The report will serve as the basis for discussions at the session of ITC’s Joint Advisory Group (JAG), scheduled for 10 July. At the yearly meeting, government delegates will review ITC activities and make recommendations for the joint agency’s future work programme to its parent institutions, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.

The report opens by setting out the broad economic and strategic context in which ITC operated in 2016. With global commerce still sluggish, and political clouds hanging over new trade-opening initiatives, helping SMEs make the most of existing levels of market access – not least by enabling them to meet non-tariff measures – was and is critical for translating trade into inclusive growth and development.

Following this introduction, the report goes on to describe key achievements from each of the fifteen programmes into which ITC’s interventions are organized. For each of the six main focus areas of ITC's work -- providing trade and market intelligence; building a conducive business environment; strengthening trade and investment support institutions; connecting to value chains; promoting inclusive and green trade; and supporting regional economic integration and South-South links -- the report includes two case studies to illustrate the impact ITC projects are having on the ground from Haiti to Tunisia to Myanmar. Three additional ‘ITC innovates’ stories highlight new initiatives, such as one to create income opportunities for refugees through trade, and another to promote value addition in the Caribbean coconut sector.

A section on corporate results provides details on financial information, human resources developments, and 2016 reforms to ITC’s organizational structure, while briefly describing ITC’s major events, communications outreach, and partnerships with public and private sector organizations. It also covers lessons learned from ITC’s evaluation work, including one impact evaluation that demonstrated enduring increases in beneficiary households’ incomes, four years after the project in question had ended.

In 2016, ITC's 'extra-budgetary' expenditures – funded by voluntary project-related contributions that are distinct from the annual contributions from the WTO and the UN – totalled $48 million. ITC concentrated work on the places and people that needed it most: 85% of country-specific assistance went to least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing states, fragile states, and sub-Saharan Africa; and over half of the enterprises supported by ITC were owned and operated by women. ITC market intelligence, business-to-business connections, and support to trade and investment institutions leveraged these contributions into an estimated $685 million in trade and investment value – about $14 of exports and investments for each dollar in extra-budgetary funding. Demand for ITC services remains strong, with a project pipeline totalling over $200 million.

In her foreword to the report, ITC Executive Director Arancha González wrote that ongoing tensions over the open global economy meant that “inclusive growth, and making trade work for the 99%, is more important than ever.”

“ITC remains committed to bringing countries and communities from the margins to the mainstream of the world economy,” she added. “We hope that within these pages you will recognize the success that we have achieved on the ground.”

To see ITC’s Annual Report 2016, click here.