Trade in services

Services constitute the largest sector in the global economy, accounting for 70% of global GDP, 60% of global employment and 46% of global exports measured in value-added terms. It is difficult to imagine businesses today operating without efficient services, such as telecom, internet, finance, accounting, legal services and transportation and logistics. 

As services are becoming increasingly “tradable” thanks to advancement in the technology, international services trade has become the new frontier for expanding and diversifying exports, providing significant opportunities for developing and least developed countries (LDCs) . WTO statistics show that the share of developing economy services export increased from 24% in 2005 to 32% in 2015, and the share of LDCs in global services export increased from 0.4% in 2005 to 0.8% in 2015. Increased services export from the LDCs is an important contributor of meeting the sustainable development goals of doubling the export from LDCs by 2020. 

Recognizing the important role of services trade in generating income, employment and economic opportunities, ITC is committed to mainstream services in all aspects of its work. Our projects in services trade help to build supply capacity and connect services SMEs to the international market. Policymakers, trade and investment support institutions (TISIs) and SMEs can benefit from a wide range of products and services, including market intelligence, research and policy analysis, awareness-raising activities, trainings and workshops, public-private dialogues, business match-making, among others. Key areas of ITC activities are tourism, IT & ITES and e-commerce, which represent great potentials for developing countries and LDCs to expand services export and attract foreign investment.