Timor-Leste

<p>The SCOPE-Trade project aims at addressing three important trade-related pillars which drive economic connectivity in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and between ASEAN and the European Union (EU) i.e., trade policy environment, digital connectivity for businesses with a focus on micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), sustainable and resilient value chains. The project will be implemented with the ASEAN Secretariat as well as ASEAN Sectoral Bodies and Working Groups. It is part of and addresses the trade and economic priorities of the EU-ASEAN Sustainable Connectivity Package (acronym SCOPE), which seeks to improve sustainable connectivity between the EU and ASEAN, and within ASEAN.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Timor-Leste: Support to Regional Integration and Trade project will support Timor-Leste&rsquo;s development plans to modernize its economy and trade integration supporting the negotiations of the ASEAN Membership (by focusing on the AEC), the WTO accession, and the EU-Pacific EPA negotiations, ensuring the coherence across the three parallel negotiations as well as the smooth implementation of the commitments after these trade agreement negotiations are completed.</p>

<p>The ITC&rsquo;s Supporting Trade Negotiations and Policy Reform Programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of public and private sector stakeholders to contribute to trade negotiations and policy/regulatory formulation on emerging matters relating to facilitating investment, green trade, e-commerce/digitalization, inclusive trade, sustainable and resilient value chains, industrialization plans, strengthened multilateral and regional integration, and other trade and investment policy issues identified as relevant for a conducive business environment.</p><p>Through this project, ITC will, in relation to the topics mentioned above, seek to (a) generate awareness/understanding of stakeholders through information-sharing/awareness-raising engagements; (b) capacitate stakeholders to engage in informed and inclusive trade and investment policy and regulatory reforms; and (c) support domestic trade and investment policy reforms through technical studies/analyses and related advisory support to facilitate implementation of reforms, including undertaking legislative/regulatory reforms.</p><p>In designing and implementing such support, ITC builds upon the multilateral and regional/bilateral trading frameworks in place to ensure there is a coherent and coordinated approach to domestic trade and investment policy reforms and that measures implemented are aligned with trade commitments undertaken and/or international best practices in this regard.</p><p>The activities implemented under this project will be based on requests received from countries/institutions.<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a href="#_msocom_1" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_1"></a><a href="#_msocom_2" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_2"></a><!--[endif]--></p><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><!--[endif]--><a href="#_msoanchor_1"></a>