This year, the European Union will donate EUR 400,000 (about CHF 494,000) to the Trade Facilitation National Needs Assessments Trust Fund and EUR 200,000 (about CHF 247,000) to the Trade Facilitation Window I Trust Fund. These donations will finance technical assistance programmes to help developing and least developed countries identify their needs and priorities in the trade facilitation negotiations. Trade facilitation looks at how procedures and controls regulating the movement of goods across national borders can be simplified to reduce costs and burdens. It also aims to make trade flows as efficient as possible.

Another donation of EUR 100,000 (about CHF 124,000) will be allocated to support the effective participation of Least Developed Countries in the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference.  

“The European Union's generosity will help us to fulfil our continuous commitment to making the multilateral trading system as inclusive as possible. Strengthening the participation of developing countries and LDCs in world trade is of crucial importance for the WTO, particularly in these difficult economic times,” declared WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.
Angelos Pangratis, Ambassador of the European Union, stated that “it is a priority for the EU to assist developing and the least developed countries to further integrate into the global economy and reap the full benefits of trade. This contribution to the WTO Trust Funds, which is about helping countries improve and streamline the very transactions of trade, reflects that. This speaks specifically to the EU's commitment to assist the most vulnerable of WTO Members in participating effectively in negotiations as well as it is about supporting them in implementing commitments they are ready to undertake.”