The new funding will support 47 LDCs across Africa, Asia and the Pacific and four countries which have recently graduated from LDC status. These are: Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives and Samoa. The objective is to help them better leverage trade as an engine for economic growth and poverty reduction. From its impact on tourism to disruptions in global value chains, the pandemic has heavily affected LDCs, mainly because of their limited resilience to external shocks. The EIF is working with partners to mobilize additional resources to help affected countries mitigate the impact of the crisis.

EUR 800,000 will be given by Germany, in addition to the EUR 1.3 million pledged last year. Hans-Peter Jugel, the German Ambassador to the Office of the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, said: “We are pleased to announce this support to the EIF, having been convinced of the programme’s unique abilities to assist LDCs, from its work directly with ministries of trade to its support to targeted sectors like agriculture and e-commerce.”

Estonia's 2020 contribution to the EIF will amount to EUR 15,000. Estonia's Ambassador to the WTO, Katrin Saarsalu-Layachi, said: “The EIF has done an excellent job over the years in providing assistance to LDCs to enhance their trading capacity. With our continued support to EIF we hope that LDCs will be better equipped to deal with the socio-economic challenges caused by the pandemic and that trade, including e-commerce, can play an essential part in recovery. In addition to supporting economic recovery, trade helps alleviate human suffering and deprivation in everyday life.”

The EIF's Executive Director, Ratnakar Adhikari, said: “I would like to thank the governments of Germany and Estonia for their continued commitment to the EIF. As 2020 has been such a traumatic year for the LDCs, this additional support is both timely and welcome.”

The EIF is the only multilateral partnership dedicated exclusively to helping LDCs use trade as an engine for growth, sustainable development and poverty reduction. It is a unique global partnership between LDCs, donors and partner agencies, including the WTO, which work together to build trade capacity in LDCs.

Germany and Estonia have been contributing to the EIF for more than ten years.

More information on the EIF is available here.