What Other Organizations and Initiatives Exist for MSME Trade Support?
What other organizations exist for MSME trade support?
The Asian Trade Centre
The Asian Trade Centre (ATC) is a regional trade center providing trade policy insight, corporate advisory support, and capacity building. One of their areas of focus includes micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (see here for related ATC publications). The ATC also hosts many MSME-related trainings and events that are listed here.
The International Chamber of Commerce
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is “the world business organization,” representing over 45 million companies in over 100 countries worldwide. The ICC works to improve international business, especially for MSMEs, in several areas:
- Customs and Trade Facilitation can significantly improve MSME trade participation. The ICC has issued a number of policy documents on this subject.
- E-commerce is an important area that the ICC has focused on in terms of promoting MSME economic participation. Given its importance, the ICC has issued related papers for policymakers and other relevant information.
- Incoterms are published by the ICC as a set of common terms, rules, and guidelines for international trade. Incoterms have universal meaning for users and can avoid contractual misunderstandings.
- Other ICC policymaker guides and documents related to MSMEs can be found through the ICC document search, including the ICC’s Call to Action to Save Our SMEs as part of its COVID-19 response.
The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation
The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation is a public-private partnership that looks to support implementation of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in developing and least developed countries. The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation gathers many policymaker MSME-specific TFA publications as part of their resources. They also offer the TFA Hub to help governments implement the TFA, bringing important benefits for MSMEs. For a full list of country projects, visit this webpage.
The Global Trade Professionals Alliance
The Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) supports trade policy, including that which relates to MSMEs, through research projects and policy papers. From sustainable supply chains to inclusive trade, GTPA has many initiatives that could be relevant for policymakers and MSMEs.
The SME Finance Forum
The SME Finance Forum looks to help MSMEs access finance. The SME Finance Forum has an extensive library of finance and MSME-related publications accessible here. They also link to many important SME finance data sites. Finally, they also facilitate many trainings and e-learning courses on topics related to MSME access to finance.
Standards and Trade Development Facility
The Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) is addresses persistent and emerging Sanitary and Phytosanitary challenges through a global network. The STDF provides funding for related projects and works to bring public and private stakeholders together in developing economies to improve food safety and animal and plant health.
The World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization that brings together public and private sector actors as they deal with current trends and developments. The WEF produces a variety of research and reports on topics from diversity to digitalization, many of which touch on the topic of MSMEs. WEF reports and white papers are accessible here.
The World SME Forum
The World SME Forum was launched in 2015 during Turkey’s Chairmanship of the G20 and looks to represent SMEs worldwide so they can improve their business competitiveness. The World SME Forum has three main tracks for its MSME-related support work, namely advocacy and research, advisory services, and developing an SME Market, a one stop shop for SMEs to access finance, markets, training and other tools.
