Trade - Technical Assistance

Our key objective in this area is to improve the export competitiveness of member countries by enhancing their ability to formulate, manage and implement trade policies and strategies.

Many Commonwealth countries lack strategic plans to maximise opportunities in the changing global marketplace. We provide countries with financial and technical assistance to develop national export strategies.

We have worked in this area with:

• Belize, Dominica, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean;

• Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda and Tanzania in Africa; and

• Fiji Islands, Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific.

Key outcomes of these projects include strengthened public-private sector partnerships and incorporation of strategy recommendations in a country’s national development plans.

While developing countries have natural and other resources that are crucial tourism assets, strategies and plans are lacking to secure their comparative advantage. We provide technical support to improve countries’ competitiveness and positioning on the global tourism market.

For example, technical assistance was provided to the government of Solomon Islands to review its 15-year-old tourism development plan and formulate a new sector strategy. In the process, a niche market in ecotourism was identified. Actions recommended in the strategy covered marketing, product development, environmental sustainability and institutional requirements. The strategy also made recommendations on improving the enabling environment for tourism development. 

Countries currently under-exploit the vast and growing market in professional services, which provides an ideal opportunity for them to diversify their economic base. We assist countries to develop strategies that will enable them to effectively expand and promote their trade in professional services.

We successfully completed professional services projects in:

• Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius);

• Asia (Malaysia, Sri Lanka);

• the Caribbean (Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago); and

• Europe (Cyprus, Malta).

These countries have already realised some positive benefits in the export of their professional service, reflected in increased investments in that sector and the level of services trade, strengthening of partnerships, and integration of services into their medium-term development strategies. 

Countries are losing out on the significant gains to be made from removing impediments to trade, which include wasteful delays in customs. We help countries reduce transaction costs and streamline customs procedures to facilitate trade and promote export competitiveness.

To date:

• 45 countries have received assistance to develop more effective customs valuations procedures,

• 115 customs officers have been trained in advanced customs valuation techniques,

• eight member states - Barbados, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, St Lucia, Sri Lanka and Uganda - have been assisted to diagnose trade bottlenecks, and

• four countries have been assisted to develop customs valuation and trade facilitation strategies.