WT/GC/W/887  
G/TFA/W/92  
WT/COMTD/W/281  
 
5 July 2023  
(23-4567) Page: 1/3 
General Council  
Committee on Trade Facilitation  
Committee on Trade and Development  Original: English  
 
 
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN BUILDING RESILIENCE:  
TRADE FACILITATION  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE AFRICA N GROUP (ANGOLA; BENIN; BOTSWANA; BURKINA FASO; 
BURUNDI; CABO VERDE; CAMEROON; CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC; CHAD; CONGO;  
CÔTE D'IVOIRE; DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO; DJIBOUTI; EGYPT; ESWATINI; GABON;  
THE GAMBIA; GHANA; GUINEA; GUINEA -BISSAU; KENYA; LESOTHO; LI BERIA; MADAGASCAR; 
MALAWI; MALI; MAURITANIA; MAURITIUS; MOROCCO; MOZAMBIQUE; NAMIBIA; NIGER; 
NIGERIA; RWANDA; SENEGAL; SEYCHELLES; SIERRA LEONE; SOUTH AFRICA; TANZANIA; TOGO; 
TUNISIA; UGANDA; ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE)  
The following communication, dated 3 July 2 023, is being circulated at the request of the 
Africa n Group.  
 
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1  CONTEXT  
1.1.  This communication should be read in conjunction with the document WT/GC/W/883  - 
WT/WGTTT/W/34/Rev.1  - WT/COMTD/W/277  - IP/C/W/700 "The Role of Transfer of Technology i n 
resilience Building: Reinvigorating the discussions in the WTO on trade and transfer of technology", 
as submitted to the  General Council, the Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology, the 
Committee on Trade and Development and the Council for Tr ade-Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property Rights  and document WT/GC/W/868 "Policy space for industrial development - a case for 
rebalancing trade rules to promote industrialisation and to address emerging challenges such as 
climate change, concentration  of production and digital industrialisation". These latter two 
submissions set out the design and parameters for discussions on Agreement -specific issues as it 
pertains to industrial development in general, including the role, towards that that end, of tr ansfer 
of technology and trade.  
1.2.  The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) requires WTO Members to publish information on 
import, export and transit procedures on the Internet (Article 1.2). The commitments also refer to 
electronic payment systems for fees/ch arges (Article 7.2) and the deployment of a National Single 
Window (Article 10.4). Countries are expected to use ICTs to the "extent possible" to implement 
these measures and are guided by UN recommendations and standards.  
1.3.  The global trading system has alw ays been shaped by technological progress. Not only is 
technology a determinant of trade costs such as transport and logistics costs, border -crossing costs, 
information and transaction costs, and cross -border payment costs, but it also defines products tha t 
can be traded across borders and influences comparative advantage models .1 
1.4.  The integration of digital technologies into trade facilitation (TF) reform is not only an obligation 
for most countries, it is a necessity. Indeed, the conditions for a profitab le and rapid movement of 
goods can have as much to do with the data of a product as with a product itself. This is increasingly 
 
1 World Trade Report 2018: The Future of World Trade, WTO.  
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  the case, as the transition to paperless commerce relies on the implementation and compliance of 
policies through digital means.   
1.5.  At the same time, e -commerce, just -in-time delivery, global value chains and smart shipping 
have been on the rise. Cross -border business -to-business, business -to-consumer and even 
consumer -to-consumer e -commerce, for instance, is expected to become globall y ubiquitous, 
bringing along with it challenges for countries, especially developing and least developed countries.  
1.6.  The results of the 2019 United Nations (UN) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade 
Facilitation indicate a lag in the adoption of i nformation and communication technology (ICT) 
solutions by countries. Looking at the survey results, measures related to paperless cross -border 
trade have progressed to about half the implementation rate compared to transparency measures, 
on average. Conve rsely, institutional cooperation measures have progressed in most countries and 
National Trade Facilitation Committees (NTFCs) are starting to be considered as permanent elements 
after the implementation of the TFA. With average progress of 63% for paperle ss measures 
and 38.6% for paperless cross -border trade measures, global trade has not yet been radically 
transformed by technology policies .2  
1.7.  For many developing and least developed countries, IT still remains a distant but desirable 
goal, and there are many and varied reasons behind this – lack of IT infrastructure, financing, to 
mention a few. In addition, there appears to be some confusion regarding IT in TF. The common 
perception is that adopting automation for trade transactions automatically leads t o speedier 
movement of goods and people. This is a mechanistic way of looking at IT and is misplaced because 
the installation of computers and software, are only the instruments for TF and there is no immediacy 
to improvements in efficiency and reduction i n transactions costs. The importance of IT 's context 
can therefore not be overlooked and may even be critical to its successful application to a country 's 
trading system. Without understanding and appreciating the larger set of components to an 
effective  IT in TF, its impact may be more limited and countries unable to capture the optimal 
benefits relative to costs.  
2  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION WITH A VIEW TO MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 
ADOPTION AT MC13  
2.1.  This context provides the basis for discussions that can tak e place to review WTO rules on 
technology transfer and trade facilitation.   
2.2.  Discussions may focus on the following questions:  
a. The effect of digital technologies on the composition of trade in developing and least -
developed countries.  
b. What types of industr ies and product categories are highly sensitive to digital 
technologies?  
c. How could digital technologies influence the complexity and length of global value chains 
and reduce the costs of coordinating geographically dispersed tasks?  
d. What are the potential impacts for developing and least -developed countries on creating 
value and capturing an expanding digital economy?  
e. The role of digital technologies in providing incentives to (re)locate production in 
developing and least developed countries?  
f. How could dig ital technologies change models of comparative advantage by increasing 
the importance of factors such as the quality of digital infrastructure and market size?  
 
2 https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/07/29/why -trade-facilitation -reform -requires -
mainstreaming -digital -techno logies/  
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  g. How can digital technology affect the institutional and regulatory determinants of 
comparative a dvantage, including intellectual property protection, particularly in 
developing and least developed countries?  
h. The implications of digital technologies for the ability of developing and least -developed 
countries to implement their trade facilitation comm itments and obligations.  
3  THE WAY FORWARD  
3.1.  It is proposed that the resumption of work on trade and transfer of technology begin as soon 
as possible in the Committee on Trade Facilitation.  
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