G/TFA /TFAF /5 
 
14 September  2023 
(23-6113) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Trade Facilitation  Original: English  
 
 
REPORT BY THE TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT FACILITY TO THE  
COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION  
3-5 October  2023 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  This document provides information on the work of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement 
Facility (TFAF) since the last report to the WTO Committee on Trade Facilitation (CTF) at the meeting 
held on 15-16 June  2023. This reporting period  covers 17 June to 31 August 2023. During this period  
the focus of the TFAF's work was the launch  of a project preparation grant (PPG) project with 
Madagascar  and organizing the participation of  50 capital -based officials in the 3-5 October CTF 
meeting . To benefit from the presence of these TF experts and to increase value -for-money, TFAF 
is also organising  additional workshop sessions on 2 and 6 October including a donor roundtable and 
a session on digitalisation, both activities that were included in t he 2023 workplan. T he TFAF team 
is also  working with a representative group of Members of the CTF (Workplan Committee) to prepare 
the 202 4 workplan.    
1.2.  TFAF is pleased to announce that its new Head is Ms Birgit Viohl, replacing Ms Sheri Rosenow 
upon her ret irement.  Ms Viohl has more than 15 years of experience of advising governments on 
trade facilitation reforms and trade facilitation technical assistance projects.   
2  GRANT PROGRAM  
Stage of the 
application  Outcomes  No. of TFA 
Articles  Progressed to 
next stage of 
TFAF Grant 
process   
1 Expression of interest 
(EOI)  1 (EOI)  matched.  4 - 
 A donor 
conference was 
proposed for the 
EAC region 
which would 
incorporate 
these needs  
1 Project proposal grant 
(PPG) project launched  1 PPG was launched on 
02 August and will run 
until 31 December 
2023 29 -  
 
2.1.  In this reporting period follow up on one Expression of Interest (EOI) led to  a development 
partner proposing a donor conference for the EAC region which would incorporate an agenda point 
specifically to i dentify implementation assistance for the  four of the measures included  in this EoI. 
The applicant Member agreed to this approach, on the understanding that their application could be 
continued if no assistance is identified.   
2.2.  The successful matches mean t hat to date, 11 of the 2 5 expressions of interest received have 
been successfully matched with development partners that have proposed implementation support 
for 110 provisions of the TFA.  G/TFA/ TFAF/5 
 
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  2.3.  One project proposal grant (PPG) project has been launched  with Madagascar  covering  
29 provisions of the TFA. A consultant has been contracted  to carry out the work from August until 
the end of December 2023 . 
2.4.  To date, seven of eight PPG reports have led to matches with development partners proposing 
implementation suppor t covering 40 provisions of the TFA.  
2.5.  Information on successfully matched expressions of interest and approved grants can be found 
at: https://www.tfafacility.org/assistance -grants/g rants-tracker . 
2.6.  TFAF maintains a list of potential consultants that can be contracted to conduct the PPGs.  
3  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
Activity and date  Desired outcome  No. of participants  
Transit workshop  
Geneva  
13-14 June  Enhance the operation of the national trade 
facilitation committee  
 28 
UNOHRLLS regional activity in 
Eurasia 24 -25 August  Enhance the operation of the national trade 
facilitation committee  
Find assistance for implementation of  the 
provisions of the TFA  100+  
 
3.1.  Delivering on a proposed activity in its 2023 workplan, TFAF supported the attendance of 
28 transit experts from L and Locked Developing Countries (LLDC)  and transit Members to the 
Meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilitation (CTF), 15 -16 June 2023 and its dedicated session on 
transit. The workshop participants completed a survey before attending that identified specific transit 
challenges and discussions in Geneva focused on possi ble solutions and an overview of support 
programmes for LLDCs from regional and international organizations. The outcomes of the workshop 
were presented in the dedicated session of the CTF by participants from Eswatini, Gabon, Pakistan 
and Zimbabwe.  A deta iled report was produced to capture these outputs and will be summarised in 
the TFAF Annual Report 2023.  
3.2.  In cooperation with UNOHRLLS, a meeting was held in Bangkok for European and Central Asian 
LLDC Members and Observers of the WTO , 24-25 August 2013 . The meeting discuss ed and share d 
experiences on progress, challenges, opportunities and best practices in enhancing transit and trade 
facilitation in both LLDCs and their transit neighbours. It review ed progress made on the 
implementation of regional and gl obal frameworks for transit including the TFA. The meeting adopted  
an outcome document with recommendations for the next decade that will form substantive inputs 
into the preparations of the Third United Nations Conference for LLDCs.     
3.1.2   Engagement with Ann ex D and Development partners  
3.3.  TFAF continues to stay in close communication with its partner organi sations to provide 
information that can support partners' role s in TFA implementation, enhance coordination and avoid 
duplication. Cooperation with Annex D p artners continues to play an essential role in the TFAF grant 
program, with partners receiving and engaging with all expressions of interest and at the project 
preparation stage .   
3.4.  A meet ing will be  planned with the Annex D group to introduce them to the n ew Head of TFAF 
and discuss future cooperation.  
4  WEBSITE – WWW.TFAFACILITY.ORG  
4.1.  Resources  and news stories continue to be added.  TFAF would like to remind Members to 
respond to requests to update information posted on the website; in particular contact info rmation 
for the NTFC.  
5  TFAF TRUST FUND  
5.1.  The trust fund currently contains just under  USD 4 million.  Expenditures were made during this 
period for the in -person activities described under point 3 above.  G/TFA /TFAF/5  
 
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  6  MONITORING AND EVALUATION  
Annual Report  
6.1.  The 202 2 annual report was issued by the end of June deadline and is available on the TFAF 
website1. 
Evaluation  
6.2.  The Operational Guidelines require TFAF to commission an independent review within five years 
of entry into force of the TFA. This evaluation , which  was conducted by KPMG Norway  and completed  
at the end of 2022, includes suggestions for the way forward for TFAF.  In 2023 members of the 
TFAF workplan committee reviewed these suggestions and identified ways that TFAF can take them 
into account.   Given the  change in the leadership of TFAF, finali sing the results with the workplan 
committee members was delayed until the new Head of the Facility  has the opportunity to review 
the results and guide  the process . Once this work is finali sed it will be presented t o the Committee 
on Trade Facilitation members.  The cooperation  of Members and partners  in this process is  greatly 
appreciated . 
Workplan  
6.3.  A draft workplan for 2023 was prepared in cooperation with the Workplan Committee that is 
made up of interested Members , as required u nder the new Framework .  
6.4.  This Workplan Committee consists of 12 volunteers from Botswana, Canada, China, Ecuador, 
the European Union, Mozambique (on behalf of the LDC Group) , the OECS Secretariat,  Togo, Peru,  
the United States, and Zimbabwe. The committee met in early September  to develop  the draft 
workplan, with a focus on identifying thematic priorities and proposed activities for the TFAF to 
deliver in 2024.  
6.5.  This draft will be circulated prior to the Dedicated Session for Members' comments (under 
[airgram point 4] for  the Dedicated Session on October 5, 2023). Upon receipt of comments TFAF 
will make necessary modifications and will consult the Workplan Committee before issuing the final 
version  by the end of November de adline as required by the Operational Guidelines.  
6.6.  The WTO Secretariat greatly appreciates the  participation  of the workplan committee  and their 
excellent suggestions for the way forward.  
6.1.2   Upcoming events  
The upcoming events have either been requested through an activity request and posted on the 
activity tracker or were included  in the 2023 workplan . 
 
Djibouti  
 
A needs assessment/notification workshop for Djibouti  is scheduled to take place in October , to 
assist Djibouti's national trade facilitation committee to determine its TFA implementation needs and 
deadlines  to meet its extended deadline of end  December 2023 . 
 
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1 https://www.tfafacility.org/index.php/annual -report -2022