INF/MSME/R/3 8 
 
12 May 2023 
(23-3334) Page: 1/4 
  Original: English  
 
INFORMAL WORKING GROUP ON MSME S 
OPEN -ENDED MEETING OF 26 APRIL  2023 
Summary of discussions  
The following communication, dated 11 May 2023, is being circulated at the request of the 
Coordinator of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs.  
 
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The MSME Informal Group (MSME Group) met for its second open -ended meeting of the year on 
26 April 2023. A total of 45 delegations1 attended the hybrid meeting, including seven non-working 
Group members (Angola; Bolivia, Plurinational St ate of; Cambodia; India; Rwanda; South  Africa and 
Thailand).  
 
1  SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS  
1.1.  Barbados' Ambassador, Matthew Wilson, was formally appointed as the new MSME Group 
Coordinator following the call for volunteers during the first meeting of 2023. The outgoing 
Coordinator , Amb assador  José Luís  Cancela (Uruguay ), provided a summary document , 
INF/MSME/R/37, detailing key outputs and decisions by the MSME Group during his tenure 
from 2018.   
1.2.  The Group's meeting opened with an experience sharing session organized by Singapore on 
MSMEs and digitalization policy. The focus was on understanding Dig ital Economy 
Agreements  (DEA), digital trade facilitation, and UNCITRAL's work. Singapore highlighted the 
importance of different tools from e -invoicing to paperless trade, all of which can reduce costs and 
time. Singapore also underscored the continued relevance of UNCITRAL's 1996 Model Law on 
Electronic Commerce (MLEC) and 2017 Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR) to 
advance trade digitalization. In comments to the presentation, the United Kingdom provided a short 
statement on their own ex perience incorporating the MLETR and referenced their communication 
WT/GC/W/870 to the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce titled Trade Digitalisation: Making 
Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks Inclusive, Transparent, and Efficient . Barbados, El Salvador, 
the European Union, Japan, Paraguay and the Russian Federation noted the importance of digital 
trade facilitation for MSMEs and encouraged Group members to continue sharing experience and to 
explore how practices, legislation and s tandards could be harmonized.  
1.3.  The MSME Group also received three presentations from external participants on the current 
G20 presidency 's agenda to support MSMEs, WIPO's 2022 report on intangible asset finance, and 
the ITC's Standards Map and its Trade for  Sustainable Development (T4SD) Programme. For the 
first presentation, t he ITC, as one of the knowledge partners helping to move the G20's MSME 
objectives forward, followed up on their presentation to the MSME Group from 13 March to detail 
 
1 Angola ; Austria; Barbados; Bolivia, Plurinational State of ; Brazil; Cambodia ; Chile; China; Colombia; 
Czech Republic; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; European Union; Finland; France; Germany; Hong Kong, 
China; India; Japan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Korea, Republic of; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Macao, China; 
Malaysia; Netherland s; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Romania; Russian Federation; Rwanda ; Singapore; 
South Africa ; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; Thailand ; Türkiye; United Kingdom; United States of 
America; Uruguay and Viet Nam (non -MSME Group members are in italics ). INF/MSME/R/3 8 
 
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  the 3 -fold agend a of the G20 to 1) link MSMEs to international markets through digital platforms; 
2) improve MSME credit -worthiness and access to finance; and 3) provide access to information 
through platforms, such as Trade4MSMEs, an initiative of the MSME Group. They no ted that the 
Indian G20 Presidency was explorin g the feasibility of a targeted AI query -based system  together 
with Microsoft -India that would tap into existing platforms such as Trade4MSMEs and the Global 
Trade Helpdesk to provide easy -to-access , tailor-made information to users. If the new system 
proved to add value to existing platforms, India through its role as G20 Chair would be willing to 
provide access to the technology.  Barbados, the  European Union, the United Kingdom and the United 
States welcomed G20 work on these issues.  
1.4.  WIPO presented the key findings of its report " Intangible Asset Finance: Moving Intangible 
Asset Finance from the Margins to the Mainstream " which centers around the untapped potential of 
IP as a tool to unlock access to finance f or smaller businesses and the challenges in using this type 
of finance, including valuing intangibles, lack of understanding  of this type of collateral  by lenders, 
and limited support by regulators , to name a few. Barbados, El Salvador, the  European Union,  the 
Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States took the floor to support 
WIPO's work and stressed the importance of raising awareness on this important issue for MSMEs.  
1.5.  Lastly, the ITC presented its work to map voluntary sust ainability standards from around the 
world and to publicize their specifications in an accessible and comparable format to support small 
producers. They suggested possible areas of collaboration with the  MSME  Group, in particular in 
terms of training, awar eness raising, and benchmarking of existing standards. Noting the significant 
challenges that MSMEs faced to meet sustainability standards, Barbados, China and Japan welcomed 
ITC's work to help drive consistency.  
1.6.  Under other business, the United States bro ught the presentation " Who Notices Notifications ," 
which was held on  the margins of the Council on Trade in Goods , to the attention of the MSME Group. 
It was noted that during the event , panelists highlighted the challenge of staying up to date with all 
of the WTO 's notifications, especially for resource constrained MSMEs. It was suggested that enquiry 
points and external institutions, such as trade associations and universities, could help to bridge this 
gap. Other suggestions were that translating WTO not ifications into more languages and involving 
the private sector before notifications are finalized could be useful.  
1.7.  Following the MSME Group's meeting, m ore than 50 people participated in the annual meeting 
with the private sector. Participants stressed th e importance of unifying regulation and standards to 
reduce compliance costs for MSMEs and the need for more training to raise awareness and build 
capacity. Cooperation with the ICC and the ITC was welcomed and further encouraged. It was noted 
that conside ration should be given to developing compendiums of good practices on issues such as 
trade facilitation – an approach that the Group also discussed at their first meeting in 2023.  
2  NEXT STEPS  
2.1.  The next open -ended meeting of the MSME Group is planned for the morning of 28 June, to be 
followed by the annual meeting with the Trade4MSMEs Network of international organizations and 
development banks. Several hybrid events will also be organized on 27 June for MSME Day, including 
the launch of the revamped Trade4MSM Es website; a panel discussion on smallholder farmers and 
international trade; and the award ceremony of the 2023 edition of the Small Business Champion 
whose theme is "Helping smallholder farmers go international".  
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  ANNEX  
PRESENTATION SUMMAR IES 
1  EXPERIENCE SHARING FROM SINGAPORE ON DIGITAL TRADE FACILITATION THROUGH 
THE LENS OF DIGITAL E CONOMY AGREEMENTS (DEAS)  
1.1.  Singapore provided a presentation to the MSME Group on its work to facilitate seamless end -
to-end digital trade thr ough electronic customs forms , including e -certifications, e -bills of lading, 
and e -invoicing; establishing common disciplines around electronic payments to provide secure and 
internationally operable systems; and agreeing to refrain from applying customs duties o n electronic 
transmissions. Digitally enabled trade can have a number of benefits for MSMEs, including reduced 
business costs, increased efficiency, and more consumer trust. The foundational support for 
Singapore's digital trade is based on interna tional frameworks such as the UNCITRAL Model Law on 
Electronic Commerce of 1996 (MLEC), the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records 
(MLETR), the Networked Trade Platform (NTP), and a national e -invoicing framework called 
InvoiceNow.  The MLEC and MLETR in particular have been important for Singapore to build its own 
policies, such as Singapore's Electronic Transactions Act which was closely based on the MLEC. 
Singapore also briefly described their Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) with various partners. 
DEAs focus on new forms of products and services that are being traded internationally and build on 
e-commerce chapters of existing FTAs. Singapore underscored the need for a flexible and modular 
approach depending on a partner's digital capacity  and trade needs.  
2  WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO)  
2.1.  WIPO presented the findings of its 2022 study Intangible Asset Finance: Moving Intangible  
Asset Finance from the Margins to the Mainstream  to the MSME Group. It has been found repeatedly 
that smaller businesses struggle to access capital, especially in developing economies, often because 
they lack tangible assets  and traditional collateral . However, other types of assets, including 
intellectual property, might qualify and be especially useful for tech industries and services 
businesses to access finance. In fact, this type of intangible asset finance is already being offered 
by some institution s around the world, such as the Bank of Canadian Entrepreneurs (BDC), the 
Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) , and other private and public credit services. There are a 
few main ways that intellectual property (IP) can be used to secure capital. For  example, IP that 
generates predictable revenue like licensed music or films can be securitized and sold to investors; 
IP with a clear value outside the company like a well -known brand or patent portfolio can be used 
as collateral; and IP that is needed fo r business activities like catalogues of licensed music or films 
or royalty -generating software licences can provide liquidity via sale and leaseback schemes or 
enhanced cashflow loans. In spite of these opportunities, there is still limited uptake of inta ngible 
asset financing  by businesses as well as limited offerings . To unlock IP -backed finance, WIPO is 
working to raise the profile of intangible asset finance, reveal the current state of affairs, and equip 
participations with relevant knowledge to make intangible asset finance more prevalent and 
available, especially for MSMEs.  
3  INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE (ITC) – TRADE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
(T4SD) PROGRAMME  
3.1.  The ITC's T4SD programme works to improve the international competitiveness of MSMEs by 
helping the m understand and access the growing number of international sustainability standards 
around the world . An important tool within this work is the ITC's Standards Map, which is a free tool 
that provides information on more than 320 standards from aroun d the world, including their 
specifications. Started in 2011 with 30 standards, the Standards Map has grown substantially and 
now includes the ability to find standards by product and sector as well as the ability to compare 
standards side -by-side. The standards that are included are based on four main pillars, namely 
environment, social, management & ethics, and quality. The ITC has also been working to 
benchmark sustainability standards in collaboration with private a nd public sector entities in order 
to review the methodologies and scope that the various standards require and assess their 
equivalency. Moving forward, the ITC continues to work to provide training on the Standards Map INF/MSME/R/3 8 
 
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  Tool for MSMEs and to raise awareness of this initiative among policym akers involved in 
sustainability -related standards.  
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