G/TFA/W/37  
 
19 April 2021  
(21-3253) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Trade Facilitation  Original: English  
 
  
REPORT BY THE TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT FACILITY TO THE  
TRADE FACILITATION COMMITTEE  
22-23 April 2021  
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  This document provides information on the work of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement 
Facility (TFAF) since the last report made to the WTO Trade Facilitation Committee on 3 March 2021. 
In this period the focus of TFAF's  work has been  the ongoing delivery  of the  grant program and 
further strengthening  the website.  
2  WEBSITE  – WWW .TFAFACILITY. ORG 
Upgrade  
2.1.  Work continues on the first upgrade of the website's content management system since its 
launch in 2014. This upgrade will allow for the expansion and enhanc ement of features and functions. 
A soft launch of the new version is on track for late spring and an official launch approximately one 
month later after any problems have been identified and corrected. The transition should be smooth, 
and users  are not exp ected  to experience any disruption during the upgrade. TFAF is  seeking a few 
Members that would like to test the new features during the soft launch. In case of  interest, please 
contact TFAF@wto.org . 
TF and COVID -19 Repo sitory  
2.2.  Resources and partners continue to be added to the TF and COVID -19 Repository that contains 
close to 400 TF and COVID -19 related resources prepared by around 30 partner organizations and 
associations. It can be found at: https://www.tfafacility.org/covid19 -trade -facilitation . 
3  TFAF GRANT PROGRAM  
Completed Grants  
3.1.  Progress continues in the delivery of the grant program. Project preparation grants (PPG) have 
now been completed for the  Dominican Republic (for three TFA provisions) and Namibia (for 11 TFA 
provisions). TFAF is  working with development partners to find implementation assistance for these 
Members, as well as for Grenada, whose PPG was completed in March (for eight TFA provi sions). If 
implementation assistance cannot be provided by development partners for any of the provisions 
covered by these PPGs, the Member will be advised to request a TFAF project implementation grant 
for those provisions, using the results of the work c arried out by the expert consultant in the PPG 
phase.  
Recently Launched  
3.2.  On 1 April project preparation grant projects were launched with Guyana (for nine TFA 
provisions) and Mongolia (for four TFA provisions) and will be concluded on 31 May and 31 July 
respectively. Experts have also been engaged to launch a regional project with CARICOM (on Article 
7.4) and a project with Jamaica (on Article 6.2). As always, these grant projects will result in an 
articulation of the implementation needs for the TFA prov isions at issue and will seek to identify 
potential development partners.  G/TFA/W/37  
 
- 2 - 
 
  PG Selection Committee  
3.3.  In order to consider applications for TFAF project implementation grants (PGs) in accordance 
with the operational rules of the grant program, two representativ es of development partners are 
needed to participate on the selection committee. (This is to replace the current representatives 
from development partners. The developing and LDC representatives on the selection committee 
remain in place.) Full information  on the selection committee can be found in the rules  at the 
following link : https://www.tfafacility.org/grant -program . 
Implementation Assistance Needed  
3.4.  Information on approved grants, including the  TFA provisions for which assistance is needed, 
can be found at: https://tfafacility.org/grant -applications . TFAF would like to encourage all 
development partners, including developing country Memb ers in a position to provide assistance, to 
periodically review this information, and take note when TFAF sends a request, and inform TFAF 
where assistance  can be offered . Experts preparing the PPGs also  systematically  reach out to 
representatives of devel opment partners within the region.  
4  TFAF TRUST FUND  
Situation  
4.1.  With around USD 5 million currently in the trust fund, the TFAF has ample funding for PPGs. 
They are limited to USD 30,000 and can cover multiple provisions of the TFA. However, project 
implementation grants (PGs) have a ceiling of USD 200,000 and each gra nt would normally support 
implementation of just one TFA provision. There are currently seven on -going PPGs that cover 37 
TFA provisions. If implementation assistance is not found for most of the TFA provisions covered by 
PPGs, then the trust fund could be  rapidly depleted. TFAF will discuss the financial situation with the 
Members that provide funding to the trust fund in the event that sufficient implementation assistance 
is not available.  
5  COORDINATION OF PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS  
5.1.  TFAF continue s to stay in cl ose communication with its partner organizations. An update of the 
work of the Annex D organizations is being circulated in a separate document. Information on 
additional partner organizations and associations will be made available before the TFC 
meeting/ dedicated session that will be held in June.  
6  ACTIVITIES  
6.1.  The Facility plans its activities based on the TFAF Operational Guidelines, the requirements and 
timeline of the Agreement, issues and priorities identified in this Committee, and the needs 
expressed by developing and LDC Members.  
6.2.  In light of the interventions made by the US at the Committee meetings in October and March, 
TFAF curtailed its participation in activities and events during this period.  
Aid for Trade Panel  
6.3.  However, as announced at the March  meeting of the TFC, TFAF honoured a previous 
commitment to collaborate with the LDC group and the World Bank Group on a panel on trade 
facilitation and COVID -19 for the Aid for Trade Stocktaking event on 25 March 2021.  
6.4.  This session addressed challenges fa ced and lessons learned that can provide guidance for the 
distribution of vaccines and the COVID -19 recovery phase. Particular focus was given to issues and 
solutions in developing and least developed countries, and small island developing states by 
speake rs from Sierra Leone, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the United Kingdom, DHL, the 
World Bank Group, and the WTO Secretariat.  
6.5.  The TFAF assisted with the development of the program and organization of speakers. The 
TFAF website was used to advertise and support registration for this virtual panel.  G/TFA/W/37  
 
- 3 - 
 
  7  LOOKING AHEAD  
Annual report  
7.1.  TFAF is  preparing the annual report for 2020 and will make it available on the website before 
the end of June deadline as required in the Operational Guidelines.  
__________