RESTRICTED  
  
WT/WGTDF/M/3 5 
 
12 January  2018 
(18-0392) Page: 1/1 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance   
 
REPO RT OF THE MEETING OF  8 NOVEMBER 2017  
1.1.  The thirty -sixth meeting of the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance (WGTDF) was 
held on 8 November 2017 under the Chairmanship of Mr. Asi Yousef  (Israel ). The Chairman  
provided a summary of recent developments on trade finance. He mentioned the  October 31 
speech  by Director -General Roberto Azevêdo. The Director -General had reported on his July 
meeting with multilateral  development banks , and his October meeting with the Chief Executive 
Officer (CEO)  of the Inter national Finance Corporation  (IFC). Further joint work  with the IFC was 
planned , in particular in developing a dialogue with the Financial Stability Board . 
1.2.  The Secretariat  provided further updates. According to the 2017 survey by the Asian 
Development Bank , the annual global trade finance gap stood at $1.5 trillion, an estimated 10 to 
15% of the market . About half of this gap  was in developing Asia ($600 billion) and  in Africa ($100 
billion). It fell disproportionally on small and medium sized enterprises ( SMEs). 75% of bank 
rejections of trade finance requests involved SMEs and mid -cap enterprises. In two-thirds of the  
cases, SMEs did not receive alternative funding , mostly because it was not available  locally . As a 
result,  trade transaction s were abandoned . The situation  was worsened by continuous  reduction in 
the global bank's correspondent relationships with developing countries' banks.  As a result of such 
reduced exposure of international banks, multilateral development banks had to step in to secure 
the financing of essential imports and exports  in poor and conflict countries. Still, the risk of 
default of payment on trade finance was extremely low, even in these countries. The Director -
General of the WTO and CEO of the IFC had been working at finding co ncrete  solutions  to this 
problem , bearing in mind that MDBs could only do so much  to fill existing gaps . 
1.3.  Several Members  (India, Canada, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia) took the floor either to ask 
factual questions related to the Secretariat update or to make statements. For example,  the 
Representative of  Canada ask ed the Secretariat to elaborate on the content of the planned 
dialogue with other multilateral institutions on the issue of trade finance and regulatory 
requirements . She express ed support for the WT O exploring how it could help facilitate trade for 
MSMEs through this working group  and more broadly.  The Representative of Colombia thought 
that what had been mentioned in th e meeting was pertinent to the interaction between regulation, 
commerce and crime . The problems generated by illicit trade or trade related to illicit activities had 
to be analy sed in the WTO . It was important to find a  balance between regulation, criminal 
problems and trade. SMEs were the most affected  by controls to prevent illicit t rade. Other 
representatives were generally supportive of current work , in particular in its MSMEs dimension . In 
conclu sion, the Chairman said that he  had heard some  support by Members of the Working Group 
on Trade, Debt and Finance  which had spoken . He enc ouraged other Members to provide input to 
the current work.  Follow -up by the Director -General was encouraging . It therefore made sense for 
the WGTDF to continue to discuss the matter  in the future . 
1.4.  The Chairman  thus moved to the draft a nnual report of the Working Group  
(WT/WGTDF/ W/85), which adopted the same concluding language as for the 10th Ministerial 
Conference.  Since no d elegation was planning to make  new submissions and raise any other topic 
in the near future, it seemed that trade finance would rema in the main subject of discussion in the 
WGTDF, at least in the short run . This would be reflected in the report. It was so agreed . 
 
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