INF/MSME/R/7  
 
25 March 2019  
(19-1841) Page: 1/3 
 Original: English  
 
INFORMAL WORKING GRO UP ON MSMES* 
2018 ANNUAL REPORT  
 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  On 13 December 2017, at the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11), 88 WTO Members 
representing all major regions and levels of development established the Informal Working Group 
on MSMEs (WT/MIN(17)/58/Rev.1 ).1 In their Joint Statement, the "Friends of MSMEs" committed to 
discuss and identify " horizontal a nd non -discriminatory solutions"  to improve the participation of 
MSMEs in international trade while taking into account the specific need s of developing countries.  
1.2.  This report describes the activities of the Group since the 11th Ministeri al Conference in 
December 2017.  
2  MEETINGS HELD BY  THE MSME INFORMAL W ORKING GROUP SINCE T HE 11TH SESSION 
OF THE MINISTERIAL C ONFERENCE  
2.1.  The Group h eld two Gr oup meetings on 30 January and 28 February 2018 to plan the year 
ahead  followed by  5 open-ended thematic meetings on 27 March, 22 May, 8 June, 27 June, and 
31 October 2018. It also organized a session during the Public Forum on 3 October 2018.  
2.2.  The first me eting was convened by H.E. Mr  Hector Casanueva of Chile and focused on 
organizational matters . Speaking at the invitation of the Friends of MSMEs, Director -General 
Roberto  Azevêdo  said that the launch of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs was one of the 
highlights of the Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires.2 H.E. Mr Hector Casanueva informed the 
Group of his impending departure and proposed the appointment of a coordination com mittee to 
guide future MSME work. H.E. Mr José Luís Cancela  Gómez  of Uruguay was appointed main 
coordinator of the Group in replacement of H.E. Mr  Hector  Casanu eva. 
2.3.  At the 28 February 2018 meeting – convened by H.E. Mr José Luís Cancela  Gómez  – the Group 
formally appointed a Coordinating Committee composed of eight  co-coordinators: Bahrain; 
Côte d'Ivoire; El Salvador; Hong -Kong, China; Nigeria; Pakistan; the Philippines; and Switzerland. 
The Group discussed a draft roadmap of activities for 2018. It was agr eed that the Group would hold 
a series of thematic, open -ended discussions on issues identified in the Joint Ministerial Statement 
with a view to developing concrete outcomes and proposals by the end of the year.  
2.4.  On 27 March 2018, Switzerland hosted a meet ing where Members discussed the importance of 
adequate access to information to enable MSME's success in global markets  (see document 
                                                
* This document was originally circulated as JOB/GC/207 dated 3 December 2018 . 
1 Members of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs are: Afghanistan; Albania; Antigua and Barbuda; 
Argentina; Australia; the Kingdom of Bahrain; Belize; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; China; 
Colombia; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Dominica; the Dominic an Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; European Union 
and its 28 Member States ; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Israel; 
Japan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; the Republic of Korea; Kyrgyz Republic; Lao PDR; Liechtenstein; Malaysia; Mexico;  
the Republic of Moldova; Montenegro; Myanmar; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Norway; Pakistan; 
Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar; Russian Federation; Saint Kitt s and Nevis; Saint Lucia; 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Singapore; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; t he former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia; Turkey; Uruguay and Viet Nam.  
2 See https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/spra_e/spra210_e.htm . INF/MSME/R /7 
 
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  JOB/GC/183/Rev.1 for a summary of discussions and key take -aways) . In his opening remarks, 
Undersecretary  Ceferin o S. Rodo lfo, Philippines' Vice -Minister for Trade and Industry, noted that 
many small companies struggle in accessing international markets. They often rely on national and 
regional information portals to export. However, these efforts have their limits and a broa der 
initiative at the multilateral level could be an effective solution. Deputy Director -General Allan Wolff 
stressed the importance of: reaching out to different Ministries that have an interest in raising 
awareness for the MSME initiative – these will be  able to contribute ideas and practical guidance; 
reaching out to national legislators, to small business committees, to the press and to social media 
to raise awareness about the MSME initiative;  promoting experience sharing and best practices;  
helping im prove the tool by providing feedback on a regular basis; and  establishing institutional links 
with key organizations that work on issues that matter to MSMEs, such as standards setting 
organizations. Ms Dorothy Tembo, Deputy Executive Director of the Inter national Trade Center 
(ITC), stated that trade information is essential to the ways that businesses trade, particularly the 
smaller size companies , and that information makes all the difference between going global and not.  
Members were presented with an a ccess to information platform called the Global Trade Helpdesk 
(www.helpmetrade.org) – a joint ITC -UNCTAD -WTO project. Discussions focused on the need for 
MSMEs to be informed in their own language , on the responsibility of governments to inform MSMEs 
of such initiatives,  and on the importance of establishing national contact points to provide policy 
updates  and help collect information . The Group issue d a call for action to invite WTO Members to 
support the Global Trade Helpdesk  (JOB/GC/184 ). 
2.5.  A follow -up session on Access to Information was hosted by Switzerland on 22 May 2018 to 
clarify details involving the Global Trade Helpdesk (GTH)  (see document JOB/GC/191 for a summary 
of discussions and key take -aways) . The ITC updated the Group on the latest develo pments in the 
GTH project. Members discussed concrete actions they could take to support the project, including 
the distribution of a country survey to map information sources and the establishment of national 
contact points to allow the managers of the GT H to more easily interact with the national authorities 
that detain relevant information. Regarding the institution  of national contact points, various 
approaches were discussed ranging from leveraging already existing contact points, such as those 
establi shed under the TFA, to creating brand new structures. A second presentation focused on the 
ePing SPS/TBT notification alert system. A discussion followed on how to improve notification 
processes at the WTO.   
2.6.  On 8 June 2018, Côte d'Ivoire hosted a meeting on access to trade f inance issues for MSMEs  
(see document JOB/GC/192 for a summary of discussions and key take -aways) . Speakers included 
H.E. Mr Mohammad Qurban Haqjo, Ambassador of Afghanistan and Chair of the Working Group on 
Trade, Debt and Finance (WGTD F); Mr Yaya Ouattara from the ITC; Ms Hang Tran of the Enhanced 
Integrated Framework (EIF); and Mr Gerard Hartsink, Chairman of the Global Legal Identif ier 
Foundation (GLEIF). H.E. Mr  Mohammad Qurban Haq jo reported on the outcome of the morning 
meeting of the WGTDF, as well a s on recent discussions by the Expert G roup on trade finance. 
Amb.  Qurban Ha qjo described the general discussion of the WGTDF, which included the subject of 
the persistent trade finance gaps for MSMEs, especially in developing countries . Mr Yaya Ouattara 
from the ITC presented work the ITC has undertaken to support both demand - and supply -side 
MSME trade finance.  Ms Hang Tran of the EIF spoke to how the EIF looks at LDC access to trade 
finance, and Mr  Hartsink explained how a Legal Entit y Identifier (LEI) – a 20-digit alpha -numeric 
code – is used for identifying businesses involved in international financial transactions and how 
such identification is especially important for MSMEs. Several Members then shared their national 
experiences o n MSME access to trade finance . Members also expressed an interest in mapping 
national and regional programmes in place to support MSME s' access to trade finance and of 
continuing the discussion on the question of company identification measures, such as L EI. 
2.7.  On world MSME day (27 June), Pakistan hosted a meeting on trade costs and trade facilitation 
issues affecting MSMEs  (see document JOB/GC/193 for a summ ary of discussions and key 
take-aways) . Director -General Roberto Azevêdo  welcomed the Group's focus on trade facilitation 
and highlighted ho w the implementation of the WTO' s Trade Facilitation Agreement can increase 
small business participation in global markets.3 Other speakers included Ms Isabelle Durant , Deputy 
Secretary -General of UNCTAD ; Ms Marion J ansen, Chief Economist of the ITC ; Mr Hans Kersten, 
Director -General of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) ; 
Mr Ouyang Cheng, Executive Senior Expert at the Ali Baba Group ; and Ms Lisa McAuley , CEO of the 
Global Trade Professionals Alliance . Members expressed interest in further examining how to 
                                                
3 See https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/spra_e/spra227_e.htm . INF/MSME/R/7  
 
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  standardize import and export documents, including certificates of origin. There was also interest in 
further studying the relationship between trade f acilitation and logistics services. Finally, the issue 
of a de minimis  threshold under which imports would be exempt from customs duties was identified 
as another subject for further consideration . 
2.8.  On 3 October  2018, El Salvador and the Philippines jointly  organised a working session during 
the Public Forum entitled "Enabling Global MSMEs: How technical assistance and capacity building 
initiatives could take into account the trade needs and challenges of MSMEs?".  Speakers included : 
Ms Karolina Anda Berney, Manager, Emerging Enterprises Pro Bono Program, Sidley Austin LLP; 
Ms Harriet Lamb, CEO International Alert; Ms Ileana Rogel, President, CONAMYPE; and 
Ms Cattleya  Romero -Faude, Founder and Managing Director, SAGANÀ Association . The session was 
moderated by  H.E. Mr Manuel Teehankee, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Philippines to WTO . 
Discussions focused on legal compliance difficulties faced by MSMEs, from investment to 
certifications; access to capital and trade finance, a particularly important issue for MSMEs that face 
large price fluctuations or non-smooth income patterns; access t o information on technical 
regulations in host countries ; and psychological barriers that deter MSMEs from joining international 
markets including fear of IPR theft. It was noted that in order to help MSMEs go global, technical 
assistance and capacity building should focus on three areas: i) Access to Information; ii) Access to 
Finance;  and iii) Access to Markets  (see document JOB/GC/205  and 
https://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/public_forum18_e/rep_38.pdf  for a summary of discussions 
and key take -aways).  
2.9.  The last thematic session of the year took place on 31 October 2018 and focused on the internet 
as a tool to access global markets  (see document JOB /GC/206  for a summary  of discussions and 
key take -aways) . Ms Emmanuelle Ganne of t he WTO gave a presentation on the key findings of the 
World Trade Report 2018, Ms Cécile Barayre of UNCTAD presen ted findings from their Rapid eTrade 
Readiness Assessment of Least developed countries (eT Ready), and Ms Kimberley Botwright of the 
WEF discussed work it is currently engaged in to facilitate global e -commerce.  Members suggested  
mapping the various nation al policies and programmes  already in place to address the wide range 
of challenges they face regarding MSME digital readiness depending on Members' level of 
development, available infrastructure, business norms and knowledge capital. Members were also 
invited to put forward concrete proposals  with regards to the internet as a tool for MSMEs so that a 
clear work programme  can be developed . 
2.10.   A wrap -up meeting was organized on 30 November 2018 to discuss the  organization of work 
for 2019.  At that meeting, H.E. Mr José Luís Cancela  Gómez  welcomed Armenia as 89th member of 
the Group.  
3  OTHER ACTIVITIES  
3.1.  A MSME webpage, accessible to Members only, was developed. The webpage provides 
information on activities of the Group, with links to key docume nts, including  convening notices, 
powerpoint presentations made during meeting s, and summary documents . It also provides 
background information on the creation of the Group.  
3.2.  A Newsletter was developed as a tool to help the Group reach out to key stakeholde rs. The 
first edition of the Newsletter was circulated in early October 2018. The Newsletter will be published 
on a quarterly basis.  
3.3.  On 7 June 2018, H.E. Mr José Luís Cancela  Gómez  was invited to participate, in his capacity as 
main coordinator of the Group, in the MSME discussions organized in the context of the WTO Trade 
dialogues with senior business representatives.  
4  CONCLUSION  
4.1.  The Info rmal Working Group adopted the present  Annua l Report (2018) at its  
30 Novembe r 2018 plenary session.  
 
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