WT/WGTDF/W/87 /Rev.1  
 
29 October 2018  
(18-6752) Page: 1/1 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance    
 
 
REPORT OF THE WORKIN G GROUP ON TRADE, DE BT AND FINANCE (2018 ) 
TO THE GENERAL COUNC IL 
DRAFT  
Revision  
1.1.  The Working Group held two meetings, on 8  June 2018 and 25 October  2018, under the 
Chairmanship of H.E. Mohammad Haqjo  (Afghanistan). At the meeting on 8 June 2018 , the Working 
Group heard and discussed the oral r eport made by the Director -General  on his recent progress 
regarding the implementation of proposals made in his 2016 document "Trade Finance and SMEs". 
The Direc tor-General had built a strong coalition of heads of institutions, which altogether worked 
at increasing support from trade finance facilitation programmes, boost capacity -building, open a 
dialogue with the Financial Stability Board, and improve trade fina nce gap detection. After the report 
by the Director -General and statements by Members, the Chairman concluded that the Director -
General's involvement had received considerable interest and support. Members welcomed his direct 
interaction with leaders of mu ltilateral development banks and of the Financial Stability Board, and 
acknowledged progress in the above -mentioned areas. Trade Finance was one area of the WTO work 
in which the interaction between Members and the Director -General was bearing fruits and r esults. 
Several delegations expressed the wish to discuss new methods of financing trade, such as supply 
chain financing and digital trade, and ways in which Mi cro-, Small and Medium -sized Enterprises 
(MSMEs) could be covered by future discussions on trade  finance and proposals. The Chairman 
proposed to invite in future meetings qualified persons working on achieving progress. The Chairman 
outlined that Members had a key role to play in this discussion about trade finance. For some 
countries, there were no or little trade finance gaps. In other countries, this was not the case. 
Sharing experiences and discussing best practices that would be consistent with the WTO framework 
would be a good idea. Finally, there had been a demand for hearing, in the fall, abou t the Director -
General's proposed round table on trade finance at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings.  
1.2.  At the meeting on 25  October 2018, the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance reverted 
to the topic of trade finance and SMEs, notably in developing  countries. The Secretariat reported 
orally on the session co -hosted by the WTO Director -General and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 
of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) at the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank.  
The session called "Fi nancial Inclusion in Trade: Reducing the Trade Finance Gap" took stock of the 
joint inter -institutional efforts to address some of the challenges related to correspondent banking 
relationships and the global trade finance gap. It benefitted from the partic ipation of senior 
representatives of the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (subsidiary of the Islamic Development 
Bank), the African Import and Export Bank (subsidiary of the African Development Bank), the 
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Financial Stability Board and the 
International Monetary Fund. A written report will be issued by the Secretariat as soon as possible. 
The chairman of the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance  reported on the session that he 
organized at the 2018 Pu blic Forum under the theme: "Will technology help developing countries to 
have better access to trade finance ?". Finally, in reply to the request for more information on supply 
chain finance and factoring, the Chairman had invited Mr. Uwe Mue ller, Vice Cha irman of Factoring 
Chain  Interna tional, to make a presentation  on international factoring activities . 
1.3.  [On 2 November , the Working Group adopted its Annual Report (2018) to the General Council].  
 
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