INF/MSME/R/4  
 
25 March 2019  
(19-1829) Page: 1/2 
 Original: English  
 
 
 
INFORMAL WORKING GRO UP ON MSMES 
FOURTH OPEN -ENDED MEETING  
TRADE FACILITATION  FOR MSME S: KEY TAKEAWAYS  AND NEXT STEPS* 
 
The following communication, dated 2 July 2018, is being circulated at the request of the delegation s 
of Pakistan and Uruguay.  
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The s ession was convened on 27 June 2018 by H.E. Dr. Syed Tauqir Shah, Ambassador of Pakistan, 
co-coordinator of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs and organizer of this thematic session, and 
H.E. Mr José Luis Cancela, Ambassador of Uruguay and General Coordinator of the Informal Working 
Group on MSMEs . 
 
1  REMARKS BY SPEAKERS  
1.1.  In his opening remarks, Director -General Robert o Azevêdo  welcomed the Group's focus on 
trade facilitation and highlighted how implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement can 
increase  small business participation in global markets . He recalled the Trade Dialogues that took 
place in early June at the  WTO and the strong d esire from business to keep the  conversation going.   
1.2.  Ms Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary -General  of UNCTAD , next talked about  UNCTAD's 
programs designed to help MSMEs participate in global markets, including UNCTAD's  business 
linkage program - a multi-stakeholder init iative t hat collectively design s and implement s measures 
between suppliers and contractor s enabl ing technology diffusion and market entry;  UNCTAD's  
entrepreneurship  program to help  governments  develop  national entrepreneur ship p rograms; 
UNCTAD's  trade portals ; and capacity building  activities . Ms Durant noted that i nfrastructure and 
trade facilitation  go hand in hand.  
1.3.  Ms Marion J ansen, Chief Economist  of ITC then presented the main findings from various ITC 
studies, in particular the SME Competitiveness Outlook. Besides the general call by MSMEs for 
greater access to information on trade clearance procedur es and export opportunities, Ms  Jansen 
noted the regulatory burden for MSMEs and the importance of certification to signal credibility. 
MSMEs need standards and regulations to establish consumer trust; however the costs of compliance 
as a share of MSME revenues are much larger than for large firms.  
1.4.  Mr Hans Kersten,  Director -General of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders 
Association s (FIATA ), an association of approximately 50,000 international freight forwarding 
companies  across 150 countries, many of which are MSMEs, next presented on FIATA's members ' 
challenges.  Mr Kersten confirmed that MSMEs need standards to create confidence, but he 
highlighted they have little influence on their creation. Given that fixed costs are highe r for MSMEs, 
Mr Kersten recommended streamlining national requirements by re viewing potentially unnecessary 
documents, providing digital tools for trade procedures, and considering implementing proces ses for 
expedited shipments. Mr  Kersten underscored his support for a n increased and  harmonized 
international de minimis  standard.  
1.5.  Mr Ouyang Cheng, Executive Senior Expert at the Alibaba Group , followed with a presentation 
on the ways technology, especially digital trading platforms, have facilitated MSME s trade.  Mr. 
Ouyang  stressed the importance of infrastructure.  Beyond trade -platform technology, Mr Ouyang 
                                                
* This document was originally circulated as JOB/GC/193 dated 6 July 2018 . INF/MSME/R/4  
 
- 2 - 
 
  also described Chinese providers of integrated Export/Import services as well as a Chinese single -
window initiative to simplify the trading process.  
1.6.  The last presentation was by Ms  Lisa McAuley, CEO of the Global Trad e Profe ssionals Alliance 
(GTPA), an organization dedicated to developing a global certification programme for trade 
professionals and to identifying the skills needed and challenges faced by businesses, particularly 
MSMEs, when participating in international trad e. Ms McAuley presented two concrete situations to 
illustrate the difficulties that MSMEs face when  navigating  the complexity  of import/export 
procedures. Ms McAuley also highlighted the importance to develop  international trade certification 
of individual s and businesses as most MSMEs lack  general management competencies as well as a 
trusted network on which they can rely for third party advice when expanding internationally . She 
further underscored the need to harmonize import/export  documentation require ments across 
countries and highlighted the potential gains and pitfalls of digitizing documentation.  She noted that 
technology developments such as blockchain may help .  
2  DISCUSSION  
2.1.  Some Members provided examples from their national experiences of the benef its from 
improving access to information through single windows, certificates of origin, authorized ec onomic 
operators and others. Ms  McAuley referred to the work being done in Singapore where they have 
integrated commercial entities, including the banking  sector and shipping lines, into their single 
window as a good example of integrated portals.  
2.2.  Some M embers  expressed the wish to look deeper into certain issues, in particular : 
a. How to streamline/standardize import and export documents , including certificat es of 
origin?  
b. The relationship between trade facilitation and access to logistics services : how to provide  
more logistics services to  MSMEs , including  within the TFA framework ?  
c. The question of the de minimis  level.  
3  NEXT STEPS  
3.1.  It was suggested that a follow -up session on th e same  issue be organized  at a later date.  
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