WT/WGTDF/17  
 
8 November 2018  
(18-6992) Page: 1/1 
    
 
REPORT OF THE WORKIN G GROUP  ON TRADE, DEBT AND FINANCE (2018)  
TO THE GENERAL COUNC IL 
 
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 report 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 Chair man 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 results. Several delegations expressed the wish to discuss new methods of financing trade, such 
as supply chain financing and digital trade, and ways in which Micro -, 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 Mueller, Vice Cha irman of Factoring 
Chain International, 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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