WT/WGTDF/W/87  
 
5 October 2018  
(18-6174) 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  
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 developin g 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 chairman of the W GTDF reported on the session that he organized at the 
2018 Public Forum under the theme: "Will technology help developing countries to have better 
access to trade finance ?". Finally, following the request in the June meeting for more information 
on supply chain finance and factoring, the Chairman had invited Mr. Uwe Mueller, Vice Chairman of 
Factoring Interna tional, to make a presentation ( draft text inspired by the airgram, to be 
completed aft er the end of the WGTDF meeting) ]. 
1.3.  [On …… , the Working Group ad opted its Annual Report (2018) to the General Council].  
 
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