MENU SEARCH EN HomeOur WorkOur expertiseTrade facilitation Trade facilitation Swisscontact is facilitating national and global trade to improve growth potential and competitiveness of businesses and to foster sustainable job and income creation. Access to local, national, and international markets is crucial for businesses to create and sustain jobs and income. A world where national and cross-border trade is simple, fast and cost-effective, creates new business opportunities, enables greater economic growth and social development and has the potential to reduce poverty. Swisscontact, as an independent organisation, is in a privileged position to facilitate inclusive trade on all levels. Trade facilitation is expected to spark competitiveness, productivity, innovation, and growth. We aim for impact by helping small businesses to grow, by supporting women’s economic empowerment and by driving progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Facilitating Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Through policies, rules and regulations, and Governance practice, national Governments create specific ecosystems for trade. Depending on the way that the regulator environment is shaped and implemented, trade is either fostered or hampered. Partnerships, where government and business work together as equals, are vital to ensuring that trade facilitation reforms address the needs of all stakeholders. We work to create an environment for these partnerships to flourish by acting as a neutral facilitator and catalyst while raising awareness of the importance of facilitating trade. Building trust among the various, trade-related, stakeholders is a key to our successful work. Facilitating Local and National Trade Together with our local partners and based on our extensive on the ground experience in value chains and economic sectors, we identify trade constraints such as gaps in local market infrastructure, high transaction and transportation costs, gaps in access to, and interpretation of, information on product standards or trade hampering local or national regulations. To address such constraints, we facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms with business and public sector representatives, and we support the stakeholders to identify, and act upon, solutions to address such constraints. Swisscontact’s proven approach to sustainability criteria gender equality and social inclusion, environmental responsibility, financial inclusion, and good governance helps guide us in the design of solutions together with our stakeholders. Facilitating International Trade Our facilitation work for international trade aims to integrate less developed economies better into the global economy with a specific focus on European and Swiss markets. In our partner countries in the East and the South, we work on ‘last mile’ activities with exporters and relevant trade-ecosystem partners such as business support organisations and other relevant trade partners. We help strengthen their capacity to improve the export system. The main instruments we use in our “last mile” interventions: capacity building through access to international training platforms and individual coaching international networking and access to export relevant information. With the ‘first mile’, on the import side of the trade equation, we work with our stakeholders in creating awareness for sustainable international trade which focuses on producer and consumer benefits. Together with importers we identify import-side constraints and search for innovative solutions to establish inclusive and sustainable supply chains Projects Trade Facilitation ALL PROJECTS News Trade Facilitation ALL NEWS Swisscontact brochure SME promotion 3 MB Swisscontact Brochure Cocoa Value Chain Development 7 MB OUR EXPERTISE We strengthen the competencies of people, increase the competitiveness of enterprises and foster the inclusiveness of social and economic systems. LEARN MORE Share this page on LinkedIn Share this page on facebook Share on twitter Share by e-mail LEGAL Imprint Privacy statement Legal notice TAX EXEMPTION You can deduct donations made to Swisscontact from your taxes. Charity Number: CHE-107.828.868 REGISTER FOR OUR NEWSLETTER MEMBERSHIPS Transparency International UN Global Compact CONTACT Contact Media FOLLOW SWISSCONTACT Go to LinkedIn Go to Facebook Go to Twitter Go to YouTube © Swisscontact 2021 We use cookies to optimize this website. By using this website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. ACCEPT