The Trade Facilitation Support Program (TFSP) was launched in June 2014 to support countries seeking assistance to improve their cross-border trade environments and better align their trade practices with the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA).
TFSP’s funding helps countries—particularly developing countries—achieve full and effective implementation of the WTO TFA measures and related trade facilitation reforms. TFSP funding helps client countries:
The TFSP currently supports 56 countries across all regions, most of which are least developed countries. The largest share of countries receiving support are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Support is also provided to fragile and conflict-affected countries.
The World Bank Group has helped countries significantly improve their alignment with the WTO TFA. The TFA Tracking Tool helps countries to monitor and report on progress. As of the end of June 2022, the overall WTO TFA alignment scores of TFSP countries had risen from 41 to 51 percent.
Recognizing the important roles of both the public and private sectors in trade facilitation, the World Bank Group implements the TFSP by drawing on the unique expertise of both the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The program is funded by nine donor partners: Australia, Canada, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The World Bank Group works very closely with the WTO, and other partners and donors in supporting developing countries in improving border processes and procedures.
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