On 5 May 2023, the International Trade Center (ITC) with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) organised a hybrid workshop on investment facilitation self-assessments at the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland.
©Quan Zhao (ITC)
The objective of the workshop was to support developing and least developed WTO Members in preparing for the self-assessments, given the fact that the negotiations on the text of the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement are approaching conclusion. The workshop focused on the operational aspects of self-assessments and provided an opportunity to share experiences regarding the conduct of self-assessments, including drawing on the experience of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), pilot assessments conducted at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), and the assessments underway through the OECS/ITC project. Over 130 participants and delegates used this chance to discuss and exchange views on the practical challenges in the organisation of the self-assessments and how to overcome those challenges.
While the WTO and ITC representatives shared their experiences on the TFA needs assessments, the WTO Secretariat provided an in-depth presentation of the Investment Facilitation Self-Assessment Guide, which aims to assist developing and LDC participating Members in identifying their implementation gaps, as well as their technical-assistance and capacity-building needs to implement the Agreement. In addition, IDOS researcher Dr Zoryana Olekseyuk presented a detailed proposal for the needs assessment process specifically for the IFD Agreement. This proposal was developed using the experience from the pilot needs assessments on implementation of core IFD provisions in Lao PDR, Togo and Zambia conducted by a research team within the 2023 IDOS postgraduate training programme.
