Quick win No. 2

The adoption of a public commitment at MC12 to maintain many of the trade facilitation measures adopted during the pandemic and review commitments under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

As the world continues to reckon with the immense human and economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, WTO members should:

  • Adopt a public commitment during MC12 to maintain many of the trade facilitation measures adopted during the pandemic to ensure the free flow of goods, particularly those most important to the health and development of women, such as food, medicines, and personal protective equipment (PPE).

  • Review commitments taken under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) with an eye to potential strengthening of such commitments through, for example, converting hortatory language to binding commitments, or accelerating implementation.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, while many governments took trade-restrictive steps to protect domestic supplies, numerous other governments adopted trade-facilitative measures to ensure the free flow of life-saving goods. Such measures, among many others, included moving away from paper-based customs processes and enhanced transparency of customs information.

However, according to the 25th WTO Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures, as of mid-May 2021, around 22% of COVID-19 trade-facilitating measures by G20 economies had been terminated. A commitment to extend such measures, particularly those most important to the health and development of women, including food, medicines and PPE, will not only support pandemic management and promote economic recovery, but also support a more inclusive form of recovery that benefits women as producers, consumers, and traders.

Maintaining measures that lower trade costs particularly in women’s labor-intensive export sectors, including agriculture, supports women’s employment and economic opportunity. With some factories across the women-dominant garment industry allocating some production to PPE, facilitating trade in these goods may support women’s livelihoods. The same holds true in countries with strong women’s participation in medical device global value chains. Additionally, with many women around the world acting as primary caregivers and representing the majority of front-line healthcare workers, efficient importation of essential goods like food, medicines and PPE benefits women as consumers as well. Finally, women engaged directly in cross-border trade face not only time and skill constraints, but also higher exposure to harassment at the border. They, too, are likely beneficiaries of the continuation of trade facilitation measures.

With many developing countries struggling to secure sufficient doses of vaccines, there is important work before us to ensure the free flow of medicines and other critical supplies. Border complexity will not only frustrate these efforts, it will also harm sectors important to women’s economic opportunity. The WTO and its members should maintain – and consider strengthening and accelerating – trade facilitation measures and must continue to monitor and highlight these practices.

Ricardo Ashimi