Achieving prosperity through trade and investment: updating the 2007 joint EU strategy on aid for trade

Further information:

The purpose of this Communication is to update the 2007 Aid for Trade Strategy in light of changing economic realities and political context. In particular, the rise of increasingly complex global value chains, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the EU Global Strategy for its Foreign and Security Policy, the European Consensus on Development and the Trade for All Strategy.

It proposes a results-driven and integrated approach to aid and investment for trade, making the most of the wide range of EU policy tools available in order to increase their overall impact on growth and poverty reduction. The focus is on creating more and better jobs and on countries in the greatest need.

Background information:

Aid for trade is assistance provided to support partner countries' efforts to develop economic capacities and expand their trade as leverage for growth and poverty reduction. The concept was launched in 2005 by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and it covers a wide range of areas including trade policy-making, trade-related regulations and standards, economic infrastructure and productive capacity building in export-oriented sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and manufacturing.

In response to the WTO, the EU formulated its Strategy on Aid for Trade in 2007 as a joint response from the EU and its Member States to help developing countries and particularly Least Developed Countries (LDCs) integrate into the rules-based global trading system and use trade more effectively to boost growth and reduce poverty.

The European Commission published on 13 November 2017 a Communication updating its Aid for Trade Strategy in the light of the European Union's priorities and a changing world.

European Commission: DG Communication: IP/17/4488, 14.11.17: Aid for Trade: Helping developing countries to achieve prosperity through trade and investment http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-4488_en.htm

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