Trade and Development: Planning, Monitoring and Influencing

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The main objective of the project is to support the development of trade policy and administrative management in developing countries and, consequently, sustainable development. The immediate objective of the project is to strengthen the planning, monitoring and influencing of Finland's multilateral Aid for Trade. Potential components to be financed from the project include: 1) Workshops and conferences in the field of trade and development, incl. trade policy, economic integration and circular economy of developing countries and corporate responsibility, in which Finland may have a co-organizing role together with other actors, incl. virtual events; 2) Travel expenses of developing country representatives or international speakers to international events in the field of trade and development as well as trade policy; 3) Papers, research and monitoring missions of the developing countries' trade policy and economy, incl. circular economy; 4) Evaluations as well as travel expenses of the planning, monitoring and influencing missions related to the Finnish funded projects and programs of the multilateral trade and development organizations. The project helps to achieve Finland's multilateral and international influencing objectives, especially transformation to low-emission and climate sustainable development as well as gender equality. In trade and development, the project helps to strengthen an open, stable and sustainable trading system. The project brings, furthermore, international visibility. The project concretely improves the participation of developing countries in multilateral and international trade policy negotiation processes and high-level political expert events. The project gathers valuable information on the trade policy, trade negotiations, economic integration and economic development of developing countries both from the high political and technical levels. In addition, the project improves the future cooperation with as well as the monitoring and influencing of the Finnish funded multilateral trade and development organizations in accordance with Finland's objectives. Potential procurements will be of minor financial value, such as small research papers, remaining well below the limit of direct procurement.