Pakistan

<p>SheTrades Commonwealth + project aims to foster an enabling business ecosystem by promoting inclusive policy and data and engaging business support organizations, private-sector partners, and women-led businesses in the Commonwealth countries. <span>&nbsp;</span>The project will focus on scalability and immediate results by strengthening the functionalities and diversifying services of the SheTrades Initiative globally through SheTrades Outlook and SheTrades Hubs. This project will build upon the previous phase of the SheTrades Commonwealth project that has been ongoing since 2018, over which time sustainable networks of stakeholders at both ecosystem and SME levels have been built and sustained.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The project will strengthen ICDT services on trade intelligence to support the public and private sector from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to make better informed decisions and, in the long term, to contribute to an increase of trade between OIC Member States through the embedding of Market Analysis Tools, the development of an online Trade Helpdesk and the development of trade-related studies.</p>

<p>To support ongoing efforts to improve Pakistan&rsquo;s trade competitiveness, ITC has been asked to leverage its NTM Survey methodology to identify for Pakistan:</p><ul><li><p>The most challenging non-tariff measures by sector, company size and partner country</p></li><li><p>Existing national procedures and facilities which need to be strengthened in order to better support the business sector in export and import operations</p></li><li><p>Feasible actions to overcome existing trade obstacles and reduce trade cost</p></li></ul>

<p>ITC -FCDO programme is a component in the framework of a larger FCDO-funded programme aimed to support Revenue Mobilisation, Investment and Trade in Pakistan, thus contributing to sustainable and inclusive economic development in the country.&nbsp;</p><p>The ITC implementation aims to promote and enhance international trade competitiveness in Pakistan through three areas of intervention:</p><ul><li><strong>Pakistan National Export Strategy</strong>: Developing Pakistan&rsquo;s National Export Strategy (NES) elaborated through public and private dialogue;</li><li><strong>Trade Policy:</strong> Improving market access opportunities for Pakistani businesses by implementing trade policy reforms and addressing trade barriers, and;</li><li><strong>Trade Facilitation:</strong> Implementing trade facilitation reforms reflecting public-private consensus and improving business compliance with cross-border requirements.</li></ul><p>The Action will also focus on women-owned enterprises and their participation in international trade.</p>

<p>The objective of this project is to enhance the functionalities and effective use of Trade Facilitation Portals by beneficiary countries with a view to create a more conducing cross-border environment for traders through improved transparency and simplified trade formalities.<span>&nbsp;This project builds upon ITC - UNCTAD longstanding partnership in the area of trade facilitation and creates opportunities for further build synergies across the agencies&apos; respective technical assistance offering.</span></p>