Global Trade Helpdesk, Phase I

Information transparency issues are among the main obstacles experienced by companies across countries in international trade. The smaller the company, the more it is affected by trade information transparency issues. Reasons for this include among others the fixed cost nature of researching and complying with different market requirements and trade procedures. To address this challenge, an online Global Trade Helpdesk, led by the International Trade Centre, will be developed to improve quality and transparency of trade-related information, strengthen public-private dialogue and transform this data into intelligence.

The overall objective of this multi-agency project aims to build a global online Trade Helpdesk with relevant and up-to-date market information that facilitates trade and investment related decisions of SMEs in developing countries. It will address the problem of the lack of information transparency and the complexity of information sources. The goal would be to support SMEs to make fully informed trade and investment decisions that could lead to greater international trade activity. To make the Global Trade Helpdesk beneficial to any company in any country, it will be provided free of charge as a Global Public Good. The Helpdesk will gather the best market information available from the databases of different international organizations and turn it into practical trade intelligence for the use of SMEs, policy makers and trade and investment support institutions.

The objective will be reached through a sequenced development of the Global Trade Helpdesk comprising the following activities:

Integration of trade-related data-

development and testing of the web-portal.

Resultados previstos:  

During the development phase:

Information shall be collected, processed, analyzed, combined and made available on the Global Trade Helpdesk-

The online Global Trade Helpdesk shall be developed and made operational-

User support material shall be made available and stakeholders in 10 LDCs should be familiar with the platform and its tools.

Fase 1 01.01.2018 - 31.12.2021   (Active)