Trade & Economic Integration

We help governments and businesses in developing countries untangle, interpret and understand the legal, economic and policy implications of multilateral and regional trade agreements through legal and economic analysis, advanced research, training, and trade-related technical assistance.

Exporters need to identify, assess and enter export markets, find reliable partners and ensure that their overseas investments face minimal risks. Our experts have helped Eswatiniexporters enter the USA and French textile markets; Ugandan exporters enter the DR Congo, USA and Arabian Gulf markets; Caribbean exporters enter the USA market, British and American companies enter East Africa and British companies enter the Gulf States.

Our experts have provided policy advisory and trade-related technical assistance to governments in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, including :-

  • Helping governments in Europe, Asia and Africa prepare to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO accession) and RTA membership and strengthened their trade negotiating capacities; support in drafting agreements and formulating negotiating positions, including drafting answers to questions of the Working Parties, legal analysis of the draft commitments proposed by Members and proposing changes to the domestic laws and regulations; and in policy areas including market access for goods and non-agricultural market access, trade in services, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), trade remedies and safeguards; trade-related aspect of intellectual property (TRIP) and trade facilitation.
  • Post-accession training and capacity building to prepare new WTO Member for her upcoming membership. For LDCs, we guide you on how you can take advantage of your upcoming membership under the WTO’s LDCs and Accessions Program;
  • Guidance in submission of notifications, the coordination mechanisms for implementation of accession-specific commitments and participation in the work of the WTO;
  • Assistance in developing national strategy and a framework trade policy paper outlining short, medium and long term policies that some governments have used to encourage trade relations with their trading partners and increase their economic growth prospects.
  • Provision of legal advice on WTO law, support in WTO dispute settlement proceedings and training in WTO law to developing countries and least developed countries.
  • Creating and managing national quality infrastructure
  • Helping governments rid their policy environments of anti-export and anti-investment biases; clarify, simplify and rationalize administrative and regulatory processes for export and investment;implement WTO trade facilitation agreement (TFA), create and manage export processing zones.
  • Identification of new export nichesand beneficial trading partners; model the impact of trade policies and agreements on the economies.
  • We assess the market’s size and growth potential; identify key competitors; conduct due diligence on potential trading partners and weigh up the advantages of foreign free zones.
  • We guide exporters through the web of regulations: rules of origin, technical standards, foreign ownership restrictions, dispute resolutions, non- tariff barriers, sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations, local agency laws, property ownership, intellectual property rights (IPR), customs clearance processes.
  • We provide technical assistance with regards to conformity assessment covering Sanitary and Phytosanitary issues and help producers and exporters in their compliance with standards and SPS requirements, and in ensuring that the SPS regulations are in conformity with the WTO requirements.
  • We provide legal advice on WTO law, support in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, including advising companies and governments on matters before the World Trade Organization,and advising industries affected by WTO issues.
  • We advise companies and governments on mattersinvolving unfair trade practices,anti-dumping actions and trade defense measures. We gather evidence to support claims for unfair trade practices.
  • We provide training in WTO law to developing countries and least developed countries.
  • We have designed and delivered tailored training and capacity building inputs to government officials and other trade stakeholders in over 30 African countries.
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