International Trade Centre

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the only development agency that is fully dedicated to supporting the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

The agency enables SMEs in developing and transition economies to become more competitive and connect to international markets for trade and investment, therefore helping to raise incomes and create job opportunities, especially for women, young people, and poor communities. The ITC's mission is to foster inclusive and sustainable economic development, and contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The ITC works towards creating ‘trade impact for good’.

Established in 1964, the ITC is a joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN.

Digital Activities 

ITC activities in e-commerce and digital trade contribute to:

• Developing conducive policy environment for e-commerce and digital trade, through technical assistance and capacity building
• Helping SMEs acquiring the necessary skills and capabilities to trade via e-commerce

The ITC is one of the co-facilitators of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines in the area of e-business, as well as a partner agency in UNCTAD’s e-trade for all initiative

Digital policy issues

E-commerce and trade 

ITC provides capacity building for policymakers on current issues in the e-commerce policy debate through training, workshops, and publications contributing to a conducive policy environment for e-commerce and digital trade. 

ITC assists enterprises, in particular SMEs, in acquiring the necessary skills and capabilities to trade on e-commerce channels. Through the ecomConnect Programme, it is engaged in the sustainable development of small businesses online by facilitating shared learning, innovative solutions, collaboration and partnerships. The ecomConnect.org community platform links entrepreneurs and experts in e-commerce together to share learning and networking opportunities. Ongoing projects in Central America, Central Asia and Middle East and Africa assist MSMEs toward success in e-commerce and have demonstrated how shared solutions – including access to improved logistics and support services – can benefit small firms and stimulate sector growth. ITC’s digital entrepreneurship programme supports tech startups & SMEs and digital entrepreneurs in Sub Saharan Africa go international by training, advisory, and coaching, as well as strengthening ecosystems through tech entrepreneurship ecosystem mappings and addressing the gaps.

Sustainable development 

The ITC contributes directly to 10 SDGs through its support to SME international competitiveness and inclusive and sustainable growth; it also maintains a system to monitor results and help stakeholders track progress towards achieving the SDGs.

 The ITC has also developed a ‘Digital Transformation for Good’ project to enhance the reach of the organisation’s work and use digital technologies to scale the ITC’s impact across the globe.

Capacity development 

The ITC’s emerging distance learning programme offers a series of online courses and access to educational material on an array of trade-related topics. It aims to assist staff in partner organisations, enterprises (particularly SMEs), and other stakeholders in skills development.  

Digital tools

The ITC addresses the challenge of a lack of reliable trade information on markets by offering market analysis tools and related market data sources. These tools provide users with export and import statistics from more than 220 countries and territories and consist of the following: Trade Map, Market Access Map, Investment Map, Trade Competitiveness Map, Procurement Map, Export Potential Map, and Sustainability Map.

In addition, the ITC library offers a specialised information resource on international trade as well as its online catalogue, which is available to all users.

The ITC also offers a number of online courses and educational material on a range of topics related to trade.

Future of meetings

Any reference to online or remote meetings? 

• Spring and Summer 2020 events have taken place online.