Anniversary greetings from our partners and clients

For sixty years, the International Trade Centre has been a hub of support for people, businesses, and countries around the world.

Trade is an engine of local and national economies. But too often, businesses in developing countries face obstacles in getting their products to international markets.

Through the years, ITC has helped entrepreneurs and small businesses overcome these obstacles, boost exports, forge links to global value chains, and create jobs and opportunity for their people.

ITC continues to break new ground by focusing its support services on four ambitious “moonshots”: expanding opportunities for women, empowering youth, promoting green trade, and enhancing digital connectivity.

I wish everyone at ITC a happy 60th anniversary and thank you for your forward-looking efforts to spur sustainable development and inclusive economic growth around the world.

Growing coffee is our pride. We started with 40 bushes and now count 60,000 bushes. My husband and I started as farmers, but we had no idea where we were going. Soon, we decided to add value to our products, however, we had little success on bringing our coffee to the international market.
Things changed for us when we joined the EU-EAC MARKUP programme. I learned how to present myself as an entrepreneur and build capacity to market my products. This really opened my eyes. I still remember our first international sale to European buyers at an event in Kenya right before COVID-19 hit, thanks to the linkage created by MARKUP. Since then, we are exporting our high-quality coffee to long-term buyers in Europe. I am particularly proud of our support to many small-scale women farmers who don’t have the opportunity to go out there on their own. We now sell together as a group, which further expands our market. We are one big family from here to Europe.

Over the last 60 years, multilateral cooperation and the expansion in global trade have lifted over a billion people out of poverty. ITC has played an important role, providing valuable advice to governments and small businesses in partner countries and enabling them to integrate into the global economy.
The EU is a proud partner of ITC. We believe in advancing sustainable development through trade. With our Member States – together as Team Europe – we provide over 40% of global aid for trade. Through our Global Gateway strategy, we are mobilizing up to €300 billion in sustainable investment by 2027.
Working together with ITC, we have supported over 25,000 small businesses in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. ITC has also provided invaluable analysis for the EU’s efforts to develop regional value chains in Africa.
Let’s continue our collaboration: connecting firms in partner countries with ones in the EU, strengthening sustainable value chains, and promoting investment in connectivity.

My most memorable experience working with ITC was establishing the African Trade Observatory (ATO), one of the operational instruments of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is now working. What is unique about the ATO is the fact that is fills the gap of lack of a trade information repository that can supply policymakers, businesses and researchers with data to make evidence-based decisions and take advantage of the trade and investment opportunities in the AfCFTA marketplace.

Looking ahead, ITC should work with the African Union Commission on Africa’s competitiveness, productivity and branding. With the AfCFTA, there is a need to supply the market with the right mix of high-quality products and services that meet the expectations of buyers. This will require enhancing the knowledge and skills of the productive sector on issues such as design, branding, promotion and marketing as well as distribution, in order to enable them to harness the huge growing opportunities emerging in the AfCFTA and increase their exports outside Africa.

International projects targeted at developing countries are shifting from fostering basic-level industries in the past to strategically incorporating advanced technological components. I believe that pre-emptive preparation from ITC in this area is highly likely to act as a key player in the next decade.
Being the innovative growth platform is not only the vision of KOSME but also aligns with ITC's moonshots. As a joint UN and WTO agency, ITC is the perfect platform to lead small businesses in developing countries to collaborate with their international counterparts from the world. I expect ITC to proactively seek transformative opportunities to improve the technologies of small businesses and Startups. As a solid partner, KOSME is ready to strengthen our cooperation and achieve further accomplishments together. Happy 60th anniversary, ITC, and wishing you all the best for the upcoming decades.

ITC is a longstanding and trusted partner for SECO in our efforts towards promoting sustainable trade in developing and transition countries. We believe that ITC’s unique expertise on trade intelligence, trade promotion, technical assistance and capacity building to governments and businesses - including women’s economic empowerment - increases benefits from trade for all countries.
In uncertain times, focusing on ITC’s core mandate is more important than ever: equipping small businesses to become more competitive and helping to foster a better regulatory environment for trade. SECO is thus looking forward to continuing to support ITC’s efforts towards a connected, sustainable and inclusive trade system.

I am honoured to congratulate ITC on its 60th anniversary. Mongolia’s collaboration with ITC has been transformative. Last year, Mongolia hosted ITC’s flagship event, the World Export Development Forum. Themed 'Diversifying through Green and Digital Trade', the Forum was a testament to our shared vision for sustainable and inclusive growth. With over 1,000 participants from 80 countries, this central platform for international trade and development communities enabled crucial discussions that align with Mongolia’s trade context.

The SheTrades Hub Mongolia, in collaboration with the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, highlights our dynamic role within the global ITC network, driving forward the agenda of women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. ITC's partnership in devising Mongolia’s National Export Strategy for non-mining sectors is a cornerstone of our economic diversification efforts. The strategy is pivotal in building economic resilience, identifying opportunities, strengthening our business environment, and preparing Mongolia to navigate the complexities of the international market. ITC assists us in embracing changes in the global trade landscape, ensuring our exports are competitive, connected, green, and inclusive.
We look forward to together forging a path towards an inclusive and sustainable development through trade and investment.