UK Donates CHF 1.56 Million to WTO Development Programmes

Detected March 27th, 2026

Summary

The United Kingdom has donated approximately CHF 1.56 million to the WTO's Global Trust Fund and the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF). This contribution aims to enhance the capacity of developing economies to participate in the multilateral trading system and improve food safety and animal/plant health for safe trade.

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What changed

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has announced a donation of approximately CHF 1.56 million from the United Kingdom. This contribution is split between the WTO's Global Trust Fund (GBP 500,000) and the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) (GBP 1 million). The funds are intended to bolster technical assistance for developing economies, including least developed countries (LDCs), to improve their participation in the global trading system, enhance services trade, and strengthen food safety, animal, and plant health measures to facilitate safe trade.

This donation represents a continued commitment from the UK to supporting developing nations' integration into the multilateral trading system and their capacity to meet international standards. While this is a notice of a donation and not a rule with direct compliance obligations for most entities, it highlights the WTO's ongoing efforts in capacity building and trade facilitation. Compliance officers in organizations that engage with developing economies or participate in international trade initiatives may find this information relevant for understanding the broader ecosystem of trade support and development programs.

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Press release

United Kingdom donates CHF 1.56 million to WTO development programmes

The United Kingdom has contributed GBP 500,000 to the WTO's Global Trust Fund and GBP 1 million to the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) - support totalling approximately CHF 1.56 million - to enhance the capacity of developing economies, including least developed countries (LDCs), to participate in the multilateral trading system.

- Standards and Trade Development Facility

#STDF

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom's contribution to the Global Trust Fund will help finance the implementation of the WTO's technical assistance plan through the Trade in Services for Development initiative.?

The WTO's development programmes enable government officials from developing economies, including LDCs, to deepen their understanding of the multilateral trading system and enhance the implementation of their WTO obligations. The Trade in Services for Development initiative supports developing economies' efforts to grow their services trade by providing practical tools focused on domestic regulation, export promotion, and data collection. With this new contribution, the UK's support to the Global Trust Fund since 2002 now totals CHF 7.3 million.

The UK contribution to the STDF will help public and private sector stakeholders in developing countries improve food safety, animal and plant health to facilitate safe trade.?

Through its Strategy for 2025-2030, "Facilitating Safe Trade to Meet the Global Goals", the STDF drives innovative and scalable safe trade solutions that help the public and private sector meet international standards, expanding market opportunities and contributing to sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, food security and resilience to climate change.?

The UK has been a longstanding donor to the STDF. With this new donation, its total contribution to the STDF will reach close to CHF 7 million.

WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo Iweala welcomed the UK's contribution: "We are sincerely grateful for this generous support, which reinforces our shared commitment to inclusivity and capacity building. The UK's timely contribution will help maintain the viability of the WTO's Global Trust Fund, which finances our technical assistance to support developing and least developed countries to participate more effectively in the multilateral trading system. ?Backing for the Standards and Trade Development Facility will assist partners in these countries as they work to strengthen food safety, and animal and plant health systems - essential foundations for making trade safer and tapping into more lucrative markets. We deeply appreciate the UK's continued trust and partnership."

The UK's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, Kumar Iyer, said: "Our ?1 million contribution to the Standards and Trade Development Facility will help strengthen the human, animal and plant health systems that underpin safe, sustainable trade, from improving SPS measures to building food safety capacity on the ground. We are also providing ?500,000 to the WTO's Global Trust Fund, which supports developing economies to engage fully in the multilateral trading system. These investments reflect the UK's commitment to long-term trading partnerships which help developing economies and the UK alike."

Building on over two decades of cooperation with the WTO, the United Kingdom has contributed nearly CHF 16 million to a range of WTO trust funds. This latest contribution underscores the UK's enduring commitment to a fair, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system.

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