Ireland contributed EUR 200,000 to help producers in developing countries meet international standards and gain access to overseas markets, the World Trade Organization said in a Nov. 13 announcement.
The funding will support the Standards and Trade Development Facility’s strategy for 2025-2030. The WTO announced it under the title “Ireland contributes EUR 200,000 to strengthen trade opportunities in developing countries” on Nov. 13.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said meeting international standards can help farmers and small businesses in developing countries reach new markets. She said Ireland’s funding would help make those opportunities more accessible.
The contribution will support work on sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, the rules covering food safety and animal and plant health, the WTO said. That work aims to respond more closely to people involved in food and agricultural trade.
The WTO said small-scale producers, traders and businesses can face practical obstacles when trying to meet those requirements. The facility’s projects and research seek to identify those obstacles and help businesses overcome them, including those involving women and young people.
Sharing successful approaches is part of that work, the WTO said. The facility seeks to help others adopt solutions tested through its projects, with the aim of supporting livelihoods, food security and development.
Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora Neale Richmond said the funding reflected his country’s support for an open international trading system governed by rules. He said the facility helps developing countries participate more effectively in global trade.
Richmond said Ireland uses partnerships such as the facility to support trade as a means of development and poverty reduction. He linked the contribution to Ireland’s commitment to economic growth whose benefits reach more people and can be sustained.
The WTO said stronger food safety and animal and plant health systems would help producers in developing countries trade more safely and reliably. It said the support also benefits countries importing their products.
Those improvements contribute to a more predictable trading environment and help ensure imported food and agricultural goods meet international standards, the WTO said. It described those benefits as flowing to both sides of the partnership.
The facility operates from the WTO and brings together organisations working in trade, agriculture and health. Its work supports developing countries and the least-developed countries in strengthening their ability to meet those standards, the WTO said.
The WTO said the facility has funded more than 275 projects and grants to prepare projects since its creation. Its founders include the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank Group, World Health Organization, World Organisation for Animal Health and WTO.
