The International Trade Centre (ITC) today announced that 11 national trade promotion organisations have been shortlisted for the 2018 World Trade Promotion Organisation (WTPO) Awards.

This was contained in a statement by the International Trade Centre. The 11 Trade Promotion Organisations, TPOs, from Austria, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nigeria, State of Palestine, Peru, Qatar, Republic of Korea and Switzerland were nominated for this year’s awards.

The shortlisted organizations will be competing in three categories: best use of a partnership; best use of information technology; and best initiative to ensure that trade is inclusive and sustainable and winners will be announced at the 12th WTPO Conference in Paris, France, on 25 October.

The WTPO Awards which are open to all national TPOs, recognize excellence in trade support services. They celebrate TPOs that excel in innovative and effective practices in export-development initiatives. The organizations must also show that they help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to become competitive in international markets.

According to the statement, for this year’s Awards, entries were also asked to highlight one or more of the following: the importance of partnerships in designing and delivering services; innovation in the use of information technologies; or a strong contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These topics are aligned with the overall theme of the 2018 WTPO Conference, Trade and Investment Ecosystems: Delivering for growth.

The Awards jury is comprised of senior TPO representatives from the 2016 Award winners, and is chaired by ITC Executive Director Arancha González.

Commenting on this year’s shortlist, Ms González said: ‘Institutions play a crucial role in supporting business innovation, trade-led growth and the internationalization of MSMEs. The WTPO Awards aim to provoke new thinking and provide a platform to share practices that work.’

“The quality of all the entries received for this year’s Awards illustrates that TPOs across the world are boosting delivery and rethinking their services to help MSMEs succeed. They also demonstrate how TPOs are contributing to inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” she said. “Today’s nominees edged ahead of the others by their vision and by demonstrating excellence across all areas of service support,”

WTPO AWARDS 2018 SHORTLIST

Best use of a partnership

Austria: Advantage Austria

State of Palestine: Palestine Trade Centre (PALTRADE)

Qatar: Qatar Development Bank – TASDEER

Republic of Korea: Korea Trade-Invest Promotion Agency (KOTRA)

Best use of information technology

Ghana: Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA)

Switzerland: Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE)

Best initiative to ensure that trade is inclusive and sustainable

Egypt: Export Development Authority (EDA)

Mauritius: Economic Development Board (EDB)

Mongolia: Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI)

Nigeria: Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC)

Peru: Prom Peru