The world is now in the fourth year of the Great Recession. So far, theeconomies belonging to the World Trade Organization have resisted the kind of widespread protectionism thatwould make a bad situation much worse. But protectionist pressures are buildingas weary politicians hear more and morecalls for economic nationalism.

The WTO’s best defense of open trade is a good offense. A new WTO TradeFacilitation Agreement would benefit all by increasing developing countries’capacity to trade, strengthening the WTO’s development mandate, and boostingglobal economic growth. More than a decade after the launch of the Doha Roundof global free-trade talks, this agreement could be adown payment on the commitment that WTO members have made to linkingtrade and development.

Developing countries stand to gain the most from improving tradefacilitation. The right support would help traders in poorer countries tocompete and integrate into global supply chains.

There are rich opportunities for gains. Inefficiencies in processing and clearinggoods put traders in developing countries at a competitivedisadvantage. Outdated and inefficient border procedures and inadequateinfrastructure often mean high transaction costs,long delays, opportunities for corruption, and an additional 10-15% in the costof getting goods to market – even more in landlockedcountries.

Research by the World Bank suggests that every dollar of assistanceprovided to support trade-facilitation reform in developing countries yields areturn of up to $70 ineconomic benefits. When funds are directed at improving border-managementsystems and procedures – the very issues covered by the trade-facilitationnegotiations – the impact is particularly significant.

Projects aimed at boosting efficiency and transparency, supported bydevelopment banks and bilateral donors, have made a dramatic difference. InEast Africa, procedural improvements havereduced the average clearance time for cargo crossingthe Kenya-Uganda border from almost two days to only seven hours. In Cameroon,some of our organizations have worked with the World Customs Organization tohelp the customs authority reduce corruption and increase collection ofrevenues – estimated to be more than $25 million a year.

On the Laos-Vietnam border, a sub-regional cross-border transportagreement has cut cargo transit times fromfour hours to just over one hour. A new customs component to a highway projectbetween Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City helped increase the total valueof trade through the Moc Bai-Bavet border by 40% over three years. In Peru,some of our banks have worked with international freightforwarders to connect remote villages andsmall businesses to export markets through national postal services, turningmore than 300 small firms into exporters, most for the first time.

The outlines of a new WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement are already clear,but some technical differences remain on specific provisions. Developingcountries want a credible commitment to support implementation, such astechnical assistance and capacity-building. A World Bank study estimatesthat the costs of implementing the measures likely to be covered by a Trade Facilitationagreement would be relatively modest – $7-11 million in the countries studied, spread out over a number of years – especiallywhen compared to the expected benefits.

Capacity-building and financing programs for governments that want toimprove their trade facilitation are available already. Major donor countriesand international development organizations have put a priority on, andincreased investment in, trade facilitation. According to the OECD, from2002 to 2010, trade facilitation-related assistance increased ten-fold in real terms, from almost $40 million tonearly $400 million.

The African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the EuropeanBank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank,the Islamic Development Bank, and the World Bank stand ready – alongside theWTO – to assist developing countries through the process of full and effectiveimplementation of the agreement. That means helping countries to assess their trade-facilitation needs on acase-by-case basis, match those needs with the resources required, and broker partnerships between recipient countries and development allies toensure that support is provided quickly and efficiently.

In international negotiations, there is always a way forward if thebenefits of an agreement are shared by all. Trade facilitation offers adevelopment dividend for all countries. It is time for WTO members to makeprogress on issues where there is room to do so. It will be a down payment on a solid investment.