Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments

The report outlines a framework for governments to support Indigenous business participation in international trade, addressing barriers such as finance, infrastructure, and complex regulations. It details a typology of measures across international agreements, national legislation, and trade promotion, while providing specific examples of inclusive policies from various countries and regional arrangements.

• Indigenous Peoples make up 6.2% of the global population (approximately 476.6 million), with about 70% residing in the Asia-Pacific region. They face significant economic disparities, with nearly 19% of people living on less than $1.90 a day coming from Indigenous communities.
• Geographic isolation is a major trade barrier; nearly 75% of Indigenous People live in rural or remote areas. In Canada, remote Indigenous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were found to be 65% less likely to export.
• The Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement (IPETCA), involving New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Chinese Taipei, is a pioneering framework that includes a Partnership Council where Indigenous representatives sit alongside state actors to determine implementation and priorities.
• Governments can use specific mechanisms in trade agreements to protect Indigenous interests, including 'carve-outs' for policy flexibility, 'exceptions' to fulfill legal or treaty obligations, and 'standalone chapters' for capacity-building and cooperation.
• The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted a treaty in May 2024 requiring patent applications to disclose the country of origin of genetic resources and the Indigenous People who provided the associated traditional knowledge.
• Public procurement policies, such as set-asides and mandatory targets, are used to integrate Indigenous businesses into government supply chains. Examples include New Zealand requiring agencies to award at least 8% of annual contracts to Māori businesses and Canada requiring a minimum of 5% of procurement contract value for Indigenous businesses.
• Indigenous perspectives have influenced the legal recognition of nature as a legal person in several countries, including New Zealand (Te Urewera, Whanganui River, and Mount Taranaki), Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, India, and Bangladesh.
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) has largely lacked recognition of Indigenous rights, though the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) is identified as a potential tool for identifying disparities in Indigenous trade participation.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Indigenous_Trade_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Indigenous_Trade_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments |date=March 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Indigenous_Trade_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025enabling, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Indigenous_Trade_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }