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This policy brief examines the impact of the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the transition to paperless trade on small-scale cross-border agricultural traders in Zambia. It highlights how digital requirements and language barriers create 'SPS-Plus' burdens for SMEs with low literacy levels, and recommends the adoption of a centralized single window system alongside targeted digital skills training and local language translations of regulatory information.

This case study examines the Non-Tariff Barrier (NTB) Monitoring Mechanism, a regional instrument designed for the monitoring, reporting, and elimination of non-tariff barriers across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Launched in 2009 and administered primarily by Trade Mark Southern Africa (TMSA), the mechanism serves as a supplementary, facilitative tool to support the rules-based trade frameworks of these regional economic communities (RECs). It emphasizes the participation of the private sector through focal points and National Monitoring Committees (NMCs) to address trade-inhibiting barriers that disproportionately affect small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

This guide provides an overview of how countries are incorporating transparency provisions into investor-state dispute settlement processes to address the historical lack of public access to information regarding arbitration disputes.

This report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the trend toward increasing transparency in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). It analyzes how states are moving away from the traditionally confidential nature of private commercial arbitration by integrating specific transparency rules into bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and free trade agreements (FTAs), particularly regarding public notice, document access, open hearings, and amicus curiae submissions.

This fact sheet describes the advisory and capacity development services provided by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to help low- and middle-income governments and regional bodies establish legal and policy frameworks for responsible private sector investment in agriculture.

This report provides development forecasts for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) up to 2043. It compares a 'Current Path' trajectory—based on existing policies—against various sectoral scenarios and a 'Combined Agenda 2063' scenario, analyzing impacts on GDP, poverty, demographics, and carbon emissions.

This May 2013 report from the Institute for Security Studies analyzes key security issues for the AU Peace and Security Council. It details the risks of electoral violence in Zimbabwe following its constitutional referendum, the need for a multi-dimensional enhancement of the AMISOM mission to combat al-Shabaab in Somalia, and the efforts to institutionalize the Pan-African Network of the Wise (PanWise) to coordinate conflict prevention across the continent.