A delegation from the International Trade Centre, led by Robert Skidmore, Chief of Sector and Enterprise Competitiveness, visited the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and met with Rafia Syed, Director General Punjab-I / Services Division, to review ongoing collaboration between the two organizations. The meeting followed up on ITC’s continued support to TDAP across three areas of focus.
Those areas include helping a larger number of small and medium enterprises reach export readiness, connecting them directly with clients in international markets, and ensuring the supply side is stable and dependable enough to fulfill export orders once secured. Officials noted that all three areas ultimately converge at the point where Pakistani supply meets foreign demand, which aligns closely with TDAP’s core mandate. ITC, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, contributes technical expertise at the level of individual firms, working alongside national trade bodies to build export capacity.
ITC has served as a knowledge partner to TDAP on two key initiatives, PIXS and GLOBE Pakistan, both aimed at improving the country’s export ecosystem and helping local businesses connect with global markets. During the meeting, Skidmore acknowledged the steps TDAP has taken through these initiatives and commented on the quality and substance of both programs, noting that they had produced outcomes beyond preliminary discussion.
The continued engagement between TDAP and ITC reflects a broader effort to formalize technical cooperation aimed at improving Pakistan’s export competitiveness, particularly for smaller enterprises that often face barriers in accessing international markets without institutional support. By focusing on export readiness, market linkages, and supply-side reliability, the partnership seeks to address multiple stages of the export process rather than a single bottleneck.
As TDAP continues to expand programs like PIXS and GLOBE Pakistan, the involvement of international bodies such as ITC is expected to play a role in shaping how Pakistani SMEs are prepared for and integrated into global trade networks going forward.
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