Economic integration, trade and connectivity

Trade is an essential component in a country's economic growth and development strategy. EU partner countries often face constraints that prevent them from reaping the full benefits of expanded trade. With Aid for Trade (AfT), the EU supports these countries in addressing potential challenges to integrating into the global economy sustainably and inclusively.

Aid for Trade

Supporting the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative, the EU is the leading provider of AfT. 

The EU's AfT strategy considers the interlinkages that exist between investment and trade, which need to be fully exploited to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in line with the UN's 2030 Agenda. The objectives of the EU AfT strategy are to:

• better align EU AfT interventions with market-driven opportunities and constraints
• focus more on the least developed countries (LDCs) as they need the most support
• deliver tailored support, depending on the country's level of development
• use a variety of AfT instruments (grants, budget support, blending and guarantees, improving investment climate, etc.)
• increase the contribution of AfT to SDGs while supporting a stronger participation of women in the economy

Our approach

To achieve these objectives and maximise development impact, a coherent mobilisation of policy instruments is needed. These include technical assistance, capacity building, budget support, blending and guarantees. EU trade instruments have become major drivers of the EU's relationship with partner countries. 

EU's AfT efforts are in line with the EU's Global Gateway Strategy, which aims to boost digital, energy and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world.

Aid for Trade in the Global Context

Both AfT and Global Gateway are centred around the EU's commitment to sustainable and inclusive development.

Altogether, the EU provides AfT support to over 134 countries. 

The EU remained among the topmost significant contributors to global AfT over the past decade. In 2023, EU contributions to AfT reached €16.2 billion, which represents 26% of total AfT flows. 

Aid for Trade navigation tool

The European Commission reports on its Aid for Trade commitments by publishing the relevant data in an interactive aid for trade navigation tool.

The downloadable navigation tool (Excel file) showcases the Aid for Trade flows of the EU, its Member States and other donors. It shows the data in a dashboard type of form that allows the user to freely explore the donors, beneficiaries, modalities and relevant themes.

The data is sourced from the OECD and the current version shows numbers from 2023, the latest year available.

Explore the Aid for Trade navigation tool

Aid for Trade by category

EU spending on AfT is mainly dedicated to trade-related infrastructure and building productive capacity, which accounted for more than 95% of its AfT commitments. EU's AfT support is focused on both hard infrastructure and soft (such as Trade Related Technical Assistance) measures.

Geographic Distribution

Africa and Asia are the main beneficiaries of the EU's AfT flows. Support to Africa and Asia is extended through financing across multiple sectors according to the different demands across the diverse development levels and trade challenges faced by Asia and Africa.

Aid for Trade for sustainable development and gender mainstreaming

EU's Aid for Trade supports sustainable development and promotes gender equality in partner countries through trade-related capacity building, support to green transition and promoting women's participation in the economy.

• EU AfT support to the green economy increased by 33% between 2014 and 2023.
• In 2023, over half of commitments were spent on climate mitigation actions.
• Support for actions integrating gender equality targets rose sharply, from €3.6 billion in 2014 to €8.6 billion in 2023 (+139%).