How Global Trade can Reduce Poverty

The Challenges

It is well-known that trade provides economic benefits, but the challenge for governments is to how to ensure that it benefits the poor. There is not much information explaining how countries can reduce poverty via trade. Furthermore, once a country does decide to promote foreign trade, the challenge is that poor communities do not have the necessary business skills to participate in an international trading program.

The Solutions

• Promote business relationships between local exporters, foreign importers and local underprivileged communities
• Provide quality trade opportunity information to small manufacturers
• Send promising members of poor communities on Global Trading courses
• Improve the communication infrastructure
• Governments should meet with community leaders to discuss how to reduce poverty by means of global trade and identify market sectors with export potential
• Create export links to group a number of similar underprivileged manufacturers together to generate the quantities required for exporting