Our Difference - Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation

Embedding Private Sector

Public-Private Partnership

The Alliance is the only international trade reform initiative structured explicitly around a public-private partnership model and committed to measuring the impact of its projects in terms of time and cost savings for business.

Governments set the rules, but businesses drive trade and are the biggest beneficiaries of trade reform.

The Alliance provides a platform for businesses of all sizes to get involved in streamlining border processes, ensuring our projects address real-world priorities and benefit everyone – companies, consumers, and governments.

Seeking Agility

Adaptable by Design

The Alliance works in agile, responsive ways to support countries in implementing diverse trade reforms, varying in length and complexity.

Our lean operation allows us to move quickly when scoping new projects and commissioning feasibility studies, with swift approval for valid proposals.

Our public-private partnership approach maximises buy-in from all key stakeholders before the start of every project and we nurture collaborative effort throughout to successful, sustainable completion.

Measuring Results

A Data-Driven Approach

Measuring results is central to showing how our work improves lives. The Alliance uses proven tools — including the bespoke Total Trade and Logistics Cost (TTLC) methodology developed by A.P. Møller Maersk A/S — to capture the time and cost savings of trade reform.

Each project is anchored in a tailored Theory of Change and tracked through continuous data collection, ensuring accountability, learning and a clear view of real-world impact for businesses, consumers, and governments.