Trade Facilitation Advisory

Nations Served

The Case for Trade Facilitation

Streamlining Trade to Accelerate African Growth

Every extra day a shipment spends at a port costs money. Complex customs procedures, paper-based documentation, siloed government agencies, and opaque fee structures cost West African economies billions of dollars annually in unnecessary trade friction. The World Bank estimates that reducing border compliance time by just 10% can increase trade volumes by 5%.

IMETC's Trade Facilitation practice works at the intersection of policy, technology, and operations — advising governments, port authorities, and private sector actors on removing trade barriers and building the systems, processes, and regulatory frameworks that enable goods to flow faster, cheaper, and more transparently.

✓WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) implementation advisory
✓Single Window System (SWS) design and deployment support
✓Customs procedures modernisation and risk profiling
✓Port Community System (PCS) implementation
✓AfCFTA cross-border trade compliance advisory
✓Trade logistics cost analysis and reduction strategies

Discuss Your Trade Challenge

Our Impact Areas

Where We Create Value

Customs Modernisation

Advisory on transitioning from paper-based to automated customs processing — e-submission, risk-based selectivity, pre-arrival processing, and Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programmes.

National Single Window

Supporting governments in designing, procuring, and deploying Single Window Systems that integrate all permit-issuing agencies into one digital platform.

AfCFTA Readiness

Helping Nigerian and West African businesses and governments prepare for and capitalise on the African Continental Free Trade Area — tariff schedules, rules of origin, and non-tariff barrier reduction.

Regulatory Reform

Policy drafting and stakeholder engagement support for reforming port charges, documentation requirements, and inspection regimes that add unnecessary cost and time to trade.

Port Community Systems

Advisory on PCS deployment — enabling shippers, agents, terminal operators, shipping lines, and government agencies to exchange information on a single platform.

Capacity Building

Training programmes for customs officers, trade associations, importers, exporters, and freight forwarders on new procedures, digital tools, and international trade standards.

Key Frameworks

International Frameworks We Work With

Our trade facilitation advisory is grounded in internationally recognised frameworks and agreements, ensuring that reforms we support are durable, globally compatible, and investor-friendly.

The WTO TFA — in force since 2017 — requires member countries to simplify customs procedures, improve transparency, and accelerate the release and clearance of goods. IMETC has supported TFA implementation diagnostics, action planning, and Needs Assessment and Priorities (NAP) submissions for multiple West African member states.

We provide AfCFTA readiness assessments for governments and businesses — analysing tariff schedules, rules of origin requirements, non-tariff barriers, and the infrastructure needed to benefit from intra-African trade liberalisation. Our AfCFTA work is closely coordinated with the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra.

We support compliance with and operationalisation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) — which aims to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers among the 15 ECOWAS member states. Our advisory includes product approval processes, certificate of origin support, and NTB identification.

IMETC helps customs administrations align with WCO standards including the SAFE Framework of Standards, Revised Kyoto Convention, and the Harmonised System (HS) nomenclature. Our advisors include former WCO technical advisors with direct implementation experience.