EIF Phase Three was officially launched on 25 March 2026 during a high-level event held on the margins of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé. Co-organized by Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates and the EIF Executive Secretariat, the event brought together ministers, development partners and representatives from international organizations, regional institutions and the private sector. >>>more
Thank you to the EIF Phase Three funders!
EIF Phase Three voices
This third phase of the EIF comes at a defining moment for the LDCs and recently graduated countries. Familiar structural vulnerabilities are being compounded by a disrupted global trading system, power politics, debt pressures, climate change, and global economic uncertainty. At the same time, the current global context offers some important opportunities for LDCs to use trade to drive growth, development, and job creation. EIF Phase Three has an ambitious funding target, reflecting the scale of the challenges and opportunities ahead. I therefore encourage partners considering pledges to step forward.
I extend heartfelt congratulations to our newest EIF Executive Director, Ms. Aissatou Diallo — we look forward to supporting, collaborating, and partnering with her in this vital mission.
I also convey sincere gratitude to all donors who generously pledged their support yesterday, and to all those who continue to champion the EIF. Your generosity uplifts real lives. I urge all members yet to contribute to join this cause — the EIF works, and it delivers for our people.
The EIF has enabled LDCs to develop key national frameworks for enhancing trade capacities, laying the foundation for coherent, forward-looking trade policies. Through our collective efforts with donors and key development partners, the EIF's Phase Three will play an even more critical role in delivering tangible benefits for LDCs by deepening economic diversification, harnessing digital trade, meeting evolving sustainability standards and strengthening resilience.
The Enhanced Integrated Framework, or EIF, is a unique global initiative for the least developed countries that is driven by the principles of country ownership, leaving no one behind, partnership and delivering enduring impacts.
Trade and investment — together, they can transform economies. And for the LDCs, the EIF is making that transformation real.