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An analytical paper on the economic rationale and evidence to support the Export Plan

The last few years have been challenging for international trade. Global trade growth had slowed to 0.9% in 2019 and that was before the additional challenges of responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with disrupted supply chains affecting businesses in almost all sectors1 . However, global trade has proved to be both more resilient than most had feared, and integral to global prosperity. Global value chains (GVCs) have been a crucial part of that response, allowing businesses the opportunity to split production processes across countries to increase output and financial returns. In many cases, this has bolstered resilience through global diversification and demonstrated the importance and the benefits of allowing trade to flow freely across borders.