STDF launches Annual Report 2025, “Accelerating Safe Trade: From Innovation to Scale”

Following World Food Safety Day on 7 June, the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) has launched its 2025 Annual Report, Accelerating Safe Trade: From Innovation to Scale. The report showcases how investments in strengthening sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) systems are improving food safety, facilitating trade and supporting sustainable development.

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The report marks the first year of implementation of the STDF Strategy 2025-2030. Building on the STDF's 20-year history, the Strategy sets out a pathway to facilitate safe trade that contributes to sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, food security and resilience to climate change. A key element of the Strategy is deepening the focus on public-private collaboration, regional partnerships, innovation and investment to scale up SPS innovations that deliver greater impact.

"The STDF's approach stands out as a proven, effective model for practical, innovative SPS solutions. Investment in the STDF work is more critical than ever to help strengthen SPS systems, thereby also ensuring the availability of safe food. I call on all partners to deepen our collective efforts to deliver the STDF's safe trade impact into the future," said the STDF 2025 Working Group Chairperson, Marie-Luise Rau, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity, Germany.

"The WTO supports the STDF Strategy for 2025-2030 and encourages current and prospective partners to back the STDF's efforts so that more people around the world can benefit from safe and inclusive trade," said WTO Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam.

Scaling solutions for greater impact

A key theme of the report is how SPS innovations developed with STDF support are being adopted and expanded. In 2025, the STDF launched new work on scaling up and financing SPS innovations. A Scaling Study examined pathways to replicate and expand successful approaches.

One of the best-known examples is the International Plant Protection Convention's ePhyto Solution, piloted through an STDF project with diverse public and private sector partners. By the end of 2025, 96 countries were exchanging electronic phytosanitary certificates, reducing costs and improving efficiency for the public and private sector.

The report also highlights how SPS innovations continue to generate impact beyond the life of individual projects. Across Africa, for instance, all 16 member states of the Southern African Development Community formally adopted harmonized guidelines for the registration of biopesticides, guidelines that were developed through an STDF-supported regional initiative.

Key results in 2025

In 2025, STDF projects and knowledge work contributed to improved SPS capacity and trade outcomes that made a meaningful difference for people across developing countries.

Highlights include:

• In Mali, small-scale producers of smoked fish secured price premiums that more than doubled over five years, while exports increased to five countries in West Africa.
• In Jamaica, interceptions of hot pepper exports due to the presence of quarantine pests declined by 88% over a three-year period, improving access to export markets.
• In Papua New Guinea, an innovative Premium Cocoa Assurance Protocol was put in place, with more than 1,950 farmers equipped with new skills to produce standards-compliant fine-flavour cocoa for export markets.
• Across 33 countries, 53 SPS-related laws, regulations, policies and processes were adopted or strengthened to facilitate trade, while more than 8,000 public and private sector stakeholders were trained on good practices to improve food safety, animal and plant health.

Shared value, shared impact: STDF's triple win

The report highlights the benefits of the STDF's mutually beneficial partnership for people in developing and least developed countries, the private sector and consumers globally, and underscores the central role of development partners in its performance and success. It puts a spotlight on the investment case for the STDF's catalytic role, building on the findings of the World Bank's 2025 World Development Report, which recognizes the role of standards as a springboard for development, growth and poverty reduction.

Demand for STDF support continued to rise in 2025, with a record 380 applications from stakeholders in developing and least-developed countries, amid a global decline in official development assistance.

Released in conjunction with World Food Safety Day 2025, held under the theme "From burden to solutions - safe food everywhere," the report documents a range of SPS innovations and partnerships that support food safety objectives while facilitating trade.

The STDF Annual Report 2025 can be viewed and downloaded here.

About the STDF

The�STDF is a global partnership that brings together organizations working on trade, agriculture, health and development to strengthen SPS capacity in developing countries and least developed countries. It was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), which hosts and manages the partnership.

Contributing to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), STDF activities promote safe and inclusive trade, while supporting sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, food security and resilience to climate change.

Since its creation, the STDF has funded more than 275 projects and project preparation grants benefiting developing economies and LDCs.

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