Brussels, 24/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - At a conference in Rome on Wednesday 22 April 2009 on trade with developing countries, EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton called for greater efforts to be made to make it easier for developing countries, particularly in Africa, to trade with the rest of the world, an approach known as 'trade facilitation,' defined by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the scrapping of obstacles to the movement of goods over borders by means of simplifying customs formalities. There is a special chapter on trade facilitation in the multilateral world trade talks (known as the Doha Development Round). In her speech, Baroness Ashton highlighted the crucial role of trade facilitation in ensuring better integration of markets, explaining that red tape acts as a brake on trade and entrepreneurship, discouraging investment and encouraging corruption. She noted the vulnerability of small businesses to red tape, adding that simplifying trade procedures would reduce costs, speed up the paperwork, improve the service to consumers and help companies gain access to international markets. (E.H. trans fl)