Tony Blair Backs TWIN Foundation Launch with IOTA to Transform Global Digital Trade

In a significant moment for global commerce, the TWIN Foundation was officially launched yesterday in Lusaka during the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol event. A product of years of innovation, collaboration and digital vision, this launch represents a major leap forward in the way international trade is conducted.

What began as a bold experiment in 2016, led by IOTA and developed through TLIP, has now become a global movement. The TWIN Foundation stands for “Trade and World Integration Network”, and it is being built on open-source principles to serve a very specific purpose: to make trade faster, more transparent, more secure and above all, more inclusive. If you work in global commerce or are developing in spaces where data, identity and trust matter, TWIN is your new home base.

What is the TWIN Foundation and Why Does It Matter?

The TWIN Foundation is a non-profit organization tasked with stewarding the global rollout of digital trade infrastructure, with an emphasis on interoperability, transparency and decentralization. In short, it is creating the plumbing that powers the digital trade world of tomorrow. Launched with the support of AfCFTA and alongside key collaborators such as IOTA and TLIP, TWIN is already demonstrating success through pilot projects with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). These pilots are not theoretical, they’re real-world applications showing how customs, logistics, and cross-border documentation can all be streamlined through technology. At its core, the Foundation is proving that digital trade infrastructure is not only a nice-to-have, but a critical need. By embedding trust and verifiability into data flows, it makes digital trade work at scale, globally.

How TWIN and IOTA are Rebuilding Trust in Trade

One of the earliest backers and developers of this system was IOTA technology. Known for its feeless, decentralized architecture, IOTA was instrumental in establishing the digital backbone of TWIN. The goal was simple yet radical: eliminate friction in trade caused by paperwork, inconsistent standards, and delays in verification. By deploying IOTA’s distributed ledger technology within the TLIP protocol (Trade and Logistics Information Pipeline), TWIN can now allow governments, customs authorities and companies to share verifiable data instantly and securely. The result? Fewer errors, lower costs, and better collaboration between trading partners. This isn’t just technological evolution, it’s a fundamental reimagining of how we build systems for trade. And it’s happening right now.

How Is TWIN Promoting Inclusive Trade Across Borders?

One of the most powerful aspects of the TWIN Foundation is its strong emphasis on inclusive trade. By leveraging open-source frameworks, the foundation ensures that small and medium-sized enterprises, startups and underrepresented regions also get a seat at the table. Whether you’re a local logistics firm in Kenya or a customs agency in Ghana, the infrastructure does not require massive budgets or complex integrations. It’s built to scale, up and down, depending on what each region or partner needs. This is critical in a world where digital inequality can often mirror economic inequality. TWIN isn’t just building systems for the top 1 percent of traders. It’s democratizing access to global trade flows for everyone.

What’s Next for TWIN and the Future of Global Trade?

With the official launch behind them, the TWIN Foundation is now looking ahead to expanding its ecosystem. More pilot programs, more public-private partnerships and more countries onboarded into its infrastructure will define the next phase of growth. But perhaps most importantly, this is just the beginning of the journey. By committing to open standards, decentralization and global collaboration, the TWIN Foundation is setting a new benchmark for how we design digital trade infrastructure that actually works, across borders, sectors and technologies. And as Sir Tony Blair, Executive Chair of the Institute for Global Change, emphasized during the launch, “If we can rebuild trust in how the world trades, we can rebuild prosperity too.”

A New Era of Trade is Here

The TWIN Foundation is not just a product launch, it is the launch of an entirely new global framework for conducting trade in the 21st century. From its roots in IOTA technology to its strong partnerships with institutions like AfCFTA and KRA, this initiative is designed to last. By focusing on digital trade infrastructure, the Foundation is solving long-standing issues in cross-border commerce. And with a clear focus on inclusive trade, it’s ensuring that no one is left behind. Whether you’re a policymaker, a developer or a business owner, if you care about the future of trade, the TWIN Foundation is worth paying attention to. This is not a blueprint. It’s already being built.