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ON THIS PAGE: Work programme News WTO's role Background Cooperation Implementation/monitoring Regional reviews Global review Events Documents |
home > trade topics > development > aid for trade |
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Aid for Trade Aid for Trade aims to help developing countries, particularly least-developed countries, develop the trade-related skills and infrastructure that is needed to implement and benefit from WTO agreements and to expand their trade. The success of the initiative depends on creating closer cooperation in national capitals between trade, finance and development officials of WTO member governments. This needs to be matched by close cooperation at the international and regional level among intergovernmental organisations with core responsibilities in these areas and their member governments. |
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The Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 2010-2011 was issued on 27 November 2009. The aim of the Work Programme is to keep an on-going focus on Aid for Trade, a “spotlight effect”, which will generate continued impetus to resource mobilization, mainstreaming, operationalization and implementation. The Work Programme is complemented by an indicative calendar of Aid-for-Trade meetings culminating in a Third Global Review of Aid for Trade in 2012. The calendar will be regularly updated to provide information on progress achieved in the different areas of the Aid-for-Trade initiative.
News back to top Role of the WTO back to top The role of the WTO is to:
The Standards and Trade Development Facility maintains close contacts with the Aid for Trade initiative. It complements this global scheme through projects and monitoring of aid flows at an operational, issue-specific level.
> Fact sheet on Aid for Trade
The Aid for Trade initiative was launched at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005. In February 2006 the WTO established a Task Force, with the aim of “operationalizing” Aid for Trade. The Task Force recommended in July 2006 that Aid for Trade should focus on identifying the needs within recipient countries, responding to donors and acting as a bridge between donors and developing countries. It also recommended the establishment of a monitoring body in the WTO, which would undertake a periodic global review based on reports from a variety of stakeholders.
Working in cooperation back to top The WTO works in cooperation with an Advisory Group that the Director-General established in 2007 following the recommendations of the 2006 Aid-for-Trade Task Force. The main objective of the Advisory Group is to take forward the Task Force recommendations by encouraging coordination among the key players in the Aid for Trade initiative. The Advisory Group members are: the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IMF, Inter-American Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, ITC, OECD, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNECA, UNIDO and the World Bank.
Implementation/monitoring back to top In 2007 the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative moved into its first stage of implementing the 2006 recommendations of the Aid for Trade Task Force. The WTO started by establishing a system of monitoring Aid for Trade at three levels:
A Symposium Identifying Indicators for Monitoring Aid for Trade was held on 15-16 September 2008.
Regional reviews back to top Working with its partner agencies, the WTO is also encouraging the holding of a limited number of national and sub-regional Aid-for-Trade reviews which will “road-test” current Aid-for-Trade plans, identify priorities, and agree on how these plans and priorities should be implemented. The aim of these reviews intially was to raise awareness of Aid-for-Trade. More recently, the Regional Reviews showcase “real-world” examples of Aid-for-Trade strategies in progress and create incentives for other countries and sub-regions to follow. The results of these regional reviews are profiled in the Global Reviews on Aid-for-Trade. > Regional Reviews 2009
Global review back to top One of the recommendations of the Aid-for-Trade task force was that a Global Periodic Review be convened yearly by the Monitoring Body in the WTO. The purpose of the Global Review is to strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation of Aid-for-Trade to provide strong incentive to both donors and recipients in advancing the Aid-for-Trade agenda. > Global
Review 2009
Events back to top
Official documents on Aid for Trade back to top Links to documents series: (WT/AFT/*) and (WT/COMTD/AFT/*) |
Background information
> The
IIRSA Initiative
> WTO and Millennium
Development Goals
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