WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/W/112
22 April 2003
(03-2150)
Committee on Trade and Development
2003 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
IMPLEMENTATION FOR THE FIRST QUARTER
(1 JANUARY TO 31 MARCH 2003)
Note by the Secretariat
Page No
I. INTRO DUCTION ................................................................................................................. ...2
II. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2003 TA  PLAN...................................................................2
A. STATUS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION ..............................................................................................2
B. COORDINATION - STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS ..............................................................................2
C. ACHIEVEMENTS , CHALLENGES AND ISSUES EMERGING TO DATE ...............................................3
III. FINANCIAL SI TUATION ......................................................................................................3
A. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DDAGTF ................................................................................................3
B. EXPENDITURES ............................................................................................................................4
C. BALANCE ............................................................................................................................... ......4
ANNEX  I  LIST OF  ACTIVITIES ................................................................................................5
ANNEX  II  -  DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGE NDA GLOBAL TRUST F UND  -  TDDA2 .........12
CONTRIBUTIONS PLED GED FOR 2003.......................................................................................12WT/COMTD/W/112
Page 2
I. INTRODUCTION
1. At its forty-third session on 22 November 2002 the Committee on Trade and Development
accepted the Coordinated WTO Secretariat Technical Assistance Plan 2003 (par. 163 of
WT/COMTD/M/43), with the agreed changes be ing incorporated in the revised TA Plan
(WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.2, Add.1/Rev.2 and Add.2).
2. At the same session, the Secretariat committed itself to provide quarterly status reports on the
implementation of the TA Plan.  This note summarizes the implementation of WTO technical
assistance in the first quarter of 2003 (1 January – 31 March 2003).
II. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2003 TA PLAN
A. STATUS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION
3. There are 441 discrete activities in the 2003 TA Plan.  During the first quarter of 2003, the
Secretariat implemented 66 activities:  58 of these activities were planned activities, out of which 8
were roll-overs of the 2002 TA Plan, and 8 were ad hoc (12% of the total of implemented activities).
The implementation rate in the first quarter was higher for regional planned activities (30 out of 187
activities, e.g. 16%) than for national activities (28 out of 254 activities, e.g. 11%).
4. Annex I lists the activities implemented during the first quarter by subject matter and dates of
execution. Most of the columns are similar to those of  the TA Plan.  In addition, the last two columns
provide information on the number of resource persons that participated in the delivery of the activity,
and whether the activity was planned or not.
5. The overall level of implementation of the Plan was modest and below expectation.  This was
due to a series of factors, some of which impacted heavily on the implementation rate and werebeyond the control of the Secretariat, such as the situation in the Gulf, health alerts in Asia,
instability/security concerns in beneficiary Members and late requests to postpone activities that were
already scheduled to be held.
B. 
COORDINATION - STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
6. On 28 February 2003, the Director-General of the WTO and the Executive Director of the
International Institute for Trade and Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding launching
a joint technical assistance programme.  This technical assistance programme will consist of training
courses jointly funded and executed by the two organizations.  The first activity will be a workshop
on trade in services to be implemented in association with the UNESCAP Secretariat in the summer.
7. The Secretariat continued to coordinate with partner organizations in the delivery of TA
activities without any major difficulty.  In addition, a request for information was sent jointly by the
WTO and the OECD Secretariats to TA providers.  This information will be used to update the trade
capacity building database that had been established last year.WT/COMTD/W/112
Page 3
C. ACHIEVEMENTS , CHALLENGES AND ISSUES EMERGING TO DATE
8. Approval of the 2003 TA Plan by Members in the year preceding implementation was an
important achievement.  The Secretariat hopes that this will become practice to ensure long-term
planning.
9. Improved Secretariat coordination for sustainable and cumulative capacity building has also
been achieved through the merger of the Technical Cooperation Division and the Training Institute
into the new Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation.
10. Impetus to JITAP implementation based on expanded scope, additional membership of eight
countries, linkage to poverty reduction and synergy with the IF and other trade-related technical
assistance programmes of the three implementing agencies is expected to result in better integration of
the beneficiary countries into the multilateral trading system.
11. The implementation of the 12-week regional trade policy courses and the 2-week DDA
courses for senior Government officials is producing the required balance between long-term trade
policy needs and short-term negotiation requirements.  However, it has to be noted that out of the
three DDA courses for senior Government officials that were organized during the first quarter, only
the one held in Cairo in January was fully executed.  The Cairo course was considered very successful
by most of the participants as well as the resource persons.  The execution of the other two DDAcourses planned during the first quarter (Georgia, China) had to be cancelled for reasons beyond the
control of the Secretariat or Members.
12. There is a need to accelerate the implementation of TA activities in the coming months, and
this is particularly essential for the DDA courses which should be fully implemented before the next
Ministerial Conference.  Nevertheless, it can be said  that a balance has been achieved in the activities
carried out to date, both in terms of geographical spread, and coverage of the various subjects.
13. With regard to evaluation, it will be recalled that for this to be meaningful, especially in terms
of measuring impact, there needs to be a critical mass of activities on which to have an assessment.
This cannot be the case after only three months of the programme of activities.  As it turns out, there
has been no remarkable "lesson learned" from these activities that would warrant being highlighted.On the contrary, in general the feedback from them serves to confirm both the positive and negative
features to which attention was drawn in the 2002 Technical Cooperation Audit (WT/COMTD/W/111
and Corr.1).
III. FINANCIAL SITUATION
A. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DDAGTF
14. Taking into account the balance available in the DDAGTF at the end of 2002, the pledges
initially made for 2002 that we still hope to cash in 2003 as well as the pledges made to date for 2003,
the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund had registered a total of pledges of CHF 19 million
at the end of March.  Taking also into account part of the earmarked funds to the extend they can
finance activities included in the 2003 TA Plan would bring that figure close to CHF 21.5 million.
This means that approximately CHF 2.5 million of additional pledges are still needed to reach the
target amount of CHF 24 million for the DDAGTF in 2003.WT/COMTD/W/112
Page 4
15. Annex II contains two tables listing the pledges initially made for 2002 but still pending on
1 January 2003 and the pledges made for 2003 in th e DDAGTF at the end of Ma rch.  The tables also
show the amounts actually paid into the WTO bank account by the end of the quarter.
B. EXPENDITURES
16. The total of actual expenditure and commitments undertaken in the DDAGTF stood at
CHF 5.3 million at the end of March.  Part of the commitments corresponds to activities scheduled in
the second quarter of 2003.
C. BALANCE
17. Cash wise, the DDAGTF is safely in the black for the moment with CHF 10 million left from
2002 or received in 2003, and a cash balance at the end of March of more than CHF 3.9 million.  The
terms of reference of the DDAGTF require, however, th at 75% of the target amount be in the bank by
the end of March.  In 2003, this means CHF 18 m illion.  The CBFA, CTD and General Council have
to be informed about the situation.  It should also be noted that the WTO did not receive any new
payment during the month of March.WT/COMTD/W/112
Page 5ANNEX  I LIST OF ACTIVITIES
Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
Agriculture 11-Mar-03
12-Mar-03National Venezuela The Agreement on Agriculture and on-going
negotiations, including SPSNational
workshop 1Y e s
Agriculture;
Services03-Feb-03
07-Feb-03Africa South Africa GATS and Agriculture for SADC countries -
implementation of a 2002 unplanned TAactivityRegional seminar SADC, United
StatesGovernment3N o
Capacity-
building20-Jan-03
24-Jan-03Africa Namibia Finalisation of TPR process for SACU
member countriesRegional
workshop 5Y e s
Capacity-
building29-Jan-03
30-Jan-03National Guyana Trade Policy Review workshop Technical mission  2 Yes
Capacity-
building03-Feb-03
07-Feb-03National Honduras National Trade Policy Course National training
course 2Y e s
Capacity-
building23-Feb-03
27-Feb-03National Mauritania National Trade Policy Course: Agriculture,
Services, Notifications, Customs ValuationNational training
course 2Y e s
Capacity-
building24-Feb-03
28-Feb-03Europe Austria Training on the WTO at the Applied
Economic Policy CourseTraining course JVI 1 Yes
Capacity-
building25-Feb-03
26-Feb-03Global France Regional Trade Agreements: Stability Pact
Working Group on Trade Liberalisation andFacilitation - Free Trade Agreements in the
BalkansWorkshop  1 Yes
Capacity-
building03-Mar-03
04-Mar-03Africa Ethiopia Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD III) Senior Official
Level Preparatory MeetingColloquium /
MeetingTICAD 1 No
Capacity-
building06-Mar-03
07-Mar-03National Dominican
RepublicTrade Policy Review Implementation
missionTechnical mission  3 Yes
Capacity-
building17-Mar-03
21-Mar-03Global /
AfricaSwitzerland Training of Trainers for Africa:  training for
academics participating in the Nairobi and
Rabat Regional Trade Policy CoursesRegional
workshopAfrican
Development
Bank, IDLO YesWT/COMTD/W/112
Page 6Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
Capacity-building20-Mar-03
20-Mar-03Global Switzerland Training of Trainers: Launching Conference Workshop ITC, UNCTAD 1 Yes
Capacity-
building26-Mar-03
28-Mar-03National Guinea National Trade Policy Course: Agriculture,
Services, and Non-tariffs measuresNational training
course 1Y e s
Customs
Valuation24-Feb-03
26-Feb-03National Tunisia Customs Valuation - implementation of a
2002 TA activityTechnical mission WCO 1 Yes
Customs
Valuation17-Mar-03
21-Mar-03Africa Kenya Practical Implementation of WTO Customs
Valuation Agreement for Customs Officersof selected African countriesRegional
workshopWCO 2 Yes
Customs
Valuation17-Mar-03
28-Mar-03Africa Mauritius Practical Implementation of WTO Customs
Valuation Agreement for Customs Officers
from French-Speaking African CountriesRegional
workshopWCO 4 Yes
Dispute
Settlement27-Jan-03
30-Jan-03Africa Mauritius Dispute Settlement - implementation of  a
2002 TA activityNational
workshop 2Y e s
Dispute
Settlement10-Mar-03
13-Mar-03Asia and the
PacificMongolia Third WTO/ESCAP Dispute Settlement
Procedures and Practices, and DSUNegotiations for AsiaRegional
workshopESCAP 2 Yes
Dispute
Settlement11-Mar-03
14-Mar-03Latin America
and CaribbeanParaguay WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures and
Practices, and DSU Negotiations for LatinAmericaRegional
workshop IDB/INTAL 2 Yes
Implementation
Issues24-Feb-03
26-Feb-03Middle East Oman Third session of ESCWA's Technical
Committee on "Trade Liberalization andEconomic Globalization"Committee
MeetingESCWA 1 No
Information
Technology /WTO ReferenceCentres01-Jan-03
31-Dec-03Global / LDCs Switzerland LDCs connection to the Internet via SITA SITA   Yes
Information
Technology /
WTO ReferenceCentres27-Jan-03
30-Jan-03National Djibouti Establishment of a WTO Reference Centre
at the Trade MinistryTechnical mission  2 YesWT/COMTD/W/112
Page 7Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
InformationTechnology /
WTO Reference
Centres10-Feb-03
12-Feb-03National Myanmar Upgrading of the WTO Reference Centre Technical mission  2 Yes
Information
Technology /WTO Reference
Centres17-Feb-03
19-Feb-03National Tonga Upgrading of the WTO Reference Centre Technical mission  2 Yes
Information
Technology /WTO ReferenceCentres12-Mar-03
14-Mar-03National Togo Establishment of a WTO Reference Centre
at the Banque Ouest Africaine deDéveloppement (BOAD)Technical mission  1 No
Integrated
Framework /Least-developedcountries04-Feb-03
05-Feb-03Global / LDCs United States
of AmericaIntegrated Framework Evaluation - Tenders
Process meetingSymposium/
meetingUNDP 1 No
Integrated
Framework /Least-developedcountries11-Feb-03
13-Feb-03National Lesotho Finalisation and follow-up of the DTIS,
including TPRTechnical mission IMF, ITC,
UNCTAD,UNDP, WorldBank, WTO, lead
donor1Y e s
Mainstreaming 10-Mar-03
14-Mar-03National Japan Meeting with Japanese authorities on
Technical Assistance and capacity-buildingColloquium /
MeetingGovernment of
Japan1N o
Rules 25-Feb-03
27-Feb-03National South Africa Anti-dumping and CVD calculations –
implementation of a 2002 TA activityNational
workshop 1Y e s
Rules 17-Mar-03
20-Mar-03National Jamaica Anti-dumping procedures Technical mission  2 Yes
Rules 31-Mar-03
02-Apr-03Latin America
and CaribbeanBarbados Subsidy disciplines for Caribbean countries Regional
workshopCARICOM,
RNM,
IDB/INTAL2Y e s
Rules 31-Mar-03
03-Apr-03National Bangladesh WTO Rules for Bangladesh Tariff
Commission officialsNational
workshop 2Y e sWT/COMTD/W/112
Page 8Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
Rules 31-Mar-03
03-Apr-03National Brazil Training of Investigators: Anti-dumping
proceduresNational
programme 1Y e s
Sanitary and
PhytosanitaryMeasures05-Mar-03
07-Mar-03Asia and the
PacificIndonesia Application and implementation of the SPS
Agreement in selected South East AsiancountriesRegional
workshopCodex, IPPC, OIE 1 Yes
Sanitary and
PhytosanitaryMeasures24-Mar-03
26-Mar-03Latin America
and CaribbeanDominican
RepublicApplication and implementation of the SPS
Agreement in selected Caribbean and LatinAmerican countriesRegional
workshopCodex, IPPC,
OIE, CARICOM,RNM,IDB/INTAL1Y e s
Services 15-Jan-03
17-Jan-03National Colombia Trade in services National
workshop 2Y e s
Services 16-Jan-03
16-Jan-03Latin America
and CaribbeanJamaica Scheduling GATS commitments for
CARICOM - Implementation of a 2002 TAactivity – Replacement for WTO / ITUseminar on Telecom in the New Round –schedulingVideo-conference CARICOM 1 Yes
Services 21-Jan-03
23-Jan-03National Ecuador Trade in services National
workshop 2Y e s
Services 21-Jan-03
23-Jan-03National Zambia Trade in services National
workshop 2Y e s
Services 11-Feb-03
12-Feb-03National Chinese
TaipeiRegulatory practices under the GATS National
workshop 1Y e s
Services 11-Feb-03
13-Feb-03National Myanmar The GATS and on-going negotiations
including the scheduling of commitmentsNational
workshop 2Y e s
Services 11-Mar-03
13-Mar-03National Peru The GATS and on-going negotiations
including the scheduling of commitmentsTechnical mission  2 Yes
Services 19-Mar-03
21-Mar-03National Bolivia Trade in services, including the scheduling
of commitmentsNational
workshop 2Y e sWT/COMTD/W/112
Page 9Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
Services 24-Mar-03
25-Mar-03Asia and the
PacificMalaysia APEC Telecom Workgroup "WTO
Workshop", and Roundtable - Services and
TelecommunicationsRegional
workshopAPEC 1 No
Services 25-Mar-03
27-Mar-03National Antigua and
BarbudaTrade in services, including the scheduling
of commitmentsNational
workshop 2Y e s
Short Trade
Policy Courses18-Feb-03
28-Feb-03Asia and the
PacificThailand Fifth WTO/ESCAP Regional Training
Course on WTO Agreements and the Doha
Development AgendaRegional training
courseESCAP 3 Yes
Short Trade
Policy Courses03-Mar-03
07-Mar-03Asia and the
PacificPapua New
GuineaThird WTO/FORSEC Trade Policy Course
on WTO Agreements and the Doha
Development AgendaRegional training
courseFORSEC 2 Yes
Singapore Issues 14-Jan-03
17-Jan-03Africa Tanzania Transparency in Government Procurement
for English speaking CountriesRegional
workshopWorld Bank 2 Yes
Singapore Issues 21-Jan-03
23-Jan-03Asia and the
PacificThailand Trade and Competition Policy for Asia and
the PacificRegional
workshopUNCTAD 3 Yes
Singapore Issues 27-Jan-03
28-Jan-03Africa Djibouti Trade and Investment for Francophone
AfricaRegional seminar UNCTAD 2 Yes
Singapore Issues 04-Feb-03
05-Feb-03Africa Botswana Trade and Investment for English-speaking
African countries - implementation of a 2002TA activityRegional seminar UNCTAD 3 Yes
Singapore Issues 22-Feb-03
22-Feb-03Global Switzerland Trade and Competition Policy for Geneva-
based DelegatesSymposium UNCTAD  Yes
Singapore Issues 25-Feb-03
28-Feb-03Latin America
and CaribbeanBarbados Customs Valuation and Trade Facilitation
for Latin America and Caribbean countries,
in English - implementation of a 2002 TA
activityRegional
workshop 2Y e s
Singapore Issues 26-Feb-03
27-Feb-03Asia and the
PacificMalaysia UNCTAD Competition Policy for  Asia and
the PacificRegional
workshopUNCTAD 1 Yes
Singapore Issues 18-Mar-03
20-Mar-03National Morocco Trade and Investment National
workshop 2Y e sWT/COMTD/W/112
Page 10Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
Singapore Issues 23-Mar-03
26-Mar-03Africa South Africa UNCTAD Intensive Training Course on
Trade and Investment for English-speaking
AfricaRegional training
courseUNCTAD 1 Yes
Technical
Barriers to
Trade25-Feb-03
27-Feb-03Africa Namibia TBT Agreement for English-speaking
African countriesRegional
workshop 3Y e s
Technical
Barriers to
Trade18-Mar-03
20-Mar-03Global Switzerland Participation of Developing Countries in the
discussions of the TBT technical cooperation
ProgrammeCommittee
Meeting  Yes
Textiles and
Clothing19-Mar-03
21-Mar-03Latin America
and CaribbeanDominican
RepublicImplementation of the Textiles and Clothing
Agreement for Caribbean and Central
American countriesRegional
workshopCARICOM,
RNM,
IDB/INTAL2Y e s
Trade and
Environment25-Feb-03
27-Feb-03Latin America
and CaribbeanBolivia Trade and Environment for Latin American
CountriesRegional
workshop 3Y e s
Trade
NegotiationSkills19-Jan-03
30-Jan-03Arab and
Middle EastEgypt Advanced Training Programme for
Government Negotiators on the DohaDevelopment Agenda.Regional training
courseArab Monetary
Fund/ ForeignTrainingCentre/AmericanUniversity ofCairo/ Cairo
University15 Yes
Trade
NegotiationSkills17-Mar-03
21-Mar-03National Guatemala Preparation of the Toolkit for Negotiators Seminar SIECA 1 No
Trade
NegotiationSkills24-Mar-03
28-Mar-03Asia and the
PacificChinese
TaipeiTrade Negotiations Skills for selected Asian
and Pacific CountriesRegional
workshopESCAP,
FORSEC,ASEAN2Y e s
Trade
NegotiationSkills28-Mar-03
28-Mar-03National Chinese
TaipeiTrade negotiations skills - Combined with
the regional workshopNational
workshop 1Y e s
Trade-related
IntellectualProperty Rights18-Mar-03
19-Mar-03National Benin TRIPS Agreement - implementation of a
2002 TA activityNational seminar  1 YesWT/COMTD/W/112
Page 11Subject matters Dates Region Venue Topics Activity Cooperation
withNumber
of staffPlanned
Yes / No
Trade-relatedIntellectual
Property Rights24-Mar-03
25-Mar-03National Mali TRIPS Agreement - implementation of a
2002 TA activityNational seminar  1 Yes
Number  of activities 66WT/COMTD/W/112
Page 12
ANNEX  II
DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA GLOBAL TRUST FUND  -  TDDA2
CONTRIBUTIONS PLEDGED FOR 2003
PledgesDonors Fund YearCurrency  Amount  CHFPaid
CHFConditions
Australia TDDA2 2003 AUD 500,000 409,091 - None
Canada TDDA2 2002 CAD 500,000 525,300 525,300 None
Denmark TDDA2 2003 DKK 3,000,000 587,400 587,400 None
Finland TDDA2 2003 Euro 420,000 609,000 - None
France TDDA2 2003 Euro 1,000,000 1,450,000 - None
Germany TDE02 2003 DM 810,000 635,040 - None
Germany TDDA2 2003 Euro 500,000 725,000 - None
Iceland TDDA2 2003 CHF 15,000 15,000 - None
Japan TDDA2 2003 CHF 210,275 210,275 210,275 None
Japan TDDA2 2003 USD 400,000 540,000 - None
Sweden TDDA2 2003 SEK 10,000,000 1,562,500 1,602,693 None
Switzerland TDDA2 2003 CHF 750,000 750,000 - None
United Kingdom TUK05 2003 GBP 100,000 230,000 - None
United Kingdom TDDA2 2003 GBP 300,000 690,000 - None
USA TDDA2 2003 USD 1,000,000 1,370,000 - None
Total 10,308,606 2,925,668
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