PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/277
8 March 2002
(02-1167)
PLEDGING CONFERENCE TO PROVIDE SOUND FINANCIAL BASIS FOR DOHA
AGENDA
Trade Ministers and officials, high-ranking representatives from International Organizations and
experts on finance and development will attend a Pledging Conference in Geneva on Monday11 March 2002, organized by the WTO. The Conference is aimed at securing funds to enhance
technical assistance and capacity-building to help developing countries participate more actively in
the Doha Development Agenda.
"This Pledging Conference demonstrates the co ntinuing momentum of the Doha Development
Agenda," said WTO Director-General Mike Moore, who will chair the conference. "And this is notonly a fund-raising exercise, but also an opportunity for substantive policy dialogue among members.
Ministers and eminent personalities will be able to develop their thoughts on specific aspects of trade-
related technical assistance and capacity-building and, in particular, the challenge posed by the
mandate of the Doha Declarations to provide a sound financial basis for WTO technical cooperation
activities."
Countries and Institutions are expected to pled ge their contributions to the Doha Development
Agenda Global Trust Fund, created by a decision of the WTO General Council in December 2001.
Participants will include Donald Johnston, Secretary-General, OECD; N.K. Biwott, Minister for
Trade and Industry, Kenya; Louis Kasekende, De puty Governor, Bank of Uganda; Jamel Eddine
Zarrouk, Division Chief, Arab Monetary Fund. Top executives from the Asian Development Bank,
the African Development Bank, the European Deve lopment Bank, the Inter-American Development
Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, will also attend.
The Conference will open with a pre-recorded vide o message by Luis Ernesto Derbez, Secretary of
the Economy of Mexico, the host country of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in
2003.
At the meeting, donor countries and organizations will announce how much money they plan to give
to finance WTO technical assistance. The Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund initial targetwas set at CHF 15 million (US$10 million).
Once the funding is in place, the money will be assigned to develop and extend a number of different
technical assistance programs being provided by the WTO in response to member government needs.PRESS/277
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These include:
* Geneva Weeks
Introduced in November 1999 , these have now been mainstreamed by the WTO as twice yearly week-
long events bringing together representatives of member countries which do not have the resources to
maintain permanent missions in Geneva.  They keep these members informed about what is going on
in the WTO, and provide an opportunity for them to meet, exchange policy ideas and provide input ontheir countries' needs.
* WTO Reference Centers
There are now more than 100 reference centers prov iding resource-constrained members with a direct
Internet link to information and databases at the WTO.  The WTO provides to Least-Developed
Countries the computer equipment, Internet connection, and training for each center's operation.  Forother developing countries the focus is on providing training and information to their trade officials,
which enables them to participate more effectively and actively in the work of the WTO.
* Ministerial Conferences
Capacity-building in this area played a key role in contributing to the successful launch of the Doha
Development Agenda by helping the African Gr oup and the LDC (Least Developed Country) groups
play a more active role than in previous Ministerial Conferences. The program aims at providing
expertise on WTO matters through trade policy courses, seminars and workshops, to officials andnegotiators of developing countries, enabling more effective participation at ministerial  conferences.
"In the delivery of WTO Trade-Related Technical Assistance, although all developing countries are
beneficiaries, the priority focus remains the LDCs, the non-resident countries, and the small and
vulnerable economies," said Mr Moore.
ENDS
N.B.   The programme of the Pledging Conference is annexed to this press release.PRESS/277
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ANNEX
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
WTO Pledging Conference For The Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF):
Coherence, Technical Assistance and Capacity Building
Monday, 11 March 2002
Chairman: Mike Moore, Director-General, WTO
09.00 – 09.10 Opening statement by the Chairman09.10 – 09.20 "Importance of technical cooperation and capacity building for the Fifth
Ministerial Conference"
Pre-recorded video message from Dr. Lu ís Ernesto Derbez, Secretary of the
Economy, Mexico, Host Minister of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference.
09.20 – 09.30 "OECD's contributions in support of short and long term trade-related
technical assistance and capacity building"
Mr. Donald Johnston, Secretary-General, OECD
09.30 – 09.40 "Developing countries' short and long term priority needs for trade-related
technical assistance and capacity building"
Mr. N.K. Biwott, Minister for Trade and Industry, Kenya
09.40 – 09.50 "Appropriate policy framework for utilising trade-related technical
assistance"
Dr. Louis Kasekende, Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda
09.50 – 10.00 "Long-term capacity building: the mix of trade-related technical assistance,
domestic policy reforms and market access"H.E. Mr. Simon William Fuller, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of
the United Kingdom
10.00 – 10.10 "Coherence and coordination for technical assistance and capacity building:
post-Doha"
H.E. Mr. Carlo Trojan, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the
European Commission to the WTO
10.10 – 10.20 "Predictable funding and priority-setting in technical cooperation and
capacity building"
H.E. Mr. Käre Bryn, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Norway to
the WTO
10.20 – 10.30 "Short and long term trade-related technical assistance needs in the
multilateral trading system"
Amb. Takahashi, Special Assistant to the Minister, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Japan
10.30 – 10.40 "Architecture for long-term trade-related technical assistance and capacity
building: coherence between multilateral institutions and bilateral donors"
Ambassador Linnet F. Deily, U.S. Deputy Trade Representative, Permanent
Representative to the WTOPRESS/277
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10.40 – 10.50 "Managing Expectations in meeting the Trade-related Technical
Assistance/Capacity Building challenge"
H.E. Mr. Sergio Marchi, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Canada,
Chairman of the General Council.
10.50 – 11.00 "WTO strategic response to the Doha Development Agenda & Technical
Cooperation and Capacity Building Mandates": power point presentation
Deputy Director-General Paul-Henri Ravier, WTO
11.00 – 11.10 "Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund": power point presentation
Deputy Director-General Andrew Stoler, WTO
11.10 – 13.00 Statements and pledges by bilateral donors: developed and developing
Members1 (five minutes maximum each)
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Implementation of the Doha Development Agenda:
Multilateral Agencies Contributions/Pledges
14.00 – 14.10 "Role of regional development banks in implementing the Doha
Development Agenda: the model of the IADB"
 Mr. Zuga Vodusek, Senior Econ omist, European Office, Paris
Inter-American Development Bank
14.10 – 14.20 Mr. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis
Director, World Bank Office in Geneva
14.20 – 14.30 Mr. Alexei Kireyev
Senior Economist, IMF Office in Geneva
14.30 – 14.40 UNDP14.40 – 14.50 UNCTAD14.50 – 15.00 ITC15.00 – 15.10 WIPO15.10 – 15.20 Mr. Alberto DiLiscia
Assistant Director-General, Director of UNIDO Office at Geneva, UNIDO
15.20 – 15.30 FAO15.30 – 15.40 WCO
15.40 – 15.50 UNEP
                                                     
1 DAC and non-DAC Members. Pledges may also be included in the initial general statements.PRESS/277
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15.50 – 16.00 Dr. Jamel Eddine Zarrouk
Division Chief, International and Regional Organisation, Economics and
Technical Department, Arab Monetary Fund
16.00 – 16.10 Mr. J.P. Verbyest,
Asian Development Bank
16.10 – 16.20 African Development Bank16.20 – 16.30 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development16:30 – 16:40 Dr. Ahmed Abdul Wasie
Operation Officer, Cooperation Office  
Islamic Development Bank
16.40 – 18.00 Statements by other WTO Members
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Documentation
• The Secretariat will circulate the following documents at the Conference:
(a) New Strategy for Technical Cooperation for Capacity Building, Growth and
Integration, endorsed by Ministers in paragraph 38 of the Doha Declaration;
(b) Doha Ministerial Declaration;
(c) Coordinated WTO Secretariat Technical Assistance Plan 2002;
(d) Joint communiqué from the IF Heads of Agency meeting, Washington D.C.,
26 February 2002; and
(e) Inter-American Development Bank/WTO Memorandum of Understanding.
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