PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/292
3 May 2002
(02-2532)
DIRECTOR-GENERAL MIKE MOORE CONVENES FIRST INFORMAL DIALOGUE
WITH HEADS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
WTO Director-General Mike Moore will host an informal dialogue on the implementation of
the Doha Development Agenda with the Heads and Representatives of six regional developmentbanks, the World Bank, and the New Partnership for African Development, on Friday, 3 May 2002, at
the WTO.
The participating Banks are the Arab Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and theIslamic Development Bank.  The World Bank will participate as will the New Partnership for African
Development.
"The explicit and coordinated involvement of Regional Development Banks in the
implementation of the Doha Development Agenda is indispensable for success.  I am also hoping that
this first meeting will not be a one-off meeting, but that the Heads of vital Regional Development
Banks will agree to meet on a periodic basis in light of mutually beneficial interests at stake," said
Mr. Moore.
The meeting, which marks the first time the WTO has hosted heads of regional development
banks at its headquarters, is part of a wider strategy of enhanced technical assistance and capacity
building launched by Mr. Moore after the Doha Ministerial Conference in November. As part of theplan, WTO Member Governments have approved a 6.75% budget increase with much of the
additional funding going to capacity building programmes. The Director-General also oversaw a
pledging conference which attracted donations of CHF 30 million, a figure twice the original target.
The establishment of the new Training Institute will enable the WTO to double (to about 400) the
number of developing country officials it trains each year. Mr. Moore is also working to develop aprogramme of WTO Trade Policy courses in Africa, in which the WTO secretariat will work with
university partners on the continent to assist in setting up the curriculum, in the selection of the
trainees and in ensuring quality control.
The discussion with regional bank leaders on 3 May will include a private session and an
informal dialogue between the Agency Heads, Representatives and WTO Members Governments. At
the end of the morning, the WTO will sign Memoranda of Understanding with the Arab Monetary
Fund.
The dialogue will explore ways and means of enhancing the cooperation between the WTO
and the regional development banks and better coordinating the trade-related programmes, projects
and other activities, for developing and least-developed countries.  Attention will focus on how to
provide beneficiary countries with concrete assistance to enhance their participation in the open,PRESS/292
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rules-based multilateral trading system.  Issues to be discussed include, trade mainstreaming , grant
and loan funding of trade-related technical assistance projects, trade financing, supporting coordinated
policy dialogue amongst trade and finance ministers,  as well as support for negotiating teams and
intensive technical assistance, training and capacity building for the Doha negotiations.
BACKGROUND:
The invitation from Mr. Moore to the Heads of th e regional development banks followed informal
discussions held on the margins of a meeting of Tr ade and Finance Ministers organized by President
Enrique Iglesias at the Inter-American Development (IDB), in Washington, in February, this year, and
another meeting on the margins of the recent Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development.
WTO Members in the agreed Organization Plan for Technical Assistance for 2002, had also requested
the Secretariat to engage Regional Development Banks in a strategic partnership in order to seek a
more effective implementation of the Doha trade and development agenda.  Such a partnership would
draw on the regional knowledge and assets of the Ba nks.  Furthermore, the Heads of the Integrated
Framework core Agencies1, in a Joint Communiqué adopted, at the World Bank, in Washington, on
26 February, also agreed that Regional Development Banks, should be associated in theimplementation of the Integrated Framewor k, focused on 49 Least Developed Countries.
ENDS
                                                     
1 IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, World Bank, WTO.