RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/W/36/Corr.2*
4March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-0824)
Committee onTrade andDevelopment
Nineteenth Session
6March 1998
REPORT ONTECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
Note bytheSecretariat
Corrigendum
Section IVontheHigh Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries indocument
WT/COMTD/W/36 should bereplaced bythefollowing text.
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IV. HighLevelMeetingonIntegratedInitiativesforLeast-DevelopedCountries'TradeDevelopment
Attheir firstConference inSingapore inDecember 1996, WTO Ministers adopted the
Comprehensive andIntegrated WTOPlanofAction fortheLeast-Developed Countries which "envisaged
aclosercooperationbetweentheWTOandothermultilateralagenciesassistingleast-developedcountries"
intheareaoftrade. Pursuant tothePlanofAction ,aimed atimproving theoverall capacity ofleast-
developed countries torespond tothechallenges andopportunities offered bythetrading system, it
wasagreed bytheWTO, UNCTAD andITCSecretariats, incollaboration withthestaffoftheIMF,
theWorld BankandtheUNDP, thatanIntegrated Framework fortheprovision oftrade-related technical
assistance, including human andinstitutional capacity-building, forsupporting tradeandtrade-related
activities oftheleast-developed countries andincluding efforts toenhance thesupply response ofthese
countries should bedrawn upandapplied onacase-by-case basis tomeet theneeds identified by
individual least-developed countries intheareaoftrade.
Asaresult oftheSingapore Ministerial Conference, theWTO, inclose collaboration with
IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP andtheWorld Bank organized theHigh Level Meeting onIntegrated
Initiatives forLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade andDevelopment (HLM) inGeneva on27and28
October 1997, towhich all48least-developed countries, recognized assuchbytheUN,wereinvited.
Inaddition, several other organizations dealing withtrade anddevelopment aspects participated. This
High Level meeting wasfinanced from specific contributions made byMembers forthispurpose to
theWTO Trust Fund. TheMeeting endorsed theIntegrated Framework forTrade-Related Technical
Assistance, including forHuman andInstitutional Capacity-Building, toSupport Least-Developed
CountriesinTheirTradeandTrade-RelatedActivities(documentWT/LDC/HL/1/Rev.1).TheIntegrated
Framework setsoutacoordinated approach fortheprovision oftrade-related technical assistance to
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least-developed countries bythesixmultilateral organizations mostdirectly involved intheHLM, based
ontheneeds forsuchassistance identified byindividual least-developed countries inneeds assessments.
These needs assessments aredrawn upbyindividual least-developed countries onthebasis ofa
questionnaire, formulated jointly bythesecretariats oftheIMF, ITC,UNCTAD, UNDP, theWorld
BankandWTO andcovering questions ofcompliance withtheWTO Agreements, tradepolicy, supply-
sideconstraints including those identified bytheprivate sector, andhuman andinstitutional capacity
buildingintheareaoftrade.TheIntegratedFrameworkseekstoincreasethebenefitsthatleast-developed
countries derive from thetrade-related technical assistance available tothem from thesixagencies
involved aswellasfrom other multilateral, regional andbilateral sources, withaview toassisting
them toenhance theirtrade opportunities, torespond tomarket demands, andtointegrate intothe
multilateral trading system.
Bothinpreparationofandasafollow-uptotheHighLevelMeetingtechnicalassistancemissions
visited least-developed countries thathadrequested assistance fromtheagencies involved incarrying
outtheirNeeds Assessments. Thus, missions visited Africa, AsiaandtheCaribbean (Haiti). These
missionswerefinancedfromthespecialcontributionstotheWTOTrustFund.Followingtheprocedures
agreed tobytheagencies intheIntegrated Framework, needs assessments, oncereceived, arereviewed
bythesixagencies andinitial, provisional programmes oftrade-related technical assistance aredrawn
upbythem, inconsultation withtheleast-developed country concerned. In1997, thirty-four least-
developed countries expressed aninterest inparticipating inthisexercise bysubmitting completed needs
assessments andinresponse, agencies reviewed anddrew upinitial provisional programmes oftrade-
related technical assistance fortwenty-three least-developed countries pursuant totheprovisions of
paragraph 5(d)oftheIntegrated Framework (theremaining eleven havebeenreviewed inthebeginning
of1998andworkiscontinuing). Asaresult, further general andspecific assistance willthusbeprovided
tocountries engaged inthisprocess torespond totheneeds identified, including training seminars on
theWTO andthemultilateral trading system. AttheHLM, Hong Kong, China announced adonation
ofUS$1.25 million totheWTO Trust Fundspecifically forthepurpose ofproviding technical assistance
under thisIntegrated Framework.
Participants inthemeeting wereprovided demonstrations oftheWTO Information Technology
forDevelopment Project andresults achieved todate. Asaresult theWTO wasencouraged toextend
theproject toallLDC Members. Efforts willbeundertaken tolinkupall29LDCs totheInternet
bytheendof1998.
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