RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/BFA/W/12
19November 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-4907)
Original: French Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration
STATEMENT BYMOROCCO ATTHE MEETING OF13NOVEMBER 1996
Statement byAmbassador N.Benjelloun-Touimi onTechnical Cooperation,
totheWTO Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration
Costs
1. According tothebudget estimates, 90,540 hours willbetaken upwithtechnical cooperation
activities bytheWTO Secretariat in1997. Thismeans 100percentofthework ofthe27staffmembers
oftheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division, andthefull-time work of16other staffmembers
elsewhere intheSecretariat.
- What isthetotalcostofmaintaining these 43staffmembers employed full-time intechnical
cooperation?
- What criteria havebeenusedtoassess thehours ofwork allocated tosuchactivities inthe
various divisions?
2. Theneedforacost-benefit approach totechnical cooperation andforanevaluation ofthe
effectivenessoftheseactivitieshasbeenclearlyhighlightedintheCommitteeonTradeandDevelopment.
PartoftheGuidelines adopted bythatCommittee areafirststepinthatdirection. Thewaysandmeans
ofapplying them willberefined intheweeks ormonths ahead.
- Dowehavedetailed budget estimates withabreakdown ofcosts byobjective, which might
place Members inabetter position tochart newcourses fortechnical cooperation?
3. There arebasically threeaspects totechnical cooperation activities: (a)training people in"Trade
Policy Training Courses" inGeneva; (b)assistance toMembers outside Geneva; and(c)assistance
toMembers inGeneva. These activities andtheircostshould firstbeclosely scrutinized, andthen
anynecessary adjustments should bemade.
4. Inthe"Trade Policy Training Courses", atotalof48persons aretrained inthetwocourses,
eachlasting three andahalfmonths, thatareorganized every year.
- Howmany staffmembers areinvolved inpreparing andorganizing thecourses? Howmany
arerequired toteach thevarious subjects? Isthere afollow-up?
5. Assistance toMembers maytakeplace inGeneva orrequire staffmembers totravel. The
travel costs forstaffmembers outside Geneva aresetoutinthebudget ("Technical Cooperation
Missions").WT/BFA/W/12
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- Isthereamethod ofdifferentiating theothercosts(other thantravel costs) asbetween "assistance
toMembers outside Geneva" andassistance inGeneva itself? Inparticular, whatabout staff
costs?
Staff
6. TheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division will,according tothebudget estimates, have
27posts in1997: onedirector, 14professional staffand12general service staff.
- Areallthese posts filled? What isthecareer profile (experience oftheWTO anditsworking
methods, inparticular) oftheDivision 'sstaffmembers? What tasksareassigned toeachone?
Inparticular, canabreakdown begiven oftheposts inaccordance withthethree aspects of
technical cooperation mentioned earlier?
7. Apart fromtheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division, 15otherWTO divisions mention
technical cooperation activities which, according tothebudget estimates, correspond to16posts or
staffmembers assigned tothose activities.
- What isthecareer profile ofthestaffmembers? Aretheyprofessionals orgeneral service
staff? What aretheirtasks inregard totechnical cooperation, inaccordance withthethree
aspects oftechnical cooperation mentioned earlier?
Examination oftheresults
8. Theidentification ofcriteria toevaluate theeffectiveness oftechnical cooperation activities
isamatter tobediscussed veryshortly bytheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment. Thenumber
ofpersons trained eachyearatthe"Technical Policy Training Courses" isonequestion, andthenumber
ofmissions isanother.
- Arethere other more refined "output" indicators available?
Definition ofnewapproaches
9. Members haverecently established guidelines forWTO technical cooperation. Oneofthe
underlyingassumptionsistheneedtoprovideanadequateoperationalframeworkforthetypeoftechnical
cooperation expected oftheWTO. Tothisend,efforts should bemade inparticular:
- Toimprove technical cooperation planning, management, transparency andevaluation;
- toexamineandimplementnew,moreeffective,arrangementstodisseminateknow-how;
- tocoordinate activities atthemultilateral (andevenbilateral) level;
- toadapt activities totheneeds ofeachcountry orgroup ofcountries, especially with
regard tosubstance (specialization) andmethods oftaking action.
10. Inthecaseofthe"Trade Policy Training Courses", themessage fromMembers isveryclear.
Thepurpose ofanewapproach would betoincrease thenumber ofpersons benefiting frombasictraining
about theWTO andtoenhance thepractical quality ofsuchtraining, yetmaintain thesame levelof
expenditure.WT/BFA/W/12
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- Inviewofthebudgetary constraints, onesolution might betocombine courses inGeneva,
shorter thantheyarenow, followed bytraining periods intheWTO (inthevarious divisions);
andtheorganization ofregional courses.
- Although they would receive fewer hours offormal instruction, participants inthe
courses/training periods inGeneva could benefit from high-quality training if,forinstance,
strict selection criteria wereestablished forthecandidates andthenumber ofparticipants was
alsoreduced. Afewweeks 'training intheSecretariat would alsoprovide them withactual
experience oftheOrganization thatitisdifficult togainincourses.
- Theregional courses should beshort andorganized soastosecure themaximum mobilization
ofregional expertise andcooperation fromregional organizations. Intensive useofteaching
aids(particularly computer-based) thatcould bereutilized insituwould beanassetinspreading
information andgradually establishing training focal points attheregional level.
11. "Assistance toMembers" operations, inGeneva andoutside Geneva, should alsobereviewed,
sothatthebeneficiary countries canderive maximum advantage from thebudgeted expenditures. A
point ofdeparture would betofindoutingreater detail whatthetechnical cooperation needs ofthe
various developing countries are.Thiswasthepurpose ofthe"Questionnaire". Apriority taskfor
theSecretariat would betosupplement theexamination ofneeds onthebasis ofthereplies received
andtohelpsome developing countries (including alarge number ofLDCs) toidentify them.