RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/M/43
7 March 2003
(03-1324)
Committee on Trade and Development
Forty-Third Session
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 11, 18, 19 AND 22 NOVEMBER 2002
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh)
Subjects discussed:
A. A DOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA ............................................................................................1
B. O BSERVERS ............................................................................................................................... ..2
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers ...............................................................................2
(ii) Further Consideration of request for obs erver status by the League of Arab States,
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf
Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la
Francophonie, and the Common Fund for Commodities ...........................................................2
C. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING ................................................................................3
(i) Implementation Rate of the 2002 Technical Assistance Plan .....................................................3
(ii) Evaluation of the Regional Trade Policy Courses in Casablanca and Nairobi .........................3
(iii) The WTO 2003 Technica l Assistance Plan.................................................................................3
D. A DOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (11 N OVEMBER 2003) ....................................................18
D. A DOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (22 NOVEMBER 2003).....................................................43
E. O THER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................43
A. ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA
1. The Chairman said that the draft agenda for the meeting was contained in
Airgram WTO/AIR/1947/Rev.1 of 7 November 2002.  As indicated by the Airgram, he proposed that
that Session be devoted to technical cooperation and training and the draft Annual Report.  He said
that it had been difficult to circulate the draft an nual report in advance of the meeting because the
Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries (LDCs)  had held its final meeting of the year on
7 November 2002.  However, the draft annual report had been circulated and copies had been made
available to Members.  He said that Members would have an opportunity to comment on the draft
Annual Report at the end of that day's meeting.  He further said that for those who wished to study it
further, comments could also be given to the Secretariat during the course of the week but had to be
given on the afternoon of 14 November 2002 at the latest.  He intended to put the draft Annual Reportbefore the Committee for adoption on 18 November 2002.
2. The representative of the United States said that her delegation wished to add, under "Other
Business" an item relating to reporting on the Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) between India andWT/COMTD/M/43
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Sri Lanka.  She said that her delegation wished that that Agreement also be reported to the Committee
on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA).
3. The Chairman said that the RTA between India and Sri Lanka had already been reported to
the Committee on Trade Development (CTD) .  The CTD had considered it and taken note of it.  He
asked what action the delegation of the United States wished the CTD to take.
4. The representative of the United States said that her delegation wished to ensure that the RTA
between India and Sri Lanka was notified to the CRTA.
5. The representative of India said that the RTA between India and Sri Lanka had been notified
to and taken note of by the CTD.  In addition, the Secretariat had provided general information on
notifications made under the Enabling Clause.  He was therefore not certain how the Committee could
proceed further with that issue.
6. The representative of the United States sought the guidance of the Chairman on the way
forward.  Her delegation had simply sought to indicate that while notification to the CTD was an
acceptable and important part of the process, there was a transparency obligation with respect to the
notifications RTAs process.  Her delegation did not believe that that process in total had been
concluded by a notification to the CTD although that was the first step.
7. The Chairman said that it was his understanding that the RTA between India and Sri Lanka
had been considered by the CTD and that the CTD had completed its task.  He was not certain
whether the CTD had to refer it to another WTO body.  He suggested that the issue be discussed
under "Other Business".
8. The agenda was adopted as amended.
B. OBSERVERS
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers
9. The Chairman recalled that at previous sessions of the CTD, Members had agreed to invite a
number of intergovernmental organizations on an ad hoc meeting-by-meeting basis.  Those were the
Arab Maghreb Union (AMU);  the Economic Commun ity of West African States (ECOWAS);  the
Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO);  the Inter- Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation;  the
Islamic Development Bank (IDB);  the Organisation of African Unity (OAU);  the Organisation of the
Islamic Conference (OIC);  the South Centre;  the South Pacific Forum;  the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP);  the West Afri can Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU);
and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).  He proposed that, in accordance with the
CTD procedures, those Organizations be invited to the next formal meeting of the CTD.
10. It was so agreed.
(ii) Further Consideration of request for observe r status by the League of Arab States, the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization for
Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and the Common
Fund for Commodities
11. The Chairman said that at the last meetings the Committee had had before it a number of
outstanding requests for observer status.  Those came from the League of Arab States, OPEC, the
Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and
the Common Fund for Commodities.  The positions of delegations were well known and on theWT/COMTD/M/43
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record.  He proposed that, unless there had been any recent change of position, Members revert to
those requests at the next formal meeting of the CTD.
12. It was so agreed.
C. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
(i) Implementation Rate of the 2002 Technical Assistance Plan
(ii) Evaluation of the Regional Trade Policy Courses in Casablanca and Nairobi
(iii) The WTO 2003 Technical Assistance Plan
13. The Chairman said that Agenda Item C contained three sub-items.  Following requests at the
42nd Session of the CTD, he said that the Secretariat would report on the implementation of the 2002
Technical Assistance (TA) Plan.  He said that the report would also include the revised draft 2003 TA
Plan.  Following initial discussions of the draft 2003 TA Plan at the last meeting of the CTD, theSecretariat had revised the documents that related to the 2003 TA Plan.  The revised versions  were
contained in documents WT/COMTD/W/104 /Rev.1 and WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1.  As
requested by Members, the Secretariat had also issued a corrigendum  to the document which
contained information on the WTO Ministerial Trade Conference for Central and Southeast Europe
that was held in Zagreb Croatia on 11and 12 June 2002 (WT/COMTD/41/Corr.1).
14. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division, said that his seven point presentation
would deal with the structure of WTO technical cooperation.  The structure of WTO technical
cooperation was important because the WTO was frequently judged exclusively on the basis of its
Annual TA plans.  However, he believed that WTO Technical Cooperation needed to be judged in
terms of its entire architecture.  Members had requested a detailed report on the implementation of the2002 TA Plan.  The Secretariat would be able to gi ve precise feedback with regard to the regional,
national and ad hoc activities.  He said that the Secretariat had experienced an inability to deliver
some activities and that certain activities had been cancelled by the beneficiaries.  He would provide
further information regarding the reasons why some planned activities had not materialized.  In
addition, he would provide information on what the Secretariat would do and how it would respond tothe balance of undelivered activities in the 2002 TA Plan.  He would then make a connection between
the 2002 and 2003 TA Plan and through the substantive revisions introduced to the 2003 TA Plan.  He
would also provide further clarifications regardin g some other areas with respect to which Members
had requested more detailed information.
15. He repeated that WTO TA frequently was judged exclusively by the Annual TA Plans.  This
was not the totality of WTO TA.  There were several key components to a WTO TA plan.  One key
part was the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme to Selected Least-Developed and OtherAfrican Countries (JITAP).  The JITAP, which principally was directed towards eight African
countries, was in its second phase.  There had been requests for the extension of the JITAP and a
review of it had been undertaken.  He said that the Common Trust Fund – Steering Group (CTF-SG)
and the Management Committee had been pleased with the results of the review regarding the
implementation of the JITAP as well as the recommendations that had been made for its extension.  Apossible extension of JITAP to an additional eight African countries was under consideration.  The
JITAP was a key part of the Secretariat's strategic partnerships with other organisations.  He said that
another key component to the WTO TA plan was the Integrated Framework (IF) for LDCs.  The IF
Working Group had been extended from the six-agen cies involved to also  now include two LDCs'
representatives, two donor community representatives as well as the representative of theWT/COMTD/M/43
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Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  On 3 May 2002, an
"Understanding" had been reached between the WTO and the regional development banks (RDBs).
Cooperation with the RDBs was another component  of the WTO Technical Assistance Plan.  He
expected the Secretariat to shortly be in a position to report on the results of a meeting that had been
held with the RDBs on 30 October 2002.  At that meeting, an eight point understanding had beenreached that would not only help build on the synergies that had been created between the WTO and
those RDBs, but which also would enable the WTO achieve significant cost savings to the benefit of
the donors.  Another component of the WTO TA Plan was the cooperation between the WTO and the
Regional Economic Commissions.  A meeting had been held with the Regional Economic
Commissions at which an agreement had been reached.  The Secretariat would shortly report on that
and circulate the eight point understanding reached.  With respect to the several Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) between the WTO and various organizations, he said that he wished tomention that an MOU was under negotiation with the ACP.  On 9 September 2002, the
Director-General Dr. Supachai had met with the Mr. Goulongana, the Secretary General of the ACP
and both had committed themselves to a Cooperation MOU between the WTO and the ACP.  The
Secretariat were in the process of working out the details of that MOU.  Discussions were also under
way with regard to a possible MOU with the Worl d Customs Organisation (WCO) either.  This was
work in progress.  There was thus a large number of MOUs in the making, even if all of them had not
yet been put on paper.  The Secretariat would shortly be reporting on progress in that respect, as part
of the architecture of WTO Technical Cooperation.  Finally, managing the never ending requests and
match them with the supply was what the Secretariat continuously attempted to do.  A joint
WTO/OECD database was under development to address several of these issues, including estimatingprogress that is being made in the implementation of the Doha technical cooperation and capacity
building commitments.  The database had been finalized and would be available as of 28 November
2002.  There would be a report on that Database to the December 2002 meeting of the WTO General
Council under the same item as the Director-General would be reporting on his mandate under
Paragraph 41 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Members should thus judge the implementation ofWTO's technical assistance and capacity building (TA/CB) mandate and the adequacy of the
implementation on the entire TA  architecture.
16. Mr. Osakwe reported on the implementation of the 2002 TA Plan.  Members would recall that
they had authorized 514 activities on 6 March 2002.  However, the rate of implementation was
calculated based on 383 activities.  The reason for that was that nine activities were not activities to be
delivered to Members per se .  They were activities authorized to developed tools in the area of trade
negotiations and other areas.  Another 122 activities had been cancelled.  The reasons for cancellationwould be provided.   One hundred and twenty-nine (129) planned regional activities had been
implemented which constituted 75 per cent of the planned regional activities.  One hundred and
fifty-six (156) planned national activities had been implemented which constituted 74 per cent of the
planned national activities.  Then there were the unplanned ad-hoc activities.  One hundred and
nineteen (119) such activities had been carried out.  The situation with ad hoc activities wasundesirable, but it had to be put into perspective.  The Secretariat had made suggestions in the revised
TA plan of what had to be done to improve the situation.  By the end of October 2002, a total of
404 activities had been implemented, combining 285 planned activities with 199 unplanned activities.
17. Mr. Osakwe provided the reasons for the cancellation of 22 activities.  First, the recipient
countries had cancelled activities for a variety of reasons.  Despite repeated attempts by theSecretariat to contact some of the recipients, the Secretariat had not been able to secure a feed-back
that would enable the Secretariat to go ahead with  the implementation of the activity.  For example
the absorptive capacity was limited in certain countries and the date, the time, the venue, and
complementary national arrangements etc. had not been agreed.  Second, some activities were carried
out jointly with other agencies and were not under the exclusive control of the WTO.  Joint orcoordinated delivery between the WTO and other organizations sometimes complicated the delivery
when the other organization was not ready to implement the activity.  Yet in other cases, there had
been cancellations because there had not been enough progress in related areas to justify delivery.  ForWT/COMTD/M/43
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instance, in the area of accessions it had not be feasible to carry out the activity if the working party
had not met or if the consultations by the Chairman of a Working Party had not been fruitful.  For
some activities, and particularly for the enhancemen t of trade negotiations skills, the WTO Secretariat
had to wait for tools to be developed before it could deliver.  Most of the activities related to trade
negotiations skills would be delivered in the last two months of 2002.  In addition, certain activitieshad not been delivered when there was risk to life and security of Secretariat staff and participants.
This was so particularly under unstable domestic conditions.  He further said that the Secretariat
needed the help of the Membership in order to reduce the number of ad-hoc activities.  There was an
opportunity cost in that if the Secretariat carrie d out more ad-hoc activities it had to reduce the
delivery of planned activities and vice versa.  The Secretariat capacity to deliver in terms of number
of staff had only been boosted late in the year.  The Secretariat had assumed that he would have had
the 19 L-posts on 1 January 2002.  That had not been the case because of a variety of reasonsincluding late remittances of pledged contributions.  The result was that by the end of October 2002,
98 planned activities had not been delivered.  The Secretariat was confident that it would be able to
deliver 60 per cent of those outstanding activities before the end of the year.  The outstanding 40 per
cent would be dealt with by including some of them in the planned activities for 2003.  In some cases,
the roll-over had been requested by Members when activities had been scheduled during the holyRamadan period.  Further, some planned activities had been replaced by ad-hoc activities.  The
advantages of having annual TA plans were that such plans were flexible and could easily be changed
to enhance quality.  Annual Plans were also easer to evaluate and the volume of activities could be
controlled.  Five hundred and fourteen (514) activities had been planned for 2002.  This mistake
would not be repeated in the planning for 2003 when only 443 activities had been planned, but withan increase in value and efficiency.  Figures would be adjusted as implementation evolved.
18. The draft 2003 TA Plan had been presented on 8 October 2002.  The Secretariat had assumed
that that draft Plan would have been authorized a month later.  However, only six weeks remained in
2002 and according to internal Secretariat procedures, nine weeks were needed to prepare for every
activity.  That meant that the Secretariat again would start late with the delivery of the coming year'sactivities.  The slippage would not only affect the distribution of activities over the year, in light of the
fact that a WTO Ministerial Conference would be held in 2003, but also the implementation rate for
2003.
19. Mr. Osakwe explained the revisions that had been made to the draft 2003 TA Plan, contained
in documents WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 and Add.1/Rev .1.  The first revision related to strategic
partnerships between the WTO and other agencies.  Members had been keen on a strategic partnership
between the WTO and UNCTAD.  That partnership already existed.  The WTO Director-General hadconvened a meeting with UNCTAD Secretary-General Mr. Ricupero and ITC Executive Director
Mr. Bélisle on 30 October 2002 at which they had recommitted themselves to that partnership.  This
Partnership had been reflected in paragraph 46 (b) of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1.
Paragraph 46(a) of that same revision referred to the strategic partnership with the agencies involved
in the Integrated Framework.  The WTO Director-General would be chairing the Third Meeting of theIntegrated Framework Heads of Agencies that Mr. Koehler, IMF Managing Director, had agreed to
host.  The regional trade policy courses held in Africa had been included in
WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1.  These Regional Trade Policy Courses was a key part of the
revision which had been made possible by the positive evaluation of those courses by
Mr. Paul Rolian, Technical Cooperation Audit.  There was a focus on the least-developed countries inthe draft 2003 TA Plan.  At the last meeting of the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries, the
representative of Zambia, on behalf of the LDCs, had made an encouraging statement saying that the
draft 2003 TA Plan was in the right direction.  The LDCs' Consultative Group had also made a
number of suggestions that the Secretariat would be able to take into account when implementing the
2003 TA Plan.  There had been a request for the inclusion of a special module on special anddifferential treatment (S&D) in the WTO training activities.  Such a module had been included andWT/COMTD/M/43
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would figure in all WTO training activities.  He further said that it was necessary to deal with the
large amount of ad-hoc activities.  The ad-hoc activities had decreased from constituting almost
100 per cent of WTO activities when the 3-Year Plans were in place (and there were no real plans) to
29 per cent in 2002.  WTO senior management had supported that ad-hoc activities should not exceed
5 per cent of planned activities in 2003.  However, there was still some flexibility as beneficiarycountries could always substitute activities.  Substituted activities would not be considered as an ad-
hoc activity.  Criteria for ad-hoc activities had been approved by the senior management and were
included in paragraph 17 of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1.  The Secretariat would thus be in a
position to take account of unforeseen negotiation dynamics.  Ad-hoc activities might also arise in the
application of trade clinics but would still not exceed 5 per cent of planned activities in 2003.  In
addition to the revisions mentioned, he said that there were several editorial revisions to the draft 2003
TA Plan.
20. Mr. Osakwe further said that a number of revisions had been requested by the delegation of
Zambia, on behalf of the LDCs, at the 8 October 2002 meeting.  Those editorial revisions had been
incorporated.  Members had also asked for clarifications and explanations in several areas.  First, the
clarification of the overall structure and strategic partnerships had already been provided.  There had
also been questions regarding negotiation-focused activities.  The Secretariat had been able to developseveral software tools, principally thanks to the Department for International Development of the
United Kingdom which had provided additional resources.  The Secretariat had organized a meeting
on 18 October 2002 to which UNCTAD and the OECD had been invited to present their programmes
and tools to enhance trade negotiations skills.  The WTO Secretariat had also developed tools and
would be organizing more trade negotiation skills seminars.  Trade negotiations were also a key partof the activities of the WTO Training Institute.  These trade negotiation skill activities would be
organized in cooperation with IT C, UNCTAD, OECD and the World Bank since those agencies had
also developed complementary tools.  Eight regional training courses for senior government officials
on the Doha Development Agenda would be organi zed.  The Secretariat had been asked about its
outsourcing initiatives.  Some activities had been outsourced to the World Intellectual PropertyOrganization (WIPO) based on a cooperation agreement.  The WTO Secretariat was in the process of
dialogue with the International Development Law Institute (IDLI), which was an intergovernmental
agency with solid experience in the area of training-of-trainers.  The Secretariat was further exploring
outsourcing possibilities and would be reporting accordingly.  The Secretariat applied strict criteria
when outsourcing.  First, outsourcing was sought for cost-efficiency reasons.  Second, the WTO
would only outsource to organizations which did not engage in advocacy as the WTO Secretariat had
been mandated by Members to maintain the fu ll integrity of their collective positions.
21. The Secretariat had also been asked to clarify how it assessed TA needs.  Mr. Osakwe said
that needs were primarily assessed through the TA requests from the beneficiary countries.  However,
they were also assessed through the Trade Policy Reviews, the back-to-office reports written by WTO
professional staff, the diagnostic trade integration studies from the Integrated Framework, and the
Geneva Weeks for non-resident missions.  Another area which the Secretariat had been asked toclarify was its capacity to deliver TA.  The Secretariat capacity to deliver TA had never really been
measured.  Proper counting of activities delivered in a year was begun in 2002.  Four hundred and
four (404) activities had been delivered by the end of October 2002 even though the 19 L-positions
had not been activated until the summer of 2002.  He said that he estimated that by the end of 2002
about 450 activities would have been delivered.  Using 2002 as a base-year, and not withstanding thepressure of the Ministerial Conference in 2003, he estimated the Secretariat executing capacity to be
between 400 and 450 activities per year.
22. Mr. Osakwe responded to questions that had been posed on trade clinics.  The Secretariat was
in the process of preparing an internal Secretariat note which would provide guidelines for the
application of trade clinics.  When that had been done and had been approved by the seniormanagement, Members would be informed.  An illu strative example of how Trade Clinics would aply
was evident in the case of Sierra Leone.  The Trade Minister of Sierra Leone had written to the WTOWT/COMTD/M/43
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Director-General to inform him that Sierra Leone had just emerged from a destructive civil war and
that no trade policy infrastructure was in place.  Sierra Leone was a non-resident, least-developed
country and wanted the WTO to assist it in the formulation of trade policy, provide a WTO reference
centre and assist its integration into the multilateral trading system.  The Government of Sierra Leone
had not been in a position to respond to the WTO letter regarding its TA needs.  WTO seniormanagement was of the view that Sierra Leone was a perfect case for a trade clinic.
23. Finally. questions had been asked regarding the delivery of TA under the pressure of the Fifth
Ministerial Conference.  Mr. Osakwe responded that the Secretariat would distribute work and time
the activities as efficiently as possible.  However, if the adoption of the 2003 TA Plan was further
delayed, the situation would become more complicat ed.  He said that he would not comment on the
issues raised with respect to quality and effectiveness as Mr. Paul Rolian, Dierctor of the Technical
Cooperation Audit would respond.
24. Mr. Paul Rolian, Director, Technical Cooperation Audit, said that Members had before
document WT/COMTD/W/107 containing the evaluation of the regional trade policy courses that had
been held in Casablanca and Nairobi earlier in 2002, for French-speaking and English-speaking
African countries, respectively.  Despite the Secretariat's best efforts to get the report to Members
quickly after the conclusion of the courses at the beginning of October 2002, it had come outrelatively late in relation to the meeting of the CT D, in particular the translations into French and
Spanish, and he asked for Members' indulgence on that point.  In any case, the message of his report
was a rather simple one.  He said that, before getting into the subject of the paper, it was worth
stressing that the report dealt exclusively with the African Trade Policy Courses.  The general annual
evaluation report on WTO’s TA activities would be prepared in the first part of 2003, in accordancewith the Secretariat's commitment to Members.  The report contained in document
WT/COMTD/W/107 was not a feasibility study on future Regional Trade Policy Courses either.  That
was a matter on which Members would have to pronounce, in the light of experience with the first two
courses.  Nevertheless, there were elements in th is report that Members might wish to take into
account.  The starting point for the evaluation, like any evaluations, was the objectives which thecourses had been intended to achieve.  The efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and sustainability of
the courses were examined, and some conclusions and lessons learned were drawn from the
experience.  The objectives were framed in the context of the undertakings in the Doha Development
Agenda, and bearing in mind the need to provide supplementary capacity-building activities for
developing and LDCs in the build-up to the Fifth Ministerial meeting, that was to go beyond
“business as usual”.  There were three objectives for the courses.  First, they constituted a means of
increasing the number of government officials who could benefit from the long trade policy coursesthat had traditionally been run in Geneva.  Second, they were intended to give a distinct regional focus
to the standard Trade Policy Course mode.  Third, and perhaps the most ambitious objective, was that
the courses were to initiate a process of institut ional capacity-building in the African region through
partnership arrangements with academic institutions and regional resource persons to whom, over
time, ownership of and responsibility for the ca pacity building instrument would be transferred.
25. He went on to say that he would concentrate his remarks on the three main conclusions that
could be drawn from the experience.  First, and most importantly, the courses had done what they
were set out to do.  Fifty officials (27 in Casablanca and 23 in Nairobi) had been given the
opportunity to attend a long trade policy course, which they would not have been able to do at all, or
would have had to wait for as opportunities arose in Geneva.   There was a clear regional focus, afocus that cannot delivered during the Geneva-based  courses because the participants in the Geneva-
based courses were from more than one region.  The regional focus had been assured in two ways.
First, the subjects covered had been illustrated by references to the regional context to the greatest
extent possible.  Second, regional resource persons had been associated in the delivery of the courses,
albeit in different ways in Casablanca and Nairobi.  In Nairobi the teaching assignments had beenWT/COMTD/M/43
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most often shared between a WTO resource person and a regional resource person, whereas in
Casablanca, there had been no shared teaching, but rather individual modules delivered by local
experts.  The first two objectives had therefore been entirely achieved.  It was clear from the feedback
that the participants had significantly enhanced their knowledge and skills, in the same way as they
would have, had they been able to attend a Geneva-based trade policy course.  The replication of theGeneva courses, which was the basic blueprint for the African courses, had worked.  In addition,
participants had been able to concentrate on questions on which they had shared concerns, or which
were of particular relevance to them.  The consolidation of those gains would of course depend, as for
all TA activities, on the participants being and re maining in functions related to the Multilateral
Trading System.  As for the third objective, the cr eation of an institutional base in the region for
taking over responsibility for the courses, a promising beginning had been made, particularly in
Nairobi, but that was by definition an issue on which more experience would be needed before it waspossible to say that the objective had been fully met.  What could be said was that in Nairobi, the
foundation for future regionally based capacity to run the courses and ownership of them had been
laid through the shared teaching arrangements and a real training of trainers.  That was not as evident
from the experience in the French-speaking course.
26. He further said that, after the substance of the courses, another important issue on which the
Members would no doubt wish to focus was the cost, in both absolute and relative terms.  When the
courses were launched, there had been some alarming estimates that the courses would cost far more
than those held in Geneva. However, having been budgeted at over one million Swiss francs each,
they had been brought in at less.  The other piece of good news was that based on an analysis of the
Nairobi experience (the Casablanca figures were in the process of being analysed but were notexpected to produce very different results), it could be said that the courses were about as expensive,
per participant and per day, as the courses in Geneva.  However, there were elements that cause
difficulty in the comparison, but the Technical C ooperation Audit had done its best to compare like
with like.  On that basis the regional courses come out  with a slight cost advantage overall.  Both the
regional and the Geneva courses cost considerably less than many other TA/CB activities carried outby the WTO Secretariat.  The third issue that had emerged as being particularly critical in the conduct
of the courses were the implications for the Se cretariat in terms of human resources, and more
generally the circumstances surrounding the planning, design and execution of the courses.  The
courses were add-ons to an already heavy programme of work in the Training Institute, which had
been assigned principal responsibility, as well as in operational divisions that provided resource
persons.  The time frame for getting the courses up and running was perilously tight, and as a result,
there had been a good deal of precipitation.  There had been no time to assess adequately the humanresource implications, much less to do anything about them.  Those implications must be taken into
account, whatever unit was assigned responsibility, especially since the courses were run far away
from the Geneva base, which inevitably engendered additional problems.  The courses had a large
budget (in this case over CHF 2 million).  They were thus not negligible projects in financial terms,
nor in terms of the inroads they made on the Secretariat’s capacity to deliver TA with the usualquality.  Of course, over time, if those courses work out as we expect in relation to the third objective,
local institutional capacity and ownership, then it could be expected that the input from the WTO
Secretariat would be a diminishing one.
27. He further said that the paper highlighted a number of practical issues that arose, some of
which were linked to the nature of the exercise itself, whatever the venue, and some of which werespecific to the venues selected.  That was incidentally a point to which attention was drawn, namely
the need to select venues on the basis of a clear indication of commitment, a clear list of
specifications, and to make a thorough analysis of the real potential of a candidate venue to host a
course.  In the present case, if more time had been available, that would have allowed more analysis,
which in turn might have permitted identification of some of the problems that later emerged.  He saidthat the report concluded by drawing attention to a number of issues that were likely to be central to
any discussion on the future of such regional courses.  Those include costs, but also the place of the
courses in the overall portfolio of WTO TA/CB activities, the trade-offs that might have to be made,WT/COMTD/M/43
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the implications for staff resources and resource allocation, and the number, frequency, and
geographical spread of the programme.  For its part, and bearing those conclusions in mind, the
Secretariat had decided to propose the continuation of the courses in Africa as part of the draft 2003
TA Plan, as had already been stated.
28. Deputy Director-General, Mr. Abbott said that the  estimated cost for the revised draft 2003
TA Plan was lower than that for the initial draft 2003 TA Plan.  However, the volume of activities was
broadly the same as in 2002.  As indicated at the previous meeting, the results of the discussions in the
CTD would be taken into consideration by the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration
(Budget Committee) later in 2002 when it was to  make a recommendation to the General Council for
the target amount for the DDA Global Trust Fund for 2003.  The figures that he would present would
be adjusted, as necessary, to reflect the results of Members' discussions and he would report back to
the Budget Committee accordingly.  Members had before them document
WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1, its Addendum WT /COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1, and document
WT/COMTD/W/103 relating to training.  Members had also received document CRP(02)/4 which
provided some of the basic figures he was to present.  The activities had been grouped into three
categories:  the Geneva-based activities, the regional activities, and the national activities.  Geneva-
based activities were held at the WTO headquarters and could involve either Geneva-based delegates,
as was most often the case or a mixture of Geneva-based and capital-based delegates, as well as someoutside speakers.  Regional activities were activities which involved several WTO Members or
Observers and for which participants’ travelling and subsistence costs had to be financed.  National
activities were events for one Member for which the WTO financed the travel cost of WTO staff
members to go and service such an event.  The good news, compared to the figures he had presented
at a previous meeting,  was that the costing for all the draft 2003 TA Plan was approximatelyCHF 21.5 million.  The total was in actual fact higher and estimated at CHF 28.5 million.  However,
the figure of CHF 28.5 million had been reduced by CHF 7 million because the Secretariat expected
to be able to share costs in a number of cases with partners, so the net total for the technical
cooperation activities was that CHF 21.5 million.  The figure had been arrived at using standard
methodologies, calculating a standard cost per person and day, multiplied by the number of days etc.The figures were therefore average figures.
29. He went on to say that a couple of more elements had been added to the figure of
CHF 21.5 million.  The activities of the WTO Training Institute were not covered by the regular WTO
budget and the small amount of CHF 233,000 therefore had to be added, as had overheads costs of an
amount of CHF 2,8 million.  The total cost for WTO TA and training then amounted to CHF 24,6million.  However, a number of resources already existed.  CHF 1 million was available from the
regular budget for TA  work.  The balance of the Global Trust Fund at the end of 2002 was expected
to amount to between CHF 1 and 3 million.  That depended on the Secretariat's success in delivering
undelivered activities,  on whether some of the Members would pay their pledges, and on pledges
which had been announced either in March 2002 or more recently for 2003.  Those resources
amounted to between CHF 7,7 – 9,7 million to be deducted from the figure of CHF 24,6.  Taken
together, that meant that Members would be asked to pay between CHF 15 and 17 million.  That wasa substantially lower figure than the one presented at the last meeting.  He further described the main
elements of the reduction that made.  One principal saving came from the fact that financing of
capital-based officials participation in Geneva-based activities for the most part had been excluded.
The Secretariat had hoped to enhance the participation of capital-based official in activities in Geneva
as it was good for institution building.  However, it had proved to be an expensive activity.  TheSecretariat would therefore not pursue it.  A second element of the reduction of the total cost was that
the Secretariat assumed cost-sharing with its partners such as the regional development banks and UN
regional economic commissions.  There was reason to believe that they would contribute as they had
done so earlier.  Some activities had been "rationalized" by being cut.  For example, only three
seminars for the training of trainers were included in the revised draft 2003 Plan instead of theWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 10
originally planned six.  On the other hand, the positive evaluation of the first two regional courses in
Africa had led the Secretariat to the conclusion that they should be repeated.  The revised version of
the 2003 TA Plan therefore contained  two simila r courses costing somewhat over 1 million CHF
each.  Finally, the Secretariat had decided that all the 19 L posts provided for TA delivery was going
to be paid for from the Programme Support Fund.  There had been a significant under-spending in2002 because the Secretariat had not been able to recruit new staff immediately, and some had only
began to work in 2002.  That had meant that those posts could be financed out of the Programme
Support Fund in 2002 and that the Secretariat would be able to do the same for 2003 as well.
However, in a year's time Members would have to consider another solution because by then all the
available money would have been used and an alte rnative way of funding would have to be found.
The Secretariat would take account of any comm ents Members might have with respect to the
activities in the draft 2003 Plan and any such changes would also be translated into a revised budgetestimate which he would then report to the Budget Committee.
30. The representative of Morocco said that his statement related to the introduction given by
Mr. Rolian relating to document WT/COMTD/W/107 which contained the evaluation of the African
Trade Policy Courses held in Nairobi and Casablanca.  Those courses had been organized with a short
term outlook in the context of the post Doha TA/CB to meet the needs of the African continent.  Thatgoal had largely been achieved, in spite of the fact that the courses had been considered as a pilot
project.  In that context it was first important to draw lessons in a self-critical manner in order to allow
for an objective analysis.  His delegation noted the problems flagged in the report concerning the
Trade Policy Course held in Casablanca.  His delegation believed that the relatively short time
available for the preparation of the course and the inexperience of the "Institut Supérieur deCommerce et d'Administration des Enterprises (ISCAE)"  in organizing such courses  certainly had
contributed to the logistical and administrative problems which had been encountered.  It was normal
that practical implementation problems arose with a pilot project conceived and implemented in a
short period of time.  That was especially true when, as in the case of the two Africa courses, it was a
question of almost complete delocalisation of a course traditionally held in Geneva.
31. As concerned the imperfections of the Course held in Casablanca,  he went on to say that his
delegation regretted that the course had not functioned as well as foreseen, at least not in the logistical
and administrative respects.  Morocco was a major organizer of international events.  The success of
the Marrakech Ministerial Conference illustrated that.  His delegation had been somewhat shocked
and saddened to learn about the content of the evaluation report.  It had been necessary to look back
with a realistic and objective perspective.  His delegation had then realized that the responsibility that
the Government of Morocco had for the Casablanca Course was one that was shared with the WTOSecretariat.  It was shared in the sense that the preparation of the course, the negotiation of the
modalities, and the discussions regarding certain arrangements had not followed the normal
procedures for the quite simple reason that they had not been managed by the appropriate WTO
structures.  The Technical Cooperation Division and the Training Institute had not been directly
involved in the organization of the Casablanca course.  It was a shared responsibility, not necessarilyby the appropriate WTO structures but by certain individuals who had managed the Casablanca
Course as a personal affair.  In the context of the regrettable deficiencies on the part of the ISCAE it
had to be recalled that that institute had not been officially selected by his Government.  The choice of
institute had rather been made on the first floor of the WTO Secretariat.  Equally, the MOU had also
been drawn up on the first floor of the WTO Secretariat.  The problems encountered were, in thatsense, foreseeable.  His Mission had not been involved in the preparations in order to avoid problems.
The involvement of certain Government departments could have avoided the currency exchange
problem unfortunately experienced by some participants.  However, what was important was to draw
lessons from had happened.  Nevertheless, his delegation did not believe that the Government of
Morocco alone should bare the entire responsibility for the mistakes made in the organization of theCasablanca Course.  His delegation had therefore been surprised to notice that the Nairobi course was
confirmed for 2003, but that the venue had been left open for French speaking Africa according to
page 36 of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Re v.1.  He asked on which basis the CasablancaWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 11
Course had been withdrawn.  His delegation had been pleased to hear that Mr. Rolian had mentioned
that that the Casablanca Course had met its main objectives.  The Government of Morocco was
capable of organizing the next course with a firm commitment that the errors of the past would not be
repeated in the future, and in the hope that the WTO Secretariat would not repeat the errors it had
committed either.  His Authorities committed itself to discuss the basic criteria directly with theHeads of the Technical Cooperation Division and the Training Institute in order to agree on the best
possible modalities which would ensure the success and continuation of the regional trade policy
course for French-speaking Africa in Morocco.  Howe ver, the Moroccan institution to be selected in
full cooperation and coordination with the different ministries in Morocco might be in Rabat and not
in Casablanca.  He therefore launched an appeal to the WTO Secretariat as well as to his fellow
French-speaking African delegations in order to en sure that the regional trade policy course for
French-speaking Africa could continue and that the regional basis would be consolidated withMorocco as a basis.  However, lessons should be drawn from previous mistakes and efforts should be
made in order for this regional trade policy course, in which his Government firmly believed, to
become successful.  His Government had, even before the launching of last year's regional trade
policy course, officially contacted the Technical Cooperation Division in order to organize a third
cycle course at the Mohammed V University in Rabat.  It was for all those reasons that hisGovernment, if the course were to be confirmed, would not spare any effort to comply with the
commitments made by the different departments involved in order to ensure the best possible
conditions for the successful implementation of the course.
32. The representative of Switzerland said that he preferred to separate the three topics relating to
technical cooperation and first talk about the evaluation of the regional trade policy courses and the
draft 2003 TA budget and wait with the more important which was the draft 2003 TA Plan.  His
delegation had found the evaluation the regional trade policy courses to be a good and interesting
document because the Committee's decisions in the future would have to be based on evaluations of
present activities.  In that connection he said that his delegation had hoped to have at least a
preliminary evaluation of the implementation of the 2002 TA Plan for the preparation of the draft2003 TA Plan.  However, the evaluation of the regional trade policy courses in Africa did not contain
much about the impact of the two seminars and, in that sense, left the question about the use of
different TA tools open.  He did not share the optimistic view that the evaluation was positive.  What
it did indicate was that better preparation was be necessary.  More time to prepare was necessary.  The
funding had to be available before the final plans were made.  The choice of partner institution was
essential.  The intervention by the representative of Morocco was a case in point.  There seemed to be
some relief in terms of the cost and even higher savings might be possible in the future by delegatingmore activities to the regions.  As far as the future was concerned, he said that the  evaluation had not,
and could not yet answer the questions of whether more, the same number, or fewer regional trade
policy courses were needed and over what tim e period.  Neither did the evaluation contain
information regarding the opportunity cost of regional trade policy courses and the relative use of
those courses in comparison with other technical cooperation tools.  He said that his personalconclusion was that the trend should be to increase the number of regional trade policy courses and
decrease the number of workshops and short-term activities.  In addition, it was important for
delegations to get a clear idea from the Secretariat of the resource implications of the regional trade
policy courses and how the human resource problems were going to be solved.  What had also
become clear from the evaluation of the regional trade policy courses was that the choice of partnerinstitution was essential.  There was a suggestion in the report that the choice should be made through
and open bidding process.  It was important that a decision on a transparent process of selecting
partner institutions was made, open to scrutiny by Members.  Cooperation with local training
institutes should be of long term as the transfer of capacity to the trainers in the region was a gradual
process until the WTO could somewhat disengage.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 12
33. He went on to say that his first comment with respect to the draft budget related to cost
sharing.  It was good to have such an important contribution from other institutions as suggested.
However, as far as the donors were concerned, it might be a case of double counting, as quite a few of
the institutions which might contribute were institutions for which the funds were provided by the
same donors.  Although it was a reduced cost from a WTO point of view, it might not be a reductionof cost in terms of what single donors had provide.   An example was that when some of the regional
development banks carried out TA they did it with funds which were provided directly or indirectly
provided by donors.  In that respect it was important, at least for some of the donors, to get a
transparent picture of any cost sharing.  His seco nd comment with respect to the draft budget was that
of the calculation of overheads.  Although it might be a mute point, he said that delegations were used
to the overhead calculation of 13 per cent for consulting contracts with international institutions, as a
global overhead to a single project.  However, considering the WTO TA budget was different.  Hesuggested that, instead of having an overhead of 13 per cent, it would be more helpful to get a real
account for the overhead.  A real account would show  the actual cost for the institution, instead of
using a system did not seem to be adapted to the actual budget methods of an institution like WTO.
34. Deputy Director-General, Mr. Abbott said that as  far as the overheads were concerned he said
that he would look into whether they could be accounted for in a different way.  Nevertheless, most of
the budget involved related to the L posts, as it had been decided that they were to be financed
through the overheads.  As far is the cost sharing was concerned he said that it might be true that some
of WTO's partner institution might use funds from other donors.  However, that was nothing the WTO
should get involved in.  From the WTO perspective,  they were contributing to the costs of the WTO
and it was therefore a plus for the WTO and the donors and cost-sharing was what Members alwaysasked the Secretariat to do and the Secretariat therefore attempted to do so.
35. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Di vision, said that the African Trade Policy
Courses constituted a staff burden on the Secretariat staff.  What senior management had decided, and
which was reflected in the first bullet of paragraph 22 of WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1, was that those
two African Trade Policy Courses would be Secretariat wide activities.  The burden of theirimplementation would not be posed on one divisi on.  The implementation of those courses would be
directly supervised by the Deputy Director-General Dr. Rana with the assistance of the Technical
Cooperation Division and the Training Institute.  However, the staff burden would be distributed
evenly across the Secretariat staff.  Secondly, and related to the proposals that DDG Mr. Abbott had
made to the Budget Committee with regard to all WTO Secretariat staffing, was the need to have the
19 L positions renewed as quickly as possible.  The second question raised related to the mix of
instruments for TA  activities.  Members had urged the Secretariat early in 2002 to ask Members andObservers to state their needs.  The needs identified by Members and Observers were diverse.  They
did not only relate to three-months courses.   Some Members were interested in such courses, whereas
others requested five days courses or explicitly insi sted on two to three week trade policy courses.  As
the demands spanned across a wide range of activities and Members had requested the Secretariat to
base the activities delivered on the explicit priorities of the Membership, the delivery had to bediverse as well.  He finally said that it was up for Members to decide if the future design  of activities
should be based on evaluation results.
36. The representative of Barbados said that she, at that time, only wished to comment on the
Regional Trade Policy Courses.  One positive aspect of the trade policy courses held in Nairobi and
Casablanca were the important focus on regional issues.  Only that type of regional exercise couldbring real regional identification and specialization.  Another positive aspect was the obvious
usefulness of training the trainers which made the development effort sustainable.  A third aspect was
the positive returns on institutional partnerships and the obvious outcome of strengthened capacity
and resources of academic institutions in Members with regard to WTO-related issues.  Finally, it was
a useful learning exercise for the WTO itself.  Lessons from regional trade policy courses could bebrought back to Geneva to broaden the perspectives of people working in Geneva.  Past experiences
should be used for the future.  It was also necessary to extend the courses to other regions in 2003.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 13
Her delegation considered that the Caribbean Community region lent itself well to become a prime
location for the holding of a regional trade policy course in 2003.  There were several reasons for that.
First, it was widely acknowledged that the Caribbean region was one which faced specific challenges
due to smallness and capacity constraints, particular institutional capacity restraints.  Second, the
region comprised a fairly homogenous pool of beneficiaries which made it easy to target and fashionthe course.  Third, there was an established university in the region, the University of the West Indies,
which had a network of campuses located throughout the countries of the region.  Those campuses
would be natural partners to a regional trade policy course.  Finally, there were several existing
regional institutions such as the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Community Secretariat,
within the region which could help in the needs analysis which would have to be undertaken in the
formulation of the course modules.  The was already a MOU between the WTO and the latter.  It was
for those reasons that her delegation wished to see the Secretariat give favourable consideration to theextension of the regional trade policy courses to other regions, including the Caribbean.  The regional
trade policy courses should be maintained as a training tool as it was a useful one.
37. The representative of Kenya said that document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 reminded
Members of the need to integrate TA into national development plans.  That document contained
other useful information and members needed to go through and familiarise themselves with thepoints raised in the document.  The revised 2003 TA Plan included a second phase of the JITAP
programme which was of great importance to Africa.  He asked the Secretariat to provide clarification
as to what that programme would include.  He said that the eight beneficiary countries that had
experienced the first phase of the programme had benefited from all the activities in the programme.
Each activity played a different role and asking members to choose a few out of the listed activitiescould pose problems, especially for new beneficiaries entering the programme.  He said that his
delegation was pleased that NEPAD was included in the draft 2003 TA Plan.  He said that the
NEPAD went beyond trade and his delegation felt that giving the NEPAD a regional approach such as
through regional trading arrangements would have been more appropriate for the WTO than starting
at the continental level.  He asked the Secretariat to provide more informatio n in that respect.  With
respect to the report given by Mr. Rolian, he said that his delegation was pleased with the results of
the regional trade policy courses held in Nairobi.  His delegation did not share the views of the
representative of Morocco because the Government of Kenya had been fully involved in the
organisation of the course and the selection of the partner institution that had worked together with the
WTO Secretariat.  Given the constraints faced by the Secretariat, his delegation felt that good work
had been done and his Government looked forward to continued cooperation in the future.  One of the
objectives with  the regional courses was institutional capacity building so that the role of the WTOcould be reduced as the organisation of those courses progressed.  That would ensure that the requisite
capacity would be built in those countries to enable them to participate fully in the multilateral trading
system.  He was therefore pleased that the report contained a recommendation for the continuation of
the regional trade policy course in Nairobi and his delegation looked forward to the beginning of the
second course.  He said that his delegation was pleased that the figures for the 2003 TA budget hadbeen revised from CHF 37,463,415 to CHF 24,611,225 which should also be appreciated by the
donors.  He suggested adding a column to the 2003 TA Plan containing the cost of each activity so as
to give Members an idea of it.  His delegation believed that there should be more focus on long-term
trade policy courses rather than 2-3 day workshops and seminars.  He drew Members' attention to the
outreach activities on page 29 of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1.  He thought that thelimited resources available should not be overstretched.  It was his impression that resources were
being directed  towards national parliaments and civil societies instead of addressing the core
problems of building capacity within the relevant economic ministries in developing country members
like Kenya.  Converting some of the outreach courses into one or two regional trade policy courses
would be cost effective in terms of utilising the funds available for TA.  He said that the outreachcourses might be necessary but he did not see how they fitted in the context of TA to his country.  He
asked the Secretariat to provide more information on those courses.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 14
38. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Divi sion, said said that with respect to the
outreach activities, Members should recall that WTO TA was member priority driven and that several
of the outreach activities had been explicitly requested by members.  The activities were also designed
on the basis of mandates contained in paragraphs 10 and 38 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.
With respect to the NEPAD, he said that the WTO Secretariat had consulted with several delegatesfrom Africa as well as the NEPAD Secretariat a nd the wording in the 2003 TA Plan reflected what
had been agreed in those consultations.  He agreed with the representative of Kenya that there needed
to be a balance between the NEPAD continental wide activities and the NEPAD national activities.
He said that the NEPAD Secretariat had undertaken to revert to the WTO Secretariat with in-country
activities on a country to country basis, on which the Secretariat would report to Members.  With
respect to the JITAP programme he said that it was still under consultation between the ITC,
UNCTAD and WTO Secretariats and the donor community.  However, the WTO Secretariat wasconfident that a satisfactory solution would be found.  He thanked the representative of Kenya for
endorsing the Secretariat's guiding principle that TA Plans should be an integral part of national
development plans.
39. The representative of Djibouti said that the regional trade policy courses in Africa were of
great importance to developing country members.  A lthough they could not be expected to solve the
development problems in Africa, they would help African officials familiarise themselves with the
WTO rules.  The three-month courses, the courses for LDCs and the three-week trade policy courses
were all  good examples of useful TA with which his delegation was satisfied.  He agreed that it was
important to involve regional development associations, but also to closely involve the host country in
the preparations of the regional trade policy courses in order to avoid any problems.  He hoped thatthe regional trade policy courses would be maintained in order to favour the integration of African
country members into the multilateral trading system.
40. The representative of Zambia said that his delegation was pleased that the evaluation of the
2002 TA Plan had noted the success of the regional trade policy course that had been held in Nairobi.
The fact that the budget figures had been reduced while the TA commitments still would be fulfilledwas a success in financial management and planning.  He said that it was important to consider the
TA principles in relation to the needs of the LDCs.  The WTO Plans were part of an evolving process.
There had to be a common understanding of what the LDCs should expect before the details were
discussed.  He drew Members' attention to bullet point 6 of paragraph 4 on page 5 of
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 which stated that "recipient countries have re-emphasized their
preferred priorities in their TA/CB requests.  Greater need has been expressed for capacity building
for trade integration (stimulating supply-side responses, export diversification, etc)".  The bullet pointwent on to acknowledge that the WTO could not, except through co-ordinated arrangements with
development agencies, bilateral donors and recipient countries themselves, deliver all of that on its
own.  He said that the table on page three of the same document indicated where the WTO could
provide TA.  He wished to discuss some of the principles for the WTO TA in that context.  He would
also consider the details reflected in the 2003 TA Plan.  He informed the Committee that the LDCshad discussed their position at the 30
th Session of the Sub-Committee on LDCs held on
7 November 2002.  He thanked the Secretariat for its positive responses and comments regarding the
statement made and issues raised by the LDCs at that meeting, and in particular for the steps that the
WTO would take to ensure that UNCTAD and ITC were included in the 2003 TA Plan as WTO
strategic partners, in order to address LDCs' concerns and interests that fell under their respectivemandates which were different from the mandate of the WTO.  His delegation welcomed the
statement that the WTO Secretariat was ready to translate the policy statement made by the heads of
the three agencies at their meeting held in Geneva on 30 October 2002, in which the heads of the
agencies pledged "to enhance their relationship across a range of activities including TRTA, research
and the sharing of information".  He believed that that statement was broad enough to be incorporatedinto specific operational steps in the revised 2003 TA Plan.  The 2003 TA Plan offered an opportunity
for immediate implementation of that policy statement and encouraged the Secretariat to deviseWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 15
practical ways and means to achieve that objective.  He hoped that the Secretariat would inform WTO
Members on the arrangements made in that respect.
41. He went on to say that the LDCs were encouraged by the Secretariat's receptiveness to their
suggestion to incorporate seven principles that they had devised into the revised 2003 TA Plan.  Those
principles related to the mandate of other international or regional agencies in the area ofdevelopment-related issues which transcended the mandate of the WTO.  The LDCs believed that
making those principles an integral part of the 2003 TA Plan would go a long way in addressing their
developmental concerns and interests.  The statement regarding those principles had been distributed
and was available to Members.  He reiterated what those principles were, as the Secretariat had noted
in document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1, in terms of where the competency of both the WTO
Secretariat and the other agencies lay and the priority which should be given to the needs of
developing countries, in particular the LDCs.  That meant that any assistance involving developmentand negotiating issues which went beyond the WTO legal framework should be based on close
cooperation between the WTO and other development-oriented agencies.  In that regard, the LDCs
were of the view that in the future, the WTO TA Plans should always identify which activities
required collaboration with other international agencies including the regional ones, and devise ways
to implement them.  He said that paragraph 2 (v) of the Decision on Measures in Favour ofLeast-Developed Countries stated that "Least-developed countries shall be accorded substantially
increased TA in the development, strengthening and diversification of their production and export
bases including those of services, as well as in trade promotion, to enable them to maximize the
benefits from liberalized access to markets."  He added that paragraph 30 on page 15 of
WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 stated that "The 49 Least-Developed Countries have priority focus.  Theyhave the most urgent and acute trade development needs."  He mentioned that to encourage the
Secretariat to reflect those principles in the activities and distribution of resources in the 2003 TA
Plan.  He concluded by requesting that the principles be translated into tangible benefits for LDCs.
42. The representative of Japan said that his delegation was willing to cooperate with the
Secretariat in order to finalise the draft 2003 TA Plan so that activities could begin to be delivered by
the start of 2003.  He said that he would limit his intervention to six points.  First, he said that among
the reasons for the slippages from the 2003 TA Plan were the problems of joint delivery with other
international organisations.  His delegation had emphasised the importance of collaborating with other
international agencies and his Government had made a commitment to financially support UNCTAD
to jointly implement activities related to trade and investment to the Asia-Pacific member countries.
He said that it was his delegation's understanding that that commitment had not been taken advantage
of, and asked the Secretariat what the problem was, besides a lack of funding.  Second, his delegationappreciated that the Secretariat had made an effort to address its concerns with respect to ad hoc
activities.  His Government had made an effort to mainstream TRTA in the context in its bilateral
technical cooperation.  He provided the example of the two day workshops that his Government had
organised with the WTO in order to jointly implement certain trade and investment activities in
Geneva.  Those two-day workshops had caused concerns in terms of cost effectiveness.  However hewas pleased to mention that his Government bore 65 per cent of the cost of those activities.  The
workshops would be held back to back with the Working Group on Trade and Investment.  His
Government would cover the travel costs for participants from Anglophone African countries.  He
asked whether that type of activity was considered to  be an ad hoc activity.  Third, with respect to the
regional trade policy courses, he said that he agreed with the representative of Switzerland that theselection of partner institutions was crucial and had to be transparent.  The selection process had to be
strategic because one of the main objectives of regional trade policy courses was to develop
partnership arrangements and help in the creation of future institutions which could take over the
responsibilities of the WTO in those countries.  Fourth, with respect to the training module on S&D,
he asked whether that activity related to what was being discussed in the Special Session of the CTD.Fifth, he asked what the nature of the internal note on trade clinics would be.  He asked whether theWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 16
guidelines were going to be circulated to Member s for comments or whether it was work in progress.
Sixth, with respect to CRP(02)41  he said that his delegation had been surprised by the initial high
budget figures for the draft 2003 TA Plan but was ready to study the revised figures.  He did not agree
with the suggestion made by the representative of  Switzerland to change the 13 per cent overhead
costs to real accounting figures.  His experience was that such management would pose administrationburdens on the Secretariat.  What was required was transparency with respect to the overhead costs.
43. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division, thanked the representative of Japan
for bringing to Members' attention the commitment made by the Government of Japan to provide
resources to UNCTAD for activities on trade and investment carried out jointly with the WTO.  He
said that he would be pleased to report that to the Director-General and senior management.  He said
that the activities on trade and investment carried out in 2002 had gone well.  UNCTAD had been
responsible for and delivered four regional training activities in 2002.  The WTO had delivered threeof the four regional workshops which it was responsible for.  The final one for the Anglophone
African countries was to be held in Botswana.  However, due to scheduling problems it would only be
held in January 2003.  He said that the Government of Japan had made the Secretariat's task easier
with the trade and investment activities held back to back with the meetings of the Working Group on
Trade and Investment that had been held in 2002 and those proposed for 2003.  The Secretariat didnot foresee any particular difficulties with the activities on investment.  The challenge for all activities
was posed by the large number of individual country requests for national activities in one particular
area, which could not be delivered.  In that case the Secretariat would attempt to collapse such
demands for national activities into regional activities.  He said that the back to back activities
mentioned by the representative of Japan would normally be regarded as ad hoc activities, but itwould be possible to accommodate them in the planning process by having early contacts on in order
to schedule them.  The Secretariat could schedule back to back activities with planned activities but
that information had to be made available before the implementation year as they otherwise would
cause unforeseen pressure.  With respect to the regi onal trade policy courses, he said that two donor
countries had approached the Secretariat and were willing to provide institutions in Asia and theCaribbean with the possibility to hold trade policy courses like the ones that had been held in Africa.
The Secretariat was responding favourably to that and would report to Members.  In response to the
question posed with respect to the internal note on th e guidelines on trade clinics, he said that that
note was an operational document.  However, the Secretariat would consult with interested members
before putting it before senior management for approval.
44. Mr. Low, Director, Development and Economic Research Division, said that the training
module on S&D was part of the development of tr aining materials.  Some of the WTO training
programmes and seminars had not had a separate co mponent on S&D in the past and the idea was to
put together material that could be used for that purpose.
45. The representative of Paraguay said that he was making his statement on behalf of the
GRULAC.  He referred to the importance of the results of the regional trade policy courses held in
Africa and said that document WT/COMTD/W/107 provided a good summary of the evaluation ofthose courses.  His delegation believed that the regional trade policy courses were important because
they offered the opportunity to attend trade policy courses in Geneva, to officials who would
otherwise not have that opportunity.  As had been mentioned by the representative of Barbados it
would be important to organise such courses fo r countries in the GRULAC region.  Although there
was still a debate as to whether the courses should take place as set out in paragraph 92 of documentWT/COMTD/W/107, light had been shed on the prop osal made by the GRULAC as reflected  in
paragraph 4 on page 5 which referred to the "Le ssons from the implementation of the 2002 Annual
TA/CB Plan" and contained important aspects whic h were in line with the group's proposal.  Those
aspects included the recognition that the demand for TA was limitless and went beyond supply, and
that it therefore was important to rationalise work and collaborate with other institutions.  In order tomeet the commitments set out by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference, it was essential to
establish clearly identified associations with other institutions in coordination with donor countriesWT/COMTD/M/43
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and to take advantage of the synergies created.  Paragraph 4 also pointed out that recipient countries
had already set their priorities and expressed a grea ter need for capacity building for trade integration
(stimulating supply-side responses and export diversification) relative to capacity building for short
term TA/CB for WTO negotiations.  In that regard, the WTO could not deliver except through co-
ordinated arrangements with development agencies and bilateral donors, and the recipient countriesthemselves.  Bullet point 11 in paragraph 4 stated that "there is a threshold capacity of the WTO
Secretariat to deliver TA.  This capacity threshold was attained in 2002."  He said that it was
important to consider the experiences of those courses of which he had been a participant.  He hoped
that in 2003, within the framework of the Latin American Association and the Development Bank
possibilities of holding courses in the GRULAC region could be discussed and different countries
could host the long term courses.  The main thrust of the GRULAC's proposal was reflected in
paragraph 2 on page 1 of document WT/COMTD/W/107, which called for the increase in the numberof government officials who could benefit from the long-term trade policy courses, giving a regional
focus to the learning dispensed in those courses and the establishment of partnership arrangements
with regionally based institutions of higher learning and local resource persons in order to ensure the
transfer of knowledge in a sustainable manner.
46. The representative of the European Communities said that considerable progress had been
made on the 2003 TA Plan following Members' discussions.  He said that the Government of
Germany had announced a pledge for 2003 and 2004 which would contribute to moving the issue of
TA fast and productively.  The 2003 TA Plan was a big programme and there were many issues at
stake, some of which related to the experiences in 2002 and some which related to how those lessons
would be reflected in the 2003 TA Plan.  He said that he would pose some questions in order to get abetter understanding of the different issues.  His delegation agreed with the representative of
Switzerland that it was important for Members to base themselves, as mentioned in paragraph 4 of
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 on the lessons learnt, the facts and information on the delivery
of the 2002 TA Plan.  He encouraged the Secretariat to provide Members with a report on the
implementation of the 2002 TA Plan as soon as possible as basis for further discussions.  With respectto the approximately 25 per cent of the activities that had been cancelled, he asked how that would be
factored in into the 2003 TA Plan.  He said that the reasons given for the cancellation of some of those
activities were bound to reproduce themselves.  The Fifth Ministerial Conference would put a lot of
pressure on Members and there would thus be absorption problems with a risk of less activities being
executed than planned.  His delegation was still concerned about the capacity within the Secretariat to
deliver the 2003 TA Plan.  Members needed to realise that there would be a first real intense phase of
negotiations before the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun, and that the Secretariat would alsohave to fully service the negotiations.  There was also the issue of quality versus quantity.  If the
Secretariat intended to focus on the quality of the activities delivered then there would be greater
human resource needs for the implementation of the 2003 TA Plan than in the delivery of the 2002
TA Plan.  He gave the example of the 50-60 activities in the 2002 TA Plan which only involved the
travel to a conference.  The Secretariat might find it difficult to replace those by more resourceintensive activities.
47. He went on to the question of setting priorities within the 2003 TA Plan and said that
although there should be a special focus on LDCs, his delegation had noted many instances where
national and regional activities were planned on the same subject.  He asked whether that was a
prioritisation of activities in view of the scarce resources available.  He also sought more informationon the human resource implications of the trade cl inics.   He asked who was going to do what and
how they were going to be planned if they constituted a significant part of the work to be carried out
in 2003.  His delegation hoped that the Secretariat could concentrate more on managing TA than
actually delivering it.  Issues relating to strategic partnerships and outsourcing had already been
addressed by the Secretariat.  With respect to ad hoc activities he said that the text in page 9 ofdocument WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 reflected real progress and a serious effort to address the issueWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 18
in a systematic matter.  His delegation fully supported the attempt to discipline the number of ad-hoc
activities.  However, his delegation did not believe that any proposed replacement activity should be
automatically accepted because there were other parameters of the TA Plan that still applied.  For
example, all activities still had to be mainstreamed and be compatible with the priorities of the Plan.
Regarding the strategic partnerships, he said that it was a good sign that they were more thoroughly
mentioned and that new activities involving the ITC and other organisations had been included.  He
asked whether the strategic partnerships mentioned had already been transposed into additional
activities and enhanced cooperation in the list of activities in document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1
and whether they had already had an effect on the cost.  He asked what the Secretariat would be doing
with respect to the other organisations.  With re spect to the 2002 TA Plan he said that Members
needed to get a better sense of how much had been provided by other organisations in order to be able
to judge whether the approach in the draft 2003 TA Plan was realistic.  On outsourcing, he said that hehad been struck by the fact that the Secretariat felt that it had to be cost efficient.  That was only one
of the benefits  when outsourcing.  If an activity could be delivered by another organisation at the
same cost then outsourcing would still alleviate the burden falling on the WTO Secretariat, provided
the other organisation was one that the Secretariat and the Members were comfortable with.  The
Secretariat did not necessarily have to save money.  However outsourcing should not be moreexpensive.  Outsourcing was also a means to enable the Secretariat to concentrate on what its first
priority should be, particularly in 2003.  He said that there had to be more than two other
organisations to which the Secretariat could outsou rce and his delegation looked forward to finding
additional trustworthy partners.  With respect to the regional trade policy courses held in Africa he
said that his delegation was still considering the evaluation (WT/COMTD/W/107).  He had beenstruck by the mixed conclusion in paragraph 91 which stated that "There are no convincing grounds to
argue that the African regional trade policy courses did not do what they set out to do."  That was a
negative statement but the summary in paragraph 14 was more positive.  He said that the report still
gave rise to a number of questions.  One was how Members could ensure that all tools were ready and
all questions answered in order to factor in th e experiences from 2002 into the 2003 regional trade
policy courses into the 2003 TA Plan which his delegation supported in principle.  He asked what the
programme for the 2003 courses would look like and whether it would be possible to hold the courses
in the Summer of 2003, just before the Fifth Ministerial Conference.  He was not certain that
government officials would be able to attend and that the Secretariat would be prepared to provide the
necessary resources in that period.  If the course was held in a different period, it would have different
implications for the housing, the institutions availabl e and the willingness of people to participate.  He
concluded by saying that his delegation was grateful for the attempt that had been made to reduce thecost of the 2003 TA Plan.  He said that it was important to get the substance of the 2003 TA Plan right
first.  The issue of its cost could be considered once the answers to the questions raised had been
given.
48. The Chairman suspended discussions on agenda item C and said that it would be continued at
the next meeting of the CTD on Monday, 18 November 2002.  The Secretariat would then provide
responses to the questions raised by the representative of the European Communities.
D. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (11 N OVEMBER 2003)
49. The Chairman said that delegations had only received the draft annual report that day because
the Sub-Committee on LDCs had had held its last meeting of 2002 on 7 November.  The aim had
been to write a simple, factual report on the work of the CTD in regular and dedicated session as wellas of the work of the Sub-Committee on LDCs.  Delegations were requested to either take the floor or
inform him or the Secretariat of any changes they might wish to see before noon, Thursday,
14 November 2002.  He said that Members needed to adopt the Annual Report on Monday,
18 November 2002.  He said that he did not think that delegations would have much difficulty to
adopt the report as it was factual in nature.
50. The meeting was suspended.WT/COMTD/M/43
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Resumed meeting on 18 November 2002
C. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
(iii) The WTO 2003 Technical Assistance Plan
51. The Chairman said that discussions on agenda Item C which related to the implementation of
the 2002 TA Plan, the evaluation of the regional trade-policy courses in Casablanca and Nairobi and
the revised draft 2003 TA Plan had been suspended. Discussions on the draft Annual Report had also
been suspended and he hoped that the Committee would be in a position to adopt the report at the end
of the meeting.  There was also a request by the delegation of the United States to revert to the India-
Sri Lanka FTA discussed at previous sessions of  the CTD.  That would be taken up under "Other
Business".
52. The representative of India thanked donors for their support for the 2002 TA activities, which
he hoped would continue in 2003.  His delegation had noted that the projected cost for the draft 2003
TA Plan had fallen from CHF 36.5 m illion to CHF 24.6 million.  He sa id that DDG Abbo t had, at the
last meeting of the CTD, explained how the cost for the 2003 TA Plan could be reduced.  His
delegation asked for further details regarding the calculation of those cost estimates as he noted thatthe costs had fallen by almost a third while the number of activities remained more or less the same.
The Secretariat had provided Members with an evaluation of the regional policy courses, but his
delegation looked forward to also receiving an evaluation of the remaining activities carried out in
2002.  With respect to the costing of TA activities, he said that the 13% overhead charge was
supposed to cover the costs incurred by the Secret ariat in organising the activities.  That would
include not only the overheads but also the cost of the time spent by Secretariat officials in organising
the activities.  In the Budget Committee, Members had been informed that 19 L-posts had been
created to assist in the delivery of the TA activ ities.  If the cost of maintaining those posts was
charged to the TA budget then he did not see the justification for continuing to charge 13 per cent in
overhead costs to the technical cooperation budget.  It should be substantially less than that and hesought clarification as to why a 13 per cent overhead cost continued to be charged.  He said that the
last bullet point on page 13 of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 stated that "a TA/CB Programme
Menu is under policy development" and that "Country priority preferences will be fit under the
Programme Menu, which falls into 7 categories" the first of which was outreach.  The representative
of Kenya commented on that at the previous meeting of the CTD and the Secretariat had clarified the
situation by drawing upon paragraph 10 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  At a previous meeting
of the CTD, held on 8 October 2002, his delegation, while agreeing with the usefulness of suchactivities, noted that costs of such programmes should not be included in the budget of the TA plan.
Outreach programmes could not be classified as TA .  Ministers had clearly defined that "The delivery
of WTO TA  shall be designed to assist developing and least-developed countries and low-income
countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines, implement obligations and exercise the
rights of membership, including drawing on the benefits of an open, rules-based multilateral tradingsystem.
1"  Paragraph 6 on page 6 of document WT/COMTD/W/104.Rev.1 stated that "The challenge
of the 2003 WTO Annual Plan for TA/CB is to build capacity in the beneficiary countries for
effective negotiations, legal implementation of WTO Agreements, and trade integration."  He did not
see how outreach activities fitted into that.  While his delegation supported the organisation of the
suggested outreach activities, they should not be included as part of the 2003 TA Plan.  That wouldresult in less money being available for TA activiti es than would otherwise have been the case.  He
pointed out that references to TA in paragraph 41 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration did not include
                                                     
1 WT/MIN(01)/DEC/W/1WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 20
paragraph 10 that dealt with outreach activities.  Ministers therefore had not intended that the outreach
activities be part of the TA programme.  His delegation therefore sought the deletion of the complete
list of the outreach activities from the 2003 TA Plan.  He found it surprising that there had been no
reference made to TA activities in the index that had been prepared for
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 despite his delegation's referral to that in the previous meetingof the CTD.
53. He went on to say that this his delegation welcomed the efforts to limit ad hoc activities to
5 per cent of the total activities.  He recognised the need for flexibility but was surprised that as much
as 28 per cetn of the activities organised by the Secretariat in 2002 were ad hoc activities.  He
suggested that when ad hoc requests were received they be consolidated and put forward to the CTD
for approval.  If for any reason an ad hoc activities had to be organised at short notice, he suggested
that the views of the Chairman of the CTD be considered before the activity was organised.  Hisdelegation supported the fact that 47 percent of the planned national TA activities for 2002 would be
directed to LDCs who required TA more than an y other group of countries.  He agreed with the
statement in document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 that TA was not a substitute for market access and
added that TA was not a substitute for accession.  Accession was important for some LDCs and his
delegation hoped that a decision could soon be reached in order to facilitate faster accession of LDCsinto the WTO.  In implementing the 2003 TA Plan reference was made to cooperation with the
Bretton Woods Institutions and six Regional Developm ent Banks.  He sought clarification as to how
that would function in practise and in what way the Secretariat depended on those institutions to assist
in the delivery of TA activities.  He said that paragraph 41 of the document
(WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1) made reference to the role that countries like India and Sri Lanka couldplay in the delivery of TA and sought clarification as to what the Secretariat had in mind in that
respect.  His Government had responded positively to suggestions made by the Secretariat about a
year earlier but there had been no subsequent follow up.  He informed Members that his Government,
within its limited means, did extend some TA to ot her countries.  His delegation welcomed the idea of
including a module on S&D in WTO training activities and he suggested that the contents of themodule be circulated in the Special Session of the CTD.  Such a module would be useful in providing
an insight into what the principles and objectiv es of S&D were.  With respect to the internship
programme for regional coordinators, he said that the document mentioned that regional coordinators
would be selected by the regional organisations co ncerned.  There were two slots provided for the
South Asia Association for Regional Cooperatio n (SAARC), but since SAARC did not have a
coordinator he asked which member state of SAARC Secretariat had been consulted to identify the
two countries that had been listed.
54. The representative of Tanzania said that TRTA was vital for the LDCs and his delegation
therefore had a vested interest in the activities that were being proposed in the 2003 TA Plan.  He said
that at the meeting of the CTD held on 11 November 2002, the Ambassador of Zambia, as coordinator
of the LDC Group had reminded Members that the Uruguay Round Agreements specifically
highlighted the importance that should be attached to TRTA for LDCs.  That point had been re-emphasized at every Ministerial Conference and important meeting since the conclusion of the
Uruguay Round.  At the Doha Ministerial Conferen ce TRTA had again found a place of prominence
and the LDCs were viewing the 2003 TA Plan within that framework.  Many LDCs had submitted
their TA  requests for 2003 to the Secretariat.  Some had requested traditional seminars and
workshops and others had requested activities that were more meaningful and went beyond that.Some Members had requested institutional support to strengthen their institutional capacity to
implement the WTO Agreements and to participate effectively in the negotiating process.  His
delegation was pleased with the presence of Director-General Dr. Supachai when the CTD had first
considered the 2003 TA Plan at its meeting on 8 October 2002.  Dr. Supachai had outlined his vision
for meaningful TRTA for LDCs.  His delegation was pleased with Dr. Supachai's address and the factthat he took personal interest in the subject.  When the details of the 2003 TA Plan had been put
before Members, his delegation had noted that most of the LDC requests had not been taken into
account by the Secretariat.  Only three activities per LDC had been included in the draft 2003 TAWT/COMTD/M/43
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Plan.  Though that was disappointing, his delegation recognized the Secretariat's resource constraints.
Given the Secretariat's limited capacity and the concerns expressed by the development partners, the
Secretariat would not be able to implement a 2003 TA Plan which exceeded CHF 37 million.
Although his delegation would have preferred a higher allocation for TRTA in the 2003 TA Plan, it
was prepared to accept that as a compromise.  At the meeting of the CTD held on 11 November 2002,
DDG Abbott had informed Members that the revised 2003 TA Plan would only require funding
amounting to CHF 24 million.  His delegation was deeply concerned about that statement.  First, it
was not clear to his delegation which activities had been deleted to reduce the cost.  It appeared that it
was mainly the Geneva-based activities that had been removed.  His delegation was of the view that
some of the Geneva-based activities, for exampl e the WTO internship programme, were effective
means of capacity building for LDCs and should not be sacrificed under any circumstances.  It was of
interest for Members to see the list of deleted act ivities to ensure that no important activities were
being excluded from the 2003 TA Plan in an attempt to reduce the cost.  TA was a recurrent theme in
the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Many members had emphasized that the rationale for the TRTA in
the Doha Ministerial Declaration was to enable developing countries to understand the substance of
the negotiations and to meaningfully participate in them.  The initial cost estimate of CHF 37 million
for the 2003 TA Plan was in reality a meagre amount compared to the large amounts that were beingspent elsewhere.  He urged that those activities for LDCs that had not been included earlier be
included and, if necessary, by recourse to a supplementary budgetary allocation beyond the current
request for CHF 24 million.  The Secretariat had to clearly state how it planned to handle the question
of strengthening institutions in LDCs, to enable them to deal with WTO matters more effectively on a
long-term basis.
55. He further said that his delegation was concerned about the outreach activities referred to in
pages 28 and 29 of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1.  He shared the views expressed by
the representative of India.  Those activities might be useful to disseminate information on WTO
issues to a wider audience and to other stakeholders.  The implementation of those programmes was
therefore to be undertaken by the External Relations Division, and not by any other division of theWTO.  However, no matter how well intentioned those programmes might be, his delegation did not
understand why they should form part of the budget for TRTA.  TRTA was driven by the DDA which
required an in depth understanding of the WTO agreements and rules by actual negotiators.  The TA
that Members were considering for 2003 should concentrate only on developing the capacity of the
member countries in relation to the negotiations and the implementation of the WTO Agreements.  As
the proposed outreach activities did not target the needs of the relevant participants in that process, he
urged that those activities be handled under a different programme and that scarce resources for TAnot be spent on them.  He said that his delegation was prepared to recommend the CTD to accept the
revised 2003 TA Plan so that it could be forwarded to the Budget Committee with the following
conditions.  First, additional activities for the LDCs would be taken up at a later date and, if
necessary, additional funds be sought for that purpose.  Second, the target budget for TRTA in 2003
be increased back to CHF 37 million so as to facili tate the inclusion of activities for LDCs that had
not been included earlier.  Third, the WTO should pay increasing attention to developing institutional
capacities in LDCs to enable them to deal with WTO matters.  Fourth, the outreach activities should
not form part of the 2003 TA Plan.  Preferably, the External Relations Division, or any other division
could propose those activities to the Budget Committee, but scarce funds for the TRTA programme
should not be diverted for such purposes.
56. The representative of Bangladesh said that his delegation realised that the revised 2003 TA
Plan contained some adjustments to the national and regional activities.  With the inclusion of two
regional activities in the revised draft 2003 TA Plan the total number of activities had been increased
from 441 to 443.  In that sense his delegation did not see any major change in the revised 2003 TA
Plan.  His delegation had always emphasized that it was the quality rather than the quantity in thedelivery of TA  which would build true capacity.  To develop real capacity the WTO SecretariatWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 22
needed to provide country specific support to LDCs.  He hoped that the Secretariat would pay
attention to that aspect when organising the courses listed in the draft 2003 TA Plan.  His delegation
was aware that the Secretariat had reduced the overall budget for the draft 2003 TA Plan from the
original estimate of CHF 37 million to approximately CHF 24 million.  Some activities that had been
considered less valuable had surely been excluded.  However, those could not be identified from thelist that the Secretariat had provided.  His delegation could not support the exclusion of activities that
were important to LDCs, particularly in the context of the ongoing negotiations.  He asked the
Secretariat to identify the activities that had been excluded.  He said that the Doha Ministerial
Declaration repeatedly underscored the need fo r increased capacity building for LDCs and his
delegation expected that more funds would be allocated for activities that helped develop the
negotiating capacity of LDCs.  He realised that the demand for TA was high and that it might be
impossible for the WTO to meet all the demands due to the lack of human capacity and financialresources.  However, his delegation believed that all activities that were useful to LDCs should be
implemented and not jeopardized by funding problems.  He said that he was particularly referring to
the inclusion of institutional capacity building programmes for LDCs.  His delegation had submitted a
proposal for activities that would contribute to the strengthening of institutions in Bangladesh to deal
with WTO issues.  The Secretariat had informed his delegation that its proposals for TA would be
considered in 2003 TA Plan and that steps had been taken to operationalise them.
57. He went on to say that his delegation supported the statement made by the representative of
India regarding the proposed outreach activities in the draft 2002 TA Plan.  He was not certain what
the outreach activities implied but assumed that th ey involved familiarising parliamentarians and
representatives of the civil society with WTO matters.  Document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1contained a total of twelve national and regional outreach activities, but his delegation was not aware
of the amount of money that would be spent for that purpose.  While his delegation appreciated the
Secretariat's good intentions, he said that bringing a few parliamentarians attend a course for a few
days in Geneva would not develop an understanding of WTO matters.  It might rather create
confusion about the negotiating process and the work of WTO.  He therefore requested the Secretariatto exclude those types of awareness activities from the draft 2003 TA Plan and allocate the funds to
areas which would contribute to the capacity building of LDCs.  He said that it was clear from the
evaluation report that the regional trade policy course held in Nairobi was regarded as highly
effective.  He requested the Secretariat to conduct a regional trade policy course in Bangladesh to
allow the trade practitioners of the Asian region could better understand WTO matters.
58. The representative of Australia said that his delegation could support the broad thrust of the
draft 2003 TA Plan, particularly its focus on effective participation in trade negotiations and the
pursuit of trade integration activities.  His delegation, like many others, was still interested in a proper
audit and evaluation of the 2002 TA Plan which would be important in fine tuning the 2003 TA Plan
and asked what the status of the 2002 audit was.  He said that his delegation was interested in the
possibility of outsourcing as an option for the delivery of some of the WTO TA activities.  His
delegation was also interested in the criteria that the Secretariat was currently using for outsourcing.His delegation looked forward to further discussions on outsourcing as it was an important option to
consider, particularly in light of the pressure that the Secretariat was facing and which would increase
in the period before the Fifth Ministerial Conference.  His delegation appreciated the efforts that had
been made to reduce the cost of the 2003 TA Plan.  The new figure was more realistic and would help
secure the appropriate support for the draft 2003 TA Plan from members' treasuries.  His delegationwas surprised that no reference had been made to the Pacific Islands,  particularly in sections II and X
of the draft 2003 TA Plan which identified regions that faced particular challenges.  He was certain
that Members were aware that the Asia and Pacific region was a key beneficiary of the Australian
Government's development related activities, including TRTA.  Within that region the South Pacific
was an area in particular need which received special attention.  Pacific island countries facedparticular difficulties in adapting their economies to take advantage of increased global trade and
economic integration.  Three Pacific island countries were Members of the WTO which might not be
evident as their officials rarely participated in WT O meetings.  That underscored the difficulties thatWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 23
they, and other many small member countries, faced.  In the Pacific there were particular problems
relating to distance and the fact that the economies were small and remote from markets and
vulnerable to natural disasters and economic forces.  Having recognised the lack of any mention in the
draft 2003 TA Plan of the Pacific islands, his delegation had used the period since the previous
meeting to propose some language to the Secretariat which would rectify the situation and which hisdelegation was willing to circulate to all interest ed members.  The Pacific islands needed to be
included in the draft 2003 TA Plan because of their relevance to the work that his Government hoped
to achieve through TRTA.  Their inclusion was also important for his Government's support of the
draft 2003 TA Plan.
59. The representative of the United States sa id that her delegation was willing to work
expeditiously to ensure that the best possible TA would be delivered in the critical year of 2003.  She
had noted improvements to the revised 2003 TA Plan, not just in terms of the revised cost whichrepresented a more realistic figure given the fact that many members were already at the end of their
budget cycles.  She hoped that the concerns raised by her delegation at the previous meeting of the
CTD would be answered.  She also had some additional questions.  The cost analysis carried out for
the draft 2003 TA Plan had been carefully reviewed  by her authorities.  She highlighted her
delegation's concerns with respect to redundant activities.  Her delegation wished Members toconsider the 2002 TA Plan and learn lessons for the future.  Progressive graduated programmes
should be provided in order for the participants to  the various activities to move up the skills chain.
Getting more clarity regarding the level at which the different courses were being offered would help
Members assess whether the needs of beneficiary countries were actually being met.  Her delegation
shared the view that providing Members with an evaluation as the plan progressed would provide
greater accountability and account of the costs throughout the year.  That would prevent Members
from approving a plan without having all the data and the time needed to consider that data on
activities implemented during the course of the previous year.  It would therefore be useful to build in
a periodic reporting process, possibly in the form of quarterly reports on the delivery of the 2003 TA
Plan, both in terms of the quality, the number and the cost of the activities implemented.  If moneyneeded to be redirected because of shortfalls in the budget or cancelled activities, Members would
discuss how that could be done and be actively engaged in the process throughout the year.
60. She went on to say that the Secretariat's evalua tion of the regional trade policy courses held in
Nairobi and Casablanca suggested that it was worthwhile to continue those programmes but that they
could benefit from greater guidance.  Her delegation continued to be concerned about the impact of
those courses on the use of the Secretariat's resources.  She suggested that it might be useful to try to
augment the Secretariat's resources by creating an advisory body that would help identify areas forfuture expansion and determine what universities or associates the Secretariat might work with.  She
knew of a number of individuals from the university community in the United States who were
experts in managing programmes at the university level who might be willing to participate and she
suspected that other member countries processed a similar type of expertise.  She did not think that
that would be difficult to set up but felt that it  might help Members to turn the courses into a
sustainable projects for the future.  She noted that Members had still not received the precise
accounting of the regional trade policy courses held in Casablanca.  Her authorities wished to receive
those figures.  Her delegation was pleased that progress had been made with respect to the draft 2003
TA Plan.  Members needed to take careful note of the lessons learnt in terms of cost, implementation
problems and feedback regarding course modules.  More important, Members needed to ensure thatcost effective programmes were being developed within the agreed budget.  She asked the Secretariat
how the critical assessment and quality evaluations would be built into the draft 2003 TA Plan.  Her
delegation wondered whether Members and the Secretariat could work with the beneficiary countries
to get discounts for those travelling from the national airlines or receive the assistance of beneficiary
Governments to ask for reduced rates at hotels or establishing budgetary guidelines such as the use ofeconomy class only for all travel.  Those were issues that her delegation felt that donors, recipients,WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 24
and the Secretariat could work on together to ensure that the funds available were being used in the
most efficient way.  Her delegation remained concerned about the overlap of the regional trade policy
courses in Africa and the work of the Training Institute.  Her delegation hoped to see more
coordination within the Secretariat on the TA Plan, the training programmes, and the regional training
courses.  Her delegation wished to get answers to its questions before proceeding with the action onthe draft 2003 TA Plan.
61. The representative of Venezuela said that his delegation hoped that the 2003 TA Plan would
be successfully implemented and that budget cuts would be offset by the effective delivery of the
scheduled activities, which he believed could meet Members needs and expectations.  His delegation
agreed with the comments made by the representative of Paraguay at the last meeting of the CTD on
behalf of the GRULAC, especially with respect to the need to extend trade policy courses to other
regions .  An activity designed for a regional group of participants could be more focused on regional
issues than the courses held in Geneva where training was given to a fairly heterogeneous group of
participants.  He believed the regional trade policy courses could respond to the specific needs
particular to his region.  He agreed with the suggestions made by the representatives of Barbados and
the United States, that it would be ideal to take advantage of a region's academic and institutional
potential and to work jointly with those instituti ons in the preparation and implementation of regional
activities.  That would help tailor the activities and make them more responsive to specific scenari and
perhaps even lead to a reduction in costs for the Secretariat without jeopardizing the quality or
professional level of the activities.  His delegation believed that TA and training needed to go beyond
the provision of information on complying with  obligations to commitments and understanding
implementation issues.  Instead, the focus needed to  be on capacity building for national institutions to
implement productive development policies that were in line with WTO obligations.  At the previous
meeting of the CTD, his delegation had indicated that a process of consultations had taken place to
reflect Members' priorities.  He noted that the Secretariat had collaborated with regional donors in
order to optimize the use of resources for TA.  It was important to pursue the efforts made in
identifying focus areas for such activities in order to enhance TA delivered by the WTO and to
translate that into effective capacity building.
62. He went on to say that his delegation had observed that WTO technical cooperation focused
on promoting courses that explained the WTO Agreements.  Given the negotiating process that
Members were facing, his delegation considered that as a good opportunity to rethink the nature of
technical cooperation and take a step towards developing more direct forms of cooperation, including
institutional capacity building, for example by preparing specialized manuals, establishing
infrastructure, promoting a better understanding of negotiating processes, and enhancing skills to draftproposals.  Member the GRULAC region needed to gain a clearer understanding of the effect and
impact of agreements in the different areas of negotiations.  That was where efforts needed to be
focused.  That was the time to consider close rela tionships with other organizations such as UNCTAD
and how WTO resources could promote capacity building programmes in UNCTAD.  He understood
that many other organisations had experience in capacity building but that they in many cases theylacked the resources to develop large-scale programmes.  His delegation understood that the
Secretariat was under-staffed and could not devote itself exclusively to delivering TA.  The
Secretariat was at a stage where courses such as those that explained the Agreements, could be
delivered electronically as a form of distance learning.  The focus could then be on technical
cooperation for infrastructure and technology.  His delegation was concerned that the activities for hiscountry's region had not been divided into different groups as had previously been the case.  That
could result in language problems.
63. The representative of Canada said that the information that the Secretariat had provided was
critical for ensuring accountability.  To ensure full accountability Members needed to receive
complete information regarding the 2002 TA Plan, including information on the number of person-days, including travel days and out of office days, involved in delivering the Plan.  Her delegation had
requested that information and understood that it would be provided to Members when available.  FullWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 25
and complete accounting of that nature was consistent with standard accounting procedures.  She also
asked the Secretariat to provide further details on its st andard costs as they were refined.  With respect
to the ad hoc activities she said that her delegation appreciated the Secretariat's transparency  and
requested that at the end of the year, the Secretariat provide Members with a full and costed account
of all ad hoc activities that had taken place in 2002.  she further requested the Secretariat to include, inthe evaluation of the 2002 TA Plan, a section on the ad hoc activities since they constituted such a
large proportion of the activities that had been delivered in 2002.  While it was important to plan as
much as possible in advance, some flexibility had to be built into the 2003 TA Plan.  Her delegation
recognised that the Secretariat had built in a 5 per cent flexibility for ad hoc activities and wondered
whether that was sufficient.  There was a large gap between the aim of 5 per cent for 2003 and the
29 per cent ad hoc activities carried out in 2002.  While there would always be a need for flexibility
her delegation suggested that the Secretariat consider whether 5 per cent was sufficient.  Herdelegation was pleased to see that the Secretariat had included guidelines governing ad hoc activities
in the 2003 TA Plan and hoped that those guidelines would assist in the decision making process.  She
said that the representative of Japan had requested more details on the trade clinics.  Her delegation
understood there to be a close relationship between the managing of the ad hoc activities and the trade
clinics.  She requested that the Secretariat considered guidelines for the trade clinics as well.
64. She went on to say that it was good that the revised draft 203 TA Plan had been rationalised.
Her delegation realised the importance of limiting the delivery of TA to a manageable set of activities
within the Secretariat's area of expertise.  At the same time, the WTO had to act as a coordinator for
activities that were best executed by other agencies with appropriate experience.  She said that if
beneficiaries and other members could agree in principle to the draft 2003 TA Plan, then herdelegation was prepared to do the same but with a number of conditions, some of which had been
stated by other members.  The representative of Kenya had at the previous meeting of the CTD,
suggested that requests in future plans should be costed so that Members could determine the
opportunity costs and benefits of what was being suggested before they made any decisions.  Her
delegation requested that Members receive a clear accounting of how much of the Global Trust Fundwould be available for roll-over into 2003, incl uding Window 2 funds, and how the Secretariat
proposed to use those funds.  Though it was impossible at that time, she requested that the Secretariat
develop guidelines for the use of Global Trust Fund fu nds in the future.  In considering future funding
commitments, donors needed to be reassured that the Secretariat had a solid and defendable
framework in place for prioritising the large number of TA/CB requests it received from developing
countries.  Such guidelines were also needed for transparency and sound fiscal management.  As far
as reporting was concerned, she agreed with the representative of India that there needed to be areport that included information on where new ad hoc activities replaced planned activities, what
activities they replaced, what activities had been cancelled, the reasons for that and what activities had
been completed.  That could be provided on a quarterly basis as the representative of the United States
had suggested.  Members needed to know how the 2003 TA Plan was implemented as the year
progressed.  She recommended another revision of the draft 2003 TA Plan which would align it morewith the structure of the database because Members n eeded to know that what they were doing in the
WTO was manageable within the context of the database.  With respect to the regional trade policy
course held in Nairobi and Casablanca, she said that her Government was willing to consider
providing some funding for a similar course in the Caribbean.  However, before confirming that
funding her delegation needed to get assurances that it would be possible to carry out such a coursegiven the limited resources in the Secretariat.  Her delegation supported the idea of the representative
of the Unites States of having an advisory body to monitor the TA plan.
65. The representative of Switzerland said that his delegation could agree with the draft  2003 TA
Plan with the condition that there be future improvements and consolidation of the TA plan.  He said
that he would make two points, the first related to the instruments of the 2003 TA Plan and the secondrelated to the scope of the 2003 TA Plan.  First, in  relation to the instruments of the 2003 TA Plan heWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 26
said that the planning of the programme of WTO TA should rely on past experience and evaluation of
previous activities.  That was not yet the case and that was why the technical cooperation audit was so
important.  His delegation believed that the Technical Cooperation Audit Unit should be strengthened.
The draft 2003 TA Plan included a number of untested instruments such as the regional seminars for
WTO reference centres.  He asked how the Secretariat saw the future of those centres in relation to theregional seminars and the build up of partner institutions under those regional seminars.  Many
delegations had mentioned trade clinics and he noted many possible synergies between the trade
clinics and the goal of monitoring S&D.  Trade clinics could be a means for direct contact with
member countries on the difficulties they experienced with TA and in implementing trade rules.  That
needed to be explored as that was what the monitori ng system was meant for.  With respect to a future
activity mix he said that distance learning was something the Secretariat needed to explore.  The
workshops and seminars, which currently were the most important instruments, were untestedinstruments.  However, his delegation doubted whether they should be the main instruments.  There
was no clear evaluation showing what instruments to use in the future.  There needed to be a well
justified mix of complimentary instruments.  There was also a need for specific goals and benchmarks
and an evaluated programme which Members could base the next stage on.  Second, in relation to the
scope of the 2003 TA Plan, he said that there was a clear problem of capacity.  The draft 2003 TAPlan (WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev .1) contained 443 activities.  However, the number would
depend on the modes and instruments of delivery of the programme.  It was difficult to justify the
resource implications of such a threshold.  His delegation believed that that was a maximum.
Contrary to what the representative of Tanzania had said, his delegation did not believe that the
Secretariat should go back to a bigger programme.  That was not because his delegation did notunderstand the need.  However, over time the Secretariat needed to undertake more training for
trainers programmes and outsource more.  In three to four years time there should be a WTO TA
programme with four components.  The first should be coordination, and the Secretariat had already
showed that it had those links; the second should be  quality control of TA programmes in the trade
field; the third might involve having part of the financing for outsourced programmes going throughthe WTO; and fourth a small core WTO TA programme, much smaller than the present programme,
related to the operations of the WTO.
66. The representative of Colombia said that she would pose some questions relating to
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 in order to get a better understanding of the draft 2003 TA
Plan.  Section VI on "Systematic, Cumulative and Sustainable Capacity Building:  new products",
contained regional training-of-trainers workshops , the implementation of which would take place
through the reference centres.  The creation of those workshops was positive because they seemed tobe geared towards building capacity over the medium and long term while at the same time expand
the institutional capacity that was so important to countries such as Colombia.  In that connection, she
asked how the courses would be implemented and how  they differed from the training-for-trainers
programmes being developed by the Training Institute.  Her delegation believed that it was important
to ensure high quality delivery of those activities and consider the experiences and knowledgeavailable in other divisions of the Secretariat in order to avoid a duplication of efforts.  She asked
whether that activity would be developed in countries that did not have reference centres but which
regarded it as an important activity.  A series of activities relating to trade policy reviews were also
included in section VI of the Secretariat document.  Her delegation understood that to be part of the
dynamics of the Trade Policy Review Body.  She asked whether that was an additional activity to thethree activities assigned to each country, or whether they formed part of the TA activities under the
DDA.
67. She went on to report on the informal group of members that had met to discuss the 2003 TA
Plan and that her delegation had coordinated.  The meeting held on 4 November 2002 had been
attended by a group of developing and least-devel oped countries.  A number of points had emerged
from those discussions.  First, it was important to ensure that TA/CB activities scheduled in the 2003
TA Plan were directed at increasing institutional capacity in developing countries.  Second
transparency in the preparation of the TA plans was essential.  The Secretariat would therefore need toWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 27
work in close cooperation with the beneficiary countries, who were to a large extent aware of their
own training requirements.  Third TA was a multidisciplinary process, and TA activities should
therefore take account of the specificities of each country or region.  It was important to take the
disparities in countries' economies and levels of development into account.  TA activities needed to be
dynamic and flexible so as to adjust to the needs and expectations of the beneficiary countries.Fourth, it was important to achieve better coherence and coordination with other TA providers.  That
would ensure ever-increasing efficiency and effectiveness and enable the use of the specific know-
how of other international agencies.  Fifth, the development of a TA activities menu should be further
explored.  Such a menu should offer the beneficiary countries a broad range of options encompassing
different types of programmes in a variety of areas and sectors, adapted to different levels of
knowledge and which could be adjusted to the needs of each recipient.  Sixth, it was important to
improve the process of evaluation and follow-up of the TA activities delivered by the Secretariat indeveloping countries.  She said that her delegation believed that it would be interesting to have a few
pre-defined criteria that would enhance the efficiency of such evaluations.  Seventh, she said that it
would be interesting for the beneficiary countries to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the donors
and the Secretariat on the evaluation of TA, so as to achieve an overall improvement in WTO TA and
be able to implement the commitments in the Doha Ministerial Declaration.
68. The representative of China said that the TA activities carried out in 2002 played an important
role in helping the developing countries better und erstand the issues relating to the implementation of
the existing WTO Agreements and the DDA and enhance their participation in the multilateral trading
system, particularly in the new negotiations.  Members had experienced the first year of the
negotiations within the framework of the DDA and there were at least another two years to go ifMembers were optimistic enough to believe that the negotiations could be concluded within the time
frame fixed by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference.  A lot of work remained to be done by
the Members, and the Secretariat in the area of capacity building and technical cooperation.  His
delegation endorsed the draft 2003 TA Plan and had taken note of its new characteristic.  His
delegation believed that capacity building and technical cooperation should be member and needsdriven and specifically designed to meet different me mbers' needs.  In that regard he agreed with the
representative of Canada that sufficient flexibility needed to be given to the Secretariat with respect to
responding to ad hoc requests from members, as long as those requests were within the financial and
human resource constraints of the Secretariat.
69. The representative of New Zealand said that her delegation supported the request that had
been made by the representative of Australia to the identify the Pacific Islands as a region with special
challenges in section X of the 2003 TA Plan. Those member countries were not represented in Genevaand could therefore not make that request themselves.  She said that Members might have been aware
that her Government currently earmarked its Global Trust Fund contributions for those countries in
order to ensure that they would not be overlooked in the 2003 TA Plan.  Her delegation appreciated
that the practice of earmarking was unfashionable and her Government was therefore trying to review
that practice.  Any assurance that the special challenges of the countries in the Pacific Islands werebeing incorporated into the 2003 TA Plan woul d therefore be helpful to the review of her
Government's tagging practice.
70. The representative of the Republic of Korea said that he was pleased to note that there had
been a reduction in the cost of the 2003 TA Plan through cost sharing with other development
agencies and an effort to streamline programmes.  Nevertheless, his delegation shared the concernsexpressed by other delegations regarding the funding of the 2003 TA Plan.  In that regard he
suggested that the Secretariat consider more cost effective ways of delivering TA, including greater
collaboration with other development agencies, outsourcing some programmes and the use of
information technologies for online education for example.  His delegation believed that a certain
degree of flexibility with respect to the ad hoc activities should be permitted in order to respond toWT/COMTD/M/43
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members' needs based on the process of the DDA negotiations and initiatives from donor countries.
His delegation believed that seminars and workshops that had been carried out for specific negotiation
skills in 2002 had been appreciated because they had been helpful in facilitating the discussions in the
negotiation groups.  Some flexibility for hosting such activities should therefore be incorporated in the
2003 TA Plan.  At the same time, flexibility was required to facilitate that initiatives in donorcountries' own TA plans be carried out in cooperation with the WTO Secretariat so as to contribute to
the DDA negotiations.  His delegation was concerne d with the pressure on the Secretariat to both
assist DDA negotiations and carry out WTO TA activities.  Considering the number of activities in
the 2003 TA Plan, Members needed to think of possible ways to reduce the Secretariat's load to a
manageable level.  Outsourcing was one way to address that concern, but Members needed to
consider other options which his delegation believed existed.
71. The representative of Malaysia said that, as the 2003 TA Plan had been prepared much earlier
than the 2002 TA Plan implementation could proceed in the beginning of 2003.  Considering the large
number of activities planned for 2003, her delegation was concerned that the quality of the activities
could be affected by competing demands in the run up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference.  Efforts
needed to be maximised as early as possible so that Members would not experience any slippage in
the implementation of the 2003 TA Plan at the end of 2003.  She noted that the highest number ofplanned activities was in the area of capacity building.  Although that seemed rather impressive, she
noted that many of those activities were technical missions for trade policy reviews as well as national
trade policy courses.  Her delegation looked forward to see the inclusion of more technical capacity
building programmes to build capacity in the area of negotiations, trade policy development, and the
training-of-trainers in cooperation with other agencies if relevant.  She said that there was a need tocontinuously upgrade the quality of TA activities and her delegation hoped that the Secretariat,
Member Governments and partner agencies would work together to design programmes that would
better meet members' needs.  In that respect her delegation hoped that national skills could be
improved through a series of well planned TA programmes designed to progressively take Members
through a whole range of subject matters and result in broad and more comprehensive capacitybuilding and training programmes.  She agreed that Members would benefit from an evaluation of
previous TA activities, not only in terms of financial accountability but also in terms of the
performance levels, the difficulties encountered, onsite evaluations and feedback from beneficiaries.
That would help to improve future TA plans.  She concluded by saying that her delegation shared the
concerns raised by some delegations in relation to the inclusion of the outreach activities in the 2003
TA Plan as it was not clear how those activities related to TA.
72. The representative of Argentina said that his delegation was generally satisfied with the 2003
TA Plan and particularly with the methodology fo llowed to develop it based on consultations and
dialogue with Members.  He was also satisfied with the principles and criteria which shaped the draft
2003 TA Plan prepared by the Secretariat.  His delegation appreciated the priority given to LDCs,
which it found important and the fact that the draft 2003 TA Plan included activities for countries in
accession.  However, his delegation also shared the concern expressed by the delegation of India andother Members, about the relevance of including outreach activities in the 2003 TA Plan.  His
delegation agreed that those activities were important, but wondered whether it was appropriate to
include them as a chapter of the 2003 TA Plan, or whether they could be considered in other areas of
the WTO.  The trade policy courses in Nairobi and Casablanca, constituted a good experience and
were worthwhile continuing.  In that respect he shared what the delegation of Paraguay had indicatedon behalf of the GRULAC the previous week, and what the representative of Venezuela had just
recalled, that the possibility of holding such courses in other developing country regions including the
GRULAC, should be explored.
73. The representative of Mexico said that in principle his delegation could accept the 2003 TA
Plan, but had two comments to make.  First, he said that the 2003 TA Plan did not contain certain
aspects and it was important that those be included in future TA plans.  His delegation had submitted
a proposal in the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (G/TBT/W/189) on the creation ofWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 29
institutional capacity building in developing countries.  His delegation noted with concern that there
was still a focus on traditional TA activities which had the disadvantage of privileging the manpower
in many government offices who would, after receiving the training, go to work in the private sector.
That meant starting over with the training of new officials.  That was a critical point that needed to be
taken into account.  Second, it was important to evaluate TA activities, not just in terms of whetherthe planned activities had been completed, but more importantly form the perspective of whether the
activities carried out had been of use to the beneficiary country and with a view to making them more
effective over time.  Members would need guidelines and manuals relating to the quality of TA so that
once an activity had been delivered, it could be evaluated at any given time.
74. The representative of Cuba said that his delegation associated itself with the comments made
by the representative of Columbia, with respect to the criteria agreed upon at the informal meeting
attended by some members which had noted that the need for more TA to increase institutionalcapacity, for activities to be flexible enough to be adjusted to the most crucial needs of the beneficiary
countries, and for better coherence and coordination with other TA providers.  His delegation
supported the comments made by the representative of Paraguay and the previous meeting of the CTD
on the need to extend the regional trade policy courses to the Latin American region.
75. The representative of Norway said that his delegation had seen improvements to the
draft 2003 TA Plan both in terms of substance and resources.  However, his delegation was still not
convinced that the Secretariat possessed sufficient  human resources to carry out such an extensive
Plan.  Nevertheless, his delegation was in favour of the thrust of the revised 2003 TA Plan.  His
delegation believed that the creation of an advisory organ, as suggested by the representative of the
United States, could be useful but Members needed to be careful not to fall into the pitfall of micro-management.  He was puzzled by the concerns expressed, particularly by the representative of India,
with respect to the outreach activities because it was difficult to understand how national consensus
could be built for the advantages of WTO membership if parliamentarians and civil society were not
well informed.  Evaluation of the effectiveness and cost efficiency of WTO TA was important to
enhance the effectiveness of future projects and his delegation looked forward to receiving suchinformation in the future.  Accountability was key to the success of TRTA.
76. The representative of Zimbabwe said that he would focus on part A of section X on Special
Regional Challenges which related to NEPAD.  His delegation felt that as NEPAD was still in its
infancy the regional approach would be preferable to the NEPAD approach.  That would give
NEPAD time to mature.
77. The representative of Thailand said that her delegation was generally in support of the
revised 2003 TA Plan but said that she had some questions in relation to the fourth bullet point of
section VI that related to the regional co-ordinator internships.  She asked what the criteria was for
choosing the participants of such in ternships.  With respect to the ad hoc activities, she said that her
delegation could support the issue of flexibility but felt that those activities should not affect the
overall budget.
78. The representative of Kenya said that the only way that institutional capacity could be built in
developing countries, especially in Africa, was through regional courses such as the ones that had
been held in Nairobi and Casablanca.  He said that the Nairobi courses had been successful and some
of  those who had attended those courses were participating in the current negotiations on agriculture.
If the regional trade policy courses would be included in the 2003 TA Plan as promised by the
Secretariat, he said that Members needed to know when those courses would be held so that
preparations could begin given that the Training Institute had previously not had sufficient time to
prepare them.  His delegation was surprised at the suggestion made by the representative of the United
States on the creation of a trade and advisory body.  He assumed that the idea was to consider all tradeWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 30
policy courses and not just the regional courses held in Nairobi and Casablanca.  Those regional
courses had already undergone a sufficient evaluation and did not require another body to evaluate
them.
79. The representative of Uganda said that his delegation agreed that TA/CB could play a critical
role in helping developing countries, in particular  the LDCs, to integrate into the multilateral trading
system.  He said that any assistance to enable developing countries to understand their rights and
implement obligations, or to train their trade negotia tors meant very little, if those countries did not
have anything to trade, or if what they had to trade, was already covered under existing trade
preference schemes.  That was why his delegation believed that, when TA activities were elaborated,
the emphasis had to be placed on section XIII of document WT/COMTD/W/104.Rev.1 which related
to strategic partnerships between the WTO Secretariat and other international agencies, regional
development banks and the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for EconomicCo-Operation and Development (OECD-DAC).  In that regard, he suggested that the Secretariat brief
Members on the outcome of such initiatives already undertaken.  He said that TA/CB were only part
of the single undertaking agreed upon by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference.  Therefore
TA/CB was just one of the aspects of integrating developing countries particularly LDCs, into the
multilateral trading system.  Other ways included helping those countries to address their supply sideconstraints.  The best TA/CB that the WTO could offer to those countries was to take on board their
concerns, especially in the areas of S&D and in relation to implementation related problems and
concerns.
80. The representative of the European Communities said that Members generally agreed that
they wished to arrive at the best possible TA plan, given the budget available.  They also seemed to
agree that the question of accountability had to be addressed.  His delegation supported the point
made by the representative of Norway with respect to the outreach programmes.  He said that
Members had attempted to include some of those activities in the normal budget.  Some developing
country members had then said that they did not wish to pay for those activities.  It was suggested that
those activities be part of the Trust Fund which had an important element to ensure that capacity wasbeing built for integration of trade in national policies.  Such programmes would not work unless
parliaments and civil societies supported them.  The outreach activities were an important element of
TA and his delegation hoped to see them included in the draft 2003 TA Plan.  There were only
12 outreach activities and his delegation did not feel that it was an issue that Members should spend
too much time arguing about.  His delegation was in a position to enable the Secretariat to go ahead
and implement the 2003 TA Plan as long as there was a clear commitment from the Secretariat to
follow up on the issues that Members had raised.  He asked whether the Secretariat would be willingto commit to being guided by what Members had sa id indicate when it would provide some of the
information Members had requested.  In particular, he asked whether the Secretariat would provide
the standard accounting, as recommended by the representative of Canada, by the time of the
evaluation and provide account auditing by March 2003.  The Secretariat needed to commit itself to
prepare quarterly reports on replacement activities and activities carried out as well as commit itself toprovide a full evaluation in March 2003 that wo uld be discussed in the CTD with the aim of
reviewing  the then ongoing 2003 TA Plan and adapt it accordingly as was foreseen in the terms of
reference.  The Secretariat needed to also co mmit itself to consider more closely the terms of
reference and all documentation which governed the access to the TA funds and replacement
activities.  That would include, among other things, a consideration of a possible continuation of themore interesting programmes such as the regional trade policy courses held in Africa.  In addition, the
Secretariat needed to commit itself to present a plan on increased outsourcing by March 2003, or
earlier.  It was important for delegations to be assured that nothing had been decided on the trade
clinics, because they might be a way of falling back into the trap of ad hoc activities.  There had to be
clear terms of reference and a for any trade clinic.  Any agreement on the draft 2003 TA Plan wouldnot mean an unconditional acceptance of the trade clinics.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 31
81. Deputy Director-General Dr. Rana said that, although Members were currently considering
the 2003 TA Plan, the Secretariat worked towards long term institutional capacity building.  The
regional trade policy courses held in Africa was one way in which the Secretariat aimed to build
institutional capacity by working with local universities.  The Training Institute had similar
programmes and the three-week training-of-trainers courses enhanced the training capacity of thosewho would lecture at the regional courses.  The Secretariat would not depend exclusively on its own
human resources.  Part of the technical assistance delivery could be outsourced.  The Secretariat had
already opened a roster for which it was identifying university professors as well as retired WTO
Ambassadors and retired Secretariat staff who could supplement the scarce resources of the
Secretariat.  He assured Members that the Secretariat would consult more and would begin early to
plan the 2004 TA Plan.  It was important for the Secretariat to consult Members on all aspects of
technical assistance and capacity building and not only with respect to the yearly TA plans.  Forexample, it was important to discuss the regional trade policy courses as they were meant to fulfil the
DDA plan of developing trade negotiation skills in developing countries and as the they were geared
towards institutional capacity building.  In that context he thanked the representative of Canada for
mentioning that her Government was prepared to sponsor a regional trade policy course for Caribbean
countries.  The implementation of the 2003 TA Plan would be dynamic and the issues of coherencewould be taken on board.
82. The Chairman said that the Committee should take into account what the representative of the
European Communities had suggested, namely that the Secretariat commit itself to follow up on
Members comments and to produce requested reports, and evaluations.  He suggested that the
Committee authorize the Secretariat to implement 2003 TA Plan, as presented in documentsWT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 and WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1, while keeping the
implementation of the 2003 TA Plan under review.  He said that the questions that had been raised by
Members would be responded to in writing by the Secretariat within a week.
83. The representative of India said that his delegation had difficulty authorising the Secretariat to
implement the revised 2003 TA Plan if it would contain the section on outreach activities.
84. The Chairman said that some of the outreach activities had been requested by Members, as
part of their TA requests.  He requested the Secretariat to provide Members with a list of the countries
that had requested the outreach activities and that those activities which had not been requested by
Members be excluded from the list.
85. The representative of Kenya said that his delegation had no difficulty authorising the
Secretariat to implement the revised 2003 TA Plan as long as the issue regarding NEPAD in
Section X was dealt with.
86. The representative of the United States said that her delegation wished to have an explicit
response from the Secretariat in the Budget Committ ee to the points raised by representative of the
European Communities.
87. The Chairman said that Members were entitled to responses to the questions raised.  The
reason why responses would not be given at that meeting was the time constraint.  He suggested that
responses be given in writing, within a week.
88. The representative of India said that his delegation still maintained reservations on the
inclusion of the outreach activities in the 2003 TA Plan.
89. The meeting was suspended.WT/COMTD/M/43
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Resumed meeting on 19 November 2002
C. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
(iii) The WTO 2003 Technical Assistance Plan
90. The Chairman said that the discussions on item C relating the 2003 TA Plan had been
suspended at the resumed session of the CTD on 18 November 2002.  He said that he had also
suspended discussions on the Annual Report which he hoped the Committee would be in a position to
adopt at the end of the meeting.
91. Mr Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division said that the reason for the inclusion of
the NGO symposium on trade and environment in the draft 2003 TA Plan was past practice.  Such
symposia had been organised four times in the past: on 10-11 June 1994, 26-27 September 1996, 17-18 March 1998, and 15-16 March1999.  With respect to discussions held pre-Doha and post-Doha,
there was an understanding that there was a rational for improving communications, transparency and
relations, not just with civil society, but with the international public.
92. The representative of China said that his delegation did not challenge the holding of a
symposium on trade and environment for NGOs.  He asked whether the NGOs who would participate
in the symposium were relevant to trade and environment issues.  If the participants rather came from
human rights or disarmament NGOs, then his delegation did not wish to see that activity included.
93. The representative of the European Communities said that there had been extensive informal
consultations on whether and how to organise symposia in the past.  The last was consultation in 1999
had ended in a general agreement that the Secretariat should go ahead and organise such symposia onthe implicit understanding that they be organised on a regular basis.  He said that Members could
again have a fundamental debate on those issues.  However, it would probably lead to the same
conclusion that the Secretariat had a certain flexibility to organise such activities and that Members
should trust the Secretariat to organise them in a way which would make sense.  That included having
a list of invitees which were in line with the mandate of the Secretariat.  That meant to invite
participants who possessed the relevant expertise and who were relevant for the discussions.  He did
believe that there was a danger of getting participants from human rights groups or other non trade-
related NGOs.  That had not happened in the past as far as he knew.  With respect to the funding of
the symposia, he said that their funding had been taken out of the regular budget in 2001 and that
Members, as a compromise, had decided that it be financed from the Trust Fund as a capacity building
activities.  One reason was that most of the money was used to finance the participation of
representatives from developing country NGOs to attend the symposia.  That was also the purpose ofhaving a separate budget line for such activities.  It was a way of helping those who would not
otherwise be able to attend a symposia in Geneva.  He felt that it therefore was logical to keep those
activities under capacity building.  In that context Members needed to consider what capacity building
was and it would be difficult to argue that the trade and environment symposium was not a capacity
building activity.  In addition, Members had agreed that it was important to synergise and make bestuse of the budget by holding more regional activities and less national activities.  If the symposium
was removed as a regional activity from the 2003 TA Plan some Members would probably request
such a symposium as a national activity and Members would find themselves where they currently
were.  He agreed with the representative of Lesotho that it was difficult to refuse well founded
national activities.  That led him to pledged that members with doubts overcome them and not beginto consider each individual of the over four hundred activities, in order to allow for a smooth passage
of the 2003 TA Plan in a time frame that  would enable the Secretariat to start organising the activities
in a timely manner.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 33
94. The representative of Bangladesh asked what the criteria was for proposing twelve outreach
activities when there had only been requests from eleven countries.
95. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division said that, in order to save time, that
information would be provided to the representative of Bangladesh after the meeting.
96. The Chairman said that Members had expressed their views on the draft 2003 TA Plan and he
believed that activities requested by members in general should be included in the 2003 TA Plan, not
as outreach activities but possibly as capacity building activities.  He sought Members' guidance with
respect to the trade and environment symposium for NGOs as he was not certain that there was a
common understanding among Members about how to deal with it.  He said that, after the
clarification that had been provided, Members might be able to accept the regional workshops that
would be held in cooperation with the Commonwea lth Secretariat, the International Development
Bank (IDB), and the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL).  Withrespect to the procedure for accepting requests from individual Members, he said that the
representative of China had made the point that the requests should go through the national channel
dealing with WTO issues, which was the channel that Members used for paying the WTO.
97. The representative of Canada said that her delegation supported the proposal that the outreach
activities could form part of the capacity building activities.  Her delegation supported the inclusion of
the trade and environment sympos ium for NGOs in the 2003 TA Plan on the basis of historical
precedent and as it was an important activity for transparency.  However, how it was classified was
not important as long as it was included.
98. The representative of India said that his dele gation maintained its reservations regarding the
trade and environment symposium for NGOs.  He felt that that was a matter to be discussed in the
Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) before a decision could be taken.  His delegation also
had reservations regarding the regional workshops that were to be held in cooperation with the
Commonwealth Secretariat, IDB and INTAL, listed as items 2 to 7.  He asked the Secretariat for
information on who the coordinators for the regional workshop proposed as an outreach activity to be
held in India were, and said that his delegation did not wish to see those activities included as part ofTA.
99. The representative of Cost Rica said that, just like the delegation of India, his delegation had
not requested any outreach activities for national parliaments and civil society.  There had not been
any coordination with the Ministry or Mission of Costa Rica. His delegation would therefore have to
wait for confirmation from his Government before ap proving the inclusion of those activities in the
2003 TA Plan.
100. The Chairman suggested that the trade and en vironment symposium be referred to the CTE
and if that Committee agreed to it, it would be included in the 2003 TA Plan.  He further said that it
was clear that members with reservations regarding activities proposed to be held in their countries
needed more time to consider the details of those activities before agreeing their inclusion in the 2003
TA Plan.  With respect to those programmes he suggested that the CTD refer them back to the
members concerned and only consider them in the CTD after the clearance of the Membersconcerned.
101. The representative of Egypt said that his delegation supported views expressed by the
representative of India's on the trade and environment symposium for NGOs.  He said that his
delegation had been involved in the preparation of similar seminars in the Committee on Customs
Valuation and the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.  It was useful that the relevantWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 34
committee be involved in decisions regarding the items to be discussed at the symposia as well as in
the selection of NGOs to be invited.
102. The representative of Mexico said that he was tr ying to find a solution to the issues raised and
asked whether there was a precedent to the effect that the CTD had to consult with other relevant
Committees before organizing an event on topics relating to the competence of other committees.Although it might be interesting to hear the views of the CTE on the trade and environment
symposium he was concerned with the underlying systemic consequences if the CTD would have to
consult with other committees before taking a decision.  That was something that Members needed to
consider. He also asked whether any guidelines existed which stated that Missions and Ministries of
Economy or Foreign Relations were the only acceptable channels for sending TA requests.
103. The representative of the European Communities said that the next meeting of the CTE was
scheduled to be held in February 2003 which did not help Members as they needed to adopt the 2003
TA Plan quickly.  He said that over the past four years the question of the environment symposium
had not been dealt with in the CTE but had been dealt with at the General Council level at the request
of the Director-General.  That had also happened in 1999 and would practice to follow.  Members
were called to approve a draft 2003 TA Plan, the content of which had been known to Members since
8 October 2002.  His delegation had been working on the basis that as a donor, his delegation wouldbe asked to accept the draft 2003 TA Plan in total and to make money available for the activities in
the Plan.  It would cause problems to his delegation if two if a number of activities were taken out
only days before the adoption of the Plan, because his delegation had considered the possibilities of
funding the draft 2003 TA Plan on its entire content.  His delegation could not agree to a plan from
which a number of activities which were important to some of his delegation's constituencies weretaken out at the last minute.  That could be compared with the fact that the Committee would not
agree to the removal, at the last minute, of some SPS and TBT activities which were important to
other delegations.  His delegation could therefore not accept a compromise where part of the national
activities were moved elsewhere and all the regional workshops were removed.  His delegation was
willing to ensure that the issues were presented in a way that made sense and accept that they were notlabelled as TA.  If a delegation wished to question an activity scheduled to be held in its country, as
the delegations of India and Costa Rica had indicated, his delegation agreed that they could be given
time to consult their capitals.  The activity would only be carried out if the capital agreed.  It would
otherwise be cancelled.  He believed that the 2003 TA Plan needed to be adopted in its entirety.  If
Members could not agree on the issue of the trade and environment symposium, then Members would
have to request the Director-General to follow past practice and it would probably end just as the
symposium was proposed in the revised plan.  However, if Members could not agree on that then theCTD would have to report that due to reservations on a number of activities the 2003 TA Plan could
not be adopted at that meeting.
104. The representative of Switzerland said that his delegation supported the statement made by
the representative of the European Communities.  His delegation had stated at the previous meeting
that it was willing to accept the draft 2003 TA Plan with a number of conditions regarding the longterm planning of TA/CB activities.  If activities were removed from the draft 2003 TA Plan, then his
delegation would have to consult with his Government again before taking any decision.
105. The representative of India said that at the first meeting of the CTD held after the draft 2003
TA Plan in October, (WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1) his delegation had expressed its reservations with
respect to the outreach activities.  It was therefore not correct to say that his delegation was expressingits reservations at the last minute.  In addition, the Secretariat had still not provided information on the
contact point in India as his delegation had requested.  It was therefore impossible for his delegation
to check with the people concerned.  He suggested that, if the donor community were interested in the
outreach activities, that list could be removed from the TA Plan and put somewhere else, and that a
different window be opened for financing such activit ies.  However, he needed to check with hisWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 35
Government if it could accept the tw o documents (WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 and
WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1) and he needed info rmation on the contact points in India.
106. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division said that, with respect to the two
regional workshops which were to be held in India, the first one which was a regional workshop for
Asian Parliamentarians was being organised in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat andthat the WTO Secretariat would get the information on the contact point for India from the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association who was involved in the organization of the activity and
would transmit it to the delegation of India in Geneva.  For the second workshop on the "Doha
Development Agenda Issues at Stake for Asian Civil Society" for which India was the venue he said
that he had attempted to get that information from the Secretariat person dealing with that issue but
that that person had not been available.  However, he said that that information would be made
available to the delegation of India on that same day.  He said that the question that had been raised bythe representative of Mexico was pertinent to Members' consideration on the trade and environment
symposium.  The WTO Ambassador of Egypt, supported by the delegation of Brazil, had in 1999
proposed that the Secretariat organise a high level symposium on trade and development prior to the
Seattle Ministerial Conference.  In the discussion that took place in the General Council a group of
members had recommended a complimentary high level symposium on trade and environment.  Theterms of both those symposia had been discussed in the General Council and the conclusion had been
that the General Council would give the Director-General complete discretion, within certain
guidelines, to organise those two high level symposia.  That was the origin of the trade and
environment symposia that had been held since 1999.  It would be unusual for the CTD to restart
discussions on what had been concluded in 1999 by the Membership.
107. The Chairman said that individual Members that  had reservations regarding activities located
within their own countries would require further tim e to consider them before they could agree to
them.
108. The representative of Egypt said that the context currently was completely different with
ongoing negotiations on trade and environment to that in 1999.  As a compromise he suggested that
the trade and environment symposium be scheduled for late in 2003 to give the CTE a chance to
consider the issues to be discussed at the symposium.
109. The representative of the European Communitie s said that he had to apologize to the
representative of India who was correct in saying that his delegation had raised concerns about
financing the outreach activities from the TA budget at a previous meeting of the CTD.  However, he
said that there were many issues in the draft 2003 TA Plan which his delegation had been concerned
about, but which it had been able to overcome and that he therefore hoped that the delegation of India
would be able to overcome its reservations as well so that Members could move forward.  With
respect to the proposal to put the trade and environment symposium before the CTE for consideration,
he said that although that could be done it was risky to leave that decision to the CTE because the
CTE had difficulty taking any decisions given how difficult the issues were regarded.  Members
needed to avoid reconsideration of issues on which discussions had already been held and from whichconclusions had been drawn.
110. The Chairman said that guiding principle should be that the CTD should take as many
decisions as possible and not unnecessarily pass on difficult issues to other bodies.
111. The representative of China said that he had sympathy for the delegation of the European
Communities although he shared the views of the delegation of India on the issue of the trade and
environment symposium.  As a compromise he suggested that Members could consider whether the
list of NGOs who were to participate in the symposium were relevant or not.  His delegation couldWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 36
endorse the inclusion of that activity in the 2003 TA Plan if the NGOs to participate were relevant to
the issue of the environment.
112. The representative of Canada said that she had attended the last trade and environment
symposium and recalled that the list of invited NGOs had been circulated to delegations so that any
NGO to which Members objected could be removed.  That symposium had just as much to do withdevelopment as with environment.  The symposium suggested was actually a trade and "sustainable
development" symposium which included a wide range of discussions on development issues and if
any WTO body should review the issue it should be the CTD.  The issue should not be put to the CTE
as that would delay the process.  Members could resolve the issue in the CTD.
113. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had clarified that a date had not yet been set for
holding the symposium.  He suggested that the Secretariat provide full information on the trade and
environment symposium including the background, how it emerged and the proposed participantsafter which the CTD would take a decision on whether the activity should be held or not.  He said that
it should be left in the 2003 TA Plan with an asterix stating that a decision on the timing and the
format of the symposium would be taken at a later stage.
114. The representative of India said that his delegation would not be able to accept the proposal
and still believed that it should be considered by the CTE.  The CTD could not be seen to be taking
over the functions of other bodies of the WTO.
115. The Chairman said that he preferred that the CTD handle all the items that had been proposed
in the 2003 TA Plan.  However, he would follow any suggestions by the Committee.
116. The representative of the European Communities said that it seemed that the problem of the
symposium went beyond both the CTE and CTD and Members had benefited from a decision being
taken Director-General in 1999.  If Members could not agree then they would have to turn to the
Director-General.  His delegation would deplore that as it would mean a delay in the delivery of 2003
TA.  The question was not whether the symposium w ould be held or not but rather whether it would
be financed under a separate financing mechanism.  However, he said that it was impossible for his
delegation to refer every WTO activity to its financial authorities.  His delegation had therefore beenpleased when the decision to stop separate funds had been made in 2001.  He did not understand why
the delegation of India had to revert to unravel a delicate agreement that Members had reached in
2001.
117. The Chairman said that he did not have enough knowledge of the budgetary processes to be
aware of the specific funds that existed.  Howe ver, he was aware that in the 2003 budget statement
some funds had been brought over from other accounts.  He was not certain if there was an existing
fund that could finance the trade and environment symposium and asked the Secretariat how muchthat activity would cost.
118. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division said that he did not know the exact
cost of the trade and environment symposium but th at the funds for would not come from the regular
budget but from extra budgetary contributions from donors.
119. The representative of the European Communities said that even the inclusion of an asterix
stating that a decision would be made at a later time actually meant that the trade and environment
symposium would be taken out of the Plan which he  did not feel was appropriate.  What could be
done would be to state that the question of the symposium was left open and handed over to the
Director-General for further consultation in the General Council.  If a decision was to be made at that
meeting then it had to be one that included that activity in the 2003 TA Plan.  He did not have themandate to agree that individual items were taken out of the draft 2003 TA Plan.  He understood thatWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 37
there was a need to clarify some issues further.  However, taking it out an proposing to adopt the 2003
TA Plan without the symposium posed a problem for his delegation.
120. The representative of India said that his delegation would prefer the Chairman's suggestion of
taking out the environment symposium and discussing it in the CTE.  His delegation would not have
any problem accepting its inclusion in the 2003 TA Plan once the CTE had taken decision on it.  Thefact that in 1999 it had to be put to the Director General for a resolution indicated that it was a highly
contentious issue.  The Committee was considering how to build negotiating capacity in developing
country Members and did not see how a symposiu m for NGOs would contribute to that purpose.
121. The Chairman said that he had not intended to resolve an issue that had been considered
difficult in the past.  He was trying to make progress on the draft 2003 TA Plan for the Budget
Committee which was to meet the following day to begin to consider the 2003 TA Plan.
122. The representative of Mexico reiterated that his delegation was concerned about setting a
precedent indicating that the CTD would need the approval of the other specific committees.  The
decision on the TA plans should remain with the CTD and the CTD should not loose that flexibility.
It was important for all beneficiary countries that the draft 2003 TA Plan be adopted and that the
preparation of the activities contained therein be initiated.
123. The representative of Lesotho said that it would be unfortunate to delay the adoption of the
2003 TA Plan until the CTD had met in February 2003 or even later as Members were not certain that
the contentious issues would be resolved in Februa ry given the difficulties in the CTE.  Legitimate
concerns that had been expressed, particularly by the representative of China, with respect to the
NGOs that would benefit from the symposium.  The response to that was that Members would get a
chance to consider the list of invitees for that seminar.  That would give Members the opportunity to
ensure that the participants did have a genuine interest in the discussions on environment and
sustainable development.  It would be unfortunate to delay the adoption of the 2003 TA Plan to
February 2003 or even later.  His delegation hoped to maximised the benefits from the 2003 TA Plan
by holding as many of the activities as possible that his delegation had requested before the Fifth
Ministerial Meeting.  He urged those Members who had expressed difficulties with the draft 2003 TAPlan to consider allowing the adoption of the Plan on the understanding that Members would have a
final say on the participants of the symposium to ensure the necessary focus it was intended to have.
124. The representative of China said that there s eemed to be two divergent points of view and
suggested  putting a footnote that read "to be decided through further consultations" to the
environment symposium without removing it from th e list.  How Members would consult would not
be referred to because some members felt that the matter should be put before the CTE and others felt
that consultations should be carried out by the Director-General.  He said that it would be a shame topostpone the adoption of the 2003 TA Plan to a further date.
125. The representative of European Communities said that the representative of Lesotho had
made a useful point with respect to the participants of the symposium.  He reminded Members that the
symposium also was open to others apart from the NGOs and served to help interaction between
WTO Members, the Secretariat, academia and NGOs to enable a broad debate on the issues of tradeand environment.  It would be necessary, at a later stage, to fine tune the modalities of the
symposium.  The suggestion of leaving the issue open after the agreement that had been reached in
1999 meant that the issue would be up for discussion again.  If some of the activities were going to be
removed from the Plan then his delegation would need  more time to think about how to resolve the
issue.  The inclusion of a footnote stating that a decision would be taken at a later stage meant thatthere was a possibility that the activity would not take place at all and that was something his
delegation could not accept.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 38
126. The representative of India said that in view of the desire of many delegations to move
forward his delegation could accept the suggestion made by the representative of China.  His
delegation was not opposed to discussions on trade and environment and pages 50 and 51 of
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1 listed 18 ac tivities on trade and environment, including
regional workshops, which his delegation did not objected to.  However, the trade and environmentsymposium was meant for NGOs and he asked whether Members were trying to build capacity among
NGOs or trade negotiators.
127. The Chairman asked whether Members could accept the inclusion of the activity with a
footnote stating "modalities to be decided through further consultations" or "decision to be made
through further consultations".
128. The representative of Mexico said that Members were discussing to whom the environment
symposium would be directed its purpose.  He suggested maintaining the symposium in the 2003 TA
Plan and adding a footnote related to the fact that the theme and the beneficiaries would be decided on
and not only whether it would be held or not.  Th at would reconcile the fact that the activity would
take place but that the modalities and participants would be decided to at a later stage.
129. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation could agree to the
inclusion of a footnote which stated that the "modalities and participation to be decided at a later
stage"  However, he could not agree to a footnote whic h only stated that "a decision will be taken at a
later stage".
130. The representative of India said that his delegation could not agree with the wording
"modalities to be decided through further consultations".  He said that the focus of the discussions had
been on the symposium and that the issue of the remaining six regional workshops under outreachactivities had not been discussed.
131. The Chairman said that the same footnote would relate to the remaining six items as well as
some delegations had expressed the need to further examine the matter with their respective
authorities.
132. The representative of India said that even if the same footnote was going to cover the other
six activities he still insisted that those six activities be shifted to the capacity building section and
would not remain as outreach programmes.
133. The Chairman said that his understanding was that there was agreement that those other six
activities did not have to be classified as outreach programmes.
134. The representative of China said that the suggestion made by the representative of the
European Communities that the footnote should read "modalities and participation to be decided
through further consultations" was a better option in light of what had been said by the representativeof India.
135. The representative of Lesotho said that it was his understanding that the delegations of India
and Costa Rica had reservations with respect to the regional workshops proposed to be held in their
respective countries and that a decision only would be taken after a clarification had been given by the
Secretariat.  He asked whether the representative of India, when saying that there had been nodecision on the other regional workshops meant that a final decision had not been made on the
activities to be held in other regions.
136. The Chairman said that only the fourth and fifth activities on page 28
(of WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1) proposed to be  held in India and the sixth and seventhWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 39
proposed to be held in Cost Rica and the trade and environment symposium required further
clarification.  The rest would remain in the list.
137. The representative of India said that his delegation could not accept the wording suggested for
the footnote suggested by the representative of the European Communities and supported by the
representative of China.
138. The representative of Norway said that it was important to have the element of demand-
driven activities in the TA plan and that it was not for the CTD to question individual Members'
requests for assistance.  It was also important not to micro-manage the activities.  It was a difficult
question for her delegation as it felt strongly about the issue of the environment while it had some
sympathy for the view expressed by the Indian delegation of whether the symposium could be
considered as TA for negotiations.  She therefore hoped that Members could find a way of dealing
with it without making it an issue that wo uld prevent the adoption of the 2003 TA Plan.
139. The Chairman suggested new language for a footnote which could read "event subject to
clarification through further consultations".
140. The representative of the European Communities said that he preferred the first language but
that the basic questions could not be dealt with that easily.  His delegation felt that the outreach
activities, including the one on sustainable development, responded to demands that had been made inthe past, particularly the financing for delegates and NGOs from developing countries to attend that
type of activity and that it was justified.  His delegation respected the view of those who felt that those
activities should not be part of the TA Plan but that meant that the draft 2003 TA Plan would not be
adopted at that meeting.  His delegation could otherwise mention a number of activities that it did not
feel were necessary.  The 2003 TA Plan was a package and the symposium should, as a principle, bepart of that package.  His delegation was willing to address some of the concerns expressed such as
consultations with the Government of the country in which the activity would be held and
consultations on the participants of the symposium.  It was the attempt to exclude those activities from
the TA Plan that  his delegation could not agree with.
141. The representative of India said that the representative of the European Communities was
correct in saying that the difficulties could not easily be dealt with.  Nevertheless, his delegation did
not consider the trade and environment symposium to be a TA activity that would benefit negotiators
and could not accept it as part of the 2003 TA Plan.  He said that the point made by the representative
of Norway that the process was meant to be demand-driven was useful.  He did not see how the trade
and environment symposium could be regarded as a demand-driven activity or how it would increase
the capacity of negotiators.  He reiterated that if that activity were to be financed form another
"window", then his delegation would support it.
142. The representative of the European Communities said that it was worth noting that there had
been demand for that type of activity as had been mentioned by the Secretariat.  He asked the
representative of India what he meant by "another window".  His delegation believed the 2003 TA
Plan could be renamed "Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Plan" and some changes might
be made in order to classify the symposium as capacity building.  His delegation still believed thatnegotiators did benefit from that type of activity by being confronted by some of the views of NGOs
which from his experience could be forceful.  However, Members currently needed to consider the
technicalities of the situation.
143. The Chairman said that there were contrary views on the issue of the trade and environment
symposium and Members would need to find a way of resolving that.  The CTD would not be able to
submit the 2003 TA Plan for consideration by the Budget Committee the following day in view of thatWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 40
difficulty.  The CTD would make a request to have the 2003 TA Plan considered at a subsequent
meeting of the Budget Committee.  Further consultations would be necessary in the CTD.  He
suggested to suspend the meeting and hold further consultations.
144. The representative of China proposed that the Chairman might organise informal
consultations with relevant delegations before the next round of consultations in the CTD.  Only if
progress was made in such informal consultations would it be meaningful for all Members of the CTD
to meet.
145. The Chairman said that that was what he had meant.
146. The meeting was suspended.
Resumed meeting on  22 November 2002
C. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
(iii) The WTO 2003 Technical Assistance Plan
147. The Chairman said that, following the last meeting, and as advised by delegations, he had
held consultations with a number of delegations the previous day.  He therefore wished to provide the
Committee with a summary of what emerged from t hose consultation.  He began by outlining the
decisions reached during those consultations for the Committee to consider.  As delegations would
recall, the problem emerged with regard to the "Outreach activities" on pages 28-29 of
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1.  The su ggested solution that emerged from the
consultations was that the "Outreach" Section on pages 28 and 29 be deleted and that the
products/activities listed on those pages be dealt w ith in accordance with the following procedures:
1. The last five activities (the national activities) would be moved to the section entitled
"Capacity Building", (on pages 8-14).
2. A new Addendum would 2 be created, entitled "O utreach activities".  The remaining activities
(the first seven listed on Page 28) would be moved to that new Addendum 2.  That new Addendumwould have the following three footnotes:
(a) There would be a footnote relating only to the Trade and Environment Symposium,
(the first activity in the new Addendum 2 on "Outreach Activities") stating that:  "The
Secretariat will consult with the Committee on Trade and Environment and the
Committee on Trade and Development on modalities, agenda, and participation in
respect of this symposium".
(b) The second footnote would relate to the following six regional activities (the six
regional activities in Addendum 2).  That footnote would state that: "The Secretariat
will consult with the members and the organizations involved and the CTD
Chairperson on these activities".
(c) That there would be a third footnote relating to the entire Addendum 2 stating that:
"Within the context of a full review of technical assistance and capacity building, adecision will be taken on the inclusion of such regional activities in technical
assistance and capacity building for subsequent years."
148. That was the solution which emerged from the consultations on the section on "Outreach
activities".  Some concerns had also been expressed with respect to paragraphs 37 and 38 in Section XWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 41
(A) on page 16 of document WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1.  The suggestion emerging from the
consultations was to delete the last sentence in paragraph 37 which began by:  "The NEPAD is
designed…".  Secondly, it was proposed that the wording of the second sentence in paragraph 38 be
changed to read:  "However, the WTO is explorin g ways of cooperating with the NEPAD in the
future."  Delegations might recall that the delegation of Kenya and others had had some concerns andthat proposed wording was intended to take care of those concerns.  It did not stop the WTO from
cooperating with the NEPAD in the future.  That would be explored.  Finally, it was proposed that
when the Committee take action on the 2003 TA Plan, "The Secretariat committed itself to:
- provide detailed information on activities carried out in 2002 before the end of
February 2003,
- provide a full evaluation of the activities carried out in 2002, by March 2003,
- produce quarterly reports on activities during 2003,- produce a structured plan on how to increase outsourcing to other multilateral
institutions,
- review, together with Members, the underlying terms of reference of the Global Trust
Fund, including issues of access to the Fund and its management,
- circulate an information note on the Trade Clinics and further consult with Members
on their modalities,  and
- accommodate the suggestion for small island countries in the Pacific to be considered
as countries from a region constituting a special challenge.
149. Furthermore, based on the evaluation of the 2002 Plan in the CTD, and the performance of
the initial phase of the 2003 Plan, Members might wi sh to review the remaining portion of the 2003
Plan.  That would be once the evaluation of the implementation of the 2002 Plan was available and
Members had a rough idea of the performance of the initial phase of the 2003 Plan.  I believed that,
with those changes, Members should be in a position to take action on the Plan.  I therefore asked if
the Committee could authorize the Secretariat to proc eed to implement the 2003 TA Plan as presented
in documents WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1 and WT /COMTD/W/104/Add.1/Rev.1, with the suggested
changes and the commitments from the Secr etariat, while the Committee would keep its
implementation under review.  He also asked if the Committee could agree to refer the 2003 TA Plan
to the Budget Committee, with those changes for the Budget Committee to make a recommendation
to the General Council on a target amount for the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund in
2003.
150. The representative of Egypt said that he had a question related to the suggested changes
regarding NEPAD in paragraph 38 of WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1.  He asked whether the Members
that had lead that initiative (South Africa, Ni geria, Senegal) had been consulted regarding the
proposed new phrasing.
151. The Chairman said that the information he ha d received from the Secretariat was that the
delegations of Kenya, Nigeria, a nd South Africa had been consulted.
152. The representative of India said that he wished to draw to Members' attention that in the
preceding consultations there had been an agreement that there should be a full review of what should
be constitute TA/CB, what their objectives should be, and what type of activities should be
considered.  It was considered in a foot-note but he had not heard the Chairman refer to it when he
read out the list of commitments by the Secretariat and the actions by the Committee.
153. The Chairman said that that issue had been discussed.  That was also one of the issues that
would be referred to the CTD in Regular Session by the Special Session of the CTD.  However, heWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 42
had not mentioned it since it was not part of the 2003 TA Plan.  Nevertheless, he would make a brief
statement to that effect once the draft 2003 TA Plan had been approved.
154. The representative of Canada said that her delegation appreciated the commitment by the
Secretariat to provide quarterly reports on the implementation of 2003 TA Plan.  However, her
delegation wished to have an assurance that that reporting would include what her delegation hadspecifically asked for such as planned, new, and replacement activities and that each quarterly report
would be forward as well as backward looking.
155. The Chairman said that he assumed that that was what the Secretariat would provide although
the Committee had not gone into the detail of the quarterly reports.
156. The representative of Japan said that he shared the concern raised by the delegation of Egypt.
His delegation requested the Secretariat to pursue consultations with the NEPAD.  Although the
NEPAD was in the early stages it would be an important system in Africa.  Second, he requested theSecretariat to provide delegations with a written summary of the undertakings of the Secretariat.
157. The representative of Kenya said that his delegation was satisfied with the proposed wording
of the reference to NEPAD in the draft 2003 Plan.  The message remained the same but the
formulation was clearer than the earlier one.
158. The representative of Paraguay said that the group of Latin American and Caribbean
Countries (GRULAC) wished to see a regional trade policy course to be held in that region.  It was his
delegation's understanding that the delegation of Canada had indicated that it was prepared to fund
such an even in the Caribbean.  That activity should therefore be included in the draft 2003 TA Plan.
However, should it not be possible to organize such an activity in the course of 2003, he wished that it
be considered for the near future.
159. The Chairman said that he recalled that discussion but that he was unsure about how to reflect
it in the draft 2003 Plan.  Consultations might be required between the concerned parties, including
the GRULAC delegations, the Secretariat and the delegation of Canada.
160. The representative of European Communities said that his delegation wished the full
evaluation of the implementation of the 2002 TA Plan would also relate to the ad-hoc activities
undertaken in 2002 in order for delegations to get the full picture of WTO TA in 2002.  Second, he
suggested that the Chairman's statement be circulated to Members in writing before the minutes of the
meeting were ready.
161. The Chairman said that he would request the Secretariat to do so.
162. The representative of Australia said that the proposal regarding small pacific island countries
accommodated the concerns previously raised by her delegation.  She looked forward to seeing that
reflected in the further revised 2003 TA Plan.
163. The Chairman said that what was paramount was not only to approve the draft 2003 TA Plan
in its present form, with the changes outlined, but also to indicate that in the future, and sometimes
early in 2003, there was a need to consider the issue WTO TA: how it is formulated, what its
governing principles were, and the full range of issues related to it.  That would not be done with a
desire to micro-manage it, but to provide broad guid elines in order to ensure that it meets the needs
and demands of the members.  He suggested that the Committee take note of the statements made and
accept the draft 2003 Plan with the suggested changes.
164. It was so agreed.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 43
D. A DOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (22 N OVEMBER 2003)
165. The Chairman a draft of the 2002 Annual Report of the CTD had been circulated in document
WT/COMTD/W/108.  He had since received a few comments.  The first suggested change related to
the last sentence of paragraph 14 on page four, in which the date of the creation of the Special Sessionof the CTD should be corrected to read:  "..on 1 February 2002".  Second, there were two suggestions
for deletions in the first sentence of paragraph 24 on page 6.  The first suggestion was to delete the
two words "and environmental" and the second to also delete the words "at its 40
th Session" at the end
of the phrase as there seemed to be unnecessary repetition.  The first sentence of paragraph 24 would
thus read "At its 40th Session, the Committee began its consideration of paragraph 51 of the Doha
Ministerial Declaration on identifying and debating developmental aspects of the negotiations, in
order to help achieve the objective of having sustainable development appropriately reflected.  Headded that, having taken action on the 2003 Plan, that fact had to be included in the CTD Annual
Report.  He proposed that it be added to the end of paragraph 10 of the draft Annual Report.
166. He went on to say mention the report that the Committee had to make to the Trade
Negotiations Committee on Article XVIII following the mandate given at the Doha Ministerial
Conference.  He informed the Committee that, in order to meet the reporting requirement onoutstanding implementation issues, a draft report on Article XVIII had been made available at the
back of the room.   He suggested that if Members had any comments on that report, they would
submit those to the Secretariat by close of business on Wednesday, 27 November 2002 at the latest.
Comments would be considered and there would be an attempt to revise the report on Article XVIII if
there was a need.  The report on Article XVIII would otherwise be considered as adopted.
2  He asked
if the Committee was in a position to adopt its Annual Report with those clarifications the changes
outlined.
167. It was so agreed.
E. OTHER BUSINESS
168. The Chairman said that, at the beginning of the Session, the delegation of the United States
had requested that the previously notified free-trade agreement between India and Sri Lanka be taken
up under the item of "Other Business".  The Secretariat had provided a clarification on hownotifications of regional trade agreements were deal t with when the issue had been raised in an earlier
meeting.  That statement was reflected in the minutes of that meeting.
3
169. The representative of the United States said that her delegation wished to recall the discussion
in the CTD meeting of 9 October 2002.  In connection with the discussion of how the CTD handled
notifications and its relationship to the process in the CRTA, she said that her delegation believed thatagreements notified to the CTD under the Enabling Clause provided an important opportunity to
improve transparency by referring them to the CRTA for review.  While the issue was not on the
regular agenda for the 43
rd Session of the CTD, her delegation requested the Committee to consider
adding such an item to the agenda for the following meeting of the CTD to consider positive steps that
the CTD could take to improve notifications of RTAs and their referral to the CRTA for review.While recognizing that the Enabling Clause provid ed some flexibility with respect to agreements
between and among developing countries, a lack of information on such agreements affected all
                                                     
2 The final report by the CTD to the Trade Negotiations Committee on GATT Article XVIII:A, C and
D as an outstanding implementation issue is contained in document WT/COMTD/45.
3 Paragraph 81 of document WT/COMTD/M/42.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 44
Members.  Less than complete awareness of such agreements could be detrimental to exporters in
developing countries not party to the agreement that wished to export to those markets, as well as to
developed countries.  Her delegation therefore requested that the CTD take up that important issue for
discussion at its next meeting.
170. The representative of India said that a free-trade agreement between India and Sri Lanka had
been concluded and that the Governments of India and Sri Lanka had notified that free-trade
agreement to the 1 July 2002 meeting of the CTD under the Enabling Clause.  At the request of some
delegations, the item was kept on the agenda for the October 2002 meeting of the CTD at which the
Committee had taken note of the notification.  The Secretariat had, at that meeting, also clarified the
procedures for notifying RTAs under the Enabling Clause.  His Government had fulfilled its legal
requirements by jointly notifying the RTA to the CTD.  There was no obligation to notify a RTA
under the Enabling Clause to any other WTO body.  The delegation of the United States had referredto the issue of transparency.  His delegation was of the view that it had fulfilled the requirements by
notifying the full provisions of the RTA to all Members, through the CTD.  A copy of the RTA
between India and Sri Lanka was circulated to all Members.  In relation to the transparency issue, his
delegation wished to reiterate its request to the delegation of the United States, first made at the May
2001 meeting of the CTD and reiterated in July 2002, to provide details of the African Growth andOpportunity Act (AGOA) besides Annexures.  ("At that meeting") The delegation of the United States
had assured that information thought by differen t Members would be provided to the CTD.  His
delegation would welcome any such information from the delegation of the United States.
171. The representative of the United States said that her delegation's comments on the Agenda
item under discussion had been general and specific to the RTA between India and Sri Lanka.  Her
delegation wished to Committee to consider how th e notification process might be improved in the
future.  She said that she would follow-up on the notification of the AGOA.
172. The Chairman said that his understanding was that the delegation of the United States did not
ask to refer the RTA between India and Sri Lanka to the CRTA but to bring up the item of
notifications of RTAs to the CTD as an agenda item for a subsequent meeting.  He asked if Membersagreed to include it as an agenda item for the following meeting of the CTD.
173. It was so agreed.WT/COMTD/M/43
Page 45
ANNEX 1
Evaluation of Technical Assistance Activities
Responses by Technical Cooperation Audit
 to comments made by delegations at the at the 43rd Session of the CTD
1. In connection with its consideration of the proposed Coordinated WTO Secretariat Annual
TA Plan for 2003, several delegations commented on the importance they attach to the monitoring
and evaluation of WTO TA activities.  Two types of feedback appear to be desired by Members:
(a) periodic reports on implementation of the agreed plan, including financial
implications; this is a matter which should be taken up by the Technical Cooperation
Division in the framework of its established procedures for reporting on the progress
made in the implementation of the TA Plan;
(b) qualitative evaluation of the activities, i.e. evaluation of performance.  Delegations
noted that they considered this to be crit ical for them in determining their attitude
towards the annual TA plan.
2. The latter issue falls into the competence of  TCA.  Members will recall that since the
beginning of 2002 a new system of evaluation of TA activities has been in place (it was adopted at the
end of March 2002).  Because of the great number of activities to be evaluated, heavy reliance has
been placed on a system of combining internal evaluations by TCA with self evaluation by TAproviders in order to ensure maximum coverage of TA activities.  This arrangement provides for a
comprehensive coverage of all WTO TA activities.  Both types of evaluation rely heavily on feedback
from the beneficiaries.  Based on the analysis of these evaluations, Techncial Cooperation Audit
(TCA) can provide immediate feedback to the resource persons/secretariat division(s) concerned.
3. All evaluations, including those carried out on site by TCA (about 12 a year) serve as input
into the annual report which TCA submits to the Comm ittee in the first part of the year (the report on
the activities of 2001 was issued on 11 April 2002).  This timing allows for consideration of the
totality of activities that have taken place in the reference year.  TCA will certainly make every effort
to respond to the request that the evaluation of 2002 activities reaches Members by the end of March
2003.  More frequent reporting of evaluations such as those carried out by TCA is not customary, nor
is it likely to be meaningful in respect of the kind of activities carried out by the WTO (large in
number and fragmented) , in the absence of  a critical mass of information on which to base ananalysis.
4. One delegation made reference to the desirability of focusing part of the annual evaluation on
ad hoc activities in order to be able to take an in formed view of the degree of flexibility with which
the TA plan should be allowed to accommodate such activities.  This will be difficult to do in respect
of the 2002 plan since TCA has been focusing more on the "regular" part of the plan than on ad hocactivities.  However, if Members desire, more attention can be paid in 2003 to such activities with a
view to providing information in the Annual Report fo r that year.  It would indeed be interesting to be
able to compare ad hoc activities with planned ones in terms of impact, responsiveness and
effectiveness.
5. Several references have been made to the allocation of resources for TA activities, and the
impact of the planned activities on the Secretariat's capacity to deliver.  These considerations are
equally valid in terms of the work of TCA.  If the kind of evaluation activities Members seem to beWT/COMTD/M/43
Page 46
demanding are to be possible, the monitoring and evaluation function needs to be strengthened, and
more resources allocated to it.  At the present time there is only one professional staff member
assigned to these duties.  The limitations this places on the scope of monitoring and evaluation
activities are clear.
20 November 2002
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