RESTRICTED  
  
WT/COMTD/AFT/M/30  
 
2 May 2014  
(14-2663)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Trade and Development 
Thirtieth Session on Aid for Trade    
 
  NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 9 APRIL 2014  
  Chairperson:  H.E. Mr. Pie rre Claver Ndayiragije (Burundi) 
A. Adoption of the Agenda ........................................................................................... 1  
B. Exchange of Views on Development of the new Aid-for-Trade Work 
Programme ............................................................................................................. 1  
C. Aid-for-Trade Activities ........................................................................................... 3  
1. Resource Mobilization and Impl ementation Activities ............................................. 3  
2. Mainstream ing ........................................................................................................ 4  
3. Regional Dimension ................................................................................................ 4  
4. Private Se ctor ......................................................................................................... 4  
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementation and Development 
Effectiveness ........................................................................................................... 5  
D. Other Busi ness ........................................................................................................ 6  
 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
1. The Agenda, as circulated in WTO/AIR/4273, was adopted. 
B. Exchange of Views on Development of the new Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 
2. The representative of the Secretariat outlined the context for the development of the new Aid-
for-Trade (AfT) Work Programme (WP). He recalled the Bali Package and Ministerial Decision on 
Aid for Trade1, the themes that had emerged from the 4th Global Review (4GR) of Aid for Trade2, 
and the initial discussions that had been held with a number of delegations. Among the focus areas 
that had been highlighted for possible inclusion in a new WP were, inter alia ,: global value chains, 
infrastructure development, increased engagement of South-South partners, private sector engagement, sustainable development, regional dimension, trade facilitation, monitoring AfT flows, 
and measuring results. He indicated that the aim would be to refine this list and design a WP with 
a number of headings and a programme of activities that would address these themes. It was expected that the new WP would include a series of CTD-AfT meetings and workshops, outreach activities, and a monitoring and evaluation exercise that would culminate in a 5
th Global Review 
(5GR) in mid-July 2015. A suggested working title for the new WP was "Reducing trade costs for 
inclusive sustainable growth" which, he said, capt ured many of the ideas emerging from the 4GR 
discussions, the Bali Ministerial Conference, and initial contacts with Members. 
3. The representatives of Benin, the European Unio n (EU), Canada, Australia, Japan, China, the 
ACP Group, Pakistan, Uganda as Coordinator of th e LDC Group, the United States (US), Paraguay, 
Niger, Korea, and Cameroon took the floor. Members welcomed the Secretariat overview and 
expressed support for the initial outline and suggested themes proposed for the new WP. In 
particular, Members supported a focus on: Trade Facilitation (Benin, EU, Australia); on LDCs 
                                               
1 WT/MIN(13)DEC (Bali Ministerial Declaration); WT/MIN(13)34 (Ministerial Decision on Aid for Trade). 
2 See WT/COMTD/AFT/W/46. WT/COMTD/AFT/M/30 
 
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  (Benin, EU, ACP Group, Uganda as LDC Group Coor dinator, Niger); on integration of developing 
countries into value chains (Benin, EU, China, Australia); on infrastructure (Benin, China, Pakistan, Paraguay, Niger); on increased private sector engagement (Benin, China); and on Aid for Trade acting to improve the enabling environment (Japan , Pakistan). Several Me mbers agreed that the 
new WP could include a link between Aid for Trad e, and the post-2015 development agenda (EU, 
Australia, China, ACP Group, Niger). On the latter point, the US favoured the Secretariat 
suggestion of a "watching brief" since the post-2015 development agenda would not be finalized 
before September 2015.  The US could not support tying the new AfT WP to the post-2015 
development agenda at this stage. 
4. The representative of Benin stressed the importance of working in a consistent and 
coordinated manner in order to achieve positive results and noted, in this respect, the synergies 
between the Aid-for-Trade Initiative and the Enhanc ed Integrated Framework (EIF). He added that 
additional, predictable, effective and sustainable resources would be needed to support the various 
AfT-related activities to be included in the new WP. He thanked bilateral, regional and multilateral 
donors for their assistance thus far and hoped that these efforts would continue to be deployed so 
as to inject the development dimension through Aid for Trade. 
5. The representative of the EU said that the Bali Ministerial Decision on Aid for Trade 
demonstrated a continuing commitment to and mandate for Aid for Trade and was an important 
signal that the Initiative remained a priority in global efforts to harness trade to achieve 
development outcomes. She announced that an internal analysis of 2012 AfT figures indicated a significant increase – of approximately 20% - in  EU and EU member States' AfT commitments. She 
noted the importance for developing countries to prioritize their trade issues so that commitments 
could be translated into concrete, delivered support. With regard to trade facilitation, the EU looked forward to working with other donors, international organizations and developing countries 
to provide the necessary technical assistance and capacity building needed for a prompt 
implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. She announced that the EU was in the final stages of programming its Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the period 2014-2020 and 
said that, within this process, the delivery of its trade-related assistance would be primarily 
through regional programmes which would align closely with a regional dimension focus of the new AfT WP. 
6. The representative of Australia referred to the post-2015 development agenda and said that, 
while Australia saw value in using the Aid-for-Trade Initiative to highlight the importance of trade 
to economic growth and development, it was im portant to note that the role of trade in 
development was not only about Aid for Trade but also about a strong multilateral trading system 
and the wide range of policy setting that developing countries had to pursue in order to effectively 
use trade policy as a tool for their development. He said that, in relation to the WP's theme on value chains, a focus should be given to services. The representatives of Australia and the US 
noted the continuing relevance of the areas covered in the 2012-2013 Work Programme and said that focus should be put on how to adapt and update this Work Programme to include new priorities based on lessons learned over the past two years. 
7. The representative of Canada noted the wide ra nge of possibilities of Aid for Trade that had 
emerged from the 4GR and said that these needed to be prioritized and that the new WP should be 
designed, inter alia , in line with the Paris Principles on Aid Effectiveness and donor coordination. 
Recalling its active participation in past Global Reviews of Aid for Trade, the representative of the 
ACP Group noted the opportunities for collabor ation between the Group and the WTO in the 
context of technical and logistical assistance for the events. 
8. The representative of Uganda as LDC Group C oordinator said that the preparation of a new 
W P  s h o u l d  r e l y  o n  e x i s t i n g  s t r e n g t h s  a n d  b u i l d  o n  a c h i e v e m e n t s  m a d e  t h u s  f a r .  I t  s h o u l d  b e  
developed with a focus on consistency and synergy with development programmes implemented by the international community on behalf of developing countries and LDCs. He stated several points that LDCs viewed as critical in moving th e AfT agenda forward: (i) the need to increase the 
share of Aid for Trade commensurate with LDCs' development needs and challenges as well as 
their structural constraints and multiple vulnerabilities; (ii) development partners should ensure that at least one-third of total Aid for Trade sh ould be disbursed to LDCs; (iii) the need for 
development partners to progressively raise the gr ant component of Aid for Trade to four-fifths of 
total Aid for Trade disbursed to LDCs; (iv) the need to align AfT resources with national priorities and needs, respecting the principle of national ownership and leadership of the country concerned WT/COMTD/AFT/M/30 
 
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  in the development process; and (v) the need for Members to mobilise Aid for Trade towards 
building productive capacity, economic diversification, and overcoming infrastructural bottlenecks, including energy, connectivity, road and other me ans of transportation. He noted that the 5GR 
would coincide with the 10
th anniversary of the launch of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative and said that 
the Review should be used as an opportunity to ta ke stock of the implementation of the Initiative 
with a view to outlining prospects for the future. 
9. The representative of Paraguay underscored the importance of Aid for Trade in strengthening 
market access. Through AfT support, Paraguay ha d been able to improve infrastructure and 
promote a trade enabling environment and it hoped that AfT support would be increased 
particularly in respect to the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. 
10. The representative of Niger supported the stat ement by Uganda as LDC Group Coordinator. 
He added that Aid for Trade was a fundamental element for economic development for providing 
support to sectors that would enable countries to move forward and said that active support was needed from both developed partners and the WTO.  
11. The representative of Korea said that the new WP should be based on the needs and 
perspectives of recipient countries, should also reflect discussions at the 4GR, and should include 
sectoral outreach activities. 
12. Outlining the next steps in the development of the new WP, the Chairman said that on the 
basis of the initial inputs provided by Members, a draft WP would be prepared by the Secretariat 
and issued as a Job document for Members' review.3 He would then organize an informal CTD-AfT 
meeting to seek reactions on the draft WP.  Follow ing past practice, he said he would submit the 
final WP to the General Council under his own responsibility and that, in this regard, it was his 
intention to be able to have a final WP in  time for the 12 May General Council meeting.  
C. Aid-for-Trade Activities 
1. Resource Mobilization and Implementation Activities 
13. The representative of Australia noted that, in  its future aid programming, greater priority 
would be placed on Aid for Trade, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where AfT efforts would be 
enhanced and more targeted. Its AfT objectives would include, for example, helping developing 
countries to improve their engagement in the mult ilateral trading system and in regional economic 
initiatives; expanding trade and investment, including through engagement with the private sector and facilitating infrastructure investment; and encouraging diversity in economic activity. 
Australia's AfT investments would be focused in areas such as regulatory reform and trade 
facilitation, services, infrastructure, and agrifood. 
14. The representative of China provided an update on its South-South related support. This 
included information on its training activities, trilateral cooperation projects with developing 
countries in Asia and Africa, its LDC Accession Programme which would be extended for a further year, and support to Pacific Island countries which included a concessional loan of US$1 billion and 
non-concessional financing of US$1 billion to support local infrastructure. 
15. The representative of Cameroon highlighted the need to respect national and regional 
perspectives and priorities. He encouraged donor countries to provide aid loans in grant form and 
stressed the importance of additionality. 
16. The representative of the United Nations Co nference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 
noted UNCTAD's leadership role in integrating economic development and related global economic 
issues into the UN-led post-2015 development agenda. She said that, in line with the post-2015 
development agenda, the new AfT WP would need to focus on projects that were clearly 
trade-related. UNCTAD stood ready to contribute to the implementation of the WP through its work 
on the integration of developing countries and LDCs into regional and global value chains, its 
                                               
3 JOB/DEV/23. WT/COMTD/AFT/M/30 
 
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  trade-related research, analysis and data, its technical assistance and capacity building, and its 
programme on Trade Facilitation.4 
2. Mainstreaming 
17. The representative of Peru made a statement pursuant to its recently completed Trade Policy 
Review. She noted, in particular, that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative had led to intensification of 
Peru's efforts to mainstream trade into its national development policies and sectoral strategies. Peru was developing a National Export Strategy (PENX-2021) which proposed a new agenda to 
strengthen its links with the international market. The Strategy included aspects such as 
innovation and technology, sustainable foreign trade, productive clusters, global value chains, and also referred to implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. Peru looked for continued international support and cooperation with regard to the implementation of PENX-2021 and, in 
particular, to the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, which were important tools 
for Peru's development and export growth.  
18. The representative of the EIF reported on progre ss in the implementation of its activities in 
trade mainstreaming and its Tier 1-related work. He noted that trade mainstreaming priorities 
were reflected in the EIF Strategic Action Plan for 2014-2015. EIF support for mainstreaming would be provided in a customized and flexible manner through Tier 1 "Support for National 
Implementation Arrangements" projects and, where necessary, with additional resources. As part 
of the customization efforts, discussions were being held with UNDP with regard to putting in place an online platform for the joint EIF-UNDP capacity building module. The EIF was also providing support to countries to use advocacy and outreach activities to facilitate trade mainstreaming and 
to sensitize countries about the usefulness of having effective communication strategies. In 
addition, a new module aimed at enhancing private sector and civil society participation in the EIF process had been developed which was expected to make the process of trade mainstreaming 
more inclusive and contribute towards enhancing country ownership of national development 
strategies.
5 
3. Regional Dimension 
19. No item was raised under this sub-item.  
4. Private Sector 
20. The representative of the International Trade Centre (ITC) announced that ITC had now 
categorized its work around six themes directly related to Aid for Trade: (i) trade and market 
intelligence for SME competitiveness; (ii) supporting regional economic integration and 
South-South trade; (iii) connecting to value chains; (iv) strengthening trade and investment support institutions; (v) promoting mainstreaming inclusiveness and green trade; and (vi) 
enhancing public-private dialogues. Specific activi ties and projects relating to these themes were 
being conducted on the ground ranging from, for example, connecting Fijian farmers to value chains to moving to implementation of the cotton strategy in Africa, and a soon-to-be-launched 
project on ethical fashion. He also noted the recently launched version 2 of ITC's Trade for 
Sustainable Development (T4SD) platform which al lowed a mapping of private voluntary standards 
and ITC's continued enhancement of work relating to women's economic empowerment, ethical fashion, services, e-commerce, and role in th e post-2015 development agenda where ITC was 
promoting entrepreneurship for economic growth and employment. ITC also continued with its 
support in relation to trade facilitation, WTO accession, export and sectoral strategies, and national and regional programmes, and was expanding it s partnerships with other institutions and 
organizations to further enhance the outreach and impact of its work. He informed of three ITC 
events scheduled in 2014: 50
th Anniversary celebration and Joint Advisory Group meeting to be 
held in Geneva on 10-12 June; World Export Development Forum to be held in Rwanda on 16 and 
17 September; and World Trade Promotion Organi z a t i o n  e v e n t  t o  b e  h e l d  i n  D u b a i  o n  3 -
5 November.6 
                                               
4 More information on the role of UNCTAD in support of the AfT strategy can be found at 
http://www.unctad.org . 
5 Further information on EIF activities can be found at http://www.enhancedif.org . 
6 Further information on ITC's activities can be found at http://www.in tracen.org . WT/COMTD/AFT/M/30 
 
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  5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implemen tation and Development Effectiveness 
21. The representative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 
presented information on the 2012 AfT flows.7 He said that AfT commitments had risen by 20% 
since 2011 and that the share of Aid for Trade in sector allocable ODA had increased from 33% to 
almost 40%. He noted, in particular, that the share of AfT flows to Africa had risen to 40% and 
that multi-country and regional programmes had more than tripled from the 2002-05 baseline average to reach US$7 billion. However, while commitments and disbursements had increased – 
a n d  w o u l d  m o s t  l i k e l y  c o n t i n u e  t o  d o  s o  –  m o s t  o f  t h e  A f T  f l o w s  w e r e  g o i n g  t o  m i d d l e - i n c o m e  
countries and he highlighted a growing concern over the allocation of Aid for Trade to LDCs. Noting 
that, traditionally, Aid for Trade was split evenly between loans and grants, he said that terms of assistance were hardening and that in 2011 – and especially in 2012 – loans had increased 
significantly while grants had declined to only 35% of Aid for Trade. He added that, with reference 
to the Trade Facilitation Agreement, information had been circulated to Members regarding donors' 
assistance in support of trade facilitation.
8 
22. The representatives of Uganda and Benin voiced concern with regard to AfT flows to LDCs and 
highlighted the need to ensure that resources were focused on those countries in most need. Benin 
also underscored the importance of regional integration, noting the complementary nature of 
countries at regional and sub-regional level as far as economic and trade activities were 
concerned. 
23. In response to questions raised by the representatives of Uganda, Benin and the 
United States regarding AfT support to LDCs and the increase in loans, the representative of the 
OECD said that the terms in which aid was provided was becoming harder. Donors were shifting 
their view of how to extend official development support and were granting loans to those 
developing countries which had better repayment mechanisms. He also noted that the 
presentation of AfT data could be enhanced by non-DAC donors providing information to the CTD 
on their AfT-related support.  
24. A representative of Saana Consulting reported on the evaluation of OECD/DAC's contributions 
to the Aid-for-Trade Initiative in 2013 that it had been commissioned to undertake as part of 
OECD's internal results-based management exerci se. The evaluation, which had been presented at 
the OECD-DAC Committee meeting in early April, confirmed that the OECD had been integral to the success of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative. The evaluation had also pointed to an area that had 
been highlighted as the most challenging for OECD was policy dialogue. Given the different 
membership of WTO and OECD, outreach could be  extended beyond the "Geneva-Paris nexus".
9 It 
was noted that the OECD and WTO were discussing  how to strengthen the message and narrative 
that Aid for Trade was important for economic growth and development and how to improve policy 
dialogue and create a better synergy between the two organizations. 
25. The Secretariat presented findings from an analysis10 conducted in respect of the country 
factsheets that had been prepared for inclusion in the joint OECD-WTO publication Aid for Trade at 
a Glance 2013: Connecting to Value Chains. Eighty  country factsheets had been analysed at the 
aggregate level highlighting commonalities for diffe rent groupings of developing countries. In 
addition, the analysis embedded Aid for Trade and development finance in a results chain 
perspective by assessing the relationships between development finance and trade performance 
and between trade performance and development impacts. The analysis found that Aid for Trade was of particular importance for LDCs as compared to other developing countries, that rising 
commodity prices had driven export growth in  resource-rich LDCs between 2005 and 2010, and 
that all country groupings had experienced, on average, positive economic and human 
development. From a results-chain perspective, positive correlations could be made between 
financial inflows and trade performance and betw een trade performance and development impacts. 
The Secretariat would look at how the information provided in the factsheets could be updated on a more regular basis and how it could be factored into the new AfT WP.  
                                               
7 A comprehensive overview of the 2012 AfT flow s was subsequently circulated in document 
WT/COMTD/AFT/W/49. 
8 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/47. 
9 The evaluation can be found at 
http://www.oecd.org/development/aft/OECD%20AfT%20Final%20Report%20Submitted.pdf . 
10 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/48. WT/COMTD/AFT/M/30 
 
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  26. In response to concerns raised by the representative of Cameroon regarding the relevance of 
including remittances in the analysis, the Secretariat noted that the aim of the analysis was not to 
conflate remittances as Aid for Trade, but to analyse Aid for Trade in the context of all 
development finance inflows.    
D. Other Business 
27. No item was raised under "Other Business".  
28. Before adjourning the meeting, the Chairman announced that the next formal Aid-for-Trade 
session of the Committee on Trade and Development would be held in mid-June. He indicated that 
it was his intention to invite the Standards and Trade Development Facility to the meeting to present an overview of its AfT-related work. 
29. The meeting was adjourned. 
 
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