RESTRICTED  
  
WT/COMTD/AFT/M/27  
 
13 June 2013  
(13-3072)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Trade and Development 
Twenty-Seventh Session on Aid for Trade    
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 13 MARCH 2013 
Chairman:  H.E. Ms. Marion Williams (Barbados) 
  
A. Adoption of the Agenda ............................................................................................. 1  
B. Statement by the Di rector-Gen eral ............................................................................. 1  
C. Progress in Implementation of the 2012- 2013 Aid-for-Trade Wo rk Programme .................. 2  
1. Resource Mobilization and Im plementation Activities ..................................................... 2  
2. Mainstreaming ......................................................................................................... 2  
3. Regional Di mension .................................................................................................. 3  
4. Private Se ctor .......................................................................................................... 3  
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementa tion and Development Effectiveness ................... 3  
D. Other Busi ness ........................................................................................................ 4  
 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
1. The Agenda, as circulated in WTO/AIR/4083, was adopted. 
B. Statement by the Director-General 2. The Director-General provided information to Members on the preparations for the 4
th Global 
Review of Aid for Trade on 8-10 July 2013. With respect to the monitoring exercise for the 
4th Global Review, he noted the good response to  the questionnaires, particularly from Least-
Developed Countries (LDCs). A preliminary analysis of the private sector questionnaire had 
highlighted a number of issues getting in the way of developing country suppliers connecting or 
moving up value chains such as: access to finance, customs delays, and transport costs. He suggested that Aid for Trade should be seen in a broader context which considered the interplay between all forms of development finance, an approach that blended investment and Aid for 
Trade. Looking ahead to the December Ministerial Conference in Bali, he recommended that a 
robust Aid for Trade (AfT) work programme be prepared with resource mobilization remaining at the core of the initiative and with an expanded monitoring of the resources in question. 
3. The representatives of Jamaica, Korea, an d China welcomed the statement and expressed 
their willingness to actively participate in the 4th Global Review. The representative of Benin, on 
behalf of the LDC Group, requested that the responses to the AfT questionnaires be made available 
to Members and expressed the need for an in-depth analysis of the participation of LDCs in value 
chains.  The representative of Morocco, on beha lf of the African Group, encouraged the WTO to 
continue working with other African partners in order to successfully complete the joint monitoring exercise on AfT support to the African Union Action Plan for Boosting Intra African Trade.
1 He also 
requested that all concerned Members provide their response to the questionnaires. 
                                               
1 http://ti.au.int/en/content/decision-boosting-intra-african-trade-and-fast-tracking-continental-free-
trade-area  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/27 
 
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  4. The representative of Colombia suggested that the Global Review should also discuss issues 
related to resource mobilization, assessment of the impact of Aid for Trade, lessons learned from 
monitoring and evaluation of Aid for Trade, and negotiation issues related to the Bali Ministerial Conference such as trade facilitation and the serv ices waiver. The representative of the European 
Union (EU) referred to the AfT facilitation support provided by the EU to developing countries and 
LDCs and argued the benefits of a WTO trade fa cilitation agreement, and the EU's commitment to 
provide technical assistance and capacity building to developing countries for implementation of 
the Trade Facilitation agreement.  The representati ve of the United States (US) supported the EU 
and Colombia's suggestion.  
5. The representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) referred to the support provided 
by the AfDB through its Trade Finance Initiative (TFI).2 The African-based facilities to which the 
AfDB had contributed had financed a total cumulative volume of trade estimated around US$1.6 
billion in Africa. This funding supported trade wi th more than 80% benefitting small- and medium-
sized enterprises in low-income countries. 
C. Progress in Implementation of the 2012-2013 Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 
1. Resource Mobilization and Implementation Activities 6. The representative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 
presented an overview of the 2011 AfT flows. Over all the results were mixed: preliminary numbers 
indicated that AfT commitments for 2011 stood at US$39 billion, down almost US$6 billion compared to 2010, but still up by 56% on the 2002 -05 baseline. The decline in Aid for Trade was 
based on lower commitments from important bilateral donors. At the same time, multilateral 
providers had increased their funding. 
7. The representatives of Benin, on behalf of  the LDC Group, and Morocco, on behalf of the 
African Group, expressed their concern with resp ect to the decline of AfT flows in 2011 and the 
fact that the decline was concentrated in Africa. They expressed the need to redouble efforts to 
mobilise AfT funding, particularly to Africa.  
8. The representative of the EU indicated th at the EU had undertaken its own preliminary 
analysis of AfT flows in 2011 and although EU Ai d for Trade had declined, the share of LDCs had 
increased which was consistent with the EU's strategic focus on LDCs. The final AfT figures for the EU would be available in July 2013.  
9. The representative of the World Bank note d that its trade-related programmes had grown 
significantly from 2.9% in total lending in 2003 to a projected 7% for 2013. New trade-related 
projects approved in 2012 were US$1.87 billion and would increase to US$3.0 billion in 2013. 
10. The representative of China provided an update on China's AfT activities. He made reference 
to the South-South cooperation mechanism with other developing countries. China’s commitments 
under the South-South framework were in steady progress. Up to April 2012, the China-Africa Development Fund had allocated more than US$57 million to ten investment programmes in 
Africa, which covered areas including cotton, fur processing, sugar and agri-machinery. China 
would scale it up to US$5 billion to st rengthen China-Africa cooperation.  
2. Mainstreaming 11. The representatives of Iceland, Nicaragua, the US and Japan reported on their AfT trade 
activities in the context of their recently completed Trade Policy Reviews (TPRs).3 Iceland noted 
that AfT-related activities represented approx imately 28% of Iceland’s Official Development 
Assistance activities and focused mainly on fish eries and renewable energy. Nicaragua noted that 
trade was part of its national economic and hum an development plan. Nicaragua had implemented 
a single window system for customs clearance with support from the World Customs Organization and had undertaken a trade facilitation needs assessment with support from the United Nations 
                                                                                                                                               
 
2 http://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/init iatives-partnerships/trade-finance-initiative/  
3 http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tpr_e.htm  
 WT/COMTD/AFT/M/27 
 
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  Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Th e US noted that since 2001 it had provided a 
cumulative total of over US$13 billion in trade capa city building assistance and highlighted several 
areas where support had been provided: standards alliance, trade facilitation and USAID’s Africa Trade hubs to promote a regional approach to increasing trade competitiveness. Japan noted that 
one of the key components of its Aid for Trade was enhancement of connectivity in South-East Asia and Africa. Examples of AfT support includ ed the setting up of one-stop-border posts in 
14 African countries under the TICAD framework. Improvement of trade related capacity building 
would be one of the themes for discussion at the next TICAD V Conference in June 2013. 
12. The representative of the Enhanced Integrat ed Framework (EIF) reported on the Mid-Term 
Review for the EIF. The Review found that the EIF remained highly relevant to the trade and 
development priorities of LDCs. With respect to strengthening mainstreaming trade in national 
implementation arrangements, the EIF was considering ways to scale up support, such as the 
wider roll out of the EIF/UNDP capacity-building module.  
13. The representative of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) provided information on 
the support that PIFS was providing to Pacific co untries to develop trade policy frameworks. To 
date, trade policy frameworks had been developed for Vanuatu, Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Nauru. The frameworks for Niue, Tuvalu and Solomon Island were close to completion. 
3. Regional Dimension 
14. The representative of the African Union (AU) provided an update on the Joint Conference of 
AU Ministers of Agriculture and Ministers of Trade held in November 2012.4 The theme of the 
Conference was: "Boosting Intra-African Trade: A key to agricultural transformation". The 
Conference underlined the need for better coordina tion between the different initiatives such as 
the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Developmen t Program, the African Agribusiness and Agro 
industries Development Initiative, Grow Africa, and Making Finance Work for Africa. 
15. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago ga ve an update with respect to the AfT strategy 
for the Caribbean. He noted that Heads of Gove rnment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 
had endorsed the CARICOM Regional Aid for Trade Strategy in February 2013. The formal launch 
of the AfT Strategy would take place in Haiti on 11 June 2013.  The representatives of St. Lucia, 
Barbados and Jamaica supported the statement by Trinidad and Tobago and noted that the 
regional strategy complemented existing national AfT strategies. Support was requested from 
development partners in the implementation of the AfT strategy for the Caribbean. 
16. The representative of the United Nation s Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 
provided an update on UNECE AfT-related work including the Trade Facilitation Implementation 
Guide5; and national studies for Kazakhstan and Tajikistan on procedural and regulatory barriers 
to trade. The UNECE had also secured funding to help a number of transition economies, during 
2014, to develop bankable projects based either on  national assessment studies and/or on the AfT 
Action Matrices that had been developed under the SPECA programme.6  
4. Private Sector 
17. The representative of the International Trade Centre (ITC) reported on ITC's activities, 
particularly as related to export strategy design and management. ITC was facilitating export 
strategies in Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Kyrgyz Re public, Liberia, Myanmar, The Gambia, Ghana, 
Zambia, and in UEMOA.7 
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implem entation and Development Effectiveness 
18. The WTO Secretariat provided an update on  the responses to the global self-assessment 
monitoring exercise (partner country, donor, and South-South partner questionnaires) and the 
responses to the monitoring exercise for the priv ate sector (focusing on agri-food, ICT, textiles, 
                                               
4 http://ti.au.int/en/content/joint-ministerial-conference-agriculture-and-trade  
5 http://tfig.unece.org/  
6 http://www.unece.org/speca/about.html  
7 For more information on national export strategies go to: http://www.intracen.org/policy/national-
export-strategy/  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/27 
 
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  tourism, and transport and logistics). Additional information was also provided regarding the 
preparations for the 4th Global Review, including on the organization of side events. An update was 
also provided on the monitoring exercise le d by the AU Commission and the United Nations 
Economic Commission for Africa in support of the AU Decision on Boosting Intra-African Trade. The 
WTO Secretariat also referred to the OECD's Policy Dialogue on Aid for Trade held in 
January 2013.8  
19. The representative of UNCTAD provided an update on selected UNCTAD AfT-related 
activities, including national services policy reviews, trade and environment related 
capacity-building activities in the areas of biodiver sity resources, biofuels, bio-trade, climate trade, 
and sustainable agriculture.  
D. Other Business 
20. No item was raised under "Other Business".  
21. The meeting was adjourned. 
 
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8 http://www.oecd.org/dac/aft/aidfortradepolicydialogue2013.htm