RESTRICTED  
  
WT/COMTD/AFT/M/37  
 
16 June 2016  
(16-3290)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Trade and Development 
Thirty-Seventh Session on Aid for Trade    
 
                                                                                                  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 25 MAY 2016 
Chairperson: H.E. Mr. Christopher Onyanga Aparr (Uganda) 
A.	Adoption of the Agenda ........................................................................................... 1 	
B.	Implementation of the 2016-2017 Aid-for-Trade Work Programme ........................ 1 	
1.	Resource Mobilization and Im plementation Activities ..................................................... 1 	
2.	Mainstreaming ......................................................................................................... 3 	
3.	Regional Di mension .................................................................................................. 4 	
4.	Private Se ctor .......................................................................................................... 4 	
5.	Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementa tion and Development Effectiveness ................... 5 	
C.	Other Busi ness ........................................................................................................ 5 	
 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
1. The Agenda, as circulated in WTO/AIR/COMTD/AFT/5, was adopted. 
B. Implementation of the 2016-2017 Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 
1. Resource Mobilization and Implementation Activities 
2. The representative of the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) reported on the Bank's Annual 
Meeting held in Frankfurt, Germany on 2-5 May 2016 which had as its underlying theme 
"Cooperating for Sustainability".1 He noted a high-level seminar entitled "Asia-Europe Economic 
Cooperation – Fostering Greater Trade and Investment" where discussions had focused on ways to 
foster greater trade and investment between As ia and Europe and at which the AsDB Vice 
President had emphasized, inter alia , the importance of promoting digital trade for landlocked and 
sea-locked countries. He indicated that the report the Bank would prepare for the 6th Global 
Review of Aid for Trade (6GR) would investigate the link and interaction between Aid for Trade 
(AfT) and foreign direct investment. In response to a question by Nigeria on when the report would 
be published, he indicated that a draft was expected to be ready by February 2017 and that the 
final report would be released in time for the 6GR.  
3. The representative of the World Bank Group (WBG ) highlighted the Bank's activities on trade 
and poverty reduction, Trade Facilitation, and e-commerce. Referring to the WTO-WBG 
collaboration on poverty, including the 2015 publication "The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty"2, he 
informed of a follow-up event to further discuss this topic.3 He updated on the support provided 
                                               
1 http://www.adb.org/a nnual-meeting/2016/main   
2 http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/trade/publication/the-role-of-trade-in-ending-poverty   
3 Joint WTO-WBG Trade and Povert y Forum "Connecting to Trade: Policies and Programmes for 
Maximizing Poverty Reduction Impact", held on 26 May 2016. WT/COMTD/AFT/M/37 
 
- 2 - 
 
  through the Bank's Trade Facilitation Support Programme4 noting that, to date, the seven donor 
partners of the Programme had committed US$36 m illion, undertaken 43 needs assessments in 
collaboration with partner organizations, and impl emented projects in 21 different countries. On 
e-commerce, he indicated that the Bank was intensifying its work in four particular areas: 
entrepreneurship programmes for SMEs; legal and regulatory environments; trade facilitation; and 
enhancement of government and firms' use of data which included a US$600 million project spanning 25 countries.  
4. The representative of Nigeria asked whether the Bank's programmes could be rolled-out to 
countries in a single package, and if it could sh are country experiences in the implementation of 
legal and regulatory environments for e-trade. The representative of Pakistan noted the timeliness 
of the work on e-trade. Pakistan had recently set up an inter-ministerial task force to formulate a 
national policy on e-commerce and noted that it currently ranked 36th on UNCTAD's E-commerce 
Readiness Index. He expressed the hope that the various e-commerce initiatives would lessen the digital divide and would operate in synergy with UNCTAD's Aid for eTrade initiative. In response, 
the WBG said that its activities were programmed at country-level and developed to address needs 
identified through analysis and agreement with individual countries. The Bank was looking at how 
to share experiences on legal and regulatory envi ronments and might organize an event together 
with the private sector during the WTO Public Forum in September 2016. Responding to Pakistan, 
he noted that a wide digital divide remained and that this had been the focus of the Bank's 2016 
World Development Report: Digital Dividends.5 In countries lacking connectivity, the Bank was 
focusing on improving infrastructure and business environments. The Bank had also attended 
preparatory meetings of the Aid for eTrade initiative. 
5. The representative of the African Development Ba nk (AfDB) provided information on priority 
areas of the Bank's Ten-Year Development Strategy 2013-20226, namely, energy (for which in 
2015 the Bank had approved projects to the amount  of US$1 billion); transport (for which regional 
corridor development projects worth US$2 million had been approved); resource mobilization 
(which included the establishment of the Africa50Fund to mobilize innovative private- and 
public-sector financing for regional infrastructure and trade development, and the now fully 
operational US$2 billion Chinese-funded Africa Growing Together Fund. He outlined how the Africa Trade Fund, the Bank's primary instrument for th e implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation 
Agreement (TFA), had approved over 20 trade facili tation projects across 18 African countries. In 
March and April 2016, AfDB had launched two major knowledge initiatives, namely the Africa Visa 
Openness Index and the Africa Regional Integratio n Index. The Visa Openness Index indicated that 
Africa was still largely closed off to African travellers. AfDB was working closely with the African 
Union Commission and national policymake rs to ease movement of people.   
6. The representative of Nigeria referred to the Af DB's "Light and Power Africa" initiative and 
called for the delivery of concrete and visible result s. In response, the AfDB informed that "Light 
and Power Africa" was one of the Bank's most important initiatives and had resulted in a new 
partnership "New Deal on Energy". He announced that the Bank would be directing a lot more of its activities and resources to energy developm ent, including the mobilization of alternative 
sources of finance to tackle the energy challenge. 
7. The representative of Japan highlighted the importance of connectivity in the process of 
ASEAN integration and noted Japan's contribution of US$7.5 billion (over 2016-2019) to a 
"Japan-Mekong Connectivity Initiative". In promotion of the African Development Agenda, he 
announced that Japan would co-host the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African 
Development (TICAD VI) to be held in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2016. Japan had also supported the Move Africa Initiative aimed at increasing connectivity in Africa. With regard to efforts for the 
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he announced that Japan had recently 
established an SDG Promotion Headquarters to develop more concrete guidelines – including in respect to gender – for its implementation of the SDGs.  
                                               
4 https://www.wbginves tmentclimate.org/advisory-services /regulatory-simplification/trade-
logistics/trade-facilitation-support-program/   
5 http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016   
6 http://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/ mission-strategy /afdbs-strategy/   WT/COMTD/AFT/M/37 
 
- 3 - 
 
  8. The representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 
provided an update on a pilot project "Programmes for Country Partnerships" (PCPs) it was 
conducting in the context of SDG 9 (on infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation) and SDG 17 (on partnerships) of the 2030 Agenda. The PCPs were closely aligned 
with the priorities of development and multilateral and bilateral finance institutions, other UN 
organizations, bilateral donors, and the private sector, and aimed to support countries in the diversification of their production and export ba se. Early achievements reported on the basis of 
PCPs piloted in Senegal and Ethiopia included increased partnerships and funding from 
international, public and private donors. The pilot phase had recently been expanded to 
Latin America and would eventually cover six countries across each region of the world.  
9. The representative of Nigeria said that the achievements reported from Ethiopia and Senegal 
could serve to inform other regions. Referring to  SDG 9, the representative of Cameroon asked 
whether the additional resources referred to by UNIDO would cover only the two pilot-phase 
countries or whether these could be sustainably expanded to other countries. The representative 
of Rwanda noted its strong partnership with UN IDO and called on donors to strengthen their 
partnership to support UNIDO in its efforts to deliver on the SDGs. In reply, the representative of 
UNIDO said that information on progress with regard to the PCPs was available on its website. He 
noted, too, that the experiences of Senegal and Ethiopia would be discussed in more detail at a second meeting of the African Forum for Dialogue which UNIDO would co-organize with the African Union. He added that, given UNIDO's focus on industrialization, the partnership approach with development finance institutions was to mobilize resources for infrastructure.  
2. Mainstreaming 
10. The representatives of Turkey, Malawi, Albania,  and Honduras made statements pursuant to 
their recent Trade Policy Reviews.  
11. The representative of Turkey reaffirmed hi s country's commitment to the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative and to the further enhancement of its effectiveness, noted that Turkey was hosting the 
Mid-Term Review of the Istanbul Program of Action (IPoA) for LDCs on 27-29 May 2016, and 
stressed the importance of Aid for Trade, and the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) in 
particular, in implementation of the IPoA. Report ing on Turkey's official development assistance 
(ODA) he said that in 2015 ODA stood at US$3. 9 billion, an increase of 26.3% over 2014. 
12. The representative of Malawi indicated that Malawi's priorities for AfT support were identified 
in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, and in its Development Assistance Strategy and 
National Export Strategy. He stressed the import ance for Aid for Trade to be demand-driven, 
targeted and focused, with the aim of helping developing countries use trade more effectively to 
promote growth, development and poverty reduction. He noted that, as a landlocked LDC, AfT 
support should enhance Malawi's productive capacity, improve its business climate, increase access to trade finance, and promote trade in productive sectors.   
13. The representative of Albania informed, in particular, of three newly-established national 
trade committees which would oversee Albania's trade and investment policies (National 
Committee for Trade Policy Coordination and Facilitation, National Economic Council, and Investment Council), and of Albania's efforts to liberalize and facilitate trade. She noted Albania's 
recent TFA ratification deposit and reaffirmed her country's commitment to regional cooperation, in 
particular with the Western Balkan countries and Turkey. 
14. The representative of Honduras reported on a number of infrastructure development 
projects to be undertaken in the context of its sustainable development strategy for which total 
investment was expected to amount to US$2.2 billion. He referred to the "Honduras Programme 20-20: Our Development Vision" which sought to promote economic growth and poverty reduction 
through joint public-private partnerships, job creation, and export diversification.  
15. The representative of the EIF provided a progress report on trade mainstreaming in LDCs. 
He noted the reforms currently being implemented to make EIF Phase Two more dynamic and 
results-driven with the aim of increasing its efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, and value for 
money. The EIF was reviewing the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) concept and format 
in order to strengthen country ownership and to ensure that the DTIS process responded to the WT/COMTD/AFT/M/37 
 
- 4 - 
 
  needs of the EIF programme and its work on trad e mainstreaming in the evolving trading and AfT 
environment. He announced two events that the EI F would jointly organize in the margins of the 
upcoming Mid-Term Review of the IPoA: "The EIF's role in catalysing LDC graduation: lessons from 
the field" and "Showcasing a partnership approach in supporting the IPoA in LDCs: EIF". 
16. The representative of China referred to its South-South cooperation and highlighted, in 
particular, the envisaged launch of "Post-accession Support" activities for Liberia and Afghanistan, 
to be undertaken in the context of the China Prog ram, which aimed at helping both LDCs to better 
integrate into, and benefit from, the multilateral trading system. 
17. The representative of the European Union (EU) informed of an update to its 2007 
Aid-for-Trade strategy, expected to be finalized by the end of 2016, which would align EU support 
to changing global trade patterns and build on th e sustainable development potential of the EU's 
new Trade and Investment Policy – the "Trade fo r All" Communication adopted in October 2015. 
With respect to AfT support, she noted that collectively the EU and its member States' annual AfT disbursements over recent years had exceeded €11 billion, which represented over 30% of global 
funds. She announced a significant increase in  EU programming for the period 2014-2020.   
3. Regional Dimension 
18. The Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the General Treaty on Central American 
Economic Integration (SIECA) reported on SIECA's initiatives for regional economic integration in 
Central America which included the creation of a Central American Strategy for Trade Facilitation 
and Competitiveness (CASTFC) and the developm ent of a Central American Aid-for-Trade 
Strategy. She stressed the important role of Aid for Trade in the region and announced that in 
2015, in cooperation with a number of strategic partners, SIECA had invested US$11.7 million in 
cooperation and technical assistance activities in Central America. She informed of an event that SIECA would host to discuss Central American regional economic integration initiatives.
7 
19. The representative of Honduras, speaking on behalf of the Members of SIECA, highlighted 
the importance of trade facilitation and the region's efforts in this area. He explained that the 
CASTFC focused on coordinated border management to boost trade flows and increase 
competitiveness, particularly for micro and small enterprises. The Central American Aid-for-Trade 
Strategy was being developed as a direct result of the CASTFC to ensure the participation of a wide variety of technical and financial donors an d stakeholders required for its implementation.  
20. The representatives of Panama, El Salvador, and Guatemala expressed support for the 
statements by SIECA and Honduras. Panama emphasized that SIECA's work was not only 
important for trade liberalization, harmonization and tariff reduction, but also for strengthening the 
region's competitiveness and promoting sustaina ble economic development. The new regional 
economic integration initiatives were in line with the objectives of the current Aid-for-Trade Work 
Programme in respect to trade facilitation and in reducing trade costs and could serve as an example to other LDCs. El Salvador informed of its TFA ratification and said that the 
implementation of the CASTFC and the developmen t of a Central American Aid-for-Trade Strategy 
should be priorities. Guatemala said that the two new strategies would make a significant 
contribution to strengthening regional integration and competitiveness. The representative of Chinese Taipei noted its collaboration with SIECA,  notably in the area of e-commerce and digital 
trade and, together with the representative of  Nigeria, looked forward to receiving further 
information on trade cost-reducing projects in these areas.  
4. Private Sector 
21. The representative of the International Trade Ce ntre (ITC) provided an update on its work 
on Trade Facilitation, trade-related technical assistance, and Aid for e-Trade. ITC continued to 
assist countries in TFA implementation and to ensure that SMEs benefitted from trade facilitation 
reforms. He referred to the ITC publication "E-Commerce in Africa – the way forward" and a 
forthcoming publication on "Cross border E-commerce for SMEs" both of which presented ITC research on the experiences of small businesses in developing countries and LDCs, and to the 
                                               
7 The event titled "Regional Approaches to Trade Facilitation" was hosted by SIECA on 25 May 2016. WT/COMTD/AFT/M/37 
 
- 5 - 
 
  e-training solution modules to facilitate the conducting of international trade through digital 
channels. ITC had strengthened its collaboration with the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and the Caribbean Community on "value chain" work, creating a blueprint on production, standards, marketing, etc., that could be rolled out in a number of other countries. He noted two recent 
publications: "Study on Trade in Quinoa: Impact  on the Welfare of Peruvian Communities" and 
"Services in COMESA – An Industry Perspective", and announced ITC 2016 events.  
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implemen tation and Development Effectiveness 
22. The representative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 
presented data on 2014 AfT flows that showed to tal commitments of US$54.8 billion – a fall of 
2%. Funding had fallen in Asia and Africa and ha d increased in Latin America and the Caribbean, 
Europe and Oceania. Overall commitments to LDCs had decreased by 21% to reach 
US$14.4 billion (compared to US$18. 4 billion in 2013), and commitments to Trade Facilitation 
programmes had declined by 41%. Part of the explanation was found in a significant drop in support to the transport and storage sectors. Aid commitments for private sector development had 
increased in 2014 and he said that this might cont inue in light of a donor focus on the private 
sector. On a more positive note, regional and global programmes had continued to grow with commitments reaching US$7 billion, AfT disbursements had seen a continued annual growth of 
5-10%, and projections fo r AfT flows in 2015 indica ted stabilit y, with possibly a slight increase.
8  
23. In response to a comment by the Chair regarding the worrying drop in funding to LDCs, the 
OECD referred to the high-level DAC meeting held in February 2016 at which Ministers had 
pledged to increase funds to LDCs. In response to Nigeria's request, he noted that programmes 
were aligned with national strategies that did not always identify or prioritize a country's regional 
needs. Responding to the question from Cameroon regarding finance modalities, he confirmed that 
funding to LDCs was being provided more in the form of loans. 
24. The representative of Australia opined that, al though more study was needed, the drop in TF 
funding could be attributed to the fact that some developing country Members had yet to identify 
their needs under Category C of the TFA which would allow for a better targeting of donor support.  
25. The Secretariat provided information on the process envisaged for the 2016-2017 
monitoring and evaluation (M&E) exercise for the 6GR which would be based on a series of 
self-assessment questionnaires designed around the theme of promoting connectivity, with a particular emphasis on the services perspective, e-commerce, TFA implementation, and 
infrastructure constraints. Questionnaires would be prepared in consultation with Members and 
would be disseminated in the final quarter of 2016, with a deadline for responses of 31 December 2016. Information harvested from the M&E exercise would form the basis of the 
next edition of the joint WTO-OECD publication to which partner agencies would once again be 
invited to contribute.  
26. The WTO Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation provided an outline of a 
forthcoming publication on trade costs and inclusiv e growth presenting the results of policy work 
and research carried out by the WTO Chairs Programme. Focusing both on country and regional experiences, the publication would explore the benefi ts that developing countries, especially in the 
Arab and Africa region, could derive from reducing trade costs. 
C. Other Business 
27. The representative of Canada announced that it was currently undertaking a comprehensive 
review of its international assistance programme which included trade and development and 
Aid for Trade. The exercise aimed to align it with Canada's commitment to help the poorest and 
the most vulnerable, and fragile states.  
28. The meeting was adjourned. 
__________ 
                                               
8 Detailed information on the 2014 AfT figures was subsequently circulated in WT/COMTD/AFT/W/61.