RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
31 July 2009 
 (09-3723) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Tenth Session on Aid for Trade  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 2 APRIL 2009 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Shree B.C. Servansing (Mauritius) 
  
A.
 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA .........................................................................................................1  
B. UPDATE ON MONITORING – QUESTIONNAIRES AND INDICATORS ................................................1  
- STATEMENT BY THE CHAIR ..........................................................................................................1  
C. REPORTS BY REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS ..........................................................................5  
D. SECOND GLOBAL REVIEW  OF AID FOR TRADE – UPDATE ON PREPARATIONS ............................10  
E. OTHER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................13  
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The draft agenda for the meeting as contai ned in Airgram WTO/AIR/3334 of 13 March 2009 
was adopted , as was the Chairman's proposal to take up items 2.B, 2.C and 2.D together. 
B. UPDATE ON MONITORING – QUESTIONNAIRES AND INDICATORS  
- STATEMENT BY THE CHAIR  
2. The Chairman  reported on the questionnaires and country fact sheets which were being 
prepared for inclusion in the joint  OECD/WTO Aid for Trade At a Glance 2009 Report.  The Report 
was to provide a comprehensive analysis of tr ade-related aid flows between 2006 and 2007 and a 
summary of the results of the donor and partner-cou ntry self-assessments.  In  addition to a general 
introduction on Aid for Trade, the Report was to have chapters focussing on partner strategies, 
policies and practices, and donor  questionnaire responses, as well as a section on the regional 
dimension of Aid for Trade.  The report was to include individual country fact sheets which would provide "at-a-glance data" on trade flows, trad e mainstreaming, trade policy indicators, and 
trade-related indicators based on an analysis of the information given by partner-countries in their 
replies to the questionnaire. 
3. The representative of the Organisation fo r Economic Co-operation and Development
 (OECD) 
said that the OECD had recently published the Aid -for-Trade flows for 2008 and that it was expected 
that flows would increase by 10 per cent in real te rms, which meant an increase from US$25 billion to 
some US$27 billion.  As concerned the data on di sbursements by donors, he said that preliminary 
calculations showed that in 2006 and 2007 disb ursements were around 90 per cent of commitments, 
which was very high. 
4. In regard to the country fact sheets, he said th at the purpose of the fact sheets was to monitor 
at country level the implementation of Aid for Trade.   He said that some of the questions the fact WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
Page 2  
 
  sheets helped to raise were whether supply matched demand.  They were tools for policy makers to 
assess whether the initiative was having an impact.  He referred to one of the outcomes of the WTO 
Seminar on Evaluation held in September 2008 which focused on a limited set of key indicators.  This was to help start a national dialogue between donors a nd partner countries.  Also addressed in the fact 
sheets were Aid-for-Trade flows based on the OECD's  Creditor Reporting System database.  Overall, 
flows of aid were based on the categories identifie d by the Task Force and the fact sheets showed 
what had been committed and what had been di sbursed.  He explained that the subject of 
commitments and disbursements was of great interest  to many countries and that this had been taken 
into account in the Aid for Trade At a Glance 2009 report. 
5. The fact sheets also had data on the main sect ors which had been identified by the WTO Task 
Force.  The Task Force talked about trade-relate d infrastructure and for this the OECD's Creditor 
Reporting System proxy was used for economic infr astructure.  The economic infrastructure sector 
was comprised of three sub-sectors:  power;  tr ansport;  and communication.  Productive capacity 
building, meanwhile, was comprised of the sub-s ectors agriculture, mining, banking and financial 
services. 
6. He then explained how information concerning Overseas Development Assistance was 
treated in the fact sheets and that the OECD was tr ying to assess how Aid for Trade compared to other 
areas of aid such as health, education, and environmental projects, etc.  The fact sheets would have a section about trade mainstreaming.  The relevant information would come from the questionnaires in 
which there were specific questions about whether trade was mainstreamed into a country's overall 
development strategy and in which way.  There w ould also be a section on trade policy indicators.  
The priorities which countries had identified in th eir self-assessment questionnaires would be matched 
with specific indicators used by a variety of inte rgovernmental organizations to help show how a 
country was performing vis-à-vis others in its region and in its income group.  Finally, the fact sheets 
would focus on a country's trade performance, data  for which would be taken from the WTO's trade 
performance profiles. 
7. The representative of Senegal
 said that he welcomed the fact that so many countries had 
responded to the questionnaires and encouraged LDCs  which had not yet done so to reply to the 
questionnaire as soon as possible.  He said that he would report back to his capital on the idea that the fact sheets help create a national dialogue between countries and donors.  He did, however, have a question about commitments and disbursements.  According to his understanding, only the bilateral 
partners gave this information and not the interna tional organizations.  He asked if the information 
could be provided at all levels to allow Memb ers to have an overall vision of the situation. 
8. The representative of Argentina
 asked about the relationship between commitments and 
disbursements and about the indicators which would app ear in the country fact sheets.  He also asked 
whether the WTO Trade Policy Reviews would be used  to help determine some of the indicators and 
whether other sources of indicators from other interna tional organizations  would be used.  Finally, in 
regard to how Argentina's questionnaire should be classified, he requested that it be included under 
the category of South-South cooperation. 
9. The representative of Burkina Faso  said that he was pleased to he ar that there had been an 
increase in Aid-for-Trade flows for 2008 and was inte rested in seeing the data for the last year. 
10. The representative of Canada  said that he was pleased with  the high response rate for the 
self-assessment questionnaires.  He said that such a full response from both donors and recipient 
countries demonstrated how seriously everyone was ta king Aid for Trade.  As for the fact sheets, he 
said that they seemed to follow a logical framework.  He understood that selecting the indicators was 
not easy and that perhaps after the Global Review in  July it would be necessary to revisit and rethink 
the set of indicators used.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
 Page 3 
 
 
  11. As concerned the question of disbursements a nd commitments, he was of the view that 
disbursements told a more accurate and useful story than commitments.  He explained that 
commitments were made in a certain year on the understanding that they would be disbursed over a 
number of years.  He added that the actual disbur sements/commitments ratio always varied.  He was 
also interested to see the GDP composition illustrate d by sector in a pie chart and asked whether it 
would be possible to also see the employment distri bution.  He added that information on gender and 
poverty implications would also be useful. 
12. The representative of the European Communities  said that she agreed that the indicators could 
be used to help tell a story about what was happening on trade and whether trade was in fact 
prioritized in the national development strategies.  However, she added that it was only a partial story 
and more work could be done.  She asked why ODA was not included or shown as a share of the 
budget.  At present, she said that there were tw o separate graphs, one on the budget and one on where 
ODA was shown as a share of GNI.  She welcomed the inclusion of some millennium development goals but said that since they did not refer to all of them, she thought it best to re-title the section "basic social development indicators". 
13. Regarding information on Aid-for-Trade flows, she said that her delegation was still 
reflecting on the implications of showing commitment s and disbursements.  She thought it might be a 
good idea to follow the order for the Aid-for-Trade categories as they resulted from the Task Force 
recommendations.  As to the reference to trade ma instreaming, she said that mainstreaming was an 
important element. 
14. As concerned trade performance, she said that it could be interesting to have information on 
exports and imports by destination a nd origin.  Top regional partners c ould also be added to the list.  
15. The representative of China
 said that the meeting was timely since the regional Aid-for-Trade 
review for Africa was starting the next day in Lusaka.   He asked whether the final Aid for Trade at a 
Glance report would include an analysis of th e impact the financial crisis was having on 
Aid-for-Trade flows.  Many developing countri es, especially the LDCs, were concerned about 
whether the financial crisis would reduce such  flows.  Even though a recent OECD report 
demonstrated that the outlook was quite optimistic,  he wondered whether the final report would have 
a more complete analysis? 
16. The representative of the United States  said that she was ple ased with the tremendous 
response rate to the questionnaires which she thought was a huge leap forward co mpared with the last 
review in 2007.  The information contained in th e questionnaires would be a valuable part of the 
Global Review and would help broa den the scope of the work on Aid for Trade.  She thanked the 
partner countries, the regional banks and the econom ic communities for their work.  She said that the 
explanatory note helped to partially explain what was meant by commitments and disbursements.  She 
felt that other data on the fact sheets could include  the top regional trading partners as well as the top 
three trading partners. 
 
17. The representative of Cuba  said that his country and the Latin American region faced major 
structural problems in the form of the trans-nationa lization of export procedures.  He said that in the 
1980s and 1990s, foreign involve ment in exports from Latin America had increased to over 
40 per cent.  He said that when looking at the Aid -for-Trade table sector by sector, he could see that a 
similar development had taken place in such areas as energy, communication, mining and financial 
services.  He asked if it was possible to have a br eakdown of the differences between those enterprises 
and businesses which work with national capital and t hose which work with foreign capital.  This was 
significant for analysing whether this kind of Aid for Trade was actually contributing to development.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
Page 4  
 
  18. The representative of India
 said that he would prefer it if India's responses were included 
under the South-South cooperation.  Coming to the fact  sheet, he said that he would like to support the 
EC and US points on including regional trade part ners in the data as well as information about the 
destination of exports and the origin  of imports.  He thought it would be useful to have an idea as to 
how much Aid for Trade was received by region so that one could see to what extent Aid for Trade 
had contributed to the growth or development of a region's trade.  
19. The representative of Peru  said that she was glad to hear  that despite the economic and 
financial crisis, the predictions for growth in Aid -for-Trade flows would be maintained.  She was also 
pleased with the significant increase in the respon ses to the questionnaires.  The answers would 
provide a greater amount of data which would cont ribute to a better overall analysis.  As for the 
country profiles, she said that her Government was now examining the indicators and their sources. 
20. The representative of the World Bank  applauded the work of both the WTO Secretariat and 
the OECD in putting together the country fact sheets.  On the question of disbursement and 
commitments from multilateral organizations, he sai d that the World Bank had been doing a fair 
amount of work on computing Aid-for-Trade data using the OECD's classifications.  He explained 
that the World Bank had its own definition of trade promotion and that internally the Bank used its 
own data.  However, because of the OECD's work in arriving at international definitions, the Bank 
had put together information in a way that was co mpatible with the OECD data and which was based 
on a loan-by-loan kind of analysis.  He said that information on commi tments was now being 
prepared and would be submitted to the OECD that week.  He hoped a way coul d be found to include 
it in the July report.   
21. The representative of Senegal  reverted to the question of di sbursements and commitments and 
said that if a line-by-line approach were taken, one could see that the disbursements were actually greater than the commitments.  This probably m eant that the disbursements did not necessarily cover 
the periods indicated.  Perhaps there were prior co mmitments, but it would help  if more explanations 
were given. 
22. The representative of Pakistan
 said that he agreed with Canada on the need to include gender 
desegregated data in the fact sheets. 
23. The representative of Nicaragua  said that he would appreciate it if the information on 
disbursements were carried out on a regional basis and desegregated by sector.  He said that it would help to have data which was as close as possible to the situation on the ground. 
24. The representative of Norway
 said that she agreed with Canada and Pakistan on the 
usefulness of including gender desegre gation data in the fact sheets.  
25. The representative of Angola  said that it would be useful if updated information were 
provided concerning an overview of the latest Aid -for-Trade flows.  He said that it might be 
preferable to have a table which showed the commitments and disbursements for 2007 and 2008 and, 
if possible, the first six months of 2009.  He said that it would provide Member s with a better idea of 
what kind of impact the worldwide crisis was having on Aid-for-Trade flows.  
26. The representative of the Organisation fo r Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD) 
thanked the Members for their comments and qu estions.  On the issue of commitments and 
disbursements, he said that the report would ha ve a section on Aid-for-Trade flows which would 
explain the differences and provide guidance as to how  the data should be interpreted.  He added that 
a regional distribution of disbursement rates could be  looked into but that this would most likely be 
included in the main report and not in the country fact sheets.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
 Page 5 
 
 
  27. He went on to say that it was a positive devel opment that the World Bank was now looking 
into Aid-for-Trade disbursement data.  This s howed how successful the Aid-for-Trade initiative had 
been.  He also believed that a dialogue should be ba sed on facts and agreed with the representative of 
the European Communities that the information was s till at an aggregate level.  A next step in the 
Aid-for-Trade initiative could be to try to evaluate  projects that had been implemented in the last 
couple of years and to continue with evaluations and further monitoring in the future.  In regard to 
questions about more detailed data  and coverage of Aid for Trade by sector and over a number of 
years, he said that the data woul d be contained in the upcoming repo rt.  As for 2008 and 2009 data, he 
said that the OECD had just received the 2008 data  which reflected what donors had committed. The 
data, however, was still at an aggregate level and ha d not yet been separated into the 500 different 
categories of eight core activities which countries coul d report.  Data for 2009 was not yet available.  
He explained, however, that donors had responded to  questions about future planning and that the 
picture was actually quite positive.  Most donors re cognized the financial economic crisis, the effects 
it was having on developing countries and the need to provide more and better Aid for Trade. They also realized the demands for emergency aid.  On the question of budget support, he said that 
generally, budget support did not const itute more than 5 per cent of total ODA.  In the main report, 
there would be a section explaining the overall numbe rs.  There would also be an explanatory note on 
what is meant by "partially mainstreamed" and "ful ly mainstreamed," as well as a section concerning 
the impact of the financial crisis on Aid for Trade.   
28. He elaborated on the fact sheets and said that  they could become the basis for a national 
Aid-for-Trade discussion.  He said that at the upcoming meeting in Lusaka, the WTO, the African 
Development Bank (AfDB) and some  donors would be discussing the fact sheets.  Discussions could 
then take place with donors that were locally presen t, with the representatives from relevant regional 
development banks, with those from the multilateral development banks, the Trade Ministry and the 
different sectoral Ministries.  The fact sheets could serve as the basis for asking a number of questions such as, what priorities are given to trade, what was happening on the ground, where can performance 
be improved and what goals had been achieved. 
C. 
REPORTS BY REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS  
29. The representative of the Inter-American Development Bank  (IaDB) said that the 
Aid-for-Trade initiative included a series of na tional reviews and sub-regional reviews in 
Latin America and Asia.  The reviews were to hi ghlight the Aid-for-Trade strategies in some 
countries and create incentives for other interested gr oups or countries to do the same.  In the case of 
Latin America, two national reviews had been pr oposed, one for Peru, the other for Honduras. A 
sub-regional review had been proposed for the Cari bbean countries.  A national review for Peru was 
held in March 2009 in Lima and a national review  was to be held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras a 
month later.  She explained that the reviews held  to date had underscored progress in Aid-for-Trade 
strategies with a technical orientation on a results-o riented basis.  The even ts enjoyed broad-based 
participation by regional organizations, donors an d key players in the countries and regions.   
30. In the case of Peru, specifically, the national review had been useful in discussing the 
implementation strategy adopted and promoted by the country over the past years.  It referred to the results achieved as well as the main challenges face d by Peru in the future.  There had also been a 
discussion of the role of the Aid for Trade initiative.  In Peru's review, the focus was on the country's 
recent trade agreements and its on-going trade libera lization.  The review stressed how the country 
had used Aid for Trade to create a dialogue with its main trading partners.  There was also a focus on 
how these processes had had a positive impact in the context of regional integration.  Officials, 
however, should also pay attention to related issu es such as trade facilitation and intellectual property 
rights and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. 
 WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
Page 6  
 
  31. There had also been a regional meeting on Ai d-for-Trade strategy in the Caribbean.  She 
recalled that participants at that meeting include d government representatives from most of the CARI 
Forum countries as well as donors, private sector representatives and those from regional bodies 
brought together to analyse the ch allenges and opportunities faced in the trade liberalization process.  
Also discussed were the challenges these countries faced in the context of the European Partnership 
Agreements recently signed with the European Co mmunities and the need to  strengthen national and 
regional institutions in these countries so they coul d take advantage of these agreements.  There was 
discussion of the benefits of joining efforts on a re gional basis rather than duplicating efforts.  
32. She explained that the Second Regional Revi ew scheduled for April 2009 in Jamaica would 
have four main objectives:  first, to monitor progress in implementation and to promote the 
development of national regional strategies in th e countries and in the region;  the second objective 
was to continue to support and increase the in corporation of trade in national and regional 
development agendas;  third, was to promote re gional initiatives and private sector initiatives as a part 
of the implementation of the Aid-for-Trade initiativ e;  and fourth, to promote coordination amongst 
donors and to have a further discussion of South-South cooperation.  This was particularly relevant in 
the case of Latin American c ountries.  Other subjects up for discussion included the effective 
implementation of trade agreements as an opport unity to improve export development and business 
opportunities, the urgent need for the region to im prove trade facilitation and infrastructure and the 
importance of Aid for Trade for the private sector in the region. 
33. The representative of the African Development Bank
 (AfDB) reported on a regional 
integration workshop held in Geneva at the beginn ing of 2009.  She said that the workshop had been 
timely since it coincided with the approval of the AfDB's regional integration strategy.   
34. She elaborated on the preparations underway for the North-South Corridor high-level meeting 
which was to be held later in the month in Lusak a, Zambia, followed by a possible donor meeting.  
The North-South Corridor project presented additio nal opportunities for financing other projects such 
as transport links in Botswana, a route linking th e Malawi-Zambia border and a road project in 
Tanzania.  
35. In terms of the next steps, she said that countries needed to show leadership to make the 
Aid-for-Trade agenda a success.  The AfDB also n eeded more financing for Aid for Trade.  More 
importantly, a better unders tanding of the general aims of Aid for Trade was required by regional 
member countries.  She thought the review meetings  would help focus attention on the priorities of 
stakeholders, such as trade facilitation and the de livery of regional projects and more involvement 
from the private sector. 
36. The representative of the Asian Development Bank  (ADB) said that he wanted to provide 
Members with more detail about the ADB's long-te rm Strategic Framework which incorporated the 
principles of Aid for Trade.  Lending for this area of  activity had doubled over the last three years and 
was now worth US$10 billion.  He also wanted to talk about the Regional Technical Group (RTG) 
which brought together the main stakeholders in the Asia Pacific to establish a strategic approach for 
the region.  He explained that the ADB had had a very well established set of sub-regional 
programmes from the Greater Mekong Sub-regi on to the Central Asia Regional Economic 
Cooperation Programme.  These were mechanisms for di alogue incorporating various trade activities.  
He said that with the Bank's Strategy 2020 plan, the Bank was focusing on funding more 
infrastructure projects and was seeking a general capital increase from its membership.   
37. He explained that Asia was made up of tw o phases:  one group of countries was doing 
relatively well such as India, China and the newl y industrialized economies.  However, another 
37 countries in the region were struggling with export-led growth.  He elaborated on the Bank's 
long-term strategic framework and its three agendas of inclusive growth, environmentally sustainable  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
 Page 7 
 
 
  development and regional c ooperation and integration.   Lending priorities were for infrastructure, 
environmentally sustainable development, regiona l cooperation and integration, financial sector 
development and education.  Le nding had grown from between US$5 to US$6 billion six years ago to 
between US$10 and US$11 billion to date, with  the goal for the Bank to lend between 
US$13-US$14 billion in the future.  He explained th at work on the RTG was to  assess trade flows and 
trade-related developments in the Asian-Pacific regi on, particularly for small states and LDCs.  It was 
also to act as a venue for discussing needs and priorities and to share good practices at the project level.  Identifying future programmes and deve loping partnerships am ongst actors was another 
challenge.  One final goal of the RTGs was to come  up with an approach for the region in a very 
coherent manner so that the work of the countries,  the different agencies and the donors came together 
in a strategic approach.  One way of fostering owne rship was to have a chair for the RTG come from a 
developed, donor country.  In this regard, he was pleased to announce that Jap an had agreed to serve 
as the Chair.  The idea was also to have a devel oping country as the other co-chair with the ADB 
serving as the secretariat for this Group with support from the WTO. 
38. He said that a major study on infrastructure a nd regional cooperation in the Asia Pacific was 
being prepared by the ADB Institute.  One focu s was on regional infrastructure development along 
multimodal transport systems.  He said that it was more  than just about roads, but also about railways, 
ports and air transport.  Transport and energy pr ojects would be part of the study as would policies 
and institutions and ways in which donors could work  together.  He then outlined immediate projects 
such as the regional Aid-for-Trade event in Cambodia on 29 and 30 May featuring a high-level dialogue with Ministers from the ASEAN countries and a more technical-level activity looking at 
some of the good practices at the project level.  A main focus for the event would be to look at the 
global financial crisis and its implic ations for Aid-for-Trade flows in the region.  Another would be to 
look at the export-led growth model in the Asian- Pacific region and to discuss whether this model 
could still continue in its current form or whethe r there were other appro aches that could build upon 
regional and global trade.  
39. A representative of the WTO Secretariat
 provided information on the Aid-for-Trade related 
activities being planned in Eastern and Central Asia .  He reported on a 25 and 26 March 2009 meeting 
in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic to establish an Aid -for-Trade Roadmap for countries of the UN Special 
Programme for the Economies of Central Asia  and Afghanistan (SPECA) region, including 
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Repub lic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporati on (ITFC) was also active in the meeting.  The 
roadmap was to take the Aid-for-Trade process forward by expanding the work of the UNDP and 
others on needs assessments of the SPECA countries so  that needs assessments would be available for 
all countries concerned.  Another meeting was pla nned for October 2009 in Gene va to take stock of 
the needs assessments process with a subsequent meeting of an expert working group in January 2010 
in Bishkek.  He explained that this would help lay the groundwork for a ministerial meeting of the 
seven countries of the SPECA region, donor s, and multilateral agencies in May 2010. 
40. The representative of the European Ba nk of Reconstructi on and Development  (EBRD) said 
that the EBRD's Aid-for-Trade activities were pr imarily focused on the private sector.  The EBRD 
was established to support market-based instituti ons and the private sector in the formerly 
centrally-planned economies of Central and Easter n Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent 
States (CIS).  Mongolia and Turkey were now also represented.  He explained that the Bank had three 
ways of providing assistance:  trade financing;  fi nancing investment in trade-related infrastructure; 
and support to export-oriented enterprises.  Th e EBRD also has a programme focusing on trade 
facilitation consisting of providing guarantees and actua l loans.  He explained that when the trade 
facilitation programmes were first de vised in 1999, a primary focus was to help banks in the region.  
The banks lacked sufficient credit worthiness and c ould not obtain documentary credits related to 
trade finance.  The situation was particularly acu te after the Russian cris is in 1998 when many banks 
went through turmoil.  More recently, providing cash advances to support trade had become more WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
Page 8  
 
  important, especially given the global financia l and economic crisis which has caused many 
enterprises to face sever liquidity problems in obtaining finance for trade.  In the area of support financing to trade-related infrastructure, the EBRD  had invested in more than 160 projects worth a 
total of about €5 billion.  He said that the EBRD also provided support to export-oriented enterprises.  
Business advisory support was mainly given to sma ll and medium-sized enterprises that require better 
skills to upgrade computer software or communicat ion systems or knowledge about how to market 
abroad.  For larger enterprises, there were activ ities called "turn around natio nal programmes".  These 
aimed to provide support to CEOs or management by placing experts inside the enterprises. 
41. The representative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
 (UNECA) said 
that the Regional Economic Communities were well pl aced to help developing countries draw up both 
national and regional plans and strategies to build more trade capacity.  He explained that a key 
element in this endeavour was to establish Trad e Policy Units in regional communities and to equip 
them not only with software but also with expe rienced teachers who had a knowledge of trade policy 
analysis.  An example was the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), a project funded by the 
Government of Canada.  The Centre brought together  a number of groups to exchange views.  The 
regional organizations COMESA, SADC, SACU formed part of the group as did the Walvis Bay 
Corridor Group, the Port management of Eastern- Southern African countries, the Trans Khalari 
Corridor, the Tanzania Port Authority and the Tran s Caprivi Corridor.  All of these administrations 
had similar problems but the goal was to bring them together to get a commitment from them to harmonize their respective customs procedures.   This required robust support and political 
commitment from the respective gove rnments.  He said that one way to help integrate African 
commerce could be through harmonizing electronic pr ocedures.  A recent workshop helped launch the 
Pan-African E-Commerce network where East, West, North and South African countries could share the possibility of establishing a "single window" ad ministrative post throughout the continent. 
42. In terms of monitoring Aid for Trade, he said that many African countries were still unclear 
about the outflow of Aid for Trade.  Some of th e aid had been classified as budget support, while 
some had been confused with general support for Ai d for Trade.  He said that UNECA planned to put 
forward a paper at the upcoming Lusaka meeting to address some of these issues. 
43. The representative of Peru
 said that she had wanted to express her gratitude and 
congratulations to the IaDB and the WTO for having  organized a national dialogue in Lima the month 
before.  She also thanked the Swiss Governme nt for its cooperation and support and the donor 
countries which had participated, in cluding Canada, China, the EC, Japan and the United States.  Her 
Government was satisfied with the outcome of the national dialogue.  Further efforts were underway 
to implement the Peruvian Internationalization Stra tegy which sought to make Peru an exporter of 
various types of goods and services with value-added.  This would turn the country into a diversified 
economy with high quality exports.  She said that Pe ru had made a great deal of progress with its 
trade policy but that more work needed to be don e.  Peru continued to rely on cooperation and 
assistance from donors.  While her authorities had not yet come up with an exhaustive list of all the 
country's needs, they had made significant headwa y in identifying them and in putting them in an 
order of priority.  National trade capacity developm ent programmes were a priority as was a focus on 
the environment, intellectual property rules and san itary and phytosanitary measures.  Peru had also 
been working on identifying t echnical-assistance priorities. 
44. The representative of the European Communities  said that she agreed with the points made by 
the colleagues of the AFDB and the UNECA on how important it was to involve closely the regional 
economic commissions, organizations and communities in all Aid-for-Trade activities.  This included 
the organization of national and regional reviews.  She said that these sub-regional organizations were 
well placed to monitor problems and should be closel y involved.  In the case of the EC in the ACP 
regions, she said that the regional economic commissi ons were the EC's main interlocutors in the area  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
 Page 9 
 
 
  of trade, including Aid for Trade.  In the case of Asia, she called on the ADB to expand its 
consultancy technical group and involve more cl osely sub-regional organizations and actors. 
45. The representative of Ecuador  said that he welcomed the work carried out by the OECD and 
by the WTO Secretariat.  He was concerned, howev er, with the Aid-for-Trade flows to Latin America 
which appeared to be falling behind other region s, e.g., Asia and Africa.  He cited the WTO 
Director-General's report to the Trade Policy Review Body of 26 March 2009 in which it was stated 
that 25 per cent of Aid for Trade went to Asia and that 37 per cent went to Africa.  In the report, the Director-General said that since the end of 2008, developing countries had begun to feel the full impact of the worldwide economic and financial cris is.  And, according to the President of the World 
Bank, this would result in a 2.1 per cent drop in economic development and cause real economic 
shrinkage in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Obviously, the crisis was now beginning to cause 
very serious balance-of-payments problems for count ries such as Ecuador.  He said that this would 
inevitably have consequences on his country's attemp ts to alleviate and reduce poverty.  It was also 
going to lead to an increase in unemployment.  He  thought that donor commitments would be affected 
when it came to Aid for Trade.  As a developing co untry with medium and low levels of income, he 
appealed to donors to take into account the scaled back support which Latin America appeared to be 
receiving for Aid for Trade.  He welcomed the work being done by the IaDB and urged that the 
forthcoming Global Review include discussions on how a better balan ce could be achieved to increase 
Aid-for-Trade flows to his region. 
46. The representative of Guinea
 thanked the OECD and WTO Secretariats and the 
representatives of the various regional banks.  He al so thanked the AfDB for its work in Southern 
Africa and for its efforts to develop corridor links be tween various countries.  He said that it would be 
good if there were more collaboration and cooperation between regional banks to enable them to share 
experiences and develop synergies. 
47. The representative of Swaziland  wished to commend the different international and regional 
partner organizations present for their efforts at gi ving effect to the Aid-for-T rade mandate.  However, 
in spite of these coordinated efforts to operationa lize Aid-for-Trade commitments, she said that the 
latest OECD data showed that the share of Aid fo r Trade received by landlocked developing countries 
was still significantly lower than that received by other countries.  Even more unsettling for her 
delegation was that, of all the African LLDCs, Sw aziland had benefited the least from Aid for Trade 
targeted at funding economic infrastructure.  It  had also not benefited appreciably from regional 
integration and other trade facilitation initiatives,  areas of crucial importance to enhance the 
competitiveness of small, vulnerable economies that ha d the added encumbrance of being landlocked.  
She understood that Aid for Trade was demand driven and that it must be owned by individual countries and regions.  She called on the WTO and ot her partner organizations, including the AfDB, 
to assist Swaziland to hold a dedicated national Aid -for-Trade event to identify needs and priorities 
and to develop an effective Aid-for-Trade strategy th at would mainstream trade as an integral part of 
Swaziland's National Development a nd Poverty Reduction Strategies. 
48. The representative of Kenya
 asked about the presentation made by the African Regional 
Development Bank.  He said that the AfDB had discussed the role of the private sector in the 
forthcoming Second Global Review in Geneva.  He referred to studies in which the private sector had 
outlined activities it could eventually help s upport and he wondered whether the AfDB had 
undertaken steps to move ahead with these activities. 
49. The representative of Argentina  said that he supported statemen ts made by others that the 
regional economic commissions be more involved in  Aid for Trade.  He hoped that the regional 
economic commissions as well as the sub-regional m echanisms could be taken into account when it 
came to working on regional projects.  He also s upported the statements made by Ecuador and asked WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
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  whether there were any meetings where the th ree regional banks could exchange views on the 
Aid-for-Trade initiative. 
50. The representative of Pakistan
 sought clarification from the ADB whether organizations like 
UNIDO and FAO were involved in Aid-for-Trade activ ities.  She said that their involvement could be 
key because of their specific trade-related activiti es, like SPS-related infrastructure and enhancing 
competitiveness.  The involvement of these technica l organizations at the regional level would be 
helpful. 
51. The representative of the International Trade Centre  (ITC) commended the WTO for 
convening the meeting on Aid for Trade.  He explaine d that the ITC was very much an Aid- for-Trade 
organization and was involved in three regional me etings taking place in the Caribbean, Asia and 
Africa.  He said that the ITC was working hard to bring the voice of the private sector into the debate. 
52. The representative of Jamaica  wished to thank the IaDB for its assistance and support with the 
various national and regional review s held in the Latin American a nd Caribbean region.  The IaDB 
was once again helping to organize a 2nd Regional Review for Latin America and the Caribbean in 
early May in Jamaica.  Arrangements were advanci ng to ensure that the objectives of this meeting 
would be achieved. 
53. The representative of Nepal  said that he noted in one of the presentations that the share of 
LDC exports in world trade was 2.2 per cent and had rema ined at that level for the last 27 years.  He 
wanted to know if there was any attempt being made  or any special programmes being put in place to 
help LDCs export more. 
54. The representative of UNIDO  said that the Aid-for-Trade in itiative had become an integral 
part of his organization's trade-related technical assistance.  The meeting of the LDC Ministerial 
Conference in Siem Reap in Cambodia in 2008 did a lot to strengthen UNIDO's relationship with the 
WTO and with the Aid-for-Trade initiative, a nd specifically with the Standards and Trade 
Development Facility (STDF).  These meetings re inforced the focus on the need to strengthen 
productive capacity.  As concerned the Trade Co mpliance Report for trade capacity building and 
technical assistance, he said that  interest in the report had been  growing.  UNIDO had sought to 
regularly review the impact of technical assistance a nd in particular trade capacity building.  This 
Trade Compliance Report was to lead to recommend ations in terms of identifying areas where more 
technical assistance was needed and which type of technical assistance was needed. 
55. In regard to the Trade Capacity Building Res ource Guide, he said that the 2008 edition of the 
Guide would be updated and would include the activ ities of the regional development banks active on 
Aid for Trade and not just the UN agencies.  He sai d that the Guide would al so include the recently 
created cluster led by UNCTAD on Trade Productive Ca pacity and references to the OECD Creditor 
Reporting System. 
D. SECOND GLOBAL REVIEW  OF AID FOR TRADE – UPDATE ON PREPARATIONS  
56. The Chairman  recalled that at the last Aid-for-Trade Session in February 2009, the 
Director-General had provided information regard ing the four main themes of the Second Global 
Review.  Since then a draft programme for the Re view had been posted on the WTO's Aid-for-Trade 
webpage.  He asked the WTO Secretariat to provide  Members with an update regarding preparations 
for the Review.  
57. The Secretariat  explained that the draft agenda for the two-day event was organized around 
specific, high-level sessions beginning with  a session on Aid-for-Trade flows and on how 
commitments were being implemented on the ground.  There would also be a focus on the outlook for  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
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  Aid for Trade in the years ahead, esp ecially in the context of the current economic crisis.  Plans called 
for a specific session on the importance of trade fina nce, especially for weaker countries, and on 
mainstreaming trade into national development st rategies.  The second main focus of the Global 
Review will be on implementation of Aid for Trade to see how things were actually working on the 
ground.  There would be three breakout sessions wh ich would be organized and moderated by the 
regional development banks.  These three specif ic infrastructure-related projects were:  the 
North-South Corridor project in Southern Africa;  the Greater Mekong Project in Asia and the Central American Transport Corridor.  It would be through these case studies and examples that the regional 
development banks would be able to show how Ai d for Trade was actually delivering on the ground.  
Finally, there would also be specific breakout sessions for both civil society and the private sector.  
The WTO Secretariat explained that Members would receive a general airgram from the WTO's 
Director-General convening the Global Review and th at it would be up to governments to decide what 
level of representation they should send to attend the meeting.  He explained that, separately, the 
Secretariat would be getting in touch with key dono rs and partner countries, especially the heads of 
the regional development banks, the main international economic orga nizations, the private sector and 
NGOs. 
58. The representative of the European Communities
 said that the agenda appeared to be very 
ambitious.  Delegates would need time for inform al discussions and some networking, especially 
during the mid-day break and she thought that there could be a risk that some of the outreach sessions 
would be poorly attended.  Based on the experience of  the first Review, she said it would be important 
to allow for more interactive discussion and dialogue a nd to give time limits to the general statements.  
It would also be useful to clarify which times in the programme would be reserved for statements by 
Members, so as not to interrupt the intended thematic discussions of the sessions.  She thought it would be helpful if the session on mainstreaming tr ade could be moved up in view of its importance, 
preferably to the first day.  This would provide stronger political support for mainstreaming.  She added that the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF ) should also be a focus for the Global Review.  
The idea would be that after focusing on Aid-for-Trade  flows, the spotlight would turn on how trade 
issues are part of country strategies.  Also, a discussion on incentives for mainstreaming could be 
envisaged.  She said that it was important to ensure th e participation of the private sector.  If retained 
as a separate session, there should be sufficient time for a proper session, not merely a lunch discussion, and this should feature early on in the programme.  Contrary to what the questions raised in the annotated agenda seem to suggest, the role of the private sector in Aid for Trade should be seen 
as a partner of the government in carrying out rela ted activities and as being well-placed to know what 
is needed to make trade work. 
59. She said that the session on trade finance was timely and interesting and that the objective of 
this session could be further clarified.  For example,  reports could be made on recent actions taken to 
facilitate trade finance or partner countries could express their specific views and explain where they 
were most vulnerable.  This session could also closely involve the private sector as the main provider 
of trade finance. 
60. She thought that the two sessions on regional integration and regiona l implementation could 
perhaps be merged and that the sessions on regiona l issues should discuss and review the needs of the 
regions.  They should not be limited to reporting and discussing the outcome of the regional reviews.  
She expressed some doubts about giving the regiona l development banks excessive prominence in the 
Global Review and suggested that perhaps the Re gional Economic Communities, and at least the ones 
in Africa, should be given more of a role.  She t hought that other regional actors could also be given 
the opportunity to actively participate.  As concerned the session on assessing impact and 
effectiveness, she said that  this could be an opportunity to discuss targets and the scope of indicators 
more intensively with developing countries, in an ticipation of future amendments of indicators and 
reviews.  It would be useful if it could lead to some better and shared understanding of what the main 
aim was of these indicators.  Finally, she said that the poverty dimension of the Global Review should WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
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  be strengthened.  The poverty impact of Aid fo r Trade should be addressed in both the sessions on 
mainstreaming and in the session on impact and effe ctiveness.  She said that the UK was prepared to 
support the inputs, including providing consultants, drawing from its joint programme of work with 
Sweden in support of the EU's Aid-for-Trade strategy. 
61. The representative of Japan
 said that he appreciated the Di rector-General's intention to 
include a focus on the Greater Mekong Sub-region.  He said that generally, the Global Review should 
take stock of the current situations on the grou nd and examine the many successful projects.  These 
projects should be studied to further better cooperation in the future.  He thought that the WTO's preparations were good overall and he appreciated the Secretariat's effort to coordinate all the 
different views of the different stakeholders.  He thanked the representative of the ADB for his 
presentation and appreciated the ADB's commitment to Aid for Trade and the establishment of the 
RTG, co-chaired by his colleague in Manila.  He expressed concern about the preparation of the Asian 
Regional Review meeting given the time constr aints and said that the discussion should be both 
interactive and substantive taking into account examples of the other regional group meetings. 
62. The representative of Norway
 thanked the Secretariat for its work and for the preparations of 
the Global Review.  She wanted to emphasize th e importance of allowing interactive discussions 
rather than having one-way communications during the Review.  She suggested limiting the general 
statements to the opening sessions.  For her, each country had the primary responsibility for its own 
economic development in trade.  It was crucial th at developing countries themselves took the lead.  
She thought that this should be reflected in the ag enda for the Global Review.  Also, the focus should 
be on the developing country's own experiences, needs and priorities in connection with the 
development and implementation of its  national trade policy.  This too should be reflected as early as 
possible in the programme.  She said that regional in tegration and trade were central to Aid for Trade 
and that regional institutions were well-placed to  strengthen trade and economic cooperation.  She 
agreed with others that the private sector was a central participant concerning trade promotion and 
should be included more actively in the overall progra mme and not just in the lunchtime side session.  
She also supported the EC on the need to keep an  emphasis on poverty reduction in Aid for Trade.  
Furthermore, it was necessary to fo cus on the situation of women, even though limited work had been 
done so far on the gender component of Aid for Trad e.  She thought the economic crisis would have a 
strong impact on women working in the areas of te xtiles and agriculture where it could be more 
difficult to get micro-credit loans.  Work on equa l economic rights was the key to combat women's 
subordinate positions in these sector s.  This should be reflected in the Global Review.  Finally she 
said that measuring efficiency was an integral part  of the Review and it was of great importance that 
results at the country level could be measured.   A continuing dialogue with developing countries 
regarding the development of good indicators was important. 
63. The representative of the United States  thanked the Secretariat for putting together a solid 
agenda and said that most of its comments had been  captured by EC and Norway.  She did, however, 
recommend that this global review be more interactive than the last one and have  a greater role for the 
private sector.  She too thought that the sessions on re gional integration could be combined and that 
the discussion on mainstreaming should take place during the first day. 
64. The Chairman  said that concluded the presentations and that, once again, the meeting had 
been informative.  He thanked all the speakers for having taken the time to come and present the 
progress their respective institutions were making with regard to the implementation of the 2009 
Aid-for-Trade Roadmap.  He said that it was also ve ry useful to have an update with regard to the 
preparations of the Second Global Review.  He sa id the next CTD Aid for Trade meeting would be 
held towards the middle of May and that the purpose of that meeting would be to brief Members on 
where things stood with regard to the Second Global Review.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/10 
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  E. OTHER BUSINESS  
65. There were no items raised under "Other Business". 
66. The meeting was adjourned . 
 
 
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