WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/W/168 
30 April 2009 
 (09-2108) 
Committee on Trade and Development  
  
 
ANNUAL REPORT ON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING 
(1 JANUARY TO 31 DECEMBER 2008) 
 
  
I.
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................2  
II. A BROAD OVERVIEW OF TH E ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN.....................................4  
III. E-LEARNING..................................................................................................................... ......8  
IV. GLOBAL TRAINING COURSES (RTPCS, TPCS, ACADEMIC 
COOPERATION AND ICTNS) ............................................................................................11  
V. REGIONAL APPROACHES TO TRTA AND PARTNERSHIPS....................................18  
VI. TRAINEE PROGRAMMES AND INTERNSHIPS............................................................26  
VII. FINANCIAL SITUATION ....................................................................................................34  
ANNEX  1 .............................................................................................................................. ................36  
ANNEX  2 .............................................................................................................................. ................39  
ANNEX 3 ........................................................................................................................ ......................40  
 
  WT/COMTD/W/168 
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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
1. The main purpose of the Secretariat's trade cap acity building programmes, as contained in the 
Biennial Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2008-2009 (WT/COMTD/W/160), has been to provide direct support to beneficiaries enhancing th eir human and institutional capacities to deal with 
the challenges emerging from the multilateral trading system.  
2. The WTO's Trade Related Technical Assistance  (TRTA) is the delivery component of the 
WTO's contribution in the Aid-for-Trade work progra mme. It is therefore part of the broad spectrum 
of ongoing multilateral efforts to enhance the deliver y of aid for trade and substantially improve its 
impact on beneficiaries. 
3. During the period reported, institutionally, the Secretariat's Institute for Training and 
Technical  Cooperation (ITTC)  underwent a substan tial realignment aimed at  enhancing its capacity 
to design and deliver an effective program of capaci ty building. This realignment has reinforced the 
capacity of ITTC to interact with beneficiaries in  all regions, and enhanced the coordination with a 
broad spectrum of regional and multilateral partners. It  has also enhanced  internal coordination of 
TRTA programmes at all levels within the Secretariat. 
4. The year 2008 was characterized by a numbe r of changes in approaches, which were 
essentially the result of the evaluations that had been  conducted in recent years, both internally as well 
as through an independent external evaluation, wh ich had led to recommendations and follow up 
actions. A new vision was developed, taking into  account discussions with and views expressed by 
members at various Committee on Trade and Developm ent (CTD) meetings, with a view of achieving 
cumulative and sustainable capacity building and enhancing the efficiency and impact of the 
Secretariat's TRTA.  
5. As part of its ongoing work to enhance the c ontent and quality of its technical assistance 
program during this reporting period, the WTO Secr etariat implemented a number of initiatives both 
from an institutional perspective and on the cont ent and delivery of the assistance offered.   
6. Firstly, a  major effort was deployed to reposition eTraining within the means of delivery of 
TRTA which permeates all other products. Throug h eTearning the Secretariat has been able to 
incorporate the concept of progressive learning ensu ring that participation in advanced WTO courses 
is premised on a full understanding of basic WTO concepts and principles. A number of new products 
have been developed and work is underway to develop a second generation of eTraining products.  
The number of organized eTraining activities in 2008 increased by 28 per cent compared to the 
previous year. These courses which covered six trade topics are being continuously updated to include 
information on developments in ongoing negotiations as well as i nputs provided by participants. A 
new eTraining module on accessions was devel oped and made available in 2008 and two new 
modules on trade facilitation and the WTO library have  recently been finalised and will be available 
in 2009. 
7. A second salient element is the strengthening of  the regional dimension of TRTA. During this 
reporting period, the Secretariat has continued to seek  out strategies for enhancing its cooperation and 
relationships with regional institutio ns and partners. This is being undertaken through a number of 
activities including the Regional Trade Policy Cour ses (RTPCs) that are organised and conducted 
with the participation of regiona l and national academic institutions and experts. A key objective of 
this programme is to ensure that in designing TRTA activities, particular national and regional 
dynamics are incorporated to ensure relevance and consistency with emerging priorities. The role of 
regional economic communities and economic commissions and other relevant regi onal institutions in 
the delivery of TRTA will remain a central elemen t of the WTO TRTA programme. Overall, in terms 
of the focus of WTO TRTA activities in 2008, the share of regional activities versus national activities 
continued to rise, reflecting the growing impor tance of addressing capacity issues from a regional  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 3 
 
 
perspective. This regional approach to addressing capacity constraints is consistent with overall 
approach on aid for trade strategies. 
8. Thirdly, the Secretariat expanded its outreach programmes, including its work with 
parliamentarians, private sector, academics and Univ ersities.  In 2008, the Secretariat convened a 
WTO Chairs' Programme (WCP) preparatory meeting which sought advice and insights from a 
representative community of scholars with experien ce in academic outreach activities, in order to 
optimize the design of the WCP, before launching th e programme in 2009.  Also, during this period 
the TRTA reinforced its activities with parliament arians and media, following the recommendations  
made by CTD Members at the consideration of the 2007 TRTA Report. 
9. Fourthly, within the Secretariat and more specifi cally in ITTC, the role of the regional desks 
was further strengthened with a view of re-enforcing the Secretariat's interaction with beneficiaries in 
all the regions and the regional part ners and enhancing the coordinating role of the WTO in the field 
of trade capacity building. Emphasis is put on enhanc ing coordination of TRTA at all levels, i.e. in-
house, with agencies, donors and beneficiaries, as well as ensuring coherence between the products, 
with a view of creating synergies and gradually movi ng to higher levels of learning, thus re-enforcing 
the impact of the TRTA provided. 
10. In 2009, the WTO will host the Second Global Ai d for Trade Review which will provide a 
timely opportunity for a continued dialogue among Members on innovative ways to optimise the financing of TRTA, particularly within the c ontext of the current global and economic crisis. 
11. One of the main challenges in executing the Plan continued to be its financing, and more 
specifically, to ensure timely and adequate levels  of funding.  While overall sufficient funding was 
received in the course of the year to secure the implementation of the Plan, regrettably, the timely 
entries could not always be anticipated, thus ma king the planning and implementation of activities a 
challenge. WT/COMTD/W/168 
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II. A BROAD OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN 
12. This Report provides a brief qualitative and qua ntitative overview of the TA and training 
activities undertaken in the year 2008, as contained in the biennial TA Plan 2008-2009 (WT/COMTD/W/160).  The Report will cover eLearning, global training courses (RTPCs, TPCs, Academic programmes), followed by the re gional activities (seminars, workshops). 
13. It should be noted that, early summer 2008, the Institute for Training and Technical 
Cooperation (ITTC) has undergone a restructuring, in  order to better respond to the needs of the 
beneficiaries. Trade capacity-building is a core func tion of the Secretariat, and in order to meet the 
broad range of challenges in the field, ITTC has been repositioned to strengthen the delivery of the 
Secretariat's TRTA. The Director-General appointed  two Heads of Section, one responsible of the 
coordination of TRTA, the other one responsible fo r training and capacity-building. The role of the 
regional desks was further strengthened with a view of re-enforcing the Secretariat's interaction with 
beneficiaries in all the regions and the regional pa rtners and enhancing the coordinating role of the 
WTO in the field of trade capacity-building. Empha sis is put on enhancing co ordination of TRTA at 
all levels, i.e. in-house, with agencies, donors a nd beneficiaries, as well as enhancing coherence 
between the products, with a view of creating syne rgies and gradually moving to higher levels of 
learning, thus enhancing the impact of the TRTA provided.  
14. In designing the Secretariat's TRTA activities,  the main objective was to build long-lasting 
human and institutional capacity and to enhance owners hip.  The products have, as much as possible, 
been tailored to the needs of the be neficiaries.  Countries have been invited in writing, to submit to the 
Secretariat directly, their requests for national TA at  any time during the year, when the need arises.  
This flexibility has been found to be indispensable to  allow for the delivery of TA that is focused and 
timely, related to identified needs.  Also, as a rule  of thumb, developing countries were entitled to two 
national activities, LDCs to three.  As in the past, th is is in line with the scarce human resources in the 
Secretariat, and the experience that there is a natu ral limit to the number of TRTA activities that can 
be undertaken in any given year, but also because of the limited absorption capacity in beneficiary 
countries.  
15. The Secretariat has used all opportunities to  explain the features of the TA Plan and 
beneficiaries' entitlements, and to draw their attention to how TA can be requested.  Short 
presentations on TRTA have been made at each of the Committee on Trade and Development's (CTD) meetings, explaining to Members the stat e-of-play in the implementation and providing 
specific information on the products. The regional d esks of the ITTC continued to interact with 
beneficiaries, to ensure that the proposed TRTA would meet the countries' requirements.  In close 
coordination with the line divisions in the Secretaria t and the beneficiary, they ensured that the right 
terms and conditions for successful TRTA were set.  Those countries that were not using their rights 
were contacted, to explore whether they would have any particular need for assistance.  TRTA also 
featured prominently on the agenda of the Gene va Week, in order to alert non-residents to the 
possibilities of benefiting from WTO programmes.  In order to monitor the quality of the products and 
to ensure that the needs of the beneficiaries are b est catered for, the activ ities are assessed through the 
Back-to-Office Reports (BTORs), which are system atically analyzed by the Technical Cooperation 
Audit Unit (TCAU), leading to follow-up recommendations. 
16. In 2008, to achieve the goal of sustainable capac ity building and in line with expectations, a 
total of 496 activities were implemented includi ng Geneva-based activities as well as those held 
abroad.  This number comprises activities of signifi cantly different durations , varying between one 
day to 12 weeks, and involving as little as one staf f member, or as many as over two dozens for the 
longer courses, as well as the internships, doctora l studies and research collaboration programmes. In 
addition, it is noted that the number of participants  varies from one activity to another.  A majority of 
these activities were organized in partnership with other international orga nizations.  Particular 
emphasis has been put on assistance provided to Africa, and more specifically to least-developed  WT/COMTD/W/168 
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countries (LDCs), whose integration into the multilate ral trading system (MTS) remains a priority for 
the WTO.  The Report provides detailed informati on about the activities undertaken in 2008, the 
specific means of delivery and the beneficiaries. 
17. As to the objective of maintaining a regional balance in the distribution of the TA activities, 
(cf Table 1 and Graph 1), the majority of activiti es were held in Africa (163), representing 33 per cent 
of WTO's TRTA, followed by Asia and Pacific (98), representing 20 per cent of all activities.  A total 
of 62 activities were organized for Latin America ( 13 per cent), 23 for the Central and Eastern Europe 
Central Asia and the Caucasus (CEECAC) (five per cent), 24 for the Arab and Middle-East countries 
(five per cent), and 22 for the Caribbean (four per cent).  While the LDCs are not listed separately, it 
should be noted that out of all activities, LDCs have  been associated with 42 per cent of all TRTA.  
This includes national activities held in LDCs (102) as well as regional seminars, workshops and 
training activities in which LDCs participated.  
18. In terms of national versus regional activities, it can be observed that a total of 234 activities 
were held at the national level and 148 activities were regional and global events.  Thus, while the 
total number of regional seminars has remained relatively stable, the number of national activities has 
once again increased.  This is consistent with the notion that more targeted TRTA is required at the 
national level.  In addition, some 114 activities consisted of WTO's part icipation in activities 
organized by other agencies and to which the Secret ariat was asked to make a contribution, as well as 
WTO's representation in trade-related conference s, symposia and high-level meetings.  As is 
discussed further in the report, these activities are mostly undertaken as part of the partnership 
arrangements with other agencies that the WTO coopera tes with, and are directly relevant in terms of 
TRTA and capacity-building.  
19. The total number of regional and global activities undertaken includes WTO's regional 
workshops and seminars, preparatory workshops fo r the RTPCs, the eTraining modules, as well as 
regional events that were proposed under partnershi p arrangements with other agencies and bodies, at 
which each institution provided a specific input, such as Short Trade Policy Courses (STOCs) with 
the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Latin Amer ican Integration Association (ALADI) and the 
International Development Law Or ganization (IDLO), for example. 
20. With the exception of the three-month TPCs held either in Geneva or in the regions (RTPCs), 
the logistical and administrative arrangements, as well as the human resource inputs and the cost 
relating to regional seminars are most demanding.  Preparation time requires up to nine weeks, 
depending on whether the activity is organized sole ly by the WTO, or whether it is part of a 
partnership arrangement with another agency.  Thr ough the implementation of the partnerships, this 
burden is lessened somewhat, particularly when other agencies are taking charge, in part or in full, of 
the logistical and administrative arrangements of the regional activities. 
21. As to the subjects covered the majority of ac tivities held at the national level, specifically 
addressed WTO Agreements.  With regard to topi c-related seminars, besides the more general 
seminars aimed at building capacity, services and as sistance provided in support of the Trade Policy 
Reviews (TPRs) were in strong demand, followed by trade in services, rules, non-agricultural market 
access (NAMA), trade-related intellectual prope rty rights (TRIPS), sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures (SPS), dispute settleme nt (DS), and notifications. 
22. In line with the Doha Declaration, priority atte ntion continued to be given to LDCs.  Not only 
is this confirmed with the absolute and relative numbers, i.e. the frequency with which LDCs have 
been associated with TRTA, but this is also expressed through th e products, several of which are 
specifically and/or largely geared towards LDCs.  In this regard, mention can be made of the 
Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), the th ree-week Introduction Courses for LDCs, Geneva 
Weeks, the Reference Centres Programme, the Netherlands Trainee Programme (NTP), Mission Intern Programme (MIP) Regional Coordinato r Programme, support provided in the needs WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 6  
 
assessments and TPRs.  Also, it is recalled that LD Cs are entitled to three national activities and that 
they receive priority attention in the accession pr ocess.  More generally, and whenever possible, 
priority was given to LDCs in the selecti on process for Geneva-based training courses. 
  
Table 1 
Trade-Related Technical Assistance by reg ion in 2008 (1 January to 31 December) 
 
TRTA BY REGION National Regional Global(1) Other 
(conferences, 
meetings, etc.) Total 
Africa 111 47% 27 31% 0 0% 25 22% 163 33%
Arab and Middle East 11 5% 7 8% 0 0% 6 5% 24 5%
Asia and the Pacific 60 26% 15 17% 0 0% 23 20% 98 20%
Central and Eastern Europe, 
Central Asia and the Caucasus 
(CEECACs) 14 6% 7 8% 0 0% 2 2% 23 5%
Caribbean 12 5% 10 12% 0 0% 0 0% 22 4%
Latin America 26 11% 20 23% 0 0% 16 14% 62 13%
Sub-Total 234 100% 86 100% 0 0% 72 63% 392 79%
Global 0 0% 0 0% 62 100% 42 37% 104 21%
Total 234 100% 86 100% 62 100% 114 100% 496 100%
(1)  Activities under the TRTA Global region include those that are not ta rgeted at a specific region, such as the Geneva-based cour ses and 
topic-specific workshops and symposia, distan ce learning, internship programmes and the advisory role on legal issues – dispute  settlement 
understanding (DSU) - Article 27.2. 
  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 7 
 
 
Graph 1 
TRTA by region in 2008 
 
Global (1)
 21%Africa
 33%
Arab and Middle East 
countries (MENA)
 5%Latin America
13%
Central and Eastern 
Europe, Central Asia 
and the Caucasus
5%Caribbean
4%
Asia and the Pacific
20%
 
 
(1)  Activities under the TRTA Global region include those that are not ta rgeted at a specific region, such as the Geneva-based cour ses and 
topic-specific workshops and symposia, distan ce learning, internship programmes and the advisory role on legal issues – dispute  settlement 
understanding (DSU) - Article 27.2 . WT/COMTD/W/168 
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III. E-LEARNING 
(a) Delivery 
23. The WTO e-learning programme takes full adva ntage of information technology and the 
Internet as a complement - as well as an altern ative to - more traditional training programmes.  In 
addition to establishing networks of useful contacts between course participants and their WTO tutors, 
eTraining aims to give participants a homoge neous and strengthened unde rstanding of the MTS; 
enhanced knowledge of the basic principles of the WTO and the legal structure of the WTO 
Agreements; and improved capability to interpret relevant information and documents on WTO-
related issues, as well as to use the WTO le gal texts and legal background material.  
24. In 2008, the number of government officials from developing Members and Observers that 
enrolled and successfully completed an eTraining c ourse continued to rise in a significant manner.  
Over 3000 participants (cf Graph 2), a 56 per cent in crease in comparison to 2007, were selected to 
participate in an online course in 2008 and two thirds  of them completed successfully a course, e.g. a 
success rate of 67 per cent.   Latin America is the re gion with the largest number of participants in the 
courses (cf Graph 3), followed by Asia and the P acific, Caribbean, CEECACs and a relatively low 
share of African participants.  This can be explai ned by the difficulties in Internet connections they 
may have.  
Graph 2 
Number of Selected Participants in WTO Online Courses, 2004-2008 
0500100015002000250030003500
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
 
 
25. Participants had online access to the training ma terial (modules, tests, case studies, support 
documents, library) as well as to the Website intera ctive functions (discussion forum, internal email 
system, chat allowing live interaction with other pa rticipants and invited WTO experts).  They also 
had access to "The Enquiry Board", where they descr ibed problems they were facing, posted specific 
questions on a WTO issue and received answers from the appropriate WTO experts.   
26. Each participant received support from a WTO tuto r and a course administrator.  The tutor – 
an expert from a WTO Division, depending upon the course topic – was available to answer 
participants' questions or clarification requests on the course substance and participate in the 
discussion forum.  The course administrator monitored participants' study pace, sustained participants' 
motivation throughout the course, answered questi ons and clarification requests dealing with the 
course organization, facilitated exchanges among par ticipants, moderated discussions in the forum or  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 9 
 
 
the chat and managed the Enquiry Board. An eTrain ing online Helpdesk was available to deal with 
participants' technical problems and answer clarification requests on the website functions. 
27. The number of organized eTraining courses in 2008 increased by 28 per cent if compared to 
2007:  a total of 23 interactive courses on the WT O and selected multilateral trade agreements were 
organized and delivered using the WTO eTra ining platform (https://etraining.wto.org ).  Fourteen of 
these courses were in English, five in French and four in Spanish.  These courses covered six topics 
(introduction, agriculture, SPS, technical barriers to trade (TBT), TRIPS and trade remedies) and were 
clustered in six different sessions. Each session lasted from six to eight weeks and was delivered in one of three WTO official languages (four sessions in English, one in French and one in Spanish).   
28. The sustained course increase was due not only to a greater annual rotation of available 
training material, but also to the development of  new courses, such as the course on TRIPS and the 
diversification of the topics addressed.  The de velopment of three new courses (eWTO, NAMA and 
trade in services) commenced and was well advanced in 2008.  Furthermore, the introduction course 
was revised to include updated information as we ll as comments and suggestions received by Website 
users. 
29. In addition, two self-training modules - on accessi ons and DocsOnline - were developed and 
made available on the eTraining platform.  Another two self-training modules -- on trade facilitation and on the WTO Library -- were also finalized in  2008 and will shortly be made available on the 
eTraining Website. 
30. The eTraining programme already incorporates th e idea of progressive learning.  Candidates 
are required to complete the online introduction cour se (basic level) before they can be selected to 
participate in an online specialized course (advanc ed level).  eTraining is increasingly being used 
prior to holding regional TA activities to provide pa rticipants with basic concepts and knowledge so 
that higher levels of learning and more productiv e exchanges can take place in the face-to-face 
activity.  Only successful participants  in the online prerequisite course are eligible to attend the face-
to-face TA activity. The following TA activities used  eTraining courses in 2008 as a pre-requisite: (i) 
regional workshops on rules (an ti-dumping, safeguards, subsidies and countervailing measures); (ii) 
regional workshops on TRIPS; and (iii) regional wo rkshops on TBT.  Progressive integration of 
eTraining in the selection process of participants in a wider range of training and TA activities and 
subjects is underway.  
31. To date, the rate of participation by govern ment officials from LDCs in eTraining has 
remained relatively low.  This is at least partially  due to the difficulties experienced in these countries 
for government officials to have secure and prolon ged computer and Internet access.  Consideration is 
being given to how most effectively to increase LDC participation in eTraining, including the 
possibility of coordinating through WTO reference ce ntres positioned in certain Member countries.  It 
should further be recalled that Geneva-based (T hree-week) Introduction Courses for LDCs remain 
available as an option for basic level training for government officials from LDCs.   
32. Participation in eTraining courses can be rewardi ng, but can also be an intensive, challenging 
and time-consuming activity for government officials.   Accordingly, supervisors are encouraged to 
bear in mind a staff member's participation in eTraining courses when planning their other work 
commitments in their national administrations.  WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 10  
 
 
Graph 3 
Participation in eTraining Courses, by Region 
Based on the number of participants having successfully completed the courses  
from January to December 2008 
 
Central and Eastern 
Europe, Central Asia 
and the Caucasus
14%Latin America
27%
Caribbean
16% Asia and the Pacific
21%MENA
6%Africa
16%
  WT/COMTD/W/168 
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IV. GLOBAL TRAINING COURSES (RTPCS, TPCS, ACADEMIC COOPERATION 
AND ICTNS)  
(a) Regional Trade Policy Courses (RTPCs) 
33. The approaches to the conduct of the RTPCs ha s evolved further during the year 2008, which 
will be explained following a brief factual d escription about the courses that were held. 
34. Three RTPCs were organized in 2008, one in pa rtnership with the University of the West 
Indies in Jamaica (UWI) for the Caribbean region ( 28 January to 19 April); one in partnership with 
the National University of Singapore (NUS) for  the Asia-Pacific region (3 Ma rch to 23 May) and one 
in partnership with l'Université d'Abomey-Calav i (UAC) for French-speaking Africa (22 September 
to 12 December). 
35. Each of the three RTPCs were carried out in  the usual manner, with the course being co-
delivered by WTO officials and regional academics.  While the relationships with the UWI and the 
NUS have been established since 2004 and 2006 r espectively, 2008 was the first year of the 
partnership between the WTO and  l'Université d'A bomey-Calavi.  This partnership also marked the 
first one with a university in a LDC for the delivery of a RTPC. The partnership got off to a good start 
in 2008 aided by the work and commitment of th e UAC. In the summer of 2008, the University 
established a preparatory committee composed of representatives from UAC, as well as from the 
Ministries of Trade and Industry, Higher Educati on and Scientific Research, Foreign Affairs and 
Finance.  This committee met on a regular basis a nd oversaw that everything needed for the RTPC 
was provided on time. 
36. The training facilities at the Centre d’éducati on à distance (CED) were very good.  They 
consisted of a spacious, modern, fully-equipped lectur e room and computer room with offices for the 
local staff. Participants and lecturers were accomm odated in a hotel located in the center of town.The 
Academic Coordinator, played a key role in making the RTPC a success. 
37. In general, each of the three RTPCs focussed on consolidating the existing RTPC programme.  
Lessons were learned about the need to harmonize the questions for the theme sessions across all the 
RTPCs to ensure that equitable depth of knowledge  was being asked from the participants.  Lessons 
were also learned about the need to refine the fina l revision session to better define its structure and to 
have more balance among its components.   
38. The Communication Skills Workshop continued to be a success in the RTPCs, with the main 
developments in 2008 being the greater involvement of regional specialists in the delivery of this 
component.  In Singapore, the NUS' Centre for Development and Teaching of Learning once again 
devised and delivered this workshop, as well as provi ding follow-up coaching to the participants.  For 
the first time in Jamaica, after the presenta tion of the Communications Skills Workshop by 
consultants from Geneva, local specialists, compri sing a tutor/coordinator from the Radio Unit, UWI 
Mona Campus and an associate lecturer, lingu istics, UWI provided follow-up coaching to the 
participants, preparing them for their group presentati ons and written exercises.  In the RTPC held in 
Benin, a regional academic, who has been part of th e regional network for the RTPC for a number of 
years conducted the workshop to great appreciation by the participants. This move towards more local 
ownership of RTPC modules is a welcome development. 
39. How did the RTPCs evolve in 2008? The major change in RTPCs in 2008 was a change in 
approach to training and a subsequent contextualiz ing of the RTPC. The ITTC introduced the concept 
of progressive learning, with each training activit y being part of an increasingly more advanced 
training path. Resulting from this approach, R TPCs will be regarded as the second step of a 
coordinated and sequential three-step approach to tr aining. An eTraining introductory course will be 
the first step in this approach, followed (for successful participants) by participation in RTPCs.  The WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 12  
 
third step, for successful participants to the RTPC s will be advanced courses to take place at the 
WTO.  This approach will be developed mo re fully in the next biennial TA Plan. 
40. These efforts are in line with ITTC's philosophy of strengthening the team efforts between 
ITTC units to obtain a positive multiplying effect in  the delivery of its products; acting in synergy 
with other institutions – in this case tapping more  into regional resources;  and enhancing its co-
operation with academic institutions.   
41. As a consequence of the progressive learning approach, a pre-requisite eTraining course 
"Introduction to the WTO" was introduced in 2008 fo r participants in RTPCs in 2009, starting with 
the RTPC in Colombia.  The invitation process occurre d in the latter part of 2008 and candidates were 
informed of the pre-requisite in the invitation to the RTPC. The Missions concerned were very 
supportive in making the capitals aware of the new de velopment. This first attempt was a success with 
all participants confirmed to the Colombia RTPC  having completed an eTraining Introduction to the 
WTO course. The support and contribution of th e WTO e-Training Unit was very valuable in 
achieving this success. 
42. The selection processes for new RTPC partners in  French-speaking Africa and Latin America 
were finalized in 2008. Both processes were intens ive as a result of the level of interest from 
universities in both regions.   
43. The elements to be taken into consideration in the selection of a RTPC partner include the 
following: commitment of the institution, including of  its senior management, and its ability to deliver 
the needed support; political support from government authorities; vision of the institution concerning 
its role and follow-up of the partnership; local pe rsonnel designated to play an active role in the 
project (mainly the academic coordinator and the ad ministrative coordinator); and facilities offered by 
the institution and accommodation for participants and visiting lecturers (WTO and regional). 
44. The process for French-speaking Africa was launc hed in 2007 and finali zed in June 2008.  
Five universities presented proposals to host th e RTPC.  A WTO Selection Board especially 
established for the process of selecting new RTPC part ners reviewed the proposals and paid site visits 
to four of the universities. The final decision resulted in the selection of l'Université d'Abomey-
Calavi, Benin, as the new partner for the RTPC in French-speaking Africa. 
45. The process for Latin America was launched in 2007 and finalized in May 2008.  In this case, 
proposals were received from 16 universities in the re gion.  The Selection Board, following an initial 
review of the proposals, visited six of the institutions  in order to get fuller information to make a well-
informed decision. The decision was made to pa rtner with the Universidad Sergio Arboleda, 
Colombia for the RTPC for Latin America. 
46. In 2008, the ITTC  introduced the idea of appoi nting an official Patron or Patroness for each 
Regional Trade Policy Course and Geneva-based Trade Policy Course.  The Patron provides 
inspiration, guidance and leadership to the participants in these Courses.   It was decided that at least 
for the first year, prominent, accomplished women in in ternational trade or law would be invited to be 
Patroness. As the only RTPC in 2008 to have a Patroness, the Benin RTPC benefited from the 
patronage of Mrs. Clotilde Médé gan Nougbodé, President of the Benin High Court of Justice. 
47. The purpose of the Preparatory Workshops is to prepare regional resource persons for their 
participation as trainers in the RTPC. This is the only occasion on which all the regional resource 
people involved in each RTPC can get together as a group and exchange information and ideas of 
assistance to the RTPC.  The Workshop also provides an opportunity for the regional resource people 
to meet with the WTO co-trainer to st art preparations for their joint session.  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 13 
 
 
48. In order to smoothen the conduct of the RTPCs,  three Preparatory Workshops were held in 
2008, one for each of the RTPCs. Having moved to a more interactive approach to the workshops 
during 2007, the workshops in 2008  built on this approach which was appreciated by the regional 
trainers. Geneva-based delegates and WTO officials pa rticipated in interactive roundtables, together 
with the regional academics. Changes were made in 2008 to the topics discussed in the workshop 
roundtables to ensure that a number of different topics were discussed over the course of each RTPC 
partnership.  
49. In accordance with the approach  for the past number of years, there were also increased 
efforts to involve WTO officials to a greater extent in the workshop.  This will continue to be an on-
going objective as it is an element which brings additi onal value to the activity and it is a development 
that regional trainers continue to request.   
(b) Geneva-Based (Trade Policy) Courses and Training Events 
50. In 2008, the WTO Secretariat conducted a series of training activities as part of its Geneva-
based training programme.  Under the responsib ility of the Geneva-Based Courses Unit (GBCU) of 
the ITTC, ranging in length from one week to three months, these Geneva-based training activities 
included comprehensive TPCs; introduction courses fo r LDCs; thematic courses on particular WTO-
related topics (such as trade ne gotiations and dispute settlement).  The GBCU also held three 
introduction days.  
51. Geneva-based training activities draw upon a rich  tradition with a steady record of success 
spanning over fifty years.  They benefit from their comparative advantage of taking place at the heart of the WTO Secretariat.  This offers an authorita tive and comprehensive platform for the delivery of 
training – from a multilateral  perspective - on WTO rules and functioning.  It allows the possibility of 
attending WTO meetings to witness the day-to-day op eration of the institution, as well as easy and 
direct access to officials from specific divisions of the WTO Secretariat and other international 
organizations located in Geneva, in addition to de legates from missions based in Geneva.  Under the 
guidance of experienced in-house trainers, the Ge neva-based training courses provide an opportunity 
for participants to have first-hand exposure to, a nd on-site experience of, the functioning of the WTO. 
52. The pedagogical approach followed in these Geneva-based training activities continues to 
evolve toward resolutely interactive and particip atory training, with programme design taking into 
account an intensive and thorough evaluation process.  In that context, the first ex-post evaluation of 
TPCs, conducted in 2007 by the TCAU, concluded that "the TPCs imprinted a good image of WTO in 
the responding participants and their supervisors and (that) the result appear(ed) to have left a long-
lasting impact on the participants".  The study conclu ded that - both in terms of  relevance and in terms 
of sustainability of results - TPCs were reaching their target.  Useful recommendations for further 
improvements continue to feed the continuous im provement process for all Geneva-based training 
activities.  Moreover, these training activities constitu te synergistic laborator ies for the development 
and continuous updating and adaptation of training ma terials and modules.  The material generated is 
then made widely available in order to support other WTO training and capacity-building activities.  
53. For each Geneva-based training activity, a comp etitive selection process is systematically 
performed to ensure both that participants' profil es match the criteria communicated to the nominating 
authorities, and that equitable coverage of eligible  countries is achieved, taking into account historical 
participation in similar courses. 
54. 
The long-standing flagship of Geneva-based tr aining activities is the comprehensive twelve-
week TPC.  Four such courses were held in 2008 (two in English, one in French, and one in Spanish).  
The largest number of participants are from Africa  (39 per cent), followed by Asia-Pacific (21 per 
cent) and Latin America (14 per cent) (cf. Graph 4) .  The TPC consists of a series of interactive 
modules, comprising lectures, exercises and simulations, covering virtually all the areas of work of WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 14  
 
the WTO.  It also includes visits to other interna tional organizations active in  trade-related matters as 
well as attendance at selected meetings of WTO bodies and regular briefings on WTO work-in-progress.  Contacts with officials in the WTO Secr etariat and other intern ational organizations – 
including the International Trade Centre (IT C), the United Nations Conference on Trade and 
Development (UNCTAD), the Agency for Internatio nal Trade information and Cooperation (AITIC), 
the World Bank, the Advisory Centre on WTO La w (ACWL) and the World Intellectual Property 
Rights Organization (WIPO) - as well as delegates from Geneva missions, are also a common feature.  Participants are encouraged to establish contacts with experts in relevant divisions of the WTO 
Secretariat, to pursue discussions of interest to th eir country with experts in specific fields, and build 
working relations with WTO officials.  The ITTC  has recently introduced the idea of appointing an 
official Patron or Patroness for each Geneva-based TPC and RTPC. The Patron provides inspiration, 
guidance and leadership to the participants in these Courses. In order to celebrate and honour the 
achievements of prominent, accomplished women in inte rnational trade or law, all of the Patrons for 
at least 2008-2009 were and will be successful  and dynamic women who have contributed 
substantially to their areas of expertise.    The 46
th TPC - held in French in the Autumn of 2008 - was 
the first to have an official patroness:  Ambass ador Mounina MINT ABDELLAH of Mauritania.   The 
Ambassador guided the students th roughout the course and shared e xperiences with them on various 
occasions. 
Graph 4 
Participation in Geneva-Based Training Courses, by Region 
Based on the number of participants having comp leted the courses from January to December 2008 
Latin America
14%
Caribbean
6%
Central and Eastern 
Europe, Central 
Asia and the 
Caucasus
11%Asia and the Pacific
21%MENA
9%Afric a
39%
 
55. Two three-week introduction courses for LDCs ( one in English, one in French) focused on 
issues and perspectives of specific concern to LDCs.  This course introduces participants to the WTO, 
its basic rules and disciplines and its functioning.  Briefing on overall WTO work-in-progress is an 
integral part of the course.  The development di mension, with a particular focus on LDC-related 
issues, constitutes an important component of the programme.  The course often benefits from 
involvement of the ITC, UNCTAD, AITIC and the World Bank and the ACWL.  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 15 
 
 
56. In addition to the comprehensive TPCs and th e introduction courses for LDCs, the Geneva-
based training agenda also includes courses on particul ar WTO-related topics.  In 2008, there was one 
two-week Thematic Course on Trade Negotiations, d esigned to provide participants with skills and 
knowledge concerning appropriate strategies and tac tics for the conduct of negotiations.  Three one-
week thematic courses on dispute settlement also took place, aiming to provide a better understanding 
of the WTO dispute settlement rules and procedures through a combination of lectures and interactive 
exercises.  In addition, one follow-up activity o ccurred, associated with the Specialized Course on 
SPS held in 2007.   
57. The Geneva-based course training programme w as rounded out by three one-day Introduction 
Days.  Intended for newly arrived delegates in  Geneva, non-governmental  organizations, new WTO 
staff members, interns working in  the Secretariat and interested officials from other international 
organizations, this activity allows for the dissemi nation of general information about the WTO, its 
basic principles, its functioning and current issu es, as well as about ways  to access WTO-related 
information through the WTO Library and Internet.   
58. Geneva-based training activities will continue to build on the constant demand for courses 
held at the WTO headquarters expressed by Member s, and on encouraging results of evaluations in 
terms of relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness.   With the mid-2008 restructuring of the ITTC, 
reflection has also begun on how best to position Ge neva-based training activities in order to respond 
to the need for greater coherence in WTO capacity-bu ilding activities.  The overarching ideal is to put 
in place specific WTO training paths based on a multi-modular approach and "progressive learning", with the aim of promoting higher levels of learni ng and encouraging the deve lopment of participants' 
autonomy.  In particular, an envisaged sequenci ng of TRTA activities would introduce eTraining as a 
prerequisite, to be followed by RTPCs, and fina lly the advanced Geneva-based TPC, the highest-level 
of learning available under the aegis of the ITTC.  Thus, Geneva-based  training activities will 
continue to be a key component of this WTO TRTA programme.  
(c) Academic Cooperation 
59. During 2008 the WTO Secretariat developed a pr ogramme of academic cooperation in the 
fields of training, teaching and research, which focused on academic institutions and related target 
groups, while at the same time, the Secretariat c ontinued fostering academic networking and outreach.  
The Academic Programme covered institutions from a ll regions and sought to meet different types of 
requests addressed to the WTO Secretariat by both governments and acad emic institutions.  
Transparency was ensured by triangulating inform ation between the WTO, the partner institution and 
the national government.
 
60. In total, the WTO Secretariat was involved in some 45 initiatives.  These encompassed the 
organization of and the participati on in national and regional seminars  for academics, as well as the 
delivery of academic courses in universities, the pa rticipation of WTO staff in academic events of 
different nature (colloquia, c onferences), and the granting fellowships for PhD students and funding 
research projects on trade policy and WTO-related matters.  By working closely with academic 
communities, the WTO seeks to contribute to enha ncing national capacities in academic institutions 
so as to enable them to support policy-makers in their respective countries.  In implementing these 
activities, the WTO Secretariat seeks to transf er, as appropriate, ownership to the associated 
institutions by involving them in the conception of the programme and addressing academic priorities 
identified by partners, as well as in the organization of activities.  
61. Work was also undertaken to enhance coordina tion and promote effici encies in academic 
cooperation, by the concentrating support from th e WTO to academic course s, research activities, 
academic networking and public outreach through a new WTO Chairs Programme (WCP).  This 
programme was launched in March 2009.   On 7-8 October 2008, the Secretariat convened a WCP WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 16  
 
preparatory meeting which sought advice and insi ghts from a representative community of scholars 
with experience in academic outreach activities, in order to optimize the design of the WCP.
 
62. The WCP will be based on a competitive selection process and will award up to six WTO 
Chairs to institutions of higher learning from de veloping and LDCs, and countries in transition.  
Through the WCP, the Secretariat aims at providing sustainable support through a new single 
programme potentially academic courses and research  projects on trade policy and WTO matters, in 
addition to promoting information disseminati on/outreach activities by partner institutions.  
Specifically, the WCP will facilitate:  
(a) the development of lasting relationships with beneficiary and partner institutions;  
(b) fostering research by beneficiary ins titutions as well as through cooperation among 
participant academic institutions;  
(c) deepening links in the area of training and teaching between the WTO and academic 
institutions, particularly in connection with the WTO RTPCs; and  
(d) building outreach/communication links with  and amongst supporting universities and 
think tanks from developing countri es and beneficiary institutions.  
63. The WCP envisages the establishment of an Advi sory Board, which will be responsible for 
substantive decisions in respect of the programme.  Chaired by the WTO Secretariat, it will comprise 
individuals from representing entities on the supply side, beneficiary academic institutions, ad 
persona  members who can make valuable contributions , and donors. The Advisory Board will report 
annually to the CTD in the context of the WTO Secretariat's overall training and TA activities.  
64. Synergies between different programmes were  taken into account during 2008 and will be 
further explored in the future, with a view to e nhancing the efficient use of resources as well as the 
impact of academic cooperation activities.  2008 activities were implemented in coordination with 
relevant regional intergovernmental agencies as well  as certain academic networks, including United 
National Economic Commission for Asia and the P acific (UNESCAP), the United Nations Economic 
Commission for Africa (UNECA), l'Agence Univérsitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), The Trade Law 
Centre for Southern Africa (TRALAC), the United  Nations University, Institute for Advances 
Studies(UNU/IAS), as well as several national academic institutions.  
(d) Intensive Course on Trade Negotiations Skills (ICTNS) 
65. The intensive course on trade negotiations skills is  designed to provide participants with skills 
and knowledge concerning appropriate  strategies and tactics for the conduct of negotiations, as well as 
techniques of systematic decision analysis for m onitoring and managing the negotiating process.  It 
contributes directly to the objectives of the DDA by  improving, deepening and enhancing participants' 
understanding of the DDA negotiations, more partic ularly the 2008 document on Draft Modalities for 
Agriculture and the document on Draft Modalities for NAMA, 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration prepared by the NAMA Chairman, and the 2004 July Package.  Th e core of the course 
encompasses all the stages in trade negotiations— from the consultation stage to actual negotiations, 
involving real give-and-take.  The use of the DDA mandate for the simulation exercise makes this 
training program particularly relevant since pa rticipants can apply their strengthened skills 
immediately to real world negotiations in Geneva and other fora.  The course is closely inter-linked 
with other products including TPCs and RTPCs.  
66. The course has been found to be extremely va luable, bringing participants into real 
negotiation mode. Feedback from participants has been very positive and reassuring.  A computed 
average score for 2008 shows that 93 per cent of par ticipants expressed satisfaction with the results of  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 17 
 
 
the TA while 88 per cent pointed to the achievement of the objectives of the TA.  Virtually all participants indicated in the evaluation forms that  they had benefited from the course and expanded 
their knowledge of bilateral and multilateral trade ne gotiations.  A number of participants indicated 
that they would use the knowledge and skills acquired in their daily work, bilateral and international 
trade negotiations, FTAs and at the policy-making support level. 
67. During 2008, five regional inte nsive courses were held in Tr inidad and Tobago, Mauritius, 
Oman, Argentina and Benin (RTPC).  Equally, fi ve national intensive courses were held in 
Seychelles, Iran, Thailand, India and Botswana.  Since the training program was designed on the basis 
of the actual negotiating issues in the DDA, most of the participants felt that their trade negotiations 
skills had been substantiall y strengthened in practical terms.  In particular, the participants assigned to 
the developed country groups had the opportunity to engage in trade policy formulation and 
consultation process from the perspectives of devel oped countries – a rare opportunity to view the 
same issues from different perspectives.  This has clearly proven to be a most effective approach to 
strengthen the negotiating skills and capacities of participants. 
68. The training material has evolved over the year s on the basis of feedback from participants 
and colleagues.  A selection process has been intr oduced to improve the quality of the results.  
Selected participants are those who have good kn owledge of the WTO Agre ements, have attended a 
WTO workshop or seminar before, or have followed the WTO eTraining.  The results of the ICTNS 
are of immediate application.  Consequently, so on after an ICTNS has taken place, many of the 
participants either became incor porated into their country's negotiating team or were posted to their 
country's diplomatic representations abroad, especially to the WTO. 
69. Over the years, the WTO has built partnership with the APEC-Economic Integration project, 
Thailand Institute for Trade and Development (ITD) , Canadian International Development Agency 
(CIDA) and the Conference Board of Canada in running intensive courses on trade negotiations skills 
in Asia.  In Africa, partnership has been built with the Organisation internationa le de la Francophonie, 
University of Pretoria, University of the Western Cape (South Africa), University of Dar es Salaam 
and the University of Nairobi. The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has been involved in 
partnership arrangements in the Middle East.  Our partners did contribute in terms of both speakers 
and financial resources. 
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 18  
 
V. REGIONAL APPROACHES TO TRTA AND PARTNERSHIPS 
(a) Africa  
70. Africa remains a major priority area for WTO TA.  This is reflected in the very high 
proportion of TA to Africa.  For example, 47 pe r cent of all WTO national TA activities were 
delivered in Africa, as were 31 per cent of all regional  activities.  This trend is likely to continue for 
the foreseeable future, in view of the fact that  Africa remains seriously challenged in terms of 
institutional capacity for effective utilization of the M TS.  Further, considering that Africa has the vast 
majority of LDCs (33 of the 49 LDCs), WTO's identification of Africa as a priority area for TA effectively captures the needs of most of the LDCs. 
71. In 2008, African countries benefited extensivel y from national TA activities and internship 
programmes, as well as regional seminars and works hops.  The ultimate goal of national activities is 
to assist in developing and strengthening the instituti onal capacity of African countries, so that they 
can participate effectively in the work of the WT O and derive significant benefits from the MTS.   
72. The subjects covered in the national activities included agriculture, trade facilitation, the 
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), TRIPS, NAMA, TBT, SPS, customs valuation, 
trade remedies, regional trade agreements (RTAs) , government procurement, and trade negotiation 
skills.  The Secretariat has, in recent years, a dopted a selection process to improve the level of 
participation in WTO activities, and hence ra ise the overall quality of the TA provided.  
73. The national TA activities also covered s ubjects identified in the Diagnostic Trade 
Integration Studies (DTIS) within the EIF; trad e facilitation needs assessments; as well as those under 
the Standards and Trade Development Facility (S TDF).  The EIF has now reached maturity, and 
although the EIF was launched in 2008, significant steps have already been taken to prepare the 
ground for the eventual delivery of EIF-inspired tec hnical assistance activities in the coming years.  In 
2008, the STDF continued to assist African count ries in their quest to attain the necessary SPS 
standards required for their products to be  exported to the major export markets. 
74. The national activities are complemented by regi onal activities, which usually reflect a critical 
mass of national demands for a particular WTO s ubject of interest.  Although individual country 
needs are best addressed at the national level, human and financial resource constraints on the 
Secretariat make regional activities a very good alterna tive to delivery of TA at the national level.   
75. The goal in regional activities is to reach a wi der country coverage on as many WTO subjects 
as possible, due to the constraints on national deliver y capacity of the Secretariat outlined above.  The 
strategy used by the Secretariat involves establishing/strengthening the WTO's working relationship 
with its regional partners, including the UNECA , the African Developm ent Bank (AfDB), the 
International Organization de la Francophonie (OIF), and of sub-re gional institutions such as the 
Southern African Development Community (SADC),  the Common Market for Eastern and Southern 
Africa (COMESA), the West African Economic an d Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the Central 
African Economic and Monetary  Cooperation (CAEMC).   
76. Some of the regional activities were within the framework of the WTO's specific partnership 
arrangements with non-regional partners, such as the ID LO and the IsDBank.  The Secretariat has also 
been exploring ways of deepening institutional re lations with the New Partnership for Africa's 
Development (NEPAD) Secretariat, with the view to assisting NEPAD in achieving its goals in the 
assistance it may give to its cons tituency in MTS-related areas.  In this regard, channels of 
communication were renewed with a visit by WTO officials to the NEPAD Secretariat in 
South Africa, in September 2008.   WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 19 
 
 
77. The regional TA activities included the three-mo nth RTPCs, held in conjunction with a 
selected academic partner; subject-matter ac tivities depending on specific regional/sub-regional 
demands, usually of more limited duration; as well as participation in international seminars and 
conferences organized by other agencies.  In 2008,  the RTPC for French-speaking African countries 
was held in Cotonou, Benin; while there was a lag for the RTPC for English-speaking Africa (the last 
one having been held in Namibia, in 2007).  Th e "global" regular three-month Geneva-based TPCs 
included the participation of several African countries. 
78. In 2008, sub-regional trade policy courses were  organized for several African regional 
economic groupings – SADC, COMESA , ECOWAS, and the Economic and Monetary Community of 
Central Africa (CEMAC).  These sub-regional c ourses brought in complementary contributions of 
resource persons with expertise on specific trade issues from the Secretariats of UNECA, COMESA, 
SADC, ECOWAS, CEMAC, as well as from the r espective national Gove rnment departments 
represented at the activities.  
79. The Africa region is also a major beneficiary of several other WTO TA initiatives.  For 
example, the NTP, a programme designed to bring j unior and sometimes very senior officials to the 
WTO for a ten month period has mainly targeted A frican countries as a priority region.  This has 
allowed African trade officials to further broaden th eir exposure to the day- to-day work of the WTO 
and assist in the identification of the TRTA needs of their countries.  Several African officials came to 
the WTO under the NTP in 2008, as well as other WTO internship programmes of shorter duration. 
80. Effective TA is only possible if it addresses cl early identified needs.  As Africa faces the 
greatest needs in TRTA, it need not be emphasized  that well-defined needs will go a long way in 
designing appropriate TA.  In this regard, Needs Assessments, whether in the context of TPR, DTIS 
or stand-alone, continue to be a major area of fo cus for the WTO.  In recent years, every TPR of a 
developing country or LDC includes a chapter on TA needs.   Thus, the TPR process has now become 
a major source of information on the TRTA needs of African countries.  In 2008, several African 
countries had their trade policies reviewed and th is necessitated  close collaboration between the 
Trade Policies Review Division (TPRD) and the ITTC.    
81. Regarding LDCs, the EIF (through the DTIS) is th e main source of needs identification for 
LDCs, and also provides the platform by which TA  delivery under various configurations can be 
delivered.  In view of the fact that the EIF is multi-agency, it seeks to identify all forms of needs of 
LDCs (of which African countries constitute the vast  majority), and not necessarily only those needs 
than can be delivered by the WTO.   
82. The WTO Reference Centre (RC) programme con tinues to be a major source of assistance to 
African countries for the transfer of information fro m Geneva to the capitals.  The strategy behind the 
RCs is to utilize them as "one-stop" information centres on all MTS related issues in the country, but 
also as a valuable tool for the private sector in search of new market opportunities.  Pursuant to this, 
the WTO has continued to upgrade RCs, and in 2008  several African countries benefited from this 
upgrade to bring their RCs up to speed with lat est information technology (IT) to enable their 
effective use for transmission of information.  Pr operly functioning RCs could also be an effective 
medium for the WTO's e-learning activities.  The st rategy in using eLearning for Africa is to ensure 
that as much of the basic information on the WTO can  be taught at the country level, with more 
emphasis in the context of specific national or regional TA activities being placed on advanced training. 
(b) Asia-Pacific 
83.
 In the Asia and Pacific region, thanks to th e pivotal contributions of regional institutions, 
WTO's TA activities rest on solid foundations. Pa rtnership arrangements ensure high quality 
interaction in the preparation and implementation of joint TA and capacity-building activities.  Like in WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 20  
 
previous years, the WTO TRTA activities have c ontinued to be focused on acceding countries 
(Bhutan, Lao PDR, Samoa and Vanuatu) and recently acceded countries (e.g. Tonga).  Direct support 
has been provided by the Accession Division and othe r specialized divisions to address all concerns 
and issues raised.  Support was provided through the N TP, in particular regarding the elaboration of 
needs assessments.  Since several years, the RTPCs, first in Hong Kong China, now in Singapore, 
give support regionally, to the extent that the R TPCs build institutional partnerships at the regional 
level for capacity-building and facilitate the crea tion of networks among academia.  Also the WTO 
encourages the use of eTraining and distance learning. 
84. The WTO's and the UNESCAP's joint TA and cap acity-building operations have engineered 
strategic partnership arrangements since UNESCAP, as part of the United Nations, contributes both a 
global and regional development pe rspective and facilitates the cons tructive exchanges between Asian 
capital-based and Geneva-based trade officials.  Over  the years, distribution of tasks and cost-sharing 
between WTO and UNESCAP expande d and strengthened cooperation between the two Institutions 
regarding the implementation and condu ct of joint TA activities.  For example, from 2 to 6 June 2008, 
Cambodia hosted the UNESCAP/WTO ARTNeT Capac ity Building Workshop for Trade Research.  
The trade-related economic methods which the AR TNeT participants are trained on include 
computable general equilibrium models, partial eq uilibrium models and gravity equations.  Besides 
the WTO, trainers from UNCTAD and UNESCAP also conducted trainings on trade databases and economic methodologies.  Since 2005, the WTO as part of its academic programme has been providing assistance in the form of trainings on trade-related economic methods to researchers and 
academics who are members of ARTNeT.  ARTNet has the principal objective of enhancing the 
capacity of research institutions in the Asia Pa cific region.  Its activities are supported by, among 
others, UNESCAP, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNCTAD, and WTO.   
85. The WTO also collaborates with the IDLO and its Sydney based Asia-Pacific Training Centre 
in the delivery of the Asia-Pacific Regional Public  International Trade Law Course (PITLC), pursuant 
to a Memorandum of Understanding between the two Institutions.  The seventh course was held in 
November 2008 with the participation of 33 selected government officials from 14 Asia and Pacific 
developing countries.  Many economies in the Asia -Pacific region lack the capacity to effectively 
participate in the international trading system, hampering their economic development and poverty 
reduction efforts.  The PITLC seeks to strengthen th e capacity of developing countries in the region to 
more effectively participate in the internationa l trading system in order to better realise the 
gains/returns from trade which can then be used to pursue poverty reduction and achieve sustainable 
broad-based economic development.  Accordingly, the ultimate aim of the PITLC is to assist 
developing countries in the region in their effort s to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable broad-
based economic development and regi onal security.  The objectives were  inter alia:  (a) to assist 
participants in devising strategies for meeting th e challenges of, and benefiting from, global trade 
liberalization and regional economic integration; (b) to enhance the ability of participants to more 
effectively contribute to the formulation of trade policies and strategies for mainstreaming trade into 
national development and poverty re duction policies and to translate national and regional policy 
objectives into governments' negotiating positions in  international trade negotiations; and (c) to 
contribute to building constituencies for multilateral trade liberalisation and economic reform amongst 
APEC economies.  A review of the participants' ev aluations indicated that the PITLC rated highly in 
terms of, inter alia , achieving its stated objectives, the re levance and usefulness of the subjects 
covered, and meeting par ticipants' expectations. 
86. The strong collaboration between the WTO and th e Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) 
continued in 2008 with the joint organization of two Specialized Regional Workshops (NAMA, 
Advanced Course on DDA Negotiations for Senior Officials) for the 14 Pacific Island countries.  
These technical assistance activities re sult in an in-depth, subject-speci fic assistance, and a deepened 
knowledge in the field of key WTO Agreements, t hus enhancing the fuller integration of PIFS 
countries into the trading system.  Particular em phasis was put on fisheries trade-related issues for 
Pacific Island Economies.  The Forum Secretariat is  WTO's main partner for our technical assistance  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 21 
 
 
activities in the Pacific region.  Since the signi ng of the first Memorandum  of Understanding (MoU) 
between the WTO and the Forum Secretariat in 2000, twenty joint WTO/PIFS regional TA activities 
were implemented.  These joint activities are fi nanced from the WTO Doha Development Agenda 
Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF).  The joint participati on of the Forum Secretariat has a considerable 
value-added effect on our WTO TA activities in the Pacific region, in terms of logistical 
arrangements, involvement of local resource persons  and giving a regional dimension to the training 
activities.  Considering the geographical location and the vulnerability of pacific island countries, it is 
imperative that the WTO have a serious and co mmitted partner in the planning and execution of 
technical cooperation and capacity building activities.   For example, a workshop on non-agricultural 
market access negotiations for pacific economi es, organised jointly by the PIFS and the WTO 
Secretariat, was held in Suva, Fiji from 3-5 Nove mber 2008.  Thirty one participants attended the 
Workshop.  Presentations made by WTO focussed on:  (i) background issues to market access;  (ii) 
NAMA negotiations (overviews, modalities and current st ate of play);  (iii) introduction to and use of 
WTO tariff and trade databases along with the softwa re tools; (iv) formula approach to tariff 
reductions and simulations exercises in Excel; (v) the impact of the NAMA negotiations for pacific 
export markets; and (vi) submission of schedules with draft offers.  The Workshop offered the 
participants a venue to get acqua inted with NAMA issues and tools that could help them in 
formulating policies and positions in the ongoi ng WTO negotiations.  The hands-on session and 
simulation exercise emphasized the importance of having  reliable and updated sta tistics to be able to 
assess the impact of each of tariff reduction proposal s.  The officials found the analysis tools to be 
very useful.  Bilateral meetings with selected  individual countries provided a good opportunity to 
establish contacts that could be used in future fo llow-ups on Integrated Database (IDB) notification 
obligations. 
(c) Arab Countries and the Middle East  
87. Since its inception in 2001, wo rk has been continuing to further develop and refine the WTO 
Arab Strategy. Several new elements have been  introduced into the Strategy including the 
organization of the first outreach event for Arab Memb ers of Parliament.  This was coupled with other 
activities organized by the WTO Secretariat in colla boration with partner institutions that targeted 
academics; private sector representatives; government officials and, journalists.   
88. Partnership arrangements with the main re gional economic organizations such as the 
UNESCWA, the AMF, the IsDB, the Gulf Coope ration Council (GCC), continued to play a 
significant role in achieving the desired common objectives of empowering and enhancing the 
participation of the Arab countries in the multilateral trading system.  In this context, several regional 
events were organized in collaboration with partne r institutions in 2008.  Some of these training 
activities were topic specific relating to both the ongoing DDA negotiations and the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements.  Others, were geared to buildi ng the  necessary in-country skills 
and capacities to defend and identify national interests,  such as the intensive trade negotiations skills 
courses and the workshops for academics.  An additiona l set of activities were more general in nature 
and targeted junior to mid-level government officials, such as the short trade policy courses.   
89. These partnership arrangements continued to yi eld positive returns and filled specific gaps 
that the WTO is not able to address in a proper manner.  Contributions ranged from making 
presentations focusing on national/regional perspec tives in programmes to sharing the cost and 
providing interpretation into Arabic as well as logistical support for joint events.    
90.   A significant number of national activities we re requested by Arab countries.  Topics 
requested include: SPS, TBT, NAMA, services, import li censing, rules and others.  In this respect, it 
was the priority of the Desk to ensu re that requested topics are in line  with the needs identified.  Trade 
policy reviews are one way of conducting a needs ass essment for TRTA, the Desk continued to work 
closely with the TPRD to identify the needs and prio rities of Arab countries that were the subject of 
reviews in 2008.  This practice was applied in the past on a limited scale, but is now becoming more WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 22  
 
regular and systematic.  Furthermore, several Arab countries benefited from needs assessments 
conducted in the context of the trade facilitation negot iations.  Others benefited, from the EIF and the 
STDF.   
91. Twelve Arab countries are Members of the WTO,  while seven others are in the process of 
accessions.  Special attention was given to try to id entify the specific technical assistance needs of 
these countries.  This effort was carried out in cl ose coordination with the Accessions Division.  This 
support dedicated to acceding countries is a priority  of the desk and more emphasis will be given to 
answer the specific requests submitted by these countries.   
92. Several activities had to be postponed.  This w as mainly due to the request of the beneficiary 
country or due to the security situation on the gr ound.  These activities were rolled over to 2009 and 
will be carried out when it is feasible.  A number of  Arab countries also benefited from the internship 
and the academic support programmes. 
(d) Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia 
93. WTO's policy is geared to a better and fuller integration and participation of Central and 
Eastern European and Central Asian and Caucasus Countries in the WTO.  The region comprises of 
22 countries and includes inter alia  the Baltic States, the Balkan countries, the Commonwealth of 
Independent States, the Caucasus and Central Asian c ountries.  Several countries in the region are still 
relatively new to the system and lack a GATT/WTO hi story and thus have little experience with the 
functioning of the WTO as an institution and with th e operation of its rules. In this regard, several 
regional events were planned and organized covering topics such as trade in services, regional trade 
agreements and others.   Four of these events were  organized jointly with th e Joint Vienna Institute 
(JVI) at their Headquarters in Vienna.  This collabor ation continued to be practical and beneficial for 
the WTO in 2008.  The JVI has excellent accomm odation and facilities and remains a convenient 
destination for countries in the region. 
94. Policy for this region was also geared to conso lidate trade liberalization efforts and reforms.  
A number of the recently acceded Members from the region requested for activities targeting specific 
stakeholders.  The objectives set  for these events was to raise awareness on WTO-related issues and 
disseminate information.  Several countries in the region have also expressed an interest in engaging 
academics, in particular in joint research and curricu lum development with the WTO.  For this reason, 
the academic support team organized  several activities, both at th e national and regional level to 
address academics through training of trainers even ts and workshops.  The same team also agreed 
with a number of academic institutions to send large volumes of WTO publications and materials to 
be placed in their respective libraries.   
95. Eleven out of the 22 countries in this region are in the process of accessions.  Attention was 
focused on assisting these countries to first identify th eir TA needs.  For Members, this was carried 
out, to the extent possible, in collaboration with  the TPRD.  For Observers the situation was and 
remains to be more complicated as none of th ese countries have had a needs assessment conducted, 
e.g. the EIF.  This, no doubt, required close colla boration with the Accessions Division as well as 
other divisions.  Areas identified in close consu ltation with the Accessions Division and beneficiary 
countries include, trade remedies, state trading enterprises (STEs), services, SPS and others.   
96. A few countries in the region also benef ited from other in-house Geneva-based TRTA 
programmes, such as the trade f acilitation needs assessment workshops and the STDF.  Moreover, a 
significant number of officials from the region pa rticipated in several Geneva-based activities, 
including the three-month TPCs.  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 23 
 
 
(e) Latin America and the Caribbean 
97. The ITTC continued delivering TRTA during 2008 fulfilling the requests of WTO Members 
as per available resources.  The delivery of many  regional activities were made successful through 
WTO collaboration with well establish ed partnerships including with the Integration of Latin 
America and the Caribbean ( INTAL), the development institute of the Inter American 
Development Bank (IADB), and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).   WTO 
gained invaluable success in many activities throug h the synergies forged with regional secretariats, 
notably those with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Caribbean Community  
Secretariat (CARICOM), Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), Secretariat for Centro-American Integration (SIECA), and the Organization of American States (OAS) (cf Table 2 and Graphs 5, 6 and 7).  
98. Generally, the WTO faces challenges on both its side of delivery of TRTA and that of 
Members.  For the WTO, the main constraint is  the availability of human resources to meet the 
Members' demands.  Delivery is often achieved through various levels of  coordination among the 
Member, the regional institutions, WTO staff availab ility, cognizant of the negotiations in Geneva and 
national or regional activities that are exogenous to  the activity but nonetheless affects its delivery.  
Members often are concerned matching participants with activities, while ensuring that regular trade-
related work continues.   
99. Notwithstanding these challenges, the participants ' evaluation reports suggest that after the 
delivery of the majority of TRTA activities, Me mbers generally have a better understanding of WTO 
rules.  They tend to increase cooperation, bot h nationally and regionally as the activities bring 
together a network of relevant stakeholders. Improvements in TRTA  comes from collaboration with 
Members States both through the missions and thr ough capital based officials to fulfil real and 
prioritised  needs.  Certainly reports including  BTORs and those of specific areas such as trade 
facilitation have signalled that despite  the challenges, there are clearly derived benefits to the output 
in this region.   
100. In more specific areas, Haiti is the only Latin America and Caribbean Member benefiting 
from the implementation of the EIF activities.  The EI F stakeholders have agreed in 2008 to start the 
EIF process – namely the DTIS in Haiti, after the le ad agency has been notified.  Plans were ongoing 
in 2008 for a pre-sensitization exercise for early  2009. Three countries from the region underwent 
preparations between government officials and WTO st aff for their TPRs.   Reports suggest that the 
meetings were lively and informa tive revealing many areas of reforms, and also signalling those that 
are still in the process of trade reform.  For the WT O, the reports present useful insights into not only 
the needs of those under review, but some reports  give indication/assessments of areas for TRTA 
needs.   
101.  In the area of trade facilitation, 14 countr ies have completed their needs assessment during 
2008.  Despite the challenges as mentioned above, repor ts suggest that countries have benefited from 
the exercises and many have started to prepare for fo llow-up to ensure that they maintain the interests 
of national trade facilitation stakeholders. What's key in the findings is that participants gain a better 
understanding of their own national constraints, a nd are able to utilise the stakeholder forum for 
discussing solutions through the network fo rmed as a result of the needs assessment. 
102. In Latin America, there were seven STDF-rela ted activities conducted in collaboration with 
the World Bank.  Many other activities in the Latin  America and Caribbean  region centred around all 
DDA-related areas plus various implementation related areas. In the Latin American region, the main 
national activities included topics covering agricu lture and NAMA, dispute settlement, TBT, SPS, 
services, trade remedies, and RTAs.  The Caribbean national requests have been related more to general trade policy with a fewer activities on SPS/TBT, services, NAMA, negotiations skills, and 
trade and the environment.  Where requests have been difficult to fulfil during 2008 partly due to a WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 24  
 
few late requests, insufficient human resources, or simple logistical constraints, WTO has continued to work with Member States to handle activities in the best appropriate way to the satisfaction of 
Member States.  There has been a wi de interest in more workshops for parliamentarians as part of the 
WTO outreach programme.   
103.  Beyond allowing for a quality improvements in the delivery of TRTA (Inter-American 
Development Bank (IADB
)/INTAL provides speakers and instructors to complement ours) our 
partnerships also facilitate logistic  arrangements and permit cost-savings. 
104. The Secretariat's work programme has covered South and Central America, and the Caribbean 
Countries (English-, Spanish- and French-speaking Caribbean Countries), where the collaboration of 
the CARICOM Secretariat has been fundamental.  
Table 2 
Partnership activities in Latin America and Caribbean 
 
 Latin America Caribbean 
IADB/INTAL 10 3 
CARICOM 0 4 
ALADI 2 0 
SIECA 1 0 
OAS 1 0 
Total 14 7 
 
 
Graph 5 
 
Partnerships: Latin America
7%13%7%7%
66%IADB/INTAL
WTO
ALADI
SIECA
OAS
 
 
  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 25 
 
 
Graph 6 
 
Partnerships: Caribbean
30%
30%40%IADB/INTAL
WTO
CARICOM
 
 
   
Graph 7 
 
10
3
13
2
1 14
012345678910
IADB/INTAL
WTO
ALADI
SIECA
OAS
CARICOMPartnerships: Regional activities
Latin America
Caribbean
 
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 26  
 
VI. TRAINEE PROGRAMMES AND INTERNSHIPS 
105. The WTO Secretariat operates three main train ee programmes and internships, as contained  
in the TA Plan.  The programmes are all geared towa rds trade capacity-building in beneficiaries. They 
include:  
o the NTP,  
o the Mission Intern Programme (MIP) and, 
o the WTO Regional Coordinator Internship (RCI). 
 
106. Since the launching of the intern programmes, a to tal of 121 interns have been recruited, with 
49 trainees under the NTP, 44 interns have benef ited from the mission intern programme, and 28 
officials have benefited from th e regional coordinator programme 
(a) Netherlands Trainee Programme (NTP) 
107. The main objective of the Programme is to gene rate tangible and measurable results and thus 
leave a lasting trace, including through: 
o building sustainable capacity in beneficiary countries, by providing officials with an 
opportunity to directly participate in WTO's work in Geneva; 
o providing exposure to ongoing activities in the Secretariat, which will assist officials 
in enhancing their understanding of the f unctioning of the WTO and the MTS, and 
providing relevant policy advice to the governments; 
o facilitating the implementation of Member's commitments in the WTO; and 
o contributing to the achievement of the goals of the DDA, and more specifically, 
those set out in the Decision of the General Council in A ugust 2004 (the "July 
Package"). 
108. The year 2008 was the fourth and initially fina l year of operation of the NTP under the Terms 
of Reference (TORs) of the MOU. At the end of 2008, the MOU was renewed for another period of four years. During its lifespan, a total of some 200 applications were received and reviewed by the 
selection committee, 49 candidates were retained from  44 different countries (Cf. Annex 2).  In the 
Autumn 2008, another eleven candidates were selected  for 2009. In terms of regional distribution of 
participants under the NTP, as can be seen from gr aphs 8 and 9, most trainees came from Africa (31 
or 64 per cent), followed by Asia (ten or 20 per cen t), Latin America and the Caribbean (three or six 
per cent), Central Eastern Europe (three or six per cent) and Arab and the Middle East countries (two 
or four per cent).  Particular attention was given to LDCs (Cf. graphs 10 and 11) who had the largest 
number of trainees (31 or 63 per cent).  Most trainees stayed for 10 months.  The largest intake took 
place in 2006, with a total of 16 NTPs. 
109. It is recalled that the NTP is designed in a ma nner to build in-country capacity in the most 
effective ways, to assist in the economic and soci al development of LDCs, low income countries and 
comparable poor, small and vulnerable economies in areas related to trade policy.  It thus provides 
officials with a direct opportunity to learn about matters dealt with within the WTO, under the 
direction of staff members of the WTO.  Under th e terms of reference of the Programme, particular 
attention is given to African countries.    WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 27 
 
 
Graph 8 
Netherlands Trainee Programme (2005-2008) 
Number of interns over 4 years 
31
10
323
05101520253035
Africa Asia CEECAC MENA Latin America
and Caribbe an
 
Graph 9 
Netherlands Trainee Programme (2005-2008) 
Relative Share  per region 
64%20%6%4%6%Africa
Asia
CEECAC
MENA
Latin America and
Caribbean
 
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 28  
 
Graph 10 
Netherlands Trainee Programme (2005-2008) 
Number of interns from LDCs 
31
18
0246810121416182022242628303234
LDCs OTHERS
 
 
Graph 11 
 
Netherlands Trainee Programme (2005-2008) 
Relative share of LDCs  
63%37%
LDCs
OTHERS
 
  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 29 
 
 
(b) The Mission Intern Programme (MIP) 
110. This Programme was developed in early 2001 ; the main objectives are similar to the ones 
contained in the NTP, but the programme is g eared towards providing support to Geneva-based 
missions.  The candidates work in their own country Mission in Geneva and not in the WTO Secretariat, and can represent their country in the va rious bodies within the WTO.  This Programme is 
available primarily to missions of  LDCs and small and vul nerable economies.  Since resources for this 
Programme are limited, preference is given to count ries with the least number of staff in Geneva.  
Requests for Mission interns should be addressed to the Director of ITTC.  A total of 44 officials have been recruited under this programme from 23 different  countries (cf. Table 3).  In terms of regional 
distribution, most interns provided support to Afri can missions (25 or 57 per cent), followed by Latin 
America (eleven or 25 per cent), Asia and Pacific Economies (seven or 16 per cent) and the Arab and 
Middle East Countries (one or two per cent) (cf. Gr aph 12).  In line with the main objective of the 
programme, LDCs benefited mostly from the programme s (Cf. Graph 13), with a total of 25 interns or 
57 per cent.   
 
Table 3 
Mission Intern Programme (2001-2008) 
List of interns  
 
Country Interns 
Bangladesh 2 
Benin 2 
Bolivia 4 
Burundi 1 
Cambodia 1 
El Salvador 3 
Guinea 2 
Kenya 4 
Lesotho 3 
Mali 1 
Mauritania 1 
Mauritius 1 
Mongolia 1 
Nepal 2 
Nigeria 1 
Nicaragua 3 
Rwanda 2 
Tanzania 2 
Uganda 3 
Uruguay 1 
Vietnam 1 
Yemen 1 
Zambia 2 
Total 44 
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 30  
 
Graph 12 
Mission Intern Programme (2001-2008) 
Relative share per region  
 
57%
18%25% Africa
Asia & Pacific
Latin America &
Caribbean
 
 
 
Graph 13 
Mission Intern Programme (2001-2008) 
Number of interns from LDCs 
1925
051015202530
Others LDCs
 
  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 31 
 
 
 
(c) The WTO Regional Coordinator Internship (RCI) 
111. In this Programme, the mission of a rotating c oordinator of each of nine designated groups is 
eligible to have an intern, paid by  the WTO, for a period of six months, without extension .  At the end 
of six months, the system will rotate to the next designated group coordinato r of the nine identified 
groupings (groups select their rotating coordinators).   These groups are:  the ACP – both the Geneva 
Secretariat and the office of the rotating count ry coordinator, the WTO African Group, the 
CARICOM, the Group of Latin America and Ca ribbean Countries (GRULAC), the South Asian 
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the WTO LDCs’ Consultative Group, the Informal 
Group of Developing Countries, the Arab Group and, the Pacific Islands Forum. 
112. The internship system is strictly limited to th ese nine groupings.  A total of 28 officials have 
been funded under this programme (Cf. Tabl e 4), providing support to 17 missions. 
 
Table 4 
Regional Coordinator Internship – List of Coordinators 
 
Country Interns 
ACP Mission 8 
Bangladesh 1 
Belize 1 
Benin 2 
Côte d'Ivoire 1 
Egypt 1 
India   1 
Jamaica 1 
Lesotho 2 
Mauritius 1 
Morocco  1 
Pacific Islands Forum 1 
Rwanda 2 
Sri Lanka 1 
St.Kitts and Nevis 1 
Trinidad and Tobago 2 
Uganda 1 
Total of interns  28 
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 32  
 
Graph 14 
The WTO Regional Coordinator Internship – Regional distribution 
29%
39%0%14%18%0%
ACP Mission
Africa
Arab & Middle East Countries
Asia & Pacific Economies
Caribbean
Latin America
 
 
113. The strongest support has again been given to LDCs, with a total of 17 interns thus 
representing 61 per cent of the total intake under this programme. 
(d) A Broad Appreciation of the Trainee Programmes 
114. All trainees are fully associated with the Co mmittee work and relevant WTO meetings and 
are encouraged to participate in all meetings and tr aining events organized at the Secretariat.  These 
include the meetings of the Ge neral Council, Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), CTD, Council 
meetings (Goods, TRIPS, Services), and DDA related m eetings etc.  The trainees are often required to 
prepare inputs into the work of the divisions, including notes by the Secretariat in support of the negotiations and/or ongoing committee work.  The tr ainees prepare studies and make topic-based 
presentations to colleagues in the Secretariat to  test their ideas and knowledge with a view of 
receiving feedback for further study and analysis.  Mission interns write reports for capitals.  This is 
considered to contribute to developing specifi c technical knowledge, a good command of the subject, 
but also a better understanding of the process of the negotiations, the dynamics as well as interaction 
with the delegations. 
115. One specific task assigned to most trainees rela tes to the completion of their national Needs 
Assessment for TA  requirements which is a prior ity area for WTO Members, particularly the donors, 
so as to ensure that the national requests are based on analysis.  Since the launching of the 
Programme, a large number of needs assessments ha ve been prepared and/or are underway.  Such 
needs assessments have  also been undertaken in conjunction with a country's TPR. 
116. Some trainees have worked with the TPRD in support of preparing their country's TPR, 
others provide support in the accession process, including in the drafting of a Services Schedules of 
Commitments and/or making offers.  Trainees from recently acceded countries largely assist in the 
implementation of their WTO obligations, including notif ications.  Also, one of their main objectives  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 33 
 
 
was to enhance their understanding of specific WT O Agreements.  Some trainees have worked on 
highly specific issues, including tariff schedules for their countries. 
117. The trainees have been actively involved in the thinking of policy-related issues, particularly 
on the recommendations that emerged from the Strategic Review Process of WTO's TRTA, e.g. how to ensure further strengthening local capacity in  beneficiary countries, including through a proper 
follow up to the delivery of TRTA, following the co nclusion of a training event;  how to ensure that 
all relevant information, knowledge and experience is equally shared  with all stakeholders; how to 
conduct a more effective selection process for partic ipants to TRTA activities; how to render the 
delivery of TRTA more effective at the country level;  how to train trainers, build interactive networks 
to share best practices etc.  The trainees have been  asked to prepare reports on their traineeship and 
reflect ideas for improvements that could be made to the implementation of the programme. 
118. The trainees were encouraged to participate in all relevant training events, both of a broader 
nature and more specifically on certain topics, including those provided by the ITTC on the DSU, 
SPS, Notifications etc..  In many cases this allowed the trainees to resolve issues that could not be 
addressed adequately from the capital.  Most of the trainees have attended the so called 'Geneva 
Weeks' as well as any other relevant topic based WTO symposia and conferences, including the 
public Symposium for Non-Governmental Organizati ons (NGOs) and Civil Society.  Trainees have 
been encouraged to attend meetings at other organi zations and participate in relevant training events. 
Several trainees have thus established contacts with  the ITC, with UNCTAD, WIPO, but equally with 
the ACWL, with AITIC etc.. and attended meetings at those organizations and for benefited from 
training. 
119. The mere fact that trainees had the possibility  of attending WTO as well as other, outside 
meetings, including the General Council, the 
TNC and any other relevant meetings in relation to the 
DDA was considered an invaluable advantage.  Althoug h the impact is hard to quantify, it is generally 
felt that this is one of the main benefits of the intern programmes, i.e. for the trainees to get first hand 
exposure to the negotiating process and experience th e intricacies and dynamics of the negotiations.  
It helps understand the difficulties involved in building consensus, not only from a political 
perspective, but also as a result of the complexity of the issues at stake and the technicalities in each 
specific field.  These can hardly be fully appreciated from capital. WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 34  
 
VII. FINANCIAL SITUATION 
120. Like in previous years, the activities covered in the TA Plan are budgeted at some CHF 30 
million, partly financed from the regular budge t and partly through the DDAGTF.  The real 
expenditures in 2008 amount to nearly CHF 23 m illion, of which CHF 17 million was covered from 
the DDAGTF and CHF 5,5 million from the regular budge t.  For a broad overview of contributions 
and expenditures over the last four years, Tables 5, 6 and Annex 3 provide further insights.  It can be 
noted that incoming funds have roughly matched the e xpenditures over the last three years.  What the 
table does not show is the timing of the incoming moneys, which actually occur in the course of the year.  This makes planning of TRTA activities hard er and also has implied the deferral or even 
cancellation of activities, if the corresponding amounts were not in the bank accounts. 
121. It is recalled that the DDAGTF was estab lished in December 2001, pursuant to the 
commitment contained in paragraph 40 of the D oha Declaration, to finance TA programmes and 
training activities for developing and LDCs as well as economies in transition.  One of the purposes 
for creating a global fund was to consolidate the extra-budgetary funds in one single un-earmarked fund, so as to provide a solid and stable financ ial basis for the delivery of a global programme.  
Following the finalization of the TA Plan 2008-200 9 in Autumn 2007, the General Council approved 
the recommended target amount of CHF 24 million for the planned volume of TA to be financed from 
the DDAGTF in 2008, thus maintaining the cost of  the TA Plan at the same level since 2003. 
122. Implementation of the activities under the DDAGTF is  subject to the availability of financial 
resources, which rely on voluntary contributions.  It is recalled that, in order to ensure a smooth 
implementation of the TA Plan from the beginning of the year, timely and adequate levels of funding 
are required.  Most activities to  be financed under the DDAGTF, a nd more specifically 'big item' 
programmes, e.g. regional seminars undertaken by the WTO or in partnership with other 
organizations and RTPCs, require advance planning of at least 3 months, if not more.  Under the 
financial rules, activities can only be  committed to, if the financing is received in the bank. Given the 
uncertainties about the timely receipt of incoming fu nds, it was decided to defer the organization of 
the more costly regional seminars to the Spri ng/early Summer and to focus more on the national 
activities at the beginning of the year, which are essentially financed from the regular budget. 
123. The period benchmarks rega rding the funding of the DDAGTF, as established by the 
Members, were as follows: (i) by 31 December of  the year preceding the fund's revolving annual 
target period, contributions amounting to 25 per cent  of the total estimated costs of the TA Plan 
should be in the bank, (ii) by 31 March, another 50  per cent for an overall 75 per cent of the total, and 
(ii) by 30 June, 100 per cent of the funds needed.   Unfortunately, the benchmarks were missed, once 
again, thus creating uncertainty whether the implementation of some activities under the DDAGTF 
could be maintained.  Regrettably, this issue of timely funding remains unresolved, despite the various 
initiatives taken by the Secretariat to solve this. It will  again have the attention of the Secretariat in the 
course of the year 2009.  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 35 
 
 
Table 5 
DDAGTF (CHF) 
  2005   2006   2007 2008 
Brought forward from previous year 5,457,688   7,584,845   7,266,603 7,778,416 
Contributions receive d 17,528,283 (*) 18,187,859   18,701,871  18,575,868 
Transfers from/to other funds -150,000   -225,000   281,163 0 
Interest earned 65,172    107,327    212,821  221,935  
Total funds 22,901,143   25,655,031   26,462,458 26,576,219 
Total expenditures 15,316,298  (**)  18,388,428    18,684,042  17,034,786  
Balance to be carried forward 7,584,845   7,266,603   7,778,416 9,541,433 
       
(*)   Sweden 2005 contribution received in December 2004 = CHF 768,060    
       This brings the total funds up to CHF 23,669,203.      (**) Commitments for 2005 activities in 2004 accounts = CHF 3,767,511           This brings the total expenditure up to CHF 19,083,809.     
 
 
Table 6  
EARMARKED FUNDS FOR DDAGTF (CHF) 
  2005   2006   2007 2008 
Brought forward from previous year - Spain 0   181,670   224,768   
Brought forward from previous year - Finland 951,029   694,290       
Contributions received - Spain 49 3,760   532,8 36       
Contributions received - Finland 693, 450   788,500       
Transfers from/to other funds - Spain 100,902       -224,768   
Transfers from/to other funds - Finland             
Interest earned - Spain 4,458   9,382       
Interest earned - Finland 13,652    17,946        
Total funds - Spain and Finland 2, 257,252   2,224,624   0   
Total expenditures - Spain 417,451   499,120       
Total expenditures - Finland 963,841    1,500,737        
Total expenditures - Spain and Finland 1,381,292   1,999,857   0   
Balance to be carried forward 875,960   224,768 (*) 0   
       
(*) Transferred to DDAGTF and earmarked Spanish fund closed in 2007.    
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 36  
 
ANNEX 1
 
 
Overview of the TRTA Provided by Plan Chapter 
 Biennial Plan Chapters National 
TA Regional Global Other 
(Conferences, 
etc.) Total 
A  General WTO-related TA 
and Training 18 33% 22 40% 15 27% 55 11%
A 1.  TPCs 6 27% 4 18% 12 55% 22 4%
A 1. (i) Geneva-based (TPC) 4 100%   4 1%
A 1. (ii) RTPCs and 
preparatory workshops 6 33% 0 0% 12 67% 18 4%
A 2.  Geneva-based introduction 
courses 21 0 0 %   2 0 %
A 3.  Geneva-based thematic 
courses 41 0 0 %   4 1 %
A 4.  WTO introduction days 3 100%   3 1%
A 5.  Geneva Week 0 0% 2 100% 2 0%
A 6.  Geneva-based topic-
specific symposia 8 89% 1 11% 9 2%
A 7.  Advisory role on legal 
issues (Art. 27.2 of DSU) 11 0 0 %   1 0 %
A 8.  Regional and sub-regional 
capacity-building 
programmes( STPCs) 12 100%   12 2%
B  Specialised & Advanced 
Training & TA 148 71% 58 28% 3 1%   209 42%
B 1.  Geneva-based specialised 
courses 31 0 0 %   3 1 %
B 2.  National TA activities 148 99% 1 1%   149 30%
B 2. (i) National topic-specific 
activities 122 100%   122 25%
B 2. (ii) Technical Assistance 
within the trade policy 
review mechanism (TPRM) framework 23 96% 1 4%   24 5%
B 2. (iii) Assisting beneficiaries 
in conducting needs 
assessment1    
B 2. (iv) Reference Centres 3 100% 0 0%   3 1%
B 3.  Regional Seminars 43 100%   43 9%
                                                      
1 Assisting beneficiaries in condu cting Needs Assessment does not require missions per se, and is 
mostly taken care of through the Ne therlands Trainee Progra mme, the TA missions within the Trade Policy 
Review Mechanism Framework,  and other national activities .  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 37 
 
 
 Biennial Plan Chapters National 
TA Regional Global Other 
(Conferences, 
etc.) Total 
B 3. (i) Agriculture 4 100%   4 1%
B 3. (ii) Dispute settlement 2 100%   2 0%
B 3. (iii) Government 
Procurement (Plurilateral 
Agreement on) 31 0 0 %   3 1 %
B 3. (iv) Non-Agriculture 
Market Access (NAMA) 71 0 0 %   7 1 %
B 3. (ix) TBT 3 100%   3 1%
B 3. (v) Regional Trade 
Agreements 31 0 0 %   3 1 %
B 3. (vi) Rules 2 100%   2 0%
B 3. (vii) SPS 2 100%   2 0%
B 3. (viii) Services 4 100%   4 1%
B 3. (x) T & Development 3 100%   3 1%
B 3. (xi) T & Environment 3 100%   3 1%
B 3. (xii) Trade Facilitation  3 100%   3 1%
B 3. (xiii) TRIPs 4 100%   4 1%
B 4.  Advanced training 
programme for senior 
government officials 31 0 0 %   3 1 %
B 5.  Intensive course on trade 
negotiations skills 61 0 0 %   6 1 %
B 6.  Outreach activities for 
Parliamentarians and Civil 
Society 51 0 0 %   5 1 %
C  Academic Support for 
Training and Capacity-building: an Integrated 
Approach 10 59% 3 18% 2 12% 2 12% 17 3%
C 2.  University programme 10 67% 3 20% 0 0% 2 13% 15 3%
C 2. (i) Follow-up to RTPCs 
(Phase II)   
C 2. (ii) Workshops for 
University Professors 3 75% 1 25% 4 1%
C 2. (iii) National workshops 10 91% 1 9% 11 2%
C 3.  Doctoral studies 0 0% 0 0% 1 100%   1 0%
C 5.  Research collaboration 
Economic Research and Statistics Division (ERSD) 00 % 00 % 1 1 0 0 %   1 0 %WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 38  
 
 Biennial Plan Chapters National 
TA Regional Global Other 
(Conferences, 
etc.) Total 
D  Trainee Programmes2 
and Internships 31 0 0 %   3 1 %
D 1.  Netherlands Trainee 
Programme 11 0 0 %   1 0 %
D 2.  WTO regional coordinator 
internship 11 0 0 %   1 0 %
D 3.  WTO mission internship 1 100%   1 0%
E  ELearning Programme 32 100%   32 6%
E 1.  eTraining: online courses 
(incl. enhancement and 
misc.) 23 100%   23 5%
E 2.  Self-training modules: 
computer-based training modules 61 0 0 %   6 1 %
E 3.  State of Play briefing 3 100%   3 1%
F  Other Programmes and 
Support Activities 76 64% 7 6% 0 0% 35 30% 118 24%
F 2.  Programme activities 76 64% 7 6% 35 30% 118 24%
F 2. (ii) (Enhanced) IF 27 87% 2 6% 2 6% 31 6%
F 2. (iii) STDF 8 17% 5 11% 33 72% 46 9%
F 2. (viii) Trade facilitation 
needs and priorities 41 100%   41 8%
G  Participation in conferences 62 100% 62 13%
 Grand total 234 47% 86 17% 62 13% 114 23% 496 100%
 
                                                      
2 Each Trainee Programme is reported as one "ac tivity" irrespective of the number of trainees under 
each programme.  WT/COMTD/W/168 
 Page 39 
 
 
ANNEX 2  
 
Netherlands Trainee Programme – 2005 to 2008 – List of candidates 
Country Status Region Number of 
trainees Year 
Afghanistan LDC Asia 1 2007 
Angola LDC Africa 1 2006 
Armenia Low Income CEECAC 1 2005 
Bangladesh LDC Asia 1 2006 
Benin LDC Africa 1 2006 
Bhutan LDC Asia 1 2005 
Burkina Faso LDC Africa 2 2007 & 2008 
Burundi LDC Africa 1 2005 
Cambodia LDC Asia 1 2007 
Central African Rep LDC Africa 1 2006 
Chad LDC Africa 1 2008 
Congo Dem. Rep. LDC Africa 1 2008 
Côte d'Ivoire Low Income Africa 1 2008 
Djibouti LDC Africa 1 2006 
Gambia LDC Africa 1 2007 
Guinea LDC Africa 1 2005 
Guinea-Bissau LDC Africa 1 2007 
Kenya Low Income Africa 1 2005 
Kyrgyz Rep. Low Income CEECAC 2 2006 & 2008 
Laos LDC Asia 2 2005 & 2008 
Lebanon High Income Arab Middle East 1 2005 
Lesotho LDC Africa 1 2005 
Madagascar LDC Africa 1 2007 
Malawi LDC Africa 1 2006 
Mali LDC Africa 2 2006 & 2007 
Mauritania LDC Africa 1 2005 
Mongolia Low Middle Asia 1 2005 
Namibia Lower Middle Africa 1 2005 
Nepal LDC Asia 1 2006 
Niger LDC Africa 1 2008 
Paraguay Low Middle Latin America & Caribbean 1 2006 
Rwanda LDC Africa 1 2006 
Senegal LDC Africa 1 2006 
Sierra Leone LDC Africa 1 2006 
St Kitts & Nevis High Income Latin America & Caribbean 1 2005 
St Lucia High Income Latin America & Caribbean 1 2007 
Sudan LDC Africa 1 2006 
Swaziland Low Middle Africa 1 2008 
Tonga Low Middle Asia 1 2006 
Uganda LDC Africa 2 2005 & 2008 
Vanuatu LDC Asia 1 2006 
Yemen LDC Arab Middle East 1 2007 
Zambia LDC Africa 1 2005 
Zimbabwe Low Income Africa 1 2005 
Total 49   
 WT/COMTD/W/168 
Page 40  
 
ANNEX 3
 
 
DDAGTF (CHF)  
2005 2006 2007 2008  Total  
Members   TDDA4   TDDA6   TDDA7   TDDA8   DDAGTF  
Australia 468,306 228,125 735,875 986,050  2,418,356 
Austria 311,240 310,550 320,780 322,320  1,264,890 
Belgium                           - 
Canada 709,275 500,501 415,000 404,621  2,029,397 
China (People's Republic)       205,600  205,600 
Czech Republic 76,173 76,173 87,265 87,288  326,899 
Denmark 1,247,127 743,050 758,027 205,779  2,953,983 
Estonia   15,282 32,038 49,425  96,745 
European Commission   717,300 1,669,450 1,513,520  3,900,270 
France   1,195,500     1,195,500 
Finland     619,500 1,347,225  1,966,725 
Germany 2,652,714 2,608,000 1,627,000  1,566,000  8,453,714 
Greece                           - 
Hong-Kong, China     300,000   300,000 
Iceland 60,000 120,000 60,000   240,000 
Ireland 468,000 786,000 1,000,700 1, 547,000  3,801,700 
Italy 1,248,000   607,840   1,855,840 
Japan 1,151,398 708,934 648,499 489,316 2,998,147 
Korea 240,000 248,000 427,000 359,800  1,274,800 
Latvia     11,200   11,200 
Liechtenstein 20,000 40,000 40,000 40,000  140,000 
Lithuania   46,087 220,000   266,087 
Luxembourg 385,750   722,250 771,500  1,879,500 
Netherlands 1,295,349 1,395,349 1,395,349  1,472,990  5,559,037 
New Zealand 214,750   234,450   449,200 
Nigeria                           - 
Norway 1,931,621 2,006,421 1,994,414  2,005,214  7,937,670 
Poland                           - 
Romania     165,200 79,450  244,650 
Slovak Republic       60,000  60,000 
Spain     573,650 571,550  1,145,200 
Sweden 2,712,080 2,662,400 2,852,720  2,697,280  10,924,480 
Switzerland       800,000  800,000 
Taipei (Chinese)   227,480     227,480 
Turkey     60,000 50,000  110,000 
UK 1,120,500 2,323,000     3,443,500 
USA 1,216,000 1,229,707 1,123, 664 943,940  4,513,311 
WTO Members                           - 
Total 17,528,283 18,187,859 18,701,871 18,575,868  72,993,881 
NOTE:  Sweden Paid in Dec 2004 768,060       768,060 
Earmarked for TA (GTF)           
TES01 to 06    Spain 493,760 532,836     1,026,596 
TFI01   to 03    Finland 693,450 788,500     1,481,950 
Total 1,187,210 1,321,336 0 0 2,508,546 
__________