WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/AFT/W/17 
9 June 2006 
 (06-2788) 
Aid for Trade Task Force  
  
 
 
SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS FROM INTER-GOVERNMENTAL  
ORGANIZATIONS: AID FOR TRADE TASK FORCE 
 
Compilation by the Secretariat
 
 
   
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The following document summarizes the contribu tions that were submitted to the WTO Aid 
for Trade Task Force by interna tional agencies and regional developm ent banks in response to written 
questions sent by the Task Force Chair (see WT/A FT/W/2-7, 9, 11, 13, a nd 15). This compilation 
aims to bring together these responses in a concise and accessible format. 
1. What is the current scope and content of your Aid for Trade programmes?  
World Bank 
2. At the country level: Diagnostic work, investme nt lending and technical assistance for trade, 
budget support lending for programmes of trade refo rms including adjustment to shocks. "Capacity 
building is often carried out in the context of larg er investment operations, or is delivered through the 
World Bank Institute."  
3. Lessons learned: "Potential of integration requir es countries to develop a coherent strategy for 
enhancing competitiveness and using trade opportunities as an engine of grow th. Results were better 
in those cases where reforms were comprehensiv e and the macroeconomic and business environment 
was capable of supporting a supply side resp onse to the new incentive framework. ....A 
comprehensive approach now being pursued under th e Integrated Framework (IF) is a good way to 
go. The World Bank also highlights the need for very strong coordination across sectors for implementation."   
International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
4. The IMF's scope on Aid for Trade includes the Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM), 
Financial support through the Exogenous Shocks Faci lity, diagnostic support and policy dialogue. The 
IMF provides "technical assistance for customs and tax reform, including in the context of trade 
facilitation.  ...Where there is no request for financin g, the Fund stands ready nevertheless to assist in 
diagnosing the problem, discussing possible policy responses with the authorities, and helping to 
explore the case for financial support from other – e.g., concessional – sources."  This document has been pre pared under the Secretariat's 
own responsibility and without prejudice to the positions of 
Members  and to  their rights and obligations under the WTO WT/AFT/W/17 
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  United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD ) 
5. "UNCTAD has a wide-ranging experience and credibility amongst the whole spectrum of 
developing countries on trade and development capac ity-building.  ....The scale and scope of [its
] 
activities provides [its ] secretariat with a unique capacity to provide developing countries with 
appropriate and customized trade-related assistance." UNCTAD provides trade policy formulation 
and coordination, carries out impact and needs assess ments, helps developing countries with trade 
negotiations, supports adjustment to trade reform , assists with supply capacity, competitiveness and 
trade-related infrastructure-building.  
6. Lessons learned: "There are se veral key elements for maximi zing the impact of technical 
assistance and capacity-building on the ground. Tr aining activities are essential to empower trade-
related institutions in developing countries. Incr eased efforts are needed to improve trade-related 
"global public goods", such as trade databases and an alytical tools, that could help developing 
countries to better assess the opportunities offered by the international trading system. There needs to 
be more dialogue, customized Trade Related Te chnical Assistance and country-specific needs 
assessment." 
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 
7. "UNDP's fundamental objective is to support th e process of capacity building across a broad 
range of sectors, including trade. UNDP also ha s a mandate to promote human development." "Its 
current scope on trade and development includes deal ing with supply side and other national capacity 
constraints, assisting developing countries to im prove the capacity to negotiate, interpret and 
implement trade agreements and to mainstream trade policy in national development strategies, 
including, where relevant, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers."  
8. Lessons learned: There is a need for "country ownership and articulati on of a coherent and 
well-coordinated national trade strategy with priority  on value-added industrial activities. This also 
requires strong in-country institutional as well as hu man capacity.  ....There can be a two-way positive 
relationship between human devel opment and trade and the objective of trade policy should be to 
ensure such a virtuous relationship."  
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 
9. UNIDO's scope encompasses competitiveness, c onformity and connectivity and takes a 
comprehensive approach to the trade-related require ments of developing countries. "[There is a need 
to] explain the importance of the technical infrastru cture related to quality, metrology and conformity 
testing of products." Through this there are pot entially major benefits for domestic markets and 
consumers. "The penetration of regional and global markets is essen tially a joint venture between the 
public and private sectors."  
International Trade Centre (ITC) 
10. "The totality of the International Trade Centre 's (ITC) work is meant to serve as Aid for 
Trade. ITC's contribution to the Aid for Trade initia tive under consideration is mainly in the area of 
trade-related technical assistance, but also includ es a policy contribution. The ITC aims to foster 
international competitiveness within  the business community, facilitate the integration of developing 
and transition economy firms into the multilateral trading system, support national efforts to design 
and implement trade development strategies, stre ngthen key trade support services, both public and 
private, and improve export performance in sect ors of critical importance and opportunity." 
11. Lessons learned:  "Technical assistance works best  when it is requested by and influenced in 
its design by recipients themselves.  ....All kinds of  needs assessment, and development of strategies  WT/AFT/W/17 
 Page 3 
 
 
  in the trade field, can only be done in a mean ingful and sustainable way through inclusive and 
consultative processes – in which the private sector  must play a vital part. The business community – 
the true exporters – need pragmatic technical assi stance and have little time for theories about optimal 
conditions for trade.  ....In addition to TRTA aime d at building export skills, developing countries are 
demanding more and more help in enhancing competitiveness, designing and implementation of 
export strategies and basic knowledge  about WTO rules, all of which are ITC specialties.  ....Better 
business and government dialogue is essential in achieving results with TRTA. Greater awareness of the potential of business advocacy help s the business sector of the deve loping world to keep faith in 
the multilateral trading system."  
Asian Development Bank (ADB) 
12. "Between 1987 and 2005, ADB has provided lo ans amounting to $730.2 million for projects 
that were classified as "Trade". Since 1988, ADB has also provided technical assistance of around 
$14.6 million (from all grant sources) for trade projects." 
African Development Bank (AfDB) 
13. "The AfDB attaches great importance to trade and regional integration in Africa, and it has 
been engaged in a number of trade-related t echnical assistance and capacity building activities 
including supporting domestic reforms in its Regiona l Member Countries, in providing direct support 
for private sector development, and running releva nt training courses. The Bank strives to support 
regional cooperation and integration efforts by fi nancing multinational projects, and by helping to 
strengthen regional economic communities."  
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 
14. "In order to strengthen trade flows both within  the region and with other regions, the EBRD 
has established a Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP)."  "EBRD also invests heavily in many sectors 
directly related to trade including the transport sector which is crucial for the development of the 
economies and markets of our countries of operati on. In collaboration with the World Bank, we 
regularly conduct surveys of the business environmen t in our region – this includes specific questions 
on the perceptions of business on the trade infrastructure."  
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) 
15. "The IADB is the main source of multilateral development finance in Latin American and the 
Caribbean." In recent years the IADB has devoted a growing share of its financing to trade-related 
assistance. The IADB has launched several broad initiatives to support the institution's efforts to 
deliver aid for trade more effectively. These incl ude infrastructure initiatives aimed specifically at 
supporting the region's intra-regional and global integra tion. There is a growing need for trade-related 
assistance to address the broader aid-for-trade ag enda. In particular, such assistance should 
increasingly help countries eliminate supply-side constraints that inhibit them from realizing the opportunities of trade liberalization and that weaken  their capacity to respond efficiently to trade-
related adjustment shocks."  
2. Are there, in your view, outstanding import ant trade-related needs that are not met 
today? 
World Bank  
16. "The Bank and the IMF concluded that the ex isting instruments and delivery mechanisms 
(multilateral and bilateral) on Aid for Trade coul d provide the policy guida nce and financial support 
required for countries who wanted to make trade inte gration and growth an important element of their WT/AFT/W/17 
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  national development strategies. However a str onger engagement and perhaps new mechanisms 
would be desirable in enhancing the Integrated Fr amework. The establishment of a larger Trust Fund 
would be subject to improvements in country owne rship as well as enhancements in the IF structure 
and governance and include extension to other low-income countries on the understanding that 
benefits for LDCs should not be di minished.  ....The Bank, in cooperation with the Fund, is examining 
the extent to which regional and cross-country  needs are being adequately met by existing 
mechanisms and whether there is a need for new ones."  
17. There is a need to strengthen the framework  for assessing adjustment needs. This would 
involve, "assessing the nature and magnitude of any adjustment need and working with recipient 
countries to design policies aimed at addressing key ob stacles to trade expansion." Assistance can be 
provided under existing mechanisms (e.g., Bank and Fund lending, including, in the case of the IMF, 
the TIM) and, "where a country is found to be su ffering particularly severe adjustment costs, to 
coordinate with other donors to bring an additional package of assist ance, in the form of grants or 
loans as appropriate."  
IMF 
18. "The joint Bank-Fund Development Committee paper on Aid for Trade in September 2005 
suggests that there may be potentially deserving dema nds in two areas that go unmet."  First, it sets 
out reasons for why "cross-border and regional trade -related projects might attract limited funding in 
an aid process driven by national priorities."  Second, "follow-up capacity-building priorities and demand for project preparation work identified in Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS) have 
often drawn a slow donor response." 
UNCTAD 
19. "The most critical trade-related needs not being met are Trade-Related Supply Capacity-
Building measures including institutional and physical infrastructure, strengthening productive capacities and competitiveness and assistance with tr ade policy and negotiatio n.  ....Implementation 
and adjustment costs arising from the Doha R ound outcome also need to be addressed."  
UNDP 
20. "While there are various bilateral and multilate ral initiatives on trade capacity building (and 
these need to be scaled-up), the fiscal and other adju stment and implementation costs of trade reforms 
and agreements, including the impact of trade liberalization on the poor and an assessment of 
compensation schemes, have not been adequately addressed. In addition, national and cross-border 
trade-related infrastructure needs of developing c ountries have not been adequately met so far."  
UNIDO 
21. UNIDO stressed the "stringent standards and conformity requirements in agro-food." "There 
is a lack of focus on standards, testing, quality a nd conformity." "The success of  trade liberalization 
will be limited and effective participation limited unless supply side and conformity issues such as 
TBT/SPS and Standards Metrology, Testing an d Quality (SMTQ) capacity development are 
addressed." 
ITC 
22. Existing trade and international financing c onditions require urgent  amelioration. "More 
effective marketing (and sourcing) strategies should be conducted on th e basis of an assessment of 
trade opportunities at the regional and global level. It will imply a mental change of outlook from domestic to international markets.  ….If trad e for development is to succeed, and if trade  WT/AFT/W/17 
 Page 5 
 
 
  diversification is to be achieved, exporters and im porters in developing countries need to be able to 
draw on the tools of Trade-Related Technical Assi stance. For the majority of small- and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) located in developing count ries and isolated from the major trading routes, 
this is a major challenge."  
ADB 
23. "ADB, together with the Japanese Bank for In ternational Constructi on and the World Bank, 
have pointed to serious infrastructure gaps in the Asia and Pacific region, including those linked to 
trade."  
AfDB 
24. "Increased aid for trade resources will be devoted  to reducing the high costs of doing business 
in African countries.  This will be channelled th rough increased support for trade-related reforms, 
including reforms of customs and other ag encies responsible for trade facilitation." 
3.  Has trade, as a vehicle to promote grow th, development and poverty reduction, been 
adequately addressed in countries' Deve lopment Plans and Poverty Reduction 
Strategies? If not, what are the main reasons and how could this be corrected? 
World Bank 25. "The analysis of the Bank and the IMF showed that for the 61 countries that had completed 
their PRSPs by 2004, seventy per cent of them had PRSPs with well articulated growth strategies. In 
almost all cases, trade was a part of the strategy. Integrating trade into national development strategies 
means arriving at a balance among the different sector al priorities, of which trade is one, as well as 
achieving proper coordination and sequencing across different sectors so as to maximize the impact of 
trade-related investments and reform programmes."  
IMF 
26. "Countries with a well-articulated growth stra tegy in their PRSPs overwhelmingly included 
trade as part of that strategy. However, though more frequent in recent PRSPs, such growth (and trade) strategies continue to be absent in ma ny cases.  ....The research suggests that the DTIS 
conducted under the IF have had a positive impact on the quality of the trade discussion in subsequent 
PRSPs."  
UNCTAD 
27. "Trade needs to be better integrated into  development strategies that promote poverty 
reduction, particular in the LDCs. However, this objec tive is barely being met, as reflected in the lack 
of specific focus on trade in most Poverty Redu ction Strategy Papers. (P RSPs) This could be 
explained by serious institutional and human capacity  constraints on the ability of many countries to 
undertake in-country trade policy formulation. DTIS could link trade policy analysis and needs assessments to poverty reduction objectives in natio nal development strategies or PRSPs." "Overall, 
appropriate donor priority to this issu e and adequate funding are called for."  
UNDP 
28. "In many LDCs and other low-income countri es this has not happened as confirmed by a 
recent World Bank evaluation. From UNDP's perspec tive, there have been shortcomings with the 
analytical approach.  The way trade is treated in PRSPs and similar documents is typically limited to 
projections of export and import growth. In order to mainstream trade into poverty reduction and WT/AFT/W/17 
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  national development strategies in LDCs, key trade policy objectives need to be identified. It also 
requires that export and import growth in specific sectors and sub-sectors are appropriately sequenced 
and that implementation is coor dinated with other policy areas, e.g., macroeconomic, industrial, 
health and education, research and development and infrastructure."  
UNIDO 
29. "PRSPs have ignored trade and typically focu s on health, education and social aspects of 
development" while neglecting pro ductive sectors. NDPs and NEPAD are more balanced but external 
assistance and donor policies still neglect aspect s such as assistance to private sectors. 
ITC 
30. "The short answer is "no" and there are several reasons why trade has so far not received 
adequate attention in developmen t and poverty reduction.  ....First, the essential linkages between 
trade, development and sustainable poverty reducti on have never been properly demonstrated to 
national policy-makers.  ....Second, a nd relatedly, those involved in developing plans and programmes 
are often not people who have been involved with, or are knowledgeable about, trade.  ....Third, there 
is insufficient awareness among development agencies of the importance of international markets for 
small enterprise and thus insufficient attention to their specific needs." 
EBRD 
31. "In our experience national development pl ans such as PRSPs frequently offer little 
prioritization across and within sectors, thus maki ng integration of trade and trade infrastructure 
within such plans an important goal. This requir es governments to further develop their understanding 
of the constraints that trade capacity, po licy and infrastructure places in business." 
IADB 
32. "Broad-based dialogue is necessary to mainstream  trade into national development agendas.  
Trade ministries are often aware of the significant challenges that lie ahead, but finance or planning 
ministries may be less attuned to the specifics of those challenges given their much broader policy mandates.  As a result, they may undervalue the importance of trade for economic development, and 
of well-functioning institutions for trade developmen t. Continued efforts to integrate trade into 
country dialogue and programming are urgently needed."  
4. How in your view, should trade-related needs and priorities be identified? 
World Bank 
33. "For all those countries where trade is likely to  be an important limiting factor for growth, a 
DTIS approach can be very helpful in identifying  the best use of scarce resources to support trade 
integration."  
IMF 
34. "The comprehensive approach under the DTIS mi ght need to give way over time to a more 
flexible and targeted diagnostic capacity." 
UNCTAD 
35. "Trade-related needs and priorities should be determined in a genuinely demand-driven 
fashion. Governments could conduc t appropriate national needs assess ments, involving consultations  WT/AFT/W/17 
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  with all relevant stakeholders. Once the priorities and needs have been assessed and identified, they 
should then be endorsed by the financing mechanisms  to be set up for AfT delivery." "In the context 
of AfT, more comprehensive and in-depth assessments  could be undertaken, directed specifically at 
establishing priorities and resource needs. UNCT AD has already conducted trade-related needs 
assessments at national, regional and sectoral levels.  In the context of AfT, more comprehensive and 
in-depth assessments could be undertaken, directed specifically at establishing priorities and resource 
needs."  
UNDP 
36. "Trade-related needs and priorities can only be identified through a comprehensive analysis 
(diagnosis) of a particular country's needs and problems."  
UNIDO 
37. UNIDO has identified the key elements of te chnical infrastructure that needs to be 
functioning in each country and be available to potential exporters. These include a "national/regional 
standards/standardization body, metrology service, a certification/conformity assessment system and an accreditation system.  ....Systematic surveys should  be carried out at the country and sub-regional 
level, to identify existing facilities and their effec tiveness and on this basis, an overview of required 
assistance should be drawn up." UNIDO is currently ca rrying out an initial survey of the technical 
infrastructure, as explained above in the Africa region , and will be ready to share the results later this 
year.   
ITC 
38. "As with all development needs assessments, trade demands practical and participatory 
processes involving representatives of commercial busi ness (large and small), government agencies 
and civil society. It is imperative also to draw  on previously available needs assessments, prepared 
under such initiatives as the Diagnostic Trade Integr ation Studies of the Integrated Framework (for 
least-developed countries)."  "Similarly, the World Bank, IMF, WTO, UNCTAD, ITC and other UN and non-UN bodies have undertaken surveys of need s in developing countries, and these should be 
used as reference and built upon. Needs assessments  should address many critical facets, including 
human capacity building, institution building, ente rprise development, product development, export 
market development, physical infrastructure need s and logistics requirements and adjustment costs 
(loss-of-revenue related, or pr eference-erosion related)."  
IADB 
39. "The best way to identify a country's trade-re lated needs is through co mprehensive and broad-
based technical analysis.  The preparation of dia gnostic trade and integration studies presents several 
challenges." "Developing countries often lack the cap acity for doing their own diagnostic work and 
often there is a lack of sufficient data and ad equate methodologies for preparation of trade and 
integration studies. Effective coordination in the pr eparation of analytical work, both at the country 
level (inter-agency) and within the development agency  (inter-departmental) is crucial to ensure that 
trade strategies encompass all relevant sectors and aspects of the economy." 
5. Is the existing system of delivery mechanisms  for Aid for Trade adequate? If not, where 
are the gaps, and what options mi ght exist to address these gaps? 
World Bank 
40. "A major gap observed in multilateral trade initia tives – such as the Integrated Framework 
(IF) – concerns the lack of  ownership at the country level (b y both donor/agencies and country WT/AFT/W/17 
Page 8  
 
  authorities), as well as lack of accountability in its distributed management structure. These 
shortcomings, together with insufficient funds, he lp explain inadequate implementation of trade-
related diagnostics."  
IMF 
41. "We see the existing bilateral and multilateral delivery mechanisms largely as adequate as 
long as donors are committed to providing assistance in  this area and recipient countries give priority 
to such assistance. However, the paper argues for enhancing the IF  and extending it, or creating a 
similar approach, for poor non-LDCs. A mechanism su ch as the IF can help with operationalizing Aid 
for Trade requests by developing countries, and w ith ensuring that the issue receives adequate 
attention at the national policy level (the "dema nd side")." "There should be a WTO based peer 
review mechanism."  
UNCTAD 
42. UNCTAD distinguishes between funding and im plementation mechanisms. "Given the 
multiplicity of programmes, the obvious and most acknowledged problem is fr agmentation and lack 
of coordination among the different players.  A second problem is the absence of a common set of 
agreed priorities to be addressed by the different players at any given time." Mechanisms: "The first 
option is to establish a "Global Trade Facility" (GTF ) of around US$5 billion, similar to the "Global 
Environment Facility".  However, doubts were expr essed as to whether key donors would support the 
creation of such a new mechanism. Second an "u mbrella facility" or "consortium" of AfT funding 
mechanisms, which would regroup existing, separate funding mechanisms into a forum to provide a 
coordinated response to country-specific needs and requests for AfT." "The third option is "business 
as usual" – building on existing Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) databases but with enhanced transparency, involving notification requi rements and more active consultation mechanisms 
among funding mechanisms, implementing agencies and beneficiaries."  
UNDP 
43. "We have observed that, often, many trade-re lated technical assistance programmes and 
projects are disconnected from one another as well as from the trade and development strategies and 
policies undertaken at international and national levels. Donors are frequently not aware of one 
another's programmes and initiatives in beneficiary countries."  
UNIDO 
44. "Very limited attention has been paid to two areas critical for realizing increased (export) 
trade from developing countries:  the capacity to  produce and the ability to ensure compliance of 
products with market requirements." "Least-developed countries [have] had to learn to deal 
effectively with impediments to trade that are not related to duties or quotas." 
ITC 
45. ""Delivery" is the wrong word!  The existing system of implementation of Aid for Trade 
needs to be enhanced by ensuring stronger owne rship and deeper commitment of the beneficiary 
countries.  A major effort is required in this dir ection, in local capacity building for enhancing the 
national arrangements and constituencies in charge  of trade development and consequently, the 
capacity of the developing countries to absorb more effectively TRTA."  
 
  WT/AFT/W/17 
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  ADB 
46. "ADB is looking to more flexible delivery mechanisms for its own assistance under its 
Innovation and Efficiency Initiative."  
AfDB 
47. "The AfDB supports the creation of a Global Ai d for Trade Fund or Facility, and in view of 
the fact that African countries constitute the largest concentration of the potential beneficiaries of the 
AfT initiative, the Fund or Facility should be hea dquartered at the AfDB. If not it should allow 
regional development banks to draw  from its resources to implement trade-related priority projects, 
based on the effective demand and priorities of their regional member countries."  
IADB 
48. "In terms of institutions for managing add itional aid, the existing global and regional 
architecture appears to be adequate, at least on the supply side.  Regional development banks, in 
particular, should play a prominent role in the future delivery of aid for trade." 
6.  Is there a need for strengthening monitoring and evaluations? If yes, how can this be 
done? 
World Bank 49. "The WTO/OECD Trade Capacity Building Datab ase provides a useful point-of-departure for 
monitoring of aid-for-trade flows. Arguably, however, the biggest weakness in monitoring aid 
effectiveness lies with evaluation. While different evaluation approaches exist, impact evaluation has 
emerged as the primary way of testing the links between interventions and outcomes, comparing intervention outcomes with the counterfactual without the intervention." 
IMF 
50. "OECD/DAC already gathers information on overall commitments for trade-related 
assistance, although the scope of that information s hould be reviewed in light of the Task Force's 
definition of Aid for Trade and cover cross- border or regional projects as appropriate." 
UNCTAD 
51. "Monitoring and evaluation are key to ensuring that whatever mechanism is used, AfT will 
deliver the expected results. Mon itoring and evaluation is to be  seen at two levels: overall AfT 
disbursement and utilization of resources and deliver y of programmes;  and monitoring and evaluation 
of specific AfT projects.  ....Realistic targets and indicators of achievement should, to the extent 
possible, be identified with appropriate country-lev el management strategies and measurement tools 
to ensure country-level results."   
UNDP 
52. "There is no systematic approach for tr acking the effectiveness of Aid for Trade in 
beneficiary countries. In-depth country case studies  which assess the trends and impact of Aid for 
Trade are necessary." 
 
 WT/AFT/W/17 
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  UNIDO 
53. "Current monitoring and evaluation is adequate  but it is worthwhile to evaluate existing 
programmes at the country level in terms of impact, i. e. in terms of actual increases in exports realized 
and the link with the interventions."  
AfDB 
54. "A monitoring body, consisting of the WT O, multilateral development banks, NGOs, and 
civil society, similar to the Africa Partnership Fo rum, should be established to ensure transparency 
and effective monitoring of pledges of AfT by donor s and utilization of AfT by recipient countries."  
EBRD  
55. "There is a continual need to collect the lessons learnt at the various levels of the international 
response on Aid for Trade. This is best done th rough strengthening core monitoring and evaluation 
undertaken by agencies, civil society, governments and others.  ....EBRD have  recently developed a 
transition impact monitoring tool to systematically assess the achievement of all our projects against initial impact success criteria."  
IADB 
56. "There is much need to strengthen this aspect of aid for trade delivery.  ....In the current 
context of serious fiscal constraints, many LAC c ountries are reluctant to borrow for projects that do 
not have an immediate or easily measurable de velopment outcome.  ....However, measuring outcome 
is very difficult in trade-related assistance, particul arly assistance related to institutional strengthening 
and capacity building. This partly owes to the difficulty of establishing baseline indicators for 
measuring progress in trade-related assistance that  is not related to physical infrastructure or 
investment.  It also owes to the difficulty of  establishing attribution in countries where many donors 
are involved in trade-related assistance."  
7. What should be the role of the private sector in identifying needs and implementing 
responses? 
World Bank 
57. "The Bank has made efforts to nurture public-p rivate partnerships as well as private sector 
associations to broaden the support for reform.  ....There are many examples of private sector 
engagement in trade-related Bank projects. The private sector can also play a critical role in providing 
relevant information on trade-relate d variables.  ....There may be un exploited opportunities to draw on 
the expertise of international ente rprises in capacity building, for example, encouraging supermarket 
chains to provide training on meeting sanitary  standards." "There may also be unexploited 
opportunities to tap private foundations as contribut ors to technical assistance trust funds."  
IMF 
58. "Although the private sector should play a critical role in identifying assistance priorities in 
the context of national Diagnostic Trade and Inte gration Studies (DTISs) workshops, as well as 
development and poverty reduction strategies, the appr oach so far has often been token, with much 
rhetoric but little actual private sector involvement.  ....Considered assessments by the private sector 
on which forms of services and support can be provi ded on a commercial basis would be particularly 
valuable." 
  WT/AFT/W/17 
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  UNCTAD 
59. "The private sector can be a beneficiary of AfT as well as a contributor in public-private 
partnerships, and enterprise de velopment should accordingly be a key AfT component. As the main 
direct beneficiary of trade facilitation the private sector can act as a partner of the government agency 
implementing the formal simplification process, partic ularly in the design of the solution. The trading 
community and the providers of trade support services can improve their commercial practices and thereby contribute to lower transaction costs and tim es.  ....The private sector has shown initiative in 
relevant, if infrequent, cases where their contributi on, both financial and in kind, has helped to 
develop advanced systems and train government of ficials in the use of modern trade-monitoring 
management techniques."  
UNDP 
60. "Private sector initiatives can be beneficial if they are properly and adequately regulated.  
....The role and capacity of the state in ensuring such regulation will be key and will need to be 
strengthened in LDCs.  This shoul d be a high priority.  ....Public-private partnerships can also be 
useful as long as the government retains its autonomy and exercises proper regulation."  
UNIDO 
61. "It is essential that the priv ate sector is involved in identifying the key obstacles, critical 
requirements as well as key potential export sectors because private sector firms will be the future 
users of these public goods. In terms of the stre ngthening of production capac ities it is the private 
sector that should realize the investments needed, find partners and access the markets.  ....One 
potentially powerful mechanism to enable small- and medium-sized enterprises to participate in 
international trade is the formation of  clusters or export consortia."    
ITC 
62. "Most of the benefits of development derive directly from the activities of the private sector, 
including the largest and the very smallest en terprises and local non-profit agencies. The private 
sector should have an equal, if not even a pre-emin ent role, in determining the development needs of a 
country.  ....For reasons of sustainability also, privat e interests must be invoked since it is they which 
principally drive the development proce ss, with or without donor support."  
ADB 
63. "Private sector investments and effective public-private partnerships, especially for 
infrastructure provision, are likely to be important in  the provision of trade-related infrastructure and 
possibly for the delivery of "softer" services too. " 
AfDB 
64. "AfDB calls for promotion and strengthening of private sector trade-related support and 
creation of an enabling environment for private sector participation." 
EBRD  
65. "The private sector are key in identifyi ng needs and in implementing responses.  
....Organizations supporting the private sector such as E BRD have an important role to play in helping 
to articulate the constraints faced by business.  ....EBRD is leading innovation in helping governments 
use the private sector to better provide transport infrastructure."  WT/AFT/W/17 
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  IADB  
66. "The private sector should play an active role in  identifying countries' trade-related needs and 
in implementing adequate responses."   
8. How should Aid for Trade reinforce the princi ples of aid effectiveness and coherence, as 
agreed in the Paris Declaration and as a embodied in individual poverty reduction 
strategies? 
World Bank 
67. "Aid for Trade should never be, or be perceived to be, "compensation" for a failure to remove 
market access barriers or subsidies in donor countri es.  ....A legitimate additional criterion to judge the 
effectiveness of aid for trade should relate to its cl ear integration with country  development strategies.  
If the national authorities decline to see trade-relate d reforms and projects as priorities for their scarce 
aid resources then aid for trade should not be promoted artificially."   
IMF 
68. "Aid for Trade needs to be firmly grounded in  the principles of development assistance, as per 
the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, a nd delivered through established mechanisms of 
development assistance.  In particular, count ry ownership should not be undermined." 
UNCTAD 
69. "The principles guiding the new AfT initia tive (namely, "secure", "additional" and 
"predictable" funding) and the Paris Declaration prin ciples should be mutually reinforcing.  ....On the 
issue of secure and predictable funding, we would also suggest that security and predictability be 
accompanied by the provision of adequate levels  of resources commensurate with the needs of 
developing countries.  ....In addition, the principle of country ownership will be critical for the success 
of the AfT initiative, and particularly for aid effectiveness."  
UNDP 
70. "Aid for Trade can reinforce the principles agreed in the Paris Declaration if it is fully aligned 
with national planning and pove rty reduction processes as a platform for policy coherence, 
coordination and delivery through direct budget support  and/or basket funding arrangements.  Aid for 
Trade should also contain provision to support nati onal capacity building to facilitate and ensure 
stakeholder participati on and coordination."  
UNIDO 
71. "The diagnostic studies conducted within the context of the Integrated Framework are 
valuable tools for promoting coherence. Strong supp ort to inter-agency programmes, that effectively 
integrate the complementary expertise and mandat es of different actors as defined before, could 
greatly reinforce the effectiveness of Aid for Tr ade. The current joint WTO/UNIDO programmes are 
a possible example of such initiatives."  
ITC 
72. "There should be a strengtheni ng of national development stra tegies, more accountability and 
transparency and strengthening international capacity. Aid for Trade programmes supported by 
donors should be fully coordinated and coherent."    WT/AFT/W/17 
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  ADB 
73. "All assistance efforts, including Aid for Trad e, should be country le d and donor support has 
to be located within broadly accepted principl es of relevance, responsiveness and results." 
AfDB 
74. "For AfT to be effective it must have an  "additionality" element involving substantial 
increases in resources, not reshuffling or substituting existing development assistance. It must also be 
predictable, transparent and well coordinated and m onitored. AfT should therefore be subjected to the 
Paris declaration principles on aid effectiveness. Af T should not be a subject of negotiation in the 
WTO but should be seen as an essenti al complement to the development dimension of an ambitious 
Doha outcome, not as a substitute to the market access negotiations."  
9. Are there other important gaps in the delivery of  Aid for Trade? 
World Bank 
75. "Tariff liberalization in and of itself is ofte n insufficient to induce growth and reduce poverty 
in the presence of infrastructure bottlenecks or cumb ersome business regulations.  On the flip side, 
streamlining regulations or building better ports alone, without addressing the incentive regime from 
trade policies, will similarly not yield the expected results.  ....There remain very large lacunae in the 
available databases of policy barriers to internationa l integration. Data and measures of the types of 
non-tariff policy barriers that are increasingly used by countries — such as antidumping and safeguard actions and excessively burdensome  product standards — are not collected on a 
comprehensive and regular basis by the WTO or  other organizations. The large gaps in our 
information hinder comparisons of country "per formance" and assessments of the direction and 
magnitude of policy changes on an annual basis. Acco rdingly, this is an area in which aid for trade 
could help in promoting a critical global public good:   better quality information on policies affecting 
international integration."  
UNCTAD 
76. "Insufficient resources are being made available on a sustained basis to meet the trade-related 
needs of developing countries. It is therefore critica l to adhere to the principle of additionality and 
adequacy in AfT. A coherent approach to AfT de livery is missing as well. This applies to country, 
donor and international agencies." 
UNDP 
77. "There should be an enhanced role for regiona l development banks in the delivery of trade 
capacity support, especially in the area of region al cross-border initiatives through innovative 'new 
public finance' delivery mechanisms which need to be prioritized because of their relative neglect so 
far. At the same time, in-country capacity to  design, implement and monitor Aid for Trade 
programmes needs to be strengthened  to ensure the sustainability of appropriate trade and 
development initiatives." 
UNIDO 
78. "Little has been done to assess the saleability of developing-country products or the 
challenges those products face in terms of complia nce and conformity. Products must demonstrable 
market compliance. In 2004, exports valued at $1. 75 billion were disrupted as they failed to comply 
with SPS, yet donors contributed only $53 million to measures to overcome those problems. Little has 
been done on assessing the costs of compliance. UNI DO has estimated that in the case of shrimp WT/AFT/W/17 
Page 14  
 
  exports to the EU, for example, the costs of EU-rela ted testing and compliance adds 2.8 per cent to the 
product cost.  Meeting quality and safety requirements set by retailers adds another 5 per cent, while 
the cost implications in terms of improving or establishing the institutional infrastructure (standards, 
metrology, testing, certification and accreditation)  in individual developing countries range from $5-
20 million depending on the export sector." 
ITC 
79. ITC identifies a number of gaps:  Improving out reach to SME's associations and the business 
community outside capital cities;  transferring quality standards requirements and implementing responses in enterprises;  directly supporting groups  of businesses to develop market offers;  support 
for the integration of indigenous SME's in exporte rs' value chains as a lever for their growth;  
development of trade financing and investment support for SME's and practical upgrading of trade 
facilitation processes;  and involvement of othe r interests – particularly non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) – in trade programmes, e.g., in the context of fair trade. 
IADB 
80. "There is a clear gap in financing for large- scale regional interventions, particularly those 
involving the public sector.  ....In terms of instruments, the Bank's experience also points to the need 
for a flexible "rapid response" facility to addr ess short-term, urgent requests from governments."   
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