WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/TF/COH/S/12 
6 March 2007 
 (07-0928) 
  
 
 
COHERENCE IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING 
 
Report (2006) by the Director-General  
 
 I. INTRODUCTION 
1. This report has been prepared pursuant to pa ragraph 2 of the General Council Decision on 
"Agreements Between the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank", to inform Members about the 
activities carried out by the WTO under its cooperati on agreements with the IMF and the World Bank. 
2. The cooperation agreements have now been in operation for a decade.  They have proved to 
be an effective framework for the expansion of ac tivities, programmes and initiatives of the three 
institutions at staff and management level, aimed at promoting coherence in global economic policy-
making.  Regular cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank has expanded in all areas of WTO 
activity outside dispute settlement, with the aim in particular of helping to  strengthen developing 
countries' capacity to expand thei r trade and to reap the benefits of their participation in the 
multilateral trading system, contributing to global  policy surveillance and analysis, and supporting 
trade liberalization and the DDA. 
3. The focus of cooperation over the past ten years has reflected the evolving economic 
priorities of the international community.  Soon af ter the adoption of the cooperation agreements, the 
focus was on managing the trade policy response to the emerging markets financial crisis.  One of the 
main challenges for the international community wa s to keep markets open so that crisis-stricken 
economies could recover by exporting.  A protectionist  backlash was viewed at the time as a credible 
threat in view of the very large currency devaluatio ns that the crisis provoked in some of the countries 
affected.  That would have seriously undermined  their economic recovery and the restoration of 
financial stability.  Close cooperation took place at  the levels of the staff and management of the 
WTO, IMF and World Bank to help bring about a coherent policy response to this major challenge for 
the global economy.  It included enhancing the surv eillance of trade policy an d calls for restraint and 
respect of WTO rules, stepped up analysis of the links between exchange rate movements and trade 
flows and of how financial services liberalizat ion could be properly sequenced and made fully 
consistent with effective prudential supervision, an d joint initiatives to increase the availability of 
trade finance to develo ping countries.   
4. Another priority for the international community  has been to improve the integration of the 
least-developed and other low-income developing countries into the world economy.  Cooperative efforts in the trade area among the WTO, IMF and World Bank, in conjunction with ITC, UNDP and UNCTAD, began following the decisions taken at the 1
st WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore 
in 1996, which focused on expanding market access for LDCs and establishing the Integrated 
Framework.  Within the overall framework of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, in particular 
eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and developing a global partnership for development, steps to 
increase the trade of low-income countries, through improved market access and capacity-building to strengthen the supply side of their economies, was combined with attention to providing debt-relief 
and increasing foreign aid and other financing for development.  Key initiatives in this regard have WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  been the IMF/World Bank Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme and the launch of the 
Doha Round and the DDA. 
5. Since 2001, the DDA has provided a natural focus for WTO cooperation with the IMF and the 
World Bank.  They have provided analytical support and advocacy for ambitious market access 
results from the negotiations, particularly in favour  of developing countries.  The IMF has increased 
the attention it gives to trade barriers affecting exports from developing countries under its regular 
surveillance activities, and both the IMF and World Ba nk have expanded their research and analysis 
of trade issues, particularly issues related to the market access negotiations.  They have also provided 
technical and financial support for the participation of developing countries and LDCs in the Round.  
For example, the IMF introduced its Trade Integr ation Mechanism in 2004 and it has been closely 
involved in providing technical assistance on trade facilitation issues.  The World Bank stepped up its 
support for trade issues and the DDA in a number of  areas, including notably also trade facilitation, 
and its commitments for trade-rela ted lending reached $3.9 billion in the period 2004-2006, a third 
higher than over the previous eight years. 
6. In 2006, the WTO cooperated closely with th e IMF and the World Bank to help implement 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Decision on Aid-for-Trad e and to operationalize the enhanced Integrated 
Framework.       
(a) Consultations and contacts of senior management and staff 
7. The involvement of senior management in the coherence file intensified in 2006.  The 
Director General kept in close contact with Mr. de Rato and Mr. Wolfowitz throughout the year, on 
progress in the DDA in particular.  He also pa rticipated with them on several occasions in 
international conferences and meetings, including th e G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg.  He participated 
in the meetings of the Intern ational Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) and the Development 
Committee in Singapore in September, where he en couraged finance and development ministers to 
support the rapid resumption of WTO negotiations and pledged to work with the IMF, the Bank and 
other stakeholders to advance the Ai d-for-Trade initiative.  In the course of these contacts, discussions 
have covered progress in the DDA, actions that c ould be taken by the IMF and World Bank to help 
advance the negotiations, ways in which the three in stitutions could cooperate more effectively in the 
provision of trade-related technical assistance, ca pacity building and training, and operationalizing 
Aid-for-Trade and the enhanced Integrated Framework.   
8. Mr. de Rato and Mr. Wolfowitz have repeated ly expressed their supp ort to an ambitious 
outcome to the DDA and the strengthening of the mu ltilateral trading system.  They have been at the 
forefront of efforts to convince WTO member gov ernments, through their finance and development 
ministries in particular, to return to the negotia ting table with more ambitious market access offers.  
Following the Development Committee meeting in Si ngapore in September, Mr. Wolfowitz chaired a 
Round Table on Aid-for-Trade in which the Director-General participated. 
9. The World Bank and the IMF supported the WTO mandate for the two-track treatment of 
cotton in the Doha Work programme, encompassing the trade policy and development aspects.  They 
participated in the "Director-General's Consu ltative Framework Mechanism on Cotton" and provided 
input to the "Evolving Working Table on Cotton De velopment Assistance"(WT/L/670).  The IMF has 
reiterated its readiness, should the need arise, to support financially cotton-producing countries 
experiencing balance-of-payments difficulties and to examine how fiscal resources freed by the HIPC 
Initiative might be used for cotton support.  The Wo rld Bank is providing development assistance to 
the cotton sector in the affected countries, with a specific focus on increasing productivity, supporting 
diversification, developing modern crop evaluation, testing, and risk management systems aimed at 
limiting swings of production and income year-by-year.
   WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  10. Mr. de Rato and Mr. Wolfowitz ha ve continued to convey to th e Director-General the interest 
of the IMF and the World Bank in being granted ob server status in the Trade Negotiating Committee 
(TNC) and its subsidiary bodies, consistent wi th the terms of the cooperation agreements. 
11. The WTO Secretariat represented the Director General at meetings of the Executive Boards of 
the IMF and the World Bank on general and regional trade policy issues, including the formulation of 
IMF and Bank policies on trade matters.  In 2006, th ese included in particular meetings on the World 
Economic Outlook, Aid-for-Trade, and regional trade agreements.  
12. The exchange of views and information on trade and trade-related issues is an important 
requirement for greater coherence in policy-making,  and the three organizations continue to draw 
extensively on each other's work and expertise.  Many WTO Secretariat documents rely on inputs 
from the IMF and the World Bank on macroeconomic, trade, and development issues.  Similarly, the 
IMF and the World Bank use information on trade and trade policies from WTO sources, inter alia  to 
ensure that their policy advice is consistent with WTO rules. 
13. The WTO Secretariat and the staff of the IMF and the World Bank consult, as necessary, on 
issues of possible inconsistency between measures  under discussion with a common Member and that 
Member's obligations under the WTO Agreement or, in the case of the IMF, under its Articles of 
Agreement.  Staff take care to ensure that coop eration neither encroaches on institutional mandates 
nor leads to cross-conditionality or extra conditions on WTO Members. 
A. POLICY ANALYSIS , SURVEILLANCE , RESEARCH , AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE  
(a) Policy Analysis and Surveillance 
14. Policy analysis and global economic surveillanc e are core activities of the WTO, the IMF and 
the World Bank.  Both IMF and the World Bank pay considerable attention to trade policies in this context.  Trade policy reform has featured as an important element of the gr owth agenda in the two 
main vehicles for IMF policy analysis and surv eillance, the World Econ omic Outlook (WEO) and 
regular Article IV consultations with individual Me mber countries.  Trade topics covered in the WEO 
have included in recent years the Doha Round, the impact of China's emergence as a trade power, the 
relationship between trade and financ ial integration, and the risks to  the multilateral trading system.  
The IMF typically examines trade policies in its Articl e IV surveillance as part of its overall economic 
assessment of Member countries, and in response to the new challenges highlighted by the DDA, it 
has stepped up its surveillance of trade-related issues si nce 2001-02, especially with regard to trade 
barriers of high-income countries and their impact on poorer countries, trade-related macro 
vulnerabilities, and regional trade initiatives.  Like wise, the World Bank has devoted considerable 
resources to examining trade policy reforms in the context of its country programmes and as part of its 
overall assessment of the gains of an ambitious DDA.   
15. In 2006, the IMF undertook to reshape its surve illance of economic policies with a view to 
make it more effective, to meet the demands of integrated financial markets and large-scale private 
capital flows.  The initial topic of multilateral consultation with its member governments was how to 
address global imbalances while maintaining robust global growth.  Large imbalances are deemed by 
some to pose a threat to the continuation of global economic expansion of GDP and international 
trade.  How, if at all, trade policies would best be addressed und er the IMF's reshaped surveillance 
mechanism and what complementary role the WTO might play remains an open question. 
16. To date, staff cooperation between the WTO and the IMF on monitoring of trade policies has 
been conducted informally.  Careful attention is paid to ensuring that such cooperation leads neither to WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  cross-conditionality nor to divulging confidential in formation, consistent with the terms of the 1996 
cooperation agreement.  The detailed and comprehensive information and analysis contained in the 
WTO's Trade Policy Reviews are highly valued by IMF staff in the context of their own country 
surveillance activities.   
(b) Research 
17. The IMF has increased its research into trade is sues in recent years and taken organizational 
steps to better coordinate this effort.  IMF staff have prepared several research papers in support of 
various aspects of the Doha Round, including on issues related to market access for developing-
country exports and reports updating the Execut ive Board on the status of the Round and its 
implications for the IMF.  Research prepared at the request of the WTO has included analysis on 
balance-of-payments safeguards, export subsidies, the financing of losses from preference erosion, 
fiscal aspects of tariff reform, trade policy conditionality, and the link between exchange rate 
volatility and trade.   
18. Work Bank analytical work and research covers  a wide range of multilateral trade issues, with 
a particular focus on agricultural reform (including cotton), non-ta riff barriers and trade facilitation 
from a development perspective.  Its 2005 publi cation Global Agricultural Trade and Developing 
Countries  focused on commodity market structures and their implications for the DDA negotiations.  
More generally, the Bank is continuing to refine its  assessment of the development and policy impact 
of alternative agricultural reforms.  In 2006, the WTO Secretariat participated with World Bank staff 
in a common research project on non-tariff barrie rs in Asia, and provided support to the Group of 
Eminent Persons (including senior management of the WTO and World Bank) working on the 
incidence of non-tariff barriers worldwide.  The Se cretariat also contributed to the World Bank's 
annual monitoring exercise on achieving the M illennium Development Goals.  The World Bank has 
complemented its expanded work programme on trade with an outreach programme aimed at  
providing developing countries with new oppor tunities to discuss how the DDA can support 
development-oriented trade reform s, informing them of the nature and scope of World Bank support 
for technical assistance and invest ment in trade-related projects, and sensitizing them to the gains 
from trade facilitation reforms.   
(c) Information and Data Exchanges 
19. The WTO Secretariat provides the IMF and World Bank staff with access, on a confidential 
basis, to the Integrated Database and to schedu les of commitments of WTO Members.  The IMF and 
World Bank have online access to the two data bases.  More genera lly, the IMF and the World Bank 
use information on trade, trade measures and related issues from WTO sources, particularly the TPRs. 
20. Subject to the same confidentiality requirement, the Fund makes available to the WTO 
Secretariat the publication files of the International Financial Statistics, Balance of Payments 
Statistics, Government Financial St atistics, and Direction of Trade Statistics.  The IMF staff also 
makes available to the WTO Secretariat historical  data and aggregate projections in the WEO.  
Favourable consideration is given to  specific additional requests pertai ning to these databases, as well 
as to requests for projections of individual country data. 
21. Under the WTO/IMF cooperation agreement, the IMF makes available to the WTO, for the 
confidential use of the WTO Secretariat, electronic copies of IMF staff reports and related background 
staff papers on Article IV consultations and on th e use of Fund resources for common Members and  WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  on Fund members seeking accession to the WTO, subject to the consent of the member concerned.1  
These documents contain details of the IMF's trad e policy advice and conditionality, which are used 
by the WTO Secretariat for reference purposes, notably in the course of the preparation of TPR 
reports.  Trade policy info rmation based on IMF documentation is now available to Secretariat staff 
through an electronic data base. 
22. The World Bank provides the WTO Secretariat access to the Bank's Economic and Social 
Database, as well as to the Statistical Annex of the Global Economic Prospects and the Developing 
Countries.  Software developed at the Bank, provides a powerful tool to better analyze the 
consequences of the detailed proposals being considered in the Doha negotiations.  In its support on 
market access issues, the WTO Secretariat has been ma king use of this software – which is offered to 
WTO Members free of charge – to analyze tariff and trade data. 
B. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
(a) Trade-Related Technical Assistance and Capacity Building 
23. The IMF and the World Bank have considerable experience and expertise to share in the area 
of trade-related technical assistance and capacity building, and they provide support to WTO 
Members through their own country programmes as  well as through their participation in WTO 
technical assistance and training activities.  
24. The IMF is engaged in technical assistance and capacity building at different levels, from 
financing, to policy design, to the dissemination of standards and training.  It s Article IV consultation 
process with its member countries provides an importa nt channel for its technica l assistance activities.  
The main focus of its trade-relate d technical work is customs administration modernization and tariff 
policy reform.  On customs reform, the focus has shif ted towards "strategic technical assistance" – i.e. 
providing the overall framework for reform and cont inuing oversight, while leaving more detailed 
aspects for other donors to support.  On tariffs, the focus typically is on tax and fiscal policies.  An 
important part of the IMF's trade-related technical assistance work is provided through its regional 
technical assistance centres in Africa, the Midd le East, the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean.  
25. Trade-related technical assistance has expanded considerably in the World Bank, with the 
appointment of trade coordinators in each of its  six regional departments who ensure a strategic 
approach to capacity building.  The World Bank Ins titute (WBI) is the principal provider of training 
and among its objectives are to assist its member governments in:  (i) the development of sound 
national trade policy;  (ii) their capacity to par ticipate effectively in the WTO;  and (iii) their 
understanding of the benefits and costs of increa sed openness.  The Bank's trade-related diagnostic 
work also continues to expand, with more than 80 percent of it now taking place outside the context of 
the Integrated Framework.  In 2006, diagnostic work was carried out in over forty countries and 
several other studies looked at trade policy issues on  a regional basis.  Typically, it covers issues of 
trade policy, infrastructure, customs and trade fac ilitation, and in some instances, aspects of the 
business environment.  This comprehensive approach has helped to underscore the need for reforms in 
trade-related institutions, such as customs, in the Bank's member countries and this is being reflected 
in country programmes through growing lending for trade-related activities. 
                                                      
1The IMF communicates to the WTO its Executive Board Decisions regarding exchange restrictions 
maintained by WTO Members under Article VIII of the Fund's Articles of Agreement.  These are circulated as restricted documents under the symbol  WT/TF/IMF/-.  In 2006, the WTO received four such communications. WT/TF/COH/S/12 
Page 6  
 
  (b) Trade Facilitation 
26. The IMF, and especially the World Bank, direct a significant share of their trade-related 
activities towards trade facilitation – the IMF through its work on customs administration and the 
World Bank through a broader programme of techni cal advice, institution-building and logistics.  
27. Through its Trade Facilitation Initiative, the Ba nk has developed new tools to help improve 
the quality of operations and disseminate best practic es across the different regions, and has increased 
staffing in critical areas such as customs, port management and shipping security.  It has also 
complemented its operational activities with an outreach programme designed to help developing 
countries approach the WTO Trade Facilitation negotiations with the to ols needed to make informed 
decisions, including through the creation of regional networks of experts to advise on negotiating 
proposals and issues.  The Bank estimates that its  lending operations for trade facilitation activities – 
including institution building, physical infrastructu re and trade-financing – in  excess of $1.4 billion in 
the last three years made up over 35 per ce nt of its total trade lending ($3.9 billion). 
28. The World Bank's technical assistance activ ities in support of the Trade Facilitation 
negotiations have focused on helping member countri es identify and assess the costs of implementing 
trade facilitation reforms.  In 2006, six studies were carried out in cooperation with the World 
Customs Organization and the IMF, with support also being provided by the WTO, UNCTAD and the 
OECD.  Evaluations were made by teams of trad e facilitation specialists in  Rwanda, Paraguay, Sri 
Lanka, Egypt, Philippines and Senegal, based on assessment tools prepared, inter alia , by the WTO.  
A report on the outcome of the studies was presented to WTO delegates in December 2006. 
29. The World Bank organises a nd sponsors the Global  Facilitation Partnership (GFP) for 
Transportation and Trade, to share experiences and expertise and develop projects aimed at achieving 
progress in transportation and tr ade facilitation.  The WTO Secretariat participated to both GFP 
meetings in 2006.  
(c) Doha Development Agenda Trade Capacity Building Database 
30. The IMF, the World Bank and the WTO contribute to the Doha Development Agenda Trade 
Capacity Building Database (http://tcbdb.wto.org) which gives information on activities provided by 
bilateral donors and multilateral agencies.  In the fi rst few years of its existence, this pooling of data 
has allowed for the possibility of higher degrees of coordination and coherence to be achieved and has 
provided the means to identify areas where additional efforts can be applied. 
(d) Supporting WTO Accession 
31. The World Bank continues to provide assistance to countries acceding to the WTO.  It has 
developed a Policy Note discussing the most common issues that are critical to ensuring a pro-development outcome from the WTO accession process.  It offers information to the country teams of 
acceding countries on key developments and directions  in the discussions, their potential impact, and 
areas where further work (including technical assist ance) may be needed.  The Bank is also working 
with international partners to bring together negoti ators from developing countries in fora where they 
can share information and experiences. 
(e) The Integrated Framework for Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) 
32. An important cooperative effort in the area of technical assistance and capacity building is the 
Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least-Deve loped Countries (IF).  
The IMF and the World Bank are two of the six core agencies, along with UNCTAD, UNDP, ITC, 
and the WTO.  The IF, built on the principles of country owne rship and partnership, has two  WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  objectives:  (i) to integrate trade into the national development plans such as the Poverty Reduction 
Strategy Papers (PRSPs) of least-developed countries; 2  and (ii) to assist in the coordinated delivery 
of trade-related technical assistance in response to needs identified by the LDC. 
33. Based on almost ten years of experience with the IF and in the light of a recent review by a 
specialized Task Force, the six core IF agencies, donors and LDCs agreed to work on enhancing the 
Integrated Framework, along the lin es of action agreed by the IF  governing bodies in June 2006 
(WT/IFSC/W/15 and Corr.1), that is: 
- to provide increased, predictable and additional funding on a multi-annual basis; 
- to strengthen the IF in-country, includi ng through the mainstreaming of trade into 
national development plans and poverty reduction strategies (PRS); achieve more effective 
follow-up to Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS)3  - overseen by the World Bank – 
and the implementation of action matrices; and achieving greater and more effective 
coordination amongst donors and IF stakeholders, including beneficiaries. 
- to improve the IF decision-making process and management structure to ensure an 
effective and timely delivery of the increa sed financial resources and programmes. 
34. While work has been on-going in 2006 to implement the enhanced IF in the course of 2007, 
activities under the current IF continued to progress, with the completion of 23 DTIS since 2002 and 
the initiation of another 11, which are at different stages of finalization.  All LDCs that are part of the 
current IF will automatically benefit from the "enhan cement" of the IF.  The enhanced IF will entail 
the regular revision of already completed DTIS , which will hence become a regular exercise.  
(f) WTO Training Institute  
35. The World Bank continues to contribute to th e three-month Trade Policy Courses held in 
Geneva through presentations by its staff and dissemina tion of its publications to course participants.   
IMF staff also contribute to the courses.  As part of strengthening its Geneva office and its 
commitment to supporting the trade agenda, the World Bank has posted a staff member to Geneva to 
coordinate training activities with the WTO Training Institute.  The World Bank also contributes staff 
resources to the three-month WTO Tr ade Policy Courses held overseas. 
(g) The Standards and Trade Development Facility 
36. The Standards and Trade Development Facility (S TDF) was established in 2002 by the FAO, 
OIE, WHO, WTO and the World Bank.  Managed by the WTO, the STDF is both a financing and a 
coordinating mechanism.  The STDF aims to increas e cooperation between releva nt institutions in the 
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) area, to impr ove coordination in the provision of SPS-related 
technical assistance and to provide funds for projects in developing countries.  An expanding portfolio of projects is being commissioned providing grant financing for private and public organizations in 
developing countries seeking to comply with intern ational sanitary and phytosanitary standards and 
                                                     
 
2 In 1999, the IMF and World Bank introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy to strengthen their 
approach to providing assistance to low-income countries including debt relief provided under the enhanced 
HIPC Initiative.  The essence of the new approach was to link concessional assistance from the IMF and the World Bank (IDA) directly to the development and implementation of national development strategies, set out 
in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. 
3 The first stage of the IF process involves a DTIS, which is the main instrument for identifying and 
addressing impediments, including supply-side constraints, that LDCs face. WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  hence gain or maintain market access for their food exports.  One key element to expanding the 
Facility is the focus on providing technical assist ance for least-developed countries to meet SPS 
requirements, in particular by addressing prio rity issues identified through the IF process. 
(h) Joint Vienna Institute 
37. The WTO co-sponsors the Joint Vienna Institut e (JVI) together with the IMF, the World 
Bank, the BIS, OECD, EBRD and the Austrian Government.  Certain programmes of the JVI are also supported by a number of other bilatera l donors.  The main aim of the Institute  is to provide training 
support  to countries in transition in order to ease the transition from centrally-planned to market-
based economies.  The countries that have recently joined the European Union have been "graduated" 
from the programmes which are now more oriented to wards Southern Europe and the CIS countries.  
The WTO Secretariat has been responsible for the tw o-week segment on Trade Policy which is part of 
a longer course in Applied Economic Policy, and gi ven by all sponsors of the JVI.  The segment is 
normally  given twice a year and  occurs in two-week-long sessions.  In addition, the WTO organizes 
each year in Vienna  its own seminars on various  WTO matters – typically on WTO agreements and 
negotiations. The WTO continues to provide support as a Contributing Member.  
(i) Trade and Development Centre   
38. Since 1997, the WTO and the World Bank Ins titute have maintained a shared website 
providing development-related trade information.  Th e site also provides a point of contact for trade 
officials in developing and transition economies, including officials who have participated in WTO 
and World Bank training courses. 
C. 
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE  
39. In recent years, the IMF and the World Bank have announced new initiatives to increase the 
technical and financial support they are able to provide to developing countries during the trade 
negotiations and in the period of economic adjustme nt that will follow when implementing the results.  
40. Beyond its regular programmes, the IMF ann ounced the creation of its Trade Integration 
Mechanism (TIM) in 2004 and the launch of its  Exogenous Shocks Facility (ESF) in 2005.   
41. The TIM aims to help its member countries adju st to shocks that emanate from the process of 
multilateral trade liberalization.  It was designed to  help mitigate concerns  by many developing 
countries that implementation of WTO agreements might give rise to temporary balance-of-payments 
shortfalls – through the erosion of tariff preferences, adverse changes in the terms of trade of net food 
importers, or the expiration of quotas under the WTO's Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC).  
Under the TIM, countries may request assistance, under existing IMF-supported programmes or under a new arrangement.  In July 2006, the Republic of  Madagascar became the third country to obtain 
support through the TIM, after the Dominican Republic (January 2005) and Bangladesh (July 2004). 
The IMF has also pledged to help low-income countries, for example cotton-producing countries, to 
deal with terms of trade shocks through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), its main 
instrument of financial assistance to low-income co untries.  Countries eligible for the PRGF, but that 
do not have a PRGF in place, can benefit from  the newly created "win dow of access" to IMF 
resources, the Exogenous Shocks F acility (ESF), aimed at providing policy support and financial 
assistance to countries facing exogenous, external shocks – defined as any event that has a negative 
impact on the economy and that is beyond the government's control. 
42. The World Bank's "Doha Development Initiative" , launched at the Cancún Ministerial 
Conference in 2003, aims to assist poor countries  to take advantage of new market opportunities and 
offset any adverse initial impacts of trade reform re sulting from the Doha Round.  It encompasses new  WT/TF/COH/S/12 
 Page 9 
 
 
 
 
  resources devoted to trade logistic s (e.g., transport costs) and trad e facilitation, enhanced sectoral 
lending in support of programmes designed to protect workers and vu lnerable groups, and programme 
lending for countries implementing developmen t-related DDA trade reforms.  Progress in 
mainstreaming trade into Bank operations has cont inued and trade now figures more prominently in 
economic and sector work and in investment operations.  The World Bank's trade-related operations 
have also been growing, as refl ected in increased investment lend ing for trade-related projects.  
Lending commitments for trade have increased from $0.8 billion in FY1998-2000, to $1.4 billion in 
FY2001-2003 and to $3.9 billion in FY2004-2006. 
43. As regards the adjustment costs associated with multilateral libera lization and preference 
erosion, the World Bank has affirmed that it stands ready to discuss adjustment assistance programmes on a case-by-case basis.  With respect to least-developed countries adversely affected by 
cotton subsidies, a series of IDA-credits currently support the reorganization of the cotton sector in 
Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Bank has indicated to the countries affected that the eventual allocation 
of additional resources should be discussed in the context of their PRSPs. 
D. A
ID-FOR-TRADE  
44. A main focus of the WTO's coherence activit ies in 2006 was the Aid-for-Trade initiative, 
aimed at helping developing countries, particularly  LDCs, to build the supply-side capacity and trade-
related infrastructure they need to assist them to implement and benefit from WTO Agreements, and 
to expand their trade.  As mandated by the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaratio n, the Director-General 
established a Task Force to provide recommendation on how to operationalize Aid-for-Trade and 
ensure its contribution to the development dimensio n of the DDA.  He also undertook a series of 
consultation with bilateral donors, multilateral ag encies, regional development banks and other 
stakeholders to assess the prospects for additional Aid-for-Trade funding. 
45. The Task Force report4, which was endorsed by the General Council on 12 October, 
articulates a rationale for Aid-for-Trade, places Aid-for-Trade in a wider development framework, 
and sets out a series of proposals for further work and eventual operationalization of Aid-for-Trade, with a focus on:  strengthening needs assessment at the country and regional level;  strengthening 
donor response;  strengthening the "bridge" between needs and response;  and strengthening 
monitoring and evaluation.  The Task Force invited the Director General to set up a monitoring body in the WTO that would, inter alia , prepare an annual Aid-for-Trade debate by the General Council, 
and to establish an ad hoc consultative gr oup to follow up on its recommendations. 
46. In his report to the General Council on 14 Dece mber on the follow-up to the work of the Aid-
for-Trade Task Force
5, the Director-General affirmed that, based on his consultations, the main 
bilateral and multilateral agencies remained committed to following through with their pledges to 
increase and strengthen Aid-for-Trade and that a number of other donors – both developing and 
developed – had also signalled a willingness to partic ipate in the Aid-for-Trade initiative.  He outlined 
his proposals for establishing a monitoring and evaluation function in the WTO, the implementation 
of which will be a central focus of the WT O's Aid-for-Trade work  programme in 2007. 
                                                      
4 WT/AFT/1. 
5 JOB(06)262 and 267. WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  E. B
ROAD INTERNATIONAL COHERENCE : WTO  COOPERATION WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL  
ORGANIZATIONS  
47. Coherence in global economic policy-making goes much beyond the WTO's formal and 
specific cooperation arrangements with the IMF an d the World Bank.  Indeed, it is now recognized 
that the WTO system is only one part of a much broader set of international rights and obligations that 
bind WTO Members.  Since WTO Members are bound by all their international obligations 
simultaneously and cumulatively, it is crucial that the interpretation and application of the provisions 
of the WTO take into account Members' other international rights and obligations.  In addition, there 
are WTO provisions which explicitly provide that  measures complying with standards and norms 
developed in other specific international forum are presumed to be compatible with WTO.  Through 
its councils and committees, the WTO maintains exte nsive institutional relations with several other 
international organizations; there are some 140 international organisations that have observer status in 
WTO bodies.  The WTO is also participating as observer in the work of several international 
organizations. In all, the WTO Secretariat maintain s working relations with almost 200 international 
organisations in activities ranging from statistics, research, standard-setting, and technical assistance 
and training.  Although the extent of such cooper ation varies, coordination and coherence between the 
work of the WTO and that of other international organizations continue to evolve so as to assist 
Members in the operation of their economic policies.   
48. The WTO has a cooperation agreement with UNCTAD for matters under their respective 
jurisdiction including their supervisory functions ov er the ITC.  During 2006, the WTO continued to 
work very closely with UNCTAD and the ITC to fu rther the development dimension of trade and in 
support of the DDA through, for example, the Jo int Integrated Technical Assistance programme 
(JITAP).  UNCTAD established in 2005 a Group of  Eminent Persons on Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB) 
which consists of ten people drawn from governme nts, international organizations, academia and civil 
society.  In 2006, the WTO contributed to the work of this group. 
49.  Although there is no formal agreement between the WHO and the WTO, the WHO has 
observer status in the SPS and TBT Committees, and it has ad hoc observer status in the TRIPS and GATS Councils.  In 2006, there has been extensive collaboration between the two Secretariats in the 
sectors relating to health and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and continuing joint efforts to 
bring attention to the need for policy coherence betw een trade and health matters at both the global 
and national level. 
50. The WTO Secretariat also maintains its extensive coordination and undertakes joint activities 
with the international bodies which develop standards for food safety, plant and animal health. Thus, 
the FAO/WHO Joint Codex Alimentarius Commission, International Plant Protection Convention and 
the World Organization for Animal Health have observer status in the SPS Committee, and the WTO 
participates as an observer in the meetings of thes e bodies.   Co-operation has been further reinforced 
through the provision of scientific evidence in  dispute settlement proceedings of the WTO and 
through participation in joint technical assist ance activities- including through the Standards and 
Trade Development Facility (STDF). 
51. In the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration, Ministers welcomed the WTO's continued 
cooperation with UNEP and other inter-government al environmental organizations and encouraged 
efforts to promote cooperation between the WTO and relevant international environmental and 
developmental organizations.
6  The WTO Secretariat has a cooperation arrangement with UNEP 
extending into such areas as reciprocal representation at meetings, information-sharing, joint research 
and technical assistance.  The WTO Secretariat is an observer of the Governing Council of UNEP and 
attends annual Council meetings; UNEP is an  observer of the WTO Committee on Trade and 
                                                      
6 Doha Ministerial Declaration (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1), adopted on 14 November 2001; para. 6.  WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  Environment (CTE) and is also invited to attend meetings of the Committee on Trade and 
Environment in Special Session (CTESS) on an ad hoc meeting-by-meeting basis.7  There is also 
contact in broader settings; for example, the WTO Secretariat attends meetings of the UN 
Environment Management Group (EMG).  In 2006, the Director-General participated in the UNEP 
24th Session of the Governing Council – Global Mini sterial Environment Forum and UNEP Director, 
Mr. Achim Steiner, was a featured speaker at the WTO's 2006 Public Forum.  There was also regular 
contact between WTO and UNEP at both senior manage ment and desk officer levels.  As well, UNEP 
was routinely invited to participate in WTO's 2006 regional workshops on trade and environment. 
52. In 2006, the WTO Secretariat also continued to collaborate with other international 
organizations on the topic of trade and environm ent including with secretariats of multilateral 
environmental agreements (MEAs), a number of which have observer status in the CTE.   For 
example, the Secretariat participated in the Conf erence of the Parties of various MEAs and these 
provided opportunities for networking  and to convey information on relevant discussions in the CTE 
and CTESS.  As well, various MEA secretariats  contributed to the programmes of WTO 2006 
regional workshops on trade and environment.   
53. In the area of market access, the WTO cooperates regularly with the World Customs 
Organization (WCO).  WTO staff regularly follow the work in the WCO on the Harmonized System 
classification nomenclature, both for the work of the Market Access Committee as well as for that of 
the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) .  Coope ration was recently useful in relation to the 
classification of "set top boxes" for the ITA Committee, as well as for keeping the Committee on 
Information Technology8 abreast of the latest developments in  the Harmonised System Nomenclature 
(HS) with respect to the Information sector.  Also , in the areas of customs valuation and rules of 
origin, WTO staff maintain cooperative relations with the WCO Technical Committees on Rules of 
Origin and Customs Valuation to examine technical questions with respect to  these Agreements, as 
well as to provide technical assistance activities.   With respect to trade facilitation, since 2005, WCO 
officials have been participating in  all WTO regional technical assist ance activities.  In addition, the 
WCO is assisting in the development of the needs assessment tool which is being designed and developed specifically for the trade facilitation ne gotiations of the Doha Development Agenda.  WCO 
officials regularly attend, as observers, the meetin gs of the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation. 
54. Similar active collaboration exist in the area of trade in services.  Under the cooperation 
agreement between the Internat ional Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the WTO, the two 
organizations participate as observers in each others' meetings and collaborate at the staff level on such activities as research, publications, conf erences and workshops.  During 2006 the WTO 
Secretariat provided technical and drafting comments  on parts of an ICT Regulation Toolkit being 
prepared by the ITU.  Funding for the project wa s provided by the World Bank-managed Information 
for Developments (infoDev) donor facility. The WTO also participated in ITU Study Groups 
and Expert Meetings, including, for example, one on the regulatory implications of "next generation" 
IP-enabled networks.  
55. Although no formal cooperation agreement binds the WTO and the World Tourism 
Organization (UNWTO), in 2006, UNWTO became ad hoc  observer status in the Council for Trade in 
Services.  The two organizations work closely toge ther to coordinate pos itions on tourism-related 
                                                     
 
7 UNEP is also invited to attend meetings of the Committee on Trade and Development on an ad-hoc 
meeting-by-meeting basis and has pending requests for observer status in the General Council and TRIPS 
Council. 
8 Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  trade policy issues.  This work currently includes  presentations by WTO staff at UNWTO functions 2-
3 times/year, and the review of documents and publications. 
56. During 2006, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was granted ad-hoc observer status in the 
Council on Trade in Services. The UPU, for its part , invites the WTO Secretariat to participate in its 
meetings, both formal and informal.  The secretariats of the two organizations regularly consult on 
technical matters of interest to both organizations.  The Secretariat has also developed a useful 
working relationship with the Energy Charter Secretariat, which allows a regular exchange of 
information trade and energy issues.  The WTO Secr etariat was invited on various occasions to attend 
meetings (Expert Meeting on Electricity, Trade & Tr ansit Group) and briefed participants on relevant 
energy-related WTO issues, in particular services.   
57. In the field of intellectual property, the WTO has, as called for by the TRIPS Agreement, a 
cooperation agreement with the Wo rld Intellectual Property Organiza tion (WIPO).  During the course 
of 2006, cooperation between the two Organizations has been intensified with the initiation of a 
process of periodical meetings between the two Secretariats and enhanced cooperation in the area of 
technical cooperation, especially in favour of least-developed countries.  During 2006, the WTO continued to be systematically invited as an obse rver to WIPO meetings and WIPO has attended (as 
observer) meetings of regular WTO bodies in which they have an interest, notably the TRIPS Council 
and the General Council.  The Secretariat also c ooperates closely with the World Health organization 
(WHO) on public health-related intellectual property matters, including by participating as observers 
in the WHO Intergovernmental Group on Public Hea lth, Innovation and Intellectual Property and in 
the WHO IMPACT initiative (International Medical  Products Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force), as 
well as in the field of technical cooperation.  The WTO Secretariat also cooperates with a range of 
other intergovernmental organizations in the fi eld of intellectual property, including the CBD, 
UNCTAD, UPOV, WCO and the World Bank, as well as  some regional organizations such as ARIPO 
(African Regional Intellectual Property Organizatio n) and OAPI (Organisation Africaine de la 
Propriété Intellectuelle).  
58. With respect to the ILO, in addition to WTO Secretariat attendance at meetings of the ILO's 
Working Party on the Social Dimension of Globalization and other ILO initiatives, 2006 saw 
collaborative research between the WTO's Economic  Research and Statistics Division and the ILO's 
Institute for Labour Studies on the issue of the relationship between trade and employment.  The 
outcome of this research, a joint technical study entitled Trade and Employment: Challenges for 
Policy Research , published in February 2007. 
59. Always with a view to assisting Members' global economic policies, the WTO Secretariat 
maintains considerable contacts and regular cooperat ion with other intergovernmental organizations at 
staff level, in activities ranging fr om statistics, research, standard-s etting, and technical assistance and 
training.  The exchange of information on matters of  mutual interest is also part of these regular 
cooperation.  During 2006 the WTO Secretariat has pursued such technical exchanges with several international organizations, including with U NDP, UNIDO, various UN Regional Commissions and 
Regional Development Banks.  The WTO Secretaria t also maintains regular contacts with the 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developm ent (OECD) and attends meetings of relevance 
to trade. 
60. Although formally outside the UN system, the WTO Secretariat participates in many 
activities organized by the United Nations, its agencies and its programmes.  During 2006 the 
Director-General regularly attended meetings of the UN Chief Executives Board, and the WTO 
Secretariat was represented at senior level in the Board's subsidiary bodies (High Level Committee on 
Programmes and High Level Committee on Management) as well as in coordination meetings of the 
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), including its special meetings held with the Bretton Woods 
Institutions, the WTO and UNCTAD, and its substantive session.  The WTO is always represented at  WT/TF/COH/S/12 
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  special international conferences organized by the UN and participates in their activities that are 
related to trade and the trading system, such as follow-up to the Millennium Summit and the 
Millennium Development Goals and to the Monterre y Consensus on Financing for Development.   
61. Finally, in the context of the implementatio n of WTO Agreements and of the Doha Work 
Programme, the WTO cooperates on an ad hoc  basis with a large number of intergovernmental 
organizations, including many regional bodies. De velopment is core to the current Doha Round and 
there is a growing recognition that part of the ch allenge lies in better cooperation and coordination of 
all international actors involved in trade-relate d activities.  The Hong Kong Declaration recognizes 
this, inter alia , in one of its paragraph on LDCs where WT O urged "donors, mul tilateral agencies and 
international financial institutions to coordinate th eir work to ensure that LDCs are not subjected to 
conditionalities on loans, grants and official develo pment assistance that are inconsistent with their 
rights and obligations under the WTO Agreements".    In this context, in 2006 the Director-General 
also held regular contacts with the Inter-Ameri can Development Bank, the African Development 
Bank as well as the Asian Development Bank. 
62. A strong multilateral trading system is one part – vitally important – of an emerging system of 
global governance, where trade, finance, developm ent and many other policies are increasingly 
intertwined.  In 2006, the WTO has maintained its se rious efforts to ensure international coherence so 
that we can translate improvements in market acces s or in new trade disciplines into realities, in 
particular, for developing countries. 
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