RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/111 
18 December 2007 
 (07-5631) 
General Council 
21 November 2007  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
  
Held in the Centre William Rappard
 
on 21 November 2007  
 
Chairman:  Mr. Muhamad Noor (Malaysia) 
  
ANNUAL DEBATE ON AID FOR TRADE 
  
1. The Chairman
 said that, as delegations would recall, the Task Force on Aid for Trade 
established in 2006 pursuant to the instruction of Ministers at Hong Kong recommended, inter alia , 
that an annual debate on Aid for Trade be convened in the WTO Gene ral Council in order to provide 
political guidance on Aid for Trade.  The present m eeting had been convened in keeping with the 
recommendations of the Task Force, which had been  endorsed by Members in  the General Council in 
October last year.  The meeting would serve as the final segment of the global review of aid for trade that had been taking place that morning and over the p ast two days at the WTO with the aim of taking 
stock of what was happening on Aid for Trade, id entifying what should happen next; and improving 
WTO monitoring and evaluation.   
2. Over the past two and a half days, delegations  had had the benefit of several well-attended 
panel discussions on monitoring and evaluation, on cross-cutting Aid-for-Trade issues, on what had 
been learnt from the first year of Aid-for-Trade monitoring, and on the role of Aid for Trade in the 
broader development assistance agenda.  They had al so had the benefit, the previous day and that 
morning, of three separate panel discussions on th e next steps for the regi ons of Latin America and 
the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa.   
3. The Chairman then took the opportunity to expr ess his gratitude, on behalf of all delegations, 
to all the participants in those discussions, and in particular to the senior officials from capitals and 
the heads of the multilateral and regional agencies that  had travelled to Geneva to contribute to this 
event.  Their presence sent a strong message about th e importance that was being attached on all sides 
to a truly multilateral effort aimed at aiding development through trade.   
4. He said that the present meeting of the Gene ral Council provided Members the opportunity to 
discuss, for the record, the results of the WTO mo nitoring process to date, and to provide political 
guidance on future directions.  As outlined in the Airgram circulated to convene the meeting 
(WTO/AIR/3117), he proposed that following his open ing remarks, and as an aid to the subsequent 
discussion, delegations would hear first a report from the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and 
Development (CTD) on the periodic reviews of Aid-fo r-Trade that had been held in the CTD since 
April, followed by a summary report presented by Deputy Director-General Valentine Rugwabiza on 
behalf of the Director-General.   WT/GC/M/111 
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  5. Thereafter, he proposed to invite delegations to make their comments.  He hoped delegations 
would be able to provide feedback and input about next steps for the WTO, including how monitoring and evaluation could be improved.  He encouraged delegations to keep their statements brief in order 
to allow for as many speakers as possi ble to be heard during the course of the meeting.  He said that 
following the discussion, the Director-General an d he himself would then make a few closing 
remarks. 
6. He then invited Ambassador Servansing (Mau ritius), Chairman of the Committee on Trade 
and Development , to take the floor.  Ambassador Servansi ng's statement is reproduced in Annex 1. 
7. The Deputy Director-General , Mrs. Valentine Rugwabiza, then presented a summary report 
on behalf of the Director-General.  The summary report is reproduced in Annex 2. 
8. The Chairman  then opened the floor to delegations wishing to speak, encouraging them to 
keep their statements brief in order to allow as many speakers as possible to be heard during the 
course of the meeting. 
9. The representative of the European Communities  said that his presence at the meeting – as 
European Commissioner for Development Policy – w as testimony of the importance the EU attached 
to trade as an engine for development, and he  saw the Aid-for-Trade initiative as a genuine 
opportunity to really integrate trade and developm ent policies.  The EU's common experience showed 
that where countries put economic development a nd world competitiveness at the centre of their 
development strategy, and not at the outskirts, then  growth and poverty reduc tion happened.  He was 
pleased to report that economic development and trade had now moved to the centre of the EU 
development policy as well;  testimony to that was the European Consensus for Development, 
adopted in December 2005.   
10. To succeed, trade and development policymakers mu st not only talk to each other but, even 
more importantly, must work together. This firs t WTO Review exercise of what was happening and 
what was not happening in the Aid-for-Trade agenda in the world demonstrated how crucial this was 
to all. 
11. As to what the EU was doing in the area of Ai d for Trade, he said that, in view of this 
particular General Council meeting, the EU had adopted a Joint Strategy on Aid for Trade on 15 
October 2007, copies of which had been made availa ble in the room.  The Joint Strategy brought 
together the Commission and the Member States in an overall policy strategy that could be summarized in one simple sentence: more, better and quicker aid for trade. 
12. As regards more aid, the EU had pledged to increase its trade-related assistance to a total of 
2 billion Euros per year by 2010.  The EU were also  delivering on the commitments taken in 2005 at 
Gleneagles and in Hong Kong.  In 2006, the Euro pean Commission financed trade-related projects 
worth approximately 960 million Eu ros, and 880 million on average per year since 2001. During the 
same period, member States had financed an a nnual average of 370 million Euros and would increase 
their spending significantly in line with their commi tments.  In addition, the EU would strengthen its 
support to the wider aid-for-trade agenda. Most impor tantly, the EU already gave more than 2 billion 
per year to infrastructure and he informed Members that this would go up. 
13. The second element of the EU Strategy concerned better and quicker aid.  One of the ways of 
achieving this was through ownership.  The EU valued the prime responsibility of developing 
countries in defining what was best for them and what  they needed to achieve  with the EU's support. 
To that end, EU donors would enhance efforts to support integration of trade policies and Aid-for-
Trade priorities in national development strategies and implementation plans of developing partners.  WT/GC/M/111 
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  14. Another way to achieve better and quicker aid wa s through coordination and collaboration.  In 
order to make the best use of resources it was necessary to minimise inconsistencies between donor 
policies. EU donors would therefore collaborate closely when assessing and responding to partner needs, and would encourage other donors to join in. 
15. Effectiveness and alignment of aid was also essential to minimise transaction costs for 
developing countries. For this, EU donors would ap ply modern delivery approaches which reinforce 
partner countries' ownership and control of effo rts undertaken. Budget support was a particularly 
effective tool to address trade adjustme nt costs such as tariff revenue losses. 
16. What should happen next?  First, donors needed to keep the pressure up on themselves and on 
other donors to live up to the pledges they had made  and increase financial c ontributions. The EU was 
clearly in the lead in this respect since it was de livering more than half of world Aid for Trade. 
Second, to boost developing countries' economies, trade should be kept as a priority in their 
development strategies. Aid for Trade must be base d on countries' own assessments of their strengths 
and weaknesses in global competition and on their ow n trade and development strategies. In this 
regard, he was pleased to note that a global consensus had been reached on this key parameter to 
address the root causes of economic marginalisation.  Third, on the donor side, efforts for effective 
delivery need to be continued.  He believed that  global funds or multilateral initiatives did not offer 
the magic solution for Aid for Trad e and was pleased to see that refe rence was not being made about 
new multilateral instruments or new global funds, bu t rather to focussing on reinforcing coordination 
amongst donors through joint analysis, joint response, and joint programming etc.  
17. He concluded by saying that the path one was on was the right one and would lead everyone – 
donors, recipients, multilateral and regi onal institutions – to constantly keep under the spotlight efforts 
that must be made in support of developing coun tries' integration into the global economy.  The 
European Commission, the European Union, and he himself, could be counted on for doing this. 
18. The representative of Turkey
 said that it was a pleasure and a privilege for him to be assisting 
in the First Global Review of Aid for Trade and he wished to join previous speakers in congratulating 
the WTO for organizing such an important conference.  
19. He wished to briefly outline the Turkish e xperience concerning the choice made to utilise 
foreign trade as the motor for economic development si nce the 1980s, and, in light of its success, also 
outline what was being done by Turkey to advanc e the construction of the trade capacity of least-
developed countries (LDCs).  
20. Following a long period of protectionism coupl ed to an economy of import substitution, 
Turkey, in the early 1980s, had adopted an export orie ntated strategy for industrialisation. This new 
economic strategy was based on export promotion polic ies, aimed at integrating the isolated domestic 
economy with the globalising world economy. In this  context, measures such as the elimination of 
import quotas, the liberalization of the foreign trad e regime by the reduction of customs tariff rates, 
the adoption of a flexible exchange rate regime, th e liberalization of interest rates as well as those 
practices necessary for the implementation of a free market mechanism were adopted. The new liberal 
economic system was complemented by the process of  privatisation and an endorsement of foreign 
investment flow.  
21. This strategy had enabled exports to be cons iderably increased. In 1980, Turkey's total 
exports amounted to a value of US$2.91 billion, and, by 1983, this had increased to US$5.72 billion. 
At the end of the current fiscal year, total Turkis h exports were expected to reach US$100 billion. The 
strategy which engendered an open and competitiv e economy also gave a dynamic impetus to the 
industrial sector and therefore also contributed to economic growth. With an average growth rate in 
GNP of 7.4 per cent during 2002-2006, Turkey ha d one of the fastest growing economies in the WT/GC/M/111 
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  world. The inflation rate which was at 29.7 per cent in 2002 dropped to 9.6 per cent in 2006. As a 
concomitant result of the improvement of the Turkis h economy, foreign direct investments soared to a 
record US$20 billion in 2006.  This remarkable e volution of Turkey's economy illustrated that trade 
was a critical tool in economic development and that the model it had used for its own economic 
development was worthy of interest.  At present, Turkey was an upper middle income country with a 
total volume of US$230 billion annual foreign trade and a GNP per capita of US$6,000.  
22. The least-developed countries had achieved cons iderable progress in terms of structural 
reforms, trade promotion, and the development of pr ivate enterprise.  However, Turkey believed that 
these national initiatives needed to be accompanied by commitment at the international level.  
Development partners must do more to complement  the national policies of LDCs in order to boost 
their economies.  As had been already emphasized, trad e could, and usually did, play a major role in 
poverty reduction in the LDCs, since both expo rts and imports facilitated sustained growth, 
employment and development.  Within this frame work, Turkey aspired to support the development 
efforts of the LDCs through unilateral strategies as well as by implementing supportive policies in the 
multinational arena.  Within this context Turkey  strongly believed that the Aid-for-Trade initiative 
would enable LDCs to benefit from trade and t hus improve living standa rds and reduce poverty. 
23. As an emerging donor country, Turkey provide d Official Development Assistance which had 
steadily increased over the past years and which,  in 2006, had reached US$750 million. Turkey 
believed that as well as providing developmental and humanitarian assistance, it was essential that 
LDCs be integrated into the globalizing world econo my. Since 1 January 2006, therefore, Turkey had 
been providing a duty free and quota-free market access  for all industrial goods originating from all 
LDCs. Nothing could better illustrate Turkey's commitment to provide special and favourable 
treatment to least-developed countries and it was Turk ey's wish to further assist LDCs in integrating 
to the multilateral trading system. 
24. Furthermore, Turkey had recently organized the Istanbul Ministerial Conference of Least 
Developed Countries where the main topic had b een "Making globalisation Work for the LDCs".  
This Conference had resulted in the Istanbul Declaration of Least Developed Countries – Time for 
Action . At the Conference, Turkey had announced its decision to contribute US$1 million to the Trust 
Fund of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) for Trade-related Technical Assistance for LDCs. 
This commitment had been confirmed during the High-Level Donor Pledging Conference on the 
Enhanced Integrated Framework which took place at Stockholm on 25 September 2007. Turkey 
considered that the results of the Stockholm Conf erence constituted an important step toward the 
achievement of the EIF goals which were designed to  promote the ability of LDCs to benefit from an 
expanding world trading system.  The results could also be evaluated as an important sign of the increase in awareness regarding this issue. Turk ey therefore believed that the conference was a 
success and that it had given real momentum to the EIF.  
25. In conclusion, he wished to emphasise that Tu rkey was aware of its responsibility toward the 
least-developed countries and that it firmly believe d that poverty and underd evelopment should not be 
the destiny of LDCs.  Turkey was ready to suppor t with all capabilities at hand, all initiatives that 
would break the vicious circle of poverty and underdevelopment. 
26. The representative of Uganda
, on behalf of the African Group , thanked the Chairman for his 
report on the status of work done to date in r esponse to the Aid-for-Trade mandate as set out in 
paragraph 57 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  The African Group reaffirmed the 
importance of that mandate and of the Recommendati ons of the Aid-for-Trade Task Force adopted by 
the WTO General Council in July 2006.  Since then, extensive work had been done on Aid for Trade, 
including, inter alia , at the three review meetings held in Lima, Manila, and Dar es Salaam.  The 
African Group wished to thank the WTO Secretariat a nd the regional and multilateral partners in that 
initiative.  WT/GC/M/111 
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  27. Now that needs and priorities in the difference countries and regions had been identified, the 
time had come to move on, once and for all, to th e next stage, namely the mobilization and provision 
of resources to finance activities.  He recalled th at during the preparations for the regional review 
meeting in Dar es Salaam, and during the intensive work that took place at the meeting itself, the 
African countries had set out the priority areas wh ere action and intervention was required.  These 
priorities were:  (i) physical infrastructure developm ent (e.g., roads, ports, railways, airports, energy, 
and telecommunications);  (ii) strengthening of prod uctive and supply capacities;  (iii) private-sector 
development and capacity building in the implemen tation of trade-related agreements;  (iv)  
addressing adjustment costs, inter alia  for Members acceding to the WTO (e.g., preference erosion, 
and declining commodity prices, taking into account th e particular situation of cotton);  and (v) trade 
facilitation. 
28. Efforts by the African countries and regions to  improve the situation in each of these areas 
would need the effective support of their bilatera l and multilateral partners.  Projects and programmes 
had already been drawn up by some African count ries, including LDCs, and in accordance with the 
guiding principles on Aid for Trade recommended by th e Task Force, resources to be allocated to 
these projects and programmes should be additional, s ubstantial and effective;  there should be no 
conditionalities attached, and they should be provided in grant form.  The African Group wished to 
thank and commend donors who had already made Aid -for-Trade pledges and encouraged them to do 
their utmost to ensure that the resources were re leased as quickly as possible so that they could be 
mobilized within a reasonable period of time and therefore provide useful support for the activities 
that had been identified.  The African Group urged partners that had not yet made pledges to work 
towards implementing their commitment to contri bute, through the Aid-for-Trade initiative, to 
promoting the participation of the devel oping countries and LDCs in world trade. 
29. Africa was made up of least-developed and deve loping countries, belonging to the same 
regional and sub-regional groupings, and both faced constraints and difficulties in many areas but at 
different levels.  Therefore, in order to prom ote regional integration and ensure balanced and 
harmonious development, support shou ld be provided according to their specific development needs.  
The African countries should be assisted through the provision of necessary financial resources 
through Aid for Trade and other related programmes.   He stressed the African countries' commitment 
in the Aid-for-Trade initiative and their readiness to act both individua lly and at the regional and sub-
regional levels to set up appropriate Aid-for-Tra de coordination, and follow-up and evaluation 
mechanisms.  The follow-up and evaluation mechanis m to be set up as a result of the Global Aid-for-
Trade Review should be functional, representative, a nd inclusive, that would enable the monitoring of 
both additionality and accountability.  It was with th at in mind that the African Group had proposed 
for consideration during the Global Review, a simple  and easy-to-use synoptic table to record, follow 
up and assess resource allocations under Aid for Trade.  The table was equally valid for Aid-for-Trade 
activities and initiatives at the national, regional and sub-regional levels.  At the same time, it was 
hoped that the present meeting would produce conclu sions and commitments that would enable the 
implementation of the Aid-for-Trade initiative to move ahead effectively. 
30. In conclusion, he said that the African Group was grateful to the different partners and actors 
– whether international, regional,  sub-regional or non-governmental  organizations, in Geneva or 
elsewhere – who for almost two years had suppor ted them on Aid for Trade.  The African Group 
would continue to work with them in this exciting and very useful area, as well as in many other areas 
related to international trade, with a view to pr omoting the participation of the African countries in 
international trade, fostering their development and fighting poverty. 
31. The representative of Jamaica  wished to add her delegation's support and gratitude for the 
work of the WTO Aid-for-Trade Task Force which ha d indeed added focus and intent to the elements 
of agreement on what should constitute an Aid-fo r-Trade programme as agreed at the Hong Kong 
Ministerial meeting in 2005.  Her delegation also wished to thank the Director-General and the WTO WT/GC/M/111 
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  Secretariat for their untiring efforts on the Aid-fo r-Trade issue and expressed Jamaica's appreciation 
to the high-level representatives of the multilateral and regional funding institutions and the high level 
government representatives who had pa rticipated in the Global Review. 
32. The Global Review of Aid for Trade, together  with the discussions over the past several 
months had brought home the centrality of the need to address the broad categories agreed as targeted 
areas for attention, namely; trade policy and re gulation, trade development, trade-related 
infrastructure, building productive cap acity and trade-related adjustment. 
33. As a small developing country, Jamaica wished to bring its unique concerns to the fore, 
particularly its need for supply-side capacity build ing, the impact of comm odity price rises on its 
economy given its status as a net food importing c ountry, the reality of preference erosion and the 
potential loss of market share for specific traditi onal exports.  She reiterated that, while Jamaica 
supported the provision of additional resources and the attention which Aid for Trade sought to 
promote, it still struggled with the reality of adjustment costs, implementation concerns and 
negotiating capacity constraints arising from th e commitments undertaken from the Uruguay Round. 
34. Jamaica sought primarily to address core development issues and resultant imbalances arising 
from liberalization. Aid for Trade should not be  seen as a substitute for the commitment to 
development which was central to the Doha De velopment Agenda (DDA), and Jamaica remained 
confident that the negotiations woul d provide at least some of the solutions to the challenges faced by 
developing countries.  For its part , Jamaica was continuing to work towards mainstreaming trade in its 
national development objectives and programme s which now included the launch of a 2030 
development vision – a broad-based consulta tive process with a focus on socio-economic 
development and a re-examination of  Jamaica's macro-economy and its relationship to trade. Jamaica 
was also continuing to look closely at its absorp tive capacity and to identify its real and potential 
needs which might be met by Aid-for-Trade-type arrangements. Jamaica had had a mixed history of 
poor disbursement procedures, of aid receipts whic h had not been well targeted to build capacity, and 
of unfortunate decisions on aid flows without br oad-based consultations and advice at the national 
level, and there was much it wished to do different ly.  Her delegation was pleased that some of the 
major donors had addressed these points during the Global Review. 
35. At the regional consultations on Aid-for-Trade he ld in Peru in September, Jamaica had noted 
the tendency to place the peculiar and unique concer ns of the English-speaking Caribbean with the 
larger economies of Latin America.  Some of this  had been corrected at the present Global Review 
meeting, but as the priority areas for Aid for Trad e became clearer and the targeted assistance moved 
from mere promises to actual disbursement, the Caribbean continued to undertake its own specific 
needs assessment and to think through how best th e Aid for Trade could work for them.  In this 
regard, Jamaica awaited clarification on a number of issues that remained a point of concern to Caribbean countries:  (i) how would Aid for Trade work in practice (the present Global Review had 
helped in this regard)?;  (ii) would the Aid -for-Trade programme represent a partnership between 
Government and Civil Society in order to address issues such as poverty alleviation and the social 
costs deriving from the loss of export earnings fro m traditional export commodities?;  (iii) how would 
the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms work wi thout burdening aid-receiving countries;  and (iv) 
how would things be done 'differently'? Aid for Tr ade should not be merely a reshuffling of existing 
resources into trade-related activity. It should provide  an opportunity for a fresh new approach to the 
transfer of development funding.  
36. At the same time, Jamaica would like to see ne w thinking with regard to the provision of 
direct support to the private sector in order to take advantage of expanding export markets.  She 
recalled that it had been two years since the la unch of the Aid-for-Trade initiative and as policy 
objectives were further defined a nd refined, one should remain e ngaged with the donor community, 
and with the regional development banks and agenci es which continued to pr ovide valuable support.  WT/GC/M/111 
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  The ultimate goal must be to build stronger econom ies, to increase employment and to relieve 
poverty.  These were just as important as the activities pursued on a daily basis at the WTO as 
Members sought to build a more development-friendly multilateral rule-based trading system. 
37. The representative of Lesotho , on behalf of the LDC Group of Countries , expressed thanks to 
the WTO Secretariat for having organized the Aid-for-Trade Global Re view. The LDC Group was 
honoured to be part of the process that had led to significant progress made on Aid for Trade since the 
inclusion of Aid for Trade as a stand-alone item in the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. Now 
was indeed the time to build on the momentum created so far.  Members had laid down the 
foundations and they now needed to move forward. The time was ripe for concretising Aid for Trade. 
It was also time for clear architecture and functi oning of this important initiative and for defining 
national and regional Aid-for-Trade st rategies and implementation plans.  
38. It was now generally accepted that:  (i) Ai d for Trade was about allowing developing 
countries, in particular LDCs, to address the challeng es, and to take advantage of more liberal trading 
environments;  (ii) Aid for Trade referred to th e broader categories of building productive capacity, 
trade-related infrastructure, trade policy regulation,  trade development, and trade-related adjustment 
as defined by the Task Force;  (iii) although th e development of LDCs should not be completely 
reliant on aid disbursements, with proper planning,  implementation, monitoring and evaluation, aid 
could play an important role in creating the necessar y conditions to attract private sector investment, 
hence the need for additionality of Aid for Trade;  (iv) there was a need for both national and regional 
Aid-for-Trade strategies and implementation plans;  (v) the international and regional development 
banks had a major role to play in both defining Ai d-for-Trade strategies and in financing subsequent 
projects and programmes;  and, (vi) there was a need for an effective monitoring and evaluation 
mechanism, which the Global Review was a part of.  
39. Some LDCs had made a head start in defining Aid-for-Trade strategies and implementation plans 
in the Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS)  that had been completed under the Integrated 
Framework.  Some of those studies were being update d. However, it was important to mention that a DTIS 
had limitations in that it did not usually encompass the broader aspects of Aid for Trade. It did not 
incorporate programmes aimed at building productive capacity, trade-related infrastructure and programmes which addressed trade-related adjustment.  It was therefore important to expand the scope of 
the DTIS. To do this, advantage should be taken of the existing studies and reports that had been done, 
such as the Country Assistance Strategies, and the in vestment surveys and national development plans. In 
this way coherent national and regional Aid-for-Trade strategies could be prepared and implementation undertaken in relatively short periods of time.  
40. 
Although ownership of these strategies and impl ementation plans needed to be with the 
LDCs, assistance from the donor community and the Inte rnational Finance Institutions was requested 
in first of all preparing these strategies and impl ementation plans in consulta tion with LDCs, and then 
in the financing of the implementation strategies. Clearly commensurate technical assistance and capacity building remained imperative in LDCs. Financ ing would need to be used in such a way as to 
not crowd out private-sector investment but rather  to attract private-sector financing. This would 
require the design and use of innovative financing in struments. Not only would there be a need for 
additionality of resources, but financing would also n eed to be flexible, predictable and responsive to 
immediate needs. Disbursement to LDCs should be si mple and efficient.  He stressed that for LDCs 
there should not be any conditionality attached to the access of the Aid for Trade.  He also stressed the 
need to complement national Aid-for-Trade strategies  with regional strategies. First of all, productive 
capacities in LDCs had to be developed and stre ngthened. Aid for Trade should enable LDCs to 
produce products that would find a place in global value chains. Unless LDCs could produce at global standards, they could never be competitive. If LD C producers were to become competitive, it was 
important that the costs of cross-border trade be dr amatically reduced. For many of LDCs, the costs of 
getting goods to markets were dependent on costs incurred beyond their borders.  For instance, the WT/GC/M/111 
Page 8  
 
  cost of transporting a container from a land-locked country in Africa to a seaport in another country 
was three or four times the cost for transporting th at same container to Europe from the seaport. If 
LDCs were to use trade as an economic development tool they had to reduce these costs of transport, 
and other services, such as financial and telecomm unications services.  To achieve this, regional 
approaches would be most effective. 
 
41. The LDCs viewed Aid for Trade as an opportunity  to take maximum advantage of using trade 
as an instrument for economic growth and poverty reduction. They realised their responsibilities in 
making Aid for Trade work for them and urged a ll donors and International Finance Institutions to 
engage in partnerships with LDCs so that these countries did not miss out.  
42. He expressed the LDC's profound gratitude to Sweden for hosting the Enhanced Integrated 
Framework (EIF) Pledging Conference held in Stockholm on 25 September 2007 where already 
US$108 million had been raised for a period of two years and sizeable pledges had been made for subsequent years. Appreciation also went to Cana da and the United Kingdom for having joined forces 
with Sweden to make more resources available fo r that event. Likewise, the LDC's also extended 
appreciation to all those countries that had pledged to  contribute generously either into the multilateral 
fund or bilaterally, and they noted with gratifica tion that EIF would be operational within the first 
quarter of 2008. Preparatory outreach activities had been progressing well and LDCs were eagerly 
awaiting the commencement of operations of the EIF.
 
43. Broader Aid for Trade would be additional to th e EIF in LDCs as the resources of the EIF 
remained limited in terms of the critical mass needed to make a real difference to enable LDCs to be 
effectively and fully integrated into the multilateral trading system, thus enabling trade to be a truly 
potent ingredient of development and poverty reduction.  
44. Before concluding, he wished to express gratit ude to organizations such as the South Centre, 
ICTSD, and others, as well as the ITC, UNCTAD and the WTO Secretariat for other forms of technical support that they had provided to LDCs. 
 
45. The representative of Paraguay , on behalf of the Land-locked Developing Countries   
(LLDCs), said that those countries called upon  Members, donor countries and international 
organizations to take in to consideration the specific needs and problems of LLDCs that stemmed from 
their disadvantaged geographical situation.  
46. Ten per cent of the total population of the deve loping world, representing approximately 350 
million people, lived in land-locked countries.  Between 1990 and 2001 40 per cent of that population 
were living on less than a dollar a day.  Globa lization had not brought those countries the positive 
change hoped for from development, nor had it offe red incentives for more dynamic trade relations, 
despite the efforts undertaken with a view to playin g a more active role in regional and world trade.  
47. Land-locked developing countries had been gr eatly underperforming, with trade flows 
amounting to only a quarter of those of other developing countries that had access to the sea.  Studies had indicated that, as a consequence of their geogra phical situation, the annual growth rates of land-
locked developing countries was 0.7 per cent lower th an the corresponding rates for coastal countries.  
The value of developing countries' exports as a whol e had grown at average rates of 3.2 per cent and 
8.7 per cent respectively during 1980-1990 and 1990-1994, while the corresponding figures for land-locked developing countries had only been 2.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent.  Transport costs amounted to 66 per cent and were even higher in some cases.  A recent study estimated that the duplication of transport costs reduced the volume of trade by 45 per cent.
 
48. Furthermore, direct foreign investment receive d by the LLDCs in 2005 amounted to just 
US$6,447 million, as compared with US$141,336 m illion received by the transit countries and  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 9 
 
 
  US$320,670 by developing countries as a whole, a large part of this difference being due to the lack 
of efficient transport systems and infrastructure.   Total development aid to LLDCs in 2005 was 
US$14,705 million, while the transit countries recei ved US$27,908 million and developing countries 
US$106,372 million.  These figures showed that many land-locked developing countries had not been 
able to compete effectively in international markets and it was fo r this reason that the LLDC Group 
attached great importance to  the Aid-for-Trade initiative.  
49. The Global Review of Aid for Trade offered the land-locked developing countries a unique 
forum in which to raise donors' awareness of the various disadvantages from which they suffered, as 
well as providing an opportunity to achieve progress in certain areas that had already been indicated 
in the Declaration adopted at the Meeting of the Ministers of Trade in Ulan Bator, Mongolia in 
August 2007.  
50. As regards the structure of Aid for Trade, th e land-locked developing countries were seeking 
to obtain specific assistance in such  areas as capacity-building for the formulation of trade policies, 
participation in trade negotiations, the application of international agreements and, above all, the 
strengthening of productive capacity  in order to increase the competitiveness of their products in 
export markets.  In view of the fact that many land-locked developing countries depend on the export 
of a few basic products whose value was often low, Aid for Trade would support the efforts of those 
countries to improve the economic environment and deve lop sustainable strategies for diversification.  
With a view to improving the productive capacity of the land-locked developing countries, especially with regard to high quality products that require d a high degree of specialized knowledge, and to 
overcoming the restrictions affecting supply, nati onal policies would focus on the training of human 
capital, the development of technological knowledge  and innovation, and the encouragement of 
commercial links between domestic enterprises, in pa rticular the SMEs and transnational companies.
 
51. The negotiations on trade facilitation provided an opportunity for land-locked developing 
countries to reduce the high costs of commercial tran sactions.  However, trade facilitation in itself was 
not enough.  It was also necessary to develop a properly functioning infr astructure by establishing 
efficient transport systems for the transit of goods  and by maintaining the existing infrastructure for 
transit transport with a view to ensuring  the effective marketing of their goods.  
52. The land-locked developing countries called upon Members to take into account the above-
mentioned points within the context of the Aid for Trade initiative.  
53. In addition, it was important to point out that the LLDC Members of the WTO had been 
working in cooperation with re levant organizations from which they had already received 
considerable assistance.  These included AITIC,  UNCTAD, UNDP, WTO, the World Bank, ICC, 
OHRLLS (United Nations Office of High Represen tative for Least Developed Countries, Land-
Locked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States), and the Regional Commissions of 
the United Nations, etc.  Similarly, the land-lock ed developing countries wished to acknowledge the 
support received from various donor countries in th e context of the Doha negotiations on trade 
facilitation.  Likewise, the eight LLDC Observers at the WTO were grateful for the offer of technical 
assistance from donor countries to those LLDCs that we re in the process of acceding to the WTO with 
a view to guiding and supporting them throughout the accession process.  
54. The land-locked developing countries firmly believed that those eight countries in the process 
of WTO accession, of which half were developi ng countries and half least-developed countries, 
should be supported by the whole of the WT O Membership and should be among the major 
beneficiaries of Aid for Trade in the course of their accession to the WTO and during the subsequent 
stages. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 10  
 
  55. Finally, the land-locked developing countries urged Members to initiate as soon as possible 
the provision of assistance under the Aid-for-Trade programme, independently of the final outcome of the current negotiating round.
 
56. The representative of Benin , on behalf of the Countries that Co-Sponsored  
 the Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton , thanked the Chairman for his introductory remarks.  He 
also wished to thank the Chairman of the Co mmittee on Trade and Development and the Deputy 
Director-General of the WTO for the reports they  had prepared for the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  
These reports clearly revealed what Aid for Trad e ought to be.  They also emphasized what the 
WTO Members expected from the initiative, what ha d been achieved, and what remained to be done.  
57. In the opinion of the co-sponsors of the Sector al Initiative in Favour of Cotton, Aid for Trade 
could only be effective if the principles identified by the Task Force were e ffectively applied in the 
mobilization, management, follow-up and monitoring of  such aid.  They wished to emphasize that if 
Aid for Trade was to be effective and was to attain  its objectives it must be predictable and involve 
additional resources.  There should also be a func tional follow-up and monitoring system that would 
be able to measure the level of resources.  Collecti on of data and information on the level and transfer 
of resources should be carried out at the natio nal, regional and sub-re gional levels, and the 
beneficiaries and donors should work together to this end.  
58. With regard to the scope of Aid for Trade, the Task Force had already defined its various 
components and the countries that co-sponsored the Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton supported 
those recommendations.  They also emphasized a nd reiterated the need to develop the physical 
infrastructures and trade-related infrastructures,  develop production and marketing capacities, 
strengthen human and institutional capacities in the field of trade regulation, including the promotion 
of public-private partnerships, and in sure adjustment costs, so as to d eal with situations such as those 
arising from the erosion of preferences and tho se faced by countries acceding to the WTO, in 
particular, the losses of income from cotton exports suffered by African cotton producers as a result of 
the fluctuation of cotton prices on the internationa l market.  The representative wished to emphasize 
the importance of this last point for a particul ar category of WTO Members, namely, the African 
cotton producers.  It was therefore the sector of  economic and commercial activity centred on cotton 
that needed to receive attention and special treat ment under the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  In this 
respect, the co-sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton strongly recommend that the 
African cotton-producing and exporting countries should be given support in order to improve 
production, processing and competitiveness in the cotton sector.  
59. He also wished to take the opportunity arising from the presence at this important meeting of 
bilateral partners and representativ es of the multilateral and regional institutions to recall the mandate 
given at Hong Kong to design a mechanism to mana ge the losses of income from cotton exports in the 
African cotton-producing countries.  This was an urgent issue which was guided by the need to 
respond to the serious difficulties facing the poor and vulnerable rural, cotton-producing communities 
in Africa.  
60. The representative of Brazil  congratulated the Directo r-General and the Heads of 
International Organizations for their hard work on this first Global Review.  It was good to have seen 
the previous day representatives of all the internatio nal and regional financia l institutions in Geneva 
working in a cooperative way, as highlighted by De puty Director-General Valentine Rugwabiza in her 
initial statement, to promote trade.  It was an instance where perhaps cohe rence between the trading 
and financial systems could be seen to be operating in a practical way.  It was also good to hear all the 
representatives of the financial institutions highl ighting the importance fo r them – and for the 
financial world – of the conclusion of the Doha Round.  The Recommendations of the WTO Aid-for-
Trade Task Force, led so efficiently by Ambass ador Mia Horn – had given general guidelines for 
action, but those suggestions depended on the provisi on of adequate additional resources delivered in  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 11 
 
 
  an expeditious and effective way.  So far, ple dges were impressive.  They should materialize in 
traditional funds that could effectively be disbursed.  In that regard, a clear picture was needed of 
what was currently being done in terms of projects and programmes.  An evaluation was also needed 
of how current activities actually responded to needs identified.  Hence the importance of the global 
periodic review.  It is good also to learn that the next periodic review would include data on 
disbursement.  Using the words of EU Commissioner Louis Michel, these reviews should allow 
Members to evaluate whether one was doing more, better and quicker.  The OECD report noted that 
recent plans indicated that Aid for Trade had been decreasing as a share of overall development 
assistance.  This constituted reason for concern sin ce, as efforts were being made to conclude 
successfully the Doha Round, many countries might  find themselves lacking supply capacity to reap 
the benefits of trade opportunities. 
61. Although Brazil was not a big donor, it could offer some valuable experience about the 
implementation of technical cooperation programme s since it faced the same challenges of poverty 
and development within its own country.  Some of Brazil's successful development programmes 
enabled it to share experiences with other developing countries.  In this regard, his delegation wished 
to highlight the importance, benefits, and potentia l of South-South cooperation in the Aid for Trade 
process.  South-South cooperation should be high lighted in the reviews and there should be support 
from financial institutions both at the international and regional level, and th at could also benefit 
triangular forms of cooperation w ith developed countries.   
62. He then highlighted some of the aspects of Brazil's cooperation with other developing 
countries, saying that ownership and promotion of national economic deve lopment were central 
guidelines in its programmes.  Brazil provided techni cal assistance to countries in Latin America and 
the Caribbean as well as Africa, for instance, in the fi elds of agriculture and bio-fuels, with the aim of 
promoting the export capacity of recipient countries.   It had also engaged in cooperation to help 
establish in other developing countries, at their de mand, trade programmes that were successful in 
Brazil, such as the programme of simplified export pr ocedures directed at small exporters.  Brazil also 
sought to enhance developing countries' knowledge  and skills through the organization of courses 
about trade policy and trade negotiation.  Examples  of such courses were the one that Brazil had 
organized in Geneva with Portuguese-speaking co untries from Africa, and the one that had been 
carried out South America on dispute settlement. 
63. Regarding the Cotton Initiative, one of the criti cal issues of the Doha Round, Brazil had been 
able to organize a visit from representatives from Bu rkina Faso, Mali, Chad, and Benin, to Brazil in 
May 2007 to explore forms of add itional cooperation.  This would be highlighted in the statement that 
Brazil would make the following day in the context of the discussion on cotton.  Brazil would also be taking part in the seminar in the morning of the following day with its cooperation agents and its 
technological development research company in the agricultural area who had come specifically for 
that meeting. 
64. An impact on trade was also expected from many  of the actions under the fund for structural 
convergence of MERCOSUR established in 2005, which focused on tackling the development 
asymmetries in MERCOSUR.  Some of these had been  highlighted by Paraguay that morning in the 
name of land-locked countries.  Brazil's contri bution to this fund should reach US$100 million by 
2008.  Brazil was also involved in a number of initiatives in the area of infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean to promote trade in  the region.  Although Brazil's response to the 
WTO/OECD  questionnaire had unfortunately arrived late for publication in this year's review, he 
thought it would be useful if the research coul d be published either as an addendum to the report, 
together with other countries that ha d furnished their responses also at a late stage, or circulated in the 
room during the present meeting. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 12  
 
  65. Aid for Trade was very important and its benefits  would be fully reaped only if the common 
objective of concluding the Doha Round with meani ngful and balanced results and delivering on the 
development dimension of the R ound was reached, as highlighted by the representatives of all 
developing countries.  The task now was to create th e conditions to make this happen in terms of the 
conclusion of the Round and also to make de velopment Aid for Trade more effective and 
development oriented 
66. The representative of Mexico
 said his delegation was pleased to be able to participate in the 
first annual review on Aid for Trade by the Ge neral Council since it provided an opportunity to 
comment on the results of the WTO's "m onitoring process" and on future work. 
67. Mexico welcomed the Chairman's introductory remarks and also the reports presented by the 
Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Developmen t on the work of that Committee, and by the 
Deputy Director-General Valentine Rugwabiza on the first Global Review of Aid for Trade.  As far as the latter was concerned, Mexico wished to express its  appreciation at the efficient organization of an 
event that had provided extensive information on the activities and projects relating to the Aid-for-
Trade initiative, especially the results of the "reg ional dialogues" recently carried out in several 
continents. 
68. With regard to the regional dialogue for Latin  American and the Caribbean (LAC), Mexico 
had taken note of the report prepared jointly by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the 
WTO, together with the recommendations for the regi on.  Mexico agreed with other countries of the 
region on the importance of trade as part of the na tional development strategy, together with other 
policies, in particular the efforts to alleviate povert y.  It also agreed on th e need to achieve greater 
competitiveness through better educational policies, be tter training for its labour force, and proper 
infrastructure.  While on the subject of infrastruct ure, it was worth stressing the mention made in the 
report of regional initiatives such as the Puebla-P anama Plan (PPP) which had been designed to 
improve the standards of living of people in the LAC region by exploiting their comparative 
advantages.  The support provided by the IDB for th e new stage of the PPP would be of fundamental 
importance in achieving that objective.  It should be emphasized that the PPP was one of the best 
examples of the effective and efficient use of resources under the Aid-for-Trade initiative in support 
of the existing free trade agreements in the region.  The many different facets of the PPP were clearly 
designed to contribute to regional integration from Mexico to Colombia.  These facets included, in 
particular, not only infrastructure development,  as already mentioned, but human development, 
sustainable development, the prevention and mitigation of disasters, transport, energy, 
competitiveness and trade facilitation.  Continuing on the subject of regional initiatives, his delegation 
viewed with interest the joint IBD-WTO recomme ndation relating to the establishment of a Latin 
American and Caribbean network on Aid for Trad e, headed by the IDB and the WTO, to help 
countries to identify priorities and develop action plan s. Mexico would be interested receiving further 
details on its possible operation. 
69. In view of the above observations, and in r esponse to the invitation to express opinions on 
future work, his delegation considered it essentia l that WTO Members reach a common understanding 
on the role of the WTO in the furtherance of this initiative. 
70. Since the beginning of the discussions on Aid for Trade, Mexico, like many Members, had 
reiterated that this initiative was a complement to, and not a substitute for, a successful outcome of the 
Doha Round.  This point had repeatedly been ma de during the course of the discussion over the last 
two days. 
71. Mexico believed that it was the fundamental  task of WTO Members to ensure that 
international trade continued to play an important role in the promotion of economic development and  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 13 
 
 
  poverty alleviation.  Members needed to continue di recting efforts in order to maintain open markets 
and ensure greater access for the exports of goods and services of interest to the developing countries. 
72. Finally, his delegation reiterated its commitmen t to the process of trade liberalization under 
this negotiating round and was redoubling its efforts to expand the trade-related technical assistance 
projects which it provided (in kind) to other countries. 
73. The representative of Korea  expressed his delegation's thanks to the Director-General and the 
WTO Secretariat for hosting the Global Review and to the international organizations and other 
agencies for presenting the reports on their activities.  
74. As a country which had achieved its economic growth through export-driven development 
policy under the multilateral trading system, Korea fu lly understood how important Aid for Trade was 
for developing countries. Even though Korea w as still en route to economic development and its 
resources for Aid for Trade were limited, it was making every effort to share its own experience with other developing countries.  
75. As an emerging donor country, Korea had consis tently been doing what it could in terms of 
Aid for Trade. For example, it had contributed US$200,000 to UNCTAD IF-related programs for 
2006 and had donated approximately US$1.4 million for the WTO/DDA Global Trust Fund. Also, in 
response to the urgent request for establishing the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), his Government had been able to pledge US$1 milli on at the Pledging Conference held in Stockholm, 
Sweden in October. Korea was al so working with UNDP to support training programmed for trade 
officials in sub-Saharan countries with an earmarked US$1.6 million. 
76. In parallel with these multilateral contributi ons, Korea had implemented trade-related 
technical assistance focusing on human resources de velopment. The Korea International Cooperation 
Agency was investing US$3.8 million into training programmes on trade, and the Korean Government 
was currently planning to double its aid for tech nical assistance by 2010 and would continue to 
support the Aid-for-Trade programme.  
77. Adding a few general comments to what had alre ady been pointed out by panellists and other 
delegations, he first of all wanted to underline the importance of this exercise at this point in time. 
Having participated in the previous sessions, he be lieved that now was the time to start drawing the 
overall picture of Aid for Trade. Putting together all ideas and sorting out key strategies should be  
done as soon as possible.  Secondly, his delegation echoed the view that effective monitoring and 
evaluation was vital for better Aid for Trade. This  would contribute to the sound management of the 
results of Aid for Trade as well  as provide incentives for donors to increase Aid-for-Trade flows. In 
this context, the catalytic role of WTO as a coordi nator in Aid for Trade was important in order to 
fully integrate developing countries into the multilateral trading system.  Thirdly, the next steps for Aid for Trade should be to prioritize work and concentrate on the chosen programmes, given the 
limited financial resources and va rious requirements of individual donors and beneficiaries. In this 
respect, and bearing in mind the long-term goals, he drew attention to the lesson learnt from 
experience that human resource development was the most fundamental basis for steady and 
sustainable development.  
78. In conclusion, together with other donors, Korea stood ready to share its own experience and 
lessons gained through national de velopment with developing countries so that they could benefit 
from the opportunities the multilateral trading system created.  Korea looked forward to observing substantial progress in this process.  
79. The representative of Canada
 welcomed the opportunity to share experiences on the important 
emerging agenda of Aid for Trade and recalled the WTO Aid-for-Trade Task Force’s WT/GC/M/111 
Page 14  
 
  recommendation of the fundamental need for additi onal, predictable, sustainable and effective 
financing for fulfilling the Aid-for-Trade mandate.  Ca nada had been an active participant in the Aid- 
for-Trade Task Force, supported that objective, and was working to orient its trade-related 
development assistance toward those aims. 
80. In the recent Speech from the Throne delivered  on 16 October, the Government of Canada 
outlined its priorities.  Importantly, it made a link between aid and trade, stating in part that, " The best 
hope for fostering development and our common security  in the hemisphere and beyond is through 
bolstering international trade ." 
81. Turning to the question of additionality, there ha d been an eight per cent increase in Canada’s 
development aid each year since 2002. Canada’s  2007 Budget reconfirmed the Government’s 
commitment to double its international assistan ce by 2010-11 from 2001-02 levels. This would bring 
Canada’s international assistance to CDN$4.4 billion in 2008-09. Additional funding for Aid for 
Trade would be derived from this regular increase. Furthermore, at the G8 Summit earlier that year, 
the Prime Minister had reiterated Canada’s co mmitment to double its assistance to Africa to 
CDN$2.1 billion in 2008-09 from its 2003-04 level. Th is was real money, a dditional to Canada's 
existing resource base. 
82. While the Canadian Government had consiste ntly increased its international assistance 
envelope, it was not enough simply to add new money.   What was needed was to make existing aid 
resources work more effectively.  Canadians wanted to know that their tax dollars going to foreign aid 
were making a real difference in the lives of people Canada was trying to help.   
83. In its drive toward greater aid effectiveness, th e Government of Canada had set out an agenda 
with four objectives:  (i) A more strategic focus on its interventions whereby it could identify where it 
would have the greatest impact;  (ii) Improvements to program delivery; (iii) More effective use of 
Canada’s international assistance; and (iv) Clear acco untability on the part of development partners in 
their commitment to achieving results. 
84. A key instrument in facilitating local owne rship in Least-Developed Countries was the 
Enhanced Integrated Framework, which Canada viewed  as an important tool to prioritize trade-related 
programmes and projects for those countries that needed  them the most.  Canada welcomed the recent 
pledges of support for this process that had been outlined at the end of September in Stockholm, Sweden.  
85. In evaluating options available in considering Aid for Trade, Canada would continue to be 
guided by its existing international priorities a nd commitments, noting the Millennium Development 
Goals and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.    Canada also made substantial efforts within 
its geographic programming to identify regional, su b-regional and cross-border needs, including those 
related to regional integration.  CIDA worked through its Executive Directors at the regional 
development banks to encourage these international fi nancial institutions' effort s to provide strategic, 
focused support in response to member countries’ requests.   
86. Regarding specific support for Aid for Trade, as reported to the OECD, Canada had 
committed CDN$536 million in trade-related capacity building activities in the period from 2001 to 
2007, with over CDN$74 million committed this year. In September 2007, Cana da had announced its 
intention to provide CDN$19.2 million to the Enha nced Integrated Framework over five years to 
further enable LDCs to build their productive capac ities such that they could take advantage of 
emerging global market opportunities. In this respect, he acknowledged the role of Canada’s 
Ambassador Don Stephenson, who ha d chaired the Enhanced Integrat ed Framework Task Force, and 
who continued to play a key role in contributing to the Aid-for-Trade architecture. Africa was the  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 15 
 
 
  largest recipient of commitments (30%), followed by  the Americas (25%), a nd Asia (24%). Global, 
non-region specific commitments represented 15% of disbursements.  
87. Recent highlights from this support included the following.  First, CIDA's Americas Branch 
Trade Program. With a budget of approximately US $23 million, this included working with regional 
organizations such as the Inter-American Developm ent Bank to respond to a broad range of trade-
related needs identified by countries in Latin Am erica and the Caribbean.  Second, the Caribbean 
Regional Trade and Competitiveness Program.  This  initiative included over US$15 million to build 
the capacity of the region to develop internal and ex ternal trade policy and negotiate beneficial trade 
liberalization and integration agreements, as well as a plan for implementation of these agreements.  
Third, US$950,000 to the International Trade Cent re in core support, with US$20 million over four 
years proposed for ITC programs for African countries.  Fourth, funding for two WTO trust funds: 
$400,000 to the Standards and Trade Developmen t Facility (STDF), and US$400,000 to the Doha 
Development Agenda Global Trust Fund.  
88. Canada was a firm supporter of  thorough monitoring of Aid-for-Trade activities.  It was 
participating in the ongoing discussions at the OECD  and WTO regarding both the use of their joint 
trade-related capacity building database, and th e OECD Development Assistance Committee Creditor 
Reporting System (CRS) to monitor Aid for Trade.   Moving forward, Canada supported the proposal 
to use the CRS as the main collection point for reporting Aid for Trade commitments.  
89. Canada remained committed to strengtheni ng the multilateral trading system, and would 
continue to press for a broad and ambitious Doha Round outcome that was supportive of 
development.  Canada understood the important role of Aid for Trade in this process and would 
continue to support developing countries in their e fforts to engage in the multilateral trading system. 
90. The representative of Australia  thanked the Chairman for his introductory comments and also 
thanked the previous speakers for outlining their vi sion, priorities and plans for Aid for Trade.  
Australia, too, wished to briefly outline its own priorities in this area.  
91. Australia saw Aid for Trade as an important complement to freer global markets for goods 
and services.  Aid for Trade was not, of course, a substitute for trade liberalization and Australia 
recognised that access to markets was critical fo r developing countries to realise their productive 
potential.  Accordingly, Australia had been a l ongstanding advocate of multilateral and regional trade 
liberalization, including with its Cairns Group colleagues. 
92. Australia saw a successful conclusion to the Doha round, with a strong market access 
outcome – particularly for products of interest to  developing countries – as the single most important 
contribution that the WTO and the trading system could make to development. Since 2003, Australia 
had also granted duty- and quota-free access for a ll products from all LDCs with no exceptions or 
phase-ins. Nevertheless, Australia recognised the benefits Aid for Trade could offer in assisting 
developing countries to enhance their productive capac ity to take fuller advantage of global trade.  
93. Aid for Trade could improve infrastructure and workers' skills, improve the trade and 
regulatory policy environment for private sector growth, enhance government capacity for trade-
related analysis and promotion, and build business capacity.  
94. Australia's Aid for Trade strategy was guide d by its 2006 Aid "White Paper" in which 
'Accelerating economic growth' was a major orga nizing theme alongside 'promoting functioning and 
effective states', and 'investing in people'.  
95. Australia's Aid for Trade activ ities comprised initiatives to promote developing country trade 
'at, beyond and behind the border'.   Assistance at  the border included action to improve the capacity WT/GC/M/111 
Page 16  
 
  of partner government customs and quarantine servi ces. In the Pacific, Australia was helping to 
implement improved customs and quarantine a rrangements through the Regional Trade and 
Facilitation Program, and it provided similar assistan ce to South East Asian nations through the 
ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program.  
96. Beyond the border work included increasing pa rtner government capacity for trade analysis 
and policy making. This included through the WT O Global Trust Fund and through APEC, and by 
direct programmes of assistance to ASEAN and the P acific Island Forum Secretariat. Australia was 
active in support of WTO accession and implementation by Mekong countries, including, most recently, Laos. 
97. Australia's behind the border agenda aime d to enhance productive capacity and overcome 
bottlenecks to trade, such as inad equate infrastructure. The centrepiece of work in this area was 
Australia's Infrastructure for Growth Initiative whic h would see its infrastructure investment in Asia 
and the Pacific region increased by over AUS$500 million over the next four years.  
98. As a result of this and other initiatives, he was pl eased to report that whereas over the last four 
years, Australian Aid for Trade had been be tween AUD$100 million to 200 million per annum for the 
current financial year – and for the foreseeable future, this would increase sharply to over AUD$300 
million.  
99. Further information about Australia's Aid-for-T rade activities was contained in its detailed 
responses to the Joint WTO/OECD Questionnaire and in its 2006 Aid White Paper, copies of which 
he would be pleased to provided to interested delegations.  
100. The representative of the United States
 thanked the Director-General and Deputy Director-
General Valentine Rugwabiza, plus the Secretariat, for organizing this first Annual Global Review of 
Aid for Trade.  His delegation certainly recognized th e very substantial amount of work that went into 
that organization.   
101. He also wished to reiterate that the Unite d States was strongly committed to combining 
ambitious market opening results in the Doha Round with providing the wherewithal that would 
enable developing countries to take the fullest possi ble advantage of the openings that were created by 
these negotiations.  This commitment was evident in the US$6.5 billion in aid for trade that the United 
States had provided since 1999.  The work in the WTO over the last two years, starting with decisions made at Hong Kong, working through the Aid-for-Tra de Task Force, the Task  Force on the Enhanced 
Integrated Framework, and then the additional work that had been done by all over the past year had 
been very valuable, particularly in bringing high-le vel attention to the issue of aid for trade.  The 
United States certainly have no doubt that Aid for Trade was now firmly established in the 
international agenda for integrati ng the developing countries into the global trading system.  This had 
been evident the previous day by the commitment shown by the intern ational financial institutions to 
intensify their work in this area.  His delegation was also particularly pleased to see the commitments 
by the regional development banks to intensif y their work in their respective regions.   
102. One of the most important objectives of the work on Aid for Trade had been to enhance the 
dialogue among trade, development and finance ministers, both in the donor countries and in the recipient countries.  A lot of progress had been ma de, but there was quite a bit more to do.  The 
review meeting of the previous day and that morning had also been particularly helpful in enabling all 
delegations to gain a much be tter understanding of the complexities, the opportunities, and the 
challenges involved in aid for trade.  This, in tu rn, led to a greater understanding on the delegations' 
part of their respective responsibilities.  Substantia l technical and practical work was necessary among 
WTO Members to ensure th e success of the Aid-for-T rade Initiative.  Looking briefly at what was 
hoped would be the focus of work over the next year, he wished to mention four things:  (i)  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 17 
 
 
  mainstreaming trade in national development plans;  (ii) broadening monitoring efforts to include both 
the donors and the recipients;  (iii) finding practical  and effective ways to monitor aid for trade in a 
manner that was consistent with the remit and the co mpetencies of this Organization.  Obviously this 
would have to be done in a way that did not d uplicate the on-going work in the broader development 
community.  And (iv), which he particularly wish ed to emphasize, incorporating the private sector 
into the initiative.  Governments, both the recipien ts and the donors, needed to invite their private 
sectors to participate actively in this work.  There was enormous potential in private-sector 
involvement because, after all, they were the ones that actually traded.  They therefore knew better 
what was necessary for countries to plug  into the global trading system.  There was a lot of work to be 
done in this area.  It was not immediately obvious how to involve the private sector effectively, but 
that was perhaps one of the more interesting and im portant challenges to be faced in the coming year.  
These were the areas where the United States thought Members could work most profitably over the coming years, but it was not an exhaustive list by any means. 
103. In conclusion, he wished to thank and congrat ulate once again all those who had worked so 
hard on this first annual global review and said that they could certainly feel some satisfaction at its 
success. 
104. The representative of Pakistan
 said his delegation highly commended the Director-General's 
active involvement with this initiativ e. The fact that there had been an excellent gathering of all the 
key players in this issue was a t estament to the fact that the con cept of Aid for Trade had made good 
progress. He wished to make four comments that would perhaps go towards making this venture more 
productive.  
105. First, as could be seen from the documents circulat ed for the meeting, less than ten per cent of 
developing-country Members of the WTO had r esponded to the OECD/WTO Questionnaire. There 
could be various reasons for that, he felt that one of the difficulties was that the nature of questions 
demanded replies from several ministries within any ad ministration. In other words it required a lot of 
coordination amongst various ministries and depart ments. Aid was negotiated by one ministry; 
accountability was dealt with in anot her department within the govern ment, and so on. The same issue 
applied to the international level. The WTO had the mandate to monitor Aid for Trade, but who 
exactly was responsible for coordinating so that development agencies did not replicate the same 
work. More clarity was needed as to what exactly the role would be for the WTO and some effort 
would have to be made to encourage Members to ha ve more clarity as to how this work was to be 
coordinated at the national level. This had also b een one of the recommendations of the Aid-for-Trade 
Task Force. The recent efforts to involve Trade as we ll as Finance Ministers was a very positive step.  
106. Second, from the figures and other data, it had become obvious that Aid-for-Trade was highly 
dependant upon political circumstances. In Pakistan's own case, a sudden influx of experts with lots of 
duplication of effort could sometimes be seen, and then  there was a sudden drying up of all aid.  There 
would always be some politics invol ved, but it should be made a little more predictable. Aid for Trade 
should be a long-term project and should not be de pendant upon frequent changes of governments as 
happened in many developing countries.  
107. Third, there was a need for more clarity as to what was fresh and new additionality. The 
common perception was that most of the Aid for Tr ade repackaged what was already there. At the 
same time, Pakistan recognized that there w as no agreed definition of Aid for Trade.  
108. Finally, could there be a system to check wast e. Lots of funds got funnelled back to the 
donors and although huge volumes of reports were written, there was nothing to actually show that 
anything had changed. Aid for Trade should be lik e what happens when the private sector hires a 
consulting firm. When a private sector company outs ourced a contract, it expected certain measurable 
results. When consultants produced their output , they showed what they had achieved. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 18  
 
  109. The representative of Saudi Arabia
 expressed his delegation's thanks and appreciation for 
having been invited to attend th is meeting and wished to acknow ledge and express appreciation for 
the efforts of the WTO to enhance the movement of trade in the global economy, especially to and 
from the developing countries. Saudi Arabia shared mo st of the other WTO Members' views that trade 
enhancement for developing countries was an essen tial element of development and in many cases it 
was considered more important than providing ai d and soft loans to the least-developed countries 
(LDCs).  His delegation wished to take the opportunity to update other WTO Members and 
participants of the official efforts which had been made so far by the Government of Saudi Arabia to 
enhance the availability of affordable international trade finance facilities, in particular, to entities and 
institutions in the developing c ountries and emerging markets.  
110. First of all, he briefly highlighted the role  and objectives of the Saudi Fund for Development 
(SFD).  The SFD was the main arm of the Government  of Saudi Arabia for channelling soft aid to the 
least-developed countries and for providing trade fi nance facilities for international transactions.  
111. The SFD was a public institution owned one hundr ed per cent by the Government of Saudi 
Arabia and had been established in 1974 to participate in financing of infrastructure development 
projects in developing countries through granting of  soft loans. During its operation over more than 
30 years, the SFD had been able to provide fina ncial assistance exceeding US$10 billion in soft loans 
and grants, out of which soft loans amounted to  more than US$7 billion and grants more than 
US$3 billion. The soft loans were used to co -finance about 400 development and infrastructure 
projects in 71 countries. Participation in the fina ncing of these projects provided great opportunities 
for the SFD to gain international experience and est ablish superior business rela tions with public- and 
private-sector institutions and banks  in the beneficiary countries.  
112. Consequently, to leverage the impact of th ese international relations, to assist in the 
diversification of the national economy, and to further support and develop the national non-oil 
exports, the Government of Saudi Arabia had decide d, by the late 1990s, to establish the Saudi Export 
Program (SEP) within the SFD to act as the offici al Export Credit Agency (ECA) of Saudi Arabia. 
The main objectives of the Program were to assist Saudi exporters and forei gn buyers (importers) by 
providing them with innovative and competitive fina ncial, insurance arid guarantee facilities. Also, 
the Program aimed to enhance the trade and econom ic relations between Saudi Arabia and other 
countries.  
113. The SEP had commenced operations in late 2001 and since then had successfully been able to 
approve export credit and insurance f acilities amounting to approximately US$ 2  billion. Such 
facilities had involved various kinds of credits, incl uding large and small transactions as well as short, 
medium, and long-term tenors (repayment periods) reaching up to 15 years in some transactions.  
114. In line with the objectives of the other ava ilable Trade Finance Facilitation Programmes, the 
financial facilities approved so far by the SEP were substantially targeted towards emerging markets 
and high-risk countries worldwide. It was also wo rth mentioning that due to the growing demand for 
"SEP" facilities, the Government of Saudi Arabia  had decided in 2005 to increase the financial 
resources which had originally been allocated a nd make available to "SEP" from US$500 million to 
US$4 billion. Also, about 40 per cent of SEP's appr oved facilities were provided for the benefit of 
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 
115. To enhance the credit and country limits availabl e for international trade finance, the Saudi 
Export Program had been working very hard in co ordination with local, regional and international 
banks, financial institutions, Credit Insurance Agen cies, and International Rating Agencies to assist 
traders (exporters and importers) as well as the banks involved to obtain the necessary funding and 
insurance facilities and to have a dditional facilities available through sh aring with other partners the 
commercial and political risks associated with inte rnational trade transactions. To achieve such  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 19 
 
 
  objectives, Saudi Arabia had been working very cl osely with some strategic partners such as the 
World Bank, Coface Group of France, FCIB and NACM of USA, some of The Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), the Islamic Development Bank, a nd many other Public and Commercial Banks and 
institutions in the developing countries. 
116. He also wished to note that besides the devel opment and trade facilities offered directly by the 
Government of Saudi Arabia through the Saudi Fund for Development (SFO), Saudi Arabia was 
strongly supporting the efforts of the international community to achieve sust ainable development and 
enhance global trade activities through its equity  participation in most of the regional and 
international financial institutions.  
117. At the regional level, Saudi Arabia was a majo r shareholder in the Islamic Development Bank 
(IDB), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Arab Monetary Fund, and 
the OPEC fund for international development (OFI D). He then briefly introduced the objectives and 
activities of the trade finance pr ogrammes of these institutions.  
118. The Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), whic h had its headquarters in Saudi Arabia, 
was an international financial institution establishe d in 1975 to foster the economic development and 
social progress of Islamic member countries and Mu slim communities in non-member countries. The 
present membership of the Bank consisted of 57 count ries with an authorized capital of about US$23 
billion.  
119. The main purpose of IDB's Trade Financing was to enhance cooperation through trade among 
member countries, with particular emphasis on the promotion of intra-member trade. This mandate 
included supporting member countries' developmenta l efforts through the financing of much of the 
intermediate and capital goods. IDB trade financ ing was implemented through a number of windows 
and subsidiaries offering various trade finance faciliti es. Up to June 2007, the IDB had been able to 
provide trade finance facilities amounting to mo re than US$27 billion. Keeping in view the 
developments on the international trade scene after the establishment of the WTO (January 1995), the 
Islamic Development Bank had embarked upon an in tensive Technical Assistance Program in 1997 to 
help member countries upgrade their instituti onal and manpower resources to enhance their 
capabilities to negotiate WTO trade rules and better understand the WTO agreements with a view to 
meaningfully implement the WTO rules. Also, in January 
2008, a new entity, namely the 
International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) would take over all the business currently 
done under the trade financing programmes of th e IDB Group which would focus on financing and 
promoting intra-trade and exports of member c ountries with the overall objective of increasing the 
volumes of import-export trade of the member countries.  
120. Another important programme was the Arab Trade Finance Program (ATFP) of the Arab 
Monetary Fund which had its headquarters in A bu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The ATFP was a 
multi Arab financial institution with a mission to cont ribute to the development of Arab trade and to 
the increase of the competitive capabilities of the Arab producers and exporters. Since its 
establishment in 1991 it had approved trade financi ng facilities amounting to more than US$5 billion.  
121. A third trade finance programme belonged to the Arab Bank for Economic Development in 
Africa (BADEA). This programme had been establis hed in 1998, with resources of US$100 million 
and aimed at enhancing the economic and tr ade relations among Arab-African countries and 
providing trade finance facilities to finance export tr ansactions from Arab to African countries. So far 
the programme had been able to approve trad e financing facilities amounting to approximately 
US$164 million.  
122. The fourth trade finance programme bel onged to the OPEC fund for international 
development (OFID). This program had been established recently during 2006 with resources of WT/GC/M/111 
Page 20  
 
  US$500 million. All developing countries were eligib le to benefit from the programme which aimed 
to enhance the promotion of economic development by supporting the trade financing needs of public 
and private institutions and to support the privat e sector development strategies in these countries.  
123. At the international level, Saudi Arabia wa s also supporting both developmental efforts as 
well as global trade promotion through being a shareholder and an active member of most of the well-
known international institutions such as the World Ba nk, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and 
the African Development Bank.  
124. Saudi Arabia had been carefully watching most of  the trends and issues associated with global 
trade and the growing demand for international trad e and commodity finance. It shared with WTO 
and its Members the view that it was essential to assi st the developing countries to improve their 
capacities to produce tradable goods and services and to participate more effectively in global trade. 
Also, Saudi Arabia believed it was very important for the financial institutions and donors to adapt 
adequate strategies and mechanisms so that th e efforts of the international community would 
eventually lead to additional trade opportunities,  economic growth and poverty reduction in the 
developing countries.  
125. In conclusion, he assured Members that Saudi Ar abia would continue its  efforts through the 
Saudi Fund for Development to assist developing countries in achieving further social and economic 
development and prosperity. In line with these effo rts, the SFD and its trade finance window, namely 
the Saudi Export Program, would continue to work in  cooperation with other financial institutions to 
improve the access of developing countries to comp etitive and affordable trade finance facilities.  
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia strongly believed th at further initiatives and efforts for political, 
economical and financial reforms, in addition to close cooperation and integration between the public 
and the private sectors in the developing count ries, were essential to improve the business 
environment and to encourage financial institutions to maximize their participation in international 
trade financing and to make larger and adequate res ources available for this purpose.  In this regard, 
Saudi Arabia welcomed the Enhanced Integrat ed Framework (EIF) which it believed was an 
important step towards integrating the developing co untries with the international trade activities.  
126. The representative of New Zealand
 expressed his delegation's thanks to the WTO for the 
opportunity to be part of this im portant review on Aid for Trade.  He affirmed the importance that 
New Zealand attached to this issue – indeed Trad e and Development had been the subject of the NZ 
Agency for International Development’s very firs t major policy after the agency had been launched 
just five years ago.  This was recognition of the standing of this issue for New Zealand's trade and 
development partners, and its focus in ternationally, including in the WTO. 
127. In New Zealand’s view – apparently shared by  many others, from the comments that had been 
made in the debate – Aid for Trade was not a subs titute for a Doha outcome that delivered a real 
development dividend across the breadth of the negotiations , including meaningful market access in 
agriculture and subsidy reforms.  New Zealand was,  of course, committed to bringing the Round to an 
early and successful conclusion, so as to ensure  that Members did deliver on this development 
promise. 
128. But Aid for Trade was without question an importa nt complement to such an outcome.  This 
was aid not just for the sake of trade, but Ai d for Trade for the elimination of poverty and 
development.  The principal aim of all of New Zealand’s trade-related programmes was to maximize the contribution that trade could make to sustaina ble development by ensuring that poor producers, 
farmers and workers could access the benefits of trade in ways that were sustainable and that brought 
real changes to their lives.  Aid for Trade w as about empowering developing countries to take 
advantage of the benefits offered by the inte rnational trading system, as well as managing the 
challenges posed.  WT/GC/M/111 
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  129. In order to achieve this, strong country owne rship was critical.  If trade was a priority for 
development in a country, then it should logically be reflected in national development strategies.  
This enhanced the ability for coordination acro ss government agencies, a nd also provided the 
foundation for donors to engage a nd prioritise Aid for Trade in their own programming decisions. 
130. New Zealand’s experience was that  all relevant country stakeholde rs needed to be engaged in 
policy and planning processes around trade and devel opment.  This included the private sector and 
representatives of small producers, who were fully aw are of the most critical barriers they faced to 
expand or to export.  It also included the voices of civil society – consumers, community groups, 
NGOs, trade unions.  Effective discussions amongst all relevant stakeholders on the priorities for 
trade-related assistance made for better representati on and reflection of local needs and interests. 
131. What was clear was that the country or regional context was critical in taking forward Aid for 
Trade.  New Zealand was acutely aware in its ow n region of the vulnerabilities of the small island 
states of the Pacific.  The Pacific was the region th at after Sub Saharan Africa was the least likely to 
meet the Millennium Developmen t Goals.  New Zealand encouraged other donors not to ignore the 
Pacific’s needs with resp ect to Aid for Trade, and to ensure coordination amongst donors to avoid 
overburdening the limited capacity in the region. 
132. The vast majority of New Zealand’s Aid for Tr ade was focused in South East Asia and the 
Pacific through both bilateral and regional mechan isms.  This was complemented by assistance 
delivered through multilateral channels.  A key challe nge for New Zealand in its Asia-Pacific region 
was maximizing the synergies betwee n regional and country approaches so that they were mutually 
reinforcing.  No doubt this was applicable in other regions as well. 
133. In respect of multilateral support, New Zealand had recently taken decisions to commence 
support for the International Trade Centre and the Agency for International Trade Information and 
Cooperation.  It also made another contribution to the WTO Global Trust Fund earlier in the year. 
134. New Zealand welcomed the attention that had b een paid to effectiveness of Aid for Trade and 
remained keen to ensure that monitoring and ev aluation supported country ow nership without creating 
undue burdens or layers of bureaucracy.  The benefits  of global monitoring must be apparent to 
developing countries for them to increasingly participate in the self-evaluation exercise.  
135. New Zealand remained interested to see wh ether existing mechanisms, such as the Trade 
Policy Review Mechanism, could be strengthene d to improve monitoring and accountability.  For 
example, TPRM assessments of OECD  countries could look at the development impact of their trade 
policies, as well as progress against any Aid-fo r-Trade commitments.  And developing-country 
TPRMs could consider mainstreaming of trade into  national development strategies and utilization of 
Aid for Trade assistance. 
136. To conclude, New Zealand welcomed this initiative and the opportunity for high level 
consideration to this most important topic of Aid for Trade. 
137. The representative of Honduras  welcomed the reports submitted by the Deputy Director- 
General and by the Chairman of the Committee on Tr ade and Development and wished also to thank 
the WTO and all the institutions that had particip ated in this annual review and debate on Aid for 
Trade.  In the course of the three days of very  informative debates and presentations figures, self-
evaluations by both donors and aid recipients a nd the results of the regional reviews had been 
discussed. 
138. Honduras believed that there was a need to define  clearly what mechanis m was to be used for 
the delivery of Aid for Trade.  Would the bilatera l mechanism currently used by the donor countries WT/GC/M/111 
Page 22  
 
  be continued to be used, or should another mech anism be sought along the lines of the Integrated 
Framework to which countries would make applica tions for Aid for Trade?  In any event, it was 
essential to be able to measure, evaluate and know at the end of the process whether the additional 
funds had been received and what impact such  aid had had on the growth of exports and the 
development of the country. 
139. Honduras considered it essential to achieve conc rete progress in the reduction of transaction 
costs by means of a monitoring and evaluation me chanism.  Additional resources would be required 
over and above those already provided by the donors so  as to enable new project s to be developed and 
other projects to be concluded.  Such resources must  be predictable and appropriate and be effectively 
available. 
140. Many countries already had national capacity-bui lding and technical assistance plans with 
regard to trade and it would be necessary to take account of such plans, update them and assess to 
what extent they had b een successfully implemented and whether it was possible to expand them so 
that they not only covered the bilateral agenda but  could also include programmes and projects that 
went beyond that.  Honduras took the view that new funding should be directed to projects that 
resulted from the review of the plans.  Instituti ons such as the IDB and the World Bank should 
collaborate with the recipient countries in order to achieve the effective updating of such instruments. 
141. With regard to the regional reviews, Honduras believed that the delivery of Aid for Trade 
might in some cases involve regional appro aches, for example in the areas of sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures, standards and trade fac ilitation, while in other cases a country-by-country 
approach was required, ta king account of the particular circumstances of the country concerned, as for 
example in capacity-building for the export of agri cultural and non-agricultural products, since there 
was not always a single solution that met the needs of all countries. 
142. Another important aspect was that Aid for Trade must first and foremost be directed towards 
those Members that needed it most.  In order to know that, it was not only necessary to examine such 
countries' share of world trade but also their per cap ita income.  From the very beginning, priority 
should be given to such Members which needed su ch aid and which had made efforts to integrate 
themselves into the world economy, but which had not achieved the desired goals. 
143. It was for these reasons that Honduras proposed that  priority be given to funds for the LDCs 
and for countries that received funding from th e International Developm ent Association (IDA-only 
countries), since they were the most vulnerable Members of the WTO and needed more support in 
order to become more fully integrated into world trade. 
144. Finally, Honduras wished to th ank UNCTAD, ICC, AITIC, ACWL, the South Centre, etc. for 
their support in various areas during the past year. 
145. The representative of China
 expressed his delegation's appreci ation for the efforts made by 
the Director-General and the WTO Secretariat in initiating and facilitating the very first Global Review of Aid for Trade. China also wished to  thank the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and 
Development and Deputy Director-General Valentine Rugwabiza for their reports. 
146. China fully supported the WTO Aid-for-Trade initiative and valued highly the opportunity 
provided over the last two days for genuine and inter active dialogue to successfully take stock of what 
had been done at national, regional and multilatera l levels. China also appreciated all the comments 
and suggestions made by participants on Chin a's effort in regard to Aid for Trade.  
147. As a developing country, China fully understood the difficulties confronting other developing 
countries in their pursuit of development. Since the 1950s, China had been providing various forms of  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 23 
 
 
  assistance, to the best of its ab ility, to other developing countries , particularly the least-developed 
countries. Examples included:  duty-free and quota-fr ee market access to products that LDCs had the 
ability to export, covering 93 per cent of their total e xports to China;  increase of investment in other 
developing countries under China's "Go Global" strategy to enhance their production capacity and competitiveness;  focus on supply side constraints of other developing countries through assistance to 
large construction projects such as roads, ports and factories;  and the scaling-up of training 
programmes to personnel of other de veloping countries to enable them to share China's economic and 
trade development experiences, w ith over 4000 people of other deve loping countries benefiting from 
197 courses and workshops in the trade-related areas.  
148. Aid for trade was a rather complex undertaking,  the success of which called for persistent 
joint efforts by all parties concerned. As for the way forward, China would like to offer some 
preliminary food for thought.   First, China belie ved that it was necessary to build on what had been 
achieved so far while at the same  time filling the gaps of existi ng approaches through innovative and 
practical ways and means to ensure better delivery in  the future.  Second, stable and predictable flow 
of financial resources was vital for the Aid-for-Trade work to sustain and thrive . This definitely called 
for fresh inputs and initiatives. Developed count ries and donor agencies, both bilateral and 
multilateral, should take the lead, while developing  countries, declaring themselves in a position to do 
so, would take on shared but differentiated r esponsibilities and make contributions that were 
commensurate with their level of economic developm ent.  Third, Aid-for-Trade programmes could be 
effective only when the ownership lay with the reci pient countries. Aid for Trade must be carried out 
in line with the trade policy ob jectives of the recipient countries which identified key areas of 
concentration for Aid-far-Trade programmes and na tional priorities such as capacity building and 
infrastructure.  Fourth, monitoring and evaluation were important instruments to ensure that action 
would lead to the intended goals with the desired results. In order to achieve desired results, the 
process should be made simple and manageab le with a view to reducing the unnecessary 
administrative costs, especially for developing Memb ers. Furthermore, the level of satisfaction of 
recipient countries and local people should be take n as the most important criteria in measuring 
effects of Aid-for-Trade work.  Fifth, partnershi p was another key word in keeping aid for trade 
running smoothly. In this regard, WTO, as an intern ational trade organization, would and could play a 
unique role through monitoring a nd evaluation in mobilizing aid for trade through coordination with 
other agencies.  Last but not the least, as pointed out by numerous Members during the review and by 
the Deputy Director-General that morning, it was the outcome of a successful Doha Round 
negotiation that would deliver the most wanted "publ ic goods" for all WTO Members, i.e. a fair, rule- 
based and development-friendly global tradi ng system and better market access for all WTO 
Members, particularly the developing and least-developed Members. This was the very soil on which the tree of Aid for Trade could grow and flourish.  
149. The representative of Switzerland
 noted that this was an extremely important moment in that 
the WTO was embarking on a very concrete project  whose goal was shared by both developing and 
developed countries.  Indeed poverty in one part of the world was poverty in all parts of the world.  
Countries needed to do everything in their power to  ensure that public opinion accepted this shared 
responsibility in order to find solutions to the probl ems of others.  He welcomed the proposal by the 
delegation of Pakistan to create a fund financed through the customs duties that are levied by 
developed countries.  Although countries such as Switzerland, which allow duty free imports from 
imports from developing countries, would not be ab le to contribute to this fund, his delegation 
supported the idea in principle.  High level participa tion in this Global Review was a demonstration of 
how countries should put the concerns of ot hers at the heart of our own concerns. 
150. Switzerland believed that the value of the initiativ e – and of this first Global Review – lay in 
the way that it raised awareness among local partne rs about the crucial importance of trade as an 
engine of growth and development.  It had also help ed to highlight the fact th at, for some countries, a 
great deal of the ODA was already flowing into sectors that were directly relevant to Aid for Trade.  WT/GC/M/111 
Page 24  
 
  But the initiative had also helped bilateral and multilate ral donors to realize that they needed to adjust 
their assistance to better support trade sectors in deve loped countries.  The Global Review was not an 
attempt to finalize something, but rather to launch  a new process which would hopefully lead to very 
specific and concrete results. 
151. It was a long-standing goal of Switzerland to introduce strengthened monitoring of 
development policy and assistance in order to improve results for those countries that most needed it.  
The creation of a specific monito ring mechanism – thanks to the strong collaboration between WTO 
and the OECD – was a major outcome, and Switzer land wanted to congratulate the WTO and the 
OECD for this cooperation, knowing full well how  difficult multilateral, trans-border cooperation 
could be in practice.  Even though it was not yet perfect, the monitoring mechanism would allow 
Members to track Aid-for-Trade flows and to ev aluate donors' commitments on a yearly basis – 
notably in terms of additionality of their ODA.  With  regard to next steps, Members would need to 
make sure that, in the future, both the Global Revi ew exercise – and the monitoring mechanism more 
generally – did not slip into routine, but rath er served as useful and lively tools to increase and 
improve assistance to trade, and to stimulate a global dialogue among stakeholders. 
152. Switzerland was committed to exploring ways to further enhance the effectiveness of its trade 
cooperation programme, and it welcomed the current discussions on Aid for Trade.  However, Aid for 
Trade should not be sought at the expense of the mo st important goal which was to achieve ambitious 
results, in term of development, across all area of  the Doha negotiations.  Other Members had spoken 
at length about their magnificent programmes in the Aid-for-Trade field.  He felt that Switzerland's 
programmes spoke for themselves.  Switzerland was particularly active in trade-related technical 
assistance and capacity building, and according to th e latest WTO/OECD-DAC database, it was the 
second largest bilateral donor in this field.  However,  Switzerland would prefer to be in last place next 
year if this was the result of others improving significantly their contributions. 
153. The representative of Japan
 said that his delegation felt that the Global Review on Aid for 
Trade – together with the earlier Regional Review s – had provided Members with a good opportunity 
to renew commitment to assistance efforts.  Japan ODA policy was based very much on its own 
historical experience.  Although Japan's deve lopment was achieved through many means, the 
expansion of trade was an extremely important one.  Based on this experience, Japan believed that 
Aid for Trade must be Aid for Trade for devel opment – a point which as was emphasised during the 
Asian Regional Review.  Japan wanted to reaffi rm its 2005 commitment made in 2005 – called the 
"Development Initiative for Trade" - which pledged to  mobilize all of the available tools in Japan's 
ODA programme to offer assistance across all three stages of trade (namely production, sales and 
purchase). 
154. Based on the principle of ownership, Japan was renewing its efforts at in depth policy 
dialogue with partner countries, and many project s were already being implemented.  Trade and 
development would also be an important topic in the TICAD 4 meeting to be held in Japan next year 
at Heads of State level, to be followed by the G8 Summit.  Japan was also looking forward to 
participating in future processes currently being proposed as part of the Aid-for-Trade initiative. 
155. The representative of Suriname  said her delegation welcomed the opportunity to contribute to 
the Aid-for-Trade debate. Suriname was a non-resi dent Member of the WTO and thus was very 
pleased to be able to participate in the meeting. 
156. Small and vulnerable economies such as Suri name considered that Aid for Trade had 
enormous potential for tackling some of the stru ctural impediments that had hindered greater 
participation in the multilateral trading system.  Su riname was among the group of small, vulnerable 
economies with a share of world merchandise trad e of 0.009 per cent and attached the utmost 
importance to an initiative which underscored assi stance to overcome the problems created by  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 25 
 
 
  underdeveloped infrastructure and supply-side constraints. Suriname was grateful to donors who had 
committed to step up Aid for Trade. In this contex t, Suriname also wished  to acknowledge the support 
of several intergovernmental organizations with  which it had developed productive partnerships, 
including AITIC, the Inter-American Develo pment Bank, UNCTAD and other agencies, and 
expressed its appreciation to donors who supported those organizations. 
157. Finally, Suriname also wished to thank bila teral development partners for the assistance 
received in the context of trade-related technical assistance and Aid for Trade at large.  Suriname 
stood ready to contribute, within the limit of its possibilities, to operationalize Aid for Trade and to 
make it more effective.   
158. The representative of Sri Lanka  thanked the WTO for organizing the event and the other 
agencies who had taken part in the deliberations. Although the Minister himself was unable to attend 
the event as he had had to remain in Colombo for the Parliamentary sessions debating the national 
annual budget, he was optimistic that there w ould be a positive outcome to the meeting.  
159. This event underlined the importance of effec tive Aid for Trade for all regions and countries 
which would otherwise be marginalized and unable to take full advantage of trade liberalization.  Sri 
Lanka fully shared the concerns of all developing countries regarding the need for effective Aid for 
Trade, its importance for trade development and the overall development of each country whatever its 
level of development.  It was important that bot h the concerns of LDCs and developing countries in 
each region should be addressed, as had been noted by the Secretary-General of UNCTAD the previous day.   
160. As a small and vulnerable country in the Asia  Pacific region, Sri Lanka faced a number of 
challenges in integrating into the multilateral trading system. Sri Lanka's export trade was still 
concentrated in a number of traditional goods, in a few key industrial products, and in a few markets, 
although it was slowly seeking to diversify its tr ade portfolio. However, its progress in trade 
diversification was challenged by s upply side constraints.  Furthermore, some of its export potential 
was hampered by the difficulty faced in comply ing with increasingly strict technical and health 
standards being introduced in some of its key mark ets.  In addition, Sri Lanka's export growth was 
vulnerable to external factors such as price instab ilities and instability in foreign exchange markets.  
Export growth was often nullified by the effects of in stability in currencies.  There were other external 
factors which, while outside the sphere of trad e, still impacted Sri Lanka's production capacity.  A 
case in point was the key role of energy in manufact uring, and the impacts of the energy crisis on a 
small country such as Sri Lanka. While these external  issues were not necessarily within the purview 
of the WTO, it was hoped that respective agencies would take serious note of the contributions of 
these factors to the difficulties faced by small count ries. Sri Lanka placed great importance on trade 
development as part of its overall international de velopment strategy; emphasis had also been placed 
on the development of both the agricultural and indus trial sectors, with a special focus on small- and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  
161. To this end, Sri Lanka endorsed the point made  by the Director-General that Aid for Trade 
could, and should be, an important compliment to  a successful Doha Development Round.  As had 
been highlighted in previous sessions, there were ch allenges in effectively mobilizing Aid for Trade, 
notably the need to focus aid on priority and deliverable projects and activities.  Sri Lanka had experienced these challenges and, to this end, w as in the process of setting up a national Aid-for-
Trade committee to ensure that all stakeholders were involved in identifying and prioritizing trade 
development needs across all sectors, and to ensure that all such aid received by Sri Lanka was 
monitored and evaluated.  Here therefore urged donor countries and agencies to work closely with such focal points to effectively prioritize, monitor and evaluate Aid for Trade so as to ensure that it 
met the specific needs of recipient countries. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 26  
 
  162. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 congratulated the Director-General and key partner 
international agencies in organizing a very fruitf ul first Global Review of Aid for Trade with 
high-level participation. Her dele gation considered it timely for the General Council to hold its first 
annual debate which gave all Me mbers an opportunity to discuss the result of the WTO monitoring 
process and provide guidance on the fu ture direction of the initiative. 
163. One of the achievements of the Hong Kong Minist erial Conference had been the launching of 
the Aid-for-Trade initiative. Ministers had given th e WTO a mandate to help developing Members, 
especially the LDCs, build the trade capacity they needed to take advantage of trade opening, and 
tackle supply side constraints. 
164. It was encouraging to note that considerable  progress had been achieved since the launch of 
the initiative. The various recommendations of the Task Force had been endorsed in October 2006, 
and were being implemented in earnest. Aid for Trade had assumed growing importance in most 
donors' programmes; pledges had been reconfir med and new commitments were being made. 
165. Members were gathered at the present meeting to capture the momentum and share views on 
the future direction as Aid for Trade was a long-te rm initiative. Hong Kong, China believed that the 
adoption of the right guiding principles and appr oaches would help further advance the process. 
166. On principles, her delegation believed that Ai d for Trade was an important complement to, 
not a substitute for, the Doha Deve lopment Agenda. Aid for Trade must also not have to compete for 
existing Official Development Assistance (ODA) flows with other devel opment and poverty reduction 
priorities. 
167. On approaches, her delegation believed that the construction of the future roadmap for Aid for 
Trade should include the following three elements:  (i) Priorities – Members and regions had to focus 
on what mattered most to increase exports and retu rn on investment. Trade should be streamlined into 
national development strategies. In this respect, Hong Kong China applauded the statements made by 
speakers from many partner countries, highlighting their strong desire to introduce good governance, putting in place the necessary lega l system and regulatory framework to enable trade in goods and 
services.  (ii) Predictability and accessibility of financ ing – there was a need to  build an effective and 
credible system of financing with good coordi nation amongst financing in stitutions and parties 
concerned. Hong Kong, China had co ntributed to general training and technical assistance initiatives, 
and also attached much importance to the role of cap acity building.  (iii) Partnership – the single most 
common theme that had been raised over the pa st two days was coopera tion, coordination and 
coherence. It was instrumental for the WTO to intensify collaboration w ith various development 
agencies, donors and recipients to work together in  an inclusive and effective manner. It was also 
crucially important to bring the private sector into the conversation. 
168. These were only some of the concepts and modalities identified and discussed in the Global 
Forum. Hong Kong China supported the idea of holding further stocktaking and evaluation 
discussions at both multilateral and regional levels to review progress in im plementation. Given the 
useful exchanges that had made in the Workshop he ld on 19 November, her delegation also saw merit 
in organizing more technical discussions to furthe r clarify the scope and improve the methodology of 
work. 
169. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 commended the Director-General for organizing the 
Global Review. This gathering had given all Aid- for-Trade partners a good opportunity to review 
what had been done so far and what actors should continue to do to achieve common objectives on the 
Aid-for-Trade initiative. Among other events desi gned to mobilize donors, agencies and recipients, 
the three regional review conferences held in September and October deserved recognition and 
attention. He also wanted to give credit to the OECD and the WTO Secretariats for the well-designed  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 27 
 
 
  "Questionnaire on Aid for Trade" circulated in Ju ly. Chinese Taipei had found it a valuable tool in 
helping them to conduct a comprehensive self-assessment. 
170. While securing addition financial resources for Aid for Trade was essential for the initiative's 
success, the importance of improving existing bilateral or regional projects and programs that met the objectives of the Aid-for-Trade initiative should no t be ignored.  Some regional challenges had 
already been acknowledged by Regional Devel opment Banks and had been addressed by some 
donors. Over the last few decades, Chinese Taipei had been involved in many trade-related projects in 
Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.  Some pr ojects undertaken recently in supporting the export 
of papaya, blackberry and tilapia fish, for example,  had proved very successful. Those kind of best 
practices might be of interest to other Members. 
171. Chinese Taipei would share these practices as part of its efforts to contribute to the Aid-for-
Trade initiative.  With its own development expe rience, Chinese Taipei knew Aid for Trade was 
essential for reducing poverty and achieving a sustaina ble economy.  It would continue to commit to 
assisting LDCs and developi ng countries with trade-related cap acity building and technical assistance 
and would also endeavor to mainstream Aid fo r Trade into its development cooperation policy. 
172. The representative of Singapore
 noted that at a time when the Doha Round faced serious 
challenges, the Global Review of Aid for Trade was a timely reminder of the wider institutional 
relevance of the WTO to the multilateral trading sy stem, and its impact on the development of its 
member states, in particular, the developing countries and LDCs. 
173. Based on Singapore's national experience, her delegation believed that Aid for Trade was 
essential for developing countries, especially LDCs , to help them fully utilize the opportunities 
afforded to them by their participation in the multila teral trading system and the global market.  In his 
recent work, ( The Bottom Billion ), Paul Collier had raised a simple but profound point. All societies 
used to be poor. Most of them had been lifted out of it.  Where there was a need to focus efforts and 
energy was on others that were stuck in de velopment traps which dragged these countries down. 
174. It was clear from the discussions over the past  few days, and during the regional meetings, 
that greater strides had been made in mainstreami ng Aid for Trade. Clearly, much more needed to be 
done. As part of that effort, adapting the TPR mech anism to play a role, especially in identifying 
needs in less developed countries, should be considered. 
175. OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría had said that Aid for Trade was not a panacea. 
However, it did draw much needed attention to th e issue of trade capacity building and the need to 
provide societies with the ladders to move them selves up. This was very much in line with 
Singapore's own development philosophy and helped  shape its commitment to the Aid-for-Trade 
initiative. For many years after independence in 1965, Singapore had been fortunate to have friends in 
many countries who shared their developmental experiences and helped develop trade capacity, not 
just to trade, but to compete in global markets. 
176. Today, through the Singapore Cooperati on Progamme, Singapore provided technical 
assistance to other developing countries. More th an 60 per cent of these activities were targeted, 
directly or otherwise, at enhancing recipient countri es' capacity to participate more effectively in the 
multilateral trading system. Over the past fifteen years, the range and number of training programmes 
had been increased to meet the training needs of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, 
Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.  A key priority had been regional integration and 
Singapore believed that this was essential to fac ilitate and integrate the less developed countries of 
ASEAN into the multilateral trading system and global markets. WT/GC/M/111 
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  177. With that objective in mind, Singapore had la unched the Initiative for ASEAN Integration 
(IAI) in 2000 with the aim of narrowing the devel opment gap in ASEAN, especially with its new 
members, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myan mar. The IAI had since become the focus of 
ASEAN integration. At the ASE AN Summit in Singapore, the Prime Minister had underscored 
Singapore's' commitment to this initiative and had announced a further contribution to fund the IAI 
for a further three years. 
178. Singapore had also forged partnerships w ith more than 30 developed countries and 
established international organiza tions to run Third Country Training Programs, leveraging the 
strengths of combined resources and expertise. Fo r example, Singapore worked with the WTO, World 
Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and UNDP to organize joint programmes for developing-
member countries. 
179. In conclusion, Singapore reiterated its commitment to do what it could, within its means, to 
help other developing countries, particularly those in the region, to develop their trade potential. As the initiative moved forward, raising the bar to deliver better outcomes, innovation and 
improvement would be needed. Singapore would continue to study how the Singapore Cooperation 
Progamme could better complement and support  trade capacity building in the future. 
180. The representative of Ecuador
 recalled that the Aid-for-Trade initiative was based on the 
mandated contained in paragraph 57 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  The mandate's 
objective was to help developing c ountries to better integrate into the multilateral trading system.  In 
light of this broad mandate, the General Council had decided that th e best way to launch the initiative 
and achieve progress was to concentrate on impr oving the monitoring and evaluation of Aid for 
Trade.  The first Global Review of Aid for Trad e was an important step forward and an essential 
element in the Roadmap menti oned by the Director-General. 
181. Ecuador agreed with the Deputy Director-Gener al that Aid for Trade did not replace but 
rather complemented the development dimension of the Doha Round – which was about improving 
market access for developing countries.  In this c ontext, her delegation felt that adjustment assistance 
was a key part of the initiative, and she underlined  the need to help developing countries face the 
challenges posed by preference erosion.  More gene rally, Ecuador felt that the Aid-for-Trade initiative 
should benefit all developing countri es and should focus on increasing a nd diversifying their exports.  
In light of the current difficulties in reaching agreement on modalities in the Doha negotiations, 
Ecuador believed that the initiative should continue to move forwar d irrespective of these difficulties 
and that its results should not be dependent on the outcome or conclu sion of the Round.  Furthermore, 
Ecuador felt that the initiative should not be tied to  mandatory structural adjustments, but rather 
should reflect the plans, priorities and demands of de veloping countries.  Ecuador also agreed with the 
Report and Recommendations of the Regional Review  for Latin America and the Caribbean, although 
greater clarity was needed in order to make the Report operational. 
182. In conclusion, Ecuador believed that Aid for Trade could provide an important catalyst to 
help countries benefit more from the trading syst em – and in doing so, create the necessary conditions 
for poverty reduction.  Ecuador would continue to s upport this very important initiative in its goals to 
strengthen international c ooperation, improve monitoring, and secu re fair results for all regions.  
Finally, she pointed out that one of the most valuable initiatives for developing countries was the 
ACWL – and she expressed the hope that Aid for Trade could provide support.   
183. The representative of Mongolia  expressed his delegation's gra titude to the Director-General 
and the WTO Secretariat for organizing this ve ry important and well timed event. The global 
economy was widely being liberalized.  However, it was apparent that the majority of developing 
countries needed support to benefit from trade liberalization.  WT/GC/M/111 
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  184. While associating his delegation with previous st atements, he wished to highlight and clarify 
the following three points.  First, as many delegates,  panelists and moderators  had noted, trade-related 
difficulties faced by landlocked developing countries n eeded the special consideration of international 
and regional communities. Despite continued effo rts by those affected countries to overcome 
difficulties, the LLDCs continued to be marginalized  in the international trade of goods due to the 
geographical disadvantages related to landlockedn ess.  Lack of territorial access to the sea, 
remoteness from major world markets, and s ubsequent high transportation costs were major 
impediments to the development of landlocked developing countries' trade.  For instance, Mongolia's 
capital, Ulan Bator, was 1,700 kilometres from the nearest port of Tianjin, China, and about 6,000 
kilometres from the ports of Vladivostok and Nahod ka in Russia. Transit transport costs (including 
insurance) through Russia and China, paid by Mo ngolian businesses, amounted to 7-8 per cent of 
GDP. This was twice the amount paid by other developi ng countries and, triple that paid by developed 
countries. Thus, as for most landlocked countries, hi gh transport costs remained the biggest obstacle 
to Mongolia's access to global markets.  In Augus t, the Mongolian Government hosted the Meeting of 
LLDC Trade Ministers, which had provided a good opportunity for 31 LLDCs and Switzerland to 
share views and experiences regarding the difficulti es associated with landloc kedness. The Ulan Bator 
Declaration, which had been adopted at that meet ing and had been circulat ed to the Members as 
document WT/L/700, reflected the common position of the LLDCs on the Doha Round negotiations, 
and their desire for special consideration of their specific problems within the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative.  In light of the Ulan Bator Declaration,  the Government of Mong olia urged multilateral and 
bilateral donors, and international organizations, to pay more atten tion, and provide tangible support 
and additional financial assistance to their special  needs associated with their disadvantaged 
geographical location.  Mongolia was seeking fina ncial assistance for specific projects aimed at 
creating transit corridors, establishing free trade z ones, industrial zones and wholesale chains, which 
were of great importance to trade expansion. 
185. Second, Mongolia understood that Aid for Trade should be delivered to developing countries 
in the form of development assistance and should be implemented as a part of existing ODA.  In this 
regard, Mongolia sought more efficient funding me chanisms and a clearer architecture for Aid for 
Trade.  It also sought to distinguish Aid-for-T rade resources from existing ODA in order to utilize 
resources for trade-related projects. In short, it w as not appropriate to name the certain increased 
amount of development assistance as Aid for Trade.  Therefore, Mongolia sought demand-driven, 
effective and well functioning Aid for Trade in orde r to support broader participation of developing 
countries in the globalizing world economy and to benefit from multilateral trade. 
186. Third, as noted by the Director-General, many problems, especially for small or landlocked 
countries, were regional in scope. The establishm ent of transport corridors linking neighbouring 
China and Russia would significantly increase M ongolian trade. Therefore, Mongolia urged 
international and regional agencies to undertake more activities in this area. 
187. In conclusion, Mongolia expressed appreciation to a number of international organizations 
including, among others, UNCTAD, UNDP, AITIC, ITC, ADB and UNESCAP, and regional bilateral 
donors including the Governments of Japan, Korea a nd China for their pledges and commitments that 
had been instrumental for small and re source-constrained de veloping countries. 
188. The representative of Qatar , on behalf of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the 
Gulf (GCC)1, as well as Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen , said that the Global Review was timely, 
providing Members with a unique opportunity to addr ess the issue of Aid for Trade, and to discuss 
how it could help developing countries and LDCs to  use trade as an engine for development. The 
experience of the last three decades had demonstrat ed that trade could promote economic growth and 
development, and help lift countries out of pove rty.  By fully utilizing trade opportunities and 
                                                      
1 Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 30  
 
  facilitating trade flows, Aid for Trade had great poten tial to effectively integrate developing countries 
and LDCs in the multilateral trade system. However,  the noble aims of Aid for Trade would not reach 
their full potential unless practical implementation solu tions were provided to recipient countries, on 
the one hand, and to donors, on the other hand. To improve the delivery of Aid for Trade and tackle the existing gaps, it was important to take into co nsideration the experiences of donor and recipient 
countries in this field. West Asian Arab delegati ons also believed Aid for Trade should ensure that 
new and existing resources were used in the most productive way. 
189. The five principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid effectiveness, which Qatar supported, 
were ownership, alignment, harmonization, divisi on of labour, and accountability.  There was a need 
to consider areas in which intervention would yield th e best results and ensure adequate financing for 
achieving desired objectives. 
190. Having listened carefully to the roadmap for Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and 
Asia and Pacific, the West Asian Arab Delegations underlined the fact that the countries on behalf of 
which they were speaking, had not been invited to  participate in the consultation process that took 
place prior to these events. They therefore request ed to be included in future Aid-for-Trade 
consultation. 
191. They stressed two basic principles:  First, promotion of trade aid by donors should not be an 
alternative to the reform efforts in recipients count ries, but a complement to them. Reform in recipient 
countries would be greatly complemented with incr eased Aid for trade that had been pledged by 
several Members and regional development banks. In this regard, the West Asian Arab Delegations 
took due note of the statement made by the represe ntative of the Islamic Development Bank with 
regard to its strong commitment to the Aid-for-Tra de initiative and were pleased to learn about its 
contribution on trade financing in the past. 
192. Second, the development of Aid for Trade should be consistent with broader trade objectives 
and the principle of South-South integration. It was also necessary to enha nce efforts to successfully 
conclude the Doha Development Agenda. Such e fforts required political courage and commitment. 
There were, however, still many questions on how to make Aid for Trade operational.  For example, 
what were the mechanisms?  which countries coul d present viable projects to prospective donors?  
how were countries' (and regions') needs to be matched with donor responses?  what were the 
baselines through which Aid for Trade would be asses sed?  In the next global review, they hoped to 
identify the concrete responses given to their countries. 
193. The assistance provided by international organi zations was highly valued and the West Asian 
Arab Delegation wanted to acknowledge support received on several trade areas by the WTO, 
UNCTAD, ITC, and AITIC.  
194. Following this statement, the representative of Qatar
 also expressed his country's keen interest 
on being a supportive partner in the development e fforts – in particular with regard to poverty 
eradication and sharing the benefits of global growth in a fair manner – so as to have a positive impact 
on stability and international peace and security. In this regard, Qa tar had hosted the Fourth WTO 
Ministerial Conference where Aid and Trade assist ance had been rightfully recognized. The outcome 
of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting had been one of the most promising agendas that linked trade with development through the Doha Development Agenda. 
195. In addition, in November 2006 , Qatar had hosted a policy dialogue, organized by the OECD 
with Non-OECD members, on Aid for Trade. It had been a good opportunity to explore how best to 
support developing countr y's supply-side constraints in order to better exploit the opportunities 
created by multilateral trade liberalization.  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 31 
 
 
  196. Qatar had also hosted the Second South Summit in  2004 where the Emir of the State of Qatar 
had announced his initiative to establish the So uth Fund for Development and Humanitarian 
Assistance, and had offered US$20 million to the proposed financing facility to this Fund. 
197. The representative of Rwanda  commended the Director-General and his team for their 
untiring efforts and commitment to ensuring the success  of the Aid-for-Trade process.  Rwanda  also 
commended the development partners for their con tinued support of the Aid-for-Trade initiative.  
Rwanda also wished to be associ ated with the statements made on behalf of the African, ACP, and 
LDC Groups. 
198. Rwanda welcomed the first Global Aid-for-Trade  Review as a step forward in the process of 
implementing the Aid-for-Trade initiative, following the Hong Kong Decision and subsequent events.  
The convening of the Global Review was timely as it came after the Regional Reviews conducted in 
Lima, Manila, and Dar es Salaam  which had been successful both in raising awareness and in 
identifying regional priorities. 
199. Rwanda noted and supported the three major objectives which the Global Review aimed to 
achieve, namely, (i) taking stock of what was happe ning in Aid-for-Trade flows;  (ii) identifying the 
next steps in terms of implementation through na tional and regional action plans and responses from 
various development programmes;  and, (iii) designing a monitoring and evaluation mechanism 
focusing on qualitative targets. 
200. She then elaborated briefly on the second and th ird of the objectives, and shared Rwanda's 
experiences in those particular areas. Rwanda had adopted a second generation of Poverty Reduction 
Strategy of which trade was an important component. They were now working closely with their 
development partners on the implem entation of this new strategy.  Rwanda had also finalized a 
national Aid Policy based on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. This Policy was based on 
three important principles, namely, (i) country owners hip; (ii) alignment of external assistance to the 
national priorities, and (iii) mutual accountability.   This new framework would provide the proper 
environment for realizing the objectives of Rwanda 's development programmes, and ultimately for 
achieving its vision 2020. 
201. The importance and urgency of the Aid-fo r-Trade initiative for developing countries, 
particularly in Africa, could not be over-emphasized.  The African continent re mained marginalized in 
the world economy, with over half of the population living for under US$1 a day. If the Millennium Development Goals were to be achieved in Africa,  a major policy shift would be necessary, both at 
national and international levels, to  help boost growth and development in Africa – a shift that placed 
development of "productive capacities" at the hear t of national and international policies. Poor 
countries could reap benefits from the global economy only through enha ncing supply capacities, 
producing and trading in competitive goods and services, as well as by increasing dynamic inter-sectoral linkages and creating employment opportuni ties. This would require capital accumulation, 
technological progress and structural change. Aid for trade could play an important role in achieving 
these goals. 
202. For many countries, such as Rwanda, this shift would entail moving from a dependence on 
agriculture to a greater emphasis on manufacturing and services. Rwanda's vision 2020 envisaged the transformation of agriculture into a productive, high value and market oriented sector. Such structural 
changes were important for catching up and achieving  full integration into the global economy. In this 
context, Aid for Trade should focus on developing trans-border infrastructure and 
telecommunications, which were important factors fo r consolidating regional markets and integrating 
landlocked countries such as Rwanda.  In conclusi on, she reiterated Rwanda 's appreciation to all 
stakeholders for the support shown for the Aid -for-Trade initiative and called for continued and WT/GC/M/111 
Page 32  
 
  sustained commitment from all parties concerned to en sure that this very important initiative achieved 
its objectives. 
203. The representative of Norway
 expressed thanks to the Directo r-General and the Secretariat for 
organizing the comprehensive and highly interesting re view of Aid for Trade.  As the Deputy Minister 
had noted during the bilateral donor session, Norway  based its development cooperation policy on the 
Paris Declaration. Principles and commitments we re in place, including commitments for increased 
funding.  The challenge now was to implement the initiative. 
204. Norway was a firm supporter of WTO t echnical assistance in areas related to the 
organization's own rules. At the same time, hi s delegation believed that there was a broad 
understanding that the WTO should not become a development cooperation agency. 
205. In order to define the WTO's role in relation to  Aid for Trade more clearly, there needed to be 
a discussion on the further implementation of the coherence mandate from Marrakesh. The 
organization of the next Annual Review of Aid for Tr ade should be considered closely in the relevant 
bodies.   
206. The representative of Antigua and Barbuda  expressed appreciation for the organization of the 
Global Review on Aid for Trade. His delegation be lieved it was timely and important that discussion 
took place at the highest level to move the pr ocess forward, and commended the WTO Secretariat 
staff for a well thought out and result-oriented conference. 
207. Earlier that month, Antigua and Barbuda had concluded its Trade Policy Review (TPR) along 
with the other five Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) WTO-Members.  This exercise had helped them to realize that, while they had made tremendous progress in modernizing their Trade 
Policy Regime due to domestic  economic reform efforts, there was room for improvement. 
208. They had every intention of taking full advantag e of the benefits of being a member of the 
WTO.  Indeed, Antigua and Barbuda was the sm allest Member to use the dispute settlement 
mechanism of the WTO. So they understood the benef its.   But, to have these benefits fully realized, 
they would need assistance. 
209. Such assistance could be delivered through Aid for Trade. OECS Members had produced a 
paper on their trade-related needs assessment and al so one on their Aspirations for Aid for Trade.  
With assistance from organizations such as the Agency for Trade Information and Cooperation 
(AITIC) and the OECS Secretariat, all OECS WTO Members included a segment on Aid for Trade in 
their Trade Policy Review. During the TPR, WTO Members also had requested more precise projects.  They had indicated that OECS should note key prio rity areas that could stimulate growth once Aid for 
Trade was implemented. Through various organizati ons, including the WTO Secretariat, ITC, AITIC, 
and OECS, they were presently working on more precise project requests including regional projects.  They were no strangers to regional approaches and recognized its advantages in providing aid. This 
was notwithstanding the fact that there was still a lack  of clarity on any formal request mechanism for 
Aid for Trade. This was obviously something all WTO Members must address – a clear, simple, Aid 
for Trade request mechanism was needed . Such mechanisms should include "clear and simple" 
procedures, making it easy to access the pledged fund ing without burdensome bureaucratic rules that 
were inflexible to the needs and realities of the beneficiaries. To make Aid for Trade effective, 
reporting features must also be simplified. 
210. Measurement, monitoring and evaluation were important so that progress made could be 
evaluated.  This was a recurring theme during the Global Review.  Antigua a nd Barbuda believed that 
many solutions had come out of the discussions, esp ecially those held with the major donor agencies. 
They hoped that Members would not spend another year or two discussing how best to monitor and  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 33 
 
 
  evaluate Aid for Trade. As Minister Sithanen of Mauritius had noted, "let us focus on actual 
implementation so that we can have r eal eradication of poverty through trade". 
211. Despite the ambiguity in the definition of Ai d for Trade, Members all knew what the obvious 
areas were. There was indirect aid that might be re lated to trade, perhaps more in the long-run. For 
example, this might be aid that supported schools th at build the human capital stock of a country for 
future contribution to an export-oriented labour fo rce. But there were more obvious projects under the 
aegis of Aid for Trade.  The donors should decide bila terally the types of projects that were closest to 
what was internationally considered to be Aid fo r Trade. Let the actual needs and feasibility studies 
decide, so that definition did not hamper implementation . 
212. Finally, Antigua and Barbuda fully believed that the Doha Development Agenda could 
promote the growth and development of all WT O Members, even small, vulnerable economies 
(SVEs).  Aid for Trade was an appropriate solution to help SVEs fully recognize the benefits of the 
multilateral trading system. 
213. The representative of the Philippines  thanked the W'TO and other partners for organizing the 
Global Review on Aid for Trade.  It had been an extremely fruitful Review, as had been the Regional 
Review held in Manila in September, which th e Philippines had the honour of co-hosting with the 
Asian Development Bank and the WTO.  Speakers ha d provided useful inputs and insights at the 
Review, and the moderators should be  congratulated for a job well done. 
214. Unfortunately, high-level officials dealing with  Aid fir Trade had been unable to come to 
Geneva for the Review because most, if not all of them, were in Singapore attending the ASEAN Summit.  However, his delegation had had the opport unity to receive advice on issues the Philippines 
was most interested in.  The first one was the is sue of "additionality" which was closely tied to the 
issue of "predictability".  The second issue concer ned middle-income developing countries such as the 
Philippines and their place in Aid for Trade.  These issues were to a large extent addressed during the 
Review.  Specific numbers from the World Bank, and donors such as Australia and the EU, among others, had been presented.  His delegation had listened carefully to commitments on plans and 
programmes in the coming years and had detect ed a confirmation that those who had less, 
economically-speaking, would have more Aid for Trade. 
215. It was not his delegation's intention to push these questions to further debate, as they had 
already been raised by previous speakers. The Ph ilippines simply wished to stress that these issues 
were frontloaded considerations that would be nurt ured as the Philippines continued to engage in the 
collective effort on Aid for Trade.  On that note, he wished to emphasize that the Philippines valued 
Aid for Trade and treated it with the highest priority .  His delegation was particularly grateful for the 
spotlight that had been trained on the necessary coordination efforts between the WTO, the OECD, 
IFIs, RFIs, donors and recipients. The cycle of management, funding, monitoring and evaluation of 
Aid for Trade would be central. 
216. Aid for Trade was not an end in itself, but an important and unique means to highlight the fact 
that the benefits from open trade – which would be reinforced by a successful conclusion to the Doha 
Round – could only be maximized when all deve loping countries – the poorest among them, as well 
as those on the verge of moving to sustained pros perity – could be assisted in improving their 
production and trading capacities. 
217. The representative of India
 thanked the Director-General and his colleagues who had been 
involved in organizing the first Global Review of Ai d for Trade. The Review would go a long way in 
taking stock of what was happening on Aid for Trade and would in identifying the roadmap for the 
future.  The discussions had thrown light on the visi on of the major players, especially the multilateral 
organizations, and their priorities and plans for Aid for Trade. It had also been useful to listen to the WT/GC/M/111 
Page 34  
 
  development priorities and assistance programmes at th e bilateral level. The coming together of these 
inputs at a forum such as the present Review woul d contribute to a coherent approach to Aid for 
Trade. 
218. There had already been a debate on what Aid for Trade should and should not do.  The Task 
Force on Aid for Trade had comprehensively addresse d these issues and there was no point re-visiting 
them.  However, there were two aspects of Aid fo r Trade which were central to the credibility and 
sustainability of this initiative. These related to th e issues of coherence and additionality of resources. 
219. First, the issue of coherence.  In his openi ng remarks, the Director-General had said "No 
grand plan to expand trade capacity  will ever work unless developi ng countries want it, unless they 
"own" it, and unless it advances their national inte rests. The only successful trade-led development 
strategy is one which is created and executed by countries themselves...".  India agreed entirely.  
Ownership was critical to coheren ce and Aid for Trade could only work as an integral component of 
national development strategies. In such strategies,  the focus was typically on poverty reduction and 
employment generation. This implied, for instance,  that creation of export enclaves in developing 
countries without strong linkages with the domestic  economy could not be a sustainable outcome.  
Members must continue to remind themselves that the main focus had to be on development and not 
on exports per se.  This was the internal dimension of c oherence. There was also an external 
dimension which the Secretary-General of the OECD had referred to the previous day. Aid for Trade 
was not an end in itself. It was only one instrument designed to facilitate the in tegration of developing 
countries into the global trading system. For th e Aid-for-Trade initiative to succeed, the overall 
trading environment had to be facilitative. Egregi ous measures such as trade distorting subsidies in 
agriculture, tariff peaks and tariff escalation which invariably targeted developing-country products, 
restrictions on the movement of natural persons and creative non-tariff barriers designed to block 
market access for developing countries had to be ur gently and effectively addressed to ensure a level 
playing field for developing countries.  This was wh at India understood by coherence. In the end, 
what mattered was whether developing countries were enabled to work to their comparative 
advantage. 
220. Secondly, the issue of additionality of resources. Donors, mainly the EU, Japan and the US, 
had reconfirmed their Hong Kong Aid-for-Trade pl edges and there had been new commitments from 
some countries. It was hoped that the actual disbursement figures did not disappoint  and that donors were able to meet the total Ai d-for-Trade target of US$30 billion by 2010.  The present overall aid 
environment was not very encouraging.  As the OE CD had pointed out, total ODA levels, net of debt 
relief, continued to decline.  In 2005, G-8 countries had pledged to increase aid to Africa by 
US$25 billion by 2010.  It was disheartening to note  IMF figures showing that official grants to sub-
Saharan Africa had actually declined since 2005 as a share of its economy. OECD figures for 2002-
2005 also revealed that the average share of Aid for Trade, as a per cent of total sector aid, had 
declined from 35% to 32%. It was against this somewhat sombre background that India looked 
forward to receiving OECD figures in the following  year's Review which would also incorporate 
actual disbursement figures to give a fair assessment of the path one was actually treading on. 
221. Despite being a developing country, India ha d an ambitious programme for providing 
assistance to developing countries and LDCs. This w as in addition to the ongoing Indian Technical 
and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme which over the past 40 years had provided technical 
assistance of over US$3 billion to 156 countries. Over  6,000 participants fro m developing countries 
received training annually in India in over 250 institutions, including in high-tech areas. 
222. Secretary-General Angel Gurria had very aptly underscored the potential of South-South 
cooperation to make trade work for developing countries.  India's assistance programmes exemplified 
South-South cooperation. India had been able to  devise an agile and robust mechanism to supply 
technical and economic assistance to other deve loping countries in a time bound and consistent  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 35 
 
 
  manner. India admitted the difficulties in assessing what share of economic infrastructure actually 
promoted trade, but offered some specific in stances of Indian assistance in its immediate 
neighbourhood which it believed would enable th e recipient countries to boost their trade capacity. 
223. For Afghanistan, for example, India had increased its cumulative pledge of assistance by 
US$150 million the previous year of which the actua l expenditure had been US$90 million. The total 
assistance package to Afghanistan was now about US $750 million. Work was currently in progress on 
a number of projects including power transmission lin es, hydro power projects, and training centers. 
In Nepal, had India spent over US$45 million the pr evious year and had extended a concessional line 
of credit for US$100 million. India had made significan t contributions to the development of aviation, 
road, rail, post and other communications and hum an resource development sectors. In Myanmar, 
India had assisted in the construction of a ma jor road, at a cost of US$30 million, designed 
specifically to open a border trading post through which border trade could begin between India and Myanmar. In Bangladesh, India was extending assistance in several technical and economic cooperation projects which include human resource development and information technology sectors. 
In Bhutan, India continued to be the largest  development partner. The 1020 megawatt Tala 
Hydroelectric Project which had commenced commercial operation in July 2006, accounted for the 
largest export of Bhutan, i.e. electricity. In Maldives, India was extending assistance of US$8 million for setting up a Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Studies to boost the tourism industry which formed the backbone of the Maldivian economy. 
224. In addition to providing assistance to her ne ighbours, India provided assistance to several 
other developing countries and LDCs in other parts of  the world.  In West Africa, projects valued at 
over US$200 million were under impl ementation in nine West African countries. In 2006, an 
agreement to extend a US$250 million line of credit by the Government of India to the ECOWAS 
Bank for Investment and Deve lopment had been signed. 
225. India concluded by reiterating its strong co mmitment to Aid for Trade, which could 
effectively address the insufficiency of trade-relate d capacity in many WTO Members to allow them 
to benefit from the opportunities the multilateral trad ing system offered. Coherence and additionality 
of resources were the two indicators that needed to be  tracked.  The review to be carried out next year 
would provide much better indications of whether donors and partner countries were matching their 
words with their actions. 
226. The representative of Barbados
 took the opportunity to extend a warm welcome to Ministers, 
Heads and Representatives of International Fina ncing and Development Agencies and to other 
visiting representatives.  Barbados was pleased to  participate in the First Global Aid-for-Trade 
Review which had provided an opportunity to f acilitate dialogue among partner countries, donors and 
agencies about how to advance the framework  set out by the Aid-for-Trade Task Force 
Recommendations and the Paris Declaration.  The discussions thus far had heightened the call to 
action, as reflected in the respective regional reports and recommendations.  
227. The importance of the Aid- for-Trade initiative to the countries of the Caribbean region might 
be underscored in the opportunities that were fores een for this vehicle to become one of the key 
factors in facilitating economic growth and as a complementary component of any broad based efforts to help developing countries overcome their supply-si de constraints. This could take place through the 
strengthening of trade-related infrastructure, increased domestic productivity and enhancing the 
export competitiveness of economic opera tors in developing countries. 
228. Furthermore, Aid for Trade could be seen as a further effort to cement the link between the 
implementation of trade agreements and the provi sion of development suppor t. This latter element 
had been particularly evident in the context of  his delegation's experiences at the regional and 
multilateral levels. Experience had shown that trad e liberalization was not enough for the Caribbean. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 36  
 
  Countries facing capacity constraints and institutiona l inadequacies would not be able to take full 
advantage of market access opportunities without assistance of the right kind. The potential for Aid 
for Trade lay with its sustained and host-country le d capacity building approach. It would be a vital 
mechanism in assisting Caribbean countries. 
229. One of the fundamental principles identified by the Paris Declaration and the Aid-For-Trade 
Task Force, as well as one of the recurring them es throughout the present Review, was the importance 
of ownership. Aid-for-Trade initiatives must be pursued within partners hip arrangements, where 
developing countries were equal partners in the process. The traditional donor-recipient relationship 
must be re-modelled. Programmes and solutions mu st be tailor-made, incorporate domestic policy 
priorities and be adapted to take into account the particular country circumstances and culture. 
Consistent with what had been recognized in th e current WTO negotiations, a "one-size-fits-all" 
approach would not be apt for addressing the need s of all developing c ountries and regions. The 
heterogeneity of developing countries as a gr ouping demanded adaptable solutions and programmes 
and a truly partnership-based approach.  
230. One of the critical elements in the Aid -for-Trade equation was the use of regional 
mechanisms and institutions. There were relativ ely mature regional mechanisms and institutions 
within the Caribbean region that could be used to assist in the delivery of Aid-for-Trade programmes. 
These institutions had a demonstrated capacity to  successfully manage development projects and 
possessed a high degree of institutional knowledge about the respective regions/sub-regions that 
should be harnessed.   
231. Where such regional mechanisms existed, greater  efforts must be made to utilize them. Such 
an approach would facilitate a more rapid and effi cacious delivery of devel opment support, as well as 
fostering national ownership and regional integr ation processes. SVEs had successfully made the 
argument for assistance in the areas of SPS and TBT,  among others, to be provided, where feasible, 
through existing regional mechanisms.  
232. The region was currently benefiting from one  such approach. The WTO administered 
Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF)  programme was currently providing assistance 
through a regional body to enable the participation of  regional officials and experts in the meetings of 
the SPS Committee. They extended their apprec iation to the STDF Secretariat and the donors 
supporting this programme. Demand-driven partnership programm es such as these needed to be 
enhanced and replicated across various thematic areas.  
233. For Barbados – and indeed a ll small and vulnerable economie s with limited capacities – a 
regional approach in some areas was particularly critical. Such delivery mechanisms were useful in 
avoiding duplication and ensuring cost effective replication of programs across their constituent 
countries, thereby ensuring that the greatest value a nd benefits accrued from Ai d-for-Trade assistance. 
Part of the challenge was to ensure that the trad e facilitation support measur es offered by donors were 
compatible with the region's priorities and addressed its  identified needs, particularly with respect to 
strengthening export sectors and helping to raise competitiveness.   
234. In conclusion, in order to substantially  benefit from any market access opportunities 
emanating from this Doha Development Round, it w as clear that critical s upply side capacity issues 
needed to be fully addressed in order to re move the real obstacles to competitiveness and 
development.  His delegation believed that Aid for Tr ade was one such instrument that could assist in 
this regard. However, countries needed to have a cl ear idea of the parameters, quantity and extent of 
resources available under the Aid-for-Trade initiativ e. Predictable financing assistance was critical. 
Concerted action was needed to provide increased  and more effective aid to support developing 
countries, and, in particular LDCs  and small economies, in their efforts to advance their social and  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 37 
 
 
  economic development, through par ticipation in the multilateral trad ing system. Barbados stood ready 
to work with their partne rs to fulfil these objectives. 
235. The representative of Nicaragua  congratulated the WTO and other international organizations 
for organizing the Global Review of Aid for Trade which would undoubtedly enable Members to find 
out where they were – and where they were going – in  this field.  It would also help to establish 
effective mechanisms for monitoring and eval uating aid. His delegation also expressed its 
appreciation for the report submitted by the Deput y Director-General and the Chairman of the 
Committee on Trade and Development. 
236. Nicaragua was in favour of an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the 
effective and unconditional delivery of Aid for Trade which would reflect countries' particular needs, 
taking into account their national development plans.   His delegation considered that at the regional 
level, aid should distinguish between different are as such as standards, trad e facilitation, sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures, etc. 
237. Nicaragua supported the recommendations of the Task Force, emphasizing that Aid for Trade 
must be an independent initiative and not a substitute for any other process, and that such aid must 
give particular attention to the needs of count ries having small and vulnerable economies, treating 
them as the main target of Aid for Trade.  Nicara gua was a small, open econo my, highly dependent on 
its foreign trade, which represented 75 per cent of its  Gross Domestic Product. Total imports of goods 
were three times higher than exports and the trade de ficit was continuing to rise as a direct result of 
the policy of trade liberalization followed by the country.  The economic infrastructure problems currently facing Nicaragua hindered its effective partic ipation in international trade – a situation that 
had worsened over the last 20 years as a result of a number of natural disasters. 
238. In 2004 Nicaragua had finally gained entry in to the HIPC Initiative, which had led to the 
cancellation of the greater part of its foreign de bt, which in the first half of 2007 amounted to 
approximately US$3,380.7 million.  This had helped  to substantially increase the country's solvency 
indicator, which it was hoped would help the country , among other things, to obtain additional Aid for 
Trade.  In this context, Nicaragua required i nvestment for the production and increase of exports, 
energy generation, the constructi on and rehabilitation of the road transport infrastructure, ports, and 
basic services (sewage systems, rural and urban electrifi cation) – that is to say, aid for the creation of 
conditions that would foster competitiveness, enco urage trade and in this way contribute to the 
economic development of the country an d raise the standard of living.  
239. Support for strengthening institutions and pr oducers in the application of sanitary and 
phytosanitary, quality, food safety and traceability st andards was essential if the requirements of the 
markets were to be met and if Nicaragua was to be successfully integrated into the world economy. 
240. To sum up, Nicaragua hoped that Aid for Trade w ould enable the country to participate in the 
multilateral system of open trade, involving the promotion of exports, the attraction of foreign 
investment and the strengthening of trade links. At  the same time, it trusted that the donor countries 
and the international and regional funding agencies would offer high er levels of openness and wqould 
provide the additional resources for trade wh ich was the main aim of Aid for Trade. 
241. The representative of Venezuela
 recognized the importance of Aid for Trade for all the 
Members of the WTO.  However, such Aid for Tr ade must not become an end in itself and should 
respect the following criteria:  (i) Aid for Trad e should respect the policy-making action of the 
beneficiary states, which would mean taking account  of their needs, local circumstances and time-
frames in the implementation of programmes. U nder no circumstances should Aid for Trade be 
transformed into hidden structural adjustment programmes or becoming a means of perpetuating 
imbalances or failures to adjust.  (ii) Aid for Tr ade must be directed towards the development of WT/GC/M/111 
Page 38  
 
  production, giving priority to the satisfaction of coun tries' domestic needs.  (iii) Aid for Trade must 
not involve the purchase of goods and services from the donor country.  (iv) Although Aid for Trade was born under the umbrella of the Doha Round, it should continue to exist and be effectively 
implemented independently of the results of that Round.  (v) Any possible increase in Aid for Trade must not be at the expense of ODA nor should it involve the redeployment of existing ODA. 
242. Venezuela contributed actively in the Aid-for-Tra de field through, for ex ample, Petrocaribe, 
ALBA, Banco del Sur, etc.  In par ticular, his delegation believed that Banco del Sur  should follow 
such fundamental principles as:  (i) Structural C onvergence, which would act as a means of promoting 
trans-border, intraregional and interregional coope ration; (ii) Social Solidarity, which included 
concessionary interest-free loans, donations, non-repa yable technical assistance; (iii) Investment and 
Technological Development, with a view to contributing to the process of technological research and 
development in the region, strengthening th e productive process of SMEs and encouraging 
complementarity and rising productivity.  The impl ementation of all these initiatives would entail the 
effective implementation of Aid for Trade, direct ed towards achieving the primary objective of 
development which should, in turn, help bring about a real reduction of poverty in developing 
countries. 
243. The delegation of Bangladesh
 had been very much engaged in the Global Review process of 
Aid for Trade over the last three days.  The fact th at his delegation had waited until the last to get its 
chance to speak essentially epitomized its commitmen t and interest in the Aid-for-Trade paradigm.  
Before focusing on a couple of issues which demanded a bit more reiteration from the LDC's point of view, he wanted to associate his delegation with th e comments made by the representative of Lesotho. 
He thanked all the delegates who had expressed th eir solidarity with the Aid-for-Trade programme 
and who had committed funds in the future an d expressed his delegation's appreciation to the 
Secretariat, led by the Director-General, who ve ry efficiently had gone through the milestones or 
benchmarks of the Aid-for-Trade  Global Review process.   
244. The Director-General had delivered a very su ccinct and insightful speech. The fourth element 
of his five common themes referred to increased a nd predictable financing for Aid for Trade.  In 
particular, he had said that it was up to the recipi ent countries to decide whether this new money was 
spent on trade or some other priority.  While the ess ence of this was the issue of ownership, it gave 
rise to four underlying points.  The first was that it presupposed that the overall increase of ODA 
flows would essentially lead to overall increases in Aid for Trade.  While overall flows were important and necessary, this might not be sufficien t because, given the intricacies of assessment and 
the definitional problems, an overall increase in fl ows might mean the Aid-for-Trade component did 
not increase.  Alternatively, increases in the Aid-fo r-Trade component might be seen because of re-
labelling and repackaging, whereas the overall flows remained stagnant. In the latest data on ODA 
flows – both globally and on a per capita income basi s and as a share of the GDP of the LDCs – there 
was no nominal increase, but rather a real down turn.  
245. The second issue was monitoring and quantification. Monitoring had been discussed 
thoroughly at the technical sessions, and there had been debates regarding what exactly was being 
monitored. It was understood that monitoring woul d be based on the OECD/DAC database and, using 
those classifications and categorizations, bringing into alignment those classifications with those 
practiced by different donors and recipient countri es in different ways.  Here there was a problem. 
The CRS system was not adequate, but it might be  a good starting point. The point which had been 
made was that because of the possi bility of mislabelling, the fi gures on Aid for Trade might not 
measure exactly what was intended. That was why the whole issue of multiple approaches for 
assessment had come up.  His delegation strongly recommended that monitoring not be based on only 
one mechanism, but that multiple approaches be used , particularly incorporating recipients' views and 
perspectives, in particular recipients' period re views (which unfortunately was not adequately 
projected in the earlier sessions).  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 39 
 
 
  246. The third issue was additionality. If the fi gures were not right, it would never be known 
whether the benchmarks or increments were right. These increment figures were very important.  It 
was not only an academic issue, but also a political issue, and the figures had to be credible so that 
time was not wasted in the future debating those is sues when more important issued needed to be 
addressed. 
247. The final point was the conditionality issue. having heard all the donors, particularly the 
traditional donors and the Head of the World Bank during the LDC meeting, essentially the issue was 
about expanding the current traditional flow of  resources from the current traditional sources of 
funding.  His concern was that all these traditiona l flows were associated with conditionalities which 
was euphemistically nowadays called triggers. So recipi ents would have to fulfil those triggers to get 
access to funds. But the whole idea of Aid for Trade had been no conditionality.  The only criteria was 
ownership and domestic reform.  If Aid for Trade was delivered through traditional channels it might 
also end up with conditionalities which would be used to further trade liberalization in these countries, 
violating the principles of coherence - "God giveth in one hand and take it away through another".   
248. He concluded by saying that until now there ha d been a feeling that Aid for Trade was a 
virtual scheme, not a real one.  The WTO should not  be turned into a development agency. Nobody 
asked for that. On the other hand, should WTO only be shining a spotlight and nothing more. He recalled an anecdote:  "Somebody was looking for something under a lamp post and somebody asked what he was looking for, and he said I lost a nickel, I'm looking for it.  Somebody asked where have you lost it, and they said one mile up there.  Well,  why are you looking under the lamp post? Because 
there is light." It was very important that the spo tlight be exactly where we had lost our nickel, not 
elsewhere.  Finally, Aid for Trade was not part of the single undertaking and for that reason 
Bangladesh would definitely expect that Aid for Tr ade should not be tied to the final outcome of the 
Doha Development Round. Again, he associated him self with the statement by the representative of 
Lesotho on behalf of the LDCs. 
249. The representative of the Solomon Islands
 stressed that country ow nership and country-driven 
approaches were the key to the effectiveness of Ai d for Trade. The overall goal of Aid for Trade was 
to provide assistance to mainstream trade into nationa l development strategies. To meet this objective, 
technical assistance and capacity building were required for all Pacific Island countries. 
250. The Soloman Islands had long-term plans for f our specific sectors – agriculture, fisheries, 
tourism and human resources.  Labour services, with  the proper skills and knowledge, were perhaps 
the most important sector in some of the Pacific economies. It was their best export and one that 
would need to receive more attention for future development. These were the sectors in which the 
Solomon Islands had durable, competitive advantage and the greatest potential for growth.  But to 
realize this potential, there must be effective na tional co-ordination amongst relevant stakeholders.  
This could be achieved through a broad-based consultation process involving the private sector, civil 
society organizations and relevant government agencies. 
251. Increasing trade opportunities for developing countries, in particular the least developed 
among them, remained the most important contributi on that the WTO could make to development.  
The Solomon Islands urged donors, when trying to meet the many competing claims for their respective Aid-for-Trade programmes, not to lose si ght of Pacific Island countries. They faced many 
challenges and therefore needed Aid for Trade if they  were to integrate fully into the global trading 
system. Of the forty-nine or so LDCs, five were located in the Pacific Region. 
252. The Chairman
 thought the General Council debate had been very useful as a combination of 
the Global Review of Aid for Trade that had ta ken place at the WTO.  He did not sum up the 
discussions, but noted some of the points that had been  raised during the course of  the day. First, it 
had been reiterated once again that Aid for Trade wa s not a substitute for trade opening. Second, there WT/GC/M/111 
Page 40  
 
  was acknowledgement that while substantial progress had been made since the Hong Kong 
Ministerial, the time had come to move on to the next phase, namely from analyzing challenges and priorities, to implementing responses and solutions.  Third, several delegations, including developing 
countries, had also informed the General Council of funding programmes directed to both Aid for 
Trade and the Enhanced Integrated Framework fo r technical assistance for LDCs, as well as trade-
related finance programmes. It had also been not ed, from the statement by Deputy Director-General 
Rugwabiza, that there was broad support for an expe rt symposium on Aid for Trade to be held in the 
first half of 2008, as well as support for her proposal for a stock-taking meeting at the technical level 
and involving stakeholders, also to be held in the first half of 2008 to assess progress.  A number of 
delegations had also emphasized th e importance of domestic reform. 
253. Finally, from the discussions, his sense was th at this initiative had generated genuinely 
cooperative effort amongst all Members whether don ors or recipients, and also among the regional 
and international organizations involved. In c oncluding, he said it was his hope that, apart from 
focusing on the development of physical trade-relate d infrastructure, Aid-for-Trade efforts would also 
focus more specifically on human resource developm ent aspects with regard to the building of 
productive capacity.  This, in his mind, was particul arly important for SMEs who constituted the bulk 
of the private sector in developing countries.  Memb ers needed to get their entrepreneurs to think 
export.  This would involve a paradigm shift a nd would mean that they would have to look for 
opportunities beyond their immediate borders. Then , following up on that exercise, providing them 
with the nitty gritties, such as how to get market in formation, how to promot e their products in the 
international market, how to deal with curre ncy issues, booking, shipping, space providing and 
managing credit, and so on. This aspect of Aid fo r Trade must not be downplayed and more such 
activities needed to be identified as trade-related development priorities in recipient countries and 
national development strategies so that multilateral agencies such as the ITC that were involved in 
such activities could be encouraged to address this identification of needs. 
254. He then invited the Director-General to make a few closing remarks.   
255. The Director-General
 said that he believed that the objectives of this first Global Aid for 
Trade review had been met. Th ere had been an impressive and unprecedented level of involvement, 
support and goodwill.  The challenge now was to build  on this momentum so more results could be 
shown in the next steps. Not that there had not al ready been results, but more needed to be shown. 
256. He saw possible progress in two main directions.  First, improving the analytical tool box, 
including  numbers, data, tables,  and performance indicators, not only with donors but also with 
recipient countries. The fundamental principle of ownership also involved the way benchmarking  
progress was done, so that accountability could work across the board.  Second, increasing country focus, regional focus, and sector focus. The format  inaugurated in 2007 with regional reviews was in 
his view worth replicating in 2008.  Third, on top of  these two aims, he felt there would be an obvious 
from more business and civil society input, and furt her reflection was needed on how this could be 
achieved. 
257. He concluded by saying that since he had been working on this issue, he had been impressed 
with the ambiance of cooperation, and the low level of   divergence registered. This was also true for 
South-South Aid for Trade, which was now underw ay and which would add to the momentum. An 
example of this would take place the following day with the holding of a South-South seminar on cotton development. 
258. It confirmed his initial view that Aid for Trade was about more than money. Of course, it was 
about financial flows, but it was also, perhaps more  importantly, about buildi ng connections and trust 
which after all was the core business of the WTO.  Finally, he thanked the Secretariat team – 
including DDG Valentine Rugwabiza, Richard Eglin,  John Hancock, Deborah  Barker, and others –  WT/GC/M/111 
 Page 41 
 
 
  who had been working very hard with limited r esources and under a lot of pressure and said that 
Members could rely on the Secretariat to keep going. 
259. The Chairman  informed delegations that the next re gular meeting of the General Council was 
scheduled to be held on 18 and 19 December a nd that an Airgram convening the meeting would be 
closed on Thursday, 6 December and issued  to delegations on Friday, 7 December. 
260. The Chairman  declared the meeting closed .   WT/GC/M/111 
Page 42  
 
  Annex 1
 
  
Statement by the Chairman of th e Committee on Trade and Development
 
 
 
1. I want to start by expressing my thanks to the Director-General for organizing this first 
successful Global Review – and I believe it has been a success - and also to the Chair for giving me an 
opportunity to speak in this closing debate in the General Council. 
2. My task today is to report back on the "peri odic reviews" of Aid-for-Trade which we have 
been holding in the CTD since April.  The 2006 Aid-for-Trade Task Force Report – subsequently 
endorsed by the General Council - gave the CTD a ce ntral role in the monitoring process.   The aim 
was to provide Members with an opportunity to assess what is – and what is not – happening in Aid 
for Trade, to discuss these inputs,  and to express their views.  
3. Aid-for-Trade is a new subject for the WTO a nd our work programme took us into uncharted 
waters.  Nevertheless, since April, the CTD h as held five sessions on Aid for Trade which have 
covered all of the main categories as defined by the Task Force.  Thus: 
• the first session focused on the monitoring arch itecture with a presentation by the OECD; 
• the second focused on trade facilitation and standard s and testing, with contributions from the 
World Bank, the WCO, the OECD, the FAO, the OIE, and the WTO; 
• the third session focused on trends in trade-relate d infrastructure with presentations by the World 
Bank, Japan, the European Communities and the OECD; 
• the fourth session focused on building productive cap acity and assistance for adjustment, trade 
diversification and competitiveness – with presenta tions by USAID,  UNIDO, the ITC and the 
IMF; 
• And finally, on Friday last week, the CTD discussed  the results of the year's monitoring activities 
- and in particular the joint WTO/OECD Report Aid for Trade at a Glance 2007 presented by the 
OECD, as well as the final Reports and Recomm endations of the three Regional Reviews, 
presented by the IADB, the ADB, the AfDB and the ECA.   
4. The topics covered were broad and the discu ssion was inevitably wide-ranging.  I will not 
attempt a summary of these discussions here – it c ould take the afternoon – but I would urge you to 
consult the minutes of the various meetings .  They make for interesting reading. 
5. One conclusion I come away with from this inte nsive examination of Aid for Trade is that 
there remains a large knowledge or understanding  "gap" - between the trade and development 
communities, between partner and donor countries,  and between the various international actors 
engaged in the delivery of Aid for Trade.  Bri dging this gap will be key to harnessing trade for 
development - whether we call it "mainstreaming" or "p riority setting" or "national vision".  This is 
one of the main benefits that WTO monitoring can deliver - and is delivering – and I can report that 
the CTD has made an important contribution. 
6. The Director-General said yesterday that we now  need to move from monitoring challenges to 
monitoring responses and solutions.  I believe I speak  for the CTD as a whole when I say that we look 
forward to continuing to play our part as the agenda enters this new phase.   WT/GC/M/111 
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  Annex 2  
  
Summary Report by Deputy Director-General Valentine Rugwabiza 
 
on behalf of the Director-General  
 
 
1. We began this first Global Aid-fo r-Trade Review with three objectiv es:  to take stock of what 
is happening on Aid for Trade, to identify what s hould happen next, and to improve WTO monitoring 
and evaluation. 
2. I think we can confidently say that we have made progress on all fronts. 
3. As regards the current situation, we have had an opportunity to examine and discuss the 
"three tiers" of monitoring – the global numbers, as well as the partner and donor country self-assessments – as set out in the joint WTO/OECD Report Aid for Trade at a Glance 2007.   We have 
also heard detailed reports on the three regional review s in Lima, Manila and Dar es Salaam.  And just 
now, Ambassador Servansing reported on th e Aid-for-Trade sessions in the CTD. 
4. The importance of country leadership, main streaming, setting priorities, and improving 
regional approaches have surfaced again and again in our discussions.   We agreed that the direct involvement of the private sector is not just a prio rity, but indispensable to the relevance and success 
of the initiative.  We also agreed on the clear need to scale up the overall ODA envelope – as pledged 
in Gleneagles and elsewhere – while at the same  time acknowledging that recipient countries had a 
responsibility for making trade a priority and for deve loping viable projects.  Above all, there was a 
clear and firm consensus that while Aid for Trad e is an important complement to trade opening, 
especially to a successful Doha Round, it cannot – and should not – be a substitute. 
5. One meeting alone cannot give a complete picture of something as complex as Aid for Trade, 
but I believe we can all agree that we are much more knowledgeable and better informed today than 
we were a year ago.  We know, for example, that after a long-term decline in spending on trade and 
growth-related projects since the 1980, the pendulum is  starting to swing back – and that if current 
trends continue an additional $8 billion in Aid fo r Trade should be available by 2010 reaching a total 
of some $30 billion. 
6.  On improving monitoring and evaluation, we  have also taken steps forward.  The 
discussion today and yesterday – as well as in the technical sessions on Monday – provided an 
excellent overview of the challenges.  It also point ed us in the direction of where improvements are 
needed.  These include a greater emphasis on country monitoring, on capturing the regional dimension of Aid for Trade, and on expanding th e scope of the donor - and partner- country self 
assessments – which were considered highly useful tools for encouraging countries to focus more on 
trade.  The view was that while the existing mon itoring mechanism is not perfect, it provides a very 
solid foundation on which to build.   
7. One clear message is that it is critical to measu re the impact of Aid for Trade, not only the 
flows.  This initiative will be a success only if it produces results – namely, the expansion of trade 
capacity and competitiveness in developing countr ies. We need performance indicators or 
benchmarks to measure progress and encourage mu tual accountability – objectives to aim for which 
can help us to target priorities and guide interventi ons.  We will not find all the answers today, but we 
are beginning to ask the right questions – which is why the proposal for an Expert Symposium on 
Aid-for-Trade Evaluation in the first half  of next year was broadly supported. WT/GC/M/111 
Page 44  
 
  8. Last but not least, we have made significant progress in identifying concrete next steps.  
Yesterday and today we heard from multilateral ag encies and bilateral donors about their plans to 
improve and scale up Aid for Trade – all of which show a trend towards more institutional focus, 
more coherence, and greater budgetary commitme nt.  And in the regional sessions, we discussed 
several important recommendations for moving th e agenda forward in Latin America and the 
Caribbean, in Asia and the Pacific,  and in Africa.  These include pr oposals to: (i) encourage countries 
and sub-regions to map out key constraints and prio rities, (ii) develop country and sub-regional action 
plans, (iii) create Aid-for-Trade networks to help map priorities and develop plans, and (iv) set out a 
roadmap for assessing progress and implementing results. 
9. My sense is that these recommendations were broa dly – even enthusiastically – supported in 
all three sessions, and represent credible and realizable  "next steps" in the regions.  They are key to 
moving this initiative from policy discussion to the delivery of real progress on the ground focused on 
countries, regions and sectors.  We look forward to hearing from the respective regional banks and 
organizations about their plans for implementing the recommendations as soon as possible.   My proposal is that we hold a stocktaking meeting – at  a technical level and involving key stakeholders – 
in the first half of next year in order to assess progress.  The aim then would be to hold discussions on 
how the strategies can be made opera tional at regional meetings toward s the end of the year.  Progress 
in implementation by providing more and better Aid for Trade in key identifie d priority sectors at the 
country, regional, global and sect or level – reinforced by the newest chapter of WTO/OECD 
monitoring – will be the focus of the next Global Aid-for-Trade Review. 
10. I want to conclude this summary report with one  last observation.  If we have made progress 
this year – and there is every indication that we have – it is because of a truly cooperative effort 
among all of you in this room.  I have seen a se rious and growing engage ment by developing 
countries and donors in the Aid-for-Trade initiative – starting with your support for the Task Force 
report, leading through the very successful Regiona l Regions and now culminating in this Global 
event.  I have also witnessed unprecedented coope ration – real partnership – among regional and 
international organizations, and especially the OE CD, the IADB, the ADB, the AfDB, the ECA, the 
World Bank, and the ITC. 
11. One of the many positive features of the Aid -for-Trade initiative is the way it has brought all 
of us together to work towards a common goal.  It is an example of coherence in action, and serves as 
a model for how the international system can deliver  results.  As our focus now shifts from analysing 
priorities to implementing responses, the WTO looks fo rward to collaborating with our partners in this 
newest phase of the initiative in 2008.  
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