RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
21 August 2007 
 (07-3491) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Second Session on Aid for Trade  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 19 JUNE 2007 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Shree B. C. Servansing (Mauritius) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA .........................................................................................................1  
B. THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AND AID FOR TRADE – STATEMENT 
BY THE CHAIRMAN ......................................................................................................................1  
C. COMMUNICATION FROM EGYPT (WT/COMTD /AFT/W/3)...............................................................2  
D. BUILDING CAPACITY TO FACILITATE TRADE ...............................................................................4  
E. BUILDING CAPACITY TO MEET SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY STANDARDS – THE 
STANDARDS AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT FACILITY (STDF ) .......................................................11  
F. OTHER BUSINESS .......................................................................................................................15  
 
 
 A. 
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The draft agenda for the meeting as cont ained in Airgram WTO/AIR/3027/Rev.1 of 
15 June 2007 was adopted . 
B. THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AND AID FOR TRADE – STATEMENT BY THE 
CHAIRMAN  
2. The Chairman  recalled that at the 2 April 2007 Session on Aid for Trade, a number of 
delegations had asked the Secretariat to prepare a nd distribute a "Calendar of Events" on future Aid 
for Trade meetings.  He explained that the "Calen dar of Events" had recently been circulated to 
delegations in document WT/COMTD/AFT/W/2 and w as a "tentative" schedule of meetings foreseen 
for the rest of the year.  Delegations would have  the chance to discuss the meeting schedule in more 
detail at an informal meeting of the Committee on Trade and Deve lopment (CTD) on 21 June 2007.  
He said that since there was a great deal of inter est in the three regional Aid for Trade reviews that 
were planned for September and early October, he had invited representatives from the three relevant 
regional development banks – the Inter-Ame rican Development Bank (IADB), the Asian 
Development Bank (ADB) and the African Develo pment Bank (AfDB) – to attend the informal 
meeting.  He said that he had also invite d the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD) Secretariat to give a brief presentation on the donor- and partner-country 
questionnaires which the OECD and WTO Secretar iats had jointly prepared after extensive 
consultations with various interna tional organizations, agencies, and governments.  He explained that 
the donor questionnaire had already been circulated , and that the partner-country questionnaire would 
be finalized and distributed shortly. WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
Page 2  
 
  3. The Chairman believed that the regional review s and the questionnaires would provide crucial 
and necessary inputs into the three-tiered mon itoring process which the Director-General had 
proposed in December 2006 and which had been discussed at the 2 April 2007 CTD Session on Aid 
for Trade.  He recalled that this three-tiered monitoring process involved global monitoring carried out by the OECD, donor monitoring in the form of  self-assessments and pa rtner-country monitoring 
also in the form of self-assessments.  As had also  been noted at the 2 April 2007 meeting, the results 
and recommendations from these events and questi onnaires would be presented and discussed in the 
CTD later in 2007. 
4. The Chairman said that the present CTD's S econd Session on Aid for Trade was the second of 
several meetings planned on subjects that were of key importance to Aid for Trade.  These meetings 
would also include one on trends in trade-relate d infrastructure to be held on 9 July 2007. 
5. The representative of Costa Rica
 expressed his disappointment that his request to include an 
assessment of adjustment needs in the calendar had no t been reflected.  He said that he would expand 
more on this issue at the upcoming informal meeting. 
6. The Committee took note  of the statements made. 
C. COMMUNICATION FROM EGYPT (WT/COMTD /AFT/W/3) 
7. The Chairman  recalled that on 6 June 2007, the dele gation of Egypt ha d submitted a paper 
which had subsequently been circulated as doc ument WT/COMTD/AFT/W/3.  He asked Egypt to 
introduce its paper on Aid for Trade. 
8. The representative of Egypt  said that the objective of Egypt's communication was to put 
forward some important elements in regard to Ai d for Trade which should be discussed in the CTD.  
He said that there were barriers which went beyo nd foreign market access that could impede export 
development.  These barriers, including a lack of  supply side capacity and ability to compete in 
international markets, needed to be adequately addressed through Aid for Tr ade.  He believed that 
delivering effective Aid for Trade was a mutual r esponsibility between donors and beneficiaries, with 
each having an important role to play.  He said that  the ultimate goal in the CTD should be to draft an 
effective, simple and practical monitoring and evaluation mechanism that would ensure that the 
expected results of the Aid for Trade initiative were  being adequately met and implemented.  He also 
believed that national ownership was an important as pect that should exist at each and every step of 
the overall process of Aid for Trade.  This would not only create the strong leadership and political will needed for underpinning an effective development strategy, but also would help ensure that any 
development assistance was aligned with the national development framework.   
9. He then highlighted some of the elements in Egypt's communication.  First, he thought that 
there was a problem for developing and least-d eveloped country (LDC) Members to conduct their 
own needs assessments.  He suggested that deve loping and least-developed Members requesting Aid 
for Trade consult with the donors concerned, particular ly with the development agencies, so that they 
would be assisted with identifying their trade needs and priorities.  Second, with regard to national 
coordination, he believed that there should be a national dialogue between stakeholders.  This 
dialogue should include  the public and private sectors in the bene ficiary countries.  Third, regarding 
the mainstreaming of trade into the national develo pment strategies, he was of the view that this 
required prioritizing and maintaini ng a range of policies in order to  enhance trade.  Fourth, he 
suggested that a national Aid for Trade Committee be established as was recommended by the Aid for 
Trade Task Force.  The role of this Committee would be to determine country needs, to set priorities, 
mainstream trade into the national development stra tegies and to report to the WTO monitoring body.  
Fifth, regarding the Aid for Trade request proce dures, he said that developing and least-developed 
countries must know how to make requests for Aid for Trade.  He said that the procedures should not  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 3 
 
 
  create a burden on the requesting Members.  He also  believed that the CTD, through its role as the 
monitoring body for Aid for Trade, should contin ue to lead discussions on the above-mentioned 
elements with a view to reaching a common and clear understanding among WTO Members on how these issues could be adequately operationalized a nd implemented, taking into account the views of 
developing and LDC Members. 
10. The representative of the European Communities
 said that Egypt's paper provided a common 
thinking on how to reach a good strategy.  On need s assessment, her delegation encouraged the use of 
the diagnostic trade integration studies (DTIS) in count ries that were part of the Integrated Framework 
(IF).  In countries that were not part of the IF, the use of other similar analyses was encouraged, for 
example, the trade needs assessments carried out by the European Communities (EC) in various 
developing countries such as Viet Nam, Pakistan a nd Sri Lanka.  She invited the partner countries 
which had benefited from a needs assessment analysis made by the EC to share their experiences with 
other donors.  Regarding national coordination and mainstreaming of trade, she asked beneficiary 
countries to also share their experiences in th ese areas with Members.  On National Trade 
Committees, she encouraged the use of  existing institutions rather than the creation of ad hoc entities.  
On procedures for requesting Aid for Trade, she sai d that the analyses of trade needs assessments had 
to be published at national level so that they could be integrated into nationa l development strategies 
and open up dialogues between donors and pa rtners on how to request funding. 
11. The representative of the United States  said that Egypt's paper contained several practical 
suggestions and raised important themes both for donors and beneficiaries.  She said that different 
countries had found different means to prioritize an d mainstream trade and that one of the positive 
results of the regional reviews on Aid for Trade woul d be sharing experiences and best practices.  She 
said that on the donor side, the United States (US)  was integrating Aid for Trade into its regular 
national assistance strategies and that various agencies were involved in Aid for Trade.  She said that 
one of the contributions the US could make for th e regional reviews was a listing by country of the 
Aid for Trade contacts in each of the beneficiary countries. 
12. The representative of Japan  said that in regard to Aid fo r Trade requests and the eventual 
implementation of any related activities, it was ess ential to rationalize processes and to use existing 
mechanisms.  He said that these and other related is sues could be discussed within the CTD to achieve 
a better understanding of the Aid for Trade inter-linkages. 
13. With regard to needs assessmen ts, the representative of Pakistan  asked the representative of 
Egypt whether it was necessary to consult with donors.   She noted that beneficiaries of Aid for Trade 
usually were aware of their infrastructure needs a nd were able to avail themselves of the existing 
opportunities to increase their trade.  She also asked  the delegation of the EC what type of needs 
assessments it envisaged for developing countries th at could not participate in the Integrated 
Framework. 
14. The representative of Egypt  replied that it was necessary to  discuss needs assessment with all 
the parties involved in Aid for Trade.  He noted that if an LDC was having problems identifying its 
needs, this could be solved with the help of the participating agencies and the donors. 
15. The representative of Kenya  said that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers could be used in 
assessing the needs of countries which could not particip ate in the IF.  He added that there were some 
issues that were not reflected in the paper by Eg ypt, such as conditionalities and the additionality of 
Aid for Trade.  These issues al so needed to be discussed.  
16. The representative of the European Communities  clarified that what she had proposed was to 
use the needs assessment carried out  by the EC for those developing countries not participating in WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
Page 4  
 
  the IF.  Sharing the analyses done by one donor with other donors would avoid duplication and would 
help increase transparency. 
17. The representative of Nigeria
 said that there were high expect ations that Aid for Trade would 
be one of the answers to help lift developing countri es out of poverty, in tandem with the result of the 
Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.  He concurred with Egypt on the mutual 
responsibility of donors and partner countries, as well as national ownership.  He added that to be 
effective and efficient, Aid for Trade needed to be local, less constrained and better monitored.  
18. The representative of Benin  said that regional integration was another aspect of Aid for Trade 
that should be taken into account.  He was of th e view that a coherent regional dimension would 
facilitate coordination and synergies in Aid for Trade. 
19. The Chairman  said that many of the issues contained in the paper by Egypt had already been 
flagged in the work of the Aid for Trade Task Fo rce.  Therefore, the recommendations of the Task 
Force would continue to provide guidance to the Committee when discussing these issues. 
20. The Committee took note  of the statements made. 
D. BUILDING CAPACITY TO FACILITATE TRADE  
21. The Chairman  said that building capacity to facilita te trade was emerging as a critically 
important aspect of Aid for Trade for many countries.  Therefore, it was very timely to have a discussion of trade facilitation in the CTD Session on Ai d for Trade.  He introduced the Geneva-based 
representative from the World Bank. 
22. The representative of the World Bank
 said that his presentation would focus on trade 
facilitation and on the World Bank's current work  to support the continuing trade facilitation 
negotiations. 
23. He said that time was important for trade.  In an OECD country, it took an average of six days 
for merchandise to move from ship to warehouse.  However, in other regions there were enormous 
time differences for the same operation.  In Latin Am erica, for example, it took more than ten days, 
and in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 25 days.  He  said that it was important to reduce these times.  
He explained that the data he  cited was taken from a World Ba nk publication titled "Doing Business 
Survey" in which six different trade agents were po lled in each country surveyed.  He noted that the 
16 fastest growing developing countries had tradin g times which were roughly half of the time of 
other low-income countries.  This included th e time spent filling out forms, preparing the 
documentation for customs, as well as getting the goods on the ship and out to sea.  He explained that 
when the number of days it took to get goods throug h customs on the import side was compared with 
the trade to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, th e result was that the trade to GDP ratio rose as 
days through customs fell.  This could be seen as an interactive process where trade tended to increase 
as days through customs decreased and trade facilita tion improved.  He noted that in Ouagadougou, 
Burkina Faso, it took an average of 71 days to move a container from a factory to the nearest port, fill 
out customs arrangements, undertake administrative pr ocedures and  load the ship.  From Kazakhstan, 
it took 93 days, from Berlin six days and from Santia go, Chile or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 20 days.  
Reducing delays in customs and in the ports by ju st one day in most developing countries had the 
same effect as bringing a country 70 kilometres cl oser to its trading partners.  It also improved 
competitiveness by expanding exports on average by 1 per cent.  Similarly, reducing transit times by 
one day lowered the costs of exports by nearly 1 per cent once again.  As an example, he said that if 
Uganda reduced its factory to ship time from 58 days to 27 days, that would be equivalent to moving 
Uganda 2,200 kilometres closer to its main trading partners.  Its exports would increase by  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 5 
 
 
  31 per cent.  He emphasized again how trade facilita tion was very important in reducing delays at 
border crossings and delays going into ports.   
24. He explained that trade facilitation was more than just WTO disciplines. It also included 
improving roads from farms and factories to the ports and removing informal transit barriers which frequently stopped transit cargoes or charged informal  fees.  He said that trade facilitation also meant 
reducing administrative requirements for exports a nd imports and improving the efficiency of ports, 
both in regard to logistics and to labour relations .  He was of the view that many implementation 
barriers did not really lend themselves to narrow t echnical-assistance projects. Therefore, broad-based 
technical assistance was ne eded.  The reasons for this were vari ed and included a lack of cooperation 
between government agencies, poor relationships be tween the public and the private sector, customs 
agencies excessively focussed on revenue collec tion, low levels of voluntary compliance and 
underdeveloped private sectors and associated servic es, i.e. banking and telecommunications.  He also 
believed it was important for the sustainability of re forms to have high levels of political will and 
commitment.  In this context, a  WTO agenda on trade facilitation could motivate and accelerate more 
comprehensive reforms and unlock new Aid for Trade. 
25. Regarding the activities of the World Bank on trad e facilitation, he explained that there were 
a number of ongoing projects that had the overall goa l of helping governments make more use of 
trade.  He said that at the global level the Worl d Bank was working to support the WTO negotiations.  
This included holding workshops to bring together  the Geneva negotiators with their respective 
customs officials, sometimes in multi-country regi onal fora.  The World Bank was also working on 
implementation studies to help Members determine what the actual costs would be of implementing 
any new trade facilitation agreement in the Doha Round.  The World Bank also had developed a 
logistics perception index which allowed countries to identify issues related to moving goods through 
ports.  He said that at the country level the Worl d Bank was providing analytical advisory services.  
This included country studies, some of which were carried out in connection with the IF, and regional 
studies where, for example in Africa, the World Bank was looking at road networks throughout the 
region. 
26. The World Bank was also active in associated trade facilitation lending.  This included 
projects some of which were sectoral in nature and which provided governme nts with general budget 
support.  Others were specific to ports.  For ex ample, the World Bank was working with the Mauritian 
authorities on improving some of the ports and air terminals in Mauritius.  He said that the World Bank also carried out technical-assistance programmes to help improve customs and computer 
systems. 
27. Regarding support to the trade facilitation nego tiations, the World Bank had been working in 
this area since 2005 and was collaborating with th e IMF, the WCO, the EC and the governments of 
the United Kingdom and Sweden.  He mentioned that there were three components to this project.  
The first was putting together a negotiations support guide for capitals and Geneva-based negotiators.  
Second, the World Bank had organized national pilo t workshops which helped countries improve the 
linkages between capitals and negotiators.  Third, the World Bank had done a cost and 
implementation difficulty study which, based on six c ountry studies, attempted to quantify the overall 
amounts of technical assistance that would be needed in  order to enact some of the Doha accords.  He 
said that the study had found that the expected cost of implementing a Doha trade facilitation 
agreement would be fairly minimal, with most of  the additional costs going into implementing single 
window and one-stop border stations.   
28. Regarding the logistics perception index develope d by the World Bank, he said that this was a 
tool that examined seven parts of the import a nd export process to determine how clearance processes 
and infrastructure could be improved.  It allowe d countries to establish comparative benchmarks to WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
Page 6  
 
  determine the strong and weak points in their ex port and import processes and establish at which 
points Aid for Trade would be more effective. 
29. He added that the World Bank lending aspired to  help countries leverage trade for growth.  
This was achieved through loans for trade facilitation, standards and exports.  He said that after a brief 
hiatus around 2000, the World Ba nk's lending had accelerated dramatically. This was mainly in 
response to the Doha negotiations and due to a greater interest in Aid for Trade.  He noted that trade 
facilitation was a major component of World Bank  lending, constituting up to 45 per cent of its 
trade-related lending.   
30. The Chairman
 then introduced the representative from the World Customs Organization 
(WCO) .  
31. The representative of the World Customs Organization  said that the WCO's objective was to 
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of customs administrations.  The WCO was established in 
1952 and had its headquarters in Brussels.  It co mprised 171 members, covering 97 per cent of world 
trade.  To achieve its goals the WCO had three tool s:  setting and maintaining rules and standards for 
customs procedures;  promoting international coope ration to share information and best practices;  
and assistance and capacity building to help  its members implement the standards. 
32. He said that the functions of a customs agency had evolved over the years.  The first function 
of customs was revenue collection of import taxes.   This function had evolved into protection of 
economic interests, i.e. the domestic industry, whic h further evolved into the protection of society 
from health and safety hazards, including drug tr afficking, counterfeit goods, environmentally 
hazardous goods, etc.  More recently, however, cust oms played a role in economic development 
through a trade facilitation agenda to  improve national competitiveness.  He said that after the terrorist 
attacks in the US, Spain and the United Kingdom, secur ity had become an important part of the role 
of customs.  He said that there were many WC O instruments that contributed to trade facilitation 
including, the Harmonized Tariff System, the SAFE Framework of Standards and the Revised Kyoto 
Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures. 
33. He said that the Kyoto Convention was originally adopted in 1973 at Kyoto, Japan.  It was 
then revised in 1999 to include the use of info rmation technologies and risk management.  It was 
hoped that these measures would help increase the transparency and predictability of customs procedures.  The convention was regarded as a bl ueprint for modern customs administrations and 
addressed most of the proposals by Members in the c ontext of trade facilitation.  He added that it had 
also been recognized in the trade facilitation ne gotiations that due account should be given to the 
WCO's standards, mainly the revised Kyoto Conven tion.  All WCO and UN members were eligible to 
join the Kyoto Convention. So far, 52 countri es had ratified the convention, 17 of them being 
developing countries or LDCs. 
34. He explained that another important tool in relation to trade facilitation was the WCO's Time 
Release Guide.  He said that the Time Release Guid e was an instrument that allowed an analysis of 
the causes for delays in the customs clearance pro cess.  The Time Release Guide measured the time 
needed for each step taken by each  government agency, from the a rrival at the port to the actual 
release of the goods.  It was an analytical tool th at allowed measuring clearance time according to the 
type of goods, modes of transport and other government  agency intervention.  It also determined the 
reasons for the delay and the effect that adop ting trade facilitation measures would have on the 
timeliness of the release of the goods.  In this context, he said that the WTO's Negotiating Group on 
Trade Facilitation recommended the u se of the Time Release Guide. 
35. Regarding capacity building, he said that the WCO had adopted a capacity-building strategy 
in 2003.  The capacity-building strategy reflected six lessons that had been learned from previous  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 7 
 
 
  capacity-building exercises.  These concerned the need  for an accurate diagnosis to develop country-
specific programmes, a sustained high-level po litical will, enhanced cooperation and coherence 
among donors, greater ownership and participation of customs pers onnel, realistic government and 
donor expectations and adequate human and financial resources. 
36. He explained that in order to  improve capacity building, th e WCO had developed a diagnostic 
framework.  This framework cove red the following clusters:  strategic management, human and 
budgetary resources, legal framework, customs sy stems and procedures, information technology, 
external cooperation, communication and part nership and good governance with emphasis on 
anti-corruption measures.  The value of these clus ters was shared by many intergovernmental 
organizations. 
37. He said that on the basis of the diagnostic framework, the WCO had started the Columbus 
Programme which was a comprehensive customs capacity-building initiative.  The aim of the programme was to achieve comprehensive customs modernization, full implementation of the WCO 
SAFE Framework of Standards and to prepare fo r the WTO's trade facilitation agenda.  The WCO 
had developed a team of qualified diagnosticians to analyze the count ry situation and make reports 
and recommendations.  These diagnosticians were also  used for the WTO's needs assessment.  There 
were three phases in the Columbus Programme.  The first phase was the needs assessment or 
diagnosis, the second focused on implementation, in cluding action planning, project management and 
training, and the third on monitoring of the modern ization programme.  He explained that in over a 
hundred diagnosis missions carried out under the Columbus Programme, the WCO had observed that 
customs functions were wider than just revenue co llection and that a 100 per cent inspection rate did 
not necessarily increase revenue collection.  The di agnostics found that in regard to information 
technology, an optimal use of the existing technologies was necessary, as was better border 
integration management.  The latter could be ach ieved through enhancing cooperation with other 
border agencies.  Finally, in implementing th e second phase of the Columbus Programme, the WCO 
representative said that his organization would lik e to establish pilot projects with support from the 
Aid for Trade initiative.  
38. He concluded by saying that the WCO had alr eady developed international standards and had 
a dedicated capacity-building programme on trade facilitation.  He said, therefore, that the WCO and WTO should not duplicate efforts or act in isola tion.  Rather, the challenges posed by a trade 
facilitation agenda called for coope ration between the WCO and WTO to achieve higher synergies. 
39. The Chairman
 introduced the representative from the Organisation for Economic 
Co-operation and Development (OECD) .  
40. The representative of the OECD  said that her presentation would focus on the actions taken 
by the OECD to support trade facilitation.  She said that the OECD did not have lending operations and did not put in place country-specific projects.   The OECD's specialization was to provide 
economic, policy and development assistance analysis for its members and, increasingly, for non-OECD members, and to communicate this an alysis through outreach activities in cooperation 
with the Secretariats of other IGOs, including the WTO. 
41. In the area of economic analysis, the OECD had tried to understand the costs and benefits of 
trade facilitation for governments a nd the private sector, particularly in developing countries.  The 
OECD countries had already undertaken trade facil itation measures for some time.  Therefore, the 
objective of the OECD was for developing countries to  close the gap, in the trade facilitation agenda, 
between them and the best performers.  
42. She said that against this analytical framework, the OECD had tried to look through 
modelling and empirical data at the economic effects of implementing trade facilitation.  She said that WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
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  the OECD was not trying to predict the impact of a possible trade facilitation agreement on world 
trade and income.  This depended on the elements that would be negotiated and how they would be 
implemented.  Rather, the OECD had drawn on available information and estimates concerning 
critical characteristics of the border process to achi eve a better understanding of the distribution of the 
costs and benefits.  She said that the OECD wanted  to understand who and under what circumstances 
would benefit from trade facilitation.  She said that before the trade facilitation negotiations started, a 
series of estimates showed that the welfare benef its from trade facilitation could range from 1 per cent 
to 15 per cent of world trade.  However, these estimates assumed that all countries would move at the same speed in trade facilitation.  She believed it was more likely that countries would move at 
different speeds, with the OECD countries leading th e way towards trade facil itation and the rest of 
the countries gradually closing the gap.  Different  analyses done by the OECD showed that the 
benefits of trade facilitation would accrue primarily  to those countries that actively engaged in it. 
43. The OECD had analysed the cost of trade facilitation measures and found that these measures 
were generally undertaken as part of larger projects to modernize customs.  This meant that usually 
there was no specific budget for trade facilitation and that costs were absorbed through normal 
operating budgets.  It was also found that infrastru cture was more costly to introduce but that the 
critical element in the long run was the human capital, since without proper capacity building the results were not sustainable.  She said that other find ings with respect to cost analysis were that there 
was a virtuous circle between modernization and trad e facilitation.  Costs were generally offset by 
staff savings and revenue collection improvements. 
44. She explained that the OECD had studied the implementation of some of the measures that 
were being proposed in the trade facilitation nego tiations.  Some of these measures could be taken 
immediately, while others would require time, but no  external help.  There were also some measures 
that required resources in the form of knowledge  sharing and financial support, for which donor 
assistance would be very important.  Other types of measures would require significant time, even after donor assistance had been secured, b ecause they involved a culture change. 
45. Regarding policy analysis, she said that many OECD countries had put in place trade 
facilitation measures.  Sharing their national expe riences could help other countries identify the 
factors of success and failure.  A process of peer reviewing and experience sharing could help countries learn from the difficulties encountered by others. 
46. She said that the OECD had come up with OECD guiding principles for regulatory quality 
and performance.  She added that the experience of  countries that had used these principles could be 
valuable in informing the debate in the WTO.  Th ese principles, which had already been mentioned in 
some of the proposals by Members, included:  institutional and regulatory coordination mechanisms, systematic impact assessments and reviews of re gulations, timely and transparent stakeholder 
involvement and regulatory restrictions propor tionate to underlying public interest. 
47. On the issue of development assistance, she said that the OECD had focused on how to 
improve aid efficiency.  She said that in the peri od 2001 to 2004, technical assistance in the area of 
trade facilitation had tripled.  Most of the s upport went to lower middle-income countries.  She 
explained that one of the reasons for this imbala nce could be that low-income countries had not 
identified trade facilitation as a national priority or had not incorporated it in their national 
development and poverty-reduction strategies.  This was also a consequence of respecting the 
principle of having partner-led assistance. 
48. The Chairman
 introduced a representative of the WTO Secretariat. 
49. The representative of the Secretariat  said that trade facilitation was an excellent example of 
links that could be made between two parts of  the WTO work programme, on the one hand, the  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 9 
 
 
  DDA-negotiations on trade facilitation and, on the ot her, the Hong Kong Ministerial work programme 
on Aid for Trade.  He said that support for technica l assistance for capacity building, and in certain 
circumstances for infrastructure, were all containe d in the modalities for trade facilitation that were 
agreed in the July 2004 General Council Decision.   Thus, the trade facilitation mandate preceded the 
Aid for Trade initiative but needed the Aid for Trade initiative in order to be successfully 
implemented.  He noted that in December 2006  the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation launched 
a programme involving Aid for Trade with the aim of  helping the negotiations to move forward as 
well as helping developing countri es and LDCs prepare for the eventual implementation of a trade 
facilitation agreement.   
50. He said that, together with other multilateral organizations, the WTO had put in place a 
programme to help developing count ries and LDCs identify their needs and priorities in the area of 
trade facilitation, using the proposals already on th e table in the negotiations as a blueprint to assess 
those needs.  The WTO had received generous do nor financing for this programme and as many as 
53 requests from developing countries and LDCs to participate in the programme.  The WTO would 
then be providing the workshops over the next 12 to  18 months to allow Members which required this 
assistance to benefit from it.  This would also allo w Members to be well placed to participate in the 
finalization of the negotiations on trade facilitation a nd to implement the results of the negotiations.   
51. He proposed that the Committee include this i ssue in its report to the General Council as a 
good example of how Aid for Trade could assist the WTO and how it could complement the negotiations under the DDA.   
52. The Chairman
 opened the floor for comments and questions from delegations. 
53. The representative of India  said that the presentation by the representative of the World Bank 
contained interesting data on the present impedi ments to trade and how trade facilitation could 
enhance trade and improve assistance absorption.  He asked the representative of the WCO about the 
regional spread of the diagnostic missions, as well as their outcomes and findings. 
54. The representative of Nigeria  said that he was of the view that a modernized and repositioned 
customs service could not achieve much if the process of cargo delivery was still handled 
inefficiently.  He also believed that revenue co llection was not an adequate measurement of the 
performance of customs administrations.  He asked the presenters to clarify how the operations of 
customs could be enhanced in those developing countries that were facing infrastructure problems. 
55. The representative of Benin  agreed that Aid for Trade and tr ade facilitations were two issues 
that were linked, and highlighted the importance of  infrastructure development and capacity building.  
He also believed that infrastructure and the handling of foodstuffs were also linked.  Therefore, it was 
important to work on improving the supply capacity of developing countries.  
56. The representative of Kenya  said that in the example cited by the representative of the World 
Bank concerning the amount of time it took for a product from Ouagadougou to reach the sea, it 
would also be interesting to know how much time  it took for the same product to reach its final 
destination.  He said that a lot of products were kept in ports of the US and the EC before being 
certified that they met certain health and safety st andards, rules of origin requirements and other 
conditions.  He believed these issues had a negative impact on trade facilitation. 
57. The representative of Zimbabwe  said that small firms suffered more from the costs of 
exporting.  She said that it was more important to address supply-side capacity issues than trade 
facilitation because if there were no products to expo rt, then there would be no need for trade to be 
facilitated.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
Page 10  
 
  58. The representative of Pakistan
 said that for landlocked count ries such as Kazakhstan, it was 
more important to address international trade facilitation than internal trade facilitation. 
59. The representative of Burkina Faso  expressed surprise that it woul d take so long for a product 
from Ouagadougou to reach the sea.  He believed this was mainly due to the fact that Burkina Faso 
was a landlocked country.  Many efforts had been  made by his government to reduce the clearance 
time at customs. 
60. The representative of Sri Lanka  believed that trade facilitation entailed costs but that the 
benefits outweighed these costs.  He said that Sri Lanka had been a beneficiary of many of the trade facilitation support projects implem ented since the launch of negotiations at the WTO.  These 
programmes had increased the participation of Sri La nka in the negotiations and had led to improved 
links between the missions in Geneva and capital expe rts.  However, it was very important to have 
customs experts present at the negotiations.  He ur ged donors to help developing countries finance 
their attendance at the meetings of the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation. 
61. The representative of Rwanda
 wished to know in which countries the Columbus Programme 
had been applied and what the procedures were to have access to this programme.  
62. The representative of the WCO  agreed that the participation of  customs officials in the trade 
facilitation negotiations was essential.  He would convey this message to the WCO's annual Council 
Session.  Regarding the comment made by the re presentative of Nigeria, he said that there was 
increased coordination among the donor agencies on wh at benchmarks to use to measure success in 
trade facilitation programmes.  In reply to the re presentative of Rwanda, he said that if a member 
wanted to participate in the Columbus Programme, it just had to make the request to the WCO and a 
team of diagnosticians would be sen t to make a diagnosis.  In reply to the representative of India, he 
said that the WCO encouraged countries to share th eir diagnosis with other ministries and authorities 
in order to obtain support for the customs modern ization programme.  The WCO also encouraged 
sharing the diagnostic with the WTO to achieve syne rgies in the trade facilitation negotiations and to 
have clarity on what each customs administration was expected to do.  
63. The representative of the World Bank , in reply to the comment made by the representative of 
Sri Lanka, said that he believed that some donors, for example Norway, were prepared to consider 
assisting developing countries to ensure the participa tion of customs experts in the WTO negotiations.  
In reply to the requests for further details on the data contained in the presentation, he encouraged 
delegations to contact him by e-mail  with any such requests.  He agr eed that it was important to focus 
on speed and efficiency of customs rather than on revenue collection to measure the effectiveness of 
trade facilitation.  It was also important to focus on the link between trade policy and trade 
facilitation.  For example, if a country had multip le tariff bands and multiple tariff schedules resulting 
from different regional trade agreements, it was very  burdensome for the customs officers to do their 
work.  However, if the multilateral process were successf ul and there was a single, flat tariff, it would 
be much easier for customs officials to do their wo rk.  He recalled that the representatives of Nigeria 
and Benin had underscored the importance of infrast ructure for trade, and he agreed that such 
infrastructure was a key issue for exports.  In repl y to the comment made by the representative of 
Kenya, he agreed that the exports of developi ng countries faced difficulties in developed country 
markets.  He added that security arrangements were  now also adding additional burdens on exporters.  
He agreed with the representative of Zimbabwe th at small firms suffered more from high export costs, 
either due to complex regulations or due to highe r per unit costs of transport when there were not 
enough export volumes.  Therefore, he believed it w as important to try to bring the export costs down 
and to streamline both the exporting and the importi ng processes.  He also agreed with the comments 
by Burkina Faso and Pakistan on the difficulties face d by landlocked countries.  He explained that this 
was the reason why there was a double benefit from the neighbouring transit countries undertaking trade facilitation programmes, since it benefited tr ade coming from the transit country, as well as its  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 11 
 
 
  landlocked neighbour.  He hoped that the World Bank would be able to assist Sri Lanka in having 
customs officials participate in the negotiations on trade facilitation. 
64. The representative of the OECD  noted that with respect to agro-food products it was very 
important to have good cooperation between all the authorities in the process, since food products 
involved sanitary and phytosanitary authorities as we ll as customs authorities.  Also, trade facilitation 
in the case of agro-food products should include th e certification agencies.  Regarding small- and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), she said that capacity building should be directed not only at large enterprises but also at SMEs.  Otherwise, SMEs w ould not be in a position to export, especially when 
facing export side border procedures. 
65. The Chairman
 thanked the speakers for their presentations. 
E. BUILDING CAPACITY TO MEET SANITA RY AND PHYTOSANI TARY STANDARDS – THE 
STANDARDS AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT FACILITY (STDF ) 
66. The Chairman  introduced a representative from the WTO Secretariat.  
67. The representative of the Secretariat  said that compliance with  sanitary and phytosanitary 
(SPS) measures was an issue that affected expor ters in developed and developing countries.  
However, it was recognized that exporters in deve loping countries had more difficulties in complying 
with SPS standards.  He said that the Standa rds and Trade Development Facility was a global 
programme in capacity building and technical coop eration established by the Food and Agriculture 
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank, the World Organization for Animal 
Health (OIE), the World Health Organization (WHO)  and the WTO.  He said that the STDF had the 
strategic aim of enhancing expertise and capacity of developing countries to analyze and implement 
SPS standards.  He said that the STDF would serve as a vehicle for coordinating SPS-related technical 
cooperation.  The STDF complemented other initiatives such as the Codex Trust Fund, the 
International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Tr ust funds, and the OIE Global Fund which were 
trying to address the issue of developing country  participation in the standard-setting bodies. 
68. He said that one of the main activities in the STDF was that of coordinating aid flows in the 
area of SPS.  This included tracking supply of technical cooperation funds through the WTO/OECD 
Trade Capacity Building Database.  He explaine d that research on SPS assistance would be fed into 
the Aid for Trade regional reviews that were plan ned for 2007.  He said that the Secretariat had 
compared entries regarding SPS-related technical assistance in the WTO/OECD Trade Capacity 
Building Database with information submitted by Members to the SPS Committee on their own 
technical assistance programmes.  He noted that significant disco rdances were found between the two 
sources in the number of activities reported.  The sa me was also true for the value of SPS entries 
reported.  However, he said that the data was not  complete and that there were some problems in 
reporting the value of the activities.  Therefore, he believed that the reported $284 million spent in 
SPS-related technical assistance in 2005 was a gro ss underestimation of the real value spent on SPS 
activities.  He thought that this could be due to some methodological difficulties as it was not certain 
whether it was a problem of under-reporting or wh ether activities that could be classified as SPS 
related were being reported in other categories of technical assistance.  In any case, he believed the 
figures showed a steady upward trend in the provision of SPS-related assistance and this was likely to continue.  He noted that in January 2006 there was a donor pledging conference for the fight against 
Avian Influenza where US$1.9 billion was pledged.   He cited various other on-going initiatives, 
including the EC's food and feed programme.  He sai d that the question was how to enable developing 
countries to access this financing.  The STDF had a ro le to play in answering this question and could 
help developing countries turn good ideas into project s.  In this context, the STDF used project 
preparation grants (PPG).  He said that there was some synergy with the Enhanced Integrated 
Framework (EIF) and that 14 out of the 23 PPGs funded to date were in IF countries.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
Page 12  
 
  69. Regarding STDF project funding, he said that the value added of projects funded through the 
STDF was that a project had to be innovative, prev entative and replicable.  The objective of the PPGs 
was also to prepare projects that could be late r picked up through existing donor programmes.  He 
cited two projects as examples, one in Burundi which was subsequently funded by the EC, and 
another in Mozambique which was funded by th e United Kingdom's Department for International 
Development.  Finally, he informed Members that  the Secretariat had prepared a paper providing an 
overview of the STDF which had been ci rculated as document WT/COMTD/AFT/W/4. 
70. The Chairman
 introduced the representative from th e Food and Agriculture Organization 
(FAO) .  
71. The representative of the FAO  said that the main theme of his presentation was not just Aid 
for Trade but also aid for safer  trade.  He noted that trade in  agricultural products could be an 
important factor in improving livelihoods, and in  meeting development objec tives.  However, there 
were concerns since the movement of plant and an imal products could spread pests and diseases, with 
devastating consequences.  He said that there was evidence to support the fact that trade had been a 
factor in spreading some diseases even in some  staple crops.  These diseases had been spread  
sometimes by the product itself and sometimes by planting material, such as seeds and roots.  As 
examples he cited the cassava mosaic virus and the ba nana bacterial wilt, which had had devastating 
effects in Africa.  He said that diseases also affe cted globally-traded commodities such as the citrus 
tristeza virus which had spread from South Amer ica to the Caribbean and from the Caribbean to 
Europe.  He also noted that some diseases had sp read through wooden packaging materials, such as 
the Asian long-horned beetle that had spread from Asia to the US.  The construction of new roads 
could also result in vectoring diseases to areas where they had not been prevalent before, as in the 
case of brontispa or coconut leaf beetle which had spread across the Asia/Pacific region.  He 
mentioned that field conditions and agricultural practices differed from country-to-country and had a 
bearing on product quality.  He believed that both diseases and agricultural practices had to be 
managed at the multilateral level so that th ey were consistent internationally.   
72. He explained that the International Plant Prot ection Convention set international standards, 
including those on plant quarantine and inspection,  to ensure that import risk analysis was 
science-based.  It also managed the creation of pest -free areas.  He said that it was the individual 
countries which implemented the measures and that the SPS Agreement helped to ensure that these 
measures were appropria te and justified.  
73. He said that, as an example of its work, th e FAO together with UNDP had recently been 
working in India and had provi ded funding to increase the laboratory capabilities of the Regional 
Plant Quarantine Station in Chennai.  This laborat ory was now able to carry out import inspections, 
undertake import risk analysis and issue export phyt osanitary certificates.  He said that recently the 
station had written some publications on its work such as an article titled "Interception of Embellisia 
allii and a virus in Garlic bulbs imported from Ch ina" which had appeared in the Indian 
Phytopathology journal.  He noted that this virus which had been successfully intercepted had had the 
potential of wiping out the entire Indian garlic crop.   He said that since the Chennai laboratory had 
been in operation there had been considerable grow th in the issuance of export certificates for Indian 
exports. 
74. He explained that there were other plant and h ealth issues that affected trade and that gave 
rise to SPS notifications.  Among these were the u se of pesticides, since pesticide residues could 
affect food and animal feed, soil contamination fro m heavy metals, bacterial contamination from the 
unavailability of clean water  and the u se of genetically modified varieties. 
75. He also explained how the FAO assisted countries to trade in plant products.  He said that in 
providing this support, the FAO had a phytosanitary capacity evaluation tool to help countries assess  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 13 
 
 
  SPS issues, and set priorities.  This evaluation tool could be used in the creation of regional networks 
to share information.  He said that the FAO also  supported countries to improve plant quarantine and 
pesticide quality control.  The FAO also provided sup port in the use of integrated pest management to 
reduce unnecessary pesticide consumption and improve agronomic practices.  He added that the FAO 
also provided technical support on risk analysis. 
76. He said that there were a number of issues to  consider under Aid for Trade that were key from 
a plant and plant product perspective.  Some of thes e issues were:  capacity to undertake pest risk 
analysis, the need to have adequate laboratory and diagnostic facilities, the organization of plant 
health services, the creation of p est surveillance networks, informati on sharing on pest control options 
and the eventual impact of electronic certification. 
77. The Chairman  introduced the representative from the Wo rld Organisation For Animal Health 
(OIE). 
78. The representative from the OIE  said that the OIE was an international and intergovernmental 
organization created in 1924 and had 169 members.  Its main missions were animal disease information, control of animal diseases, and the facilitation and safe trade of livestock and livestock 
products.  Other missions of the OIE included animal  welfare and food safety.  He said that the OIE 
had participated in the STDF as a partner agency since its creation.  The OIE had managed several 
STDF projects so far, including the development of the performance vision and strategy (PVS) tool – 
a train the trainer's programme - and a programme  to enhance capacity in meeting SPS standards. 
79. He said that the OIE was a standards-setting agency recognized by the WTO.  The OIE was 
charged with setting standards in the internationa l trade of animals and animal products, as well as 
animal diseases including zoonoses.  The OIE aimed to facilitate trade while minimizing risks of 
pathogens since animal diseases had a very negative impact on trade and market access.  He said that 
the OIE helped countries in their exports by se tting standards and by declaring disease-free zones 
within countries that experience a disease, allowing them to export from those zones.   
80. He explained that the OIE standards were based  on science, were transparent and were voted 
on at the General Assembly of the OIE.  These standards were contained in the OIE's codes and 
manuals, and included the Terrestrial Animal Heal th Code, the Aquatic Animal Health Code, the 
Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestri al Animals and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests 
for Aquatic Animals.  
81. He said that the aim of the OIE codes was to assure the sanitary safety of the international 
trade in terrestrial animals (mammals, birds and bees) and aquatic animals (fish, molluscs and 
crustaceans) and their products.  The aim of th e Diagnostic Manuals was to provide standards for 
diagnostic tests and vaccines for the diseases listed in the codes. 
82. He said that the PVS tool had been developed by the OIE and the Inter-American Institute for 
Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to evaluate ve terinary services of developing and transition 
countries on a purely voluntary basis.  This tool had become increasingly important since the avian 
influenza crisis and called attention for the need to  improve the capabilities of veterinary services.  He 
said that the basic PVS tool document could be accessed on the OIE's website at www.oie.int
.  The 
aim of the PVS tool was to assess compliance of veterinary services with OIE standards on quality of veterinary services.  It also helped identify deficiencies in veterinary services and prioritize 
investments to be funded by national and or extern al resources.  He said that working under the PVS 
tool were
 experts from all five regions who had been tr ained and certified by the OIE and had been 
endorsed by international donors.  He mentioned that  participation in the PVS tool was on a voluntary 
basis.  In order to participate in the PVS tool, a me mber just needed to send a request to the OIE.  The 
OIE had funds, from international donors, to ca rry out these assessments free of charge to the WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
Page 14  
 
  members.  He said that the report was confidential and would only be released with the consent of the 
evaluated country.  Once a country had been evaluated, the OIE would assist it, upon request, to seek international aid for investment programmes.  So far 42 countries had sent in their PVS-tool requests, 
23 had been assessed, some had been peer-reviewed and at least one c ountry had given its consent to 
publish its report.   
83. The representative of Egypt
 noted that many of the programmes that were presented by the 
speakers were already in existence.  He expr essed concern that the funding for these programmes 
would now be counted as Aid for Trade and that this could negatively affect the additionality 
principle of Aid for Trade.   
84. Regarding pledges to combat avian in fluenza, the representative of Nigeria  asked about the 
prospects of accessing the funds after fulfilling the notification requirements.  He also asked the 
presenter from the FAO to expand on his comments on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  
85. The Chairman  said that regarding funding it was important to ensure that money kept flowing, 
not only to sustain existing programmes but also to ex pand them.  It was also important to look at the 
scope of those existing programmes and try to incr ease the variety of instruments available, thus 
expanding the scope of the programme.  He explaine d that in this way Aid for Trade would increase 
quantitatively.  
86. The representative of Pakistan  asked whether recent news regarding bees not producing 
enough honey could be related to an excessively stringent use of SPS measures.  She asked whether 
studies were being carried out to ensure that SPS measures were friendly to beneficial fungi and 
bacteria. 
87. The representative of the Secretariat , in response to the comment by the representative of 
Egypt, said that there were several existing prog rammes in the SPS area, with the STDF being just 
one of them.  He said that one particular problem  encountered was that of secure funding so that 
programmes being implemented could be allowed to mature and deve lop over time.  In response to 
the comment by the representative of Nigeria, he said that the figures presented did not cover the 
pledging conference on avian influenza held in Janua ry 2006.  He also noted that commitments and 
actual disbursements were not the same.  He said that  the FAO and the OIE should be able to provide 
more detail on how to access funds on avian influen za.  Regarding the comment by Pakistan, he said 
that the DTIS for Uganda and Tanzania had shown that their exporters of honey faced problems with 
compliance of SPS measures.  Therefore, one of the solutions to the problem mentioned by the representative of Pakistan would be to provide h oney exporters with assistance to comply with the 
SPS measures. 
88. The representative of the OIE
, in reply to the question from th e representative of Nigeria, said 
that the international scientific community was very concerned with the outbreak of avian influenza in 
Nigeria.  He said that the FAO, the OIE and the World Bank had sent experts to Nigeria to evaluate 
how best to assist in this crisis.  He noted that Nigeria had recently sent its request to the OIE to use 
the PVS to evaluate its veterinary services, with a view to strengthening it to better combat avian 
influenza.  The results of the PVS would increase d onor interest in assisting Nigeria in this crisis.  
Regarding the question posed by Pakistan, he said that  bees were considered as terrestrial animals and 
that even though the OIE standards existed to cove r bees, these standards were not yet very well 
developed. 
89. The representative of the FAO  said that there was great sensitivity in accepting genetically 
modified food imports because some countries believed there was a risk of cross-contamination.  Such 
contaminations could jeopardize their ability to trad e with other countries, especially those which took 
a hard line on GMOs.  Regarding bees, he said that it could also be a problem of pesticide residue.   WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2 
 Page 15 
 
 
  This was the reason why the FAO encouraged coun tries to consider taking a full agro-ecosystem 
approach where the impact of all of the various inputs for sustainable agri culture were taken into 
account to create a valid, sustainable, long-term model for rural development.   
90. The representative of the WHO  said that regarding GMOs th e Codex had defined principles 
for risk analysis of genetically modified foods.  Therefore, there was consensus on how to perform 
risk assessments for GMOs.  However, there was stil l a problem of communication.  To alleviate this 
problem, the WHO had published doc uments with the latest scientific findings on GMOs.  These 
conveyed the message that genetically modified f oods available on the market were safe and that a 
new risk assessment had to be performed every tim e a new genetically modified food was defined. 
91. The Chairman  thanked the speakers and all the Members for their thought provoking 
interventions.   
F. OTHER BUSINESS  
92. There were no items raised under Other Business. 
93. The meeting was adjourned . 
 
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