WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/COMTD/AFT/M/24 
1 June 2012 
 (12-2905) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Twenty-Fourth Session on Aid for Trade  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 14 MAY 2012 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Dr. Anthony Mothae Maruping (Lesotho) 
 
 
A.  ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  ........................................................................................................ 1  
B.  PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2012-2013  AID-FOR-TRADE WORK 
PROGRAMME  .............................................................................................................................. . 1 
1.  Resource Mobilization and Implementation Activities ......................................................... 1  
2.  Mainstreaming ................................................................................................................. ......... 2 
3.  Regional Dimension ............................................................................................................ ...... 3 
4.  Private Sector ................................................................................................................ ............ 3 
5.  Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementa tion and Development Effectiveness ............... 3  
C.  OTHER BUSINESS  ........................................................................................................................ 4  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Agenda, as circulated in  WTO/AIR/3937, was adopted. 
B. PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2012-2013  AID-FOR-TRADE WORK PROGRAMME  
1. Resource Mobilization and Implementation Activities 
2. The representatives of Korea and Japan provided a brief overview of the fifth meeting of the 
Regional Technical Group (RTG) on Aid for Trade fo r Asia and the Pacific hosted by Korea on 
9-11 May 2012.  The representative of Korea noted that in addition to the nine founder members of 
the pilot group, Indonesia and India had also partic ipated in the meeting.  Discussion had focused on  
public-private partnerships, regiona l integration, South-South partnerships, and specific challenges for 
Least-Developed Countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states as 
well as inter-regional cooperation, including that be tween Asia and Latin America.  Plans were under 
way to prepare a second RTG report which would build on the theme of aid and investment for trade 
for submission to the 4th Global Review of Aid for Trade.  
3. Noting that public-private partnerships we re an important issue for the RTG, the 
representative of Japan recalled the work undert aken with Viet Nam on improving the business 
environment in areas such as power supply, labour, retail, and infrastructure.  He also highlighted WT/COMTD/AFT/M/24 
Page 2 
 
 
  Japan's support for triangular cooperation citing as examples work with Malaysia on Zambia's 
investment environment and the Tokyo Internati onal Conference on African Development platform.1   
4. Recalling that it had been a founding member, th e representative of Australia noted that the 
RTG played an important advocacy role in the Asia-Pacific region and had gradually moved from a 
platform for dialogue to one of substance and emphasized the need for continued engagement. 
5. The representative of Pakistan noted Pakistan's  support of regional integration which, she 
said, had been demonstrated by its joining th e Central Asia Regional Economic Co-operation. 
6. The representative of China gave an update  on the multilateral trade-related technical 
assistance it was providing through WTO programm es, notably the US$400,000 to establish "China's 
LDCs and Accessions Programme".  He also not ed the forthcoming r oundtable meeting on LDC 
Accession, entitled "Best Practices in the WTO Acc ession Process", to be sponsored and hosted by 
China from 29 May to 1 June 2012.2   
7. The representative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 
provided an overview of the support provided on th e Aid for Trade Roadmap for the United Nations 
Special Programme for the Economies of Central As ia initiative which aimed to improve regional and 
global integration, ensure greater coordination of Aid-for-Trade (AfT) activities, and create synergies 
between national and regional trade-developmen t efforts.  Activities undertaken included: 
standardized "national and regional AfT action ma trices" and a trade facilitation implementation 
guideline.3 
2. Mainstreaming 
8. The representatives of Nepal, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines, and Uruguay made 
statements pursuant to their recen t Trade Policy Reviews (TPRs).  
9. The representative of Nepal noted the limited c ontribution Aid for Trade had made to date 
with regard to its economic grow th and poverty reduction and encouraged further focused support for 
the implementation of its Trade Integrated Strate gy.  He highlighted the following challenges: 
ensuring market access without non-tariff barrier s; strengthening supply-side capacity;  building 
domestic institutions; developing basic infrastructure;  and insufficient financial and technological 
resources and the need to mobilize Official Deve lopment Assistance toward productive sectors.   
10. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago pl eaded the case for delinking Gross Domestic 
Product per capita as the eligibility criteria fo r assistance and underscored the island's Small 
Vulnerable Economy status.  Recalling the success of  the Caribbean rum adjustment programme, she 
contrasted problems encountered in other progr ammes where disbursement difficulties had been 
encountered.  Inter-American Development Bank (I aDB) assistance with regard to developing a 
national Aid-for-Trade strategy and ongoing work on a regional Caribbean Aid-for-Trade strategy 
were also noted.   
11. The representative of the Philippin es stressed the importance of public-private partnerships in 
addressing the country's infrastructure challenges and their regional dimension, and recalled the 
                                                      
1 http://www.ticad.net/   
2 For further information see http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e /acc_e/beijingro undtable_e.htm  
3 Further information on UNECE's trade programme, including in relation to SPECA, can be found at 
http://www.un ece.org/tradewelcome /trade-home.html    WT/COMTD/AFT/M/24 
 Page 3 
 
 
  recently-launched ASEAN Infrastructure Fund which would finance the development of road, rail, 
power, water and other critical infrastructure needs.4  
12. The representative of Uruguay focused on problems  with trade finance and highlighted both 
the country's needs and support it offered through the Uruguay International Co-operation Agency.5   
13. The representative of Dominica, on behalf of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States 
(OECS), welcomed donors' contributions of US$20 m illion to the IaDB's regional Aid for Trade Trust 
Fund.6  He noted that trade finance had been identifie d as a major challenge for exporters particularly 
in small economies such as those in the Caribbean  region and referred to the regional Aid for Trade 
strategy that was being developed within the framework of CARICOM.7 
14. The representatives of Kenya, Nigeria and Paki stan highlighted the value of including AfT 
reporting within the TPR exercise.  Pakistan suggest ed that this could be done through a standard 
format possibly in line with the questionnaires u sed for the Global Reviews of Aid for Trade. 
3. Regional Dimension 
15. No item was raised under "Regional Dimension".  
4. Private Sector 
16. The representative of the World Bank noted plan s to organize an event in the fall on private 
sector development focusing on how multinationals could plug small- and me dium-sized enterprises 
in developing countries into their supply chai ns, as well as ongoing work with the World Economic 
Forum on product-level mapping of barriers in s upply chains, and their related costs.  The 
forthcoming launch of the Logistics Performance Index was also noted. 
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implemen tation and Development Effectiveness 
17. The representative of the Organisation for Ec onomic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 
provided a detailed overview of the 2010 reporting on AfT flows.  Aid-for-Trade commitments in 
2010 had reached US$45 billion – an increase of 12 per cent compared to 2009 and up 82 per cent 
since the 2002/05 baseline.  All regions and income  groups had seen an increase in commitments.  
Africa and Asia accounted for 77 per cent of tota l flows, receiving US$16.7 billion and US$17 billion, 
respectively, and LDCs had recei ved US$13.7 billion (30 per cent of total flows).  Multi-country and 
regional programmes had almost doubled to reach  US$5 billion in 2010 (up from US$1.4 billion 
during 2002/05).  He noted that OECD-DAC donors we re facing tighter budgets and highlighted the 
need to expand South-South cooperation as well as  the engagement of the private sector.    
18. The representative of Benin, on behalf of th e African Group, and on behalf of Haiti (LDC 
Group), insisted on the need to prioritize AfT flows to  the regions with the greatest need (i.e. Africa) 
as well as the need for additional forms of resour ce mobilization including South-South and private 
sector.  The WTO was called on to intensify its AfT advocacy efforts in this regard.  The 
representatives of Benin, on behalf of the Africa n Group, and Nigeria commented on the need for 
better reporting on South-South flows.   
                                                      
4 http://www.adb.org/news/asean-la unches-biggest-ever-fund-meet-critical-infrastructure-needs   
5 http://www.auci.gub.uy/en/News/presentation-of-the -uruguayan-international-cooperation-agency-
auci.html   
6 http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=2257085   
7 The Caribbean Community and Common Market.  WT/COMTD/AFT/M/24 
Page 4 
 
 
  19. While noting its commitment to South-South coop eration, the representative of India recalled 
that the voluntary nature of S outh-South cooperation and domestic ch allenges of South-South partners 
meant that it could not be a substitute for North-So uth development assistance - a principle recognized 
at the 4th High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Bu san.  India's EXIM Bank collaboration with 
Nigeria for the benefit of the latter's film industr y was cited as an example of India's South-South 
cooperation. 
20. The representative of the United Nations Conf erence on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 
provided an overview of UNCTAD's recent activiti es in support of Aid for Trade which included: the 
Commonwealth-UNCTAD Conference on South-S outh Collaboration for Promoting Trade and 
Development; the Global Services Forum; the 7th Annual Assembly of G-NEXID;  and the 2nd African 
Organic Conference on Mainstreaming Organic Agri culture in the African Development Agenda.8 9 
21. The WTO Secretariat updated Members on plan s for the next monitoring and evaluation 
exercise, including a proposed theme (private sector development and the development impact of 
value chains), the indicative timetable for the ex ercise (which should be launched in November) and 
the proposed structure (questionnaires, updated fact sheets and in-depth coun try-based research). 
22. The representatives from Australia and Kenya offe red their support for the proposed outline 
expressing the hope that the 4th Global Review would showcase more concrete results of Aid for 
Trade.   
23. The representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 
announced plans for a 2012 edition of its Trade Ca pacity Building Resource Guide which would be 
expanded to include G-20 members.  
24. The representative of the European Union not ed that its 2012 Aid for Trade Monitoring 
Report based on 2010 data would be published in July.  A presentation of the report to the 
OECD-DAC Committee was fo reseen after its publication.  One of the main findings of the report 
was that the EU and its member States accounted for around 32 per cent of total AfT flows in 2010, 
reaching more than €10.7 billion (€2.5 billion from th e EU and €8.2 billion from EU member States) 
and an increase of 4.2 per cent over the previous year. 
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
25. No item was raised under "Other Business".   
26. The Chairman informed that the next regul ar AfT session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development was tentatively scheduled to take place in mid-July.  The AfT session would be 
accompanied by a Workshop on Aid for Trade and Se rvices.  Details of the meetings would be 
announced at a later stage.   
27. The meeting was adjourned. 
__________  
                                                      
8 http://www.africanorganicconference.com/ .  
9 For more information on UNCTAD's trade-related activities see http://www.unctad.org