WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/IFSC/M/18 
27 June 2007 
 
 (07-2733) 
Integrated Framework Steering Committee 
Nineteenth Session  
 
 
 
REPORT ON THE 19TH SESSION OF THE 
INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK STEERING COMMITTEE (IFSC) 
 
Tuesday, 1 May 2007, WTO, Geneva  
 
Chairperson:  Ambassador Mia Horn af Rantzien (Sweden) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Integrated Framework Steering Committee (IFSC) held its nineteenth session on 
Tuesday, 1 May 2007.  The agenda is reproduced in Annex I. 
B. 47TH MEETING OF THE INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK WORKING GROUP :  REPORT BY THE CHAIR OF 
THE IFWG  
2. The Chairperson of the IFSC  said that the Integrated Framework Working Group (IFWG) had 
considered two important items, both related to the enhanced IF namely:  (i) the recommendations by 
the Transition Team of an enhanced IF (Transitio n Team) to operationalize the enhanced IF;  and 
(ii) the transitional arrangements to ensure a smoot h transition from the current IF to its enhanced 
phase.  She invited the Chairperson of th e IFWG, Mrs. Valentine Rugwabiza, Deputy 
Director-General, WTO, to provide the IFSC w ith a report on the outcome of the meeting. 
3. The Chairperson of the IFWG  said that the IFWG had held its forty-seventh session, its last 
one, in the WTO in the morning of 1 May 2007.  The meeting was attended by all six IF Agencies, the 
LDCs, represented by Lesotho, Zambia and Rwanda  and, the donors, represented by Canada and the 
European Communities.  The ma in focus of the meeting was the consideration of the 
recommendations by the Transition Team.  She in formed the IFSC that members of the IFWG, 
representing all constituencies of the IF community , had unanimously endorsed the recommendations 
of the Transition Team and had agreed to transmit th em to the IFSC for adoption.  The package of the 
recommendations contained:  (i) the compilation of working documents that the Transition Team and 
its clusters had developed following the adoption of  the recommendations of the Task Force for an 
enhanced IF last summer;  (ii) ideas on funding and modalities for the formal launching of the enhanced IF;  (iii) outreach activities;  and (iv) th e roadmap outlining the next steps.  She said that, 
under the next agenda item, a full report would be made by one of the co-chairs of the Transition 
Team giving the full details of its recommendations.  She, therefore, focused on two issues discussed 
by the IFWG namely:  (i) the transitional arrangeme nts;  and (ii) usual business of the IFWG.  She 
pointed out that since the enhancement of the IF  would entail administratively housing the Executive 
Secretariat in the WTO, this particular matter would need to be brought to the attention of the General 
Council which was the highest-level decision-maki ng body of the WTO, including its Secretariat. 
4. She continued by saying that some transitional issues still remained to be worked out, such as 
the details of accountability arrangements of the Trust Fund Manager, m onitoring and evaluation 
systems and funding and replenishment issues relati ng to the enhanced IF.  Pending the first meeting WT/IFSC/M/18 
Page 2  
 
  of the Board under the enhanced IF (IF Board), an  interim Board under the enhanced IF (interim 
Board) would start work to address these issues.  She hoped that the implementation phase of the enhanced IF would kick in from the following day.  During that implementation phase, and pending the formal launching of the enhanced IF, some tr ansitional arrangements would need to be put in 
place to ensure a smooth transition from the current IF  to the enhanced IF.  The IFWG had had a first 
exchange of views on those arrangements and had agreed  to continue to elaborate the details of those 
arrangements in the interim Board.  Those arra ngements would also need to address a number of 
questions, such as:  (i) what modalities would need to be devised to accommodate donors that wished to contribute to the enhanced IF, before the new Trust Fund Manger was in place?;  (ii) how to treat 
proposals for new activities presented for funding under  the enhanced IF, before the new Trust Fund 
manager was in place?;  (iii) how to ensure conti nuation of existing activities, which were funded out 
of the current Trust Fund, and how to treat new re quests for funding out of the current Trust Fund? 
5. Regarding the first question, the UNDP had offe red three options concerning contributions to 
the IF Trust Fund during the transition phase.  T hose options would allow flexibility to accommodate 
donors that would be  willing to contribute to the enhanced IF before the new Trust Fund Manager 
was in place.  With regard to the second question, it was suggested that the interim Board would take 
up the matter.  Concerning the third question, it was the understanding of the IFWG that the current IF 
activities would continue in a "business as usual" manner until such time as the IF Board decides 
otherwise.  With respect to the recruitment process of the Executive Di rector of the Executive 
Secretariat, she clarified that the WTO Secretar iat needed assurance from the current Trust Fund 
Manager that sufficient funds were available to cove r the costs of recruitment and a two-year contract 
of the Executive Director.   
6. She went on to say that the IFWG had agreed  that the competitive selection process of the 
new Trust Fund Manager be assisted by a technical consultant.  It was noted that one donor had 
offered to make funds available fo r this consultant.  That would ensure that the LDC Unit in the WTO 
Secretariat, including the Programme Implementation Unit (PIU), would not be requested to take on 
additional work.  With regard to the servicing of the IF governance bodies, the WTO had indicated its 
willingness to service these meetings until the recruitment of the Executive Director.  
7. Finally, she reported briefly on some standing ite ms that had been considered at the IFWG.  
She said that 44 LDCs were at various stages of th e IF process.  The IFWG had taken note of the 
written reports provided by the World Bank and th e UNDP on the implementation and progress made 
in these countries.  The IFWG had welcomed the fa ct that the World Bank and the UNDP had begun 
the practice of providing information on the implementation of the IF process in the beneficiary 
countries through joint written reports.  The IFWG had taken note of the written report made by the 
UNDP on the status of the IF Trust Fund as of 31 Ma rch 2007.  In this regard, the IFWG had also 
taken note of comments made on the report, in par ticular on the projected funding requirements.  She 
noted the suggestion made at the IFWG for convening  the first meeting of the IF Board within one 
month of the adoption of the recommendations of the Transition Team.  
8. The Chairperson of the IFSC
 proposed that the IFSC take note of the report made by the 
Chairperson of the IFWG. 
9. It was so agreed . 
C. ENHANCEMENT OF THE INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK :  REPORT BY THE CHAIR OF THE IF 
TRANSITION TEAM :  ADOPTION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS TRANSMITTED TO IT BY THE IFWG  
10. The Chairperson of the IFSC  said that the Transition Team and its three clusters had finalized 
their work to operationalize the enhanced IF.  Th e IFWG had adopted a package of recommendations 
put forward by the Transition Team.  The procedur es and terms of reference of the various processes  WT/IFSC/M/18 
 Page 3 
 
 
  and bodies constituting the enhanced  IF were laid down in a consolidated document, which was 
available in the meeting room.  She pointed out  that the consolidated document represented a 
compilation of working documents and needed to be  fine-tuned since the document had been finalized 
only recently.  She apologized that the texts were  not available in French and Spanish.  The 
Secretariat, however, had been working hard to prod uce translations as soon as possible.  The items in 
the compilation included: (i) Modus operandi of Ti er 1 of the Trust Fund under the enhanced IF 
(Tier 1);  (ii) Modus operandi of Tier 2 of the Trust Fund under the enhanced IF (Tier 2);  
(iii) Guidance Note for the National Implementati on Arrangements;  (iv) Guidance Note for the 
Donor Facilitator;  (v) Terms of Reference for the IF  Board;  (vi) Terms of Reference for the IFSC;  
(vii) Terms of Reference for the Executive Secretar iat;  (viii) Terms of Re ference for the Executive 
Director of the Executive Secretariat;  and (ix) Te rms of Reference for the Trust Fund Manager.  She 
invited Ambassador Stephenson (Canada), one of th e co-chairs of the Transition Team, to introduce 
the achievements of the Transition Team so that they could be adopted by the IFSC. 
11. The Co-chair of the Transiti on Team, Ambassador Stephenson,  recalled that the IFWG and 
the IFSC had approved the recommendations of the Task Force on an enhanced IF on 23 and 
25 June 2007 respectively.  The recommendations fo cused on three specific elements:  (i) increased, 
additional and predictable financial resources;  ( ii) strengthened in-country capacities to manage and 
implement the IF;  and (iii) stronger IF governan ce.  The implementation of those recommendations 
had required a transitional phase during which the deta iled procedures and policies of the enhanced IF 
had been elaborated in close consultation with a ll IF stakeholders.  The process was managed by a 
Transition Team, which coordinated the work of th ree clusters, respectively, on in-country issues, 
legal and administrative issues and financial issues.   He said that from September 2006 and up to the 
present, over 60 official meetings had been held by these three clusters and the Transition Team.  
These meetings had attracted extensive participati on from all IF stakeholders that had led to a 
consensus on a package of recommendations.   
12. He said that the in-country cluster had focused  on the organization of in-country operations 
and the strengthening of LDC ownership in the IF process.  Issues addressed by this cluster were:  
(i) the Terms of References (TORs) of the IF Fo cal Point, National Implementation Unit, National 
Steering Committee and Donor Facilitator;  (ii) the DTIS process and its implementation;  (iii) the 
Modus operandi of Tier 1 and Tier 2;  and (iv)  monitoring and evaluation of the programme.  To 
ensure that the views of Focal Points and Donor  Facilitators were taken into consideration, a 
workshop on the enhanced IF was organized in Dakar (Senegal) in December 2006, in cooperation 
with the UNCTAD and the Government of Senegal.  A Questionnaire had been addressed to the Focal 
Points and the Donor Facilitators seeking their vi ews on the strengths and weaknesses of the existing 
IF.  Over 45 responses were received representing a  response rate of 80 per cent. 
13. He went on to say that the legal and administ rative cluster had focused on the strengthening 
of the governance of the programme.  Issues addressed by  this cluster included:  (i) the legal entity of 
the enhanced IF and its independence;  (ii) th e TORs of the IF Board, the IFSC, the Executive 
Secretariat and its Executive Director.  The finance cl uster had dealt with the financial aspects of the 
enhanced IF such as the financial transitional arra ngements for the enhanced IF, the preparation of a 
budget, the TORs and selection criteria for the Trust Fund Manager, and the mobilization of financial 
resources for the enhanced IF through the organi zation of four donor consultations.  These donor 
consultations were held in Doha (November 2006), Brussels (December 2006), Paris (March 2007) 
and Geneva (April 2007).  These meetings had helped  to clarify how the IF could promote donor 
alignment with LDC development pl ans and better achieve the aid effectiveness principles of the Paris 
Declaration. 
14. He explained that an intensive period of work  had generated the package of recommendations 
contained in the consolidated document.  It containe d all policies and procedures of the enhanced IF.  
The composition of the IF Board and its decision- making procedures had been recently incorporated WT/IFSC/M/18 
Page 4  
 
  into the consolidated document.  The IF Bo ard would comprise six IF Agencies and three 
representatives each from the LDCs and donors.  The Chair of the IF Board would be chosen from 
among the country members of the IF Board.  The Ex ecutive Director would be an ex officio member 
of the IF Board without voting rights.  The Trus t Fund Manager would attend the IF Board meetings 
as an observer.  It was also agreed  that the Chair of the IF Board would seek to make all decisions by 
consensus.  However, in the ev ent that a consensus could not be  reached, a provision was made for 
voting by country members of the IF Board and in the event of a tie, the Chair would cast a deciding 
vote.  
15. The Transition Team and its clusters had achie ved consensus on a broad array of issues.  
However, some issues were outstanding, such as the accountability framework of the Trust Fund 
Manager and the finalization of the monitoring and ev aluation system for the enhanced IF.  There was 
a consensus that these issues could be  referred to the IF Board for a fi nal decision.  He said that the 
role of the new Trust Fund Manager had been full y defined.  The role of the Trust Fund Manager 
would be limited to fiduciary responsibilities.  The Trust Fund Manager would not enter into matters 
of substance of projects.  A competitive and tran sparent process of the selection of the Trust Fund 
Manager from a wide universe, including the UN agen cies and the private sector, would be launched.  
The selection of the Trust Fund Manager was expect ed to be completed by September 2007.  The 
objective of this competitive process of selection was to ensure that the most effective and efficient 
service provider was identified.  
16. He said that the recruitment process for the Ex ecutive Director, including the TORs, had been 
agreed upon by the Transition Team.  The first step in this regard would be the establishment of a 
selection committee, involving the participation of memb ers of the IF Board and the WTO Secretariat.  
It was expected that the Executive Director woul d be recruited in Autumn.  Once appointed, the 
Executive Director would participate in the select ion process of the other staff of the Executive 
Secretariat.  Progress was also being made on outreach  activities, with the objective of assisting LDCs 
understand the new arrangements governing the enha nced IF as well as establishing their national 
implementation arrangements.  These outreach activiti es would include, tentatively, some advisory 
missions to the LDCs, two regiona l workshops with in-country stak eholders during the Summer of 
2007, and a meeting of all the IF Focal Points with  the participation of the Executive Secretariat and 
the IF Board before the end of 2007 which mi ght include some emerging donors as well.   
17. He pointed out that the funding target for the operation of the enhanced IF for a five-year 
period had not been met.  A high-level donors' meet ing had been planned for the purpose of receiving 
formal funding commitments.  So far, only one do nor - the United Kingdom - was in a position to 
make a public statement of its intention to prov ide funding for the enhanced IF.  He expressed 
appreciation to the Government of the United Ki ngdom for its commitment to the enhanced IF.  
Nevertheless, the funding situation of the enhanced IF was encouragi ng.  Donors had indicated their 
intention to provide substantial new funding for th e enhanced IF.  On the basis of these informal 
statements, the resources would be sufficient to meet th e budget of the enhanced IF for at least its first 
two years.  He recalled the target of US$50 million per year as the benchmark for launching the programme.  He was satisfied that at least that  amount of money was available from the donors for 
each of the first two years.  In this regard, he  noted that some of the funds had already been 
contributed to the Trust Fund in anticipation of new programmes under the enhanced IF.  He noted 
that some of the donors had found it convenient to make their contributions before the formal 
launching of the enhanced IF.  He also noted from his discussions with the donors that there might be 
a situation where the Trust Fund would enjoy a surplus of funds.  In this regard, he noted that some 
donors had difficulty contributing to the Trust Fund until there was a cash requirement in a 
programme.  He, however, had pointed out to donors that it would cause difficulty in respect of the 
funding of the enhanced IF since it was to deliver  on increased, additional and predictable financial 
resources.  That objective would be achieved if the donors could contribute to the Trust Fund in 
advance of actual cash requirements.  He noted that the work was not finished with respect to funding  WT/IFSC/M/18 
 Page 5 
 
 
  issues.  He would continue to seek firm public commitments of funding for the enhanced IF.  He 
informed the IFSC that a number of developing countries had signalled their interest in providing 
support for the enhanced IF.   
18. He was of the view that the arrangement that ha d been agreed would allow the IF to realize its 
objective to assist poverty reduction in the LDCs.  In  designing the enhanced IF, particular attention 
had been paid to issues such as the LDC owners hip in the IF process, coordination within the 
government and with donors, mainstreaming of trad e into development plans, and providing a quick 
response to priority trade development needs of the LDCs.  He hoped that the enhanced IF would be a 
more efficient and effective programme than th e original IF as it would provide LDCs with:  
(i) important financial resources to strengthen thei r ownership and capacity to manage, implement and 
monitor the IF and trade-related technical assistan ce in general;  (ii) predictable and significant  
financial resources to address priority needs identif ied in the Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies 
(DTISs);  and (iii) an Executive Secretariat whic h would provide clear information on the IF and 
support the participation of LDCs in the IF process.  National implementing entities would receive adequate support from the enhanced IF.  This enha nced ownership and demand- driven orientation of 
the enhanced IF was the guarantee that the trade development priorities of LDCs would be met. 
19. He said that the roadmap of how the enhanced IF would work had been put in place.  In his 
capacity as one of the Co-chairs of the Transition Team, he recommended that the IFSC adopt the package of recommendations contained in the consol idated document made available at the meeting 
room as the basis for the implementation of the en hanced IF.  He further recommended that:  (i) the 
implementation phase of the enhanced IF be launched;   (ii) an initial meeting of the IF Board be 
scheduled before the end of May 2007;  (iii) an inte rim Board, supported by the current IF Secretariat, 
meet within the next two weeks to prepare the first meeting of the IF Board;  (iv) a high level meeting 
of the IFSC be convened in July 2007 to review th e final decisions on the matters referred to the IF 
Board;  (v) the WTO initiate the actions that w ould be required to administratively support the 
Executive Secretariat.  He suggested that the donors and the LDCs decide quickly on their 
representations on the IF Board so that it could meet in a month's time.  In conclusion, he thanked all 
IF stakeholders involved in the work of the Transiti on Team and its clusters.  He believed that a result 
had been achieved which had laid the groundwork for the successful launch of the enhanced IF.  He 
stressed that continued efforts from all IF stakehol ders with strong partners hip at national and global 
level would determine the success of the enhanced  IF.  He underlined the need for the Executive 
Director to be selected as soon as possible.  He sai d that the package of recommendations before the 
IFSC represented an extraordinary amount of work  and of commitment from all IF stakeholders.  In 
conclusion, he expressed thanks to the Chairs of the three clusters, the Programme Manager and the 
representatives from LDCs and donors for their contribution to the enhanced IF process. 
20. The representative of Lesotho
, on behalf of the LDCs, thanked the Chairperson of the IFSC 
for convening the meeting for the commencement of  the validation of the enhanced IF, and looked 
forward to its official launch as soon as possibl e.  He expressed special appreciation to the 
Chairperson of the IFWG for her comprehensive re port.  The IFWG had reached consensus on all key 
issues pertaining to the enhanced IF on 1 May 2007.   In this regard, he expressed thanks to all 
stakeholders for their constructive enga gement.  He commended, in particular, 
Ambassador Stephenson for his commitment and dedica tion in providing guidance for the work in the 
various clusters.  He also expressed his gratitude to the Chairs of the three clusters namely:  the 
in-country, legal and administrative, and finance cl uster for their contribution to the enhanced IF 
process.  He put on record the appreciation of th e LDCs for the Programme Manager, for his hard 
work and sincere efforts in the work  relating to the enhanced IF.   
21. He was gratified to witness the validation of th e enhanced IF, which was envisaged to go far 
beyond the existing IF in terms of delivery.  He also welcomed the proposed roadmap in order to 
ensure a smooth transition from the current IF to its  enhanced phase.  The enhanced IF was aimed at WT/IFSC/M/18 
Page 6  
 
  correcting the shortcomings of the existing IF and at providing more impetus to the IF by:  
(a) enhancing the in-country capacity building;  (i i) raising the level of financial assistance both 
through multilateral and bilateral funding;  and by (iii) establishing an IF Executive Secretariat in 
order to improve the IF coordination.  The LDC Group recognized that the enhanced IF would be a comparatively better instrument which would effec tively assist LDCs in mainstreaming trade into 
poverty-reduction strategy.  The implementation ph ase of the enhanced IF would be crucial, and 
would require complete commitment and full involv ement of the capital-based LDC officials.  He 
took note of the outreach activities planned for the e nhanced IF.  In this regard, he underlined the 
importance of reaching out to all LDCs so that ev ery beneficiary country could put in place in time 
the national implementation arrangeme nts in order to fully benefit from the enhanced IF as soon as 
the implementation phase was launched.  He recognized the efforts of the WTO Secretariat, in 
particular its PIU, in undertaking similar outreach  activities to some IF beneficiary countries.   
22. He expressed his appreciation to donors for thei r financial commitments to the IF.  He urged 
other donors to contribute generously in order to  make a real difference in LDCs through the IF 
process.  He welcomed the pledges made so far, and hoped that fund disbursement would be timely 
and smooth.  He underlined the need for predictabl e and regular replenishment of funds in the IF 
process.  He also emphasized the importance of smooth and accommodating transition from the 
existing IF to the enhanced IF in a manner that  would avoid any disruption of accessing funds for the 
core IF activities in the LDCs in the interim peri od.  He stressed that the modus operandi in the 
transitional phase should enable LDCs that were not able to use all their fund allocations under the 
current IF to continue to access those funds.  In  conclusion, he hoped that the positive attitude and 
commitment expressed by all stakeholders during the work in the Transition Team and its clusters 
would be strengthened when the implementation ph ase of the enhanced IF would commence.  He 
urged the IFSC to adopt the recommendations tabled by the Chairman of the Transition Team. 
23. The representative of Benin
 thanked the Chairperson of the I FSC for her leadership in the IF 
process.  He thanked the Chairperson of the IFWG  for her comprehensive report.  He associated 
himself with the statement made by Lesotho, on behalf of the LDCs.  He expressed his appreciation to 
Ambassador Stephenson for his sincere work and dedi cation for the cause of IF.  He also thanked the 
Chairs of the three clusters for their hard work.  All IF stakeholders had taken part in an intensive 
process of work over a period of 18 months.  That had highlighted the commitments of each and every 
one of the IF community for the cause of the LDCs .  He hoped that the enhanced IF would improve 
the participation of LDCs in international trade.  The document that was going to be adopted at the 
meeting would be an important element for the im plementation of the activities within the framework 
of the enhanced IF.  He invited the IF stakeholders  to continue to show the same spirit of commitment 
shown during the last 18 months so that the impl ementation of the recommendations for an enhanced 
IF could be done in a befitting manner.  In conclu sion, he thanked the interp reters for their service in 
the past 18 months.  Their service had helped a dvance the work relating to the enhanced IF.  
24. The representative of Mali  congratulated the Chairperson of the IFWG for her comprehensive 
report.  He welcomed the report made by Amba ssador Stephenson on the work of the Transition 
Team.  He noted that it had been a lengthy process to reach the current stage of work relating to the 
enhanced IF.  He hoped that the team that had assi sted the Transition Team would continue working 
till the end of 2007 to complete the work relating to  the enhanced IF.  He expressed thanks to the 
Chairs of the three clusters as well as the Progra mme Manager for their sincere work.  He also 
thanked the Secretariat, including interpreters, wh ich had given full suppor t in meetings of the 
Transition Team and its clusters.  His Government had always shown keen interest in the IF.  It had 
organized a roundtable involving donors in 2006, and had reported on that event to a previous meeting 
of the IFSC.  It had also sent several teams to Gene va to be better acquainted with the IF process.  He 
informed the IFSC that Mali's national Direct or for Trade and Competition as well as Head of 
Management Unit were present at the meeting.  In conclusion, he associated himself with the  WT/IFSC/M/18 
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  statement made by Lesotho, on behalf of the LD Cs.  He urged the donors to make available the 
necessary resources as soon as possible for th e implementation of the enhanced IF. 
25. The representative of Rwanda  noted that the process to start the implementation phase of the 
enhanced IF had been long.  He, however, expresse d his appreciation for the constructive engagement 
shown by all stakeholders including donors, beneficiaries and the IF Agencies.  He associated himself 
with the statement made by Lesotho, on behalf of  the LDCs.  He thanked the Chairperson of the 
IFWG for her comprehensive report as well as for her commitment in the enhanced IF process.  The enhanced IF was built on three pillars namely:  (i) the in-country capacity building for national 
ownership;  (ii) the increased financial resources unde r Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the new IF Trust Fund;  
and (iii) the establishment of an Executive Secretar iat aiming at improving IF governance and better 
coordination.  He hoped that the enhanced IF wo uld be an instrument that would contribute in 
promoting trade and reducing poverty in th e LDCs.  He expressed his gratitude to 
Ambassador Stephenson for the manner in which he had supervised the work of the Transition Team 
and its three clusters.  He also expressed hi s appreciation to the Programme Manager whose 
contribution had been valuable in reaching the curre nt state of work.  He highlighted the importance 
of the enhanced IF which would enhance national ownership of the overall trade development agenda 
in the beneficiary countries.  It would assist LD Cs to mainstream trade into poverty reduction 
strategies.  He looked forward to the official launching of the enhanced IF as soon as possible.  He called upon the IF stakeholders to keep the current  level of momentum and engagement during the 
implementation phase of the enhanced IF.  His de legation would remain committed to the process 
ahead relating to the implementation of the enhanced IF. 
26. The representative of Cambodia
 associated himself with the st atement made by Lesotho, on 
behalf of the LDCs.  He thanked the Chairper son of the IFWG for her report.  He expressed 
appreciation for the report made by Ambassador Ste phenson on the work of the Transition Team.  He 
expressed gratitude to all stakeholders involved in th e process, in particular the Chairs of the three 
clusters, agencies and donors.  He believed that th e enhanced IF was an important instrument to 
address the supply-side constraints faced by the LDCs .  The framework for an enhanced IF had been 
put in place.  He hoped that adequate and secure fund s would soon be made available so as to put the 
framework of the enhanced IF into operation and to implement the projects under the enhanced IF.  
He emphasized the importance of enhanced res ources, cooperation from donors and IF Agencies and 
the ownership from the governments of LDCs to  ensure success of the enhanced IF.   
27. The representative of the European Communities  expressed appreciation to all IF stakeholders 
for their commitment for the enhanced IF.  Althoug h it had a taken a bit longer than expected, the 
current state of play in implementing the recommend ations for an enhanced IF was a tribute to the 
active engagement from all IF stakeholders.  He, in particular, appreciated the skilful leadership of 
Ambassador Stephenson in the IF process.  He al so expressed gratitude to the Programme Manager, 
the Chairs of the clusters and the members of di fferent constituencies who had dedicated a lot of time 
to move the work forward.  He acknowledged the su stained engagement of the LDCs in the work of 
the Transition Team and its clusters .  Despite being small in size, the delegations of the LDCs had 
been present in number and provided valuable input th roughout that process.  That was an important 
element for ensuring success in the enhanced IF.  He  underlined the importance of achieving results 
on the ground.  He stressed that the activities in Geneva should focus on the real world of trade, 
economic development and poverty reduction in the LDCs.  He took note of the unfinished business 
in the work relating to enhanced IF from the repor t of the Chairperson of the IFWG as well as from 
the report of Ambassador Stephenson.  His delega tion would remain committed to progress the work 
relating to enhanced IF, including in the implementation phase of the enhanced IF.  
28. The Chairperson of the IFSC  proposed that the IFSC take note of the report by 
Ambassador Stephenson and a dopt the recommendations made. WT/IFSC/M/18 
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  29. It was so decided
. 
30. The Chairperson of the IFSC  said that a milestone had been achieved in the history of the IF.  
The enhanced IF had become a reality.  The next meeting of the IFSC would be under the framework 
of the enhanced IF.  The implementation phase of th e enhanced IF would be launched with immediate 
effect.  She expressed her appreciation to Ambassador Stephenson for his dedication in the IF process.  
She also thanked all other IF stakeholders for thei r sincere efforts in moving forward the work relating 
to the enhanced IF. 
D. TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS TO ENSURE A SM OOTH TRANSITION FROM THE CURRENT IF TO 
ITS ENHANCED PHASE :  ADOPTION OF THE PROPOSED ARR ANGEMENTS AS TRANSMITTED TO IT 
BY THE IFWG  
31. The Chairperson of the IFSC  noted that the IFWG had had a first exchange of views on 
transitional arrangements, in particular related to  the question of modalities to be put in place to 
accommodate donors willing to contribute to the e nhanced IF during the transition phase, and 
modalities to address requests for funding during th e transition phase for activities presented by the 
beneficiaries under the current or the enhanced IF.  She said that the IFWG had adopted a process to 
finalize some outstanding issues and elaborate the tran sitional arrangements in an interim Board.  That 
interim Board would ensure the work pending the first meeting of the IF Board.  She proposed that the 
IFSC take note of this statement. 
32. It was so agreed.    
E. ANY OTHER BUSINESS  
33. The Chairperson of the IFSC  proposed that the date of the first meeting of the IFSC under the 
enhanced IF be kept open.  The WTO Secretariat would be ready to service the first meeting of the 
IFSC under the enhanced IF, if so requested. 
34. In the absence of any other business, the meeting was adjourned . 
 
  WT/IFSC/M/18 
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  Annex I  
 
NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK 
STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE CURRENT IF 
 
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 at 3 p.m.  
 
Centre William Rappard  
 
 
1. The Integrated Framework Steering Committee will hold its Nineteenth Session on 
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 starting at 3 p.m. in the WTO bu ilding.  This might be the last session of the 
IFSC under the current IF.  The items on the agenda are related to the enhanced IF and the transitional 
arrangements.  The meeting has been scheduled on 1 May in the afternoon to accommodate certain 
delegations who will need to attend a meeting in Benin on 3 and 4 May.   
2. The items proposed for the agenda are:   
 
(a) Adoption of the agenda.   
(b) 47th meeting of the Integrated Framework Working Group:  report by the Chair of 
the IFWG.    
(c) Enhancement of the Integrated Framework.  Report by the Chair of the IF Transition 
Team:  adoption of the recommendations transmitted to it by the IFWG.   
(d) Transitional arrangements to ensure a smoot h transition from the current IF to its 
enhanced phase:  adoption of the proposed  arrangements as transmitted to it by the 
IFWG.  
(e) Any other business. 
 
 
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