WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
G/SPS/GEN/864 14 July 2008 
 
(08-3352) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Aid for Trade Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures  
 
  
MOBILIZING AID FOR TRADE FOR SPS-RE LATED TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION -  
CONCLUSIONS FROM PILOT ACTIVI TIES OF THE STANDARDS AND  
TRADE DEVELOPMENT FACILITY 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 Summary 
 1. Pilot STDF Aid for Trade activities were undertak en in 12 countries across Central America, 
East Africa and the Greater Me kong Delta Sub-region (GMS) between July 2007 and July 2008.  The 
STDF activities were successful in: 
• consolidating existing diffuse evaluations of SPS needs into a single overview accepted by the 
countries surveyed and development partners;   
• identifying existing and future planned sources of assistance to address SPS needs.  The STDF 
work provides a useful basis on which development partners can ensure that future activities do 
not duplicate on-going or planned assistance; and 
• identifying outstanding SPS needs not addr essed by on-going or planned assistance.  
2. The full impact of the STDF Aid for Trade activities in mobilizing resources to address 
outstanding SPS needs will only become clear with time.   In each of the three regions surveyed, more 
resources are potentially becoming available to addr ess SPS needs.  For these resources to be utilized, 
however, two important steps must be taken.  On th e part of beneficiaries, outstanding needs must be 
developed into "bankable projects".  Furthermore,  both beneficiaries and donors must prioritize SPS-
related capacity building needs in their future technical co-operation planning.  Without this 
prioritization, it is unlikely that resources w ill be allocated to address outstanding needs. 
3. One area of concern are the outstanding SPS needs related to underlying "structural" issues.  
These "structural" issues relate to endemic animal diseases and plant pests for which there are no easy 
short term solutions.  To address these impediments, sustained long term commitment to funding is 
required.   
Introduction 
 
4. One of the aims of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) is to act as a 
vehicle for co-ordination among technical co-operati on providers and for the mobilization of funds for 
                                                     
 
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
G/SPS/GEN/864 Page 2 
 
 
  SPS-related technical co-operation.
2  As part of this function, the STDF conducted a series of pilot 
Aid for Trade events in three regions: Central America3, the East African Community (EAC)4 and a 
sub-group of ASEAN countries.5  The aim of these events was to  focus attention on SPS needs in the 
three regions surveyed, examine the provision of assistance to address these needs and to seek to 
mobilize resources to address outstanding needs not covered by current or planned assistance.  
5. The STDF Aid for Trade work was carried out in  two phases.  In the first phase, research was 
undertaken to identify existing capacity evaluations  and to establish an inventory of SPS-related 
technical assistance.  The results of this prelimin ary research were presented as part of the Regional 
Reviews of Aid for Trade in September 2007.6  In the second phase, a "gap  analysis" was undertaken 
to identify where existing and planned technical assi stance did not meet SPS needs.  Results of these 
gap analyses were presented during workshops in each region in May and June 2008.   
Consolidating capacity evaluations into a single overview of outstanding SPS needs  
6. In each of the three regions, the first phase ove rview of needs was based on a review of 
existing evaluations of SPS capacity.  No new resear ch was undertaken.  In Central America, 11 such 
evaluations were reviewed, in East Africa a tota l of 10 and in the ASEAN sub-group a total of 12 
evaluations were examined.  In phase two, the need s identified in the capacity  evaluation studies were 
compared with the inventory of SPS-related techni cal assistance and gaps identified where additional 
assistance was necessary.7  These "outstanding needs" were valid ated with national stakeholders and 
discussed in detail.   
7. Agreement on a single overview of outstanding SPS needs was considered a key output.  
During in-country research it became evident that  knowledge about prior SPS capacity evaluations 
was generally limited to those involved in the speci fic area of focus (e.g. animal health, plant 
protection or food safety).  Evaluations were typically specific to a particular thematic area e.g. plant protection.  Even within particular professiona l groupings (e.g, food safety officers), instances 
occurred where officials were unaware that a capaci ty evaluation existed (often due to high rates of 
staff turnover).  Although shortcomings in nationa l SPS capacity can have serious adverse effects on 
trade performance, agricultural production and public health, there were few instances of 
comprehensive national policy framework s for strengthening SPS capacity.   
8. Private sector input into previous evaluations was patchy.  In all three regions, one criticism 
of the results of previous evaluations was that they failed to adequately consider SPS compliance 
constraints in the private sector.  Most evalua tions typically focused on SPS infrastructure and 
                                                     
 
2 The STDF is a joint initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organization 
for Animal Health (OIE), World Bank, World Health  Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization 
(WTO).  Other organizations with experience in SPS-related technical co-operation in this area such as the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IIC A), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United 
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)  and the United Nations Industrial Development 
Organization (UNIDO) also participat e in the work of the STDF.   
3  Countries surveyed included Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. 
4 Countries surveyed included Kenya, Tanzania an d Uganda.  As Burundi and Rwanda became full 
East African Community Members only as of 1 July 2007, they were not included in the research. 
5 Countries surveyed included Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) and Viet Nam. 
6 See G/SPS/GEN/812   for general conclusions arising from phase 1. 
7 In Central America, in-country research was undert aken in phase 2.  Capacity evaluations identified 
in phase 1 were considered out of date by beneficiaries (most having been completed at the start of the 
Dominican Republic-Central America Fr ee Trade Area (DR-CAFT A) negotiation.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
 G/SPS/GEN/864 
 Page 3 
 
 
  competencies in the public sector, measuring dom estic capacity against relevant international 
standards.8   
9. In general, while previous capacity evaluations had buy-in at a technical level, higher level 
political commitment was often absent.  Furtherm ore, it was evident that addressing national SPS 
capacity constraints was not always considered a high priority from the perspective of improving 
trade performance.   
10. Overall, the aim of the STDF Aid for Trade wo rk was to arrive at a single analysis of 
outstanding SPS needs that was shar ed by the countries surveyed (both at national and regional levels) 
and development partners (regiona l and multilateral organizations a nd donors).  This objective was 
achieved in each of the three regions and the r esulting overviews of outstanding needs provide a 
sound basis from which to mobilize further assist ance to address outstanding SPS needs.   
Outstanding SPS needs  
11. An overview of outstanding SPS needs by country is provided in Annex 1.   Needs have been 
combined into generic categories.  For example, the category "assistance in surveillance and control 
of animal diseases and plant pests" does not specify the animal diseases or plant pests to be controlled 
nor the assistance required to improve surveillanc e.  Much greater detail can be found in the 
conclusions of each workshop and in  the background reports.  For Cent ral America, only the top five 
priority needs of each country have been include d.  Conclusions from each of the workshops and 
detailed gap analyses for each of the twelve countri es surveyed, as well as analysis at regional levels, 
can be found on the STDF website.9 
12. A further consideration to note is that th e table in Annex 1provides an overview of 
outstanding needs not addressed by current or pl anned SPS-related technical assistance.  Hence for 
Laos, institutional strengthening is  not listed as an area of outstanding need because of planned 
assistance which should address this need.  The need s listed are those which are not currently being 
addressed through technical co-operation.   
13. Various efforts were made at prioritization of needs.  During the workshop for Central 
American countries, each country was requested to list their top five priority action areas.  In the ASEAN sub-group, a priority on a scale of 1-3 was assigned to each action listed in the overview balance sheets.  A sim ilar scale was used in the workshop conclusions for East Africa.   
14. Overall, there is variation in the level of  detail provided in the background research and 
conclusions.  In large part, this reflects the SPS capacity of the countries concerned, the assistance 
currently provided and the magnitude  of the needs faced.  In the case of Kenya, for example, detailed 
actions have been listed with very specific timescal es.  In contrast, some of the needs expressed by 
Kenya's neighbours are more generic in nature, reflec ting their greater level of need in relation to 
certain sectors, e.g., horticulture, and perhaps lower ca pacity in strategic planning.  The same situation 
occurs in the other two regions, with those countri es with the greatest capacity in the SPS area listing 
more specific needs and those with less capacity providing more general information reflecting the 
greater magnitude of their needs.   
                                                     
 
8 For the purposes of the SPS Agr eement, the relevant standards are those of  the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission (Codex), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). 
9 http://www.standardsfacility.org /regional_consultations.htm  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
G/SPS/GEN/864 Page 4 
 
 
  15. As previously noted, one weakness of previous  evaluations related to lack of information 
regarding the  SPS needs of the private sector.  Few of the capacity evaluations on which the STDF 
work was based considered SPS compliance issues fro m the perspective of the private sector.  A 
noteworthy exception was in relation to the phase two research work conducted in Central America.  
In Central America, SPS constraints were framed in  the context of market access difficulties for six 
product categories (beef, pork, poultry, dairy pro ducts, fish and fish pr oducts, horticulture and 
floriculture).  This permitted the SPS constraints identified in Central America to be the most closely tied to improved trade performance.   
16. Table 1 provides an initial evaluation by par ticipants of the success of the STDF Aid for 
Trade project.  One point to note is  that the lowest scores recorded  were in relation to "Actions 
identified to match needs with future SPS-rela ted technical assistance".  This underlines the 
importance of follow-up actions to help mobilize resources to address outstanding priority needs. 
Table 1:  Overview of participant evaluati on forms for STDF Aid for Trade events 
 
Average score on 1-5 scale  
(1 not all - 5 completely) 
   ASEAN 
sub-group East 
African 
Community Central 
America* 
Percentage (respondents/participants)   50.7 54.2 49.4 
Outstanding SPS needs identified  3.9 3.9 - 
SPS Technical Assistance (TA) flows identified 3.8 3.8 - 
Actions identified to match needs with future SPS TA 3.6 3.8 - 
Overall satisfaction with results 3.8 3.9 4.0 
Quality of background reports 4.2 4.3 3.9 
* Due to a printing error, the first three ques tions were not reproduced on the evaluation forms 
distributed for the event in Central America 
Mobilizing Aid for Trade for Outstanding SPS Needs  
17. Reactions from development partners at the workshops in Phnom Penh, Kampala and 
Guatemala City were positive.  For example, during the Phnom Penh workshop, AusAid, the Asian 
Development Bank, the European Communities and several of its member States, and the United 
States indicated that they would use the results of the research work to influence future programming 
in the SPS area.  Similarly encouraging statemen ts were made in Kampala and Guatemala City. 
18. Table 2 provides an overview of on-going or planned SPS-related assistance to Cambodia, 
Laos and Viet Nam in the period 2005-2013.  The ta ble shows considerable variation in SPS-related 
technical cooperation flows by country and thematic  area.  Within the regi on, it is clear that the 
continued fight against Highly Pathogenic Avian Infl uenza is the main driver of SPS assistance;  it 
accounts for 47 per cent of total SPS related assistance in the period until 2013.  Amongst the three 
countries, Viet Nam is the largest beneficiary of assistance, receiving 53 per cent of total assistance 
flows.  In contrast, Cambodia receives just less than 5 per cent of the total.  By thematic area, levels of 
assistance also differ significantly, with plant health receiving only 1 per cent of planned assistance.  Smoothing out some of these variations in assist ance across SPS disciplines and between countries by  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
 G/SPS/GEN/864 
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  providing more balanced assistance was recommended as an objective by participants at the wrap-up 
workshop in Phnom Penh.  
19. On-going regional cooperation efforts through the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEA N) and the Ayeyawaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong 
Economic Cooperation Strategy was identified as a driver of future assistance.  ASEAN has 
developed a "Vision 2020" which includes a strategic action plan for cooperation in food, agriculture 
and forestry.  Another avenue to address many of  the outstanding priority SPS needs identified at 
regional level was GMS co-operation.  Various  Asian Development Bank (ADB) projects to 
implement GMS action plans and the Cross-Border  Transport Agreement will include SPS capacity 
building.  Collaboration between the World Bank a nd ADB in exploring the possibility of designing 
concessional investment programmes for Cambodia, La o PDR and Viet Nam was also noted.  Finally, 
for Cambodia and Laos, the Integrated Framework (IF ) was identified as an important source of future 
funding.  In both countries, discussions are on-going  about the creation of multi-donor basket funds to 
address constraints identified in the IF Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS).   
Table 2:  Overview of SPS-related techni cal cooperation 2005-2013 in US$ millions 
 Cambodia Lao PDR Viet Nam Multi-
country Total 
Food safety 0.6 - 103.6 2 106.2 
Plant health - - 1.1 3.4 4.4 
Animal health 1.8 18.8 35 4.2 59.9 
Highly 
Pathogenic 
Avian Influenza 14.1 16.5 38 97.8 166.4 
Other issues 0.3 2.4 10.8 - 13.4 
Total 16.9 37.7 188.4 107.3 350.3 
 
20. In the two other regions, it was not possible to identify future flows of assistance with the 
same degree of accuracy.  In East Africa, there is a trend towards general budget support and the use 
of thematic basket funds.  Disaggregating suppor t offered through such financing mechanisms to 
identify its SPS elements is problematic.   
21. It is clear that substantial assistan ce will become available through the 10th European 
Development Fund and the Economic Partnership Agre ements for the East African region, but no 
specific allocations for SPS issues have yet been ma de within general funding lines.  Similarly, a 5-
year funding compact was agreed in February 2008 by the Government of Tanzania and the 
Millennium Challenge Corporation,  worth approximately US$700 million..  Similar agreements may 
follow in Kenya and Uganda if both countries are ab le to fulfil the necessary eligibility conditions.   
22. As in Asia, regional integration is another important driver of assistance in East Africa.  SPS-
related co-operation projects are being pursued within the East African Community, COMESA and 
SADC.  Regional co-operation projects on animal he alth related issues through AU-IBAR are also on-WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
G/SPS/GEN/864 Page 6 
 
 
  on-going or in the pipeline.  The IF is another im portant source of additional funding in Tanzania and 
Uganda.  In this sense, the work shop in Kampala was very timely and should allow both development 
partners and beneficiaries to integrate SPS needs into future funding plans.  
23. In Central America, important drivers of future SPS-related technical assistance include the 
CAFTA-DR Agreement, Inter-American Developmen t Bank (IADB) loans and grant operations, and 
the EU-Central America Political Dialogue and Co -operation Agreement (and on-going negotiation of 
a Free Trade Agreement).   
24. The CAFTA-DR agreement created a Committee on Trade Capacity Building (TCB).  The 
TCB brings together agencies of the US government , non-governmental organizations, private sector 
representatives, and four multilateral institutions (t he IADB, World Bank, Organization of American 
States, and the Economic Commission for Latin Am erica and the Caribbean).  The TCB aims to 
ensure that activities respond to "National Trad e Capacity Building Strategies" developed in 
partnership with the Central American countries.   The STDF research work builds on these National 
Trade Capacity Building Strategies by providing a greater level of detail on SPS needs and an 
overview of where other development partners are runni ng projects.  To this end, the results of the 
work have been communicated to the TCB members.  
25. The STDF research in Central America was c onducted in collaboration with the IADB.  
IADB continues to provide financial support, th rough loans and technical cooperation, for trade-
related assistance in the region.  It has appr oved loans worth US$ 20 million to support Central 
American countries on specific SPS-related issues.  The IADB also provid es grants to  address SPS 
needs and/or overcome SPS-related barriers,  The STDF  is working closely with the IADB to identify 
further grant and loan operations which will resp ond to the outstanding SPS needs identified in 
Central America.  
26. In March 2007, the European Commission publis hed a Regional Strategy paper on the EU-
Central America Political Dialogue and Co-operati on Agreement.  The Regional Strategy Paper 
earmarked an indicative allocation of € 75 million for the period 2007-2013 and focuses primarily on 
the priority of regional integration.  These res ources will be supplemented by projects funded from 
specific EC budget lines and programs financed unde r the Central American and Latin American 
regional programs.  For the European Commission , consolidating the Central American customs 
union and related harmonized and common policies are a priority area.  SPS issues have been 
identified as an area which needs to be addr essed.  The European Communities has commissioned 
UNIDO to survey and deliver a programme of a ssistance to upgrade standard metrology testing and 
quality infrastructure in the region.   
Conclusions and Next steps 
27. In general, mobilizing funds to address outst anding SPS-related technical assistance needs 
will depend on: 
• the extent to which development partners use the results of the STDF work and other SPS 
capacity evaluations to influence their development programming; and   
• the extent to which SPS needs can be addressed as part of broader programmes, e.g., trade 
facilitation, agricultural production, agri-busin ess development and general private sector 
assistance, environmental protection and protection of public health.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
 G/SPS/GEN/864 
 Page 7 
 
 
  28. The STDF research work provides a clear overvie w in each of the three regions of where 
outstanding SPS needs are not currently being addressed.  As such, it provides a sound basis from which both beneficiaries and develo pment partners can seek to design programmes of assistance.   
29. One theme which emerged strongly from the re gional workshops was a discordance between 
developing country expectations a nd the realities of donor project a nd programme funding cycles.  On 
the beneficiary side, the view was that needs should be quickly matched with assistance; on the development partners' side, the message was that needs would have to be considered as part of 
national programmes of assistance and within establis hed funding cycles.  Furthermore, it was clearly 
stated that the fact that a need had been e xpressed was not enough to ensure that funding was 
provided.   
30. In general, needs have to be developed into "bankable projects" and given priority by the 
beneficiary government.  Without that prioritization (i.e. ownership by the beneficiary), no assistance 
will be provided.  A further factor is that needs expressed have to fit with individual donor's funding 
priorities.  Overall, the message from the three regions was that future resources will become 
available to address outstanding needs, but that donor s and beneficiaries need to prioritize SPS if it is 
to receive attention 
31. Follow-up activities by the STDF in each region will focus on bringing the various actors 
together and helping all parties to  appreciate the economic case for dedicating resources to this area.  
One follow-up activity which has already been appr oved is development of an SPS Action Plan for 
Cambodia.  This plan should examine the economi c returns from investment and set out a clear 
national investment strategy.  This work also highlights the inter-relationship between food safety, 
animal and plant health with agricultural production,  rural development, public health, market access 
and environmental protection.  Funding for other pr ojects and the development of project preparation 
grants is likely to be approved by the STDF in future. 
32. Another important area where the STDF activities can add value is through better donor co-
ordination.  For example, in the Central Ameri can region seven different organizations are all 
involved in laboratory strengthening projects.  Th e background reports listing SPS-related technical 
co-operation activities provide an important basis fro m which donors can co-ordinate their activities.  
33. In mobilizing future assistance for outstanding S PS-related needs, the main challenge arise 
from a series of underlying "structural" issues.  These "structural" issues relate to endemic animal 
diseases and plant pests for which there are no easy short term solutions.  To address these 
impediments, sustained long term commitment to  funding is required.  Mobilization of the 
international community to address Highly Pathoge nic Avian Influenza and Foot and Mouth Disease 
(FMD) provides positive examples of such initiativ es.  Work by the STDF to co-ordinate donors 
responses in the control of fruit fly in West Africa wi ll provide an interesting test case in this regard.  
34. In conclusion, the STDF Aid for Trade activities have already fulfilled two of the objectives 
set for the project.  The Aid for Trade work has effectively focused attention on SPS needs in the 
three regions.  The work has also examined th e provision of assistance to address SPS needs and 
identified future streams of assistance.  What ha s only partially been achieved to date is the 
mobilization of resources to address outstanding needs not covered by current or planned assistance.  
For this target to be achieved, much of the r esponsibility lies on donors and recipients to prioritize 
SPS-related needs in their future technical co-operation planning.   
  
  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7 
G/SPS/GEN/864 
Page 8 Annex 1: § Overview of outstanding SPS needs by country and region surveyed 
 ASEAN sub-group East African Community Central America 
 Cambodia Laos10 Viet 
Nam Kenya Tanzania Uganda Costa 
Rica El 
Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama 
Institutional 
strengthening   9 9  9  9 9    
Development of 
national SPS action 
plan 9    9 9       
Updating SPS 
legislation 9  9  9 9       
Awareness raising  9  9 9 9 9       
Upgrading Laboratory 
infrastructure    9 9   9  9 9 9 
Assistance in 
surveillance and 
control of animal 
diseases and plant 
pests 9 9  9  9  9 9 9 9  
Assistance with risk 
analysis   9 9  9    9  9 
SPS information 
systems  9   9     9   
                                                      
10 Laos is a country in accession to WTO.  One outstanding priority need identified wa s assistance in an accelerated drive for WT O membership.   
   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/7
 G/SPS/GEN/864
 Page 9Annex 1: Overview of outstanding SPS need s by country and region surveyed cont. 
 ASEAN sub-group East African Community Central America 
 Cambodia Laos Viet 
Nam Kenya Tanzania Uganda Costa 
Rica El 
Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama 
Implementation of 
traceability systems    9 9 9 9  9  9 9 
Recognition of pest or 
disease freedom       9     9 
Targeted assistance to 
the private sector    9         
Enhancing SPS 
compliance in 
fisheries sector    9  9       
Assistance in 
vocational SPS 
training  9   9        
Upgrading of 
inspection and 
certification systems      9    9   
 
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