RESTRICTED  
  
WT/BFA/W/622  
22 February  2023 
(23-1210) Page: 1/43 
Committee on B udget, Finance  and Administration  Original:  French  
 
PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL AUDITOR  
ON THE  GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF 
EXTRA -BUDG ETARY TRUST FUNDS  
The performance audit report of the independent External Auditor on the governance and management 
of extra-budgetary trust funds is attached . 
 
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   WT/BFA/W/622  
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 EXTERN AL AUDIT OF  
THE WORLD TRADE 
ORGANIZ ATION 
 
PERFORMANCE  AUDIT RE PORT   
 
 GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF 
EXTRA-BUDGETAR Y TRUST FUNDS  
 (November 2022)
 
  
   
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      
 
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 CONTENTS  
 
I. AUDIT FRAMEWORK, OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY  .......................................... 8 
1. Audit framework  ........................................................................................................ 8 
2. Audit objectives ......................................................................................................... 8 
3. Conduct and methodology of the audit  ................................................................... 8 
II. BACKGROUND  ................................................................................................................. 10 
III. OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS  ............................................................... 11 
1. Overview of trust funds managed by the WTO  ..................................................... 11 
1.1 Trust funds included in the scope of the audit  ..................................................... 11 
(a) Follow -up to the previous audit of 2019 .................................... 13 
(b) Working Group on Trust Funds  ................................................. 13 
2. Procedure for the creation and closure of rust funds .......................................... 15 
(a) Creation of funds  ....................................................................... 15 
(b) Closure of funds  ........................................................................ 15 
3. Strategy and overall objectives of the funds ........................................................ 17 
4. Financing and financial analysis of the funds' activity ........................................ 20 
(a) Financing of the funds' activity  .................................................... 20 
(b) Administrative and financial management of funds  .................... 25 
(c) Monitoring of the management and approval of fund accounts  .. 26 
5. Activity and monitoring of funds ........................................................................... 27 
6. Transparency of costs ............................................................................................ 29 
ANNEX 1 Terms of reference .......................................................................................... 32 
ANNEX 2: List of persons met by the audit team  .......................................................... 36 
ANNEX 3  : Income, expenditure and balances of the Funds, 2013-2021 .................... 37 
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5 
 SUMMARY  
 
 
Our performance audit was carried out in accordance with the terms of reference notified to the 
World Trade Organization (WTO) on 22 June 2022 and with the International Standards of 
Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI). It led us to examine the management of trust funds on the basis 
of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. It allowed us, within the scope of our mandate, in the 
light of data and information dating back to 2013 where necessary, to make findings and draft 
recommendations aimed at strengthening the management of these funds. 
The economy of the administrative resources used  by the Secretariat to manage voluntary 
contributions is based on a centralized accounting and financial management system and on an 
operational management, information and reporting system spanning several services. The services themselves have heterogeneous resources in terms of quantity and technical 
competence. 
The financial resources put towards the trust funds' objectives (primarily voluntary contributions by 
Member States) consistently exceed the needs of the funds' annual activity. As a result, the balance 
available at the end of the year, which represents a debt of some CHF 35 million owed by the WTO 
to the contributing States, tends to be stable.  
The balance available represents an overall cash surplus equivalent to two years of activity.
1 This 
situation is favourable in terms of trust fund liquidity, though subject to the negative interest 
payments it entails. However, the system could be rationalized and the cash flow reduced to an 
amount better suited to the funds' activity, which does not requi re a large precautionary reserve. 
The health crisis, moreover, resulted in an increase in this reserve, as technical assistance and related activities could be partially maintained using less expensive technical resources, such as videoconferencing.  
The contribution of the regular budget to the operation and activity of the funds, including through 
the provision of staff, is still not accurately monitored and valued. These inaccuracies should be 
corrected, as the WTO is required to provide true costs, due to its adoption of public sector 
accounting standards and their principles.  
The inaccuracies regarding costs must be corrected so that the activity balance of each fund accurately reflects the contributions of the regular budget. If not, it will be impossible to properly 
measure the operational efficiency of the extra-budgetary contributions that are channelled into the 
funds (see "efficiency" below). 
The effectiveness of the fund management is, in general, measured fairly well by the WTO using 
indicators whose number and quality have improved over the period under review. The Institute for 
Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC) and the Standards and Trade Development Facility 
(STDF) measure the effectiveness of their technical assistance using indicators that are now more 
accurate and relevant.  
However, the effectiveness of certain funds can be further improved by making better use of the available data. Thus, the STDF managers have recently considered using existing trade data to 
 
1 CHF 39.7 million in cash as at 31 December 2022 and CHF 23 -24 million in pre -COVID annual 
expenditure (2018 -19 – Table 4), that is one year and eight months.  WT/BFA/W/622  
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6 
 measure the effectiveness  of this fund not only in terms of assistance services (output), but also in 
terms of the integration of beneficiaries in world trade (outcome).  
Each trust fund is based on a specific commitment between one or more contributors and the WTO, 
or even a partnership agreement endorsed by the entire WTO (STDF), or a multilateral agreement 
(Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF)). Regardless of their particular focus, all of these 
funds contribute to the WTO's overall technical assistance mandate, as s et out in the Ministerial 
Declaration of the Doha Conference in 2001. However, there is no overview of the outcomes of the activity financed by the trust funds that is readily available to the Member States or the public. This 
sort of general overview, whi ch is useful in itself, would be even more useful if accompanied by 
information on the aid for trade provided by other actors, such as the International Trade Centre 
(ITC) or the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF). 
Efficiency, the relationship between the outputs delivered and the resources employed, should be 
able to be accurately measured by the WTO for its own management needs. However, our audit 
revealed that the efficiency of trust funds could be measured in a much better way. 
The general system of internal oversight in place at the WTO is not sufficiently developed or 
organized to provide the Secretariat with accurate and reliable cost data in real time. 
Based on our findings, we believe that the information systems used, the quality and value of whic h 
we are not judging, are not used in a manner that produces enough cost data. 
In our view, it is up to the WTO to decide whether to publicly discuss the efficiency of the 
management of voluntary contributions; however, we consider that the WTO must have the 
necessary tools to measure this efficiency accurately itself.  
Conclusion 
The Secretariat must be able to effectively manage existing and future voluntary contributions, with 
stable administrative capacities.  
In the light of this requirement, we are of the view that there must be greater selectivity when 
accepting contributions, in accordance with predictable criteria defined in strategic documents. 
The ongoing discussion in 2022, initiated by the Working Group mandated for this purpose in 2021 
and aimed at rationalizing the management of trust funds, seems to be moving in the right direction. However, the guidelines proposed by this group have yet to be reflected in the Secretariat's actions.  
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7 
 LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS  
 
The recommendations are given in order of priority:  
 
• Priority 1, fundamental issue, requiring management's immediate attention 
• Priority 2, less urgent issue to be handled by management 
• Priority 3, issue for which oversight could be improved and to which management's 
attention is drawn. 
  
Priority  Recommendations  
3 1. Close the support fund of the Independent Entity – Pre-Shipment 
Inspection, inactive since 2006, and terminate the agreement that created it because it is no longer needed.  
1 2. Establish a suitable steering body with acces s to management, 
financial and operational information in order to ensure the overall 
coordination of and coherence in the trust funds' strategies and 
activities, as well as the information provided on this activity to Members, 
whether contributors or not. 
2 3. Include in the quarterly and annual trust fund activity monitoring 
reports submitted to the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration (CBFA), a statement of the income collected and 
expenditure recorded shown against future budget estimates. 
1 4. Supplement biennial technical assistance plans so as to present all 
technical assistance activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 
the broad sense, including capacity-building activities, thereby providing 
Member States and stakeholders wit h comprehensive information, 
beyond technical and legal specificities, that can be correlated with the activities of the various funds contributing to the technical assistance 
strategy. 
1 5. Accept the consequences of the particular relationship between t he 
regular budget and the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF)  by 
reincorporating the Facility's assets and the financing for implementation 
of the Trade Agreement Facility (TFA) into the regular budget, with any 
subsequent financial needs covered by calls for contributions.  
1 6. Introduce cost accounting for trust funds so as to ensure a clear and 
comprehensive understanding of the full costs of each fund, identifying, 
among other things, the costs, in particular staff costs, borne by the 
regular  budget. 
 
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8 
 I. AUDIT FRAMEWORK, OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY  
1. Audit framework  
1. In accordance with the mandate given to us by the General Council of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO), the provisions of Chapter XI of the WTO's Financial Regulations and the 
notification to the Organization dated 22 June 2022, a team of three auditors carried out a 
performance audit on the governance and management of extra-budgetary trust funds from 4 
to 8 July and from 29 August to 9 September. The audit focused on existing funds at the time of the assignment and used, where necessary, information dating back to 2013, particularly financial data. 
2. The audit was conducted in accordance with the International Standards of Supreme Audit 
Institutions (ISSAI), particularly ISSAI 300 on performance auditing. In accordance with the 
definition of performance provided in this Standard, the audit focused on examining the 
economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the governance and management of the various trust funds managed by the WTO Secretariat. 
3. Our audit identified the immediate results of the trust funds' activity (outputs: delivery of 
services and, in particular, technical assistance) and their more sustainable results in relation 
to the WTO's general mandate (outcomes: sustainable effects of technical assistance). It paid special attention to efficiency and the possibility of measuring it.  
2. Audit objectives 
4. As stated in the specifications, shared with the Secretariat prior to the audit (see Annex  1), the 
objective of the audit was to:  
- draw up a comprehensive and detailed picture of the active trust funds as at the date of the audit in order to assess the legal basis, operational aims and objectives, the resources and formal conditions for using them, and accountability of their operations;  
- evaluate, in particular, external governance (legal and strategic) and executive (operational) structures and processes, to identify their strengths and weaknesses, with regard to best governance practices observed or recommended;  
- verify whether the conditions were in place to measure the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the governance and management systems, both of the entire system for the collection and use of extra-budgetary resources, and of each fund in particular, in terms of the WTO's mandates and the donors' stated intentions;  
- provide the WTO's governing bodies with specific and constructive recommendations "likely 
to contribute [...] to addressing the weaknesses or problems identified by the audit" (ISSAI 300, para. 40). 
3. Conduct and methodology of the audit  
5. The audit was conducted on site in two phases: from 4 to 8 July and from 29 August to 9 September 2022. Work continued remotely between and after these dates. WT/BFA/W/622  
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9 
 6. The audit methodology combined: 
- analysis and follow -up of previous work on the trust funds: the Report of the External Auditor 
on the financial year 2019 (paragraphs 194 - 235), and the interim reports and final report 
of the Working Group on Trust Funds, established by the Committee on Budget, Finance 
and Administration (CBFA) in 2021; 
- analysis of a series of internal documents requested from the Secretariat prior to the on-site 
visits, and raw, quantitative or qualitative data obtained during the audit;  
- interviews with key Secretariat officials involved in the management of extra-budgetary 
funds (Deputy Directors -General (DDGs), directors, project managers, etc.), as well as with 
representatives of five delegations (see Annex 2); 
- analysis of additional documents provided at our request by persons questioned during the audit.  
7. Economy, the relationship between the objectives and the resources used to achieve them, 
led us to examine the modalities for the establishment, operation and control of extra-
budgetary funds in order to verify whether sufficient and appropriate resources were made 
available in due time. Effectiveness, the relationship between the objectives and the results, led us  to verify whether the income from the extra-budgetary funds' activity was properly 
measured and made known to the contributing States. Efficiency, the relationship between 
resources and outputs, led us to verify whether and to what extent the outputs deli vered could 
be compared with the real costs of the activities, which should be exhaustive and properly measured.  
8. We were not able to access all the information necessary to carry out the audit, due to the 
limitations of the information system noted in thi s report. However, we would like to emphasize 
the spirit of cooperation shown by the Secretariat divisions, who helped us, as much as they could, to overcome these shortcomings and, in general, responded promptly to our requests, 
thus facilitating the organization of our audit work. 
9. Structurally, as the budget allocated by the General Council to the External Auditor to conduct 
an annual performance audit is limited, the analyses conducted in the framework of the 
above-mentioned specifications were naturally  limited in scope, and the bulk of the 
investigations were guided by an evaluation of the critical issues of the subject matter. 
10. The observations and recommendations contained in this report have been discussed with the 
relevant managers during a comprehensive formal clearance process: the Secretariat received the External Auditor's interim report on 24 November 2022: the factual and/or formal comments 
and written contributions have been fully reflected in this report, as long as they were justified, 
documented and relevant. WT/BFA/W/622  
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10 
 II. BACKGROUND  
11. In many international organizations, albeit to varying degrees, voluntary contributions 
supplement the resources from the mandatory contributions of member States. These contributions may be earmarked for a specific purpos e. That purpose, like the volume of 
contributions, depends on the contributing States' wishes. In the case of the WTO, each Member, or group of Members, wishing to fund an action in line with the Organization's mandates and strategy, whether a non-recurrin g initiative or a longer -term programme, may 
propose a project that it finances and whose implementation is entrusted to the WTO through an ad hoc  agreement. 
12. The share of voluntary contributions in the resources of international organizations varies 
greatly. At the WTO, voluntary contributions to extra-budgetary funds provide additional 
resources equivalent to roughly 10% of the regular budget, with a limited number of funds 
alone accounting for the bulk of those resources.  
13. The WTO streamlined its extra -budgetary resources mechanism in 2001, with the creation, 
following the consolidation or closure of several trust funds, of the Global Trust Fund aimed at 
financing the implementation of technical assistance plans. Over the past 10 years, and 
primarily since 2017, new funds have been created at the request of one or more Member 
States. In 2022, 11 funds were active, in addition to a trust fund earmarked for logistical support for least developed countries (LDCs) to participate at Ministerial Conferences, as well as three 
administrative funds, including one that collects the fixed fees allocated to the WTO to finance 
its administrative management costs for trust funds. 
14. At least two directions emerged from the Doha Round that have influenced the management of extra-budgetary resources: the commitment to facilitate trade (the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement), and the objective of helping LDCs to develop policies and means to enable them 
to adopt the standards, principles and rules resulting from international tr ade agreements. The 
WTO Secretariat has thus been mandated to strengthen the support provided to Member 
countries or candidate countries to ensure that they benefit as much as possible from their 
participation in trade negotiations and then in the trade covered by the trade agreements.  
15. The coherence of these trust funds' objectives with the WTO's stated policy and chosen 
strategy, as well as the effects of their disparity in terms of size and type of management, must 
be examined. WT/BFA/W/622  
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11 III. OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS  
1. Overview of trust funds managed by the WTO  
1.1 Trust funds included in the scope of the audit  
16. As at 31 December 2021, the total assets held by the 11 active trust funds and 3 active 
administrative funds was CHF 41 million.  
17. Trust funds can be replenished each year through voluntary contributions from donors. They 
are divided into several categories:  
- Some were established through an agreement concluded by a number of WTO Members: 
this is the case of the Global Trust Fund, the trust fund for LDCs Participation in WTO Ministerial Conferences and the French-Irish Missio n Internship Programme.  
- Others were created by agreement between a Member and the WTO: this is the case of 
China's LDCs and Accessions Programmes, the EIF LDCs Graduation Fund, the WTO 
LDCs Fisheries Negotiations Trust Fund, the Fund for Transferring Technologies for the 
Development of Cotton By -products, and the China Development Cooperation Research 
Initiative (CDCRI), which, in terms of its management and its categorization, has been 
identified by the Organization as comprising two "sub-funds", namely the fund for 
ASYCUDA TiVA Databases and the Investment Facilitation for Development trust fund. 
- Others were established through a multilateral agreement  (or equivalent instrument)  
approved by all WTO Members, including the Standards and Trade Development Fac ility 
and the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility.  
18. The scope of the audit includes the active WTO trust funds per se  and, where required, their 
links to the three administrative funds, namely, the Programme Support Fund, the Independent 
Entity - Pre-Ship ment Inspection - Deposits, and the Enhanced Integrated Framework 
Executive Secretariat.  
 19. Out of these three administrative funds, only the Programme Support Fund is related to trust 
funds. This is because the Independent Entity is not a trust fund but an entity. The Enhanced 
Integrated Framework Secretariat support fund is not linked to the trust funds managed by the 
WTO. The Enhanced Integrated Framework is actually a partnership of 51 countries, 24 donors 
and 8 international organizations, including Uni ted Nations agencies and programmes. For this 
reason, this fund was not examined as part of our audit.  
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12 Table 1: Overview of funds - financial year 2021 
* Including adjustments and reimbursements.  
** Amount of unused contributions owed to donors.  
*** The agreement entered into force "at the end of 2014", so it therefore only became effective in 2015.  
Source: WTO, reprocessed by the External Auditor.  
 
2 For the avoidance of doubt, the names of the funds have been left in the language of the agreements that created 
them.  Name of the fund2 Date 
created Opening 
balance Contributions 
received 
(thousands 
of CHF)  Expenditure 
in 2021 
(thousands of 
CHF)*  Closing 
balance 
(thousands 
of CHF)**  
Doha Development Agenda Global 
Trust Fund  2001 11 677  5 451  2 686  14 442  
French -Irish Mission Internship 
Programme  2001 1 254  1 206  1 151  1 309  
The Netherlands Trainee 
Programme  2005 994 875 909 960 
LDCs in the Ministerial Conferences  2009 455 126 75 506 
China LDCs and Accessions 
Programme (The China 
Programme)  2011 1 101  0 250 851 
Standards and Trade Development 
Facility (STDF) on SPS  2002 10 903  8 563  3 386  16 080  
Trade Facilitation Agreement 
Facility  2015*  4 976  23 348 4 651  
Transferring technologies and 
know -how for the development of 
cotton in eight pilot African LDCs  2019 61 0 61 0 
CDCRI: Investment Facilitation for 
Development / China Development 
Cooperation Research Initiative  2017 194 0 170 24 
CDCRI: ASYCUDA TiVA Databases  2019 591 0 21 570 
WTO Fisheries for the participation 
of LDC Capital -Based Officials  2019 125 126 1 250 
EIF-LDC Graduation Fund  2019  176 0 128 48 
"TECHNICAL" FUNDS TOTAL:   32 507  16 370  9 186  39 691  
Independent Entity - Pre-Shipment 
Inspection - Deposits  1995 88 0 0 88 
Programme Support Fund 1999 804 0 96 708 
Enhanced Integrated Framework 
Executive Secretariat  2008 1 567  3 500  4 534  533 
"ADMINISTRATIVE" FUNDS 
TOTAL:   2 459  3 500  4 630  1 329  
GRAND TOTAL:   34 966  19 870  13 816  41 020  WT/BFA/W/622  
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13 (a) Follow -up to the previous audit of 2019  
20. In its report on the accounts for financial year 2019, the previous external auditor3 had 
submitted observations on extra-budgetary trust funds and made the following 
recommendations:  
- To develop a strategy to close inactive trust funds and merge them with tr ust funds with 
similar purposes. In this context, to harmonize main processes such as internal control, funding and procurement to improve transparency and compliance with WTO rules; 
- To ensure multi -year monitoring of multi -year contributions for a better implementation of 
the provisions of IPSAS 23 from 2020; 
- With respect to procurement, to ensure that, for higher amounts, standardized procedures 
are used and properly documented; 
- To check that the WTO trains staff responsible for procurement to ensure corr ect 
proceedings and optimization of procurement. 
21. We have followed up on these recommendations. We found that the recommendation on the 
rationalization of trust funds was partially implemented, as the ad hoc  Working Group, whose 
work we have reviewed, has paved the way in its findings
4 for a revamped approach to trust 
fund management by the Secretariat. However, implementation of these guidelines by the Secretariat has yet to be completed. 
22. The recommendation to adopt a standardized, harmonized and transparent procedure in respect of all high-value purchases was dropped following a WTO analysis showing that only 
2% of trust fund expenditures relates to the procurement of goods and services that would 
likely be carried out by the WTO Procurement Section. Most trust fund expenditures pertain to 
the implementation of projects and programmes by means of subsidies and other agreement modalities with implementing entities or parties.  
(b) Working Group on Trust Funds 
23. This Working Group, established by the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration 
(CBFA) and open to all WTO Members, was mandated from April 2021 to analyse the trust 
fund management processes. Its objectives include examining the role played by the formal 
action plans such as the Biennial Technical  Assistance Plan; assessing whether it would be 
useful to create an oversight committee; looking into the reasons for the increase in the number 
of funds; deciding on whether fund activities need to be further consolidated; and exploring 
opportunities for administrative harmonization of management processes and for monitoring overheads and cost recovery.  
 
3 Supreme Federal Audit Authority of Germany ( Bundesrechnungshof ). 
4 Report from the Chair of the Working Group on Coherence in the Establishment and Management of 
WTO Trust Funds , 11 May 2021, WT/BFA/W/551.  WT/BFA/W/622  
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14 24. The Working Group met nine times and shared its findings on two occasions with the CBFA 
(25 May 2021 and 12 August 2021). On completing its work, the Worki ng Group did not make 
any direct recommendations, but suggested that the CBFA entrust the WTO  Secretariat with 
implementing its main findings without delay, in the form of draft guidelines, as follows: 
- To base the mobilization of voluntary contributions on the strategic objectives and priorities 
related to technical assistance, on the capacity of the Secretariat to implement the proposed 
activities and on the real value-added for the WTO of creating a new fund; 
- To prioritize voluntary contributions being directed to existing funds, preferably the Global 
Trust Fund, and require contributors to provide clear justifications for any stipulations for the 
use of their contribution;  
- To refer contributions not designated for an existing fund for review by WTO legal services;  
- To include expenditures from trust funds in programme plans developed by the relevant 
Secretariat divisions and combine them where appropriate;  
- To centralize contribution management functions, where possible, to ensure a good level of coherence and expertise; 
- To assess the direct and indirect costs of funds' activities to the regular budget prior to 
accepting new contributions; to clarify the costs of separate implementation associated with 
earmarked contributions; and to ens ure that funds meet any significant staffing or other 
resource needs by their own means; 
- To tailor the monitoring and evaluation of funds to their size, complexity and duration of the fund and activities, while at the same time setting sunset dates for funds or having regular 
review periods to ensure they remain relevant to the needs of the Organization;  
- To provide the CBFA with regular information on the funds by notifying Members of any 
changes in the activities of a fund established for a specific purpos e. 
25. These findings were approved by the CBFA at its meeting held on 5 May 2022 (WT/BFA/203).  
26. The terms of reference for our audit were prepared without knowledge of the Working Group's 
findings. We have noted the findings with interest. The group's main gui delines appear to be 
consensual, given the number of countries involved in its work. If the CBFA endorsed the 
Working Group's recommendations, the Secretariat would still need to translate them into 
specific action. 
27. Our own audit work leads us to believe that these general guidelines are likely to enhance the 
transparency and management of the funds, provided they are translated into coherent 
administrative instructions. In particular, we consider that the introduction of a variable intensity 
monitoring mec hanism should be considered very carefully and that the measurement of costs 
must be based on rigorous data analysis.  WT/BFA/W/622  
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15 2. Procedure for the creation and closure of trust funds 
(a) Creation of funds  
28. Out of the 11 active trust funds at the end of 2021, five5 have been created in the last 
four years. We have examined the conditions under which they were created. 
29. Pursuant to Regulation 19 of the WTO Financial Regulations, voluntary contributions, gifts or 
donations from WTO Members and Observers may be accepted by the Director -General 
provided that the purposes for which the contributions are made are consistent with the policies, aims and activities of the WTO. Should the acceptance of such contributions directly 
or indirectly involve additional financial liability for the WTO, the consent of the CBFA shall be 
required. 
30. With a view to strengthening donor confidence and improving transparency in the management 
of voluntary contributions, the Director -General adopted guidelines in 2019 for the receipt and 
notification of voluntary contributions, which provide a framework for the exercise of his/her 
powers, including the application of the above-mentioned Regulation 19 of the Financial Regulations ( WT/INF/219).  
31. These new guidelines  provide for more information to be made available to Members on the 
creation of trust funds. In particular, it is now a requirement, for transparency purposes, to 
notify Member States not only of actual proposals for the creation of a fund but also of pledges 
for the future establishment of a fund. When considering a proffered voluntary contribution, the Director -General must seek the advice of the Administration and General Services Division 
(AGSD) as to whether the contribution would involve financial li ability for the WTO. When the 
Director -General assesses the proffered contribution positively, he/she shall notify the CBFA, 
for its consideration, so any Member may express a view.  
32. Once the fund has been established, the Secretariat must provide Member S tates with detailed 
information, including the objectives of the trust fund, its beneficiaries, its implementation 
strategy, the expected deliverables, the amount of funding, the expected duration, and the 
implementation partners identified. These rules have led to better information being provided 
to Member States. Nevertheless, they were not deemed to be entirely satisfactory by some 
Member States who were seeking more in-depth information, particularly given the growing 
tendency to create funds for a specific purpose outside of the Global Trust Fund, which might 
have led to a climate of mistrust. This is why the CBFA proposed in April 2021 the 
establishment of the ad hoc  Working Group in order to clarify more objectively the strengths 
and weaknesses of the extra-budgetary trust fund mechanism, or even the risks of strategic drift, about which some people expressed concern. 
(b) Closure of funds 
33. The Working Group on Trust Funds has not outlined the conditions for closing funds that have 
become irrelevant. It would be useful if the WTO could clarify the process for closing funds in 
its financial regulations or in other documents to be adopted as a result of the Working Group's 
findings.  
34. However, we note that the number of active trust funds for each period remains relatively stable 
in view of the number of creations and closures of extra-budgetary funds over the period 2013 
 
5 As stated above, in this report's analyses we consider that both of the CDCRI "projects" have the 
characteristics of a fund and they are thus, for editorial ease, categorized as such.  WT/BFA/W/622  
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16 to 2021. The WTO therefore follows a well -reasoned practice of cl osing trust funds, which 
should be encouraged.  
Figure 1. Creation and closure of funds 
 
[Number of funds created]  [Number of funds closed]  [Number of funds active as at 1 December]  
Source: WTO, reprocessed by the External Auditor  
35. We note, however, that a "fund", the Independent Entity –  Pre-Shipment Inspection - Deposits 
(IE), has not been mobilized since its creation in 1995, and has not registered any financial 
movements since, at least, 2013 (see Annex 3). This "Independent Entity" is, m oreover, not 
strictly speaking a trust fund. It is, in fact, the administrative repository of the mechanism for 
settling disputes between exporters and pre-shipment inspection agencies and companies 
established pursuant to the Agreement on Preshipment Inspection.6 This mechanism is 
supposed to receive advance deposits with a view to carrying out independent reviews before 
export, as requested by Members, in order to cover costs. The money only transits through the 
mechanism until the independent review acc ounts are closed, from which any advance deposit 
money that remains unused after incurred costs is returned to stakeholders. It was established 
pursuant to an agreement between the WTO, the International Chamber of Commerce and the 
International Federation of Inspection Agencies. The Agreement and its management 
mechanism have only been mobilized twice in the mid-2000s, and they have not been used 
since 2006.  
36. Paragraph 4 of Annex I to document WT/L/125/Rev.1, which details the implementation of 
Article 4 of the WTO Agreement on Preshipment Inspection, provides that "[t]his Agreement 
may be terminated by any party by written notice to the others. Unless otherwise agreed, this 
Agreement shall be terminated 6 months after receipt of such notice by the other par ties." The 
WTO is therefore free to terminate this Agreement at any time, given that its ineffectiveness 
has been demonstrated over the last 12 years.  
37. Insofar as the IE mechanism is de jure overseen by the Council for Trade in Goods, and 
therefore by the WTO, and the mechanism does not receive advance deposits to cover the 
costs of inspections, there was undoubtedly no need to establish specific accounting and 
management measures within the Organization; operations can be monitored in a non-
 
6 Approved by the General Council in February 1996, WT/L/125/Rev.1.  
WT/BFA/W/622  
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17 accounting manner. The lack of activity of what is more an ancillary account than a fund stricto 
sensu, shows definitively that it is not needed now. 
RECOMMENDATION No. 1. Close the support fund of the Independent Entity - Pre-Shipment 
Inspection, inactive since 2006, and terminate the agreement that created it because it is no 
longer needed. 
3. Strategy and overall objectives of the funds 
38. As recalled above, under Regulation 19 of the WTO Financial Regulations, voluntary 
contributions may only be accepted by the Director -General when the purposes for which the 
contributions are made are consistent with the policies, aims and activities of the WTO . This 
principle is fundamental and applies to all international organizations receiving this kind of voluntary financing: the very spirit of trust fund management by an international organization would not be compatible with a practice that resulted in the organization becoming merely the receptacle for, and passive administrator of, the strategy and projects specific to a single State or a limited group of States.  
39. Clearly, compatibility with the Organization's objectives is a matter that may involve a certain amount of subjectivity and differences in interpretation, but this is minimized when the Organization has clear and publicly -stated strategies and lines of work, which is the case for 
the WTO. Beyond the general principle laid down in the Financial Regulations, we note that 
the rules governing the use of these funds have not been sufficiently defined in an official 
reference document. 
40. The majority of funds in operation or that operated over the 2013-2022 period have been used to finance technical assistance, the enhancement of which was described as a need by Member States in the Ministerial Declaration of the Doha Conference.
7 In this declaration, 
Ministers of the Member States called for the creation of " well targeted, sustainably  financed" 
technical assistance and capacity -building programmes with " secure and predictable" funding. 
They instructed the Secretariat, "in coordination with other relevant agencies, to support 
domestic efforts for mainstreaming trade into national plans for economic development and strategies for poverty reduction". 
41. In response to this request, in 2001, the General Council increased regular budget financing 
for technical assistance by 80% and established the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund. In practice, the trust funds supplement these regular budget resources.  
42. The trust funds thus contribute to the overall objective of technical assistance, which, as summarized by the WTO, is sustainable trade capacity -building in beneficiary countries. 
However, this contribution takes various forms that meet, to differing degrees, the goal of having a sustainable impact. Such assistance takes a wide variety of forms: long-term 
internships in Geneva with country missions or the WTO Secretariat; seminars and workshops; 
subsidies for different trade-related intellectual projects; and ad hoc  material support to allow 
certain countries to participate in multilateral meetings (see Table 3). Against this backdrop, we share the view of the ad hoc Working Group that the WTO would benefit from refocusing 
the funds' activity on its strategic objectives and avoiding a fragmented approach to assistance 
activities. Moreover, following the recommendation made by the External Auditor in 2019 to 
harmonize the management of trust funds and, based on our own work, we support the 
 
7 WTO Ministerial Conference, Fourth Session, Doha, 9- 14 November 2001, Ministerial Declaration 
adopted on 14 November 2001, paras. 39- 41 and reference to specific commitments listed in paras.  16, 21, 
24, 26, 27, 33, 38- 40, 42 and 43.  WT/BFA/W/622  
- 20 - 
18 proposals of the Working Group for more integrated programming and a more centralized 
management of funds.  
43. We consider that there is a need to begin discussions aimed at rationalizing the division of 
management responsibilities for these funds without disregarding the specificity of their purpose or legal status. Such a reorganization would likely limit the proliferation of ad hoc 
actions.  
Table 2: Current allocation of operational management responsibilities 
Division responsible  Funds managed  
Institute for Training and Technical Coop eration 
(ITTC)  
Knowledge Management Division (for WCP)  Global Trust Fund (GTF) (including WTO Chairs Programme 
(WCP)) 
French-Irish Internship Programme  
The Netherlands Trainee Programme  
ITTC  
Accessions Division  
Development Division  
Trade Policies Review Division  China's LDCs and Accessions Programme  
Agriculture and Commodities Division  Standards and Trade Development Facility  
Transferring technologies for the development of cotton 
(closed) 
Market Access Division  Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility  
Administration and General Services Division  LDCs Participation in the 12th Ministerial Conference  
Development Division  EIF-LDC Graduation Fund  
Rules Division  WTO Fisheries negotiations for the participation of LDC 
Capital -Based Officials  
Economic Research and Statistics Division  CDCRI: Investment Facilitation for Development Trust Fund  
CDCRI: ASYCUDA T iVA Databases  
        
Source:  WTO Secretariat, Working Group on Trust Funds.WT/BFA/W/622  
- 21 - 
19 Table 3: Activities financed by the funds 
 
Fund  Overall objective  Earmarked  Services provided  
modus operandi  Strategy  
GTF To build the human and 
institutional capacities of 
beneficiaries  No* Various activities  
In-person and remotely  
Chairs Programme   
 
 
 
Biennial Technical 
Assistance and 
Training Plan  French-Irish 
Mission 
Internship 
Programme  To build permanent missions' 
capacities with a view to their 
active participation in the daily 
activities at the WTO.  Yes Long -term internships in 
Geneva with missions to 
the WTO  
The 
Netherlands 
Trainee 
Programme  To build the capacities - of 
beneficiary countries and 
contri bute to the development 
of LDCs, low -income countries 
and small, vulnerable 
economies in areas related to 
trade policy.  Yes Long -term internships in 
Geneva with the WTO 
Secretariat  
China's LDCs 
& Accessions 
Programme  To provide assistance and 
support to LDCs regarding 
accessions  Yes Long -term internships  
Seminars and workshops  
Defrayal of travel 
expenses  Biennial Technical 
Assistance and Training Plan  
Standards and 
Trade 
Development 
Facility - STDF  To build SPS capacities in 
developing countries to facilitate 
safe trade  
 Global 
partnership 
with a 
specific 
purpose  Subsidies for projects, 
publications, studies, 
information media 
(including 
cinematographic), events 
and webinars  Partnership 
strategy 
2020-2024  
Trade 
Facilitation 
Agreement 
Facility  To complement existing support efforts to enhance their 
effectiveness, and to assist 
countries that have not received 
support from other actors  WTO 
Agreement 
with a 
specific 
purpose  Needs assessments, 
national and regional 
workshops; project and 
donor support; single 
window for TFA financing  
Provision of information 
and responses on an 
individual basis  2017 Trade 
Facilitation 
Agreement  
LDC 
participation in 
the 12th WTO 
Ministerial 
Conf, Geneva  To facilitate the par ticipation of 
LDCs in Ministerial 
Conferences  Yes 
 Defrayal of 
conference-related travel, 
accommodation and per 
diem  costs for one 
minister and two 
high-level officials.   
LDC graduation fund To build the trade capacities of 
LDCs, with a view to their 
graduation from the LDC 
category  Yes 
 Research and analysis on 
LDC graduation, 
capacity -building 
workshops and events  
Dissemination of research 
findings   
WTO Fisheries 
Negotiations 
LDCs 
Participation  Established in response to a 
request by a group of LDC 
Members and WTO observers 
with an interest in the fisheries 
subsidies' negotiations  
 Yes 
 Support to allow national 
experts to participate in 
negotiations in Geneva  
  
CDCRI: 
Investment 
Facilitation for 
Development 
Trust Fund "To advance developing and 
least -developed countries' 
understanding of multilateral 
approaches to facilitating 
investment for development"  
 Yes 
 Forums on trade and 
investment facilitation for 
development  
Database on investment facilitation   WT/BFA/W/622  
- 22 - 
20 Establishment of a 
research network  
CDCRI: 
Automated 
System for 
Customs Data  
(ASYCUDA) TiVA 
Databases  To facilitate automatic data 
notification to the WTO through 
ASYCUDA; to incorporate 
African economies in trade in 
value added (TiVA) databases 
to improve their capacity t o 
analyse global value chains  Yes 
 Development of a module to be integrated in the 
customs software ; 
Capacity -building for five 
African economies on 
statistics for TiVA 
databases   
* Some Members wished however to make an earmarked contribution to the WCP.  
 
Source: WTO Secretariat, Working Group on Trust Funds.  
 
44. By establishing a procedure for notifying Members, for information or consultation purposes, 
as well as the technical opinion of the AGSD, the above-mentioned guidelines of 18 March  2019, addressed to the CBFA, represented a step forward. 
45. However, this vital step forward is far from sufficient: more precise administrative guidelines 
should be adopted in each of the areas of progress identified by the Working Group/CBFA, in 
order to ensure the coherent organization and management of the actions financed by the various funds. These guidelines should clearly specify the criteria for accepting a new fund and the arrangements for the joint programming of existing funds. 
46. We consider that, above all, it is necessary to implement the Working Group's proposal to 
create a steering body that, having access to all the necessary information, would be responsible for the real -time internal control of the funds, and would provide a response in 
terms of governance to the difficulties linked to the ambiguities of the funds' approval and contract procedures and the fragmentation of the funds' management. 
47. The Secretariat posed the question of whether such a mechanism would be consistent wi th 
the governance structures specific to certain funds, such as the STDF. The answer to this is 
probably that even if several organizations or donors were concerned about the strategy and 
management of the funds in question, WTO Members, as a collective party to the agreements establishing the funds, have rights under those same agreements: in particular, and materially, that of ensuring that the strategies adopted and the projects undertaken, both in terms of courses of action and impact, remain closely in line with the general strategy and collective 
interests of the WTO. 
RECOMMENDATION No. 2. Establish a suitable steering body with access to management, 
financial and operational information in order to ensure the overall coordination of and 
coherence in the trust funds' strategies and activities, as well as the information provided 
on this activity to Members, whether contributors or not. 
4.  Financing and financial analysis of the funds' activity 
(a) Financing of the funds' activity  
Programme Support Fund 
48. As ext ra-budgetary financial resources, the trust funds collect voluntary contributions from 
WTO Members. These resources are, in principle, intended to finance specific programmes of 
action that donor Members ask the WTO to develop. They cannot, in line with their founding spirit, be used to finance the Organization's expenditure that falls under the regular budget. WT/BFA/W/622  
- 23 - 
21 49. When the extra-budgetary resources paid into trust funds are not used in full, the balances 
available constitute WTO debts to donors. Except where duly provided for by contract, the unused funds must be repaid to donors upon conclusion or termination of the funds' activities.  
50. To offset the costs incurred by the WTO for the management of trust funds, the Financial Regulations provide that an overhead fee may be charged on these funds' resources, in the form of a fixed percentage of up to 13% applied on recorded expenditure. This fixed fee is transferred to the Programme Support Fund (PSF), which pays expenditure incurred under the WTO regular budget to support the funds' activities. We note that the rules for the management 
of these funds are outdated (from between 1998 and 2004) and have not been updated or 
clarified since then. 
51. Through this fixed fee, the WTO has financial resources that, although they  are not directly 
incorporated into its regular budget, are added to it and are used to finance the direct costs  
incurred by the Organization for the administrative management of trust funds. These costs 
correspond to the expenditure of the Secretariat's services responsible for the accounting and 
financial monitoring of the funds, and to the payment of fund-managing staff who hold an " L" 
contract that is not subject to the regular budget's employment cap.8 The indirect costs  incurred 
by the funds, such as costs related to telecommunications, utilities and use of the premises, are covered by a lump sum payment from the PSF, corresponding to 10%
9 of the Fund's 
expenditure, which is paid into the Organization's regular budget. 
52. The financial resources paid into the PSF, unlike those paid into operational trust funds, belong definitively to the WTO. At the closing of accounts, the 13% fixed fee charged on a fund, whether or not used by the WTO, is not returned to that fund as it is not classed as a debt. The Organization may, in principle, freely use the amount to finance the costs generated by another fund because the various fees are fungible. In reality, the WTO does not keep records that 
compare, for each fund, the fee and the expenditure that this fee is supposed to cover. As a 
result, it is impossible to verify whether the total of the fixed fees covers the expenditure actually incurred by the WTO for the management of trust funds.  
53. The Secretariat estimates that the costs generated by the funds are low and that, if the sum of the fixed fees failed to cover these costs, the Organization's budget would only be marginally 
affected. It also emphasizes that, although these fees do not cover the cost of managing the 
trust funds, this remains a secondary issue since these fees are not intended to cover the funds' management expenses, but to provide additional funding to technical assistance programmes. However, these assertions are not documented anywhere or by any methodical analysis, demonstrating the need for fund management cost accounting to be implemented (see below) and, if necessary, for the PSF's terms of reference to be clarified.  
Trust funds' surpluses  
54. The examination of the trust funds' financial statements shows that they all have a positive financial reserve.
10 
 
8 The "L" contracts of other staff are financed directly by the funds.  
9 Or 1.3% of total expenditure of each fund.  
10 This liquidity is sub ject to the regulations of the WTO's bank concerning return on cash, which 
themselves depend on the rules set by the Swiss National Bank. Until 2015, interest rates for demand 
deposits were very slightly positive. They were negative from 2015 (between -0.1% and -0.4%) and 
increased to zero in mid- 2022.  WT/BFA/W/622  
- 24 - 
22 55. The evolution of voluntary contributions over the period 2013-2021 shows a certain degree of 
stability that can also be seen in the expenditure of the trust funds.  
Table 4: Income and expenditure of the trust funds 
 
Thousands of CHF  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  
Voluntary 
contributions 
received from 
Members  24,197  21,13
0 22,10
8 19,14
6 19,38
5 21,29
3 20,95
6 19,95
6 19,87
0 
Expenditure for the 
year 23,278  23,23
5 18,00
7 21,35
7 23,01
6 23,01
0 24,21
1 17,27
8 14,89
3 
Balance as at 
31 December (debt 
to due donors)  32,687  32,60
0 34,28
1 33,60
9 31,69
8 31,91
5 30,84
7 34,96
6 41,02
0 
Source: WTO, reprocessed by the External Auditor.  
 
Figure 2: Income, expenditure and balance of the trust funds 
[thousands of CHF]  
 
[Voluntary contributions received from Members]   [Expenditure for the year]  
[Balance as at 31 December (debt due to donors)]  
Source: WTO, reprocessing by the External Auditor.  
56. Details for each fund are set out in Annex 3.  
57. Over the period 2013-2019, the pace of voluntary contributions remained correlated with the 
expenditure of the funds, the activity of which remained c onsistent with the resources collected.  
58. The funds' resources are generally calculated on the basis of States' short-term commitments, 
even though the operations to which they are contributing, including technical assistance, are 
implemented over the medium  or long term. This situation is likely to undermine the operations 
concerned. While no critical instances of States' retracting their commitments have been 
WT/BFA/W/622  
- 25 - 
23 brought to our knowledge, it appears that the general principle (with the exception of the WCP) 
of unearmarked funds, which are channelled into the GTF or the STDF, remains a guarantee 
of stability in the event of a donor's withdrawal or of a significant reduction in the donor's contribution.
11 The risk of disparities between donors' commitments and the operations of the 
trust funds that they finance has, as it happens, been raised in other organizations.12 
59. The increase seen in 2020 and 2021 in the balances available at the end of the accounting year is circumstantial and a result of the effects of the pandemic crisis on WTO activity. This 
crisis led to a decline in the number of people trained by technical assistance programmes, in 
addition to increased use of cheaper means of communication and distance training, with a 
corresponding decrease in travel c osts. Yet donors did not reduce their voluntary contributions 
accordingly, so the funds' financial capacity, as well as WTO liabilities, increased overall by CHF 6 million between 2019 and 2021, rising from CHF 35 million at the end of 2019 to 
CHF 41 million by the end of 2021.  
Trust funds' liquidity and expenditure 
Figure 3. Trust funds' liquidity 
[thousands of CHF]  
 
Source: WTO, reprocessed by the External Auditor.  
  
 
11 As long as a contributor's commitment remains assured in principle, delays in confirming (particularly 
when it comes to renewing an expired MoU), or even in paying, the contribution are not critical when the 
cash position is clearly positive.  
12 For example, World Food Programme, Internal Audit of WFP Corporate Trust Funds  (Internal Audit 
Report AR/15/05), 2015, p. 13 " Medium and long term needs of the activities were not aligned with the 
funding from [trust  funds] which was frequently short term. " 
WT/BFA/W/622  
- 26 - 
24 Figure 4. Trust funds' expenditure 
[thousands of CHF]  
 
Source: WTO, reprocessed by the External Auditor.  
60. The WTO's liabilities to donors under all the funds have generally been stable over a long 
period of time, with the exception of 2021 and 2022. This overall stability encompasses 
contrasting trends: the liquidity of the TFAF, created in 2015, contributes to these liabilities, 
while the liquidity of the GTF has declined sharply. This outstanding amount at the end of the 
financial year is effectively a reserve of available cash funds that are equivalent to two years' expenditure.  
61. Pointing to the costs incurred by the resumption of face-to -face activities and inflationary 
pressures linked to the war in Ukraine, the Secretariat considers that cash position to be misleading, although it fails to provide any documented and spec ific forward-looking analysis 
of future costs of the programmes operated by the funds to support its position. Such analysis is particularly necessary to explain the Secretariat's pessimism, given that the rate of "inflation 
linked to the war in Ukraine" i s an average and relative figure that does not apply to all the 
categories of expenditure incurred by the projects financed by the funds.
13 
62. This outstanding amount can mainly be attributed to the underuse of donors' voluntary 
contributions in 3 of the 11 active trust funds, namely the TFAF, the STDF and the GTF. At the 
end of 2021, 86% of the WTO's debt to donors came from these funds, yet they accounted for 
just 46% of expenditure for the financial year. The Secretariat puts forward two supporting 
arguments.  
63. With regard to the TFAF, the Secretariat explains that this fund was created to enable ready 
access to the resources needed to implement the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which 
would justify being able to send the donations to the fund in advance, even several years in 
advance, of the implementation phase. Moreover, it argues that the payment of new 
contributions by donors is a political act, demonstrating their active support for the TFA. It is 
 
13 In any case, even though all costs would incur an average inflation rate of 15% (the highest estimate, for 
the sake of argument), the accumulated cash position would still be sufficient to cover more than18 months' 
expenditure.  
WT/BFA/W/622  
- 27 - 
25 clear that the bulk of the accumulated cash reserves is the result of substantial payments 
received in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The fact remains that the fund's financial capacity is 
equivalent to more than 10 years' expenditure, and that either the initial payments were larger 
than expected for the aforementioned political reasons, or it is proving harder than expected to 
maintain the momentum of the implementation of the TFA that its advocates and signatories 
originally envisioned.  
64. With respect to the STDF, the Secretariat suggests that the "real -time" financial capacity of the 
fund is, on the contrary, more often unfavourable because the end-of-year cash position is a 
snapshot and does not take into account outstanding commitments, contractual and 
non-contractual. On outstanding contractual commitments, the Sec retariat's observation is 
technically sound, because in accrual accounting (as adopted by the WTO) the cash available 
is only an imperfect indicator of the ongoing management; however, if, over the long term, there 
is little variation, on average, in the proportion of outstanding contractual commitments, 
correlated to the fund's ability to deliver operationally, then the cash available at the end of the 
accounting year is used to pay old outstanding commitments and new commitments to be settled over the course of the year. As for "non-contractual commitments", besides posing a 
significant risk to the management of the STDF, if they can be considered potential liabilities of the Organization, they can in no way be taken into account when establishing the true  financial 
situation and cash position.  
65. This is why the WTO should pay particular attention to managing the liquidity of these three funds so that the flow of donors' voluntary contributions is as closely aligned as possible with 
the pace of the action pl anned. Undoubtedly, the operations whereby donors deposit money 
follow national procedures that are beyond the control of the WTO. The argument put forward 
by the Secretariat, that it cannot in any way control the flow of payments by donors –the only 
decis ion makers on this matter –, overestimates the difficulty. The Organization is mandated 
by its Members to ensure efficient public financial management in line with good practices. Not only should the Organization not tolerate practices whereby certain donor s place money with 
the funds and by doing so avoid national controls, in particular budgetary requirements, to which they are subject, it is incumbent upon Organization to set up a mechanism to regulate 
payments that may exceed the funds' reasonable needs, if necessary by asking the governing 
bodies to adopt the regulations for such a mechanism. The matter becomes all the more 
pressing when plentiful liquidity leads to negative bank interest rates being recorded in the 
accounts. Although marginal, the negative interest rates applied between 2015 and 2022, which could have been avoided, have reduced trust funds' capacity to provide technical 
assistance.  
66. Moreover, we consider that, in order for the trust funds to be able to operate, the principles and conditi ons for managing their liquidity must be outlined in clearly -written texts. Decisions 
regarding unused funds are made by the donors, who may or may not ask for such funds to be repaid to them, which is a weakness. It could be useful for the WTO to include rules on the 
management of trust funds' liquidity (call for funding, return of funds, etc.) in its financial 
regulations or in a specific guideline.  
(b) Administrative and financial management of funds 
67. The AGSD is responsible for the administrative and financial monitoring of trust funds. The Division most notably provides accounting and financial services and manages procurement 
for programmes and projects financed by the funds. Within the Division, Financial Management 
Services prepare budgets, establish payroll, pay suppliers, prepare financial reports, manage 
the cash flow and process applications for the payment of mission expenses. The Division also 
has a financial control and performance management service that seeks to ensure fi nancial WT/BFA/W/622  
- 28 - 
26 security and the clarity of reports and improve internal cooperation. The Director of AGSD is 
also responsible for assessing and signing financing and partnership agreements concerning 
trust funds, and is empowered to do so. 
68. These two services anal yse, review and approve all financial transactions pertaining to trust 
fund management and ensure that financial reports are accurate and prepared in accordance 
with WTO management rules (Financial Regulations, Financial Rules, International Public Sector Accounting Standards). They are responsible for the annual publication of financial 
reports.  
69. In terms of internal control, we note that the Secretariat's risk register refers to the trust fund 
sector only very briefly. While trust funds account for around 10% of all WTO financial 
operations, only one risk, addressed in 2015, was identified in the 2018 register, which listed 
65 risks in total. It would be unacceptable to consider the management of risks (financial, 
operational and reputational) associated w ith extra-budgetary trust fund operations to be of no 
concern to the Organization because the funds belong to donors. The Organization's approach to the risks posed by these funds is therefore even more unsatisfactory given the inadequate 
size of the Offic e of Internal Oversight (OIO) in terms of both staffing and skills, which prevents 
this Office from conducting any targeted audit activity regarding the management of these 
funds.  
70. Furthermore, while we note that the administrative and financial support services have 
sufficiently competent human resources, the limitations of the management information system 
prevent them from having the information required to efficiently and effectively guide fund management. This is the case, for example, for retrospectiv e analysis of developments by 
category of expenditure and revenue for each fund, or the analytical identification, by contract 
type, of staff involved in trust fund activities, and details of the amount of their work time spent 
on such duties. 
71. In these cir cumstances, the WTO should use its information system and its accounting and 
financial databases to gain a clear understanding of the full costs of each trust fund, including, in particular, all the costs borne by the WTO regular budget. Indeed, the effici ency of the funds 
can only be measured if their activity can be linked to reliable and accurate operating costs.  
(c)  Monitoring of the management and approval of fund accounts
 
72. Every three months, the Secretariat reports to the CBFA on the financial positi on of the funds 
through a quarterly trust fund report. We examined a sample of these reports for the period 2013-2022 and noted that they had evolved positively. The format of the reports was 
standardized five years ago and the data for each fund are now presented in a homogeneous 
manner, in a document some 15 pages long, which facilitates their use by CBFA members. 
73. The quarterly reports provide different information depending on the financial volume of the 
funds, and include 10 pages on the Global Trust Fund, two pages on STDF and TFAF funds, 
and three pages on other funds, a proportion we consider appropriate. The reports contain an 
introduction presenting the financial position of the funds and activity indicators for the Global 
Trust Fund. The information provided to the CBFA therefore appears to be such as to enable 
it to conduct its supervisory mandate in a satisfactory manner. 
74. However, the quarterly reports do not provide information on the management of administrative 
funds. It would be appropriate and useful for them to include, as a minimum, information on 
the Programme Support Fund. In addition, the methodology for establishing the green, yellow WT/BFA/W/622  
- 29 - 
27 or red status indicators accompanying the tables should be set out at the beginning of the 
document. 
75. While the information provided in these documents is of good quality, we note, from the records we have seen, that plenary discussions on trust fund remain limited. This situation can reasonably be attributed simply to the fact that particular financial issues  are addressed in 
preparatory bilateral technical discussions between those raising the issues and the Secretariat divisions concerned. This practice, common in many international organizations and justified by the technical nature of certain topics, should not, however, be used as 
justification for circumventing the role of the Committee or for allowing discussions within the 
Committee on the topics referred to it to cease.  
76. In these circumstances, we believe that the information to be provided to the CBFA  should be 
further developed so as to provide all Member States with a substantial basis for discussion that will enable them to fully exercise their governance authority and build consensus.  
77. According to Regulation 19 of the WTO Financial Regulations, voluntary contributions, gifts or donations "s hall be administered in accordance with the present Financial Regulations." 
Regulation 6 in Chapter II on Preparation of the budget provides as follows: " For each financial 
period, the Director -General shall prepare a budget proposal containing estimates of the 
income and expenditure of the WTO, together with the comparable figures for the previous 
period. This budget proposal, as well as any revisions for the second year of the biennium as 
may be necessary, will be presented to the Committee [CBFA] at least eight weeks prior to the 
last scheduled meeting of the year of the General Council." 
78. Despite having reviewed the minutes of CBFA meetings between 2016 and 2021, we cannot be sure that these budgetary provisions have been properly observed for all trust funds, particularly those that are not covered by the technical assistance plan. 
79. The quarterly reports on trust fund activity submitted to the CBFA only show budget estimates grouped according to expected results in different areas of technical assistance, mainly in relation to the implementation of WTO agreements and the participation of countries in negotiations. This technical assistance expenditure, which aggregates the expenditure of all the trust funds concerned, accounts for 96% of the budget, as recorded in the quarterly report of March 2022 (WT/BFA/W/592). 
80. The Secretariat does not provide the CBFA with annual budget estimates for all trust funds, calculated by the funds, which would make it possible to ensure that actual expenditure is consistent with the estimated expenditure, defined in relation to the financial reserves of the funds. Budget estimates and estimate monitoring are not used only to make fund usage more transparent and to provide Members with a better overview throughout the year; they are also 
proven methods used in treasury management and operations planning.  
RECOMMENDATION No. 3. Include in the quarterly and annual trust fund activity monitoring 
reports submitted to the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration (CBFA), a 
statement of the income collected and expenditure recorded shown against future budget 
estimates. 
5. A ctivity and monitoring of funds 
81. The ITTC was established to coordinate WTO technical assistance and training activities. It operates as a division of the WTO Secretariat and manages the Global Trust Fund (GTF), which was originally created to finance technical assistance through voluntary contributions. It WT/BFA/W/622  
- 30 - 
28 is responsible for carrying out the WTO's mandate to help beneficiary countries build 
institutional and human capacities in the field of trade, address trade policy issues, integrate 
more fully into the multilateral trading system, exercise their rights as WTO Members, and 
participate fully in multilateral trade negotiations. 
82. The biennial technical assistance plan drawn up by the ITTC, which was approved at the financial level by the CBFA and at the technical level by the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD), covers activities financed by three sources of funding: the regular budget, the Global Trust Fund (GTF) and a limited list of funds. While technical assistance and 
capacity -building activities have developed significantly and play a major role in the 
Organization's strategy and missions, the limit on the ITTC's mandate is no longer coherent: 
this plan should form the basis for the Secretariat's delivery of all assistance activities in order to provide Members with a comprehensive overview. 
83. However, the ITTC is currently not the only entity in the Secretariat to manage voluntary 
contributions earmarked for technical assistance. Resources not managed in the framework 
of the technical assistance plan and not included in the CTD's overall review of technical assistance account, on average, for more than 20% of the total volume of technical assistance trust funds.  
84. The Secretariat is of the view that this dispersion is justified by the specific aspects of the 
objectives defined for each of the funds outside the ITTC. In particular, it highlights the 
partnership- oriented nature of the STDF and its specialization in sanitary and phytosanitary 
issues concerning agricultural products.  
85. In our opinion, the Secretariat's argument, that dispersion would be of interest in terms of management flexibility, does not appear to have been proven true. In our view, the argument that this dispersion exists because the ITTC lacks the staff and technical skills required to 
manage all the funds does not seem sufficient when internal organizational measures would 
allow for the reassignment of the staff needed. 
86. A consequence of the dispersion of the management of technical assistance-related trust funds among various Secretariat divisions is that there is no programmatic and strategic document covering technical assistance as a whole. Furthermore, reports on technical 
assistance activities are not compiled into a single coherent document to inform the decisions 
of governing bodies. As a result, Member States, and the public, are deprived of comprehensive and coherent information on the conduct of the strategic mandate entrusted to the WTO in 2001. 
RECOMMENDATION No. 4. Supplement biennial technical assistance plans so as to 
present all technical assistance activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the 
broad sense, including capacity-building activities, thereby providing Member States and 
stakeholders with comprehensive information, beyond technical and legal specificities, 
that can be correlated with the activities of the various funds contributing to the technical 
assistance strategy. 
87. In addition to information on WTO activities, our audit shows that steps could be taken to 
provide Member States with more comprehensive information on technical assistance 
provided by other parties. This would put the WTO's actions into perspective and help identify coordination needs and the risk of overlap. The WTO contributes CHF 18 million a year to the budget of the ITC, the technical cooperation agency established jointly by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the WTO to address business aspects of trade development. Through this contribution, the WTO indirectly provides technical WT/BFA/W/622  
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29 assistance to the private sector. Similarly, the WTO hosts the EIF, a cooperation structure set 
up at the Organization's initiative to provide assistance to LDCs, in partnership with the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the ITC, UNCTAD, the United Nations Development 
Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. 
88. In our opinion, information on WTO technical assistance needs to be put into perspec tive by 
providing Members with consolidated information that allows the Secretariat's technical assistance activities to be presented as part of a comprehensive overview of trade-related 
technical assistance, including, in particular, that provided by the ITC or the EIF. We note that, 
according to the WTO, the annual technical assistance report, prepared in conjunction with the 
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), meets this need fully and 
Members are satisfied.  
6. Transparency of costs  
89. In the expenditure recorded in trust fund financial statements, staff costs are not attributed 
according to a standardized procedure for the calculation of costs and their allocation.  
90. The staff costs recognized as direct trust fund expenditure should correspond to the costs of 
the specialist personnel assigned to implement fund projects. Such individuals are recruited 
under L contracts: in principle, they are not included as permanent staff funded by the WTO 
regular budget. 
91. The administrative and financi al staff who provide support services for trust fund activities and 
who are also recruited under L contracts, are funded by the resources of the Programme Support Fund financed by the 13% fixed fee.  
92. At our request, and in order to verify that staff costs had been correctly attributed to the various 
budgets concerned, the Secretariat prepared (on 1 September 2022) a list of all staff, on both 
L contracts and regular contracts, who were involved in trust fund management, indicating for 
each staff member the s hare of their work time given over to this task.  
93. A review of this list shows that 42 out of a total of 87 individuals involved in trust fund 
management on a full - or part-time basis hold an L contract financed by one of the funds or by 
the Programme Suppor t Fund, while 45 other individuals hold a regular contract financed by 
the WTO regular budget. This finding reveals that staff costs are not fully recorded in trust fund 
financial statements. 
94. We have conducted a detailed analysis using the TFAF as an example. It appears that four 
individuals with regular contracts and one individual with an L contract are involved in 
managing this fund.  
Table 5: Staff assigned to Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility management  
Service  Name  Contract type Amount of time spent on trust funds  
Market Access Division  Mr A L contrat  100%  
Market Access Division  Ms B Permanent  Variable 
Market Access Division  Ms C Permanent  100%  
Market Access Division  Ms D  Permanent  Variable 
Market Access Division  Ms E  Permanent  0 but < 25 %  
       Source: WTO  WT/BFA/W/622  
- 32 - 
30  
95. However, the TFAF financial statement at 31 December 2021 records the expenditure for an 
L contract, but not the expenditure for staff on a regular contract, even though one individual 
devotes 100% of their work time to the fund and three others a variable but not negligible 
amount. The staff costs recorded in the TFAF fund financial statement at 31 December 2021, 
which are incomplete, are therefore undervalued, while the balance of available resources is overvalued. The WTO's liabilities to donors are ther efore also overvalued.  
96. This means that the WTO regular budget has been used to finance some of the staff needed to manage the TFAF fund, without any recompense: in other words, the WTO, that is the 
Member States, subsidizes the TFAF by supplementing the voluntary resources collected by 
this fund. The Secretariat is of the view that this situation is justified on the grounds that technical assistance is part of its core activities. It emphasizes that the Members fully agree on this point and, it considers that, without the contribution of the TFAF, the Organization would not be able to deliver technical assistance and capacity -building support to LDCs. Since this 
programme is now one of the Organization's core missions, and because the TFA is a multilateral agreement endorsed by all Members, mainly between 2015 and 2017, it would be 
more transparent and more consistent with the decisions taken at the Doha Conference to reincorporate this "fund" into the Organization's regular budget, even if it means ringfenc ing 
the resources during the annual budget discussions. 
RECOMMENDATION No. 5  : Accept the consequences of the particular relationship between 
the regular budget and the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF)  by reincorporating 
the Facility's assets and the financing for implementation of the Trade Agreement Facility 
(TFA) into the regular budget, with any subsequent financial needs covered by calls for 
contributions. 
97. We conducted a similar analysis of the STDF, which leads us to the same conclusion: the STDF financial statement does not record the costs associated with employing the Facility's secretary financed by the regular budget, who devotes 100% of their time to fund management. 
However, the WTO emphasizes that this situation is a result of the STDF's internal rules and 
considers that it is fully accepted by the Members. 
98. Conversely, a review of the list of eight individuals with L contracts who are assigned to provide fund support and therefore financed by the Programme Support Fund, shows that in practice 
they only work on fund management for a variable amount of their work time; the rest of their output directly benefits the Organization. The wage bill covered by the Organization's regular 
budget is subject to an employment cap, which, in principle, does not allow for the inclusion of 
L contracts. There is therefore, we believe, an apparent anomaly in the allocation of wage costs with regard to staff recruited under L contracts who work partly on trust funds and partly on other tasks for the Organization. The Secretariat considers these tasks to be closely linked to the functions of the trust funds and that the situation described is consistent with Regulation 19 of the WTO Financial Regulations. 
99. If the operational separation between the WTO itself and the trust funds may be relatively vague because of the understandably complementary nature of their mandates and projects, the fact remains that, since the funds report on their financial performances and financial positions at year -end, the interplay between these entities must be clearly reported in their 
accounts. We therefore maintain that a more accurate record needs to be kept of regular budget contributions to the funds, and vice versa .  
100. The remuneration of administrative staff on L contracts is funded entirely by the  13% fee 
imposed by the WTO on trust fund expenditure. However, subject to an in-depth review of the WT/BFA/W/622  
- 33 - 
31 other duties performed by these staff members, only part of their remuneration should be 
funded by the 13% fee. The balance of their remuneration should be charged to the WTO 
regular budget, in which case these L contracts should be included under the WTO 
employment cap because of the amount of time their holders devote to WTO duties. 
101. In conclusion, a review of the time spent on trust funds by staff members with specialist or 
administrative and financial support duties shows that:  
- The WTO information system, as it currently stands, does not provide any details of the actual costs of staff expenditure attributable to trust fund duties. 
- In view of the balances available at the end of the accounting year, the WTO's statement of liabilities is incomplete, particularly insofar as expenditure for certain staff members with trust fund duties and on regular contracts continues to be financed by the WTO regular budget. 
- Costs for staff on L contracts carrying out support functions, which are currently funded entirely by the 13% fee on trust fund expenditure, are overvalued, since some of these staff members work partly on tasks unrelated to trust funds.  
- The work time of staff members assigned to trust funds must be recorded accurately, so as to ensure the reliability of the staff expenditure amounts recorded in the financial statements of these fun ds. 
  
RECOMMENDATION No. 6. Introduce cost accounting for trust funds so as to ensure a 
clear and comprehensive understanding of the full costs of each fund, identifying, among 
other things, the costs, in particular staff costs, borne by the regular budget. 
 
 
[End of audit observations]  
 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 34 - 
32 ANNEX 1 Terms of reference 
 
"PERFORMANCE AUDIT " TERMS OF REFERENCE 2022 
 
Governance and management of extra-budgetary trust funds  
 
 
 
1. Background 
In most international organizations, extra-budgetary trust funds supplement resources from the mandatory contributions made by Member States to fund the operations of the organization's regular programme. These funds depend on the will and initiatives of S tates, 
in terms of both purpose and volume. Each State wishing to fund a programme or an action, 
a priori  within the framework of the organization's mandates and strategy, whether a 
non-recurring initiative or a longer -term programme, puts forward a propos al for a project 
and funding to be implemented under an agreement between the State and the 
organization. 
 
In many international organizations the extra-budgetary resources thus collected may be 
significantly higher than the resources of the "regular programme", which is funded by 
mandatory contributions.  
 
The WTO streamlined its extra-budgetary resources mechanism, to a certain extent, in 
2001, with the creation, following the removal or consolidation of several dispersed funds, 
of a central fund, the Global Trust Fund, which seeks to support the activities of the 
Technical Assistance Plan. Over the past 10 years, and more significantly the past three to four years, other funds have been created at the request of one or more Member States. 
Today, in addition to a fund earmarked for logistical support for LDC participation in Ministerial Conferences and three "administrative" funds (including one fund collecting the 
management fees charged by the WTO for trust fund operations), 11 funds with var ious 
objectives are in operation. 
 
2. General challenges for the WTO  
As noted in many international organizations, the first questions that arise in this area are, 
on the one hand, related to the coherence (in terms of its mandate as well as its operations) 
of goals and projects financed by extra-budgetary funds with the overall strategy of the 
organization, and, on the other hand — indirectly related to this problem —, how to control 
the proliferation of funds, reflecting the proliferation of specific objecti ves possibly pursued 
by donor States.  
 At least two directions emerged from the Doha Round, which have undoubtedly weighed 
on the management of the extra-budgetary system: the commitment, translated into a 2014 
agreement to "facilitate trade" (the Trade Facilitation Agreement), and the objective of 
helping LDCs to develop policies and means to enable them to adopt the standards, principles and rules resulting from international trade agreements. It also led to the creation 
of two other funds for major activ ities: the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF) and 
the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF).  WT/BFA/W/622  
- 35 - 
33  
A conclusion of the preliminary review, conducted between November 2021 and March 
2022, for which the Chair of the CBFA, the Chair of the Work ing Group on WTO Trust 
Funds, a number of delegations and senior management officials (DDGs and directors 
responsible for managing certain funds) were consulted, was that there is a serious crisis 
of confidence in the system of governance and management of extra-budgetary resources. 
At the same time, the audit of the WTO's financial statements for 2021 also identified some 
minor but significant weaknesses in the accountability and auditing of the funds.  
 
This crisis of confidence seems to affect, albeit with more or less intensity, the relationships 
among all stakeholders: among the Member States; between the Member States and the 
Secretariat, and vice versa; and between certain divisions within the Organization.  
 
It appears to be based on the concern that the intentions of some donors fit only imperfectly 
into the WTO collective strategy and that, in the absence of good governance to ensure 
consistency, rigour and transparency, the operations of the funds do not follow the logic that 
prevailed when they were included in the WTO Programme of Action.  
 However, it was not possible during this preliminary review to determine whether this 
situation could be assessed and characterized objectively.  
 
In any event, the doubts, or even distrust, that affect the relationships of certain parties in 
the trust fund system, seem likely to also affect efficiency, effectiveness and overall performance. 
 
3. Purpose, challenges, methods 
 
3.1. Purpose of the audit  
The purpose of the audit of the governance and management of extra-budgetary trust funds 
is to:  
- Draw up a comprehensive and detailed picture of the active trust funds as of the date of the audit in order to assess the legal basis, operational aims and 
objectives, the resources and formal conditions for using them, and accountability of their operations;  
- Evaluate, in particular, external governance (legal and strategic) and executive (operational) structures and processes, to identify their strengths 
and weaknesses, and to compare them with the practices of other international 
organizations as well as best governance practices observed or 
recommended, if/when standards exist;  
- Measure the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the governance and 
management systems, of both the entire system for the collection and use of 
extra-budgetary resources, and of each fund in particular, in terms of the 
Organization's mandates and the donors' stated intentions;  
- Propose (possibly in the form of options) to the governing bodies of the WTO 
the ways and means to improve the "system"  and, to the extent possible, to 
restore collective confidence in it.  
3.2. Key audit questions 
The key questions that will guide this audit are:  
 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 36 - 
34 • How are trust funds hosted by the WTO instituted, created, structured, financed and 
executed? Does the Organization have a clear and explicit policy and strategy for 
the collection and use of extra-budgetary resources? 
• How, why and what role do the governing bodies or the Secretariat play in setting the strategic direction of the extra-budgetary system and in creating a trust fund? How is the consistency of extra-budgetary activities with the WTO's mandates assessed and monitored? 
• What are Member States' expectations and how satisfied (differentiated according to whether they are donors of extra- budgetary resources or not, or beneficiaries) are 
they with the current operation of the trust fund management system and procedures, their output and impact (either operational or financial)?  
• What are the key factors of the current fund management modalities that all ow the 
expectations of donor, non-donor or beneficiary Member States to be met? 
3.3. Methods, stakeholders 
The audit work will be carried out through a combination of:  
 
• The use of questionnaires to collect raw quantitative or qualitative data  
 
• Work on documents (analysis of documents that can provide clarification on the subject matter, requested by the auditors)  
 
• Interviews with various specific officials from both the governing bodies and the 
Secretariat, and, for the latter, from the administrative and financial sectors as 
well as the operational sectors  
 
• The use of external or internal audit and advisory work undertaken on the same or related topics  
 
• The use of comparison data provided by the external or internal auditors of a selection of international organizations of activities that, if not identical, are at least comparable in terms of their operational management. 
In accordance with the methodological principles laid down by INTOSAI, there will be two 
opportunities to comment on all the findings: during the audit, based on tentative findings, 
and then before the final report is drawn up, based on an interim report. 
 The External Auditor will request that feedback on the tentative findings, usually intended simply to confirm the facts and figures or interview records, be submitted within a maximum of two working days. In order to maintain the efficiency of this arrangement, these findings 
will be sent directly to the managers concerned, with a copy also sent systematically to the 
external auditors' contact point (AGSD).  Unless there are special circumstances that call for an extension, the Organization shall have three calendar weeks to comment on the interim report. The absence of any comments 
or observations by the deadline shall constitute acceptance of the relevant elements of the 
interim report by the Organization.  
 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 37 - 
35 4. Time frame, audit team  
 
To allow the gradual collection of information and confirmation of most findings, and due to 
the limited availability of the audit teams over the summer, the audit will be conducted in 
two phases (a few weeks apart):  
 
- Phase 1 (8 auditors x days): 4 - 8 July 
 
Mr Jean-Michel CHAMPOMIER , Head of Mission 
Mr Gaël CHICHEREAU  
 
- Phase 2 (30 auditors x days): 29 August - 9 September  2022 
 
Mr Jean-Michel CHAMPOMIER , 
Mr Romuald du BRIEL de PONTBRIAND , 
Mr Gaël CHICHEREAU  
 
The Director of the External Audit (Mr Hervé-Adrien METZGER) will accompany the team 
from 6 to 8 July and may also, at his discretion, intervene at the end of the audit, during the 
week of 19-23 September, in order to finalize the provisional report of the audit.  
  
* 
*    * WT/BFA/W/622  
- 38 - 
36  
ANNEX 2: List of persons met by the audit team  
 
Delegations 
 
Permanent Mission of China 
Mr Yu Yongbing - Adviser  
 
Permanent Mission of Germany  
Ms Bettina Waldmann - Ambassador  
 
Permanent Mission of the European Union 
Mr Hiddo Houben - Head of Mission  
 
Permanent Mission of France 
Mr Etienne Oudot de Dainville - Permanent Delegate 
 
Permanent Mission of the United States of America  
Mr David Bisbee - Permanent Delegate 
 
WTO  
 
Mr Jean Marie Paugam - Deputy Director -General  
Mr Xiangchen Zhang - Deputy Director -General  
Mr Francesco Perlini - Head of Service 
Mr John Breckenridge - Financial Controller  
Ms Tapiwa Latifa Mwenifumbo - Finance Specialist  
Mr Claude Trolliet - Chief of Section  
Ms Marlynne Hopper - Deputy Chief of Section  
Mr Melvin Spreij - Counsellor and Director of the STDF  
Mr Jean Manuel Fernandez Azpiroz - Chief of Section  
Mr Taufiqur Rahman - Head of Unit 
Ms Daria Shatskova - Legal Affairs Officer  
   
37 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 39 - 
 
ANNEX 3  : Income, expenditure and balances of the Funds, 2013- 2021 (thousands of  CHF; source: WTO)  
GLOBAL TRUST FUND (TDA) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  12,417 18,058 16,522 16,934 16,026 13,600 12,609 9,644 11,677 
Voluntary Contributions Received 13,619 7,793 9,105 6,880 6,169 7,375 6,242 5,586 5,451 
Expenditures -7,989 -9,347 -8,693 -7,773 -8,380 -8,345 -9,187 -3,532 -2,578 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 12 18 0 -14 -216 -21 -20 -21 -108 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  18,059 16,522 16,934 16,027 13,599 12,609 9,644 11,677 14,442 
          
FRENCH-IRISH MISSION INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME (TIMM1) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  1,909 1,405 1,254 1,129 950 1,013 1,262 1,228 1,254 
Voluntary Contributions Received 802 789 808 814 847 1,151 1,090 1,074 1,206 
Expenditures -1,307 -942 -934 -992 -783 -901 -1,122 -1,046 -1,143 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) -1 2 0 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -8 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  1,403 1,254 1,128 950 1,013 1,262 1,228 1,254 1,309 
          
NETHERLANDS TRAINEE PROGRAMME (TNL05) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  1,054 143 1,102 1,137 184 107 981 1,182 994 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 1,750 875 0 875 875 875 875 875 
Expenditures -911 -792 -840 -953 -951 0 -672 -1,061 -905 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 1 0 0 -1 -1 -2 -2 -4 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  143 1,102 1,137 184 107 981 1,182 994 960 
          
CHINA LDC'S & ACCESSIONS PROGRAMME (TCLAP)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  401 477 383 385 560 399 570 749 1,101 
Voluntary Contributions Received 363 0 485 485 473 494 500 453 0 
Expenditures -287 -94 -483 -310 -633 -321 -320 -99 -242 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 -1 -1 -1 -2 -8 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  477 383 385 560 399 571 749 1,101 851   
38 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 40 - 
 
STANDARDS & TRADE DEVELOPMENT FACILITY (TWB01) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  9,800 9,325 8,607 8,632 7,534 7,669 8,219 9,392 10,903 
Voluntary Contributions Received 3,606 4,344 4,558 4,045 4,679 6,602 5,921 5,771 8,563 
Expenditures -4,085 -5,072 -4,534 -5,134 -4,528 -6,040 -4,728 -4,233 -3,294 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 5 10 0 -9 -16 -12 -20 -27 -92 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  9,326 8,607 8,631 7,534 7,669 8,219 9,392 10,903 16,080 
          
TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT FACILITY (TTFAF) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 1,304 4,121 5,962 6,582 6,228 5,113 4,976 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 3,098 2,303 1,217 347 108 173 23 
Expenditures 0 0 -281 -5 -586 -690 -1,211 -295 -308 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 -457 -11 -11 -13 -15 -40 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 4,121 5,962 6,582 6,228 5,112 4,976 4,651 
          
TRADE FACILITATION -PARTICIPATION OF CAPITAL BASED OFFICIALS IN 
THE NEGOTIATING GROUP MEETINGS (TTFNG)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  335 355 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Voluntary Contributions Received 399 68 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Expenditures -379 -206 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 -24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  355 193 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
          
TRADE FACILITATION NATIONAL NEEDS ASSESSMENTS TRUST FUND 
(TTFNA)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  507 655 1,270 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Voluntary Contributions Received 1,280 1,427 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Expenditures -1,132 -814 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 1 2 -1,236 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  656 1,270 34 0 0 0 0 0 0   
39 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 41 - 
 
LDC's Participation in WTO Ministerial Conferences (TMI) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  391 0 0 0 90 357 338 405 455 
Voluntary Contributions Received 197 0 454 0 780 0 125 144 126 
Expenditures -588 0 -454 0 -561 0 0 -93 -81 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 90 48 -19 -58 -1 6 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 90 357 338 405 455 506 
          
EIF - LDCs GRADUATION FUND (TLDCG)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 119 176 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 0 200 136 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 0 0 -80 -79 -127 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 0 0 0 120 176 48 
          
WTO LDCs FISHERIES PARTICIPATION (TFSNG) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 125 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 0 169 152 126 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 0 0 -135 -61 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 0 0 0 34 125 250 
          
TRANSFERRING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COTTON 
(TEF02)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 78 61 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 0 147 52 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 0 0 -69 -69 -6 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -55 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 0 0 0 78 61 0   
40 WT/BFA/W/622  
- 42 - 
 
ASYCUDA TVA DATABASES PROJECT (TCR02) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,089 591 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,091 0 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -496 -16 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -2 -5 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 0 0 0 1,089 591 570 
          
INVESTMENT FACILITATION FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (TCR01) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January 0 0 0 0 0 285 196 196 194 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 520 0 0 0 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 -235 -89 0 -1 -169 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -1 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 0 285 196 196 194 24 
          
EVALUATION TRUST FUND (TEVAL) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 96 311 259 0 0 0 0 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 96 0 242 0 0 0 0 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 -294 0 0 0 0 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 215 0 -259 0 0 0 0 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 96 311 259 0 0 0 0 0 
          
DATA SET ON TRADE IN SERVICES (TDSTS) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 0 0 108 97 18 0 0 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 108 94 0 5 0 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 -104 -79 -23 0 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 108 98 18 0 0 0   
41 WT/BFA/W/622  
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NATURAL DISASTER AND TRADE (TNDAT) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  0 0 0 0 0 0 52 0 0 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 110 0 0 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 0 -58 -44 0 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  0 0 0 0 0 52 8 0 0 
          
ENHANCED INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT (TIFES)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  1,709 1,182 2,108 599 851 477 414 483 1,567 
Voluntary Contributions Received 3,931 4,863 2,725 4,269 3,731 4,339 4,483 5,540 3,500 
Expenditures -4,460 -3,941 -4,235 -3,900 -4,100 -4,397 -4,408 -4,447 -4,519 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 2 4 0 -117 -5 -5 -6 -9 -15 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  1,182 2,108 598 851 477 414 483 1,567 533 
          
INDEPENDENT ENTITY - PRE-SHIPMENT INSPECTION DEPOSITS (T0013) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Expenditures 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 
          
PROGRAMME SUPPORT FUND (EPSF1)  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 
Balance Due to Donors as at 1 January  872 998 978 914 996 1,024 939 1,039 804 
Voluntary Contributions Received 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Expenditures -2,140 -2,027 -2,087 -1,996 -2,155 -2,090 -2,211 -1,766 -1,505 
Adjustments (Reimbursement) 2,266 2,006 2,023 2,078 2,183 2,005 2,311 1,531 1,409 
Balance Due to Donors as at 31 December  998 977 914 996 1,024  939 1,039  804 708 
__________