WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
17 October 2011  
 
(11-5147) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Aid for Trade  
 
 
 
THIRD GLOBAL REVIEW OF AID FOR TRADE 
 
18 AND 19 JULY 2011 
 
SUMMARY REPORT 
  
The attached summary report of the Third Gl obal Review of Aid for Trade, which took place 
on 18 and 19 July 2011, is being circul ated to delegations for information.  
 
_______________ 
 
 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Table of Contents 
 
 
I.  SESSION 1:  AID FOR TRADE  – SHOWING RESULTS .................................................. 3  
II.  SESSION 2: AID FOR TRADE – CONSOLIDATING RECOVERY, 
STIMULATING GROWTH .................................................................................................... 6  
III. SESSION 3: AID FOR TRADE – FROM PROJECT RESULTS TO 
DEVELOPMENT IMPACT .................................................................................................. 22  
IV.  HIGH-LEVEL LUNCHTIME SESSION:  AID FOR TRADE – PROMOTING 
FOOD SECURITY THROUGH EN HANCED TRADE CAPACITY ............................... 37  
V.  SESSION 4:  AID FOR TRADE – DELIVERING ON TRADE FACILIATION 
GAINS ......................................................................................................................... ............. 44  
VI.  SESSION 5:  AID FOR TRADE – ACCESSING GLOBAL PRIVATE 
SECTOR VALUE CHAINS ................................................................................................... 51  
VII. KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE SECRETA RY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED 
NATIONS ....................................................................................................................... ......... 63 
VIII. SESSION 6:  AID FOR TRADE – OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO 
REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRAT ION IN AFRICA .......................................................... 65  
IX.  SESSION 7:  AID FOR TRADE – PARALLEL REGIONAL BREAK OUT 
SESSIONS ...................................................................................................................... ......... 77 
A.  PARALLEL STREAM 1 – AID FOR TRADE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN :  
PROMOTING REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRATION FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH  ........................... 77  
B.  PARALLEL STREAM 2A –  AID FOR TRADE AND ASIA:  PROMOTING GROWTH FOR 
ALL IN ASIA .............................................................................................................................. . 88 
C.  PARALLEL STREAM 2B – AID FOR TRADE AND THE PACIFIC : TOWARDS A PACIFIC 
AID-FOR-TRADE STRATEGY  ..................................................................................................... 95  
X.  SESSION 8: AID FOR TRADE – SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION .......................... 104  
XI.  SESSION 9:  AID FOR TRADE – TAKING MONITORING AND 
EVALUATION FORWARD ............................................................................................... 112  
XII. SESSION 10:  AID FOR TRADE – CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD.................... 118  
ANNEX I - ANNOTATED AGENDA .............................................................................................. 135  
  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  I. SESSION 1:  AID FOR TRADE – SHOWING RESULTS 
1. Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), welcomed 
participants to the Third Global Review of Aid fo r Trade indicating that their participation was a 
clear signal of continued political commitment to wards achieving the objectives set out in 2005 at 
the launch of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative. 
2. The Director-General quoted a Millenniu m Development Goals (MDG) Progress report 
prepared by the United Nations which stated that: "Over a 25-year period, the poverty rate in East 
Asia fell from nearly 60 per cent to under 20 per cent" .  He noted that the office printer used to print 
the report was a good metaphor for why the interna tional community was on track to meet the MDG 
target of halving the proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day by 2015.  The printer was 
the end point in a production chain that included ma ny hundreds of suppliers working in thousands 
of different locations world-wide.  It was an exam ple of the ever-growing sophistication in "trade in 
tasks" and encapsulated an impressive story of technological innovation, specifically technology's appeal in rendering the intricate and challenging seemingly mundane.  
3. "Made in the world" products such as prin ters, and the technological innovation which 
underpinned them, were one of the reasons for th e progress in poverty reduction in all regions as a 
result of the extension of global supply and valu e chains.  He gave the example of American, 
European and Japanese companies that had made i nvestments in vehicle assembly in China in the 
mid-1980s and noted that in 2010 Chinese companies had made investments in vehicle assembly 
plants in Cameroon and Zambia.  The same trends were evident in Kenyan investment in the East 
Africa Community, as well as Brazilian investment in Central America and in Africa.  Investment 
was not only limited to manufacturing;  services we re also becoming equally spatially diffuse.   
4. The Director-General  stated that the transformative power of global markets was the 
intellectual underpinning Aid for Trade and was the reason for his commitment to finding a positive outcome to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).  This outcome would ensure that the multilateral 
trade rules provided the legal certainty that co mpanies needed to go ab out business beyond their 
borders.  Furthermore, as seen by the collective response to the global recession, these rules were 
also the best insurance agains t the economically impoverishing influence of protectionism.   
5. He identified mutual trust as the foundation of the multilateral trading system and its rules, 
recognising that although these rules had been severel y tested during the recent crisis, the collective 
response had underpinned his belief in the power of what could be collectively achieved.  Aid for 
Trade was integral to efforts to ensure that the be nefits of the multilateral trading system were shared 
as widely as possible.  He recalled the mandate  he had been given at the WTO Ministerial 
Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005 to mob ilize additional, predictable, sustainable and 
effective financing for Aid for Trade to help ove rcome supply-side and trade-related infrastructure 
constraints.   
6. In assessing the balance sheet nearly six years on from Hong Kong, the Director-General 
elaborated on where he believed results could be  shown and where improvements needed to be 
made.  The headline number of a 60 per cent increase  in real terms since 2005 in Aid-for-Trade 
(AfT) resources mobilized provided positive signs th at funding was holding up despite the impact of 
the recession on public finances.  This increase had no t been at the expense of other categories of aid 
and more was now going to the poorest than in 2005.   In addition, there were positive signs that 
progress was being made in bringing coherence to  national and regional development policy by 
integrating trade objectives into policy frameworks and vice-versa.  Donors were getting better at 
supporting these priorities, both in terms of offeri ng support and the way they coordinated this 
support.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  7. Although recognizing that these were creditable ach ievements, the Direct or-General recalled 
that there was a need to show impacts on the ground.  The joint Organization for Economic Co-operation (OECD) and WTO monitoring exerci se which underpinned the Review highlighted 
where results could be shown.  There was a rich and varied picture of the results of AfT implementation activities on the ground ranging from increased export volumes, to more 
employment, to faster customs clearance times and impacts on poverty.  Noteworthy was the 
positive impact on women identified in the results  cited; a greater understanding of how Aid for 
Trade could work in support of trade opening a nd economic reform with positive direct impacts on 
economic growth and poverty a lleviation, including the impact that support from the donor 
community had had on helping embed trade opening and economic reform agendas in a number of 
countries; and an emerging body of research which drew a clear, positive link between Aid for Trade 
and improved trade performance.   
8. On areas where Aid for Trade had progress to make, the Director-General indicated that 
there was a need to make headway in bringing management for development results to Aid for 
Trade.  This was critical for accountability on the do nor side and to assess impact on the partner side. 
There was a need to move ahead on  aid effectiveness in Aid for Trad e, in particular on alignment, 
ownership and other Paris principles.
1  He further recognized, however, that project management 
issues, inadequate funding, sustainability, and problems in partner country systems were too 
frequently cited as shortcomings.  Bolstering privat e sector engagement in the AfT agenda was also 
seen as critical to sustaining AfT interventions be yond the end of support.  The Director-General 
suggested that Aid for Trade should morph into "Investment for Trade".   
9. The Director-General recalled that he had stres sed the need to show results since the First 
Global Review in 2007.  Results were necessary to sustain political interest, and financial resources, 
at a time of growing budgetary constraints for many traditional donors.  He noted the difficulty of demonstrating causality but stressed that the im pact of Aid for Trade was starting to become 
apparent.  Ensuring a more rigorous approach to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to explain better 
the contribution of Aid for Trade was essential.   
10. In closing, he remarked that one of the great est achievements of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative 
had been to start a dialogue between the trade and development communities.  This dialogue had 
acquired a surprising depth – with over 140 ques tionnaires and 275 case stories contributed in 
preparation of the Third Global Review.  This e ngagement was further supported by the presence at 
the Third Global Review of the Secretary Genera l of the United Nations, Heads of Agencies and 
Ministers from developing and developed countries a nd economies.  With reference to an ancient 
Chinese proverb, he said that if development was a journey of a thousand small steps, he could say 
with confidence that by helping countries plug into the global economy, Aid for Trade was helping make this journey shorter.  The Director-Gen eral concluded that Aid for Trade was helping 
developing countries enter a world of "trade in tasks" and was thus offering unprecedented 
possibilities for economic growth, income growth and poverty alleviation.  
11. Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, Or ganisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD) introduced the third joint OE CD/WTO monitoring report "Aid for Trade at a 
Glance 2011:  Showing Results."  He recalled that in 2007, when he had presented the first Aid for 
Trade at a Glance report, the global analysis ha d been supported by detailed information on the 
seven developing countries that had taken part in the first monitoring exercise.  In 2009, there had 
been a much broader coverage of  85 developing countries.  In 2011, the analysis had been based on 
an equally high level of particip ation, and also include d 275 AfT case stories, half of which were 
submitted by developing countries.   
                                                      
1 Paris Declaration on Aid Eff ectiveness (March, 2005).    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  12. The 2009 Aid for Trade at a Glance report ha d argued that the international community 
needed to maintain momentum in  the face of the Great Recession.  The 2011 report showed that this 
had happened and had painted a we lcome picture of Aid for Trade contributing to better lives for 
women and men across the developing world.  The 2011 report illustrated how Aid for Trade was 
becoming a growing priority for an increasing numbe r of developing countries and donors; and how 
it was being connected to the broader development ag enda, with strategies and priorities increasingly 
focusing on competitiveness and trade-led economic growth.  This development demonstrated a 
clear change in mind sets with a true economic tran sformation taking shape in the developing world. 
13. Donors had committed US$40 billion in Aid for Tr ade in 2009, translating to an average 
annual real growth rate of 15 per cent since the st art of the Initiative.  The share of low-income 
countries, and consequently sub- Saharan Africa, had been steadi ly rising, as had the share of 
regional and global programmes.  Disbursements had been growing at a constant rate of between 
11 and 12 per cent for each year since 2006 – r eaching US$29 billion in 2009, confirming that 
donors were meeting their commitments.   
14. The outlook for Aid for Trade was stable, esp ecially with the Seoul G-20 commitment to 
maintain, beyond 2011, at least the levels reached in  the years 2006-2008.  It was noted that some 
OECD countries confronted with large budget deficits  could find it difficult to respond adequately to 
the higher demand for Aid for Trade, but that th e continued growth of South-South cooperation 
would become an important complement to the support provided by DAC2 donors.  It was important 
to continue to make the case for more Aid for Tr ade by demonstrating its value and usefulness and 
taking steps to better measure results to show that progress was being made towards the 
development objectives of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.   
15. Recalling the joint launch of the call for the subm ission of case stories to probe deeper into 
the results of the almost US$100 billion sp ent on Aid for Trade between 2006 and 2009, 
Secretary-General Gurría remarked that 275 case st ories had been received from more than 145 
different respondents, covering all major developing regions and income categories. Nearly half of 
the case stories had been submitted by developing countries, which emphasized the potential for 
knowledge sharing.  The case stories revealed the rising importance of South-South cooperation , not only that of middle-income countries helping low-income countries, but also of low-income countries helping each other.  Collectively, the stories provided a wealth of information on the 
efforts of developing countries, the donor comm unity, the private sector, think tanks and 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to promote tr ade as an engine for growth and development.  
The sheer quantity of activities recounted had proved that AfT efforts were substantial across a wide 
spectrum of countries and were becoming more central to their development strategies.  
16. Recognizing that it was not always easy to attribute cause and effect, the case stories 
nevertheless showed clear results of how AfT pr ogrammes were helping de veloping countries build 
the human, institutional and infrastructure capacity required to integrate into regional and global 
markets and benefit from trade opportunities.  Many of the stories spoke of demand-driven, technical 
capacity-building programmes that were helping count ries define export-oriented growth strategies, 
while others highlighted how aid had enhanced the capacity of trade officials to participate 
effectively in international nego tiations, understand the implications  of agreements and implement 
them once agreed.  A large number of stories detailed how industry-specific programmes addressed market failures to help the private sector be tter access foreign markets as well as how aid 
programmes that assisted private companies in m eeting international standards reported successes 
about becoming part of global value chains.  Accounts of trade facilitation programmes and 
economic infrastructure projects, including regiona l corridors, described how trade costs were 
significantly reduced. 
                                                      
2 OECD Development Assistance Committee.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  17. The case stories cited several factors which were critical for success: ownership at the 
highest political level and active engagement of all domestic stakeholders, including the private 
sector and civil society; long-term donor commitme nt and adequate and re liable funding; leveraging 
partnerships, including with providers of South- South cooperation;  combining public and private 
investment with technical assistance; and suppor tive macroeconomic and structural adjustment 
policies as well as good governance.   These were vital for deli vering the longer-term trade and 
development objectives of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  He recalled that all of the case stories were 
available on the joint OECD-WTO AfT website.
3 
18. Secretary-General Gurría noted that there wa s a need to undertake follow-up activities to 
better understand the results of Aid for Trade in diffe rent contexts and their wider applicability.  This 
knowledge sharing should address the question of how to better demonstrate that Aid for Trade was 
a worthwhile investment for improving trade performance, generating economic growth and 
reducing poverty.  He introduced the OECD publi cation "Strengthening Accountability in Aid for 
Trade", which provided good practices for strengthe ning results in Aid for Trade, suggesting that 
there was much to be gained from working togeth er to measure progress towards partner countries' 
trade development targets.  Such approaches woul d further strengthen count ry ownership which was 
one of the critical factors in ensuring the effectiveness of Aid for Trade.   
19. AfT flows had been growing steadily and AfT programmes were being delivered more 
effectively with developing countries demonstrati ng greater ownership, clear evidence of broader 
stakeholder consultations, and donors continuing to  work towards harmonising their procedures and 
aligning their support around develo ping countries' trade-related priorities.  These positive findings 
were consistent with the conclusions of the r ecent evaluation of the implementation of the Paris 
Declaration.4   
20. Recalling that the challenges of delivering Aid for Trade effectively were not unique, but 
were part and parcel of the broader development effectiveness agenda, he referred to the Fourth High 
Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, to be held from 29 November to 1 December 2011 in Busan, 
South Korea.  Aid for Trade would figure prominently in Busan, and the Initiative would be 
showcased as a prime example of what can be achieved by applying the Paris Principles on Aid 
Effectiveness and how aid can be leveraged to deliv er development outcomes.  It was expected that 
Busan would provide valuable inputs on how to improve further the aid management framework to achieve trade results and show how to further expa nd efforts to build trad e capacity, for instance, 
through new financing modalities,  and knowledge sharing.   
21. In conclusion, he noted that aid was only one source – albeit important for some –  in the 
broader landscape of actors and approaches that supported development.  There was a need to 
welcome the opportunities that were presented by th ese different actors and approaches and to work 
together to build on their achievements and innova tions, some of which had been reported in the 
case stories.  He hoped that by the time of the ne xt Global Review one would be a step closer to 
making the multilateral trading system  more development friendly.   
II. SESSION 2: AID FOR TRADE – CONSOLIDATING RECOVERY, STIMULATING 
GROWTH 
22. Mr. Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank Group stated that the global economy was in 
the midst of a multispeed recovery that highlighted the move towards a new multipolar economy.  
While noting the astounding changes over the past ten years, he was of the view that the institutions 
and systems of the international economy, whether in finance, development, climate change or trade, 
                                                      
3 http://www.aid4trade.org   
4 http://www.oecd.org/document/60/0,3746,en_21571361_34047972_38242748_1_1_1_1,00.html    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  were behind the curve of change.  He saw the Globa l Review as an important opportunity to catch up 
on policy.   
23. With South-South prospects expanding and in creased opportunities for developed countries 
in developing markets, Aid for Trade was a practic al example of aid as self-interest, not charity.  
While the right AfT investments could boost deve lopment, it could also boost global growth and 
business opportunities if markets were kept open.  As an illustration, he provided the case of import 
demand from China given that it had grown by almost 40 per cent – substantially faster than in developed countries.  Similarly, the share of trad e between the least-developed countries (LDCs) and 
emerging markets had increased from 20 per cent to 32 per cent over the last decade. 
24. He recalled his former role as US Trade Representative where he had advocated open 
markets based on the recognition that lower barrier s needed to be combined with complementary 
policies and that building markets required both the "hardware" and the "software" of trade.  He 
noted that the US had viewed free trade agreements as tools of development, as well as of trade, and 
he had sought to build other elements into these agreements such as ports, infrastructure, business 
climate, customs rules, trade finance, support fo r logistics chains, assistance with standards, and 
many other dimensions of a competitive economy.  At the same time, building markets involved 
helping people, especially the poorest and hardest hit,  to adjust to new circumstances.  These were 
the challenges that were at the core of Aid for Trade. 
25. Mr. Zoellick provided examples of what the World Bank was doing on Aid for Trade.  In the 
transport sector, with delays and losses imposing as significant a trade cost as tariffs, the World 
Bank, using newly collected data from 98 countries, estimated that each additional day a product 
was delayed between the factory and the ship reduced trade by more than one per cent.  He observed 
that this was both a "hardware" and a "software" problem and that stakeholders needed to address 
weaknesses in roads and ports, as well as custom s and other regulations.  In 2010, World Bank 
support for transport was around US$8.4 billion with  two-thirds of this focused on roads and 
highways, particularly in the South Asia Region.  
26. Further examples were provided of the Bank' s AfT support.  These included the National 
Trade Corridor Improvement Programme in Pakistan  where targeted investment lending for key 
reforms were focused on enhancing export compe titiveness and accelerating industrialisation, and 
the Trade and Investment Gateway Project in Ghan a which focused on building a flyover bridge and 
road network linking the economic hubs with exis ting routes, creating a multi-purpose industrial 
park and resulting in more than 3,000 investment  projects valued at over US$12 billion, and more 
than 300,000 new jobs.  In Cameroon, the World Customs Organization and the Bank had worked 
with the customs authority to in crease transparency and revenue collection by establishing individual 
and team performance contracts with measurable indicat ors.  In less than two months, there had been 
impressive results: revenues had increased by an av erage of five per cent per customs declaration – 
the equivalent of US$30 million a year.  Over 90 pe r cent of the customs declarations in Cameroon 
were now assessed the same day they were lo dged by customs' brokers.  These "hardware" 
investments needed to be implemented in tandem with improvements in regulation.   
27. The World Bank Group was also working with African Regional Economic Communities to 
strengthen regional integration, in particular through supporting the establishment of transport 
corridor management authorities to ensure goods  flowed more easily between neighbouring 
countries. The Bank was also working more closely w ith the private sector, given that traders were 
uniquely positioned to assist with trade facilitation.  The Bank had, for example, partnered with the 
global express delivery industry to help improve customs procedures.   
28. Mr. Zoellick recalled that in March 2011 he and Pascal Lamy had met with business leaders 
in Washington, requesting them to provide examples  of their activities to build trade capacity.  These WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  stories had been compiled into a booklet, and it  was hoped this would encourage more development 
agencies and multilateral development banks to partner with the private sector.   
29. He noted that improving conditions at borders c ould also have an enormous impact on trade 
flows.  In some parts of Africa, for example, tr aders had to pay a multitude of fees (both formal and 
informal), deal with multiple, uncoordinated bor der agencies, and suffer long delays.  In the 
Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, passe ngers and traders crossing by boat to Brazzaville 
– only 3km away – were obliged to go through 16 border agencies.  Similarly, business travellers 
between Cotonou and Lagos – two cities in West Afri ca that were only 120 km apart – preferred to 
travel by air in order to avoid crossing the land border between Benin and Nigeria, as well as the 30 
or more road blocks along that corridor.   
30. To facilitate cross-border exchanges, the Bank had been supporting border modernization 
and trade facilitation initiatives and the results had been striking.  The East Africa Regional Trade 
Facilitation Project, covering Kenya, Uganda, and Rwa nda, used the One Stop Border concept.  This 
had resulted in a reduction of border clearan ce time for cargo at the Malaba post on the 
Kenya-Uganda border from an average of almost two days five years ago to an average of only 
seven hours in 2011.  This was projected to furthe r decrease to four hours by 2014.  The Bank had 
seen similar results at the Gatuna post on the Ugan da-Rwanda border.  Transit time on the Northern 
corridor that covered all three East African count ries had now been reduced from 19 days in 2006 to 
nine days 2011 and the Bank was aiming for a re duction to five days by 2014.  These positive results 
were partly due to demand for better services by the business community, as well as the governments' realization of the benefits to  competitiveness of improved efficiencies.   
31. Mr. Zoellick noted that during 2008 when the lack of provision of, and access to, trade 
finance had negatively impacted on exports, the World Bank Group, together with the WTO, had 
worked to help mobilize additional resources.  These efforts had boosted trade credit guarantee 
coverage for developing country banks, many of them in Africa.  In 2011 the Bank was still 
supporting trade with emerging markets worldwid e through its expanded Global Trade Finance 
Program, run by the Bank Group's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).  
In 2011, IFC was working with more than 200 issuing banks in 84 emerging markets through this Program and in fiscal year 2011 had issued US $4.56 billion in guarantees, a 32 per cent increase 
over the previous year.  The Bank had recently  topped US$10 billion in guarantees and this 
milestone had been marked by a deal for a So uth-South shipment of steel from Malaysia to 
Viet Nam.  Over 40 per cent of the guarantees i ssued by the program had been for South-South 
trade.   
32. He noted that at the height of the crisis, on discovering that guarantees were not enough, the 
Bank had created the Global Trade Liquidity Prog ram.  This program has supported more than 
US$12 billion worth of trade in developing countries and the Bank estimated that 80 per cent of this 
financing supported small- and me dium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and 25 per cent was for trade with 
companies in sub-Saharan Africa.   
33. Mr. Zoellick emphasized that there was still a lo t more work to be done to improve market 
access, especially for developing countries, and that the trade policy agenda had to keep up with the 
fast-paced changes in the world economy.  The trad e in goods model had to shift to a more complex 
agenda, including behind-the-border issues such as domestic regulation and services.  He offered a 
few suggestions for moving forward.  Efficiency of  domestic regulation for service sectors needed to 
be improved.  Backbone services such as finance,  telecommunications, and logistics affected the 
productive potential of all sectors of the economy.  Moreover, trade-facilitating investments were 
unlikely to earn high returns unless there were mean ingful reforms in these sectors.  Helping the 
service sectors to perform better would improve growth and competitiveness, as well as overcome poverty.  The Bank had been helping developing c ountries with tools to improve their regulatory  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 9 
 
 
  environments.  For example, it worked with pa rtners to establish knowledge platforms on services 
and regulatory reform to give policymakers acces s to the best-practice knowledge, increasingly from 
other developing countries.   
34. The impact of trade projects and programmes needed to be better assessed so that 
stakeholders could learn what worked best and where to make improvements for which the Bank had 
developed an analytical framework for AfT impact  evaluation for which cons istent data on outcomes 
and impacts was needed to do an analysis.  As trade policy became increasingly complex, however, 
it was becoming harder to get clear, accurate trad e data.  Information on non-tariff measures was 
fragmentary at best and regulatory regimes for se rvices were poorly monitored and understood.  He 
announced a first step the Bank was taking toward s improving access to trade data by launching a 
new initiative on Transparency in Trade (TNT).  TNT would make information on trade flows, 
tariffs and non-tariff barriers – including those polic ies that affect trade in services – publicly and 
freely available and easily accessible to all users.   The initiative was a partnership between the 
World Bank Group, the International Trade Centre , the UN Conference on Trade and Development, 
and the African Development Bank, in cooperation with the UN Statistical Division.  TNT built 
upon the Bank Group's own experience with its Open  Data Initiative launched in 2010.  The Bank 
was also developing "software" to offer new t ools and accessibility and had launched an "Apps for 
Development" competition.  These efforts had alr eady made an impact since, for example, the 
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) had adopted the Bank's Tariff Reform Impact Simulation Tool to examine the impacts of  regional trade liberalization and two Members – 
Burundi and Rwanda – had used the mechanis m to receive compensation from the COMESA 
Adjustment Facility for tariff revenue losses.  He  called for a revolution in open information for 
trade to support open trade.   
35. Greater focus needed to be placed on promoting internal trade.  Helping to connect lagging 
and more remote regions to large, high-growth are as within countries would spread the benefits of 
trade.  Logistics costs in remote regions were of ten high due to the smaller scale of production. In 
this regard, the World Bank's Trade Facilitation Facility could help finance improvements.   
36. Mr. Zoellick made reference to possible grow th and employment opportunities within the 
relationship between China and Africa.  China em ployed 85 million people in lower value-added 
manufacturing,  in comparison  with the 10 million workers in that sector in Sub-Saharan and North 
Africa. As China was moving up the value-added ch ain and a shift in demographics was occurring, 
as underlined by the 12
th Five Year Plan, a modest shift of 5 million workers to Africa would add to 
Africa's manufacturing workforce by 50 per cent or  more.  He expounded on what would be required 
to induce Chinese manufacturers to locate some of their production in Africa and bring their 
marketing and supply chain networ ks: good industrial zones; suppor tive infrastructure; reliable 
energy; effective customs systems and logistics – b acked by workers with education and work skills. 
That was the AfT agenda.   
37. He predicted that Africa could be a pole of  growth if stakeholders helped lay the 
groundwork. Developing countries in Asia, Latin Am erica, and the Middle East could be home to 
new investors, firms with global brands, and pr oductive enterprises that moved beyond the middle 
income traps. All this could give a boost to de veloped countries that were restructuring their 
economies to focus on future growth. In light of this  he expressed the view that the fate of the Doha 
Round was deeply disappointing.   
38. Mr. Zoellick provided his assess ment of the current DDA negotiations by stating that 
negotiators from key countries – developed and developing – had fo lded into defensive crouches 
with tactical ploys overwhelming strategic visi on and leadership.  Although noting the concerns 
regarding domestic politics, he argued that leader ship was critical if opportunities were not to be WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 10  
 
  missed.  He noted that "dumbing down Doha" wa s defeatist while also acknowledging that no one 
country could carry the load alone.   
39. He questioned what the US may have gained by holding off cuts in farm subsidies that were 
now under threat from budget cuts. He also made re ference to the elimination of the ethanol tariff 
and the zeroing rule for anti-dumping and suggested that some Mode 4 services opening could boost 
US growth.  He further questioned whether some of these moves – or others – would have enabled 
the US to obtain some of the manufacturing or service openings it needed to carry the deal. 
40. In his view, US negotiators would wait a long time for instructions from the US Congress to 
close a deal given that Congress viewed the re sponsibility resting on the Executive branch.  He 
suggested that Congress recognized that trade deals,  such as Doha, were sold as binary choices of 
'for the international trading system or against' a nd that the defensive posture had started late in the 
Bush Administration, even though President Bush ha d pushed hard for a deal.  He concluded that the 
fault was bi-partisan in nature and that it was a missed opportunity for a pro-growth strategy at a time when the US – and the world – needed one.   
41. Mr. Zoellick recognized that the responsibility for failure did not rest solely with the US as, 
at critical moments, principal emerging markets ha d found their own reasons to stall negotiations.  
These emerging economies had preferred manoeuvring and rationalizing over closing a deal and 
from an economic perspective, lower barriers to tr ade and services could have helped them fight the 
inflation they faced today, improve their producti vity and competitiveness, and move up the value-
added chain. He suggested that at a time when developing countries were investing greatly in 
infrastructure or in environmental improvements, they should also have agreements in place to 
reduce barriers to trade in construction equipmen t and green goods and services.  Emerging markets 
also had a strategic interest in a dynamic, forward-looking global trade system because if 
market-opening slowed, the justifications for cl osed markets would be applied increasingly to 
South-South trade.   
42. Mr. Zoellick expressed the understanding that th e WTO was "crawling toward a small deal 
at best" but that such a mini-deal would have little impact on global growth and would leave the 
WTO behind the big changes that were occurring in the global system.  He compared the visionary 
actions of more than sixty years ago which led to the creation of international organizations such as 
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund  (IMF) and the open global trading system now 
embodied in the WTO, to what was required today. In the aftermath of a gl obal financial crisis and 
concerns over sovereign debt, the world was at anot her critical juncture in history where that same 
visionary leadership was needed.  Instead of declaring Doha dead he urged WTO Members to get 
bolder and "double-down on Doha" by "thinking ahead and thinking big".   
43. He recalled that many developed economies we re urgently looking to reduce spending and 
drive growth through increasing productivity. Ther e was an opportunity not only to make needed 
cuts to subsidies and tariffs, but to bind tho se commitments in the WTO in return for expanded 
market access in emerging econom ies. Likewise, larg e emerging economies, which had returned 
more quickly to growth but which faced their risk s from inflation and rene wed protectionism, could 
lock in much of what they had been seeking for decades. He suggested that these emerging countries 
should in turn make meaningful offers of their own, especially in services and industrial goods. He 
noted that the largest business federation in the United States was already calling for a zero-tariff 
agreement with the European Uni on and that there was growing interest in developed economies for 
a plurilateral services agreement that could excl ude many emerging economies.  Concern about new 
patterns of South-South trade and investment wa s already leading to exclusionary arrangements 
among emerging economies as well.  He warned th at the trade agenda could switch elsewhere.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 11 
 
 
  44. Mr. Zoellick concluded that in this crisis there was an opportunity.  There was a chance for 
developed countries and newly emer ging economies to gain benefits and lock these in permanently. 
There was an opportunity for the poorest developing countries to realize – at little or no cost – the gains of the DDA.  Seizing this opportunity would take bold leadership and possibly new approaches 
that recognized that the world now had a very different international economy.  The connection 
between aid and trade could be part of the WTO' s renewal. Even more important would be the 
connection between development and trade: whether S outh-North, South-South, or North-South.  He 
suggested that this was the basi s of an even stronger partnership between the World Bank Group and 
the WTO and he urged Members to think ahead and think big so that the WTO did not fall behind.  
45. Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 
preceded her formal remarks by agreeing with the position of the World Bank President that the 
DDA required an injection of commitment and as piration.  She reiterated the importance UNDP 
attached to Aid for Trade and noted that the join t OECD-WTO report, "Aid for Trade at a Glance 
2011:  Showing Results", suggested that Aid for Trade was becoming more central to development 
strategies.  Developing countries were seeking to strengthen their competitiveness, advance regional 
integration, and diversify thei r exports, and the Aid-for-Trade Initiative was highly relevant in 
advancing these aspirations.  UNDP recognized the potential of trade to expand opportunities for 
local entrepreneurs, generate employment, deep en local skills, and grow both economies and the 
domestic revenue needed to sustain development progress; hence UNDP's central interest was in seeing trade harnessed as a vehicle for achieving sustainable human development.   
46. She suggested that more countries and people n eeded to be able to benefit from trade.  
LDCs' share of world merchandise trade, for exampl e, remained at just under one per cent of the 
total in 2009 and UNDP saw Aid for Trade as cr itically important for building the capacities of 
LDCs to trade.  UNDP's work with the Enhan ced Integrated Framework (EIF) was centred on 
advancing those capacities – including in a number of Pacific Island countries, Comoros, Bhutan, 
and the Central African Republic.  As a result of this work in Comoros, for example, its trade 
ministry had been able to identify opportunities in the country's tourism, fisheries, and agriculture 
sectors, and improve the management of its main port – all highly conducive to improving its trade 
prospects.   
47. Ms. Clark suggested that in order to take Aid for Trade to a new level, concerted effort was 
needed to mainstream trade in national development strategies to ensure that trade was seen as a key 
contributor to development.  The Third Global Review pointed to progress on mainstreaming, but 
more was needed to ensure that trade strategies we re translated into operational action plans and that 
budget allocations backed them.  To support this wo rk, UNDP and the EIF Secretariat, had released 
a publication entitled "A Practical Guide to Mainstreaming Trade", which was aimed at making the best use of trade as a development instrument.   
48. Ms. Clark observed that for trade – and the grow th it generated – to drive achievement of the 
MDGs and other internationally agr eed goals, the benefits needed to reach more people.  In general, 
many women and minorities who experienced margina lization were less likely to benefit without 
changes in policy and practice.  UNDP had been u ndertaking work in Africa to target support to 
women entrepreneurs engaged in cross-border tr ade, and looked forward to working with AfT 
partners to do more work in this area.  UNDP wa s committed to helping take the EIF forward, noting 
that measures needed to be taken to improve both knowledge sharing and delivery, including by 
connecting partners within virtual communities an d networks.  Ms. Clark suggested exploring in 
future discussions how all partners could ensure  the sustainability of national implementation 
arrangements.   
49. She noted that the demand for Aid for Trade w as great, but tight fiscal circumstances among 
many traditional donors meant that growth rates in AfT flows of recent years were unlikely to be WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 12  
 
  sustained.  In this constrained environment it had become more important than ever to demonstrate 
results from development investments.  The Global Re view affirmed the importance of that, but also 
showed that doing so was not a simple exercise . Capacity building took time and causality between 
investment and poverty reduction,  and other development outcomes, was not easy to show.  Setting 
expectations of outcomes and measuring and re porting results against them were among the 
challenges which every development actor faced.  Ms . Clark believed that all partners were seeking 
to implement best practices in this area, as each wanted to demonstrate the value of projects and 
efforts to stakeholders and partners. 
50. Moving forward, South-South cooperation was be ing scaled up and held great potential. The 
same was true for regional integration and she was pleased that UNDP was continuing to support the 
efforts by COMESA and of the East African Commun ity Secretariats to build their policy analysis 
capacities.   
51. In conclusion, Ms. Clark endorsed the view  that the assessment of the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative to date could be deemed to be broadly pos itive.  The test going forward was to ensure that 
Aid for Trade worked to generate inclusive growth  and achieve sustainable human development, and 
that all partners could demonstrate how the i nvestment contributed to inclusive growth and 
achievement of sustainable human development.   
52. Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General, WTO, introduced the heads of regional development 
banks present, noting that within the past five years these institutions had become highly engaged 
and  indispensable partners in the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  This was evid ent in the formidable 
reaction of the regional development banks to the trad e finance crisis where, in partnership with the 
World Bank Group, the regional development banks stepped in very vigorously.  The regional 
development banks had become a real part of the AfT family.   
53. Mr. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) expressed 
thanks to Mr. Lamy for the work he and his te am had done on the agenda for Aid for Trade.  
Mr. Lamy had been the engine behind all of this  activity and the evidence was overwhelming that 
Aid for Trade was working.  There had been  some additionality and many countries were 
mainstreaming trade policies into national programmes.   
54. He reported that the AfDB had continued to s upport the Initiative by bolstering lending for 
both hard and soft infrastructure and over the last decade had committed around US$10 billion to 
these activities.  In the past three years, AfDB  had financed more than 150 projects, supporting 
investment into Africa.  Additionally, in accord ance with the G-20 call, AfDB had provided counter 
cyclical investment in trade finance which was required to minimize the impact of the economic 
crisis.   
55. Mr. Kaberuka observed that in the past many c ountries in Africa had not been able to make 
full use of market access because trade-related infrast ructure and trade capacity had been lacking.  It 
was important that attention continued to be focused  on the trade agenda.  He further explained that 
almost every African country was suffering energy shortages with capacity usage often less than 
50 per cent and power outages increasing the cost of doing business.  The AfDB was trying to 
address this, especially in light of Mr. Zoellick's re commendation that Chinese factories could, in the 
future, shift some of their production to Africa.   
56. He further noted that the economic growth of th e past decade, which had been stimulated by 
trade, needed to fulfil three conditions.  It needed to  be sustained, resilient, and inclusive.  The recent 
events in North Africa demonstrated the potential im pact of growth that was not inclusive or that 
was not sustained over a certain period of time and he hoped that in the coming years, the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative would give emphasis to how to make growth inclusive, and how to improve  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 13 
 
 
  the trade capacity of many countries in Africa that were not able to take advantage of improved 
infrastructure.   
57. Mr. Kaberuka focused on the regulatory and institutional framework, showcasing the case of 
energy.  He noted that although Africa was now ab le to attract private businesses this was hampered 
by poor institutions, regulations, and conditions.  He argued that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative should 
place greater emphasis on this area so that the region could attract greater investment in the energy 
sector, which would complement the progress made on trade facilitation and infrastructure.  He 
concluded by confirming the AfDB would contin ue to support the regional economic communities, 
but that it was also important to move into tw o other areas – regulatory and institutional frameworks 
– that presented the biggest impediments to Africa's capacity to trade.   
58. Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asia n Development Bank (AsDB), remarked that 
trade had underpinned the Asian-Pacific region' s phenomenal growth and poverty reduction over 
past decades.  Since 2006, the Asian Developmen t Bank had co-hosted three Aid-for-Trade regional 
review meetings with the most recent held in Jak arta in June 2011.  Mr. Kuroda concentrated his 
remarks on  three key issues – how Aid for Trade coul d help sustain growth;  how all partners could 
ensure accountability to stakeholders;  a nd how best practices could be shared.   
59. On the first issue, Mr. Kuroda remarked th at Asia had largely moved beyond recovery 
through the use of effective stimulus policies.  It  was generally accepted that developing Asia needed 
to rebalance the sources of growth more toward  domestic and regional demand and that this was 
already happening to varying degrees.  Complex production networks had bol stered intra-regional 
trade, which created jobs and higher incomes, and this in turn created demand for both domestic and 
imported products.  Rebala ncing would also contribute to resolv ing global payments imbalances.   
60. He noted the AsDB's active engagement  on these issues.  The Bank's additional 
crisis-related lending assistance had amounted to  approximately US$8.6 billion between 2008-2010, 
which included US$2.5 billion for its Countercycl ical Support Facility and the expansion of its 
Trade Finance Program.  In the next three years,  AsDB planned to further increase its support of 
trade facilitation and also continue to help stre ngthen trade institutions through loans, grants and 
technical assistance – as had occurred with Indonesia's Eximbank and Cambodia's Ministry of Commerce.  Additionally, AsDB had recently established the Asian International Economist 
Network to help build the region's trade policy capacity.   
61. In his view, the challenge would be to ma ke Asia's development more equitable and 
inclusive.  The majority of the world's extreme poor still resided in Asia and LDCs needed to be 
brought into the equation.  The region needed to close the gap between Asia's surging economies and 
those mired in poverty through isolation, limited re sources, miniscule trade and inadequate finance. 
Better strategies were called for, along with more Aid for Trade.   
62. With regard to the second issue of accountability, specifically how donors reported results 
and ensured that aid reached its intended destin ation, the AsDB, as signatory to both the Paris 
Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, w as committed to achieving aid effectiveness.  The 
Bank worked with its developing member countries  to ensure its strategies and assistance were 
aligned and responsive to their development needs a nd strategies.  Under AsDB 's long-term strategic 
framework, Strategy 2020, a corporate-wide r esults framework allowed for better delivery of 
tangible benefits to clients and strengthened accountability to stakeholders.  The framework formed 
the basis of the Bank's Development Effectiven ess Review, which included an annual scorecard 
using 77 performance indicators with baselines and ta rgets that had been agreed with shareholders.  
This illustrated where AsDB had been successful, where challenges remained, and where remedial 
action was required. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 14  
 
  63. Turning to the issue of how all partners c ould share what worked. Mr. Kuroda said that 
AsDB's regional programmes were multi-donor and r ecipient-based.  The Bank had had success in 
the Greater Mekong Sub-region in Southeast Asia and was using that experience for new trade 
projects such as the Central Asia Regional Ec onomic Cooperation program and the South Asia 
Sub-regional Economic Cooperati on programme, among others.  Th e Regional Technical Group 
(RTG) for Aid for Trade for Asia-Pacific was anot her important avenue.  Here, partners helped 
define needs and identify what worked best a nd the Group's collective knowledge had been made 
more open and accessible through the Regional Tec hnical Group Report, which was available at the 
Review.  The Bank also used its experience and le ssons learned to spread best practices as, for 
example, was done in June when AsDB had agreed to share its Trade Finance Program 
documentation and know-how with colleagues at th e AfDB to enable a replication of its own 
successful programme.  It was hoped that this would lead to greater South-South trade. 
64. He emphasized that there was no "one-size-fits-a ll" approach to Aid for Trade. Developing 
economic corridors, fostering public-private pa rtnerships, donor coordi nation, and effective 
monitoring and evaluation were common elements  of Aid for Trade and AsDB's experience 
suggested there were large returns where ther e was political commitment and effective donor 
coordination.  In conclusion, Mr. Kuroda emphasized  that Asia needed more Aid for Trade.  The 
Banks's 45 years of experience had shown what work ed and where the region should be heading and 
he looked forward to the Bank continuing as a trus ted development partner in making Aid for Trade 
work best to reduce poverty.   
65. Mr. Thomas Mirow, President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 
(EBRD) reiterated the EBRD's strong support of th e WTO's Aid for Trade Initiative, especially as 
enabling private enterprises to take part in interna tional trade was at the heart of EBRD's activities.  
The Bank had been established to promote the tran sition of the former centrally-planned economies 
of Central and Eastern Europe towards democracy and market economies.  The EBRD's shareholders were now requesting that it support the transitions in the Southern and Eastern 
Mediterranean region as well.  
66. He observed that one of the key challenges was to integrate all of these economies, and 
especially their SMEs, into international markets so  that they could fully benefit from the know-how 
and technology transfer, the much greater market size, and the competitive culture associated with 
trade.  Integration needed to be at the core of any long-term growth strategy.   
67. Mr. Mirow recalled the recent financial crisis , which had been the focus of the Second 
Global Review, and noted that the EBRD region ha d suffered tremendously in the crisis.  Gross 
Domestic Product (GDP) had declined by 5.2 per cent in 2009 and in some countries the numbers had been much more extreme.  The decline in exports, which ha d plunged 13 per cent by volume, 
had been as much a contributor as had been the global financial retrenchment.  He recalled the 
Second Review's discussion of how the internationa l institutions could help mitigate the crisis and 
the agreement that the availability of trade finance w as a key risk area.  This was also an area where 
the international institutions had been able to act and in response, the EBRD had nearly doubled the 
trade financing lines available under its progr amme, from €800 million to €1.5 billion.   
68. The commercial appetite for trade finance had now improved, together with recovery in 
output and trade.  However, the global economic en vironment remained very fragile, and vigilance 
was needed.  At the EBRD this meant that the Bank continued to  operate at a high level of around 
€9 billion in annual financial commitm ents.  He emphasized that even though direct crisis response 
measures such as liquidity support for enterprises and banks were declining again in favour of 
long-term projects, the Bank remained read y to respond to any renewed volatility.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 15 
 
 
  69. Mr. Mirow recalled that the theme of the 2011 Review was the measurement of results.  In 
this context, he very much welcomed the appro ach chosen by the WTO and OECD to gather case 
stories in order to compare experiences.  The stories complemented the numbers.  He provided some perspectives from the EBRD's own assessments in thr ee areas.  First, in trade finance, the Bank's 
trade facilitation programme had operated in its  present form since 1999 and had supported over 
10,000 international trade transactions for a total of €6.6 billion.  The Bank had recently conducted a 
comprehensive survey among 96 banks in the region that had received support under this 
programme.  The results suggested that the areas of highest impact had been grant-financed training 
and advisory services to help banks technically to develop their trade finance operations, and the 
expansion under the programme of the Banks' networks of commercial bank partners in the rest of 
the world.  As a result, many partner banks had been able to graduate from the programme.   
70. Second, he mentioned trade-rela ted transport systems and infrastructure.  Support in this 
area had been critical for landlocked countries in  Central Asia.  For example, the EBRD had 
rehabilitated the major road connecting Almaty in  Kazakhstan and Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Republic 
in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank,  Islamic Development Bank, and World Bank.  
Following this rehabilitation the traffic had grown nearly ten-fold from 4,000 to 30,000 vehicles per 
day.  The project had offered a natural divisi on of labour between the Multilateral Development 
Banks (MDBs), with EBRD focusing on improvement s in the institutional mechanisms to ensure 
regular maintenance of rehabilitated roads. Severa l similar projects were  under implementation or 
consideration.  
71. His third area related to SMEs, which ofte n lacked the basic knowledge and capacity to 
engage in international trade.  Providing access to  financing, though important, was not sufficient.  
Under the grant-based business advisory services programme, EBRD had provided advisory support 
to more than 10,000 small companies in the region.   For example, projects that helped to find 
suitable suppliers for higher quality production and new marketing strategies improved a company's 
visibility abroad.  This had been the case of a wi nery in Armenia, which had been one of the case 
stories submitted by EBRD for the Global Review .  Finally, in Tajikistan, one of the poorest 
countries of the region, since 2007  EBRD ha d established a framewor k that targeted the 
development of linkages between farmers, financ iers, and agri-businesses given the importance of 
agriculture and cotton, to the economy.  Combini ng standard microfinance with finance involving a 
reputable international trading company had helped  farmers access good finance, sell their products 
for exports under better cond itions and improve their yi elds substantially.   
72. He concluded from these experiences that for th e EBRD's impact on trade facilitation to be 
sustainable in the long-term, it was important to focus on know-how and skill transfers.  Provision of 
financing needed to be accompanied by techni cal assistance focusing on these aspects.  He 
confirmed that the EBRD was committed to playing its  part in the common effort to promote Aid for 
Trade and would participate in efforts to improve  the dissemination of trade facilitation experiences 
under the WTO's lead.   
73. Mr. Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-A merican Development Bank (IaDB) noted that 
over the past two decades emerging economies ha d made remarkable progress in macroeconomic 
and social indicators.  Latin America and the Cari bbean (LAC) had been at the centre of this trend 
since over the last 20 years inflation had fallen from a regional average in the triple digits to about 
seven per cent; foreign debt had dropped from 28 to 10 per cent of regional GDP;  per capita income 
had more than doubled from US$5,200 of purchasi ng power to US$11,200;  and poverty rates had 
fallen from 50 per cent of the population to about one -third.  The region had improved on a scale that 
few had believed possible.   
74. The rapid evolution of Latin America and the Caribbean's international trade had played a 
key role.  During the past two decades the average customs tariff in the region had fallen from 45 to WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 16  
 
  just nine per cent and trade liberalization had ta ken hold in the form of customs unions, as well as 
bilateral and plurilateral preferential and free trade agreements within the region and with countries 
across the globe.  Until 1990, only 15 free trade agre ements (FTAs) had been in existence.  Now, 
some 70 had entered into force.  In 1990, the United States had accounted for 60 per cent of the 
region's foreign trade and Asia for just 10 per cen t.  In 2011, these figures were 40 and 20 per cent, 
respectively. Intra-regional trade had risen tenfold,  to US$180 billion in 2010.  Latin American firms 
had embraced globalization and were robustly incr easing their operations around the world.   
75. He recalled that these impressive trends had no t been devoid of challenges.  Most recently, 
the 2008 global economic crisis had threatened to derail years of progress.  Nevertheless, the region 
had weathered the crisis without major dama ge and had achieved ra pid economic recovery 
afterwards.  The IaDB's AfT contributions had play ed a pivotal role during the downturn, especially 
in assisting the region to overcome limited access to cr edit for international trade.  By the end of 
2010, the Bank had approved credit lines and had issu ed guarantees in support of more than 1,000 
individual international trade transactions totalling over US$1.1 billion.   
76. Mr. Moreno noted that much remained to be done, and Aid for Trade should not be seen as a 
crisis-weathering mechanism, but rather as a long-te rm growth instrument.  The Bank estimated that 
the region was fulfilling only 50 per cent of its ex port potential due mainly to obstacles related to 
low productivity, innovation, education, and infrast ructure gaps.  Except for mining and agriculture, 
productivity levels had stagnated for the past 15 y ears, with services lagging the most.  There were 
low levels of public investment in infrastructure:   two to three per cent of GDP compared to an 
average of six per cent in Asia.  Additionally, priv ate sector investment had also slowed.  Logistics 
costs were still too high – they continued to range  from 18 per cent to 34 per cent of the value of 
traded goods, compared to an average of nine per cent in the OECD countries.  Finally, high 
transport costs were pervasive and continued o ffsetting benefits from tariff liberalization.   
77. He expressed the IaDB's commitment to usi ng Aid for Trade as a tool for addressing these 
obstacles.  Between 2008 and 2010 alone, the IaDB  had approved over US$17 billion in Aid for 
Trade Other Official Flows, in addition to around US$600 million in concessional AfT flows, aimed 
at improving economic infrastructure, productive ca pacity, and trade policy.  He was pleased to 
highlight that a new window of opportunity fo r boosting the Bank's AfT support was now available 
with IaDB's 2010 General Capital Increase.  The Bank was now committed to lending 15 per cent of 
its operations by 2015 to achieve global integration,  with a strong focus on regional integration.  In 
addition, in 2009 the IaDB had pioneered the crea tion of an AfT Fund thanks to contributions from 
the Canadian, British, and Swiss governments.   
78. These instruments would allow the Bank to make  complementary investments in order to 
create economies of scale and leverage resources.  According to a new set of IaDB data, the 
expected returns by 2020 of an ambitious progr amme of reforms and investment in global and 
regional integration were impressive.  Latin Ameri ca and the Caribbean could increase intra-regional 
trade by almost 50 per cent if investments were made in parallel in trade and regulatory policy 
reforms, including trade facilitation and logistics, and in regional physical connectivity, particularly 
road transport infrastructure and upgrade of por ts and maritime services. He emphasized that 
pursuing these goals would require increasing IaDB's wo rk with the private sector in order to take 
advantage of synergies and boost impact.  The Bank was already working alongside organizations 
such as the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Enterprise Singapore Board.  
In addition, he was pleased to announce that th e Bank was about to engage formally with other 
organizations such as Walmart and the US Ch amber of Commerce to focus on women economic 
empowerment and trade facilitation.  This was only the beginning of outreach efforts to the private 
sector, and he certainly looked fo rward to expanding this list.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 17 
 
 
  79. As part of this holistic approach, the Bank would scale up resources in five areas:  reducing 
transport costs and investing in transport connectiv ity;  acting in all segments of the logistics and 
supply chains;  reforming trade policy and regul atory and investment frameworks;  supporting 
cost-reducing energy integration; and developing  sustainable trade and investment integration 
corridors.  The Bank was already seeing impact on the ground.  For example, work on trade 
facilitation and infrastructure was progressively lead ing to significant cost and time savings and on-
going investments were contributing to improved roads cutting travel distances from eight days to just 2.25 days, substantially slashing customs clearance times and costs.  The capacity-building 
efforts in standards had resulted in regional agri cultural products achieving certification and gaining 
access to key export markets in the United States and Europe, generating jobs and increasing income 
for SMEs in rural areas. IaDB's technical assi stance and export promotion programmes were 
facilitating the integration of women and i ndigenous people in global markets.   
80. Mr. Moreno noted that this progress reinforced IaDB's commitment to ensuring that Aid for 
Trade was delivered according to the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.  In 
particular, emphasizing results and donor-beneficia ry coordination would allow the Bank to take 
advantage of past experience and more easily iden tify targets, indicators for measuring results and 
impact, and information on what was working, what was not, and why.  At the same time, collaboration across regions, through initiatives such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, was pivotal 
given LAC's and Asia's ever-growing share of intern ational trade.  There was also a need to boost 
coordination between trade and finance ministri es as a means for increasing resources and political 
will for large-scale trade facilitation and infrast ructure initiatives such as integration corridors 
currently planned for Mesoamerica and South America.   
81. He asserted that the Aid-for-Trade Initiativ e was on the right track.  Analyses and case 
stories showcased at the Global Review reinforced his conviction that Aid for Trade was an effective 
mechanism for catalysing the res ources needed to achieve the target of doubling production and 
trade in just over a decade.  He concluded by  sharing his vision for Latin America and the 
Caribbean: a region that was stronger and more confident in the global arena and that was ready to 
take advantage of the benefits of international tr ade in order to close social gaps and fulfil its 
promise of a more prosperous, equal society for its people.   
82. Mr. Waleed A. Al-Wohaib, Chief Executive O fficer, International Islamic Trade Finance 
Corporation (ITFC) noted that for the Islamic De velopment Bank (IsDB) Group, trade had a very 
significant importance due to its critical role in economic growth and development for its member 
countries, especially LDCs.  In this context, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) had set a 
target to increase the intra-OIC Trade volume from 15 per cent in 2005 to 20 per cent by 2015.   
83. To meet this challenge, the IsDB Group had taken on a number of strategic initiatives, 
including the establishment of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation in 2008 to support the economic development of its 56 member  countries.  The ITFC's mission was "to be a 
catalyst for the development of trade among OIC member countries" and its vision was "to be a 
recognized provider of trade solutions for the OIC member countries' needs".   
84. The Aid-for-Trade Initiative was critically importa nt to help LDCs and small states benefit 
from increased trade and economic growth, as well as from economic cooperation and integration.  
Mr. Al-Wohaib recalled that the IsDB Group had been  a part of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative from the 
very beginning and had consistently expressed its support of strengthening inter-institutional 
coordination to effectively address these issues.   
85. Mr. Al-Wohaib highlighted the main efforts of the IsDB Group to support and strengthen 
intra-OIC trade.  To date, the Group's trade fina ncing had amounted to US$40 billion or close to 
60 per cent of the Group's lending volume, and, in  2010, ITFC trade financing had amounted to WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 18  
 
  US$2.6 billion, of which 44 per cent had been allocated  to LDCs.  Since the start of its operations in 
January 2008, ITFC had provided cumulative trade financing of US$9.2 billion.  Under its Trade 
Cooperation and Promotion Program (TCPP), ITFC, on behalf of the IsDB Group, was playing a 
leading role in developing and delivering integrat ed trade-related technical assistance projects.  
These projects included an important number of activ ities that fell within trade promotion, capacity 
building, trade facilitation and develo pment of strategic commodities.   
86. In 2010, the IsDB had created the Group Tr ade Related Issues Committee (GTRC), under 
the chairmanship of the ITFC, to  harness synergies for the trade -related activities at the IsDB Group 
level.  To achieve its objectives, the GTRC had established five sub-te ams on Aid for Trade:  
Transport and Trade, Trade Competitiveness, Aid for Trade, Integrated projects and Trade and 
Agriculture.  In addition, the IsDB had an ex tensive WTO-related Technical Assistance and 
Capacity Building Program for its member countries that aimed to facilitate the integration of OIC 
members into the multilateral trading system.  Th is Program was geared towards enhancing the 
institutional and human capacity of its memb er countries on WTO related subjects.   
87. He noted that the IsDB Group had enhanced the scope of trade transactions through the 
Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment  and Export Credit which provided export credit 
and re-insurance facilities to exporters, banks, trad e financiers and export credit agencies. It had 
facilitated trade and investments totalling US$6 82.6 million over the last three years and had 
provided export credit and investment insurance products that protected policy holders from both 
political and commercial risks arising from cross-border trade and capital flows.   
88. Mr. Al-Wohaib recalled that the IsDB Group played a particular role in private sector 
support through the Islamic Corporation for the Deve lopment of the Private Sector (ICD).  The ICD 
provided a variety of financial products, such as dir ect financing through equity participation, lines 
of financing to commercial banks and National De velopment Financing Institutions, short term 
corporate finance, asset management, structured financing, and advisory services to public and 
private companies.  By the end of February 2011 , its accumulated financing approvals had reached 
US$1.8 billion, allocated to 204 projects.   
89. Mr. Al-Wohaib emphasized that infrastructure development was one of the critical factors 
necessary for leveraging sustainable long-term ec onomic growth and development and was at the 
heart of the IsDB Group's assistance to its member countries.  Over the past three years about US$7.5 billion had been approved for several infrastru cture projects in various sectors, particularly 
energy, transport, water, and information and communications technology (ICT).  The IsDB Group 
had financed road projects in the Asia Region to  the amount of US$2.3 billion for the development 
of a transport system which included major bridg es, roads, highways, railways and ports.  In the 
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, th e IsDB Group had financed over 27 transport 
operations of over US$1 billion for th e development of major roads, railways, ports and air service.  
In addition, the IsDB Group was partnering with  the World Bank in leading the Regional Cross 
Border Trade Facilitation and Infrastructure Progr am and Project for Mashreq Countries. For the 
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Region, the IsDB Group had financed 63 operations to the amount of 
US$1.1 billion for the development of transport systems in SSA member countries. The IsDB had 
financed part of the Trans-Saharan road networks  linking Mali, Niger, Algeria and Burkina Faso.  
The Bank was also considering financing the Sene gal-Sudan Railway Line Project.  The Bank had 
also financed road projects in sub-Saharan Africa for developing East West (Trans-Sahelien) and 
North South (Trans Saharan) Corridors primarily to  promote trade between member countries. Other 
examples were regional roads between Ma uritania and Mali, Djibouti and Somalia. 
90. In early 2008, the IsDB had launched a Spec ial Program for the Development of Africa 
(SPDA).  The objectives were to sustain the gain s recorded under the Ouagadougou Declaration and 
to help African member countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 19 
 
 
  The sectoral priorities under the SPDA were pro-poo r, intended to achieve the MDGs and promote 
economic growth and regional integration.  The SPDA focused on agriculture for food security;  water and sanitation;  powe r generation and distribution;  transpor t infrastructure;  education; and  
major communicable diseases.  The SPDA had earmark ed US$4 billion over five years (2008-2012), 
for which it planned to generate a tota l financing volume of US$12 billion.   
91. Mr. Al-Wohaib highlighted that since 2009, I TFC had offered, in cooperation with the 
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Development 
Programme (UNDP), its full support for the launch of the Aid-for-Trade Road Map for the United 
Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Region.
5  Through this 
programme, ITFC was supporting SPECA Member Countries' efforts to build their productive 
capacity, trade infrastructure and the necessary lega l and institutional framework for capitalizing on 
emerging global and regional trade and development opportunities.  
92. One of the key outcomes of the Ministerial Meeting on the Aid-for-Trade Road Map for 
SPECA, held in Baku in December 2010, had been the signing of a Ministerial Declaration that identified key priority areas that should form the focus of national and regional trade development 
plans.  He called on international organizations , development partners and donors for effective 
cooperation in implementing the different proj ects identified through the Aid-for-Trade SPECA 
initiative.   
93. He announced that the ITFC was in the fina l stages of launching an initiative on Aid for 
Trade for the Arab States in cooperation with the Le ague of Arab States and specialized international 
organizations such as WTO, UNDP, Internationa l Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations 
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).  In this context, a consultative meeting had been 
held in July 2011 at the League of Arab States  headquarters in Cairo to  design and develop the 
initiative. He had had the honour of briefing the new S ecretary General of the League of Arab States, 
H.E. Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi, on the importance of th is initiative.  Dr. Al-Arabi had welcomed the 
initiative in support of inter-Arab trade, and had expressed the readiness of the Arab League to 
support this endeavour. 
94. Mr. Al-Wohaib believed that Aid for Trade was vital for long-term development and 
structural change.  But, he noted, there was no " one-size-fits-all" or "blanket approach" to AfT 
projects or initiatives.  In this regard, IsDB's experience suggested a number of approaches for 
making Aid for Trade more effective.  Regiona l approaches that supported national development 
strategies were the best ways to multiply the be nefits of Aid for Trade;  cross-border economic 
corridors were at the heart of successful AfT programmes; and strong partnerships between 
governments, the private sector, and the donor community ensured the sustainability of benefits. 
95. The IsDB Group was fully cognizant of the fact  that its member countries were undertaking 
policy reforms and measures to mainstream tr ade as a development tool for long-term and 
sustainable growth.  However, their efforts n eeded to be complemented.  As a South-South 
institution, IsDB believed that trade could be th e engine for growth for its member countries and 
would make further efforts to mobilize required res ources to bridge its existi ng financing gaps.  He 
concluded by emphasizing the importance of incr eased cooperation with mu litlateral and regional 
development partners in carrying forward the Ai d-for-Trade Initiative in OIC member countries as 
the IsDB Group moved toward implemen tation and resource mobilization.   
96. The floor was opened for comments and the representative of Kenya, behalf of the African 
Group, thanked both the WTO and OECD for successfu lly organizing the Review.  He remarked that 
                                                      
5 SPECA economies include Afghanistan, Azeb aijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, 
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 20  
 
  the economic crisis that had engulfed the globa l economy in 2008 had caused both panic and fear 
globally as more funds had been diverted to bail-out s in order to stabilize national economies.  This 
situation had created anxious moments in the developing world particularly as it related to 
sustainability of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other related programmes.  In this 
regard, the role played by the IMF and the MDBs  in stemming the crisis, and by the WTO in 
ensuring that protectionism did not emerge, was appreciated.   
97. He noted that although the global economy, partic ularly in the developing world, had started 
to show good signs of recovery, the low and prolonged economic recovery in the developed 
economies still posed challenges to programmes su ch as ODA and Aid for Trade.  He emphasized 
that Africa appreciated that Aid for Trade had assumed growing importance and that strong 
commitments had emerged from all stakeholders – development partners, recipient countries, 
multilateral agencies, civil society and the private sector.  Its funding was still received as part of 
ODA and therefore the challenges related to measuring the impact on trade still persisted.  He further 
noted that funding commitments had increased but disbursements had not.  This would therefore 
require both donors and recipient countries to revi ew the eligibility criteria to ensure that 
commitments were easily translated into disbursements. 
98. In conclusion, he placed further emphasis on the importance attached to Aid for Trade.  The 
growth of Aid for Trade and disbursements by bilateral, multilateral and regional development 
partners should therefore continue to be expanded.  The commitments should also be translated into 
disbursements for the support of supply-side constraints and trade-related infrastructure 
programmes. 
99. The representative of Barbados, on behalf of  the Small and Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) 
congratulated the WTO on the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.   SVEs continued to have a significant need 
for aid to finance and to facilitate trade among th emselves and with third countries.  This included 
assistance with respect to port, customs, transpor t, containerization, trading logistics, trade 
information collection and analysis, as well as physical facilities and provision of support services in 
trade related areas.  The group therefore looked to AfT programmes to help them achieve these 
objectives and acknowledged the progress made thus fa r through the delivery of the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative.   
100. SVEs were also anxious to be assured that th e increase recorded in AfT funding would lead 
to increased exports, since for some economies, espec ially those that had just begun to emerge from 
recession, this was particularly important.  Thoug h there was no specific mandate for Aid for Trade 
to assist with trade preference erosion difficulti es, it was hoped that by improving competitiveness at 
the margin, Aid for Trade would realize the positive promise it held for some countries.  This was 
important as preference erosion had been very damaging to several SVEs.   
101. She noted that SVEs bore higher costs per unit of service delivered because of their small 
size and the need to set up costing systems for small volumes was a major disadvantage.  These 
challenges occurred whether the country was low or  middle income.  A speci al framework for SVEs 
could be helpful in order to ensure that all SVEs, irrespective of income levels, were able to benefit 
from the delivery of Aid for Trade, including that  administered through the World Bank.  While the 
kind of Aid for Trade needed among SVEs was, for th e most part, very similar to that needed by 
LDCs, there was very often a need for improved soft  infrastructure, which could reduce the cost of 
trading and improve the speed of trade and trade-related activity.   
102. The representative further emphasized that im provements in the enabling environment for 
businesses was an important benefit which Aid for Trade could deliver.  By improving the process time and reducing costs, it would be possible to tu rn marginal projects or projects with negative 
margins into projects which could produce positive retu rns.  Assisting countries in articulating trade  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 21 
 
 
  priorities in national development programmes was pa rt of achieving a successful AfT agenda and to 
this extent, mainstreaming of Aid for Trade into the policy frameworks of SVEs could be a valuable 
approach.  SVEs were working on how such a pr ogramme, specifically designed for SVEs, could be 
possible with the help of the WTO.   
103. Developing an AfT typology which could help countries attract other sources of domestic 
and foreign investments was important.  It was the exporter's share of trade which was most 
important to SVEs and to this end, while greater grow th in trade could lead to faster development, it 
was important for SVEs that growth on the export side be greater than import trade.  Studies had 
shown that SVEs share of trade had declined sin ce 1980 and some had become marginalized.  It was 
therefore crucial that SVEs seized this opportunity, with the assistance of WTO, to help them correct 
the relative deterioration in their position.  She al so hoped that AfT initiatives could lead to greater 
income and greater employment in the private sector.   
104. In evaluating the effectiveness of  the Aid-for-Trade Initiative, it had been reported that Aid 
for Trade was associated with improved exports .  However, an overall evaluation of the 
effectiveness of Aid for Trade would be helpful in  guiding potential beneficiaries as to the areas 
where they could more effectively concentrate.  Sh e noted that this item was on the agenda for the 
Global Review and welcomed that undertaking.  An  improved analytical framework would also be 
helpful in that regard. She noted that this had also been placed on the Review's agenda.  The case 
stories were a very good start, a nd the SVEs congratulated the WTO on this initiative.  Finally, while 
the potential of Aid for Trade was important, there was a need to avoid overlap in measurement of 
Aid for Trade and to ensure additionality of funding.   The benefits of Aid for Trade continued to be 
important for developing countries and the benefits for SVEs woul d be enhanced if they were 
successful in accessing the desired assistance for mainstreaming Aid for Trade into their policy 
frameworks.  
105. The representative of France, as Presidency of the Group of Twenty (G-20) noted that the 
AfT community was moving forward with methodologies to put in place a shared culture of 
evaluation of Aid for Trade.  It was essential that  these reflections be shared among all stakeholders 
to ensure coherence in international activities.  In June 2009, France had elaborated a new strategic 
framework for Aid for Trade which sought to a ddress a number of issues.  Beyond financial 
commitments of its pluri-annual programmes and the implementation of programmes such as the 
strengthening of trade capacity, France had established procedures for follow-up and monitoring, such as a monitoring of financial commitments, the creation of an inter-ministerial monitoring group 
to identify specific indicators, verification that activ ities conformed to the Paris Declaration, and an 
evaluation of activities.  He also noted that th ese objectives included regional integration, better 
integration of commodities in AfT strategies a nd strengthening the capacities of the poorest.   
106. He recalled that these reflections had also b een incorporated into the G-20 Working Group 
on Development, co-chaired by South Africa, Kore a, and France.  The Group had identified in the 
Seoul Action Plan nine pillars that related, dir ectly or indirectly, to Aid for Trade: trade, 
infrastructure, human capacity building, private investment, employment creation, food security, 
financial inclusion, domestic resource mobilizati on, and knowledge sharing.  Of these pillars, two 
were high priorities for the Group, namely food security and infrastructure.  Promotion of infrastructure was urgent, as it was a major constrai nt to growth.  The G-20 needed to provide 
concrete solutions in this area and the G-20 President had proposed that the Group list the 
infrastructure projects ready for rapid financial mobilization for presentation at the G-20 Summit in 
Cannes in 2011.  He reported that multilateral ba nks and experts were involved in the work.   
107. With regard to trade, the G-20 was worki ng on a number of issues, such as regional 
integration and trade financing where the recomme ndations of the MDBs were sought.  He stressed WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  the importance of coherence in international activ ities and concluded that the Third Global Review, 
through the sharing of experiences and expertise, w ould enable the G-20 to fine-tune its strategy.  
III. SESSION 3: AID FOR TRADE – FROM PROJECT RESULTS TO DEVELOPMENT 
IMPACT 
108. The Moderator, Ms. Shada Islam, Friends of  Europe, opened the discussion with a question 
posed to Japan's State S ecretary Takahashi.  She noted that the AsDB had dubbed this century the 
"Asian Century."  She asked Mr. Takahashi to d escribe the processes that were driving this growth 
in Asia, as well as the RTG report which Japan, toge ther with the co-chair, Cambodia, had prepared 
on development in the Asia-Pacific region. 
109. Mr. Chiaki Takahashi, State Secretary for Fore ign Affairs, Japan, recalled the severe natural 
disasters faced recently by Japan and expressed appr eciation for the condolences received.  He noted 
that Japan was a major donor in terms of Aid for Tr ade with the main recipient countries being India, 
Vietnam, and Indonesia in the Asian region.  Japan  was very active in Aid for Trade and had many 
success stories and useful examples to share.  In th at sense, Asia was a showcase for Aid for Trade.  
As a major donor country in Asia, Japan would cont inue to engage and share its experiences with 
donors and other regions.  Japan, along with Cambodi a as co-chair, had set up a Regional Technical 
Group (RTG) for Asia-Pacific which would contin ue to make positive contributions on Aid for 
Trade.   
110. The Moderator recalled that sessions that morn ing had highlighted that domestic reform 
combined with trade opening was driving economic  growth.  Support from development partners 
was helping lay the foundations fo r domestic and foreign investment.  Turning to Minister González, 
she noted that this formula sounded familiar as Costa Rica had devoted a lot of time and budget on 
trade liberalization and economic reform. She as ked Minister González to explain what was 
currently happening in Costa Rica on Aid for Trade.   
111. Ms. Anabel González, Minister of Foreign Trad e, Costa Rica, explained that with a small 
market encompassing 4.6 million inhabitants distribu ted over 50,000 square kilometres, Costa Rica 
had realized, since its first coffee exports in the 1800s, that integrating into world markets had to 
become an essential component of the country's deve lopment strategy.  After an economic crisis in 
the 1980s, Costa Rica had embraced trade libera lization and economic inte gration with renewed 
resolve.  Over the past 20 years, the country had promoted the reduction and elimination of tariff and 
non-tariff barriers, improved market access conditions through free trade agreements and other instruments, increased flows of foreign direct inv estments, and enhanced participation of domestic 
firms in exports. Complementary policies such as st rengthening education, improving infrastructure, 
keeping a stable economy and reinforcing the rul es-based system had contributed to Costa Rica's 
further integration.  
112. She noted that Costa Rica was now an open ec onomy with very positive results in terms of 
growth, diversification, and sophistication of exports as well as in attracting foreign direct 
investment (FDI).  Exports of goods had grown almo st five fold in 20 years, from US$1.8 billion in 
1991 to US$9.4 billion in 2010, making Costa Rica the first per capita non-natu ral resource exporter 
in Latin America.  Business processing, design, research, and engineering had become increasingly 
important over the past decade.  In 2010 these servic es had surpassed tourism for the first time as the 
number one service export from the country.  
113. In terms of diversification, the number of exporting firms, products exported, and 
destination markets had also increas ed significantly.  In terms of sophistication, in 1994, 8.4 per cent 
of Costa Rica's industrial exports had a scientific basis.  In 2010, this number had grown to 36.3 per cent.  Participation of exports of high-t ech products in total exports made Costa Rica the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 23 
 
 
  first per capita exporter of high-tech goods in Latin Am erica and the fourth in the world.  In terms of 
FDI, since 1991, investment flows had grown at an average yearly rate of 11.5 per cent.  Whereas 20 
years ago most investment had been directed to the agriculture sector, in 2011, investment in the 
productive sector was mostly concentrated in adva nced manufacturing, life sciences, and the services 
sectors.  On a per capita basis, Costa Rica was one of  the largest recipients of FDI in Latin America, 
which was quite significant considering that investment in the country was not directed at natural 
resource exploitation.   
114. Minister González further explained that Costa Rica's integration into the world market had 
led to GDP growth, employment and poverty reducti on, with the latter being the most relevant.  
Poverty levels had been reduced by 35 per cent over the past 20 years.  Costa Rica's story showed 
that for a small developing country with no natu ral resources, international trade was the only route 
to growth.  
115. The Moderator recalled that the process require d political leadership, sustained commitment, 
and complementary policies and she asked Minist er González what role development assistance 
played in that process.   
116. Minister González recalled that the most effective and sustainable way of eradicating 
poverty was through increased economic opportunity.  Fo r a small country this was directly related 
to its ability to participate in world markets.  She also noted that integrating into world markets was 
not an easy task, with factors from both the demand and supply side impacting a country's success.  Aid for Trade therefore had an important role to play in supporting a country's long-term national 
development strategy, in particular by helpin g to address existing constraints and promoting 
adequate conditions to increase e xports of goods and services.   
117. In the framework of the Third Global Review, Costa Rica had showcased its experience with 
Aid for Trade in three areas:  (i) enhancing the go vernment's and the private sector's capacity to 
negotiate, implement, and enforce trade agreements;  (ii) integrating SMEs into the export process 
by linking them to the productive chains of multi- national enterprises with i nvestments in Costa Rica 
as strategic suppliers of goods and services, and (iii) supporting the transition from a state telecom 
monopoly to an open telecom market, in particular in the process of regulatory reform and institution 
building.  The experiences had shown that Aid fo r Trade contributed to expanding and strengthening 
Costa Rica's international trade platform, improving the business climate, and increasing local capacity to take advantage of trade opportunities.   All these elements had been key components of 
Costa Rica's growth and development strategy.  
118. Minister González believed there were at least four factors that needed to come together to 
make successful AfT initiatives.  First, main streaming the trade perspective into national 
development programmes.  Aid for Trade could not wo rk in isolation, nor was it an end in itself.  
Second, channelling Aid for Trade as a supportive featur e of efforts to liberalize and integrate into 
the world economy. If a country was not willing or interested in trading, then Aid for Trade would 
not serve its purpose.  Third, guaranteeing an eff ective enforcement of the principles that guided 
good governance and transparency in the administra tion of resources.  And fourth, aligning donor 
agendas with countries' strategies and needs.  Development aid could serve a very good purpose 
when directed to the economy and complementing private sector efforts to promote growth and 
development.   
119. The Moderator  noted that the processes were mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive, 
and that with the right policy mix, trade opening and economic growth could alleviate poverty.  She 
then turned to the representative of Cambodia.   She noted that Cambodia had come through years of 
civil conflict and its background was quite diffe rent from Costa Rica's.  Since development WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 24  
 
  assistance had an obvious role to play in a human itarian sense, she asked why the Government had 
focused on Aid for Trade.   
120. Mr. Sorasak Pan, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce, Kingdom of Cambodia, 
suggested that Cambodia had placed emphasis on trad e as it was an engine for growth.  Growth, 
driven in large part by a build-up of export capacity, had had a significant, positive impact on 
income growth and poverty reduction in Cambodia.  Between 1990 and 2000, the share of 
Cambodia's population living on less than US$1.25 per day had decreased from 77 per cent to 40 per cent.  However, in 2010, 30 per cent of Cambodia's population still lived under the poverty 
line.  Cambodia was also one of the top five countries to achieve the MDGs and this positive 
development was the result, in part, of the succes s of the country's garment exports and tourism 
sector.  In 1997 Cambodia's garment sector had been non-existent.  Despite the impact of the global 
financial crisis, Cambodia's garment exports we re now around US$3 billion, surpassing pre-crisis 
levels.  In terms of tourism, the number of foreign visitors had grown from less than 300,000 to 
reach 2.3 million foreign visitors in 2010.   
121. He noted that even employment in the garment and tourism sectors had been concentrated in 
a few areas and that the income created in those sectors was transferred back to rural areas, where 
most of the labour force came from and where most of the poor lived.  Cambodia estimated that one worker supported about five people in rural areas.   
122. Cambodia had also been working to diversif y exports in a new range of products and 
services that created employment directly in poor areas and was beginning to see the results of these efforts.  From 2010 to 2011, Cambodia had exported  more than two million metric tons of paddy 
rice.  More importantly, the private sector was m oving up the value chain through investments in 
modern milling capacity.  In 2010-2011 the country woul d be exporting nearly 60,000 metric tons of 
milled rice, up from nearly none three years previ ously.  The target was to have enough capacity to 
export one million metric tons of milled rice by 2015-2016.  Cambodia was also expanding supply 
capacities and exports in other areas such as fisheri es, rubber, cashew nut and cassava.  Its efforts to 
develop special economic zones were starting to bear fruit as foreign multinationals were beginning 
to invest to tap into Cambodia's labour pool.  Ca mbodia was also working to further develop its 
mineral resources and hoped to produce oil and g as for the first time by the end of 2012.   
123. The Moderator  noted that Cambodia had drawn up an ambitious agenda.  She followed up 
with a question about Cambodia's export agenda and the effect of the economic slowdown.   
124. The Secretary of State said that Cambodia had be nefited, and would continue to benefit from 
Aid for Trade in two significant ways.  First, de velopment partners had helped Cambodia build up 
capacity.  Significant assistance had been received from the US, France, and the EU, to put in place the Better Factories Program in the garment sector.  This had given Cambodia a competitive edge in 
the global market.  Second, development part ners had brought key support to two critical 
cross-cutting areas during the mid-2000s:  legal reform s in the area of trade investment and business 
environment; and reform of trade facilitation capacities.   
125. He noted that while Aid for Trade was necessar y, it was, however, not sufficient to bring 
about sustained change.  For Aid for Trade to be effective over the mid- and long-term, the 
Cambodian experience suggested th e need for two complementary developments.  Aid for Trade 
must be accompanied by strategic leadership fro m the government in the areas of legal reforms and 
trade facilitation.  Cambodia's case stories dem onstrated extensive progress in legal reforms and 
trade facilitation since the mid-2000s.  These two areas had received strong backing and leadership 
from the Prime Minister and consular ministers.  Evidence of success in this area was the increase in 
FDI, which had grown from US$18 million in 2003  to US$850 million in 2008.  Cambodia was 
confident that the leadership taken by the Prime Minister and the consular ministers in July 2010  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 25 
 
 
  with the issuance of a policy paper on the promotion of paddy products and ri ce exports and its focus 
on resolving some critical bottlenecks, including trad e finance, would provide the same leadership to 
help Cambodia achieve its ambitious export targets.  At a regional level, Camb odia had also taken its 
leadership seriously by co-chairing the Asia-P acific RTG Report Process.  Aid for Trade also 
required strong engagement from the private sect or.  Cambodia would not be a strong garment 
exporter without entrepreneurs and investors in this  sector.  The same was true for the tourism and 
rice sectors.  
126. Turning to the Minister of Trade for Keny a, the Moderator asked about the Kenyan 
Government's 2030 Vision and the role that trade played in the national development plan.  She 
noted that Kenya saw trade as a major factor in achieving the MDGs and asked the Minister to 
explain how Aid for Trade could benefit the poor.   
127. Mr. Chirau Ali Mwakwere, Minister of Trad e, Kenya, noted that, globally, trade was 
recognized as an engine for development and could pl ay a pivotal role in the attainment of MDGs in 
Kenya. Vision 2030 was the Government's devel opment blueprint up to the year 2030 and was 
informed by the Government's thinking that Kenya sat on the right geographical position.  With the 
right policy mix and reforms, the country c ould easily emerge as a newly industrializing 
middle-income country by 2030.  The vision was based on three pillars:  economic, social, and political.  These pillars were working towards sta nding on a firm foundation of better infrastructure 
and ample energy. 
128. Of key importance was the economic pillar into which trade was incorporated.  This pillar 
aimed to improve the prosperity of all Kenyans by attaining a ten per cent per annum GDP growth 
rate by 2012 and sustaining that rate through 2030.  By 2007, Kenya had attained a seven per cent 
GDP growth rate, but due to the challenges experien ced during the general elections in 2007, the rate 
had dropped to 1.9 per cent.  Since then, the economy  had regained its growth – during the first half 
of 2011 it had grown by 4.9 per cent, and was expected  to reach 5.7 per cent by the end of 2011.  In 
order to attain and sustain the projected growth rate, the Government was putting a lot of emphasis 
on infrastructure and energy development because th at was the foundation on which the three pillars 
would be built.  Infrastructure and energy t ook 34 per cent of the national budget; hence 
infrastructure development loans had be en very helpful in this regard. 
129. The Minister noted that reasonable gains ha d been realized by opening up the Kenyan 
economy.  For example, in the telecommunications sector, a mobile phone had cost up to US$800 ten years ago.  However, with liberalization of  the sector, service providers were now sometimes 
giving away phones. Innovations such as M-PESA
6 had enabled 70 per cent of Kenyans to access 
cheaper financial services, compar ed to five per cent in 2006.  Through the use of mobile phones, 
Kenyans were able to transmit money anywhere .  Using a mobile phone, a farmer working in 
Nairobi with a small ranch in the rural areas could transmit funds to those taking care of his cattle.  
In 2010, 15 million Kenyans had transferre d an estimated US$7 billion using M-PESA.   
130. Regarding the role that Aid for Trade could pl ay in using trade liberalization to help the 
poor, he gave the example of the fresh produce sector.  The sector had been very successful in Kenya because of the right farm inputs, the right training for farmers, particularly on storage and post-harvest handling, investment in laboratori es and their accreditation and pre-export inspection 
and quality control.  These backward and forward li nkages had helped to link small-scale farmers to 
export markets, increasing the country's exports and improving the welfare of the poorest. Aid for 
Trade received from donors, particularly Japan, ha d assisted in the construction of cold storage 
                                                      
6 M-PESA is an innovative mobile transfer solu tion that enables customers to transfer money. 
 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 26  
 
  facilities, equipping laboratories, and training in the areas of pest risk analysis and had helped boost 
exports.   
131. The Moderator followed-up with a question on Kenya and the East African Community 
(EAC) Common Market.  She noted that the EAC was seen as a trailblazer for other regional 
groupings in Africa and asked how Aid for Trade ha d helped the process of regional integration in 
the EAC.   
132. Minister Mwakwere explained that the EA C had a population of 126 million people and 
included Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, a nd Burundi. GDP stood at about US$75 billion and 
the EAC was contributing to improving lifestyles and eradicating poverty at va rious levels.  Between 
2005 and 2009, intra-EAC trade had doubled in size.  The EAC Common Market Protocol, agreed in 
2000, had opened up further opportunities for trade and integration among EAC member countries.  
He noted that some argued that the EAC was leading the way for other African regional groupings and said that this was true as it had made treme ndous progress with the removal of trade barriers, 
non-tariff barriers (NTBs), and trade facilitation.  This had made it more efficient and cheaper for 
EAC member countries to develop trade internally.   
133. One lesson learned from the development of the common market was that NTBs do more 
harm to cross-border trade than tariffs.  In th e EAC, they had virtually eliminated NTBs and 
mechanisms for monitoring, iden tifying, reporting, and eliminati ng NTBs had been developed at 
national and regional levels.  Elimination of NTBs coupled with harmonization of customs 
regulations, procedures, and other border measure s had made it possible for intra-EAC trade to 
double within a short period of time.  The policy space that had been carved out for weaker sectors 
to prepare for intra-regional competition ha d ushered in trust, goodwill and progressive 
intra-regional trade.  Through this policy carve -out, products from Kenya entering the markets of 
other member states attracted a duty of not less than ten per cent, but on a yearly declining scale.  On 
the other hand, products from other member states  had been zero-rated when entering the Kenyan 
market.  This arrangement had been arrived at on the understanding that Kenya had a more 
competitive manufacturing sector than the other member states.   
134. He further noted that Aid for Trade from the World Bank, regional organizations, the 
African Development Bank, and other bilateral do nors had helped in the development of transit 
corridors in the region and had enhanced efficiency .  The corridors were central to intra-regional 
trade.  Aid for Trade had also assisted in addressi ng behind-the-border constraints which were still 
hindering trade.  
135. Turning to the Minister of Foreign Affairs a nd Foreign Trade and Deputy Prime Minister of 
Jamaica, the Moderator noted that according to Jamaica's recent Trade Policy Review, exports and 
imports had represented on average 90 per cent of Jamaica's GDP since 2005.  She asked what Aid 
for Trade offered Jamaica, given that its  economy was already so trade oriented. 
136. Mr. Kenneth Baugh, Minister of Foreign A ffairs and Foreign Trade and Deputy Prime 
Minister, Jamaica, noted that Jamaica was an SVE and also a small heavily indebted middle-income 
country.  Because of Jamaica's per capita inco me of US$4,800, the country had graduated into 
middle-income status and therefore lacked access to concessionary financing.  He emphasized that it 
had to be recognized that SVEs such as Jamaica ha d no choice but to be trade-oriented.  Exports and 
imports represented 90 per cent of the country's GDP .  Although sounding impressive in isolation, he 
noted that the devil was in the details.  The ratio of goods imports to exports was four to one, with 
exports totalling US$1.4 billion and imports totalling US$4.6 billi on.  Imports had actually fallen 
from US$7.5 billion due to the economic crisis.  This was a huge deficit, which was not 
compensated entirely by services.  Jamaica had a good tourism product and good services, but part  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 27 
 
 
  of the deficit had to be filled by loans. Mercha ndise exports had worsened in the face of the global 
financial crisis, with exports as a percentage of GDP falling from 43 per cent to 24 per cent in 2010.   
137. He recalled that Jamaica's exports were hi ghly concentrated, with bauxite and alumina 
accounting for more than 50 per cent of mercha ndise exports in 2010.  This concentration 
exacerbated Jamaica's vulnerability to external shocks .  Ninety-seven per cent of exports to Canada 
were bauxite and alumina and 50 per cent of bauxite export earnings had been lost in the crisis.  The 
impact of this loss was clear.   
138. The Minister noted that Jamaica's trade ope nness had been achieved through a programme 
of trade liberalization, including the far-reaching st ructural adjustment programme in the 1980s, as 
well as the implementation of commitments to th e WTO, commitments to the Caribbean Single 
Market and Economy, and other free trade commit ments. Jamaica had been a member of GATT 
from its independence in 1963 and a member of the WTO since the WTO's inception.  However, 
thus far, liberalization had genera ted limited benefits to Jamaica.  Openness and market access had 
been insufficient to stimulate growth in the ab sence of a productive, competitive, and diversified 
economic base with exports to pene trate markets and take advantage of existing trading agreements.   
139. There were inherent structural problems that had hampered the realization of the desired 
gains from trade including small size and diseconomies of scale, high debt to GDP ratio, vulnerability to natural disasters, including hu rricanes and droughts, vulnerability to external 
economic shocks, demonstrated by the impact of the recent global financial crisis, heavy dependence 
on imported fuel and high costs of energy and preferen ce erosion.  Jamaica's growth rate for the past 
30 years had averaged less than two per cent.   
140. Jamaica viewed its AfT strategy, together with  the policies already pursued through its long-
term development plan and national export strategy as vital to the new trade and development thrust.  
Jamaica, with the help of the IaDB and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), 
had developed a national AfT strategy designed to address the trade-related structural weaknesses in 
the economy.  The strategy aimed to build needed  capacity, address the lack of competitiveness, 
increase resilience to shocks, and enhance overa ll trade performance including diversifying the 
productive base and creating export-oriented trade economies.  Strategic interventions addressed 
infrastructure; institutional weaknesses such as in ternational quality standards, trade facilitation, 
logistics support; the promotion of the Jamaica bra nd;  and geographical indications such as coffee.  
There were specific opportunities to invest in the "Jamaica brand" such as in creative industries, 
entertainment, music and sports.   
141. He explained that Jamaica's future was tie d to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).  
Promoting AfT strategies for CARICOM was theref ore very important to regional cooperation and 
cohesion.  Jamaica placed emphasis on public and private sector participation as it was essential 
given that much of the work needed to be undert aken by the private sector, particularly given 
Jamaica's inability to take on more loans as a heavily  indebted economy.  He concluded that Jamaica 
was confident that based on results thus far, in cluding the stabilization of the macroeconomics of the 
country, early signs of growth were evident and th e country was on the path to recovery.  Aid for 
Trade would be a very important partner in help ing Jamaica to exit the recession the country had 
experienced for so many years.   
142. The Moderator followed up on the issue of Jamaica's indebtedness, lack of access to 
concessional financing, and lack of export diversity and asked the Minister to elaborate on the efforts 
that would be undertaken in the immediate future.   
143. Minister Baugh noted  that the only sustainable way to reverse the burden and impact of 
Jamaica's debt was through economic growth.  That  could only be done if the country addressed its WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 28  
 
  trade performance and GDP.  Jamaica had a debt to GDP ratio of 129 per cent with 55 per cent of 
this debt being domestic, and 45 per cent external.  Debt servicing costs over the past ten years had 
averaged 112 per cent of the Government's revenue .  Jamaica had focused heavily on the debt 
problem and had made great strides, including th rough the Jamaica debt exchange which had been 
very successful in reducing the fiscal burden of dom estic debt servicing every year.  The programme 
had already resulted in the reduction of domestic in terest rates and had reduced the budgetary debt 
burden from approximately 60 cents per dollar to 45 cents per dollar.  This had been done by 
recalling short-term, high interest rate debt inst ruments and replacing them with longer-term lower 
interest rate debt instruments.  This had resulted in the reduction of interest rates from 17 per cent to 
11 per cent.   
144. Like other small heavily indebted middle-inco me countries, Jamaica faced limitations in 
access to concessional financing. Th e ability to absorb financing was constrained by the country's 
debt profile and the terms of its  IMF programme.  Jamaica continue d to pursue efforts to have the 
concerns of these countries addressed in multilatera l and other fora.  Aid for Trade was designed to 
address Jamaica's private sector initiatives, with the goal of developing pa rtnerships to attract 
investment from local and foreign firms.  This was all part of the plan to grow out of debt and 
achieve its development objectives.  Effective im plementation of its AfT strategy was therefore 
critical.   
145. The Moderator turned to the Minister for Stat e for International Development of the United 
Kingdom, noting that the UK planned to focus "r elentlessly" on results from its development 
programmes.  She asked how this focus would apply to Aid for Trade. 
146. Mr. Alan Duncan, Minister for State for International Development, United Kingdom, 
recalled that just over a year before his party had come into Government, against a backdrop of 
economic difficulty, they had stated the need to not  only maintain the aid budget but to increase it.  
Politically, that was not very easy as they would have to prove that every penny would be spent well.  
Value for money and results were what really mattered.  The UK had conducted two reviews – a 
bilateral aid review and a multilate ral aid review.  On the bilateral side, every single country was 
required to prove that they were delivering results .  Similarly, the multilateral organizations had to 
prove that they deserved funding.  Through this  process the UK had applied a little bit of "tough 
love" and the reviews had produced some very  interesting findings and had equipped the 
Government to make important decisions.  The UK had cut the number of bilateral partners from 43 
to 27 and effective multilateral organizations were  given a substantial increase in funding, while 
funding to four multilateral organizations had been cut.   
147. He estimated that the UK was spending approximately US$1.2 billion per year on Aid for 
Trade.  One of Prime Minister David Cameron's main messages was the importance of trade and the significance of Aid for Trade.  The challenge was to prove the results.  Programmes such as immunization were easy to count, but Aid for Trade was very difficult to measure.  Minister Duncan 
argued that the discipline that needed  to be put in place was to try to count it in order to prove that 
the massive amounts of money were actually worth the expenditure, otherwise tax payers would not 
stand for that money being spent.   
148. He reiterated the importance of monitoring and championing results, as well as the 
importance of talking about the results that were emerging, and not just about the money that was 
going in. Results could be measured in many wa ys.  The UK was working with the Africa Free 
Trade Initiative in funding investment in trans port infrastructure and one-stop border posts which 
were making a significant difference.  DFID had al ready invested in Africa's first one-stop border 
post between Zambia and Zimbabwe in Chir undu where customs clearance and waiting times had 
been cut by 66 per cent, and the results suggested  that truckers were consequently saving about 
US$600,000 per day.  In Lesotho, the UK had establis hed a trade investment facility to reduce the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 29 
 
 
  time it took to process export applications.  Pro cessing times had been cut from seven days to 
15 minutes.  
149. The Moderator  asked Minister Duncan a further question regarding aid effectiveness and 
whether at a time when global aid funding was under pressure, a focus on aid effectiveness was just 
a convenient political smokescreen for donor governments.   
150. Minister Duncan indicated that development effectiveness should not be about cutting 
budgets.  It needed to be about getting more out of  the money spent.  One of the things the UK was 
proud of was its commitment to spend 0.7 per cen t of its Gross National Income (GNI) from 2013 on 
ODA.  He further noted that Parliament was expe cted to pass a law ensuring this.  The Minister 
reiterated that the focus should not be on what was going in, but rather on what was coming out and 
he believed his Government had established a rigorous process for monitoring results.   
151. Effective development assistance required continuity  as fluctuations in assistance would lead 
to poorer results.  He hoped that the UK's efforts w ould be copied across the world.  The Horn of 
Africa and countries such as Yemen illustrated th e fact that the demands on donor resources were 
growing, not shrinking.  That meant that ensu ring effectiveness was a compelling obligation, 
because if total amounts of aid were increased, there were also increasing demands on its allocation.  
If donors did not address value for money, they woul d not be able to maintain the taxpayer support 
they needed for their expenditure.  
152. The Moderator questioned whether this me ssage was reaching other European Union 
members.   
153. Minister Duncan responded that many EU Memb ers were present at the Review and could 
therefore speak for themselves.  He recalled that  a lot of the funding from the UK went through the 
EU, and that the UK wanted the European Developmen t Fund (EDF) to be as e ffective in its work as 
he hoped the UK was.  He further noted that this issue applied not just to the EU, but to every country and institution that had an aid budget, as we ll as the recipient countri es, because recipients 
needed to be as assiduous as donors in making sure money was well spent.  
154. The Moderator  directed her next question to the Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the 
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States.   She noted that under his leadership, the ACP 
had starting to prepare for post-2020 when the Co tonou Agreement would expire.  She asked him to 
explain how Aid for Trade figured in this process as preferences were being phased out and the ACP 
entered the "cruel world" of free trade. 
155. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Secretary-General, Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and 
Pacific Group of States, indicated that the e xperience of the ACP Group was that Aid for Trade 
would work well if the key following elements we re in place, namely, proper targeting and design 
responded to the needs of beneficiaries; flexibilit y of procedures and requirements for access to Aid 
for Trade; adequacy, sustainability and predic tability of resources and technical assistance 
programmes aimed at effective utilization of Aid for Trade.   
156. The Secretary-General focused on three ACP AfT success stories.  The first was the 
Brazilian-supported programme for the development of the cotton industry in the C4 countries – 
Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali.  The proj ect on sustainable cotton farming had resulted in 
positive impacts on cotton yields and was an excell ent example of South-South cooperation.  The 
project also benefited immensely from EU funding and implementation by the ITC.  It was a good example of multi-donor complementarity and mutu al reliance.  The second example was the 
EU-funded Caribbean rum sector programme, which ha d helped Caribbean rum exporters adapt to 
the new trade environment.  This initiative had resu lted in the introduction into the EU market of 18 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 30  
 
  new brands from the region as well as a 140 per cent increase in the number of tourists visiting rum 
production facilities in Caribbean.  This had generated US$140 million in tax receipts for 
governments, a 40 per cent increase over 2003.  Th e third example was the establishment of a 
competent authority in Fiji for fisheries exports with support and funding from the joint ACP-EU Fish II Programme.  The project had addressed th e sanitary and quality issues for Fiji's fishery 
products after the imposition of an export ban by the EU.  The project had covered the inspection 
and control of seafood exports to the EU and ha d resulted in the positive evaluation of Fiji's 
readiness to be placed on the EU's list of appr oved exporters.  These three examples validated the 
success of Aid for Trade within the ACP Group.   
157. Regarding the future of the EDF, he expressed  the view that the Cotonou Agreement would 
need to be clarified.  The partnership between  the ACP and the EU would continue, but the ACP 
would take account of the dynamics and developments in their coopera tion.  An EDF-11 to cover the 
period 2010-2020 had been proposed and he hoped for a 12
th EDF or another a rrangement after 2020 
when the Cotonou Agreement expired.  The ACP had engaged in prospective reflections and had set 
up a working group on future prospects under the ch airmanship of Mauritius.  The most important 
factor was to design an arrangement that would assist Member states to bu ild the institutional and 
productive capacities required to increase competitiv eness, exploit trade opportunities, and enhance 
participation in global trade.  One of principle objectives of the ACP was the harmonious integration into global trade of its membership. 
158. Invited by the Moderator to make some additional comments, State Secretary Takahashi 
reported that Japan had been very active in e nhancing AfT-related measu res so that developing 
countries could realize economic growth through ex panded trade.  Japan had fully implemented the 
first phase of the Development Initiative for Trad e 2006-2008 which promoted AfT-related measures 
and had disbursed US$10 billion of trade-related ODA.  At the Second Global Review, Japan had 
announced its current initiative, the second pha se of the Development Initiative for Trade 
2009-2011, totalling US$12 billion.  Japan ha d fully implemented this initiative.   
159. He noted that monitoring and evaluation was not an easy task.  It was difficult to measure 
how much an implemented project had contributed to the development of partner countries because 
there were a number of variables associated with the process of evaluation.  In order to tackle this 
tough issue, some Asia-Pacific countries, includi ng Japan, had organized the Regional Technical 
Group.  This Group had focused on how to implement Aid for Trade measures effectively in light of the Asian experience.  Recently the results of th e Group's work had been summarized in a report and 
one of the key messages was the importance of FDI for the development of countries.  Japan felt that 
it was important to share with other regions its expe rtise on Aid for Trade gained through its work in 
Asia.  
160. He emphasized that it was particularly importa nt to assist African countries, which were 
now a priority for Japan's ODA and Japan's assi stance to Africa included various AfT-related 
programmes.  In concrete terms, Japan's fi nancial and technical support had focused on the 
development of selected corridors in each region of the continent and included road projects as well 
as ports and bridges.  These infrastructure project s had been planned in cooperation with Africa and 
were implemented based on Japan's experience in Asia.  Simultaneously, to make the infrastructure 
investments more effective, Japan was promo ting one-stop border posts to facilitate smooth 
cross-border customs procedures.  This would help enhance regional integration and was expected to 
achieve economic development by accelerating private sector activities.   
161. He further noted that FDI targeting Africa was rapidly growing.  In 2008, Japan had pledged 
to double Japanese private sector investment to US $3.4 billion by 2012.  Japan had exceeded this 
target in 2009.  He reiterated the significance of FDI for the development of partner countries in light 
of Japan's experiences both in Asian and Africa.  He noted that it would be u seful to share concrete  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 31 
 
 
  ideas of what constituted more effective Aid fo r Trade through an exchange on the WTO-OECD 
case stories.  Japan was happy to support AfT initiatives, such as the RTG, and would explore 
further possibilities for enhancing the trade capacity of developing countries. 
162. The representative of Canada welcomed the Third Global Review's focus on results and 
evaluation. Canada noted that the importance of trade should not be understated as all emerging 
economies had predicated their success on internati onal trade.  Yet Canada's calculations showed 
that in 2007, 51 per cent of the world's population lived in low and lower middle-income countries that accounted for just 7.3 per cent of internati onal trade.  If poverty was to be reduced, donors 
needed to focus on helping countri es and communities become trade-r eady and to take advantage of 
regional and global markets.  Aid for Trade had a critical role to play in trade development and 
poverty reduction. Canada also viewed the succ essful conclusion of the Doha Round as important 
because it would complement efforts in Aid for Trade with market opening.  
163. He further noted that Canada's Prime Minist er had emphasized the need to work towards 
greater aid effectiveness, and Canada saw the Gl obal Review as a step towards ensuring more 
effective delivery of Aid for Trade. Canada's Aid for Trade had recently increased to 
Can$719 million in fiscal year 2010-2011 and, as such , had maintained a steady upward trend in AfT 
spending, meeting G-20 commitments.  Most of Ca nada's Aid for Trade went towards the category 
of building productive capacity and played a critical role in its strategic priority of supporting sustainable economic growth in partner countries.  Canada was concerned about effectiveness and 
value for money and welcomed the WTO-OECD's work on evaluation.   
164. To measure results, two linked but important issues for purposes of planning, 
implementation and evaluation, needed to be sep arated: the impact of Aid for Trade on trade 
performance and/or economic growth in communities or  countries;  and, secondly, the impact of Aid 
for Trade on poverty reduction.  Both were importa nt to understanding the effectiveness of Aid for 
Trade.  He hoped that the results of the Global Revi ew would help clarify the linkage between them.  
In Canada's view, the ability to  demonstrate results at the leve l of trade performance on economic 
growth and on poverty reduction would be importa nt for ensuring on-going donor interest and 
support in future. 
165. He expressed an interest in hearing the panel' s views on the circumstances that enabled Aid 
for Trade to make a difference to the economy, a nd the circumstances that made AfT interventions 
less effective. 
166. The representative of China emphasized that the benefit of trade was mutual for both donors 
and recipient countries.  The success of the Aid-fo r-Trade Initiative and its potential reaffirmed the 
role of the multilateral trading system in prom oting trade and economic development through a 
coordinated effort among the membership.  It wa s in this spirit that the Chinese delegation was 
attending the Review and was eager to share its experiences and expectations.  He reaffirmed 
China's commitment to South-South cooperatio n with other developing countries within the 
framework of the multilateral trading system.   
167. He highlighted the recent announcement by China of its US$400,000 contribution to the 
WTO to set up an LDC accession programme to help LDCs to negotiate WTO membership and to participate more effectively in WTO activities.  LDCs were a very importa nt group within the WTO 
requiring assistance and the contribution demonstr ated China's commitment to LDCs and the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative.   
168. The Moderator noted that some would argue that it was easier to evaluate impacts of 
programmes that built schools or hospitals than assess ing the impact of Aid for Trade, and asked the WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 32  
 
  Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Coope ration and Development of Germany, to share 
Germany's view on this issue.   
169. Ms. Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Cooperation and 
Development, Germany, confirmed that visible r esults such as schools, hospitals and roads, were 
usually the ones that donors focused on given that those were initiatives that could be presented to 
the public.  However, Germany was convinced that  sustainable development had to start in the 
country itself and needed to be driven locally. The impacts of trade reform, for example, were 
indirect, but Germany believed that this impact was equally important.   
170. Germany was the third largest bilateral Af T donor after Japan and the United States, 
providing US$2.6 billion in Aid for Trade. It had carefully considered the importance of getting the 
most out of this contribution and believed that l ong-term policies, although not always visible, paid 
in the end.  Donors had to provide proof of concrete  benefits, especially to the local population.  It 
was also important to build up an investment e nvironment.  Legal frameworks were necessary for a 
good investment environment, and this was somethin g that Germany was continuing to support.  Aid 
for Trade was not the only issue to drive forward de velopment, but it was one very important issue. 
Responding to Pascal Lamy's question in the ear lier session about how to combine trade and 
development, she thought it was important to have  a long-term strategy in the country coupled with 
country ownership.   
171. In response to the Moderator's request to pr ovide information on Germany's attempts at 
facilitating South-South cooperation, Ms. Kopp ga ve a concrete example of these South-South 
exchanges.  She said that Senegal had had a positiv e experience in addressing customs barriers and 
formalities, so Germany had connected Senegal and Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan for them to 
exchange experiences.  As a result, barriers were reduced by 60 per cent in Central Asia.  The secret was to focus on how to simplify customs processes  given that these processes cost money and time 
and thus reduced competitiveness.  Through this experience, Germany had learned that increased 
cooperation and exchanges of experiences offered gr eat potential for reducing costs.  Often, where 
many countries lacked analyses, management cap acity and regulatory capacity, AfT initiatives could 
assist.  Ms. Kopp also confirmed that Germany woul d pursue triangular cooperation in the future in 
other countries.   
172. The Moderator  then referred to a recent USAID study that had found very high returns for 
trade capacity building efforts where US$1 invest ed resulted in US$42 in new exports two years 
later, and asked the Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development (USAID) for his genera l thoughts on Aid for Trade and for further details of the study.  
173. Mr. Eric Postel, Assistant Administrator, USAI D, explained that the study examined the link 
between Aid for Trade and trade, and the link between  trade and development.  The study looked at 
179 projects conducted by USAID to see whether ther e was a direct causal correlation between trade 
capacity building spending and results.  The regr ession analysis found that there was indeed a 
significant relationship and, on a predictive basis, i ndicated that for each dollar invested by USAID  
there was an associated US$42 increase in trade two years later in the recipient country.  This 
finding was consistent with a similar analysis referenced in the World Bank's Economic Premise 
report, which had found that the rate of return to  some types of Aid for Trade could be very high. 
The evaluation also confirmed that these effort s expanded the number of people who benefited from 
trade and that trade capacity building had a poverty reduction impact.   
174. He further noted that the USAID study had focu sed on six questions:  (i) to what extent had 
programmes contributed in a measurable way to im proving trade capacities in partner countries;  
(ii) the impact the projects had on the targeted firms, individuals, associations and sectors;  (iii) which activities had been more successful in achieving their objectives and what had been the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 33 
 
 
  primary factors;  (iv) what combinations of activ ities were more successful and sustainable;  (v) to 
what extent had interventions funded since 2002 achieved their objectives;  and (vi) how could 
USAID integrate monitoring and evaluation into pr ogramme design more systematically.  He noted 
that the report was available online.   
175. The Moderator noted that one difficulty with monitoring impacts was the number and scope 
of outputs that were generated.  She asked Mr. Po stel whether, when speaking with US politicians, 
he needed to speak in terms of contributions or achievements.  
176. Mr. Postel confirmed the importance of addr essing both contributions and achievements as 
evaluating the progress of programmes was politically im portant in a domestic context, but was also 
important to the success of the programming and to the partner countries.  USAID's new evaluation 
policy, which had been instituted in January 2011, reaffirmed the Agency's commitment to 
monitoring and evaluation, accountability, and learni ng.  Previously, USAID had moved away from 
evaluation and had been spending a great deal of time reporting on output data (e.g. the number of 
people trained, the number of workshops organized).   This had not been sufficient, hence USAID 
needed to look at higher level economic results a nd impacts.  The Agency was therefore increasingly 
focusing on results and impacts.  He recognized th at evaluation was also important for programming 
as USAID needed the best possible evidence to work with partners to conduct good project designs.  
A key principle was mutual accountability.  For project M&E to be successful, USAID needed to 
evaluate jointly with partner governments.  
177. The US Congress needed to look at the c ontributions made by USAID's funding assistance 
as well as the collective endeavour with othe r donors.  Donors, partner governments, and 
beneficiaries were all demanding greater transparen cy and greater information to better inform 
decision-making and USAID was committed to documenting achievements and shortcomings. 
Shortcomings needed to be documented in a transp arent way so that lessons could be learned and 
understanding gained on how best to implement Aid for Trade.   
178. The Moderator asked if USAID was as fo cused on Aid Effectiveness as other donors 
appeared to be and Mr. Postel responded in th e affirmative noting that an M&E framework was 
being incorporated into virtually every USAID-sponsored project.   
179. Turning again to State Secret ary Takahashi, the Moderato r asked whether Japan would 
reduce its development assistance in light of the recent natural disaster.   
180. State Secretary Takahashi stated that Japan would continue to support the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative as it had previously been doing and was dete rmined to continue to faithfully implement its 
commitments.  At the same time, Japan would welcome new involvement from emerging donors, in 
terms of South-South cooperation, and would also welcome the opportunity to cooperate with them 
in promoting Aid for Trade. 
181. The Moderator asked Minister González about  the FTAs which Costa Rica was signing and 
asked if this was in search of new sources of growth.   
182. Minister González responded that it was essen tial to look at new opportunities for growth 
arising from international trade.  She asserted that there were five sources that Costa Rica was 
exploring:  (i) demand in developed country mark ets, which were a traditional and very important 
source of growth for many developing countries;  ( ii) growth of emerging economies; (iii) transition 
to a model of green growth economy where inv estments to reduce greenhouse gases would create 
wealth and job opportunities;  (iv)  high investment rates in infrastructure, both physical and soft;  
and (v) enhanced possibilities of developing countri es participating in global value chains made WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 34  
 
  possible by trade liberalization, technological progress, and improvements in logistics and 
transportation systems.   
183. She observed that how to tap into these sources of  growth in the future would be one of the 
most important questions that the trade and in vestment policies of developing countries must 
address.  Costa Rica was still reflecting on this ques tion, but Minister González highlighted a few 
important elements on which Costa Rica was focusing.   First, Costa Rica continued to play an active 
and constructive role in the mu ltilateral trading system, which was the backbone of the country's 
trade policy.  Second, Costa Rica continued to expand and consolidate its trade platform through FTAs.  It currently had 12 FTAs granting preferen tial access to 44 countries, including the US and 
the EU.  An FTA with China would come into effect in August 2011.  Third, Costa Rica was 
working to enhance participation in global value chains.  Current involvement in the electronics, 
medical device, automotive, aerospace, and film de vice value chains was associated with 43 per cent 
of total exports and Costa Rica aimed to consolidate,  expand, and upgrade its participation.  Finally, 
Costa Rica had focused on new opportunities for expor t promotion and FDI attraction, in particular 
through enhancing competiveness and improving th e business climate.  Trade facilitation had a 
strategic role to play in this regard and Aid fo r Trade could play a very useful role in supporting 
efforts to tap into new sources of growth.   
184. The Moderator  opened the floor for comments.   
185. The representative of Bangladesh, on behalf of the LDC Group, noted that the LDC Group 
fully agreed with Cambodia that Aid for Trade was "necessary but not sufficient" for the partner 
beneficiary countries. This should be the premis e for assessing the quality and impact of Aid for 
Trade.  He believed that improved and flexible eligibility criteria and procedures for disbursement 
and implementation would be critical to ensure owne rship and sustainability of AfT programmes.  In 
this context, specific and concrete tools need ed to be developed to improve results-based 
management to enhance accountability.   
186. Recalling the WTO Director-General's opening re marks, he agreed that the Global Review 
was an opportunity to explore the possibility of devel oping tools, particularly for partner beneficiary 
countries, to assess the impact of Aid for Trade on the ground. All stak eholders needed to 
continuously work towards concrete and measurable  indicators, with demonstrable cause and effect 
relationships.  There was a growing recognition a nd need for further strengthening of technical 
assistance and capacity building to promote the ma instreaming of Aid for Trade into national 
development strategies.  
187. With respect to some of the AfT success stori es, participants needed to examine what more 
could be done to enhance the involvement and in puts from partner beneficiary countries in the M&E 
process, in collaboration with development partners .  In this context, the LDC Group underlined the 
importance of incorporating assessment mechanisms into AfT programmes and projects to evaluate their impact on economic and social development.   
188. In conclusion, the representative thanked the Wo rld Bank President for urging key players to 
demonstrate the political will to conclude the D oha Round.  He hoped that the multilateral trading 
system family would continue to work together to  enable WTO Members to move in this direction. 
The Ministerial Conference in December 2011 was an opportunity to agree on an early harvest 
package for LDCs which would be a critical boost for concluding Doha under its "Single 
Undertaking" principle.  
189. The representative of CARICOM affirmed the great importance which the Caribbean 
attached to the Third Global Review. The region had submitted 19 case stories, including four by the 
regional and sub-regional secretariats.  The Global Revi ew represented an opportunity to take stock,  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 35 
 
 
  evaluate the impact, establish best practices, and recommit to Aid for Trade as a development tool.  
Given the uncertainty surrounding the conclusion of the multilateral trade negotiations, Members 
could not fail with respect to delivering trad e capacity building measures required for the full 
realization of the developmental benefits of trade.   
190. The CARICOM region faced the twin challeng es of being small, vulnerable and highly 
indebted economies, with all the attendant features as articulated in the 2006 SVE submission to the 
Aid-for-Trade Task Force.  Some of the more not able characteristics included no automatic linkage 
between trade liberalization and increased exports, high costs of infrastructure, and high dependence 
on trade, albeit with a narrow range of exports  and markets.  The small size and geographic 
dispersion of countries added to the challenges faced in  reaping the benefits of trade.  The Caribbean 
had traditionally been preference-dependent in a global marketplace characterized by a diminishing 
value of preferences.  Mechanisms geared towa rds facilitating trade adjustment were therefore 
required to assist in the recalibration of Cari bbean economies.  This should include support for 
strengthening productivity and trade competitiven ess as such an approach would ensure the 
optimization of the benefits that should accrue from increased market access opportunities.   
191. He noted that the global economic crisis con tinued to dampen the performance of regional 
economies and had further deepened the region's ch ronic indebtedness.  The international economic 
governance architecture had failed to internalize th e specificities of small, vulnerable and highly 
indebted economies as per capita in come was used as a blunt variab le to measure eligibility for 
access to funding on preferential terms.  CARICOM's primary policy response rested with the vigorous pursuit of strengthened regi onal integration.  In that rega rd, the region had established the 
institutional framework for the Single Market and Economy through a Revised Common External 
Tariff (CET);  the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ ) with original jurisdiction on CARICOM Single 
Market and Economy (CSME) matters;  a Cari bbean Competition Commission; the CARICOM 
Development Fund (CDF) for disadvantaged count ries, sectors and regions; and the Caribbean 
Regional Office for Standard and Quality (CROSQ).   CARICOM Heads of Government had already 
signed an inter-governmental agreement establishi ng the CARICOM Agricultural Health and Food 
Safety Agency (CAHFSA).  The Community was working towards operationalizing this agency 
which would be responsible for putting in place the Regional Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) 
Regime.  As the region consolidated the Single Market, additional emphasis would be placed on the establishment of the framework for a Single Econom y through a focus on sectoral development.   
192. The Region was also realigning economic rela tions with major trading and development 
partners, as evidenced by the implementati on of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership 
Agreement (EPA), and the current negotiations for a CARICOM-Canada trade and development 
agreement.  CARICOM countries continued to be  active participants in the DDA process and 
remained committed to the realization of a multilatera l trading system that placed development at its 
core. CARICOM was forging ahead with strength ening regional integration while seeking to 
recalibrate the multilateral trading system in a manner that was recognizant of the development 
needs of SVEs.  
193. CARICOM was also working to enhance its globa l competitiveness.  All of this required the 
active support of traditional development partners and new partners.  The region acknowledged the 
valuable support it was receiving in terms of putting in place necessary soft infrastructure.  
CARICOM Heads of Government had determined  that new assistance should directly address 
private sector competitiveness and job creation.  Tangible results on the ground were required and 
the Heads of Government had identified the ma jor areas where AfT support was needed: maritime 
transport, ICT, and trade facilitation, including SPS measures.   
194. He affirmed the relevance of the four Cari bbean-wide AfT projects which were the subject 
of case stories. These focused on designing projects to attenuate preference erosion, improving WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 36  
 
  regional integration, and increasing private sector competitiveness.  A key example of this was the 
CARTFund – a £10 million facility funded by the UK DFID aimed at assisting Caribbean countries 
to boost growth and reduce povert y through trade and regional integr ation.  Two critical lessons 
could be distilled from this project. First, the rate of disbursement had been strong and dispatched in 
a timely manner.  In light of other experiences of the Caribbean, this was a most welcome 
development.  The second lesson was that offering built-in support for project design and 
preparation resulted in high project approval rates.  It therefore appeared prudent that inserting capacity building measures in AfT projects would yield considerable results.   
195. Another case story submitted by CARICOM was th at of the support to the Caribbean rum 
sector.  This EU-funded programme was aimed at addressing preference erosion and allowed rum 
producers to move up the value chain from exporti ng bulk rum to value-added, branded rum.  A 
business development services window also facilita ted beneficiaries to access support in the 
preparation of project proposals.  One other ma jor characteristic of this programme concerned 
empowering the private sector to seize trade opportuni ties.  These were invaluable lessons that could 
be applied to other AfT initiatives.   
196. The region was also finalizing arrangements w ith the EU for support for the implementation 
of the EPA and was working with IaDB to de velop specific proposals on maritime transport and 
ICT. CARICOM was taking steps to design a regional AfT strategy on the basis of which they would intensify resource mobilization endeavours.  He cited the IaDB for its close collaboration and 
support of this undertaking and also thanked the EU, Canada, Germany, and all other agencies who 
were providing support.   
197. In conclusion, he noted that improvements were  needed in a number of areas.  CARICOM 
needed to convince its partners to disburse funds in  a time-sensitive manner a nd there also needed to 
be greater understanding of the magnitude of the adjustment task facing SVEs.  CARICOM 
remained confident that its part ners would respond expeditiously.  
198. The representative of New Zealand thanked the panellists for their c ontributions and noted 
that one of the key messages was that Aid for Tr ade was not an end in itself but rather a vital 
complement to market access opportunities and effec tive multilateral rules.  In this regard, he 
highlighted the importance of the unfinished work  of the Doha Round that would be crucially 
important to strengthening further the multilateral rules.  
199. He recalled that, to be most effective, AfT initiatives needed to take account of the critical 
constraints to increasing trade and growth in reci pient countries and work in conjunction with other 
efforts to address these constraints.  In the Pacifi c, New Zealand was trying to achieve this by taking 
a much more coherent approach across the supply chain.  New Zealand was strengthening 
connections between support to the productive sector s, particularly fisheries, agriculture, and 
tourism, and the enabling environment, including tr ansport infrastructure, access to affordable and 
reliable energy, trade facilitation, and connections  into higher value markets. In addition, to 
maximize impact, New Zealand was seeking to build  on its areas of expertise, improve coordination 
with other donors, and partner more with the private sector. 
200. In conclusion, he reaffirmed the point made by  Minister Duncan on the importance of shared 
accountability to demonstrate that resources were co ntributing to sustainable economic development. 
If Aid for Trade was not delivering results, donors n eeded to understand why, so as to ensure that 
assistance would be directed to priority areas in an  effective way.  New Zealand was keen to see the 
Global Review's focus on issues that added value to  the implementation of trade-related assistance 
for development outcomes and he hoped that the Review would help maintain momentum around 
this vital issue.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 37 
 
 
  201. The Moderator then provided an opportunity fo r the panellists to deliver closing remarks. 
202. Mr. Postel stated that going forward, he w ould like to see collective action to monitor and 
evaluate programmes and to build M&E into prog rammes in order to guar antee the best possible 
results.  Minister Mwakwere believed that there was a need for additional resources and proper 
monitoring to eliminate poverty and encourage grow th.  Regarding monitoring, although a lot was 
being achieved very little was known.  State Secret ary Takahashi asserted that Aid for Trade needed 
to be continued until targets were achieved.   
203. Secretary of State Sorasak Pan affirmed the n eed for AfT commitments to be maintained by 
development partners.  He noted that the level of support for Aid for Trade should not be affected by 
the economic crisis but rather it should be incr eased.  He also recalled that although development 
partners often pushed for short-te rm development results, it was impor tant to realise that long-term 
commitments were needed for capacity building.  Ms. Kopp believed that cooperation needed to be 
strengthened, export and supply facilities needed to  be improved, particularly in the agricultural 
sector, and that it was also important to work more closely with civil societ y.  On the whole, she 
noted that Aid for Trade was important, but it needed  to be improved, especially in terms of deeper 
cooperation.   
204. Minister González  noted that in the past five years Aid for Trade had evolved from a 
concept to reality, but that there was still great potential to grow, consolidate, and fine-tune its 
effectiveness.  She highlighted three points.  First, regional development banks could play an 
important role.  The IaDB had shown great leadersh ip and commitment to the agenda.  Second, more 
participation from the private sector would further enrich Aid for Trade by anchoring the Initiative in 
economic opportunity and relating it to investment  initiatives.  Finally, she commended the WTO on 
its leadership role in helping to make operati onal the connection between trade liberalization, 
growth, assistance, and development.   
205. Secretary-General Chambas suggested the need for enhanced predictability and 
sustainability of resources.  He highlighted the particular circumstances of SVEs and LDCs and 
expressed the hope that Members would work to harmonize donor requirements, especially where 
several donors funded the same projects. He furthe r suggested the need to design a framework to 
assess the effectiveness of Aid for Trade in order to promote a common understanding of what 
worked and what did not.  Minister Baugh noted that Aid for Trade was a very important vehicle for 
partnerships between the devel oped and developing world, for South-South cooperation, and for 
strengthening regional integration.  He emphasized the need for flexibility so that recipient countries 
would have the opportunity to formulate their polici es and identify the interven tions that were most 
important to them.  He echoed CARICOM's comments that maritime transport was critical for Caribbean countries.   
206. In wrapping up the session, the Moderator stated  that it was very clear that Aid for Trade 
was alive and well and noted the importance of con tinued attention to effective implementation.  
IV. HIGH-LEVEL LUNCHTIME SESSION:  AID FOR TRADE – PROMOTING FOOD 
SECURITY THROUGH ENHANCED TRADE CAPACITY 
207. The Moderator, Mr. Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Ch ief Executive, International Centre for 
Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), ope ned the session by asking the Minister of 
Commerce of Togo whether high agricultural prices  were a good thing for African farmers, and 
whether as Trade Minister, he was happy to see prices rise.  
208. Mr. Kwesi Seleagodji Ahoomey-Zunu, Minister of Commerce, Togo, responded that much 
hinged on who benefitted from price rises: rising revenues for producers would be good since it WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 38  
 
  would improve their living conditions, but it would be undesirable if the gains accrued to 
speculators.  Rising prices also raised the issue of  how to "cushion" the wider population from price 
increases.  He raised the question of the relations hip between Aid for Trade and general development 
assistance – would Aid for Trade look at how people could be given access to key commodity 
products.  Aid for Trade should not replace development aid, he cautioned.   
209. Turning to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, the Moderator asked about West 
Africa's regional agricultural policy (ECOWAP), wh ich had been launched in late 2008.  A policy 
document had noted that the region's agri-food exports had risen by 95 per cent while imports had only gone up by 64 per cent in the preceding 20 years, making the region's overall trade balance positive.  However, these advances occurred during a period of relative price stability.  He asked 
how current market volatility and price rises would affect export growth.   
210. Mr. James Victor Gbeho, President, ECOWAS Commission, stated that the agri-business 
development trend in the region remained fragile a nd stood to be hurt by market volatility and price 
rises.  The region's agri-food exports were still smal l and weak compared with regions elsewhere in 
Africa and the world.  The Sahel region was par ticularly vulnerable.  And the region remained a 
major importer of rice, chicken and fish – th erefore sudden price rises would have unpleasant 
consequences.  Intra-regional trade also accounted fo r a small share of the total – of the order of 11 
to 15 per cent, compared to 40 per cent or mo re in Asia and above 65 per cent in Europe – 
exacerbating vulnerability to external shocks.  He  further noted that ECOWAP, which had been 
launched in response to these challenges, had already shown results:  food security in key 
commodities such as corn, rice, cassav a, and sorghum had been reached  in countries such as Ghana, 
Togo, Benin, and others.  Nevertheless, supply- side challenges remained , which needed to be 
addressed in a sustained manner, especially for city-dwellers.   
211. He noted that the region's investment climate had improved, but that more needed to be 
done.  Nigeria could, in the right circumstances,  produce enough cassava to fulfil the entire region's 
demand, with some left over to export.  Transpor tation infrastructure also needed to be improved, as 
did energy provision.  In addition, he called for better access to finance for SMEs, including in the 
informal sector, highlighting that inadequate financ ing, particularly for women, was a constraint on 
food production.  The need for more research was also highlighted.   
212. Moving from the regional to the multilateral level, the Moderator then asked WTO 
Director-General Pascal Lamy whether the volatilit y of global agricultural markets was due to the 
fact that not much was traded on global markets. 
213. Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General, WTO said that the world was in for a period of 
structural imbalances between food demand and supply: the on-going nutritional transition in 
countries that were no longer very poor was radi cally changing demand, while production had been 
slow to follow.  This had great social implicati ons:  it was the poorest members of society who paid 
the highest proportion of their income for food, a nd for them, the effects of  price increases were 
potentially catastrophic.  Moreover, the coexis tence of many different types of agricultural 
economies – subsistence agriculture, local and re gionally-focused markets, and international 
commodity production and trade – complicated interna tional rules.  In terms of market shallowness 
and volatility, Mr. Lamy noted that deep, large markets tended to function better than thin ones 
where little was traded.  While 30 per cent of globa l agricultural production was traded, there was 
considerable variation among produc ts.  Some primary products were part of global production 
chains – fisheries products were the most traded – while rice markets were famously volatile and 
susceptible to anything that threatened  to cut off supplies.  He noted that export restrictions could be 
perfectly legitimate under certain ci rcumstances, but that such measu res led to sub-optimal outcomes 
in terms of both market functioning and causing food shortages elsewhere.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 39 
 
 
  214. He further recalled that many small-scale fa rmers were not self-sufficient and needed to 
purchase additional food – for them, high prices were  not good news.  Mr. Lamy called for more 
open markets, with reduced tariffs and subsidies. C ontrary to a belief that had persisted in both the 
media and public opinion, he said that agriculture  was in fact much more complex than industrial 
production or services.  Agriculture raised systemic linkages between land rights, transport, credit 
systems, fertiliser provision, and cold storage chains that did not exist for, say, producing 
automobiles. Experience suggested that well-coor dinated Aid for Trade could help manage this 
complex chain at the grassroots level, thus impr oving the response to the demand shock affecting the 
global food production system. 
215. In response to the Moderator's suggestion th at deeper global commodity markets might 
actually lead to even greater volatility when pri ces moved due to unforeseen – but thanks to climate 
change, increasingly frequent – weather events, Mr. La my acknowledged that this was a real risk.  
He noted that agriculture was intrinsically vola tile due to the immobility of land, varying seasons, 
demand that varied across seasons – and that climate change might exacerbate the challenges.  That said, he suggested that there were means of rec onciling further trade opening with reduced volatility, 
such as agriculture storage syst ems like those set up by the World Food Programme (WFP), as well 
as better use of domestic markets.   
216. Continuing on the theme of climate change and other man-made sources of volatility on 
agriculture markets, the Moderator asked the Director-General of the French Ministry of Agriculture, 
Food, Fisheries, Rural Affairs and Planning to d escribe the steps that th e G-20 leading economies 
had taken to mitigate their effects on food security. 
217. Mr. Eric Allain, Director-General, Ministry of  Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Rural Affairs 
and Planning, France, said that measures taken to combat price volatility had a direct impact on food 
security.  G-20 agriculture ministers had agreed to increase the productivity of the agricultural 
sector, to make up for under-investment in recen t years, coupled with growing demand. G-20 
ministers had called for reinvesting in research a nd innovation.  Echoing Director-General Lamy, he 
said that the G-20 had called for improving the climat e for investment in agriculture.  He appealed 
for better transparency of physical markets for agricultural products, in order to send clearer signals for investment, and pointed to the G-20's Agricultu re Market Information System (AMIS) initiative 
that would provide data on production, trade, and storage of basic foodstuffs .  There was a need for 
better crisis management, he said, with c ooperation among exporters and importers. The G-20 
decision also dealt with risk management tool s aimed at enabling countries to "manage market 
crises" and referenced a WFP project to create human itarian reserves in certain very sensitive areas.  
The final set of decisions dealt with monitoring agricultural markets – and on this issue agriculture 
ministers wanted their finance counterparts to take  measures to better supervise derivatives markets 
so that they do not exacerbate volatility.  
218. The Moderator then asked the President of th e World Bank Group about the G-20's efforts to 
prohibit export restrictions and taxes on food purchases for non-commercial humanitarian purposes, 
as well as the follow-up to the L'Aquila Summit' s response to the 2008 "food, fuel, and finance" 
crises.  He also asked whether concerns about fo od security, which returned to the global agenda 
with a vengeance in 2008, would soon calm down.   
219. Mr. Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank Group, commended the WTO for linking trade 
to food security, and the French Pr esidency of the G-20 for placing food security high on its agenda.  
He said that he did not believe that concerns  about food security would go away anytime soon, 
because of declining stock availability since 2007 fo r many staples, particularly corn and wheat. 
Rice, for its part, was a thinly traded crop – only seven per cent was traded.  The result of this was 
that exogenous risks such as bad weather could entail significant changes.  While price changes 
would ordinarily engender a supply response, these developments had taken place against the WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 40  
 
  backdrop of increased demand from emerging market s, where more people were eating more, eating 
better, and moving to grain-intens ive meat products.  This meant that there was a greater risk that 
external events could make the situation worse.  This situation presented opportunities for suppliers 
in sub-Saharan Africa:  however, the supply response there had not been as fast as that in developed 
markets.  This was due to a failure to invest ade quately in the entire value chain of production, from 
property rights to seeds, fertiliser, irrigation, a nd transport and storage (50 per cent of production 
was wasted on way to markets).   
220. On export restrictions, Mr. Zoellick said that  export bans made things worse – they 
increased uncertainty, which then led to panic.  He acknowledged that there was no WTO agreement 
on export limits and taxes.  What the G-20 did manage to agree was that the WFP should be able to 
buy food for emergency aid even from countries with export bans.  He said this was a considerable 
improvement upon some years earlier when heads of st ate had to be asked for individual exemptions.  
He suggested that WTO Members could play a construc tive role in this area.  Mr. Zoellick said that 
the World Bank had increased spending on agriculture; he also pointed to the need to invest in 
research, such as the Consultative Groups on Intern ational Agricultural Research, since the world 
would need to increase food production by 70 pe r cent, even though seed productivity growth had 
been declining.  Investment was needed in everythi ng from research to transport.  He said the trade 
community could establish rules/norms to not make things worse.   
221. In response to a question about what might be expected from this autumn's G-20 Leaders' 
Summit in Cannes given the constrained budgets in th e wake of the financial crisis, Mr. Allain said 
that the plan of action offered new elements.  It addressed food security through the traditional 
development aid framework, but also looked at how supply and demand could be aligned at the 
global level, taking into account fi nancial markets as well as agricultural production.  In addition, the 
G-20 Ministers had proposed concrete solutions on bette r transparency, and on restraint in the use of 
export restrictions.  He noted that agriculture would feature prominently in the Summit's agenda, 
stressing that the G-20's job was to provide political momentum.   
222. Asked whether there were opportunities for a WTO decision on export restrictions and taxes, 
Mr. Lamy stressed that it would depend on Members.   He noted that export restrictions presented a 
classical situation in which the collectively optimal  outcome would be for markets to be open, but 
specific circumstances or situations of social and sovereignty imperatives  might justify certain 
national measures.  The problem was political;  many  economists would say that export restrictions 
had much the same effect as import restrictions.  The G-20 had taken a first step by addressing a 
specific situation. Looking ahead five or ten years,  Mr. Lamy suggested that Members might decide 
that export restrictions, which were not felt to be  a problem 20 years ago, may be significant.  It 
would remain to be seen whether the political authorities of Member governments would recognize 
the principle that in a global economy, food in dependence for some meant food dependency of 
others.  If they accepted this notion, he expressed confidence that Members would be able to find 
measures from within the classical WTO tool box to find an acceptable balance between opening 
and exceptional measures, between rules and exceptions.   
223. The Moderator stated that it was not clear if  new initiatives were necessary or if existing 
initiatives had to work better. He suggested that governments were falling short on their L'Aquila 
commitments.  He then asked President Zoellick wh ere the political leadership would come from.   
224. Mr.  Zoellick said that it was important for comm itments to be kept, but also for the agenda 
to be pushed forward.  At L'Aquila, G-8 and associated countries had made commitments of over 
US$20 billion, but they had been a little "loose" with monitoring.  He described a trust fund that had 
been set up with African countries:  US$900 m illion had been pledged, but only US$600 million had 
come in (the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ha d actually met their commitment, underlining the 
changing aid landscape).  He stressed the need fo r innovative thinking.  For instance, even though  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 41 
 
 
  soil carbon was left out of climate frameworks, it mi ght be responsible for as much as 14 per cent of 
total emissions.  The policies that would help increase soil carbon sequestration – mulching and so forth – would also make the soil richer, helping th e food security agenda.  Putting this issue on the 
agenda for the UN climate conference in Durban wo uld link the food security agenda, the agriculture 
agenda in sub-Saharan Africa, and the climate age nda.  Connecting formerly isolated silos offered 
win-win possibilities.  One challenge in this c ontext was that the same governments might take 
different positions in different fora.  
225. The Moderator asked Spain's State Minister for International Cooperation, about Spain's 
involvement in financing for agricultural developm ent, particularly in West Africa.  Spain was 
among the first donors to the World Bank's food securit y trust fund in 2009, and had taken a leading 
role in mobilizing donor support for the ECOWAS  Agricultural Development Programme and the 
signing of the Regional Partnership Compact in November 2009.   
226. Ms. Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, State Minister fo r International Cooperation, Spain, said that 
Spain's cooperation programme leveraged the crisis  situation and sought to make agricultural 
development a key part of its development policy.   One mechanism for doing this was through the 
World Bank food security trust fund.  Along with Canada, the US, and the World Bank, Spain had 
initiated a food security and agricultural crisis resp onse fund.  Spain has also  worked with the 15 
West African countries, in line with ECOWAS a nd national agriculture policies, to establish the 
ECOWAP fund.  Spain's cooperation agency supported ECOWAS directly, from the grassroots production level to the processing chain.  Spain had also sought to improve agricultural trade flows 
at the regional and local levels – a process that ha d involved major investment in infrastructure.  
227. Ms. Rodríguez Ramos called for increased inv estment in agriculture, particularly in 
countries lacking infrastructure for production and trade, saying that this would help boost demand. She pointed to the need to take into account very  different situations among countries – some with 
high levels of malnutrition and sma ll areas of land used for traded farm products. Spain had tried to 
work with governments to mobilize public resources and private investments to improve farming 
methods and infrastructure.  The initial objective woul d be to boost local trade for basic subsistence. 
Eventually, the aim would be to develop internatio nal value chains.  She referred to the G-20 work 
to curb speculation in future agri cultural markets, saying that govern ments needed to be in a position 
to deal with market volatility and yield variation.  
228. Mr.  Gbeho intervened to confirm that Spain had worked closely with ECOWAS to develop 
plans for regional and national agricultural investme nt.  He noted that investment was essential to 
agriculture in the sub-region, adding that money had been allocated to do this.  He pointed to support 
pledged from ECOWAS countries and donors (including US$240 million from Spain) for 
agriculture investment.  
229. The Moderator asked the Chairman of Nestlé wh at role companies such as Nestlé could play 
in realizing the potential that new technologies and th e data "revolution" offered to farmers in the 
developing world.  
230. Mr. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman, Nestlé, said that assistance such as Aid for Trade 
was needed to help countries take advantag e of tariff-free agreements and other market 
opportunities, and called on the private sector to be part of the WTO effort.  Striking a critical note 
on the session's discussions, he said that speakers had focused only on the "q uantitative" aspect of 
food security, i.e. how much proteins, carbohydrates,  and so forth were needed.  He called for a 
more holistic conception, emphasizing that a major element in food security was farmers' incomes, 
since farmers made up four-fifths of the worl d's extreme poor.  Equally important was the 
affordability of food – food had to be affordable  for the poor, with sufficient quantities of 
micronutrients.  Currently, hundreds of thousands of  children went blind for want of Vitamin A; WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 42  
 
  iodine, zinc, and iron deficiencies caused chronic disease around the world.  Food had to be in the 
right place at the right time and in the right form, which was not always the case.   
231. Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe said that the private sector  was involved in much of this task.  For 
instance, investments in modern cold storage and transport could bring waste in the milk sector 
down from above 25 per cent to 0.5 per cent – tant amount to a productivity gain of almost 
25 per cent.  If the private sector could help farmer s bring higher quality products to the market, they 
could pay the farmers more.  Reformulating African  products with cassava instead of wheat and corn 
enabled Nestlé to improve supply and reduce costs.  On the G-20, he said that it was necessary to 
distinguish among fundamental trends pushing up food prices – more people to feed on less arable 
land, with agricultural productivit y growth outpaced by population – and temporary aspects, such as 
climate variability.   
232. He then made the distinction between climat e change – something that might even increase 
agricultural production, according to the Interg overnmental Panel on Climate Change – and 
variability, with production-damagi ng droughts in one place and floods in the other.  He said that 
while hedging had always been part of agricultu ral markets, using the agricultural sector for pure 
financial speculation was "irritati ng" – but not a driver of long-term costs.  Meanwhile, biofuels 
were accounting for large amounts of corn and sugar production, and water use vastly exceeded 
supply.  Biodiesel used enormous amounts of wate r, but politicians were loath to recognise this, 
even though in his view it was clear that water would run out long before oil did.   
233. Mr. Ahoomey-Zunu spoke about Togo's CFA600 billion compact on agriculture, called the 
National Programme of Agricultural Investment fo r Food Security, which was signed in 2009 with 
donors  for the period 2010-2015.  He said that the implementation of the Programme would help 
strengthen producers' capacity and enable them to tap into modern communication, infrastructure, 
access to energy, and to better education. Infrastruct ure was essential to agricultural development.  
Under the Maputo plan, Togo allocated 13 per cent of its budget to agricultural development – but improvements in social networks and infrastructure were necessary for improving the living 
standards of the population.   
234. Ms. Rodríguez Ramos noted that in Africa, boosting agricultural productivity would be 
helped by equal rights for women, since women who were not entitled to land got less productivity 
from their plots.  She stressed that there was e normous potential for improving land productivity, the 
risk of negative effects of climate change notwithst anding.  Specifically on water, she referred to an 
initiative launched by Spain for Latin American countries, and appealed for more support from 
donors and international agencies, as well as more attention to hydraulic infrastructure.  Improving 
hydraulic infrastructure, as well as a change in  the energy paradigm, was central to boosting 
agricultural productivity.  Africa would need a fund for water infrastructure, with donors and private 
investors contributing. 
235. The Moderator opened the floor for questions and comments.   
236. The representative of Japan said that internati onal trade could play an important role in 
improving food security.  Export restrictions made food supplies unstable, threatening food security.  
Japan was of the view that countries should refrain from using export restrictions as much as possible, and that such measures should only be used to prevent shortage of foodstuffs in exporting 
countries.  He said that improving food supply capacity was critical in solving food security 
problems, adding that Japan was providing assistance of at least US$3 billion over three years in 
agriculture-related areas, and stood ready to engage constructively on such matters. 
237. The Moderator invited Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe to  discuss Nestlé's experience in Pakistan. 
Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe said that Nestlé had built a milk industry employing some 135,000 farmers –  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 43 
 
 
  all of whom were women.  Since men could not be agriculture advisors to these women, Nestlé had 
to train 6,000 Pakistani women to work with the fa rmers to deliver milk.  Pakistan was now one of 
Nestlé's biggest milk-producing countries in the worl d, with a quality level identical to that in 
Switzerland.  135,000 families had thus been integrated into the modern economy.   
238. The representative of Pakistan described the N estlé experience as a successful public-private 
partnership, and said that it underlined the importa nce of incorporating private sector input from the 
outset.  The private sector's engagement with women producers in the dairy industry had compelled public policy to become more gender sensitive.  The successes also owed to  the commitment of 
Pakistan's senior leadership to gender empowerment. 
239. In his closing comments, Mr. Allain said that  the day's discussion had demonstrated that 
agriculture was at the forefront and faced enor mous challenges.  Production had to increase by 
70 per cent by 2050 while needing to be more spari ng of water and land, and adapt to climate change 
(and possibly contribute to mitigating emissions).  The agriculture sector must be fully mainstreamed into the globalized economy.  Ms. Rodríguez Ramos called for a focus on 
fundamentals:  what was necessary was to support national policies with a broad and comprehensive 
view of improving the living conditions of the pr oducer, and to make agricultural markets function 
better.  She echoed Director-General Lamy's point that larger markets tended to function better, but 
emphasized the need for greater transp arency in market functioning.   
240. Mr. Zoellick said that one of the important l essons for the AfT agenda was that private 
sector participation was essential; policies would not work if only governments and policymakers 
were involved.  Commending Nestlé and similar comp anies, he said that private companies brought 
invaluable experience to the table, whether for m eeting nutrition standards and supply chains or for 
their broader perspective.  He said that it woul d be "a big mistake for people to try to control 
markets" calling again for targeted programmes to he lp the vulnerable, such as school feeding.  He 
thanked Spain for persevering with its aid to bu ilding agriculture security in Africa and Central 
America despite its own domestic budgetary difficulti es.  Finally, Mr. Zoellick thanked the African 
panellists for their leadership, stressing that expe rience had shown that local ownership was central 
to success in development policy.  He also noted that growth and development in emerging markets 
provided lessons and examples for others' development efforts. 
241. Mr. Ahoomey-Zunu called attention to an upc oming ECOWAS trade fair that would 
demonstrate, in cooperation with donors, the achie vements and potential of the region.  Mr. Gbeho 
said that success in delivering food security an d a win-win trading system required a holistic 
approach to food production and marketing.  Mo re political will was necessary from governments.  
He said that in 2010, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin had all produced excess corn and rice, and 
were able to export them – and this success was th e result of initiatives that were less than three 
years old.  This proved that if there was the po litical will West Africa and other developing countries 
had the conditions for success.  He also pointed to the need for investment to bridge the gap.   
242. Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe reminded that the agricultu re market remained the most distorted and 
restricted market of all – and that this could not help food security.  He appealed for a conclusion of 
the Doha Round, saying that this would contribute to food security.  On Aid for Trade, he distinguished between what had to be done and wh at could be done with resources available.  He 
called for making rural communities "priority number one," arguing that the fact that they accounted 
for the preponderance of extreme poverty made them  crucial to the achievement of the MDGs.  He 
said that the private sector could bring technology,  expertise, and funding, but "should never try to 
substitute what government was not doing".   
243. The Moderator closed the Session by noting that actions taken today by the international 
community and the private sector would matter for the pursuit of food security in decades to come.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 44  
 
  V. SESSION 4:  AID FOR TRADE – DELIVERING ON TRADE FACILIATION GAINS 
244. Mr. Bernard Hoekman, Director, Internationa l Trade Department, World Bank, provided 
opening remarks on the importance of trade facilita tion.  He explained that, as tariffs had come 
down, so time and cost of transportation of goods across borders and along supply chains had 
become important factors for the domestic and in ternational competitiveness of firms, especially 
those in landlocked countries.  Access to low-cost inputs had beco me an important determinant for 
trade competitiveness, especially for landlocked coun tries.  Despite the proliferation of regional 
trade agreements among developing countries, trade flows within them were much lower than the 
volume of trade among the single market of the EU or among the federal states of the US.   
245. He pointed out that logistics and financial servic es were directly part of the trade facilitation 
(TF) agenda.  TF was a complex undertaking.  Improving trade facilitation was not just about 
financing hard infrastructure, it was also about "s oftware" such as regulatory policies which could 
affect the ease of moving goods and services provide d along the supply chain.  Numerous agencies 
and entities were involved in facilitating trade, ra nging from customs to veterinary inspections.  
Getting all stakeholders around the table to address  clearly identified bottlenecks constituted a big 
challenge.  And the real challenge was not on agreeing to an action agenda, but rather on 
implementing or following-up on the set of actions  agreed to by all the stakeholders.  He 
underscored the importance of monitoring results on a regular basis.  Performance indicators were 
thus an important tool to measure progress.   
246. Mr. Hoekman underlined the importance of politic al leadership to push through the various 
reforms needed to foster trade fa cilitation.  While the TF agenda had an infrastructure dimension, to 
a large extent it was also about the regulatory  reform agenda, which had increasingly assumed a 
regional dimension.  He suggested that the intern ational organizations should put a question to the 
G-20 leaders as to how to genera te high-level political attention to the TF agenda at the regional 
level.  In conclusion, he stressed that the private sector needed to be  part and parcel of the TF reform 
agenda as they had first-hand knowledge and information, not  only about border processes and 
procedures, but also about the supply chains.   
247. The Moderator, Mr. Carlos Grau Tanner, Director General, Global Express Association, 
noted that one of the attractions of TF was that it le nt itself to measurement.  Time to export or time 
to import gave a unit of measurement.  He asked Mr. Hoekman to explain how researchers were able to extrapolate from one day saved in delivery tim e to research which showed global gains from 
better trade facilitation processes reaching as much as US$130 billion to US$140 billion annually. 
He enquired if these types of claims were supported by the results of projects or programmes which 
the World Bank had funded to date.   
248. Mr. Hoekman  said that one of the approaches of the World Bank was to see how much more 
trade would occur if trade costs were lowered th rough trade facilitation measures.  The impact from 
such measures would not only be felt in extra trad e volumes, but also in higher incomes.  Trade 
facilitation had the potential to boost real incomes.  A great body of analytical research had been 
undertaken which concluded that trade facilitation had a big impact on incomes.  Tariff reduction 
processes involved redistribution of income from ent ities benefiting from the existence of tariffs at 
the border to consumers who paid extra in the form of higher prices.  By eliminating waste, through 
for example eliminating redundant procedure, tr ade facilitation reduced prices and so increased 
consumer income.  The expansion of trade from US$1 trillion to US$15 trillion in the past 20 years 
had been a function of liberaliza tion and reduction of transport cost s.  Reducing waste at the border 
could further enhance trade flows as well as income.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  249. Turning to the Executive Director of the Asia -Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat, the 
Moderator asked how APEC had arri ved at its Action Plans on TF, what targets had been set in these 
Plans, and what progress had been achieved in implementing the plans.   
250. Mr. Muhamad Noor, Executive Director, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 
Secretariat, recalled that he had had the honour of  serving as the first Chair of the Negotiating Group 
on Trade Facilitation in 2004.  He said that APEC 's TF plans and activities had been framed in 
support of the Bogor Declaration adopted by A PEC Members in 1994 towards achieving free trade 
and investment.  Thereafter, the Shanghai accord adopted by APEC leaders in 2001 had called for 
the adoption of trade facilitation principles by 2006,  in close cooperation with the private sector.  A 
target to achieve a five per cent reduction in tr ade transaction costs had been set.  The TF Action 
Plan I for the period 2002-2006 had identified acti ons including in areas such as e-commerce and 
business mobility.  He pointed out that the sc ope of APEC's trade facilitation measures was 
somewhat different from WTO's negotiating  agenda, i.e. strengthening GATT Articles V, VIII and X.  Based on the progress achieved on APEC's first Action Plan, a second plan had been launched to 
reduce trade transaction costs by another five per cent during 2007-2010, with priority attached to 
customs procedures, standards conformity, and business labour movement.  APEC's pathfinder 
initiative on self-certification of origin to cut compliance costs for businesses had proved to be 
useful.  The supply chain connectivity initiative w as another instrument adopted to ease and speed 
up business in the APEC region by 2015.    
251. Recalling that APEC was not a rules-based or ganization, the Moderator enquired if the 
measures envisaged in the TF Plan had remained aspir ational or if there were results to show.  He 
asked if APEC was planning a third TF Plan.   
252. Mr. Noor confirmed that APEC was not a rules-based organization and said that this had 
been the real strength of the Forum.  APEC Members had shown more willingness to pursue best 
endeavour action plans rather than being tied up wi th legally binding obligations.  The targets for 
Action Plan I had been achieved, and the outcome of Action Plan II was currently being measured.  
The preliminary examination suggested that Action Pl an II had resulted in a 5.2 per cent reduction in 
trade transaction costs.  Although the TF measure s had increased fees of some US$4 billion, reduced 
time for trade transactions had led to a net savi ng of US$60 billion.  He concluded by saying that 
some of the elements under TF Action Plan II w ould roll over into the supply chain connectivity 
initiative.  The final shape of a possible TF Actio n Plan III would depend on the outcome of the 
measurement of the targets of Action Plan II.    
253. The Moderator stated that time release st udies were a way of measuring performance and 
highlighting ways in which systems could be impr oved.  He asked the Secretary General of the 
World Customs Organization how his organization was helping customs authorities identify where they needed to make improvements.   
254. Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General, World Customs Organization (WCO), said that the 
WCO's time release studies were a useful tool to  identify bottlenecks at the border and could act as 
an instrument to measure the impact of new polic ies.  Two regions – ASEAN and EAC – had started 
using time release studies.  He said that work at customs was often about assessing and managing risks, facilitating legitimate trade and leveraging u se of information technology.  Risk management 
and information technology were th e two pillars of the WCO's revised  convention.  To this effect, 
the WCO had recently produced risk manageme nt guidelines and had updated its information 
technology guidelines with information on best pract ices and case studies.  Some of the studies had 
shown that while customs authorities bore the brunt of  the complaints related to delay or inefficiency 
at the border, the fault was often with other borde r agencies.  He hoped that the recently finalized 
single risk management compendium would guide  customs authorities to better coordinate and 
collaborate with other agencies to streamline border procedures.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  255. Mr. Mikuriya further pointed out that WC O had a diagnostic framework providing 
comprehensive needs assessment relating to the impl ementation of rules and standards;  it covered 
not only procedural, legal and technol ogical aspects, but also leadership and management.  With this 
framework, the WCO had helped  WTO Members in advancing their trade facilitation needs 
assessments.  WCO had provided relevant technical assistance to customs administrations to 
implement the WCO framework of standards to secur e and facilitate global supply chains in more 
than 120 countries.  He believed that the tools of th e WCO, together with thei r pool of experts, could 
help customs administrations improve their performance with enhan ced transparency and 
predictability. 
256. The Moderator asked about the role of po litical will and questioned if these types of 
projescts could achieve results in the absence of high-level political support. 
257. In addition to strong political will, Mr. Mi kuriya underlined the importance of competent 
customs officials who could deliver results based on a needs assessment and best practices contained 
in the WCO standards.  The policymakers' fu ll support to these customs officials against any 
resistance or interference from vested interests wa s vital to ensure success.   Three "Ps" – political 
will, people and partnership – backed by determin ed political leadership were key to reform and 
harmonization processes.  Partnership of customs with business was also an important factor.  He also underscored the importance of human resource  management.  WCO atta ched a great deal of 
emphasis to training and building experts.  He reit erated that the WCO provided standards, best 
practices, case studies and numerous tools to guide  customs authorities, governments, businesses and 
donors.  The newly developed WCO database, supported by the IaDB, could allow customs 
administrations and donors in the Americas region to connect and to find partners as well as 
coordinate reform and harmonization processes.  The tool could also be appl ied in other regions or 
even on a global scale.  He was encouraged to  see that many of the regional entities and economic 
communities were showing their political will to a dopt WCO tools for enhancing their internal and 
external connectivity with a view to ach ieving deeper regional integration.   
258. Noting that TF lay at the core of many of Ia DB's programmes, the Moderator then asked the 
representative of the IaDB for his views on some of  the factors that were needed for successful TF 
programmes.   
259. Mr. Antoni Estevadeordal, Manager, Integra tion and Trade Sector, IaDB, highlighted five 
points for the success of the TF programmes implem ented by international development banks like 
the IaDB.  First, he underlined the importance of po litical will at the national level.  Typically, a TF 
project could involve numerous agencies.  For instance, a single-window project could involve as 
many as 40-50 agencies of national governments.  Political will was critical to tackle entrenched 
interests among various agencies.  Second, he st ressed the need for politi cal will at the regional 
level.  By definition, trade facilitation projects had regional dimensions.  Improving procedures and 
infrastructure in one country did little good if th e same was not happening next door.  Projects 
relating to harmonization of standa rds or integration of corridors n eeded political determination at 
the regional level.   
260. Third, he argued that for optimal results one had to combine "software" as well as 
"hardware" types of interventions, with the right formula of sequencing.  He said that a mix of financial instruments could create incentives for a ll the countries in a region to move forward a 
regional TF project.  For example, a country might not see participation in a TF project as one of its 
immediate national interests and hence not grant fina ncing.  Fourth, he reiterated the importance of 
partnership with the private sector as trade facilitation was all about facilitating the business of the private sector.  Finally, he underlined the need  for greater coordination among international 
organizations so as to ensure that interventions taken by all could lead to effective results.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
 Page 47 
 
 
  261. The Moderator asked if the IaDB pulled the plug on non-performing projects and on what 
performance decisions were made.   
262. Mr. Estevadeordal  said that much more work needed to be done to improve movement of 
goods across borders, since release of goods in some regions could take days and not hours.  Trade 
through road transport was different from sea-borne  trade.  Moreover, export from one country to 
another could pass through several borders/customs au thorities causing delays despite best efforts.  
Measuring the impact of a project was not easy as a myriad of indicators/factors needed to be 
examined.  Monitoring and evaluation were a continuous learning process.   
263. The Moderator opened the floor for comments.   
264. The representative of Peru echoed the observa tion made by Mr. Este vadeordal that TF was 
important as it had a direct bearing on the trad e sector's competitiveness, especially through its 
impact on the costs of logistics.  According to World Bank figures, logistics costs in Peru were 
roughly 29 per cent, which was above the regional average.  Peru was very much engaged in 
improving customs procedures, logistics developmen t, and strengthening financial services to boost 
trade.  Steps were being taken to update sea a nd land ports and inter-ocean corridors.  There had 
been progress on customs simplification, clearance, and the introduction of a single window facility 
which had significantly reduced time, documentation a nd trade costs.  With the consolidation of a 
single window in Peru, there had been efforts to c onnect with other single windows in the region to 
have an optimal impact on trade.  However, fu rther improvement and stre ngthening of regulation of 
trade services was needed. 
265. Peru had been experiencing rapi d growth of its trade, with e xports doubling every five years.  
This had put pressure on Peru's infrastructure capac ity.  She underlined th e need for working in 
tandem with the private sector, and to continue to  build on the management of state services for the 
trade constituency.  Peru was exploring the feasib ility of creating a national border authority and a 
national health authority.  TF represented a cross-cutting discipline and therefore needed 
inter-institutional coordination, including through IT  tools.  The Government  of Peru was committed 
to carry on with its reform processes to st ay competitive in international trade.   
266. The representative of Mozambique  said that because of its strategic geographic location, 
Mozambique was a gateway for most of the landlocked neighbouring countries.  As a result, road 
and port infrastructure assumed special significance for Mozambique.  An ambitious programme of 
infrastructure development was currently being im plemented;  roads, railways and port facilities 
were being expanded.  He added that facilitating freedom of trans it could only come with adequate 
international transit routes.  Mozambique was al so engaged in a programme of simplification of 
imports and exports processes.  Pre-shipment inspect ions were being gradually eliminated, and other 
measures were being taken to stimulate trade.  Fo r instance, an agreement with Zambia on currency 
repatriation was expected to boost trade between  people living at the borders of Zambia and 
Mozambique.  Regular consultations with business associations were being held with a view to 
continually improving the business environment and to strengthen public-private partnerships.  A 
robust and vibrant public-private sector dialogue on trade and economic issues could foster the 
integration of his country into the global economy.   
267. He further informed that trade facilitation i ssues were also being discussed at the inter-
institutional Committee set up under the EIF programme, which comprised representatives from government, business, civil society, academia, and the donor community.  One of the most important 
undertakings of his country was the establishment of  "one-stop-shop" or "single window"' in all its 
eleven provinces and this facility was now being ex tended to all districts and had yielded tangible 
results.  However, despite these positive develo pments, challenges rema ined.  Infrastructure WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 48  
 
  remained weak to fully exploit local as well as regional trade.  He concluded by saying that 
Mozambique would continue to leverage trade as an engine for growth and development.  
268. The Moderator turned to the panellists and not ed there had been rapid growth in intra-
regional trade in East Africa.  Kenya sent more of its products to the region than to the outside 
world.  Similarly, Tanzania exported more to Kenya than it imported in return.  He asked the 
Secretary General of the East African Community wh at role Aid for Trade had played in promoting 
this change.   
269. Mr. Richard Sezibera, Secretary General, East African Community (EAC), recalled that the 
EAC had a population of 130 million people with a GDP of US$75 billion.  The Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative provided new opportunities for the EAC to harness growth for povert y reduction, and at the 
same time increased pressures to strengthen compe titiveness for expansion of intra- and extra-EAC 
trade.  The Initiative had the potential to address ch allenges such as ineffici ent customs management, 
poor roads and railways, congested ports, low level of technology, etc.   
270. He outlined that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative had led to the reduction of transport costs, costs 
for enforcing contracts, as well as regulatory cost s in the EAC region.  The EAC Customs Union, 
and the related policy reforms, had led to a 52 pe r cent increase in intra-regional trade.  Customs 
clearance time had decreased from three days to th ree hours at some border posts, contributing to 
reduction of transport and distribution costs.  Howe ver, that progress was not enough.  The transport 
costs within the region remained 50 per cent higher than in Europe and Asia which called for greater 
harmonization in the region.  Transport costs, t oo, added around 30 to 40 per cent to the costs for 
trade for the landlocked countries in the regi on, namely Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.   
271. He pointed out that all stakeholders – consum ers, traders, transporters, producers and the 
service oriented firms – had benefitted from the on- going trade facilitation measures.  Transporters 
and traders had benefited from time  savings at the borders, with less  spoilage of perishable goods, as 
well as better utilization of vehicles.  Producer s and service oriented firms had benefitted from 
expanded regional markets and comp etition and he believed that TF was making a contribution to 
attaining the MDGs.  He explained that roads were  not only used for merchandise trade, but also for 
services such as medical emergencies or vaccine services leading to a reduction in infant mortality 
rates.   
272. Drawing attention to the fact that the region relied mostly on two major ports for its trade – 
Mombasa and Dar es Salaam – he said that these por ts had limitations.  Th ey continued to face 
congestion and hence the facilities at these ports ne eded to be upgraded.  A lot of work was still 
required to introduce faster and fewer customs pro cedures, better inland roads and railways, as well 
as automatic cargo clearance.  He said that one-stop border posts, improved sea ports and single window systems were among the many facets of trade facilitation.  In order to stimulate trade, the performance of the main corridors of the region – No rthern and Central corridors – were also key.  
In this regard, the EAC, in cooperation with the WCO, would undertake a regional time release 
study to identify bottlenecks along these corridors.  In addition, the EAC was also involved with the 
implementation of the transport observatory project , which supported the corridors' authorities, the 
transit transport coordination authorities as well as  transit transport facilitation agencies in the 
region.  In conclusion, he reiterated that trade f acilitation in the East African Community had led to 
the increase of trade in all five countries in the region.  For instance, Kenya had become the second 
largest trading partner of Burundi and the third largest trading partner of Uganda which to a large 
extent could be attributed to trade facilitation measu res.  However, much mo re work was needed to 
further expand trade of countries in the EAC region.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  273. The Moderator then asked the Permanent Repr esentative of the West African Economic and 
Monetary Union to outline the results which had been achieved in his region by TF projects, notably 
those funded by USAID. 
274. Mr. Jean-Luc Senou, Permanent Representative,  West African Economic and Monetary 
Union (WAEMU), Brussels said that USAID had b een helping WAEMU in reducing transport costs 
in a region which had amongst the highest transport costs in the world.  USAID had "sans-frontière" 
projects aimed at accelerating trade in West Africa,  by reducing trade barriers.  The purpose of these 
projects was to streamline the practices and pr ocesses, combat corruption and facilitate the 
movement of goods as well as natural persons with th e view to reducing costs of transport.  Under 
this framework, two activities were being pursued.  Fi rst, an observatory had been created to oversee 
abnormal practices on roads between states.  The work of this observatory was to carry out 
investigation and produce regular reports, pointing out  anomalies to the wider audience.  The idea of 
these efforts was to encourage authorities to take th e right decisions on racketeering.  He added that 
a plan was currently being made to set up road g overnance in West Africa.  Second, using a similar 
methodology, a project would soon be carried out in the area of agro-business focusing on certain 
food products such as cereals, animal resources, etc.   
275. USAID had been assisting the WAEMU region with deeper integration.  It had contributed 
to a programme launched in 2002, together with ECOWAS, to facilitate road transport among the 
states in West Africa.  Policies had been put in  place by the governments to combat anti-competitive 
practices.  Other measures such as setting up of c ontrol posts beyond borders had been undertaken.  
Training had been given on trade facilitation measur es to raise awareness, particularly at control 
posts with hotlines that could be called if racket eering was observed.  The observatory system had 
enabled the authorities to provide feedback to polic ymakers who were in charge of policing customs 
and border practices so that a proper decision could be taken to rectify the problems.   
276. In reply to the Moderator's question about whether trade facilitation was problematic for 
governments from a revenue perspective and whether other policies needed to be implemented in 
parallel, Mr. Senou said that significant efforts had been made to reduce customs duties in the past, 
in particular through WAEMU.  Implementati on of common tariffs across countries had required 
liberalization.  The common external tariff in the WAEMU region had come down to 11.2 per cent 
from an average of 15.6 per cent.  This reduction of tariffs with attendant loss of tariff revenues 
necessitated the need for supportive complementary measures.  Soon after the reform process under WAEMU had begun in 2005, a certain amount of resi stance had been witnessed.  Countries resorted 
to measures, such as re-establishment of entry du ties on some products, to make up for fiscal losses.  
Hence, TF measures needed to be accompanied by compensatory/complementary policies.   
277. He argued that budget handicaps could dete r implementation of reforms and trade 
facilitation measures.  He pointed out that a certa in number of reforms such as harmonization of 
domestic fiscal policies had led to a progressive redu ction of port revenues.  Hence, trade facilitation 
reforms should not come at the expense of tariff revenues that were needed by the governments for 
their development endeavours.  He believed that  a global policy on infrastructure development was 
well warranted.  Regional programmes to support in frastructure financing, such as the one that 
ECOWAS had been implementing, should be further strengthened.  He also believed that budgetary 
support to the governments could be an effective means of Aid for Trade.   
278. Mr. Ali Traoré, Director General, Burkina Shippers Council,  welcomed the significant 
efforts made by various actors, including the RECs, to facilitate regional trade.  He noted the move 
towards creating a free trade zone in the West Africa region.  Nevertheless, there remained 
formidable constraints.  Expected outcomes for sh ippers and other actors along the transport line had 
not materialized fully, due to a number of factors.   First, TF measures were being implemented at a 
slow pace.  Also, there remained sluggishness am ong the governments to implement obligations.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 50  
 
  Second, there appeared to be a lack of methodol ogy to assess progress which in turn had an impact 
on the remedial measures.  Third, financial capaci ty was also limited for infrastructure projects.  
Fourth, control posts had been facing problems due to  extortion at borders and along transit roads.  
He acknowledged that the observatory project, suppor ted by USAID, had brought together all the 
actors in one platform to find effective solu tions for faster and efficient trade.   
279. He was of the view that the customs procedures in the region were not harmonized or 
streamlined.  Customs duties still re mained high compared to other continents and costs for road 
transporters had continued to rise.  Lack of infrastructure for water transport and lack of connectivity 
had continued to plague the shippe rs in the region.  Inter-state guarantees were being lost on the way 
to the border causing extra expenses for the tr aders with the consequence of penalizing the 
consumers.  He believed that all such gaps needed to be reviewed so that the shippers could truly 
benefit from TF reforms. 
280. The Moderator then opened the floor for comments.  
281. The representative of Ecuador said that Ecua dor was exploring strategies to shift from 
exporting primary products to an export mix with mo re value-added products.  He believed that trade 
facilitation could make a key contribution to that process.  At the national level, huge progress had 
been made, including improvements in logistics services.  Aid for Trade could help develop capacity in the production and promotion of  export products.  Moreover, th e Aid-for-Trade Initiative allowed 
an opportunity to include sectors that had trad itionally been excluded from aid support.  He 
underlined the importance of cooperation with th e private sector to en sure success of export 
strategies.   
282. In response to the Moderator's request for Pa nellists to provide some closing remarks, 
Mr. Hoekman  reiterated that TF could make important contributions to poverty reduction.  It could 
also contribute towards ensuring food security.  TF w as also critical for the informal traders, small 
firms and poor households, who were the least able to  afford the fixed costs of TF.  He also flagged 
that the contours of TF were not only limited to  border management, but also involved effective 
corridor management.  All these indicated the need for an investment in data.  Therefore, some 
portion of AfT support should go towards data mob ilization which could track activities at borders 
and along corridors, and also to measure progress of  performance indicators framed by governments.  
The information and experience gathered from such  exercises could then be fed back to the 
authorities so that trade facilitation actions act ually helped the firms and households where it 
mattered.   
283. Mr. Noor said that successive rounds of trade negotiations had brought down the tariffs.  In 
addition, countries had undertaken autonomous libera lization.  As a result, incidence of NTBs had 
proliferated.  Trade facilitation measures coul d help address these NTBs, which had become 
essential for the SMEs who had limited capacity to  deal with various NTBs confronting their 
exports.  By addressing these barriers, trade facilitt ion could contribute to an inclusive growth 
agenda.  He recalled that capacity building had b een an integral part of the modalities for the 
negotiations on trade facilitation agreed by Memb ers in 2004.  In fact, commitments to be 
undertaken by developing countries in the course of TF negotiations were linked to the provision of 
adequate capacity building. 
284. Mr. Mikuriya highlighted the fact that TF was about enhancing efficiency at borders and 
along trade corridors, which could also ensure revenu e collection in a more effective and predictable 
manner.  Smooth and increased trade flows r esulting from TF measures could generate more 
revenues for governments.  Efficient checks at th e border would protect the health and safety of 
citizens.  He called for greater AfT support for TF measures.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  285. Mr. Estevadeordal  said that both "software" (regulations, policy) and "hardware" 
(infrastructure, productive capacity) type of interventi ons were needed for an optimal result from TF.  
One without the other was unlikely to succeed.  It was estimated that if both these types of 
interventions were made simultaneously, intra-regi onal exports in Latin America could increase by 
47 per cent.  He said that "software" type interv entions needed political will, while the "hardware" 
interventions required financial capital.  Gains from TF could only be realized if the two 
interventions were done together.   
286. Mr. Sezibera drew attention to the fact that the EAC, as one entity, had been the twelfth 
fastest reformer in the world.  In fact, Rwanda wa s one of the top reformers in the world.  However, 
for growth to be sustainable two areas needed prior ity attention.  First, policy and regulatory reforms 
were not enough if not backed by Aid for Trade to  improve supply-side capacity.  Second, Aid for 
Trade would work best when it was anchored in  a functional regional environment and only then 
would returns on investment be optimal.  
287. Mr. Senou underlined the importance of devel oping synergies in TF activities in the West 
African region.  He pointed out that although there had been agreements to facilitate intra-trade in 
the region, these agreements were customarily reach ed by consensus without a legal mechanism to 
enforce the commitments undertaken by governments.   This had necessitated the need for effective 
legal institutions which could deal with infringements.   
288. Mr. Traoré underlined three points for facilitating trade in the West Africa region.  First, he 
said that a full cooperation programme was needed  among the various actors in the transportation 
chain between the landlocked and transit countries .  Second, he believed that development of 
regional economic corridors had become a necessity in the region.  Third, he emphasized the need to 
mobilize the energies of all stakeholders to come up with an integrated approach in trade facilitation 
activities in the region.   
289. The Moderator concluded by saying that th e Session had delivered first-hand accounts of 
experiences in the areas of trade facilitation a nd Aid for Trade.  The experiences from various 
regions (APEC, EAC, WAEMU) had shown measura ble benefits in moving forward with trade 
facilitation.  He noted that his organization, the Gl obal Express Association, catered to companies of 
all size.  One of the typical questions faced by the Association from a wide range of clients was on 
the timing and predictability of delivery.  He poi nted out that the speed and certainty in which a 
product could be delivered to the ultimate end user  were very much a function of TF measures.   
VI. SESSION 5:  AID FOR TRADE – ACCESSING GLOBAL PRIVATE SECTOR 
VALUE CHAINS  
290. Ms. Selina Jackson, World Bank Special Repr esentative to the United Nations and the 
World Trade Organization in Geneva, began the Se ssion with an overview of the World Bank and 
WTO's outreach activities with the private sector.  Ms. Jackson recalled that at the Second Global 
Review in 2009, the World Bank had committed itself to ensuring that the global donor and trade 
communities collaborated more closely with the priv ate sector.  She said that there was significant 
scope to establish partnerships with the corporate sector.  These actors provided investments and job 
creation opportunities in many developing countries but, of the 275 AfT case stories submitted for 
the Third Global Review, very few had come from companies – probably as a result of lack of awareness on the part of private sector actors. 
291. She suggested that as the corporate community  and the donor community spoke in different 
languages, the work on Aid for Trade was undertaken in  silos.  Companies might not label what they 
were doing as Aid for Trade since these related activities were simply part of their business plans.  But most companies had embraced the concept of in clusive growth and had realized that it was in WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  their core interest to build capacity in their ta rget markets.  The World Bank, therefore, in 
partnership with the WTO, had extended the ca ll for public sector case stories to the corporate 
sector.  This was done at two events:  the first in Paris in February 2011;  the second, in March 2011 
in Washington D.C. 
292. The Bank's efforts had led to the submission of 40 new case stories from the private sector 
and these had helped to generate more corporate awareness of the AfT agenda.  The case stories had 
been compiled in a booklet produced for the Third Gl obal Review and the analysis of the 40 cases 
stories showed that the private sector was contri buting to trade-capacity building in a variety of 
ways, especially in the areas of building human cap acity through training an d improvement of skills. 
Hewlett Packard, for example, had launched a partnership with UNIDO to train businesses on IT 
solutions so as to improve local businesses in part s of Africa.  Nespresso had provided business 
training to coffee cooperatives in Guatemala by bolstering capacity building through technology, know-how and finance.  Meanwhile, Qualcom, for example, had launched a programme to provide 
3G enabled mobile devices to fishermen and farm ers to allow them to monitor water and weather 
conditions, to provide informati on about markets and to access technical assistance.  Another case 
story was about the Karachi Chamber of Commer ce which had helped develop a framework for 
SMEs to mobilize funding and resources.   
293. Ms. Jackson explained that the private sector w as also incorporating producers into global 
value chains. A recent World Bank report had focused  on the topic of value chains because the Bank 
believed that this was where companies were now working to create opportunities for their suppliers 
in developing countries. These same companies were enhancing the capacity of farmers by 
improving the quality of their product. Another area where companies were active was in trade 
facilitation. A number of companies had worked with  the World Bank to provide customs "software" 
which could be used by countries to modernize th eir customs systems and improve risk assessment. 
An example she cited concerned Microsoft's part nering with USAID and the customs agencies of 
Botswana and Namibia to provide technology for a transport corridor.  
294. The Bank hoped that some of the successful pr ojects could be repeated, and scaled up. 
Ms. Jackson also stressed that the exercise repre sented a step forward in the dialogue between the 
donor community and the private sector and would en courage more synergy and partnership.  She 
recalled the WTO Director-General's assertion that the only way to make Aid for Trade sustainable 
was to engage the private sector from the start and the World Bank hoped that these efforts were a 
step in that direction.  
295. The Moderator, Mr. Jim Kolbe, Senior Tr ansatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund, 
thanked Ms. Jackson for her introductory remarks. He  recalled that in the last ten years there had 
been considerable growth in corporate philant hropy, citing examples such as the Bill and Melinda 
Gates Foundation and the impact that this foundation ha d on global health and philanthropic giving.  
He noted that some called this corporate philant hropy while others called it philanthro-capitalism. 
Introducing the Chairman and Chief Executive Office r of Danone, he recalled that Danone had been 
one of the latest companies to go down the pa th of corporate social responsibility with the 
establishment of the Danone Ecosystem Fund in  2009, and asked how Danone had gone about 
making an investment of €100 million in the middle of a recession.  
296. Mr. Frank Riboud, Chairman and Chief Execu tive Officer, Danone, explained that his 
company started with the hypothesis that Danone could not have economic outcomes if it did not 
also participate in the development of its worker s in the countries where it had a presence.  Danone's 
Board had recognized that economic progress could not be achieved without social progress and vice 
versa.  He reiterated that this was not about ch arity and cited an example in New Zealand where, 
rather than paying out an exceptional dividend with the benefits earned, the general assembly of the 
shareholders voted to use the money for speci fic programmes which would have long-lasting  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  tangible and sustainable outcomes.  This passed w ith 99 per cent of the shareholders voting in 
favour.  He said it had not been difficult to persua de shareholders, since he was personally convinced 
that economic results implied social progress as well.  
297. Turning to the Senior Director of Govern ment Relations for Walmart, the Moderator 
recalled that Walmart was an active player in corporate philanthropy, giving more than 
US$100 million a year in annual charitable contributions in the US alone in the 1990s.  Since then, 
contributions had grown substan tially and were now worldwide. He asked whether Walmart's 
decision to expand overseas had caused its philanthropi c giving to become more business-minded.   
298. Ms. Sarah Thorn, Senior Director of Gove rnment Relations, Walmart, recalled that 
Walmart's activities were increasingly focused on building capacity for trade in developing 
countries.  Walmart had changed its approach to corporate social responsibility, starting with an 
environmental sustainability initiative launched sever al years ago.  The initiative had been very 
ambitious, with goals such as zero waste and pr oduction supplied by renewable energy.  She 
explained that in some ways the company did not know at the time how it was going to achieve these 
goals, but the idea of sustainability was embedded in  the business.  She cited water as an example 
and explained that if water were extracted fro m laundry detergent and compacted, one could pack 
significantly more laundry detergent onto a truck resulting in fewer trucks being needed and less 
spent on fuel.  Walmart had started to see that there was actually a business reason for paying attention to social issues.  Walmart had launc hed a programme called Ne xt Generation Walmart 
where it had started to look at social issues wh ich were important to the company and to its 
customers.  She said that least interesting fo r Walmart was the philanthropy the company was 
engaged in;  the more interesting part was how business could impact social issues.   
299. Ms. Thorn stated that in its non-US operations , Walmart was still largely a grocery business.  
Over 50 per cent of its revenues came from food.  With its recent acquisition in South Africa, the 
company was now present in 28 countries.  She em phasized that it was important for Walmart to 
have a reliable and stable supply of food products.  It had therefore d ecided that it was more efficient 
to go directly to the farmer and to negotiate with  them, instead of through middle men.  Many of 
these were small farmers and she explained that the company provided them with market intelligence, information on what consumers wanted  and facts on whether they should be producing 
corn, beans, or radishes to get a better return.  The farmers got market intelligence, good agricultural 
practices and a better return.  Farmers were now getting 10 to 15 per cent more income because they 
were dealing directly with Walmart instead of selling to a middle man.  The company got a safe, 
reliable product and the customer got a less expensiv e, safer and better product.  She noted that 
Walmart had about 800,000 farmers supplying it directly in China.   
300. Ms. Thorn noted that by 2015, it was hoped that two million farmers would be part of 
Walmart's Direct to Farm programme.  This c oncept had been introduced in India, Brazil and 
Mexico and, while the challenges were different in every country, the programme worked because of 
the company's "demand pull".  The company had now taken the next step to leverage the good work 
that the development community was doing by part nering with organizations such as USAID.  The 
company had proposed that if development partne rs were working on building value chains, then 
Walmart could be the market and could help create sustainable, lasting change.  She said it had been 
a mind shift and that philanthropy had enabled Walmart to address problems which the market could not solve.  These problems related to training or  finding an NGO partner to build local trust. 
301. The Moderator stated that some cynics might say  that this corporate philanthropy was more 
about trying to avoid active NGOs and other groups  which might disrupt stockholder meetings and 
that it was not being done for altruistic reasons .  He asked how Mr. Riboud and Ms. Thorne would 
respond to this charge.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  302. Mr. Riboud contested this view as companies w ould have to ask themselves if they were 
doing things because they believed in them.  In gene ral, there were a third of people who disliked a 
company, a third of people who liked a company and another third of the people who needed to be convinced about the company.  He said he was unconcerned about the third of the people who disliked Danone, but worked with the ones who either  liked the company or needed to be convinced. 
His company believed that the economic outcome in cluded management quality.  If one started from 
this hypothesis, then managers could acquire a sense of meaning above and beyond financial 
rewards.  He explained that Danone had taken this idea very far.  There were 2,000 Danone 
managers eligible for the company's bonus system.  Th e latter was divided into three parts:  one third 
was on social and environmental criteria;  one-thi rd on management and only one-third was based on 
economic results.  He elaborated that Danone's Board had a social responsibility committee and an 
audit committee and he was convinced that the comp any's role was not just to have a good balance 
sheet as the company was aware of its ac tivities and was able to measure it.   
303. He further explained that he had never had a Danone General Assembly which had been 
stopped by an NGO.  There were some bad and some good NGOs;  some that had helped his 
company to make good progress and others that  had helped Danone touch on areas where the 
company had no competence.  He said that NGOs were not an enemy and that while Danone might 
not always agree with them, NGOs had helped Da none to move forward and to make progress.  
Danone's Ecosystem Fund provided an example wher e the company collaborated with partners and 
in 99 per cent of the cases, with local NGOs. 
304. Ms. Thorn agreed with Mr. Riboud regarding the role of NGOs and noted that some of 
Walmart's biggest critics were now some of its cl osest collaborators.  Her company had, however, 
been examining whether some of the criticisms mi ght be valid.  For example, as Walmart was the 
largest private energy user in the US, it was necess ary for the company to look at its environmental 
footprint and to think about how it could be a more sustainable company.  In this effort, the company 
had been engaging with NGOs and had tried to have an open platform on most social issues so that it 
could be informed about a variety of issues, whethe r they concerned gender, agriculture or nutrition. 
The company did not have all the answers and needed  to have an open debate.  She went on to say 
that NGOs stopped Walmart share holder meetings all the time.  While it was unfortunate, she said 
the company welcomed an open dialogue as it helped make Walmart a better company.   
305. The Moderator asked if a turning point had been reached and whether corporate social 
responsibility was no longer a stand-alone pa rt of a corporate business agenda.   
306. Ms. Thorn said that for most consumer produc t companies, corporate social responsibility 
was now a part of their DNA.  For Walmart it was mainly because it was moving into emerging 
markets, and in the future the company wanted healthy societies and healthy communities, because 
these were its customers.  It made sense for th e company to invest and create programmes that 
enabled the community to be its shoppers in th e future.  Walmart would do this whether its 
competitors did so or not.  She recalled an article about Metro, the large German retailer, starting a 
direct farm programme in Central America, wh ich could be considered in competition with 
Walmart's scheme.  She noted that this would be good for the farmers even if it meant that it was 
going to be a more competitive environment for Walm art.  She said she would be happy if Walmart's 
competitors kept their philanthropy separate, but sa id that this was no longer really possible because 
of where companies were choosing to invest.  
307. Mr. Riboud said he would go even further than that as in his estimation companies which 
did not join this kind of economic, environmental and social model would not have a future.  They 
would not be able to achieve their economic pe rformance goals if they did not set themselves 
environmental and societal objectives.  He said it was not about his company convincing people, but 
that it was necessary to stop thinking that companie s were negative just because they were making  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  profits.  They had to make profits otherwise they wo uld not survive.  One had also to talk about how 
companies re-distributed their profits and how they  ensured that environmental social responsibility 
was part of their model.  That was why Dano ne's Ecosystem and Danone Communities had been 
created to develop social business. 
308. He provided an example in Bangladesh where an aim of Danone was to bring food security 
to the largest possible number of people and where, as it was not possible to have very expensive 
yoghurt, it had been necessary to re-invent the di stribution and farm mode l to make the product 
accessible.  Another example was the company's fund for nature programme.  Danone had decided that in 2012 its Evian product would be carbon neut ral.  To offset emissions, and as the company 
was in favour of a CO
2 tax, it had decided to replant mangrov es in Senegal.  Since then 80 million 
plants had been planted.  The social impact of this action in Senegal ha d been enormous because it 
had managed to bring back fishing.  He explaine d that the project was done in cooperation with a 
local NGO.   
309. The Moderator noted that the discussion on corporate philanthropy would be moot if the 
business environment was too risky to afford making su ch an investment as the one just described in 
Senegal.  He asked the Chairman of Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd. to speak about the major investment his 
company had made in Haiti following the earthquake. 
310. Mr. Woong-Ki Kim, Chairman, Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd., said that the investment in Haiti 
involved partners such as the US Government, the IaDB and the EU.  His company had managed 
similar initiatives in other mark ets, including Viet Nam, I ndonesia, China, Guatemala and 
Nicaragua. In the case of Haiti, he said Haiti's competitive advantage had always been its close 
proximity to the US market, and its abundant labour supply.  Meanwhile, the decision to invest 
US$78 million had been strengthened because of the strong involvement and the commitment of the 
other partners.  For example, the US Governme nt's involvement in building a power plant, 
modernizing the local port, and building housing in Haiti.  These projects were key factors in the 
decision to invest.   
311. The support from the IaDB in building an industrial park, building modern 21st century 
eco-friendly factories, and providing financing, w as also an important consideration, as was the 
support from the Government of Haiti to make im provements in the manufacturing sector.  Another 
important factor was that the project was focused on the people of Haiti.  He had first visited Haiti in 
1994 and had built a clinic.  Since then, he had been  waiting for the right opportunity to return as he 
wanted to help the people of Haiti by creating much needed job opportunities.  He wanted to help 
Haiti become a major international player in the global manufacturing industry, not only sewing 
garments but also producing their own fabric.  Th is would be a significant step forward for his 
company as well as for its partners. 
312. The Moderator asked whether Sae-A Trading Comp any's investment planning had taken into 
account market access issues for garment manufacturer s.  Recalling the debate in Washington D.C. 
on the economy and the budget deficit and also the debate about market access opportunities for the 
LDC textile manufacturers, he asked if Mr. Kim was worried about the lo ng-term prospects for 
market access into the US market.   
313. Mr. Kim expressed concern about the long-term  prospects for market  access into the US 
market, but hoped that such access would help Ha iti achieve economic growth and development so 
that the country would be able to stand on its own a nd compete with the rest of the world.  He noted 
that the Hope Act for Haiti was due to expire in 2018 and should be extended.  He implored the EU 
and other markets to provide similar preferentia l treatment for products manufactured in Haiti and 
concluded that he was confident that, given sufficient financial su pport and assistance, including the WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Hope Act, Haiti would emerge as one of the comp etitive suppliers of apparel to the United States, 
Europe and other markets.  
314. The Moderator then opened the floor for comments.  
315. The representative of Costa Rica recalled that for a country such as Costa Rica, becoming 
part of a global value chain had meant that the count ry had to overcome obstacl es.  He referred to a 
recent study by the WTO which mentioned Costa Rica's  participation in five global, industrial value 
chains ranging from electronics, to medical appara tuses, the automotive a nd aerospace industries and 
film.  The study revealed that these exports repr esented 43 per cent of total Costa Rican exports, of 
which the domestic component was 33 per cent.  To achieve such results, Costa Rica had to 
overcome obstacles such as structural reform.  It had to improve the business sector and create a 
platform for foreign trade that included a series of multilateral, regional and bilateral rules which 
ensured that trade and investment were more predic table.  He emphasized that it was important that 
Aid for Trade be focused on two particular areas:  the first was on financing research which allowed 
countries to better identify where it was possible for them to be successful;  the second was to 
identify the public policies which we re needed to ensure that such countries kept their place in the 
global chain and even consolidated and deepened th is process.  Aid for Tr ade should focus on what 
was needed to ensure that greater benefits we re produced from these public-private alliances.  
316. The representative of Sweden affirmed that collaboration with the private sector created 
greater impact and could result in greater returns to ODA.  It was important to keep a broad view of 
how collaboration with the private sector should be carried out as the business sector should not only be seen as a supplier in the development context but also be recognized for its potential as an 
independent actor, as well as an advisor and dialog ue partner.  The greatest impact was attained 
when development aid and the business sector work ed in partnership.  In order to facilitate 
cooperation with the private sector, in 2010 the Sw edish Government had launched the business for 
development (B4D) initiative.  B4D was both a me thod and an approach for building systematic 
partnerships with the private sector.  This had b een achieved in several different ways. The first was 
through the development of a tool box that include d corporate social responsibility, different forms 
of financing – challenge funds, innovative fina ncing, public-private partnership programmes, 
support to innovations, social entrepreneurship an d sustainable markets.  The second way was to 
make better use of business actors in their roles as advisors and dialogue partners. For example, 
Sweden had launched a Council for Business and De velopment – comprised of representatives from 
the business sector, from government and from agencies – in order to increase dialogue and the 
sharing of information and experiences.  A third wa y was to look at business actors in their role as 
suppliers in development.  This included corpor ate social responsibility, lifecycle costs and anti-
corruption efforts.  Finally, a fourth way concer ned un-tied aid.  He said that Swedish cooperation 
with private actors followed broad development goals.   
317. The Moderator expressed the view that the public and the private sectors did not always 
work at the same speed and that shareholders sometimes wanted to see a quick return on their 
investments.  He asked Mr. Kim how long he thought  it would take him to bring his project in Haiti 
to completion and whether this was something he would have done on his own had there not been 
public or donor involvement.   
318. Mr. Kim indicated that probably by the end of 2012 the first building would have been built 
and about 1,300 Haitians would be gainfully employed .  He said that if all went according to 
schedule in the next five years, the complex woul d include more than 12 buildings employing more 
than 20,000 workers.  This would double the country's  current garment industry.   He added that this 
schedule was very aggressive and would be chal lenging, although he had experienced similar 
timelines and challenges in other markets such as Nicaragua.  He agreed that the private sector 
moved at a quicker pace than the public sector, and th at shareholders could be impatient.  However,  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  he said he was satisfied overall with the pace at which Sae-A's partners had been moving.  As to 
whether or not Sae-A could have done this project on its own, he said he would prefer to ask whether 
or not a company such as his would have preferre d to back down from an opportunity such as this 
one, considering the partners involved as well as th e ability to support Haitian development in such a 
significant manner.  He said that when one viewed it from this perspective, there was little doubt that 
one would embrace such a project. 
319. The Moderator then turned to the other Pane llists and explained that the discussion would 
move to a focus on the production and marketing of co ffee.  He referred to the fact that Ethiopian 
coffee was stocked in Starbucks and asked the In tellectual Property Consultant from Getachew and 
Associates Law Office in Ethiopia how this had been acheieved.  
320. Mr. Getachew Mengistie Alemu, Intellectual Pr operty Consultant, Getachew and Associates 
Law Office, Ethiopia, stated that Ethiopia produced some of the finest coffees in the world each with 
distinct characteristics that made them differe nt from other coffees. These coffees, which were 
known by their brand names, were in great dema nd worldwide and also obtained high prices on the 
international markets.  However, this had not always been the case as a study had shown that only 
five to ten per cent of the actual price of the coff ee was being paid to Ethiopia.  He explained that 
some of the Ethiopian coffees were known by their br ands in the international coffee market, but that 
these brands had been registered as trademarks ow ned by foreign companies.  Faced with this 
problem, Ethiopia had embarked on an intellectual property based strategy with financial support 
from UK DFID and from a legal service of US la w firm Arnold and Porter, and with technical 
advice from a Washington-based NGO.  The pr ogramme had benefitted from the support of a 
number of organizations including the World In tellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and its 
intellectual property capacity programmes.  There had been three main objectives.  The first had 
been to secure Ethiopia's ownership of the coffee brands.  The second had been to enhance the trade 
revenue of the country and improve the income of coffee growers by de-linking from the commodity market and strategically positioning Ethiopia in th e growing speciality coffee market.  Finally, the 
third objective had been to create and strengthen pa rtnerships with foreign companies active in the 
area of importing, roasting and distributing coffee.  
321. He explained that Ethiopia had so far secured tr ade mark registration for its three brands in 
31 countries and had concluded a royalty free ag reement with 115 companies in Africa, Asia, 
Europe and North America. Ethiopia used brandi ng as part of its marketing strategy and had 
developed a number of individual br ands and had issued a brand guideline to ensure uniform use of 
brands by licensed companies.  He said a number of positive results had been achieved with the 
initiative.  There had been a marked  change in the position of farmer s who were price takers before 
but who were now taking part in negotiating and setti ng prices.  Before the initiative, a farmer was 
selling a pound of Sidamo coffee for about US$0.50, but now prices were around US$1.50 or US$1.60 a pound which represented a 300 per cent in crease.  As a result, si gnificant changes had 
been seen in the livelihood of the coffee farmer s.  Furthermore, greater intellectual property 
management capacity had been built thanks to th e support Ethiopia had received from a number of 
international organizations, including WIPO.  
322. The Moderator then asked the Executive Director of the ITC about her involvement with 
coffee quality issues and how intellectual property had played a key role.  
323. Ms. Patricia Francis, Executive Director, ITC,  referred to Ms. Thorn's earlier intervention 
about what Walmart could bring to the farmer.  She said there was a need to understand markets and 
quality issues, and also to know how to access market s.  This was the approach that the ITC had 
taken in its work in the coffee sector and sh e referred to one of the case story projects which 
involved assistance from the Swiss Government in this  regard.  That project had helped establish 
"cup tasting" centres throughout Ethiopia.  This was important because wh ile the coffee was being WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  processed centrally, the quality of the coffee could deteriorate the further it was located from the 
actual production areas.  By creating cup tasting centres in rural areas, producers were able to 
identify the better quality coffees.  They had also  begun training people at the respective cupping 
stations to trace back the coffees to  the farms where they had been produced.  In other words, the 
project had been significant in that it had focused  on husbandry and quality insurance aspects, and 
had provided specialized training to identify different types of coffee tastes and origins. 
324. The project had also transferred know-how about international standards.  This allowed the 
intellectual property officer and producers to market products in a de-segregated way.  At the same 
time, the capacity building programme associated with  this effort had been extremely successful in 
becoming more sustainable because the ownership of  the cupping stations had actually moved to the 
commodity exchange.  It was now the buyers who were paying for these services while the farmers 
had been able to garner the benefits by having  their quality standards known on delivery of their 
coffee to the cupping stations.  She noted that ther e were a number of important pieces of the puzzle 
when it came to delivering the coff ee to the market, especially the n eed to ensure differentiation of 
the product and that the quality was actually quantifiable.  
325. The Moderator then asked the representative fro m Ecom Agroindustrial Corporation Limited 
to elaborate on how he, together with the Interna tional Finance Corporation, had brought Nespresso 
to the mass consumer market.  
326. Mr. Ramon Esteve III, Member of the Board of  Directors, Ecom Agroindustrial Corporation 
Limited, explained that Ecom was a 160-year-old company.  By tradition, the company had always 
been very involved at the producer level and hence was more in tune with their needs.  He noted that 
in 1989 when the International Coffee Agreement fell through, coffee prices had become very 
erratic, particularly in Central America where Ecom  had been very active.  Ecom was one of the 
world's largest operators of coffee mills, but th ere was a need for it to adapt to changes as the 
company was facing a situation where farmers were  leaving the land and abandoning production.  
The business model was in danger of becoming obsolet e.  Ecom had seen that the sustainability of 
the coffee mills depended on the economic viability of the coffee farmers and its response was to 
help farmers produce more and better coffee, similar to what was being done in Ethiopia.  Ecom had 
already been doing this with producers throughout Central America by providing inputs, financing 
and training and assisting farmers with meeting cer tification schemes.  This occurred at a time when 
consumers were becoming more concerned about traceability, the e nvironment, and about incomes 
for farmers in general.  Therefore, companies su ch as Nespresso, Starbucks and Sara Lee had wanted 
to see how coffee was actually grown.  This brought these roasters directly into contact with Ecom's 
programmes at origin.   
327. In the case of Nespresso, this had led to a 2007 partnership which also included the 
Rainforest Alliance, the International Finance Co rporation and the French research centre CIRAD 
(Agricultural Research for Development).  Ecom became the recognized leader in the area of 
sustainable coffee and now enjoyed a ten per cent market share.  For sustainable and certified 
coffees, Ecom had an 18 per cent global share but  Mr. Esteve estimated that this market share 
actually had an impact on about 50 per cent of the coffee handled by the company.  The volume of sustainable coffees was growing steadily, by around  15 per cent per year, and, as there was such 
important consumer demand for these coffees, the co mpany would continue to focus on this area.  
328. He noted that this was not a philanthropic e ffort, but was based on the survival of the 
company's business model and its mills.  He emphasized  that the strategy which had been used for 
coffee had been so successful that the company was now trying to transplant it to cocoa, where it had 
found the support of companies such as Mars and Kraf t.  He added that in cotton, too, the company 
had enjoyed the support of the EBRD to establis h a better cotton initiative in Tajikistan.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  329. The Moderator then addressed the Director of  Trade Capacity Building at UNIDO, recalling 
that UNIDO had been working on improving quality infrastructure for some time.  Noting that the 
concept of "compete, conform and connect" w as about improving the sustainability and the 
saleability of standards and investing in standards compliance, he asked whet her this focus had an 
impact on market access in the coffee value chain.   
330. Mr. Lalith Goonatilake, Director, Trade Capac ity Building, UNIDO, indicated that in 
connection with market access and global value chai ns, it was important to know how market access 
was defined.  On the issue of safety requirements  and quality requirements, he noted that in large 
value chains one had to address the governance of th e integral parts of the value chains.  This was 
achieved through standards, whether they were pr ivate standards such as social accountability, or 
carbon emission standards.  In every respect, he said  standards had an increasing role to play in 
global trade.  This was where UNIDO's approach  of "compete, conform and connect" came into 
play.  In this regard, UNIDO provided assistance at  two levels: at the enterprise level, where the 
organization had helped companies to deliver th e quality infrastructure they needed to meet 
necessary safety and quality requirements;  and at th e national level concerning infrastructure, such 
as laboratories, certification bodies, and accreditation bodies that were largely absent in most 
developing countries.   
331. He explained that this was wher e UNIDO had helped to build infrastructure.  He cited coffee 
and cocoa as examples and noted that to demonstrat e compliance with standa rds for cocoa, one had 
to ensure there were no pesticide residues and no mycotoxins which could be carcinogenic.  Testing 
to ensure compatibility and compliance required a laboratory and there were significant challenges 
in this respect in sub-Saharan Africa where th ere were only three countries that could provide 
credible reports requiring quality tests.  As a c onsequence, there should be a way for developing 
countries to test these products for safety.  UNIDO 's approach tried to address these concerns, not 
only regarding the domestic market and consumer sa fety, but also regarding the capacity needed to 
build quality infrastructure and the laboratories needed  to support external trade.  He added that 
UNIDO was pleased that Aid for Trade had recogni zed the importance of quality infrastructure as a 
requirement for people to trade.  UNIDO had received a large number of requests for assistance and was currently operating in about 50 countries. 
332. The Moderator then asked the State Secretary of  Switzerland to discuss her country's efforts 
to support value chains through bilateral progra mmes and the International Finance Corporation.  
333. Ms. Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, State Secretary, State Secretariat for Economic 
Affairs, Switzerland, said an importa nt pre-requisite of a successful intervention in sustainable value 
chains was the compliance with technical require ments and the use of responsible production and 
processing methods.  She explained that the office of the State Secretary of Economic Affairs (SECO) had been active on both issues, in supporting producers in developing countries to comply with technical standards and in helping to intr oduce sustainable production and processing methods.  
The cooperation between the private and the public sect or in private-public partnerships was a factor 
of success in value chain interventions and an ar ea which the Swiss Government had been focusing 
on given that there remained untapped possibilities in this area.   
334. In addressing administrative hurdles, she admitte d that not all administrations were overly 
bureaucratic, slow or inefficient as from her experience, once projects were under way, things 
generally worked well.  She did, however, undersco re the need to establish an enabling environment 
which allowed private sector initiativ es to intervene in the supply chain.  Investments in trade and 
the environment must be conducive to starting in itiatives and she cited two examples.  The first 
concerned a direct intervention in the supply chai n in a project in Tanzania for coffee from the 
Kilimanjaro region.  The project had been su ccessful because it had focused on building up a 
speciality coffee and had resulted in farmers receivi ng higher prices and the establishment of a brand WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 60  
 
  which furthered relations between coffee growers an d international buyers.  The project had resulted 
in a doubling of the incomes of the farmers in the last few years.  The second project was the 
development of a sustainability code or guidelin es for how coffee production should be carried out 
and what producers must do to receive certification.  This common code for the coffee community – or Cotton-4 (C4) – had been developed with the assistance of large companies, NGOs and farmers 
and contained clear pre-requisites of best practises in growing coffee as well as goals such as forest 
preservation and no child labour.  Companies such as N estlé and Coop, abided by this code and used 
it for their products.   
335. The State Secretary also referred to a re cent project in Viet Nam which focussed on 
intellectual property.  The project had sought to build up a legal framework for intellectual property 
protection and to increase public awareness about wh y intellectual property and elements such as 
geographical indicators were important.  In her vi ew, one of the more interesting aspects of the 
project had been that Vietnamese officials we re now passing on Intellectual Property training to 
officials in Lao PDR.  She said that Switzerland was now in the background and provided help as 
needed.   
336. Mr. Goonatilake commented on the issues of su stainability and social accountability and the 
new Swiss code for coffee.  He said that it w as important to see how things were changing from 
internationally applied standards to those implemented by retailers, the private sector, those driven 
by civil society, and those p assed because of social accountabilit y concerns.  These new types of 
standards also represented challenges for Europ ean countries which, he said, were currently 
struggling to develop laboratories which could condu ct such tests as tracking residues in shrimp for 
example.  He said there was also a need to help  make developing countries more aware about how 
the standards landscape was changing and what th ey had to do to come into compliance.  
337. On the issue of private standards, Ms. Francis invited the participants to attend a joint Swiss 
and German presentation about what the ITC was doi ng to help understand i ssues related to private 
standards.  She said the ITC now had a website which helped to demys tify private standards.7  The 
database would help businesses make better decisions  about which standards they should adopt and 
what they had to do to get certified.  She adde d that the initiatives referred to by Walmart and 
Danone represented important  trends in respect of corporate social responsibility moving to what 
was known as "shared values".  The issue of shared  values should also be examined from different 
angles such as what was in it for business, what  was in it for the communities which surrounded a 
business, and where win-win situations could be found.   
338. She agreed with the Chairman of Danone that  those companies which, during the economic 
crisis, had acted on shared values were the ones whic h had came through the crisis in better shape. 
There was a case for looking at more than just the bottom line.  She further explained that while the 
use of these standards was voluntary, there was pr essure on producers to meet the standards applied 
by a retailer.  In this regard, the trajectory was moving up, an example being that about 20 per cent 
of coffee sales were now sold under private standards.   She said that trend was likely to be applied to 
other areas and other commodities.   
339. With regard to whether or not the public was informed about these different private 
standards, Mr. Esteve said that such standards we re used extensively in marketing.  Rainforest 
Alliance, for example, used a green frog symbol.  Meanwhile, the Max Havelaar fair trade label was 
extensively marketed.  He said that certification schemes could also overlap and that this posed 
problems for producers.  For example, farmers might  be certified under the Rain Forest Alliance, but 
a customer – in this case the buyer – might want the Fair Trade standard to apply.  This required a 
different certification process, a separate audit, and additional costs.   
                                                      
7 http://www.standardsmap.org.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  340. Mr. Mengistie explained that the reason why Et hiopia had embarked on intellectual property 
and a branding strategy was to create distinctions between the fine coffees of Ethiopia.  This had to 
be done not only to distinguish them from the coffee products of other countries but also to differentiate between Ethiopian coffees.  He re called a survey which had been carried out at 
Starbucks outlets in 2006 where results showed that  Americans actually preferred Ethiopian coffee.  
Each of these coffees correctly marketed would allow th e consumer to have the coffee of his choice.   
341. Ms. Thorn said Walmart was very aware of the impact of private, international standards. 
There were some areas, however, especially in th e area of food safety, for example, where it was 
critical to have the highest level of standards.  She said her company had been trying to come up 
with a common code.  Different certification sta ndards required different elements and procedures, 
and she explained that this could be costly.  The company was working on  a common standard for 
consumer products very much like the global food saf ety institute standard for food.  She said there 
were trust and audit challenges and that there ha d also been "audit fatigue" in trying to ensure 
compliance with certain standards.  As a global re tailer, one of Walmart's biggest challenges was to 
get into the global supply chain.  Ms. Thorn said Walmart had not accessed global supply chains 
until 1992 when it had become an international company and had stores and sourcing centres around 
the world.  Now Walmart could do local sourcing a nd worked with farmers to supply four or five 
stores at a time.  It worked with businesses that  could provide a region,  and then engaged in 
inter-regional business to go international.  For Walm art, this proved to be a better way to succeed 
rather than trying to jump over countries and ta riffs and NTBs to reach smaller suppliers.   
342. Mr. Riboud said that the audience might be surpri sed to hear that he was not convinced that 
it was up to private companies to set standards.  He believed the opposite, in fact, because private 
companies were in competitive systems and needed some type of arbitration regulation that came 
from outside.  He did not think that a private company could decide – however big or strong it might be – what the standard should be for the rest of the world.  He believ ed there needed to be a platform 
where there could be a discussion with various particip ants to decide what the standard should be in 
food, food safety or in fighting obesity.  This w as being done between the big retailers and the big 
food and consumer companies and he thought this kind of process could be validated at a more political level.   
343. Ms. Ineichen-Fleisch said the actual status of the standards did not seem to impede the fact 
that sustainable bananas had a market share of 20 per cent of world trade.  She said standards could 
work, even if they were a bit "messy".  She said that during her time as a WTO negotiator, she had 
focused on industrial products.  At the time, gove rnments had asked whether or not they should 
focus on production and processing methods.  There had been a discussion on this, but it had stopped 
at some point because the danger of protectionism was too big.  But, she said, if one wanted to ensure that this was done at a worldwide level, one would do it in a forum like the WTO.   She said 
while it might not be possible to do so at present, it could be done in the future.  Currently, she said 
the only thing that could be done was to try to cr eate and harmonize standards, as was being done 
today with coffee and some other products.  
344. The Moderator opened the floor for comments. 
345. The representative of the Japanese International Co operation Agency (JICA) said that JICA 
had many projects in the world.  JICA promoted international cooperation in the development of the 
global economy by supporting so cio-economic development.  In the field of private sector 
development, he said JICA focused on four pillars:  infrastructure for development;  trade and 
investment promotion;  the development of SMEs;  and local industrial economic development.  By 
supporting the private sector, JICA aimed to enable  access to global private sector value chains.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  346. He said the lack of basic infrastructur e and frameworks for cooperation management 
hindered economic progress in many developing c ountries.  In Africa, JICA supported one-stop 
border posts which enabled faster customs clearance  processes.  In Asia, especially in the Mekong 
sub-region, JICA supported growth in the economic  corridor in order to improve inter-connectivity 
and competitiveness.  In the area of trade promotion, he cited the example of support from the 
Egyptian export promotion centre as well as export c ouncils which consisted of private companies.  
Support here was in the form of website developm ent, services and market surveys.  As a result, 
members of the export councils had accessed Japan ese hubs quite successfully.  In the area of 
investment promotion, JICA supported the Zambia n development agency which was in charge of 
investment promotion.  In a good example of South-South cooperation, Zambian officials had been 
helped by Malaysian experts who had introduced their investment know-how to Zambia. In 2009, 
US$240 million had been invested in Zambia, which was more than three times the amount invested 
in 2006.   
347. In the area of SMEs, JICA provided support in order to strengthen them. Companies 
provided assistance to improve quality and gained in productivity by utilizing Japanese business 
improvement techniques. Monetary as well as non- monetary impact had been reported from many 
private companies.  Finally, in the area of the promotion of local industry and economics, JICA had 
developed a committee through a "one village, one product" (OVOP) whereby human resources 
were developed to promote small businesses.  In Malawi, for example, JICA supported OVOP at the 
Malawi International Trade Fair.  JICA welcomed  any further ideas, comments and suggestions from 
the private sector about how Jap anese assistance could be made more effective.   
348. The Moderator asked the Panellists to provi de final comments about public-private 
partnerships.   
349. Mr. Riboud said it was important for the privat e, public and NGO stakeholders to trust each 
other.  Ms. Thorn said she thought more work could be done in this area.  Even though case studies 
had been conducted, there was a need to do more.  There had been work on co ffee, cocoa, and dairy, 
but actors had not yet capitalized on all the work that had been done to date from a value chain 
perspective.   
350. Mr. Kim said it was the start of an important journey not only for Sae-A Trading but also for 
the company's partners as well as for Haiti.  He sai d he had full confidence that the project would be 
successful in a way that no other LDC had experien ced to date.  Mr. Mengistie said that LDCs and 
developing countries had distinctiv e export products but they had been getting very little in return.  
He firmly believed that intellectual property an d branding strategies would enable these countries to 
capture the intangible values of distinctive pr oducts, thereby enhancing their trade revenue, 
improving producer income and helping to reduce poverty.  He believed that these countries had 
suffered from a number of constraints, especially cap acity and resource-related constraints, but that 
Aid for Trade could be used to address them.  
351. Ms. Francis said the issue of understanding the private sector's perspective was critical to 
gaining market access. She said that when it came to  designing programmes, it was vital to get the 
private sector to the table and to have ownership on all sides.  To get a final result, she said one had 
to stay on the long road and to find ways of communicating to stakeholders.  At the end of the day people had to see that there was a meaningful retu rn on their investment.  That was critical to any 
successful project going forward.   
352. Mr. Esteve said that, as a company, Ecom had been fortunate to have the support of many 
NGOs to help it expand on its programmes.  He said  investors should not be afraid to invest in 
private companies which had business models that in corporated goals such as improving the lives of 
farmers.  He believed that Aid for Trade should me an helping the private sector take some of the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  risks and costs, while at the same  time working to improve the live lihoods of small holders in very 
difficult countries.  He said investors should not exp ect results to be quick.  One needed to have 
staying power to see projects through so that ev entually they would become economically and 
environmentally self-sustaining.  
353. Mr. Goonatilake said the discussion had shown the potential that global value chains had to 
offer and also the challenges which existed in regard  to the use of standards.  Positive examples had 
been discussed.  He said these were the kind of cat alytic interventions that UNIDO would like to see 
addressed by Aid for Trade.  He underlined the im portance of domestic market regulation.  The 
recent e-coli issue in Germany showed the challe nges that even highly-developed countries went 
through in trying to protect domestic consumers. 
354. Ms. Ineichen-Fleisch said one of the main me ssages for her was that  the alliances between 
public agencies and private sector companies were of mutual benefit and should be fostered in the 
future to ensure that additional private sector r esources were mobilized fo r development goals.   
VII. KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED 
NATIONS 
355. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations, said that he was pleased to address the 
Third Global Review and thanked the assembly for its warm welcome.  He commended the 
leadership of the WTO Director-General and his c ontinued efforts to make the world better and more 
developed in a harmonious and equitable fashion.   He also commended the Director-General's 
continuing efforts in the area of Aid for Trade.  The Secretary-General acknowledged Members' serious engagement in this process.   
356. The Secretary-General recalled that in 2010 , world leaders had gathered at the MDG 
Summit in New York and had supported a concre te action plan to accelerate development and 
growth.
8  They had agreed on basic principles.  At a time of austerity, Members had to make sure 
that resources for development continued to be at the highest level so that they could truly support 
the world's most vulnerable and poorest people.  MDG 8 – strengthening the global partnership for 
development – was a key tool to realize this prom ise, and Aid for Trade was a crucial building block 
of this global partnership.  Aid for Trade reflected  the international community's commitment to help 
developing countries participate in the world econom y and to show that these countries could gain 
from world growth.  In other words, Aid for Trad e aimed to make deeper integration mutually 
beneficial, including through strengthening both  productive and export capacities of developing 
countries.  
357. He welcomed efforts from the international co mmunity to mobilize resources categorized as 
Aid for Trade and noted that Aid for Trade account ed for as much as one third of ODA.  However, 
all was not well, and economic uncertainty and ti ght fiscal conditions should not be excuses for 
letting up efforts.  Members had underscored the need for collective action.  He also noted that the 
annual rate of increase in Aid for Trade had slow ed sharply, and he urged the donor community not 
to decrease the present level of Aid for Trade.  It was essential to ensure that Aid for Trade did not 
displace existing development assistance programmes as agreed by all Members in 2005.  He added 
that making the most of the existing market acces s opportunities was vital for making Aid for Trade 
work more efficiently.  This w as even more important given that the DDA had still not delivered 
despite a decade of intense negotiations. 
358. The Third Global Review was of immense value.   He highlighted the fact that one was 
living in an integrated and inte rconnected world, and that no country could solve problems on its 
                                                      
8 http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit201 0/pdf/outcome_documentN1051260.pdf   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 64  
 
  own.  No global challenge could truly be addressed  without looking at other interlinked issues.  He 
stressed the need to keep maki ng the connections – something whic h would be done next June in a 
conference on sustainable development.  He recalled that in January, he had reported to the General 
Assembly that the United Nation's top priority w as sustainable development.  The United Nations 
had been dealing with all these seemingly interconn ected issues and had also been looking at other 
issues.   
359. He underscored that issues such as climate ch ange, food crisis, water scarcities, energy 
shortages, global health, and gender empowerment mi ght look like distinct and separate issues, but 
were in fact closely interconnected.  It was important to take a broader look and a more comprehensive solution to all these issues, to break  down the artifical barriers between them.  He 
expressed the hope that all Members would share the same vision and be committed to the same 
goals.  
360. The Secretary-General said that developing countries and the poorest countries should get 
on-board the AfT process.  Without them it would not be possible to claim that they would be living in a harmonious, balanced and developed world.  This  would be his focus for the next five years in 
working with UN Members.  UN Members' strong commitment and leadership  was essential.  The 
Secretary-General reiterated the fact that a solu tion for one of these issues would require a solution 
for all.  If climate change was addressed prope rly, other issues, including enabling sustainable 
growth through trade, could be achieved more easily.  
361. Addressing the question of how trade could best deliver on development objectives, 
including the MDGs, the Secretary-General said that he was pleased that global development 
agencies were sharing their on-the-ground exper tise.  The cooperation between the WTO and the 
OECD, notably through the case stories and their an alysis, demonstrated there was much more that 
could be done together.  To illustrate, the Secretar y-General pointed to specific areas.  By paying 
attention to the LDCs' special need s and to ensure sustained gains on the ground, it was crucial that 
aid should be equitable and LDCs were not left be hind.  Capacity developm ent and the creation of a 
fair and level playing field were two sides of the same coin.  
362. In moving forward, notably with regard to  the recent Istanbul Programme of Action for 
LDCs
9, it was important to fully utilize the potential of Aid for Trade to ensure food security.  A 
recent decision by the G-20 to remove export rest rictions on food purchased for humanitarian aid 
was a first and welcome step in this respect.  A level playing field would contribute immensely to 
food security, especially for the world's poorest and most vulnerable.  The Secretary-General said 
that it was important to remember that meeting a ll development goals was ultimately about helping 
people to help themselves; tapping into the pot ential and dynamism of emerging economies and 
developing countries; and about  generating global economic grow th and creating decent jobs.  
363. The Secretary-General then referr ed to the Millennium Declaration10, in which states had 
pledged to promote a rule-based, open, transpar ent, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral 
trading system.  He said that the United Nations  fully supported the WTO to conclude the Doha 
Round as well as initiatives to improve Aid for Trad e.  These efforts had mobilized resources, 
improved monitoring and evaluation, supported re gional integration, and had advanced the aid 
effectiveness agenda.  He inform ed Members that in November 2011, the international community 
would meet in Busan, Korea, to further enhan ce aid efforts by seeking a global consensus on 
strengthening the quality, effectiveness and cohere nce of aid.  The Busan development cooperation 
forum would fully draw on the exper tise of all international partners.  
                                                      
9 http://ldc4istanbul.org/uploads/IPoA.pdf   
10 http://www.un.org/millennium /declaration/ares552e.pdf    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  364. He said he was confident that the strengtheni ng of the development impact of world trade 
would be brought about through an even deeper  partnership between the WTO and the United 
Nations system, which would generate much ne eded additional impetus towards development 
objectives, including the MDGs.  Enhancing and improving Aid for Trade could become the cornerstone of this joint work.  He was proud to be able to attend the Third Global Review, which 
allowed him to emphasize how the United Nations system could support the work to make Aid for 
Trade more meaningful for all countries. 
365. In concluding, he said that, together, it was po ssible to advance the shared goal in ensuring 
that the international system work ed best for those who needed it most.  He also expressed concern 
about the situation in the Horn of Africa, wher e 11 million people had been impacted by drought.  
World-wide, the United Nations had to suppor t at least 35 million refugees and more than 
100 million people had to be supported daily.  He noted that this w as a huge challenge for the United 
Nations that could only be overcome with strong commitment, leadership, and the generous support 
of donor countries.  Finally, he reiterated the need  for leadership and commit ment to make the world 
better.   
VIII.  SESSION 6:  AID FOR TRADE – OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO REGIONAL 
TRADE INTEGRATION IN AFRICA 
366. Ms. Moono Mupola, Manager for Integration and Trade, African Development Bank opened 
the session with a presentation summarizing key findings  of a Report produced for the G-20 by the 
African Development Bank in collaboration with  the World Bank on obstacles and barriers to 
regional integration and trade in Africa.   
367. She stressed that much of the work needed to improve intra- African trade had already been 
agreed upon in the context of the continent's regiona l trade agreements and said that the key issue 
remaining was implementation of these commitments.  There was a need to start tackling why implementation remained elusive for many African countries.   
368. The joint report had categorized Africa's obstacl es and barriers into various clusters: trade 
infrastructure, inadequate productive capacity, NTBs, rules of origin and regul ation,  implementation 
of regional trade agreements and membership in mu ltiple RECs, and finally, external market access 
and trade policy.  On inadequate trade infrastruct ure, transport, energy, water and sanitation were 
singled out as particular issues.  The problems w ith transportation costs in Africa, which were as 
high as US$100 to 300 per ton and with delivery tim es taking up to 30 days, were emphasized.  In 
this regard, the plight of landlocked countries was particularly stressed, in the context of their 
dependence and reliance on neigh bouring countries for access to ports, etc.  Issues relating to 
congestion, compounded by problems along transport corridors, road blocks and issues at the border were also noted.  On energy, 30 African countries were prone to chronic shortages and regular interruptions of power supply, which impacted nega tively on doing business.  In addition, the need 
for effective supply as well as strong regional institutions had also been stressed.   
369. NTBs, rules of origin and other regulatory policies were mentioned as causing problems for 
investors. Rules of origin were product specific – for example in the Southern African Development 
Community (SADC), Shoprite was spending about US$5.6 million complying with varying administrative requirements for certificates of origin for its various outlets on the sub-continent.  
There was also a need to capture info rmal trade into the formal sector. 
370. Also stressed was the importance of liberaliz ing services so that their positive spill-over 
effect on manufacturing could be realized.  On productive capacity, she highlighted that African 
firms typically operated at 50 per cent of capacity  with problems related to working capital policy 
distortions and delays in getting inputs.  Poor t echnology, road networks and weak market access WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  conditions plagued agriculture.  Additionally, im plementation of the RTA agenda was plagued by 
multiple REC membership – many of the RECs had a similar mandate – yet the capacity of regional organizations remained limited.  The Tripartite  arrangement of the EAC, COMESA and SADC 
might be a good lesson in operationalizing RECs.  Th e need for enhanced ma rket access for African 
exports, making rules of origin more simple and transparent and especially the need to allow for 
cumulation to positively affect regiona l supply chains, were emphasized.   
371. The report called on the G-20 to exercise political will in prioritizing the implementation of 
Africa's trade agenda, work on trade facilitation an d more efficient logistic services.  Moreover, the 
G-20 was called on to simplify rules of origin, to enhance the capacity of regional regulatory bodies 
to ensure sector reforms and invest  in priority regional infrastruct ure to close the gap such as by 
modernizing customs and transit systems;  and to enhance capacity of local enterprises to export and 
meet quality standards and improve competitiven ess as well as supporting REC rationalization – 
notably through the Tripartite process.  Finally,  the G-20 was called upon to provide Africa-wide 
duty free and quota free (DFQF) market access.   
372. The Moderator, Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank, noted that the 
world required a growth plan to tackle unemploymen t and sovereign debt.  He stressed the need to 
answer the question of how to unlock Africa's pot ential and asked the Panellists what new obstacles 
were there and how should these be tackled, how could ways to leverage resources in a world of 
tight fiscal budgets be innovated, and wh at Africa could do for itself internally. 
373. Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary,  United Nations Economic Commission for 
Africa (UNECA), noted that Africa had manifested political will.  He refered to the January 2011 
African Summit meeting on intra-African trade which had set out very clear objectives and 
benchmarks, such as doubling intra-African trade within th e next five years.   He stressed the need to 
put trade at the centre-stage of national developm ent programmes and called for prioritizing funding 
to trade activities. 
374. Mr. Sindiso Ndema Ngwenya, Secretary-General, COMESA,  shared the tripartite 
experience involving the EAC, COMESA, and SADC.  He stressed the presence of political 
commitment, including at a 12 June 2011 Head of State meeting of the 26 countries at which the negotiations for establishing this FTA had been la unched.  These countries represented almost half 
the membership of the African Union with a combined GDP of US$875 million.  While this was a 
big market, the GDP was still less than that of Brazil which stood at US$1.6 trillion.  Challenges with border controls and landloc kedness of many of the 26 countries were stressed.  Sufficient 
political will existed, but what was needed was implementation.  He said that the actual realization 
of this goal remained with the technical people; if the mind-set was such that they were afraid or did 
not share the same vision, there would be a problem.   
375. Within the Tripartite there had been recognition of the need to engage in what was called a 
'development integrational approach', which wa s based on three pillars:  market integration; 
infrastructure; industrialization and supply-side constraint, which fitted very well into the AfT 
agenda.  The other issue that he mentioned as a challenge in regional integration was that trade 
ministers focused on trade issues, but there was no mainstreaming of trade by finance ministers or 
central bank governors.   
376. He recalled that a meeting of COMESA Cent ral Bank governors and ministers of finance 
had taken place.  They had come up with a progr amme which could not be implemented because of 
the liberalization problems faced by the countries.  He noted that there were economic and social 
adjustment costs, which needed to be supported u nder the fourth pillar of the Tripartite.  Economic 
transformation would be extended to the Tripartite.  The question that would be looked at was how  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  to integrate national development programmes into regional ones, not only in terms of programming 
but also in terms of funding.   
377. The Moderator addressed the Minister of Industry, Investment and Trade of Mali  and noted 
that as a reult of the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali had had to re-route almost all its transport through 
other countries.  In that regard, he asked if the funds and programmes between WAEMU and 
ECOWAS had been helpful to Mali.   
378. Ms. Sangaré Niamoto Bâ, Minister of Industry, Investment and Trade, Mali  stated that this 
topic was very important for her country as Mali was both an LDC and a landlocked country facing 
trade barriers. She recalled that the Prime Minist ers of Senegal and Mali had organized a high-level 
meeting in early June to discuss Côte d'Ivoire – the key corridor for Mali's exports and imports.  The 
two countries had realised that they actually ha d a framework in place – an interstate transport 
document – which was not being implemented.  The more than 30 check points at the border 
constituted another major problem.  The Prime Mi nister of Senegal had decided that only two 
checkpoints would remain from that day on.  However, there was a problem on the ground as many customs authorities were stressing the need for ch eckpoints for security reasons.  She reiterated the 
need to overcome obstacles.  With the crisis in  Côte d'Ivoire, ECOWAS and WAEMU should enable 
trade facilitation.  However, the problem was in  the application and im plementation on the ground 
by the technical authorities.  She stressed the im portance of the political will towards the expansion 
of trade.  
379. The Moderator invited USAID to tell more a bout USAID's innovative approach in the area 
of regional cooperation.   
380. Mr. Eric Postel, Assistant Administrator fo r Economic Growth, USAID, said that USAID 
was fully committed to working with partner countri es and RECs to further the mutual endeavour of 
regional integration.  He highlighted that USAI D had programmes with re gional hubs in Ghana and 
in Senegal for West Africa, in Botswana for Sout hern Africa, and in Keny a for Eastern and Central 
Africa.  The most recent programme announced was US$120 million for four years to assist African 
countries to export internationally and regionally.  This project, which built on two prior projects, 
aimed to help African countries work on the expor t of their value added products, especially by 
addressing their supply-side constraints and through trade facilitation.  He took the example of the 
East African corridor as an illustration of how US AID had partnered with many other organizations. 
Many donors, including DFID, the World Bank and others, were working jointly to analyse the 
problems and rectify them, thus contributing to a vibrant source of economic growth in the East 
African trade corridor.   
381. The Moderator then invited the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PAI Partners  to 
discuss innovative formulas for infrastructure financing.  
382. Mr. Lionel Zinsou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PAI Partners, said that in July a 
meeting had taken place in Paris with a financial pa nel.  At that meeting, the Chinese participants 
had said that funding was never a money problem a nd that problems encountered were more of a 
regulatory than financial nature – to  facilitate the private sector to do its job.  He said that there were 
ways to considerably improve fundraising for infrastructure through improving the system of investment guarantees, and their sustainability, and more sophisticated, but fairly common techniques with financial instruments for long-term and short-term debts.  This could bring greater 
revenues and security to the private sector.  He reported that during the meeting in Paris, a 
representative of the World Bank had said that Afri ca had not managed to sell its guarantee system 
effectively.  This had been reiterated by the representatives of many countries who had said that 
Africa's guarantee systems operated within silos.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  383. Infrastructure projects on a regional integration basis were difficult to look at as they were 
so complex and there was no lead arranger of funding  from either the private or the public sectors.  
He said that PAI was working on technical proposal s to extend to LDCs the possibility of using 
these financial instruments.  This would be easi er for the private sector.  With the help of 
Development Banks one could ove rcome some of the time and procedural constraints.   
384. He noted a gap to fund infrastructure in Africa.  The World Bank's figure amounted to a 
shortfall of US$31 billion each year, in terms of f unding available.  This wa s an enormous amount of 
money in terms of development aid.  With the limita tion of public finances, one really needed to get 
access to the private sector.  African insurance and pension schemes were now starting and more was being invested in national currencies, even in  the poorest countries on the continent.  He also 
said that the private sector needed security and pr ofessionalism.  He noted that there were those who 
thought that the private sector was a new idea in Africa, but he emphasized that the private sector 
and the financial market in Africa had the means, and needed to take over.  
385. Turning to the EU Commissioner for Developm ent, the Moderator said that although there 
was a crisis in Europe, Europe remained committed to continue its support to regional integration.  
He asked if additional resources could be exp ected from Europe in the coming years.   
386. Mr. Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Develo pment, European Union, said that Europe 
offered major support for regional integration in Africa.  He ac knowledged that the EU had made 
mistakes, but it was trying to improve. For example, regarding energy regulation, he said that the EU 
was now doing what they should have done 30 years ago.  EU initiatives were having an impact at 
the national and at the regional level.  Aid for Tr ade constituted a major part of the EU development 
activities. He noted that €10.5 billion had been pr ovided in 2009 and that more than 40 per cent had 
been directed to Africa. He highlighted that th ere were encouraging developments, notably with 
interconnection support – such as the interconn ection between Ethiopia and Djibouti for power 
supplies;  and the support to the development of th e Marmara Corridor.  He encouraged Members to 
fully use their potential.   
387. Concerning support to regional ec onomic organizations, he said that the EU had expected to 
commit €1.5 billion in the past six years.  However,  it had only been able to commit 20 per cent of 
that amount to respond to requests.  In some regions , this figure had only reached four per cent.  He 
recognized that part of the blame could be put on th e EU.  Partners were free to ask the EU to change 
some activities or to support some other activiti es.  However, he said that such types of 
conversations with the regional or ganizations never took place.   
388. He stressed the fact that regional integration was also a question of political leadership. 
After discussions with the Africa Union Commissi on and several RECs, the EU expected for the 
next period, depending on need, to provide more su pport to regional integration, provided that it 
created value for Africa.  He also said that in 2012, the EU would decide between regional and 
national envelopes.  He noted that in the previ ous financial framework, the EU had decided to go 
very much regional.  However, now, it seemed that in the future more would go towards the national 
envelope.   
389. Addressing the Chief Executive Officer of  ECOBANK, the Moderator said that a report that 
had been drawn up by the WTO indicated that the costs of trade finance loans was much higher for 
confirming letters of credit plus cash collateral.  This was because of a disconnect between active 
and passive risks.  He asked ECOBANK to pr ovide more information on that issue.   
390. Mr. Arnold Ekpe, Group Chief Executive Officer, ECOBANK, said that there was a cost 
created by the perception of risk in Africa.  Th is cost was driven by the view that Africa was 
sometimes seen as one country, which it obviously was not.  He highlighted that ECOBANK had  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  just raised US$300 million, at a very competitive rate, for Chad to finance development.  With 
regard to trade finance, he said that structural  access was a challenge which they had to face over 
time.  There were some countries that had significan t access to trade finance while others much less.  
ECOBANK operated across 30 countries in Africa and it was addressing this problem by acting 
sometimes as an intermediary.  Trade finance overall was the lowest form of risk for all banks, and it 
was unlikely to lose money as it was usually transaction-driven and soft liquidity.   
391. He stressed the fact that in Africa the obs tacles that created significant problems were 
sometimes policy-driven.  He explained that majo r issues included exchange control, government 
policy that seemed to favour international trade more  than intra-African trade, and finally, the low 
level of intra-African trade.  The challenge for A frica was to move from talk to action and to look at 
ways that could support many of the initiatives that were covered by Aid for Trade.  He was of the 
view that the private sector working with the AfDB  and other institutions had made a difference and 
had, to some extent, reduced the cost of trade finance in a lot of countries, especially in the 
marginalised ones.   
392. Going forward, he said that the major challenge  would be to stick to ways in which they 
could provide trade finance in a more open and liber al environment that sought to lower the cost of 
trade finance to the marginalised countries.   This  could also increase the quantum of trade finance 
available to the African market. 
393. The Moderator asked the Minister for Develo pment Cooperation of Denmark to share his 
views from a bilateral perspective.   
394. Mr. Søren Pind, Minister for Development Coopera tion, Denmark, stated that the concept of 
"the private sector" was not a simple one.  He noted that in the US and in Europe the idea of a "free 
market" had not been a very simple concept to im plement.  He stressed that these ideas did not 
belong to anyone, but were global concepts, and th e question remained how to implement them.  He 
mentioned that Denmark had set up a Trust Fund in Uganda, with DK300 million, to encourage 
Ugandan banks to go into agriculture, and to guaran tee farmers.  After one year, 25,000 farmers had 
invested in their farms with an average amount of US$2500 and that there had only been three 
payment defaults.  He attributed this success to th e fact that when the idea of a capitalist market 
worked under certain guarantees, banks would do what they should do.  He also mentioned that it 
was important to stick to basics because change on the African continent would be much quicker 
than in Europe or elsewhere. 
395. Turning to the Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for African Development 
(NEPAD), the Moderator asked how NEPAD had gone in generating political will, in planning, in 
mobilizing the private sector and in mobiliz ing internal and external partners.   
396. Mr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD explained that from a 
strategic point of view, from 1970 to the beginning of 2000, Africa had been like a desert because 
structural adjustment had removed all the possib ilities of thinking strategically.  Since 2000, with 
great democratic intensity, Africa was witnessing a re-birth of strategic thinking and NEPAD had 
been created in that context.  Agriculture and infrastructure were two neglected sectors and African 
countries had aligned themselves to address and corre ct that negligence.  NEPAD was a mechanism 
to promote regional integration.  He emphasized that work had been done with regional economic 
bodies to implement these new policies.  Furthermore, banks were playing an important role in terms 
of infrastructure (in the short-term action plan),  which had led to the foundation of what was now 
defined as the 30-year strategic programme for African infrastructure.  He reiterated the fact that the 
change in paradigm corresponded to  increased democracy.  He also  highlighted that governments, 
donors and NEPAD had moved in order to have a wide r group of actors, leading to the civil society 
and the private sector becoming more important in defining public policy. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  397. Mr. Janneh said that the political will to drive th e trade agenda existed in Africa. Africa was 
increasingly getting organised as emphasized by tho se working at regional and sub-regional levels, 
including for example, the Secretary-General of COMESA.  Africa would be driving global growth.  
He mentioned that partners – USAID, EU Commission – had expressed their willingness to accompany Africa.  Commissioner Piebalgs had mentioned the dichotomy between the national and 
regional level and he said it was impor tant to bring these two sides together.  He stressed the fact that 
Africa had gone beyond that dichotomy; it was very clear that Africa wanted to put emphasis on regional integration.   
398. Referring to the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, the M oderator asked Mr. Janneh to give his view on 
whether the political will had translated into actual action on the ground in terms of removing all 
trade barriers.   
399. Mr. Janneh said that the conflict in Côte d'Ivoire was a force majeure which had impacted 
on free movement of goods.  He also highlighted th at the crisis had been resolved through regional 
integration and political will by West African countri es.  He noted that what remained to be done 
was to know which partners would accompany this  positive development in Africa.  Moving this 
agenda to the G-20 and mobilizing the private sect or to accompany African efforts were both very 
reassuring elements.  He emphasized the need to  bring this issue to the highest level.  
400. Ms. Bâ said that the solution was to be found at two levels.  First, she agreed that the 
question of political will was there, but she also e ndorsed the fact that each obstacle needed to be 
identified selectively and to be acted on directly.  She mentioned that Mali and Senegal had come up 
with firm solutions – a protocol – and that other actions had been put in place.  She highlighted the 
need to monitor at the country level, to sensitize and mobilize those who were on the ground, in 
order to induce respect for the instruments that ha d been put in place.  Secondly, she had analysed 
the statistics, trade figures, intra-regional tr ade, ECOWAS, and WAEMU.  She had noted the 
investments in transport infrastructure at the s ub-regional level between Ma li and other countries 
(such as Senegal), roads that had been fixed and interconnectivity which had been created.  That 
infrastructure would increase the volume of intra-regional trade.  Finally, she congratulated the 
development partners, especially the EU, the AfDB, the World Bank, and others. She urged 
continued support for infrastructure development in African countries.   
401. Making a reference to the spaghetti bowl as an  analogy for membership in multiple RECs, 
the Moderator asked if the Tripartite was a model of cooperation between all these organizations.   
402. Mr. Ngwenya  said that during a summit earlier in 2011, the decision had been taken to start 
a Free Trade Area, to be followed by the custom s union and then a merging of the three regional 
organizations.  There was commitment at the political level, as Members were very clear in terms of 
what should be done.  The issue was implementati on and the political leadership necessary to do so.  
Taking the example of the private sector, he said th at an enabling environment had been created for 
the private sector which was leading to invest ments within different regions in Africa.   
403. Secondly, with regard to infrastructure under th e Tripartite, he said that things had started 
with the North-South corridor, thanks to the WTO,  DFID and other organizations.  Delays at one 
crossing point been reduced from three days to three hours with savings of US$600,000 per day. These were the practical things being done unde r the AfT initiative.  On 29 September 2011, a 
seminar/conference would take place on the central corridor from Dar es Salaam inland and also from Mombasa to the rest of the countries, including Addis Ababa.   
404. He continued by saying that they were cha llenging the way in which development aid was 
delivered, and appreciated the fact that the EU Commissioner for Development had started to work 
on innovation.  However, it had taken almost th ree years to engage the Commission in having  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  lending grants and the private sector funds because th e EU policies did not allow that.  He stressed 
the fact that it would be a missed opportunity if th e EU changed its policy with regard to the national 
and regional programmes.  There were pillars in A frica such as market integration, infrastructure and 
industrialization, which could be  implemented at national level but with regional value chains 
integrated.  A coherent programme was needed  in terms of preparation and funding.   
405. In response to the Moderator's invitati on to comment on COMESA's intervention , Mr. Eric 
Postel  said that it was important to have a broader perspective.  He explained that 20 years ago there 
were no Stock exchanges, while today, they existe d in Tanzania, Zambia, and many other countries.  
In Zambia, the first Initial Public Offering (IPO) wa s for US$2 million;  three years ago an IPO of a 
Cell phone Company had raised US$200 million, and mo st of the funds coming in were domestic.   
406. He highlighted the progress that had been made, including with regard to trade.  There was a 
need for reform and improvement, including for hi s organization which had launched the "Feed the 
Future" initiative in the area of agriculture.  The same issue applied with regard to monitoring and 
evaluation. He noted that the African continent was also doing things differently, and people on the 
ground were moving even faster than all others, inte grating African trade.  He stressed the fact that 
the role of USAID was to work with all the African official agencies, but also with the private sector 
to really accelerate that trend and continue making good progress.   
407. Responding to the Moderator's question on what people could do individually or collectively 
to ensure that the financial instruments and poten tial in the private sector was unlocked, Mr. Zinsou 
endorsed the idea expressed by the Danish Minister who said that using the private sector was like a 
new idea, but it was not an easy one.  He highlighted  two issues that were linked to the social aspect 
of this problem.  According to him, the private sector  and civil society needed to be involved in this 
idea of job creation – in a social perspective – which was part of the idea of African integration.  The 
private sector was adaptable and one had to be car eful because there existed a private sector which 
was actually very satisfied with a disintegrated Afri ca, as it created situations of privilege, barriers to 
entry to markets, and high prices and profit margin s – an unhelpful situation for consumers.  Hence 
there might be some reluctance on the part of the pr ivate sector to adapt to something new within the 
continent.  On the other hand, there was a str ong social demand.  If growth potential was not 
unlocked, if competitive markets could not be ope ned, consumption could not be increased, and the 
continent would then become the most expensive c ontinent with the lowest incomes, but with the 
highest prices related to that income.   
408. He continued by saying that a free and comp etitive market was neces sary, where necessary 
skills were available.  He noted that certain elemen ts of the private sector should not be protected.  
He highlighted that in certain countries, in spite of the strong growth, there was no job creation – qualified or non-qualified – which was so needed for young people.  He also said that political unrest 
or political changes leading to a market economy could bring fundamental changes to the private 
sector, enabling it to exploit the benefits of a market economy, providing jobs to the young and 
educated.  This could speed up integration.  He stre ssed the fact that the private sector was able to 
make a strong contribution and come up with ne w jobs, but for that, better interaction between 
public authority and the private sector was required. 
409. Mr. Piebalgs said that the EU was fully committed to regional integration, but noted that it 
had to face two additional difficulties because of the recent crisis.  First, the EU was focusing on 
issues such as sustainable growth, in particular, agriculture, food security and energy.  In that 
context, creative integration would help, but there we re challenges, notably with regard to funding.  
Political leadership in the process was needed, which would come through the RECs.  Otherwise, the 
processes could be confusing.  He supported the call to interconnection but questioned the way it 
could be achieved.  With regard to capacity build ing, a regulatory space was crucial.  He mentioned 
that in several parts in Africa, it was possible to  make use of a regional regulator, which was a new WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  concept and could create considerable private dynamics as resources were used efficiently and the 
prices were lower.  He continued by saying that this was a political decision, which could not come 
from the EU Commission.  Rather, the Commissi on proposed a dynamic package for EU member 
States, to be discussed for the next financial fra mework after 2020.  He underscored that what 
needed to be agreed was whether funds created add itional value, rather than keeping the situation as 
it stood. 
410. The Moderator recalled the point made by Lione l Zinsou of PAI Partners on how the private 
sector made use of a rent-seeking situation, an d also the challenges and opportunities faced by 
African companies which operated across-borders in different African countries, and asked Mr. Ekpe 
for his views on these questions.   
411. In response, Mr. Ekpe  said that from the private sector perspective, it was a call to action.  
He noted the importance of getting structured in order to bring down barriers and reduce transaction 
costs, and to make finance more available in Africa.   He highlighted the fact that Africa had moved a 
long way but could move a lot faster.  Issues whic h were halting this movement included exchange 
controls and other policy issues.  While talking about a single currency, many African countries at 
the same time maintained  exchange controls among themselves.  African countries should first bring 
down these controls, before moving to a single currency.  He said that a significant part of the cost of trade finance in Africa was due to the fact that cap ital did not move freely.  Moreover, it would take 
much work, including on policy issues, because of the state of the infrastructure.   
412. He said that while waiting for the policymakers to take decisions, the private sector would 
have to face the costs.  Policy changes had an  impact on the success of making trade finance 
available to African countries.  Many African c ountries were small and fragmented, they could not 
survive on their own.  He took the example of T ogo, and said that with a population of five million 
people and a GDP of US$6 billion, its economic area included Nigeria.  With no regional 
integration, Togo did not have the capacity to set up a factory and to export to the whole region.  
Doing so would entail significant costs.  He noted that by opening up its market, Togo would be a lot 
more competitive.   
413. In responding to a question from the Moderator  on the African Guarantee Fund set up by the 
Commission and its potential in the future, Mr. Pind expressed his optimism and said that it was 
necessary to take into consideration the lessons  learned and experiences gained from doing this. 
Following Mr. Ekpe's remarks, he said in Europe there was a discussion on the taxation of financial 
transactions, whilst in Africa there was a will to make financial transactions easier.  Financial 
investments needed to be allowed to travel as easily  as possible, and this should not be forgotten in 
Europe.  
414. Mr. Mayaki said that when looking at NEPAD's experience over the last ten years it was 
possible to concentrate on some transformation trig gers.  Eighty per cent of development finance in 
the continent came from domestic resources and th e successes in mobilizing domestic resources had 
been huge due to sound macroeconomic policies.  In that context, the necessary adjustments had 
taken place.  This transformation trigger had to be enhanced.  The second transformation trigger was 
to increase the capacities of the RECs. He highli ghted that the "increase of capacity" referred to 
political commitment.  The meaning of political co mmitment was not the same in Europe as on the 
African continent.  He went on by clarifying th at political commitment was not just about signing 
treaties, but was more a political involvement in the implementation of the treaty which had been 
signed.  This transformation trigger was absolutely  essential and had to be reflected in the work to 
enhance the capacities of RECs.   
415. Another trigger was the African continent.  He noted that Africa was the continent where 
people moved the most, contrary to goods.  He contested the figures of nine to 12 per cent of  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  intra-African trade and said that analyses were be ing undertaken to show that the figures were 
higher.  The role of the political leadership was to  adapt to these trends because the growth of the 
population was advancing the thinking on regional in tegration.  A further transformation trigger was 
related to demographic transition.  Africa ha d achieved its demographic transition, and the 
demographic growth rates had been between 2.8 a nd 3.2 per cent, which meant that in Mali and in 
Niger, the proportion of young people coming into th e employment market had been between 50,000 
and 300,000 every year.  This was a political time bom b, given the level of industrialisation and the 
limited capacity of the public services to employ.  He also mentioned the importance of developing a 
strong partnership between the public and the private sectors.  He took the ex ample of the Japanese 
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) after the Second World War.  One needed to 
rethink the way policies were designed and implem ented, linking-in more the private sector, which 
had to be part of the policy design and the policy implementation processes.   
416. The Moderator noted that the views heard in the Session expressed optimism and 
pragmatism.  Over the last decade something ha d been happening, which was unique in the last 
50 years.  In Africa, excluding North Africa, the gr owth rate was 5.6 per cent and this was predicted 
to reach around 6.3 per cent in the coming year.  Some countries such as Ghana and Ethiopia were 
beginning to break through the double digit growth on a three-year continuum.  He highlighted the fact that the dynamic was both internal and extern al.  He also mentioned that some unlocking was 
taking place in this context:  Africa was different from 10 or 20 years ago.  Challenges existed, but it 
was important to see how to keep this momentum  by expanding the internal African space because 
of its high diversity and innovation.  He then turned to the floor for comments.   
417. The representative of China congratulated the Pa nellists for their inspiring and informative 
presentations and apologized for the absence of M. Wang Yong, who had been invited to be one of 
the panellists.  He explained that the China-A frica Development (CAD) Fund was one of the aid 
measures announced by Chinese President Hun Jin Tao at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006.  The CAD Fund aimed at supporting Chinese 
companies to develop business relations with Afri can counterparts, and it demonstrated China's 
commitment to signal the China-African new stra tegic partnership.  In June 2007, the Chinese 
Government had officially approved the establishment of a US$1 billion Fund to be provided by the 
China Development Bank. Eventually, this  commitment would reach US$5 billion.   
418. China believed that the CAD Fund was playing a role in trying to facilitate regional trade 
integration in Africa, and wanted it to stimulat e more the mutual cooperation between China and 
Africa.  At the end of June 2011, the CAF Fund had committed US$1.6 billion investments in more 
than 20 African countries and this had driven an additional US$5.7 billion in investment from 
Chinese partners and banks.  The projects were focu sing on the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, 
energy, transportation and production.  He expl ained that this Fund was helpful in building 
development capacities of the local economies on the A frican continent.  The priority was given to 
value addition and export oriented projects.  He men tioned that there were some investments of this 
Fund in projects relating to textile and cotton indus tries in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia, 
and Tanzania.  He stressed the fact that China was of the opinion that this cooperation would 
continue, supported by the Fund, and that China tr ade ties with African countries would further grow 
and would also contribute to greater trade integration in Africa.   
419. The representative of Kenya  said that intra-African trade was very low and there was a need 
to identify factors that would help to raise the level of trade among African countries.  He mentioned 
that with the Tripartite agreement between EAC, SADC and COMESA, as formalized on 
4 June 2011, there was a political will to move forward and to improve intra-African trade.  
However, he noted that nothing would move mean ingfully, unless certain conditions were put in 
place, which were not always easy to implement.  Among those issues, he noted, first and foremost, 
affordable transport across Africa.  Secondly, ener gy played an important role, notably by assuring WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  value-addition of commodities.  He stressed the fact  that Aid for Trade could play a significant role 
in infrastructure by facilitating intra-African trade.  He highlighted the role that developed countries 
could play in investing in infrastructure developmen t to create corridors.  Developed countries could 
invest in the generation of energy and power, wh ich would encourage the pr ivate sector to move in, 
to engage in value-addition and thereby improve intra-African trade.  He underscored the need to 
have transport infrastructure and energy, leading to  value addition;  to be followed by regulation, 
facilitating the free movement of goods a nd people and hence improving economies.   
420. The representative of Zimbabwe  posed two questions to developm ent partners.  First, while 
there seemed to be a consensus to go regionally, why was the delivery of aid still largely bilateral?  
Was it still country-specific?  She noted that it created  islands of excellence and in fact it began to be 
a risk to regional integration itself.  She highlight ed the fact that figures in the Aid for Trade at a 
Glance report showed that very little of the AfT m oney had been targeted to pro-regional projects 
and to regional bodies.  Almost all of the funds had been directed to country specific projects.  Her 
second point related to a consensus on the need to look at Aid for Trade beyond just infrastructure, and more from a development perspective.  She rai sed the point that the resources were not directly 
targeting poor individuals in terms of access to water, agriculture support, and food security.  She 
noted that very little of the resources had been  directed to those areas which would make a 
difference.  She stressed the fact that aid delivery still remained problematic in that context, even 
though at the policy level, there was an agreement to  go regional.  One needed to look at issues that 
would support the development of the poor.   
421. The representative of the Central African Re public (CAR), on behalf of the Economic 
Community of Central Afrian States (ECCAS) and the Central African Economic and Monetary 
Community (CAEMAC) said that in Central Africa,  trade was now mainstreamed into development 
strategies as an engine for progress and poverty reduction.   With regard to the specificities of Central 
Africa, the region had recorded only a slow movement  towards trade and development through trade.  
The reason for this delay was relate d to the conflicts in several count ries in the region.  However, the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative would gain in pace and b ecome known in the Central African area.  She 
explained that the aim of CEMAC was to make  the region an emerging economy by 2025.  To 
achieve this goal, and because of the potential of energy, oil and mining resources, the region had to 
overcome the obstacles to regional trade integra tion in the region and to accompany the private 
sector which needed to be modernized.  In terms of the prospects to boost and promote development 
through trade, Central Africa had started, in June 2010, to design an AfT regional process called the 
"Douala Process".  This strategy was based on thre e main aspects:  the development of energy and 
infrastructure;  capacity building, for example fo r packaging and standardization;  and a real 
commitment to trade facilitation in the region.   
422. She expressed her gratitude to the multilateral and bilateral partners  who had supported the 
region in this programme, such as the WTO, th e World Bank, the OECD, the EU, the UN, the 
AfDB, UNCTAD, the EIF and the ITC.  However, the region faced a number of challenges, and 
focus should be placed on greater efficiency in te rms of the impact of Aid for Trade in Central 
Africa and trade promotion, a greater flexibility in the disbursement, with regard to the commitments 
taken and the need for solid s upport in the development of th e energy sector, which would precede 
the development of the private sector in the re gion.  The institutional framework for the energy 
sector or the region had been liberalized, opening up  an important role for the private sector.  She 
highlighted that it was essential to assist in appr opriating good practices in trade facilitation at the 
regional level for greater integration of Central Africa in the world economy.   
423. The representative of EAC made two reflections .  First, the spaghetti bowl and membership 
in multiple RECs existed in all continents.  This  needed to be rationalized, but it was not a unique 
strategic challenge for Africa.  As far as his region was concerned, the EAC, SADC and COMESA 
were involved in an FTA.  Negotiations within this  FTA were to be based either on the constituent  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  countries or would be REC-based, which was progress for Africa.  They would urge development 
partners to support this process, because Africa had identified the RECs as key blocks for its 
development.  His second reflection was on market integration and whether it was possible to have 
full integration without deepening integration processes.  In the EAC, the customs union as it currently existed, as well as a Common Market were  being considered as transitional tools and as an 
integral part of a political federation.  It was not  possible to have a full and meaningful integration 
on the monetary side without closer cooperation on the fiscal side.  He noted the lessons from 
Europe, notably with regard to the African Un ion decision on a political union and the EAC decision 
for a political federation.  It was a critical component of a deepened integration agenda.   
424. The representative of the World Bank said that  the panel had addressed a very important 
issue in the joint OECD-WTO report Aid for Trad e at a Glance.  The World Bank Group had put a 
lot of emphasis on regional integration in low in come countries.  However, it was recognized that 
regional integration processes had made uneven prog ress and much remained to be done, as pointed 
out by the European Commission and by other participants.  In this context, the World Bank welcomed the vision articulated by many speakers,  and the focus on issues such as trade facilitation, 
the simplification of rules of origin, standards,  and the importance of political commitment.   
425. He stressed the importance of a shared vision on regional integration. The focus on trade 
policies at the border and infrastructure was not  enough.  Successful regional integration demanded 
the drafting of soft policy issues beyond trade policies at the border.  The World Bank was emphasizing the importance of having competitiv e services markets for key services such as 
transport, energy and professional services; these were key complements to investments in hard 
infrastructure. The Bank was also emphasizing the simplification of non-tariff measures to ensure 
that they did not cause unnecessary barriers to trade.   
426. Aid for Trade was able to play a role in addressing the implementation challenges including 
by addressing soft policy issues.  The international donor community could support African countries to address the necessary reforms by funding  mechanisms that supported implementation.  
However, it was fundamental to engage the priv ate sector in this process.  The World Bank had 
started a number of initiatives by establishing knowledge  platforms that brought in the private sector 
and expertise and experiences from other parts of the developing world.  To conclude, he said that 
"vision without implementation was hallucination" .  One needed to focus on the implementation 
points that several of the Members of the Panel had addressed.   
427. The representative of Senegal said that regiona l integration was more and more mentioned 
as a priority issue in Aid for Trade, but it was im portant to recognize that real actions to support 
regional integration were still lack ing and not very ambitious.  He was of the view that regional 
integration was the poor cousin of Aid for Trade in country programmes.  A regional integration 
focus would be useful for Aid for Trade for two re asons:  first, regional integration in Africa was 
confronted with many crucial issues.  There were problems relating to infrastructure and logistics to 
make the free movement of goods and services possi ble, and structural problems which had long 
been identified, but not solved.  The lack of  trade complementarity among African countries was 
also critical and meriting of profound reforms in production processes.  However, reforms of 
customs mechanisms had not yielded much, 10 to 15 per cent increases in the best cases.  A good 
dose of political will was needed from the Afri can side as well as from development partners, 
especially AfT donors in order to carry through these structural reforms, and to make the necessary 
changes to the paradigm for real integration at th e regional level.  Second, the promotion of regional 
integration as a strategic approach given that th e objective of Aid for Trade was to improve trade 
performance of beneficiaries through better integrat ion into the multilateral trading system.  The 
integration into the world economy meant being co mpetitive on the world market.  In his view, Aid 
for Trade was being used in the areas of commodity  products that were not processed.  However, 
value-addition was important as this would creat e jobs and improve economic performance.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Regional integration seemed to be the only lever which would increase this necessary international 
competitiveness by basing it on regi onal trade.  Therefore, a coherent and strategic approach on 
regional integration was needed.  
428. The representative of the Southern African Cu stoms Union (SACU) recalled that in 2010 
SACU had celebrated its centenary, and as part of  that celebration, the SACU Head of States had 
adopted a new vision to move towards an economic community with equitable and sustainable 
development.  As part of that new vision, a new work programme had been developed and it 
focused, for the first time, among other things, on the regional development of the SACU region, on 
trade facilitation, and on cross-border infrastructur e. She also noted the importance of the wider 
regional integration agenda, and c onsequently the Tripartite initiative.  Finally, she indicated that by 
moving into the regional integration agenda, the Aid-for-Trade Initiative became a critical part of 
unlocking productive capacity and building trade policy capacity in the region.   
429. Mr. Mayaki noted that the  political will existed and the technical instruments needed to 
facilitate increased intra-regional trade were known.   The RECs were trying to build markets at 
various speeds and often they were more like strategi c frameworks at the sectoral level, in particular 
agriculture, infrastructure and trade.  He reiterate d the point that challenges were multi-sectoral and 
needed to be approached from a regional point of view.    
430. Mr. Postel reiterated the importance of the pr ivate sector.  A simple matrix for monitoring 
overall progress was needed, notably in terms of tran sportation improvement or water to grow crops.  
The United States was firmly committed to worki ng with Africa to build regional trade on the 
continent and had spent thousands of millions of do llars on this endeavour over the last decade.  He 
said that Africa could count on the US to continue to work with the continent in this effort.   
431. Mr. Pind highlighted the fact that it was more expensive to send a container from Kigali to 
Mombasa than to send a container from Asia to Mo mbasa, and noted that this was a question that 
started in Africa itself.  Replying to the question for the donor community raised by the representative of Zimbabwe, he said that Denmark supported regional development.  It had recently 
donated DK160 million to support the EAC.  He noted  that the question to support a particular 
country was a political one that could be discussed for a long time.  On the question relating to the fact that support had not reached the poorest people,  he expressed the view that for many years, 
developed countries had combatted poverty by helping people just to exist; now the point was to 
create wealth for them.  In order to achieve that, he  said that it was important to make transitions, not 
just by supporting people, but actually by allevi ating poverty, by making people better farmers, by 
undertaking land reforms, and by having politicia ns who understood the im portance of the common 
good.   
432. Mr. Zinsou  said that it was possible to define the wo rd integration by saying that ''it was 
additional growth for employment of young qualif ied persons". He noted that before being an 
economic and technical priority, integration w as a social condition which was fundamental and 
essential to sustainable growth in Africa.  Regiona l integration was not an option; it was something 
to work towards, and a destiny that could be achie ved by the private sector.  However, to achieve 
that social objective, cooperation among multilate ral banks, donors, public authorities and the 
private sector was needed.  He noted that the priv ate sector alone could not bring integration.  He 
stressed the urgency of action, noting that it was possible to achieve development with a bottom up approach.  
433. Mr. Ekpe stressed the importance of the privat e sector being increasingly part of the debate. 
The issues that had been addressed were ultimately  African issues, and policy issues that African 
governments could fix for the most part.  Aid for Trade could support that process.  He noted that the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  issues relating to exchange controls, free movement of people and goods could be fixed at the 
African Union level.  Finally, he stressed the need to move from talk to action.   
434. Mr. Ngwenya said that it was up to African countries, and not to the donors, to design 
coherent programmes and institutio nal coordinated mechanisms to ensure the linkage between the 
national and the regional levels.  With regard to the Paris Declaration and the Accra Action Plan, he 
said that although they provided for measures at the national level, Africans did not have the 
regional dimension.  Commenting on what the representative of the World Bank had said on the importance to have a vision, he said that, "if you start with a vision, you know what you want to achieve;  then you move onto policies and programmes;   then you start to implement".  In his view, 
the problem was that Africans had tended to be pessi mistic in their regional integration approach and 
they had been ideological, in the sense that they followed the linear model of economic integration.  
One needed to think outside the box, be pragmatic  and begin by looking at the results that they 
wanted to achieve.   
435. Ms. Bâ expressed her optimism and stated that progress had been made thanks to the Aid for 
Trade Initiative.  Intra-regional trade in Western Africa was increasing and there were impacts in 
terms of infrastructure.  She noted the necessity to  focus on monitoring and follow-up in the field.  
Finally, she mentioned the need to strengthen th e partnerships with the EU and other donors to 
ensure the focus on trade facilitation and infrastructure.   
436. Mr. Piebalgs thanked the WTO Director-General  for his leadership on Aid for Trade, which 
was an essential process to which the EU was fully committed. Aid-for-Trade support by the EU for 
Africa had been more than €4 billion.  The EU  was trying to learn from its success stories and 
failures.  The EU could support initiatives coming from Africa and he said it was a challenge to 
choose between support for regional an d national initiatives.  Finally, he stressed that it was also up 
to countries themselves to invest more in the capacity of sub-regional organizations.   
437. Mr. Janneh  recalled that in 2007, worl d leaders, representatives of RECs, and ministers of 
trade and finance had met and adopted a clear cut pr ogramme on what had to be done in Africa.  He 
noted that the important thing was to make that  programme happen.  The new dimension which was 
emerging was the role of the private sector.  He  mentioned a forthcoming African Union Summit to 
be held on trade, and particularly on intra-Afri can trade.  The Summit would be an opportunity to 
renew faith in the trade sector.  He also menti oned the need to support the African Union towards a 
really meaningful summit, with clear cut objectives and clear cut benchmarks, and holding policymakers' feet to the fire to make it happen. 
IX. SESSION 7:  AID FOR TRADE – PARALLEL REGIONAL BREAK OUT SESSIONS 
A. 
PARALLEL STREAM 1 – AID FOR TRADE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN :  
PROMOTING REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRATION FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH  
438. Opening the session, the Moderator, Ms. Anabel González, Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa 
Rica, noted that Latin American and Caribbean  (LAC) countries had understood that trade and 
economic integration were key for sustainable growth.  Today there were over 70 FTAs in the region 
and there were a number of other initiatives taking place.  It was therefore very interesting to 
examine the role of Aid for Trade in this region.   
439. She explained that the aim of the Sessi on was to examine how the region and its 
development partners could promote greater inte gration and trade, for example, by bridging 
integration gaps through convergence of exis ting agreements, reducing trade logistics and 
transportation costs, promoting trade facilitati on and expanding regional cooperation to provide 
public goods.  She noted that CAF was playing a pi votal role in the development of the region and WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  that the financial resources of CAF had increased dramatically.  She asked the representative of the 
CAF Development Bank to outline some of the successes CAF had had in the area of regional 
integration and trade.   
440. Ms. Gladis Genua, Director, Representative in Uruguay and Aid for Trade Programme 
Coordinator, CAF Development Ba nk of Latin America, said that CAF was a multilateral institution 
that had grown in recent years.  Among the most important achievements CAF had accomplished 
was turning CAF from an Andean institution into an  Ibero-american institution of 18 shareholding 
countries, encompassing all of Latin America plus Spain and Portugal, with a forward-looking vision.  This new dimension was not only reflected in the reach of CAF's actions but also had allowed it to increase its finances.  CAF had gone from a US$8 million portfolio to a portfolio of 
US$14 billion and for 2017 this should reach US$ 40 billion.  This capitalization of CAF had been 
undertaken at a time of crisis when the memb er governments were short on resources.   
441. Secondly, she said that during its 41 years of existence CAF had made a major contribution 
to the developmental agenda of its  shareholding countries and more specifically Aid for Trade.  CAF 
had provided a wide range of prod ucts and services, including infrastructure projects.  This included 
trade and economic infrastructure, energy infrast ructures, alternative energy, and a number of 
projects that linked up countries in the region such as "iniciativa para la integración regional suramericana" (IIRSA) and the "proyecto Mesoamerica" .  CAF also had a project called "puertos de 
primera" for the overhaul of port infrastructure where CAF had introduced a quality certificate for 
ports.   
442. CAF had also not neglected investment in soci al infrastructure to improve the quality of life 
of the population and alleviate poverty.  CAF was thus the main source of infrastructure financing in 
Latin America, but it was not limited to financi ng as CAF worked hand in hand with government to 
provide technical assistance to allow the optimal execution of projects.  Additionally, CAF had 
specialized in financing projects that involved tw o or more shareholding countries concerning border 
integration.  This had been complemented with  support measures for the design of public policies 
oriented towards increasing the levels of qua lity and productivity, cr eating a business friendly 
environment through the reduction of administrative barriers, as well as the insertion of SMEs in 
global value chains.  Finally, CAF had made an important contribution to South-South cooperation 
through documentation of successful cases so that th ey could be replicated in other countries.   
443. The Moderator asked what role CAF was playing in regional trade integration in the future.  
In reply, Ms. Genua said that CAF was going to re new its regional integration strategy.  The idea 
was to complement its projects with technical assistance and institutional strengthening.  CAF would 
focus on projects that promoted foreign trade procedures, trade facilitation, compliance with 
international standards including those on clim ate change, as well as adjustment of normative 
frameworks to new international commitments.  CAF had also become an effective tool for 
channelling outside cooperation resources to the regi on.  CAF would continue its alliance with WTO 
and other multilateral institutions to generate a dialogue on best  practices for financing and 
implementing projects designed to increase trade capacity and international integration. 
444. The Moderator noted that the IaDB was also  gearing up its regional programmes.  She 
recalled that at the IaDB's annual meeting in Ma rch, a general capital increase had been agreed and 
the creation of a spending target of 15 per cent for global and regional integration set by IaDB governors.  She then asked the representative of the IaDB how this would transform the way the 
Bank approached support for regional in tegration in the hemisphere.   
445. Ms. Carolyn Robert, Senior Trade Specialist In tegration and Trade Sector, IaDB, said that 
Aid for Trade was not a new issue for IaDB.  Th e IaDB had been very active in this area and 
between 2008-2010 more than US$17 billion had b een allocated as non-concessional resources and  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  US$600 million in concessional resources.  With the increase in capital that had been approved it 
was expected that this commitment could be streng thened.  This new commitment had to be put in 
the context of the changes occurring in the region.  There were more than 70 FTAs in force and this 
had changed intra- and extra- regional trade rela tions.  As a result of th is process and unilateral 
liberalization, tariffs had decreased from an average of 45 per cent in 1990 to nine per cent in 2011.  
Preferential tariffs were even below these averages.   
446. The engines of multilateral integration had also  changed in this region.  A decade ago the 
United States represented a 60 per cent share of trade for countries in the region while Asia was only 
10 per cent.  Today, these shares were 40 and 20 per cent, respectively.  Intra-regional trade had also grown ten-fold reaching US$180 billion in 2010.  Accordingly, challenges for the region were 
presented not so much by tariffs but rather by whether traders could take advantage of trade 
opportunities and insert themselves in the value chains of the global economy.   
447. She noted that there were three challenges th at affected capacity in the region and which 
were the focus of the IaDB's new strategy.  Fi rst were the levels of public investment in 
infrastructure in the region.  In Latin-America th ese levels were currently around two to three per 
cent of GDP while in Asia it was six per cent, so  there was an important gap in infrastructure 
investment.  Second, transport costs continued to  neutralize the benefits of tariff reduction.  
Therefore, a reduction of transport costs would have  a much greater impact in export growth than 
tariff reduction in the future.  Third, logistic costs were still very high, i.e. between 18 and 
34 per cent in the region compared to eight per cent in OECD countries.  Accordingly, the strategies 
in the region had to be completely different from before and this was why the IaDB's commitment to 
a spending target of 15 per cent for global and re gional integration was ba sed on the premise of 
making complementary investments in these areas.  Therefore, investments in "software" of 
integration (i.e. trade policy, regul atory reform and trade facilitation) should be made in  parallel with 
investment in "hardware" (i.e. transport network,  ports and maritime services).  These investments 
would help intra-regional trade grow by  more than 50 per cent by 2020.   
448. The Moderator highlighted that the decision by the IaDB Board was not starting a new 
programme but built on existing work.  So the Board was happy with the progress to date and 
confident to invest further in this process.  She asked what had given them the confidence to take 
this step and whether IaDB would allocate the resources to AfT-type activities in line with its 
integration strategy.   
449. Ms. Carolyn Robert stated that the key element that would guide resource allocation was 
ensuring results and maximizing impact.  This require d a combination of four different instruments.  
First, loan resources including 15 per cent of the available resources dedicated to regional 
integration. Second, non-concessional resources which we re scarcer every day so a very efficient use 
of these was important to maximize impact.  Third, technical assistance provided directly by the Bank.  Fourth, South-South cooperation to encourag e the exchange experiences.  Another important 
element was the intelligent combination of con cessional and non-concessional resources, and in this 
regard, the Bank had restructured grants by establishing a global fund for Aid for Trade using resources provided by the US, Switzerland and Canada.   
450. She said that in order to ensure results a nd maximize impact, it was necessary to focus 
resources and concentrate in those areas where th ere was compatibility with the regional integration 
strategy and where there was demand from the partne r countries.  Essentially these areas were trade 
policy, trade facilitation, and creating capacity to comply with technical and SPS standards, 
particularly in agricultural and agro-industrial pr oducts.  Also, gender and environment were two 
fundamental horizontal elements that would ensure that investments were sustainable and benefited 
all social groups.  Additionally, there were three criteria that would be taken into account when WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  allocating resources: potential to contribute to regiona l integration;  possibility to scale resources to 
maximize impact and generate results , and sustainability of results.   
451. The Moderator remarked that Latin Americ a as a region was fortunate to count on 
institutions such as IaDB and CAF that supported th e region's integration.  She also said that, among 
the new regional integration schemes surfacing in the region, Peru, along with Chile, Colombia and 
Mexico had signed the "Pacific Alliance" in Ap ril 2011.  She asked the representative of the 
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Peru, to e xplain the thinking behind this new initiative.   
452. Ms. Liliana Honorio, Director for Cooperation,  Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, 
Peru, replied that Peru had an intense agenda of  trade negotiations to complement its multilateral 
commitments in WTO.  Regional agreements were ke y to promote trade as an engine for sustainable 
economic growth in Peru and contributed to pove rty reduction, social inclusion, and improved 
competiveness.  They also contributed to consolid ate Peru as an efficient and diversified exporter of 
goods and services.  These agreements had not only  secured duty free access to markets for Peru's 
products but had also helped to establish a pr edictable regulatory framework for trade and 
investment. In implementing these agreements Peru had carried out structural reforms that included 
the adoption of trade facilitation measures, investme nt measures, and mechanisms for promotion of 
technological innovation.  Peru had a network of 13 regional agreements in force and four under 
negotiation.  These reforms had also allowed important  advances in a variety of social indicators, 
among them, poverty reduction, increased employm ent, gender equality and infrastructure 
improvements.   
453. She said that within this strategy Peru and its partners Chile, Colombia and Mexico had 
subscribed to the Lima Declaration on the Alliance for the Pacific as a further step in the regional 
integration process of the Latin-American Pacific arc.   She hoped that this agreement would deepen 
current integration agreements and project Peru in the Asia-Pacific region.  The areas to be 
prioritized were trade facilitation and customs coope ration.  The agreements would also strengthen 
competitiveness of the exportable offer, implementati on of trade promotion policies, and integrated 
management systems.  She highlighted that notw ithstanding the advancements in these areas in the 
region there was still a lot to do and it was th erefore necessary to improve dialogue between 
governments, private sector, the regional and multilate ral institutions and continue flows of Aid for 
Trade to the region.   
454. The Moderator noted that one of the aspects th at had been mentioned was dialogue with the 
private sector.  She turned to the President of the Association of Exporters of Manufacturing and 
Services, Chile, and asked what was the perspectiv e of the private sector on the "Pacific Alliance".  
She recalled  that public-private consultation mechanisms were highly developed in Chile and asked 
where this initiative had originated.   
455. Mr. Roberto Fantuzzi, President, Association of Exporters of Manufacturing and Services, 
Chile, said that his country had a very open market with an average applied tariff of 0.4 per cent.  
This trade liberalization had come at enormous soci al cost but with the benefit that Chile was now 
very competitive.  He remarked that the Pacifi c Alliance would increase the size of the markets 
where Chilean producers could sell their products.  But he warned that many of these proposed 
agreements were never fully realized and did no t go deep enough.  He sai d that sometimes this 
openness did not translate into a greater market shar e. It was therefore very important to deepen 
integration.  
456. He said that Chile had FTAs with more than 50 countries, covering 85 per cent of the 
world's GDP.  He also said that it was crucial to administer the FTAs according to the economic 
realities of the countries in the region, hence the im portance of some of the political aspects of these 
agreements.  FTAs should be used as tools to re duce poverty, increase growth and tackle what he  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  saw as the biggest problem for Latin America which w as income redistribution.  Failing to take these 
issues into account in regional integration could lead  to social unrest and instability that threatened 
to nullify the benefits for investors and traders from this processes. 
457. Turning to Liliana Honorio, the Moderator ask ed how she saw Aid for Trade supporting the 
regional integration process.  She also asked Robert o Fantuzzi what were the main constraints, from 
the private sector perspective, which Aid for Trade might be able to address.   
458. Ms. Honorio replied that AfT programmes allowe d for the possibility to identify joint needs 
among countries in the region and integrate new trade pa rtners.  It was important to create new trade 
facilitation tools oriented towards the reduction of logistics and transport costs, increasing customs 
cooperation and enhancing the competitiveness of e xports.  She said that countries should take 
advantage of new technologies to implement some measures such as, for example, a single window 
for import and export formalities. It was also important to address so me domestic concerns such as 
strengthening production enhancing policies, co mpetition defence institutions, protection of 
intellectual property and insertion of SMEs into va lue chains.  One aspect that Peru was exploring 
was the interconnection of single windows which w ould allow the electronic exchange of documents 
facilitating the movement of goods across borders.  However, this type of costly technological 
initiative in Latin American countries required multilateral financial support including concessional 
funding.   
459. Mr. Fantuzzi said it was very important to eliminate NTBs so that trade flowed freely across 
borders, as well as to increase transparency and predic tability in rules. One of the problems that had 
affected Chilean exporters was the appreciation of  the local currency agai nst the US Dollar which 
had resulted in a loss of competitiveness.  To adju st to this new situation the Government had 
responded by reducing bureaucracy that hindered the cr eation of new businesses.  He said that it was 
also important to encourage new entrepreneurs to foster innovation.  Another issue was to have 
specific support policies for indirect exporters that participated in value ch ains for exports.  New 
technologies such as single window measures were also important, but they were difficult to 
implement in the context of bureaucracies that would not like to reduce their spheres of competence.  
He said that in order to face the loss of compe tiveness brought about by appreciating currencies it 
was crucial to increase productivity.  
460. The Moderator then asked the representatives of  CAF and the IaDB how these institutions 
could come behind this type of initiative and whet her it required new funding vehicles or better use 
of existing instruments.   
461. Ms. Genua replied that sufficient resources were being made available but their 
effectiveness had to be increased.  To increase eff ectiveness it was important to join efforts and seek 
alliances between support institutions.  Some of th e actions that could be explored included:  
opening lines of credit with Asian and Europe an enterprises; co-financing projects with the 
international banks, the World Bank and IaDB;  jointly funded capacity building projects; and 
South-South cooperation to finance successful initiatives.   
462. Ms. Robert said that it was a combination of both increased resources and making better use 
of those that were already available.  For some "software" issues, such as trade facilitation and trade 
policy formulation and capacity bu ilding some concessional resources were available.  But parallel 
non-concessional investment was also needed on the "hardware" side to maximize benefits.  The 
IaDB was also working on seeking alliances; sin ce resources were scar ce it was crucial for 
maximizing impact to create synergies and avoid duplication.   
463. She also noted that more private sector involveme nt was needed in the AfT agenda.  In this 
context, the IaDB had signed agreements with  the US Chamber of Commerce and with other WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Latin-American Chambers of Commerce to work on  issues related to trade facilitation.  The Bank 
had signed an agreement with the Singapore Enterpri se Board to provide support for countries in the 
region.  It had also signed agreements with companies such as Walmart to empower SMEs and participation in global value chains with emph asis on gender issues entrepreneurs; and with FEDEX 
to take advantage of their ample know-how on logi stics issues.  She mentioned that the Bank was 
also strengthening links with regional institutions  such as CEPAL, SIECA, CARICOM, OECS, and 
with donors, while at the same time reinfo rcing the Bank's presence on the ground.   
464. The Moderator turned to the Vice-Minister of  Economy, El Salvador, and asked what he 
thought the Pacific Alliance could learn from th e CAFTA-DR experience and how, in this context, 
he saw the on-going discussions to promote conve rgence of the different FTAs that Central 
American countries had with Mexico into one single agreement. 
465. Mr. Mario Roger Hernández, Vice-Minister of  Economy, El Salvador, noted that CAFTA 
had been an important engine fo r economic growth for countries in the region and had created many 
new opportunities and advantages for the private sector.  Although the Pacific Alliance was a different process, the adoption of clear cut rules would enable the private sector to move trade 
forward and generate more invest ment.  CAFTA had allowed better  cooperation between the Central 
American institutions working on trade issues to improve the business climate in these countries.  It 
had also created greater space for dialogue with the private sector and to seek better opportunities for 
trade and investment.  He emphasized that CA FTA had an important role in generating new 
investments that were essential for poverty re duction in the region.  CAFTA had also improved 
cohesion between private and public actions to impr ove business and investment climate, as well as 
to reduce bureaucracy.  The Lima Declaration on th e Pacific Alliance was another important step in 
deepening the regional integration process to crea te a greater space for cooperation, dialogue and 
trade and investment in the region.   
466. The Moderator noted that CAFTA-D R had important capacity building  chapters in its text 
and asked Mr. Hernández whether the assistance offered had been effective and lived up to 
expectations.   
467. Mr. Hernández replied that the experience under the capacity building chapter of CAFTA 
had been positive and had contributed to taking  advantage of the new trade opportunities being 
offered.  However, cooperation had not lived up to expectatio ns because a deep discussion was 
needed on how Aid for Trade was to be channelle d to countries.  He believed that donors and 
agencies should coordinate to achieve common objectives since lack of cooperation diminished 
effectiveness.  It was also important to support projects that had multiplier effects on the economy, 
as well as projects to strengthen competitiveness a nd productive capacity, including those that 
addressed production constraints such as energy generation.  He highlighted the relevance of devising new cooperation instruments such as dipl omatic and political support, technical assistance 
and exchange of experts and others that took into  account the overall conditions of the country.   
468. The Moderator realled that the IaDB serve d on the capacity building committee for CAFTA-
DR and she asked Ms. Robert whether this process was working.   
469. Ms. Robert replied that the CAFTA capact y building committee had had two important 
achievements.  First, it had allowed each of th e CAFTA countries to identify their own needs in 
order to take full advantage of the agreement.  Second, it had served as a coordination instrument for 
donors.  Moving forward, she believed that there were  two other important areas to take into account 
to maximize the potential of the committee.  The first was to focus on results and effectiveness as 
needs and demands were many, so it was important  to prioritize those projects that could have 
greater impact.  The second was to use the co mmittee as a forum to share experiences between 
countries.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  470. The Moderator asked the representative of the European Commission if the capacity 
building committee for CAFTA-DR was a model wh ich could be followed in the Association 
Agreement with the EU.   
471. Mr. Peter Thompson, Director, Development and EPAs, Directorate General for Trade, 
European Commission, remarked that there were  over 70 agreements which countries had entered 
into with the idea to increase growth and employme nt and to create sustainable development.  But 
this created challenges which were greater for th e smaller countries and those which were not very 
well integrated to the world economy.  Therefore, Aid for Trade was needed to build capacity in the 
institutions, in rule making, to remove obstacle to  trade and for adjustment problems.  He said the 
EU had come up with its own Aid for Trade strategy in 2007.  In order for Aid for Trade to be 
effective, mainstreaming trade into development strategies was crucial.  Another important aspect 
was providing capacity for the institutions.  In  the context of the ACP Economic Partnership 
Agreements (EPA) negotiations the EU had created  the regional preparatory task force during the 
negotiations to think ahead about how, from the donor side, the AfT challenges could be met.  In the 
context of the negotiations with the CARIFORU M there was a trade and development committee 
that was also looking at ways to respond to the AfT needs.   
472. The Moderator asked the Assistant Secretary- General of the Caribbean Community what 
role Aid for Trade could play in supporting regional integration in the Caribbean.  
473. Mr. Irwin LaRocque, Assistant Secretary-Ge neral, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), 
stated that the regional integration enterprise on which the Member States of CARICOM had 
embarked consisted of four main  pillars, namely Economic Integration through the creation of the 
CARICOM Single Market and Economy;  Human and Social Development;  Coordinated External 
Trade;  and Foreign Policy and Security.  CARICO M comprised fifteen countries, all SVEs and one 
LDC, which faced many challenges as it sought to deepen regional integration.  Aid for Trade had 
facilitated the putting in place of some of the policy, legal, institutional and administrative 
frameworks of the Single Market and Economy.  This included support for the consultative process 
involving Member States, the private sector and civ il society.  It had also provided specialized 
technical assistance and capacity building s upport for Member States and at the CARICOM 
Secretariat.  Aid for Trade had also supported the establishment of the CARICOM Competition Commission.  Such resources had facilitated the legal and administrative arrangements for the 
movement of skilled CARICOM nati onals and were currently being utilized for the development of 
a Regional policy and Protocol on Government Procurement.   
474. He noted that CARICOM had identified critical areas that needed to be addressed for the 
further development of the regional integration proc ess and to facilitate trade.  Transportation posed 
a significant challenge because of CARICOM's geography.  CARICOM faced high air and sea transport costs and the less than predictable schedul e of regional maritime transport which affected 
the competitiveness of goods and services traded both regionally and internationally.  Thus, there 
was need for both soft and hard infrast ructure in the transportation sector. 
475. Another area which, he said, if addressed  would positively impact competitiveness, was 
ICT.  Increasingly ICT was a critical component in the conduct of business and trade.  The region recognized the need for joint and common appr oaches to a regulatory framework and broadband 
access and cost. CARICOM looked forward to suppor t from development partners in this area. 
476. He also remarked that as CARICOM deepened  regional integration, there was increasing 
urgency to put in place an effective regime of SPS measures which would harmonise laws and 
administrative practices and which would greatly  facilitate and expand regional and external 
agricultural trade.  In his view, there was also an urgent need fo r direct assistance to the region's 
private sector, particularly SMEs, to enable them to become more competitive in order to take WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  advantage of the market opportunities created th rough regional integration as well as the market 
access which the region had negotiated by way of trade agreements.  The AfT support provided to 
the rum sector could serve as a model for other sectors.   
477. He recognized that to address all of these area s would require substan tial financial resources, 
particularly for hard infrastructure.  Attention w as therefore being focused on the establishment of an 
infrastructure fund.  An objective for the establishm ent of such a fund was to facilitate and promote 
private sector investment in infrastructure, particul arly in the areas of transport, ICT and energy. 
Assistance would be required for the design and financing of the facility. 
478. The Moderator remarked that the European Union had been a traditional partner of the 
Caribbean sub-region and this had been cemented by  the fact that the region was the first to sign a 
comprehensive EPA. The European Union and a nu mber of Central American countries had also 
concluded the negotiations for the Associati on Agreement, which should be ready for 
implementation in Spring 2012.  She asked Mr. Th ompson what role Aid for Trade played in these 
frameworks and in the EPA p ackage with the Caribbean. 
479. Mr. Thompson replied that the EU was looki ng for sustainable development and gradual 
integration of developing countries into the worl d economy.  The EPAs were designed to deal with 
both these issues.  He said that EPAs were pioneer ing because they put sustainable development as 
the common thread; they were very comprehensiv e in coverage and brought in the question of 
regional integration.  He also pointed out th at the EPA took a responsible view of trade 
liberalization. The EPA was, therefore, asymmetric, progressive and measured.  It also covered economic governance issues such as government procurement, competition, and intellectual 
property.  This meant that the EPA also had to c over development support. It was necessary to build 
institutional capacity, productive capacity, and assistance in adjustment processes.  He explained that 
the way this assistance worked in practice was that the EU had created the European Development 
Fund (EDF) for the exclusive use of the 77 ACP countries with a five-year period programming.  The first EDF had €76 million and this had been increased to €165 million in the second EDF.  He 
said that EPA was necessary for su stainable development but it created challenges for the countries 
involved.  However, the EPA itself recogni zed these challenges and provided the necessary 
resources to meet them.    
480. The Moderator asked the Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States 
what success could be shown for the Aid for Trade provided to date to the OECS, including by the 
Hubs and Spokes project.   
481. Ms. Len Ishmael, Director General, Organi sation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), 
clarified that the OECS was part of CARICOM and comprised nine small island member states, six 
of which were independent with a total popula tion of 620.000.  She mentioned that OECS had 
recently achieved an economic union with a single market, a single currency and freedom of movement of people would soon come into force.  She noted that the smallness of OECS countries 
created significant institutional capacity challeng es.  The Hubs and Spokes project had been a 
success for the beneficiaries and the development pa rtners that had invested in it, namely the 
Commonwealth Secretariat, European Commission  and the Intergovernmental Agency for the 
Francophonie.  The Hubs and Spokes project was part  of a larger project called trade.com with the 
overriding objective to prepare ACP countries for trade negotiations.  The Hubs and Spokes project built on the foundations laid by earlier project fi nance provided by the Canadian International 
Development Agency to establish a regional mech anism for trade and a trade policy unit.   
482. She said that the ingredients for the success of  the Hubs and Spokes model were simple.  
First, it had been well aligned with regional prio rities as defined by the OECS Members.  Second, 
the support to the Secretariat and Members had been well delivered and timely, with only a  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  six-month lag between asking for assistance and havi ng the assistance deployed.  Third, experts had 
been embedded at the national and regional level wo rking as staff for the recipients following work 
programmes set by the recipients.  Fifth, there wa s flexibility in the way that resources had been 
targeted and unspent resources could be utilized to service other requirements.   
483. She noted that one of the challenges moving forw ard in the area of Aid for Trade, and with 
the Hubs and Spokes project in particular, was th at having created an economic union the new treaty 
gave legislative competence in several areas to the OECS Commission (former OECS Secretariat) 
one of which was trade.  This meant that worki ng processes and resource allo cation had to change so 
determining the type of work and amount of r esources going to the regional and national level was 
going to be critical in the coming years.   
484. The Moderator commented that it was striking that  in some parts of the region, experts were 
talking about aid, while in others the focus was on investment.  She asked the representative of the 
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin Amer ica and the Caribbean what role he saw for 
aid in complementing investment initiatives in the region.  Could the two be aligned in order to strengthen development efforts.   
485. Mr. Osvaldo Rosales, Chief, International Tr ade and Integration Division, United Nations 
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), replied that it was 
possible to complement both aid and investment.  The Latin American and Caribbean region had a 
lot of diversity in stages of development, infrastru cture and integrations.  This diversity meant that 
the approaches to Aid for Trade also  needed to be differentiated.  He noted that the Latin American 
region received relatively little Aid for Trade comp ared to other developing regions, amounting to 
only eight per cent of global commitments for th e year 2009.  The region was also perceived as 
middle-income even though in many of its count ries between 40 and 50 per cent of the population 
lived below the poverty line.  This called into questi on the use of income per capita as a criteria for 
the allocation of aid and AfT resources.   
486. He said that capacity building was a fundamental objective of Aid for Trade and that this 
was an investment in human and institutional capita l.  However, depending on income per capita of 
those countries with lower relative income, the aid component could be more  important to finance 
certain projects such as infrastructure.  In othe r countries, as incomes per capita increased, emphasis 
could be more on complementing investments on i nnovation, participation in regional value chains 
and public private alliances to encourage competitiveness. 
487. The Moderator then asked Mr. Rosales how UNE CLAC was seeking to integrate Aid for 
Trade within its work in the region.   
488. Mr. Rosales replied that the subject of Aid for Trade was very much within UNECLAC's 
mandate.  But UNECLAC was not a financing agency so it contributed by providing ideas and 
proposals that could be translated into trade projects.   For example, developing an agenda for deeper 
integration in the region including areas where Aid for Trade could make a significant contribution 
to address some challenges.  It could assist govern ments in developing high quality projects that 
could be presented to international donors and in coordinating national and sub-regional efforts to 
design these projects.  UNECLAC also provided advice in managing trade policy, including coordination of public bodies related to fore ign trade in areas such as negotiations and 
implementation of trade agreements;  capacity bui lding on trade indicators, econometric statistics 
techniques; the link between trade and climate chan ge; and comparative analys is on the evolution of 
regional trade, integration, and relations with the main trading partners, including China.   
489. He said that in doing its work UNECLAC wanted to highlight a couple of themes.  First, 
was export diversification and inte rnationalization of SMEs by help ing then integrate into value WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  chains as well as reaching international standa rds of quality, traceability, security, and carbon 
footprint. Second, was promoting intra-regional tr ade.  According to a recent report by the World 
Bank, IaDB and UNECLAC, the region only took adva ntage of 50 per cent of its intra-regional trade 
potential.  This was a problem since intra-regiona l trade had higher value added and higher SME 
presence than trade with the rest of the world.  Accordingly, Ai d for Trade could help with these 
objectives by investing in infrastructure, logistics and customs modernization.  These were all areas 
where there were important gaps in the region which made it less competitive and limited intra-
regional trade. As an example, he said that to m ove a container from Buenaventura to Bogotá was 
more expensive than from Buenaventura to Shanghai.   Similarly, for industries in Guayaquil freight 
was much cheaper from Valparaiso than from Quito.  Finally, he said that promotion of convergence 
between FTAs was another task that UNECLAC was working on in order to reduce transaction 
costs.   
490. Turning to Mr. LaRocque, the Moderator ask ed whether CARICOM regional integration 
could offer a way to sustainability.   
491. Mr. LaRocque replied that the short answer was yes.  For the CARICOM regional 
integration was not an end in itself, but a m eans towards achieving sustainable development.  
CARICOM's sustainable development placed people at the centre of the development process and went beyond trade and economics.  Given the sm all size of CARICOM member states, it was more 
efficient and effective to act collectively on as many issues as possible.  CARICOM derived 
efficiencies of scale by collective action.  He sai d that because collective action addressed more than 
trade and economics, it increased impact and made integration more sustainable. 
492. He noted that intra-regional merchandise trade ac counted for less than 20 per cent of total 
CARICOM trade.  There was room for expanding  intra-regional trade as CARICOM advanced its 
economic integration, particularly in areas such as  agriculture and government procurement.  In 
addition, the changing nature of CARICOM's economies was creating opportunities for expanding 
trade in services and investment.  He said that  CARICOM was currently working on various 
measures and instruments that would promote bo th regional cross-border and foreign direct 
investment that would lead to expanded economic activity and job creation.  These actions included 
a harmonized Investment Code and a Financial Services Agreement.   
493. Regional integration had enhanced the capacity  of the region to respond to external 
developments, including global trade liberalizati on and the on-going global  economic and financial 
crisis.  CARICOM was now able, as a grouping, to better negotiate trading arrangements with some 
of its development partners, such as the EU and Canada.  CARICOM had al so constructed a number 
of South-South trade agreements with some de veloping country partners, including the Dominican 
Republic, Cuba and Costa Rica.  He had no doubt that  regional integration in all its dimensions had 
served CARICOM well. Therefore, CARICOM had to  continue to work at it to ensure its 
sustainability and its capacity to continue to contribute significantly to sustainable development. 
494. The Moderator asked Ms. Ishmael and Mr.  Thompson what were the emerging sectors that 
could benefit from more assistance and investment and what the EPA's perspective was on this issue.   
495. Ms. Len Ishmael said that attracting investment  was very difficult for countries that were 
small.  The return on capital and labour was low, do mestic markets were small, input, transport and 
technology costs were high.  Historically OECS c ountries had been able to attract investment in 
those sectors that benefitted from preferences, i.e. bananas and sugar; and more recently, because of 
geographical location, tourism.  But this creat ed dangerous dependency on a single sector and 
recently since the economic crisis, OECS countries had seen FDI flows come to a halt.  This had an enormous impact in the economy with a contrac tion of the OECS regional economy by 7.9 per cent 
in 2009 and still continuing to contract by three pe r cent.  She said that climate change was also  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  having a negative impact in the OECS economy, which was particularly dangerous because a single 
hurricane could destroy the economy of one island.   But it was hoped that the OECS economic union 
would provide the possibility to m itigate some of these risks.   
496. She noted that OECS was looking at some emerging sectors such as maritime transport, 
medical tourism, cultural industries and offshore ed ucation.  OECS countries were also engaging in 
dialogue with Latin American countries in order to maximize the potential of South-South 
cooperation and increasing trade in the region.   
497. Mr. Thompson said that the EPA was not just about increasing aid flows.  Aid was there to 
support the process, but investment was the most important part.  The EPA could not create more 
flows, but it could give more confidence and predictability to improve the business climate.  
Regarding aid, he said that the EPA was sync hronizing and mobilizing development support from 
the EDF, EU member States and, where possi ble, other donors, making it more effective. 
498. The Moderator opened the floor for comments and questions.   
499. The representative of CARIFORUM stated that thanks to the establishment of a Caribbean 
trade and regional integration trust fund by the UK, managed by the Caribbean Development Bank, 
an EPA implementation unit had been created to  assist CARIFORUM count ries.  CARIFORUM had 
also achieved a high rate of project approval in different areas necessary to implement and take advantage of the EPA.  This was also an exam ple of how a regional entity like the Caribbean 
Development Bank could be used effectively to deli ver aid provided by a d onor, in accordance with 
the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.   
500. He said that the provision of funds by CARI FORUM for the design of project proposals was 
also very important given the low levels of capacity in the region.  The CARIFORUM Members 
continued to need active trade support from the EU, as well as other traditional and new international 
development partners.  He thanked the EU for the AfT support provided under EDF-9 and for the 
support committed under the EDF-10.  This support was required to guarantee that notwithstanding 
the vulnerabilities of their economies, the people of CARIFORUM could reap the benefits of 
participation in the global trading system in a sustainable manner.   
501. The representative of the Dominican Republic ra ised concerns about the classification of 
countries in the context of Aid for Trade.  He sai d that it was not possible that a country like 
Suriname would be put in the same category as Uruguay.  Suriname was ranked as 98th in the 
UNDP's Human Development Inde x while Uruguay was ranked 56th, and both were classified as 
high-income developing countries.  Moreover, in th e statistics that were shown in the Aid for Trade 
at a Glance 2011 publication the levels of extr eme poverty seemed lower than in reality.  He 
highlighted that this situation had negative con sequences on the amounts of aid that were flowing to 
Latin American countries.   
502. The representative of Honduras also raised concer ns that some of the resources that were 
being categorized as Aid for Trade did not actua lly help in developing trade-related capacity. 
503. The representative of Guatemala said his G overnment agreed with the premise that 
economic integration was crucial for sustainable gr owth and the reduction of poverty and inequality.  
It was vital to create more sources of employ ment that ensured decent living conditions, and 
Guatemala was convinced that this could be ach ieved through investment, increased productivity 
and export promotion.  Accordingly, Guatemala ha d undertaken to improve its trade policy, open up 
export markets through regional trade agreements , use market opening administration mechanisms 
(e.g., dispute settlement mechanisms), and update its  legislation in areas that promoted TF, the 
attraction of foreign investme nt, and improved competitiveness. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  504. He noted that Guatemala was revising its trade policy with a view to meeting the challenges 
posed by the world economic crisis and compliance with international commitments.  Guatemala had 
the obligation to eliminate its export subsidy progr ammes by 2015.  This obligation had led to the 
reformulation of policies on export promotion and attracting foreign investment.  The backing and 
support of donor institutions a nd countries was essential for successf ully establishing trade policies 
that were fully consistent with Guatemala's inte rnational commitments and would make it possible to 
increase exports, productivity, competitiveness and national and foreign investment, all of which were tools used to combat poverty.   
505. He thanked donors for their valuable contribut ions in favour of trade and expressed the hope 
that commitments for Latin American and Cari bbean countries would increase in accordance with 
the development needs of these countries.  He not ed that most Aid for Trade continued to be 
channelled towards African and Asian countri es, even though Latin America had similar 
development needs.   
506. Lastly, he said it was vital to appreciate just how important the technical assistance of 
international organizations such as UNCTAD a nd the ICC was for small countries such as 
Guatemala.  Guatemala had benefited from a number of projects that had been instrumental in 
promoting its development.  He therefore urge d donors to uphold and enhance their support and 
commitments in respect of these international organizations.   
507. The Moderator thanked the panelists and the audience and closed the Session. 
B. PARALLEL STREAM 2A –  AID FOR TRADE AND ASIA:  PROMOTING GROWTH FOR ALL IN 
ASIA 
508. The Moderator, Mr. Sorasak Pan, Secretary of  State, Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia, 
opened the session by making reference to the As ia-Pacific Regional Technical Group (RTG) report 
and suggested looking into more detail at its cont ent and conclusions.  He gave emphasis to some of 
the key messages in the report; in particular, how Ai d for Trade could play a key role in laying the 
foundations for economic liberalizati on, which had stimulated private investment, thus leading to 
growth, jobs and poverty alleviati on.  He believed that Aid for Trade could lead to more uniform 
economic and trade development in the region.  He  then turned to the re presentative of the AsDB 
and asked him to elaborate further on these themes.   
509. Mr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Principal Economist, Office of Regional Economic Integration, 
Asian Development Bank (AsDB), presented the find ings and the key messages of the RTG report.  
He explained that the report had found that the Asia-Pacific region was often taken as a 
homogeneous entity, but there were in fact two faces of Asia-Pacific.  One side was constituted by a 
handful of countries that had had tremendous success in trade-led growth over the past 40 years.  
Much of it had been achieved through FDI that had helped develop deep and diverse production 
networks.  ODA and other forms of less-concessionary assistance had also played an important role in creating a favourable investment climate through  support for infrastructure, trade facilitation and 
trade finance; conditions that had provided the basis for the FDI flows.   
510. Despite the success stories in the region, he pointed out that two-thirds of the world's poor 
lived in Asia and the real challenge for Aid for Trade remained how to close the gap between the 
"two faces" of Asia.  He suggested that the res ponse was to be found in a regional approach backed 
by national strategies, specifically through the de velopment of economic corridors, trade facilitation, 
trade finance, policy reform and technological  competitiveness.  The Greater Mekong Subregion 
(GMS) programme and the Central Asia Regi onal Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme 
were indicated as positive examples of hard and so ft interventions complementing each other.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  511. Responding to the Moderator's question on the future direction of the RTG, Mr. Tomochika 
Uyama, Minister of Economic Affairs, Embassy of Japan, Seoul and co-chair of the RTG, started by 
illustrating the role of the RTG as a regional fo rum to discuss AfT issues, sharing good practices, 
building partnerships and consider ing a coordinated approach to ope rationalizing Aid for Trade.  He 
said that future discussions of the RTG would fo cus on the challenges that still confronted the 
poorest countries in the region – namely LDCs, la ndlocked developing count ries (LLDCs) and small 
island developing states (SIDS).  He pointed to two im portant aspects of the future work of the RTG.  
A first area of focus would be the developmen t of a good public and private partnership through 
ODA and other forms of public financing includi ng export credit, trade insurance and non-ODA 
lending of regional development banks.  Secondly,  special focus would be given to regional 
integration.  He explained that since business ac tivities usually went beyond borders, enhancing 
connectivity across countries was important for the region.   
512. Turning to the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of 
Korea, the Moderator noted that the conclusions of  the RTG report were also reflective of Korea's 
development experience and asked how Aid for Trade was working in Korea's development 
assistance and what results could be shown from past activities.   
513. Mr. Song Bum Shin, Director, Regional Cooperatio n Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
and Trade, Republic of Korea, recalled that Korea had submitted a case story on the capacity 
building project for Cambodian trade officials implemented in 2004-05, shortly after Cambodia had 
joined the WTO.  The project was composed of th ree parts: the joint study, training for Cambodian 
officials and dispatching of Korean experts.  The unique characteristic of this project had been the 
joint study carried out by two groups of experts from both countries that ensured Cambodian 
officials' full ownership of the programme from an early stage.   
514. The programme had made a significant contribution to the enhancement of expertise of 
Cambodian government officials and it had been  very well aligned with national trade and 
development policies.  However, Mr. Shin recogni zed that it had been far from perfect as there had 
been some communication difficulties and others proble ms to overcome.  He said that, for the next 
stage, Korea was trying to bring the project to  a regional level.  Based on best practices of 
international organizations and other member  countries, APEC was trying to develop a 
capacity-building programme for regional economic in tegration as a first step towards a free trade 
area of the Asia-Pacific, APEC's long-term goal. 
515. Mr. Sushil SJ Rana, Secretary of Ministry of  Commerce and Supplies, Nepal, was asked to 
comment on how Nepal was benefitting from the EIF.   He explained that, since acceding to the 
WTO, Nepal had established a process for the implementation of the Integrated Framework (IF).  Nepal had started with a needs assessment followe d by the implementation of the Window I and II 
initiatives which had helped it fulfil some multila teral obligations and commitments.  Presently, 
Nepal was benefitting from an EIF project on trade capac ity building.  Mr. Rana stated that, to some 
extent, the IF had been part of Nepal's integrati on process in the international and multilateral fora.  
Through this process, Nepal was trying to main stream trade into the development plan and 
coordinate with all agencies working in Nepal.  This framework had been instrumental for Nepal's 
development and it had led to the development of  the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy, a process 
through which Nepal could address the country's sp ecific problems, such as the trade deficit and 
rising imports.  He commended the EIF work and hoped that in the future this framework could offer 
more advantages for trade development. 
516. On donor coordination, Mr. Rana pointed out that this process was different in Nepal than it 
was in Cambodia and expressed willingness to learn from the Cambodian experience.  He explained 
that Nepal had initiated a donor coordination process with initial support from the UNDP and, more 
recently, from Germany.  He noted that donors seem ed to be mainly focused on activities in the WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  "software"-side of aid activities.  However, Nepal was seeking some additionality in the "hardware" 
part of aid activities.  There had been talks of establishing a trade trust fund in Nepal as a basket 
fund to help better allocate resources and prioritize ac tivities in the future.  He noted that the regional 
aspect of donor support also had an important part  to play in Nepal's development, as Nepal's 
challenges were often linked to its location next to economies that represented important trading 
partners.   
517. Remaining on the IF/EIF process, Mr. Prad eep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS 
International, was asked to share his experience.  Mr. Mehta said that there were some issues that 
were specific to Asian LDCs.  He recognized that the biggest problem across the developing world 
was the lack of trade enabling infrastructure, both hard and soft, but he warned not to underestimate 
the importance of complementary policies to suppor t economic growth and poverty reduction.  In 
particular, he said that promotion of competition policy was of paramount importance, especially as 
all Asian countries, especially LDCs, had the peculia rity of having dominant state-owned enterprises 
in their economies.  As an example, he presente d the case of Viet Nam, where poverty reduction was 
going at a faster rate than in Pakistan b ecause of the complementary policies in place.   
518. Mr. Mehta identified some of the areas where Aid for Trade and the EIF initiative should be 
more active.  First, Aid for Trade should take  into account the rising number of regional trade 
agreements and foster regional c ooperation through building trade-enabling infrastructure.  Aid for 
Trade also needed to be channelled to enhance the capacity of SMEs.  Finally, on the issue of 
transparency, openness and accessibility, he pointed to the importance of involving civil society 
organizations in order to create wider public buy-in.   
519. The Moderator, then asked Mr. Wignaraja to  explain how trade was being mainstreamed 
into country and regional programming at the AsDB.   
520. Mr. Wignaraja replied that the AsDB was in  the process of translating its 45-year-old 
experience into concrete projects, particularly at th e regional level, through a coherent and integrated 
approach involving infrastructure, trade coope ration, financial coopera tion and regional public 
goods.  On trade, the AsDB had put hard infrastructur e at the core of its work, particularly in large-
scale economic corridors such as the GMS corridor.  TF was indicated as another important area of work, particularly at the regional level where th e AsDB had a very large project that encompassed 
eight countries in Central Asia, and had just la unched the Asia Internati onal Economics Network as 
a forum for trade ministers, officials and experts.   
521. AsDB had dramatically scaled up its assistance from about US$6 billion a few years ago to 
between US$18-19 billion.  The kind of work carri ed out by the AsDB could be illustrated with 
examples from the GMS, where the development of hard and soft infrastructure had produced 
impressive results: trade times falling dramatically  from 12 to three hours, increase of FDI, and 
poverty reduction.  Mr. Wignaraja also explaine d that the AsDB had embraced the Managing for 
Development Results (MfDR) Agenda  and had developed a computerised system of indicators.   
522. Mr. Hani Sonbol, Deputy Chief Executive O fficer, Islamic Trade Finance Corporation 
(ITFC), shared his experience in working on the Ai d-for-Trade Initiative.  He started by observing 
that the IsDB had been the first regional developm ent bank to go into trade finance activities.  One 
of ITFC's areas of work was the trade coopera tion programme which fully endorsed the Aid-for-
Trade Initiative.  The ITFC had looked at the main challenges facing th e economies of the SPECA 
region.  Some of these included a challenging  geographical position, the presence of many 
low-income countries, commodity-based expor ts, small domestic markets, etc.   
523. In view of these challenges, ITFC regarded  the Aid-for-Trade Initiative as one the most 
important development initiatives addressing the main  needs of the countries in the region.  In 2005,  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  when the SPECA countries felt marginalized and needed  more attention, the ITFC held discussions 
to provide support for the region and develop an AfT Roadmap in coordination with other international and regional institutions.  The Ro admap had already helped identify national and 
regional priorities, assisted SPECA countries to ma instream these priorities in their development 
strategies, and had supported the mobilization of  resources to address the identified needs.   
524. Turning the discussion to Central Asia, Mr. Andr ew Kilpatrick, Director for Project Design 
and Appraisal, European Bank for Reconstruc tion and Development (EBRD), illustrated the 
different challenges faced by European economies in transition and Centra l Asian countries.  He 
made reference to the challenging process in the ear ly days of the EBRD of integrating transition 
economies into the international trading system and the clear success that was testified by how 
transition countries as a whole had overwhelmingly endorsed trade openness.  For example, average 
tariff rates in transition countries were only 5.5 pe r cent in 2009, much lower than the ten per cent 
average for middle-income countries as a whole, and their trade to GDP ratio was over 100 per cent.   
525. Mr. Kilpatrick indicated that Central Asia n economies were also rather open, although 
below the regional average, with average tariff rates of 7.7 per cent in 2010.  However, he deemed it 
important to recognize that exports from Central As ia were predominantly natural resources and the 
diversification of these economies was an important goal for future growth.   
526. EBRD's approach to Central Asia was simila r to the approach for all other transition 
economies and involved promoting private sector de velopment and encouraging FDI.  However, the 
Bank recognized that the challenges faced by Centra l Asia were more daunting than the ones faced 
by countries in Central Europe.  To corroborate his statement, he cited the World Bank Doing 
Business Report which showed that economies in Central Asia were ranked on average 170 out of 
183, while countries in Central Europe and the Balt ic region were ranked 43.  He highlighted the 
importance of the investment climate in promoting private sector capacity to export and to attract FDI.  Further, in most EBRD countries of operation,  costs of trade were magnified by high levels of 
inappropriate barriers, such as unofficial payments to customs officials.  The Business Environment 
and Enterprise Performance Survey showed that the percentage of firms reporting unofficial 
payments was much higher in Central Asia (37 per cent) compared with in the entire EBRD region (17 per cent).   
527. Comparing the European and the Central Asian context, Mr. Kilpatrick also noted that 
European Members of the EBRD had benefitted enor mously from being able to integrate into the 
European Union and into the pan-European value ch ain.  One of the key ingredients of their success 
had been the institutional reforms required by the European Union as part of the accession process.  
While this process was not available to Central Asian economies, he noted that the WTO accession 
process offered a similar useful process for rigorous re form and strengthening of market institutions.  
The benefits of WTO Membership could be enhanced considerably by cooperation among 
neighbours.  Regional economic cooperation was important to ove rcome geographical barriers, 
lower costs of trade across border and create a la rger market that would attract investments. 
528. Moving the discussion to CAREC and its structur e, Mr. Kilpatrick explained that CAREC, 
established and managed by the AsDB, had ten participating countries.  It encompassed four priority 
areas:  transport, trade facilitation, trade policy and energy.  Each area had a coordinating committee led by a development institution.  EBRD's role fo cused primarily on private sector development.  
Each area also had a strategy, an action plan and concrete performance indicators.  A framework was 
being developed to create a link between objectives, performance in priority areas and development 
outcomes.  The reporting framework on poverty and employment was progressing, but the process was not easy and in some priority areas, particularly where countries' priorities differed, major difficulties had been encountered.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  529. With reference to CAREC, Mr. Wignaraja explained that CAREC was a learning 
organization, based on AsDB's experience with the Greater Mekong Subregion.  He described 
CAREC as a knowledge-solution-based institution w ithin AsDB for projects and programmes.  He 
reported that US$16 billion of additionality had come  out of this process and noted that these funds 
had been accompanied by Managing for Developm ent Results.  The performance measurement was 
undertaken at the project level and was backed by  independent evaluation done by the Operation and 
Evaluation Department.  He predicted that this pr ogramme was likely to be better than the GMS in 
the future because of the way it had been conceptualized from the first-mover to the second-mover 
advantage.  CAREC was also thinking strategically  about the future.  For example, in ten years it 
was expected to disburse over US$20 billion in transport projects alone.  The Centre was also trying 
to build broader partnerships, develop a better result framework, and transfer this knowledge to 
South Asia and the Pacific.   
530. Moving the discussion to UNECE and the UN Special Programme for the Economies of 
Central Asia (SPECA), the Moderator asked Mr. Kubiš to explain how the SPECA framework had 
developed and what was sustaining it.   
531. Mr. Ján Kubiš, Executive Secretary, Unite d Nations Economic Commission for Europe 
(UNECA), explained that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of Central Asia had 
been looking for a platform for cooperation.  Be ing part of a centrally-organized economic space, 
they needed to build their nati onal economies and create conditions for sub-regional cooperation.  In 
1998, the countries of SPECA had requested the two regional commissions of the UN system, UNECE and UNESCAP, to jointly create the SPECA plat form.  Further efforts had been undertaken 
thereafter to strengthen cooperation in the regi on.  Today, SPECA was a working project that 
focused on the needs of this specific group of count ries.  One of the predominant requirements was 
to develop sub-regional trade and cooperation, while addressing the lack of trade-enabling 
infrastructure.   
532. Continuing the discussion on the work in the SPECA region, Mr. Sonbol commented on the 
Aid-for-Trade Roadmap that had been approved at the Baku Ministerial meeting in 2010.  At the 
Ministerial meeting, the SPECA countries had agreed on three focus areas for action:  
supply-side/within-border measures, cross-border c ooperation, and the multilateral trading system.  
The establishment of a regional Aid-for-Trade Im plementation and Monitoring Council had also 
been agreed upon.  Within the Council, which w ould include countries, donors and international 
organizations, CAREC could hol d an important role.   
533. Moving the discussion on to trade facilitation, Mr. Kubiš said that UNECE served as the 
international focal point for trade facilitation st andards and recommendations.  In this capacity, it 
had developed instruments to reduce, harmonize and automate procedures and paper work in 
international trade.  Its work had received the support of the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and 
Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), which devel oped and maintained th e only international 
standard for electronic data interchange, (UN/EDIFACT).   
534. Mr. Kubiš said that UNECE had around 30 tr ade facilitation recommendations and a range 
of other instruments.  In cooperation with SPECA, UNECE had established the UN network of 
experts in trade facilitation to bring together  policymakers and regiona l experts from both SPECA 
and Asia-Pacific countries for capacity building and exchange of experience.  To achieve more 
cooperation and harmonization, UNE CE cooperated with other re gional commissions of the UN 
system to create a joint UN regional commission appr oach to trade facilitation.  Under this initiative, 
a joint project was established to enhance the partic ipation of developing and transition countries in 
global supply chains.  The Single Window was indicated as one of the instruments for trade facilitation that had been developed under the UN/CEFACT umbrella and promoted globally.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  UNECE's work in this area was being harmonized with WTO and one aspect of the SPECA project 
was to assist the countries of the re gion in their WTO accession process.  
535. Mr. Sonbol was asked to elaborate on how th e Islamic Development Bank could provide 
particular assistance oriented to the religious context in which development projects were taking 
place.  He said that the IsDB focused on the ma jor objective of fostering the economic and social 
development of its Member countries.  Some wo rk on institutional and hum an development aspects 
had been undertaken to reach out to  the Muslim minorities, but he underlined that the IsDB reached 
out to all Member countries without prejudice. 
536. With reference to the IsDB's role in deve loping the Islamic Bonds market, Mr. Sonbol said 
that one of the IsDB's priorities was the developmen t of the Islamic banking industry globally.  The 
sector was believed to have great growth potential.  Asia had always been open to Islamic finance, 
especially in Malaysia, where numerous Islamic fina ncial institutions were based.  The IsDB had 
played a major role in promoting Islamic banki ng and continued to support Member countries by 
extending assistance, providing expertise and issuing Islamic Bonds.  The IsDB's work also extended 
to cooperation with European institutions.  Mr. Sonbol noted that Islamic banking was becoming 
very attractive in major financial cities, such as London.   In this sense, the role of the IsDB would be 
to provide knowledge and assistance to help creat e more Islamic financial hubs in the future.  
537. The Moderator opened the floor for comments.  The representative of Cambodia noted how 
different regions had different approaches in coor dinating aid, depending on different structures, 
different governments' policy response, etc.  In this  scenario, he suggested that further inter-regional 
dialogue would be important to share experiences an d best practices.  He asked the Panellists what 
areas they saw fit to promote inter-regional dialogue.   
538. The representative of Sri Lanka said that in promoting inclusive and sustainable growth in 
Asia, a number of ideas had been floated, in cluding regional integration and infrastructure 
development.  Those were identified as key drivers to create and connect vast markets in the Asian 
region.  He pointed out that Asia-Pacific consiste d of a number of sub-regions, therefore a broader 
approach for regional integration was needed.  Res ource mobilization for hard and soft infrastructure 
development still remained a challenge.  He quot ed an ESCAP study indicating a US$350 billion 
annual gap for investment financing for infrastruct ure development and asked the Panellists what 
actions could be taken to address the gap between needs and resources.   
539. The representative of Australia remarked on th e extensive trade reform undertaken in parts 
of the region and asked the Panellists' view on the role  of trade-related adjustment, a form of Aid for 
Trade that seemed to receive little attention.  She asked the AsDB and Japan to elaborate on how 
they saw the RTG process supporting the development of  the regional AfT agenda in the Pacific.   
540. The representative of Nepal asked Mr. Wignaraja  how to involve poor South Asian countries 
into regional trade integration programmes and what additionality these programmes could bring to 
the sub-region.   
541. The representative of Pakistan appreciated the AsDB's model for delivering Aid for Trade in 
the backdrop of knowledge creation and knowledge  transfer.  She hoped that CAREC could gain 
from the GMS experience and appr eciated the new knowledge network of Asian economies which 
the AsDB had recently launched.  She asked whether the AsDB was pl anning to bring synergies to 
this new network of economies under the RTG.  
542. In response to the questions, Mr. Sonbol said that the ITFC was undergoing an important 
phase in the implementation of an important initiati ve in the region and ITFC needed to keep the 
momentum going in coordination with the internationa l organizations and the beneficiaries.  He also WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  said that the ITFC was embarking on another initi ative, an Aid-for-Trade initiative for the Arab 
countries.   
543. Mr. Wignaraja said that the Asia-Pacific ha d not graduated from Aid for Trade and huge 
gaps remained, as 900 million people continued to li ve on less than US$1.25 a day.  Responding to 
the questions from the floor, he agreed that cro ss-regional dialogue was very important, especially 
between Asia and Latin America.  He also announced  that a major study would be undertaken jointly 
by the AsDB and the IaDB on how the two regions  could benefit from trade and investment flows 
and looking at financial instruments that the two Banks could provide to encourage cross-regional 
trade investments.  As for South Asia, Mr. Wigna raja suggested that the sub-region link more 
coherently to East Asia, for example, through the ASEAN+6 process.   
544. Cross-regional infrastructure needed to be bu ilt to reduce barriers to trade and investment 
flows that would ultimately be the big drivers of grow th.  On the Pacific, he said that the AsDB was 
working very actively with the Pacific Islands Fo rum Secretariat (PIFS) on trying to take Aid for 
Trade forward.  Finally, on the question of fina ncing, the AsDB had an Asian bond market initiative 
which tried to connect the surplus resources with the deficit areas, particularly in infrastructure, and 
tried to create the bond market in Asia, an unde rdeveloped area compared to other regions.  This 
would provide a key vehicle for infrastructure fina ncing.  Another vehicle would be a blending of 
resources:  concessional grant-based resources with less concessional ones.   
545. Mr. Rana said that in Asia there were sever al regional and sub-regional initiatives, but for 
some of them results were not taking shape.  In this context, sharing of experience was considered 
very important for the learning process.  Mr. Mehta commented on the question on cross-regional 
cooperation and suggested that it was important to look at good practices in various countries.  He 
noted that the issue of infrastructure as the backbone  for trade growth had come up repeatedly during 
the session, but, in his view, what was missing was the regulatory architecture.   
546. Mr. Kubiš said that there were many facets and many actors in the AfT interaction.  This 
meant that it was important to strengthen coopera tion and interregional dialogue.  He also talked 
about instruments that the UNECE had developed,  such as the single window for trade facilitation, 
the border-crossing facilitation mechanism and agricultu ral quality standards.  He opined that the 
instruments that had been developed for the UNE CE Members could be used in other regions, 
including Asia.  Minister Uyama commented on th e interregional dialogue as an interesting attempt 
to share regional experience and reinforce each ot her.  He noted that Asia was constituted by a 
number of very diverse countries that required specifi c attention.  As different situations called for 
different tailor-made solutions, future RTG work would need to consider how to address these 
different challenges.  
547. Mr. Shin agreed on the need to keep momentum , especially in times of possible recurrence 
of the global economic crisis.  Korea understood the possible negative effects of trade liberalization, 
such as preference erosion, reduction of tariff reve nues, and possible wider income gaps.  However, 
as a country that had successfully moved from ab solute poverty to a more open advance and 
transparent economy, Korea was ideally positioned to say that a far better growth strategy would be 
to push for trade liberalization while paving the wa y with the appropriate trade policies and action 
plans.  In his view, Aid for Trade should be designed so as to ensure that international trade helped 
developing economies integrate more effectively into the global economy.  The question now was 
how to keep up this momentum. 
548. Mr. Kilpatrick commented on regional integration saying that it helped to look for common 
objectives on issues of common interest.  He noted that a regular peer review had been an important 
process in the European context to provide, inter alia , mutual support and encouragement.  In 
conclusion, he emphasized the importance of mainta ining the dialogue, whatever the circumstances.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  549. The Moderator reiterated the concept of the "two faces" of Asia and the need to equalize the 
wealth between rich and poor.  He concluded by summarizing th e main issues raised in the 
discussion:  keeping momentum, enhancing coordina tion, plugging the lack of human resources and 
institutional capacities, and focusing on capacity building and infrastructure.  
C. PARALLEL STREAM 2B – AID FOR TRADE AND THE PACIFIC : TOWARDS A PACIFIC 
AID-FOR-TRADE STRATEGY  
550. The Moderator, Mr. Ransford Smith, Deputy S ecretary-General, Commonwealth Secretariat, 
opened the session by observing that the Pacific region was particularly important to the AfT 
dialogue.  Small size, geographic dispersion and is olation composed the development challenges for 
these countries, especially in the area of trade and export performance.  The contribution of Aid for 
Trade to strengthening exports and productive cap acity and the contribution of trade facilitation 
measures to lowering costs and improving trade perfo rmance were considered critical variables that 
would have a very important bearing on the economic performance of many Pacific Island states.  Regrettably, the documentation suggested that both in quantity and as a share of ODA, AfT flows to 
the Pacific were lagging behind other regions.  For this reason, the regional AfT strategy loomed 
large.   
551. Mr. Smith anticipated that the session would expl ore, inter alia, the AfT strategy's role in 
trade performance and development in the Pacifi c.  The discussion would also revolve around the 
importance of Aid for Trade in the region, what lessons could be drawn, how Aid for Trade had enhanced countries' capacity to  take advantage of market opportu nities, and how the regional AfT 
strategy complemented other regi on-wide development strategies. 
552. Mr. Lisiate "Aloveita" Akolo, Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries, Tonga, was 
pleased to note that the session brought together key Pacific Island stakeholders in Aid for Trade, 
recipient countries who were increasingly using Aid for Trade to develop their economies, and 
development partners who were helping Pacific Island Countries (PICs) achieve their objectives of 
improved and increased trade.   
553. Minister Akolo stressed the importance of Aid fo r Trade for the 14 PICs that were Members 
of the Pacific Islands Forum Group.  Pacific Is lands Forum leaders had committed to sustainable 
economic growth and development in  the region to enhance trade and regional economic integration.  
He recognized that for the benefit of the PICs, their national prosperity, and to meet the MDGs, 
international trade was critical.  As small island st ates, PICs shared characteristics such as distance 
from major markets, small and often dispersed popul ations, water borders a nd isolation that had 
made trade particularly challenging.   
554. As a region, PICs had engaged in trade ne gotiations and spent time strengthening their 
relevant policy frameworks.  In 2009, Pacific Trade Ministers had endorsed the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy which guided AfT enga gement at the regional level and provided a 
framework for the development of national trade po licies.  Minister Akolo explained that PICs 
needed Aid for Trade to help address the stru ctural, institutional and capacity challenges that 
prevented their businesses from trading more successfull y at regional and international level.  The 
Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy set out a framewo rk to initiate and coordinate the development 
assistance required to meet these challenges.  The st rategy had already helped PICs to focus and 
strengthen the work in Aid for Trade.  In 2010, the PICs had programmed €35 million in AfT 
projects within the framework prov ided by the strategy.  These projects covered a range of areas, 
such as improved customs management, support for value chain development and tourism services, 
and development of national trade policies.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  555. However, this represented only a start, as most pressing for many countries would be the 
development of infrastructure, transportation and co mmunication.  In particular, ports needed to be 
comprehensively improved if PICs were to move beyond exports of basic commodities.  Many ports 
in the region were unable to support even a small increase in the volume of exports and few were 
able to provide adequate and hi gh quality services for increasing numbers of tourists.  Mr. Akolo 
also noted that while telecommunications were im proving in the region, they still remained far 
behind much of the world in terms of quality and speed.   
556. He emphasized that telecomm unications improvements were directly linked to poverty 
reduction, which meant that improvements in this area were critical if the region was to meet the MDGs.  Due to the regions's remoteness, infrastru cture construction and maintenance became more 
costly and challenging, making it extremely difficult to create competition in the transport and 
communication sectors.  As a result, transport and telecommunication costs were high and remote areas were poorly serviced.  To sustainably deve lop trade in the region, these infrastructural 
challenges had to be addressed.  Mi nister Akolo pointed to other im portant areas that needed to be 
addressed for the countries in the region to trade more effectively with each other and with the 
world, namely, institutional capacity, monitori ng frameworks, SPS requirements, and productive 
sector development.   
557. Finally, Minister Akolo stressed that PICs ha d been working hard to increase their market 
access through participation in trade negotiations.  He  recalled that four PICs were WTO Members – 
Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and To nga – and two more, Samoa and Vanuatu, would 
complete the WTO accession process shortly.  The PI Cs were also moving to conclude an EPA with 
the EU and were well under way with  negotiations of PACER Plus with  Australia and New Zealand.  
However, as the case stories recalled, market ac cess was not enough.  PICs needed long-term 
strategic assistance from their development partners to undertake the substantial reforms needed to 
advance trade.  The Pacific region needed Aid for Trade to improve infrastructure, develop 
productive capacity and meet SPS requirements.  Only then would it be able to move trade forward 
in a way that would develop Pacific economies to their full potential.   
558. The Moderator remarked that work in th e Pacific region on updating the regional AfT 
Strategy was on-going and asked Ms. Bowman to out line where the stages of this process stood and 
the strategy responses to some of the pressing AfT needs of the Pacific.   
559. Ms. Chakriya Bowman, Director of Econom ic Governance, Pacific Islands Forum 
Secretariat (PIFS), recognized that different a pproaches were needed to  addressing the needs of 
small islands developing states.  A lot of work ha d been conducted in the past few years to start 
looking at a paradigm shift in the way some  of these difficult development challenges were 
approached.  She cited as an example the popular realization that landlocked states needed specific 
and tailored approaches to develop economically and suggested that SI DS needed a similar paradigm 
shift when it came to Aid for Trade, in terms of expectations of what could be achieved, design of 
the initiatives and how to obtain results.  She urge d for recognition that small populations did not 
imply small or proportional aid.  Any development intervention had fixed costs associated with it, 
particularly in building major infrastructure, thus a pro-rata approach could not be taken in dealing 
with development cooperation in small island states .  This recognition needed to be more firmly 
embedded within the development community.   
560. She called for the need to understand that mark et forces might not be effective in providing 
adequate services to small island states.  For example,  tourism might only be a viable industry if its 
services were subsidized to ensure that tourists  were actually able to get to potential tourist 
destinations.  She also argued that it might be un realistic to expect specialist capacity to be 
developed in each country.  In her view, some of the most successful trade programmes in the 
region, such as the Hub and Spokes programmes of the Commonwealth Secretariat, focused not so  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  much on capacity building but on capacity supplementation, because it was going to be very difficult 
to build specialized skills in popula tions of less of 100,000 people.   
561. Regional approaches were deemed essential.  She refererred to the discussion on Africa 
during Session 6, where one Panellist had said that  in Africa small fragmented countries could not 
survive on their own.  This statement could also a pply to SIDS, which shared characteristics of small 
size and fragmentation.  This observation led her to consider the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy, 
which, she explained, was a policy framework to  help PICs better prioritize and coordinate 
development initiatives to support increased trade and investment leading to sustainable and broad based economic development for the benefit of thei r communities.  The mantra "regional approaches 
for national action" reflected the idea that chang es could be realized at the national level, but 
regional frameworks could help facilitate that change .  The PIFS, for example, had a major project to 
implement the long-overdue customs modernizati on process in many countries where legislation 
sometimes dated back to 1918.  This process was important if countries were ever going to trade in 
goods in a competitive fashion with the rest of the world.   
562. The PIFS had introduced the Strategy in 2009 and were refining it through a learning 
process based on lessons learnt over the last few y ears, not unlike the process underway at the Third 
Global Review.  The PIFS intended to work with consultations over the next six to 12 months to 
make the AfT prioritization process and the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy more effective and responsive.  Currently, the PIFS had a major Trad eCom supported project underway to improve the 
management of Aid for Trade by Trade Ministers.   This would contribute significantly to the 
effectiveness of the implementation of these projec ts on the ground.  She observed that this need 
probably reflected the focus of aid to the Pacific in the past.  In fact, Trade Ministers were not very 
experienced in the implementation of projects b ecause aid in the Pacific had focused on more 
traditional areas of assistance.  Developing capacities in these Ministries and helping them to take 
the Aid-for-Trade Strategy forward was going to be  very important to make it more effective.  
However, in order to create effective trade outco mes, ultimately what was needed were bigger, 
bolder, long-term and more innovative approaches.  She noted that there was still a lot to learn about 
creating an environment for sustainable trade in SI DS.  For this reason, she encouraged development 
partners to focus on and support initia tives in SIDs and the Pacific.   
563. The Moderator asked Ms. Bowman how this Strategy would link to broader regional 
negotiations such as the EPA and PACER.   
564. Ms. Bowman stated that regional negotiations were a big preoccupation for the region.  The 
Pacific was involved in four negotiations at the multilateral and regional level and the region was 
interested in increasing its market access.  She not ed that one of the lessons learnt from the global 
economic crisis was that countries needed to dive rsify their export base, both in terms of products 
and export destinations, if they were to withstand external shocks.  However, market access was not 
enough.  Getting goods to the markets involved NT B issues that were very challenging for small 
states to address as they required significant investme nt in time and resources.  She explained that, 
for example, with a population of 15,000 people, it was going to be very hard for a country to get 
SPS requirements up to a level that would allow it to  export to the Australian market.  These were 
just on-going challenges that small island countries faced.  The Aid-for-Trade Strategy had helped 
put a focus on these challenges and start to build programmes that would help Pacific countries 
address them.  So, Aid for Trade had become a very  critical mechanism for the region and one that 
Pacific countries felt that they were getting more utility from.   
565. She also wished to underline that the Eur opean Union had been a critical development 
partner in the region, because they were the partners who so far had provided €35 million for 
discretionary spending to the region under the Aid-for- Trade Strategy and, at the time, they were the 
only development partner who had pr ovided discretionary funds to be  allocated to regional priorities WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
Page 98  
 
  in Aid for Trade.  She expressed gratitude for th eir on-going support and anticipated that over the 
coming years there would be significant impacts in terms of trade facilitation directly as a result of that assistance.   
566. Recognizing that Vanuatu was now in the final stages of becoming the newest member of 
the WTO, the Moderator asked Mr. Roy Mickey Jo y how he saw Aid for Trade assisting Vanuatu in 
taking advantage of the perceive d benefits of membership.   
567. Ambassador Roy Mickey Joy, Ambassador to the European Union and the Kindgom of 
Belgium, Embassy of Vanuatu, underlined the role that some international agencies, such as UNDP 
and the EIF, played in Aid for Trade.  He said that the EIF funding had provided Vanuatu with a 
very classical form of leadership and noted that without this support the country would not have 
been able to come so far in the accession process.  He agreed with the general view that Aid for 
Trade should be seen as an engine for generating economies of scale.   
568. He noted that, on the first day of the Globa l Review, the Pacific had only rarely been 
mentioned.  He felt that the Pacific should not be  marginalized and should be given equal focus and 
attention by donors.  This would allow the Aid-fo r-Trade Strategy to assist the island economies in 
building their own integrat ion and finding their own place internationally.   
569. Looking at the EPA negotiations, Ambassador Joy indicated that the Pacific had a number of 
major offensive interests at stake, especially on th e issue of fisheries.  This and other issues were 
areas where the Aid-for-Trade Strategy should be able  to build upon.  He reaffirmed his belief that 
the role of Aid for Trade in the Pacific must be  carried out in close collaboration with the bigger 
neighbouring countries, namely Australia and New Zealand, in support of the region's strategic 
economic development pla nning and the achievement of the MDGs.   
570. On the accession issue, he said that the Prime Minister had confirmed Vanuatu's accession to 
the WTO in a letter to Director-General Pascal  Lamy.  Vanuatu's accession would certainly be 
included in the agenda for the General Council in October.  He indicated that, before the accession 
package was to be considered at  the General Council meeting, the Vanuatu Government needed to 
clear Vatu 20 million outstanding observer fees, a significant amount of money for a poor LDC such 
as Vanuatu.  The Vanuatu Government had been putting together all of its efforts to be able to pay 
up by 27 July.  He hoped that Vanuatu would be ab le to be admitted as a Member before the Eighth 
Ministerial Conference to be held in Geneva in December 2011.   
571. Before concluding, Ambassador Joy wished to  share the report presented by UNDP on trade 
mainstreaming.  He pointed to the importance of engaging the whole community in the WTO 
accession process.  As it had happened in Tonga,  and was happening in Vanuatu, civil society 
organizations with support from Oxfam International had been able to use the media and other forms 
of communication to discredit the WTO accession process.  He hoped that with cooperation from the PIFS, UNDP, WTO and the EIF, it would be possible to organize a sub-regional conference in the 
Pacific that envisaged the participation of all st akeholders in discussions on WTO accession, but also 
on AfT modalities.  He deemed important for G overnment to engage in outreach activities and 
information sharing with civil society so that th ere could be a strong element of ownership involved 
in any political process. 
572. The Moderator recognized the difficulties and the length of the WTO accession process and 
congratulated Vanuatu on its progress on this issue.  He then asked the Ambassador whether he saw 
any lesson that Vanuatu might learn from countri es such as Cape Verde which had recently acceded 
to the WTO and graduated from LDC status.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  573. Ambassador Joy noted that Cape Verde's ac cession had proceeded much more smoothly 
than Vanuatu's, probably because of the aggressivene ss of NGOs in the Pacific region that strongly 
opposed the process.  He announced that the Trie nnial Committee in New York would meet in 
January 2012 to consider the graduation of Vanuatu  from LDC status.  He also commented on the 
accession process of PICs to the WTO and noted three different configurations: firstly, the countries 
that had acceded in the early days of the WT O had done so with no commitments whatsoever; 
secondly, countries like Tonga had acceded, despite experiencing some difficulties, because of 
strong political ownership;  thirdly, the case of Vanuatu was unprecedented.   
574. He explained that the country had withdrawn its accession request in 2001 as it felt that the 
package it had agreed to was too ambitious and would have actually destroyed the economies of 
scale in Vanuatu.  It took another eight years for Vanuatu to restart that process.  He concluded by 
saying that Vanuatu's experience would be a lesson to  share with the countries in Asia-Pacific.  He 
hoped that together they would address the fallacies  that existed in the accession process and the lack 
of rules governing it.   
575. The representative of the UNDP asked whether Vanuatu had secured support to deal with 
the adjustment challenges of WTO membership and whether the PIF AfT Strategy had an adjustment 
window.  He also asked whether the Forum had settl ed the issue of long-term resource mobilization 
efforts for the AfT Strategy beyond the support from the European Commission, and whether there 
had been further developments on th e establishment of a Trust Fund.   
576. The representative of the ITC asked why the Pacific was not receiving enough attention as 
far as Aid for Trade was concerned and how one could help to generate attention for the region.   
577. Ambassador Joy explained that recent events in Vanuatu had led to a policy shift with 
increased awareness of the issues rais ed by civil society.  It was up to public officials to generate 
enough debate with civil society.  The Ambassador  gave credit to international NGOs for being able 
to stir public opinion and recognized the importan ce of reaching out to and engaging these actors to 
reach national ownership and unde rstanding of the process.  He called for the EIF to support 
Vanuatu to undertake the necessary reforms.   
578. The Moderator added that the area of trade ad justment was one of the areas receiving less 
attention.  With reference to Ambassador Joy's an swer, he noted that countries that had to undertake 
reforms needed assistance to make the reform process smoother.   
579. Ms. Bowman said that the Pacific Aid-for-Trade  Strategy responded to the poor focus on 
Aid for Trade in the Pacific.  In her view, one of the reasons for this lack of attention was that with 
almost nine million people in the region, the Paci fic region was very small.  As such, it suffered 
from stereotyping and a degree of scepticism on what  could be achieved and how development could 
take place.  However, she described the reality fo r small island states as poor, hard and strenuous.  
She urged development partners to focus on SIDS, but she warned that a business-as-usual approach 
would not work.  A new approach was needed, an  approach that was innovative, risk-taking and 
experimental.   
580. In this context, the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Stra tegy helped by highlighting the challenges in 
the region and focussing attention on trade, which w as an area that typically was left behind in the 
more traditional development approaches targeting h ealthcare and education.  While the latter were 
important, trade had an equally important role to pl ay in ensuring that healthy and educated people 
found jobs and led decent lives.  Hence, the focus on Aid for Trade was deemed vitally important, if 
overdue.  For this reason, economic  growth was one of the core elements of the Pacific plan.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  581. On the issue of adjustment co sts, she noted that exporters in the Pacific region were not 
affected by tariffs as much as by NTBs.  Hen ce, Aid for Trade in the Pacific should focus on 
providing more assistance and more focus on accessing fore ign markets.  As she explained, in small 
island states, market access would not happen auto matically without specific assistance to develop 
private sector capacity to overcome NTBs to trade and address the issue of transportation costs.  She 
highlighted the fact that SIDS, as LDCs, alread y had duty-free and quota-free access to a lot of 
markets and for a lot of products, but still had great difficulties using it.  The Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy addressed these issues.  While the Strate gy contained a fourth pillar on adjustment costs, 
she foresaw that the majority of the work woul d go to the second pillar, which focused on building 
productive capacity, because there lay the real need for the region, next to export diversification and 
export growth.   
582. Finally, on resource mobilization, she said that the key source of funding was the European 
Union.  Other donors, including Australia, New Zeal and, China and Japan, had also come together 
through the Aid-for-Trade Roundtable Mechanism to discuss regional priorities and respond through 
their programmes.  As an example of the type of assistance that was absolutely required, she 
referenced the US$14-15 million Pacific Horticultura l Agricultural Market Access Project funded by 
Australia and New Zealand, which addressed SPS concerns and helped PICs get agricultural 
commodities into the Australia and New Zealand markets.  The coordination function of the 
Aid-for-Trade Roundtable Mechanism within the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy was deemed as 
vital as the existence of a Trust Fund.  The Trus t Fund was being presented to the ACP Ministers for 
some final decisions.  While the home of the Tr ust Fund had not yet been determined, Ms. Bowman 
felt that PIFS was not the ideal destination for th e funds because of its advisory role and limited 
capacity.  She hoped that the majority of funds woul d be directed to other implementing partners and 
agencies with bigger and more nationally focused projects.  This would allow using the funds to address the more pressing issues of trans port, SPS and supply chain building.   
583. Minister Akolo endorsed Ambassador Joy's comme nts.  He felt that development partners 
should look at PICs as children needing assistance.  He commented on the issue of civil society 
engagement and sympathised with Ambassador Jo y's experience as Tonga, too, had to go through 
the same difficulties in communicating with civil society during the accession process and was 
reliving the experience now with the PACER Plus negotiations.  He suggested that AfT assistance 
would be needed to undertake outreach efforts to en gage civil society in broad consultations on trade 
and WTO issues.   
584. He also agreed with what had been said on th e reasons why AfT funding was not flowing as 
much to the Pacific, such as issu es of preconception, small size, lack of competitive products.  This 
put countries in the Pacific at the receiving end, a condition that might continue to persist.   
585. The Moderator noted that there had been mu ch debate about the quality and impact of 
assistance offered to the Pacific and some had argued that it had not been particularly effective and 
that it perpetuated a cycle of underdevelopment a nd over-reliance.  He asked whether Aid for Trade 
was any different. 
586. Ambassador John Adank, Permanent Representa tive, Permanent Mission of New Zealand to 
the WTO, Geneva, agreed that ther e was a question of aid sustainability.  In his view, looking at the 
complexity and diversity of countries in the region,  there could not be a single answer, but there 
needed to be tailor-made solutions to deal with  each individual case.  Hence, he called for a new 
paradigm to guide aid efforts in the Pacific.   
587. New Zealand's approach had been very much  designed to avoid the perpetuation of any 
cycle of underdevelopment and overreliance.  In the last couple of years, New Zealand's aid efforts had seen a greater focus on promoting sustainabl e economic development that would strengthen the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  resilience of PICs, help them achieve higher growth  and make them less depe ndent on aid flows in 
the future.  New Zealand was stepping up its invest ment through the New Zealand aid programme to 
the productive sectors that could drive increased economic opportunities for the Pacific and strengthen the broader enabling environment.  Of  the productive sectors that had a comparative 
advantage in the region, New Zealand had identified fisheries, agriculture and tourism as sectors that 
had great potential to generate increased income, su stainable employment and broader-based growth.   
588. Ambassador Adank emphasized the absolute im portance of the enabling environment if the 
opportunities in those productive sectors were to be seized.  In particular, infrastructure and energy 
were identified as two areas that needed strong fo cus by donors and partner governments.  Access to 
a clean, affordable, secure and reliable supply of energy was deemed critical for businesses to grow 
sustainably.  Infrastructure, transport connec tion and airline and shipping connections, were 
identified as huge challenges in the region and New Z ealand was trying to deal with them in a very 
practical way through different policies.  Ambass ador Adank identified other important aspects of 
the enabling environment, i.e. the importance of  prioritizing economic a nd financial management, 
support for business development, trade and connection to markets, and health- and 
education-related training.  It was critical th at these linkages were made across New Zealand's 
development cooperation in order to achieve the best possible sustainable outcome for partner 
countries.  He referred to a project in Samoa as an example of the issues that emerged in the absence 
of a holistic approach.  Upon opening up its market  to Samoa, New Zealand had realized that the 
country lacked an effective supply of the res ources that would produce sufficient quantities to 
export.   
589. New Zealand also focused on improving coordination with other donors and a move to 
bigger and more comprehensive projects that could deliver more.  Ambassador Adank noted that the 
biggest challenge for Pacific Island Countries was to  use national frameworks to exercise leadership 
and take control of the developmen t agenda amidst so many multiple partners.  However, in recent 
years, a number of useful national development strategies had grown in the Pacific.  These should be 
used as an engine for better donor coordination assisted by the Cairns Compact on Strengthening 
Development Cooperation in the Pacific adopted in  2009.  In summary, the New Zealand strategy 
focused on sustainable economic development, great er donor coordination, and national strategies to 
achieve some of these targets.  All these elements w ould be crucial in taking the Pacific forward.   
590. Ms. Trudy Witbreuk, Deputy Permanent Represen tative, Permanent Mission of Australia to 
the WTO, Geneva, said that it was a high priority for Au stralia to give a greater profile to the Pacific.  
Australia had undergone a major independent re view of its entire aid programme and its 
effectiveness.  The review had found that as a general rule Australia's aid programme stood out 
reasonably well, but there was still room for improveme nt, particularly in the Pacific.  Australia had 
11 bilateral partnerships, all underpinned by the fact  that they had been jointly agreed and shared 
priority setting.  These partnerships were agreed at  a political level and were reviewed annually with 
a heavy focus on service delivery.  Australia was al so part of the Cairns Compact on Strengthening 
Development Cooperation in the Pacific, a very im portant initiative for lifting Australia's game in 
the Pacific.   
591. Minister Witbreuk described Australia's strategy  in the Pacific as being demand-driven.  She 
noted that the strategy was in line with the prior ities outlined by Minister Akolo.  For example, on 
infrastructure, Australia was a large donor to the regional infrastructure facility.  The Australian 
strategy also focused on the development of  a skilled workforce primarily through the 
Australia-Pacific Technical College.  To improve the regulatory and policy environment, Australia 
was engaging in some very practical interven tions such as simplifying business registration 
processes.  Australia was also involved in improving access to finance in innovative ways, for 
example, in Papua New Guinea through mobile phone  banking and credit bureaus.  Furthermore, 
Australia was a major donor to the Pacific Hortic ultural Agricultural Market Access Project and was WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  looking very seriously at facilitating market acces s through addressing quarantine and other needs, 
but it also provided support to the Pacific Islands Trade & Invest as another way of supporting access to export markets.  These very practical on-the-ground programmes would be the drivers of 
Australia's approach over the longer term and sh e hoped that they would deliver improvements to 
long-term economic sustainability in the Pacific.   
592. The Moderator referred to the case stories submitted by New Zealand and Australia on AfT 
programmes about technical training to assist labour migration and asked whether they would 
consider that providing improved access to labour  markets for seasonal migration would be an 
important aspect of Aid for Trade in action. 
593. Ambassador Adank provided some background of  the way the issue of seasonal labour had 
evolved in the Pacific region in the past years.  In 2007, New Zealand had opened up to seasonal 
labour market for the horticulture and agriculture  sector through its Recognized Seasonal Employer 
(RSE) scheme.  The scheme represented a significan t development for the traditionally strong links 
that New Zealand had with the Pacific, and partic ularly with Polynesia.  He stated that until 
June 2011, over 7,000 workers had gone to New Zealand under RSE, of which 75 per cent from 
Pacific Island countries.   
594. New Zealand had submitted a case story on the RSE Worker Pilot Training Programme, 
which provided training to about 300 workers.  Most of the Pacific workers who went to New Zealand under the RSE scheme were found to be co ming from poor backgrounds with low education 
levels and poor experience of formal employment.  To meet their needs, the pilot training scheme 
focused on foundational skills, such as English lite racy, numeracy and financial literacy skills.  
These skills were of benefit to workers not only duri ng their time in New Zealand, but also once they 
had returned to their home countries.  He clarif ied that the case study was not about technical 
training to assist labour migration to New Zealand, but about foundational skills to assist Pacific seasonal workers in New Zealand so that they c ould lead more successful and productive lives when 
they returned home.   
595. The RSE experience showed that RSE employer s had reported significant productivity gains 
and had realized benefits from having a reliable labour force.  On the other hand, RSE workers on 
average returned home with US$5,500 of savings.  Participating households in the RSE programme 
had seen an increase of around 30 per cent in th e income per capita compared with non-RSE 
households.  RSE participants were also more lik ely to improve their dwellings, make durable good 
purchases and have bank accounts.  Ambssador Adank also made specific reference to Tonga, where 
there had been a significant increase in seconda ry school attendance for 15 to 18 year-olds 
participating in RSE.  He quoted estimates s uggesting that the programme was worth around US$25 
million a year to Pacific Island workers.  However, he highlighted that the official dollar aid component of the RSE was minimal: it simply covere d the training and the support to New Zealand's 
Department of Labour to work with specific counter parts to help ensure that their own systems of 
recruitment were robust and sustainable.  This case story showed that basic human capacity 
foundational skills were absolutely crucial in going forward to build the economies of the region.  
Investing in the people and training had amazing benef its in terms of the funds that were poured in 
and in terms of the outcomes that were generated.   
596. The Moderator noted that in the region there had been concern about possible debt 
management issues related to China's aid.  In particular, the Lowry Institute in Australia had 
questioned whether Pacific countries would be able to  repay the loans China had offered.  In this 
scenario, he asked whether grants would be a better approach. 
597. Mr. Lihua Zhang, First Secretary of the Departme nt of Aid to Foreign Countries, Ministry of 
Commerce, China, said that over the past two y ears China had provided assistance to Pacific Island  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Countries with more than 80 projects related to Aid for Trade.  Priorities had been in infrastructure 
and agriculture.  In the past two years, China ha d aided the Pacific Island Countries build bridges, 
roads, airports and had provided ships, vehicles and aircraft to facilitate the movement of people and 
commodities.  China had also set up agriculture pilo t centres for the transfer of China's agricultural 
technology and know-how.   
598. Regarding debt management, in the past years, China had increased the part of grants to the 
Pacific Islands, while continuing to provide some concessional loans.   This decision had been taken 
for two reasons. First, these projects were requested  by the PICs and designed through consultations 
between PICs and the Chinese Government.  Sec ondly, according to a study of the Export-Import 
Bank of China, the majority of Chinese project s financed with concessional loans had been 
performing well, so China did not think that their loans would be a burden to these countries.   
599. As a final question, the Moderator asked Mini ster Witbreuk and Mr. Zhang their views on 
how the issue of climate change should be factored in the design of AfT programmes.   
600. Minister Witbreuk said that Australia had already factored in climate change in its 
development assistance, in particular with regard to infrastructure.  Australia was looking at practical 
initiatives that were already integrated in internati onal and regional development plans, in particular 
in the area of tourism and other export industries as well.  For example, Australia was working to assess the impact of climate change on fisheries a nd agriculture.  Australia was also looking at 
erosion protection and drainage infrastructure.  And it was also working on enhancing sustainable 
tourism and was doing some work in the energy sector in Tonga.   
601. Mr. Zhang said that China was aware that isla nd countries were more vulnerable to climate 
change, so in recent years it had worked with PICs in the field of clean energy.  For example, China 
had set up some biogas programmes in Vanuatu, T onga and Samoa, a solar energy programme in 
Papua New Guinea and had organized some training programmes for engineers from these countries.  
Additionally, in October 2011, China would or ganize a training programme on biogas for 45 
engineers from the Federal States of Micronesia.   
602. The Moderator agreed that the link between Aid for Trade and climate change adaptation 
was most important in the Pacific, where the possibilities were enormous for this synergy to 
manifest itself.   
603. The representative of Fiji said that Fiji shared th e concerns that there remained a lot to be 
achieved on the ground, especially in the Pacific regi on.  Fiji also supported the view that what had 
been achieved so far should be built on as a launching pa d for the future.  To this end, Fiji continued 
to rely heavily on its development partners wit hout whom this initiative would not be successful.   
604. For the Third Global Review, Fiji had submitted a total of three case stories, one of which 
focused on the success of Fiji's relisting into the EU 's approved list of thir d countries importers of 
fishery products.  Fiji was delisted in 2008 as it did not fully meet the SPS requi rements.  Fiji noted 
that the EU had proven itself to be a credible  development partner through the ACP-EU Fish II 
programme, whereby Fiji was again given the green li ght to export its fishery products to the EU 
from May 2011.  Upgrading of Fiji's private sec tor establishments and flag vessels and the 
establishment of Fiji's first ever competent authority for international standards would not only benefit EU consumers, but also Fiji's own pr ivate sector, consumers and the policy-making 
machinery of the Government.  The new competent authority's ambitious, but necessary, regulations 
on Fiji's food safety standards would provide Fiji 's Government with institutional and technical 
support to mainstream EU standards into areas other than just fisheries export and to other 
international markets.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  605. Another case story focused on some of the w eaknesses of Aid for Trade with regard to the 
current withholding of the Accompanying Measur es Support Programme to sugarcane farmers, and 
the sugar industry in general, due to the political situation in Fiji.  This support package was meant 
to assist Fiji's sugar industry to meet the challenges of the EU sugar regime reform that had led to a 
drastic 36 per cent price cut.  For an industry that accounted for about 25 per cent of the country's 
population, this approach had not been effective.   As a result, the much needed reform and 
adjustment process had been severely affected an d the delay in implementation of the agreed 
multiannual adaptation strategy constituted a serious set back to the sugar industry and was expected 
to have widespread social and economic implicatio ns.  Fiji urged its develo pment partners to take 
into account the full implications of applying cer tain conditionalities on Aid for Trade, as these 
could be counterproductive and detrimental to the overall objec tive and would indiscriminately 
penalize vulnerable communities.  The Fijian represe ntative suggested that many win-win solutions 
could be achieved to remain pro actively and constructively engaged,  particularly if through this 
engagement, the higher objective of regional integra tion could be achieved more  expeditiously in the 
region.   
606. In closing, the Moderator emphasized that th e Session had seen clear indications of the 
importance of Aid for Trade for the Pacific region.  A paradigm shift was probably needed, so as to 
better communicate to the international community  the particular vulnerabilities of small island 
states and the need for assistance.  It was recogni zed that Aid for Trade was lagging behind in the 
Pacific region, particularly in consideration of th e enormous needs that the Pacific had in relative 
terms.  Particular emphasis had been put on infr astructure, productive capacity, diversification, 
standards and creating an enabling environment.  Appreciation had been shown for the work of 
different development partners, but it had also been  emphasized that, given the needs in the Pacific, 
there was space for increased efforts.   
X. SESSION 8: AID FOR TRADE – SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION 
607. The Moderator, Mr. Petko Draganov, Deput y Secretary-General, UNCTAD, opened the 
Session by asking the Under Secretary-General of UN-OHRLLS for an assessment of how 
South-South cooperation had evolve d in the wake of a high-level UN Conference on the subject in 
Nairobi in December 2009 as well as the India-LDC Ministerial Conference in New Delhi in February 2011. 
608. Mr. Cheick Sidi Diarra, Under Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Africa and High 
Representative, Least Developed Countries, Landl ocked Developing Countries and Small Island 
Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), said that South- South cooperation had emerged in recent years 
as a "vital force in the world economic landscape" .  The last two decades had been marked by 
substantial changes in the control and distribu tion of human and natural resources; high and 
sustained economic growth had seen economic and political power shift towards the south.  The 
Nairobi meeting served to highlight the grow ing political and economic ties among Southern 
countries, at a time when Southern countries were  taking leadership roles in addressing key global 
issues from economic recovery to food security a nd climate change.  The Nairobi outcome document 
defined the basic parameters of South-South co operation, defining it as a common endeavour of 
peoples and countries of the South, born out of shared experiences, solid arity, an absence of 
conditionality, and respect for the principle of s overeignty.  The New Delhi meeting's aim was to 
strengthen development partne rship support for LDCs.  The Delhi Declaration committed 
participants to strengthening Sout h-South partnership, which was a complement to – not a substitute 
for – North-South cooperation.   
609. UNLDC-IV in Istanbul in May 2011 had adop ted the Istanbul Plan of Action (IPoA), 
spelling out the scale and scope of the internati onal community's partnership with LDCs, covering 
both traditional donors and developing countries, as well as other actors such as parliamentarians,  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  civil society, and private foundations.  The IPoA's central objective was to build a critical mass of 
viable and competitive productive capacity in agriculture, manufacturing, and services, setting an ambitious target of doubling LDC exports' share in  global merchandise trade.  Development partners 
had also agreed to enhance the share of Aid for Tr ade to LDCs.  The IPoA highlighted the role of 
Southern countries in human and productive capacity  building, technical assistance, and exchange of 
best practices, especially on issues of health, education, professional training, agriculture, 
environment, science and technology, and trade and investment.  Developing countries had made 
strong commitments to supporting the implementa tion of the IPoA. Developing countries had 
increasingly undertaken market access schemes fo r LDCs, resulting in significant increases in 
exports. Southern-based transnational companies had been investing in LDCs.  Mr. Diarra suggested 
that recent know-how put forward by developing countries in a variety of areas such as 
pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information and co mmunication technology, had been put at the 
disposal of LDCs.  The South's rapid recovery  from the global economic crisis has enabled the 
growth of South-South cooperation, so me of which had gone to LDCs.   
610. In response to the Moderator's follow-up ques tion about the impact South-South cooperation 
was having on LDCs, landl ocked developing countries and sm all island developing states, 
Mr. Diarra said that the scale of South-Sout h cooperation had reached new heights since 1990, 
fuelled by unprecedented growth in developing coun tries.  More and more countries were involved 
in South-South cooperation – according to some studies, no fewer than 25 countries had a robust 
South-South cooperation agenda, encompassing a wide spectrum of technical and economic 
engagement.  LDCs, LLDCs, and SI DS were benefiting from this cooperation.  Outward FDI from 
developing countries reached US$300 billion in 2008, of which US$187 billion went to other 
developing countries.  China, India, Brazil, Turk ey, and South Africa, were investing in LDCs and 
LLDCs.  Some high-income developing countries in  the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin 
America had developed large technical coope ration and assistance initiatives. South-South 
merchandise trade had grown from US$600 billi on in 1995 to US$3.14 trillion in 2008; at 
12 per cent per annum – a faster rate than North-No rth or North-South trade.  China and India were 
major importers of LDC products.   
611. Mr. Diarra noted that in terms of labour, as well, many migrant workers from developing 
countries were in other developing countries. Developing countries were the biggest source of remittances to other developing countries.  More over, LDCs and landlocke d developing countries 
were increasingly participating in regional integr ation to produce customs unions, joint regulatory 
frameworks, and political cooperation.  Such in itiatives would help regions  attract FDI on better 
terms, and promote economies of scale. In additi on, the transition costs would be lower than 
integration with higher-inc ome developing countries. 
612. The Moderator then turned to  the Ambassador of Turkey and recalled that Turkey had 
hosted the UN LDC-IV Conference in May 2011.  He  asked how South-South partners could deepen 
the impact of trade-related capacity building in LDCs. 
613. Ambassador Bozkurt Aran, Permanent Representativ e to the WTO, Turkey, said that the fact 
that South-South cooperation had become a key not ion in the trade and development debate was due 
in part to the economic success and empowerment of developing countries.  The growth of South-
South cooperation had positive econom ic and strategic implications . South-South cooperation had 
helped soften the destructive e ffects of the recent economic and fi nancial crisis and had helped 
hasten the recovery of developing countries.  S outh-South trade had increased ten-fold over the past 
twenty years, during which North-South trad e had only increased four-fold.  The UN LDC-IV 
Conference had played a significant role in determ ining how North-South and South-South relations 
would evolve in the decade to come. The LDC-IV Plan of Action adopted included a specific section on South-South cooperation, wh ich Ambassador Aran described as a "very significant 
improvement."   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  614. He outlined some of Turkey's own initiativ es on development cooperation.  During the 
Istanbul Conference, Turkey had announced a ten- year economic and technical cooperation package 
for LDCs;  Turkey had promised to allocate US$200 million per year to LDCs starting from 2012, 
including some 1000 scholarships for post-graduate  studies in agriculture, engineering, and 
medicine.  A science, technology, and innovation cen tre would be set up in Turkey in partnership 
with UNESCO and UNIDO that would, among its f unctions, serve as a technology bank for LDCs.  
Turkey would establish an international agricultu ral centre in partnershi p with the UN Food and 
Agriculture Organization, the World Food Progra mme, and UNCTAD.  Turkey would also provide 
trade policy support to LDCs through sharing expertise and best practices.  Finally, Turkey was planning to open 15 new embassies in Africa.   
615. Ambassador Aran argued that international trade provided an early signal of how other 
aspects of the international order were evolving , such as political economy, defence and security.  
Quoting a recent article by former US Ambassador Peter Allgeier asking what responsibilities emerging economies should undertake in return for ha ving a greater role in international decision-
making, he said that systemic transition processes that would answer this question were still in 
progress. South-South cooperation would become more rewarding as the economic progress of the 
South gained momentum.   
616. The Moderator then moved onto the rapidly growing trade between Africa and China.  He 
said that after growing ten-fold over the past d ecade, bilateral trade volumes had bounced back from 
the crisis and were starting a new growth trajectory.  For LDCs, much of this trade was on a duty- and quota-free basis, and had been accompanied by major public and private investment.  He asked 
the Deputy Director-General of the Department fo r WTO Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, China if 
this was Aid for Trade, good business, or both.   
617. Mr. Rengang Huang, Deputy Director-General, Department for WTO Affairs, Ministry of 
Commerce, China, stated that Ch ina's participation in Aid for Trade was good for both sides.  He 
noted that one might say that the best way of delivering Aid for Trade was by trading. China had 
tried to achieve tangible results:  China's impor ts from LDCs in 2010 amounted to US$40 billion, 
equivalent to 23 per cent of LDC exports.  Ch ina had become the biggest importer from LDCs. 
Beyond providing market access for LDC exports, Chin a had worked to ensure that the objectives of 
the WTO Aid-for-Trade Initiative were fulfilled:  for instance, China had been providing 
infrastructure aid to countries that needed it, building roads, bridges, ports, highways, railways, and buildings.  He noted that China had helped to build the African Union headquarters, and expressed 
hope that this would contribute to regional inte gration.  China had also been helping other 
developing countries build and enhance productiv e capacity, through technical cooperation and 
capacity building inputs.  China had been actively involved in trade-related training for government 
officials, trade practitioners, business execu tives as well as scholars and teachers from some 
developing countries.  Mr. Huang stressed that  China was firmly committed to ongoing endeavours 
on Aid for Trade, pointing to a recent US$400,000 contribution to set up a special programme for 
LDCs.   
618. The Moderator then asked whether Beijing woul d follow up a recent White Paper on foreign 
aid policy with a publication on Aid for Trade.  Noting that in China, it was the Ministry of 
Commerce that was responsible for foreign aid, he asked Mr. Huang to describe China's regional 
cooperation initiatives in Africa and the Arab world.   
619. Mr. Huang noted that the White Paper, released in April 2011, reviewed the last six years of 
China's participation in international development ac tivities.  It covered a variety of regional fora;  
China's aid did not focus on any single region.  A frica absorbed about half of China's development 
aid, the remainder going to low-income devel oping countries elsewhere from Asia and Latin 
America.  China was now trading with over 200 coun tries and territories.  The paper demonstrated  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  that Chinese aid covered a wide range of geogra phic areas, as well a diverse range of projects 
covering industry, agriculture, services, training and capacity building, together with studies about climate change and innovation.  The paper demons trated that China was committed to international 
cooperation, including development aid, of whic h China was both a donor and recipient.  China 
stood ready to continue its efforts. 
620. Turning to the Ambassador of India, the Moderator asked about the evolution of India's 
50-year old aid programme, which had shifted in th e past decade to look at supply side constraints 
and boosting two-way trade.  Specifically, he asked whether India was looking into combining different instruments of development, such as gr ants, investment and preferential market access, 
such as for LDCs. 
621. Ambassador Jayant Dasgupta, Permanent Repr esentative to the WTO, India, described 
India's history with aid which had started nearly 50 years ago with its International Training and 
Economic Cooperation Programme, wh ich provided training to some 6,500 participants across 270 
courses at 47 institutions in India.  Participants were from LDCs and poorer developing countries all 
over the world.  One component of the Programme sent Indian experts in fields such as rural 
development, agriculture, food processing, soil fertility,  etc., to help recipient countries develop their 
own systems.  A third track was about developing project feasibility studies and then being associated with the implementation of those project s.  In the past decade, India had progressed from 
programmes, experts, and feasibility studies to doing mu ch more on the trade front.  This was in part 
because of the increase in India's exports and imports.  India had found that increased trade was a good way of delivering Aid for Trade.  LDCs and po orer developing countries had a strong need for 
development, resources, and the imperative to eradicate hunger and poverty – India shared some of 
those needs, and had the feeling that it needed to move up together on the curve of development.   
622. In terms of integrating trade, investment, and preferential access, Mr. Dasgupta described 
the LDC duty-free tariff preference scheme India had had in operation since August 2008.  It provided 85 per cent tariff lines at zero duty.  A further nine per cent more of lines would have 
margins of preference from 10 to 100 per cent by 2013; in many cases, the preferences had already 
been implemented.  Beyond this, India had long fa voured striking preferential trade agreements with 
developing country blocs that included LDCs, e.g ., the APTA in 1975, then the South Asian Free 
Trade Agreement, which included Bangladesh, Bhutan , Nepal, the Maldives, and now Afghanistan.  
India's FTA with ASEAN was another example of  a preferential trade deal that included LDC 
Members (Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar).  Indi a's preferential trade agreements had aimed to 
share the benefits of trade with LDCs. 
623. The Moderator said that at the Africa-Indi a Forum Summit in May 2011, Indian Prime 
Minister Manmohan Singh had said that the India-Afri ca partnership rested on three pillars:  capacity 
building and skill transfer, trade, and infrastructure development, and asked whether either side had 
set targets for investment and trade, and where a country such as Ethiopia fitted in this picture. 
624. India and Africa had much in common, Mr. Dasgupta said colonial history, and the fight to 
conquer hunger, unemployment, disease and poverty.  Even during India's independence struggle, 
the country had close links with Africa (the i ndependence struggle itself was shaped by Mahatma 
Gandhi's experiences in South Africa).  In terms of capacity building in Africa, India was interested in setting up institutions. India had already set up  four institutions for information technology, 
foreign trade, diamond processing, and education and research. In Prime Minister Singh's address, he 
had announced that India would fund another 80, w ith 32 regional institutions across the continent, 
established in consultation with the African Un ion. An additional initiative was a Pan-African 
e-network for telemedicine and tele-education, wh ich was currently benefiting 42  countries.  The 
ultimate aim was to make it possible for 10,000 Afri can students to be enrolled in Indian universities 
while sitting in their home countries.  In terms of infrastructure development, there were two WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  examples from Ethiopia: a US$65 million rural electrification programme and a US$640 million 
sugar sector project.  The Indian Prime Minist er had announced a US$300 million project on the 
Ethiopia-Djibouti rail link.  India has assisted with  a power generation project in Sudan, as well as a 
linkage project between Mali and Côte d'Ivoire.  US$5 billion in credit lines would be available for 
infrastructure, and US$700 million for institution bu ilding.  Finally, bilateral trade was currently 
US$46 billion, and increasing much faster than trade with  the rest of the world.  Bilateral trade with 
Ethiopia was US$60 million, but the Prime Minister ha d stated that he would like to boost this to 
US$1 billion within the next few years. Investment s in Ethiopia were currently US$4.5 billion from 
a combination of both private firms and the governme nt.  India wanted to raise this to US$10 billion 
by 2015. 
625. The Moderator asked if it was appropriate fo r developing countires to be donating money 
abroad.  He questioned if "charity should begin at ho me" and asked if there was a price to be paid for 
offering development assistance to other developing countries.   
626. Mr. Huang said that the Chinese Government had in recent decades focused overwhelmingly 
on poverty reduction at home, with hundreds of milli ons of people having been able to leave poverty 
behind.  Charity had already begun at home in his view. China had international obligations to help 
fellow developing countries and was committed to pr oviding international assistance despite its own 
domestic challenges and difficulties.  Mr. Huang said that both morally and economically, Chinese 
aid would contribute to international peace and devel opment, and that it was wise not to wait until all 
Chinese were rich before starting development assistance.  
627. Mr. Dasgupta cited an ancient Indian scripture th at prayed for the prosperity of all, and for 
all to be free of disease.  The world was so interconn ected, he said, that if parts of it were mired in 
poverty and disease, this would affect all the rest.  The world needed to move ahead together and this 
view was part of India's philosophy.  Despite m assive problems of poverty at home – 37 per cent of 
Indians lived on less than US$2 a day – he said th at India could not wait until poverty at home was 
totally conquered before providing assistance abroad.  He acknowledged the tension between 
poverty at home while sending aid abroad, but echoed his Chinese counterpart's comment that it 
would not be appropriate to wait for th e eradication of domestic poverty.   
628. The Moderator then turned to Ethiopia's Amba ssador to the United Nations and asked about 
how trade opening and economic liberalization had a ffected Ethiopia's development, and what role 
South-South cooperation could play in helping Ethiopia build its economy. 
629. Ambassador Minelik Alemu Getahun, Perman ent Representative to the United Nations, 
Ethiopia, said that Ethiopia was moving in the right direction, thanks to sound policies. He reported 
that his Government was in the midst of implem enting a five-year growth and transformation plan 
aimed at achieving all MDGs by 2015, with a pa rticular emphasis on food security.  He thanked UN 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the appeal he had made in his address to the Global Review on 
behalf of drought-affected countries in the Horn of Africa.  Ensuring that growth was equitable and 
inclusive was a key priority for the Ethiopi an Government, as were infrastructure and 
capacity-building to ensure that growth was sustainable.  Ethiopia's national plan, which also 
included good governance and women's empowerment  as priorities, was the best platform for 
engaging on South-South cooperation.  In response to the moderator's specific question about Indian 
assistance, Mr. Getahun said that the Indian Amb assador had already described much of it.  
Additional support, in the shape of LDC market acc ess not just in India but also China, provided 
huge opportunities for trade growth.  On South-So uth cooperation more generally, he said it was 
underpinned by principles of mutual respect, and complemented North-South cooperation.  He said 
that South-South trade should not be approached as a stand-alone engine of growth, but as part of a broader set of interdependent challenges involving in vestment, structural changes, and technological 
upgrading. South-South cooperation came through investment, technology transfer and capacity  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  building, and training.  He said that since 1992,  more than 1,000 Chinese investors had secured 
licences to invest in Ethiopia, making job-creating investments in manufacturing, construction, and mining.  China had also been providing credit lines,  soft loans, and gran ts for capacity-building 
equivalent to RMB 940 million, out of which RMB 348 million went to infrastructure.  Turkey and India had also provided similar support, with technical cooperation aimed at boosting productive 
capacity.  Partnerships from other African count ries and Latin America also had considerable 
potential, as did Gulf countries with which Ethiopi a had historical links. South-South cooperation's 
mix of private investment, government joint vent ures, and technology transfer, unencumbered by 
policy conditionalities, had big potential to lift LDCs out of poverty.   
630. The Moderator asked the Director of the Technical Cooperation Directorate in Singapore's 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to share lessons from Singapore's long experience with providing 
technical assistance and capacity building.   
631. Mr. Tin Fook Koh, Director, Technical Cooperation Directorate, Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Singapore stated that Singapore was a firm believer in free trade and in harnessing trade to 
promote development – a reflection of the count ry's own growth experience.  Singapore was 
therefore committed to Aid for Trade to help de veloping countries seize the opportunities presented 
by open global markets.  Human resource capacity had played a crucial role in Singapore's success; 
Singapore was therefore committed to helping deve loping countries integrate into the multilateral 
trading system through human-resource capac ity building programmes.  Singapore's AfT 
programmes were designed around its experiences in areas such as trade and investment promotion, 
policymaking, economic development, trade fac ilitation and financing, customs clearance, export 
competitiveness, SME development, logistics and dist ribution, tourism, and trade-related intellectual 
property rights. Singapore had provided training to 75,000 officials from 170 developing countries 
from around the world. 
632. Mr. Tin offered lessons from Singapore's effort s:  Collaboration was a strength;  Singapore 
did not always do it alone.  Singapore built win- win partnerships to provide greater depth to 
programmes in order to maximise benefits for participants.  Si ngapore had forged collaborations 
with over 40 partners, including the WTO, the Wo rld Bank, the IMF, the AsDB, and UNCTAD. He 
singled out Singapore's partnership with the WTO as a key pillar of its AfT programmes, with joint 
training programmes on subjects such as trade policy, TRIPS, trade in services, dispute settlement, and anti-dumping.  He noted that Singapore had hos ted the flagship regiona l trade policy course for 
several years, training senior officials from over 25 Asia-Pacific countries. Singapore had also 
hosted three Asian parliamentarian workshops aime d at enhancing participants' ability to make 
trade-related legislation. Singapore had embark ed on cooperative training initiatives with UNCTAD 
and the IMF to enhance Asia-Pacific policymakers'  ability to enhance trade, macroeconomic, and 
financial trade policymaking capabilities.  
633. A further lesson of Singapore's experience w as that South-South cooperation should be 
demand-driven in order to meet the needs of the recipients.  This could be ensured through 
consulting relevant stakeholders.  Singapore supported trade integration among ASEAN countries 
and, to this end, contributed to capacity-buildi ng aimed at reducing the development gap within the 
region.  Singapore had established training centres in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam 
to offer capacity building programmes in areas su ch as trade negotiation, trade facilitation, and 
understanding trade agreements.  The four LDCs we re encouraged to take charge of their own 
development trajectory by proposing programmes for implementation. Over 33,000 government 
officials from the four countries had benefited fro m programmes conducted in the four centres, as 
well as in Singapore.   
634. Aid for Trade was essential to helping fellow developing countries move from thinking free 
trade possible to making it a reality.  For this to happen, developing countries needed to take WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  ownership of the Aid for Trade provided, and ch art their own courses for economic growth, trade, 
and development.  To benefit from Aid for Trade,  countries had to implement the right domestic 
framework, institutional capacity, and infrastructure.  He promised that Singa pore would continue to 
work with partners and developing economies to ensure that its AfT programmes remained demand 
driven, responsive to recipients' demands. 
635. In response to a follow-up question from the Moderator about how Singapore demonstrated 
the impact of its training programmes given that  the effects of such assistance can be hard to 
measure, Mr. Tin said that Singapore did not commission longer-term evaluation studies of training 
programmes since they were costly and might not  yield results.  Instead, Singapore had followed a 
"quick and dirty" approach, demanding feedb ack from participants, partners, and observers 
immediately after activities, to see what went right and what did not.  This yielded information that 
would be valuable next time.  Mr . Tin cautioned that with training, like in any educational process, 
there would always be a certain amount of "leak age", and therefore expanding participation would 
ensure that enough officials went back to their home countries prepared to implement what they had 
learned.  He noted that by customizing training to meet the needs of particip ants or a target country, 
the impacts would be greater.   
636. Asked by the Moderator how African count ries could best learn from each other's 
experiences in South-South cooperation, Ambassa dor Getahun underlined the importance of policy 
ownership and on having clear, achievable, but am bitious national plans, to which governments were 
accountable.  National plans were platforms for South-South cooperation and regional initiatives 
could be useful too.  A second aspect for maximizing results for South-South cooperation was how 
best to scale up technical assistance and capacity bu ilding, along with infrastructure projects aimed 
at regional integration (roads connecting countries, etc.).   
637. The Moderator presented UNCTAD's findings from its work on South-South cooperation to 
promoting inclusive development.  This work focused on the contribution of South-South 
cooperation to building productive capacity in deve loping countries, where the challenge was to 
build such capacity while opening up to international ma rket forces.  He said that the combination of 
foreign expertise and domestic knowledge could effectively upgrad e and diversify the production 
structure.  South-South cooperation was releva nt here: developing and transition economies had 
scope to benefit from geographical and cultural pr oximity.  With demand shrinking in developed 
countries, South-South trade was increasingly a means of filling the gap.   
638. The Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries saw a milestone 
tariff-cutting agreement among eleven participating developing countries in 2010.  This São Paulo 
Round agreement cut tariffs by 20 per cent on at least 70 per cent of dutiable products – a considerable expansion of  coverage.  Successful experiences could also be seen in regional blocs 
that went beyond tariff liberalization – such integr ation and South-South cooperation could provide 
space for a development strategy based on indust rialisation and regional value chains, while 
increasing the productive capacity of less-developed Members.  There was ev idence that official 
financial flows from emerging economies had brought benefits to poorer economies, which tended to 
focus more on infrastructure and productive sectors (compared to traditional donors' focus on social 
sectors).  Aid from China and India had gone towards promoting trade and investment relations with 
African countries.  In addition, he said that flows from Southern countries usually came with no policy conditions, and went to frag ile and conflict-affected countri es that tended to have limited 
access to donors.  He noted UNCTAD Members had adopted the topic of "Development-Centred 
Globalisation:  Towards Inclusive and Sustainabl e Growth and Development" in April 2011.   
639. The representative of Senegal said that South- South cooperation had triggered much hope in 
African countries. South-South cooperation came fr om countries that shared some of the same 
challenges, and technologies from emerging econo mies were more labour intensive and less  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  sophisticated, making them easier to use and with greater potential for job creation.  However, he 
cautioned that it was far from clear that South-So uth partnerships had f undamentally changed the 
structural features of African countries.  Products  exported to Southern countries were mostly 
commodities, which went to enhancing those countri es' processing industries.  Meanwhile, African 
countries imported the finished products to satisfy consumer needs – for Africa, this was much the 
same scheme that had characterised the North-Sout h relationship.  Economic history showed that 
specialization in commodity exports did not enha nce true development even if it did allow for 
growth.  Citing Einstein's maxim that the definiti on of madness was to expect different results from 
doing the same thing, he said that in order to provide true development benefits for Africa, 
South-South cooperation would have to be based  on new paradigms of African added value – 
increasing Africa's share in world value added. South-South cooperation should make it possible to 
enhance the horizontal and vertical diversification of  African countries, otherwise the results of this 
cooperation would be compromised in terms of developmental results.   
640. In his closing remarks, Mr. Diarra noted that th e IPoA agreed identified trade as an engine of 
economic growth for LDCs (as indeed had the Brusse ls Plan of Action a decade earlier).  Both plans 
recognized that market orientation must underp in LDC economies, although the more recent one 
gave a bigger role to the state in terms of ensuring socially equitable growth and fairer distribution of 
wealth.  Supply capacity was nece ssary for LDCs to take advantag e of the special and differential 
treatment accorded to them by both developed c ountries and emerging economi es.  Shortcomings of 
infrastructure, human capital, value-addition, and access to trade finance were just a few of the 
considerations that needed to be rectified.   Economic integration among LDCs would help 
strengthen trade and FDI.  LDCs could build on the recent experience – including the mistakes – of 
emerging countries.  Trade facilitation would also he lp improve the investment environment.  He 
called for an increase in AfT volumes, both for "har dware" such as infrastructure and "software" 
such as technical assistance and capacity building.   
641. Ambssador Aran said that South-South coopera tion would gain even greater importance in 
the years to come.  He noted that in Turkey, pr ivate citizens' donations to overseas charities equaled 
the amount of official government aid.   
642. Mr. Huang said that without South-South c ooperation, Aid for Trade would be much less 
effective.  He stressed that South-South coopera tion was simply the means to the goal of common 
prosperity throughout the world, in which Nort h and South would be indistinguishable.   
643. Mr. Dasgupta said that India's dedicati on to South-South cooperation remained 
undiminished.  With regard to the Doha Round nego tiations, he said that India, along with Brazil, 
China, and other developing countries, were str ong proponents of an "LDC-only" package for the 
December 2011 Ministerial Conference, including DFQF access, reductions in cotton subsidies, and the LDC services waiver.   
644. Mr. Tin recalled the saying "give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.  Teach him to 
fish, and you feed him for life", likening it to the importance of training.  He stressed the importance 
of real world applicability of Aid for Trade.   
645. Ambassador Getahun stressed the distincti on between South-South cooperation and the 
North-South relationship, with the former's focus on national priorities and lack of conditionalities.  
It was meant to help recipients diversify and transform their economies from commodity exports to 
value addition – and South-South part ners had a role to play in this, including by reviewing their 
trade preferences to ensure that LDCs could boost exports in sectors in which they could compete.  
He expressed hope in that the recent pledges of de velopment finance by China, India, and Turkey 
were encouraging, and urged trad itional development partners to emulate aspects of South-South 
cooperation. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  XI. SESSION 9:  AID FOR TRADE – TAKING MONITORING AND EVALUATION 
FORWARD 
646. The Moderator, Michael Roberts, Aid-fo r-Trade Coordinator, opened the Session by 
referencing a USAID's study posing a link between aid and export promotion.   He asked the Panel 
representatives from UNECA and UNESCAP to outline the findings of similar studies carried out by 
their respective organizations for Africa and Asia. 
647. Mr. Stephen N. Karingi, Chief, Trade and In ternational Negotiations Section, Regional 
Integration, UNECA, said that UNECA had carried out research to explore the possibility of 
explaining changes in trade diversification and in th e cost of trading in Africa with developments on 
the AfT front.  UNECA had looked at AfT flows directed to infrastructure and TF.  The study had 
found a significant relationship between AfT flows and both the reduction in the cost of trading 
within the continent and the diversification of exports from the continent.  These findings were 
thought to have important policy implications.  Fi rst of all, the study showed that for Africa to 
benefit from trade, it had to put in place measures addressing its binding trade constraints.  Secondly, 
by aiming AfT interventions to th ese trade constraints, it would become possible to gradually start 
the transformation and diversification of African  economies.  Aid for Trade was considered a 
necessary condition to be able to expand trade and to promote growth and development within the 
continent.   
648. Mr. Ravi Ratnayake, Director, Trade and Investment Division, UNESCAP, indicated that 
UNESCAP had three different modalities to assist count ries with Aid for Trade:  capacity building;  
networking and regional cooperation;  and analy tical work.  Under the analytical wok modality, 
UNESCAP had looked at the relation between AfT flows and trade flows.  Gravity modelling had 
been used for this exercise.  UNESCAP had foun d a significant positive relationship between Aid for 
Trade and exports.  It calculated that US$1 spen t on Aid for Trade generated US$67 of exports.  
However, when repeating the exercise for the LDCs in  the region, the value of exports came down to 
US$5 for every US$1 of Aid for Trade.  Mr . Ratnayake indicated ownership and political 
commitment as some of the possible reasons for this difference in rates of return.   
649. The highest value for money came from AfT interv entions on trade facilitation.  This might 
be linked to the fact that in the region there were many procedural and administrative barriers on 
trade, which added high costs, therefore interventi ons in this area would lead to more results or 
greater exports.  Two areas were found to produce th e least impact in terms of export generation, 
namely, economic infrastructure and productive capacity  development.  The reasons could be found 
in the fact that impact of economic infrastructure came with a time lag effect and required a certain 
level of absorptive capacity.   
650. The Moderator noted that the robustness of  these results depended on the underlying 
datasets.  He asked the two Panellists whet her the underlying datasets were strong enough to 
translate these results into policies.   
651. Mr. Ratnayake said that the results on th e positive relation between Aid for Trade and 
exports were supported by other studies where the nu mbers were similar or roughly within the range 
of those found by UNESCAP, for example, in studies by USAID, the World Bank, etc.  He, however, identified the need to verify these results  using different techniques and different sets of 
data.  UNESCAP was also trying to formulate some indicators on trade costs.  While there was recognition that it might be hard to attribute r esults to AfT interventions, Mr. Ratnayake reckoned 
that, especially in the trade facilitation area, r esults were positive and could be measured.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  652. The Moderator pointed out that some Member s of the development community were looking 
for poverty impacts from Aid for Trade.  He ask ed how poverty impact could be included in 
UNECA's modelling.   
653. Mr. Karingi described what UNECA had found in its study, i.e. a ten per cent increase in 
Aid for Trade could generate a one per cent reduction in the cost of exporting.  A high variation in 
numbers could be observed when comparing this  result with UNESCAP's US$5 return for every 
dollar spent in Aid for Trade or the more than US $40 in the USAID study.  This variation in number 
was taken as a demonstration of the challenges that th is kind of analysis continued to face, especially 
if it was going to be used as a base for policy advice.   In the case of UNECA, data robustness faced, 
first of all, the difficulty of explaining the tr ade performance via addressing the binding trade 
constraints.  Secondly, while most of the anal ysis was taking place at country level, the value 
proposition for Africa was mainly in th e area of regional integration.   
654. As for poverty impact, Mr Karingi said that general equilibrium models – which were 
employed by the international trade community to  assess economic impacts of trade policy or AfT 
interventions – might not be suitable to map growth  at the household level.  He noted that, with 
sufficient household-level data, it would be possibl e to map some of the impact that national 
interventions had at the household le vel.  However, the challenge lay in linking the impact of Aid for 
Trade to improvements at the household level.  To  exemplify the challenges of assessing social 
impact, Mr. Karingi quoted one case story submitted by  Burundi, which noted:  "Other actors of the 
sector [small farmers] were not sufficiently integrat ed into the project.  The transfer of know-how 
through dissemination activities in the rural environm ent was insufficient and only started very late, 
which reduced the expectations of a real impact of the project on their incomes and admittedly on 
poverty".  He agreed with Mr. Ratnayake on th e need for upgraded techniques and tools.   
655. The Moderator remarked that the IaDB had recently held a conference on the attribution 
issue entitled "Mind the Gap" and asked the pane l representative of IaDB, whether the conference 
made reference to the same attri bution gap mentioned by Mr. Karingi. 
656. Mr. Koldo Echebarría, General Manager a nd Chief Development Effectiveness Officer, 
Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness, IaDB, explained that the IaDB was 
trying to collect evidence from different studies in different policy sectors on what was the impact of 
AfT programmes.  The IaDB had collected a lot of  evidence, even in trade and innovation policies, 
with some very positive results.  He highlighted th at the challenge was not only to find the evidence, 
but to connect the evidence to th e policy discussion and policy design issue.  However, he did not 
think that all issues could be solved through evaluation studies.  In his view, accountability would be 
useful if combined with learning, so that failu re would be accepted and corrected.  The IaDB was 
making a big effort in introducing more impact eval uation into its programmes.  The previous year, 
about 30 per cent of IaDB programmes had a built-in impact evaluation.  The Bank was also trying 
to extend some rigorous methodology into sectors that traditionally had not been covered by these 
methodologies, for example, in trade innovation polici es.  In this sense, interesting results were 
starting to emerge.   
657. When asked how difficult it would be to take these lessons and feed them back into the 
design of new programmes, Mr. Echebarría reiterate d that to him accountability and learning were 
two sides of the same coin, but it was sometimes di fficult to make the link between the two, as it was 
often difficult to frame the evidence on successes and failures into policy design.  The IaDB was 
equipped with a highly demanding framework from an  accountability perspective.  For example, all 
IaDB projects were designed in a way that referred to evidence from past programmes.  A number of incentives could be built within the management stru cture to make sure that the knowledge that had 
been acquired in previous phases was used in s ubsequent design phases.  However, a number of WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  uncertainty issues would still remain, and a study that  showed results in one context might not apply 
to another context.  Each development project was a learning project in itself.  
658. The Moderator remarked that while gravity m odels were one way of looking at the issue, 
there were some interesting techniques that had been pioneered by, for example, Poverty Action 
Laboratory and others.  He asked the Panel representative from the World Bank if he could give an 
idea of what potential these techniques held in trying to bridge the accountability gap.   
659. Mr. Aaditya Mattoo, Research Manager, Trade a nd Integration, World Bank, replied by first 
listing "three tyrannies" that must be resisted in ca rrying out monitoring and evaluation.  First of all, 
Mr. Mattoo warned against the tyranny of measureme nt and reiterated the importance of recognizing 
that some AfT benefits could not be measured.  Secondly, he made reference to the tyranny of 
causality, as it was hard to attribute cause to effect.  Finally, there was the tyranny of methodology, 
which was the subject of discussion in the current Session.   
660. He stated that the gold standard for assessing wh ether a particular intervention had produced 
an effect was the randomized intervention.  Ho wever, he recognized the difficulty of this 
methodology and warned against the risk of remain ing inactive for lack of a better method.  He 
indicated that there were many interesting new me thods which were producing results to help guide 
future interventions.  Mr. Mattoo noted that while Aid for Trade was competing with aid for health 
or education, where the chains of causality  to poverty reduction were more obvious, the 
methodology had advanced dramatica lly and powerful results had been produced.  When looking at 
Aid for Trade, he speculated as to whether ther e was enough evidence for policymakers to decide 
where the "best bang for the buck" was.  When it came to the question on where to spend the next 
dollar in Aid for Trade, evidence on how to make this choice was really primitive.   
661. He then gave some examples of how less de manding methodologies than randomized trials 
were producing very interesting learning.  The Ia DB, he noted, had done interesting work showing 
that in Latin America when providing firms with assistance to expand exports, the biggest effects 
turned out to be not in the volume of exports, but in  diversification.  While diversity was desirable, it 
was important to consider whether it matched the original goal.  He pointed to an important 
observation:  very few firms exported and, for example, 90 per cent of exports in Mali came from 
some 20 firms.  When considering giving assistan ce, he wondered whether that assistance should be 
directed to the many SMEs who needed it but might not be able to use it, or to the few large firms who could use it, but did not need it.  The IaDB's  work showed that there were big benefits from 
giving it to the marginal firm.  This was deemed as a valuable lesson that came from evaluation.   
662. Picking up on the issue of the three tyrannies,  the Moderator asked whether there was a risk 
that what could not be measured would be neglect ed, and the focus would shift on to funding what 
was measurable and where a methodology was available to measure impact.   
663. In Mr. Mattoo's opinion there was a real danger.  For this reason, he said quoting Chairman 
Mao, "we should walk on two legs".  The first leg would be the real qualitative work, such as the 
case studies and anecdotes, which were part of th e practitioners' experience.  The second leg would 
be that of measurable results in areas where causality  could be shown.  In reviewing 85 World Bank 
projects, it was found that three quarters of them had no evaluation component, only five had serious 
evaluation components and in many of them the ev aluation was subjective.  While it was important 
to try harder to reach the gold standards, the international community should not succumb to the 
tyrannies and should be ready to settle for lower achievements.   
664. The Moderator suggested that the gold standard  for developing countries was helping them 
realize their own development objectives.  He suggest ed that trying to look for attribution at the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  project level could perhaps lead to missing th e bigger picture of realizing these development 
objectives.   
665. Mr. Karingi said that too much focus on results could actually make one lose sight of the 
goal.  For example, when reviewing the Africa n case studies, UNECA observed that, on the one 
hand, measures for tracking progress on Aid for Trade actually needed improvements to avoid 
raising scepticism amongst donors and beneficiaries a like.  At the same time, out of the 114 case 
stories on Africa, 56 reported on some form of M& E taking place.  But the other 58 did not mention 
anything on M&E.  However, these conclusions di d not necessarily imply that those case stories that 
did not mention M&E, actually had no M&E ta king place, and vice versa.  A good dose of 
pragmatism was needed in moving forward.  While M&E methods for Aid for Trade needed 
improvement, it was important that results did not  become an obsession to the point where some 
issues were left behind simply because results could not be shown or attributed.   
666. The Moderator remarked that the OECD-WTO  Aid for Trade at a Glance 2011:  Showing 
Results publication contained a lot of informati on, but asked if it had advanced understanding of 
what was being achieved and wh at could be done better. 
667. Mr. Frans Lammersen, Principal Administrator, Development Co-operation Directorate, 
Organisation for Economic Co-ope ration and Development (OECD), said that the concept behind 
Aid for Trade at a Glance 2011:  Showing Results was showing results.  He referred to Mr. Gurría's 
words on how these case stories had painted a picture of Aid for Trade in action.  He listed the various categories for the case stories, including technical assistance to help trade negotiators 
understand, negotiate and implemen t agreements; programmes that he lped address market failures; 
support to help the private sector comply with standards; programmes that facilitated trade; and 
programmes to improve infrastructure.   
668. This collection painted a picture of what was working well and pointed to a number of 
lessons, such as the need for ownership, broad st akeholder consultations, stable finance, ODA and 
South-South support.  Amongst all this, Mr. Lamme rsern indicated that one emerging element was 
the need for complementary policies.  In his view, the Third Global Review showed that there were a 
lot of areas in which knowledge was important.  Fo r instance, UNDP had presented its guide on how 
to mainstream trade, a guide on where to find s upport for trade capacity building needs, the World 
Bank its ideas on how to improve data collection,  ITC had held a session on engaging the private 
sector, and the World Bank was expected to tell where to spend the next billion.   
669. Mr. Lammersen noted that Panellists generally agreed that all programmes should contain a 
M&E element.  However, from the analysis of th e case stories, it was surprising to see how little was 
said about trade objectives.  The case stories containe d a fair amount of information on, for example, 
poverty and gender, but they said very little on what  the results of these programmes were in terms 
of building trade capacity.  Donors could do more to improve their evaluation practices.  He announced that the OECD had pub lished a booklet entitled "Strengthe ning Accountability on Aid for 
Trade".  The booklet pointed the way to better eval uation and introduced the concept of management 
for development results, which was an importa nt issue in the effectiveness agenda.   
670. Focussing on the work ahead, Mr. Lammersen said that the OECD could help bilateral 
donors, but he hoped that the next step would be a collective effort of the multilateral institutions, 
the regional development banks and the UN economic  commissions.  He suggested that the next 
phase should start with a few pilot projects in developing countries to try and implement the 
management for results approach.  The task woul d then be to identify and quantify the objectives, 
agree on what kind of indicators measure progress a nd, hopefully, report with a bit more confidence 
on the positive impacts of AfT programmes on improving livelihoods.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  671. With reference to Mr. Mattoo's observation th at some of the new techniques such as 
randomized control and broad trials worked much  better in other areas of development assistance, 
the Moderator asked Mr. Talaat Abdel-Malek, how he saw the situation of Aid for Trade vis-à-vis  
other areas of development cooperation.   
672. Mr. Talaat Abdel-Malek, Ministry of Intern ational Cooperation and American University, 
Cairo, showed appreciation for the WTO and OE CD work, particularly on the issues and the 
challenges of M&E.  He explained that the purpo se of M&E was to understand what seemed to be 
working and what was not working.  Monitoring and evaluation would also serve other purposes, but 
to him the most critical was the extent to which th e results from M&E helped guide future policies.   
673. He identified two sets of challenges, namely  methodology and data reliability.  The trade 
development community was facing a serious issue concerning the reliability and timeliness of data 
decisions and conclusions.  Despite all the improvements in methodology, he said he found it 
extremely difficult to quote specific numbers wit hout supporting them with credible evidence.  
Methodologies alone were insufficient for polic y-makers to base critical trade development 
decisions on.  Supplementary methods to assess the impact of Aid for Trade, such as case studies, 
case stories and questionnaires, added a qualitative approach.  However, the issue with most case 
stories was that they tended to show only one side of the picture and not the full picture of Aid for Trade.   
674. It was important that monitoring be tailor-mad e because countries were different in terms of 
their trade priorities.  In his view, converting tr ade priorities into measurable objectives would be the 
beginning of a sound monitoring exercise.  The pr oblem would remain on how to generalize on the 
basis of a few case studies.  This problem, how ever, could be bypassed if the process became a 
multi-stakeholder one that involved not only gove rnments and business communities, but also all the 
other parties involved in the trade promotion business.  
675. Finally, with reference to his experience in  the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, he 
found that there were certain aspects of aid that  could not be assessed by crunching numbers.  He 
thought that numbers would be inadequate until they  were qualified with qualitative statements that 
would generate a fuller picture.   
676. The Moderator opened the floor for comments.  The representative of Canada said that the 
Canadian delegation had submitted two case stori es; one co-sponsored by the delegation of 
Guatemala, and the other with the ITC and the Tr ade Facilitation Office Canada.  One case story was 
about a programme to train people to export.  The other was a study that fo llowed the market signals 
coming from the informal economy where a particul ar product was already being exported.  The 
success of the latter came from getting a small co mmunity to reduce poverty through export of a 
high value-added agricultural product.  This led to higher income and improved livelihoods.  
677. Drawing from this experience, she speculated wh ether, in the attempt to evaluate Aid for 
Trade, the focus was not tilted towards models that  were predicated on social policies and social 
programmes, rather than on market signals themselv es.  In her view, market signals were important 
in AfT programmes.  She referenced a presentati on on Cambodia where an entrepreneur explained 
how rice exports had been developed starting from the observation of the sector's potentials, its constraints and how to maximise the former and ove rcome the latter.  This example showed linearity 
in Aid for Trade that there might not be in other programmes.  She suggested that by looking at how to address constraints and then looking at where e xports were, the international community might be 
looking at the second part of the equation.   
678. The representative of the Dominican Republic expressed interest in the possibility of 
developing new methodologies so that recipient countries could evaluate the results of AfT projects.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  He remarked that external factors could have an impact on results.  In a previous session, Chile had 
discussed the revaluation of the exchange rate.  In an environment where exchange rates were having 
an important impact on the results of any project th at stimulated exports, he wondered how to protect 
private investors, especially when revaluation of ex change rates was often due to artificial factors, 
such as speculative capital flows.  He suggested that, at a certain point, resources might be devoted 
much more to infrastructure and investments to  support exports.  For example, a ten per cent 
reduction in transport costs in the Latin American  market was equivalent to a ten per cent tariff 
reduction in terms of its effects on exports.  He fo rwarded the idea of creating an inventory project 
for Aid for Trade within the WTO, for example, to access information on on-going projects and the 
resources devoted to them.   
679. The representative of Ecuador underscored th at donor countries and institutions were 
making big efforts in the area of monitoring and eval uation of Aid for Trade.  Donors and recipients 
were able to improve evaluation by providing a broader vision of AfT impact and strengthening the 
involvement of the main actors.  In this context, it was important that donors and recipient countries worked together in the development and improveme nt of integrated M&E systems.  This would 
allow the creation of synergies in the evaluati on process, making unified information on AfT flows 
available and taking advantage of national systems for management, follow-up, and evaluation.  The 
results would be reduced costs, increased efficien cy, improved recipient countries' technical capacity 
for monitoring and evaluation, and optimiza tion of the joint processes for accounting and 
commitment on the basis of horizontal methods between donors and recipient countries. 
680. The representative of Finland remarked that th e decision to opt for case stories rather than 
case studies was based partly on the fact that there was not enough time to do comprehensive studies 
for the Third Global Review.  Clearly, the case st ory process had been a great success and exceeded 
all expectations, but more rigorous studies might be needed.  These studies should somehow be embedded in a broad unde rstanding of trade competitiveness and global business.  A combination of 
methods was needed to approach issues from di fferent angles, not just from a technical aid 
evaluation perspective.  Finland expressed support for a monitoring framework, indicators and fine 
tuning, but at the same time it recognized the need for pragmatism and considered that these 
methods would need to be easy to apply, otherwise th ey might not be used at all.  It was considered 
important that these methods could be used by  policymakers and not just by international 
consultants.   
681. Finland had submitted two case stories jointl y with the government of Zambia.  As 
important as the information gained from the c ase stories was the process of jointly assessing the 
objectives, how to achieve them and what were the main successes and failures.  All of these issues 
could not be objectively measured; they were subject  to interpretation from different people, and, for 
this reason, the process was important.  These methods could be fine-tuned endlessly, but their 
results and conclusions would not lead to policy changes if policymakers and key actors were not 
engaged in the learning process.  This was somethin g to be taken into serious consideration for the 
next step when the monitoring exercise w ould be taken to the local level.   
682. The Moderator returned to the Panellists  for their concluding statements.   
683. Mr. Ratnayake agreed with the comment s made on the methodological problems in 
monitoring and evaluation.  He suggested a wide range of indicators for evaluating Aid for Trade, 
which included quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as a kind of monitoring mechanism 
which would involve all stakeholders. 
684. Mr. Karingi expressed confidence that, at least  in Africa, AfT resources were going where 
they were meant to.  He suggested looking at the results from different methodologies in a very 
pragmatic way.  By learning from all the methods available, the international community should be WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  able to distil the results and assess whether they c ould be matched to the priorities set for Aid for 
Trade.   
685. Mr. Echebarría, said that, first of all, it was important to try and strengthen data in the 
countries, so as to use them not only to evalua te the specific AfT programmes, but other policy 
initiatives too.  Secondly, he pointed to the need to build on the knowledge already available.  He 
referred to the studies quoted by Mr. Mattoo that showed the usefulness of some programmes in 
relation to export capacities in SMEs.  These could represent a basis to build upon by trying innovative approaches, measuring and evaluating them. 
686. Mr. Mattoo agreed with many of the comments on the reason why a combination of methods 
was needed to learn from the assistance that had been provided, and, in particular, he agreed with the 
importance of country ownership of these methods.  This was the theme of the introduction of a new 
book that the World Bank would launch at the end of the day.  The book was a new World Bank 
research initiative to try and credibly evaluate trade assistance using a range of different methods.   
687. Mr. Lammersen suggested first, going local , second, reinforcing the trade development 
community, South-South partners and the private sector, and finally, keeping it simple, because it 
was already complex enough.   
688. Mr. Abdel-Malek called for micro-management a nd evaluation, an approach that would not 
be at the expense of doing global reviews, but that would be very informative.  There was no 
substitute, in his view, for tailor-made monitori ng to serve policy making purposes.  He also 
highlighted ownership and leadership by partner countries as important elements of the formula, 
while international organizations and bilateral agencies would need to play a supportive role.  
Partner countries should be in the driver's seat in designing the monitoring and defining the 
objectives.  Selective, rather than comprehensive mo nitoring, would give more depth.  He suggested 
focussing on a few measurable objectives rather than covering the whole waterfront.  He also called 
for more modest expectations and warned that a ttempts at measuring the impact of every single 
action would lead to very feeble results in terms of reliability.   
689. Finally, he called for caution in selecting the indicators, reiterating that numbers could be 
misleading.  In Busan, where the Working Pa rty on Trade Effectiveness would meet in 
November 2011, expectations would be for a robust event focussing on Aid for Trade.  He felt that 
the community wanted simple language with refere nce to what was working,  what was not working 
and what recommendations could be provided on how to improve performance.  Aid-for-Trade 
achievements could be communicated by bringing c ountries' experiences to the table of discussions.  
He said that what policymakers wanted was actions or advice that would lead to actions.   
690. The Moderator wrapped up the Session, indicatin g that it had helped chart the way forward 
and move ahead in terms of understanding, even wh en that meant taking note of the constraints and 
facing some of the difficulties, particularly in terms of attribution.  One message that had come through clearly was the need to be pragmatic and not to be obsessive in M&E, bearing in mind the 
three tyrannies mentioned by Mr. Mattoo and the ro le of complementary policies.  The collective 
spirit of the Third Global Review and its publicati on should underpin future efforts in Busan and 
beyond. 
XII. SESSION 10:  AID FOR TRADE – CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD  
691. The Chairman, Mr. Anthony Mothae Maruping, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of 
Lesotho to the United Nations Office and other In ternational Organizations and Chairman of the 
Committee on Trade and Development opened the Sessi on.  He opened the floor for statements.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  692. The representative of Bangladesh, on be half of the LDC Group, thanked the 
Director-General and the Secretariat for organi zing the Third Global Revi ew and made several 
recommendations for the Aid-for-Trade Initiative m oving forward.  In terms of process, the Group 
recommended continued reporting in the Committee on Trade and Development on the status of 
implementation of the 2010-2011 Aid-for-Trade  Work Programme and suggested initiating 
discussions on the development of a new work programme for 2012-2013 leading up to the next 
Global Review.  These discussions should focus on the nature of the document to be produced for 
the next Review exercise.  The principles of in clusiveness and transparency should be adhered to 
when drawing up a new work programme. 
693. The representative expressed appreciation for th e special attention given to LDCs in the 
preparation of the Third Global Review, particularly  in the study entitled "Aid for Trade and LDCs:  
Starting to Show Results".  Similar attention s hould be given to the LDCs in the new 2012-13 work 
programme.  The Group underlined the importa nce of strengthening national stakeholder 
consultations in beneficiary countri es, with particular attention given to capacity building of the local 
private sector.  He also emphasized the need for WTO to continue to play its role as facilitator in 
implementing the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.   
694. The Group recommended that AfT programmes should take a holistic approach to 
addressing the inherent structural supply-side co nstraints in LDCs in accordance with national 
priorities, with particular attention to the dearth  of trade-related infrastructure, weak regulatory 
capacity and poor human capital. The often mispl aced focus on developing absorptive capacity 
should be directed at building durable local capacity with a view to sustaining the long-term impacts 
of AfT initiatives.   
695. He emphasized that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative s hould be embedded in the Paris Principles 
on Aid Effectiveness with a view to further enha ncing ownership by national stakeholders and 
alignment with the needs and priorities of the bene ficiary or recipient countries, particularly LDCs. 
He noted that there were disparate experiences in various national contexts in LDCs, which needed 
to be streamlined in line with the Istanbul Program me of Action for LDCs.  The lessons learnt from 
specific cast studies could provide useful pointers in the right direction.   
696. The need for sustained engagement and dial ogue among the various players, involving the 
beneficiary countries and development partners, incl uding the international financial institutions and 
multilateral development banks, was highlighted so as to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation 
of AfT programmes.  It was important to fact or in concrete and measurable indicators with 
demonstrable cause and effective relationships  and evidence-based results.  The methodologies 
developed for assessing quality and impact of Aid for Trade would need to be flexible, adaptable and 
interactive, without falling into the trap of a uniform, benchmarking exercise.   
697. The flow of resources for the Aid-for-Trade Initia tive would need to be sustained in order to 
consolidate the results and gains made so far. Su ch resources had to be ad ditional and predictable, 
and should not be conflated with  traditional and ongoing flows of resources by way of repackaging 
in the name of Aid for Trade.  The representa tive cautioned against the Aid-for-Trade Initiative 
ending up as an exercise in number-crunching, and asserted that it should be geared at real-time 
trade capacity building to help recipient countri es, particularly LDCs, to integrate into the 
multilateral trading system.  He also noted the n eed to develop easy disbursement procedures and 
obligations which had received limited attention.   
698. Ongoing work on building a dynamic and comp rehensive knowledge network would need to 
be pursued to highlight, among others, the best prac tices and lessons learnt on what worked and what 
did not.  The Review process had helped generate a wealth of evidence-based information.  It was 
critical to compile and analyse the informa tion with a view to making succinct policy WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  recommendations aimed at various target groups, including policymakers and private sector 
stakeholders.  In this context, cross-regional dialogue and knowledge-shari ng would help generate 
result-oriented and customized initiatives, especial ly in paving the way for regional trade and 
economic integration. 
699. Finally, the growing focus on South-South cooperation should be maximized through a 
demand-driven process and through developing a monitoring mechanism which factored in the 
unique characteristics of such cooperation.  The representative emphasized that South-South 
cooperation needed to be approached with th e right perspective and should be seen as 
complementary to, rather than a substitute for No rth-South cooperation and tr iangular partnerships.  
He concluded by noting the LDCs commitment to the Aid-for-Trade Initiative and urged the 
international community to support the Initiative by delivering an early-har vest package for LDCs 
under the Doha Development Agenda during the Ministerial Conference in December 2011.   
700. The representative of Kenya, on behalf of the African Group, commented that the previous 
two days had been full of interactive discussion a nd the sessions had been info rmative.  The African 
Group appreciated the pivotal role played by the WTO and the OECD in implementing the Aid-for-
Trade Initiative.  As the Initiative entered a critical  stage, the two Secretariats should scale up their 
efforts to ensure that the programme would firmly move forward without any slippages.   
701. Comparable baselines should be constructed th at would enable both development partners 
and AfT beneficiaries to have reliable indicators to determine whether or not any given AfT intervention had achieved its objectives.  Thus far,  reporting of AfT successes had experienced gaps.  
A strong M&E mechanism or systems should be developed and implemented.  These should be 
country and/or region specific to help assess the impact on desired outcomes such as poverty 
reduction. 
702. The AfT strategies of development partners, beneficiary countries and regional communities 
should be harmonized to create sustainability in thei r respective projects.  The variance that existed 
between commitment and actual disbursements should be addressed so as to ensure that 
projects/programmes were completed on time.  Commi tments and disbursements should therefore be 
synchronized by reducing the bottle necks and rigidities in processing disbursements.  Procurement 
lead-time for project implementation had to be  reduced by developing simpler but effective 
procurement regulations.  Many projects/programmes had ended being held up  due to stringent and 
lengthy procurement and reporting procedures.  Greater involvement of the private sector in the implementation of Aid for Trade was also a critical component.  In the new programme for 
2012-2013, issues such as additionality, predictabi lity, sustainability and effectiveness of Aid for 
Trade had also to be given appropriate focus.   
703. The representative of Mozambique aligned Moza mbique with statements from the African 
Group and the LDC Group.  He noted that the OECD-WTO Report indicated that Aid for Trade 
continued despite pressure from the financial crisis and showed the positive role of trade in efforts 
designed to counter the crisis.  In Mozambique, trade should play an effective role for the attainment 
of development goals, such as the promotion of  economic growth and poverty reduction; the 
improvement of production capacity, in terms of qua ntity and quality of products; and the upgrading 
of trade-related infrastructures.  The representativ e emphasized that Aid for Trade was critical in 
helping LDCs address these constraints and build  the capacity among government institutions, civil 
society and the private sector to harness trade's potential to promote development  He noted that 
strengthening country ownership and enhancing the management of results were essential to 
ensuring that increased Aid for Trade delivered benefits to developing countries, particularly LDCs.  
Ownership was also relevant and donors should con tinue to work together and coordinate their 
assistance to avoid duplication.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  704. There was a need to improve institutional capacity in developing countries to formulate and 
implement trade development strategies in order to ta ke full advantage of Aid for Trade.  Assistance 
from partners was crucial to help monitor the resu lts and the impact of Aid for Trade as well as to 
monitor progress in implementation of national trade development strategies.  One of the most effective ways to take advantage of the potentia l of trade for development and poverty reduction was 
meaningful access to markets.  He advocated a timely conclusion of the Doha Round and called for 
the operationalization of the "DFQF" Market Access fo r LDCs in a flexible manner.  He also stated 
that to maximize the potential of Aid for Trade in th e future, there was a need to continue to address 
financial support to enhance productive capacity and e xports and build trade-related infrastructure.  
He concluded by reaffirming the importance of Af T initiatives and their role in the promotion of 
national development, regional economic integration, and in enhancing trade facilitation. 
705. The representative of the United States repor ted that the US remained committed to the 
success of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  The US wa s pleased to see the positive results that Aid for 
Trade had produced to date and stood ready to conti nue to engage with Members to define the next 
phase of the Initiative.  He recognized that Aid fo r Trade was an important complement to trade 
liberalization.  Market opening needed to be comb ined with efforts to tackle endemic supply-side 
constraints in developing countries, and in particular  LDCs, to ensure they could take advantage of 
the market access opportunities open to them.  He noted that in many ways, the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative had done what it was supposed to do by  putting the spotlight on the importance of 
trade-related assistance and providing an impetus for beneficiary countries to prioritize trade in their 
development plans and donors to scale up their assistance.  The OECD reported that AfT 
commitments in 2009 were up 60 per cent from the 2002-2005 baseline.   
706. Consistent with that theme, the US response to  the call of Aid for Trade had been robust.  
The United States had contributed over US$11 billion in trade-related assistance since 2001.  On 
18 July 2011, US Trade Representative Amba ssador Kirk announced a contribution of 
US$1.2 million to the WTO's Trade-Related Tec hnical Assistance programme, representing the 
ongoing US commitment to ensuring that developing  countries could participate effectively in the 
global trading system.  There was certainly still wo rk to be done, but Members should celebrate the 
accomplishments of the Initiative.  The Global Revi ew would help to keep the momentum of the 
Initiative going. 
707. The US wholeheartedly supported the Global Review's focus on measuring results of Aid for 
Trade. This attention to monitoring what work ed and what did not was critical for donor and 
beneficiary countries' joint efforts to improve the effectiveness of trade-related assistance.  He 
applauded the WTO and OECD for their intensive work in designing and implementing the AfT questionnaires and the call for case stories that pr ovided much of the input for the current Global 
Review. That effort, producing over 270 case stories, was undoubtedly a mammoth exercise, but the work had paid off.  The Aid for Trade community was now equipped with valuable insights into the 
state of the Initiative and these case stories could help Members define their AfT priorities going 
forward. 
708. He recalled that Eric Postel, Assistant Admini strator of USAID, had discussed that Agency's 
increased focus on measuring results and evaluatin g assistance programmes.  USAID's extensive 
evaluation in 2010 of US trade-related assistance w as contributing to the global knowledge platform 
of aid effectiveness.  These complementary efforts would provide valuable lessons that could be 
incorporated into the design of future assistan ce programmes, and the US welcomed sharing ideas 
and experiences in that regard.  The US also welcom ed the increased focus on the role of the private 
sector in Aid for Trade.  Public-private partnerships  were of increasing importance in the delivery of 
trade-related assistance.  The US looked forward to deepening engagement with the private sector in 
Aid for Trade and applauded the leadership of the World Bank and the WTO in providing the 
impetus for that enhanced engagement.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  709. The representative also noted the important ro le that country ownership played in the 
success of trade-related assistance and the need of partner countries to mainstream trade as part of 
national development strategies.  The Global Review  was a helpful event for bringing together the 
trade and development worlds to facilitate this  discussion, but these discussions should not happen 
only in Geneva.  Partner countries should continue  this dialogue in capital with their governments, 
with the private sector, and with donors in-country to ensure that trade was identified as a national 
development priority.   
710. The importance of the trade component of Aid fo r Trade was reiterated.  It was critical that 
Members continued to be mindful of the role that  increased trade openness pl ayed in development.  
Only by achieving integration by all developing countries into the rules-based, open, and 
non-discriminatory multilateral trading system emb odied in the WTO could Members facilitate the 
creation of the meaningful new economic opportun ities required to advance development and help 
alleviate poverty.   
711. In response to comments on the Doha Round negot iations, he noted that over the past two 
and half years, the United States had played a leadin g role in seeking an am bitious outcome to Doha, 
including numerous initiatives to find creative so lutions within the confines of the current 
framework.  This leadership ha d included, when appropriate, flexibility in negotiating positions, 
though, if Doha could have been completed by virt ue of throwing a pile of concessions on the table, 
a deal would have been made many years ago.  Fi xing Doha, of course, was more complicated than 
that.  The US's goal had been not just any deal, but  a good deal.  In particul ar, a Doha agreement had 
to reflect the current realities of the global econom y.  Wishing this complexity away with empty 
exhortations or calls for unilatera l concessions would not result in success.  Rather, all major players 
would need to grapple directly with the challeng es faced.  The US would be at the forefront of 
determining whether any variant of the current Doha framework could result in a successful outcome.   
712. Returning to Aid for Trade, he concluded with a quote from a speech which 
President Obama had made at the MDG Summit at the UN in September 2010:  "We know that 
countries are more likely to prosper when they enc ourage entrepreneurship;  when they invest in 
their infrastructure; and when they expand trade a nd welcome investment.  So we will partner with 
countries to create business environments that attr act investment, not scare it away.  We'll work to 
break down barriers to regional trade and urge na tions to open their markets to developing 
countries".   
713. The representative of China  remarked that the Global Review had been very successful. 
China had introduced its AfT contribution under the framework of South-South cooperation.  It had 
also shared its experience and had reaffirmed its commitments by setting up "China's LDCs and 
Accessions Programme" with a US$400,000 contribu tion by the Chinese Government to the WTO. 
Looking to future work, China would contin ue to construct trad e-related production and 
infrastructure projects for developing countries in need.  China would actively carry out technical 
cooperation projects to improve developing countr ies' trading environments.  It would expand 
trade-related human resource development coopera tion to help developing countries build trading 
capacity.  China would cancel interest-free loans ma tured by the end of 2010 by LDCs according to 
the commitment made by the Chinese Government to reduce debt burden.  Finally, China would 
increase the coverage of duty-free treatment to LD Cs with the aim of providing them with more 
favourable market access opportunities.   
714. China offered a couple of suggestions for th e way forward.  First, China called for 
developed countries to meet their ODA commitments a nd to continue to increase their Aid for Trade 
for developing countries, in particular LDCs.  Developed countries should also supplement Aid for 
Trade with real trade opportunities by opening up th eir markets.  China called for the international  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  community, in particular developed countries, to further cancel mature loans held by developing 
countries to reduce their debt burdens and facilitate their sustainable development.  China also called 
for international financial ins titutions and multilateral developmen t agencies to increase Aid for 
Trade to developing countries, in particular LDCs.   
715. He recalled the saying that "where there's a w ill there's a way."  China's own experience in 
the past decades had shown the huge benefit of trad e to economic and social development.  With the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative, China hoped many more developing countries could release their full potential in economic and social development.   
716. Finally, the representative commented on the Doha Round. He liked very much the 
description of the Cambodian Trade Minister that Aid for Trade and the Doha Round were Siamese 
twins.  They could not be separated because they  shared one heart.  The Doha Round was the first 
development round in history and was of paramount  importance to help achieve development goals. 
The long-stalled negotiations and inability to addr ess serious concerns of LDCs was jeopardizing 
credibility of the multilateral trading system.  Chin a asserted that priority should be given to address 
the core concerns of LDCs in 2011 on the basi s of respecting the development mandate.  China had 
made significant contributions to facilitating the conclusion of the Round.  In July 2010, China 
provided DFQF treatment to 4,762 products impor ted from LDCs, accounting for 60 per cent of total 
tariff lines.  The country would continue its effort s to achieve the objective of reaching 95 per cent.  
Data had shown that China was the fastest-growi ng market for exports from LDCs, with an annual 
growth rate of 24 per cent during the past ten years.  Since 2008, China had become the largest 
export destination of LDCs, absorbing 23 per cent of their total exports.  As Mr. Zoellick had stated, 
Members needed to think big and think ahead on the Round, and China called upon all Members to 
faithfully implement the Hong Kong mandate with an  aim to delivering the development results and 
preserving creditability of the multilateral trading system.   
717. The representative of Canada commended the WTO and the OECD for a productive event 
and remarked that the delegation had learned a grea t deal during the Review, particularly about aid 
effectiveness.  For the first time, a review had demonstrated how much had been accomplished in 
Aid for Trade, and the discourse had shifted from what Aid for Trade should do to what Aid for Trade was doing.  Tremendous efforts had been ma de by partner institutions, bilateral donors and 
developing countries to get the Aid-for-Trade Initia tive up and running and to start showing some 
preliminary results.  Promoting increased global tr ade was a priority because of the link between 
economic growth and poverty reduction.  Trade w as a main engine of both.  He recalled that 
51 per cent of the world's population lived in countries that accounted for only 7.3 per cent of global 
trade.  Aid for Trade could help those countries and communities grow out of poverty and become more competitive.   
718. The representative acknowledged the strong pos itive linkages between Aid for Trade and 
improved trade performance, as shown in the case st ories.  He observed that while the case story 
approach offered a rich perspective of various el ements of Aid for Trade, Members had only begun 
to understand the wealth of information in the case  stories, and they merited further study by the 
Committee on Trade and Development, particularly re garding lessons learned.   He also advocated 
for developing a more systematic and rigorous frame work for evaluating results, to be reviewed in 
the CTD.  This dialogue could take Members into the Fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade and could hopefully provide a comprehensive picture of  what Aid for Trade had accomplished by then.   
719. He maintained that a continued focus on resu lts should be the objective of the Fourth Global 
Review of Aid for Trade and recommended that the Fourth Review seek a more robust demonstration of results and impacts – failures as well as success, and lessons learned from both, with a menu of indicators to support the findings.  The World Bank, OECD, and other partner institutions could play a key role.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  720. Canada appreciated the many fine presentati ons made by experts and eminent institutions, 
but would welcome a more participatory approach for the Fourth Review.  The representative suggested that this could be focused around analys is of a particular programme or a dialogue with 
actual recipients of Aid for Trade.  He shared Canada's expectation that in two years everyone should have a better understanding  of the relationship between trade, economic growth, and poverty 
reduction, as well as a better grip on the indicators that would demonstrate outcomes and impacts.   
721. He looked forward to continuing discussions in the WTO Committee on Trade and 
Development and in other fora on Aid for Trad e, including the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid 
Effectiveness in Busan.  He noted Canada's commit ment to work with Members to make progress in 
understanding this important issue.   
722. The representative of Colombia stated that evaluation was not about having a battery of huge 
indicators, but at the end of a project, stakeholders needed to understand the impact on trade through 
monitoring and follow-up.  Moreover, Colombia had been selective in choosing not just any type of 
cooperation.  All actors needed to be more involved,  especially beneficiaries,  the private sector, and 
the government.  Ownership of projects was very important, and donors needed to respond to the 
needs of beneficiaries rather than their own need s.  Combining the needs of beneficiaries and donors 
so that they agreed on objectives would enable projects to transform realities via Aid for Trade – 
more exports, more growth, more development – and thus reduce poverty.  The second step, which 
had been very productive for Colombia, would be to build trade capacity  in the areas where 
Colombia had signed trade agreements with Canada  and the United States.  Assistance had included 
not just building trade capacity but also included th e implementation of pilot projects.  This ensured 
that these agreements actually resulted in trade flow s for Colombia.  This experience could be taken 
to the multilateral level.  Colombia also emphasized  the importance of sustainability. For example, 
interventions related to quality certification sh ould lead to local certified companies.   
723. The representative informed that Colombia ha d been successful in reducing delays with 
trade facilitation and in creating companies and pro ducts with export diversification.  With each 
project, Colombia had looked at what had been achieved via a blend of measures for each project.  
She noted several areas for improvement.  First, tr ade should be made a key aspect of cooperation.  
Partners also needed to know what percentage w as represented by Aid for Trade.  In Colombia, the 
percentages had been low.  Cooperation related to trade had not been given the attention it 
warranted.  Nonetheless, she was convinced th at it should be increased because it was very 
important and would bring sustainability.  Anothe r area for improvement was to increase focus on 
regional projects.  These projects could help the re gion.  Finally, Latin America and the Caribbean 
had received only eight per cent of Aid for Trade a nd this could be increased.  This region had huge 
trade needs and Aid for Trade had huge catalytic ef fects in terms of exports and benefits to the 
population.   
724. The representative of Costa Rica stated th at the Third Global Review had clearly 
demonstrated that substantial improvements had occu rred since the last Review.  In only five years 
since its conception, Aid for Trade had transforme d from a mere idea to a consolidated programme 
and had become crucial to support countries in overcoming the particul ar constraints faced in their 
trade liberalization and economic integration pro cesses.  The Review also revealed that donors and 
beneficiaries both needed to continue reporting on  the progress made, as well as on their results and 
experiences, both positive and negative.  In Costa Ri ca's experience, in order for Aid for Trade to 
serve its purpose, both elements needed to be presen t:  Aid and Trade.  For Aid for Trade to be most 
effective, it should be channelled as a supporting f eature of efforts to consolidate and maximize 
liberalization processes and integrated participation in  the international economy.  It should also be 
grounded on effective enforcement of the principl es that guide good governance and transparency in 
the administration of resources.  Additionally, the alignment of donors' priorities with countries' 
strategies should continue to be advanced.    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  725. The representative noted that there still remained an important agenda to address.  Within it, 
Members should take a closer look at the role that the private sector could play to further anchor Aid for Trade in reality.  They should also give additi onal thought to efforts aimed at aligning aid and 
investment initiatives, so as to maximize the synergies between the two.  The important 
contributions of regional and multila teral development banks  could be greatly enhanced with private 
sector involvement to complete the triangle of assist ance.  He remarked that there was always room 
for improvement, but that the tools to get there we re in place.  Through monitoring and evaluation, 
Members had identified that there were still some  gaps between supply and demand and that all 
actors involved needed to take charge of their respective responsibilities with a sense of ownership, 
if aid were to be effective.  He concluded by noting that the ability to show that Aid for Trade 
generated positive, measurable results and impa cts that contributed to development was in 
everyone's interest.   
726. The representative of Australia joined other delegations in welcoming the debate and 
discussion over the preceding two days.  This had served to further consolidate the positive 
developments which had come about since the launc h of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  Much of the 
success could be attributed to the advocacy role played by the WTO, under the Director-General's 
leadership, together with the intellectual work undertaken by other international and regional 
organizations.   
727. The representative reported that Australia strongly supported the role of Aid for Trade in 
addressing the constraints faced by developing co untries and LDCs in par ticular in using the 
potential of trade.  This was demonstrated by the upward trend in Australia's AfT expenditure, which 
at the time of the Global Review stood at 15 per cent of its development assistance programme.  At 
the Third Global Review, Australia was partic ularly pleased to see the AfT challenges and 
experiences of the Pacific featured.  The early accession of Vanuatu and Samoa, which Australia 
strongly supported, would further add to a strengthening of the focus on the Pacific within the WTO.  
728. The theme of the Third Global Review on "showing results: outcomes and impact" 
resonated well with contemporane ous developments in Australia's aid program, which placed the aid 
programme in a results orientated framework.  It allowed Australia to draw valuable lessons on the 
design and implementation of AfT programmes.  For ex ample, it was clear that in order for trade to 
effectively translate into growth and poverty re duction, trade should be placed in the broader 
national development agenda and sit alongside co mplementary policies, particularly supportive 
macroeconomic and structural polic ies which would help optimise the impact of Aid for Trade.  The 
representative highlighted Australia's recent $A2 m illion contribution to th e EIF and looked forward 
to working with the EIF in the Pacific.   
729. He also acknowledged the contribution that the Third Global Review had made to 
strengthening the M&E aspect of the AfT age nda in going forward and hoped to build on this 
beginning.  There was an opportunity for better artic ulation of the linkages between trade, growth 
and poverty reduction and for establishment of better baseline data to give momentum to the 
ongoing work of the OECD in developing a menu of quantifiable trade specific indicators to 
facilitate robust analysis and enable cross count ry comparisons.  Australia was committed to 
working with its partner countries to improve the impact and effectiveness of its AfT programmes, 
and believed that they would be able to demons trate good progress at the next Global Review.   
730. The representative of Norway expressed her dele gation's appreciation to the WTO Director-
General for hosting the Third Global Review and to the WTO and OECD Secretariats for their 
preparatory work.  She also thanked other delega tions and agencies for their input.  In Norway's 
view, the Third Global Review demonstrated that the AfT agenda had progressed, both in terms of quantity and quality.  The delegate shared Norw ay's firm commitment to this development, 
supporting developing countries' capacities for tr ade both bilaterally and through multilateral WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  institutions.  Norway had contributed substantiall y to Aid for Trade, focusing foremost on building 
productive capacity and secondly on economic infrastru cture, especially energy.  This support was 
exemplified in Norway's case stories.  Most of  the country's multilateral trade support had been 
directed to "soft infrastructure" – TF, policy framewo rks, standards, and other regulatory measures.   
731. Regarding the way forward, much had been said on more of the same, better, more efficient 
and coordinated programmes, bett er implementation, and more cl arity on impact.  Norway would 
also support these measures.  Monitoring and eval uation would be important for improving Aid for 
Trade.  The case stories had added value to th e statistics and indicators usually presented to 
demonstrate results.  They gave colour to, and in  part qualified, the many  figures presented.  They 
also contributed to the discussion on best practices .  Stakeholders should therefore continue to use 
such stories to complement progress in results-b ased management.  The ultimate aim of Aid for 
Trade was to promote development through inclusiv e and sustainable growth.  Trade and economic 
growth did not necessarily lead to a fair or equitable distribution of gains.  Trade policies and technical assistance would need to be linked to othe r policies to ensure that increased exports did not 
benefit only a few.  She commented that trade f acilitation had been a frequent topic of discussion 
during the Global Review.  Trade facilitation was also  part of regulatory reform, the implementation 
of good governance and the fight against corruption,  and included the modernization of customs and 
other trade related agencies vital to increasing inco me through duty collection and the reduction of 
trade costs.   
732. In Norway's view, improving taxation syst ems and transparency were important 
complementary policies to prevent tax evasion and capital flight.  These efforts were crucial to 
enabling countries to increase es sential public investments as well as to improve basic services to 
their populations.  Access to energy had been me ntioned many times during the Review, and was 
important not only for large-scale infrastructure and productive capacity development but also for 
small-scale production in the micro-, small-, and me dium-enterprise segments.  To enhance this 
work, Norway, together with the International En ergy Agency would be hosting an international 
energy conference in Oslo on 10-11 October 201 1 entitled "Energy for All:  Financing Access for 
the Poor".  The representative added that many i ssues discussed at the Review, including investment, 
infrastructure, regulations and good governance, we re of vital importance to food security and the 
agricultural sector.   
733. At the Second Global Review the Norwegian de legation had noted that the issue of women 
and trade had received insufficient attention.  Although panels during the Third Global Review had 
been gender imbalanced, gender had been given a greater focus during the present Review and 
through the case stories.  She remarked that  there was a compelling case for addressing the 
gender-specific effects of trade policies.  C ountries should use their whole resource base and 
integrate women into all aspects of the economy, incl uding trade.  Norway was pleased to note that 
the situation of women was being given a higher pr iority by an increasing number of countries and 
agencies, including the UNDP.  For example, the ITC included gender components in several 
programmes, UNCTAD was undertaking a series of ge nder-specific trade policy analyses – the first 
one completed for Bhutan – and African countri es such as Uganda, Rwanda, and Liberia were 
targeting women both as cross-border traders and in  specific sectors.  Norway commended this 
work.   
734. The representative of Switzerland thanked the or ganizers of the Third Global Review for the 
excellent preparation of the two-day event that was filled with substantive discussions and side 
events.  The Review had allowed participants to get a clearer picture on the achievements of the Aid-
for-Trade Initiative as well as of th e challenges that should be confronted moving forward.  At the 
Second Global Review, Switzerland had made a call to "implement, implement, and implement."  
Switzerland was pleased to learn that over the p ast six years, the Aid-for-Trade Initiative had 
contributed to sustained resource mobilization fo r Aid for Trade, had supported ongoing efforts to  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  mainstream trade into development strategies, and had produced, through the case story exercise, 
anecdotal evidence of positive results on the ground.   Going forward, the criteria for what should be 
undertaken through the Aid-for-Trade Initiative s hould remain how to contribute effectively to 
successful interventions on the ground; on the concrete impact of Aid for Trade on poverty 
alleviation.  The Initiative should remain a means to  this end and not become and end in itself.  
735. He highlighted areas where the Initiative could make a concrete contribution to more and 
better Aid for Trade on the ground and improve its im pact.  The first area was a strengthened results 
measurement framework.  He asserted that better assessment and measurement of Aid for Trade was particularly important in times of tight public budgets.  Donors would need to invest money 
efficiently and most effectively.  Drawing more fully on existing results measurement efforts and 
evaluations from donors, and sharing this informati on, could help strengthen results measurement for 
Aid for Trade.  Second, he emphasized the need to reinforce private sector involvement.  The Review had highlighted many interesting examples  of successful public-private collaborations in 
Aid for Trade.  However, there was still potential for more public-private sector collaboration.  The 
Initiative could help reach out to the private sector a nd engage it in Aid for Trade.  In the long run, 
the private sector should take over the lead in or der to achieve long-term sustainability and economic 
growth.  
736. He cautioned against diverting attention from the imperative to implement.  He concluded 
by saying that Aid for Trade should not be sought at the expense of the most important goal, which was to achieve ambitious results in terms of deve lopment in each area of the Doha negotiations.  A 
comprehensive trade deal would best serve the purpo se of development.  He concluded by advising 
Members to "negotiate, ne gotiate, negotiate."   
737. The representative of Chinese Taipei expressed his delegation's appreciation to the WTO 
Secretariat for organizing such a significant ev ent.  He reported that since the Second Global 
Review, Chinese Taipei had continued to intensify its  AfT efforts to ensure that aid resources were 
better regulated and coordinated.  With the pr omulgation of the International Cooperation and 
Development Act in July 2010, a more systematic framework had been set up.  In addition, Chinese 
Taipei had put in place an ODA Reporting System, wh ich would enable it to  manage future aid 
programmes in a more consistent and progressive ma nner.  In line with the Paris Declaration on Aid 
Effectiveness, Chinese Taipei had a dopted a results-oriented approach to development assistance.  
All new projects were required to designate a nnual objectives and handover targets, to proceed 
according to a clear implementation schedule, and to  be evaluated using quantitative indicators.  
738. Chinese Taipei's AfT-related work, as operated by the Taiwan ICDF, the executive arm of 
its development agency, focused mainly on:  (i) tr ade-related technical assistance, as exemplified by 
the Petén Papaya Export Project in Guatemala a nd the Oriental Vegetable Project in Honduras, the 
two success stories submitted for the Review;  (ii)  trade-related lending for infrastructure works;  
and (iii) trade-related capacity  building.  Workshops  under various themes such as SPS measures 
and trade facilitation had been organized to target  the needs of partner countries and regions.  He 
concluded by sharing that promoting balanced and sustainable development would continue to be the 
top priority of Chinese Taipei's development assi stance.  As a responsive and equally responsible 
WTO Member, Chinese Taipei remain ed committed to the Aid-for-T rade Initiative and stood ready 
and available to help its devel opment partners integrate better with the multilateral system and 
benefit from global trade.   
739. The representative of Finland recalled that during the previous five years the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative had evolved dynamically and had consolid ated its place in the international trade and 
development agenda.  The awareness of the role of  trade, investment, and the private sector in 
supporting economic growth and de velopment had increased.  Volu mes of development assistance 
directed towards supporting developing countries' tr ade capacities had increased and the results of WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  these efforts were starting to be apparent.  He repor ted that Aid for Trade had been one of Finland's 
most important priorities in trade and developm ent policies since 2005.  Since the launch of the 
Initiative the country's total AfT expenditure had pr actically tripled, reaching almost €236 million in 
2010.  He was pleased to note that Finland had far surpassed its 2005 Hong Kong commitments.  
740. In 2008, Finland had launched a specific AfT Action Plan for 2008-2011.  This Plan and its 
achievements had just been reviewed by external consultants, and the evaluation report was going 
through the last stages of finalization.  The overa ll result of the implementation of the Finnish Action 
Plan could be considered to be positive, althoug h there had been a number of challenges.  For 
example, despite considerable achievements in aw areness-raising, it was evident that there was a 
need to develop a better conceptu al framework for Aid for Trade so  that its purpose and linkages to 
trade, growth and poverty reduction would be  better understood and communicated across the 
organization and by partners.  The evaluation also  confirmed many of the findings at the global 
level.  For example, it was clear that there was still a need to emphasize more results based 
management in AfT interventions.  The representa tive also noted that this challenge applied to 
development cooperation in general and was not necessarily AfT specific.   
741. Recommendations from the report included the n eed to consider making clearer strategic 
choices.  The AfT agenda had been very broad and covered about a quarter of global ODA.  The 
agenda should focus on a more limited number of subjects under the broad AfT umbrella and 
perhaps consolidate the entire concept.  Anothe r recommendation was to avoid fragmentation.  The 
evaluators recommended reducing the number of projects and programmes while scaling up their 
size.  They also encouraged finding synergies between different aid modalities and joining forces 
with other donors.  Finally, the evaluation had em phasized that cross-cutti ng issues such as gender 
had not yet been fully integrated into Finland's AfT portfolio despite previous efforts to focus on 
these issues.   
742. Finland suggested that this evaluation could provide important insights to other countries 
facing similar challenges.  Finland would give the recommendations serious consideration and use 
them as a tool to improve its Aid for Trade.  Th e full report would be made available as soon as it 
was published.   Finland hoped that agencies woul d continue to find meaningful ways for Members 
to participate in the design and implementation of  the Initiative in the future.  Broad ownership and 
wide participation of key stakeholders – pa rtner governments, bilateral donors, multilateral 
organizations, private sector representatives, and other non-state actors – would be vital for the 
continued success of the Initiative.  He also emphasi zed the need to find new ways to strengthen the 
monitoring exercise.  Nearly 300 case stories had b een received but only a few of them had been 
jointly drafted by partner and donor governments.   Finland and the Government of Zambia had 
produced two stories jointly.  This undertaking ha d been a positive experien ce for Finland and one 
way that these global exercises could concretely  strengthen ownership, mutual understanding, 
accountability and partnerships.  There was still an  evident need to improve the toolkit for 
monitoring and evaluating Aid for Trade.  He also ca utioned that this should not be done just for the 
sake of the Global Reviews, but the instruments s hould serve the purpose of getting a clear picture of 
Aid for Trade at country-level and help to produce real and concrete impact.  
743. The representative of Viet Nam congratulated the WTO and OECD Secretariats for 
organizing a successful review.  As a partner country , Viet Nam found the event very useful and had 
witnessed very significant progress in achieving the objectives of Aid for Trade since 2009.  This 
had already been demonstrated very well in Aid fo r Trade at a Glance:  Showing Results.  Viet Nam 
strongly supported the Initiative and was committed to bringing the agenda forward.  Aid was not an 
end for itself but should serve development.  Vi et Nam had used aid as  a catalyst to achieve 
economic growth and poverty reduc tion targets.  Viet Nam became  a lower middle-income country 
(LMIC) in 2010, and consequently was facing a re duction in aid.  The representative encouraged  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  development partners to pay more attention to LM ICs and to support them to bring the AfT agenda 
forward.   
744. He noted that South-South cooperation was al so very important, especially in terms of 
knowledge sharing.  He encouraged South-South donors to work more in this area to facilitate clear 
complementarities and division of labour.  He also advocated greater coherence of partner countries' 
policies to avoid conflicts and to facilitate trade.   Viet Nam was committed to implementation of the 
Paris Declaration and the Accra Action Agenda on Aid Effectiveness and was working to combine that agenda with Aid for Trade.   
745.  Viet Nam was also commited to encouraging the private sector, especially participating in 
the development of infrastructure – both "hardwar e" and "software".  Vietnam planned to work 
further on monitoring and evaluation of outcomes and im pacts.  It had done this at the country level 
and had conducted joint evaluations with Japan of 11 large-scale infrastructure projects.  This 
demonstrated how aid could contribute to trade and development of Viet Nam.  He hoped that 
monitoring would be taken down to th e country level to make it more useful.  He noted that regional 
integration and cooperation in trade was very important.  In concluding, he said that Viet Nam was 
committed to participating more actively in regional initiatives in the Asia-Pacific.   
746. The representative of Ecuador observed that to chart the way forward,  Members needed to 
determine what the destination was.  He asserted that stakeholders were fully aware of the three 
characteristics that should be part of Aid for Trad e: i.e it should be effective, measurable, and 
predictable.  Aid for Trade should be evaluated on the basis of beneficiaries and donors, it should be 
subjected to objective measurements through impact indicators, and flows should be predictable.  
Countries should have at their disposal financial, human, and technological resources.  In charting 
the way forward, stakeholders should prioritize th e development needs of beneficiaries and adopt a 
results-based approach.  Moving forward was only a matter of ensuring political will and resolve.  
747. The representative of Japan  congratulated the WTO Director-G eneral, the WTO Secretariat, 
and all Members for the success of the Third Globa l Review.  He recalled the remarks of Japan's 
State Secretary Takahashi, noting that Japan would continue to implement its commitment to Aid for 
Trade in order to assist developing countries to enha nce their capacity to trade and help them to 
realize the benefits of trade liberalization.  Jap an would also continue its efforts to share and 
exchange with other Members experiences to de termine how Aid for Trade worked for expanding 
trade through such dialogue m echanisms as the Asia-Pacific RTG.   He noted that the RTG had 
recently published a report and would continue to d eepen this exercise.  Dialogue between different 
regions would also produce valuable results in shar ing experiences.  Japan wished to contribute to 
the future process of Aid for Trade in the WTO.  
748. The representative of the European Union joined  others in expressing appreciation to the 
WTO Director-General, the WTO Secretariat and OECD Secretariat for a useful and successful 
Global Review.  The Review had illustrated that Members collectively had achieved a lot on Aid for 
Trade, including in terms of resource mobiliza tion, engagement by donors and beneficiaries, 
ownership by LDCs and developing countries, and much more.  Several positive lessons had 
emerged from the various case stories.  All stakehol ders needed collectively to continue learning 
from the implementation of the Initiative – what ha d worked, but also more importantly, what had 
not worked.  The Global Aid-for-Trade Initiative need ed to get better at demonstrating outcomes and 
impacts.  For instance, there was large room fo r improvement in designing and delivering Aid for 
Trade in support of regional integration, an area to which several donors, and particularly the EU, 
had devoted substantial a ttention and resources.   
749. There should also be more emphasis on M&E and mutual accountability.  This would 
require a concerted and consistent effort by part ner countries receiving and using Aid for Trade, as WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  well as donors, the WTO, OECD, regional banks, a nd other agencies.  He recalled that poverty 
reduction was agreed as the ultimate purpose of ODA, in cluding Aid for Trade.  In the EU's view, all 
needed to do more to demonstrate the linkage be tween Aid for Trade, trade outcomes, and poverty 
alleviation.  In this context, the role of comp lementary policies was essential and needed to be better 
understood.  The EU also supported all initiatives to bring the private sector more into the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative at all stages, from n eeds assessments and dialogues on trade policy to 
implementation.   
750. He repeated the EU's interest in continuing discussion on the Aid-for-Trade Initiative in the 
future, particularly what the Initiative should focus on , both with the Secretariat and other interested 
Members.  The EU would remain profoundly committed to Aid for Trade.  In 2009 total 
commitments by the EU and its member States had reached more than €10 billion.  The DDA should 
have a profound impact on developm ent, and thus the EU strongly supported efforts to reach an 
LDC-focused package in Decemb er and ultimately conclude the entire negotiations as soon as 
possible.  
751. The representative of El Salvador extende d thanks to the WTO and the OECD for 
organizing the Third Global Review.  He remarked  that, since its inception, the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative had given rise to positive developments and th e Review had made this fact clear.  He noted 
that there was much left to do.  He was convin ced that while donor countries had programmes in 
place there was a great dependence on domestic govern ment-led beneficiary programmes to ensure 
sustainable, long-term integration into global trade flows.  El Salvador believed that this type of 
initiative was absolutely essential to  act as a complement to trade policies being rolled out and 
developed by different countries.  Such policies ne eded to be complemented in a responsible and 
sustainable way.  This would also enable pa rtners to move forward on the very urgent 
complementary agenda to make best use of the diffe rent trade agreements in place, particularly for 
developing countries.  He also highlighted the need  to continue analyzing how to move forward with 
the Initiative and how to address this ch allenge for developing countries.  
752. In addition to issues that had been raised  by other Members, such as good governance, 
transparency, accountability, and results-based manage ment – all of which were absolutely key 
elements to ensuring effective Aid for Trade – th e Initiative should also adopt an approach that 
would seek to bring about significant improvements to  those sectors that showed low profitability.  
There was a need to overcome shortfalls and shortcomings in markets and governance and to 
overcome unfavourable geographic s ituations.  All of these issues were major challenges.  It was 
also important to look at new schema and modaliti es for cooperation that could take into account not 
only the specific needs of the donor groups but also  focus on the needs of the beneficiary countries 
themselves.  These new mechanisms could includ e elements that went beyond simple financial 
technical cooperation.  He hoped that in the run- up to the Ministerial Conference this could be 
accorded greater importance.  El Salvador welc omed the exercise and hoped that Aid for Trade 
could serve as a conduit for developing countries as they moved into the mainstream of world trade. 
753. The Chairman thanked all the speakers and dele gations for their contributions.  He noted 
that the Review had been perhaps the best in  content and engagement.  The sub-title, "Showing 
Results," was timely and very topical.  Aid for Trade was about results.  A lot had been 
accomplished – sharing experiences, exchange of id eas, offering and receiving advice, launching of 
publications, signed agreements, and networking.  Pa rticipants would go home perhaps wiser than 
when they arrived and he hoped that all felt that the event had been time well spent.   
754. The success of the event was owed  to the WTO – Director-General Pascal Lamy and his 
team in the Development Division.  The  contribut ion of the OECD was also much appreciated, as 
well as the support and participation of intern ational institutions, particularly the UN  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Secretary-General and his testimony that trade was one of the dependable engines of strong, 
sustained, inclusive development.  He also th anked moderators, panellists , and participants.   
755. The verdict seemed to be that Aid for Trade worked, but fine-tuning was needed.  Busan 
would be an opportunity to continue the exchange  and further consolidate progress.  Aid for Trade 
should not be done in isolation.  It  should be part of a comprehensiv e package.  Appropriate policies, 
policy coherence, consistency, e ffective implementation were all crucial.  He remarked that the 
world had just gone through a deep and prolonged fi nancial and economic crisis.  Recovery had been 
slow and weak and the economy remained in the danger zone.  Trade rec overy and growth would 
boost the real economy.  Growth of the real economy would generate jobs and employment 
opportunities and could contribute more effectively to poverty reduction.  
756. Developing countries, including LDCs, still had unr ealized trade potential.  The focus on the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative was helping to remove suppl y-side constraints to trade.  It was an idea 
whose time had come.  Aid for Trade had been addressing what needed to be addressed.  He 
encouraged participants to leave the Review with the knowledge that all that needed to be done was 
to fine-tune Aid for Trade and increase resources.  He  applauded the assurances of the EU and others 
to do so, even in the face of diffi cult fiscal environments.  He also  noted that contributing to trade 
would also address these fiscal difficulties.  He then  invited the WTO Director-General to take the 
floor.  
757. In his closing statement, the Director-General, began by concluding that the Third Global 
Review had been an enriching two days.  Partic ipants emerged from the Review with a strong 
narrative on Aid for Trade.  It was an encouraging account of how stakeholders had been building 
trade capacity, not just for the short- or medium-t erm, but for the long-term.  The narrative flowed 
from the engagement of an ever broader AfT comm unity.  The heads of institutions who had first 
joined him in 2007, in 2009 and again this year, had been joined by the ministers of developed, developing and South-South countries, by the head s of regional organizations, civil society and the 
private sector.  He had been impressed by the qualit y of analysis and debate and said that this was 
not just a strong narrative; it was a weighty one, too.   
758. The Third Global Review had vindicated the decision to focus on showing results.  The need 
to firmly grasp this nettle had been foremost in  his mind since the Second Global Review in 2009.  
Donors had highlighted this message because of budge tary pressures.  Partners had underlined it in 
the context of improved accountability and tran sparency.  In reality, this meant making 
accountability work for effectiveness.  But regardle ss of the motivation, the message was the same: 
accountability was here to stay.  The Initiative emerged stronger from the Third Review and more 
robust for embracing accountability.  It was stronge r for the results showcased as well as for the 
candour with which participants de bated the shortcomings of curre nt approaches and practices, both 
with regard to the allocation and implementation of Aid for Trade.   
759. The Review required striking a delicate bala nce between being encouraging, but not 
self-congratulatory and simultaneously being realistic,  but not disheartening.  Overall, the Review 
had succeeded in this endeavour.  There were resu lts to show, but practices should be improved to 
strengthen confidence in the way in which progress was reported.   
760. The UN Secretary-General's words during his Ke ynote Address underlined the task ahead.  
The Secretary-General had made the insight that Aid for Trade was "transcending artificial boundaries" and called on participants to extend the same logic to ensure broader coherence with 
sustainable development.  He stat ed that Members should recognize th e intersections of the initiative 
with this wider agenda, whilst remaining true to  the AfT mandate.  The Director-General exhorted 
stakeholders to listen to the development commun ity and make the case for why trade was important 
for economic growth.  All could do a better job of explaining why Aid for Trade could support WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  broader policy objectives such as poverty alleviation, social welfare, food security,  gender 
empowerment, climate change adaptation, energy generation and sustainable development.  Doing 
so would promote deeper coherence within the Initia tive and with the broader international context.   
761. Equally, though, it was important that Members did not lose sight of the fact that making the 
case for Aid for Trade would also make the argu ment for the multilateral trading system.  He 
emphasized that Aid for Trade was all about loggi ng onto this world-wide trading system.   
Members needed to understand role that intellectua l property, services, and standards could play – 
all areas where multilateral agreements were in pl ace.  This should be the central theme of the 
2012-13 work programme.  He noted that in closing the 2009 Global Review he had stated that Aid for Trade was "coherence in action".  In 2011,  he wanted to make the case for "deepening 
coherence".   
762. The Director-General recalled that in 2009, st akeholders came together at the height of 
economic crisis.   Nowhere was this crisis more evident than in the collapsing market for trade 
finance.  At the Second Global Review the Globa l Trade Liquidity Programme had ben launched, 
and thus far, that programme had disbursed US$1 .8 billion in funding.  During the Third Global 
Review, the successes of participants ' efforts undertaken on this issu e had been shared.  Nonetheless, 
challenges remained.  While liquidity  had returned to the markets, longer-term structural issues had 
become more apparent.  Access was the challenge, not availability, particularly in Africa.  This issue 
required the innovative thinking that marked the two days of the Global Review. 
763. He had observed that AfT indicators to tr ack poverty reduction and other objectives would 
serve as a reflection of the multilateral trading syst em.  Members' calls for indicators was about more 
than the development effects of Aid for Trade.  It went to the core of the arguments on the 
development benefits of the multilateral trad ing system and spoke to why the DDA was a 
development round.   
764. In moving M&E forward, he argued that par ticipants should remember the importance of 
examining progress towards the achievement of th e development goals of Members and regional 
organizations. Partner countries and regional bodies should not only be e ngaged in this process, they 
had to own it.   This point had been made evident during the Review.  The Paris Principles of country ownership had to be app lied to evaluation and impact assessment. He noted that evaluation 
was a challenge which had climbed the political  agenda given the pressure on budgets.  But 
stakeholders had to strike an appropriate balan ce with long-term aspirations.  Measuring the desired 
cause and effect would require a sense of realism about timeframes.    
765. Stakeholders had to redouble efforts with the OECD to develop a menu of meaningful 
performance indicators which partners and donors a like could use for planning and implementation;  
explore new techniques such as impact evaluati on, and bolster the results-based management 
approach;  draw more fully on on-going results meas urement efforts;  and do more to learn and work 
with each other between regions.  He shared his particular appreciation of the AfDB's and AsDB's 
collaboration to address trade finance.   
766. At the same time, the Director-General argued that a focus on results should not get in the 
way of implementation.  He noted that while cost -benefit analysis was useful, it came at a price.  
Furthermore, it was important to avoid creating the impression that what was not measured, did not work.  All stakeholders needed to get better at showing results, not obsessive about finding them.  
M&E was an important element, one that had been perhaps neglected in the past, but it should be 
one element of the new work programme. 
767. He highlighted a number of priority themes for the 2012-13 Aid-for-Trade Work 
Programme:  Resource mobilization had been the focus of efforts from Hong Kong through to the  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  Second Global Review in 2009, and it should remain cen tral.  Here, he hoped to be able to build on 
and continue the excellent worki ng relations with the G-20.  The Seoul commitment to maintain AfT 
resources at 2006-2008 levels served as an insura nce policy for the initiative.  As highlighted by 
many participants, resource mobilization should be more equitable and respectful of the particular 
challenges that many Members faced.   
768. Leveraging other sources of finance was another theme.  Available resources should be more 
effectively used by examining innovative ways of  leveraging additional financing.  The thrust on 
ensuring adequate trade finance should be sustai ned.  At the same time, innovative financial 
instruments that would allow Aid for Trade to tap financial markets in search of local assets beyond 
the traditional international concessional funding should be explored.   
769. Comments by Ministers and other interventions both from the panels and the floor, as well 
as the excellent UNDP side-event, had highlighted th e tangible progress made in bringing trade into 
national and regional planning frameworks, i.e. in mainstreaming.  However, mainstreaming was not 
a one-off undertaking.  Plans needed to be updated, governments changed, and priorities shifted.  He 
advised that keeping trade at the heart of these frameworks and operational plans was a continuous 
challenge.  It was a challenge for Members at all le vels of development, LD Cs and non-LDCs alike.  
Stakeholders needed to consider how to support this process with developing-country Members.   
770. The Third Global Review had been the first w ith genuine private sector participation. The 
quality of the panel discussions during the Review highlighted the benefit of bringing the private sector into the Initiative and redoubling efforts to enga ge them on the ground.  It made clear that Aid 
for Trade's primary function should be to prepare th e ground for the private sector to grow, not just 
within, but also beyond its own borders.  Business, not development agencies, sold into global value 
chains.  Business would ensure that trade developm ent projects developed trade that lasted after the 
end of the project and that the conditions were  right on the ground.  Getting the private sector 
on-board meant understanding that in reality "Aid for Trade" also meant generating "Investments for 
Trade".   
771. Aid Effectiveness was another theme and he opined that the Aid Effectiveness Agenda 
needed to be incorporated more centrally in th e Aid-for-Trade Initiative to address concerns about 
effective and timely implementation and to measure  the impacts of interventions.  He personally 
committed to undertake this issue at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, 
Korea in November 2011.  The Busan Forum also provided an opportunity to explore the role of Aid for Trade in leveraging other forms of development finance.   
772. He argued that participants should heed the UN Secretary-General's call to coherence with 
the broader sustainable development agenda.   A work programme centred on deepening coherence 
would give the flexibility to meet this challenge , whilst remaining true to Aid for Trade's core 
mandate.  
773. Taking South-South cooperation to a higher leve l was another theme.  Aid for Trade had 
demonstrated a solid record, but more could be d one in knowledge transfer and in sharing skills.   
Finally, he cited regional integra tion.  This issue had emerged in all sessions as an area of success 
and on-going challenge.  In his view, this should feature prominently in the forthcoming work 
programme along with support to the wo rk of the regional development banks. 
774. He then turned his attention to the launch of the World Trade Report the following day.  
Bilateral and regional trade agreem ents were growing in number, but also in complexity.  This 
reflected the changing structure of global productio n – an issue discussed during the Review.  This 
evolution required a rethink of the traditional wa y in which preferential trade agreements were 
analysed.  Such deep integration schemes posed a different challenge to the multilateral trading WT/COMTD/AFT/W/28 
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  system that policymakers needed to learn how to  navigate successfully.  This issue would be 
discussed in more detail during the launch and w ould need to be factored into the new work 
programme on Aid for Trade, which he fully expect ed to be ready in time for the WTO Ministerial 
Conference at the end of 2011.   
775. He paid a specific tribute to Deputy Direct or-General Ruwabiza, the AfT team and the 
Development Division, and the many other people ac ross the Secretariat that had made the event a 
success.  
776. In closing, he recalled that when he had beco me Director-General in 2005, the IF focal point 
of Mali had always brought his staff a box of mangoes.  In 2011, he brought mangoes as well as mango jams and mango chips.  This image highlight ed the transformative power of Aid for Trade – 
using Aid for Trade to unlock the trade potential and move up the value chain.  He urged participants 
to keep working with the Fourth Aid for Trade Review in mind in 2013 and hoped that, by then, one more step would be made in making trade opening work for development.   
 
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