WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/TF/COH/S/10 
16 February 2005 
 (05-0644) 
  
  
 
COHERENCE IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING: 
WTO COOPERATION WITH THE IMF AND THE WORLD BANK 
 
 
Report (2004) by the Director-General
1 
 
 
1. This report has been prepared pursuant to pa ragraph 2 of the General Council Decision on 
"Agreements Between the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank"2, to inform Members about the 
activities carried out by the WTO under its cooperati on agreements with the IMF and the World Bank. 
2. This year – 2004 – again demonstrated the high degree of cooperation that already exists 
among the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, as well as the broad support among Members for expanding this cooperation, especially in the contex t of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).  The 
Doha negotiations – given new impe tus as a result of the Decision take n at the July General Council 
meeting
3 – has further increased the relevance of the multilateral trading system to global economic 
growth, development and financial stability.  At th e same time, the role of the IMF and the World 
Bank in helping countries adjust to – and take adva ntage of – more liberalized world trade has also 
increased in importance, including the key part they  play in structural economic reform, financial 
stability, overcoming supply-side constraints, and inv estments in infrastructure, education and health 
development.  The underlying premise of the 199 5 Marrakesh Declaration on Coherence – as well as 
the formal cooperation agreements with the Fund a nd the Bank concluded at the Singapore Ministerial 
Conference in 1996 – was that the complex interplay of trade, finance and development issues in the 
global economy was now such that more coordi nated approaches are needed, especially when 
spillovers from domestic actions could increasingly co mpromise coherence at the international level.  
The challenge of encouraging mutually supportive po licies remains central to the Coherence mandate, 
and underpins all aspects of the WTO's cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank. 
3. For the second year in a row, the Managing Director of the IMF, Mr. Rodrigo de Rato, and 
the President of the World Bank, Mr. James Wolfen sohn, participated in a General Council Meeting 
on Coherence – held on 22 October 20044 – underscoring their commitment, not just to cooperation 
among the three institutions, but to the success of  the DDA and the multilateral trading system in 
general.  The main theme of the meeting was the importance of progress in the Doha negotiations, and 
ways that the three institutions, working together internationally and at th e domestic level, could 
support Members through the provision of high-quality policy analysis, the exchange of information, 
technical assistance and capacity building, and adjustment assistance.  Among the issues that 
Members felt warranted attention in this context we re the effects of the end of textile quotas under the 
Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, the erosion of  preference margins as a result of unilateral or 
multilateral liberalization, the fiscal effects of tariff liberalization, the role of special and differential 
                                                      
1 The last report is contained in WT/TF/COH/S/8 of 12 February 2004. 
2 WT/L/194 of 18 November 1996. 
3 WT/L/579 of 2 August 2004. 
4 WT/GC/M/89 of 22 October 2004.  The background document for the meeting is contained in 
WT/TF/COH/S/9, which was prepared by the Secretariat in consultation with staff of the IMF and World Bank. WT/TF/COH/S/10 
Page 2  
 
 (S&D) treatment for developing countries, and th e timing and sequencing of reforms to trade and 
other economic policies. 
4. The IMF and the World Bank continue to expa nd their programmes related to trade and the 
support of the DDA.  The IMF has stepped up its cap acity to provide technical assistance, especially 
in customs administration and tariff policy; it h as increased the trade focus of is Article IV 
Consultations;  and it has reiterated its readiness to  support Members dealing with the macroeconomic 
effects of price or other shocks throug h its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.
5  In addition, the 
IMF's new Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) – d esigned to provide financial support to Members 
that face a net negative impact on their balance of payments as a result of implementation of multilateral trade commitments – was made operationa l in 2004, with Bangladesh being the first 
country to obtain funding under the arrangement.  The World Bank has also continued to expand the 
significant support it already provides Members, in particular in the context of the Integrated Framework (IF) for Trade-Related Technical Assistance, the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), and its work on trade facilitation, carried out under the umbrella of the Bank's new 
"Doha Development Initiative".  More generally, the Executive Boards of the IMF and the World 
Bank continue to attach great importance to the su ccess of the current DDA negotiations – and trade 
issues in general – in the context of their work  on economic growth and poverty reduction, debt 
sustainability and financial stability. 
5. The Decision taken at the July General C ouncil meeting identifies new areas where WTO 
cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank should be expanded.  Members have agreed to work 
multilaterally with the international financial ins titutions on development aspects of the Sectoral 
Initiative on Cotton.  In this regard, the Director-G eneral is instructed to consult with the IMF and 
World Bank, among others, to direct effectively existing programmes and any additional resources 
towards development of the economies where cott on has a vital importance.  The General Council's 
Decision also calls for providing developing countr ies and low-income countries in transition, in 
particular least-developed countri es, with enhanced technical assi stance and capacity building, to 
increase their effective participation in the nego tiations, to facilitate their implementation of WTO 
rules, and to enable them to adjust and diversif y their economies.  Members have further encouraged 
improved coordination with other agencies, includi ng under the Integrated Framework for LDCs and 
the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Program me (JITAP).  In addition, WTO Members have 
invited the IMF and World Bank to work with othe r relevant international organizations to make 
technical assistance and capacity building more e ffective and operational to support the negotiations 
on trade facilitation. 
6. In line with its increased commitment to trade is sues in the context of the DDA, the IMF has 
announced that it will undertake a comprehensive review  of its work on trade in early 2005 with a 
view to:  (i) identifying the key challenges facing  Member countries in the trade policy area and 
addressing them, (ii) assessing whether the modalities of  the IMF's trade advice in the context of its 
surveillance, lending, research, and technical assi stance activities are well-adapted to addressing the 
key trade policy challenges facing the membership, and (iii) examining the collaboration with other 
institutions in the trade area and the scope for e nhancing this collaboration further to achieve common 
goals.  On this latter point, the focus will be on th e most appropriate division of labour on trade issues 
with the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF, taking into account each institution's mandate and relative expertise. 
                                                     
 
5 Statement by Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the IMF, to the General Council Meeting on 
Coherence of 22 October 2004.  WT/TF/COH/S/10 
 Page 3 
 
 
 A. G ENERAL CONTACTS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 10 OF THE IMF  AGREEMENT AND 
PARAGRAPH 8 OF THE WORLD BANK AGREEMENT  
7. Cooperation among the staffs of the three institu tions has intensified significantly in recent 
years.  Building on the Marrakesh Declaration on Coherence and on the long-standing relationship of 
the GATT/WTO with the IMF, formal cooperation ag reements were concluded by the time of the 
Singapore Ministerial Conference.  Cooperation in cludes participation at meetings, information 
sharing, contacts at staff level and the creati on of a High-Level Working Group on Coherence. 
8. The exchange of views and information on tr ade and trade-related issues is an important 
requirement for greater coherence in policy-making , and the three organizations continue to draw 
extensively on each other's work and expertise.  Many WTO Secretariat documents rely on inputs 
from the IMF and the World Bank on macroeconomic, tr ade, and social developments.  Similarly, the 
IMF and the World Bank use information on trad e, trade measures and related issues from WTO 
sources, particularly to ensure that their po licy advice is consistent with WTO rules. 
9. The WTO Secretariat and the staff of the IMF and the World Bank also consult, as necessary, 
on issues of possible inconsistency between measu res under discussion with a common member and 
that member's obligations under the WTO Agreement or, in the case of the Fund, under its Articles of 
Agreement.  Staff take care to ensure that cooperation neither encroach es on institutional mandates 
nor leads to cross-conditionality or extra conditions on WTO Members. 
(a) Consultations Between the Director-General and the Managing Director of the IMF and the 
President of the World Bank 
10. The past year has presented num erous opportunities for the Direct or-General to hold bilateral 
discussions with Mr.  Wolfensohn and Mr. de Rato, in cluding at the April meeting of the International 
Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), at th e October General Counc il Meeting on Coherence 
and at other intergovernmental meetings.  The discu ssions covered the full ra nge of trade-related and 
coherence issues, including progress in the DDA, acti ons that could be taken to help advance the 
negotiations, and ways in which the three institu tions could cooperate more effectively in the 
provision of trade-related technical assistance, capacity building and training. 
11. The Director-General took the opportunity at the October General Council Meeting on 
Coherence to emphasise, in particular, the importance of the Sectoral Initiative on Cotton, and to call on Mr. Wolfensohn and Mr. de Rato to examin e how existing programmes – as well as additional 
resources – could be directed towards development in those countries where cotton was a centrally 
important part of their economies.  The WTO Secret ariat is currently working with the staff of the 
Bank and the Fund to identify the roles the three in stitutions can play in addressing problems of the 
cotton sector in certain exporting Member countries and considering what cooperative efforts might 
be made to address the trade restricting and distorting effects of subsidies.  The Director-General also 
identified as one of his priorities increased attenti on by the WTO to promoting greater coherence in 
global economic policy-making and cooperating with  other intergovernmental organizations to 
support WTO Members' activities carried out pursuant to the Doha Ministerial Declaration, not least 
in the area of trade facilitation.  
12. An outstanding issue of concern that both Mr. de Rato and Mr. Wolfensohn have repeatedly 
conveyed to the Director-General and Members – most recently during the October General Council Meeting on Coherence – is that the requests of thei r organizations for observer status in the TNC and 
its subsidiary bodies are still outstanding.   WT/TF/COH/S/10 
Page 4  
 
 (b) WTO Observership in IMF and World Bank Meetings 
13. Under the WTO/IMF/World Bank cooperation agre ements, the WTO Secretariat is invited to 
observe meetings of the Executive Boards of th e IMF and the World Bank on general and regional 
trade policy issues, including the formulation of Fund or Bank policies on trade matters.   
14. The WTO Secretariat was present at all relevant meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in 
2004.  The Director-General attended the April mee ting of the International Monetary and Finance 
Committee, where he updated Ministers and official s on the Doha negotiations.  The WTO Secretariat 
was also present at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington in September 2004, including the meetings of the IMFC and the Development Committee.  The WTO Secretariat attended World Bank Executive Board meetings on "Global Economic Prospects in Developing Countries" 
(which focused on "Trade, Regionalism, and Deve lopment") and the IMF Executive Board meeting 
on the "World Economic Outlook".  In addition, in 2004, the Secretariat attended three meetings of 
the IMF Executive Board Liaison Committee with  the WTO (CWTO) which monitors IMF/WTO 
relations and IMF work on trade issues, as well as  two Deputies Meetings which, among other things, 
helped prepare the ground for the IMFC communiqué at the Bank/Fund Annual Meetings. 
15. In September, WTO staff briefed the annual World Bank/Commonwealth Secretariat's "Small 
States Forum" on developments under the Doha work programme on trade of small economies. 
(c) IMF and World Bank Participation in WTO Meetings 
16. Under the cooperation agreements, the IMF a nd the World Bank are invited to attend as 
observers meetings of most WTO bodies.  As noted above, requests from the IMF and the World Bank for observer status in the TNC and its subsidiary bodies are still pending. 
17. The IMF and the World Bank are regularly inv ited to attend, in an observer capacity, the 
formal meetings of most WTO bodies (with the ex ception of the Dispute Settlement Body and the 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration) .  Following a decision of the General Council on 
16 February 1999 to authorize its Chairman to conv ene special informal meet ings from time to time, 
at the request of delegations or the Director-Gen eral, to discuss coherence issues, representatives of 
the IMF and the World Bank have been invited to participate in informal General Council meetings 
on Coherence. 
18. An operational matter that continues to be of common concern to the WTO and the IMF is the 
issue of balance-of-payments disequilibria.  The IMF has a mandate to provide assistance to countries 
that undertake adjustment policies to address bala nce-of-payments difficulties, while the WTO, in 
close consultation with the IMF – through work of the WTO Committee on Balance-of-Payments – 
evaluates measures or prospective measures by coun tries that introduce additional trade protection on 
balance-of-payments grounds.  The IMF participates in all regular consultations of the Committee on 
Balance-of-Payments Restrictions.  One consultatio n (with Bangladesh) was held in the course of 
2004. 
B. P
OLICY ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH  
(a) Policy Analysis 
19. An important focus of coherence among the thr ee institutions is trade-related policy analysis 
and advice.  The main vehicle for IMF policy analysis is the process of annual Article IV consultations with individual Member countries in which trade policy reform has increasingly 
featured as a key element of the growth agenda.  In  response to the new challenges highlighted by the 
DDA, there has been a significant fo cus on trade policies in larger industrial economies that have a  WT/TF/COH/S/10 
 Page 5 
 
 
 wider impact on the prospects of other, especially poorer countries.  IMF trade-related policy analysis 
can also be associated with programme conditionality  when it is provided in the context of financial 
assistance to countries that experi ence internal or external financial imbalances – although it should 
be noted that the number of structural conditions , including in the trade policy area, has fallen 
considerably in IMF programmes, and that the IM F has been striving to be more flexible and 
responsive in discussing alternative policies with  governments requesting financial assistance.   
20. An important coherence issue associated with  IMF trade policy advice and conditionality is  
that, once implemented, it is often perceived by a Me mber to weaken its ability to engage in a future 
exchange of reciprocal concessions in WTO trade negotiations.  The Council for Trade in Services 
has adopted modalities for the treatment of autonomous liberalization in the area of trade in services.  
The Decision taken at the July General Council conf irms a similar approach to resolving problems 
that arise in this context in the area of trade in goods.   
21. The World Bank's unique contribution to policy an alysis is in the integration of trade and 
development issues at the country level.  Since the launch of the DDA, the Bank has stepped up it's 
trade-related activities under the direction of its new Trade Department, established in 2003 to 
coordinate and lead work on trade throughout the organization – trade strategies at the regional and 
country levels, as well as research and analysis, technical assistance and training, and capacity building.  As part of its advocacy efforts, the Se nior Adviser of the International Trade Department 
was posted to the World Bank's Geneva office. 
22. The World Bank has complemented its growing trade-related operations with an outreach 
programme aimed to:   provide developing countries with new opportunities to discuss how the Doha 
Round can support development-oriented trade reforms;  to inform them of the nature and scope of 
World Bank support for technical assistance and investme nt in trade-related projects;  and to sensitize 
countries to the gains from trade facilitation reforms. 
(b) Research 
23. Another important area of coherence among th e three organizations – and one where WTO 
Members have urged even greater cooperation – is  trade-related research.  Staff of the three 
organizations collaborate on research and analysis in areas where trade, finance and development issues overlap.  IMF and World Bank staff covered trade and trade-related issues in several studies 
prepared for their Executive Boards in 2004, and they have responded positively to requests from 
WTO bodies. 
24. Since the beginning of last year, IMF staff have prepared studies of preference erosion, 
balance-of-payments safeguards, export credit, the fi scal revenue implications of tariff reform, and the 
link between exchange rate volatility and trade, sp ecifically in response to concerns expressed by 
delegations at the WTO.  
25. The Secretariat and World Bank staff cooperate, where appropriate, in the preparation of the 
World Bank annual publication on "G lobal Economic Prospects", which for several years has been 
based around the theme of trade, and the WTO "World Trade Report".  The Secretariat participates in 
a World Bank annual monitoring exercise on achi eving the Millennium Development Goals, 
contributing on indicators to monitor the trade agenda and through its TPR reports. 
(c) Information and Data Exchanges 
26. Another area where institutional cooperation is cr ucial concerns the exch ange of information 
and data.  The WTO Secretariat provides the IMF a nd World Bank staff with access, on a confidential 
basis, to the Integrated Database and to schedul es of commitments of WTO Members.  The IMF and WT/TF/COH/S/10 
Page 6  
 
 World Bank have online access to the two data base s.  More generally, the IMF and the World Bank 
use information on trade, trade measures and related issues from WTO sources – including the country-specific TPRs – particularly to ensure that their policy advice is consistent with WTO rules. 
27. Subject to the same confidentiality requirem ent, the Fund makes available to the WTO 
Secretariat the publication files of the Internati onal Financial Statistics,  Balance of Payments 
Statistics, Government Financial Statistics, and Di rection of Trade Statistics.  The IMF staff also 
makes available to the WTO Secretariat historical data and aggregate projections in the "World Economic Outlook".  Favourable cons ideration is given to specific additional requests pertaining to 
these data bases, as well as to requests for projections of individual country data. 
28. Under the WTO/IMF cooperation agreement, the IMF makes available to the WTO, for the 
confidential use of the WTO Secretariat, copies of IMF staff reports a nd related background staff 
papers on Article IV consultations and on the use of Fund resources for common Members and on 
Fund members seeking accession to the WTO, subject  to the consent of the member concerned.
6  
These documents contain details of the IMF's trade policy advice and conditionality, which are used 
by the WTO Secretariat for reference purposes, no tably in the course of the preparation of TPR 
reports.  Trade policy information based on IMF docu mentation is now available to Secretariat staff 
through an electronic data base. 
29. The World Bank provides the WTO Secretariat access to the Bank's Economic and Social 
Database, as well as the Statistical Annex of the Global Economic Prospects and the Developing 
Countries.  Software developed at the Bank, provides a powerful tool to better analyze the consequences of the detailed proposals being consider ed in the Doha negotiations.  In its support on 
market access issues, the WTO Secr etariat has been making use of this software – which is offered to 
WTO Members free of charge – to analyze tariff and trade data. 
C. T
ECHNICAL COOPERATION  
(a) Trade-Related Technical Assistance and Capacity Building 
30. The IMF and the World Bank have considerable e xperience and expertise to share in the area 
of technical assistance and capacity building.  They  provide support to the Doha negotiations in this 
context through their own country programmes a nd through their participation in WTO technical 
assistance activities.  The IMF provides demand-driv en technical assistance mainly on fiscal and 
customs reform.  The World Bank provides an exte nsive programme of technical assistance activities 
in a range of trade-related areas.  
31. The IMF is engaged in technical assistance a nd capacity building at different levels, from 
financing, to policy design, to the dissemination of standards and training.  A particularly important 
dimension of its trade-related technical assistan ce work is the provision of advice on customs 
administration and tax reform through the IMF's rece ntly-established, regional, technical assistance 
centres in Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Is lands and the Caribbean.  Since the beginning of 
2003, Fund experts have fielded some 30 missions focused on these areas. 
32. In addition to its direct training and technical assistance, either in response to specific needs 
or through its regional centres, the IMF's Article IV consultation process with its Member countries 
provides an important channel for tech nical assistance and capacity building.  
                                                      
6The IMF also communicates to the WTO its Ex ecutive Board Decisions regarding exchange 
restrictions maintained by its common Members under Article VIII of the Fund's Articles of Agreement.  These 
are circulated as restricted docume nts under the symbol WT/TF/IMF/-.  WT/TF/COH/S/10 
 Page 7 
 
 
 33. In the World Bank, trade-related technical assist ance has been considerably expanded, with 
the appointment of trade coordinators in each of the six regional departments of the Bank who are 
responsible for ensuring a strategic approach to cap acity building.  The World Bank Institute (WBI) is 
the principal provider of training to clients.  Its ob jectives are to assist clients in:  (i) the development 
of sound national trade policy;  (ii) their capacity to participate effectively in the WTO;  and (iii) their 
understanding of the benefits and costs of incr eased openness.  Trade-related activities of the WBI 
will reach over 1,200 participants spread across the world in 2004, through 49 learning activities or 
events focusing on trade in services, trade facilitatio n and standards.  The number of annual events 
compares to 28 in 2003 and 12 in 2002, mainly due to  strong links with local and regional institutions. 
34. The World Bank directs much of its trade -related activities towards trade facilitation, 
including institution building and logistics.  Th rough its Trade Facilitation Initiative, the Bank has 
developed new tools to help improve the quality of operations and disseminate best practices across 
the different regions, and has increased staffing in critical areas such as customs, port management and shipping security. It estimates that its le nding operations for trade facilitation activities – 
including institution building, phy sical infrastructure and trade-financing – made up over 80 per cent 
of its total trade lending in the last two years.  One third of Bank Members have projects in this field 
and 25 more countries are expected to be added ove r the next three years.  For FY04, the Executive 
Board approved 16 new projects with trade fac ilitation components amounting to a total commitment 
of more than $560 million.  This represents a doubl ing of projects and financial resources from 2003.  
Projected commitments over FY04-06 at more th an $1.2 billion triple the commitments for trade 
facilitation of ongoing operations  approved between FY96-03. 
35. The IMF, the World Bank and the WTO contribut e to the Doha Development Agenda Trade 
Capacity Building Database (http://tcbdb.wto.org) which gives information on activities provided by 
bilateral donors and multilateral agencies.  In the firs t few years of its existence, this pooling of data 
has allowed for the possibility of higher degrees of coordination and c oherence to be achieved and has 
provided the means to identify areas wher e additional efforts can be applied. 
(b) The Integrated Framework for Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) 
36. Another important cooperative effort in the area  of technical assistance and capacity building 
is the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least-Developed Countries 
(IF).  The IMF and the World Bank are two of the six core agencies, along with UNCTAD, UNDP, 
ITC, and the WTO.  The WTO provides services for th e IF Secretariat.  The IF, built on the principles 
of country ownership and partnership, has two obj ectives:  (i) to integrate trade into the national 
development plans such as the Poverty Reducti on Strategy Papers (PRSPs) of least-developed 
countries;  and (ii) to assist in the coordinate d delivery of trade-related technical assistance in 
response to needs identified by the LDC.  Sinc e the beginning of 2003, IF activities have been 
launched in over 20 countries.  In total 32 LD Cs are at various stages of the IF process.   
37. The first stage in the IF process involves a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) 
overseen by the World Bank.  This is the main instrument for identifying and addressing 
impediments, including supply-side constraints, that LDCs face in the process of integration.  The 
preparation of the DTIS and its inclusion in na tional development plans has resulted in increased 
attention and support for the country's trade priorities, reflected in a number of cases of increased resources for trade within government budget a llocations and by development partners.
7  Following 
the completion of the DTIS, the IF is now moving from diagnostics to implementation.   
38. One key to ensuring coherence in the implemen tation phase is the successful integration of 
trade-related actions into Poverty Reduction Stra tegies (PRS).  In 1999, the IMF and World Bank 
                                                      
7 WT/COMTD/LDC/W/33 of 26 May 2004. WT/TF/COH/S/10 
Page 8  
 
 introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy to strengt hen their approach to providing assistance to low-
income countries including debt relief provided unde r the enhanced HIPC Initiative.  The essence of 
the new approach was to link concessional assist ance from the IMF and the World Bank (IDA) 
directly to the development and im plementation of national developmen t strategies, set out in Poverty 
Reduction Strategy Papers.  As of  March 2004, 37 out of 77 eligible countries had completed a full 
PRSP.  
(c) WTO Training Institute  
39. The World Bank continues to contribute to the three-month Trade Policy Courses held in 
Geneva through presentations by its staff and dissemina tion of its publications to course participants.  
IMF staff also contribute to the courses. As pa rt of strengthening its Geneva office and its 
commitment to supporting the trade agenda, the Worl d Bank has posted a staff member to Geneva to 
coordinate training activities with the WTO Training Institute.   
(d) The Standards and Trade Development Facility 
40. One outcome of institutional coherence has been the Standards and Trade Development 
Facility (STDF), established in 2002 by the WTO and the World Bank (in cooperation with FAO, 
WHO, OIE, Codex Alimentarius) to enhance the cap acity of developing countries in the standards 
area through cooperation between the relevant institu tions in SPS-related activities, including through 
the development of joint institutional projects an d provisions of STDF-funding to projects in 
developing countries.
8  Managed by the WTO, the STDF is  both a financing and a coordinating 
mechanism.  Grant financing is available for privat e and public organizations  in developing countries 
seeking to comply with international SPS standards and hence gain or maintain market access for their 
food exports.  One key element to expanding th e Facility is the focus on providing technical 
assistance for least-developed countries to meet SPS requi rements, in particular by addressing priority 
issues identified through the IF process. 
(e) Joint Vienna Institute 
41. The WTO has also been co-sponsoring the Joint Vi enna Institute (JVI) together with the IMF, 
the World Bank, the BIS, OECD, EBRD and the Aust rian Government.  The JVI is also supported by 
a number of other bilateral donors.  The main aim of the JVI is to provide training support to ease the 
transition from centrally-planned to market-based economies, but increasingly officials from other 
developing countries have also participated.  
42. The WTO Secretariat continues to offer its traini ng activities at the JVI in two separate ways.  
The WTO has been responsible for the two-week segment on Trade Policy  which is part of a longer 
course in Applied Economic Policy, and given by all sponsors of the JVI.  The segment is given twice 
a year. In addition, the WTO organized its own se minars on trade and WTO matters in Vienna which 
now occur in 10 week-long segments over the course of a year. 
43. The JVI has been transformed into a perman ent training institution as of June 2004.  The 
WTO continues to provide support as a Contributing Member – with a view to joining as a Permanent 
Member in the future.  The Director-General has held discussions with the Managing Director of the 
IMF on this issue.  
                                                      
8 For more information, see the STDF website at www.standardsfacility.org, and G/SPS/GEN/486.  WT/TF/COH/S/10 
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 (f) Trade and Development Centre   
44. Since 1997, the WTO and the World Bank Institu te have maintained a shared website 
providing development-related trade information.  Th e site also provides a point of contact for trade 
officials in developing and transition economies, in cluding officials who have participated in WTO 
and World Bank training courses. 
D. ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE  
45.   Since the last General Council Meeting on Coherence, both the IMF and the World Bank 
have announced new initiatives to increase the technica l and financial support they are able to provide 
to developing countries during the trade negotiations and in the period of economic adjustment that 
will follow when implementing the results.  
46. The IMF's new policy – the Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) – was presented and 
discussed at a General Council meeting held on 18 May 2004.9  It aims to mitigate concerns among 
some developing countries that their balance-of-p ayments position could suffer, albeit temporarily, as 
multilateral trade liberalization changes their comp etitive position in world markets.  Chief among 
those concerns have been preference erosion, the phasing out of textile quotas,  and adverse changes to 
food terms of trade as a result of the elimination of  agricultural export subsidies.  Under the TIM, 
countries may request assistance, under existi ng Fund-supported programmes or under a new 
arrangement.  Recently, Bangladesh became the firs t country to augment its  Poverty Reduction and 
Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangeme nt in accordance with the TIM. 
47. The Fund has also explained that it is fully prepared to help cotton-producing countries 
dealing with the macroeconomic effects of price or other shocks, and that assistance could be 
provided through the PRGF.    
48. The World Bank announced its new "Doha Develo pment Initiative" at the Cancún Ministerial 
Conference.  It aims to assist poor countries to ta ke advantage of new market opportunities and offset 
any adverse initial impacts of trade reform resulting from the Doha Round.  It envisages new 
resources devoted to trade logistics (e.g., transpor t costs) and trade facilitation, in addition to 
enhanced sectoral lending in support of programm es designed to protect workers and vulnerable 
groups, and programme lending for countries impl ementing development-related DDA trade reforms. 
49. As regards the adjustment costs associated with multilateral liberalization and preference 
erosion, the Bank has affirmed that it stands r eady to discuss adjustment assistance programmes on a 
case-by-case basis.  With respect to least-developed countries adversely affected by cotton subsidies, 
a series of IDA-credits currently support the reor ganization of the cotton sector in Sub-Saharan 
Africa, and the Bank has indicated to the countries a ffected that the eventual allocation of additional 
resources should be discussed in  the context of their PRSPs.  
50. The growth in trade-related operations financed by the World Bank has been substantial.  The 
actual and projected commitments for new trade operations for the three-year period FY04-06 
($2.9 billion) is larger than the commitments of all ongoing operations approved over the preceding 
eight-year period of FY96-03 ($2.4 billion).   
__________ 
                                                      
9 WT/L/565 and Add.1 of 7 May 2004.