WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/IFSC/M/12 
10 June 2005 
 (05-2409) 
Integrated Framework Steering Committee 
Thirteenth Session  
 
 
 
REPORT ON THE 13TH MEETING OF THE 
INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK STEERING COMMITTEE (IFSC) 
 
Friday, 29 April 2005, WTO, Geneva  
 
Chairperson:  H.E. Mr. Henrik Rée Iversen (Denmark) 
 
 1. The Integrated Framework Steering Committee (IFSC ) held its thirteenth meeting on Friday, 
29 April 2005.  
2. The adopted agenda is reproduced in Annex I. 
A. O
BSERVER STATUS FOR  FAO  AND UNIDO 
 3. Based on their manifested interest in the wo rk of the Integrated Framework (IF), the 
Chairman
 welcomed the participation of FAO and UNI DO to the IFSC, as observers on a regular 
basis.  He underlined the importance of increased  and broadened cooperatio n between the IF and 
other agencies.  He recalled that the FAO and UNID O were present in many least-developed countries 
(LDCs) and had expertise in the areas identifie d in many Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies 
(DTISs).  He further said that FAO and UNIDO had already executed projects originating in the DTIS 
Action Matrix of a number of LDCs.  Pursuant to the positive recommendation of the Integrated 
Framework Working Group (IFWG), he had invited both FAO and UNIDO to join the IFSC with the 
status of observers.  
4. The IFSC took note of FAO and UNIDO's observerships in the IFSC on a regular basis.  
B. S TATEMENT BY  H.E.  MR. MAOULANA CHARIF , MINISTER OF TRADE FROM THE COMOROS   
 5. The Chairman
, on behalf of the Steering Committee, welcomed the Minister of Trade from 
the Comoros, H.E. Mr. Maoulana Charif, and invited him to make a statement. 
6. The representative of the Comoros , the Minister of Trade Mr. Maoulana Charif, thanked on 
behalf of the President of the Comoros, H.E. Mr . Azali Assoumani, the partners of the IF, and 
particularly the UNDP, for the attention paid to the Comoros and for having accepted to examine the 
Comoros' request to launch the IF process in the country.  He also thanked the IFWG for having 
considered positively and expeditiously the case of the Comoros at its last meeting.  He added that the 
new consideration towards the Comoros was a sign of the IF partners' appreciation for the recent 
developments in his country.  In this respect, he pointed out that the adoption by referendum of a new 
constitution in December 2001 and the establishment of a new institutional setting had allowed the 
Comoros to put an end to five years of instability,  uncertainty and separatist feeling in the country.  
He also reported that since the set up of the National Assembly in June 2004, a number of organic 
laws had been adopted, in particul ar those relating to the responsibilities of the Union of the Comoros 
and the islands, as well as the Law of Finances.  He  expressed his sincere gratitude and the gratitude 
of the President of the Comoros to the whole inte rnational community, both individual countries and WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 2  
 
international organisations, for the solidarit y and support given to the process of national 
reconciliation.  He believed that his country had put behind itself years of political and institutional 
instability, and had turned the page to finally rejoin the family of nations.  
7. He added that the Comoros was committed to creating conditions and mobilising means in 
order to contribute towards the objective of halving p overty by 2015.  In this respect, he pointed out 
that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) wa s the reference document, and that its existence 
showed the international credibility enjoyed by th e country.  The document had been established in 
2002, and a new version was being finalised.  He u nderlined that the signing in February 2005 of a 
reference programme with the IMF confirmed th e confidence and the credibility enjoyed by his 
country.  He also expressed the commitment of the Government of the Comoros to economic and 
social development, and hoped that his country w ould be able to benefit from the Poverty Reduction 
and Growth Facility of the World Bank and the IMF as of the second half of 2005.  He called upon all 
IF partners to pool their efforts and join forces with the African Union to make the roundtable of 
donor countries for the Comoros a success.  He recalle d that the roundtable would be organised in the 
near future in Mauritius. 
8. He went on to report on the national plans that would take into account the trade dimension in 
poverty reduction national plans.  He said that the Comoros was committed to the success of its 
financial and economic programme , which was being followed very closely by the IMF and the 
World Bank, and to ensuring that the country would start all programmes for which it had become eligible since 2001.  He assured the Committee that trade was being mainstreamed into the Comoros' 
PRSP, on the basis of the provisional version of th e foreign trade strategy paper prepared by a 
national consultant, with joint fi nancial support by the Internatio nal Trade Centre (ITC) and the 
International Agency of the Francophonie.  A numb er of steps towards relaunching the IF process in 
the Comoros had already been taken, including the sensitisation mission by the UNDP in March 2005, 
the joint mission of the ITC and the Internationa l Agency of the Francophonie in December 2004 and 
the positive response of the IFWG to th e Comoros' request to join the IF. 
9. He informed members that his Government ha d designated the IF Focal Point and set up a 
multi-sectoral body with the task of consulting a nd devising a common trade policy for the Comoros.  
He also referred to negotiations  being conducted to designate a lead facilitator and to the 
establishment of a road map designed to go throug h the steps required to accede to the WTO.  He 
hoped that the Comoros could benefit from effort s of the IF partners to lift LDCs' economies. 
10. The representative of the UNDP
 thanked the Minister of Trade from the Comoros for his 
words of appreciation, and underlined the impor tance of the good work undertaken by the UNDP 
country office in the Comoros that had facilitate d the UNDP mission in March 2005 to observe the 
trade capacity needs of the country and progress made  in terms of economic and governance reforms.  
He pointed out that the Comoros had remained relati vely isolated from the benefits of globalisation 
and said that the government and stakeholders in th e private sector and civil society were fully aware 
of this limitation, and were making trade capacity  central to their growth and poverty reduction 
strategies.  He said that during the UNDP mission, the Comoros had signalled a strong interest in participating in the IF as well as in starting the pr ocess to accede to the WTO.  He welcomed IFWG's 
decisions to:  (i) mandate the Technical Review for the Comoros in September 2005, following a pending report from the IMF staff monitoring programme;  and (ii) carry out, in the meantime, some sensitisation work on trade capacity issues in close co llaboration with Comorian officials for the three 
islands making up the Union of the Comoros.  He hoped that the IF and ot her trade-related support 
would make an effective contribution to the c ountry's growth and poverty reduction policies and 
impact its human development profile. 
11. The Committee thanked the Minister for his interventions and took note of the statements 
made.  WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 3 
 
 
C. R EPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE IFWG 
 12. The representative of the Secretariat from the Development Division
, on behalf of the 
Chairman of the IFWG, made a detailed report on th e IFWG meeting held on 27 to 28 April 2005.  He 
initially transmitted the Chairman's sincere apolog y to the Committee for not being present.  He 
mentioned that the IFWG had been attended by all six IF co-agencies and that both 
Ambassador Mtesa of Zambia and Ambassador R ugwabiza of Rwanda, LDC representatives, had 
taken an active part in the meeting.  He said that  donor representatives had been the United States and 
Sweden, the latter taking over from Switzerland.  He  reported that the IFWG had made good progress 
on a number of issues relating to the IF Work Pr ogramme, including the monitoring of progress in on-
going DTISs and follow-up, preparations of new DT ISs, Technical Reviews for countries requesting 
to join the IF, issues relating to Window II project s, the strengthening of the IF Secretariat and the 
future of the IF. 
13. Regarding progress in on-going DTISs and fo llow-up, he stressed the importance of the 
implementation phase for the success of the IF process.  He reported that 28 countries were at various 
stages of the IF process, of which 14 LDCs had completed and validated their DTIS.  He further 
reported that 13 of these countries had submitted  projects under Window II, some of which had 
already started implementation.  He said that so me hopeful signs of increased bilateral support were 
being recorded in the implementation of the IF.  
14. He continued by saying that the DTISs of seven countries, namely Benin, Chad, Lao PDR, 
Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanz ania and Zambia, were nearing co mpletion, and that in five of 
these seven countries DTIS National Workshops had been tentatively scheduled for mid-2005.  He 
reported that preparation of DTISs had begun in another seven countries, namely Angola, Burkina 
Faso, The Gambia, Maldives, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.  In the case of Maldives, he reported 
that a sensitization mission was planned by UNDP in the Spring, to enhance the understanding of 
objectives and processing of the IF.  He also reporte d that the IFWG had mandated the World Bank to 
undertake new Technical Reviews in the Comoros, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of 
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti and Sudan in the Fall of 2005. 
15. He also referred to the report the UNDP had made on its mission to the Comoros, and said 
that the IFWG had welcomed the determination of the Government of the Comoros to make trade an 
instrument of development.  He pointed out that th e presence of the Minister of Trade of the Comoros 
at the IFSC meeting was a clear reflection of the country's willingness to join the IF process.  He 
informed the Committee that the World Bank had confirmed that the Technical Review for the 
Comoros would take place after the IMF Surveillan ce Mission to the country, due to take place in 
September 2005. 
16. On the IF process itself, he reported on deci sions taken in regard of some practical 
instruments to improve the country's ownership of th e IF.  In this context, he underlined that the 
importance of ensuring a common understanding of the goa ls of the IF between all IF stakeholders, in 
the beneficiary country as well as among the developm ent partnership at the outset of the IF process, 
was fundamental for the success of the IF process.  He mentioned the IFWG's decision to include in 
the a id-mémoire, which is a summary report of the preliminary IF Mission,  a new chapter containing 
an assessment of the institutional arrangements in the country.  This would apply to future IF 
countries and not be applied retroactively.  He cl arified that experience had shown that such an 
assessment was useful for the smooth functioning of the IF. 
17. He said that the IFWG had exchanged views on how to move the IF process forward once the 
DTISs were validated, and referred to the intenti on of one of the donor representatives to organize a 
Simulation Exercise with all IF stakeholders, in  a least-developed country at the beginning of 
September.  He clarified that the goal of th is Simulation Workshop would be to look at all 
non-financial aspects of implementation and reporte d that the IFWG had encouraged the donors to WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 4  
 
undertake the exercise.  He also referred to the suggestion to organize an educative IF session to 
exchange experiences, in the margins of the upcoming LDC Trade Ministers' Meeting in Livingstone, Zambia, at the end of June 2005.  He said that the World Bank and the IMF were jointly conducting a 
review of PRSPs and that this exercise would also help in assessing the implementation of the IF. 
18. Anticipating the discussion under agenda item 2(e) on the IF Trust Fund, the representative of 
the Secretariat from the Developm ent Division reported that a projected gap of about US$10 million 
existed.  There was an urgent need for repl enishment since a number of countries would be 
completing their DTISs by the middle of 2005 and wo uld thus be eligible to access Window II funds.  
He recalled that a joint letter had been sent by Am bassador Iversen and Dr. Rana in February 2005 to 
some of the members of the Committee, as an attemp t to address the problem.  He also reported on 
progress made by the IFWG on the issue of effective implementation of Window II.  He said that the 
IFWG had approved the Terms of Reference for LPACs (Local Project Appraisal Committees) as well as short guidelines to ensure quick implem entation of Window II projects.  The IFWG was 
hopeful that the Terms of Reference as well as the short guidelines would expedite the approval of 
Window II projects, enhance country ownership and contribute to better implementation of the IF 
process.  He recalled that the UNDP, as IFTF Trustee, had an important role to play in the operations 
of the Fund, not only at its Headquarters, but also through its field offices.  In this context, he 
mentioned the IF Global Workshop organized by UNDP in Mauritania from 7 to 9 March 2005, and 
reported that the IFWG had welcomed this meeting,  which had been useful to strengthen the common 
understanding among UNDP staff of the IF process and procedures and to clarify various roles of 
UNDP at the country level. 
19. He said that the WTO had reported on coordina tion and growing synergies between the IF 
and other international initiatives such as the Jo int Integrated Technical Assistance Programme 
(JITAP) and the Standards and Trade Development F acility (STDF).  He added that the presence at 
the IFSC meeting of the FAO and UNIDO as observers  illustrated the importance of such synergies.  
He said that the IF-STDF cooperation had entered the implementation stage, and recalled that two 
types of activities could be financed through STDF funds , namely:  (i) project preparation grants;  and 
(ii) projects grants, up to US$20,000 being available to assist eligible countries to draft project proposals and between US$150,000 and US$600,000 bei ng available as project grants per country to 
address specific SPS themes.  He recalled that the STDF Working Group had approved project 
preparation grants for five IF countries, na mely Cambodia, Guinea, Mozambique, Yemen and 
Djibouti, to address SPS standard-rela ted needs expressed in their DTIS. 
20. He further reported on the exchange of views at the IFWG on the need to strengthen the IF 
Secretariat.  He referred to a first draft of a proposal put forward by the donors and said that the IFWG had agreed that further consultati ons would take place on this matter.  He recalled that one of the 
recommendations coming out of the recent evaluation of the IF was the need to strengthen the IF Secretariat in light of the increased number of IF countries.  He reiterated that this strengthening 
would be essential for the smooth implementation and management of the IF. 
21. He continued by saying that an exchange of preliminary views on the future of the IF had 
taken place and that the IFWG, led by the LDC re presentatives, had underscored the importance of 
the Work Programme and the need for its conti nuation beyond its termination on 31 December 2005.  
He clarified that the discussion evolved around the extension of the Work Programme, which 
terminates on 31 December 2005, and not on the extension of the IF per se , which had the full support 
of the IFWG.
1  The IFWG had agreed to take a decision on  this item in the Fall.  The IFWG had also 
had an opportunity to hear from the World Ba nk, the IMF and the donors on a number of recent 
developments, including the meeting of the Devel opment Committee, where a joint information note 
prepared by the staffs of the World Bank and the IMF, entitled "Aid for Trade:  Competitiveness and 
                                                      
1 The IF Work Programme is contained in document WT/IFSC/7.   WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 5 
 
 
Adjustment", had served as an input to that mee ting.  The IFWG had also expressed its appreciation 
for the Commission for Africa Report. 
22. He reported on the discussions on outreach activitie s for the IF.  He informed the IFWG had 
agreed to showcase the IF, together with other trad e-related technical assistance activities of WTO, at 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  Lastly, he  informed the Committee that the IF Manual was 
being finalized by UNCTAD and that the English version would be ready by end June or early 
July 2005, while the French version would follow so on.  He reported that the IFWG believed that the 
Manual would help LDCs and other IF stakeholders to better unders tand and exploit the benefits from 
the IF process. 
23. The Chairman  thanked the Secretariat for the report and opened the floor for comments.  
24. The representative of Bangladesh  said that he was happy with the IF process and that he, as a 
former LDC representative at the IFWG, had a strong inte rest in the future of the IF.  In response to 
the report made at the IFWG meeting, he expres sed some doubts that the LDC Trade Ministerial 
Conference in Livingstone in June could be the ri ght place to organize any initiatives to showcase the 
IF.  Trade Ministers would be under severe time pr essure in order to de velop common LDC positions 
for the negotiations and the IF initiative could re duce the time available to Trade Ministers to 
negotiate.  He clarified that he did not object to the suggestion but was inviting the Committee to 
further reflect on this idea. 
25. Concerning the shortage of funds, he said that  the estimated US$10 million gap as well as the 
strengthening of the IF Secretariat were very much linked to the issue of the future of the IF.  He 
added that he was confident that all IF partners  were in favour of an extension of the Work 
Programme beyond 2005.  He supported the expansion of the IF and its strengthening in order to 
progressively cover all LDCs.  He also wondered whether it could be possible to circulate among 
IFSC members the document "Aid for Trade" prep ared by the World Bank and the IMF and submitted 
to the Development Committee, as it would be useful  to see how policy-makers in Washington were 
looking at this issue. 
26. On the future of the IF, the representative of Ba ngladesh said that country ownership of the IF 
process was essential at every stage.  Concerning the end-product of the IF process, he expressed the 
view that the IF was being looked at more as a management tool than anything else.  He pointed out that trade was basically a private sector initiative.   He said that the WTO, through the multilateral 
system, was contributing to foster demand and creat e preferential access in every possible market, and 
hoped that the IF process could also trigger some positive effect on the supply side and encourage the 
private sector.  He acknowledged that the ITC had be en dealing over years primarily with the private 
sector, but noted that these efforts could only con tinue in terms of fixing rules and regulations, 
whereas it was the private sector itsel f that represented the real engine ultimately.  Lastly, he stated 
that it would be important to examine the outcomes of  the IF, in terms of trade expansion, in those 
countries where the IF had been implemented, for this would be the real test to understand the 
effectiveness of the IF. 
27. The representative of Djibouti
 fully supported the view expressed by Bangladesh concerning 
the lack of resources needed to move the IF forw ard, and agreed that the association of the IF 
beneficiary country and national stakeholders at all levels was of the utmost importance.  He added 
that whenever an issue concerned a particular gr oup of countries, those countries should be very much 
involved and given the opportunity to express their vi ews at all stages.  He expressed the gratitude of 
Djibouti to the six IF partner agencies for the way they were working in th e country and expressed his 
special thanks to the ITC.  He called upon these same  IF agencies to support Djibouti in making its 
case with donors, in order to ensure the positive outcome  of the IF process.  In this context, he said 
that Djibouti had requested such support at a di scussion that had taken place a few weeks earlier in 
Addis Ababa, where he had informed participants on the way the IF worked.  He said that, on that WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 6  
 
same occasion, he had informed Djibouti's main b ilateral donors of the state of play and had presented 
them the programme with detailed information.  He  regretted that few donors were present in Djibouti 
and thanked the United States for their involvement in  all areas, and particularly for their support to 
increase the country's export capacity.  In particular, he mentioned that the export of livestock to the 
Gulf region was an area of vital importance for Djibouti.  At some point in the future, the US may 
also become an important market for livestock fro m Djibouti.  He said that Djibouti was a regional 
export centre for Somalia and Ethiopia as well.  He also thanked the Government of France and ITC, 
for their intention to make available some €60, 000 for the IF process in his country, which now 
needed to be operationalized.  He concluded by  making the case for an increased number of donors 
present in Djibouti to finance projects, either at the level of internationa l organizations or on a 
bilateral basis, in both trade and development area s, and by calling upon the six IF agencies to get 
their support in making donors more acti vely involved on a bilateral level. 
28. The representative of Zambia
 thanked the Secretariat for the report on the IFWG meeting and 
said that it had been a privilege for him to a ttend the IFWG meeting as one of the two LDC 
representatives.  Concerning the issue of showcasi ng the IF during the Livi ngstone Meeting, he 
recalled the comment of his Minister of Trade, according to which it might be difficult to properly 
manage the IF event during the Conference because  of the time constraints under which the Trade 
Ministers would be working.  On this issue, he conveyed his Minister's suggestion according to which the Hong Kong Ministerial would be a more appropria te venue to showcase the IF.  He concluded by 
saying that the final decision on this issue would in any case lie with the IFSC members. 
29. The representative of Sudan
 expressed his appreciation for the IFWG decision to do a 
Technical Review of his country and hoped that th is Technical Review would not be conducted too 
late.  He also recalled that Sudan relied mainly on th e IF to promote and maintain the country's efforts 
to accede to the WTO.  
30. The representative of Nepal  said that his country attached great importance to the DTIS and 
the IF process, as Nepal had already validated a nd integrated its Action Matrix into the national 
PRSP.  He recalled that the DTIS was an important tool and had been prepared  with the objective of 
identifying areas of export potential, supply-side  constraints, human and institutional capacity 
constraints and implications for growth and povert y reduction.  He added that it was important to 
remind the IF members what the DTIS stood for, as th ere were a lot of expectations concerning the IF 
work.  He added that it was important to strengt hen LDC participation into the multilateral trading 
regime, and to reduce marginalization and poverty through the process.  He thus sought support from 
the international community to extend the IF beyond 2005 and replenish its funding.  
31. He further said that local ownership as well as the involvement of the private sector in the 
preparation and implementation of the country DTIS  were particularly important.  He added that 
implementation of Window II was a priority and that  long-time frames for such implementation risked 
undermining the IF process.  He requested a spee ding up of the implementati on of Window II projects 
and concluded by saying that the most important que stion concerned the issue of how to move the IF 
to the next stage, i.e. to the stage of full implementation of the Action Matrixes.  
32. The representative of Ethiopia  said that there was no doubt about the usefulness of the IF 
process.  He added that it was important that all generated ideas could be translated into projects and 
programmes and that implementation of the latter would require resources availability.  In this 
respect, he expressed his concern about the fi nancial gap and sought clarification on the 
US$10 million gap as to whether it referred to Window I, Window II, or both. 
33. The Chairman  invited the Secretariat to respond to the various requests for clarification raised 
by a number of representatives from the LDCs.  WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 7 
 
 
34. The representative of the Secretariat  confirmed that the IFWG had considered the 
organization of an IF event in Livingstone to be a good opportunity to showcase the IF, but took note of the reservations expressed by the representative of  Zambia and some other members.  As for the 
US$10 million projected gap, he clarified that th e gap referred to Window II, and stressed the 
importance of replenishing the IF Trust Fund.  He took note of the statement made by the 
representative of Sudan, and confirmed that the IFWG had mandated the World Bank to conduct the 
Technical Review of Sudan in the Fall of 2005.  He  also took note of the concern expressed by the 
representative of Nepal on the extension of the IF Work Programme.  He clarified that the IFWG wanted to extend the Work Programme beyond 31 D ecember 2005, but had decided to take a decision 
on this matter in the Fall since a number of events  would take place between the present date and the 
Fall, which might have a bearing on the future of the IF.  
35. Concerning the strengthening of the IF Secret ariat, the representative of the Secretariat 
recalled that discussions on this issue had been on-go ing for more than a year, and stressed that the 
strengthening of the IF Secretariat was not just an issue for the future but was an urgent need to be 
addressed at present, especially with the expansion of  the IF to new countries.  For this reason, he 
underlined the importance of taking quick and immediate decisions befo re considering the future of 
the IF in general.  On the note "Aid for Trade", he said that the World Bank and the IMF had prepared 
it for the most recent meeting of the Developmen t Committee and that it was certainly available for 
members of the IFSC.  In that context, he refe rred to the World Bank and the IMF's websites.  
36. The Chairman
 proposed that the Committee take note of the report of the IFWG meeting of 
27 to 28 April and of the statements made. 
37. It was so agreed . 
D. I MPLEMENTATION OF THE IF 
(i)  Report by beneficiaries on follow-up to DTIS 
 
38. The Chairman  recalled that the IF Work Programme placed special emphasis on the effective 
follow-up to the DTIS in the beneficiary countries.  He stated that the DTIS  had been completed in 
14 LDCs so far.  These countries were: Burundi, Ca mbodia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea, Lesotho, 
Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal, Senegal and Yemen.  He added that the 
preparations for the DTIS were at various stages  in Benin, Chad, Lao PDR, Rwanda, Sao Tome and 
Principe, Tanzania and Zambia and that seven LDCs  had also started their DTIS process:  Angola, 
Burkina Faso, Uganda, Niger, Maldives, The Gambia a nd Sierra Leone.  He also drew the attention of 
the IFSC members to the note prepared by the Secretariat upon the request by the Sub-Committee on 
Least-Developed Countries, entitled "Assistance to Address Supply-side Constraints", and dealing with measures adopted in countries that had already validated their DTIS.
2  In this context, he invited 
the beneficiary countries to include in their statem ents, where possible, information in this regard. 
39. The Chairman  invited beneficiary countries to report on the status of implementation of the IF 
in their countries. 
40. The IF Focal Point of Djibouti  thanked the Committee for gran ting him a second opportunity 
to illustrate the evolution of the IF process in Djibou ti, after his first intervention at the IFSC meeting 
of 2 December 2004 when he had participated together  with the Minister of Trade of Djibouti.  He 
said that his country's vision on development was re flected in the PRSP of Djibouti, where trade, both 
in services and goods, constituted the basis of his c ountry's development strategy.  Building on the 
consolidation of peace, the goal was to turn the country into a port for services, available to 
companies using the country's human resources.  He reported that Djibouti had given a 20-year 
                                                      
2 Contained in documents WT/COMTD/LDC/W/33 and Add. 1. WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 8  
 
concession to the Dubai Port Authority for its port, with an investment of US$300 million that included a new portuary complex capable of hosting v essels of the latest generation, a new terminal 
for containers, a free zone and an oil terminal under construction, with a capacity of 240,000 tons per 
year which would be inaugurated during the third quart er of 2005.  He also reported that efforts were 
being made to turn Djibouti into a hub for regional trade and that a regional export centre for 
livestocks was under construction.  The centre woul d have all the necessary facilities, such as for 
quarantine and the certification of origin, with an  export capacity of 120,000 heads a day.  In this 
respect, he expressed the wish that Djibouti benefit from support to trade facilitation in order to certify 
all the country's products destined to  regional and international markets. 
41. He also pointed out that vast economic reform s, including the adoption of a new labour code, 
were being undertaken in order to make trade play its role as the driving force in poverty reduction in 
Djibouti.  He recalled that the DTIS Nationa l Validation Workshop had taken place on 12 and 
13 May 2004 and that the implementation ph ase was addressing two main components under 
Window II of the IF Trust Fund, namely:  (i) capac ity building of national institutions which foster 
trade (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Craftsmanshi p, the National Agency for Investment Promotion 
and the Djibouti Chamber of Commerce);  and (ii) prom otion of tourism in Djibouti.  He reported that 
support for closer consultations between the pr ivate and the public sector was envisaged under 
Window II, in collaboration with the ITC, and included the set up of a cooperation mechanism and a partnership infrastructure to strengthen dialogue be tween the two sectors.  He said that among other 
activities, Djibouti was also putting emphasis on tr aining for the different businesses as well as for 
young diving instructors.  He added that NGOs were  involved in promoting craftsmanship and this 
was proving helpful since it allowed different member s to promote their works.  He underlined the 
importance of all these activities which were tangibl e examples of what trade could do to reduce 
poverty in Djibouti. 
42. He reported that implementation was following the road map and that a strict coordination 
had been established with the PRSP National Coordina tor in order to prepare for the roundtable on 
trade-related technical assistance fo r Djibouti, due to take place befo re the end of 2005.  He said that 
the ITC was the execution agency for the Window II projects in his country and expressed the wish 
that implementation should progress rapidly.  
43. Lastly, he spoke about the intention of Djibou ti to organize a pre-DTIS regional workshop for 
incoming LDCs similar to the one that had taken pl ace in Kigali in October 2004, in order to take 
stock of the situation of countries benefiting from the IF and having already validated their DTIS, thus 
allowing other countries to learn from their experiences.  
44. The representative of Guinea
, the IF Focal Point, welcomed the Minister of Trade from the 
Comoros, and expressed his appreciation for the work  of the IFWG.  He said that his presence in the 
meeting in his capacity as Focal Point of Guinea witn essed the importance that his country attached to 
the activities of the IFSC and to the reporting of ach ievements of the IF in Guinea to the Committee.  
He added that implementation of the different objectives of the IF  required country ownership and 
closer cooperation with all other partners, includi ng the private sector.  To this end, Guinea was 
actively committed to mainstreaming trade into its poverty reduction strategy.   He said that export 
promotion had been put at the core of the action pl an of the Action Matrix of Guinea so that trade 
could become the engine for growth and poverty re duction.  He recalled that the Action Matrix of 
Guinea provided for interventions in a number of areas, including trade policy and regional 
integration, the institutional framework, expor t promotion, competitiveness, infrastructures, 
agriculture, fisheries, tourism and craftsmanship.  He  added that for financing out of Window II, three 
projects had been drawn up at the National Valid ation Workshop in October 2003, all three in 
collaboration with the IF partners and particularly  the ITC.  These projects were all operational and 
aimed at strengthening:  (i) Guinea's capacity in agricultu ral exports;  (ii) institutions for foreign trade;  
and (iii) Guinea's negotiation capacity, in view of greater country participation in the multilateral 
trading system.  He said that other partners had promised to support Guinea in SPS-related measures,  WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 9 
 
 
trade facilitation, customs, and so on.  He stressed  how all this had been made possible by the strong 
commitment of the national government, together with  a determined will shown by all IF partners to 
support Guinea in this process.  
45. He went on to say that Guinea's results in the IF process could be taken as an example to be 
followed in Africa and among the LDCs and that th is success would not have been possible without 
the commitment of all IF partners.  As an example, he mentioned some of these achievements, that 
included:  (i) a better dialogue with the private sector , at the centre of the IF process in Guinea;  (ii) a 
road map to sensibly reduce poverty over the next ten years, also on the basis of the development of 
trade and of services to the private sector;  and ( iii) a trade policy to support exports and businesses to 
become more competitive through Window II projects.  He continued by saying that under the 
impetus of the National IF Steering Committee, his c ountry had taken the decision to include the main 
concerns and recommendations of the DTIS into the PRSP and to harmonize faster than other non-
UEMOA countries its customs duties with the UEMOA (Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine) (West Africa Economic and Monetary Uni on).  He said that the DTIS had demonstrated 
that Guinea had in some markets a comparative ad vantage that other countries of the sub-region did 
not have.  To this end, a National Committee of Customs Duties Reform had been set up in 2003 and 
the implementation of a harmonized customs rate  with UEMOA had been in place since January 
2005.  He added that the contract with the Société Générale de Surveillance, dealing with inspections, 
had been terminated since 1 January 2005 in order to  facilitate trade.  Within the country, Guinea had 
tried to remove road blocks with a view to fully implementing the ECOWAS trade liberalization 
scheme.  He also said that Guinea had provided a dvantages and facilities for stocking and transit to 
Mali, thus enabling Mali to use Guinean port infrastru ctures for its imports and exports.  On this same 
issue, he added that an inter-state road trans port mechanism would become part of an agreement 
between the Government and the Chamber of Commerce of Guinea in the near future. 
46. He was pleased that Guinea had been chosen to  start the second phase of the IF pilot project 
and declared the availability of his country to shar e its experience with other African LDCs wishing to 
join the IF.  He said that ministerial visits between Guinea and Cambodia had been enriching and 
helpful and expressed his thanks to the Governme nt of Cambodia for the assistance provided.  He 
took the occasion of the IFSC meeting to also tha nk all IF partners, particularly all present and as 
future donors.  He concluded by inviting all LDCs to engage in th e IF process on the eve of important 
events such as the LDC Trade Ministers' Meeting, the G-8 meeting in July 2005 and the 6
th WTO 
Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China, where th e IF would be one of the subjects at the heart 
of the discussions.  He reiterated the commitment of Guinea to the IF process and encouraged other 
LDCs to do the same. 
47. The representative of Mauritania  said that a number of measures to improve country 
competitiveness were envisaged in Mauritania on th e basis of an action plan based upon the DTIS, 
including measures:  (i) to reduce costs of imports , by trying to reduce trade-distorting effects on 
exports that were part of the import-export regime;  (ii) to improve the country environment for direct 
foreign investments;  (iii) to develop access to  credit, loans as well as other long-term financial 
instruments;  and (iv) to reduce production cost s.  He reported that measures had been taken 
concerning the fiscal policy reform, customs tariffs re duction, reduction in rates of equipment and the 
effectiveness of the legal framework.  As regards investment, he reported th at the new Investment 
Code had entered into force and th at legal reform measures were bei ng undertaken to expedite trade 
dossiers and enhance specialization.  He adde d that competition authorities had been equally 
strengthened and that the central administration for trade and the regulatory authority had all benefited 
from institution building.  On the issue of access to  credit and long-term financial instruments, he 
reported that a study had been co nducted on the financial sector a nd that an action plan would be 
finalized in the following weeks.  He also menti oned that the Central Bank of Mauritania had taken a 
number of measures to ensure strict application of prudential regulations, in order to develop access to 
credit and to promote the constitutions of resources in the country's primary banks.  He added that 
efforts had been made to reduce costs in produc tion sectors.  He reported that the monopoly on fixed WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 10  
 
telephony had been broken as of June 2004 and that  mobile telephony had grown considerably and 
was continuing to grow.  He also mentioned that this could lead to attributing a third licence to an operator and that several Internet service providers were already established in the country.  As for 
electronics, he added that a study was under way and th at this should lead to the formulation of a plan 
of action in the near future.  The adoption of a mone tary plan was also envisaged by the Central Bank 
and the primary banking institutions. 
48. On supply-side constraints, he said that the DTIS  had specified a number of sectors in need of 
support, including export promotion, quality impr ovement of export-oriented productions, trade 
facilitation, as well as some specific needs to be addr essed in fisheries and tourism.  He said that a 
special fund had been set up within the IF to fina nce activities aimed at strengthening the international 
trade capacity of Mauritania's public instituti ons.  He mentioned two projects financed under 
Window II, namely a project to support the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, and a second project to finance the establishment of a lightweight structure to promote fisheries products.  He added that Window II would help Mauritania to ow n the IF, internationally and locally, and to take 
into account the specific problems of competitiveness and integration in the world trading system in 
the national poverty reduction strategies.  He adde d that a new project supporting the craftsmanship 
sector would be set up under Window II in the upcoming weeks.  He also recalled that JITAP was financing a project concerning the export strategy for livestock.  He said that the African Development Bank and the European Communities ha d enabled Mauritania to modernise its customs 
system and that Mauritania was continuing to st udy ways of implementing a system standardising 
quality control for products, including fishery produc ts.  He also mentioned France's commitment to 
support tourism and the fishery sector in the coun try and said that plans of actions were being 
finalised and that implementation was expected to st art over the course of the second half of 2005.  He 
said that the ITC was providing assistance in setti ng up a trade information system to promote the 
development of local enterprises.  He added th at notwithstanding all th is, a number of activities 
included as priority - actions had not yet received financing and that Maurita nia was still facing some 
financial difficulties related to Window II.  He point ed out that the IF had not yet enabled Mauritania 
to mobilise new partners.  He added that some co mmitments had been made by traditional partners, 
although these commitments remained modest, for they had not been ta ken as priorities compared to 
other sectors.  He concluded by saying that Ma uritania hoped to mobilise additional resources and 
overcome the supply-side constraint s by integrating the Action Matrix into the implementation of the 
strategic plan for poverty reduction for the period 2006-2009. 
49. The representative of Burundi
 said that the IF should support LDCs in developing their 
exports.  He recalled that Burundi had been pa rticipating in the IF since 2001, after the 3rd UN 
Conference on LDCs held in Brussels in May 2001.  In the margins of that Conference, Burundi had 
been invited to participate in a number of meetings  organized by the ITC in order to promote private 
sector participation.  He added that the promoter of essential oils exports had been able to present a 
project on that occasion.  Similarly, a project from a Haitian producer which was the number one in 
the market of the essential oils at that time had also retained attention.  He reported that, through the 
ITC, these two businessmen had been able to begin cooperation and set up a joint project.  In this 
respect, he said that Burundi had been chosen as a pilot country and had begun an essential oils 
project along with the ITC in 2001, which was assisting country exports and poverty reduction strategies, based on the labour force of the country's  rural areas.  This ha d already allowed for the 
creation of 1,500 jobs in the Rugombo area.  The necessary economic and technical studies to set up 
the project had been carried out by Haitian experts with experience in the sector of essential oils with 
support from the ITC, the UNDP and the Internationa l Agency of the Francophonie.  He said that 
since 2003, the ITC and the UNDP had been joined by  other partners in the IF process in Burundi and 
that the essential oils project had been retained for financial assistance unde r Window II.  The project 
on the essential oils had been provided with US$333,000 as an initial investment out of Window II 
funds.  He added that this money had been allo cated by the UNDP Headquarters in New York in 
December 2004 and that the first funds had been rel eased the previous week.  He also said that the 
Technical Appraisal Committee had just authorized the allocation of part of the budget to produce  WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 11 
 
 
18 hectares of Patchouli (of which 5 hectares had alre ady been planted), and to develop the production 
of 132 hectares of Citrus aurentifolia.  
50. He went on to say that, in terms of funds out of Window II of the IFTF, four projects had 
been selected by the LPAC in addi tion to the project on essential oils  and that since 2004 different 
agencies acted as executing agencies under Window II.  He continued by reporting that financial 
authorization had been granted for two out of five proj ects for a first level of financing.  In particular, 
he said that initial financial support had been granted to:  (i) the project on essential oils;  and (ii) a 
project on cut-flowers, although both projects remained  in need of further financial assistance.  He 
said that the socio-economic benefits of the IF had contributed to the prevention of conflict in Burundi 
because the IF had allowed the country to diversify its exports, reduce the balance of trade deficit and 
carry out its professional reinsertion programme as well as the re-training of ex-combatants, part of 
the country's poverty reduction strategy.  He said th at the IF had given hope to his country.  He 
expressed the wish that the programme would mob ilise additional resources so that all LDCs and 
especially Burundi would be able to effectively par ticipate in the multilateral trading system, in order 
to improve their exports. 
51. The representative of Lesotho  said that the workshop on private sector development had 
addressed the supply-side issues identified in the IF Matrix and that the recommendations of the 
workshop would be reflected in the aide-mémoire .  As far as the regulatory framework was 
concerned, she highlighted the fact that the Worl d Bank would support the work of other agencies and 
get involved in a complementary manner when necessary.   On supply-side constraints, she referred to 
a project to build capacity in the area of trade negotiation, trade po licy analysis, data collection and 
data analysis.  She reported on the intention to repl ace the project, due to end in June 2005, with a 
more long-term project that would have a wider scope  in terms of sector coverage, and to link it to the 
PRSP and to the priority of job creation.  She added that the project concerning mushrooms and 
peaches was being financed under Window II.  Lesot ho would have to establish an IF implementation 
structure and would use Window I funds to capacitate su ch a structure.  She added that the shortage of 
staff in the Ministry had made it difficult to set up the structure, but reported that the situation had 
improved in the area of human resources and that it should be possible in the time ahead to have a few 
officials to look after the IF-related issues.  She concluded by saying that Lesotho still needed to 
organize the national conference with donors, especially in view of the World Bank workshop on the private sector to which she had referred earlier. 
52. The representative of Madagascar
 said that her country supported the request advanced by the 
Comoros to accede to the WTO and benefit from the IF programme.  She added that the Comoros was 
an important partner for Madagascar and was a memb er of the Indian Ocean Commission.  Comoros' 
accession to the WTO would thus strengthen the inte gration of the region into the world trading 
system.  As for the IF implementation in her c ountry, she said that the process was moving quite 
slowly, given the lack of flexibility imposed by some  of the partners in the process.  She added that 
the recruitment of the national coordinator for the capacity building programme had suffered some 
delay even though it had already been approved by the local committee.  She also stated that good 
collaboration existed nonetheless with IF authorities and partner agencies on ground. 
53. She said that her Government had benefited from Window II to finance a project on capacity 
building in international trade issues and that studies were being conducted to work out the consequences of the accession of Madagascar to the Southern African Development Community 
(SADC).  She asked for partne rs' assistance to speed up the accession process so that Madagascar 
could become a full member of SADC as soon as po ssible and get the most out of its commercial and 
economic arrangements.  She added that her Governme nt had made considerable efforts to meet the 
development objectives and that progress had been ma de particularly in terms of improving customs 
procedure and investment in the tourist industry.  She said that the priorities listed in the Action 
Matrix had been revised so that a third national r oundtable with donors could be organised in view of 
addressing such new priorities.  She called upon part ners' support to undertake this exercise.  She WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 12  
 
concluded by reiterating her country's request to be  included in the special JITAP programme, which 
might constitute the appropriate framework to res pond to some of Madagascar's needs in view of 
strengthening its production and export capacities and improving its competitiveness. 
54. The representative of Mozambique
 thanked the IF partners for their continued commitment 
and dedication to the scope and goals embodied in the IF initiative.  He said that as a follow-up to the 
National Validation Workshop that had taken pl ace in September 2004, Mozambique was setting up 
the Inter-Institutional Committee for the IF, a core pl ayer for the successful implementation of the IF.  
He recalled that soon after the validation co nference, general elections had taken place in 
Mozambique, resulting in a new government in office since early February 2005.  He added that the new government was under the same Premiership as the previous one and that it was pledging to 
continue steadfastly with all major development pr ogrammes already under way, including the IF.  He 
recalled that the first meeting of the National Steering Committee as well as the first meeting of the LPAC had both taken place on 3 March 2005, in order to take stock of recommendations and 
decisions of the September Conference.  In this respect, the National Steering Committee had 
approved the Terms of Reference for a short-term technical assistance to the Ministry of Industry and 
Trade of Mozambique, and the LPAC had discussed the first projects for funding out of Window II of 
the IFTF.  He added that a second meeting of the National Steering Committee had taken place a 
week after the first one, on 9 March, and that a ttendance had gone beyond expectations, involving all 
major development players, i.e. government institu tions, private sectors and the civil society.  In 
reporting on the second meeting of the National Steeri ng Committee, he said that the importance of 
trade in the overall efforts aimed at addressing the issue of extreme poverty with emphasis on the rural 
areas had been outlined.  He added that participants  had also reviewed the short version of the DTIS 
Action Matrix developed by the Ministry of Indus try and Trade for consideration by the Council of 
Economic Ministers and that a third meeting had b een organised on 31 March as a follow up.  He said 
that a fourth meeting had been scheduled for that ve ry day in response to the call by participants for 
more regular meetings of the National Steering Comm ittee.  He recalled that it was the responsibility 
of the Council of Economic Ministers to submit any economic development project for approval by 
the entire Cabinet, whose blessing was required to fu lly integrate any projects into the government's 
Five-Year Development Programme.  He thanked the Secretariat for its report on the state of play on the IF and welcomed the decision to allow Mozambique to benefit from STDF funding to improve the country's SPS situation.  He concluded by reitera ting his Government's readiness to continue to push 
forward for the successful implementation of the IF. 
55. The representative of Benin
 thanked the Secretariat for its exhaustive report.  He said that the 
experience of the first group of IF LDCs was importa nt to show the way forward to the next group of 
countries which also included Benin.  He added that  it was interesting to consider the international 
constraints that had been faced by each country a nd the way in which those same countries had been 
working in collaboration with other IF partners.  He recalled that his Government had requested to 
join the IF in March 2002, and that Benin had b een selected to join the new group of beneficiary 
countries after successful assessment in 2003.  He also  mentioned that a preliminary mission of the six 
partner agencies had taken place in January 2004 a nd that a mission to Cotonou between 26 April and 
7 May had elaborated the aide-mémoire .  Full collaboration with the competent authorities had 
characterized these missions and the validation workshop was foreseen for June/July 2005.  He 
reaffirmed Benin's commitment to work with the IF  institutions to promote Benin's participation in 
international trade and combat poverty.  He also r ecommended that the next stages of the IF be carried 
out without delay after the validation of the DTIS.  He thanked the IF partners for their support.  He 
also hoped that the financial means required to impl ement the IF would be made available at the end 
of the diagnostic process so as to  ensure that trade was effectively an engine for his country's 
development and poverty reduction. 
56. The Chairman  proposed that the Committee take note of the statements made.   
57. It was so agreed .  WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 13 
 
 
(ii) Joint initiative by WTO/World Bank on Trade Fa cilitation Negotiations support:  briefing by 
the WTO Secretariat 
58. The Chairman  invited the WTO Secretariat to brief the Committee on the joint initiative by 
the WTO and the World Bank to assist developing  and least-developed countries to effectively 
participate in the trade facilitation negotiations.  He said that all LDCs might take advantage of this 
initiative in the implementation stage of the IF.  
59. The representative of the Secretariat from the Trade and Finance and Trade Facilitation 
Division  said that the objective of the briefing was to invite members of the IFSC to consider what 
opportunities there might be, through implementation of  the IF, to support the programme of technical 
assistance and capacity building that was part of th e Doha mandate to assist LDCs to participate 
effectively in the negotiations on trade facilitation.   He referred to two documents available to 
members of the Committee, a briefing paper by  the WTO Secretariat and a draft World Bank 
document on support for the trade facilitation negotiati ons, containing detailed material on the issue.  
He highlighted the fact that trade facilitation proj ects appeared in many DTISs, that these projects 
were often given a high priority, and that trade f acilitation was an area where the return on investment 
ratio was relatively high for LDCs as well as for deve loping countries more generally.  He added that 
there was a high pay-back for LDCs in terms of reducing their trade-related transaction costs and increasing their capacity to trade and that this was pa rticularly true in the case of land-locked LDCs.  
He also recalled that in the negotiation mandate on trade facilitation, the Secretariat was mandated to 
assist LDCs (as well as developing countries):  (i) to  participate effectively in the negotiating process;  
(ii) to determine the nature of the results of the ne gotiations;  and (iii) to implement the results of the 
negotiations.  He reported that the focus was very mu ch on the first dimension.  In this regard, he 
underlined the importance to ensure that the nego tiator in Geneva had good back-up in capitals not 
only from his/her own Ministry but from all of th e agencies involved in border procedures and 
regulations.  He added that this was one of th e areas in the WTO where the Trade Ministry was 
frequently not the principal operating agency that  would have to implement the results of the 
negotiations on trade facilitation, and that other ag encies typically involved were those dealing with 
finance, customs, transportation, quality control and veterinary services.  He stressed that it was 
important that all WTO Members be in a position to consolidate at the national level the advice 
received by the different agencies to pass that ad vice onto the negotiator in Geneva, to make an 
assessment of the proposals on the table, and th at the results of negotiations were properly 
implemented by the agencies concerned at the nationa l level.  Therefore, early involvement of these 
agencies in the negotiation process was important to raise awareness on the likely results and to 
eventually steer these results in the direction the agencies believed to represent the national interest.  
60. He also said that the aim of the joint initiativ e by the WTO and the World Bank - that directly 
concerned several other agencies of the IF as well - was to help countries individually to set up these 
coordination mechanisms at the national level and to undertake an assessment of the needs and the 
priorities that each LDC would have in the area of tr ade facilitation.  He informed the Committee that 
three pilot projects would be implemented shortly in Jamaica, Uganda and Sri Lanka.  He reported 
that another pilot project involving all Central Am erican countries on a regional basis was expected to 
start in June 2005.  He invited interested LDCs to participate in the initiative and stressed the need to 
act quickly and rather urgently if the initiative was to  be of any value in assisting LDCs to participate 
in the negotiations.  He concluded by addressing the donor community and stressing the urgent need 
to financially support the initiative, which would cost around US$25,000 per country. 
61. The representative of Bangladesh
 reacted to the presentation made by the WTO Secretariat.  
He said that the issue of trade facilitation negotiatio ns was a very important one.  He also said that 
LDCs looked at trade facilitation from a different and much wider perspective.  Trade facilitation 
covered national infrastructures and almost everything  that facilitated trade.  He recalled that LDCs 
had put a lot of effort into negotiating the moda lities for trade facilitation and that he would not 
consider positively the possible erosion of the agr eed modalities.  He said that the paper represented a WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 14  
 
WTO negotiations' support guide rather than a support guide specifically focussed on trade facilitation.  He added that the framework and coor dination structures suggested in the guide already 
existed in many countries in one format or another and that the initiative should not aim at primarily 
and effectively putting responsibility back on LD Cs' structures.  He welcomed some more 
clarification concerning the kind of support the Worl d Bank was ready to provide.  He also expressed 
the wish that the guide include all different proposal s put forward on trade facilitation, to be compiled 
by the World Bank and the IMF, in order to make c onsultations easier to smal l delegations in Geneva 
and in capitals.  Assessment of th e impact of changes in staff and cost implications of the initiative 
were required prior to looking at the political impli cations of the proposal.  He added that he would 
not support the diversion of funds from the IF into the trade facilitation negotiations and that 
additional funds should be made av ailable to finance the initiative as clearly stated into the modalities 
for trade facilitation negotiations. 
62. The Chairman
 recalled that the presentation of the initiative of the World Bank and the WTO 
was for information purposes only and that trade facil itation was outside the competence of the IFSC.  
He said he was available to convene a special mee ting although the issues were not directly linked to 
the IFSC work.  He proposed taking note of the report made by the WTO Secretariat and the 
statements made. 
63. It was so agreed . 
E. IF  TRUST FUND - FINANCIAL STATUS REPORT :  REPORT BY THE UNDP 
 64. The Chairman
 invited the representative of the UNDP to provide a status report on the Trust 
Fund. 
65. The representative of the UNDP  said that the IFTF had been growing, and commended the 
donor community for responding to the request made  at the previous meeting of the Steering 
Committee to increase funding and honour the pledges already made.  This had helped sustain the 
activities on the IFTF.  Pledges were in line with transfers.  He also reported that as regards 
Window I, a consistent trend exis ted between the transfers and the approvals over the period 2001 to 
2004 and that transfers from donors had always been ah ead of the approvals made by the UNDP.  As 
far as Window II was concerned, the first activities could be reported as of 2002 and an impressive 
growth had been recorded in 2004.  He pointed out  that the needs for funds had begun to exceed the 
transfers for the first time by the end of 2004 and that the ability to approve actual disbursement had 
been mainly constrained by the resources available.   He also mentioned the Technical and Financial 
Report of the IFTF for 2003 up to mid-2004, and repor ted that the World Bank had been provided 
with the major part of the funds for its work on the DTISs;  another part of the funds had gone to the 
ITC for its role not only in supporting the post-DTIS activities but also in helping and guiding the old 
IF countries.  He added that funds had also gone to UNDP for its support, particularly in those IF 
projects of a global nature.  
66. As regards funding projections for the IFTF, the representative of the UNDP reported that 
Window I would have adequate funds to meet immediate and projected needs for new projects 
coming up in 2005.  With regards to Window II, contributions had been received totalling about 
US$10.2 million, of which approval amounted to US $8.1 million, leaving a sm all balance of about 
US$2.1 million.  He said that not all projects reviewed and approved by the LPACs at the country level had been fully funded under Window II.  The end of the reporting balance was positive and 
amounted to US$5.4 million, whereas the proj ected funding requirements amounted to 
US$15.7 million, of which US$1.2 million would be for the four new DTISs which should start in 2005.  The remaining balance covered 22 project s under Window II.  The gap of US$16 million 
mentioned in the previous report on the status of the IFTF had dropped to US$10 million thanks to 
donors' efforts.  He added that the new countri es involved in the IF process were much better 
informed on the procedures.  He concluded by  saying that the UNDP as IFTF Trustee would  WT/IFSC/M/12 
 Page 15 
 
 
strengthen the monitoring and tracking of the use of the resources and would report regularly on 
progress concerning the IF delivery.  
67. The Chairman  reported on his consultations with the donor community following his letter 
sent jointly with the Chairman of the IFWG and sai d that he was optimistic about the future.  He 
suggested convening a meeting of the IFSC in th e near future to continue the discussion on the 
briefing on trade facilitation and on the finances of th e IF.  He proposed that the Committee take note 
of the report made by the UNDP. 
68. It was so agreed . 
E. A NY OTHER BUSINESS  
 
69. In the absence of any other business, the meeting was adjourned . 
    
 
   WT/IFSC/M/12 
Page 16  
 
ANNEX I 
 
The Integrated Framework Steering Committee
 
 
Thirteenth Session  
 
  
1. The Integrated Framework Steering Committe e will hold its Thirteenth Session on Friday, 
29 April 2005, starting at 3 p.m. in the WTO building. 
2. The items proposed for the agenda are:  
 (a) Observer status for FAO and UNIDO;  (b) Statement by H.E. Mr. Maoulana Char if, Minister of Trade from the Comoros; 
 (c) 41
st meeting of the IF Working Group (IFWG):  report by the Chairman of the IFWG; 
 (d) Implementation of the IF; 
(i) Report by beneficiaries on follow-up to DTIS:  countries which have 
validated their DTIS are encouraged to report on the status of the IF process 
in their countries, in particular on state of implementation of supply-side 
related actions identified in their DTIS and Action Matrices 
(ii) Joint initiative by WTO/World Bank on Trade Facilitation Negotiations 
support:  briefing by the WTO Secretariat 
 (e) IFTF:  financial status report;  state of funding/transactions inter alia  in light of the 
  joint letter from the Chairs of the IFSC and the IFWG of 4 February 2005, soliciting 
  continued support for the IF:  report by UNDP;  
  (f) Any other business 
 
__________