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> Final
joint communique by the six core agencies of the Integrated Framework
— IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, World Bank and WTO
|
  The communique adopted at the meeting, hosted by World
Bank President James D. Wolfensohn, and chaired by WTO
Director-General Mike Moore, agreed that the implementation of the
Integrated Framework (IF) — a program aimed at delivering assistance
in trade-related areas to LDCs — would contribute to the realisation
of the Doha Development Agenda launched at the 4th WTO Ministerial
Conference in November 2001. Welcoming the new trade round, the
meeting identified areas for coordinated and joint inter-agency action
in support of the negotiations. Agency heads focused in particular on
the steps required for the effective implementation of the IF and the
extension of its benefits to other LDCs. The WTO sees inter-agency
coherence and capacity-building for LDCs as key elements in
successfully concluding the new round.
The meeting
also agreed that practical follow-up to on-going competitiveness
studies in IF- beneficiary LDCs would contribute to the realisation of
the Doha Development Agenda. In this regard, they agreed to enhance
agencies' responses and seek an increase in resources dedicated to
these areas on priority technical assistance and capacity-building
projects in the IF. They jointly called on bilateral donors and
multilateral agencies, in coordination with beneficiary countries, to
assume lead donor roles in LDCs taking part in the IF.
“The Doha
Development Agenda is a vital part of the fight against poverty, but
is too extensive for any single development agency, and as a
consequence we have come together in a partnership that will take
advantage of the skills and experiences of each of our
organizations,” said Mr Wolfensohn. He informed agency heads that
the World Bank was increasing resources dedicated to trade work, and
confirmed that the World Bank would work, in coordination with other
agencies, in support of the Doha Development Agenda.
“The good
practices of coordination and coherence that we were establishing in
the context of the IF provide the basis for inter-agency partnership
in responding to the challenges of Doha,” said Mr Moore.
The six heads
and representatives welcomed the progress made in the Integrated
Framework, which is currently operating on a pilot basis in three LDCs
— Cambodia, Madagascar and Mauritania. They reaffirmed the lead role
of the World Bank in the process of mainstreaming trade into plans for
national development and strategies for poverty reduction. The IF
stresses the necessity of reflecting trade priority areas of action,
through country-led poverty reduction strategy papers and plans for
national development, so that trade can more effectively exercise its
function as an engine for economic growth.
Agency
representatives recognised the urgency in enhancing linkages and
improving coherence between the trade and development communities.
They underscored the position that improved coherence was necessary to
address the complex trade development concerns of the LDCs and the
non-LDC low income economies.
They also
emphasised the central role of technical assistance and
capacity-building in assisting Developing Countries and LDCs to draw
on the benefits of the open, rules-based multilateral trading system.
But they noted that technical assistance and market access were no
substitute for market opening, which was needed to ensure that these
countries secured a share in the growth of world trade commensurate
with their needs for economic development.
Agency heads
agreed to meet again after the WTO's Mexico Ministerial Conference in
2003 to review the effective implementation of their
commitments.
> Final
joint communique by the six core agencies of the Integrated Framework
— IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, World Bank and WTO
|
Note:
1.
Mr.
Eduardo Aninat, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), Mr. J. Denis Bélisle, Executive Director of the
International Trade Centre (ITC), Mr. Carlos Fortin, Deputy
Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr. James D. Wolfensohn,
President of the World Bank, and Mr. Mike Moore, Director-General of
the World Trade Organisation (WTO). back to text
|
