SEE
ALSO:
press
releases
WTO news
archives
Supachai
Panitchpakdi's speeches
> Technical
assistance
> Joint
Integrated Technical Assistance Programme
(opens in new window)
|
A meeting of donors, African partners countries, and the three Geneva
based agencies (ITC, UNCTAD and WTO), endorsed the launching of the
new phase of the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme (JITAP)
based on the success of the first phase, which was launched in 1998.
JITAP seeks to build capacity to understand the emerging MTS, comply
with it, and to derive benefit from it. Donors pledged substantial
support to the follow up phase, which aims at achieving the same
objectives over a period of four years. The $ 12.6 million dollar
programme is expected to commence early next year.
At
the meeting today the governments that announced their contribution to
the Common Trust Fund of the programme were: Denmark, Finland, France,
Norway, and Sweden. Governments that conveyed their firm commitment to
contribute shortly were Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United
Kingdom. Canada already pledged substantial support to the programme
at the G8 meeting in June 2002.
Eight
new countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania,
Mozambique, Senegal, Zambia will join the eight original countries —
Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania,
Tunisia, and Uganda, that benefited from the first phase of the
programme:
The
sixteen countries in the new phase represent a careful balance among
LDCs, non-LDCs, different sub-regions of Africa, and different
linguistic groupings.
|
|
