A first donation of EUR1 million was offered to the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund. This contribution will be used to finance WTO technical assistance activities targeted especially at the needs of developing and least-developed countries. The aim is to enhance their ability to participate effectively in the WTO negotiations and ensure they fully benefit from the results achieved during these negotiations. With this new donation, Finland’s total contributions to the DDAGTF have reached CHF7.8 million.

A second donation of EUR400,000 was offered to the Standards and Trade Development Facility. This contribution will assist developing countries in improving their expertise and their capacity to analyze and implement international sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) thus enhancing their human, animal and plant health situation and ability to gain and maintain market access. With this new donation, Finland’s total contributions to the STDF have reached CHF 0.8 million since 2008.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy declared: “I welcome this donation which illustrates Finland’s commitment to help Least Developed Countries integrate in the global economy and take better advantage of the multilateral trading system.”

Finland’s Ambassador, Hannu Himanen, stated: “This assistance package reflects Finland’s constant support to developing countries with the aim of making trade a tool for growth and poverty reduction. These donations will help particularly least developed countries to make full use of the multilateral trading system.”