Aid for Trade — From making trade possible to making trade happen

Director-General Pascal Lamy has stressed that development assistance is central to helping developing countries "move from making trade possible to making trade happen." He said recently: “Today's global economy — which could be widened and strengthened by the conclusion of the Doha Round — is fundamentally changing the development dynamic, creating huge potential for developing countries to harness trade as an engine of growth. But to seize this opportunity, they also need access to the basic infrastructure that drives globalization — 21st century transport corridors and telecommunications networks that can connect exporters to world markets; modern customs facilities that can move products rapidly and efficiently across borders; testing labs to ensure that exports meet international standards; financial "safety nets" to ease concerns about economic adjustment and shocks; and the sophisticated expertise and institutions needed to navigate a highly complex world trading system.”

At the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting, the EU, Japan and the United States made pledges to increase their Aid for Trade contributions. The ministers set in motion greater WTO involvement in providing more and better Aid for Trade. In 2006, the General Council adopted recommendations by a task force on Aid for Trade established by the Director-General, including a greater monitoring and evaluation role for the WTO.

The WTO helped organize three regional reviews on Aid for Trade in 2007, which were held, respectively, in Lima, Peru; Manila, Philippines; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. These meetings provided valuable inputs to the First Global Aid for Trade Review held in November 2007 at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. This global review featured the participation of a number of trade and development ministers as well as heads of regional development banks and international agencies like the World Bank, IMF and the OECD.

In February 2008, WTO members gave the green light to the Director-General's proposed Aid for Trade roadmap for this year. Featuring national and sub-regional reviews in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific, the 2008 reviews would be "more focused, technical and results-oriented, with the aim of assisting in advancing — and then monitoring — the implementation of concrete national and especially sub-regional plans.”