Norway gives 10 million Norwegian Kroner to WTO technical assistance

WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi and the Norwegian Ambassador Eirik Glenne signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the contribution by Norway on 10 June 2005.

“Norway has for several years been a strong supporter of the WTO trade-related technical assistance to developing, and in particular least-developed countries” said Norwegian Ambassador Eirik Glenne. “Contributing to the strengthening of the capacity of the developing and the least-developed countries to make full use of the multilateral trading system is an important political priority of the Norwegian government. Today’s contribution to the WTO Technical Assistance Plan for 2005 is a concrete expression of our continued commitment to the efforts of the WTO to this end.”

“I am extremely grateful to Norway for contributing again to the Doha Development Fund,” said WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi.

“We can only reach a successful outcome to the Doha round of negotiations with the full participation of all WTO Members. Increasingly, developing countries are expressing the desire to contribute more actively to the WTO debate. We can help them, through technical assistance.”

Norway is one of the biggest voluntary contributors to the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund, with a total contribution so far of 6.4 million Swiss Francs.