The United States donate 650,000 USD to the WTO technical assistance fund

This voluntary contribution by the United States will benefit Sub-Saharan African countries. Specifically, it will be used to conduct technical assistance courses on trade policy and WTO rules, and will also fund the development of computer-based training modules on WTO Agreements. These modules will be useful not only in Africa but in developing countries and in economies in transition around the world.

“I am extremely grateful to the United States for its contribution to the Trust Fund,” said Mike Moore. “The WTO is facing increasing demands for technical cooperation from its members, least-developed and developing countries, and economies in transition, and such donations make it possible for the WTO Secretariat to meet these requests. The United States' contribution will help a particularly disadvantaged part of the world increase its participation in the multilateral trading system.”

The WTO Trust Fund was created in 1995 to assist poorer countries to participate actively in the WTO and to take advantage of the new opportunities in international trade offered by the WTO Agreements. The Fund is administered by the WTO Secretariat's Technical Cooperation and Training Division.