Italy gives 1,000,000 euros to WTO technical assistance

The new donation will be allocated with 500,000 euros for financing technical assistance activities contained in the Plan 2005. The Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund finances activities which aim to enhance developing countries' participation in the WTO negotiations. Further amounts of 300,000 euros and 200,000 euros will go to the funds for the Integrated Framework (IF) and the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) respectively. The IF supports least-developed countries governments to expand their participation in the global economy whereby enhancing their economic growth and poverty reduction strategies. The STDF assists developing countries in improving their expertise and capacity to analyze and implement international sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.

Italian Ambassador Paolo Bruni said: “As we are all engaged in a new phase of the Doha negotiations where no efforts can be spared to ensure a positive outcome at the Hong Kong Ministerial, these new contributions reaffirm the support of Italy for developing countries to participate fully in the world trading system and in the current trade negotiations. The role of the WTO technical assistance programmes in strengthening the integration of developing and least- developed countries in international trade is key. Growth in trade can substantially stimulate development and bring prosperity to developing countries, as declared by the G8
Leaders in Gleneagles and reaffirmed last week at the United Nations summit in New York.”

“I thank Italy for its generous contribution which will enable us to respond to demands from developing and the least-developed countries for strengthening their capacity to make full use of the multilateral trading system”, said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy.

With this new pledge, the total contribution of Italy to the WTO technical assistance activities since 2002 amounts to approximately CHF 4,600,000.