The new Executive Director and Secretariat staff will support governments in managing the enhanced IF process, as well as provide assistance to national focal points and national implementation structures. Ms Tembo joins the IF Executive Secretariat from her previous position as the Chief Trade Negotiator and Director, Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry of Zambia. She and her staff will be based in the WTO headquarters in Geneva, but are not formally part of the WTO Secretariat.

“The establishment of new Executive Secretariat and the appointment of Ms. Tembo will add new impetus to the work of the enhanced Integrated Framework focused on helping the world’s poorest countries successfully integrate trade into their development strategies in order to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty on a sustainable basis” said WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy.

The Enhanced IF (EIF) is an international initiative through which the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) combine their efforts with those of Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) and bilateral and multilateral development partners to respond to the trade development needs of LDCs. The Integrated framework was launched in 1997 and to date, up to 46 LDCs of a total of 49 have become beneficiaries.

Funding of the enhanced IF is channelled through two sources: the multilateral EIF Trust Fund and bilateral/regional donors based in the beneficiary countries. At the Stockholm Pledging Conference for the EIF in September 2007, seventeen donors pledged a total of US$113 million for the five-year EIF span. The total current pledges are US$155 million and with the US$25 million roll-over from the previous IF trust fund that has supported the programme to-date, come up to over 70% of the target of US$250 million over the five-year period.

With most donors un-able to commit for a period longer than three years at a time and since the enhanced IF is regarded as one of the most successful initiatives under the over all chapeau of Aid for Trade, the IF Executive Secretariat is confident that the funding target be reached, if not exceeded.