China commits USD 1.1 million to support WTO accession, LDCs and technical assistance

The contributions were confirmed at a signing ceremony on 25 March in Yaoundé  where WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao signed two memoranda of understanding for the financing.

The first contribution, of USD 600,000 (close to CHF 500,000), is for the China Programme, launched in July 2011 under the WTO-led Aid for Trade initiative, which aims to enable LDCs to better integrate into the global economy by strengthening their participation in WTO activities and helping those not yet members join the Organization.   

The China Programme finances activities to support, among other things:

• an internship programme at the WTO
• China round tables on WTO accessions
• increasing participation of LDCs in WTO meetings
• South-South dialogue on LDCs and development
• follow-up workshops to LDCs' Trade Policy Reviews
• LDCs Experience Sharing Programme
• Capacity building and dialogue on issues of our time  (such as digital trade and artificial intelligence)

The Programme has also contributed to financing the participation of LDC government officials in WTO ministerial conferences. 

The second contribution, of USD 500,000 (approximately CHF 400,000), is for the WTO's Global Trust Fund, which supports a wide spectrum of WTO technical assistance and capacity building work with developing and least developed country members in areas spanning accession, agriculture, internship programmes, trade negotiation skills, standards and digital trade. 

DG Okonjo-Iweala said: "I warmly welcome these contributions from China. The renewal of the China Programme underscores its commitment to facilitating the integration of LDCs into the WTO and global trade. The unearmarked grant to the WTO's Global Trust Fund will allow the Secretariat to deploy resources to meet vital but underfunded technical assistance needs, thus supporting developing members and LDCs to better use trade to meet their economic and development objectives. China's contribution in these challenging times is most welcome."

Minister Wang said: "The China Programme is a successful practice by China in implementing the Global Development Initiative and strengthening South-South cooperation at the WTO. Noting the technical assistance resource constraints the WTO is currently facing, China again contributed USD 600,000 to the China Programme and USD 500,000 to the Global Trust Fund, demonstrating its firm support to the WTO with concrete actions. China stands ready to work with the WTO Secretariat and all members to focus on the theme of development, enhance the quality and effectiveness of the China Programme, support and uphold the multilateral trading system, and create more development opportunities for developing members."

Each year, the WTO Secretariat and the government of China review the contents, and consider the renewal, of the Memorandum of Understanding on the China Programme.

Since its establishment in 2001, the Global Trust Fund has supported thousands of training activities worldwide, primarily through tailored training delivered online and in-person at the national and regional levels. Over 13,000 participants took part in these activities in 2025.

Since 2008, China has contributed over  USD 11 million (approximately CHF 9.0 million) to assist developing economy members and observers, especially LDCs, in integrating more fully into the multilateral trade system. This marks the second year in a row that China has contributed to the Global Trust Fund.