Good morning,

Let me start by saying how happy I am to be here again for this year's Joint Advisory Group (JAG) session. Participating in this event has become an annual feature in my calendar and it is a recognition of the importance I attach to the work ITC is doing under Patricia Francis's leadership.

Last year's JAG took place against the shadow of a worsening global economic situation that was threatening to significantly impact on developing countries on a scale never seen before. We now have empirical data to confirm our worst fears that this crisis has not only impacted on developing countries significantly but also has the potential to reverse some of the gains developing countries had made towards achieving their developmental priorities including meeting the UN MDGs [Millennium Development Goals].

While developed countries have been quick to offer bail-out packages to their ailing industries, LDCs because of their limited capacities have not been able to follow suit and expand social safety nets to those who lost their jobs. We have seen a few developed countries spending around $15 billion on their cash for clunkers programmes. And for LDCs, this is out of reach.

This meeting is taking place a few days after the WTO's 7th Ministerial Conference that was aimed at providing an opportunity for our members to take a look at the entire spectrum of WTO activities and also identify priorities for our future work, aimed primarily at strengthening the global trading system.

The conclusion of the DDA [Doha Development Agenda] remains our key objective and towards this end, ministers were unanimous in reiterating the global call for this to be achieved by 2010. Ministers reaffirmed their view that trade is central to development and to the ongoing global economic recovery efforts and as such the conclusion of the DDA by 2010 is a must if developing countries are to realise the full potential of trade opening.

Ministers were also conscious of the remaining few gaps in key areas including Agriculture and Industrial goods market access and that these will not be closed unless they all engage in some heavy political lifting at home. We will have an opportunity to take stock of how far these gaps have narrowed at the end of March 2010 and this will tell us whether the stated goal of concluding by 2010 is possible.

Ministers also had extensive exchanges on the capacity of developing and least developed countries to fully exploit the potential benefits of the multilateral trading system. In these discussions, particular support was expressed for the Aid for Trade initiative which is seen as a necessary complement to trade opening.

Furthermore, I hosted an LDC [least-developed countries] specific side event for all stakeholders in the EIF [Enhanced Integrated Framework] programme, and on this I would like to recognise the strong leadership role of Patricia and her team that has ensured that ITC remains at the core of this initiative.

At this event, the need for enhanced disbursement of EIF funds, improvement on the level of EIF Board representation of all stakeholders and timely approval of projects by the Board were strongly highlighted.

In my statement at last year's JAG session, I highlighted a few areas in our work, including WTO accessions, where we required ITC support. I am happy to note that substantial progress has been made towards this and we now have in place a joint WTO/ITC/EIF secretariat programme that seeks to provide capacity building support to LDCs in the accession process. It is also worth mentioning that donors for their part have been forthcoming in extending support to this programme and a few days ago, Spain signed an MOU with ITC to extend financial support to this programme. This is another excellent example of how our close cooperation is bearing fruit.

Furthermore, our cooperation on Aid for Trade continues and I am encouraged by the energy with which the ITC has engaged our discussions on enhancing the private sector role in this initiative. This is an issue that was clearly highlighted as a priority during last July's global Aid for Trade review. I also agree with the UNCTAD Deputy SG on the importance of enhancing inter-agency cooperation in this area and to this end we will continue our active participation in the UN Chief Executive Board inter-agency cluster on trade and productive capacities.

To support ITC's work, the WTO committee on Budget, Finance and Administration on 7 December 2009 approved our 2010-2011 biennium budget and as a demonstration of their strong support for our relationship with ITC, approved an 8.2 per cent and 5.8 per cent increase in our contribution to the ITC's budget for 2010 and 2011 respectively. I expect the General Council at its next meeting this week to formalise this.

Allow me at this juncture to comment on the following key issues that have been highlighted in the 2010 Consolidated Programme Document before us.

First, I am happy to note that ITC has followed up on its commitment and enhanced its monitoring and evaluation capacity. This is very important for the continued support of ITC activities by stakeholders and is in line with our view that unless we are able to clearly demonstrate that our interventions are having the desired impact on the ground, we will not be able to sustain the support of all stakeholders, particularly those on the supply side.

Second, the focus on export diversification and competitiveness for LDCs is timely given the impact on LDCs in particular of the current global crisis which has been exacerbated by among other things their reliance on a narrow number of export markets and export products. This is particularly relevant considering that in 2011 the international community will meet in Turkey at the 4th UN conference for LDCs to take stock of what has been done in the last decade to improve the situation of LDCs.

It is therefore also important that in the coming year, ITC also focuses on providing us with a better understanding of what are the major impediments to diversification and competitiveness faced by the LDC private sector. In the same vein, we should also identify the most efficient ways to address those impediments including by encouraging effective public/private coalitions.

Third, the focus ITC undertakes to devote to the EIF is consistent with our own view that now that the EIF is fully operational, the focus should shift to speeding up the delivery in order to produce a critical mass of tangible results to make a difference in the LDCs.

In addition to these priorities ITC has set for itself, I want to underscore the importance and centrality of mainstreaming trade into development strategies. The success of our support under the Aid for Trade initiative depends to a large extent on the capacity of beneficiaries to streamline and articulate their priorities. As we all know, Aid for Trade covers a wide spectrum of economic activities all important to a country's capacity to trade. ITC core competencies do not lie in building economic infrastructure but lie specifically in building capacity to trade among the private sector. The private sector requires capacity to understand implications and opportunities presented by global trade agreements, they need capacity to produce the right export products that conform to the export market expectations and the capacity to interpret market signals. This means that ITC will have to devote significant resources towards ensuring that this capacity is enhanced.

In addition, closely related to the above, the ITC should become the forum where we advocate the building of private/public partnerships to increase the accessibility and affordability to LDCs of trade finance.

Equally important is the mobilisation of the replenishment of development funds in multilateral development banks. These IFIs are major providers of multilateral aid to LDCs which is needed to boost a fast economic recovery. Without increased resources, this will not be feasible.

Let me conclude by also noting that this session coincides with another important event, the Copenhagen Climate summit. Our message on this is a simple one — the multilateral trading system will not act as a barrier to the fight against climate change and in particular, to the conclusion of a much needed global environmental accord. And combating climate change should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade.

Thank you.