AID FOR TRADE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETS FOR FIRST TIME
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy’s newly-minted advisory group on Aid for Trade met for the first time on 19 March to discuss the role the institution should play in coordinating and monitoring trade-related assistance.
Creating this ‘ad hoc consultative group’ was one of the recommendations of the Task Force that was set up after the December 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Conference to determine how Aid for Trade "might contribute most effectively to the development dimension of the Doha Development Agenda" (see BRIDGES Weekly, 11 October 2006). The Task Force’s other recommendations outlined policies for the WTO, donors, and recipients to follow in terms of identifying and fulfilling trade-related needs, and monitoring the progress of Aid for Trade activities.
The mandate of the new consultative group is to take those recommendations to the next stage: implementation. Its principal objective will be to encourage coordination and a sense of ‘ownership’ among stakeholders in the Aid for Trade work programme.
The advisory group comprises most major international organisations involved in trade and development, i.e., the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the UN Development Programme, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the UN Industrial Development Organisation, the International Trade Center, UNCTAD, and regional development banks. Despite past speculation to the contrary, the committee did not include any representatives from either the private sector or civil society. Sources report that it will help plan and direct Aid for Trade activities and serve as a platform for communication among the different participants. It will also help channel information for monitoring and evaluation, and take part in advocacy work.
Developing country negotiators appear eager to see the outcome of the work of this advisory group, since hopes are high that Aid for Trade will make a meaningful contribution to development. Members will hold their first broad review of Aid for Trade work at the 2 April session of the Committee on Trade and Development.
Civil society groups have been stepping up work on the issue, looking at how non-governmental organizations could help make Aid for Trade more country-driven and as efficiently-used as possible
Also active in the debate has been the OECD, which has created a technical group of bilateral donors, multilateral institutions, regional development banks, and selected governments, to contribute to work on monitoring.
ICTSD reporting.