The Aid for Trade Chronology gives an overview of past developments on Aid for Trade, including highlights of summit outcomes, meetings of the Development Committee of the IMF and the World Bank and of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, position papers and reports on consultations. A schedule of activities on AFT contains upcoming events organised by the WTO, the OECD and the other organisations involved in the process, including AITIC. Unless otherwise stated, the events are set in Geneva. Switzerland.
Date |
Source/Document |
Highlights |
| Late 2008, early 2009 |
National and Sub-regional Aid for Trade Reviews in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Asia and the Pacific |
Reviews will be held in selected candidate countries which are ready for implementation. The objective of the reviews will be to showcase on progress through:
- Assessing or “road-testing” AFT plans
- Identifying key priorities, and
- Agreeing on how these plans and priorities should be implemented
|
| 2008 |
National and Sub-regional Aid for Trade Reviews in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Asia and the Pacific |
Reviews will be held in selected candidate countries which are ready for implementation. The objective of the reviews will be to showcase on progress through:
- Assessing or “road-testing” AFT plans
- Identifying key priorities, and
- Agreeing on how these plans and priorities should be implemented
|
15-16 September 2008 |
Expert Symposium on Monitoring and Evaluation, WTO |
- The following areas of discrepancy among all stakeholders identified during the Global Review in November 2007 will be further discussed:
- how to give greater emphasis to country monitoring;
- how to capture the regional dimension of AFT; and
- how to expand the scope of the donor - and partner- country self-assessments.
- Review of performance indicators
|
| 19 April 2008 |
High-level Meeting on Trade Facilitation and AFT co-organised by AITIC and the UN-OHRLLS [UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States], UNCTAD XII- pre-event, Accra, Ghana
|
Two objectives:
- To examine the role that AFT and the negotiations on trade facilitation can play in bridging the infrastructure deficit in LLDCs
- To take stock and follow-up on the Almaty Programme of Action in view of the next mid-term review
|
| 7 April 2008 |
AITIC/OECD Workshop |
- To reflect on the challenges for developing countries in responding to the OECD/WTO self-assessment form
|
| 25 February 2008 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
Approval of the Aid for Trade Roadmap for 2008 including the following projects:
- To simplify the self-assessment questionnaires
- To identify performance indicators
- To hold a selected number of national and sub-regional AFT reviews
- To establish regional AFT networks
China donated USD 200’000 to the Aid for Trade Framework
DG Lamy also underlined the importance of launching the enhanced IF, of utilising the STDF [Standards and Trade Development Facility] to make AFT successful and of framing a creative response to meet non-LDCs AFT needs |
24-25 January 2008 |
Aid for Trade: Global and Regional Perspectives, UNCTAD XII pre-event, Bangkok, Thailand
|
- Discussion on ways to maintain the momentum of moves to implement the AFT initiative among Agencies that are part of the Working Group on Trade of the United Nations Executive Committee on Economic and Social Affairs
|
Date |
Source/Document |
Highlights |
13 December 2007 |
Presentation by the World Bank entitled Aid for Trade: Reducing Trading Costs to Promote Growth, WTO |
- Presentation of the World Bank’s study, Connecting to Compete: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy: Trade logistics - or the capacity to connect to international markets to ship goods - is critical for developing countries to improve their competitiveness, reap the benefits of globalisation, and fight poverty more effectively in an increasingly integrated world.
|
| 29-30 November 2007 |
LDC Ministerial Conference on Aid for Trade, UNIDO, Vienna |
Three high level round tables on:
- Integration of LDCs into the global economy and role of duty-free & quota-free market access
- Productive Capacity Building for Economic Transformation
- South-South Cooperation – Towards new initiatives in cotton
|
20 November 2007 |
Presentation of Norway’s Action Plan on Aid for Trade |
- Additional resources for AFT: fifty per cent increase from 2007 to 2008
- Resources to be channelled through multilateral organisations: ITC, UNIDO, World Bank, UNCTAD, WCO as well as the enhanced Integrated Framework
- Thematic priorities: “ good governance and fight against corruption”, “ regional trade” and "women and trade”
|
20-21 November 2007 |
Mobilizing Aid for Trade: A Global Review, WTO
|
- First year review of the AFT monitoring results (global flows, donor and partner country questionnaires) and presentation of the WTO’s monitoring agenda for the coming year
- Evaluation of the results of the three AFT regional reviews and preparation of regional roadmaps
- WTO General Council Debate on Aid for Trade
- Programme
- AITIC – Report on Meeting
- Minutes of Meeting: WT/GC/M/111
|
19 November 2007 |
WTO Technical Workshop on AFT on Monitoring and Evaluation and AFT Break-out Sessions, WTO |
- Technical level dialogue on monitoring and evaluating AFT including discussions on improving both the quantitative and the qualitative measurements of AFT
- Three simultaneous AFT sessions on mainstreaming, regional approaches and public-private partnerships
|
16 November 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
- Regional Development Banks will brief the Committee on Trade and Development on the results of the three regional reviews
- Discussion of 2007 Aid for Trade Report
- Presentation by the OECD on results of donor and recipient country surveys
- Note on the Meeting: WT/COMTD/AFT/M/5
|
| 23-24 October 2007 |
Joint Meeting of the DAC and Working Party of the Trade Committee of the OECD on AFT Activities, Paris |
- Discussions on the “Aid for Trade at a glance” and “Overview of the first Survey Results” papers to be submitted to the WTO Global Review on 20-21 November 2007:
- Dropping of General Budget Support as a proxy for trade-related adjustment assistance
- Suggestions for improvement of the survey
- Proposal for an OECD work programme on evaluating AFT
|
| 20-22 October 2007 |
Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, Washington, D.C. |
- International Monetary and Financial Committee “stressed the importance of delivering AFT commitments and encouraged ongoing initiatives by the WTO and other institutions to enhance AFT and improve its coordination and delivery”
- Development Committee “stressed the need to integrate trade and competitiveness within national development strategies, while stepping up support for AFT,” as proposed by the World Bank and the IMF
|
| 15 October 2007 |
Adoption of the EC Aid for Trade Strategy by the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the EU,
Brussels, Belgium |
- To increase the collective contributions of the European Union (EU) AFT within the ODA commitments, to raise overall EU aid gradually
- To enhance the pro-poor focus and quality of EU AFT
- To increase the EC and Member States’ donors capacity in line with globally agreed aid effectiveness principles
- ACP-specific angle: building upon, fostering and supporting ACP regional integration processes
- Supporting effective AFT monitoring and reporting.
|
| 11 October 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
- Presentations from representatives of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on the issue of building productive capacity
- Presentations from representatives of the ITC and the IMF on assistance for adjustment, trade diversification and competitiveness: in the area of financing for adjustment, the IMF addresses the needs of its member countries through the trade integration mechanism (TIM) and the exogenous shocks facility (ESF)
- Note on the meeting: WT/COMTD/AFT/M/4
|
1-2 October 2007 |
WTO Regional Aid for Trade Review
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
|
| 25 September 2007 |
Stockholm Pledging Conference for Enhanced IF, Stockholm, Sweden |
- Participating at the Conference were 34 donors countries, 5 LDCs, and 11 international organisations and financial institutions
- Raised USD 170 million for the EIF Trust Fund amounting to 70 per cent of the projected needs for the first five years
|
25 September 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
- Session on “Building Productive Capacity”
- Session on “Adjustment and Trade Diversification”
|
19-20 September 2007 |
WTO Regional Aid for Trade Review
Manila, Philippines |
|
13-14 September 2007 |
WTO Regional Aid for Trade Review
Lima, Peru |
|
9-10 August 2007 |
WTO – AITIC Trade Policy Review Seminar for OECS WTO Members
Castries, Saint Lucia |
- Discussion of the WTO Secretariat Report project in view of the 5-7 November TPR of the OECS
- Discussion on OECS members views on AFT
- Presentation of AITIC’s proposal for an OECS infrastructure and maritime transportation project in the framework of AFT
|
17-18 July 2007 |
AITIC- ITC National Workshop: Trade Policy Opportunities and Development Challenges
Vientiane, Lao PDR |
- The enhanced IF and the Lessons learned from the IF Process in Cambodia
- The Progress, the Challenges and the way forward for the IF process in Lao PDR
- The State of Play in AFT
|
11 July 2007 |
UNDP-UNCTAD Brainstorming on Capacity Development in Trade-Related Assistance: Concepts and Practical Experiences
|
- Capacity-building and capacity development in trade-related assistance: conceptual and operational differences
- Best practices and critical areas of trade capacity development
|
10-12 July 2007 |
AITIC- ITC National Workshop: Trade Policy Opportunities and Development Challenges
Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
- The State of Play in AFT
- The New Structure of the enhanced IF
- Cambodia ’s Experience with the IF
- Cambodia ’s Revised DTIS and Action Matrix: Steps Forward
- Priority Sectors for enhanced IF Assistance:
- Rice, Fruits and Cashews
- Tourism
|
9 July 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
- Session on “Trends in Trade-related Infrastructure Investments” with presentations by the World Bank, the OECD, the European Communities and Japan
- Update of the “Calendar of Events” on AFT
- Note on the meeting: WT/COMTD/AFT/M/3
|
21 June 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Informal Session on Aid for Trade |
- Discussion of the “Calendar of Events (WT/COMTD/AFT/W/2/Rev.2)” on AFT
- Presentations by the IADB, the ADB, and the AfDB on the planned “Regional Reviews”
- Presentation by the OECD on the donor and recipient country questionnaires
|
| 20 June 2007 |
Joint Letter from WTO and OECD sent to donors and recipient countries for AFT self-assessments |
|
19 June 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
- Panel on “Capacity-Building to Facilitate Trade” with the World Bank, the World Customs Organisation, the OECD and the WTO
- Panel on “Capacity-Building to Meet SPS Standards” with the WTO, the FAO, the World Organization for Animal Health and the WHO referring to the Standards and Trade Development Facility (SDTF)
- Tabling of Egypt’s paper on AFT (WT/COMTD/AFT/W/3)
- Note by the Secretariat giving an overview of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (WT/COMTD/AFT/W/4)
- Note on the meeting: WT/COMTD/AFT/M/2
|
3-5 June 2007 |
ITC/ICTSD Dialogue: The Private Sector and Aid for Trade, Montreux, Switzerland |
- Explore strategic roles of the private sector in AFT
- Case studies and success stories
|
June 2007 |
WTO: Second AFT Advisory Group Meeting |
- To plan the various meetings scheduled for the second half of 2007 including the regional reviews
|
24 May 2007 |
Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Meeting on Aid for Trade, London |
- Stocktaking of developments since the submission of the recommendations of the AFT Task Force
- Private sector and AFT
|
| 4 May 2007 |
Working Group on the Joint WTO/OECD Trade Capacity Building Database (TCBDB)
|
- Preparations for the AFT Annual Debate (Global Review on Aid for Trade)
- Endorsement of the use of an enhanced CRS to monitor AFT flows
- Past reporting (up to end 2007) in the joint WTO/OECD Trade Capacity Building Database will be integrated into the CRS
- Current CRS categories i.e. an aggregate of several CRS subcategories including trade development and Economic Infrastructure will be used as proxy measures for two AFT categories - Building Productive Capacity and Trade-related Infrastructure, respectively
|
3 May 2007 |
AITIC Forum on Aid for Trade and enhanced IF |
- Exchange of views on outstanding issues, experiences and lessons learned for all Stakeholders
- Building blocks for the implementation and monitoring of the AFT initiative and EIF
|
| 1 May 2007 |
IF Working Group and IF Steering Committee adopt Draft Guidelines for the Implementation of the Enhanced IF |
- Adoption of the Compendium of documents containing a detailed description of the enhanced IF
- Outstanding questions: Trust Fund management, monitoring and evaluation
- Focus on country ownership and capacity building
- Postponement of the launch of the enhanced IF
|
| 27 April 2007 |
WTO, International Finance Corporation and Regional Development Banks Meeting |
- Discussion of Trade Finance Facilitation Programmes, which provide global coverage to SMEs and small banks and have a very high leverage on trade
|
26-27 April 2007 |
ACP Informal Workshop on Aid for Trade in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, UNCTAD and WTO |
- Discuss possible actions for key stakeholders in the AFT initiative
- Exchange of views to implement the Task Force recommendations
- Help the ACP Countries to establish their needs and priorities for better participation in the initiative
|
12 April 2007 |
AITIC Meeting: The Private Sector in Aid for Trade and the enhanced IF |
- Maximising potential benefits for the private sector in developing countries
- Involving the developed country private sector
|
12 April 2007 |
AITIC Meeting: Perspectives from Bilateral and Multilateral Agencies and Regional Development Banks |
- What role will bilateral, multilateral and regional development institutions play?
- What constraints are they facing in the implementation process?
|
2 April 2007 |
WTO Committee on Trade and Development – Session on Aid for Trade |
- Broad support for the monitoring architecture and tentative schedule for regional reviews in Africa, Asia and Latin America
- Many donors in the process of reinforcing their own AFT strategies in light of the WTO process
- Recipients in the course of identifying AFT priorities and learning about mechanisms to access available financing
- Presentation by the OECD of the OECD DAC database, using the CRS, on which the monitoring at the global level will be based; definitions of AFT proxies, AFT baseline figures and future trends
- Note on the meeting: WT/COMTD/AFT/M/1
|
| 21-22 March 2007 |
Joint Meeting of the DAC and Working Party of the Trade Committee of the OECD, Paris |
Consultation with intergovernmental agencies on the work in progress of the OECD on:
- Measuring additionality through CRS and use of DAC database for monitoring AFT
- Update of CRS according to the Task Force Recommendations which includes a more accurate identification of needs and responses and new definitions on the scope of AFT
- Global Monitoring of Aid for Trade Flows
|
19 March 2007 |
WTO: First AFT Advisory Group Meeting |
- Discussion of the role of the WTO in coordinating and monitoring trade-related assistance
|
27 February 2007 |
AITIC Consultative Meeting with Donor Community |
- Outcome of meeting with recipient countries
- Donor perspectives on additionality, steps forward and aid effectiveness
- The role of the WTO in AFT
|
22 February 2007 |
AITIC Consultative Meeting for Potential Recipient Countries |
- Outstanding matters and assistance needs
- Involving non-residents
- Improving private sector participation
- Building trade policy and mainstreaming capacities
- Establishing implementation units
- Strengthening the trade and development interface
- Covering AFT in the Trade Policy Review
|
Date |
Source/Document |
Highlights |
| 18 December 2005 |
6th Ministerial Conference, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration |
- Established AFT Task Force consisting of a representative group of countries to advise on how best to operationalise AFT and ensure that it contributes to the development dimension of the DWP
- Endorsed enhancement of IF for LDCs
|
2 -3 December 2005 |
G7 Finance Ministers Meeting, London: Statement by G7 Finance Ministers |
- Agreement to collaborate with the IFIs on additional measures “for developing countries to ease adjustment costs and increase their capacity to trade”
- Expectation of “Aid for Trade to increase to $4bn, including through enhancing the IF”
- “In the context of our shared commitments to double aid for Africa by 2010, we agree to give priority to the infrastructure necessary to allow countries to take advantage of the improved opportunities to trade”
|
27 October 2005 |
Special DAC Meeting on Aid for Trade, Paris:
Background Note |
- Coordinated delivery of TRTA
- Rationale for AFT:
- Adopting and implementing existing WTO obligations
- Addressing supply-side constraints by improving AFT related infrastructure
- Assistance required for adjustment to revenue losses related to trade liberalisation and preference erosion
|
14 October 2005 |
LDC WTO Coordinator,
An LDC Contribution: Alternative Proposals to the World Bank/IMF Aid for Trade Proposals |
- Enhanced IF to address the value chain
- Create an Adjustment Facility to cope with short term losses and improve competitiveness
- Set up an Infrastructure Fund
- Debt Relief
- Eligibility: LDCs and other low-income countries
|
22 September 2005 |
Development Committee, Washington, D.C.: Doha Development Agenda And Aid For Trade: Corrigendum |
- The sentence “The staffs of the Bank and Fund would report back to the Development Committee and IMFC at the 2006 Spring Meetings” is deleted
|
12 September 2005 |
Development Committee, Washington, D.C.: IMF and World Bank
Doha Development Agenda and Aid for Trade (Paper prepared by the staff of the IMF and the World Bank)
|
- Enhanced IF: “most effective channel for trade to tap into existing and additional aid flows”
- Doubts about value of a multilateral fund for priorities identified in the DTIS
- Merit in examining regional or cross-country AFT needs
- Value in strengthening assessment of adjustment needs for existing mechanisms to be better utilised
- “…Serious misgivings about the desirability and effectiveness of a separate fund to address adjustment, given the availability of existing mechanisms”
|
20 July 2005 |
Geneva Consultations process:
“Aid for Trade” Initiative – Options to Enhance Support, Non-Paper |
- Enhanced IF: main delivery mechanism for AFT
- Additional finance ($5-15 million per country) to enhance IF disbursed over a 10-year period
- New multilateral fund for supply-side constraints and a separate window for adjustment issues
- Eligibility: LDCs, with possible extension to low income developing countries, e.g. all IDA-only recipients through new financing window
|
6 – 8 July 2005 |
G8 Summit, Gleneagles, Scotland:
The Gleneagles Communiqué (Africa, Promoting Growth) |
- Doubling aid for Africa by 2010 and increasing ODA by around $50bn per year by 2010
- Increasing “help to developing countries to build the physical, human and institutional capacity to trade including trade facilitation measures”
- “[G]rant additional support for trade capacity building to assist LDCs, particularly in Africa, to take advantage of the new opportunities to trade resulting from a positive conclusion” of the Doha negotiations
- Call on the IFIs to “submit proposals to the annual meetings for additional assistance to countries to develop their capacity to trade and ease adjustment in their economies”
|
10-11 June 2005 |
G7 & G8 Finance Ministers Meeting, London:
Conclusions on Development |
- “…Call on the IFIs to submit proposals for the Annual Meetings for additional assistance to countries to develop their capacity to trade and ease adjustment in their economies, based on a systematic analysis of transition costs, so they can take advantage of more open markets”.
|
13 May 2005 |
Letter from World Bank/IMF to Geneva-based Ambassadors |
- Call for coordination of a Geneva-based process “on building understanding for proposals for IF and AFT”
|
17 April 2005 |
Development Committee, Washington, D.C.:
Aid for Trade: Competitiveness and Adjustment, Joint Note by the Staffs of the IMF and the World Bank |
- Strengthening AFT through the IF
- Enhanced IF
- Identifying needs on the basis of the IF Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS)
- Developing a coherent trade strategy within which additional projects to support trade facilitation and adjustment could be planned
- Eligibility: LDCs and consideration of extending IF to all IDA-only recipients.
|
2 March 2005 |
OECD-DAC High Level Forum, Paris:
Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness |
- Commitment to improve aid quality with a practical plan for streamlining aid to meet the needs of developing countries monitored by definition of measures and standards of performance and accountability
- 12 indicators of progress including a 2010 target
|
4 – 5 February 2005 |
G7 Finance Ministers Meeting, London:
Conclusions on Development |
- Call for additional assistance
- Scope: adjustment; increasing “capacity to take advantage of more open markets”
- Eligibility: developing countries
|
