1. Introduction and State of Play

The Integrated Framework (IF) was launched in October 1997 at the WTO High Level Meeting on Integrated Initiatives for LDCs’ Trade Development [note 1], as a follow-up of the Plan of Action in favour of the least-developed countries (LDCs), adopted at the First WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore in 1996 [note 2]. Its objective was to coordinate the existing trade-related capacity-building programmes of the following six international organisations: the IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, the World Bank and the WTO to assist LDC governments in integrating their trade-related policies into their national development strategies and thus to be more active in the multilateral trading system.

After a revamp in 2000 and several more recent evaluations on how to strengthen the IF’s capacity to fulfil these objectives, the Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposed to enhance the IF in September 2005. WTO members endorsed this recommendation at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005.

In June 2006, the Task Force on the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) of donor and recipient country representatives submitted proposals on i) securing additional and predictable funding for the EIF; ii) strengthening in-country capacities to manage, implement and monitor the EIF process; and iii) improve the programme’s governance.

A Transition Team, appointed for the implementation of the Task Force recommendations, initiated work on financial, administrative, legal and institutional details. This period ran until 1 May 2007, the date foreseen for the launch of the EIF, when the new IF decision-making body, the members of the IF Board, were to be appointed. The launch of the EIF had to be delayed, however, to complete the accountability framework and the monitoring and evaluation processes. An interim IF Board has been working to finalise and operationalise the EIF on the basis of the Draft Guidelines for the Implementation of the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Least-Developed Countries adopted on 1 May 2007. In 2008, the last steps to make the EIF operational include selecting the Trust Fund Manager and the Executive Director who will head the IF Executive Secretariat. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) was selected on 15 April 2008 to be the Trust Fund Manager. The EIF is expected to be officially launched mid-2008.

Stakeholders from the recipient and donor countries as well as the agencies have high expectations from the enhanced IF.

Note 1: An Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance, Including for Human and Institutional Capacity-Building to Support LDCs in Their Trade and Trade-Related Activities, WTO, WT/LDC/HL/1/Rev.1, 23 October 1997. (return to text)

Note 2: See paragraph 14 of the Singapore Ministerial Declaration. (return to text)

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