Report on the Joint AITIC/OECD
Roundtable Discussion: The 2009 Aid for Trade Monitoring Questionnaire
26 September 2008, 15.00 – 18.00, Room B, Conference Centre Varembé

I. Introduction

1. The Annotated Update [note 1] of the 2008 Aid-for-Trade Roadmap Strategy on Global Monitoring on the Partner-country questionnaire anticipated that an “informal consultation with partner countries co-hosted with AITIC will take place in mid- to late-September". This foreseen consultation took place o n 26 September 2008 organised by AITIC, in collaboration with the OECD. The consultation, in the format of a roundtable discussion, focused on the revised Aid for Trade (AFT) Monitoring Questionnaire. This consultation was the second meeting convened by AITIC and the OECD [note 2] with the objective of improving the response rate of prospective AFT recipients to the OECD/WTO AFT questionnaire. The roundtable envisaged an exchange of views between the prospective recipients on how to clarify, simplify and make the draft monitoring questionnaire a more useful tool. Annex I in this report contains the programme of the roundtable, Annex II presents the evaluation of the event by the participants and Annex III is a list of those who attended.

II. Presentations

2. The participants were welcomed by Dr Esperanza Durán, Executive Director of AITIC, who noted that the roundtable, together with the AITIC-OECD workshop in April 2008 and the OECD-UNDP brainstorming in Montreux in June 2008, was part of the process of reviewing the partner country questionnaire. On the basis of previous discussions with partner country delegates, the OECD had prepared a revised questionnaire that had been distributed prior to the roundtable. The revised questionnaire took into account the specific challenges faced by least-developed countries (LDCs) and their participation in the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF). At the WTO Expert Symposium on AFT that had been held in the WTO on 2 September 2008, it was remarked that AFT flows had increased by 10 per cent in 2006 compared to the 2002-2005 period. Donors were calling upon partner countries to fully engage in the AFT monitoring process and signal their interest in AFT by communicating their AFT strategies, their needs and priorities through the questionnaire. It was therefore of prime importance to devise a user-friendly and adequate tool for developing countries to effectively participate in the monitoring effort. The WTO would organise the second Aid for Trade Global Review in mid-2009 to report on progress achieved in the implementation of the initiative.

3. Ms Martina Garcia, Senior Trade Policy Analyst , OECD, thanked AITIC for its contribution to the process of reviewing the AFT questionnaire and, in particular, for providing an adequate forum for discussion. The objectives of the roundtable were to review the draft questionnaire and to prepare a revised draft for the upcoming meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) on 13 October 2008. The questionnaire was designed not only to monitor AFT, but also to allow developing countries to “tell their story”. It should be easy to fill in. The revised version was therefore a combination of tick-boxes and qualitative questions which followed the same structure as the donor questionnaire. The OECD was aware of the challenges facing developing countries regarding internal coordination, but it was critical to have one government – one voice in replying to the questionnaire.

4. Ms Peggy Mlewa, Zambia, highlighted the difficulties her country was facing as a landlocked LDC. The issues facing countries like Zambia, which had to rely on others for transit to the sea, went beyond national borders and called for regional approaches and responses. Zambia was in the process of increasing institutional cooperation and was involving the private sector to a larger extent in the elaboration of the national development strategy. The ides of engaging developing countries in the revision of the questionnaire was excellent and was having an impact in raising the awareness of the AFT initiative at the national level. The incorporation of specific questions for LDCs in the revised draft and the increased importance given to sharing best practices were welcome. However, certain improvements could be made, in particular regarding the questions, namely, the period under review and the possibility to qualifying the answers. There was a need to raise awareness and to extend the time to reply due to limited capacities of LDCs. National Implementation Units should be involved in the process.

5. In his presentation, Mr Homero Larrea, Ecuador, informed the roundtable that his country had prepared a reply to the questionnaire but had not send it, as the officials did not feel that they knew enough about the AFT initiative. The revised questionnaire was a welcome improvement: it provided reply options, thus it was more logical and had a better flow in the sequencing of the questions. There was still room for improvement, however – also with regard to the flow (sections four and five could be reviewed). He suggested a series of possible amendments, noting that most developing countries do not have an AFT strategy and that this should be taken into account. Competitiveness and production capacity should be included as priority options, and the work of national aid agencies be taken into consideration. The explanatory note would provide the user with valuable input. It should be split up in sections according to the questionnaire and include a list of acronyms.

6. Mr Elmar Mammadov, Azerbaijan, underlined that the AFT monitoring exercise should include countries in accession to the WTO, as well as transition economies. In this respect, accession-specific costs could be included as an area of support under AFT in the first section of the questionnaire. It would be most useful to clearly specify all AFT areas of support in the Creditor Reporting System (CRS), thereby making it easier for donor and partner countries to identify cases where specific support was lacking and report it during the monitoring exercise. Partner countries would then be able to identify in section four of the questionnaire (on mutual accountability) areas where they noted such lack of support (or duplication of assistance). In addition, the importance of involving the private sector in the implementation of an AFT strategy was deemed crucial. The creation of a section on regional issues was welcome. It proved especially relevant in the context of Azerbaijan and its neighbouring countries. A global AFT project map should be set-up; it would contain an outline of priority projects and help measure progress in the matching of AFT supply with partner countries needs. Human capacity building on AFT was important (i.e. through the elaboration of manuals and the organisation of national seminars to train national AFT focal points, once they had been selected). UNDP and the World Bank should be actively involved in the local AFT processes.

III. Discussion

7. In response to Mr Mammadov, Ms Garcia explained that the monitoring exercise had the objective of covering all aid recipients, including acceding countries. Avenues for the involvement of multilateral agencies and regional development banks in the monitoring exercise were being examined (e.g. which agency can help which country/region) and should be clarified by December 2008, when the questionnaire and the CRS profile are sent to partner countries and agencies.

8. Pakistan commended the work done by the OECD in preparing a very good revised questionnaire. Among relevant areas of support under AFT, competitiveness, technology, energy and transport could be inserted in the list. The divergence of perception of aid flows between partner and donor countries was worrying. Ms Garcia acknowledged this perception gap. However, the aim was that the information received from partner and donor countries would be complementary.

9. The representative of the OECS explained that Dominica had filled out the form in 2007, but had not send it because the objectives of the questionnaire and the incentives for participating in the monitoring exercise were not clear at the time. It should be clarified whether a national development strategy which integrates trade concerns could be considered an AFT strategy. Otherwise, countries that did not have a fully-fledged AFT strategy (yet) would probably not answer the questionnaire, under the understanding that the monitoring exercise concerned only those countries which already had an AFT strategy. The first section (which dealt with the AFT strategy) should also refer to regional trade agreements, in addition to WTO agreements. The section on AFT flows (which came second in the current draft) would be best placed at the end of the questionnaire. Ms Garcia agreed with the concerns expressed in relation to the AFT strategy. Dr Durán proposed the following sequence: Was there a trade strategy? Was there a national development strategy and did it include trade components? If so, it should be considered as the AFT strategy in the remainder of the questionnaire.

10. The delegate from Tanzania thanked the OECD for taking into account LDC-specific questions and the regional dimension in the revised questionnaire. However, the close interconnection drawn between AFT and the EIF was cause for concern. As additionality was critical in the AFT initiative, too close a link with the EIF would imply a merger of two separate sets of resources and limit the potential for AFT to make a difference in LDCs.

11. The representative from Mali recalled the AFT recommendations, which set forth a clear mandate for AFT and included the EIF as part of the efforts under AFT. More sensitisation activities should be held at national level to foster progress in AFT implementation. A questionnaire specifically targeted at regional organisations would improve the inclusion of regional priorities at the centre of the AFT initiative. Regarding an AFT project map, partner countries part of a specific grouping should not be automatically considered as having identical priorities. Needs assessment should continue being conducted at the national (and sub-national) level.

12. Burkina Faso noted that the availability of the documentation in French would facilitate the consultation process. Although the EIF and its institutional structures were well known, particularly to LDCs, the AFT ones were not. Awareness should therefore be raised about AFT among developing countries. He shared the view of the representative from Tanzania regarding a split between the EIF and AFT in the questionnaire. A list of acronyms would be welcome. Ms Garcia informed the participants that the questionnaire would be translated in French, Spanish and Russian as soon as it reached the final stages of drafting.

13. Ms Garcia reiterated that the aim of the monitoring exercise was to measure additionality and to engage all stakeholders in the implementation of the AFT initiative. She acknowledged that the regional dimension element in the questionnaires was very much focused on revealing the national demand for regional AFT activities, e.g. whether the partner country demand for regional support was coherent with national strategies. There were no plans at the moment to send this questionnaire to regional organisations. To give a more comprehensive picture of the regional dimension, information collected through the questionnaire would be complemented with some case studies which were being prepared by regional development banks. A global tool like a project map had the risk of becoming an alternative tool to express directly the needs of the ministries of trade involved in the mapping exercise which might not always reflect wider governmental priorities, thus reducing the relevance of the entire initiative.

14. In her concluding remarks, Dr Durán thanked all participants for sharing their views on the revised draft questionnaire. The numerous suggestions made to the OECD would help to significantly improve the current version of the questionnaire. The addressees of the questionnaire at national level remained a crucial point to take into consideration.

Annex I: Programme

Annex II: Evaluation Report

I. Introduction

1. AITIC organised in cooperation with the OECD a roundtable on the Aid for Trade (AFT) Questionnaire on 26 September 2008 with the participation of 20 delegates from developing countries, including LDCs, and selected international agencies.  

3. 10 delegates (7 English-speaking, 2 French-speaking and 1 Spanish-speaking) filled in the evaluation form which is the basis for this assessment.

II. Questionnaire Evaluation

A. General Opinion of the Roundtable

	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Total
General opinion	-	-	40%	60%	100%

4. All of the participants that filled in the evaluation form gave a positive opinion about the roundtable, highlighting the success of the workshop. 60 per cent of the evaluations gave the roundtable an excellent overall rating.

B. Achievement of the Roundtable Objectives

	To raise awareness on the importance of the self-assessment questionnaire	To obtain feedback from LDCs and other prospective recipients on the challenges posed by the questionnaire	To suggest improvements to the questionnaire
Poor	-	-	-
Fair	10%	10%	10%
Good	30%	30%	40%
Excellent	60%	60%	50%
Total	100%	100%	100%

5. On average, 90 per cent of the delegates considered that the objectives of the roundtable were achieved.

C. Contents Rating  

	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Total
Presentations	-	-	20%	80%	100%
Discussions	-	-	20%	80%	100%
Documents	-	-	30%	70%	100%

6. All presentations, the ensuing discussion and the documents that had been made available were rated good or excellent by all the attendees.

D. Usefulness for Professional Responsibilities  

	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Total
Relevance in the context of your professional responsibilities	-	-	20%	80%	100%

7. All delegates found that the roundtable was relevant to their professional responsibilities, with 80 per cent of them giving a top mark.

E. Comments and Suggestions

8. A number of participants congratulated AITIC on the successful event. The representative from the OECD was particularly pleased with the outcome, the open and frank discussion, and the useful input that was provided during the roundtable.

9. Comments provided by some delegates:

• Translate documents and make them available to participants well in advance of an event to ensure enhanced participation.
• It was an excellent opportunity to learn about and to participate in discussions on a theme of personal and institutional interest.
• “Generally AITIC work is excellent; I hope their work on AFT will pick up soon”.

Annex III: List of Participants

Note 1: 23 July 2008. (return to text)

Note 2: The first AITIC-OECD Workshop on Aid for Trade Self-Assessment Questionnaire: Challenges for Developing Countries, was held on 7 April 2008. (return to text)