WTO Members Consider how to Monitor Aid for Trade
for 2022 Global Review
WTO
members had a first exchange on 11 June on how to monitor Aid for Trade ahead of
next year’s Global Review. The discussions at the Committee on Trade and Development
were informed by a 10 June workshop on the circular economy. The committee also
received updates from donors, international organizations and South-South partners
on their Aid for Trade activities, including on “green” projects that promote economic
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Monitoring
and Evaluation (M&E) exercise that will underpin the Aid for Trade Global Review,
due to take place in mid-2022, was one item discussed by members at the meeting.
Ambassador Mujtaba Piracha of
Pakistan, the chair of the committee, outlined the process that he envisaged would
lead to the Aid for Trade Global Review based on the theme "Empowering connected,
sustainable trade".
The need
to facilitate economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was highlighted by some
members as a theme to be explored. Members
noted that the Aid for Trade Stocktaking
event last March was a first attempt to survey the trade impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another theme that
several delegations highlighted as a topic for consideration was the gender dimension
to Aid for Trade and
how it can contribute to the work in the Informal Working Group
on Trade and Gender.
Several
WTO members provided overviews of their Aid for Trade activities. The European Union updated members on the European
Green Deal and the Third Gender Action Plan, which includes targets to promote gender
equality through trade policy. The United States highlighted initiatives funded
by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), including a partnership
with the private sector to design programmes with shared
risks to address environmental challenges.
Updates
provided by China and Russia focused on COVID-19 vaccine cooperation. Russia highlighted
that the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has been approved in 66 countries, with several
countries also manufacturing it locally.
China said that it had provided more than 350 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines
to the global community, including free vaccine assistance to over 80 countries
and advanced vaccine exports to 40-plus countries. China also provided assistance
to several developing countries to promote large-scale production of vaccines at
a fast pace, totalling USD 2 billion in assistance for
COVID-19 response and economic and social recovery.
India
informed members that it has a dedicated centre for WTO
studies that undertakes various technical assistance and capacity building initiatives
to assist least-developed countries (LDCs) to better integrate into the multilateral
trading system. The Republic of Korea also noted that it supports women in West
Africa through the "She Trades" programme and
is mainstreaming the gender agenda into its trade programmes. The Republic of Korea is also seeking to raise
the profile of greening and climate change-related and digital-related aspects within
the context of Aid for Trade.
Both
Myanmar and Viet Nam gave updates on their Aid for Trade activities, pursuant to
recent trade policy reviews. Myanmar has
implemented a series of trade policy reforms and initiated an analysis of post-COVID
economic recovery in 2020 to curb the effects of COVID-19 on Myanmar's exports. Viet Nam said it issued the National Strategy
on Gender Equality for 2011-2020 to create awareness, close the gender gap, and
enhance the status of women.
WTO members
also received updates on resource mobilisation and implementation
of Aid for Trade related activities from international financial institutions. The
Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Islamic
Trade Finance Cooperation (ITFC) and the World Bank provided updates. The World
Bank highlighted two recent publications that address the growing importance of
the committee's Aid for Trade portfolio to trade policy formulation, which are the
Data for Better Lives
report and the Distributional impacts
of trade.
Updates
were also given by the Enhanced
Integrated Framework, the International Trade Centre, the
Standards and Trade Development
Facility and the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on implementation
of green economy initiatives and projects that deal with the response to COVID-19.
On 10
June some 120 participants attended an Aid for Trade workshop on "Circular
Economy, Economic Diversification and Aid for Trade". Participants discussed sustainability in a broad
sense and looked at the opportunities and risks that the circular economy offers
for value chain integration and export diversification. It featured perspectives
offered by intergovernmental organizations (Asian Development Bank, UNIDO, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), WTO
members (Ecuador, Rwanda, the United States and Viet Nam) and UK-based Chatham House.
Aid for
Trade is a multi-stakeholder initiative seeking to mobilise
resources to address the trade-related needs and supply-side constraints identified
by developing countries and least-developed countries.