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Marsha Drakes, Tel: (246) 430-1678                                  marsha.drakes@crnm.org

For Immediate Release:                                                                                  No. 07/2008
June 20, 2008

CRNM DG SPEAKS ON THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS IN AID FOR TRADE

Christ Church, Barbados – Regional discourse on Aid for Trade continued when the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the Organization of American States (OAS) hosted a Symposium on Aid for Trade (AfT) for the Caribbean entitled “Making it a Reality” in Kingston, Jamaica on June 16-17 2008.

Most developing countries especially Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and small developing economies are constrained by lack of resources and insufficient capacity to participate effectively in the international trade arena and to take advantage of market access opportunities available in the international market. In recognition of this, the mandate of the Doha round, as outlined in The Doha Ministerial Declaration (2001), included the commitment to needs of developing countries into focus through enhanced market access, (ii) balanced rules, and (iii) well targeted, sustainably financed technical assistance and capacity building programmes.

 In the international context therefore, Aid for Trade is a concept that refers to broad programmes that use enhanced trade related development assistance and capacity building to ensure that developing countries, experience benefit from their participation in the international trade that is matches their economic development needs. Aid for Trade is not intended as a substitute to improving the participation of developing countries within the context of the Doha Development Agenda but is regarded as a complement to that Agenda. Further to this, the developed world, in particular the G8 nations in 2005, also expanded their commitment to double aid resources to nations which were the poorest of the poor. Since the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration (2005) elaborated guidelines, and a work programme, for outlining the content and modalities of technical assistance and capacity building.

The CRNM’s Director General Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal and CRNM’s Senior Director Henry Gill attended the symposium. Ambassador Bernal made a number of salient points in his presentation on the role of institutions in AfT. He posited that in operationalizing and implementing AfT, there was a need to regard a number of factors. First small vulnerable economies like those of the Caribbean are often so deficient in their institutional capacity that development assistance is necessary to help them identify their country specific needs and priorities to which assistance is being sought in the first instance. Second, it was paramount to consider the needs of firms, governments and regional institutions. Regional institutions such as the CARICOM Secretariat and the CRNM play a vital role in AfT implementation, institutions like the Caribbean Development Bank should play a role in the disbursement of Aid for Trade.  

In highlighting the function of international players, The Director-General expressed the view that the inputs of the World Bank as well as the Inter-American Development Bank were particularly important to providing additional resources for AfT. He also stated that effective institutional coordination and cooperation at several levels was also necessary to ensure efficiency in AfT processes. In particular, he opined that the WTO should not only assume a technical advisory function with regard to AfT but in a system where there were so many institutions acting in an advisory capacity, the WTO should also manage the systemic oversight of technical advisory operations related to AfT. The Ambassador also emphasized that with respect to donors and beneficiaries, the process of coordination was threefold: amongst donors, amongst beneficiaries and finally between donors and beneficiaries.

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