Preparations for upcoming 2024 Global Review of Aid for Trade intensify

Recent Aid-for-Trade activities

Updating the Committee on preparations for the Global Review, the WTO Secretariat said that four high-level plenaries and over 50 expert discussions will take place over two and a half days. The event will comprise over 300 speakers who will explore the role of trade in contributing to food security and digital connectivity and the mainstreaming of trade into development strategies. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann will launch the joint flagship "Aid-for-Trade at a Glance" report at the opening plenary.

Presenting its 2023 Aid for Trade Progress Report, the European Union highlighted that its  member states mobilized EUR 18.5 billion in Aid for Trade in 2021, representing 47 per cent of all Aid for Trade from bilateral and multilateral sources. The EU said it intends to allocate 25 per cent of all Aid for Trade support to least-developed countries (LDCs).

The United States announced the upcoming “Economic Growth and Trade Policy” by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will focus on resilience. Closely aligned with other USAID policies,  it will build on the “2021 Economic Growth and Trade Policy" and the "2016 Trade Capacity Building Policy”.

Angola's WTO Ambassador, Margarida Izata, highlighted the country's challenging economic circumstances, as discussed at its Trade Policy Review in March. As part of its trade policy reforms, Angola has launched the “2023-2027 National Development Plan” and the “Angola 2050” strategy, she said. These strategies place a strong emphasis on diversifying Angola's economy, mainly by developing its potential for tourism.

The Asian Development Bank reported on its Asian Economic Integration Report 2024, which focuses on decarbonizing value chains. It also examines the impact of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

Reporting on its “Global Trade Update” and the “Global economic fracturing and shifting investment patterns” published in April, United Nations Trade and Development highlighted that despite significant post-COVID-19 economic growth in 2021, a concerning decline was recorded in 2022 in foreign direct investment growth.

As part of its flagship programmes, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization drew attention to the EUR 200 million Pan-African Trade Competitiveness and Market Access Programme, which aims to enhance sustainable trade within Africa and between Africa and the EU.

The Standards and Trade Development Facility said that its forthcoming strategy will focus on One Health and on transforming food systems. The strategy will address cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, environmental sustainability, climate change, biodiversity, and cooperation among developing economies, also known as “South-South cooperation”.

The WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism Trust Fund reported significant progress by its new working groups in operationalizing the Fish Fund.

The International Trade Centre presented a USD 146 million project from its 2023 Operational Plan, which will provide trade-related technical assistance to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in adjusting to the evolving policy and regulatory environment.

Aid-for-Trade workshop

Preliminary findings from the OECD-WTO Aid-for-Trade monitoring and evaluation exercise were revealed at the Workshop on Aid for Trade.  Participants heard that Aid-for-Trade disbursements hit a record USD 51 billion in 2022 — equalling pre-COVID-19 levels.  These were mostly directed towards economic infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia. However, support disbursed to LDCs has decreased.  

Meanwhile, Aid-for-Trade stakeholders highlighted the importance of increasing Aid for Trade resources, especially for trade facilitation, digitalization and climate-related trade measures. The key findings will be presented in the “Aid for Trade at a Glance” publication, scheduled to be released on 26 June on Day 1 of the Global Review.

The event's programme, which will be updated regularly, is available here.

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