Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 5 • Number 40 • 8th November 2001

Budget Committee Begins Translating Doha Agenda Into Practice

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The WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration met on Friday 23 November for the first of a series of meetings to develop a plan on how to translate the technical assistance (TA) provisions of the Doha Ministerial Declaration in the organisation’s budget. In a preliminary exchange of views, Members discussed a proposal by WTO Director-General Mike Moore on how to fund TA activities.

In his proposal, Moore suggested two financing tracks, namely CHF 2.8 million for the WTO Training Institute (formerly Trade Policy Courses) paid from the regular WTO budget, and what Moore called the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund — envisaged to amount to CHF 15 million for 2002 — financed through voluntary (bilateral) contributions. In addition, monitoring mechanisms would be implemented to see that sufficient funds are available on a timely, predictable and longer-term basis. Members also discussed holding a ‘pledging conference’ at the beginning of next year where interested donors could get together to formally pledge their contributions in order to ensure early on that sufficient funds would be available throughout the year.

Some Members have expressed concerns regarding the Fund proposed by Moore, arguing that the provision of adequate funds could only be ensured when paid from the regular budget since bilateral donations are often only supplied for a limited time and frequently come with restrictions on what the money can be used for. Also, if TA activities were financed from the regular budget, all Members would be required to contribute to the Fund according to their share of international trade. Bilateral donations, in contrast, are likely to result in the same countries again having to foot the majority of the bill.

As mandated by para. 40 of the Ministerial Declaration, the Committee is required to develop a plan for adoption by the General Council in December 2001 "that will ensure long-term funding for WTO technical assistance". The Committee will continue to meet formally and informally until this year’s last meeting of the General Council, scheduled for 19 December, where the plan is expected to be adopted along with the budget for 2002.

In related news…

Inter-agency meeting on technical assistance and capacity building

Director-General Mike Moore convened a meeting on 23 November with representatives of the IMF, the World Bank, UNCTAD, and the International Trade Centre to discuss inter-agency cooperation in light of the commitments on technical assistance and capacity building emerging from the Doha Ministerial. Representatives agreed to explore an appropriate mechanism for ensuring a proper coordination of efforts - - a mechanism that would be as simple and automatic as possible, the WTO said. In addition, work will be done to compile systematic information on the sources of technical assistance and details of programmes being carried out.

ICTSD Internal Files.