Trade Programme

Areas of focus - Operationalising the aid for trade initiative

Picking tea in a large tea field, Kenya	Flickr	daveblume	http://www.flickr.com/photos/kioko/3065124552/in/photostream/There is a growing consensus that the integration of developing countries into the world trading system will require the elimination of tariff (and non-tariff) barriers, among other things. There is also a recognition that some changes in the international trading system have significant costs for some developing countries, and that normal aid programmes have been unable to deal with these.

In December 2005, the World Trade Organization pledged to encourage a new initiative on Aid for Trade in its Ministerial Declaration in Hong Kong. This explicit recognition of a WTO interest in, and responsibility for, aid has raised high expectations, but there is still little agreement on how to oprationalise the Aid for Trade initiative, what resources it could offer, for what purposes and what impact it could have.

Trade Programme research tries to address these questions through a number of different research projects.

ODI research papers

Aid for Trade: a poverty escape route
ODI Blog Posts, July 2009
Aid for Trade in Small and Vulnerable Economies
Briefing paper - Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics 59, May 2009
Quantifying Aid for Trade: A Case Study of Tanzania
Report - Commonwealth Secretariat Economic Papers 82, November 2008
The effectiveness of Aid for Trade: some empirical evidence
Briefing paper - Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics 50, August 2008
Aid for Trade
Video blog - Brussels Development Briefings video channel, December 2007
Aid for Trade: one year on
Background paper, October 2007
Aid for Trade in Africa
Report, May 2007
The potential impact of the Aid for Trade initiative
Working paper - G-24 Discussion Paper Series 45, April 2007
Aid for Trade: a New Issue in the WTO
Background paper - Negotiation Advisory Brief 16, January 2007
Scale and Types of Funds for Aid for Trade
Background paper - Negotiation Advisory Brief 15, January 2007
Regional Aid for Trade
Background paper - Negotiation Advisory Brief 12, January 2007
Financing International Public Goods: A Framework to Address Aid for Trade
Background paper - Negotiation Advisory Brief 14, November 2006
Special and Differential Treatment of Developing Countries in the World Trade Organization
Report - Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Global Development Studies 2, February 2005

Key events and workshops

Keep your promises on Aid for Trade
Seminar - 03 December 2007

Aid for Trade resource library >

As part of this research, we have identified reports and policy documents that are relevant to the current discussions on Aid for Trade, and created an indexed database to inform the current policy debate. Funding for the compilation of this database has come from ILEAP.