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.
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Authors: Kate Bird
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This blog reviews progress on Aid for Trade (AfT).
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Authors: Kate Bird
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This paper, based on speaking notes for Second Global Aid for Trade Review, 6-7 July 2009, focuses on the internal impediments to developing countries taking advantage of international trade. Aid for Trade therefore must take into acount domestic divides, This paper uses three examples from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Lesotho.
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 Download
(PDF, 123kb)
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Authors: Massimiliano Calì and Dirk Willem te Velde
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This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics focuses on a specific group of developing countries – small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) – which has largely been neglected in the AfT debate, despite the special challenges these countries faced in their integration into the global economy.
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Published by Commonwealth Secretariat.
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Download from www.thecommonwealth.org
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Authors: Liz Turner
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This Economic Paper explains what Aid for Trade is, and how definitions have evolved over time. Using Tanzania as a case study it shows how different definitions lead to different estimates of the amount of Aid for Trade being delivered, and suggests an alternative simple and practical methodology for recipient countries to classify and quantify it.
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Price: £15 + shipping
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Published by ODI.
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Authors: Sheila Page
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Speaking in the first panel at the Brussels Development Briefing on Aid for Trade, Sheila Page, ODI, describe the AFT agenda as result of a "bargaining process" in the framework of the Doha round.
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A series of WTO meetings on Aid for Trade later this year will determine whether and in what form the Aid for Trade initiative will survive.
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Published by ODI.
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 Full summary
Download
(PDF, 37kb)
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.
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Related links
On the ODI website
On the internet
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Publications / resources
Events & workshops
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from publications.thecommonwealth.org
