The Aid for Trade Debate in WTO
Source: Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean
One of the central aims of the accelerated negotiation process of the Doha round, which is currently taking place in WTO, is to tackle the development dimension of the multilateral trading system. Few results have been achieved in relation to this objective, however, since the beginning of these negotiations at the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference held in Doha at the end of 2001. In this context a new element, or possibly a new approach, has been introduced into the debate and was included in the final declaration of the Sixth Ministerial Conference held in Hong Kong at the end of 2005 (ECLAC, 2006a).This declaration added to the work of this Round a greater commitment to Aid for Trade, which is intended to help developing countries, particularly the least developed countries (LDCs), to build or develop the capacities that will assist them to implement and benefit from WTO agreements.
Aid is not a substitute for other aspects of the development dimension covered by the present Round and in particular for greater market access opportunities for developing countries’ exports. This issue is of great interest to the Latin American and Caribbean countries, since they are all developing nations (Haiti alone is in the LDC category), and their trade, economic and social performance has lagged behind that of other economies at a similar level of development.
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