• Aid for trade

Aid for trade

This paper gives a detailed overview of the financial structure of the Aid for Trade initiative. The paper points out that as yet, there is still no clear definition of what is meant by Aid for Trade.

The first part of the paper is a detailed analysis of the potential meanings of Aid for Trade. This is explored from the viewpoint of how these meanings would be useful from a trade perspective. The meanings are looked at from broad levels as well as from more focused, narrow definitions. This section goes further by examining some of the general principles for aid that should be taken into account.

The second section of the paper is an analysis of several funds created in recent years. These are analysed for their advantages and disadvantages, and to explore whether the funds or the experience derived from it can be applied to designing the architecture for Aid for Trade. The programmes in this section include funds that are multilateral, bilateral, general, specific, trade or non-trade related. These include:

• integrated framework
• WTO technical assistance
• International Trade Centre
• the IMF’s Trade Integration Mechanism
• Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative
• the Montreal Protocol Fund
• the Global Fund to fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
• the EU Special Framework for Assistance for Bananas
• Millennium Challenge Account.

The third section of this paper looks at the increases in aid commitments, and of designation for trade within them that have been recorded in the last year, and the final part of this paper analyses what any Aid for Trade package must include. This section takes into account the different types of need identified the different timing of needs, as well as the different principles that tend to guide the aid and trade discourses. [adapted from author]

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