• Aid for trade

Aid for trade

This paper provides a detailed overview of the debate on Aid for Trade. It focuses mainly on issues of operational modalities. The paper asserts that Aid for Trade (AFT) is a relatively new feature on the agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an for debate and as a complement to various market access elements of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations. As a result, there are many aspects of the Aid for Trade initiative are neither fully known nor fully accepted by all stakeholders. The paper also looks at some of the preliminary issues of the AFT.

Section two of this paper analyses the problems and ensuing objectives that the AFT seeks to address. The third section of the paper explores whether or not the AFT should be composed of a single or multiple funds. This is in light of the fact that the problems and objectives that the AFT seeks to address are multiple. Moreover, there is a wide variety of sources and beneficiaries of the funds.

The paper concludes with a caution to African countries to be wary of accepting promises of aid in exchange for a DDA outcome that may be incompatible with their own development priorities. The paper also warns that it is imperative to ensure that the offer of trade-related assistance to eliminate supply response capacity constraints is de-linked from the pressure for trade liberalisation. In addition, because trade liberalisation tends to yield greater dividends when it follows the build-up of effective supply response capacity, African countries must bear this in mind in developing their perspectives on AFT. [adapted from author]

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