“The focus on development in the current round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations has placed the issue of trade-related capacity building and technical assistance at the forefront of discussions under the Doha Agenda. This report is aimed at considering the approach of southern and eastern Africa to aid for trade and ways in which the region can best capitalise on developments in the WTO and other multilateral forums. The first section provides a brief background to the aid for trade debate. It is followed by detailed consideration of the work of the WTO Aid for Trade Task Force, including the role played to date by the African Group. Discussions in the context of the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least-Developed Countries (IF), as well as at the World Bank and IMF, are the focus of section IV, Given the current importance of the economic partnership agreement (EPA)
negotiations under way between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, section V looks at aid for trade in this context, as well as that of the free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the United States. The report concludes by providing some recommendations on how the region can best address the implications of the aid for trade debate in the various forums.”
