Multi-national Trade Agreements (Hansard, 29 February 2000)

§ Mr. Browne
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to help build the capacity of developing countries to allow them(a) to take advantage of, (b) to understand and (c) to comply with multi-national trade agreements. [111518]

§ Clare Short
My Department is working bilaterally and with a wide range of other organisations, to help build the capacity of developing countries to participate more effectively in the WTO. To date, the UK has committed over £15 million to capacity building programmes of this type and a full list of activities has been placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
Helping developing countries better understand the WTO is the first step. This is a principal objective for the technical assistance programmes of the WTO, ITC and UNCTAD, all of which are supported by the UK through substantial financial contributions. Commonwealth developing countries are also benefiting from technical assistance of this type through the Trade and Investment Access Facility, to which the UK is a principal donor.
Assisting developing countries comply with their obligations and take advantage of their rights/ opportunities in the WTO is a longer term process. In this regard, the UK is supporting bilateral technical assistance programmes in Bangladesh, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. A focus of such technical assistance is often 212W implementation of the WTO Agreements relating to trade remedies, where developing countries need help to utilise WTO-sanctioned instruments. In addition, the UK is a founder member and substantial donor of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law which enables developing countries to take better advantage of the WTO' s Dispute Settlement process.
The UK has been very active in calling for the World Bank to give practical effect to its commitments to mainstream trade into its Comprehensive Development Framework for developing countries. We believe that the World Bank has a key role to play in enhancing developing countries' capacity to implement trade agreements and in expanding their trade capacity.

§ Mr. Browne
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to help build the capacity of developing countries to take part in multi-national trade talks. [111434]

§ Clare Short
We are working bilaterally and with a wide range of other organisations, including United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank, ITC and the Commonwealth Secretariat, to help build the capacity of developing countries to participate in multi-national trade talks in the WTO and in the context of the EU-ACP post-Lome arrangements. To date, the UK has committed over £15 million to trade-related capacity building programmes of this type and a full list of activities has been placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
More specifically, the UK is supporting bilateral technical assistance programmes in Bangladesh (£0.56 million), Malawi (£0.25 million), South Africa (£0.1 million), Zimbabwe (£0.5 million) and the 14 CARICOM countries in the Caribbean (£1.1 million). A project in Pakistan is currently under review and a new project in Ghana is being finalised. This technical assistance comprises expert technical advice, training, trade policy studies and negotiating skills and is typically provided to a broad base of stakeholders from national governments, the private sector and civil society organisations who are involved in trade policy negotiations.
At the multilateral level, developing countries' participation in the WTO negotiations is being particularly supported by a major World Bank Trade Policy Development Programme (TPDP), to which the UK has committed £3 million. TPDP comprises trade policy research and analytical studies; seminars on key issues for the WTO negotiations; training for trade policy officials; and a handbook for trade negotiators from developing countries.
In addition, Commonwealth developing countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are benefiting from the Commonwealth Trade and Investment Access Facility (TIAF), to which the UK has committed £1.4 million. TIAF' s technical assistance projects including full-time specialist WTO and Trade Policy Advisers based in Geneva and in the Pacific, who played a key role in helping Commonwealth developing countries prepare for, and participate in, the WTO Seattle Ministerial meeting.