To support the WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations the World Bank launched a Trade Facilitation Negotiations Support Project in February 2005. The project is designed to assist members who have limited resources in Geneva to establish practical support mechanisms in their capitals to provide Geneva-based negotiators with real time analysis and advice on the content and cost implications of proposals that have been tabled in Geneva. The project has to date incorporated several components:
 Component I
  | Component I involved the development and distribution of a Trade Facilitation Negotiation Support Guide to assist Members to establish appropriate support mechanisms in their capitals | |
| | Component II consisted of a series of national pilot workshops designed to promote the use of the Bank’s Guide and to demonstrate the usefulness of capital-based support groups to Geneva-based negotiators. Pilot workshops have to date been conducted in Jamaica, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Benin and Peru and results achieved have been shared with all WTO Members. | | | While the value of the work undertaken by the Bank has been acknowledged by WTO Members and has made a positive contribution to the quality of the negotiation process, negotiators continue to be hampered by concerns about the potential costs associated with implementation of any new and binding commitments that might flow from a new Trade Facilitation Agreement. It was clear that many developing country and LDC members would be reluctant to agree to proposals until such time as they had a clearer understanding of the cost implications and, where necessary, the likelihood of appropriate technical assistance and capacity building support being made available by donors. | |
| | Component III was designed in response to members' concerns to establish some indicative data on the potential costs and implementation issues that are likely to face developing and LDC Members if and when a new Trade Facilitation Agreement is concluded. Given the specific references to the provision of appropriate technical assistance and capacity building support contained in Annex D of the WTO Council Decision, the project was also designed to inform the donor community about the potential resource and support requirements they are likely to face in the future. | | | The study took the form of six in-country case studies. Countries were chosen on the basis of objective criteria and included countries from each of the World Bank’s regions and at different stages of development. A team of experienced Customs and trade facilitation specialists visited each of the six countries to conduct a detailed assessment to determine any gaps between current systems and procedures and the systems and procedures currently under negotiation in the WTO negotiations. A comprehensive report was presented to WTO members in December 2006. | | | While the report provided detailed data for only six countries the information assisted to inform all WTO Members of the approximate costs involved and provided some broad ‘order of magnitude’ information that is likely to lead to a greater sense of confidence that the costs associated with a new agreement are not beyond the means of many countries. | |
| | Component IV involves the development of a self assessment tool that WTO members can use to determine their own needs and priorities for TA. The tool was piloted in Zambia in February 2007 and will now be used as the basis for a series of national and regional workshops to be conducted by the WTO Secretariat. The tool has been distributed as a WTO document in May 2007. (See WTO Doc. TN/TF/W143). | |
All Bank activities were planned and conducted in partnership with other Annex D organizations. |
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