The Aid for Trade is a multilateral initiative to assist developing countries, especially low-income countries, integrate into the world economy as a way to spur growth. Launched formally in 2005 at the Hong Kong Ministerial of the WTO, the initiative was designed to help developing countries take advantage of market openings by overcoming obstacles hampering trade - poor infrastructure, trade-stifling regulations, and policy disincentives - as well as finance domestic adjustment to any new liberalization. The The Aid for Trade Program of the World Bank Group (WBG) is multifaceted, encompassing concessional lending to low income countries and non-concessional lending to middle-income countries for trade-related projects, investments by the World Bank’s private sector arm - the International Finance Corporation (IFC) -in private sector activities such as trade finance, as well as policy advice and technical assistance embodied in studies such as Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS) undertaken in the context of the Integrated Framework for Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries. At present, the WBG is in the process of consultations with all stakeholders to prepare a new trade sector strategy which is intended to further enhance the responsiveness of  the WBG‘s trade programs to the needs of developing countries.

For further information on World Bank Group’s Aid for Trade activities, please consult the following:

Last updated on Jan 4, 2011