Called Aid for Trade, the World Trade Organisation (WTO)-backed initiative "is about investing in developing countries so they can use trade as an engine for growth, development and poverty reduction," says WTO director-general Pascal Lamy.

He adds: "It aims to help them build the supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure they need to be able to implement and benefit from WTO Agreements and, more broadly, to expand their trade."

By trade-related infrastructure, Lamy means roads, bridges, ports, indeed any facility which can enhance a developing country's capacity to reap greater benefits from trade. Aid for Trade actually responds to complaints by many developing countries about their inability to capitalise on international trade opportunities because of a lack of key infrastructure.

Edwin Laurent, head of international trade in the Commonwealth Secretariat's Economics Division, is currently undertaking research to ensure the initiative focuses on meaningfully addressing the needs of developing countries. Aid for Trade, he says, represents a hand-up, not a hand-out. A former Brussels-based Ambassador of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Laurent was actively involved in trade issues during his tour of duty.

Boost exports

He agrees developing countries require more than improved market access to boost exports. Because of the absence of key infrastructure, he says many developing countries faced challenges exporting because they were unable, first of all, to produce products competitively for sale on their own domestic market.

As for the Caribbean, he says the region has not been doing particularly well in the trade of goods and faces the challenge of having to open its markets to meet trade liberalisation obligations.

Laurent's comments were made on Caribbean Tradebeat, a radio programme produced by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) with funding support from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB). The weekly programme is broadcast on radio stations around the region.

Laurent explains how he got involved in the research project. "What we realised was that the debate on Aid for Trade was very narrow. It was not sufficiently oriented to the needs of the developing countries themselves so we thought that what one should do, is try to refocus the debate and put the developing countries themselves in the driving seat."

Thinking behind initiative

"Initially, the thought was that it should just have been the least developed countries which should benefit from Aid for Trade. Out of the work which has been done, there is a [recognition] that many countries including the Caribbean which are considered so-called middle income countries, too require support under Aid for Trade," he adds.

Explaining the thinking behind the initiative, Laurent says where a country can trade satisfactorily on its own, the idea is to provide the necessary support to "bring it up to scratch" and make its products more competitive.

In cases where a country is not producing, emphasis will be on building up its capacity to produce. "In order to give them that capacity they should be aided, provided with funds and support which will address all of the various impediments and constraints that they face," he says.

Barbados was represented on a WTO-appointed task force which explored how Aid for Trade can be implemented. The task force, chaired by Swedish economist and diplomat Mia Horn, submitted its recommendations in July 2006. (CRNM)