ITC and partners @ Aid for Trade Global Review 2022
Against the backdrop of COVID-19, conflict and climate crisis, this year’s Aid for Trade Global Review at the World Trade Organization (WTO) discussed the role of Aid for Trade in supporting women's economic empowerment, digital connectivity and environmentally sustainable trade to ensure sustainable development outcomes.
From 27-29 July 2022, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and partners shared concrete examples of the kind of support that works and is needed for developing and least developed countries to derive maximum benefit from trade.
‘Aid for Trade is about making trade happen. What we do needs to translate into helping people’, said Pamela Coke-Hamilton. She called for support for small businesses, especially women and young entrepreneurs, in participating in digital trade and greening their business. ITC’s contribution to the official Aid for Trade Global Review publication focuses on ‘Going GreenToCompete’ (page 75).
With partners, ITC brought the needs of small business to sessions throughout the Aid for Trade Global Review programme:
Tuesday, 26 July
13:30-15:00 - Aid for Trade at Times of War - the case of Ukraine
Organizer: European Union
Wednesday, 27 July
09:00-10:15 - Opening Plenary
Organizer: WTO
10:00-11:00 - Coffee Tasting at the WTO Atrium
Organizer: ITC
10:30-11:30 - Enhancing digital trade through ICT skills training and job creation in LDCs
Organizers: Japan/ITC
12:30-13:45 - Creating an enabling environment to increase women’s participation in trade
Organizers: United Kingdom/World Bank Group/ITC
15:15-16:30 – WTO Accessions: Coordinated technical assistance delivery for full integration in the multilateral trading system – Launch of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on WTO Accession-related Technical Assistance
Organizer: WTO
17:30-19:00 - Partners Conference to support development assistance for cotton production, processing, transformation and trade in LDCs
Organizers: ITC/UNCTAD/WTO
Details
Followed by the signing of the Call for Action with WTO, UNCTAD, the C4 countries and other partners
Thursday, 28 July
09:00-10:15 - Plenary: Sustainable Aid for Trade
Organizer: WTO
Watch the session here
10:00-11:00 - Coffee Tasting in the WTO Atrium
Organizer: ITC
10:30-11:30 – Enabling LDCs to implement the future Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement
Organizers: Lao PDR/ITC
11:30-12:30 - Greening of Aid for Trade as an opportunity for competitiveness
Organizers: European Union, ITC, Rwanda
15:15-16:30 - Virtual: Improving digital connectivity for trade: the challenge and opportunities for MSMEs
Organizers: ITC and USAID Alliance for eTrade Development
17:30-19:00 - AfCFTA and the fundamentals for a new development pathway for Africa
Organizer: UNDP
Details
Related reading: A World in Crisis Needs Both Trade and Aid – An opinion piece by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, UN Conference on Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan, and International Trade Centre Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton
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