ITC received unprecedented support from donors and beneficiaries
at its annual meeting, the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) on the
International Trade Centre (Geneva, 28 April to 2 May 2003). Over
50 interventions - a record number - were made at the meeting. The
speakers ranged from the Group of 77 + China, to the African Union,
to Benin (representing least developed countries) and a wide
selection of both donor and beneficiary countries.
Partnership and complementarity
Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, emphasized the
importance of continued close and complementary collaboration
between ITC, UNCTAD and WTO. Given ITC's commitment to improve the
competitiveness of the SME sector in developing and transition
economies, he expected ITC to play an important role in the run-up
to UNCTAD XI, of which a central theme is enhancing
competitiveness. Mr. Ricupero noted that UNCTAD and WTO had worked
effectively in setting up an autonomous, independent ITC, and that
both organizations were very proud of ITC and its achievements.
"ITC is the embodiment of cooperation," he said.
Deputy Director-General Kipkorir Aly Azad Rana of WTO commended
ITC for its good work in consolidating public-private sector
networks in developing countries and in focusing its activities on
the realization of the Doha Development Agenda. He encouraged ITC
in its extensive efforts to ensure that the business community
understands the business implications of the multilateral trading
system. ITC has an important role to play in assisting countries to
diversify their production base and exports and overcome domestic
supply-side constraints. This will enable them to make further use
of increased market access opportunities that are being negotiated
as part of this round of trade talks.
Both acclaimed ITC's recent trade development accomplishments,
as well as its 21% increase in delivery in 2002. "By any standard,
ITC had an exceptional year," noted J. Denis Bélisle, ITC's
Executive Director.
Trade development vision
Mr. Bélisle took the occasion to outline his vision for the
organization's future development, as he begins his fourth
three-year term as Executive Director of ITC in June. "We are a
niche player in trade-related technical assistance, with a specific
and well-defined role to play. Our key assets are our specialized
expertise, our breadth of experience in the developing world and
our network of partners. Our proposed strategy for growth rests
essentially on three principles. The first is to remain focused on
what we do best, but do it better, and do more of it: to expand our
partnerships and increase the number of countries to which we
provide assistance."
"We recognize that the business of trade-related technical
assistance is changing," he added. "ITC will combine forces with
other trade development organizations in order to maximize the
contribution of trade to socio-economic development; to build
capacities to participate effectively in trade negotiations and
take advantage of related commercial opportunities; to encourage
public-private sector partnerships in export strategy development;
and to contribute to building export competitiveness within the
business community."
ITC's second principle for growth is to continue to innovate in
technical assistance approaches and programmes in a manner
consistent with the new requirements. It proposes using innovation
and originality as two of the yardsticks to orientate future
performance. Yet, ITC does not propose to "go it alone". It will
seek to broaden its participation in multi-agency initiatives, such
as the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme for Africa
(JITAP) and the Integrated Framework (IF), and will forge new
alliances with other centres of excellence.
Mr. Bélisle concluded: "The third and last principle of ITC's
plan for growth - but by no means the least important - is to work
towards greater field-level impact, increasing enterprise
competitiveness and national capacity to service the export
community and ensuring that the export sector contributes to
employment generation and poverty-reduction.
"The bottom line is to become more targeted and assertive at
doing our job, and doing it in a cost-effective way."
Countries receiving ITC support endorsed its strategy for growth
and continued commitment to focusing technical assistance on the
competitiveness needs of Africa and least developed countries. They
also confirmed support to ITC's efforts in helping the business
community understand how they can benefit from the Doha Development
Agenda.
Voluntary contributions
Several governments announced voluntary contributions to ITC:
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, India, Ireland, Italy, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and
the United States of America. Kenya thanked donors on behalf of
recipient countries for their generous contributions. Mr. Bélisle
also thanked donors for their continuing support, and underlined
the positive effect of multi-year contributions on the programming
of ITC activities.
ITC's web site
(http://www.intracen.org/aboutitc/inbrief/main.htm) contains
ITC's Annual Report for 2002 in English, French, Spanish
and Russian. It also has the full report of the JAG meeting, the
Executive Director's opening statement, relevant press releases,
and fact sheets about programmes highlighted during the Informal
Session of the JAG.