Governments endorse ITC's trade capacity-building
strategy
Frank and open discussions about ITC's strategies, programmes
and future directions took place among donors, beneficiary
countries and a range of international organizations, all of which
work in partnership with ITC to build trade capacities in
developing and transition economies.
Governments applauded both ITC's strategy and recent track
record, outlined during the meeting by Executive Director, J. Denis
Bélisle. ITC's technical assistance is designed to help countries
benefit from the world trading system. Programmes address the five
areas where assistance is most needed: mastering the business
implications of the multilateral trading system; developing
national export strategies; reinforcing trade support institutions;
building enterprise competitiveness; and improving sectoral trade
performance.
To implement this strategy, Mr. Bélisle highlighted ITC's
comparative advantages in delivering technical assistance: a
36-year track record of field-based, trade development experience;
major re-tooling of ITC's products and services, based on three
years of applied research; and an innovative, participatory
approach that delivers maximum outreach and builds capacity in a
cost-effective manner.
Practical business solutions
ITC profiled two of its many practical business development
solutions during an informal session at the meeting, which was also
open to journalists, and attracted press coverage in a range of
business newspapers, magazines and wire services.
The three-year Gourmet Coffee project, launched in 1997, helped
pilot countries - Brazil, Burundi, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea and
Uganda - to develop high-quality gourmet coffees in demand by
coffee houses in the United States, Europe and Japan. As part of
the project, ITC also co-organized the world's first Internet
coffee auction, generating top prices and interest from bidders
around the world.
ITC's South-South Trade Promotion programme outlined the scope
for greater intra-regional trade, and the potential for
business-to-business regional cooperation that makes firms more
competitive in global markets. For example, regionally-based
companies reported US$ 200 million dollars of export orders at
recent ITC buyers-sellers meetings in the Arab region.
Information technologies, a recurrent meeting
theme
A recurrent theme was ITC's use of information technologies in
delivering its products and services. Several asked how the
electronic coffee auction model could be extended to other
countries and commodities. Some announced that they plan to
contribute to ITC's next Executive Forum (September 2000), which
will explore the impact of the digital economy on trade
development. A new distance-learning partnership with the World
Bank Distance Learning Institute elicited interest. Business round
tables to develop the use and export of information technologies in
Eastern Europe also attracted attention.
Effective partnerships
Many representatives of developing countries, from all regions,
testified to ITC's useful and concrete contribution in supporting
trade expansion, and lauded ITC for its broad range of pragmatic
programmes and services and its shared ownership approach. Both
beneficiaries and donors, however, highlighted the need for greater
funding of ITC's programmes.
Participants expressed support for the partnership-oriented
approach of the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme in
Selected Least-Developed and Other African Countries (JITAP) of
ITC, UNCTAD and WTO, as well as the Integrated Framework for
Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries
(IF), carried out by six international organizations, including
ITC.
A series of organizations are interested in joining forces with
ITC. For example, ITC announced a Memorandum of Understanding with
the United States Agency for International Development for regional
trade capacity-building projects in Asia and the Middle East. The
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific and the International Coffee Association are also
discussing Memoranda of Understanding with ITC to formalize and
strengthen ties.
Voluntary contributions announced
Several Governments announced contributions to ITC: Canada,
China, Denmark, France, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway,
Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
The meeting - led by the Chair, Ambassador S. Avila Siefert of
Bolivia; Vice-Chairs, Mr. Y. Afanassiev, Russian Federation, and
Mr. Eberhard von Schubert, Germany; and Mr. Yousaf Junaid of
Pakistan, Rapporteur - highlighted innovative partnerships and new
technologies as means to build capacities for trade in developing
and transition economies.
For more information, contact Elaine Bisson, External Relations
Officer, at bisson@intracen.org