Geneva, 11 July 2012

Since April 2011, the WCO is a Member of the Aid for Trade (AfT) Advisory Group. The AfT initiative aims to help developing countries, particularly least-developed countries, develop the trade-related skills and infrastructure that are needed to implement and benefit from trade agreements and to expand their trade. The AfT Advisory Group – as its name says – provides advice on the Work Programme and is composed of participants from UN and other International Organizations, Development Banks and Private Sector representatives.

Upon invitation from the WTO, the WCO – together with representatives of the EBRD, UNCTAD, World Bank, AfDB, OECD and the WTO - also participated in the latest meeting of the AfT Advisory Group in Geneva on 11 July 2012. The meeting served as platform for participants to exchange information on ongoing Trade Facilitation-related Capacity Building activities, as well as to start discussions on the preparations for the 4th Global Review on AfT scheduled for July 2013. Key topics for this Global Review will probably include “Value chains and private sector developments”, “AfT and regional trade integration” (as an example the Action Plan of the African Union on Boosting Intra-African Trade was mentioned) and “impact of AfT”. Further updates will be shared during the next AfT Advisory Group meeting scheduled to take place in November 2012.