Facilitate Trade for Development: Aid for Trade

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core calls to “increase aid-for-trade support for developing countries, in particular least developed countries”. This echoes the aid-for-trade reference in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. This paper discusses how aid for trade already contributes to the SDGs after highlighting the achievements of the Aid for Trade Initiative. This is followed by a section analysing the continued importance of aid in financing development, particularly in the least developed countries. Next, the role of the private sector in aid for trade is presented as an example of how to improve partnerships for development. Finally, the paper draws on lessons from the monitoring of aid for trade for the SDGs and the need, but also difficulty in making the process truly country driven. The paper concludes by stressing that aid for trade – ten years after its creation at the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference – is more than ever relevant in helping developing countries make trade a tool for prosperity.