Creating Fertile Ground

Increasingly, partner countries are taking the necessary steps to participate fully in the Aid-for- Trade Initiative as evidenced by a number of positive developments. Almost all partner countries indicate that they have a national development strategy and the majority are also mainstreaming trade based on well-developed trade-related priorities. Although independent surveys raise questions about this positive assessment, it is, nevertheless, a clear indication of the growing awareness among partner countries that trade can play a positive role in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. Partner countries tend to identify similar aid-for-trade priorities: network infrastructure competitiveness export diversification and trade policy analysis, negotiation and implementation. The majority have operational strategies and many others are in the process of elaborating them. Nearly all partner countries discuss their traderelated financing needs with donors, through a combination of different approaches, including bilateral, regional and multilateral. However, partner countries face challenges in confirming the CRS approximation of their aid-for-trade flows in the majority of cases, they were unable to compare the CRS proxies with their own data.

Aid for Trade at a Glance 2009: Maintaining Momentum

Creating Fertile Ground

Progress in Partner Country Engagement