OECD PRACTITIONERS FORUM: MAKING THE MOST OF AID FOR TRADE 20 September 2007 – Manila, Philippines The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is working to make Aid for Trade more effective. In that context, it is collaborating with the WTO in setting up a monitoring framework for aid-for-trade. This OECD forum aims at ensuring that developing countries take full advantage of the aid-for-trade initiative and in particular the WTO-led monitoring framework. The forum will include a discussion on the objectives and process of the monitoring framework and a special session dedicated to the use of the WTO-OECD recipient questionnaires as a reporting template for the WTO Global Aid for Trade Reviews. A second session will target implementation issues and aims at developing a regional dialogue on how to address the most common trade development challenges through aid-for-trade. The OECD Practitioners Forum has been designed to promote an open dialogue among all participants. They should include government officials from the ministries of finance, trade and planning/development with responsibilities ranging from trade performance, the design and implementation of aid-for-trade programmes to reporting to the WTO monitoring framework. The Forum is open to all participants of the “Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Asia and the Pacific” meeting. Further information and background documents are available at http://www.oecd.org/dac/trade/aft/events.   Draft agenda 14:30-14:45 Welcome and opening remarks by the chair : Mr. Stefan Tangermann, Director for Trade and Agriculture, OECD 14:45-15:45 Session 1: MONITORING AID-FOR-TRADE: WHY AND HOW? Moderator: John Hancock (WTO) Lead speaker: Mr. Masato Hayashikawa, DAC/OECD Lead speaker: Dr. B.M.N. Batagoda, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka The objective of this session is to set out the aid-for-trade monitoring framework, including the pivotal role of the WTO annual review, and its potential for providing more and better aid-for-trade. The OECD will present the objectives and the process of the WTO-led monitoring framework. The country expert will highlight the main lessons learned from monitoring the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. 15:45-16:00 Break 16:00-18:00 Session 2: WHAT TO REPORT TO THE WTO AID FOR TRADE REVIEW? Lead speakers: H.E. Mr. Sorasak Pan (Cambodia), Philippines (tbc), Viet Nam (tbc) Commentator: Mr. Sultan M. Ahmatov, Ministry of Economy and Trade, Kyrgyz Rep. Moderator: Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, ADB The objective of this session is to discuss the use of the partner country questionnaire, which has been developed to assist with the ‘in-country assessments’ of aid-for-trade, and has been sent to all relevant WTO member governments. The questionnaire aims to uncover a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data to provide information on resources and policy formulation, on performance and on aid delivery processes. These assessments can be presented at the first Annual WTO Global Aid for Trade Review on 20-21 November 2007. Two or three developing countries from the region will have been asked to pilot the questionnaire. These case studies will provide useful experiences for participants and key recommendations on what and how to report to the WTO Aid for Trade review. 16:00-18:00 Session 3: FROM NEEDS DIAGNOSTICS TO RESULTS: ADDRESSING IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES Moderator : Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh Lead speaker : Mr. Siphana Sok, International Trade Centre, Geneva All participants are invited to intervene. The objective of this session is to identify existing knowledge gaps and institutional constraints, as well as solutions and a plan of action for improvement, building on all the lessons emerging from the main Mobilizing Aid for Trade event. All participants are invited to discuss:    • How to use the various diagnostic tools currently under development to identify priorities;    • How to develop operational plans for addressing binding constraints to trade development;    • How to ensure ODA is effectively used. The following background information will be provided    • A fact-sheet with selected data on regional trade performance;    • An overview of aid-for-trade flows and instruments; and    • A summary of available information on best practices in aid-for-trade. 18:00-18:30 CONCLUDING SESSION    • Reporting on the workshops by the moderators    • Conclusions by the chair of the practitioners’ forum