On The Construction Of Aid For Trade Mechanism In WTO

Aid for trade launched by Hong Kong Declaration adopted in Ministerial Conference Sixth Session is aimed to help developing countries getting over their binding constraints to trade expansion and trade liberalization. Because of the important role of the trade expansion and trade liberalization on economic growth, aid for trade can be a mean of improving development and poverty reduction. The necessity of aid for trade can not only be evidenced in theory, but also by its actual effect. When we emphasize the importance of aid for trade on the one hand, we must recognize the imperfection reflected from the process of implementing this initiative on the other hand. It is necessary to establish the mechanism of aid for trade in WTO system to improve the mechanism of aid on trade constraints of developing countries. Aid for trade requires developed countries and international organizations provide trade related aid to the developing countries, and aid for trade must be a developmental dimension of WTO. Aid for trade should be guided by the three principles, which are the principle of international cooperation, the principle of additionality and the principle of effectiveness. The donors and the recipients should establish enforcement body for the purpose of aid for trade and cooperated with each other in the various aspects to enhance the effectiveness of aid for trade. South-south cooperation is a kind of the development cooperation between developing countries, it is a complement, not a part of aid for trade. This initiative has its own intrinsic imperfection and we should restructure the monitoring mechanism of aid for trade on the basis of analysis and critique of the existing one.