The theme of the Fifth Global Review of Aid for Trade, held from 30 June to 2 July 2015, was “Reducing Trade Costs for Inclusive, Sustainable Growth”.

Discussions focused on the implications of trade costs for developing countries, and in particular least developed countries, and analysed actions already undertaken by developing countries, regional communities and their development partners to reduce trade costs. The Review also surveyed the extent of the challenge remaining, and how it could be addressed in the context of the proposed UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The debate was informed by a series of publications that discussed the results of a global extensive monitoring and evaluation exercise, notably the flagship joint OECD-WTO publication “Aid for Trade at a Glance 2015: Reducing Trade Costs for Inclusive, sustainable Growth” which, for the first time, was prepared in collaboration with the Enhanced Integrated Framework, the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank Group, and the World Economic Forum. This publication brings together summary reports of the Plenary Sessions and Side Events held during the Fifth Global Review event.

Foreword by the Director-General

We have come a long way since the Aid-for-Trade Initiative was launched ten years ago in 2005. During this period the Initiative has gained an enhanced global profile and has helped push the aid for trade envelope from around US$25 billion in the period 2002-05 to over US$55 billion in 2013. Successive biennial Global Reviews of Aid for Trade have established this forum as a high-level multilateral dialogue on not just aid for trade, but also on a range of key trade and development issues. Global Reviews provide a platform to examine how developing, and in particular least developed countries (LDCs), are better able to utilize market access opportunities through targeted aid for trade; how this is assisting their integration into the global economy; how development partners are helping in this process; and above all the effectiveness of this support.

The Fifth Global Review of Aid for Trade, held on 30 June – 2 July 2015, was timely. Not only does 2015 mark the tenth anniversary of the Initiative and the twentieth anniversary of the WTO, it is also a landmark year for the global development community. The Global Review sent a powerful message of the central importance of trade and the multilateral rules based system in the context of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

A clear theme throughout the discussions at the Review was that trade costs matter. High trade costs act as a barrier on the integration of developing countries into regional and global value chains, and thereby into the global economy. The sessions at the Review showed that this is especially true for LDCs, landlocked developing countries and geographically remote, small economies. All these countries are particularly weighed down by heavy trade costs.

Action to reduce trade costs will help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, and the implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) will be an important step in this direction. The experiences of many in supporting and enacting border reforms were shared during the Global Review – with new initiatives being outlined. Light was shed on where to find support for TFA implementation, particularly as regards the TFA Facility that began operation in 2014. The Enhanced Integrated Framework also launched Phase 2 of its programme to support LDCs during the Review.

Over 1,500 participants registered for this year’s Global Review, providing rich contributions to a total of 18 plenary sessions and 28 side events. We were delighted by the high level of participation, including heads of many multilateral and regional development institutions and ministers from developed and developing countries, across all three days of the event.

This publication provides a summary of the discussions of the Fifth Global Review. I hope it will contribute further to reaffirming the Aid-for-Trade Initiative as an integral component of trade-led economic growth and development – a component which will only become more important as work to deliver the global Sustainable Development Goals gets underway.