Trade monitoring

The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards, create jobs and improve people’s lives. The WTO operates the global system of trade rules and helps developing economies build their trade capacity. It also provides a forum for its members to negotiate trade agreements and to resolve the trade problems they face with each other.

Simple, fundamental principles form the foundations of the multilateral trading system. These principles have lain at the core of all WTO activities since its creation in 1995.

The WTO operates the global system of trade rules, guaranteeing WTO member governments important trade rights.

This publication was prepared by Visvanathan Subramaniam (Economic Affairs Officer, WTO) and Michael Roberts (Head of the Aid for Trade Unit of the Development Division, WTO), under the supervision of Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang and Taufiqur Rahman, Director of the Development Division. The publication was edited and reviewed by Anthony Martin and Helen Swain of the Information and External Relations Division.

The Aid for Trade initiative, led by the WTO, grew out of the 2005 WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. Its aim is to help developing economies integrate into world trade by mobilizing additional development support to address supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure constraints in these economies. In 2006, the Task Force on Aid for Trade was constituted by the WTO Director-General to report to the General Council with recommen Read More

Energy generation infrastructure has long been identified by Aid for Trade stakeholders as requiring additional, predictable and sustainable financing to enable developing economies and LDCs to participate more fully in international trade. The energy sector is one of the largest recipients of Aid for Trade support, accounting for nearly 25 per cent of all disbursements (US$ 116 billion) over the 2010-21 period.

Located in the Horn of Africa, Djibouti is a least developed country (LDC) and has been classified by the World Bank as a lower-middle-income country. It had a gross national income per capita of USD 5,610 in 2020. Its geographical location, port infrastructure and political stability make it a major maritime hub and have prompted several countries to establish military bases there. Revenue from the bases and from port activities has fostered the emergence o Read More