WTO urges effective use of EIF

World Trade Organization (WTO), which initiated Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) to advance the trade of least developed countries by removing supply-side constraints, has warned that LDCs themselves were responsible to use the EIF to better address their weaknesses and utilize strengths.
Pascal Lamy, director general of the WTO, has asked LDCs to work themselves to fully utilize the EIF process.
“They have to use the EIF as a platform to solidify trade within their national development plans and priorities,” Lamy said in high level meeting in Doha, Qatar last week. He urged LDCs to leverage additional Aid for Trade (AfT) support to consolidate current efforts. Government of Nepal is also one of the recipients of the EIF facility.
The EIF is about placing trade as an engine of growth, poverty reduction and employment by creating a platform where demand and supply of trade-related assistance can be expressed and bridged. In Nepal, the Ministry of Commerce and Supply (MoCS) is implementing the EIF program. 30 out of the 46 EIF beneficiary countries have accessed for Tier 1 project funds for institutional capacity building to support National Implementation arrangements. Furthermore, four Tier 2 projects have been approved and an additional ten Tier 1 and 26 Tier 2 projects are in the pipeline.
Nepal is implementing the Tier 1 and is preparing to access for Tier 2 of EIF, which provides increased, predictable and additional funding on a multi-year basis. It helps build strategy for the national development -- Nepal Trade Integrated Strategy (NTIS) -2010, a blueprint to boost the export of the country was prepared under the EIF process.
The EIF will undertake its mid-term review later this year. “This independent process will provide an assessment of how the EIF has been delivering on its mandate,” Lamy said. “For the EIF to continue to deliver; it will need continued commitment from the LDCs and commitment from development partners as well on the sustainability of funding.” He further requested developed countries to invest in trade capacity.
Lamy also urged UN, World Bank, IMF, and the WTO to support these processes and LDCs. “LDCs are an integral part of the WTO and they stand to lose more than any other member if the current stalemate in the Doha Development Agenda is not resolved,” Lamy said, pushing for the earliest resolution of the stalemate.