1. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
5th session of Committee on Trade
Aid-for-Trade Roadmap for SPECA and the Regional AfT Implementation and Monitoring Council
Dr. Ismayil Alakbarov, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Trade,
Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations
in Geneva
19 June 2012

2. 5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
Introduction
UNECE commitment to help countries with transition economies
UNECE support of Aid-for-Trade (AfT) Roadmap for SPECA Initiative
Targets of the Initiative
Launched in 2008 by the Governments of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan
Ensure greater coordination and create synergies
Baku Ministerial Declaration 2010
3 Priorities for developing trade:
Developing national supply-side capacity
Harnessing cross-border cooperation
Facilitating the integration
5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
18-19 June 2012

3. 5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
Achievements
National and regional AfT “action matrices” consolidated into standardized format
Consolidated matrices have been prepared and translated into Russian and French for the current session of the Committee on Trade
SPECA countries are going to be consulted for verification and update during 2H 2012
SPECA AfT Implementation and Monitoring Council was launched in November 2011 in Ashgabad
5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
18-19 June 2012

4. SPECA AfT Implementation and Monitoring
Cooperation with development partners that supported Baku Ministerial Conference
UNDP, UNIDO, ITC, ITFC (member of IDB) and WTO plus UNECE as coordinator
Terms of Reference were drafted / All projects were reviewed
The Council and its structure / Voluntary coordinating mechanism
The Council shall monitor the implementation of AfT in support of national and regional priorities
Major tasks of the Council
During next 6-8 months, the Council will be working closely with SPECA countries to identify implementation gaps and identify projects
5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
18-19 June 2012

5. Follow-up to the Baku AfT Ministerial Conference
Countries that have not presented their national matrices, namely Afghanistan, will be approached and assisted in preparing a national matrix
A number of projects were submitted by development partners and national counterparts at the Baku Ministerial Conference.
These projects were discussed by the Council
More work needs to be done to bring more coherence to these projects
5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
18-19 June 2012

6. 5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
Immediate Tasks
Monitor the implementation of AfT in support of national and regional priorities determined by SPECA member countries
Actively pursue funding for those projects identified as priorities. Donor Conference
Encourage the exchange of information as well coordination among donors and implementing agencies in the region in order to best support priority actions.
5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
18-19 June 2012

7. 5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
Challenges
Impact of the global financial and economic crisis
The crisis has lowered demand for region’s non-energy exports
Domestic financial resources available for supporting trade development has been reduced
Immediate needs – increased competition required concerted efforts to transform towards activities with higher value-added and greater economic diversification
Improving the donor and agency effectiveness
5th session of UNECE Committee on Trade
18-19 June 2012