The government of China has pledged USD 450,000 (CHF 402,000) to the WTO's Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) and Accessions Programme, also known as the China Programme.
The China Programme — initiated in July 2011 under the WTO’s Aid for Trade initiative — aims to enable LDCs to better integrate into the global economy by strengthening their participation in WTO activities and helping those not yet members join the organization.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Vice Minister of Commerce of China Li Fei signed on 23 October the renewal of the Programme's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the Vice Minister's visit to Geneva to participate in the Senior Officials Meeting taking place on 23-24 October. The Government of China and the WTO review the MoU and consider the extension of the Programme on an annual basis.
The China Programme provides financing to support WTO accessions internships, WTO accessions round table meetings, LDCs' participation in WTO meetings, South-South Dialogue on LDCs and Development, LDCs' Trade Policy Review follow-up workshops and LDCs' Experience Sharing Programme
The Programme has also contributed to facilitating the participation of LDC delegations in WTO Ministerial Conferences.
“The decision to renew this programme is testimony to China's commitment to facilitating the integration of LDCs into the global economy. Several pillars of the programme support observers, especially LDCs, in the process of acceding to the WTO, an important step in using trade to meet their economic and development objectives. I warmly welcome this new contribution,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei stated: “China has funded the China Programme for 12 consecutive years to help developing members and observers, especially LDCs, to participate in the multilateral trading system. In the future, we will work more closely with the WTO Secretariat so that the China Programme will play a greater role in helping those members and observers to better integrate into the global economy.”
Since 2008, China has contributed CHF 8.1 million to assist developing members and observers, especially LDCs, to integrate into the multilateral trade system.
