Development and building trade capacity
Avant-propos
Les services sont devenus la force motrice qui détermine le paysage économique des pays de tout niveau de développement. Ils constituent la majeure partie de l'activité économique mondiale avec plus des deux tiers du PIB, emploient la plupart des travailleurs et sont la source de la plupart des créations d'emplois, notamment chez les femmes et les jeunes. Parallèlement, le commerce des services est devenu un élément essentiel des stratégies de croissance, apparaissant comme la composante la plus dynamique du commerce mondial au cours de la période récente et créant des emplois à plus forte valeur ajoutée.
Prólogo
Los servicios se han convertido en la fuerza impulsora que está configurando el panorama económico de los países en todos los niveles de desarrollo. Representan la mayor proporción de la actividad económica mundial al generar más de dos tercios del PIB, emplean a la mayoría de los trabajadores y son la fuente más grande de creación de empleo, especialmente para las mujeres y los jóvenes. Al mismo tiempo, el comercio de servicios se ha convertido en un elemento clave de las estrategias de crecimiento al transformarse en el componente más dinámico del comercio mundial en los últimos tiempos y al crear puestos de trabajo de mayor valor añadido.
Foreword
The WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), which took place earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, reaffirmed the international community’s shared commitment to promote inclusive and sustainable development through trade. Aid for Trade remains a critical element of our collective commitment to ensuring that the benefits of trade are shared more widely, particularly with developing economies and least-developed countries (LDCs).
Conclusion
The clean energy transition is critical to achieve net zero goals and is a key element of most economies’ nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, to keep global warming under a 1.5° Celsius threshold. The clean energy transition also has trade integration potential, as it helps to advance industrial development and addresses capacity constraints in energy generation capacity.
Acknowledgements
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.
Overview of the Aid for Trade initiative
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 recommendations on how to operationalize Aid for Trade.
Opportunities for trade integration in clean energy value chains
Nearly 40 per cent of anthropogenic GHG emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels to produce electricity (IEA, 2022b). Decarbonizing electricity generation is a critical step toward achieving net zero goals. Target 7.2 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for a substantial increase in the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030 (UN General Assembly, 2015).
Executive summary
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.
Introduction
Aid for Trade seeks to enable developing economies, and in particular least-developed countries (LDCs), to use trade as a means of fostering economic growth, sustainable development and poverty reduction. It promotes the integration of developing economies, especially LDCs, into the multilateral trading system and aims to galvanize support to build supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure in these economies to improve trade performance.