PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/258
23 November 2001
(01-6015)
WTO DIRECTOR-GENERAL MEETS WI TH INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES ON
TRADE-RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
Director-General Mike Moore convened a meeting today of representatives of the
International Monetary Fund, the International Trade Centre, UNCTAD and the World Bank to
discuss inter-agency cooperation in the light of the commitments on technical assistance and capacity-
building emerging from the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha on 9-14 November 2001.   
Mr. Moore said "Our owners have called for a far-reaching programme of trade-related
technical assistance and capacity-building .  Success in the negotiations will elude us unless we take
this mandate very seriously, and we agencies need to work closely together to meet the expectations
of developing countries.  The fact that we have all met within a week of the Ministerial Meeting
signals how important we see capacity-building and coherence to beginning and concluding a new
development round."
Agency representatives agreed to explore an appropriate mechanism for ensuring a proper
coordination of efforts, building on existing cooperation and complementarities.  They also agreed
that the mechanism would be as simple and automatic as possible.  In addition, work will be done to
compile systematic information on the sources of technical assistance and details of programmesbeing carried out.  The agency representatives will meet again shortly to further their work.
END