Assessing the Aid for Trade (AfT) Agenda: Bangladesh Case Study

Abstract

The Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative, mooted in 2005 in WTO's fifth Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, has gained new significance especially as a result of the global financial crisis, compounded by the deadlock at the Doha Round of Trade negotiations. Taking a cue, from this, the paper attempts to review the global aid architecture and its implications for Bangladesh, in particular. This paper attempts to shed light into the aid-development nexus, particularly with a focus on the AfT agenda and its relations with the Needs for Trade (NfT) dimension, through identification of constraints. It concludes that needs assessments, though useful, are not mandatory prescriptions that donors have adhered to in setting their funding priorities.