'Aid for Trade' is a deceptive ploy and destructive aid

PRESS STATEMENT ON AID FOR TRADE
December 15, 2005

For reference: Antonio Tujan Jr.,
Chair, The Reality of Aid
Mobile no. in Hong Kong: 6120-2365

The Reality of Aid, an international network of more than 80 national and regional networks representing thousands of civil society organizations, calls the US proposal in the WTO ministerial conference to increase funds for the "aid for trade" program as "illusory, deceptive, and destructive."

According to Reality of Aid chairperson Antonio Tujan, who is in Hong Kong to monitor the WTO meeting, the "aid for trade" does not mean that new or additional money will flow to developing countries because this will mostly be in the form of technical assistance that is usually tied aid. This would entail Third World governments to pay consultancy companies and individual consultants from donor countries.

Moreover, what has been committed is not new, but has already been committed by Japan and the EU at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles , Scotland, adds Tujan.

The proposal is also deceptive and destructive because the money will not directly go the poor and is not meant to reduce poverty. It will instead be used to invest in trade capacity building to facilitate the entry of products and investments from rich countries to the poor countries.

The Reality of Aid deplores the deceptive ploy and bribery of the US, EU, and Japan on the least developed countries in the WTO ministerial. The "aid for trade" will push poor countries further into debt and will ultimately open up their already-devastated economies to further trade liberalization.

The Reality of Aid also denounces the diversion of precious and very limited funds for poverty reduction programs that do not end, but only intensify global poverty.