/ 12 July 2000

REFORM FOR ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

SIX of the world’s biggest international trade and finance organizations will reform a four-year-old program to help the world’s poorest nations integrate into the global economy. The reorganization was prompted by criticism from independent experts who said that the programme was weak in administration and failed to link efforts to improve trade to the overall development plans of the world’s 48 least developed countries. The organizations – the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the International Trade Centre and two U.N. agencies – agreed to ensure that trade-related initiatives address the specific needs of the countries and be included in the broader context of development.