Asia Partnership for Human Development sent a delegation to take part in WTO Public Forum from 25-26 September 2006, in Geneva Switzerland to advocate for food sovereignty as a fundamental right of farmers and nations of Asia. Since agricultural seeds are at the heart of the debate of food sovereignty, APHD continues to voice for right of farmers for control over seeds and against UPOV under the World trade Organization’s TRIPs. APHD is of the view that talks on Doha Development Agenda will continue to fail until the agenda is altered to provide for substantial improvements in Asian farmers’ ability to protect and expand their livelihoods.

      While work is ongoing to restart the talks, a new issue, ‘Aid for Trade’ (put forward at the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial 2005) is being increasingly talked about. APHD is undertaking an Asia level program for creating awareness on WTO issues in ten South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. With much interest, APHD delegation took part in the Aid for Trade debate at the WTO headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva, and echoed the views of many developing countries.

      Specifically, Aid for Trade should not be used to divert attention from the urgently needed reform to existing trade system and should not be used to pressurize governments of developing and least developed countries to open up their markets. Moreover, Aid for Trade should not increase the already high debt burden of the developing and least developed countries (Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy).

      The participants also discussed the obvious issue of amount of funds required for Aid for Trade and whether or not this will be delivered by the developed countries, in addition to their past commitments for development work in other sectors such as education and health. At the WTO Forum, participants also discussed possible scenarios for overall management of Aid for Trade given the fact that this development work is beyond the capacity of WTO, and other international agencies should be involved for Aid for Trade to be effectively implemented. Aid for Trade should cover the costs of trade policy reforms, adjustment costs, capacity building measures and strengthening trade-related infrastructure, such as roads, ports, and customs, including trade facilitation measures (SAWTEE, Nepal). APHD echoes this view, and stresses that Aid for Trade ought to focus on building capacity of farmers’ organizations, cooperatives, networks, and companies so that their enterprises can meet the challenges of entering into new international markets.