SUMMARY
In 2001, the emphasis in UNCTAD technical cooperation continued to be on capacity building with a commensurate focus on sustainability, beneficiary ownership and partnership. Activities were designed in the context of the needs and requirements of beneficiaries, as dictated by the state of their economies and as identified by themselves. They were implemented in partnership and cooperation with a wide array of international development organizations and agencies, and regional and subregional institutions. Efforts were made to enhance cooperation and coordination of activities with other providers of trade-related technical assistance. Development aid strategies continued to be redefined and more donors are placing emphasis on poverty reduction and inclusion of trade and investment-related technical assistance in their development aid. Services were provided in the light of UNCTAD's supply capacity, and in that respect complementarities between the analytical work of the secretariat and operational activities, and value added and resource allocations needed to be carefully weighed. Measures have been taken to enhance the management of technical cooperation. Solutions were found for the financial sustainability of selected programmes. Priority continued to be given to activities in favour of LDCs. In 2001, contributions to UNCTAD trust funds amounted to $18 million, reflecting a 3.5 per cent decrease over the previous year. Overall expenditures on technical cooperation fell by 3.7 per cent to $23.2 million, mainly on account of the reduction in UNDP-supported projects. Country and regional project expenditures both in Africa, and in Asia and the Pacific also fell. UNCTAD contributed to the revamped Integrated Framework in which diagnostic trade integration studies for the three initial countries in the Pilot Scheme were completed and national workshops were held. The Pilot Scheme was extended to cover 11 new countries. The UNCTAD Programme on Capacity Building and Technical Cooperation in Support of the WTO Doha Work Programme was developed in early 2002. Timely implementation of the programme is constrained by limited resources. An in-depth evaluation of capacity building in UNCTAD technical assistance programmes was carried out. The present report contains a set of recommendations for consideration by the Working Party and the Trade and Development Board
