Ambassador CHOI Hyuck, Korea’s Permanent Representative to the WTO, and Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director-General of the WTO, signed today the Memorandum of Understanding providing for Korea’s donation.

“I warmly welcome Korea’s contribution,?said Dr. Supachai. “As the Doha Development Agenda talks are intensifying, so are developing countries? needs for technical assistance and capacity building. Thanks to such contributions, we have been able to significantly increase the WTO’s technical assistance and training activities since the beginning of the Doha negotiations.?br>
Ambassador CHOI commented: “As one of the countries that have traded their way out of poverty, Korea stands firm in its faith that increased participation in the multilateral trading system is the key for economic development. The WTO technical assistance activities provide a highly valuable opportunity for developing and least-developed countries to strengthen their capacity to realize the gains from participation in the multilateral trading system. Korea’s yearly contribution represents its continued support for WTO’s commitment to trade-related capacity building of developing and least-developed countries. In particular, Korea’s contribution in 2005 reflects its willingness to contribute to development issues, with DDA negotiations at a critical juncture in preparing the 6th Ministerial Conference which will take place in Hong Kong in this coming December.?br>
The Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund finances activities which aim to enhance developing countries?participation in the WTO negotiations. Since 2001, Korea has contributed over USD 1,140,000 (approximately CHF 1,300,000) to WTO technical assistance activities.