Brussels, 28/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 21 April, the WTO announced that Finland has pledged to contribute around €649,000 in 2015 to assist the participation of developing countries in the multilateral trading system. The funding comprises €550,000 to the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) and €99,000 for evaluating the WTO's Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF).
The objective of the STDF is to help developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) establish and implement sanitary and phytosanitary measures for health protection and expand their ability to gain or maintain access to international markets.
The DDAGTF finances trade-related technical assistance activities to help developing countries and LDCs improve their participation in the Doha round.
Since 2000, Finland has donated €12.35 million to the various WTO trust funds. (Emmanuel Hagry)