Sierra Leone’s export development authorities are working to revitalize the ginger industry, a route out of poverty after years of war. This story is based on an interview with Abu Bakkar Kebbay, from the export development agency of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Africa has traditionally not been on the radar screen of foreign direct investors. The reasons include the “Balkanization” of the continent and hence its small markets, its weak infrastructure and an image problem: in much of the world Africa’s image is dominated by pictures of civil war, sickness and famine.

Tanzania is working to make itself better known to attract foreign buyers and tourists.

Countries are putting priority on trade-related assistance in this new model for financing development projects, by the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

A new partnership to develop trade in Africa will back up the efforts of businesses and governments at a time when Africa’s trade prospects are looking up.

Aid for Trade has become an important element of the World Trade Organization’s work in the past year, a job that requires it to take on an advocacy and coordination role.

Go beyond trade policy when addressing what you need to improve your country’s trade performance, recommends the Aid for Trade Task Force.

Turning aid recipients into consumers, and enabling them to take charge of the process, will help to make aid for trade more effective.

Country ownership, a stronger voice for business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and stronger institutional backing are essential lessons from a valuable process to coordinate trade assistance in the world’s poorest countries.

With billions of dollars at stake, Aid for Trade can be a shot in the arm for developing countries. When defining the scope, pay attention to the supply side, say ITC and its clients.

The Integrated Framework (IF) is an international initiative through which the International Monetary Fund, ITC, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank and World Trade Organization combine their efforts with those of least developed countries (LDCs) and donors to respond to the trade development needs of LDCs.

“Helping developing countries export better is a stepping stone to development,” said many delegates at ITC’s annual meeting in April 2006.

The “Aid for Trade” initiative was launched by the World Trade Organization in 2005 to help poorer countries strengthen their economies by developing their export strategies and productive capacity to allow them to export more and successfully face the challenges of globalization. The collection below features the views on Aid for Trade of some of the key players in this area, followed by success stories that show how a little help can go a long way to making businesses more competitive in the international marketplace.