From the look of the thick 104-page research report that Cambodian officials have put together to present at the WTO conference-the nation is determined to rise from poverty. And the only way out, they are convinced, is through trade capacity building and following an integrated framework. In fact, it was chosen as one of three pilot projects by the Organization For Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris based organization that helps governments with the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalized economy.

Cambodia which was in the process of strengthening their trade policy was the perfect pilot project candidate. "We have been working on opening our market access for eight years," said Sok Siphana, the Secretary of State from the Ministry of Commerce.

"We signed many bilateral agreement and we are the only LDC country out of the 49 countries that have exceeded the $1billion dollar export mark." But Cambodia would soon discover that their problem is one of capacity or "our non-ability to produce the goods and the services to sell to export," said Siphana. They came across many obstacles, or as Siphana called them, bottlenecks.

"There are many issues including trade facilitations, standards, the infrastructure, and the capacity to understand the multi-lateral trade agreements," he said. "We felt that unless we can remove those bottlenecks, we will not be able to draw maximum benefit from the multilateral trading system and that's why we began this reform."

Their efforts impressed the OECD who in April included them with Madagascar and Mauritania as pilot projects. The OECD provided them with technical assistance when the country came across bottlenecks. It was a boost the country needed and Cambodian officials set to work developing a new national strategy.

"We analyzed our entire structure, we analyzed our macro-economic situation, we looked at the issues facing our negotiations to enter the WTO," said Siphana. "In each sector we looked at what is the potential. Not only in our country. But what are the constraints and rules in the importing country, in the EU, in US, in Japan and in other countries which prevent us from maximizing our potential."

The effort was tremendous. All the governmental ministries cooperated and a new national strategy mapped out. Ministerial portfolios were shifted when necessary. Stakeholders, the private sector, business associations, the academia and civil society were put into action.

"Everybody was involved in this process," said Siphana. "This is national anxiety. It's not just the worry of the Ministry of Commerce coming to the meeting of the WTO. This is about the survival of the country."

Whoever was not involved became involved. A think tank of 100 government, business, and civil society formed a coherent work team to discuss every issue. "We looked at the rice which is our main food, we looked at agriculture, fish industry, garments, tourism, labor service, everything and handicraft," he said. "We felt those are the key sectors that allow revenue for our economy."

Seven months later, an impressive 104 pages of detailed report outlining Cambodia's sectors and trade strategy was published. On November 19 and 20, a national workshop will be held in the country to bring about an action plan based on the report.

The study was based on the OECD's guidelines on strengthening trade capacity building for development. The importance of the capacity building is reflected in the Draft Ministerial declaration which is being considered during this conference. "We underscore the urgent necessity for the effective coordinated delivery of technical assistance with bilateral donors, in the OECD Development Assistance Committee and relevant international and regional intergovernmental institutions, within a coherent policy framework and timetable," states article 33 of the Draft.

In his opening speech on Friday, Mike Moore, the WTO's director-general stressed that "capacity problems, not trade barriers, are the major obstacles to growth in developing countries," he said. "... The new Integrated Framework will be a model of inter-agency cooperation and coherence, enabling us to multiply our modest resources by working with other agencies to assist developing countries on the ground." The main instrument in strengthening trade capacity is based on the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to LDCs - or better known as "IF"

IF core agencies (WTO, UNCTAD, ITC, World Bank, IMF and UNDP), and representative from bilateral agencies were brought together to help prepare the OECD's guidelines - currently adopted by the three pilot countries.

"It's a way in which we can effectively help developing countries get more capacity to trade," said Richard Carey the deputy director of the Development Co-operation Directorate of the OECD. "The Development Assistance Committee (in OECD) produced these guidelines so that bilateral donors be an effective partner for developing countries."

The idea is to get LDCs to identify the problems they must deal with and get them to adopt a "trade policy which is integrated with the overall development strategy so that they see trade as part of the economic strategy as a whole," continued Carey. "So it's no longer a box of its own but a part the overall economic development process."

This includes injecting the newly adopted trade policies into a country's poverty reduction strategy, developing the LDC economy and building institutions.

"It's important to start a process in the developing country which will continue on and be sustainable," said Carey, "because these problems have to be addressed over a period of years."

The National Development Strategy model-which LDCs are encouraged to adopt-outlined in the guidelines depends on the coordination of government ministries and agencies, the private sector and business associations, the civil society, academia and research institutions. It is up to them to form a coherent working group, identify the country's problems and come out with a national strategy. Hovering nearby is the OECD-who provides advice, technical assistance and ways to overcome hurdles.

It is the model which Cambodia has adopted to revamp its national strategy. Cambodia's capacity building strategy has managed to attract the World Bank. "This process we're engaged in Cambodia is really the first step along the way to try to identify what the priorities are," said Bernard Hoekman, the World Bank's Policy and Research Manager of International Trade in the Development Research Group and Economic Policy Unit. "The idea is that once you identify the priorities - how do you deal with them? And this is quite frequently going to be sector specific."

In its newly released just released its report "Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries 2002" The World Bank reviews the global economic environment and its implications for the developing countries over the next decade.

"It looks at the market access agenda asking how you would strengthen the global trade architecture for developments," said Hoekman. "The key focus is trying to figure out how the trade fits into the bigger development process and how to use trade as poverty-reducing growth."

The report recognizes that developing countries have a huge amount to gain from getting rid of the many barriers that remain, especially in agriculture, textile and clothing.

"It will increase their incomes, reduce poverty, raise an additional 300 million people out of poverty - which is really important in Sub-Sahara and Africa," he said, "because our projections show that absent initiatives like trade liberalization means that the number of poor in absolute terms are going to grow."

To approve the funding for Cambodia, the World Bank is doing its own share of studies into the country.

"We're looking at what the countries produce, where their comparative advantages are and what needs to be done by other countries in order to enhance their access to the markets," he said. "A good chunk of these report and a good part of the analysis done by the Bank focuses on where the market access barriers are and what do they imply in terms of the impact on the poor in these countries."

Obtaining the needed funds from the World Bank or bilateral donors seems hopeful for Cambodia. Siphana projects a growth of eight or nine percent in 10 years time if their national strategy is implemented as planned and a transformed country in 20 years time.

"Cambodia," concluded Hoekman, "is a key test."