Within the framework of implementing this United Nations Development Account project, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) convened a "Workshop on the Formulation of Bankable Aid for Trade Projects in the Arab region" on 22 and 23 October 2013 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The workshop aimed at ensuring that Arab countries leverage diverse forms of development finance to promote trade and development through an "investment for trade" approach. Participants in this workshop included concerned public sector bodies and government ministries from five ESCWA member countries. In particular, the participants shared knowledge and experiences and presented
proposed bankable AfT projects that were developed with a view to enhancing intra-Arab trade and improving participation in the global trading system.

Subsequently, the Economic Development and Globalization Division (EDGD) in ESCWA is organizing an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools for implementing AfT projects in the Arab region on 12 and 13 December 2013 in the city of Hammamet in Tunisia.

Following the revision of the AfT projects developed by member countries and presented during the first workshop, the Expert Group Meeting will thus focus on developing appropriate M&E systems, including regionally agreed indicators for M&E of AfT projects. This will ultimately result in improving the formulation of selected AfT projects by including a M&E component.

As such, the aim of this meeting is to promote debate and reach a regional consensus on M&E frameworks that can be used for the region. It will also serve as a forum for disseminating knowledge and information on the fundamental criteria and requirements for receiving AfT from several multilateral funding institutions.