A new monitoring report presented by the European Commission confirmed that despite the economic crisis, the EU and its Member States have once again been confirmed as the largest provider of Aid for Trade in the world. In particular, on Trade Related Assistance, the EU had already met their €2 billion target, committed in the 2007's EU Aid for Trade Strategy, both in 2008 and in 2009.

The European Commission published a monitoring report that confirms the EU maintains its leader position on Aid for Trade to developing countries. In fact, the EU accounted for around a third of total worldwide Aid for Trade in 2010, maintaining the all-time high registered the year before and totalling some €10.7 billion committed. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the main beneficiary of EU Aid for Trade. In March 2012, the Council already recalled its commitment in promoting a multilateral agenda for trade and development.

In addition, the report shows that total Trade Related Assistance reached €2.6 billion in 2010 and the EU and its Member States remain the biggest providers; making up 60% of global commitments. Aid for Trade helps countries to develop trade strategies, build trade-related infrastructure and improve their productive capacity in order to encourage growth and reduce poverty. Activities include helping countries to build their capacity to trade, through training and technical cooperation such as supporting national trade priorities, adjusting legislation on trade and providing technical assistance for studies on trade-related subjects.

Among the examples of the EU's Aid for Trade at work is a project to increase coffee production in a factory in Rwanda. Around 60,000 farmers there benefited from the project, which supports the country's tea and coffee industry. The EU provided new machines, built roads to help people easily access the estates and trained the farmers. This effectively helped relaunch coffee production in Rwanda, and now coffee and tea have a 38% share in total export value; providing jobs for many of the country's poor as a result.