WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/577 
19 July 2004 
 (04-3066) 
 Original:   English 
 
  
ELEMENTS OF A G-90 PLATFORM ON THE DOHA WORK PROGRAMME 
 
Grand Baie, Mauritius, 13 July 2004
 
 
Communication from Nigeria (African Group Coordinator), Tanzania (LDC Group Coordinator)  
 and Trinidad and Tobago (ACP Group Coordinator) 
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 15 July 2004, is being circulated at the request of the Delegations of Nigeria, Tanzania and Trinidad and Tobago.  
 
_______________ 
   We have the honour to transmit to you, the "Elements of a G-90 Platform on the Doha Work Programme" adopted by the Ministers of the Alliance, comprising the ACP Group, African Union and 
Least Developed countries (LDCs), commonly know n as G-90, at their meeting in Grand Baie, 
Mauritius on 13
th July, 2004. 
 
 We request that this be circulated as a formal WTO document.  We also request that these 
Elements be taken into account in  preparing the July Package. 
 
 
_______________ 
  
 
ELEMENTS OF A G-90 PLATFORM ON THE DOHA WORK PROGRAMME 
 
 
PREAMBLE
 
1. The Trade Ministers from the Alliance of th e African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of 
States, the African Union (AU) and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), commonly known as the 
G-90, met on 13 July 2004, in Mauritius, to examine the state of progress of negotiations on the WTO 
Doha Work Programme and agree on elements fo r a G-90 Consensus on the Doha Development 
Agenda (DDA). 
2. The Ministers were instructed by the outcomes of the Fourth Summit of the ACP Heads of 
State and Government held in Maputo, Mozambique on 23rd and 24th June 2004, and the Third 
Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of Stat e and Government of the African Union, held in 
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 6-8 July 2004. WT/L/577 
Page 2  
 
 3. Ministers reaffirmed the outcomes of recent meetings, including the Dakar Declaration of the 
Third LDC Trade Ministers' Meeting, adopted in Dakar, Senegal, on 05 May 2004;  the Kigali 
Declaration on the Doha Work Programme and the Kigali Consensus on the Post-Cancun Work 
Programme, adopted by the African Union Trade Mini sters in Kigali, Rwanda, on 28 May 2004;  and 
the ACP Ministerial Declaration on the Doha Work Programme, adopted in Mauritius on 11 July 
2004.  They also supported the Georgetown Communique, the Georgetown Consensus on the Doha 
Work Programme, and the Main Decisions adopted at the Meeting of Ministerial Representatives of 
G-90 in Georgetown, Guyana, on 4 June 2004.  The negotiating positions of the individual 
constituents of the G-90 are outlined in the aforementioned documents. 
4. The Ministers underscored the need to fulfill th e objectives enshrined in  the Doha Ministerial 
Declaration adopted by the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference, which placed the needs and interests 
of developing countries at the heart of the Doha Work Programme and, accordingly, reaffirmed their 
commitment to making a sustained contribution towards the successful completion of the Doha Work 
Programme. 
5. The Ministers also noted that G-90 countries are essentially weak and vulnerable economies, 
largely dependent on longstanding preferences for their economic development and require effective, binding and meaningful Special and Differential Treatment (S&D) in all areas of the WTO Work 
Programme. 
6. Ministers noted that a large number of the members of the G-90 are LDCs, and emphasized 
the need for this category of countries to receive priority attention in order to facilitate their full 
integration into the multilateral trading system. 
7. The Ministers recognised that the integratio n of LDCs into the multilateral trading system 
requires, inter alia , binding commitments on duty free and quota free market access for all products 
originating from LDCs by all developed countries and by those developing countries in a position to 
do so;  support for the diversification of LDCs production and export base and trade-related technical 
assistance and capacity building;  exemption of LDCs from any reduction commitments;  and 
expediting the accession of LDCs to the WTO. 
8. The Ministers welcomed the recent positive initiatives to inject a new momentum in the 
current trade negotiations and to address the development, financial and trade needs of the weak and 
vulnerable economies.  In this regard, they called upon the EU to table its 9 May 2004 initiative in the 
WTO and urged WTO Members to support the proposals contained therein. 
9. The Ministers agreed on the following elements as a common G-90 platform, in relation to 
the major issues of interest to the G-90 in the on-going negotiations under the WTO Doha Work 
Programme, which would complement the negotiating positions of the respective constituents of the 
G-90 contained in documents WT/L/566, WT/L/572 and ACP/61/048/04/Final, to guide the 
participation of the Alliance in the preparation of th e July Package to be agreed upon at the meeting of 
the WTO General Council, 27-29 July 2004: 
AGRICULTURE
 
10. Agriculture is of critical importance to th e economic development of G-90 States and other 
developing countries, and holds the potential to lift millions of people out of poverty.  As such, within 
the context of the July Package, it is imperative that: 
 i. the Framework and the eventual modalities to be agreed upon should address the 
three (3) pillars in a balanced and equitable manner;  WT/L/577 
 Page 3 
 
 
  ii. S&D provisions be binding, effective and meaningful; 
 iii. the importance of longstanding preferen ces be recognised and that the issue of 
preference erosion be addressed; 
 iv. the concerns of the NFIDCs and LDCs be  fully taken into account in the development 
of disciplines on exports credits and food aid; 
 v. LDCs be exempted from any reduction commitment;  vi. Developed countries, and those developing countries in a position to do so, grant 
bound duty and quota free market access to  all products originating from the LDCs; 
 vii. provisions be made to enable developing countries to fully utilise Special Products 
(SPs) and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) to effectively address their development, food security and livelihood security needs; 
 viii. other weak and vulnerable Members of the G-90 should be exempted from any 
reduction commitment;  and 
 ix. members exercise restraint in applying  TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) and SPS 
(Sanitary and Phytosanitary) measures to products of G-90 countries and provide technical and financial assistance for co mpliance with SPS and TBT requirements for 
the export of G-90 agricultural commodities. 
COTTON
 
11. Cotton continues to be a vital issue for the G-90 Members and requires an urgent solution.  In 
this regard, the G-90 underscores that it should be treated as a stand-alone issue and not as a part of 
the overall negotiations on agricultu re.  The July Package should include a clear commitment to 
speedily and substantially address both the tr ade-related aspects of the initiative and their 
development-related counterparts  in a "fast-track" basis. 
NON-AGRICULTURE MARKET ACCESS (NAMA)  
12. The Derbez Text in general, and its annex on NAMA are in contradiction with the principle of 
less than full reciprocity enshrined in the Doha Mi nisterial Declaration and, as such, would further 
deepen the crisis of de-industrialisation and accent uate the unemployment and poverty crisis in our 
countries.  It is, therefore, imperative that the July Package shall: 
 i. provide "policy space and flexibility" to allow G-90 States to undertake industrial 
policy and national development objectives; 
 ii. incorporate the concerns of the indivi dual G-90 constituents expressed through their 
various submissions made during the process of negotiations; 
 iii. approach the issue of tariff bindings in a way that creates incentives to those countries 
that have not bound their tariffs to do so, and acknowledge the bindings of tariffs as 
the main contribution to this round by the G-90 countries that so engage; 
 iv. adopt a tariff reduction approach, whic h provides sufficient flexibility and scope to 
enable G-90 countries to continue to have adequate and effective levels of 
preferences necessary for the maintenance of competitiveness in their export markets; WT/L/577 
Page 4  
 
  v. ensure that due to the critical importance of preferences for Members of the G-90, 
solutions to the question of preference erosion are obtained within the WTO 
negotiations; 
 vi. exempt LDCs from any reduction commitment; 
 vii. ensure a commitment by all developed co untries, and those developing countries in a 
position to do so, to grant bound duty and qu ota free market access to all products 
originating from the LDCs with realistic, flexible and simplified rules of origin, 
which takes into account their industrial capacity; 
 viii. recognize that a sectoral approach wo uld be detrimental to G-90 Member benefiting 
from longstanding preferences in major export markets, and seek to have a suitable 
carve-out in favour of G-90 economies with regard to their products of exports 
interest; 
 ix. contain provisions, which address supply side constraints of G-90 countries in order 
for them to take advantage of any increased market opportunities; 
 x. exempt other weak and vulnerable Members of the G-90 from any reduction 
commitment;  and 
 xi. address expeditiously and effectively all non-tariff barr iers (NTBs) notified by G-90 
countries in the NAMA Group. 
13. The G-90 is disappointed by the decision of the Chairman of NAMA to transmit Annex B of 
the Derbez Text to the Chairman of the General Council as a basis for the preparation of the 
Framework without incorporating the concerns expr essed through our various submissions during the 
process of negotiations.  The Allia nce reiterates that it is prepared to consider the framework 
positively only if it includes the elements we ha ve raised in the pr ocess of negotiations. 
SERVICES
 
14. Due to capacity constraints, G-90 States have not been able to actively take part in the current 
request and offer phase of the services negotiations, since there are few sectors in the other countries 
in which the local enterprises from G- 90 States can meaningfully particip ate.  In light of this, the G-90 
underscores that: 
 i. other WTO Members should refrain from making excessive demands on G-90 
countries in this regard; 
 ii. due respect must be given to the right of  G-90 countries to regulate trade in Services 
and liberalise according to their national policy objectives; 
 iii. in view of the increasingly critical role of the services sector to our economies, all 
developed partners should provide increased and targeted technical assistance to G-90 
countries; 
 iv. there is urgency for developed countries to proceed in the liberalisation of sectors and 
modes of export interest to the G-90, esp ecially through the movement of natural 
persons (mode 4), and particularly for less skilled persons. 
  WT/L/577 
 Page 5 
 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT DIMENSION  
15. Given the critical importance of development to  the G-90 countries, the Group is concerned 
over the lack of effective progress on developm ent issues, which are key components for the 
successful achievement of the objectives of the Doha Round of negotiations.  These issues cover, inter 
alia:  Special and Differential Treatment, Implementa tion Issues and Concerns, the Special Situation 
of LDCs, Small Economies, Commodity Issues, Techni cal Assistance, Capacity Building, Transfer of 
Technology, and Trade, Debt and Finance. 
16. Accordingly, the General Council should be instructed to agree on a work programme for 
operationalization of S&D provisions within a specif ied time frame, to set an early deadline for the 
adoption of the outstanding proposals, and to monitor closely work on the proposals. 
TRIPS AND PUBLIC HEALTH  
17.  On 30 August 2003, WTO Members adopted the Decision to implement paragraph 6 of the 
Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Publ ic Health.  Since this Decision is only a 
temporary waiver, 
 i. a permanent solution should be fo und through an amendment to the TRIPS 
Agreement, as envisaged in Paragraph 11 of the Decision; 
 ii. consultations should be intensified and focused on content rather than on the legal 
form;  and 
 iii. the necessary amendments to the TR IPS Agreement should be completed on or 
before 31 March 2005. 
COHERENCE  
18. Thus far, the issue of coherence has been confined to institutional coherence between the 
WTO and the Bretton Woods institutions.  However, the emphasis should be on: 
 i. the coherence between the policy advice given to developing countries by the Bretton 
Woods institutions and their WTO obligations;  and 
 ii. the importance of promoting, without cross-conditionalities and without additional 
conditions, consistent and mutually supportive policies. 
ACCESSION  
19. The G-90 reiterates the call for the full adherence to and implementation by the WTO 
members of the "Guidelines on WTO accession procedures for LDCs" adopted by the General 
Council in December 2002.  Given the complex and costly nature of the process of WTO Accession 
vis-a-vis  the limited capacity of LDCs, it is critical th at targeted Technical Assistance and Capacity 
Building support be given to the acceding LDCs at all stages of the WTO Accession process. 
SINGAPORE ISSUES  
20. With regard to the Singapore Issues, the G- 90 agrees that the th ree issues (Trade and 
Competition Policy;  Trade and Investment and Tran sparency in Government Procurement) should be 
dropped from the Work Programme.  The Alliance also indicates its willingness to favourably WT/L/577 
Page 6  
 
 consider Trade Facilitation provided that its con cerns in this area are substantively addressed and 
there is a satisfactory balance in the overall framework. 
OBSERVER STATUS
 
21. The G-90 reiterates the call to the WTO Memb ers to grant Permanent Observer Status to the 
ACP Group of States, the African Union and their Inter-governmental and regional organizations. 
  
Grand Baie, Mauritius, 13 July 2004 
 
__________