./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/349
11 October 1999
(99-4256)
General Council Original:  English/
French
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Trade and Development
Communication from Canada
The following communication, dated 1 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Canada.
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1. Canada has reflected carefully on the concerns raised over the past year by developing
countries. We agree with them on the importance of all developed and developing countries
participating fully in the benefits and obligations of the WTO.  We also agree that new negotiations
should address the challenges facing developing countries in adjusting to an enhanced multilateraltrading system.  The Seattle agenda will indeed need to pay particular attention to the interests of
developing countries.
2. We intend to table a proposal on coherence that will outline international institutional
strategies for addressing some of the concerns of developing countries.  Other suggestions for
national, regional and international action are addressed below.
3. Canada recognises that a positive outcome for developing countries on market access in
industrial goods, agriculture and services will be critical if these countries are to view the round as asuccess.  Consequently, market access issues must be open for negotiation, including those of
particular concern to developing countries.  Enhanced market access for goods of the least developed
merits the urgent consideration already called for by others.  We encourage all WTO Members,
including the more advanced developing countries, to do their share with regard to access for the
exports of least-developed countries.
4. Canada believes that trade facilitation should complement negotiations on improved market
access.  WTO provisions designed to simplify and clarify trade procedures can benefit all Members,
particularly developing countries.  They help to provide easier access to world markets, in particular
for small and medium-sized enterprises and for small and medium-sized countries.  They also result in
direct cost savings for importers and exporters, pr omote increased investment, contribute to capacity
building, and generate both cost savings and increased revenues for governments.  Finally, they
benefit consumers everywhere.  Canada believes that the WTO’s trade facilitation agenda should be
supported by technical assistance and capacity-building.
5. There have been extensive discussions on special and differential (S and D) measures and on
the special needs and circumstances that may warrant such differential measures.  In Canada’s view,the critical issue is to arrive at a common understanding of how these might be translated into
development-enhancing provisions.  It is becoming in creasingly clear that S and D will be most usefulWT/GC/W/349
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where it enables countries to adjust to international trade and experience economic growth.  Mutual
advantage can best be achieved when all WTO Members assume the same level of commitment; paths
may in certain special cases diverge, but all should have the same final destination - that of a single
class of membership. In the meantime, differential measures should be viewed in the context of
building capacity and facilitating implementation.
6.  Trade-related technical assistance (TRTA) is an essential tool in helping developing
countries achieve the goal of their full integration into the multilateral trading system.  Canada
continues to give priority to the implementation of the Integrated Framework (IF) as a demand-driven
and integrated approach to TRTA, and thus is helping fund the organisation of some of the
roundtables which are part of the IF.  Canada believes that the IF process is beginning to deliver
results, and its replication in other parts of the world would help developing countries meet their
WTO obligations.  Canada recognizes that there are shortfalls in the financing of WTO technicalassistance; for this reason Canada has co-sponsored a proposal that calls for an increase in the
Secretariat’s budget for TRTA.  We also recognise the need to determine more accurately the
requirements for TRTA, and in this connection we note the Kenyan proposal for doubling the WTO’s
TRTA budget.  Canada also sees particular merit in an Advisory Centre for WTO Law that will help
developing countries promote their rights under the WTO agreements.
7. No one measure or instrument will address satisfactorily the legitimate concerns of
developing countries.  However, it is Canada’s view that a balanced approach that incorporates
market access issues, special measures that contribute to building capacity and promoting economic
growth, and the targeted application of both trade facilitation and TRTA will together help developing
countries participate more fully in the benefits of membership in the WTO.
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