./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/393
25 November 1999
(99-5117)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Proposal for a Declaration on Developing Countries
Communication from the Philippines
The following communication, dated 24 November 1999, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of the Philippines.
_______________
Ministers,
recalling  that it is an objective of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization (the "WTO Agreement") to ensure that developing countries, especially the least
developed among them, secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the
needs of their economic development,
stressing  that the formulation of rules governing the multilateral trading system is only a
means whereby the objectives of the WTO Agreement is to be pursued,
noting  that the WTO Agreement was entered into without the benefit of experience on how
the rules governing the multilateral trading syst em would be conducive in promoting the above-
declared objective,
considering  that valuable relevant experience has been obtained in the first five years of the
implementation of the WTO Agreement,
reaffirming  that the means must always be reassessed in relation to the objectives,
decide  that:
1. A Working Group shall be established to study how the provisions of the various agreements
forming part of the WTO Agreement promote or hinder, as the case may be, the attainment of the
objective that developing countries, especially the least developed among them, secure a share in thegrowth in international trade commensurate w ith the needs of their economic development.
2. Based on the study, the Working Group shall negotiate and formulate appropriate
amendments or modifications to the provisions of such agreements for submission and adoption at the
Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference.WT/GC/W/393
Page 2
3. In formulating such amendments, the Working Group shall focus on measures that take into
account the disparities in the relative capacities of Members to assume and to implement the level of
obligations imposed, and in accordance with the following general guidelines:
(a) Obligations assumed by developing countries shall be commensurate with the needs
of their economic development and their capacity to fulfill such obligations.  Thiscould be pursued through measures such as:
(i) Longer transition periods;
(ii) Viable thresholds;
(iii) Appropriate flexibility in implementation; and
(iv) Capacity-related exemptions from compliance with specific provisions.
(b) Obligations assumed by Members, especially developed country Members, shall be
rendered more enforceable and operational through their elaboration and theprovision of adequate financial and other resources, particularly in the following
areas:
(i) Allocation and commitment of financial and institutional support for
technical assistance and capacity-building activities, both for participation in
negotiations and implementation of agreements;
(ii) Easy and immediate access to relevant information, including information
processed by the Secretariat into forms of utility and relevance to the needs of
developing countries;  and
(iii) Other positive measures to promote the interests of developing countries.
__________