RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/M/17
23October 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4611)
Committee onTrade andDevelopment
Seventeenth Session
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF26SEPTEMBER 1997
Chairman: H.E. Mr.D.Baichoo (Mauritius)
A. Adoption oftheAgenda
1. TheSeventeenth Session oftheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment (CTD) wasconvened
inAirgram WTO/AIR/652.
2. Thefollowing Agenda wasadopted:
A. Adoption oftheAgenda
B. WTO Technical Cooperation andTraining Activities astheyrelate toDeveloping
Country Members
(i) Implementation Modalities (WT/COMTD/W/29)
(ii) ManualonTechnicalCooperationandTraining:Revision
(WT/COMTD/W/26/Rev.1)
(iii) Three Year PlanforTechnical Cooperation: 1997-1999
C. Review ofParticipation ofDeveloping Country Members intheMultilateral Trading
System (WT/COMTD/W/31)
D. High-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries
- Progress Report (WT/COMTD/W/28/Add.1 andAdd.2)
E. Request forObserver Status intheCommittee: Islamic Development Bank
F. Annual Report for1997
G. Other Business
- Programme ofWork
B. WTO Technical Cooperation andTraining Activities asThey Relate toDeveloping Country
Members
(i) Implementation Modalities
3. TheChairman noted thattheSecretariat hadprepared anote,indocument WT/COMTD/W/29,
dated 25July,forconsideration bytheCommittee. Asmentioned inthedocument, thedraftattempted
tocapture elements oftheSecretariat 'snon-paper ofFebruary 1997, theinformal notebytheSwissWT/COMTD/M/17
Page2
delegation circulated inMay, andvarious comments made bydelegations. Herecalled thatatthe
Committee 'sMaymeeting, afurther period oftwoweeks hadbeenprovided soastogivetheopportunity
toMembers tocomment inwriting. Hebelieved thatthenotepresented bytheSecretariat achieved
acareful balance among often diverging views. Hetherefore hoped thattheCommittee would bein
aposition toadopt finally these Implementation Modalities.
4. Therepresentative oftheUnited States hadnoobjection tothesubstance ofthedocument.
However, henoted thatithadbeenpractice inother WTO bodies toissue documents three weeks in
advance ofthemeeting. Twoweeks wasnotenough toconsider adocument indetail. Hetherefore
suggested thattheperiod ofcirculation fordocuments prior tothenextmeeting bethree weeks.
5. Therepresentative ofMorocco suggested thatalldocuments relating totechnical cooperation
onlybeadopted attheCommittee 'slastsession oftheyearinorder fordelegations tobeabletostudy
themmore. Hefound thedocument inquestion difficult toadopt. Forexample, hedisliked theuse
oftheterm“donor Members ”which wasanotion thatshould beavoided. Inaddition, some delegations
hadmade helpful suggestions tothesection onMonitoring, Follow-up andEvaluation andhewished
toknow whythose suggestions hadnotbeenincorporated inthedocument.
6. TherepresentativeofSwitzerlandsaidthathisdelegationgenerallywashappywiththedocument
although certain corrections could bemade toitsdetails. Document WT/COMTD/W/29 wasdated
25July, andlongconsultations hadbeenheldonit.Thebestapproach wastoadopt thedocument
andnotover-burden theCommittee withwork attheendoftheyearasseveral other exercises needed
tobecarried outatthattime.
7. Therepresentative ofEgypt suggested thatinformal consultations beheldtodiscuss the
Implementation Modalities.
8. Therepresentative ofPakistan believed thattherevised draftoftheImplementation Modalities,
wasanimprovementoverthepreviousversion.Hisdelegationalsohadcommentsonvariousparagraphs.
Hetherefore supported theideaofholding aninformal meeting todiscuss thedocument further.
9. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthattherevised document hadimproved
theprevious version, andhisdelegation hadnodifficulty inadopting it.However, ifthework on
thepapercontinued,hisdelegationhadtwocommentsrelatingtothesectiononLong-TermEngagement.
First, sub-section (a)stated that:
"Itisrecognised thatthedelivery oftechnical cooperation would begreatly enhanced ifrecipient
countries weretodesignate anofficial/office inagovernment ministry tobethecentral focal
point fortechnical cooperation activities withtheWTO, andperhaps foralltrade-related
technical assistance provided byother institutions."
Hesuggested thatitwasmore positive toreplace “perhaps ”by"preferably" inthepenultimate line,
asthatwastheapproach thatwasbeing followed inthecontext ofthedesign ofanintegrated framework
fortheleast-developed countries; therational behind itmade sense inthisconnection too.Thesecond
comment wasthatitmight beuseful toconsider including under sub-section (c)thattheWTO would
assist inthedevelopment ofanetwork oflocaltrainers.
10. Therepresentative ofIndia hoped thattheprocess ofinformal consultations onthedocument
would beopen-ended sothatalldelegations thatsodesired could participate, assome might wishto
respond tochanges thatwould bemade.WT/COMTD/M/17
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11. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland saidthathisdelegation supported open-ended consultations
assuggested bytherepresentative ofIndia duetodifficulties thatcould arisewithamendments.
12. TheChairman saidthathewould holdfurther open-ended informal consultations onthismatter.
(ii) Manual onTechnical Cooperation andTraining
13. TheChairman saidthattheCommittee hadbefore itarevision oftheearlier paper which had
beendiscussed atthe20Maymeeting (WT/COMTD/W/26/Rev.1). Delegations hadbeeninvited
tosubmit comments inwriting within twoweeks ofthatmeeting. Thepaper hadbeenshortened and
theSecretariat hadattempted totakeonboard comments made. TheManual provided adescription
ofthetechnical cooperation andtraining activities available intheWTO andexplained howMembers
should goabout obtaining suchassistance. Hesuggested thattheCommittee agree tothetext,while
atthesametimeasking theSecretariat tomake anynecessary adjustments inthelightoftheHigh-Level
Meeting, andproceed tohavethepaper derestricted assoonaspossible sothattheManual, which
wasnotalegaldocument, could finally reach thepublic.
14. Therepresentative oftheUnited States noted thattheManual stated thatthere were98WTO
Members which weredeveloping countries. Hisdelegation wished tohaveitcorrected toreadthat
98WTO Members hadself-selected themselves asdeveloping countries.
15. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatalthough hesawtheusefulness ofhaving adocument
such astheManual ready fortheHigh-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade
Development, hisdelegation preferred thatthedocument bepresented thenasaprovisional document
toMinisters anddelegates. Forone,hefound ittoolong, despite attempts toreduce it.Hesuggested
thatsome partscould beincluded intheAnnual Report oftheCommittee andthatsome details could
betaken out. Asitwashisdelegation which hadasked forthedocument, hewished toinform the
Committee thathisdelegation wasmaking aneffort toaskUNCTAD andITCforthesame typeof
documents. Theideawasthatthethreedocuments would becompatible andcomparable soastoenable
delegations tobetter understand thetechnical cooperation activities ofeachorganization.
16. Therepresentative ofIndiareferred tothesuggestion made bytherepresentative oftheUnited
States regarding theself-selection ofdeveloping countries andsaidthathisdelegation needed tosee
thelanguage andwished tothinkabout it.Hisdelegation alsohadproblems withtheword"integration"
onPage6when itreferred tothe"fullintegration ofbeneficiaries intothemultilateral trading system".
Hewastherefore willing tosupport theManual initsprovisional form andnotasafinaldocument.
17. Therepresentative ofEgypt didnotseeaneedforthedocument tobeadopted. Itcould simply
betaken noteof.Heagreed withtheChair inthatthedocument needed tobemade public. Itwas
necessary thatthepeople inthedifferent ministries incapitals andothers whowere tobenefit from
theWTO technical cooperation activities hadaccess toit.Hisdelegation hadnodifficulty inmaintaining
itasaprovisional document.
18. Therepresentative ofPakistan agreed totheproposal ofmaking thedocument public, andthat
itbeprovisional. Hereferred tothefirstsection onpage7which stated, inthesecond paragraph,
thatforbeneficiaries "forseminars, workshops, training activities andother specialized activities to
becarried outinGeneva, theselection criteria willmostly beestablished bytheWTO Secretariat"
andsaidthathisdelegation didnothaveaproblem withthiswording aslongasthefinalselection
andnomination ofgovernment officials would belefttothegovernments. Likewise, regarding the
paragraph referring toprivate sector attendance, hesuggested thatitbeclarified thattheserepresentatives
would beinvited bythegovernments concerned. Referring totheparagraph which dealtwithacceding
countries onPage 8heproposed that,ashadbeendone onPage 4intheparagraph dealing withWT/COMTD/M/17
Page4
developing countries, itwould bebetter tocitethenumber ofdeveloping countries intheprocess of
accession.
19. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities thought thattheManual would beuseful for
countries seeking technical assistance. Concerning thesection oncooperation withother international
organizations onPage 20,much more could besaidinlightoftheHigh-Level Meeting onLeast-
Developed Countries 'Trade Development, anditwould benecessary toupdate theinformation after
thatMeeting. Regarding thereference totheestablishment oftheSubcommittee onLeast-Developed
Countries onPages 4and5,hebelieved thatthedatewas1995, rather than1996. Concerning the
title,"Increased needfortechnical assistance fordeveloping countries ”hesuggested itbechanged
to“Increased needfortechnical assistance ”asitalsocovered technical assistance foracceding countries
which were notallnecessarily regarded asdeveloping countries byallMembers.
20. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland saidthatthedocument could onlybefinalized aftertheHigh-
Level Meeting hadtaken place astheMeeting might influence itsdrafting. Hesuggested thatthe
phrasing onPage21which stated that“Thegrants provided bytheMembers canbeadministered by
theWTO Secretariat orthedonor, andaremostly earmarked forspecific activities decided uponbetween
thedonor andtheWTO Secretariat andtobecarried outwithin acertain time-frame" bechanged to
statethatspecific activities should bedecided according totheguidelines andimplementation modalities
astheyconstituted theframework within which theCommittee worked. There wasalsoaneedto
mention thedecision oftheGeneral Council ontheissueoftheTrust Fund fortheHigh-Level Meeting,
andinthatcontext thatconsultations onthematter ofthe13percentoverhead hadbeenheld.
21. Therepresentative ofVenezuela saidhisdelegation hadcertain reservations about some of
thestatements made andthatitwould wishtoaddress them during further consultations.
22. TheChairmanaskedtheSecretariattoconsiderthepointsraisedandsaidthatfurthersuggestions
would betaken intoconsideration intherevised drafting.
(iii) Three Year planforTechnical Cooperation: 1997-1999
23. TheChairman saidthattheSecretariat hadcirculated, indocument WT/COMTD/W/25/Add.1,
anupdatedversionoftheTechnicalAssistanceProgrammeofActivitiesfor1997.Followingsuggestions
madeatthelastmeeting,theSecretariathadimprovedonthepaperandhadintroducedtwonewcolumns,
onecalled "WTO Funding" andonecalled "Other Funding", thusseparating thesources offunding
fromthecolumn which indicated theorganizing entity. Members would appreciate thatthedocument
showed anintensification ofactivities, which underlined thefactthatdemand-driven assistance by
necessity ledtofrequent changes andinmost cases additions tooriginal plans. Forexample, the
preparation oftheHigh-Level Meeting andneeds assessment missions undertaken inthatconnection
hadledtoadditional technical assistance fortheleast-developed countries beyond whatwasreflected
intheoriginal document. Since much ofthefirstyearofthe1997-1999 planhadlapsed, hesuggested
thattheCommittee tooknoteofitatthispoint. Headded thatasprovided forintheGuidelines and
theImplementation Modalities, theSecretariat would provide theCommittee withaDraft Three-Year
Plancovering 1998-2000 forthenextmeeting.
24. Therepresentative ofMorocco agreed withthesuggestions made. Hisonlycomment related
tothepresentation. Hewished toseeaseparate tableforactivities which theWTO hadinitiated so
astodistinguish themfromthose activities inwhich WTO hadonlyparticipated. Itwould giveaclearer
ideaofthevolume ofWTO organized events.
25. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthatthedocument should bemonitored
andupdated inaregular fashion. Heasked forclarification onwhyonlyactivities for1997 wereWT/COMTD/M/17
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presented indetail, when thiswasaThree-Year Plan. There waslittleinformation onactivities for
thefollowing twoyears, andheasked whether thatindicated thatnospecific requests foractivities
nextyearandbeyond hadbeensubmitted?
26. TheSecretariat noted thattherehadcertainly beenrequests fortechnical cooperation for1998.
Headded thatthedocument wasanaddendum totheprevious document, andassuchitdidnotrevise
theSecretariat 'sprojected activities in1998 and1999, nordiditrevise theintroductory note.
27. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthattheoriginal document didnotcontain
anyspecific activities for1998 either. Thedocument onlymentioned areas offocus, which wasnot
thesameasrequests foraction. Hewasoftheviewthatinformation about specific requests foractivities
in1998 wasstilllacking.
28. TheSecretariat saidthattheoriginal ideafortheThree-Year PlanforTechnical Cooperation
wasthatdetailed information begiven about theplanandtherequests forthecurrent year, butthat
forthesubsequent twoyears onlyanindication ofthetypes ofareas thatwould beattended towas
tobegiven. Asitwasdifficult togetcountries tofocus andplanahead regarding thetypeoftechnical
assistance theywerelikely torequest, itwashardtogivespecific information beyond athree-month
period. Thefinalresponse would, formostcases, onlybeavailable justprior totheevent tobeheld.
Even inthespecific annual planforthecurrent year, many changes tookplace. Therefore, onlya
rough ideaastotheactivities ofthetwoyears furthest inthefuture ofeachThree-Year Plancould
begiven. Another Three-Year Planwould bepresented totheCommittee atitsnextmeeting inwhich
activities for1998 would bedescribed ingreater detail andarough ideawould beprovided ofthe
activities planned for1999-2000.
29. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland noted thattheThree-Year Planshowed thetremendous need
tocoordinate technical assistance among theinternational organizations. Thecurrent Three-Year Plan
wasagood start, anditwould subsequently needtobeevenfurther improved.
30. Therepresentative ofMorocco asked whythedocument hadbeenprovided asanAddendum
andnotasarevised document. Hesuggested thatworking documents beusedinthefuture, andthat
document symbols onlybegiven toadopted documents. Regarding thepresentation, hesuggested
thatanadditional column becreated which would separate WTO technical cooperation activities from
those ofother organizations. Forthose activities inwhich WTO involvement waslimited tothe
participation ofWTO experts atameeting, nocostshould bementioned. Itwasenough tostatethat
“WTO participated bysending experts ”.Itwould thusbeeasier toidentify theactivities which were
primarily initiated bytheWTO.
31. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat replied thatthedocument could bepresented theway
Members found most convenient. However, hewished todraw theattention tothefirstpage of
Addendum 1where itwasstated thattheattached tablecontained anupdated version oftheprogramme
oftechnical cooperation activities for1997. Itwasdistributed asanAddendum, anditwasstated that
itsubstituted pages 5-18oftheoriginal document. Secondly, theSecretariat could segregate theWTO
organized technical activities fromthose organized byothers iftheCommittee sowished. Inthecurrent
document, alltheactivities inwhich theSecretariat hadparticipated inayearhadbeenpresented in
alphabetical andchronological order. Itwasofcourse possible tosegregate theactivities intotwo
groups, butasfarastheSecretariat wasconcerned, thesame amount ofwork wasinvolved nomatter
whether theactivity wasinitiated andorganized bytheSecretariat orbysome other agency.
32. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatashisdelegation didnotbelieve thatthesameamount
ofworkwasinvolved nomatter whether theactivity wasinitiated andorganized bytheWTO Secretariat
orbysome other organization, hisdelegation wished toseetechnical cooperation activities organizedWT/COMTD/M/17
Page6
byother organizations accredited assuch. Hefeltthatitwasfundamental thattheWTO technical
assistance bejudged bytheactivities inwhich theWTO hadthemain responsibility.
33. Therepresentative ofEgypt noted thattheThree Year planforTechnical Cooperation had
solicited many questions from officials inhiscapital. Hewasofviewthattheintention ofthepaper
hadbeentosolicit requests andactions. Hesupported thatflexibility bemaintained inthework plan
forthetwofuture years asithelped theplanning ofrequests from capitals.
34. Therepresentative ofMyanmar, speaking onbehalf ofASEAN, agreed withtherepresentative
ofMorocco thataseparation oftheactivities initiated andorganized bytheSecretariat fromthose of
other agencies would giveaclearer picture.
35. TherepresentativeofColombiahadnoobjectiontobreakingtheinformationintoWTOorganized
andnon-WTO organized activities. However, thedocument appeared most useful inchronological
presentation asitwould allow delegations toknow whattechnical assistance seminars weretaking place
world-wide atacertain point intime. With respect tothequestion from theEuropean Communities
regarding whether anyMember hadrequested technical assistance for1998, Colombia hadrequested
WTOassistanceinorganizingaseminaronanti-dumpingandsafeguardstobeheldinColombiain1998.
36. TheChairman saidthatsince much ofthefirstyearhaslapsed, thecomments made would
betaken intoconsideration forthedocument tobeissued fortheNovember meeting oftheCommittee.
C. Review oftheParticipation ofDeveloping Country Members intheMultilateral Trading System
37. TheChairman saidthatatitsMaymeeting, theCommittee haddiscussed itsprogramme of
work fortheautumn ofthisyear. Ithadagreed toplace onitsagenda fortoday'smeeting anitem
entitled "Review oftheParticipation ofDeveloping Countries inWorld Trade". TheSecretariat had
prepared aNoteentitled "Participation ofDeveloping Countries inWorld Trade: Recent Developments
andTrade oftheLeast-Developed Countries" contained indocument WT/COMTD/W/31 which had
beencirculated toMembers on17September. TheNoteupdated thestudy which hadbeenprepared
bytheSecretariat in1996ofMajor Trends andUnderlying Factors intheParticipation ofDeveloping
CountriesinWorldTradeoverthepasttwentyyearsandwascontainedindocumentWT/COMTD/W/15.
38. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat saidthedocument wasintended toprovide apreview of
twoother papers thatwerebeing prepared bytheSecretariat. Thefirstone,theAnnual Report, would
contain more detailed information onthetrade ofdeveloping countries andtrade developments over
thepasttwelve months. Thesecond wasdocumentation thatwasbeing prepared fortheHigh-Level
Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade Development. Hedrew theattention ofdelegations
totheSection inparagraphs 18-20 onmarket access fortheleast-developed countries. Inthecoming
weeks detailed information onmarket access barriers facing exports from least-developed countries
would beproduced bytheSecretariat.
39. Therepresentative ofIndia wished tomake twopoints. Relating toparagraph 6ofthepaper,
hisdelegation suggested thattheCommittee might wishtoexamine theconcern thatin1996therewas
aslowdown inexports oftextiles andclothing asthatconstituted animportant export itemforsome
Members. Relating toparagraph 20,hisdelegation didnotfullyagree withthestatement thatleast-
developed countries faced thesame market access conditions indeveloping country markets asother
exporters. Technical assistance andtechnical cooperation programmes provided bydeveloping countries
aimed athelping least-developed countries togetgreater market access tothemarket ofthedeveloping
country providing suchassistance.WT/COMTD/M/17
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40. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthatitwasofparticular interest tohisdelegation
tonotewhatappeared tobeanimproved performance ofdeveloping countries inthelastfewyears,
particularly sincetheentryintoforceoftheUruguay Round Agreements anditappeared asifdeveloping
countries were breaking newground interms oftheirshare ofworld exports.
41. Therepresentative ofHong Kong noted thatanissuewhich hadattracted concern wastheerosion
ofmargins ofpreference asaresult ofageneral lowering oftariffs aftertheUruguay Round. His
delegation requested theSecretariat toprovide supplementary information ontheimpact ofregional
trade agreements onmargins ofpreference. Heagreed withIndia thattheareaoftextiles wasanarea
toconsider further.
42. TherepresentativeofPakistanwasoftheopinionthatTable1wastooaggregated.Manufactures
wastoobroad acategory which would disguise intersectoral disparities forexample withregard to
textiles. Hesuggested thatthetablebefurther disaggregated toreflect thecorrect picture.
43. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities noted withinterest thattheshare ofdeveloping
countries asawhole inworld trade hadimproved. Ithadbeenparticularly strong inAsiaandLatin
America. There weredifferences among regions, andaregion thatcontinued tobeasource ofconcern
wasAfrica. Thisshowed thatitwasrightforWTO Members tofocus onleast-developed countries.
Twoother points made inthepaper which wereworth underlining werethecontribution theadvanced
developing countries could make inimproving access totheirmarkets. Thatwassomething allMembers
shouldconsiderinthecontextoftheHigh-LevelMeeting.Second,thepaperunderscoredtheimportance
ofleast-developed countries having theright policy mixinplace andofthem adopting sound
macroeconomic policies.
44. Therepresentative ofEgypt hoped thattheitemwould remain ontheagenda asthepaper would
require additional discussion.
45. Therepresentative ofUganda saidthatwhatclearly came outofthepaper wasthatinspite
ofprogress anddeepening ofstructural reforms inleast-developed countries, there wasstillaneed
forexternal assistance iftheleast-developed countries were totakeadvantage ofthenewtrading
environment. Thesources ofgrowth ofleast-developed countries 'trade stillweremainly exports of
primary commodities andnotofvalue-added manufactured goods. Thatwasafactwhich needed to
behighlighted.
46. Therepresentative ofMorocco wasnotoftheopinion thattheintention should betorevise
thedocument asthepurpose ofitwastoprovide elements toreactto.Hisdelegation sawthisAgenda
itemasastanding itemandhoped thatupdates ofthepaper would beproduced from timetotime.
Thedocument wasbasically abackground document andwasuseful assuch.
47. TheCommittee tooknoteofthedocument andthestatements made.
D. High-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries
- Progress Report
48. TheChairman noted thattheSub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries hadheldameeting
on16September 1997 inwhich progress inthepreparations fortheHigh Level Meeting hadbeen
discussed. TheMinutes ofthismeeting hadbeencirculated indocument WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/8.
TheSecretariathadinthepastpreparedanumberofbackgrounddocumentsonthestatusofpreparations,
which hadbeencirculated toMembers indocuments WT/COMTD/W/28, plusAdd.1 andAdd. 2.WT/COMTD/M/17
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Adocument containing information ontheNGO Symposium, which hadstarted theprevious dayand
which wasstillongoing hadbeencirculated indocument WT/COMTD/LLDC/W/9.
49. TheChairperson oftheSub-Committee saidthattheHigh-Level Meeting hadrecently been
discussed indepth atthemeetings oftheSub-Committee andinUNCTAD. Shesaidthattheopening
plenary would provide anopportunity forcountries toannounce market access initiatives forleast-
developed countries. Shewasfairly optimistic, bothwithregard toannouncements tobemade by
developed andbydeveloping nations inthisregard. Themeeting would thensplitintocountry-specific
roundtables andthematic roundtables. Asmany needs assessments ofsufficient quality toconduct
roundtables hadbeenreceived, itwould benecessary either tohaveparallel country-specific roundtables
ortoattend tosome least-developed countries before oraftertheHigh-Level Meeting.
50. Shesaidthatthefinallistofcountries tobeshowcased attheHigh-Level Meeting would be
issued on10October. Shewished toremind theleast-developed countries thatitwasuptothem to
choosethechairmanandtheadditionalinstitutionsanddonorstobeinvitedtotheirparticularroundtables.
Regarding thethematic roundtables, consultation heldinUNCTAD hadledtoconsensus onthethemes
tobediscussed andontheparticipants intheroundtables. UNCTAD would takecareoftheorganization
oftheroundtables. TheChairs ofthetwothematic roundtables might beMinister Pronk ofthe
Netherlands andaleast-developed country Minister. UNCTAD wascarrying outconsultations onthose
issues. Thethematic roundtables would endupinplenary intheform ofthedocuments embodying
therecommendations totheinter-governmental institutions, tothegovernments oftheleast-developed
countries andtothedonor community atlarge. Theaimwastoendorse those recommendations in
theplenary. Theaimwasalsotoendorse thepaper ontheIntegrated Framework. Itshould berecalled
thatconsultations hadbeenheldontheissue byMr.Hoda andMr.Fortin. They would holdfurther
informal consultations andthedocument would thenbedistributed. Finally, anewversion ofthebudget
wasexpected atanymoment asthere hadbeenareluctance ofdonors topledge onthebaseofthe
earlier budget. Partly because oftheoverheads andpartly because three tickets perleast-developed
country wasregarded bysome donors asabitexaggerated. Amore modest budget could hopefully
attract newcommitments andsheencouraged those inaposition todosotopledge asonlySweden
hadcommitted itselfsofar.Ambassador Lafer, theChairman oftheGeneral Council wasstillholding
consultations withaviewtoresolving thepolitical problem ofattendance ofcountries attheHigh-Level
Meeting. Finally, sheadvised delegations tospend some timeattheNGO conference astheir
contribution tothedebate ontheissues tobediscussed attheHigh-Level Meeting would beuseful.
51. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthatinorder forbilateral donors toplay
auseful roleattheHigh-Level Meeting theywould needtohavetheneeds assessments shortly. It
wasnotrealistic togivebilateral donors onlyfrom mid-October toconsider theneeds assessments
which hadtaken theAgencies much longer toconsider. Itwasunderstandable thatnofinallistofthe
least-developedcountriestobefeaturedatcountry-specificroundtablesattheHigh-LevelMeetingexisted.
However, therewasaneedtogettheneeds assessments asquickly aspossible inorder forthebilateral
community tocontribute. Second, anewpaper onthebudget wasalsoneeded inorder toexamine
towhatextent gapscould befilled. Third, abetter integration ofleast-developed countries intothe
worldtradingsystemwasaprioritytowhichtheEuropeanCommunitieswascommittedandtheEuropean
Communities intended tocirculate apaper ontheissue. Thepaper would include acomprehensive
three-prongapproach.ThefirstelementwasmoregenerousmarketaccesstotheEuropeanCommunities'
market. Thesecond wastheimportance ofeconomic reform intheleast-developed countries themselves
inorder tohelpovercome supply-side constraints andinorder toattract foreign direct investment.
Thethirdelement wasamore effective useoftechnical assistance.
52. Heexplained therecent move bytheEuropean Communities onmarket access. TheEuropean
Communities wasbyfarthelargest market forexports fromleast-developed countries anditalready
gavegenerousmarketaccessconditionsforproductsfromleast-developedcountries.However,itwishedWT/COMTD/M/17
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togofurther. On20June, theCouncil ofMinisters oftheEuropean Union adopted theprinciple that
theleast-developed countries which werenon-ACP countries begranted market access conditions to
theEuropean Communities 'market equivalent tothose oftheLomé partners. TheCouncil ofMinisters
oftheEuropean Union hadalsobacked asimplification ofrules oforigin andapossible cumulation
oforigin forleast-developed countries. Hisdelegation alsowished totaketheopportunity toreiterate
acallonalldeveloped andthemostadvanced among thedeveloping countries tomake acontribution
toimprove access totheirmarkets forproducts from least-developed countries aswell.
53. Hewentontosaythatthesecond element oftheEuropean Communities 'approach wasthat
anactive participation ofleast-developed countries themselves wasexpected, including infollow-up
ofanyactivity thatwould beagreed, aswellasefforts toputtherightdomestic policies inplace in
linewiththerequirements oftheglobal economy inorder toattract foreign direct investment. The
thirdelement oftheEuropean Communities 'approach wastechnical assistance. Technical assistance
would beacentral theme oftheHigh-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries. Hisdelegation
supported theaimtogetamoreefficient disbursement anddelivery oftechnical assistance. Indeveloped
countries there wasaneedtorenew public support fordevelopment policies. Thebestwaytodo
sowastoshow thatdevelopment policies could beeffective, andthatthecountries inneedalsomade
efforts. Those weretheelements ofthepaper which hehoped would becirculated soonandthathad
beendrafted attheCommunity level withaview totheHigh-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed
Countries.
54. TheChairperson oftheSub-Committee saidthattheneeds assessments oftheleast-developed
countries would becirculated after10October. However, these papers were owned bytheleast-
developed countries themselves, andtheleast-developed countries werefreetoapproach those donors
theyconsidered relevant withtheir needs assessment. There wasadifference between what the
Secretariats thatorganized theHigh-Level Meeting could doandwhattheleast-developed countries
themselves, whoowned these papers, could do.Some oftheinformation problems could probably
beresolved thatway. Immediately afterthepreparatory inter-agency meetings, theSub-Committee
onLeast-Developed Countries would holdameeting where theoutcome oftheinter-agency deliberations
would bereported.
55. Therepresentative ofEgypt hoped thatinformal consultations would beintensified inthecoming
fewweeks ashisdelegation sawsome loose endswhich required additional consultations. Those were
forexample; themethod bywhich thecountry-specific roundtables would takeplace andthefollow-up
mechanism.
56. Therepresentative ofBangladesh thanked theEuropean Communities forthesignificant
announcement oftheopening uptonon-ACP least-developed countries ofmarket access interms of
theLomé Convention. Ifhehadunderstood therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities right,
thefacilities would bedependent oncertain conditions being metinthesense thatrightdomestic reforms
andrightdomestic policies needed tobefollowed. Hehoped thatthepaper coming fromtheEuropean
Communities inthisconnection would bespecific andlayouttheexact initiatives, areas andpolicies
thatwould beexpected oftheleast-developed countries. Itwashisdelegation 'sexperience thatthe
policy reforms insome least-developed countries hadnotalways beenproperly understood intheleast-
developed country context. Hetherefore asked thatthepolicy papers besimplified, detailed andtime-
bound andthattheystateexplicitly what therequirements would be.Finally hehoped thatother
countries would follow theinitiative oftheEuropean Communities incoming upwithimproved market
access offers infavour ofleast-developed countries.
57. Therepresentative ofUganda tooknoteofthestatement made bytheEuropean Communities.
Itwasnecessary thattheneeds assessments bepublished assoonaspossible, sothatbilateral donors
would beabletoseehowtheycould fitin.Hisdelegation hadnoproblem withitsneeds assessmentWT/COMTD/M/17
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being distributed todonors andbilateral partners. Hewished tostress thepoint thathadbeenraised
byTanzania intheSub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries regarding participation. Theleast-
developed countries would mostlikely berepresented atministerial levelanditwasthehopeofhis
delegation thattheattendance from other participants would beatahighleveltoo.
58. Therepresentative ofHong Kong, China asked whether thesubject ofmarket access forthe
products ofleast-developed countries would beontheagenda before theroundtables orwhether market
access would onlybetreated during theroundtables. Hisdelegation hoped thatitwould bebefore,
asMembers should beable,under thatAgenda Item, notonlytoannounce autonomous market access
offers butalsotocomment ingeneral terms onthesubject ofmarket access forleast-developed countries,
andthesystemic WTO andtrade policy developments which might beaffecting market access. The
Agenda should beflexible enough toaccommodate Members whomight wishtomake comments along
thislines.
59. Therepresentative ofMorocco didnotshare theunderstanding ofHong Kong, China. His
delegation 'sunderstanding wasthatthemarket access component oftheHigh-Level Meeting would
occurbeforetheroundtablesandthatnothingbutpracticalmeasuresinfavourofleast-developedcountries
wastobediscussed. Asfarassystemic issues were concerned, theyhadbeen discussed inthe
preparations ofthePlanofAction andthelimits ofsuchdiscussions hadbecome clearatthattime.
Ifpractical results were wanted from atwo-day meeting, nodiscussions relating tosystemic issues
orgeneralities should beentered intoasthose issues required time. Forthose reasons, hisdelegation
thought thattheunderstanding wasnottohaveanydiscussion beyond announcements ofpractical
measures.Boundmarketaccessforleast-developedcountrieswouldhavebeenideal,butfromexperience
gained attheSingapore Ministerial Conference itwasclearthattheWTO wasnotyetready forthat.
60. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat saidthatfrom conversations ithadhadwithseveral
delegations itfeltthatthere wasnoneedtoissueanewbudget covering onlytwodelegates perleast-
developed country. Itshould bepossible tofinance theoriginal budget asitstood. Regarding
documentation, itwastheaimtoissue documents assoonaspossible. Itwastheunderstanding of
theSecretariat thatithadbeenasked toproduce, attheHigh-Level Meeting, anintegrated response
bysixagencies totheneeds expressed byleast-developed countries. TheSecretariat didnotenvisage
having toorganize extensive roundtables actively involving bilateral donors. Rather itenvisaged an
exercise ofco-ordinating theactivities ofsixagencies withtheneeds ofleast-developed countries.
There would hopefully beamultiplier effect spreading fromtheexercise, butthere wasunfortunately
notenough timeattheHigh-Level Meeting itselftobroaden theexercise further. Informal consultations
would becontinuing onvarious issues related totheHigh-Level Meeting. TheSecretariat 'sappreciation
wasthatthepreparations wereproceeding exceedingly wellandthattheHigh-Level Meeting would
beasuccess.
61. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
E. Request forObserver Status intheCommittee: Islamic Development Bank
62. TheChairman noted thatinaletter dated 20July1997 addressed tohiminhiscapacity as
Chairman oftheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment, thePresident oftheIslamic Development
Bank hadrequested observer status intheCommittee forTrade andDevelopment. TheChairman said
thathehadreplied that, inlinewiththeprocedure forgranting observer status tointernational
intergovernmental organizations inWTO bodies, theIslamic Development Bank hadbeenadded to
thelistofinternational intergovernmental organizations applying forobservership status inthis
Committee. Hehadplaced thisrequest ontheagenda oftoday'smeeting inthehopethathemight
beinaposition topropose thattheCommittee tookaction onthisissue. Heregretted thathewasWT/COMTD/M/17
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notinaposition todoso.Hisconsultations were continuing. Therefore, hesuggested thatthe
Committee revert tothispoint atoneofitsfuture meetings.
63. Therepresentative ofPakistan saidthathisdelegation hadhoped thatthiswould bea
straightforward casewhich would meettheagreement ofMembers. Inhisdelegation 'sview, theIslamic
Development Bank squarely metthecriteria laiddown bytheWTO foracquiring observer status by
international intergovernmental organizations. Hisdelegation hadanumber ofreasons forsaying so.
First, theIslamic Development Bankwasadevelopment financing institution withtheprimary objective
ofpromoting thesocial andeconomic development ofitsmember countries. Inpursuit ofthisobjective
ithadfocused itsactivities ontrade promotion among itsmember countries. Moreover, theIslamic
Development Bank hadaglobal character asitcomprised 52Members from Africa, Asia, the
Middle East, Central AsiaandLatin America. Thevolume ofitstradefinancing wasaround abillion
dollars, andtradefinancing wasabasic instrument oftradepromotion. Inlightofthis,hisdelegation
didnotseeanyreason foranobjection totheIslamic Development Bank being granted observer status
asitmetthecriteria ofbeing trade related. Itwasanorganization which wasdirectly engaged in
promoting international trade. Hisdelegation hoped thatMembers would judge therequest purely
onitsmerits. Inthecurrent listofobservers thereweresimilar organizations which hadalready been
granted observer status. Hequestioned whytheIslamic Development Bank should getadifferent
treatment.
64. Therepresentative ofEgypt shared theopinions expressed byPakistan, andsupported strongly
thatobservership begranted totheIslamic Development Bank. Hisdelegation alsowished toexpress
concern about thedelay intheprocess andhoped thattheissue would beresolved soon.
65. Therepresentative ofTurkey saidhiscountry hadbeenholding theChair ofthestanding
Committee forEconomic Cooperation oftheIslamic Conference forthelast20years andthatit,in
thatcapacity, hadgreat experience indealing withtheIslamic Development Bank. Hisdelegation
shared theviews expressed bythedelegation ofPakistan, aswellastheconcerns expressed relating
totheprocedures which seemed toprolong theprocess.
66. Therepresentative ofBangladesh saidthathisdelegation waspleased tosupport strongly the
Islamic Development Bank being granted Observer Status intheWTO Committee onTrade and
Development. Hisdelegation wasoftheopinion thatthisrequest deserved urgent andsympathetic
consideration byMembers oftheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment ontheground ofmerit, some
ofwhich hewished tomention. Both theCommittee onTrade andDevelopment andtheIslamic
Development Bank shared acommon areaofwork relating totrade anddevelopment. TheIslamic
Development Bank wasamultilateral loan-giving financial institution which extended softterm
development loans toitsmembers under transparent andcompetitive rules andconditionalities. Its
loans benefited Member countries, some ofwhom likeBangladesh wereleast-developed. TheIslamic
Development Bank financed directly export-enhancing andmultilaterally trade increasing activities
initsmember states anditprovided technical assistance ofsizeable volume toitsmembers tobuilt
capacity inawideareaoftrade-related economic actions including forhuman resource development
andtradediversification. Initsoperational pursuit ithasbeenmaintaining productive, informal liaison
withanumber ofmultilateral organizations likeUNCTAD, UNDP andITC,anditscurrent membership
of52cutacross Asia, Africa, theMiddle EastandCentral Asia. Most ofthese member states were
alsoMembers oftheWTO. Considering theabove, hisdelegation urged thedelegations present at
thatday'ssession oftheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment toconsider positively theextension
ofimmediate observer status totheIslamic Development Bank. Such adecision bytheCommittee
onTrade andDevelopment would beinitsinterest andwould strengthen multilateral trade.
67. Therepresentative ofKuwait supported thestatements made bytherepresentatives ofPakistan
andEgypt.WT/COMTD/M/17
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68. Therepresentative ofMorocco, saidthatashiscountry heldtheChairmanship atHead ofState
Level oftheOrganization oftheIslamic Conference, hisdelegation wasinfavour oftheCommittee
onTrade andDevelopment granting observer status totheIslamic Development Bank. TheIslamic
Development Bank hadpresented agood fileandanyone whowished toreadabout itsactivities and
understand whyitwaslegitimate thattheIslamic Development Bank acquire observer status could
readthefile.However, hisdelegation understood thatthequestion ofobserver status hadtoberesolved
attheleveloftheGeneral Council andhehoped thatthiswastheonlyreason fornotalready granting
theIslamic Development Bank observer status.
69. Therepresentative ofMyanmar speaking onbehalf ofASEAN, saidthatASEAN wasofthe
viewthattheIslamic Development Bank should begranted observer status assoonaspossible forthe
same reasons asgiven byPakistan.
70. TheChairman saidthatconsultations onthisissue would continue incooperation withthe
Chairman oftheGeneral Council.
F. Annual Report for1997
71. TheChairman noted thattheGeneral Council would undertake anannual overview ofWTO
activities atitslastmeeting oftheyear, which wasscheduled tentatively for10December. Forthe
purpose ofthisoverview, theGeneral Council would needareport for1997 from theCommittee on
Trade andDevelopment. Theform thatthisreport should takehadbeenindicated intheGeneral
Council 'sDecision onreporting procedures indocument WT/L/105: itshould bebrief, factual in
nature, andprovide anindication oftheactions anddecisions taken bytheCommittee during theyear.
Withaviewtoestablishing theCommittee 'sAnnual Report for1997, hesuggested thattheCommittee
request theSecretariat toprepare adraftfortheCommittee 'sreview andadoption atitsNovember
meeting. Inorder forMembers tobeinaposition tohaveauseful discussion attheNovember meeting,
theSecretariat should berequested tosubmit itsdrafttoMembers wellinadvance ofthenextmeeting,
which wasscheduled for17November.
72. Therepresentative ofMorocco suggested thatiftheaimwastoadopt thereport attheNovember
meeting, theChair should announce informal meetings oftheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment
todiscuss thereport asitotherwise would bedifficult toadopt.
73. TheChairman asked theSecretariat tocirculate thedocument assoonaspossible andsaidhe
would undertake consultations ontheissue.
74. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
G. Other Business
- Programme ofwork
75. TheChairman saidthatfollowing statements made atCommittee meetings earlier thisyear
andinformal consultations which hehadcarried outsince theCommittee 'slastmeeting inMay, he
intendedtoincludeintheCommittee'sagendaforitsNovembermeetingthefollowingitemtakendirectly
from theCommittee 'sterms ofreference: "Review oftheApplication ofSpecial Provisions inthe
Multilateral Trade Agreements andrelated Ministerial Decisions infavour ofDeveloping Country
Members, inParticular Least-Developed Country Members". Inthiscontext, herecalled thatthe
Committee hadcarried outamajor review ofthesubject lastyear. Documents WT/COMTD/W/16,WT/COMTD/M/17
Page13
plusAdd.1 andAdd.2, andWT/COMTD/W/17 contained thisreview. Inlight ofhisinformal
consultations, herequested theSecretariat toprepare adocument asbackground fortheCommittee 's
discussionsonthisissueinNovember.Thedocumentwouldcontainanupdatedreviewoftheapplication
ofthespecial provisions intheMultilateral Trade Agreements andrelated Ministerial Decisions in
favour ofdeveloping country Members, inparticular least-developed country Members, building on
theinformation contained indocuments WT/COMTD/W/16, plus Add.1 andAdd.2, and
WT/COMTD/W/17 of1996. Headded thatfollowing hisinformal consultations, heunderstood that
some countries might wish toraise inthiscontext theissue ofidentifying thepossible steps for
operationalization ofthose provisions which were ofageneral nature.