WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED  
 WT/COMTD/M/38  
10 July 2002  
 (02-3842)  
  Committee on Trade and Development  
Thirty -eighth Session   
 
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 14 FEBRUARY 2002  
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Nathan Irumba (Uganda)  
 
Subjects discussed:  
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA  ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
B. OBSERVERS  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 2 
(i) Request For Attendance For Ad Hoc Observers  ................................ ................................ ........  2 
(ii) Further Consideration of request for observer status  by League of Arab States, the 
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organisation 
for Industrial Consulting, the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie, and 
the Common Fund for Commodities  ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
C. COORDINATED WTO SECRETARIAT ANNUAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PLAN 2002  
(WT/COMTD /W/95/R EV.1) ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  3 
D. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  19 
(i) Presentation of a Country Experience (Costa Rica)  ................................ ................................ . 19 
(ii) Preparation for a seminar  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........  21 
E. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT  ................................ ....... 22 
F. ELECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE FOR THE LEAST 
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........  23 
G. OTHER BUSINESS  ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  24 
 
ANNEX I  - Costa Rica's Experience in Electronic Commerce  ................................ ...............................  25 
 
 WT/COMTD/M/38  
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A. ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA  
1. The Chairman  said that the draft agenda of the meeting was contained in airgram 
WTO/AIR /1702/Rev.1 of 7  February 2002.  He outlined the changes made in the revision of the 
airgram.  The Trade Negotiating Committee had agreed, on 1 February 2002, that the work on special 
and differential treatment stemming from the Doha Ministerial Meeting sh ould be carried out in 
Special Sessions of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD).  The issue of special and 
differential treatment had therefore been taken off the agenda of the regular session of the CTD.  An 
invitation to a Special Session followi ng the Regular Session of the Committee had been sent out after 
that decision on the assumption that a Chairman for the Special Session would have been selected in 
the General Council.  In the absence of a General Council decision on chairs the Chairman ha d 
consulted informally.  The Special Session would therefore be postponed until a chairperson had been 
elected.  An invitation to a Special Session of the CTD would be issued as soon as practicable.  
2. He went on to say that after the meeting of the CTD on 22  January  2002 which had been 
entirely devoted to Technical Cooperation and Training, the WTO Secretariat had prepared a revision 
of the Technical Cooperation Plan and an Agenda item on Technical Cooperation had therefore been 
included on the Agenda.  The C TD would have normally elected its chairperson at the end of the first 
meeting of the year.  However, the Chairman of the General Council was still in the process of 
holding consultations on the slate of officers for the different WTO bodies.  As the CTD C hair could 
not be decided independently of the overall election of officers, the CTD would have to elect its 
chairperson for 2002 at its next regular session, scheduled for 23 April 2002 as the first substantial 
item on the agenda of that Meeting.  He furt her suggested that the election of chairperson for the Sub -
Committee on Least Developed Counties also be deferred to the following Meeting.  He therefore 
proposed that Agenda Item C on the Election of Chairperson of the Committee on Trade and 
Development a nd Agenda Item E on the Election of Chairperson of the Sub -Committee on Least 
Developed Countries be postponed and put on the agenda of the next regular session.  
3. The agenda was adopted  with those changes.  
B. OBSERVERS  
(i) Request For Attendance For Ad Hoc Observe rs 
4. The Chairman  recalled that, at previous sessions of CTD it had been agreed to invite the 
following inter -governmental organizations on an ad hoc meeting by meeting basis:  the Arab 
Maghreb Union (AMU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOW AS), the 
Economic Corporation Organization (ECO), the Inter -Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation, the 
Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Organization of the 
Islamic Conference, (OIC) the South Centre, the South Pa cific Forum, the United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), and 
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  He proposed that those Organizations be 
invited to the next formal meeting of CTD and that, in view of the forthcoming special sessions of the 
Committee on special and differential treatment, those Organizations be invited to any formal session 
held before the next regular session.  
5. It was so agreed .  WT/COMTD/M/38  
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(ii) Further Consideration of request fo r observer status by League of Arab States, the 
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organisation for 
Industrial Consulting, the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie, and the Common 
Fund for Commodities  
6. The Chairman  stated that at previous Sessions there had been a number of requests for 
observer status by the League of Arab States, OPEC, the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, 
the Organization International de la Francophonie and from the Common Fund for Com modities.  He 
recalled that such observer status would be on an ad hoc basis. the positions of Members were well 
known and on the record he proposed that the Committee revert to those requests at the next formal 
meeting.  
7. The representative of the European Commission  said that his delegation had been consistent 
in being flexible on the issue of observership.  His delegation deplored that the Organization 
International de la Francophonie could not take part in the meetings, given that organization's clear 
focus on trade -related technical assistance and the programmes which it implemented.  
8. The representative of Guinea  agreed with the statement made by the representative of the EC 
and hoped that Members would adopt a more flexible attitude in that regard in futu re.  
9. The Committee decided  to revert to the outstanding requests for observership at its next 
meeting and took note  of the statements made.   
 
C. COORDINATED WTO SECRETARIAT ANNUAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PLAN 2002  
(WT/COMTD /W/95/R EV.1) 
10. The Chairman  stated that the Annual Technical Assistance Plan discussed at the meeting of 
22 January 2002 had received many comments from delegations.  The Secretariat had revised the Plan 
accordingly.  That  revision was contained in document WT/COMT/W/95/Rev.1, dated 6 February 
2002.  
11. Deputy Director -General Mr. Paul -Henri Ravier  welcomed the continued dialogue that the 
Secretariat had had with Members and said that his remarks built on the report by the 
Director -General to the General Council on 13 February 2002 under the item " Other business".  
12. He continued by saying that there were two broad questions to address.  First, the question of 
the implementation of the Plan, and second, the question of how much it would cost.  In response to 
the first question he had seven specific rem arks: 
(a) The implementation of the Secretariat -wide Plan for 2002 had began on 
1 January  2002.  The CTD had taken note of the Technical Assistance Plan 
(document WT/COMTD/W/95) at its last meeting on 22 January 2002.  The 
operational activities were being imp lemented on the basis of the New Strategy which 
had been welcomed and endorsed by Ministers in paragraph 38 of the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration.  Implementation of the Plan had been preceded by 
exhaustive, bilateral and plurilateral consultations between t he Secretariat and the 
Members, and the Secretariat remained in continuous dialogue with Members and 
welcomed the advice it was receiving  WT/COMTD/M/38  
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 (b) Second, and linked to implementation was the fact that over the past six weeks more 
than 30 activities had been execu ted.  It was to be noted, that planned activities in 
several cases had to be postponed, some at the request of the beneficiary country 
concerned and others, in order to be able to respond to emergency ad hoc missions 
related to notifications to be executed  within a mandatory time -frame.  Officials in 
the Technical Cooperation Division were in contact with delegations in the regions of 
their responsibility in order to identify definite dates and venues for execution of the 
planned activities.  The rate of im plementation was and equally dependent on the 
beneficiary countries as the Secretariat and providers of assistance.  
(c) Third, the Revision of the Plan contained in document WT/COMTD/W/95/Rev.1. had 
been issued to respond to Members' comments and observations during the last 
meeting.  The Secretariat would issue revisions to the Plan when even necessary.  
These were transitional years for WTO Technical Cooperation and the Secretariat 
continued to explore optimal strategies for how to best respond to the new and  
unprecedented development agenda established at Doha Ministerial Conference.  The 
Secretariat's approach was stated in paragraph  2 of the Plan and the Secretariat would 
continue to be guided by superior advice, which commanded consensus.  
(d) Fourth, Members w ould certainly agree with the dynamic and evolving nature of the 
Plan.  He insisted that both the Plan and its implementation were work in progress.  
That would ensure that it met the needs of both providers of resources and of 
beneficiaries.  Since the la st meeting, the Secretariat had consulted with several 
regional and subregional groupings, such as CARICOM in order to fine tune and 
focus the Plan more precisely around the needs of the beneficiaries.  The Secretariat 
expressed its appreciation to the CAR ICOM Group for their positive and constructive 
suggestions on the fine tuning of the Plan to better respond to the needs of the Latin 
American and Caribbean region.  
(e) Fifth, consultations had been held or were in progress with multilateral agencies to 
identi fy the complementary contributions that they could make.  On 25  January 2002 
the Secretariat had held interagency consultations with the World Bank, OECD and 
UNCTAD.  The purpose of those had been to develop enhanced interagency 
co-operation on technical c ooperation and capacity -building in the field of 
competition policy, to explain the Doha mandate to other agencies in that regard, and 
to seek their support and cooperation in its fulfilment.  The Secretariat had exchanged 
experiences on the best way of me eting the needs of developing countries.  
Discussions on each organization's specific technical cooperation plans had led to the 
identification of specific opportunities for cooperation and coordination among the 
organizations.  The inter -agency meeting wa s considered successful by the 
participating agencies.  The invited agencies had underlined their support for 
enhanced cooperation to meet the requirements of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  
The Secretariat had been able to identify complementarities be tween the types of 
technical assistance provided by the different organizations, and advantage would be 
taken of that complementarity.  A significant number of specific possibilities for 
cooperation in the form of joint activities, mutual support for each others activities, 
and coordinated activities had been identified, especially with UNCTAD.  It had also 
been agreed that interagency cooperation had to be viewed as an ongoing process and 
that representatives of the various organizations would remain in co ntact with each 
other on a regular basis to exchange information on coming events.  The Secretariat 
was in the process of following -up with each of the organizations to work out the 
practical details.  Further information on capacity -building for trade and  competition 
policy in accordance with the objectives set out in Annex 1 of the Plan would be  WT/COMTD/M/38  
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 provided at the informal meeting of the Working Group on the Interaction Between 
Trade and Competition Policy on 26  February  2002.  The second example was of the 
Working Group on Trade and Investment which had already held an informal 
meeting to examine the issue of technical assistance and capacity -building in its 
specific area with the substantive participation of the UNCTAD Secretariat.  More 
information would b e provided as soon as possible on consultations with UNCTAD 
in that regard.  The third example was that the Secretariat had convened a meeting 
with several agencies and the key providers of technical assistance on 
19 February  2002 to define the structure, parameters and categories for the WTO 
Technical Assistance Database that would be used to provide information to 
Members on trade -related technical assistance activities by beneficiary countries and 
by donor countries in accordance with the Doha Ministeria l mandate.  More 
information would be provided by the Secretariat at a subsequent meeting of the 
CTD.  Finally, the Director -General had convened a meeting of Integrated 
Framework Heads of Agencies in Washington on 26  February  2002, which would be 
hosted b y Mr. Wolfensohn, the President of the World Bank.  The WTO Director -
General would host a joint meeting of the WTO African Group and the Least -
Developed Countries Consultative Group on 19  February  2002 to seek their advice in 
advance of the IF heads of Age ncies meeting.  The Heads of Agency meeting would 
focus inter alia  on the implementation of the IF pilot scheme and its extension to 
other countries.  A report would be made to the Sub -Committee on Least -Developed 
Countries after that meeting.  
(f) The Pledging  Conference for the Doha Developmental Agenda Trust Fund had been 
scheduled for 11  March  2002.  He hoped to have Ministerial participation at that 
event and mentioned that invitations had been circulated to all Members.  He said that 
the Secretariat appeal ed to donors and invited agencies to ensure that the Pledging 
Conference would be a success.  Success would maintain the post -Doha momentum 
on the central issue of Technical Cooperation and Capacity -Building.  
(g) He emphasized that the Annual Plan could not re spond to all the needs of the 
beneficiary countries.  The Plan was only one out of five basic elements in the overall 
architecture for responding to the Doha Mandate on Technical Cooperation and 
Capacity -Building.  
13. He recalled that those were the interagen cy strategic partnerships on which he had reported 
before.  Strategic partnerships with the bilateral donors, strategic partnerships with regional banks, 
regional institutions and commissions, the integrated framework for responding to the specific needs 
and priorities of the LDCs, the WTO trade -related technical assistance database which he mentioned, 
and the Secretariat Annual Plan for responding to the short -term needs focused inter alia  on WTO 
Agreements, building knowledge on the Agreements, explaining  obligations, identifying the rights 
and enhancing trade negotiations and policy capacity.  In light of the remarks and what was foreseen 
as rapid developments in the implementation of WTO technical assistance the Secretariat would 
inform Members periodica lly about developments of the Plan.  
14. Deputy Director -General Mr. Andrew Stoler  addressed the second of the questions, informing 
Members of developments related to the costing of the Plan, notably in light of the Pledging 
Conference.  He hoped that the figur es, taken together with the details provided to delegations in 
documents related to the Coordinated Annual Plan and its Annex 1, would provide Members with 
basic information that they needed to prepare their authorities' positions in advance of the Pledgin g 
Conference for the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund.  He began with the costing of the 
activities that were covered by the 2002 Plan.  Nearly all of the activities were known to the 
Secretariat when they prepared the estimates that were used to arrive at the CHF 15  million figure WT/COMTD/M/38  
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 which had subsequently been agreed by Members as the target for the 2002 Doha Development 
Agenda Global Trust Fund.  The costing that had been arrived at for those activities in 2002 based on 
the 456 activities in the Pl an and came to approximately CHF 14.9  million.  The costing was arrived 
at by taking the following elements into account.  First the estimated costs of the activities themselves 
was about CHF 16.1  million.  That amount had then been reduced on account of c ost sharing 
arrangements with other intergovernmental organizations that the WTO Secretariat anticipated 
arriving at, in particular, with respect to the regional activities.  The reduction in the cost because of 
this to the WTO came to about CHF 2.9  millio n.  In addition, the programme support fund cost of 
CHF 1.7 million  had to be added.  The consolidated total cost then came to CHF 14,886,376.  In 
arriving at those figures the Secretariat had applied standard costing methodologies assigning 
different stan dard costs for a one day of activity for one person, depending upon whether the activity 
was classed as a regional activity, a national activity or a miscellaneous activity taking place in 
Geneva with the last one actually being the most expensive because it usually implied bringing in 
speakers and participants from outside of Geneva.  
15. He went on to say that the figures were consistent with the earlier estimate of the need for 
approximately CHF 15  million in contributions for use in 2002.  However, since the  General  Council 
had agreed on the CHF 15  million level for the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund, a 
number of additional activities had been identified and costed.  Most of those activities were 
described in Annex 1 to WT/COMTD/W/95/Rev.1.  The ad ditional activities and their estimated costs 
were the following.  First, there were future activities of the WTO Training Institute which had not 
been covered by the regular budget in 2002 and those activities would require around CHF 300,000.  
Secondly, there was technical assistance relating to trade and investment where there was an 
additional amount contributed to the project of CHF 1.8  million expected from UNCTAD.  The share 
due to the WTO was based on what was in Annex 1 and was about 2  million Swis s francs in 2002.  
The third category of additional expenses related to technical assistance with regard to trade and 
competition policy and amounted to CHF 250,000 for the year 2002.  Finally there were 
CHF  331,500  of programme support funds associated wi th that extra Annex 1 activity so that the 
consolidated total that would be reached with the Annex 1 activities would be an additional 
CHF  2,881,5000.  It was estimated that all the projects taken together would involve a cost to the 
WTO, over and above th e regular budget available for technical cooperation, of about 
CHF  16.3 million.  About 19  per cent of that amount would be devoted to national activities, about 
76 per cent to regional activities and the remainder to expenses on the tools which were ident ified in 
Section 6 of WT/COMTD/W/95/Rev.1.  The Secretariat wished to see pledges to the Doha 
Development Agenda Global Trust Fund in 2002 for about CHF  16.3 million and reminded 
delegations that the Secretariat would be covering a considerable amount of W TO staff 
technical -assistance related travel through CHF 1.5  million provided for the regular budget for that 
purpose.  
16. The Chairman  said that by its very nature a "Plan" was a plan and its realization was 
determined by the resources available for its imple mentation.  
17. The representative of Venezuela  said that the document corresponded to the variety of topics 
for negotiation mentioned in the Doha Ministerial Declaration for negotiations and future work.  
However, it concentrated more on traditional items of t he commercial agenda and relatively few 
activities were devoted to the Singapore issues.  The document enumerated many organizations that 
were going to cooperate in the activities, some of which were subregional.  She said that 
complementarity with UNCTAD had not been mentioned in any of the activities being planned for 
Latin America.  It was her understanding that the Technical Assistance Plan presented by UNCTAD’s 
Secretary -General, Mr. Ricupero, referred to cooperation with other bodies, in particular wi th the 
WTO.  Delegations wished to see more cooperation between agencies and it would therefore have 
been timely if the WTO assistance plan had foreseen joint activities with UNCTAD.  Her delegation 
was convinced that the two institutions' somewhat differe nt mandates would not give rise to  WT/COMTD/M/38  
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 duplication of efforts and would benefit Members.  On several occasions the WTO technical 
assistance activities in the Andean countries and in Venezuela had been prepared jointly with 
UNCTAD and had given rise to excellen t results.  It was important that that positive experience of 
cooperation, which her delegation understood to be also true for Africa, be repeated in the Latin 
American region.  There should be more cooperation between UNCTAD and the WTO in the 
activities foreseen at the regional level in the areas of services, agriculture, environment and the new 
issues. She sought clarification on the implications of paragraph 2.2 of the document which refered to 
the efficient coordination of technical assistance with mul tilateral agencies and the consequences of 
the word synergy in that context.  She asked whether the technical assistance resources being 
earmarked for joint activities with UNCTAD could be requested by individual delegations also.  With 
regard the list of activities she said that it was necessary to consult with the Members before defining 
the programmes and the topics, as stated in paragraph  3(iii) of the Secretariat’s document.  It was also 
important that countries participated in the organization of the activities so as to better reflect the 
interests and the needs of each country.  
18. The representative of Japan  said that his delegation wished to continue to consult with the 
Secretariat in order to make the Plan a better one.  It was good that the Secretari at had already entered 
into consultation with other agencies in order to coordinate the efforts and share costs.  His 
Government was studying ways to contribute to the Global Trust Fund, which he felt should also 
cover the technical assistance and capacity  building activities on the so -called Singapore issues, 
especially on trade and investment.  He believed that the document had been improved.  It clearly 
showed a linkage between technical assistance activities and the Doha Development Agenda.  
However, th ere was room for the further improvement.  
19. The representative of Cuba  said that she was fully aware of the importance that Ministers at 
the Doha Ministerial Conference had attributed to technical assistance and capacity -building.  It was 
referred to in over  ten paragraphs in the Ministerial Declaration and it emphasised that technical 
assistance and capacity -building should be guaranteed and predictable.  Her delegation urged the 
donors to make the necessary contributions so that a comprehensive plan could b e carried out that 
satisfied the needs of all Members.  Her delegation was satisfied with the coordination between the 
WTO and other specialized agencies, in particular with UNCTAD.  That would avoid duplication of 
efforts and would be able to better tap a vailable resources in other organizations.  She approved of 
coordinated activities, particularly in dealing with the Singapore topics, as well as regarding the 
database.  The database was of fundamental importance for developing countries so that they coul d 
better understand and hence be able to participate more fully in negotiations on market access.  There 
was a need for greater coordination of efforts with UNCTAD with a view to derive more benefits 
from the resources available in that organization.  Alth ough technical assistance was not the solution 
to the problems which developing countries faced, it would clearly assist them in providing a better 
understanding of the different topics, many of which were relatively new . 
20. The representative of Zambia  said that the Plan was well structured and the activities clear 
and interesting.  His delegation believed that in order for technical assistance and capacity -building to 
effectively support developing countries' participation in the negotiations it had to meet specific 
criteria.  It should be designed in accordance with developing country needs and agendas.  The 
Zanzibar Declaration provided clear guidelines in that regard.  Secondly, his delegation believed that 
it had to encompass different topics on the trade  agenda in a comprehensive manner.  The key was 
that it be linked to Members developmental goals.  Thirdly, it should recognize the need for 
identifying and pursuing common interests in negotiations, particularly through support to the 
regional and subregi onal integration agreements, and in particular to LDCs.  He went on to say that he 
was aware that the WTO could deliver just one type of technical assistance, one which was focused 
on trade rules and the implementation of trade agreements.  He believed suc h technical assistance to 
be in accordance with the WTO's mandate.  At the same time, in light of WTO's limited mandate his 
delegation could not expect any technical assistance activities to be able to help his Government WT/COMTD/M/38  
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 identity its interests in the nego tiations.  That was something that had been acknowledged even by the 
Secretariat itself.  Other agencies had to be actively involved in providing different perspectives and 
options so that delegations' positions could be based on an understanding of the va rious possibilities.  
One size fits all assistance and standardized products would have limited impact.  That was why an 
intense cooperation with other agencies had to be included in the formulation of any WTO assistance 
programme.  He noted the section de voted to the Integrated Framework and the reference made on 
page  4 to "mainstreaming" and asked for clarification on the practical implications of channelling 
assistance on trade negotiations through the IF and the precise meaning of the terms "Mainstreami ng" 
and "synergies"'.   Those questions related to the role of the IF in trade negotiations.  His delegation 
looked forward to receiving clear indications from the WTO Secretariat on the substantive content of 
the list of seminars and missions indicated in  the Plan. They had to be explained in terms of objectives 
and modalities.  He hoped that in the future, more attention would be paid to a balanced distribution 
of programmes.  
21. The representative of India  mentioned that capacity -building extended to beyond holding of 
seminars and would require a long -term commitment.  Capacity among developing countries was not 
equal.  Many developing countries would have to start from zero.  The pace of expansion of WTO 
activities should take the capacity of developing coun tries into account.  In the delivery of technical 
assistance the Secretariat should explore the possibilities of making use of other institutions, 
particularly those which specialized in international trade and economic relations.  Certain institutions 
had a good understanding of the situation in developing countries and would be able to better design 
specific codes for developing countries.  In that respect the training of trainers in developing countries 
was important as such training would have a multipl ier effect.  He recalled the 16 January 2002 
meeting of CTD, where his delegation had made some comments.  He felt that those observations had 
not been taken on board in the revised document prepared by the Secretariat.  His delegation had 
pointed out that  in some instances when the Doha Ministerial Declaration had been recalled, phrases 
had been added by the Secretariat which gave a wrong impression and had the effect of changing the 
balance in the Ministerial Declaration.  His delegation suggested that wh ere specific paragraphs of the 
Doha Ministerial Declaration had been referred to, the exact language of the paragraph should be used 
without any revision.  He drew attention to paragraphs  4 and 5 of the Document as well as Annex 1, 
in which it had been sug gested that the Singapore issues had a certain hierarchy.  His delegation did 
not see any specific hierarchy mentioned in the Doha Ministerial Declaration which gave either the 
Singapore issues or environment, a higher priority.  Market access issues were equally important, if 
not more important.  Paragraph 11 mentioned that the principle rationale of merging the WTO 
Development and Economic Research divisions was to adjust the Secretariat to address the 
development and technical cooperation and capacity -building mandates through research activities to 
provide factual and analytical information.  His delegation found no mention of such studies in the 
Plan which only focused on national seminars, regional seminars and workshops and training courses.  
Analytic al studies would assist developing countries in better understanding the various aspects 
involved in the post -Doha negotiations phase.  Paragraph 1 of Annex 1 of the raised Plan mentioned 
that  the Secretariat's Annual Plan for technical assistance contain ed activities focusing in particular 
on Singapore issues, so as to better prepare Members for negotiations.   Technical assistance and 
capacity -building was intended to create awareness among the developing countries and LDCs about 
the implications of a mul tilateral framework of rules in any area and to enable them to take a decision 
at the Fifth Ministerial Conference when the issues relating to the start of negotiations and modalities 
would come up for a decision.  That was clearly noted in paragraph  21 of  the Doha Ministerial 
Declaration and any technical assistance should clearly state that the objective was to enable 
developing countries and LDCs to better evaluate the implication of closer multilateral cooperation 
for their developmental policies and ob jectives and human and institution development rather than 
what had been mentioned in the document provided by the Secretariat.  He requested that his 
delegations concerns which had also been mentioned in the previous meeting be taken into account in 
order  for his delegation to agree to the  document.  The first paragraph of Annex  2 mentioned that in 
paragraph  31 to 33 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, Members had agreed to negotiations, even  WT/COMTD/M/38  
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 though this reference existed only in paragraph 31.  He request ed the Secretariat to revise the 
document accordingly.  
22. Referring back to Annex 1 in the trade and investment part he went on to say that the 
Secretariat and Deputy Director -General Ravier had mentioned that this was work in progress which 
would be further elaborated and developed in consultation with other international agencies like 
UNCTAD.  Analytical studies which would help developing countries understand various aspects of 
trade and investment could be included in that section.  An analytical study of trade and investment 
would assist developing countries to participate effectively in regional seminars and national 
workshops that related to the topic.  He referred to footnote  2 of the table in Annex  5 which showed 
the number of planned activities by reg ion.  His delegation felt that an activity could then be 
categorised under" LDC activities" even if only one LDC was participating.  That footnote should 
then read "Activities held in one LDC or, in the case of regional activities, those activities to whic h at 
least 50  per cent of the participants were LDCs'.  It was consequently necessary to recalculate the 
figures in the column on the extreme right of the table.  In conclusion he referred to paragraph 5, 
subparagraph 6, which related to technical assistan ce for non -residents.  It was essential that non -
Geneva based Missions were kept abreast of the negotiations.  Minutes of formal and informal 
meetings in the negotiating phase should therefore be sent to the non -resident Missions.  It would also 
assist Gen eva-based delegations that were not able to participate in particular meetings.  Those 
concerns had to be taken on board in order for his delegation to agree to the document.  
23. The representative of the European Commission  said that through the Plan was a g ood basis 
for future work, it still needed some more improvement.  He pointed out that the Plan was important 
as it was the reflection of what the WTO would need to do in response to the Doha Ministerial 
Declaration.  In addition, the Plan was an operation al document for the expenditure to be incurred 
under the Doha Trust Fund.  His delegation therefore attached importance for the Plan to be approved 
at the earliest so that it could be used as a basis for the Pledging Conference on 11 March 2002.  He 
said h e believed that more should be done to clearly address the Doha commitments.  He would 
appreciate if the activities which responded to the individual paragraphs of the Declaration were made 
more apparent.  The column which had been added to the Annex which  pointed to the relevant 
paragraph was a good start but did not allow delegations to understand what was being done in the 
different specific areas.  For instance, he suggested that what was being done on implementation 
should be clearly defined.  Paragrap h 14 of the Implementation Decision adopted at the Doha 
Ministerial Conference made implementation a priority of WTO's work on technical assistance and 
capacity -building.  He said that his delegation agreed that the WTO should cooperate closely with 
other international agencies and noted the work was under way in this regard.  The WTO should also 
cooperate with bilateral donors, with training institutes and other activists in the field.  That could be 
worked out in greater detail.  The Plan still gave the i mpression that almost everything was being 
done by the WTO itself, which he felt was not the intention at the outset.  His delegation attached 
importance to effective coordination between the WTO, other agencies in Geneva and across the 
Atlantic, and with the main donors.  He said he thought that the WTO could build on the experience 
which the ITC had in sectors such as SPS and TBT.  He asked if the Secretariat had given more 
thought as to what could be done on -line rather than sending officials abroad.  He  pointed out that in 
training institutes in Europe, in management institutions and in universities, a lot of training was done 
on-line and that was experiences the WTO could build on.  He went on to say that it was his 
delegation's understanding that many of the short missions and the participation of WTO officials in 
meetings should not have been listed one by one.  That inflated the number of activities.  The 450 or 
so activities listed would appear to be exaggerated if every single mission of a WTO offic ial was 
regarded as a capacity -building or technical assistance activity.  The Plan had to give full attention to 
the Singapore issues.  Annex 1 of the document was superficial and did not, for example, reflect 
recent cooperation between UNCTAD and WTO on investment.  The Singapore issues was an area 
where negotiating capacity for developing countries was crucial and he hoped that this could be 
reflected in the document.   With respect to the costing he noted that the Plan as such did not provide WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 10 
 
 
 any figure s.  He was therefore grateful for DDG Stoler's input.  However, Members had to get an idea 
of the total figures distributed among the different activities.  The Plan itself should have given a 
clearer idea of the cost of different activities.  That should include a better idea of the importance 
attached to the Singapore issues as well as a clearer view of WTO participation in activities which 
were jointly carried out with other international organizations.  Finally he said he agreed with Deputy 
Director -General Ravier that the Plan had to be dynamic and that it had to evolve with the experience 
which was being gained.  His delegation would favour a clear arrangement which would allow the 
Secretariat and the Members to keep track of how the plan was being imp lemented.  His delegation 
was ready to assist the Secretariat in every way and was confident that in doing so the Plan could be 
endorsed in the future.  
24. The representative of the United States  said that she appreciated the effort the Secretariat had 
made in  further revising the Annual Plan and appreciated that Deputy Director -General Ravier had 
clarified the understanding that the Secretariat was still not looking for an approval of the document.  
Her delegation looked forward to participating in the discuss ions with the Budget Committee, and 
appreciate Deputy Director -General Stoler's information on costings.  Her delegation's understanding 
was that the Plan reflected Members' requests for assistance which had resulted in the compilation of 
activities that t he Secretariat was planning.  The Plan did not provide a qualitative basis on which to 
measure the effectiveness of the activities undertaken, nor to understand precisely what kind of 
assistance was being provided and the link to particular objectives, whe ther based on commitments 
taken at the Doha Ministerial Conference, or objectives based on already existing commitments.  One 
of the points that had been made by the recipients in other meetings was that general seminars might 
not be the most appropriate w ay to in deliver technical assistance.  She recognized that what might 
work in one country or region might not work in others.  Delegations had also mentioned that their 
different levels of development in different fields meant that the assistance provided  might have to 
vary from issue to issue and agreement to agreement.  She was anxious to hear further from others 
about how the assistance worked on the ground.  She suggested that, to further enhance the objectives 
in the document, the CTD should authorise  its Chairperson to consult with chairpersons of other WTO 
bodies, committees and negotiating groups with a technical assistance element to find out if those 
various bodies would put technical assistance and capacity building as a regular item on their age ndas 
in order for delegations to be regularly updated and for linkages to be made as the activities proceeded 
rather than having an end of the year rush to pull together what existed, what was happening and what 
might need to be done.  Her delegation had a lready found that in the past years various WTO bodies 
dealt with technical assistance.  That would become even more diverse with the  new negotiating 
structures.  Other WTO bodies had been carrying out hands on technical assistance and had been 
working we ll with other organizations, standards organizations, and customs organizations and had 
provided effective technical assistance.  The preparation that had been done in the SPS area was a 
good example.  It would be critical that the CTD maintained a link wi th the other bodies to make it 
easier for Members to evaluate the technical assistance activities during the ongoing year and the 
coming ones.  
25. She went on to say that the revised Plan contained improvements, such as the chart linking 
some of the activities  to paragraphs of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Trade facilitation was 
mentioned only a few times in the various listings even though.  Her delegation knew from bilateral 
discussions that a number of governments had requested assistance in the area of  trade facilitation.  
However, she recognized that the listings only represented requests which had been made.  
Nevertheless notwithstanding what Members had in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, assistance in 
the area of trade facilitation was something th at the WTO should coordinate with other agencies.  She 
agreed with the Ambassador of Zambia on the importance of coordination with other multilateral 
agencies.  More thought should be put into what other organizations could contribute to in joint 
efforts.  She emphasized that a certain amount of bilateral technical assistance was always available 
globally and appreciated the setting up of a database that would make it easy for beneficiaries to know 
exactly what was being provided bilaterally.  A lot of the bilateral assistance was directly trade - WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 11 
 
 
 related.  However, her delegation had sometimes found that representatives of different beneficiaries 
might not always be aware of the assistance provided on the ground.  There was a need for more 
coordination on the  ground to recognize the linkages.  More could be done on -line and that this might 
be useful for providing some training on -line, a tool she said should be explored.  On the issue of the 
Pledging Conference, her delegation sought clarification on whether M inisters were expected to 
attend.  She also asked for updated information regarding who was invited.  In other meetings, 
delegations had indicated they wished to contribute in kind.  All contributions were equally important 
and it should be ensured that th e Pledging Conference was inclusive in this respect.  The focus of the 
Conference was on the Global Trust Fund and her Government was ready to make its contribution of 
US$1 million and was in the process of discussing with the Secretariat the transfer of o ther funds into 
that pool.  
26. The representative of Norway  said that her country would be interested in continuing 
discussions on how the Plan evolved. Her delegation sought a coordinated approach to technical 
assistance and wished to avoid overlap, duplicati on and any differences between international 
organizations and other bodies, about which agency was most competent in the different areas.  It had 
to be ensured that everything was covered and that there was no lacunae.  It was important that the 
Plan and the proposed activities were clear, as should be their connection to the commitments made at 
the Doha Ministerial Conference.  She said that many delegations had stressed the importance of 
coordination with other multilateral institutions, but it was impor tant that Members knew which those 
organizations were.  The database would be important in that context as it would provide information  
about who was doing what.  It was not only UNCTAD which carried out activities of interest.  
Members should give though t to the suggestion made to have technical assistance dealt with on the 
agendas of the different bodies as they had a more hands on approach to the questions concerned.  It 
was important that the programme be followed up and that it be made as concrete as possible.  She 
said that her delegation had asked itself what the WTO’s role would be in the IF process and what the 
follow -up should be.  She felt that there seemed to be an imbalance in the distribution of activities in 
the Plan.  She noted what the dele gation of India had said on Annex 5, and agreed that issue should be 
looked into.  She continued by saying that when it came to identifying the activities that addressed the 
different commitments in Doha Ministerial Declaration, it was important that there  was more focus on 
the Singapore issues, than the Plan currently seemed to have.  It was also important because the Plan 
was a living document and as delegations went into negotiations and analysis of the different issues 
there would be more demands from d elegations for assistance in those areas.  
27. The representative of Tunisia  said his delegation welcomed the new changes introduced in the 
Plan in light of the observations made by delegations in the last meeting of the CTD, in particular 
regarding the link be tween the Plan and the Doha Ministerial Declaration. His delegation supported 
what had been said by the delegations from Venezuela, Cuba and the Ambassador of Zambia for more 
cooperation with international organizations, in particular with UNCTAD since tha t organization had 
a long experience in the field of trade.  He was concerned as his Government's requests had not being 
taken fully into consideration, since the activity planned to take place in Tunisia in the previous plan, 
had apparently been removed i n the revised version.  He requested the Secretariat to provide an 
explanation, preferably in written form.  
28. The representative of Belize  said he thought it was critical to ensure that what was delivered 
corresponded to the needs of the Members.  However, M embers had an important role to play in that 
regard.  The technical assistance to be provided over the next two to three years seemed to involve a 
range of interconnected activities of both donors and partners.  That raised the question of how the 
divergen t expectations could be assessed and how those divergences would be addressed.  That was 
critical in ensuring the success of the WTO’s Technical Assistance Plan.  It was important to consider 
what would happen in the period subsequent to the capacity -build ing phase.  He was concerned that a 
number of Members who were eager to integrate their respective trade strategies into the multilateral 
trading system in a fashion that would allow them to realize their respective development objectives, WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 12 
 
 
 would be faced w ith various constraints.  Members expressing a will to integrate should be provided 
with opportunities and support to do so.  He suggested an analysis of the constraints of trade, in 
particular of how it related to the developmental needs and interests of the countries that would 
benefit from technical assistance and capacity -building.  He said that he had only raised this issue as a 
way of identifying means of identifying how those countries could be facilitated in further integrating 
into the multinationa l trading system.  He supported the suggestion made by the representative of the 
United States of having the Chairman coordinate with the Chairmen of other bodies to ensure that 
there was homogeneity with regards to the delivery of technical assistance.  
29. The representative of Malaysia  said that the language in Annex 1 of the Plan gave the 
impression that Members had already agreed that negotiations would take place on the Singapore 
issues.  He said that that was a decision for the Members to take.  The matte r should not be prejudged 
by the Secretariat because, according to the Doha Ministerial Declaration, it was clear that Members 
were to decide on how and what they would do with the Singapore issues at the Fifth Ministerial 
Conference.   Delegations could n ot, at this point in time, accept that it be stated that the technical 
assistance provided should be geared towards negotiations in those issues.  He agreed with the 
proposal that there should be coordination between the Committee and the other bodies in t he WTO 
so that Members knew what each body was doing, in order to avoid duplication of technical 
assistance.  He asked whether there was a deadline for agreeing to a final document in view of the 
imminent holding of the Pledging Conference.  The Plan shoul d be finalized as soon as possible and 
scheduled activities should not be put on hold.  He add that these activities could be implemented 
even though the document had not been approved.  He further asked that if a final CTD document was 
approved by the Gen eral Council, did it mean that no further requests could be made for technical 
assistance, or if, since it was a living document, changes, amendments and additions could still be 
made as Governments needs changed.  He stressed that the possibility to chang e the Plan through the 
course of the year should exist.  In addition he sought clarification as  to whether, when further 
changes were made, the costing would be adjusted accordingly and how a possible shortfall in 
available resources would be dealt with.  In connection to what had been said concerning the role of 
other international organizations he believed that information on the work being undertaken by other 
international organizations would be helpful.  As most technical assistance to his Government w as 
channelled through the WTO, information on other agencies in Malaysia which may have requested 
technical assistance directly from other international organizations, would be useful.  The WTO’s role 
would therefore be a clearing -house of some kind.  He a sked if the activities of other international 
organizations were to be included in the document, would it be for information only, or if the WTO 
would have an overseeing role so that Members would have to go through the WTO to request 
assistance from other  international organizations.  
30. The representative of China  noted the remarks made by Mr. Ravier with respect to 
cooperation between the WTO and other international organizations, including the relevant UN 
bodies, in delivering technical cooperation to devel oping country Members.  Such cooperation and 
partnerships were important as the organizations carried out complementary activities.  Members 
should  make full use of the comparative advantages of all international organizations.   He referred to 
the tables  in the Plan and sought clarification regarding the content of the fourth column entitled 
"Cooperation with".  He said that, for example, on page 31 projects for Cambodia had been listed, 
while in the fourth column it was mentioned that this would be in co operation with UNCTAD.  He 
was unsure whether that activity was sponsored by the WTO with the cooperation of the UNCTAD 
Secretariat or whether it was sponsored by UNCTAD with the cooperation of the WTO Secretariat.  
That had to be made clear, otherwise it would create a precedent as to which other activities might be 
included in the tables.  He concluded by saying that there could be amendments to the Plan later and 
that there could always be room for improvement during its implementation.  There was theref ore no 
need to continue to work on revisions as it would be too time -consuming.  A Plan was a Plan and 
there was no such thing as a perfect Plan.  The Secretariat had to be given a certain amount of 
flexibility in its implementation of the Plan.    WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 13 
 
 
 31. The Repr esentative of Ghana  sought clarification on Section 3 entitled "African Countries and 
JITAP".  He pointed out that only eight African countries were beneficiaries of the JITAP and the 
JITAP had its own activities.  The programme would in principle end in J une 2002, although it might 
be extended.  He asked if the title implied that the activities in the technical assistance Plan for 
countries which were beneficiaries of JITAP would be carried out within the framework of the JITAP.  
If that was the case, the Missions should have been alerted to tell their Governments to adjust the 
activities of the JITAP in cooperation with the executing agencies of which WTO was a prominent 
one.   
32. The representative of Switzerland  said he had five brief points.  Firstly, he s aid that his 
delegation was satisfied with the share of technical activities directed to the LDCs, which represented 
50 per cent of the total.  However, he supported the suggestion made by the representative of India 
that the figure might be deceiving.  He  asked the Secretariat to assure that the share of 50 per cent in 
favour of LDCs was established.  Secondly, his delegation supported the view expressed that all areas 
identified in the Doha Ministerial Declaration for technical assistance should be suppor ted equally 
from the Global Trust Fund, including the Singapore issues.  Thirdly, his delegation was concerned 
about how the Members could provide support to the Secretariat in its endeavours.  He explicitly 
called for the ad hoc requests to be limited to the barest minimum.  Fourthly, he asked whether the 
large number of activities planned could really be carried out with the in -house staff available.  It was 
still an open question to Members as how the priorities should be established if it became clear t hat all 
the activities could not be carried out with the human resources at the disposal in the Secretariat.  
Lastly, he said his delegation hoped to receive information on the work and methodology of the newly 
created unit of the Technical Cooperation Aud it. 
33. The representative of Canada  said her delegation recognized that further work was required 
and supported the proposal for linkages with other WTO bodies by having them put technical 
assistance and capacity -building on their agenda.  She welcomed the fi rst efforts to deliver on the Plan 
and cooperate with other organizations.  There were many appropriate and important organizations 
that should be mentioned in the Plan such as  UNCTAD, UNEP, FAO, WIPO, UNIDO, APEC, IDB, 
the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.  The Heads of Agency meeting of the Integrated 
Framework was a good idea in that respect.  However, she recalled that the IF was a tripartite 
relationship between the agencies, the donors and the LDCs and said that it might be appropriate to 
invite at least the Chair of the IF Steering Committee, and/or the two donor and two LDC 
representatives to attend that meeting as the perspectives of all should be heard.  
34. The representative of Pakistan  said that technical cooperation and capacity -building w ere core 
activities of the WTO as confirmed by the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  The negotiations agreed at 
the Doha Ministerial Conference and the recommendation of continuing the work programme on the 
Singapore issues and other subjects made it crucial that an effective technical assistance and capacity -
building strategy be put in place.  The Coordinated WTO Secretariat Annual Technical Assistance 
Plan for 2002 was a testimony of the fact that the Secretariat attached importance to technical 
assistance a nd capacity -building.  The Revised Plan appeared to be a good basis.  However, even if 
technical assistance and capacity -building were important, they were only one side of the 
development dimension of the multilateral trading system.  More important was t he need to inject a 
development dimension into the rules and disciplines, both in the existing ones and in those which 
Members would agree on in the future.  There should be no presumption of any negotiations on issues 
on which there was no Ministerial man date.  He therefore supported the views expressed by the 
representative of India.  Suggestions made by the representative of the United States regarding on -line 
training were good and merited consideration.  He said he was surprised that other WTO bodies h ad 
not been consulted in the preparation of the Plan.  There was a need for maintaining greater  
coordination with other WTO bodies in order for Members to get effective assistance from the Plan.  
He went on to say that one -day seminars might not be the be st way to achieve the desired goal.  In 
that regard, the importance of objective and analytic research studies and hands -on training could not WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 14 
 
 
 be over -emphasized.  He looked forward to a final document which would take into account the 
concerns expressed b y the various delegations.   He concluded by saying that all Members were 
allocating resources, both human and financial, for the implementation of the activities, and he hoped 
that the Secretariat would put in place some sort of auditing or monitoring sys tem which would ensure 
the effectiveness of the Plan and enable periodic evaluations of its effectiveness.  
35. The representative of Egypt  asked for clarification with respect to the three other levels of 
technical cooperation.  The response to his question mi ght respond to some of the concerns raised by 
others with respect to the cooperation with UNCTAD.  The second level of cooperation was referred 
to in the second indent of paragraph 2 on page 3 of the revised Plan.  He asked whether a document 
would be publ ished by the WTO regarding that level of cooperation as well as regarding the 
cooperation with the OECD mentioned in subparagraph 4 of paragraph 2.  He said that he was aware 
that UNCTAD had already drafted a document regarding technical cooperation with r espect to the 
Doha Ministerial Declaration and he believed that that document had been drafted in close 
cooperation with the WTO Secretariat.  If he had understood the Plan, it referred exclusively to 
activities to be delivered by the WTO Secretariat, and as was stated in the document "to an extent in 
coordination with multilateral agencies with related competence".  If everything was taken together 
delegations would get a complete view of all ongoing activities and the degree of coordination and 
cooperatio n that had been established among agencies.  
36. The representative of Indonesia  said that his delegation shared the concern expressed by the 
delegations of India and Malaysia with regard to the wording in paragraph 1 of Annex 1 of the Plan.  
He sought clarific ation on Annex 5 of the Plan which showed the number of planned activities per 
region.  The figures in one column gave the percentage of region over subtotal.  The percentage for 
the Asian/Pacific region was 20 per cent whereas the number of countries and the share of the world 
population located in the Asian/Pacific region was much larger.  He therefore asked what the rational 
for the 20 per cent figure was.  
37. The Ambassador of Paraguay  said that, even though the statements had been substantive, his 
delegati on still felt that if the Committee continued to review the Coordinated WTO Technical 
Assistance Plan, they would reach the end of the year without developing countries having received 
the technical cooperation they needed in order to be able to participat e in the work programme arising 
out of the Fourth Ministerial Conference.   His delegation wished to see the Plan enforced and 
believed that necessary adjustments could be introduced as its implementation progressed.  He quoted 
the Spanish saying  “perfect ion is the enemy of the good” as he believed that the Plan was already 
good.  A number of activities had been scheduled for February 2002, including one in Paraguay.  It 
was important to commence the activities already scheduled in the Plan and not to wait  until the Plan 
was perfect.  It was better to enforce the Plan as it was and to introduce the adjustments as the need 
arose.  
38. The representative of Bolivia  said that he agreed with many of the comments made regarding 
improvements and felt that these could be introduced as the Plan was implemented.  If Members 
considered the ambitious objectives set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration and felt that the 
assistance provided in the Plan would not meet their requirements, they could say so.  However, his 
delegation recognized that what was in the Plan was as much as could be reasonably expected from 
the WTO Secretariat.  The Plan did have a strong capacity strengthening and training component.  He 
agreed with other delegations about the need to start implemen ting the Plan at the earliest.  During the 
implementation of the seminars and courses in the Plan, it might be useful for developing countries if 
the WTO Secretariat could coordinate with other specialized agencies that had particular knowledge 
in the give n areas.  It would be also important to ensure a multiplying effect in the beneficiary 
countries, by working in cooperation with local institutes that dealt with trade matters and with local 
training institutes.  That would not involve changing the guideli nes of the Plan.  A multiplying effect 
could be achieved by finding different local entities that might be able to disseminate the information  WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 15 
 
 
 the WTO was providing.  If the Member concerned agreed, other methods such as the internet and 
other means to rea ch a broader public could be used.  
39. Deputy Director General, Mr Andrew Stoler  said that a question had been posed regarding 
whether it would be possible to fully cover some of the Singapore issues such as trade and investment 
in the global financial envelop e.  He responded that this may be possible provided it was possible to 
marginally increase the CHF 15 million associated with the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust 
Fund.  There might actually not even be a need for CHF 16.3 to achieve all activities as the Secretariat 
had been conservative in the estimates of what the cost -sharing arrangements would contribute. He 
said that delegations would recall that, at the end of 2001 the Secretariat had asked donors who had 
contributed money into the existing trust  funds whether they would agree to roll over that money into 
the DDAGTF for 2002.  A number of them had agreed to do that.  Others had raised some queries.  
However, it meant the fund was not starting from zero in terms of the amount that was needed at the  
Pledging Conference.  On the issue of having a more detailed ventilation of the figures given on a 
global basis, he said that the copies of his remarks which had been distributed referred to the standard 
used costing that the Secretariat had used in arriv ing at the estimates of costs of the individual 
activities.  It would show what the relative costs of the individual activities in the document were.  
However, delegations would not be able to see what exactly the cost -sharing would be with some of 
the age ncies with which there was a cooperative effort.  On the point raised about whether the figures 
could go up or not, his answer was clearly yes.  He said that the Secretariat saw the CHF 15 million or 
even the CHF 16.3 million as a conservative estimate of what would be the absolute minimum to 
accomplish the planned activities.  The numbers represented the minimum funding required for the 
existing set of planned activities.  If delegations were willing to contribute more to the Trust Fund 
through the pledgin g exercise, new activities could be identified, provided that the Secretariat had the 
capacity to deliver in terms of its own resources or outsourced resources.  Lastly, in response to what 
would happen in the event of a shortfall, he reminded delegations that it was in order to deal with 
exactly such a possibility that a buffer account of CHF 1 million had been provided for in the Global 
Trust Fund as agreed to in 2001 by the General Council.  That buffer account was intended to deal 
with a situation in wh ich there was a temporary shortfall in contributions received from delegations.  
40. Deputy Director -General, Mr Paul -Henri Ravier  said that the status of the document was a 
procedural problem which needed clarification.  The  aim was not to spend the entire ye ar to perfect 
the 2002 Plan but to implement it.  About 13 per cent of the working year had already elapsed and 
only 11 per cent of the activities had been carried out.  However, it was understandable since 
implementation was always slower early in any yea r.  Nevertheless, it was not desirable to delay 
implementation of the Plan any further.  He insisted that it was the Member's Plan, not the 
Secretariat’s.  Revision 1 of the Plan was actually the sixth or eighth version as the Plan had been 
developed throu gh consultations between the Secretariat and the Members. Such consultations had 
been held since the end of November 2001.  Though the Plan could be improved on the basis of the 
remarks made by delegations, perfection may not be that easily achievable.  Th e aim should be to 
have a working document of the Committee.  He did not think that the objective should be to adopt 
the document formally on a consensus basis as that would delay its implementation.  It was true that 
the CTD had other commitments and ther e were other essential issues to be debated in the CTD.  It 
was not in the interest of the membership at large that the CTD became the management committee 
for technical assistance although that had not been the situation in the past.  No matter how import ant 
technical assistance had become as a result of the Doha Ministerial Conference, he did not believe that 
it was the mission of the CTD to be exclusively occupied with technical assistance.  Members should 
ideally take note of all the comments which had been made and for the Secretariat to remain open to 
further comments and remarks from the membership.  He agreed with the notion that a plan is a plan 
and by its very definition must be amenable to changes.  He said 10 to 15 per cent of the activities 
contained in the Plan would be cancelled in the course of the year for one reason or another and would 
be replaced by an equivalent number or a higher number of activities which were not yet planned.  If 
Members were locked into a Plan adopted by consensus, ev ery time an activity was cancelled or WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 16 
 
 
 added Members would have to meet in order to adjust the Plan.  He did not think that this was what 
anybody wished to see happen.  
41. He went on to comment on the limitations and constraints in the Plan and its implementati on.  
The limitations belonged to three or four broad categories: the number of activities, the cost of the 
activities and the human resources that could be devoted to the activities.  The greater the number of 
activities the greater the cost and the greate r the time devoted and therefore human resources required.  
The basic features of the Plan was that the number of regional activities was much higher than in the 
past.  That had two direct consequences.  From a financial point of view, it costed more per a ctivity 
though less in terms of human resources.  A regional activity was quite costly, even though a larger 
number of countries could be covered.  That was one of the characteristics of the Plan and that was 
one of the ways in which the Secretariat was ab le to address these limitations.  He took note of the 
suggestion that had been made regarding the implementation of on -line activities and said that the 
Secretariat would explore and take advantage of every possibility to use effective technological means 
in order to save time and money.  However, it was entirely dependent on technology in that respect 
which for instance meant that on -line would depend on the weakest element of the chain, which in 
many countries was often telecommunications capacity.   
42. Tech nical assistance had not begun on 1 January 2002;  it was really a continuous effort.  
Therefore, neither in terms of activities nor in terms of coordination with other international agencies 
or with bilateral donors, had the Secretariat considered that it  was starting from scratch.  It was 
because technical assistance was part of a continuum that the Secretariat had not indicated which 
activities responded to each individual article of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.   Members had also 
defined a number o f needs prior to the Doha Ministerial Conference and there had to be continuity 
with respect to those activities.  However, the Secretariat had taken note of the fact that Members 
wished the Secretariat to link the activities to the Doha Ministerial Declar ation.  He then went on to 
talk about coordination, indicating that there were different ways of pursuing coordination.  He 
however emphasized that from the very beginning, two -thirds of the WTO’s technical assistance 
activities had been carried out in co -operation with a number of organizations, one of which was 
UNCTAD, which he believed after regional development banks was the WTO's main partner.  
43. Mr. Cheidu Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division  said that it was possible to put 
the comments made  into three categories:  first, any consensus that was apparent in the remarks made  
by Members;  secondly, the dilemmas and irreconcilable positions;  and finally, the specific questions 
asked, including the request for clarifications.  He began by saying  there was obviously no consensus 
on the Plan as yet;  if there had been it would have shown that the Plan was perfect.  The possibility of 
a perfect plan simply did not exist.  First there were the Singapore issues versus the traditional issues.  
Several Members had said that there should be more emphasis on the Singapore issues, and that the 
Plan be tuned to the negotiating agenda, others had said that this should not be done.  Secondly, some 
members had asked the Secretariat to engage in a programme appr oach while others had asked for the 
activities to be more project -oriented.  Thirdly, many of the providers had encouraged the consumers 
of technical assistance to identify their priorities and to list their needs.  Yet, on the other hand many 
of the same members had said to the Secretariat that they did not want to see a list.  The final dilemma 
was that between the strategies that Members wished to see anew and the strategy that Members had 
adopted in paragraph  38 of the Ministerial Declaration.  He said the Secretariat welcomed discussions 
and would attempt to make the adjustments required by Members.  However, Members had to 
recognize that there were divergences which the Secretariat could not bridge.  It was up to the 
Members to bridge some of these dil emmas themselves.  
44. He continued to say that coordination had a cost and required enhanced capacities.  The 
Secretariat would attempt to coordinate its activities and it was doing so within the IF.  Deputy 
Director -General Ravier had given examples of the co ordination exercises that the Secretariat had 
undertaken since the last meeting. The first was the 25 January trade and competition policy course;   WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 17 
 
 
 the second was a week thereafter on trade and investment.  DDG Ravier had also referred to the 
coordination meeting on 19 February with regard to the technical assistance database.  The Secretariat 
would continue such efforts.  However, coordination was always not that simple and it was not 
coordination that limited the operational activities.  For instance, in delivering a technical cooperation 
activity it was possible to find two different organizations taking different positions on subsidies, one 
encouraging subsidies and the other organization discouraging it.  It therefore had to be recognized 
that there was  a limit to the coordination including in the context of the limitation of mandates, 
capacity and resources of different organizations.  Moreover, coordination was not limited to inter -
agency coordination.  There should be coordination amongst donors, coor dination amongst agencies 
and coordination amongst beneficiary countries.  He went on to the issue of UNCTAD and said that 
the WTO Secretariat was not in a position to address the question of the role of UNCTAD.  However, 
he could confirm that the WTO and UNCTAD Secretariats were working together in a constructive, 
positive and practical manner and wished to continue to do so.  With regard to regional institutions he 
referred to the statement by the Director -General in the General Council on 13 February 200 2.  
Connections had been established and were being established with the many regional agencies and 
commissions.  There would be a meeting of the Inter -American Development Bank and the WTO on 
27  February 2002.  They would be working together and other ag encies had been invited, as well as 
some of the coordinators of informal groups within the WTO.  Together they would see how they 
could make best use of the best practices of each.  On the issue of the strategy, he said the Secretariat 
has proceeded on the  basis of the strategy endorsed in paragraph 38.  On the point made with regard 
to presumption of negotiations in certain areas, he clarified that no such presumptions had been made.  
The Plan for technical assistance activities was not a negotiating docum ent.  Essentially, what it 
contained was references to the Strategy for WTO technical cooperation and a listing of operational 
activities.  The Plan was based on Members' demands.  He said the Secretariat had a compilation of 
the requests from Members for activities, both written and requests made by telephone.  The 
Secretariat was prepared to making them available to any delegation who wished to see the requests.   
45. He went on to say that on the issue of seminars he had not fully understood the problem with  
the use of this tool for technical assistance.  For example there could be a request for WTO resource 
persons to show members how to schedule commitments for specific commitments on trade in 
services.  Seminars spanned the gamut of such activities.  They could be of a general nature or they 
could be of a technical nature.  However, he knew the issue was tied to the LDCs' position that the 
Secretariat should deal with supply -side matters based on the Ministerial Declaration.  The LDCs 
argued that they could  make that case because there was a mandate in paragraph 42 and 43 of the 
Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Secondly, some work had been undertaken within the IF which 
involved complementary work by other agencies, as there were issues that the WTO could not 
undertake on its own. On the question on the follow -up to the IF pilot scheme, which was currently 
under way in three countries he said that it  would be extended to approximately five more LDCs and 
that an issue that still remained was the follow -up to so me of the priority technical assistance 
recommendations arising from that.  His final point was on the question of whether the Doha 
Development Agenda also covered the Singapore issues.  He said it did, as it would cover all the 
issues and mandates that we re listed in the table on page 6 of the Plan.  There were several other 
limited questions, that he would take up with individual delegations such as the question by the 
representative of Ghana on the applicability of technical assistance activities for Afr ican countries 
with the JITAP and the clarification sought by the representative of China.  The implementation of the 
Plan would continue as soon as consensus was reached on areas of improvement.  
46. The representative of the United States  said that as the WTO  also had an e -commerce agenda 
which cross -cutted into various different bodies it was important that wherever there was the 
opportunity to use on -line resources, the WTO should be prepared to do so.  She mentioned the fact 
that the agenda included a prese ntation by a developing country to explain its experience on the use of 
electronic commerce.  The ITC had been extremely proactive in taking advantage of on -line tools to 
be able to train and to show developing countries how to use the on -line process to a ccess markets.  WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 18 
 
 
 She hoped that on -line aspects would not become such a weak link that her delegation had to question 
the initiatives.  Her delegation appreciated the element contained in the Plan related to video -
conferencing but noticed that there was a c onditionality attached to video -conferencing as the WTO 
Secretariat had to use video -conferencing even for its internal work in coordinating with other 
agencies interested in trade.  The Secretariat could not necessarily meet the demand even if it wanted 
to.  Weak links existed in all missions and at all kinds of places, even in developed countries.  
However, it was important to move along this line with the technology available and with the 
recognition that it would be possible to further progress as the t echnology became more widespread 
and available.  On the Singapore issues she agreed with the Secretariat and said that it was important 
to recognize the sensitivities.   There should be language that covered both views of the issue since 
this was an area s eriously negotiated at the Doha Ministerial Conference.  
47. The representative of the European Communities  said that his delegation disagreed 
fundamentally with the Secretariat as it still could not fully see how the change of priorities which 
should have come  about from the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the Decisions was reflected in the 
Plan.  A Plan  should be the Members’ Plan. He had consulted with the Secretariat and had made 
numerous comments on how the Plan should be structured.  He had no disagreeme nt with any other 
Member on the content of the Plan, but he did tell that it was time that the Members were a bit more 
proactive and got another chance to comment on the document.  His delegation did not want to micro -
manage anything or stop the Secretaria t from implementing the activities which were on call.  
However, he wished to see a Plan that was politically useable and which fully reflected what had been 
agreed to at the Doha Ministerial Conference.  The Plan, as it was presented, did not represent th e sort 
of response which his delegation was looking for.  The dilemma, for example, on the Singapore issues 
was a simple question of presentation.  There was no disagreement that there would be several 
activities linked to the issues in paragraph 23 of the  Doha Ministerial Declaration.  The only question 
was what to do with paragraph 21 and the illusion given that a decision had already been taken to 
negotiate these issues.  That was also a question of presentation.  There was no fundamental 
disagreement th at something had to be done on the Singapore issues.  He did not accept the argument 
that there was a dilemma which made the Plan impossible to change or presented with more 
information on cooperation with other international organizations.  He asked why t here could not be a 
section on industrial tariffs which some delegations had asked for, as there was one on investment.  
Members were clear on the sort of action which they wished to see.  However, that did not mean that 
everything had to be done from scra tch.  It was important to make the Plan a tool which allowed 
Members to track various themes throughout the year.  His delegation could agree to take note of the 
Plan.  However, there had to be a change of focus in the WTO.  That was why he had said that t he 
Plan should be endorsed, not just be taken note of.  As the Pledging Conference was to take place in 
three weeks time, his delegation could not endorse the Plan in its current form as the basic document 
for that Conference.  These issues should be resol ved quickly in an informal process to arrive at a Plan 
which corresponded to the political imperatives which Members  were working under, after the Doha 
Ministerial Conference.   
48. The representative of India  said it was difficult for his delegation to take note of or endorse 
the document before his delegation's repeatedly raised comments had been taken into consideration.  
49. The Committee took note  of the comments made and asked the Secretariat to revise the Plan 
accordingly.   WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 19 
 
 
  
D. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE  
(i) Presentation of a Country Experience (Costa Rica)  
50. The Chairman  said that according to paragraph 5 of the Committee’s Work Programme on 
Electronic Commerce delegations could be invited to share their experiences in the domain of e -
commerce.  He recalled that the delegat ion of Panama shared its country’s experience at the 
36th Session of the Committee which was held on 26 November 2001 and that the delegation of Costa 
Rica had then volunteered to share its experience.  He introduced Mrs  Mariel Picado, Counsellor, 
Permanen t Mission of Costa Rica to the WTO to inform the CTD about how the Government of Costa 
Rica had approached the issue of electronic commerce.  
51. The presentation by Mrs. Picado on the e -commerce experience of the Government of Costa 
Rica is attached in Annex 1 . 
52. The representative of the European Communities  said that though he did not represent a 
developing country, the systematic approach which the Government of Costa Rica had adopted was 
probably of interest to all Members.  It was clear that the telecommunic ations infrastructure in Costa 
Rica was already good, an important element in implementing any programme of e -commerce.  He 
asked how that had been achieved and what sort of problems the Government of Costa Rica had 
encountered and in which way it had gone  about ensuring such a high coverage of access and such a 
good infrastructure.   
53. The representative of Morocco  asked how the Government of Costa Rica used e -commerce in 
the promotion of tourism, an area he thought was vital to Costa Rica.  
54. Mrs. Mariel Picad o referred to the question regarding the system of telecommunications and 
said that the coverage was high and that there was a Costa Rican electricity company which was 
responsible for the service.  It had been in operation for many years in Costa Rica and  its 95 per cent 
coverage had made it possible to reach areas located far from any centres; including distant rural areas 
which otherwise would not have had access.  The Costa Rican Electricity Institute was the one 
responsible for telecommunications and e lectricity.  The internet infrastructure had been made 
available to the majority of the population and she underlined the fact that one of the important 
questions being studied at the present time in Costa Rica was the quest of an advanced internet 
network .  As indicated in her presentation, they would probably use optic fibre rings across the board 
in the country, thus taking advantage of the copper -based network which would make it possible to 
integrate the transmission of voice and images at high speed a nd thus reduce the costs of the 
connections and ensure access because of the wider band width.  On the question of tourism she said 
that tourism was important to Costa Rica's economy.  Different websites were being developed in 
order to promote Costa Rica as a tourist centre and to indicate the various services available in the 
different areas and sites of the country.  She said the Government had created  one main entry point to 
Costa Rica on the Internet.  
55. The representative of Rwanda  said that it appeared  that the example of Costa Rica was a 
demonstration of a new era of development, similar to the industrial revolution which had its roots in 
England and then had gone to the West and then into Japan and other eastern countries.  There was 
already a gap bet ween the West and the rest of the World and it seemed that if a country did not take 
advantage of the new electronic means, another cleavage would be created.  Since his delegation was 
interested in the use of those new electronic means he asked what perce ntage of the investment was 
by the State and what percentage was private investment, in the extension and expansion of the 
electronics market.  It seemed that it was a nationwide programme.  He went on to ask what the WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 20 
 
 
 likelihood was of success in a develop ing country where the degree of illiteracy was high and where 
the telecommunications services were underdeveloped.  He also asked what advice she could give to 
the Governments of such countries.   
56. The representative of Senegal  asked if in Costa Rica there was an electronic customs 
clearance in operation and if that was the case, what the repercussions of it had been on the speed of 
customs procedures and on the costs of customs clearance.  He said that at a time when greater facility 
in exchange was being d iscussed, it was good that some countries did use electronic means in the 
customs sphere.  It would be useful if delegations could get more information and some figures on the 
impact of the use of electronic means on customs clearance procedures.  
57. Mrs Mari el Picado of Costa Rica  said that with regard to the proportion of the investment 
which came from the public and the private sectors in the expansion of e -commerce she wished to 
give a few examples.  She mentioned the work being done by a Foundation which was developing a 
number of initiatives in order to make fuller use of electronic technology such as the use of 
computers.  That Foundation had tried to generalize and develop a culture of informatics and improve 
knowledge of informatics through a number of  initiatives, such as education.  Another important 
project was "Communications without Borders" which was one of the most important projects in 
which they were involved.  It was an area in which there was a possibility of integrating the private 
and publi c sectors in order to widen the use of electronic technologies.  It was in that connection her 
Government was developing telecentres which were equipped in order to ensure that there was 
widespread access to computers and internet.  Agreements were being e ntered into between the 
communal and municipal associations which were providing the funding and societies which were 
responsible for the training.  There were training centres for instructors which ensured specialized 
training in the field of electronics.   That was something which would back up the national industry.  It 
was a question of giving more training to the already existing skilled personnel in order to help them 
to produce more and better software.  Lack of adequate infrastructure was an obstacle  to the 
development of e -commerce.  She said the Government of Costa Rica had taken various initiatives to 
improve the infrastructure and to enhance the broadband capacity necessary for on -line transactions.  
There were also a number of other initiatives u nder way.  Another way of improving infrastructure 
would be to seek alliances with other sectors in society such as the academia and the private sector.  It 
was important that there be a response at the legislative level as well so that the necessary refor ms 
could be made in infrastructure area.  Her Government was making an effort to improve connections 
throughout the country.  It had ensured that the cable services expanded the possibility for 
connections.  That process had gone in parallel with the so -called informatics culture.  Even if the 
infrastructure was in place, appropriate use had to be made of it.   There was for example a free 
countrywide e -mail service and there had been a broad campaign to make people aware of the 
existence of it.  The aim wa s to familiarize the population with the use of electronic information 
technology so that they would learn how to use those services.  The Government had thought that the 
best way of doing so was through an information campaign through which for example pe ople would 
learn about the various possibilities in order to make them interested and for them to start using the 
service.  On the customs question, she said that the Government of Costa Rica was making efforts to 
improve the situation with the help of new  information technologies.  There was an internet page 
which made it possible to consult decrees, administrative materials and circulars, as well as all issues 
and information necessary for customs procedures.  There was also the possibility of consulting 
jurisprudence and there was information on tariff classifications, restrictions, prohibitions as well as 
information regarding imports and exports.  With respect to customs clearance, she said that the 
Government had a single digital window for exports, th ough it did not as yet have a single window for 
imports.  However, the Government was looking for systems which would make it possible to speed 
up custom processes and customs clearance.   WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 21 
 
 
 58. The Chairman  said that it was clear that the Government of Costa Rica  had a ensured a high 
level infrastructure to an extent all delegations could learn from.  He invited other delegations with 
experience in the area to make presentations on an ad hoc basis.   
(ii) Preparation for a seminar  
59. The Chairman  said that the Committee’s  work programme on electronic commerce contained 
in document WT/COMTD/35 requested the Secretariat to organize a seminar on revenue implications.  
The seminar was scheduled for 22  April  2002.  At the 36th Session of the Committee, Members had 
asked the Sec retariat to keep the Committee informed about the preparations for that seminar.  
60. Mr. Patrick Low, Director, Development and Economic Research Division  said that the 
Secretariat had drawn up a preliminary programme and was in the process of looking for spea kers.  
The draft programme was made available to Members and was divided into four sessions, three 
shorter ones in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon.  The first session in the morning would 
consider recent data trends in e -commerce, particularl y at international exchange through electronic 
means.  The second session would focus on revenue implications and the effects of e -commerce on 
prospects of governments of collecting revenue, different revenue sources, focusing particularly on 
the developme nt aspects of the issues and would also touch on the question of what was available in 
terms of information technology to assist in the collection of revenue and identification of liability.  
The third session in the morning would address some of those iss ues from a WTO perspective.  The 
Trade in Services Division would make a presentation as it was that area in which e -commerce had 
been most discussed in the WTO context.  In the afternoon session two or three governments would 
present their experiences of e-commerce in relation to the revenue issue and how they saw the 
difficulties and challenges.  Some private sector entities would also be invited to speak on the subject.  
He said he hoped that the programme would provide a clear idea of the issues connect ed to the 
revenue implications of e -commerce and the challenges for revenue collection.  The Secretariat would 
ensure that there was time for discussion and questions and answers.  He invited any delegation who 
felt that it had an experience to share with respect to revenue implications of e -commerce to let the 
Secretariat know so that it could be included in the programme.  He also said that the Secretariat 
would welcome any suggestions and guidance from delegations as to who they  might approach in a 
private sector.  
61. The representative of Canada  said that the idea of the seminar was a good one.  She suggested 
that the distinction be made between e -deliverables and goods only ordered on -line in the revenue 
perspective.  That was to say that goods only ordere d on-line were delivered at the borders whereas 
the others were not.  
62. The representative of the European Commission  said he was made aware that especially on 
direct taxes a lot of work had been done elsewhere, including in the OECD and he invited the 
Secret ariat to draw on their expertise if it had not already done so.  Duplication of efforts could be 
avoided if the Secretariat looked closely at what had already been done.  Where government revenue 
was mentioned, he preferred the discussions to be more compr ehensive and include the additional 
revenues which would accrue from using all the benefits and possible gains from electronic 
commerce, including for example how the development of e -commerce would affect government 
revenue.  It should include possible gr owth and possible additional services being rendered possible in 
a country which used electronic commerce.  
63. Mr. Patrick Low, Director, Development and Economic Research Division  said that the 
distinction between what could actually be delivered over the Int ernet and what could not was 
fundamental and would certainly be part of the discussion.  The Secretariat was in touch with the 
OECD who had carried out a lot of work on all aspects of taxes on the internet and hoped to get WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 22 
 
 
 someone from the OECD to particip ate in the seminar.  On the question of the interaction between e -
business and governments the seminar would take the broader approach.  
64. The Committee took note  of the presentations and the comments made.   
 
E. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOP MENT 
65. The Chairman  said that the International Conference on Finance and Development would take 
place on 18 -22 March 2002 in Mexico.  At the informal meeting held on 11 December 2001 it had 
been agreed that the WTO Director -General would be invited to send the package of decisions agreed 
to at Doha Ministerial Conferernce to the Secretary -General of the United Nations for the information 
of the Preparatory Committee.  In preparation for the Conference, the Preparatory Committee for the 
Conference had been he ld from 14 -25 January  2002 in New York and the WTO Secretariat, as one of 
the major institutional stakeholders of the process, had been represented.  
66. Deputy Director -General, Mr. Ablassé Ouedraogo  said that the WTO, as one of the "major 
institutional stakeh olders" of the process, had been represented at the final Preparatory Committee 
held on 14 -25 January 2002 in New York City.  He had had the honour to make a statement at the 
opening of the Preparatory Committee.  A copy of the speech was available on the WTO Web -site.  
This meeting had been chaired by Mr. Kofi Annan.  Ministers dealing with development and other 
institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF had also been present.  The Preparatory Meeting had 
been able to agree on the draft text for the c onsideration of the Head of States and Government which 
covered eight areas:  
(a) Confronting challenges of financing for development the global response  
(b) Mobilizing the west financial resources.   
(c) Mobilizing international resources, foreign direct investment an d all the private 
flows.   
(d) International trade as an engine for development.  
(e) Increasing international and financial and technical cooperation.  
(f) External debt.   
(g) Systemic issues  
(h) Staying engaged.  
67. He added that in the chapter on trade, the draft text of the M onterrey Consensus had proposed 
a summit welcoming the implementation of the WTO decisions which had placed the needs and 
interests of developing countries at the centre of a WTO work programme and outlined the issues of 
concern to developing countries.  A mong other things he said that the draft text of the Monterrey 
Consensus had also recognized the importance of enhanced and predictable access for the exports of 
developing countries to all markets; called on developed countries that had not already done s o, to 
work towards the objective of duty -free and quota -free access for all LDCs exports; called for 
additional bilateral and multilateral support and cooperation in areas of trade -related training, 
capacity -building, institution building, trade supporting  services;  and to  commit Members to enhance 
the role of regional and subregional agreements and free -trade areas in consistency with the  WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 23 
 
 
 multilateral trading system.  The other two sections of the Monterrey Consensus with particular 
relevance to the WTO were those that dealt with systemic issues and "staying engaged".  In the 
section that dealt with systemic issues the text proposed that policy and programme coordination of 
international institutions and coherence at the national and international levels should be encouraged 
to meet the development goals of the Millennium Declaration.  He said that the Secretariat felt that the 
mandate should be representative of the full membership and should be based on clear, simple and 
objective criteria so as to ensur e the effectiveness of a global economic system which supported 
development.  It should also identify areas where relationship between the UN and the WTO could be 
improved and where capacity to provide technical assistance could be strengthened.  He went o n to 
say that in the 'staying engaged' section, the text proposed that for the purposes of follow -up and 
coordination, the UN General Assembly and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as well as 
intergovernmental and governing bodies of other institutional  stakeholders would engage in 
preliminary consultations on  the issues and address the issue of coherence, coordination and 
cooperation as a follow -up to the Conference at the spring meetings. It was proposed that the current 
high-level dialogue on strengt hening international cooperation for development which was held every 
two years in General Assembly, would be reconstituted to include a policy dialogue with participation 
of 11 stakeholders under implementation of the results of the Conference.  He said t hat copies of the 
final version of the agreed draft text of the Monterrey Consensus with UN document symbol 
A/AC.257/L.13 was available in all three working languages for the information of delegations.  
Additional information on the conference and prepara tions for it could be found on their website at 
www.un.org/esa/ffd.  
68. He went on to outline the Secretariat’s plans for participation at the International Conference 
on Financing for Development.  He said that it would be divided into three segments.  The fi rst was 
the high -level official segment which was scheduled to be held during the morning of 18 March 2002, 
the second segment was the Ministerial segment which would take place from the afternoon of 18 
March to 20 March 2002 and the third segment would be  the summit component which was scheduled 
to be held from 21 to 22 March. As a stakeholder, the WTO involvement in the Conference would be 
at two levels, that of the membership and that of the Secretariat.  He said that the Director -General 
had accepted th e invitation to the Conference and would be making an introductory statement at the 
plenary session at the summit component of the Conference.  The DG would also be co -sharing one of 
the summit level round tables on the theme "Financing for Development:  L ooking Ahead". The heads 
of the institutional stakeholders namely the IMF (Mr Köhler), the World Bank (Mr Wolfensohn), and 
the WTO (Mr Moore) along with the Secretary -General of the United Nations (Mr Kofi Annan) had 
also been invited to participate in the  Press Conference sometime during the summit segment of the 
Conference.  In conclusion, he drew attention to the link between the Doha Ministerial Conference 
and the Conference on Financing For Development and the Summit on Sustainable Development to 
be he ld in Johannesburg in the end of August 2002.  
69. The representative of UNIDO  brought to the attention of the Committee, in connection with 
the Conference on Financing for Development, a side -event on trade facilitation and capacity -building 
which would be co -chaired by the European Commission and UNIDO.  
70. The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
 
F. ELECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE FOR THE LEAST DEVELOPED 
COUNTRIES  
71. The Chairman  said the election of the Chairman of the Sub -Committee on Least -Developed 
Countries  would take place at the next session.   WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 24 
 
 
  
G. OTHER BUSINESS  
72. No matter was raised under other business.  
  WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 25 
 
 
 ANNEX 1   
 
Presentation by Costa Rica  
 
Costa Rica's Experience in Electronic Commerce  
 
I. INTRODUCTION  
 
73. The impetus given to informati on and communication technologies (ICTs) obviously involves 
a whole series of benefits for development.  Trade, and in particular electronic commerce, is one of 
the areas in which these new communication tools have the most significant impact.  The value o f 
electronic commerce is unquestionably undergoing exponential growth – the estimate being that it 
will reach some US$2.5 trillion in 2004.1  Electronic commerce makes it possible to overcome the 
comparative disadvantages created by distance and geographic al obstacles,  inter alia  by giving 
access to international markets at substantially lower costs.  
74. In the virtual market, developing countries can compete on an equal footing with the 
developed countries and enterprises are able to gain competitive advantag es that would not otherwise 
be open to them in the physical world, one of the prime benefits being the reduction in costs.  More 
and more firms are thus entering the virtual market and using the Internet to communicate with the 
outside world.  Small - and m edium -sized enterprises are among the main beneficiaries and view the 
Internet as a means of accessing information and world markets at much lower expense.  
75. This new environment presents both challenges and opportunities, and all countries – 
especially the developing nations – need to step up their efforts and prepare themselves to rise to these 
challenges and to make the most effective use of opportunities offered by electronic commerce.  
76. This document sets forth some of the most salient features of Costa Ri ca's experience in 
matters relating to electronic commerce and details the country's preparations in terms of 
infrastructure, government policies, universalization and legislation, with a view to contributing to the 
work being done in the World Trade Organ ization in the follow -up to the Geneva Ministerial 
Conference.  
II. A FEW RELEVANT INDICATORS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC 
COMMERCE  
 
77. Costa Rica has been implementing a development policy designed to provide a little over four 
million people with the ben efits of information technology.  The aim is to guarantee generalized 
access to the Internet and thus enable the majority of the population to enjoy the advantages offered 
by such technology and those deriving from related activities such as electronic com merce.  The 
following are a few relevant indicators of the country's development of this important tool.  
Access to and use of the Internet  
78. Internet services in Costa Rica have expanded considerably, even though efforts are still 
needed to extend their cove rage.  Every day, new people are becoming aware of the advantages that 
these services can provide.  Enterprises and institutions have also been developing numerous sites of 
national interest that are prompting more people to join the network.  According to  a national opinion 
 
1 Organization for Economic Co -operation and Development, "Electronic Commerce:  A Cluster 
Approach to the Negotiation of Input Services".  Working Party of the Trade Committee. 
TD/TC/WP(2000)33/Final, 15 June 2001 . WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 26 
 
 
 survey conducted in late 20002, about 20 per cent of Costa Ricans – i.e. some 800,000 people – have 
used the Internet at least once.  The survey also indicates that around 21 per cent of Costa Rican 
households own a computer, and that h ome use of the Internet has undergone a significant increase.  
Close to 32 per cent of Costa Rican families have access to the Internet at home or at work, in 
research centres, in Internet cafés or a combination of facilities.  This shows that an average o f 
300,000 households are aware of, and use, the Internet.  
79. There are different types of Internet access (switched, dedicated, cable modem, DSL, satellite, 
etc.) in Costa Rica.  Telephony is one of the most frequent applications, and although the country doe s 
not have an open telecommunications market, it has one of the highest indices of national telephone 
coverage in Latin America.3  About 95 per cent of the population have access to the telephone.  Such 
dense coverage makes it easier to implement policies aimed at providing generalized access to the 
Internet for the majority of Costa Ricans.  
80. Almost all Costa Rican homes (96 per cent) have electricity, and the possibility of using 
electrical lines as a means of access to the Internet is currently being studi ed.  Electricity might prove 
a meaningful source for increasing Internet connectivity in the country.  
Level of education  
81. Education promotes and facilitates the use of ICTs and therefore has an impact on the 
development of electronic commerce.  Education ha s always been considered important in 
Costa  Rican society, as evidenced by the fact that elementary education has been free and compulsory 
throughout the country for more than a hundred years.  
82. Costa Rica has a literacy rate of 95.5 per cent.4  The level of  education is high, with an 80 per 
cent rate of basic education and a 75.3 per cent rate of diversified education, including special 
programmes with extensive coverage of computing subjects.  
83. It should also be emphasized that 50 per cent of students study E nglish as a second language.  
Costa Rica has 46 private and four State universities, and provides a high level of technical 
education.5 
Importance of the technology sector  
84. Technology is a very important sector of the Costa Rican economy.  While in 1995 exp orts of 
high-technology products accounted for no more than 1.2 per cent of all goods exported from the 
country, the relative share of the sector had risen to almost 30 per cent by the year 2000.  From 1998 
on, the arrival in Costa Rica of major foreign -owned firms led to an exponential increase in foreign 
sales in branches with a strong technological component.  From 1995 to 2001, exports in the 
technology sector grew by an average of around 130 per cent per year.  Costa Rica is, moreover, a 
participant in  the WTO Agreement on Information Technology Products (ITA) , which completely 
eliminates customs duties on a series of IT products and items needed for their production.  
 
2 UNIMER survey published in the newspaper La Nación , 28 August 2001, San José, Costa Rica.  
3 Inter -American Development Bank, "On Information Technology and Competitiveness in Latin 
America", Santiago, Chile, 16 March 2001, 43 pp. ( http://www.iadb.org/R ES/pdf/infotech.pdf ) World Bank,  
Power and Communication Data. ( http://www.worldbank.org/data/wdi2001/pdfs/tab5_9.pdf ) 
4 UNDP, Human Development Indicators, Human Development Report 2001, 141 pp. 
(http://www.undp.org/hdr2001/back.pdf ) 
5 World Bank, "Compu ters in School.  A Quantitative Study of Chile and Costa Rica", Education and 
Technology Series, Special Issue, March 1998.   WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 27 
 
 
 85. The software sector has gained considerable economic significance, especially as a res ult of 
its high growth rate in recent years as a high value -added local industry.  The number of software 
production firms has increased from a mere 5 or 10 to more than 137 in the past 20 years.  Most of 
them export about one quarter of their total softwa re sales.  More than 25 per cent of these companies 
have increased their exports by over 50 per cent – a figure which is expected to exceed 100 per cent in 
the coming years.  
86. Foreign direct investment has accounted for approximately 5 per cent of Gross Dom estic 
Product in recent years, and the prime beneficiary has been the technology sector.  This phenomenon 
has had a major impact on the Costa Rican economy, with high technology as the main export sector 
ahead of the tourism and textiles and clothing indus tries, which respectively rank second and third.  
87. Costa Rica's economic development strategy is geared towards the production of technology - 
and knowledge -intensive goods and services, which in turn vastly increases the use of ICTs.  In this 
respect, the UN DP's Human Development Report 2000, devoted to technological development for 
human development, placed Costa Rica in the category of "potential leaders", which comes second in 
the four categories in the UNDP technology achievement index ("leaders", "potent ial leaders", 
"dynamic adopters", and "marginalized").  
III. POLICIES AIMED AT PROMOTING THE INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC 
COMMERCE  
88. Under the information technology development policy it has been implementing over the past 
ten years, the Costa Rican Government ha s adopted a series of measures geared towards promoting 
universal access to the Internet and at developing a digital culture among the different segments of the 
population.  The aim is also to enable the State to function more efficiently through use of th e 
Internet, and the State serves as a model user of ICTs.  This will increase both supply and demand in 
the use of electronic media and will lead to a more favourable environment for the development of 
electronic commerce.  
89. This policy is conducted under wh at is now known as the "Digital Agenda", which pursues 
five courses of action:  (a) improving the necessary infrastructure;  (b) working towards universal 
access to the Internet;  (c) promoting the new economy;  (d) giving impetus to digital government;  
and (e) modifying the legal framework.  
Infrastructure  
90. It is common knowledge that despite the considerable potential for developing electronic 
commerce, some countries still face a number of challenges that stand in the way of its rapid 
expansion, such as i nadequate infrastructure, low technological penetration, lack of bandwidth, and 
low purchasing power of the population.  
91. Costa Rica is making every effort to upgrade its telecommunications infrastructure, so as to 
connect and link a wide range of users insi de the country and with the rest of the world, and to 
broaden access to the Internet.  Practical steps are being taken in the technological and legislative 
fields in order to modernize the sector.  
92. One of the main thrusts is to increase Internet service cap acity (bandwidth) and to reduce 
costs, while seeking to provide a first -class infrastructure to the different users.  To achieve this 
objective, the authorities have been working on a project called " Establecimiento de la Red de 
Internet Avanzada " (Establi shment of an Advanced Internet), which will be described further on.  WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 28 
 
 
 93. Enhancing the country's connectivity is another crucial goal.  The Instituto Costarricense de 
Electricidad  (Costa Rica Electricity Institute – ICE), is the State agency that provides and develops 
public telecommunications services.  As mentioned above, 95 per cent of the country is equipped with 
telephone facilities.  Working jointly with one of its companies, the  Radiográfica Costarricense S.A. 
(RACSA), the ICE provides connectivity and Internet services for a whole range of applications, 
through its telephone and fibre -optic infrastructure.  As a result, cable television companies are now 
also offering Internet commercial services through their coaxial and fibre -optic cable infrastructur e, 
under joint agreements with the RACSA.  
94. Fibre -optic rings are, moreover, being connected throughout the territory, and in 2001 global 
connection was achieved through the MAYA -1 submarine fibre -optic cable system and the ARCOS -1 
cable system (both laid on  the floor of the Caribbean Sea).  Connection to these undersea cable 
systems has given Costa Rica access to the international telecommunications networks, thus providing 
higher quality, at a lower cost, and more bandwidth for communications than the State  satellite -based 
system provider.  
95. The Advanced Internet and other networks such as CRNet and GOBNet (connection to the 
Legislative Assembly, the Casa Presidencial  or Presidential Office, and the Ministries), EDUNET 
(connection to technical colleges, para -university colleges, universities, and so forth) and Internet 2 
(linking universities with the country's research centres) have also been integrated.  
(a) Advanced Internet  
 
96. The Advanced Internet is a project to establish an advanced network based on Interne t 
protocols (IP), which aims to upgrade the national telecommunications system and integrate  all voice, 
data and image services.   The key objective is not only to increase high -bandwidth coverage in Costa 
Rica, but also to reduce the cost of Internet acces s for businesses, households and academic 
institutions.  The project seeks to guarantee generalized access to the main communication networks 
and the exchange of data in order to help people in their daily lives – especially in rural areas – and 
drive the new economy forward.  
97. The project is using the fibre -optic rings laid in the country, the SDH (Synchronous Data 
Hierarchical) circuits and the existing copper network to create a high -capacity system based on IP for 
high-speed voice, image and data transmis sion, offering dedicated broadband connections, low 
connection costs, security, reliability, and flexibility.  It provides 24 -hour broadband digital access at 
a cost 20 times lower than the current system.  This was achieved thanks to the global access aff orded 
by the recently developed submarine cable systems.  
98. This technological development represents a qualitative and quantitative leap and will lead to 
significant reductions in Internet service charges and a vast increase in the number of broadband users 
in the country, placing Costa Rica in third position (2.75 per cent) worldwide after South Korea 
(9.2 per cent) and Canada (4.5 per cent) in terms of broadband coverage.6 
(b) Internet 2  
 
99. The national advanced research network, known as Internet 2, was laun ched in Costa Rica in 
April 2001 as a complementary network for advanced scientific applications.  It is designed to link the 
 
6 "Establecimiento de la Red de Internet Avanzada y Creación de la Red Nacional de Investigación 
Avanzada " (Establishment of an Adva nced Internet and Creation of the Advanced National Research Network), 
in Seminario Costa Rica en el Mundo Digital:  Final Document, Fundación CAATEC, San José, Costa Rica, 
November 2001 (pp. 15 -23).  WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 29 
 
 
 country's higher education and research institutes and offers a leading -edge instrument for conducting 
research in all realms of k nowledge and developing new technologies.  
(c) EDUNET  
 
100. EDUNET is a broadband network for elementary and secondary schools, set up to promote 
digital literacy and use of the Internet as working tools in the educational environment and to enhance 
the quality of education through access to new content and information technology.  EDUNET is 
currently being used by teachers and students in various parts of the country, and the short -term 
objective is to connect at least 50 per cent of schools and 100 per cent of secondary schools in 
Costa  Rica.  The national education system is greatly benefiting from the direct connection for 
schools provided by the Advanced Internet project.  
Universalizing access to the Internet  
101. One of the overriding objectives of the Digital Ag enda is to give all Costa Ricans generalized 
access to the new technologies, by eliminating the obstacles that prevent them from enjoying the 
advantages they offer and by bridging the digital divide.  Electronic mail and the Internet are due to 
become the main channels of communication inside the country and with the rest of the world – and 
hence tools for trade, education and cultural exchange.  
102. A series of steps are being taken in pursuit of this target, such as installing computers 
connected to the Intern et in various public -access State facilities.  Major efforts are also being made in 
the spheres of education and human resources.  
(a) Comunicación Sin Fronteras  
 
103. Comunicación Sin Fronteras  (Communication Without Borders) is a national programme to 
foster w idespread use of e -mail and the Internet as a means of expanding communication and 
handling social issues.  It promotes access to ICTs for all Costa Ricans and especially those hampered 
by geographical location or social status.  The www.costarricense.cr  web site and telecentres are 
among the most important tools for achieving this goal.  
• Costarricense.cr  
 
104. In June 2000, Costa Rica became the first country in the world to offer e -mail service free of 
charge to the entire population, thus affording equal acces s for all to the new technologies – unlike 
other countries where only few people enjoy such a privilege.  This was made possible thanks to 
Comunicación Sin Fronteras , which in January 2002 changed its domain, www.costarricense.cr .  This 
web site guarantees  all Costa Ricans their own e -mail account practically from birth.  In order to 
facilitate access to the site and encourage the use of free e -mail, computers have been installed in post 
offices and in all the country's municipal centres.  The login and pas sword are linked to each person's 
name and identity card.  The site currently numbers 150,000 users and is the third largest e -mail 
provider in the country.  
• Telecentres  
105. The creation of telecentres, which are facilities in various parts of the country equip ped to 
provide access to and capacity development in ICTs, are another major thrust of the programme.  
These centres should serve to build human networks and help Costa Ricans in their daily tasks.  Their 
purpose is to facilitate the exchange of informatio n and the use of electronic banking and to promote 
an Internet culture and democratization of the network, mainly through the accountability of local 
governments.  WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 30 
 
 
 106. One of the objectives of the programme is that 20 per cent of the population should become 
consistent users of e -mail and the Internet by the end of the first half of this year.  The programme 
aims to set up 187 telecentres, which are in the process of being installed in all the country's 
municipal offices and public libraries and in 30 post offic es;  52 centres have been set up to date, and 
it is expected that their installation will soon be completed.    
(b) Reduction in Internet service charges  
107. In order to facilitate access to the Internet, services charges are being reduced.  Thanks to the 
MAYA -1 cable system, household Internet cable service charges have dropped.  An initiative called 
Programme 900 has also been launched to enable people to connect to the Internet without having an 
e-mail account.  This service has been expanding by about 334 a ccesses a day for a total of 
4,100  telephone subscriptions.  A special Internet connection rate is also being offered to private 
institutions or firms that provide computers giving access to free e -mail for the public and their staff.  
(c) Education and hum an resources  
108. Education unquestionably promotes and facilitates the use of information technology and 
accounts for disparities in terms of access and use of ICT applications among the population of a 
given country, or between different countries or regions.  
109. As was emphasized earlier, the literacy rate and the level of education are high in Costa Rica, 
and these are crucial factors in the development of ICTs.  In recent years, the Costa Rican 
Government and the different academic sectors have been promoting t raining and capacity building in 
information technology.  Their focus has been on the use of informatics and the Internet as working 
tools and as a means of enhancing the standard of education through access to new content and 
information technology.  
110. It should also be pointed out that one of the major challenges currently facing Costa Rica in 
this sphere is not to improve the standard of education but to satisfy the high demand for specialized 
technicians stemming from Costa Rican and foreign information te chnology firms.  
• Omar Dengo Foundation  
111. The Omar Dengo Foundation is a private, non -profit -making entity created in 1987 to 
contribute to the educational, cultural, scientific and technological development of Costa Rica.  Its 
objective is to democratize acce ss to the use of technology as a tool for sustainable human 
development.  
112. The Foundation's programmes have benefited approximately one million people – young 
people, students, teachers and communities.  Some of the most noteworthy projects are  Informática 
Educativa  (Educational Computing), which seeks to introduce computer -aided learning by installing 
computer laboratories in elementary schools;  the Red de Telemática Educativa (Educational 
Telematics Network), aimed at improving and innovating the educatio nal process by teaching people 
to use the Internet;  and Informática Para Todos (Computing for All), a programme to broaden access 
to informatics.  
113. Informática Educativa  was launched in 1988 as a computer -aided learning programme 
specifically designed for e lementary schools.  Its principal objective is to help improve the quality of 
education and provide access to information technology for children in rural areas and marginal urban 
communities.  The project is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Omar Dengo 
Foundation, with support from a number of institutions such as the Inter -American Development 
Bank.  Computer laboratories have already been installed in 434 public schools all over the country,  WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 31 
 
 
 reaching at least 50 per cent of elementar y schoolchildren, and the plan is to cover another 70 schools 
in 2002.  
• CEFOF  
114. The Centro de Formación de Formadores y de Personal Técnico para el Desarrollo 
Industrial (Trainers' and Technical Personnel Training Centre for Industrial Development – CEFOF) 
is a regional centre for productivity established in 1992 to offer prime services to the national and 
international industrial sectors.  Its goal is to help increase the competitiveness of production sectors 
by strengthening quality management, information t echnology, environmental management and 
administrative management systems and quality assurance laboratories.  
• CENFOTEC  
115. As was mentioned before, the informatics sector has gained considerable economic 
significance in Costa Rica, especially as a result of it s high growth rate in recent years as a high value -
added local industry.  The number of production firms has increased from a mere 5 or 10 to more than 
137 in the past 20 years.  As a result of the vast expansion of the software industry, Costa Rica is 
competing in the European, North American and Latin American markets.  The national industry 
therefore needs more specialized personnel to be able to continue responding to increasing demand in 
international markets.  
116. The Centro de Formación en Tecnología de l a Información (Information Technology Training 
Centre - CENFOTEC), a private -sector initiative, seeks to develop and disseminate knowledge and 
the invention of information sciences and technologies by establishing centres for training specialists.  
This do mestic industry support centre is the only body in the Central American Region to offer 
specialized training in information technologies.  CENFOTEC receives the backing of the Costa 
Rican software industry and came into being in answer to the need to train  and update specialists in 
the field.  
The new economy  
117. The turn of the century has forced a series of challenges and realities stemming from 
globalization and technological breakthroughs upon our countries.  Fully aware of this reality, 
Costa  Rica has been implementing a development model the aim of which, in addition to benefiting 
all of its citizens and being sustainable from the fiscal, social and environmental points of view, is to 
be deeply rooted in new information technology and the use of knowledge.  This concept has been 
christened the “new economy”.  
118. In more concrete terms, this new economy aims to fuel the growth of technologically based 
Costa Rican companies which are integrating into the global economy with world -class levels of 
excellence. These include software export firms, firms which sell their goods and services using 
electronic commerce or which sell inputs to the high -technology multinationals operating in the 
country and firms in other sectors which adopt information technology in order to  reduce their 
inventory requirements and the time needed to introduce new goods, improve supplier relations and, 
generally speaking, boost productivity.  
119. Programmes such as those to improve the telecommunications infrastructure, update the legal 
framework a nd strengthen education in general are essential for enabling the new economy to become 
viable.  The Government has a major role to play in this context, not merely by removing the barriers 
facing enterprises, but also by ensuring that the measures that it  takes in relation to education and 
infrastructure, for example, are compatible with the emergence of these new sectors.  The projects 
currently under way to drive the new economy forward, for example by developing and strengthening WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 32 
 
 
 the software production  sector, a mainstay of the new development economy, are in consonance with 
this vision.  
120. In addition to fostering new sectors which use knowledge intensively, the way in which trade 
is conducted on both the home and international markets must also be tailor ed.  It is estimated that up 
to 25 per cent of all world trade will be conducted on -line by 2003.  Enterprises with no Internet 
access, or from countries which are not well -prepared to enter this market in terms of legislation, 
customs, logistics, infrastr ucture and cognitive capacity will therefore find themselves at an almost 
insuperable disadvantage. Such will be the new barriers to arise between advanced world economies 
and straggling local economies.    
121. Costa Rica has embarked upon a series of  initiati ves to encourage enterprises, in particular 
small - and medium -sized enterprises (SMEs), to become involved in electronic commerce. Of 
particular note are a number of initiatives in the agricultural, industrial and export sectors which seek 
to assist SMEs b y reducing the obstacles which hamper their integration into the digital economy and 
creating opportunities for both business and information exchange over the Internet.  
(a) Agricultural sector  
122. INFOAGRO, the Costa Rican Agricultural Sector Information Syst em (www.infoagro.go.cr ), 
has been set up for the agricultural sector  and enables farmers to access information of particular 
importance to their work, for example on the climate, new pests and diseases and the tre atment 
thereof and farming techniques. The system also affords them a means of marketing and selling their 
products and informs them of the real level of demand.  
(b) Industrial sector  
123. The Costa Rican Managerial Information System (SIEC) ( www.siec.go.cr ), sponsored by the 
Ministry of the Economy, was developed for the  industrial sector  and is designed to furnish 
information on the market and public services and thereby assist enterprises with business decision -
making.  
(c) Dissemination of information and creation of the web site www.marketplacecostarica.com   
124. With a view to providing support for SMEs in the field of electronic commerce, the Ministry 
of Foreign Trade (C OMEX), in conjunction with the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Agency 
(PROCOMER), the body responsible for promoting Costa Rican exports on the international markets, 
has also been developing a series of initiatives. Information leaflets have thus been  produced and 
seminars held, geared towards supporting domestic producers and motivating them to use technology 
as a means of promoting and increasing their export function.  
125. Furthermore, the web site www .marketplacecostarica.com  has been created and serves to 
promote Costa Rica's export supply.  Structured by sector, it presents Costa Rica's main export 
products, together with information on registered enterprises, which enables them to establish 
busines s contacts and promote their products at minimal cost.  Visits to the site, the most frequently 
consulted sectors, products and enterprises and visitor profiles are analysed on a regular basis using 
follow -up technologies on the Internet.  Exporters are th erefore given all the assistance they require to 
identify trade opportunities and monitor contracts. This site already features in the databases of the 
major Internet search engines.  
126. A total of 114 enterprises were registered at 31 December 2001, the fore most industries being 
food, craft, electronics, timber, metallurgy, plants, flowers and foliage, plastics, fresh produce,  WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 33 
 
 
 software and textiles. Of note is the fact that the number of site visits from its creation in August 2000 
to December 2001 totalled 1 4,427, with 1,442,787 hits recorded overall.7 
 The digital government as a model user  
 
127. What is required if a development model based on the use of information technology is to be 
achieved is a government which makes intensive use of information technology.  The director in 
overall charge of promoting a paradigm shift should be the New Government which, in addition to 
using the resources at its disposal, should lead the endeavour by example. There are, moreover, 
intrinsic benefits in adopting these technologi es, namely increased efficiency, cost cutting and 
transparency in public management which, in turn, pave the way for greater democracy, achieved by 
improving the work of the government and facilitating widespread access thereto for citizens.  
128. In keeping wit h this vision, the aim is to develop through the Advanced Internet project a 
“digital government” which acts as a model user and provides citizens with on -line facilities of all 
kinds.  These facilities include information on State institutions, procedures  and requirements as well 
as enquiry, transaction and payment services interrelated with all other bodies and agents.  
129. The digital government is therefore becoming an instrument which encompasses both the 
public and private sectors and civil society. In ad dition to streamlining procedures, guaranteeing 
greater transparency and cutting red tape, this will lead to the development of a computer culture, 
which will help to remove barriers to the use of digital media.  At the same time, this “model user” is 
going to engender greater confidence and security in the use of technology by citizens, thereby 
boosting Internet supply and demand and creating a more favourable environment for electronic 
commerce as a result.  
130. The on -line government procurement system “Compr aRed” ( www.hacienda.go.cr/comprared ) 
was implemented in the country in September 2001.  This public web site was developed as a means 
of automating the process of publishing and disseminating the various g overnment procurement 
procedures conducted by the Costa Rican State. It incorporates publication of invitations to tender, 
electronic creation of publications, a digital signature service, databases for suppliers and supplies and 
current regulations. To da te, a total of 2,228 such procedures have been published on the CompraRed 
system.  
131. On-line systems for tax declaration and payment ( www.hacienda.go.cr/tributacion ), payrolls 
(www.ccss.sa.cr/sicere ) and payment of service bills ( www.ice.go.cr/servicios ) have also been 
launched.  Similarly, initiatives have been carried out in conjunction with the country's various 
production sectors, such as INFOAGRO (www.infoagro.go.cr ) and SIEC ( www.siec.go.cr ), to 
provide  information services on sector and market conditions.  An exporter registration syst em, the 
Single Window System  for foreign trade, applications for admission to the free -trade zone regime and 
other procedures ( www.procomer.com ) have also been implemented.  Moreover, a medicine 
information service ha s been set up whereby citizens can connect to the Ministry of Health medicine 
information system using the 1 -800 toll -free number and obtain details of products, prices and 
dispensing chemists where such products are available, etc. More than 30,000 enquir ies were recorded 
in a single year (2000 -2001).  
132. Furthermore, on 15 November 2001 the Directorate -General of Customs of the Ministry of 
Finance , the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Agency (PROCOMER)  and the Costa Rican 
Chamber of Exporters (CADEXCO) lau nched the project known as BUDHA, the Ministry of Finance 
Document Search Engine , (www.hacienda.go.cr/budha/ ).  This system affords Costa Ricans the 
possibility of consulting the decrees, administrative dec isions and circulars issued by the Directorate -
 
 7 PROCOMER.  International Marketing.  Special Programm es.  www.marketplacecostarica.com.  WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 34 
 
 
 General of Customs as well as National Customs Tribunal  rulings on the Internet. Current tariffs and 
taxes, valuation procedures, tariff classification criteria, restrictions and prohibitions to which the 
impo rt and export of goods are subject, possible penalties and available resources, etc. are also 
available for consultation.  This system inter alia  standardizes customs criteria, streamlines customs 
procedures and enhances system transparency.   
Legal framew ork 
133. Given the global nature of on -line commercial transactions, the existence of an appropriate 
regulatory framework is a key requirement for promoting electronic commerce.  Consequently, the 
Costa Rican Government and legislature have been studying and an alysing the implementation of a 
set of rules attuned to the new realities and meeting the demands imposed by the digital economy. The 
aim is to develop a legal framework which would provide the appropriate degree of security for 
on-line transactions and re move obstacles restricting the free development of market forces without 
imposing unnecessary barriers to trade.  
134. In 2001, several draft laws designed to promote electronic commerce and universal and 
secure Internet access were presented to the Legislative Assembly.8  A series of regulations relating to 
intellectual property were also approved, thereby introducing a comprehensive reform of the system, 
as mentioned further on.  
(a) Electronic signature, security and confidential transmission systems  
135. In 2001, t he Draft “Digital Signature and Digital Certificates Law” , File No. 14,276 of 
30 April 2001, was presented to the Legislative Assembly  and published in the Official Journal " La 
Gaceta " No. 82, Supplement No. 31. This Draft Law regulates the use of digital signatures and 
electronic documents in Costa Rica and grants them the same validity and legal enforceability  as 
handwritten and other similar signatures and printed documents involving a declaration of will.  It 
also regulates digital certificates and cert ification service providers and includes the principle of 
technological neutrality, which recognizes the use of all kinds of technologies, not merely a single 
one.  The aim of this draft legislation is to introduce encryption systems which guarantee 
commun ication confidentiality, inalterability and integrity.  It also permits the use of digital signatures 
in non -trade communications (such as judicial, computer and administrative communications and on -
line government procurement) as well as those involving n otaries public.  
 
 8 Draft Digital Signature and Digital Certificates Law (File No. 14,276); Draft Law on Internet Access 
(File No. 13,888);  Draft Law on Promoting Productivity Through the Incorporation of Computing Technology 
(File No. 1 4,274); Organic Law of Public Administration, Draft Organic Law of Public Administration (File 
No.14,483), which is of particular importance since its fundamental principles and user rights state that 
electronic media are a suitable tool for streamlining t he Administration's operations and services, enhancing 
transparency and increasing public participation. This Law regulates the plurality of public sector bodies and 
authorities, while the Draft Law introduces the use of electronic media in public administ ration. The following 
laws of the Republic were also passed:  the Copyright Law and amendments thereto (Law No. 7979), which 
protects the right of reproduction, lease, use, sale or offering for sale, inter alia , as well as a series of rights 
protecting dig ital technology. Law No. 8039 on Procedures for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights , 
prudential and judicial measures to protect this kind of rights, in particular copyright and offences related to 
digital technology.   WT/COMTD/M/38  
 Page 35 
 
 
  
(b) Intellectual property  
136. In the light of the multi -jurisdictional nature of electronic commerce, protection of elements 
which are traded on -line is particularly significant. Hence the importance of countries having 
appropriate intellect ual property legislation to promote the development of electronic commerce.  
137. In 2000, given the importance which Costa Rica attaches to protection of the intellectual 
property rights established in the Agreement on Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual Pro perty Rights 
(TRIPS), a sweeping reform of national legislation in this regard  was approved with  a view to 
fulfilling the country's commitments in the framework of the Agreement.  This reform has meant that 
Costa Rica now boasts modern and comprehensive na tional intellectual property legislation which is 
equally applicable to electronically traded elements.  
138. Of particular note is the passage of Law No. 7979 of 31 January 2000, which introduces a 
series of amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights  designed, inter alia , to protect 
works with regard to digital technology, Law No. 7968 of 22 December 1999, approving the WIPO 
Copyright Treaty (WCT) and Law No. 7967 of 22 December 1999 approving the WIPO Performances 
and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT).  Furth ermore, the regulatory framework for intellectual property 
was extensively strengthened with the adoption of the Law on Procedures for the Enforcement of 
Intellectual Property Rights, No. 8039 of 2 October 2000.  
(c) Payment methods, physical and electronic  transport of goods  
139. With regard to on -line payment methods, the use of credit cards in electronic transactions is 
not particularly well -developed in Costa Rica.  Although the country has no special legislation on the 
matter, consumer protection in cases of  fraud in electronic transactions is the same as for transactions 
conducted using traditional methods;  current legislation is therefore applicable to both.   
140. Although there is no common practice in Costa Rica for applying other traditional payment 
methods  to electronic commerce and the Internet, there are a number of trade practices geared towards 
this objective.  Thus, some banks, in conjunction with a credit card institution, offer cards with limited 
credit lines for network transactions and some enterpr ises, such as parcel services, offer cards for 
Internet purchases.  Nevertheless, most credit card institutions continue to hold the consumer liable in 
the event of fraud if a credit card has been used as a means of payment in electronic transactions.  
141. Ther e are no restrictions on or special licence requirements in Costa Rica for the operations of 
transporters of post, packages and merchandise, with the exception of universal postal delivery 
services, for which a licence is required.  
(d) International situat ion 
142. The position taken by Costa Rica in the various fora in which it has participated has been to 
support the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions,  in line with the information 
technology development policy implemented in the country ov er the last decade.  It is important for 
the benefits of information technology to be available to the great majority of the population, for 
which reason Costa Rica will not back measures designed to raise its price.  Electronic commerce has 
to a great ext ent developed precisely because governments have refrained from imposing fiscal or 
other restrictions.  
143. In fora other than the WTO, Costa Rica has also supported the development of legal 
instruments which lay down rules for electronic commerce, thereby pro viding greater security for WT/COMTD/M/38  
Page 36 
 
 
 users and preventing fraudulent practices. Costa Rica plays an active role in the Free Trade Area of 
the Americas (FTAA) Joint Government -Private Sector Committee of Experts on Electronic 
Commerce  and has signed a Joint Statemen t on Global Electronic Commerce within the framework of 
the Free -Trade Agreement between Costa Rica and Canada.   
 
IV. CONCLUSION  
 
144. This series of initiatives seeks to make Costa Rica take the step forward into the new digital 
era and secure the country's d evelopment, harnessing the opportunities arising from information 
technology.  Moreover, this national strategy aims to extend Internet access to all Costa Rican citizens 
and ensure that not merely enterprises, but also educational establishments, institut ions and citizens 
familiarize themselves with the use of electronic commerce and enjoy its attendant benefits.   
145. Costa Rica must continue to promote the exchange of experience in this field. With this 
contribution, it hopes to contribute to the WTO discussi ons on electronic commerce.  
 
__________