RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/W/24
14March 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1047)
Committee onTrade andDevelopment
Fifteenth Session
UPDATE OFWORK CARRIED OUT BYTHE
COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
Note bytheSecretariat
Thispaper responds toarequest oftheChairman foranupdate ofthework which hasbeen
carried outbytheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment (CTD). Inthedescription below, thework
islisted inrelation totheterms ofreference oftheCTD, asadopted atthemeeting of31January 1995
bytheGeneral Council.
1. Toserve asafocal point forconsideration andcoordination ofwork ondevelopment inthe
World Trade Organization (WTO) anditsrelationship todevelopment-related activities inother
multilateral agencies.1
TheCTDhasbeenactively engaged inpursuing theobjective ofcloser institutional cooperation
withother intergovernmental organizations. Itinvited toitsSeventh Session theSecretary-General of
United Nations Conference onTrade andDevelopment (UNCTAD), theExecutive-Director ofthe
International Trade Centre (ITC) andtheChairman ofboththeWTO 'sGeneral Council andUNCTAD 's
Trade andDevelopment Board. Thisdialogue continued attheCommittee 'sTenth Session, where
theChairman oftheJointInternational Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Development Committee
addressed theCTD. Representatives ofUNCTAD andITCalsoaddressed theFourteenth Session of
theCTDinorder topresent theirtechnical cooperation approaches. Thisintensified dialogue hasallowed
Members oftheCTD tobetter appreciate thework ofeachofthese organizations.
TheSecretariatpublishedanotewhichbrieflyhighlightedthemainfeaturesoftheWTOtechnical
assistance andwhich identified technical assistance activities ofotherinternational organizations relating
totheWTO activities. Thenote, published asdocument WT/COMTD/W/7 dated 29July1995, was
entitled "Technical Cooperation oftheWTO; Relations withOther International Organizations." Since
then, andfollowing further discussions intheCTD, theWTO Secretariat hasjoined forces with
UNCTAD andITCinpreparing the"Integrated Technical Assistance Programme inSelected Least
DevelopedandOtherAfricanCountries".Theobjectiveofthisprogrammeistoenhancethedevelopment
prospects andthecompetitiveness ofAfrican countries through increased participation ininternational
trade.
Following theSingapore Ministerial Conference, theCTDthrough itsSub-Committee onLeast
Developed Countries hasinitiated work onthepreparation foraHigh Level Meeting onIntegrated
InitiativesforLeast-DevelopedCountries'TradeandDevelopment.AsstatedintheSingaporeMinisterial
1When theterms ofreference were adopted itwasunderstood thatmatters relating toactivities inother
multilateral agencies would come under theguidance oftheGeneral Council.WT/COMTD/W/24
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Declaration, themeeting willbeorganized inclose cooperation withother multilateral agencies and
among other issues, themeeting willaddress theissue coordination between these organizations.
2. Tokeepunder continuous review theparticipation ofdeveloping country Members inthe
multilateraltradingsystemandtoconsidermeasuresandinitiativestoassistdevelopingcountryMembers,
andinparticular theleast-developed country Members, intheexpansion oftheirtrade andinvestment
opportunities, including support fortheirmeasures oftrade liberalization.2
TheSecretariat hasprepared twonotes relating totheparticipation ofdeveloping countries
inworld trade. Thefirstnoteonthe"Participation ofDeveloping Countries intheWorld Trading
System" waspublished indocument WT/COMTD/W/11, dated 14November 1995.
During thefirsthalfof1996, theCommittee elaborated anoutline forastudy tobeprepared
bytheSecretariat which would address thereasons whysome developing countries hadperformed
better thanothers inintegrating intothemultilateral trading system. Theobjective ofthestudy was
toprovide background material foracomprehensive discussion intheCommittee onthese issues and,
ifpossible, todraw conclusions onhowtofacilitate theintegration ofdeveloping country Members
into themultilateral trading system. The study, distributed inearly August asdocument
WT/COMTD/W/15,addressedbothdomesticfactors(macroeconomicpolicies,infrastructureproblems,
etc.)andexternal factors (barriers totrade inimporting markets, restrictive business practices, etc.).
During thediscussions onthestudy, anumber ofMembers drew attention tothepositive
relationship between investment anddevelopment. Inthisrespect, theCommittee noted thatbothits
terms ofreference aswellasthose oftheSub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries provide the
possibility forthese bodies toconsider, from adevelopment perspective, measures andinitiatives to
assist developing andleast-developed country Members intheexpansion oftheirtradeandinvestment
opportunities.
Some Members alsoreiterated thefactthatanumber ofleast-developed countries, while having
liberal investment andtrade regimes, wereunable totakeadvantage ofinitiatives intheareaoftrade
andinvestment because ofsupply-side constraints anddifficulties inadopting adequate domestic policies.
Itwassuggested thatthisproblem could betackled, interalia,byjoining withother international
organizations toprovide technical cooperation aimed atbuilding thecapacity ofhuman andother
resources inthese countries.
TheHigh-Level Meeting referred toabove isalsoaninitiative inlinewiththispartoftheCTD's
terms ofreference.
3. Toreview periodically, inconsultation asappropriate withtherelevant bodies oftheWTO,
theapplication ofspecial provisions intheMultilateral Trade Agreements andrelated Ministerial
Decisions infavour ofdeveloping country Members, andinparticular least-developed country Members,
andreport totheGeneral Council forappropriate action.
2When theterms ofreference were adopted itwasunderstood thattheCommittee would giveconsideration,
inter alia,toanyreport thattheCommittee onAgriculture maydecide torefer toitfollowing paragraph 6of
the"DecisiononMeasuresConcerningthePossibleNegativeEffectsoftheReformProgramme onLeast-Developed
andNetFood-Importing Developing Countries" andArticle XVIoftheAgreement onAgriculture.WT/COMTD/W/24
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4. Toconsider anyquestions which mayarise withregard toeither theapplication ortheuse
ofspecial provisions intheMultilateral Trade Agreements andrelated Ministerial Decisions infavour
ofdeveloping country Members andreport totheGeneral Council forappropriate action.
TheCTD hasreviewed theimpact oftheresults oftheUruguay Round ondeveloping country
Members, inparticular ontheleast-developed country Members. Thishasbeendonethrough three
different approaches. First, aquantitative assessment oftheimpact wasmade3;second, there wasan
identification andanalysis ofthespecial provisions which apply todeveloping countries4;andthird,
theprevious work wascomplemented byareview oftheimplications ofthecommitments undertaken
bydeveloping country Members, andinparticular theleast-developed country Members5.
Implementation oftheUruguay Round provisions infavour ofdeveloping country Members
wasalsooneofthepriorities ofthework programme oftheCTD for1996, withaviewtoproviding
input fortheSingapore Ministerial Conference. Tothisend,theCTD, inAugust 1996, completed
areview oftheimplementation oftheUruguay Round provisions infavour ofdeveloping country
members. Toassist inthereview oftheimpact oftheresults oftheUruguay Round ondeveloping
country Members, theChairman invited theChairpersons ofother WTO bodies responsible for
monitoring theimplementation oftheUruguay Round results tosubmit information onhowprovisions
infavour ofdeveloping countries hadbeendealtwithintheirrespective Committees. Theresults were
setoutindocument WT/COMTD/W/16 anditsAddenda 1and2,andinWT/COMTD/W/17.6The
work oftheCTD hasthusfocused onahorizontal overview oftheimplementation ofprovisions in
favour ofdeveloping countries.
When thedocuments weretaken upintheCTD, theCommittee noted thatduetothefactthat
theWTO wasnewly established, theimplementation process wasstillatanearly stage andfurther
work wasrequired fortheCommittee tobeinaposition toevaluate fullyoverall progress. TheCTD
alsoacknowledged thebroad scope andcomplexity oftheconcepts, principles andrulescontained in
theWTO instruments andnoted thatinsome instances themeans wereyettobeelaborated toprovide
anoperational content tothespecial provisions infavour ofleast-developed andotherdeveloping country
Members.
TheCommittee recognized that,although theimplementation oftheprovisions intheWTO
instruments infavour ofleast-developed andother developing country Members hadingeneral been
progressing during thefirsttwoyears ofexistence oftheWTO, available information pointed toa
relatively lowuseofthose provisions. Many oftheprovisions required action onthepartofdeveloping
country Members tosetinmotion theirapplication. Inthisrespect theCommittee emphasized the
importanceofimprovingtheflowofinformationtodeveloping-andinparticularleast-developed-country
Members, concerning provisions intheirfavour which weredependent uponspecific requests ontheir
part.
3See"The Results oftheUruguay Round ofMultilateral Trade Negotiations -Market Access forGoods
andServices: Overview oftheResults", COMTD/W/512, 10November 1994.
4See"ADescription oftheProvisions Relating toDeveloping Countries intheUruguay Round Agreements,
Legal Instruments andMinisterial Decisions", COMTD/W/510, 2November 1994.
5See"Uruguay Round commitments undertaken byDeveloping Country Members", published indocument
WT/COMTD/W/5, 9June1995, andcomplemented bythemore detailed WT/COMTD/W/6, 13June1995,
andAdd. 1.
6Anearlier review waspublished indocument WT/COMTD/W/10 of8November 1995.WT/COMTD/W/24
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5. Toprovide guidelines for,andtoreview periodically, thetechnical cooperation activities of
theWTO7astheyrelate todeveloping country Members.
Inaccordance withtheterms ofreference oftheCTD andinthelight oftheMarrakesh
Declaration calling forincreased andstrengthened technical cooperation, theCTDattached considerable
priority todrafting theGuidelines forWTO Technical Cooperation. TheGuidelines forWTO Technical
Cooperationwereadoptedon15October1996(WT/COMTD/8).Memberstookintoaccountthetrading
context within which theWTO istooperate (i.e.when compared tothatoftheGATT), andstressed
theneed toadapt thetechnical cooperation activities oftheWTO toimprove theOrganization 's
effectiveness inhelping recipient country Members tointegrate intothemultilateral trading system.
TheGuidelineselaboratethescopeoftheWTO'stechnicalcooperation,servetoensurethattheassistance
provided willbeadapted totheevolving needs ofrecipient countries andfocus oncapacity-building,
andprovideforanevaluationoftheWTO'stechnicalcooperation.TheSingaporeMinisterialDeclaration
referredtotechnicalcooperationandstatedthattheavailabilityoftechnicalassistancewouldbeimproved
under theagreed Guidelines. Asmentioned under section oneoftheterms ofreference, theWTO
cooperates closely withother multilateral agencies intheareaoftechnical cooperation.
TheCTD hasalsocontinued itsperiodic reviews oftheWTO 'stechnical assistance activities.
Reports have been published in"Technical Cooperation withDeveloping Countries", document
WT/COMTD/W/12, "Report onTechnical Cooperation", document WT/COMTD/W/14 andAdd.1,
"ReportontheTechnicalCooperationandTraining",documentWT/COMTD/W/21and"AnAssessment
ofTechnical Cooperation andTraining", document WT/COMTD/W/23.
7When theterms ofreference wereadopted itwasunderstood thatthetechnical cooperation activities referred
tointhisprovision didnotinclude technical assistance foraccession negotiations.WT/COMTD/W/24
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ATTACHMENT 1
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS PREPARED FOR
MEETINGS OFTHE CTD AND OFTHE SUB-COMMITTEE DURING 1995-96
WT/COMTD/W/1 - Preliminary Information onNotifications toberequired from
WTO Members (First Session -April 1995)
WT/COMTD/W/1/Add.1 - Addendum
WT/COMTD/W/2/Rev.1 - Draft Programme ofWork for1995 -Revision
WT/COMTD/W/4 - CreditandRecognitionforAutonomousLiberalizationMeasures
WT/COMTD/W/4/Corr.1 - Corrigendum
WT/COMTD/W/5 - URcommitmentsundertakenbyDevelopingCountryMembers
WT/COMTD/W/6 - RegulatoryObligationsandOtherImplicationsURAgreements
WT/COMTD/W/6/Add.1 - Addendum
WT/COMTD/W/7 - Technical Cooperation oftheWTO Relations withother
International Organizations
WT/COMTD/W/10 - WTO Measures relating toDeveloping Country Members
WT/COMTD/W/11 - Notes ontheParticipation ofDeveloping Countries inthe
World Trading System
WT/COMTD/W/11/Add.1 - GSP-Addendum
WT/COMTD/W/11/Add.1/Corr.1 GSP-Addendum -Corrigendum
WT/COMTD/W/12 - Technical Cooperation withDeveloping Countries
WT/COMTD/W/14 - Report onTechnical Cooperation
WT/COMTD/W/14/Add.1 - Addendum
WT/COMTD/W/15 - Participation ofDeveloping Countries inWorld Trade:
Overview ofMajor Trends andUnderlying Factors
WT/COMTD/W/16 - Implementation ofUruguay Round Provisions inFavour of
Developing Country Members
WT/COMTD/W/16/Add.1 - Implementation ofUruguay Round Provisions inFavour of
Developing Country Members
WT/COMTD/W/16/Add.2 - Implementation ofUruguay Round Provisions inFavour of
Developing Country Members
WT/COMTD/W/17 - Textiles Monitoring Body
WT/COMTD/8 - Guidelines forWTO Technical Cooperation
WT/COMTD/LLDC/W/1 - Measures toAssist andFacilitate theExpansion ofTrade and
Investment Opportunities ofLeast-Developed Countries