INF/IFD/R/ 29 
10 December  2021 
(21-9273) Page: 1/2 
 Original: English  
 
  
WTO STRUCTURED DISCUSSIONS ON  
INVESTMENT  FACILITATION FOR DEVELOPMENT  
 NEGOTIATING MEETING HELD ON 24 NOVEMBER  2021 
Summary of discussions by the Coordinator1 
An open -ended negotiating meeting of the Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation for 
Development, coordinated by Ambassador Mathias Francke (Chile), was held on  24 November  2021.  
As indicated in the convening notice  circulated to all WTO Members on 19 November , the object ives 
of the meetin g were to:  
(a) introduce the 'Easter Text (Rev.4)'2 and discuss how participating Members w ished  to present 
the following sections and provision  in the text for Ministers at MC12 : section s III BIS on 
'Movement of Business Persons for Investment Purposes' (MBP) , III TER on 'Transfers and 
Payments', IV BIS on 'Supplier -Development Programmes', IV TER on 'Home State Obligations', 
and paragraph 2 regarding 'non -violation complaints' of provision 35 on 'Dispute Settlement' in 
Section VII on 'Institutional Arrangements and Final Provisions';  
(b) update participants on the latest developments regarding the arrangements for the ministerial 
meeting on IFD at the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference ( MC12 ); and  
(c) present the proposed schedule of meetings for the first half of 2022.   
The Coordinator also updated participating Members  on the co -sponsoring process of the Joint 
Ministerial Statement on IFD.  Finally, a  participant introduced its recently submitted revised text 
proposal on 'Transfers and Payments' under Section III TER. 
1  CO-SPONSORING PROCESS  OF THE JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT  
1.1.  The Coordinator informed the plenary that Albania, Georgia, and Solomon Islands  had 
announced their co -sponsoring of the draft  Joint Ministerial Statement on IFD . Albania  and Georgia  
briefly took the floor to in form of  their decision to co -sponsor and  participating Members welcomed 
the three new participants  in the Joint Initiative . 
2  INTRODUCTION OF THE FOURTH REVISION OF THE 'EAS TER TEXT'  AND DIS CUSSION 
ON HOW TO PRESENT SECTIONS BIS AND TER IN THE TEXT FOR MINISTERS FOR MC12  
2.1.  The Coordinator introduced the fourth  revision of the 'Easter Text' , which essentially 
concerned presentational a spects, as well as  the inclusion as 'plain text' of provisions 28 ('Provision 
of Assistance and Support for Capacity Building' ) and 29 ('Information on Assistance and Support 
for Capacity Building to be submitted to the Committee' ) in Section V on 'Special and Differential 
Treatment for Developing and Least -Developed Country Members' . Provisions 28 and 29 are  based 
on a joint text contribution submitted by the proponents of S&DT provisions, which was discussed 
at the plenary meeting held on 20 -21 November .  
2.2.  As suggest ed by se veral participating Members at that meeting, i n the fourth revision  of the 
Easter Text , participants' text proposals  in 'text boxes' had been regrouped in an Annex and replaced 
by bracketed placeholders in the body of the text  – thus structurally separated  from the 'plain'  or 
 
1 This summary, prepared and circulated under the Coordinator's responsibility, provides a non -
exhaustive, illustrative review of the issues addressed by Members at the meeting.  
2 Document INF/IFD/RD/74/Rev.4 dated 19 November 2021.  INF/IFD/R/ 29 
 
- 2 - 
 
  'convergence' text. Th e revision was welcomed by all participating Members . A participant expressed 
its dissatisfaction  that provision 30 on 'Responsible Business Conduct' appeared in 'plain text' .  
2.3.  Participants agreed with the structu re of the 'Easter Text  (Rev.4)' – namely that s ections III 
BIS on the 'Movement of Business Persons for Investment Purposes' (MBP), III TER on 'Transfers 
and Payments', IV BIS on 'Supplier -Development Programmes' and IV TER on 'Home State 
Obligations' contained in 'text boxes' be regrouped in an Annex to the 'Easter Text' and replaced by 
bracketed placeholders in the body of the text.  
2.4.  The proponent of a text proposal on 'Transfers and Payments'  (Section III TER) presented 
a second revision of its  text proposal , reiterating the importan ce to include such provision in the 
future IFD Agreement  in order to ensure the objectivity and transparency of measures relating to 
transfers and payments . While participants  who intervened  prelimi narily considered  this revised 
proposal  as an improvement compared to the previous versions , most indicated that they were still 
analysing the proposed text . The proponent requested the Coordinator to replace its previous 
propo sed text on 'Transfers and Pa yments ' by its latest proposal – for inclusion in Section III TER of 
the Annex in the text to be presented to Ministers at MC12 .  
2.5.  Regarding paragraph 2 on  'non-violation complaint s' of provision 35 on 'Dispute Settlement'  in 
Section VII ('Institutional Arrangements and Final Provisions'), the Coordinator explained that the 
proposal had been moved to the relevant 'text box ' in the Annex  and replaced in the body of the 
text by a placeholder . He indicated that the text on par agraph 2 , as well as  the proposal on 'non-
violation complaints ', would be revisited after MC12.  
2.6.  Following this discussion, the Coordinator informed that the fifth revision of the 'Easter 
Text' , namely the text to be presented to Ministers for MC12 and ref erenced in the Joint Ministerial 
Statement on IFD, would be prepared and circulated shortly after the meeting . He explained that 
the only change  in that fifth revision  would be the inclusion  of the revised text proposal on 'Transfers 
and Payments ' in the corresponding 'text box ' in the Annex.  
3  ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE MINISTERIAL MEETING  ON IFD AT MC12  
3.1.  The Coordinator updated participating Members on the arrangements for the  IFD Ministerial 
meeting , which would be held on Tuesday, 30 November, from 8:00  a.m. to 9:30 a.m.  (Geneva 
time) at the WTO premises , and followed by a press -conference, from 9:45 a.m . to 10:30  a.m. The 
objective of this high -level meeting would be  for Ministers to take stock of , and welcome , the 
substantial progress achieved since th e start of the negotiations, and to provide impetus and political 
guidance to continue developing the Agreement in the post -MC12 phase, with a view to concluding 
the text negotiations by the end of 2022. The Coordinator also indicated  that invitation lette rs to 
this high-level meeting (Minister plus one format) had  been sent to all 164 WTO Members,  both to 
IFD participants and non -participants , in line with the open and inclusive nature of th e initiative .  
3.2.  In addition, t he Coordinator informed participants of the agenda of the IFD Ministerial meeting , 
chaired by Mr. Rodrigo Yáñez, Chile's Vice -Minister of Trade, during  which Ministers would adopt the 
Joint Ministerial Statement  on IFD .  
4  SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS FOR JANUARY – JULY 2022  
4.1.  The Coordinator concluded the meeting by introduc ing the proposed schedule of meetings 
for the first half of 2022 ,3 which foresees eight 2 -day negotiating meetings to be held between 
January and July 2022, with roughly  three weeks between each m eeting. This proposed schedule 
was endorsed by participating Members.  As per the schedule of meetings , the next plenary 
negotiating  meeting will be held on 26 -27 January  2022. 
 
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3 Document INF/IFD/W/41 dated 19 November 2021.