RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/88 
11 November 2004 
 (04-4800) 
General Council 
20 October 2004  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 20 October 2004  
 
Chairman:  Mr. Shotaro Oshima (Japan) 
 
 Prior to the adoption of the agenda, the Chai rman welcomed the Kingdom of Cambodia as the 
148th Member of the WTO and the second LDC to acced e to the WTO since its entry into force in 
1995.1 
 
1. Iran – Request for Accession .................................................................................................. 2 
2. Report by the Chairman of th e Trade Negotiati ons Committee ..........................................3  
3. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committ ee on Trade and Development ........................................6  
4. Waivers under Article IX of the WTO Agreement –  Introduction of 
Harmonized System 1996 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – Requests for waivers by Ar gentina and Israel ......................................................................8
 
5. Enlargement of the European Union – Communication from the European 
Communities ................................................................................................................... ..........8  
6. WTO Pension Plan............................................................................................................... ...11 
(a) Annual report of the Management Board for 2003 ..................................................................11  
(b) Agreement on the Transfer of Pension Right s of Participants in the United Nations 
Joint Staff Pension Fund and of Partic ipants in the WTO Pension Plan .................................11  
7. Date of the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference......................................................12  
8. Appointment of officers to certain WTO bodies – Statement by the Chairman...............13  
9. Draft UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural 
Content and Artistic Expressions ..........................................................................................14  
10. Digital archiving of GATT official documents and certain GATT internal records........................................................................................................................ ..............18
 
11. Appointment of the ne xt Director-General ..........................................................................19  
 
                                                      
1 The statements by the Chairman and by delega tions regarding Cambodia's accession are reflected in 
the Annex. WT/GC/M/88 
Page 2  
 
 1. Iran – Request for Accession (WT/ACC/IRN/1) 
1. The Chairman
 drew attention to the communication from Iran in document WT/ACC/IRN/1, 
requesting accession to the WTO Agreement pursuant to  Article XII, and recalled that the General 
Council had last considered this matter at its meeti ng in July.  In the light of the views expressed at 
that meeting, he had said that he would remain in contact with delegations and reflect on the best way 
to proceed, and the Council had agreed to revert to this item at the present meeting.  On 18 October, 
he had held further consultations to see if there had been any movements in position that might allow 
Members to work towards a satisfactory resolution to  Iran's accession request.  He had invited to these 
consultations all delegations who had spoken on this subject at th e February, May and July Council 
meetings.  It seemed clear from his consultations that  a large part of the membership continued to be 
supportive of an early and positive action on this requ est in the Council on the basis of the provisions 
in Article XII.  However, there was still no consen sus at the present stage to  accept Iran's request and 
to set up a working party to examine it.  While he remained ready to work further with delegations to 
facilitate progress on this matter, he had to admit th at he was not encouraged to think that further 
consultations would be any more fruitful at the present stage.  
2. The representative of the United States  said that the issue of Iran's accession to the WTO 
continued to be under review by her Government.  Her delegation ha d nothing to add to the statement 
it had made at the July General Council meeting. 
3. The representative of Paraguay , on behalf of the Informal Group of Developing Countries , 
said he had taken note of the statement by the United States.  It was hoped that the United States would complete its review soon, an d would be able to provide a positive response on this issue at the 
next General Council meeting. 
4. The representatives of Malaysia
, China , Pakistan , Turkey , India , Nepal  and Nigeria on behalf 
of the African Group  associated their delegations with the statement by Paraguay on behalf of the 
Informal Group of Developing Countries. 
5. The representatives of Malaysia , China , Cuba , Indonesia , Pakistan , and the European 
Communities  urged the Chairman to continue his effort s to resolve this issue through consultations. 
6. The representative of China  said his delegation again wished to express its serious concern 
about the way this matter was being treated.  Ira n's application for accession had been on the General 
Council's agenda for years, and China found it difficu lt to understand why it could not be dealt with 
by Members in accordance with the standards applied to other simila r applications.  Such non-action 
by the General Council was not in the interest of the multilateral trading system.  An early completion 
of the review of this matter by the United States w ould help Members resolve this long-pending issue.  
An early and positive consideration of Iran's applicati on would definitely help Iran become integrated 
into the multilateral trading system to the benefit of all Members.   
7. The representative of Cuba  said that for a country to accede to the WTO, two essential 
conditions had to be met:  it had to meet with th e accession requirements set out in Article XII, and 
had to be ready to comply with the obligations incumbent on every Member.  Iran had complied with 
both, and Members should not infuse this issue w ith elements that were foreign to trade.  
Considerable time had been spent on this issue, but  there had been no progress, in spite of the fact 
that, as reported by the Chairman, many Members supported Iran's request to have a working party 
established to examine its request for accession.  Cuba took note that consultations had still not 
yielded results.  Cuba urged the parties with di fficulties in this matter to look for a satisfactory 
solution, so that a developing country like Iran c ould have a working party established to examine its 
request, within the deadlines establis hed for accession to the WTO.    WT/GC/M/88 
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 8. The representative of Indonesia  said that it was time for the WTO to find a solution to this 
issue, which had been pending for eight years.  Members had to continue to firmly uphold the principle of accepting accession requests based on their individual merits, irrespective of differences 
on issues such as stage of development or political be liefs.  This was important if the WTO wanted to 
ensure universality of membership.  It was di fficult to accept that Iran's request was still not 
acceptable to certain Members, even though the re quest itself met the standards applied to other 
similar requests.  Iran should be given the same consideration as ot her countries which had applied for 
accession.  All countries applying to join the WTO ha d to be treated in the same manner and be given 
equal opportunity to become a Member. 
9. The representative of Pakistan
 urged an early resolution to this issue, which had been pending 
for a long time.  Iran was an important trading nati on, and almost 90 per cent of its trade was with 
WTO Members.  Accession to the WTO would speed up Iran's reform process and would boost regional trade. 
10. The representative of Venezuela
 said that, as other delegations had noted, Iran's request had 
been pending for roughly the past eight years.  Hi s delegation thanked the Chairman for the latter's 
consultations, in which Venezuela had taken pa rt.  Venezuela did not see how continuing those 
consultations would result in a decision to estab lish a working party to examine Iran's request for 
accession.  Venezuela would support the Chairman in whatever path the latter decided to follow, and 
urged the delegation which faced obstacles in accepti ng Iran's request to recons ider its position and to 
reach a conclusion on it. 
11. The representative of Turkey  said that Iran's request had been pending for a long time, even 
though it fulfilled the criteria set out in Article XII to launch the accession process, and needed to be 
dealt with in line with the normal accession proce dures of the WTO.  Turkey renewed its earlier call 
on the membership to treat Iran's request according to its WTO-related merit. 
12. The representative of India  reiterated his delegation's strong support for Iran's early accession 
to the WTO. 
13. The Chairman  proposed, in the light of the views expressed, that he continue his consultations 
and that the General Council revert to  this matter at its next meeting. 
14. The General Council took note  of the statements and so agreed . 
2. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
15. The Chairman  invited the Director-General, as Chairman of the TNC, to report on the TNC's 
activities since his last report to the Council. 
16. The Director-General, Chairman of the TNC , said that the TNC had held its fourteenth 
meeting on 12 October.  This had been the first meeting of the TNC since the adoption of the July 
Decision on the Doha Work Programme, and had take n up three agenda items.  Under the first item, 
and in line with the July Decision, the TNC had established the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation and had appointed Mr. Noor (Malaysia)  as its Chairperson.  Under the second agenda 
item, "Follow-up to the General Council Decision – Statements by the Director-General and by the 
Chairpersons of the bodies established by the TNC" , he had called upon delega tions to build on the 
July success, and had said that the biggest immediat e challenge was to maintain the pressure and to 
make as much progress as possible.  He had also reiterated his personal commitment to pushing on with the negotiations.  The meeting had showed th at work had gotten off to a good start after the 
success in July.  In many areas of the negotiations , the work in the coming weeks would be of a WT/GC/M/88 
Page 4  
 
 somewhat technical nature.  Only once this work had advanced cons iderably would Members be able 
to look towards the next step s for the DDA with any clarity. 
17. He expected that participants would have to tu rn their attention to the role of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference sometime during the spring of  2005.  This would also be an appropriate 
moment to review progress in the technical work and to start to set out the level of ambition for the 
Ministerial Conference and beyond.  The TNC would continue to meet regularly and to exercise its 
oversight role, as provided for in the Doha Declaration.  The TNC was the central body of the negotiations, and participants should use it to ensu re that the momentum generated by the July 
Decision and the serious work already under way in  the negotiating bodies was maintained.  He would 
continue to meet regularly with all the nego tiating body Chairpersons and the General Council 
Chairman, in order to ensure that all operated in  a coherent and co-ordinated manner.  At the TNC 
meeting, a number of delegations had raised c oncerns about the scheduling of meetings. Members 
should endeavour to be sensitive to these concerns as  they approached the busy period to come.  He 
was planning the next meeting of the TNC for 9 December.  By then, all the negotiating bodies would have met again at least once more.  This date w ould also be shortly before the December General 
Council and before the end of the year, and thus would seem to be an appropriate juncture for 
Members to have another opportunity for overall evaluation. 
18. Regarding implementation, the July Decision requested him in his capacity as Director-
General, to continue his consulta tions on the paragraph 12(b) implem entation issues, and to report to 
the TNC and the General Council by May 2005.  He inte nded to carry out this task to the fullest extent 
possible, and had already started consultations to th is effect.  He intended to report to both the TNC 
and the General Council on an interim basis.  Also  under this second agenda item, participants had 
been informed of the work un dertaken in several areas of the negotiations by a number of 
Chairpersons and by himself.  Under the third agenda item, a number of participants had made 
statements, in particular on what they saw as prior ities for the immediate future.  Overall, it had been 
a businesslike and positive meeting.  The work had st arted well, and a good atmosphere had prevailed.  
However, this did not mean that Members should take their foot off the accelerator.  There was a lot 
of very difficult work ahead.  Members had just  added one more negotiating body, and should not 
forget that the July Decision also contained some intermediate deadlines.   They should get down to 
this work in good faith and use the coming months efficiently and pragmatically, in order to make 
progress across the whole of the DDA.  He urged all delegations to take a dvantage of the positive 
atmosphere and to focus on the substantive work ahead. 
19. The representative of Tanzania
, on behalf of the LDCs , expressed appreciation to the 
Director-General and to the Chairman for their tr emendous work and dedicatio n, which had led to the 
conclusion of the July package.  They also wished to thank the Ch airman of the TNC for his report 
and the Chairmen of the various Negotiating Groups  for their constructive engagement in their 
respective areas of work leading to the adoption of  the July Decision.  Th e July package presented 
both opportunities and challenges which the entir e membership had to address.  The DDA set 
development issues as its main goal, and the LDCs  hoped that development issues would take center 
stage as Members moved forward from the frame work stage to final modalities.  S&D and 
implementation issues needed to be satisfactorily addressed for this Round to be truly a Development 
Round.  Agriculture remained the backbone of almo st all LDC economies.  Taking into consideration 
that this sector provided employment and livelih ood for over 60 per cent of these countries' labour 
force, and that for some LDCs agriculture cons tituted more than 70 per cent of their exports, a 
successful outcome in the agriculture negotiations was of crucial importance to LDCs.  They also 
hoped to see substantial discussion and adoption of concrete modalities to address their concerns such 
as the treatment of NFIDCs, exemption of LD Cs from reduction commitments, long-standing 
preference erosion and the treatment of food aid.  In particular, the proposed restrictive disciplines on 
food aid should take into account LDCs' emergenc y situations and humanita rian and development 
needs.  Regarding cotton, the LDCs wished to see the immediate establishment and operationalization  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 5 
 
 
 of the Cotton Sub-Committee, as had been agreed in  the July Decision, and that the cotton issue be 
"addressed ambitiously, expeditiously and specifi cally, within the agriculture negotiations". 
20. With regard to NAMA, the LDCs appreciated that they were exempted from all reduction 
committments.  However, they wished to underline that the ca ll on LDCs to substantially increase 
their level of binding coverage s hould be conditioned upon their indi vidual capacity to do so.  They 
also wished to underline their concerns regardi ng NTBs and preference erosion, and that these be 
addressed in the negotiations on modalities.  In order to derive meaningful be nefits from the services 
negotiations, LDCs needed technical assistance to be able to assess the nature of requests and offers, 
as they faced difficulties in this  area.  They also called upon Members to reaffirm and commit 
themselves to the implementation of the Modalities for the Special Treatment for LDC Members in 
the Negotiations on Trade in Services adopted by  the Special Session of the Council for Trade in 
Services on 3 September 2003.  They welcomed the r ecent appointment of Mr. Noor (Malaysia) as the 
Chairman of the Negotiating Group on  Trade Facilitation.  The LDCs  had great confidence in the 
latter's leadership qualities and grasp of the issu es on trade facilitation, which they trusted would 
contribute to achieving an outcome that would be a win-win situation for all Members.  The LDCs 
attached great importance to transparency and inclusiveness in the decision-making process at all 
levels of the organization, including the Gene ral Council and negotiating bodies.  As Members 
entered the new phase of the negotiatio ns, they would need to address th is issue and to strengthen the 
process using various proposals made by different groups.  Also, the sequencing of meetings of the 
different negotiating bodies should a llow small delegations to participate and contribute effectively.  
The LDCs remained committed to cooperating fully w ith the Director-G eneral and with all the other 
chairpersons of the negotiating groups, so as to contribute to the successful conclusion of the 
negotiations within the desired timeframes.  They h oped that in this final phase, all outstanding issues 
of particular interest to them would be fully a ddressed, and they stood ready to engage constructively. 
21. The representative of Nigeria , on behalf of the African Group , congratulated the Director-
General and the Chairman on the work they had done  on the July package, and hoped that this would 
continue in the modalities stage.  The Group also we lcomed the statement by Tanzania on behalf of 
the LDCs.  As about 34 countries in Africa were LD Cs, what concerned the LDCs concerned Africa 
as a whole.  The present meeting was the first Ge neral Council meeting following the adoption of the 
July package, and was therefore an important one.  The Group viewed the July  package as a step in 
the right direction in putting the DDA back on track  and in achieving the latter's objectives.  The 
Group stood ready to participate constructively in th e modalities stage of the negotiations and beyond.  
The Group wished to underscore the need to give mo re priority to all development-related issues in 
the DDA and to achieve meaningful outcomes in th ese areas, in order to give real meaning to the 
name Doha Development Agenda.  Members needed to make progress on all the agreement-specific proposals on S&D and also on all implementation-re lated issues and concerns.  The Group wished to 
see an early completion of the amendment process on TRIPS and Public Health, in order to make the 
temporary waiver solution permanent and predictable. 
22. On agriculture, the Group wished to highlight some  of its main concerns and interests.  The 
DDA had given S&D treatmen t a central position in all elements of  the negotiations.  It was therefore 
important that S&D be treated as an integral part of all elements under negotiation.  Similarly, the 
Group wished to see substantial discussion of some of  its key concerns, such as the treatment of net 
food-importing developing countries, exemptions  for LDCs, Special Products and the Special 
Safeguard Mechanism, long-standing preference er osion and the treatment of food aid.  The Group 
wished to see the development of friendly modaliti es on agriculture.  Regarding cotton, the Group 
attached great importance to the Cotton Initiative and believed that it should be a standing agenda 
item in the Agriculture Special Session, with re ports from the Cotton Sub-Committee reviewed at 
every session.  Both the development and trade asp ects of the Cotton Initiative should be given the 
same priority.  As far as the Cotton Sub-Committe e was concerned, the Group envisaged that it be 
formed as quickly as possible.  Its composition shoul d be open-ended, but with the main players, WT/GC/M/88 
Page 6  
 
 including the proponents, on board.  As to the Sub-Committee's mandate, the Group reaffirmed the 
need to cover both development and trade aspects a nd that these should be treated under all the pillars 
of agriculture.  The Group also wi shed to request that, in view of its members' limited technical 
resources, sufficient time be given to the memb ership to prepare for the difficult and detailed 
technical discussions ahead.  The Group would welcome the preparation of a plan and list of issues 
for discussions at future meetings, which should be  made available to Members well in advance. 
23. The Group noted that the negotiations on non-ag ricultural market access (NAMA) prior to the 
July package had been difficult.  The inclusion of  paragraph 1 to Annex B of the package had given 
the Group hope and assurance that its concerns would be addressed as a priority in the development of 
modalities.  Accordingly, the Group reiterated its hope that issues articulated in paragraph 1 of 
Annex B would be clarified and addressed as a priority , to allow these countries to participate fully in 
the development of modalities on NAMA.  Some of the key concerns of Africa on NAMA were S&D, less than full reciprocity, the sectoral approach, loss of customs revenue, de-industrialization in Africa 
and autonomous liberalization.  The African Gr oup welcomed the establishment of the Negotiating 
Group on Trade Facilitation and its new Chairman.  The Group wished to reiterate the need for a 
transparent and inclusive process in the negotiatio ns and in adopting work programmes that were 
suitable to all.  It wished also to restate the need for the provision of technical assistance and support 
for capacity building for developing countries, as c ontained in the modalities on trade facilitation, so 
that the members of the Group could participate ef fectively in the negotiations and implement any 
negotiated outcome.  The Group wished to recall th e joint World Bank/IMF letter to the WTO before 
Cancún, and called on both instituti ons and developed partners to provide the needed technical 
assistance to enable developing countries to particip ate meaningfully in the negotiations.  It was the 
Group's hope that the negotiations would result in a wi n-win situation, so that all could benefit from a 
future agreement on trade facilitation. 
24. On services, the Group wished to see meaningf ul progress in the negotiations on sectors and 
modes of supply of export interest to developing countries.  The provision of targeted technical 
assistance as set out in Annex C of the July Deci sion should be a priority, and was key to the 
participation of the Group, not only in the request and offer stage, but also in the entire negotiations, so that the Group could derive meaningful benefits  from the services negotiations.  The Group wished 
to remind the General Council Chairman and the othe r Chairpersons of the importance it attached to 
transparency and inclusiveness, which should remain central to the modalities phase of the 
negotiations.  Concerning the management of the proc ess, the Group wished to stress the need to plan 
meetings of the different negotiating bodies in such a way that they were not juxtaposed, but rather 
planned in order to enable sma ll delegations to attend and contri bute.  The African Group remained 
committed to working positively and constructively as it had done on the July package, so that 
Members could make further progress in realizing the objectives of the DDA negotiations. 
25. The General Council took note
 of the Director-General's report and of the statements. 
3. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development  
26. The Chairman  recalled that at its meeting in Febr uary and March 2002, the General Council 
had taken note of a framework and procedures fo r the conduct of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies, under which this Work Programme sh all be a standing item on the General Council's 
agenda.  The framework and procedures also pr ovided that the Committee on Trade and Development 
shall report regularly to the General Council on the progress of work in its Dedicated Session on this 
subject. 
27. Mr. Clarke (Barbados), Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , reported that the next meeting of the De dicated Session of the Committee on Trade and  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 7 
 
 
 Development would be held on 3 November, during the 9th "Geneva Week" programme, so that 
advantage could be taken of the presence of the non -resident Members, who had a strong interest in 
this subject.  Since his report in July, the Gene ral Council had adopted the July Decision.  This 
Decision had helped guide the work concerning some  of the trade-related issues discussed in past 
meetings of the Dedicated Session.  It also called fo r some of these issues to be dealt with in other 
negotiating groups.  He was confident that at the next meeting of the Dedicated Session, Members 
would state their views on how the recent General Council Decision related to future work on small 
economies.  It was clear from the proposals that had been made earlier by small economies that there 
were still some outstanding issues which could provi de a focus for future work in the Dedicated 
Session.  He planned to use the remainder of th e year to push forward with work on small and 
vulnerable economies, and looked forward to repor ting to the General Council at its meeting in 
December. 
28. The representative of Paraguay  commended the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development for his report , and Members for continuing to further and 
support the mandate in paragraph 35 of  the Doha Declaration.  As all knew, the  Work Programme on 
Small Economies aimed to address the specific trad e-related concerns and needs of small and 
vulnerable economies, so as to enable them to beco me more rapidly integrated into the multilateral 
trading system and thus benefit from the advantag es the system offered.  Landlocked developing 
countries formed part of this group.  It was theref ore a pleasure for Paraguay to inform Members that 
the Fifth Ministerial Meeting of Land-Locked De veloping Countries had been held on 27 September 
in New York within the framework  of the United Nations General Assembly, and had been attended 
by representatives from the aforementioned countries, as well as from some developed countries.  The 
communiqué issued by Ministers at that meeti ng had been circulated to Members by Paraguay.2  In it, 
Ministers had welcomed the General Council's Ju ly Decision, which would greatly enhance the 
chances for successful completion of the development round of trade negotiati ons launched in Doha.  
Similarly, Ministers had commended the General Counc il's decision to include trade facilitation in the 
negotiations.  His delegation would do its best to wo rk together with all the small economies so as to 
finalize the Work Programme on Small Economies in time for the next WTO Ministerial Conference 
in December 2005. 
29. The representative of Bolivia  thanked the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development for his report .  The July Decision of the General Council 
clearly established that, in the present Round, devel opment issues were an essential part of the new 
phase of negotiations currently under way.  In this  context, paragraph 35 of  the Doha Declaration, 
which had been incorporated in the July D ecision under "Other Development Issues", was a 
fundamental part of the multilateral agenda on whic h Members would have to report to Ministers at 
the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference.  This Work Programme, which was to be reviewed 
by the General Council in due course prior to th e Sixth Session, would have to include specific 
proposals which paralleled the substantial progress made in negotiating group discussions, thereby 
pursuing the mandate to ensure the fuller integr ation of small, vulnerable economies into the 
multilateral trading system.  In this respect , document WT/L/585 of 7 October 2004 – which 
contained the Communiqué of the Fifth Annual Mi nisterial Meeting of Landlocked Developing 
Countries (LLDCs) held in September 2004, and in  addition reflected these economies' specific 
difficulties – demonstrated their intention to wo rk towards and contribute to the discussion on 
identifying problems and possible solutions to prev ailing realities which hindered the free transit of 
their goods to destination markets beyond their borde rs.  For this reason, these countries believed that 
the vulnerabilities of countries with these particular  characteristics had to be addressed in a cross-
cutting manner and, in particular, in close conn ection with the work to be commenced by the 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation. 
                                                      
2 Document WT/L/585. WT/GC/M/88 
Page 8  
 
 30. The representative of Uruguay
 said his delegation wished to associate itself with the interests 
and sensitivities expressed by Paragua y and Bolivia regarding the partic ular difficulties of small and 
land-locked economies.  These were special issues that affected countries that were neighbours and 
friends of Uruguay.  His delegation understood full y the implications of the vulnerabilities and 
sensitivities of these countries. 
31. The General Council took note  of the report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statements. 
4. Waivers under Article IX of the WTO Agree ment –  Introduction of Harmonized 
System 1996 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – Requests for waivers by 
Argentina (G/L/693, G/C/W/493) and Israel (G/L/687, G/C/W/492) 
32. The Chairman  drew attention to the requests from Argentina and Israel for waivers for the 
introduction of Harmonized System 1996 changes in to WTO schedules of tariff concessions, and to 
the draft decisions in documents G/C/W/492 and 4 93.  These requests had been considered by the 
Council for Trade in Goods at its meeting on 1 October. 
33. In the absence of the Chairman of the Council fo r Trade in Goods, the Chairman reported, on 
the Goods Council Chair's request and behalf, that the Goods Council on 1 October had approved the 
draft decisions in documents G/C/W/492 and 493, an d had recommended that these draft decisions be 
forwarded to the General Council for adoption. 
34. The Chairman then proposed that, in accord ance with the Decision-Making Procedures under 
Articles IX and XII of the WTO Agreement ag reed in November 1995 (WT/L/93), the General 
Council adopt the draft decisions in documents G/C/W/492 and 493. 
35. The General Council so agreed .3 
5. Enlargement of the European Union – Communication from the European 
Communities (G/L/695) 
36. The Chairman  drew attention to the communicati on from the European Communities in 
G/L/695, regarding the accession to the European  Union on 1 May 2004 of Cyprus, the Czech 
Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta , Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.  In 
that communication, the Community had indicated  that it would not assert that Members who had 
submitted a claim pursuant to Article XXIV:6 of GATT 1994 were precluded from withdrawing 
substantially equivalent con cessions under Article XXVIII:3 of GATT 1994 because this withdrawal 
occurred later than six months after the EC's wit hdrawal of concessions, provided that the claiming 
Member withdrew concessions not later than 12 months after the Community's modification of 
concessions.  This matter had been considered by the Council for Trade in Goods at its meeting on 
1 October. 
37. In the absence of the Chairman of the Council fo r Trade in Goods, and on the latter's request 
and behalf, he reported that the Goods Council on  1 October had agreed on the extension of the 
deadline for withdrawal of concessions under Article XXVIII:3 from six months to 12 months, as set 
out in the Community's communication in G/L/695, a nd had forwarded this agreement to the General 
Council for adoption.  In the light of the Goods C ouncil's consideration and ac tion on this matter, he 
proposed that the General Council take note of th e communication from the Community in document 
G/L/695, and adopt the agreement reached in the Goods Council on the extension of the deadline for 
                                                      
3 The Decisions were subsequen tly circulated in documents WT/L/590 and 589 respectively.  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 9 
 
 
 the withdrawal of concessions referred to in Article XXVIII.3 of GATT 1994 from six months to 
12 months following the Community's modification of concessions. 
38. The representative of the Philippines  said his delegation wished to express its reservation and 
to comment on the agreement adopted by the Council for Trade in Goods regarding this matter.  His 
delegation wished to thank the Community for its communication in document G/L/695, and took 
note that the Community would not assert that Members which had submitted a claim pursuant to 
Article XXIV:6 of GATT 1994 were precluded fro m withdrawing substantially equivalent 
concessions beyond the six-month period after the EC 's withdrawal of concessions pursuant to its 
enlargement, provided that such withdrawal was ma de not later than 12 months after the Community's 
modification of concessions.  As stated by the Philippines at the Goods Council meeting on 
1 October, it understood this communciation to mean  that all Members which had notified or would 
notify the Community of their claim of interest, or intention to claim compensatory adjustment within 
six months from the date of withdrawal, the time-period would be extended on an m.f.n. basis from six months to 12 months.  The Philippines maintain ed that any action the General Council might take 
regarding such agreement should be expressly with out prejudice to this understanding, as well as to 
the legal rights of all WTO Members who had thus notified or would notify the Community, or indeed 
had already been recognized by the Community in its  notification of data, as having a principal or 
substantial supplying interest under Article XXVIII. 
39. The Philippines also wished to express its reserv ation as to the qualification in the statements 
at the present meeting that there was or had been  a deadline set by the Co mmunity under the rules 
regarding the filing of claims pursuant to the notification dated 30 Janua ry 2004 (G/SECRET/20).  
The Philippines understood that under this notification,  the Community itself – and ostensibly the ten 
countries that would be joining the EU as new memb er States – expressly stated that "in accordance 
with the guidelines, any proposed modifications or compensatory adjustments will be circulated and 
communicated separately" by the Community to the parties.  In document G/SECRET/20, the 
Community further committed that it intended "to co mmunicate further data in the near future to 
Members having negotiation rights."  Under the pr ocedures and guidelines adopted on 10 November 
1980 (BISD 27S/26-28), any time period related to this process was expressely to commence from the 
time of the notification of complete impor t statistics for the products involved. 
40. His delegation also wished to draw attention to  Article XXIV:6, and to the provisions of the 
Understanding on the Interpretation of Article  XXIV of GATT 1994 relating specifically to 
Article XXIV:6, which stated, in paragraph 4, that prior to the modification or withdrawal of tariff 
concessions upon the formation of a customs union or an interim agreement leading to the formation 
of a customs union, the procedure set forth in Article XXVIII, as elaborated in the guidelines adopted on 10 November 1980 and in the Understanding on the Interpreta tion of Article XXVIII of 
GATT 1994, had to be commenced.  Paragraph 5 of the Understanding stated that "[t]hese 
negotiations will be entered into  in good faith with a view to  achieving mutually satisfactory 
compensatory adjustment.  In such negotiations, as required by paragraph 6 of Article XXIV, due 
account shall be taken of reduction of duties on the same tariff line made by other constituents of the 
customs union ... ."  Paragraph 5 also expressely stated  that "[s]hould such reductions not be sufficient 
to provide the necessary compensatory adjustment , the customs union would offer compensation, 
which may take the form of reductions  of duties on other tariff lines.  Su ch an offer shall be taken into 
consideration by the Members having negotiating rights  in the binding being modified or withdrawn."  
The Philippines wished to state for the record that no offer of comp ensation had as yet been made by 
the Community.  The Philippines wished to express it s reservation regarding this, and that should the 
General Council adopt any agreement regarding this matter, the extens ion should be without prejudice 
to the requirement that the EC communicate w ith all parties having rights to compensation under 
Articles XXIV and XXVIII. WT/GC/M/88 
Page 10  
 
 41. The representative of Indonesia
 said his delegation wished to join the Philippines in thanking 
the Community for its communication in G/L/695.  Indonesia understood that the Community would not assert that Members who had submitted a claim pursuant to Article XXIV:6 of GATT 1994 were 
precluded from withdrawing substa ntially equivalent concessions under Article XXVIII:3 of GATT 
1994, if the claim was made beyond the six-month d eadline.  As the EU was Indonesia's major trading 
partner, his delegation had a great interest in the modification of the schedules of the ten new member 
States of the EU.  Like the Philippines, Indonesia wanted the EU to recognize the rights of Members 
who had notified to the EU that they had a s upplying interest under Article XXVIII of GATT 1994. 
42. The representative of China
 expressed appreciation for the st atements by the Philippines and 
Indonesia.  China noted that the Community was holding compensation negotiations with Members 
concerned, in accordance with Article XXIV:6 of GATT 1994 and related WTO provisions.  While 
China welcomed and supported the enlargement of the EU, it wished to urge the Community to 
address Members' concerns over the compensation ne gotiations in a timely manner.  His delegation 
hoped that extension of the deadline would not lead to any delay in the process of compensation negotiations. 
43. The representative of the European Communities
 recalled that his delegation had itself 
proposed the extension of the deadline, which had been agreed in the Goods Council on 1 October, 
and hoped that this extension woul d be confirmed in the General Council.  In response to China, he 
wished to make it clear that the extension of six m onths did not preclude that it remained a priority for 
the Community to finalize the compensation negotiations as soon as possible.  There would be no need for the full six months in each  case where such negotiations we re under way with Members.  He 
had taken note of the statements by the Philippin es and Indonesia, and informed Members that in 
connection with the discussion on this matter in the Goods Council, the Community had in fact 
recently received letters of interest from some Members.  The Community intended to address these letters separately with the Members concerned, even though they had been received almost half a year 
after the deadline for such submissions and almost ni ne months after the Community's notification.   
44. The representative of the Philippines
 said he wished to express his delegation's objection to 
the Community's use of the term "deadline", and to state for the record again that it did not recognize 
any deadline so described.  The Community had not expressed in its communication any such 
deadline.  Referring again to the Procedures and Gu idelines of November 1980, he said that in the 
interest of transparency, any such deadline had to be made clear to all concerned.  As he had noted, 
the 1980 Procedures referred to a period of time within which countries withdrawing concessions had 
to provide import statistics.  Furthermore, unde r the provisions of Articles XXIV and XXVIII of 
GATT 1994, good faith negotiations ha d to be commenced prior to th e withdrawal of concessions.  
He wished to state for the record  that no such formal negotiations had commenced, and as pointed out 
in Thailand's statement at the Goods Council meetin g on 1 October, many such negotiations had not 
even started, even with parties submitting claims of  interest.  His delegation could not agree to adopt 
any agreement that made express refere nce to the legal rights of Members. 
45. The General Council took note  of the statements and of the communication from the 
Community in document G/L/695, and adopted  the agreement reached in the Goods Council on the 
extension of the deadline for the withdrawal of concessions referred to in Article XXVIII:3 of GATT 
1994 from six months to 12 months following the EC's modification of concessions.  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 11 
 
 
 6. WTO Pension Plan 
 (a) Annual report of the Management Board for 2003 (WT/L/583) 
 (b) Agreement on the Transfer of Pension Ri ghts of Participants in the United Nations 
Joint Staff Pension Fund and of Participants in the WTO Pension Plan (WT/GC/W/536) 
 
(a) Annual report of the Management Board for 2003 (WT/L/583) 
46. The Chairman
 drew attention to the Annual Report of the Management Board for 2003 
contained in WT/L/583, which was submitted to the General Council in accordance with Article 5(d) 
of the Regulations of the Pension Plan.  This was the fifth report of the Management Board since the 
establishment of the Pension Plan on 1 January 1999. 
47. Mr. Collins-Williams (Canada), Chairman of the WTO Pension Plan Management Board , 
introducing the report, said that 2003 had been anot her busy year for the Management Board.  Seven 
meetings had been held in the course of the year .  Regular progress reports had been presented both to 
the participants and beneficiaries and to the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration.  
Under the distinguished chairmanship of his pr edecessor, Mr. Jóhannesson (Iceland), the Board had 
dealt with a number of important items of business.   The most significant of these was the selection of 
an investment analyst/consultant to assist the Boar d in reviewing the overall investment strategy and 
monitoring the performance of investment manage rs.  Since its appointment in December 2003, 
Watson Wyatt had provided excellent services to th e Management Board and had enabled the Board 
to make significant progress in the review and modification of the investment strategy. 
48. The Management Board had also devoted its a ttention to the transfer agreement with the 
United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund in view of the difficulties being experienced in the application of this agreement.  He noted that this  agreement was the subject of the next sub-item on 
the General Council's agenda.  Other items dealt with by the Management  Board in the course of 2003 
had included stop-loss insurance, the recognition of different forms of partnership under the Plan 
Regulations and the detailed procedures for the paymen t of benefits in currencies other than the Swiss 
franc.  The performance of the Plan's investments in  2003 had been entirely satisfactory, with a real 
rate of return of 9.41 per cent being achieved.  The consulting actuary had concluded that the long-
term funding position of the Plan had improved during the year.  Finally, he noted that the number of 
active participants in the Plan had increased from 668 to 694 in 2003, and the number of beneficiaries 
from 30 to 39.  The market value of the assets stood at SwF 195.8 million on 31 December 2003. 
49. The General Council took note
 of the statement and of the Annual Report of the Management 
Board for 2003 in WT/L/583. 
(b) Agreement on the Transfer of Pension Rights of Participants in the United Nations Joint Staff 
Pension Fund and of Participants in the WTO Pension Plan (WT/GC/W/536) 
50. The Chairman  recalled that on 7 December 2000, the General Council had expressed its 
concurrence with the text of a WTOPP – UNJSPF tran sfer agreement which had been approved by the 
Management Board under Article 10 of the WTOPP Re gulations.  He drew attention to a revised 
agreement circulated in document WT/GC/W/536. 
51. Mr. Collins-Williams (Canada), Chairman of the WTO Pension Plan Management Board , 
said that the Regulations of the WTO Pension Plan provided for the conclusion of transfer agreements 
with Member Governments and intergovernmental orga nizations in order to secure the continuity of 
pension rights for Plan participants.  In Dece mber 2000, the General Council had expressed its 
concurrence with the text of a transfer agreemen t with the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund WT/GC/M/88 
Page 12  
 
 (UNJSPF), which had then come into force on 1 January  2001.  Experience with the application of the 
agreement had shown that it was not serving the purp ose for which it was intended, namely that it was 
not facilitating the mobility of staff, since it did no t secure the continuity of  pension rights.  The 
Secretariats of both pension schemes had agreed, therefore, to suspend the application of the agreement pending a thorough review.  That review had now been completed and a revised transfer 
agreement had been drawn up which resolved the difficulties associated with the first agreement, 
while protecting the interests of both schemes.  The WTO consulting actuary had certified that the 
revised agreement now before the General Council safeguarded the interests of the WTO Pension 
Plan, and the Management Board had agreed, theref ore, to submit it to the General Council for its 
concurrence. 
52. The Chairman
 proposed that the General Council take note of the statement and concur with 
the Agreement on the Transfer of Pension Rights of  Participants in the WTO Pension Plan and the 
United Nations Joint Staff Pensi on Fund contained in WT/GC/W/536. 
53. The General Council so agreed .4 
7. Date of the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference 
54. The Chairman  recalled that, in August 2003, the Ge neral Council had first considered a 
communication from Hong Kong, China offering to host the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference.  At the Cancún Ministerial Conference in September 2003, Ministers had taken note with 
appreciation of the offer from Hong Kong, China and had requested that the General Council 
Chairman continue consultations with a view to de termining the date and venue of the Sixth Session.  
Subsequently, in October 2003, the General Council ha d formally agreed to accept the generous offer 
of the Government of Hong Kong, China and had also agreed that further consultations would be held 
regarding the date of the Session.  In July 20 04, in its Decision on the Doha Work Programme 
(WT/L/579), the General Council had further agreed that this Session would be held in December 
2005.  It now remained for Members to agree on the precise date of the Session.  He understood that 
Hong Kong, China had been giving this matter furthe r consideration, and invi ted that delegation to 
indicate the date that appeared most suitable from its point of view. 
55. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 expressed his delegation's satisfaction that the July 
package had included a firm date for the Sixth Sessi on of the Ministerial Conference, and wished  to 
thank the Chairman for his efforts in this regard.  Hong Kong, China was also pleased at the high level 
of ambition evident in the various meetings leading up to the TNC meeting the previous week.  There 
seemed to be a clear perception of the enormous am ount of technical work that needed to be done 
before Members took stock early in the spring, and a clear understanding that it would not be 
appropriate to set explicit targets or timetables befo re then.  Indeed, to do so would offer unnecessary 
hostages to fortune.  It was clear nevertheless that all were willing to engage and work constructively 
towards securing agreement on modalities in Agri culture and NAMA, high-quality offers in the 
services area, and comparable progress on all the othe r key areas, including rules.  Hong Kong, China 
was very happy with this situation, which reflected  its own natural optimism, its ambition to secure a 
substantive and significant outcome in December 2005 and its determination to work with all 
Members towards the realization of the DDA.  Hong Kong, China looked to the General Council 
Chairman and to the Chair of the TNC to coordi nate these efforts and to ensure that Members 
converged on this goal at roughly the same speed.  Ideally, of course, Members should sort out these 
issues in Geneva before heading to Hong Kong.  While that might leave 148 Ministers with too much 
time on their hands, it would be even  more dangerous to confront Ministers with a multiplicity of 
square brackets and a tight deadline.  It would be  necessary to find the right balance.  His delegation 
                                                      
 4The Agreement was subsequently ci rculated in document WT/L/588. 
  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 13 
 
 
 hoped that the arrangements for which Hong Kong, China was responsible would contribute to a 
successful Ministerial Conference. 
56. His authorities had booked the Hong Kong Conven tion and Exhibition Ce ntre facilities for 
13-18 December 2005, which did not include the days necessary for setting up the site.  While at 
present it was too early to know whether it would be necessary for Ministers to "stop the clock", he 
cautioned that the Centre was a private commercial operation and would require the premises to be 
vacated at midnight on 18 December.  Thus, careful planning would be needed nearer the time.  His 
authorities would in due course circulate to Members practical information and guidance on the more detailed logistics of the event.  In particular, th ey would announce early in 2005 specific arrangements 
for hotels. 
57. The Chairman
 proposed, in the light of the statement by Hong Kong, China, that the General 
Council agree that the Sixth Session of the Minister ial Conference be held on 13-18 December 2005. 
58. The General Council took note  of the statements and so agreed . 
8. Appointment of officers to certain WTO bodies – Statement by the Chairman 
59. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that in a fax dated 15 September he 
had announced that he would be starting consultations  regarding the appointment of officers to certain 
WTO bodies, and had invited all delegations who wished  to convey their views or suggestions to him, 
individually and/or in groups, to do so.  The bodies concerned were the following: 
- Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation (t o be established and Chair to be 
appointed by the TNC as decided in  the General Council Decision on the 
Doha Work Programme) 
- TRIPS Council (following the departure of  its current Chair, Mr. Joshua Law 
(Hong Kong, China)) 
- Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology (following the 
departure of its current Chair, Mr. Meetoo (Mauritius)) 
In addition, he had suggested there might also be  a need to consider th e chairmanship of the 
Negotiating Group on Rules, in light of the new duti es taken up by its current Chair, Mr. Perez Motta 
(Mexico). 
60. After his fax of 15 September had been circulat ed, he had been informed that Mr. Chiaradia 
(Argentina), Chairman of the Council for Trade in Go ods, would also be relinquishing his post to take 
up new duties in his capital.  As a result, he had al so taken up in his consultations the question of an 
appointment to the Goods Council chairmanship. 
61. His consultations had been positiv e and constructive, and he wish ed to thank all delegations 
for their understanding and co-operation in carryin g out this exercise in a spirit of goodwill and 
efficiency.  In his consultations, he had recalled th at the Guidelines on the Ap pointment of Officers to 
WTO Bodies agreed in December 2002 underline that appointments must be acceptable to the 
membership as a whole, and not only to the regions or groupings that may have proposed them.  In 
other words, emphasis had been placed on the capacity , as well as the availability, of the individuals 
who had to undertake the special responsibilities requi red of such posts in the WTO, as indicated in 
paragraph 2.3 of the Guidelines.  Following his cons ultations, at an informal open-ended meeting of 
Heads of Delegation on 7 October he had informed  delegations of the emerging consensus around a 
set of names, and this list had met with the c oncurrence of the membership at that meeting. WT/GC/M/88 
Page 14  
 
 62. In the light of this, and as required under the July General Council Decision, the TNC on 
12 October had established the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation and had appointed Mr. Noor 
(Malaysia) as its Chairman.  He now wished to inform the General Council of the consensus on the 
list of names for appointments to the other bodi es on which he had been consulting, as follows:  
Negotiating Group on Rules – Mr. Valles Galmés (U ruguay);  Council for TRIPS – Mr. Miller (Hong 
Kong, China);  Council for Trade in Goods – Mr. Choi (Korea);  Working Group on Trade and 
Transfer of Technology – Mr. Chipaziwa (Zimbabwe). 
63. The General Council took note
 of the statement and of the consensus on the list of names. 
9. Draft UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Content and 
Artistic Expressions 
64. The representative of Australia , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that earlier in the 
month the Director-General had written to all Pe rmanent Representatives informing them of an 
approach from the UNESCO Director-General seeki ng the WTO's views on a draft Cultural Diversity 
Convention currently under consideration in that orga nization.  The draft text of the Convention had 
been attached to the Director General's letter.  Th e Director-General had informed his counterpart in 
UNESCO that the WTO was a Member-driven organiza tion and, as such, any views or comments on 
the draft text should come from the membership rather  than the Secretariat.  The Director-General had 
offered to convey any views of WTO Members to the UNESCO and had noted that Members were also free to raise the matter in the appropriate bodies of the WTO.  By this, Australia assumed that the 
Director-General was referring specifically to th e TRIPS Council, the Services Council and the Goods 
Council.  Delegations would be aware that the dr aft Convention had been discussed at a seminar on 
trade and culture held on 30 September during the pr evious cluster of services meetings in the WTO.  
A presentation had been made at that seminar by  Professor Kono from Kyushu University, who had 
served as one of 15 independent experts involved in preparing the draft text of the Convention that 
had been circulated to Members.  During the course of that seminar, Professor Kono and others had referred to a number of interesting issues about th e relationship between the draft text and the WTO. 
65. While the draft Cultural Diversity Convention was not about trade, such an instrument had the 
capacity to impact on international trade in g oods and services.  As such, WTO Members had an 
interest and responsibility in seeking to ensure that the Convention and WTO Agreements were 
mutually supportive.  Members should seek to ensure  that the provisions of any Convention were not 
inconsistent with the provisions of WTO Agreem ents.  Representatives also had a duty as senior 
officials responsible for trade polic y to seek to ensure that, as capita ls prepared for the negotiations 
that would begin soon in Paris, there was appropr iate inter-agency coordina tion to guarantee a whole-
of-government approach.  Experience in other areas, particularly in the area of multilateral 
environmental agreements, suggested that negotiations  of this nature sometimes failed to adequately 
take account of the need for coherence and co mplementarity in Members' endeavors.  As a 
contribution to this process, Australia believed it w ould be helpful if the Director-General or the 
Chairman could organize an informal meeting of th ose Heads of Delegation who might be interested 
in exchanging views on the draft Convention and its relationship to the WTO.  Such a meeting could 
help to better inform delegations on the implications of that relationship.  Australia would envisage a 
representative of UNESCO being invited to participat e in that informal exchange.  He had spoken 
informally to a number of delegations on this pr oposal, and the reaction received had been very 
positive. 
66. The representative of Canada
 supported Australia's proposal to  convene an informal meeting 
to discuss the draft Convention.  Such a meeting should be organized in a format that would include inviting a representative of UNESCO to participat e, which would allow the UNESCO representative 
to hear Members' opinions directly.  The date  chosen for such a meeting should favour the 
participation of appropriate experts.  The prel iminary UNESCO draft circulated by the Director- WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 15 
 
 
 General had been prepared by a group of indepe ndent experts and did not yet reflect the discussion 
among member governments.  The process of intergovernmental consideration was only just beginning with UNESCO.  With it, Members would ha ve a real opportunity to discuss and achieve the 
coherence and complementarity, the mutual suppor tiveness and the whole-of-government approach 
proposed by Australia.  Canada hoped all Member s would participate in that discussion.   
67. The representative of China
 thanked Australia and Canada for their statements.  His 
delegation fully appreciated the good intentions of  the Director-General of UNESCO in seeking views 
from WTO Members on the draft Convention.  Foll owing comments from his capital, he wished to 
express the following positions of his Government on this subject.  (i) The issues involved in the draft Convention, including the definitions of certain conceptions, the scope of  coverage, the related 
national policies and legislation, as well as the interests of UNESCO member States were technically 
of high complexity, and ideologically and politically  of great sensitivity.  As far as China understood, 
there were widely divergent views among WTO Members on these issues.  Therefore, it seemed 
almost impossible for Members to provide any consolidated views of substance on these issues to the Director-General of UNESCO.  China preferred not to spend too much time and resources to discuss 
these issues.  (ii) As a basic principle, Members should try to avoid introducing this complicated 
subject in any way in the discussions and work pr ogramme of the WTO.  Members' workload was 
already heavy enough, particularly for the developing  countries.  Members needed to concentrate their 
efforts on their work in the WTO, particularly on the ongoing challenge of the Doha Round negotiations.  (iii) China firmly believed that, ta king into account national policies of its member 
States and the relevant existing rules of the WT O, UNESCO had the full autonomy and capacity to 
successfully negotiate a convention on the protection of cultural diversity and artistic expression.  The 
delegations of its various member States were entir ely able to adopt appropriate positions in dealing 
with various issues in the negotiations, based on  the necessary coordination of views among their 
respective governmental bodies at the national level.   China had full confidence in UNESCO and its 
member States in this connection.   He asked that China's views as expressed above be conveyed to the 
Director-General of UNESCO. 
68. The Chairman
 said he was somewhat surprised at th e substantive nature of the comments 
being made on this matter.  He recalled that under the General Council's Rules of Procedure, 
discussion on substantive issues under "Other Busi ness" should be avoided.   His understanding was 
that Australia was suggesting that a process be establis hed to consider this matter, rather than inviting 
a discussion on substance at the present meeting.  He  urged other delegations wishing to speak to 
abide by this procedural rule and not to go into th e substance of this matter.   After delegations had 
spoken, he would sum up on the way to proceed. 
69. The representative of Singapore  associated his delegation with the proposal by Australia and 
Canada.  It was important to have an informal discussion within the WTO context to ensure that 
issues discussed in UNESCO were not inconsistent w ith obligations undertaken in the context of the 
WTO.  He noted that not all WTO Members were members of UNESCO.  His Government was not a 
member of UNESCO, and had not been involved in any preparatory meetings on the draft Convention 
in the context of UNESCO.  As such, Singapore ha d not been able to make its views known on the 
draft Convention, and it was therefore important th at there be an informal discussion within the 
context of WTO.  He noted, in this connection,  that the UNESCO Director-General himself had 
sought the views of the WTO and its Members.  It was therefore important, appropriate and 
responsible that Members take the opportunity to have a discussion in the WTO. 
70. The representative of Mexico  supported Australia's proposal, seconded by Canada and 
Singapore.  The meeting as proposed by Australia would contribute to a better understanding of the 
draft Convention. WT/GC/M/88 
Page 16  
 
 71. The representative of Morocco
 said his delegation accorded high priority to cultural diversity.  
This issue was being negotiated in UNESCO and hi s delegation supported the idea of an informal 
discussion in the WTO, as suggested by Australia  and Canada, on the understanding that the aim of 
such a discussion would be to give a reply to th e UNESCO Director-General, and not to interfere in 
the drafting or the content of this Convention.  The latter process was under way in Paris and had to 
be concluded in Paris. 
72. The representative of Nigeria  thanked Australia for its statem ent.  The African Group had not 
yet considered this matter.  He was sure that  a good working relationship with UNESCO would be 
welcomed by the African Group, and he would comm unicate its Members' comments in due course. 
73. The representative of Argentina  said that, as noted by Australia, in negotiations on the 
multilateral environmental agreements approximately  ten years earlier, Members had unfortunately 
had divergent approaches to the texts.  With rega rd to certain environmental agreements, one still 
found clauses or rules that were not necessarily compa tible with WTO disciplines.  Therefore, in light 
of this experience, Australia's proposal was ve ry positive and healthy, and deserved Members' 
unreserved support.  Colleagues from Member govern ments who were negotiating this matter in 
UNESCO would have a broader unders tanding of how things were tackled in that forum.  As one 
previous speaker had said, it would not be a ques tion of jeopardizing or hampering in any way the 
independence of UNESCO's work in drafting a conven tion, but rather of enhancing the understanding 
among WTO Members, many of whom were also members of UNESCO.   
74. The representative of Cuba  thanked Australia for its proposal  but wished to reserve Cuba's 
rights on this question, to which it attributed a very high priority.  For the present, and since Members 
were not yet going to deal with this matter in subs tance, she wished to associate her delegation with 
the statement by China.  The WTO agenda was already overloaded with important work that 
Members had to deal with, and Cuba did not consider  that items additional to those in the Doha Work 
Programme should be included.  Furthermore, he r delegation also believed that UNESCO was fully 
competent to deal with these questions, and that the WTO should not infringe on the purview of 
another international organization. 
75. The representative of Jamaica  said that as a member of UNESCO, Jamaica would be 
participating in the negotiations on the draft Conve ntion later in 2004.  In light of this, Jamaica 
believed that WTO Members would benefit from an informal exchange of views on some aspects of 
the draft Convention.  This would assist delegatio ns in enabling their authorities and capitals to 
participate more effectively in the UNESCO nego tiations.  Jamaica therefore supported the proposal 
by Australia on the understanding that it would be an informal exchange of views and that its purpose 
would be to assist delegations, like Jamaica's, in coming to a clearer understanding of some of the 
implications of the draft Conventio n.  Delegations could then convey this to their capitals, which in 
turn could use this information as they saw fit in the negotiations in UNESCO.   
76. The representative of Benin  said that consultations were under way on this issue at UNESCO 
and in his capital.  Both his authorities in capital and Benin's delegation in Paris had been in touch 
with the delegation in Geneva, as this was a very im portant area of activity in his country.  This was 
why, as Nigeria had said, the African Group was assessing this matter and would make a statement at the appropriate time.  At the present juncture, his de legation did not wish to take a definitive position, 
but if Members did decide to hold an informal  meeting, his delegation would urge them to 
synchronize their work with UNESCO, and that in th e planning of meetings, they bear in mind the 
need for interested delegations to be able to fully participate in this informal exchange.  
77. The representative of Chile
 noted that several delegations had mentioned the discussions on 
the multilateral environmental agreements, in whic h there had been a convergence of views on the 
need for internal and international coordination when  two legal systems were face to face.  This was  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 17 
 
 
 precisely what was at issue regarding the draft C onvention.  Chile therefore supported Australia's 
proposal, and the statements by Canada and others , to organize an informal meeting to exchange 
views on the draft Convention.  As Jamaica had said , this could only be beneficial to developing 
countries, who would be able to convey the positi ons expressed in that meeting to their capitals, 
which in turn would be conveyed to UNESCO.  Regarding Cuba's statement, Chile was totally 
opposed to any infringement on other organizations ' realms.  However, it was not a question of 
UNESCO invading the WTO or vice-versa.  Members were simply responding to an invitation extended by UNESCO for the WTO to provide  its views on this draft Convention. 
78. The representative of New Zealand
 said that for the reasons outlined by Australia and Canada, 
his delegation supported an informal exchange of  views on this matter as a useful and efficient 
initiative in light of UNESCO's approach to the WTO.   
79. The representative of the European Communities  said that the Community accorded the 
highest importance to cultural diversity, and woul d be participating in th e UNESCO negotiations in 
Paris.   There were a number of provisions in this  draft Convention that might raise questions related 
to trade policies and, for this reason, the Director-General of UNESCO had conveyed this matter to 
the Director-General of the WTO requesting this organization's views.  His delegation had taken 
careful note of the procedural proposal by Austra lia and Canada, and would refer it to his authorities 
and to the member States of the Community.  The Community's understanding of Australia's 
suggestion was that, rather than having a num ber of scattered discussions in different WTO 
Committees and Councils, it might be worthwhile to  have an informal discussion at Heads of 
Delegation level.  The Community saw some merit in  this suggestion, and wished to discuss it with 
the Commission and the member States.  Members should proceed in a positive way in order to 
organize the debate within the WTO in response to the invitation of UNESCO. 
80. The representative of Uruguay  associated his delegation with the proposal by Australia and 
others to convene an informal mee ting to examine this issue, for th ree important reasons.  First, from 
a procedural standpoint, it would not be an inv asion of UNESCO's terrain, but  rather would provide 
an appropriate reply to the invitation by the Direct or-General of UNESCO.  Second, in relation to the 
question of coherence in legal text s drawn up in different international organizations, there would be 
one informal meeting, involving all interested Memb ers, to examine this text.  Therefore, Members 
would be providing their a priori  input, rather than reacting a posteriori , as had happened in the case 
of the multilateral environmental agre ements, in order to guarantee the overall coherence of the texts.  
Third, Uruguay took very seriously China's comment s regarding the heavy work load all had to cope 
with in the WTO, but an informal meeting on this  subject would not mean that cultural diversity 
would be included as an additional topic in the WTO.  
81. The representative of the United States  said her delegation s upported the proposal by 
Australia for an informal gathering to discu ss the draft UNESCO Convention and that a UNESCO 
representative be invited to hear the informal discuss ion.  As several delegations had stated, Members 
were responding to a specific request from UNESC O.  Australia's proposed approach provided a 
means to be responsive within th e capabilities of the WTO, and wit hout prejudice to any Member's 
views. 
82. The representative of Djibouti  said this was an extremely important issue, and Members had 
to think about it carefully before taking a positi on.  It would perhaps be a good idea to organize a 
meeting of Heads of Delegation in order to measure the importance of this issue, but there was a need 
for careful reflection before anything was decided.  At the same time, as Chin a and others had stated, 
Members were already sufficiently involved with the enormous work agenda of the WTO, and should 
not add other subjects to this agenda from outside the organization.  This would complicate Members' 
lives intolerably.  The African Group had not reached  a position on this matter, but would do so in due WT/GC/M/88 
Page 18  
 
 course.  While this was an important issue, it was not a good idea to add it to the WTO's existing 
workload. 
83. The representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 said that the Director-General of 
UNESCO had asked for the views of the WTO, and it was only right and proper that the WTO and its Members should respond.  Like others, the Demo cratic Republic of the Congo attached great 
importance to the issues raised by this draft Convention.  His country was also a member of the 
French-speaking group which on a number of fronts supported this project as members of UNESCO and also as Members of the WTO.  However, his delegation was aware that certain WTO Members were not members of UNESCO.  Thus, this issue was very difficult and delicate.  His delegation would not speak to the substance of the issue at the present time, but supported the proposal for an 
informal meeting, which could be followed by a formal meeting later on, in order to outline an 
appropriate response which the Director-General would make in due course to the UNESCO Director-General.  This was a procedural matter.  His delegation would consu lt with the African Group in order 
to provide a concerted response.  However, as a small delegation, the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo would not accept overloading the WTO timetable  and adding to the existing WTO workload, 
nor would it accept an exception to the principle of  specialization, which was a characteristic of the 
activities of all international organizations. 
84. The Chairman
 said that he had taken note of the proposal by Australia, which had been 
supported by a number of delegations, as well as of th e many other statements.  He would discuss the 
proposal with the Director-General, to whom th e letter from UNESCO had been addressed, to see 
how best to proceed on the basis of this sugg estion, and would be in touch with Members. 
85. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
10. Digital archiving of GATT official do cuments and certain GATT internal records 
86. The Director-General , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that on 8 October, the 
Secretariat had circulated an Information Note  to Members providing background on the digital 
archiving of GATT official documents and certa in GATT internal records, which had been 
undertaken in a collaborative project between Stanfo rd University Libraries and the WTO Secretariat 
(WT/GC/INF/3).  As indicated in that Note, an agreement had been reached between the WTO 
Secretariat and Stanford University Libraries in 1999 allowing the latter to digitally archive certain 
GATT official documents and internal records.  The WTO Secretariat had been concerned about the 
lack of digital backup for documents and records from the GATT era.  This project had been considered to be a useful interim initiative in digitally preserving at least some GATT materials 
without consuming a lot of scarce resources.  He wish ed to put this initiative on  a more solid footing, 
and for this reason had circulated the Information No te.  As touched on in that Note, there were two 
issues in particular that warranted Members' at tention.  First was the question of the digital 
preservation of GATT official documents in Spanish and French.  Assuming Members considered this 
desirable, as he himself did, they might have views about which institutions might undertake this 
work and how the Secretariat might go about it.  Second was the issue of those GATT official 
documents which still remained restricted.  Accord ing to Secretariat calculations, there were some 
50,000 that remained restricted.  The Secretariat had completed the production of a comprehensive list 
of these documents, which could be made available to Members via the Members' website.  In the interests of transparency, Members should be th inking about derestricting as many of these as 
possible.  He suggested that if any Member had an interest in this topic, they should, in the first 
instance, contact Mr. Harbinson, Director of the O ffice of the Director-General.  The Secretariat was 
considering how to arrange some  consultations on this matter. 
87. The General Council  took note
 of the statement.  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 19 
 
 
 11. Appointment of the next Director-General 
88. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled for the information of Members 
that, under the Procedures for the Appointment of Directors-General adopted by the General Council 
in December 2002 (WT/L/509), the process for the appoint ment of Directors-General had to be started 
nine months prior to the expiry of the term of the incumbent Director-General, with a notification 
from the Chair to the General Council.  In the pres ent case, since the term of office of the current 
Director-General, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, w ould end on 31 August 2005, the appointment process 
would begin on 1 December 2004.  In line with the agreed procedures, he would formally notify the 
opening of the process in a communication to all Members at that time. 
89. He also recalled some of the time-lines for the appointment process as set out in the 
Procedures of December 2002.  First, he noted that  Members would have one month after the start of 
the appointment process to nominate candidates, in  other words, until 31 December in the present 
case.  Second, the candidates nominated would then have three months to make themselves known to 
Members and to engage in discussions on the per tinent issues facing the organization, i.e. until 
31 March.  Also, as early as possible after the close of the nomination process, candidates would have 
to be invited to meet with Members at a formal  General Council meeting.  Third, the remaining 
two months prior to the conclusion of this pro cess would be devoted to selecting and appointing one 
of the candidates, and the process would conclude with a General Council meeting convened not later 
than three months prior to the expiry of the incu mbent's term, at which a decision to appoint a new 
Director-General had to be taken.  In other word s, a decision on the appointment of a new Director-
General had to be taken not later than 31 May 2005.  He recalled that full details of the procedures 
were set out in document WT/L/509. 
90. The General Council took note  of the statement. WT/GC/M/88 
Page 20  
 
 ANNEX 
 
Statements Regarding the Accession of Cambodia
 
  
1. Prior to the adoption of the agenda, the Chairman
 welcomed to the meeting the delegation of 
the Kingdom of Cambodia, which on 13 October had become the 148th Member of the WTO and the 
second LDC to accede to the WTO since its entry into force in 1995.  On behalf of all Members he 
welcomed the Senior Minister and Minister of Commerce of Cambodia, and the other members of his delegation to the meeting and to the WTO, and congratulated Cambodia on its achievement.  He 
believed he could speak for all Members in expressi ng the hope that Cambodia's participation in the 
trading system as a new WTO Member would yield subs tantial and continuing be nefits for its country 
and its people. 
2. The representative of Cambodia
 thanked the Chairman for his welcoming remarks and 
thanked all Members for their support during Cambodi a's accession negotiations.   This was a special 
day for all Cambodians, as Cambodia was for the first time participating as a full Member in a 
meeting of the WTO.  His delegation was very pleased to be the 148th  Member of this great 
organization, and the second LDC to join the WTO si nce its entry into force in 1995.  Joining the 
WTO opened up a new range of possibilities for Cambodia, but did not guarantee that these 
possibilities would be translated into advantages.  In order to transform potential into reality, much 
hard work would need to be done in the months and years ahead.  Cambodia would therefore make 
every effort to honor the commitments and con cessions made while negotiating its accession to the 
WTO.  All were certainly aware of the political circumstances surrounding Cambodia's application for 
an extension of the time-limit to complete its intern al procedure of ratification of its Protocol of 
Accession.  Thanks to Members' unders tanding, Cambodia had finally made it. 
3. In the meantime, a new Government had b een elected and there was a new King, the 
coronation ceremony for whom would take place  on 29 October.  These events signalled more 
political stability for Cambodia, and therefore mo re assurances that Cambodia would be able to 
comply with WTO rules and regulations.  He again wished to appeal to Members to lend a hand with 
technical assistance, in order to help his country meet the deadlines for implementing its 
commitments.  The WTO provided an internati onally recognized framework in which Cambodia 
could organize and carry out the necessary developm ent of its legal and institutional structures and 
pursue an outward-oriented development strategy.  If Cambodia rose to this challenge, and it would, 
its accession to the WTO would be seen by future hi storians as a major turning point leading to the 
acceleration of Cambodia's development.  His delega tion looked forward to being more pro-active in 
WTO meetings and to contributing in whatever wa y possible to make world trade freer and fairer. 
4. The representatives of Malaysia (for the A SEAN Members), Cuba, Indonesia, Pakistan, 
Venezuela, India, Nepal, the European Commun ities, Tanzania (for the LDCs), Nigeria (for the 
African Group) and Canada warmly welcomed Cambodia as a new WTO Member.  
5. The representative of Malaysia , on behalf of the ASEAN Members , said that Cambodia's 
accession marked the culmination of a process th at had taken almost ten years from the time 
Cambodia had applied for accession, and it had been  just over a year that Cambodia's membership 
package had been approved by Members at the Canc ún Ministerial Conference.  For the WTO, this 
constituted another important step towards the goa l of the universality of its membership.  The 
ASEAN Members hoped that Cambodia's WTO memb ership would enable it to participate and 
contribute more actively in international trade ne gotiations.  As a Member, Cambodia would now be 
able to participate fully in the multilateral tr ading system, as well as in the current Doha Round 
negotiations.  The ASEAN Members wished the Cam bodian delegation every success in its future 
endeavours.  WT/GC/M/88 
 Page 21 
 
 
 6. The representative of Pakistan  said that it had taken Cambodia a long time to complete its 
accession process, and hoped that as a result of its accession Cambodia’s trade would multiply 
manifold and that it would be able to ca rry out the necessary reforms it had undertaken. 
7. The representative of Nepal  said that his delegation was very happy to see a fellow least-
developed country join the WTO after its long nego tiations.  Nepal had also gone through a similar 
process and had become a Member just six months earlier. 
8. The representative of Tanzania , on behalf of the LDCs , said these countries felt strengthened 
by Cambodia's accession. 
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