RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/W/34
12November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4957)
Committee onTrade andDevelopment
DRAFT
REPORT (1997) OFTHE COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION
1. TheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment (CTD) heldfivemeetings in1997. TheMinutes
ofthesemeetingsarecontainedindocumentsWT/COMTD/M/14/Rev.1,M/15,M/16,M/17andM/18.
Thefirstsession waschaired byAmbassador N.Benjelloun-Touimi (Morocco); thesubsequent sessions
were chaired byAmbassador D.Baichoo (Mauritius).
WORK OFTHE COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
2. MembersoftheCommitteeaddressedthefollowingmainitemsduringitsworkin1997:technical
cooperation andtraining activities astheyrelate todeveloping country members; review ofthe
participation ofdeveloping country members inworld trade; andreview oftheapplication ofspecial
provisionsinthemultilateraltradingagreementsandrelatedMinisterialDecisionsinfavourofdeveloping
country Members, inparticular least-developed country Members. Italsoreviewed progress inthe
preparation oftheHigh-Level Meeting onIntegrated Initiatives forLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade
Development, noting periodic reports bytheSub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries.
Technical cooperation andtraining activities astheyrelate todeveloping countries
3. In1997,theworkoftheCommitteeinthisareafocusedonthreeareas:implementationmodalities
fortheprovision oftechnical assistance; theManual onTechnical Cooperation andTraining Activities;
andtheThree Year Planfortechnical cooperation andtraining activities for1997-1999 withafirst
exchange ofviews onthePlanfor1998-2000.
4. TheCommittee continued itsdiscussion which itbegan in1996onimplementation modalities
fortheprovision oftechnical assistance, withaview totheiradoption. Thepreliminary results of
itswork werereflected inapaper prepared bytheSecretariat, which tookintoaccount thecomments
andproposals made bydelegations, andwhich alsoserved asabasis fortheCommittee 'sfurther
discussions (circulated indocument WT/COMTD/W/29). Anumber ofsuggestions weremade inthose
discussions andwhile some delegations expressed theview thatafairly highlevelofgovernmental
monitoring oftheSecretariat 'stechnical cooperation andtraining activities wasdesirable, others
cautioned against toorigidacontrol byMembers. Theoutcome oftheCommittee 'sdiscussions was
reflected inarevision ofthepaper (WT/COMTD/W/29/Rev.1). Atitsmeeting on17November [to
becompleted]. Inacontinuous effort toadvance coordination between agencies, representatives of
ITCandUNCTAD wereinvited toaddress theCommittee atit'smeeting inFebruary, topresent their
views ontheimplementation modalities fortechnical assistance usedbytheirrespective agencies.WT/COMTD/W/34
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5. Intheperiod under review, theCommittee discussed several draftversions ofaManual on
Technical Cooperation andTraining which draws ontheGuidelines forTechnical Cooperation adopted
inOctober 1996andwhich isintended toprovide adescription ofthetechnical cooperation andtraining
activitiesavailableintheWTO,explainshowMemberscanbenefitfromsuchassistanceandhowrequests
should befiledtoparticipate intheactivities. Delegations weregenerally oftheviewthattheManual
was auseful tool. Atitsmeeting on17November [tobecompleted] (document
WT/COMTD/W/26/Rev.2 refers).
6. TheGuidelines forTechnical Cooperation stipulated thattheThree Year Planfortechnical
Cooperation wastobeapproved bytheCommittee. Accordingly, intheperiod under review, the
Committee discussed theThree YearPlanforTechnical Cooperation for1997-1999. TheCommittee
agreed atitsmeeting on26September thattheversion contained indocument WT/COMTD/W/25
andAdd.1 would beconsidered finalandthatanyfurther editorial technical suggestions toimprove
subsequent Three YearPlans would betaken intoconsideration inthedraftThree YearPlanfor1998-
2000(circulated indocument WT/COMTD/W/32). Atitsmeeting on17November [tobecompleted].
Theparticipation ofdeveloping country Members inworld trade
7. TheCommittee discussed theitematitsSeptember andNovember sessions onthebasis of
aNote prepared bytheSecretariat entitled "Participation ofDeveloping Countries inWorld trade:
recent developments, andtrade oftheleast-developed countries" (WT/COMTD/W/31). TheNote
updates thestudy which hadbeenprepared bytheSecretariat in1996onMajor Trends andUnderlying
FactorsintheParticipationofDevelopingCountriesinWorldTradeoverthepasttwentyyears(contained
indocumentWT/COMTD/W/15).Inthediscussion,somedelegationsnotedwithinterestwhatappeared
tobeanimproved performance ofdeveloping countries inthelastfewyears. Others expressed concern
thatthepaper disguised disparities ineconomic growth between regions andbetween economic sectors,
suchastradeintextiles, which showed aslow-down in1996, andwhich merited further study. Concern
wasalsoexpressed overtheerosion ofmargins ofpreferences; inthatcontext itwassuggested that
supplementary information ontheimpact ofregional trade agreements onmargins ofpreference be
provided. Itwasalsonoted thatinspiteofprogress anddeepening ofstructural reform inleast-developed
countries, there wasstillaneedforexternal assistance iftheleast-developed countries were totake
advantage ofthenewtrading environment. TheCommittee agreed thatthisitemshould become a
regular feature ofitsagenda.
Review oftheapplication ofspecial provisions inthemultilateral trading agreements andrelated
Ministerial Decisions infavour ofdeveloping country Members, inparticular least-developed
country Members
8. TheCommittee agreed, aspartofitswork programme fortheautumn, tocontinue itsreview
oftheapplication ofspecial provisions inthemultilateral trade agreements andrelated Ministerial
Decisions infavour ofdeveloping country Members, inparticular least-developed country Members,
which ithadstarted in1996. Itconducted itsreview onthebasis ofcontributions fromWTO Bodies
responsibleformonitoringtheimplementationofUruguayRoundAgreementscommitments:information
submitted onhowprovisions infavour ofdeveloping countries hadbeendealtwithinthevarious WTO
Committees wascompiled inadocument which served asabasis fortheCommittees 'discussion
(WT/COMTD/W/33). Atitsmeeting on17November [tobecompleted].WT/COMTD/W/34
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Work related toleastdeveloped countries: theHigh-Level Meeting onIntegrated Initiatives
forLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade Development
9. Atitsmeeting inFebruary 1997 theCommittee discussed thepreparation oftheHigh-Level
Meeting onIntegrated Initiatives forLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade Development andrequested
theSub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries tofollow-up onpreparations, under guidance of
theCommittee.
10. TheSub-CommitteeonLeast-DevelopedCountriesheldfivemeetingsintheperiodunderreview.
The Minutes ofthese meetings are contained indocuments WT/COMTD/LLDC/5,
WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/6, M/7 plus Corr.1, M/8 andM/9. Thesessions were chaired by
Ambassador E.Herfkens (TheNetherlands).
11. Atitsmeeting inFebruary, theSub-Committee tookuptheissue ofaccumulated arrears and
thespecificproblemsthismightentailfortheparticipationofleast-developedcountriesinWTOtechnical
assistance andtraining activities.1
12. TheSub-Committeefocusedmostofitsworkin1997onpreparationsfortheHigh-LevelMeeting
onIntegrated Initiatives forLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade Development (documents
WT/COMTD/W/28 plusitstwoAddenda). Apreparatory meeting washeldon26Juneinwhich the
agenda, theformat andthebudget oftheHigh-Level Meeting wereagreed. Atitsmeeting inOctober,
theSub-Committee agreed toinvite H.E. JanPronk, Minister ofDevelopment Cooperation ofthe
Netherlands, tochairtheHigh-Level Meeting. TheSub-Committee alsorecommended thattheHigh-
Level Meeting endorse theIntegrated Framework forTrade-Related Technical Assistance, including
forHuman andInstitutional Capacity-Building, tosupport Least-Developed Countries inTheir Trade
andTrade-related Activities (subsequently circulated asdocument WT/LDC/HL/1/Rev.1).
13. TheHigh-Level Meeting tookplace on27and28October 1997 (WTO/AIR/698 andAdds.1
and2).TheReport oftheHigh-Level Meeting iscontained indocument WT/LDC/HL/23.2
Observer status forinternational intergovernmental organizations
14. Atitsmeeting inMay, andfollowing guidance fromtheGeneral Council, theCommittee agreed
toextend observer status totwoadditional international intergovernmental organizations, theAfrican,
CaribbeanandPacificGroupofStates(ACP)andtheSouthernAfricanDevelopmentCommunity(SADC)
(document WT/COMTD/W/22/Rev.1 contains thelistofinternational intergovernmental organizations
withobserver status intheCTD aswellasthose whose request ispending).
1PursuanttodiscussionsintheCommitteeonBudget,FinanceandAdministration,theGeneralCouncildecided
atitsmeeting on22October 1997 thatthose least-developed countries which areWTO Members should be
exempted from application oftheadministrative measures which states that"inactive members would bedenied
access totraining ortechnical assistance."
2Subsequently circulated asdocument WT/COMTD/12.