RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/M/42
12 November 2002
(02-6208)
Committee on Trade and Development
Forty-second Session
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 8 AND 9 OCTOBER 2002
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh)
A. A DOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA ...........................................................................................2
B. O BSERVERS ............................................................................................................................... ..2
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers ...............................................................................2
(ii) Further consideration of request for observer status by the League of Arab States, the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization
for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and
the Common Fund for Commodities...........................................................................................2
C. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING ................................................................................2
(i) Process for the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan – Information by the Secretariat....................2
(ii) Features of requests/inputs by Members and Observers to the 2003 Technical
Assistance Plan – Informati on by the Secretariat.......................................................................2
(iii) Presentation of the WTO 2003 Technical Assistance Plan – Information by the
Secretariat (WT/COMTD/W/104 – WT/COM TD/W/104/Add.1 – WT/COMTD/43)...................3
(iv) Overview of the training activities of the WTO Secretariat (WT/COMTD/W/105) ..................31
(v) WTO Training Institute – Planned activities in 2003 (WT/COMTD/W/103)............................31
D. N OTIFICATION UNDER THE ENABLING CLAUSE .......................................................................33
- Notification from India and Sri Lanka (WT/COMTD/N/16) ..................................................33
E. G ENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES ................................................................................34
(i) Notification by Japan (WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.11) ....................................................................34
(ii) Notification by Switzerl and (WT/COMTD/N/7/Add.1) .............................................................34
F. P ARTICIPATION OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN WORLD TRADE ............................................34
(WT/COMTD/W/100 and Add.1) ..............................................................................................34
G. P ARAGRAPH 51 O F THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING
DEVELOPMENTAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN
ORDER TO HELP ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
APPROPRIATELY REFLECTED ....................................................................................................35
H. C ONSIDERATION OF ARTICLE XVIII AS MANDATED BY PARAGRAPH  12 O F THE
DOHA MINISTERIAL DECLARATION (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1), T HE DECISION ON
IMPLEMENTATION -RELATED ISSUES AND CONCERNS (WT/MIN(01)/17), A ND IN
CONJUNCTION WITH TIRET 3 OF JOB(01)/152/REV.1 O F 27 O CTOBER 2001 ........................36
I. E LECTRONIC COMMERCE ..........................................................................................................38WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 2
J. D RAFT ANNUAL REPORT ..........................................................................................................39
K. O THER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................39
A. ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA
1. The Chairman said that the draft agenda for the meeting was contained in Airgram
WTO/AIR/1908/Rev.1 of 7 October 2002.  He suggested that items A to C be taken up at that day's
meeting and items D to K at the following day's meeting.
2. The representative of Croatia said that his delegation wished to add an item under "other
business" regarding the Ministerial Meeting held in Zagreb, Croatia in June 2002.
3. The agenda was adopted as amended.
B. OBSERVERS
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers
4. The Chairman recalled that, in previous sessions of the CTD, Members had agreed to invite a
number of intergovernmental organizations on an ad hoc meeting-by-meeting basis.  Those were the
Arab Maghreb Union (AMU);  the Economic Commun ity of West African States (ECOWAS);  the
Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO);  the Inter- Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation;  the
Islamic Development Bank (IDB);  the Organisation of African Unity (OAU);  the Organisation of the
Islamic Conference (OIC);  the South Centre;  the South Pacific Forum;  the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP);  the West Afri can Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU);
and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).  He proposed that, in accordance with the
CTD procedures, those Organizations be invited to the next formal meeting of the Committee.
5. It was so agreed.
(ii) Further consideration of request for observer status by the League of Arab States, the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization for
Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and the Common
Fund for Commodities
6. The Chairman said that at previous meetings the Committee had had before it a number of
outstanding requests for observer status.  Those came from the League of Arab States, OPEC, the
Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and
the Common Fund for Commodities.  The positions of delegations were well known and on the
record.  He proposed that, unless there had been any recent change of position, Members revert to
those requests at the next formal meeting of the CTD.
7. It was so agreed.
C. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
(i) Process for the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan – Information by the Secretariat
(ii) Features of requests/inputs by Members and Observers to the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan
– Information by the SecretariatWT/COMTD/M/42
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(iii) Presentation of the WTO 2003 Technical Assistance Plan – Information by the Secretariat
(WT/COMTD/W/104 – WT/COMTD /W/104/Add.1 – WT/COMTD/43)
8. The Chairman welcomed Director-General Dr. Supachai to the meeting.  He said that in his
statements to the General Council, and in other fo ra including at the High Level Segment Meeting of
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and DevelopmentBoard, the Director-General had emphasized that technical assistance and capacity building was one
of the four priority areas of his administration.  His presence in the CTD meeting was an illustration
of the importance that he attached to technical assistance within the framework of the WTO.  The
Chairman also welcomed Deputy Director-General (DDG) Dr. Rana to whom the Director-General
had assigned the responsibility for the broad horizontal theme of developing more effective and
targeted WTO technical assistance and capacity building.  In addition, he welcomed DDG,
Mr. Abbott whom, within his thematic responsibility of strengthening the WTO as a Secretariat and asan institution, was responsible for budgetary matters.
9. The Chairman went on to say that there were four sub-items under agenda item C.
Dr. Supachai would offer overall introductory comments on the subject of WTO Technical
Assistance.  Thereafter, the Director of Techni cal Cooperation, Mr. Osakwe, would inform the CTD
of the process of drawing up the 2003 Technical Assistance (TA) Plan, explain the main features ofthe requests received and, briefly highlight key details of the Plan.  DDG Mr. Abbott, would then
make a statement on the financial implications of the 2003 TA Plan.  Sub-items (i), (ii) and (iii) of the
agenda item would thus be covered together and sub-items (iv) and (v) relating to training would be
covered after the conclusion of the discussions on the 2003 TA Plan.
10. The Director-General, Dr. Supachai, said that  technical assistance was important and was one
of the four pillars that he had established for his work as Director-General of the WTO.  He had taken
that decision knowing the vital importance that effective trade-related technical assistance (TRTA)
and capacity building played in trade development.  DDG Dr. Rana would supervise the area of
technical assistance and capacity building.  However he, as Director-General, would personally
continue to stay in touch with the topic and c onduct his own consultations and deliberations on it.
The 2003 TA Plan was a key element in his evolving thoughts on the subject of technical assistance
and capacity building and it was based in part on consultations with Members on how WTO technical
assistance could be better structured to meet present priorities and future challenges.  He said he
would share several points influencing his thoughts on technical assistance after which the Director of
the Technical Cooperation Division, Mr. Osakwe would present the details of the Plan.  First, what
Members needed to develop up front was a clear strategic sense of the areas of WTO's technical
assistance and capacity building.  One question was where WTO's comparative advantage could bestbe applied.  The Secretariat could not perform its duties in areas where it did not possess the full
expertise or lacked the resources to do so .  He believed that the skills of the Secretariat staff would be
best utilised in delivering technical assistance to build effective capacity for trade negotiations.
However, as that was not the totality of all technical assistance, there was a need to coordinate WTO's
skills with those of other relevant multilateral agencies to deliver technical assistance for theunderstanding of the rules and their implementation.  In that regard, he placed high premium on
collaboration with UNCTAD, the International Trade Centre (ITC), the UNDP, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the International
Standardizing Bodies, and others.  Another key element was technical assistance for the construction
of commercial infrastructure, which would enable developing and least-developed countries (LDCs)
to draw on the benefits of improved market access and the open, rules-based trading system.  After
Members had agreed on certain market access measures it was not automatic that poor countries,
especially the LDCs would be able to make use of the opportunities offered to them.  There was
therefore a need to build commercial infrastructure.  The WTO had to seek coordination with other
development institutions such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in that area.  The
Secretariat would principally focus on what it did best, which was to provide technical assistance toWT/COMTD/M/42
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build effective capacity for negotiations.  The Secretariat would continue to coordinate the various
phases of technical assistance that went beyond the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) period of
negotiations.
11. Second, he continued by saying that the LDCs would continue to receive focus in WTO's
Technical Assistance Plans.  The 2003 TA Plan proposed several new products to take account of theLDC's needs.  At the same time, it had to be kept in mind that there were several regional challenges
to which the WTO needed to respond.  Other countries in developing country regions had needs as
critical as those of the LDCs.  Such regions included countries in Africa, South and Central Asia, and
the Caribbean.  The Doha Ministerial Declaration established a Work Programme on Small
Economies and there were capacity constrained missions in Central Asia and Eastern Europe and the
transition economies.  Those were all challenges and priorities that the WTO had endeavoured to
respond to in the 2003 TA Plan and the Secretariat would attempt to continue to improve its activitiesin those areas.  Third, to achieve universality of the organization, there was a need to attach priority
attention to acceding countries.  The 2003 TA Plan addressed acceding country technical assistance
priorities and it was in that context that the Secretariat would focus on the LDCs' Work Programme.
Mr. Molander, Ambassador of Sweden and Chairman of the Sub-Committee on LDCs, was working
hard in that regard and had the full support of the Secretariat.  Fourth, based on consultations that hehad held, he realised that recipients of technical assistance attached great importance to systematic,
cumulative and sustainable capacity building.  In that regard, a significant improvement had been
made in the 2003 TA Plan.  New products had been designed to reflect Members' needs including
intensive short trade policy courses, training of senior government officials on the areas of
negotiations within the DDA stemming from the Doha Ministerial Conference, consolidation andextension of the internship system and training-of-trainers programmes.  The work of the Technical
Cooperation Division, the Training Institute and the Trade Policy Review Division, which had a high
technical assistance component, had been properly interfaced and he would continue to work on the
improvement of that interfacing.
12. His fifth point was that he agreed with Members that priority should be accorded to the
quality, not the quantity, of the technical assistance activities.  Consequently, the number of discrete
activities was being reduced to improve quality and increase the coverage of each.  There was a
tighter linkage between national and regional activities.  Mr. Rolian, Director, Technical Cooperation
Audit had developed new tools and processes for evaluating WTO technical assistance and training
activities.  In the course of the implementation of the annual technical assistance plans, Mr. Rolian
would provide periodic reports to the Membership.  The sixth point, and perhaps the greatest
challenge was the demand for result-oriented coordination with other agencies, bilateral donors andcoordination within recipient countries.  There was a need to proceed with coordination and coherence
with a sense of urgency.  The process of building strategic partnerships and building synergies with
agencies, donors and recipients needed to continue.  There had been modest progress, but more
needed to be done.  The Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme (JITAP) review had
yielded important insights.  That success should be built upon.  The Integrated Framework (IF) wasthe hope for medium to long-term trade development.  Modest successes had been achieved in
countries like Cambodia.  In addition to the three pilot countries, the IF was being extended to
11 more LDCs.  That extension was being closely re viewed, and he was in consultation with several
Members, such as H.E. Mr. Ould Mohamed Lemine, Ambassador of Mauritania, to examine current
challenges and determine how best to address those challenges.  He said that concerns had beenexpressed with respect to the IF programme and he was doing his best to consult with both recipient
and donor countries.  The Heads of IF Agencies had agreed to meet in 2003 to address several issues.
The speed of implementation of the IF needed to be accelerated if it was to remain relevant.  The
follow-up on the results of the diagnostic trade integration studies had to be taken more seriously and
be based on clear procedures.  He said that he would report to the Membership on that in the nearfuture.  The support of development agencies and bilateral donors was critical if the IF was to work as
designed.WT/COMTD/M/42
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13. He went on to assure Members that the Secretariat's technical assistance objectives were not
only focused on the next WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun.  His objective as Director-General
was to establish an architecture of WTO technical assistance that would last beyond the Cancun
Ministerial Conference and the DDA negotiations.  He believed that the process had begun well and
with Members' support the objective would be achi eved.  What the Secretariat needed to do was to
consolidate and improve what it was doing, refine technical assistance and training materials, and
achieve sustainability and cumulation.  He concluded by assuring Members that, together with senior
management, he would work to ensure improved coordination within the Secretariat, using the
Technical Assistance Management Committee, to address the incidence of problems such as ad hoc
activities, and improve the implementation and delivery of technical assistance.  In that regard, the
support of technical assistance recipients would be required.  His report, as mandated by Ministers
under paragraph 41 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, would be circulated to the membership bymid-November.  Indications showed that the Secretariat was on track to effectively respond to the
technical cooperation and capacity building commitments in the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  The
remaining months would give the Secretariat time to catch up on the work.  He expressed his
appreciation to the donors for establishing predictability in the WTO technical assistance funding.  He
also thanked the recipient countries for the clarity of their priorities, which laid the basis for asignificantly improved 2003 TA Plan.  He invited Mr. Osakwe, Director of the Technical Cooperation
Division, to present the process for compiling the 2 003 TA Plan, the main features of the requests and
the key elements of the 2003 TA Plan.
14. Mr. Osakwe, Director, Technical Cooperation Division, began by apologising for the late
circulation of the 2003 TA Plan.  He said that wh at he would cover, would build on the over-arching
points made by the Director-General.  First, he would discuss the process of the 2003 TA Plan, the
features of Members' requests and the design of the 2003 TA Plan.  He would then go on to mention
the lessons drawn from the delivery of the 2002 TA Plan as well as the principles applied to the 2003
TA Plan which had been slightly modified from those applied in previous years.  Finally, he would
deal with the issue of internal Secr etariat co-ordination.  He said that  the Secretariat had paid attention
to process because there had been criticism that the Secretariat was insensitive, that it did not pay
enough attention to the priorities communicated by Members and that WTO technical assistance was
Secretariat supply-side driven.  To address that problem, the Secretariat had entered into formal
communication with Members over a five-month peri od to obtain prioritised requests of individual
discrete TA activities.  He recalled that the Secretariat had made the first call for inputs for the 2003
TA Plan in the CTD in April.  That initial call had been followed by several reminders through
Committee Chairpersons.  In addition, the Director-General had issued a letter on 28 June 2002 to alltrade ministers with a copy to all development ministers requesting their communication of TA
priorities.  Every request received had been acknowledged and the Secretariat had contacted all of the
118 Members and Observers that had communicated requests.  1038 requests had been received from
118 Members and Observers.  Of those requests, 613 were from 66 developing countries, 227 were
from 25 LDCs and 198 of them were from 27 acceding countries.  All the requests had been filed in adatabase which was open to verification by Members.  The greatest demand for technical assistance
related to the Singapore issues followed by capacity building issues.  The capacity building issues
encompassed one-week short trade policy courses at the national level, regional short trade policy
courses of a two week duration, internships within the WTO Secretariat and other elements.  Other
areas in which TA was highly demanded included services, rules and agriculture.
15. He went on to say that the 2003 TA Plan focused on three objectives.  One was that the
Secretariat sought to deliver technical assistance to build capacity for effective participation in
negotiations.  That was an area in which the WTO Secretariat had competence and he was confident
that it could deliver that assistance.  New products had been designed and arrangements had been set
up which would be confirmed in the Director-General 's report required by paragraph 41 of the Doha
Ministerial Declaration.  The second objective was technical assistance to build capacity for
implementing WTO agreements.  It was an area where the WTO would be delivering technical
assistance in cooperation with others.  For instance, in the area of standards the WTO wouldWT/COMTD/M/42
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collaborate with international standardising bodies and in the area of customs valuation and trade
facilitation with the World Customs Organisation, UNCTAD and the International Trade Centre
(ITC).  The third objective was technical assistance for trade integration and commercial
infrastructure an area where the Secretariat felt unable to deliver technical assistance.  However, as
had been mentioned by the Director-General, the WTO would pursue co-ordination with developmentagencies, such as the UNDP, the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), UNCTAD and several other organisations.  The Secretariat would deliver
441 activities of which 251 would be national activities directly linked to 190 specialized regional
activities within the 2003 TA Plan.  Where Members had made requests but the Secretariat was
unable to organize national activities due to a variety of reasons they would be able to benefit from
regional programmes.  When considering the 2003 TA Plan he urged Members to look at the national
activities from which they would also benefit, in conjunction with the regional activities from which
they would benefit.  They were inseparable.  The second axis of the Plan was that a formal channel of
communication had been established with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the
OECD to relate to several bilateral donors who had set aside resources and made logistic
arrangements to deliver technical assistance complim entary to that of the WTO.  Many bilateral
donors were in contact with the Secretariat in order to reinforce the Secretariat's work by filling the
gaps with regard to the priorities communicated by Members.  That was integral to the 2003 TA Plan.
There was inter-agency coordination following consultations the WTO Secretariat had had with the
World Bank.  The World Bank lead the process in coherence and co-ordination with other agencies.
The WTO Secretariat had established a first understanding with regional development banks which in
many respects were twice as large as the WTO Secretariat and possessed more resources.  Theregional development banks had confirmed co-sharing arrangements by which they would be
financing and providing logistic support for a lot of the technical assistance that was to be delivered.
The WTO Secretariat was grateful to the six major regional development banks and was beginning to
benefit from its cooperation with them.  A key part which would add value to the 2003 TA Plan was
the idea of trade clinics that had been introduced by the Director-General.  The Director-General hadbeen concerned that a plan might be unable to relate and respond rapidly to Members that had
difficulties in a variety of areas, for instance in implementing their obligations within transitional time
frames, with respect to institutional capacity-building, and domestic legislation.  The trade clinics
involved specialised teams of WTO resource persons responding quickly to specific trade-related
problems of beneficiary countries.  That would help to decrease acute implementation related
problems for example.  Finally, there was the Doha Development Agenda Management Database,
which would be critical to the management of the range of demands coming from Members in relationto what the Secretariat could deliver alone and with regard to assistance that the Secretariat needed to
deliver in co-ordination and coherence with other agencies.
16. He continued by saying that the Training Institute, the Technical Cooperation Division and
the Statistics Division had developed a comprehensive tool kit for trade negotiators.  The Secretariat
hoped to present it before the end of October 2002.  The tool kit would enable Members to manipulatetariffs in the Integrated Database and the Consolidated Tariffs Schedule (CTS).  Members would also
be able to perform their own analyses of textural proposals that other Members had put forward.  That
had been achieved through funding assistance from the Department for International Development
(DFID) of the United Kingdom and in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank and
the Secretariat for Economic Integration of Centra l America (SIECA) that had done previous work in
the area.  The Secretariat had finally realised how to structure internships.  Internships were high
quality and high cost capacity building.  There were  four types of internships.  The first was the
regular internships where interns were recruited directly by Divisions.  The second was the "Dutch
internship system" where the intern was employed as WTO staff for a two-year period but was
prevented from staying on to work in the Secretariat beyond that period.  The intern had to return andsupport the administration in their country.  The third and new internship programme, which would
begin in January 2003, was the system of interns for regional co-ordinators.  The intern would be
designated by the regional group and paid by the Secretariat.  There would be seven "regional" interns
on a six-month rotating basis.  The intern would be based with their missions in Geneva and wouldWT/COMTD/M/42
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cover WTO meetings.  The final type of internship  followed the regional co-ordinators internship
model.  Several donors including Japan and the United Kingdom had offered resources to enable the
Secretariat to offer internships to about 14 Members over the following months.  They included
capacity constrained developing countries, LDCs as well as low income transition economies.  There
was a DDA global training course.  Another vital TA product for 2003, which would be subject to aseparate presentation to Members, was the regional seminars which the Secretariat would conduct
configured  around the more than 120 existing reference centers which were the most successful of the
WTO's technical assistance activities.  Those seminars would include the training of representatives
from both collaborating academic institutions, and finance and commerce ministries in order to
continue to seek the mainstreaming objective.  The programme would be circulated to Members for
comments before being implemented in March 2003.  He continued by saying that in the previous
week, the Director-General of the WTO and the President of the World Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn hadlaunched a standards trade development facility to which the World Bank had already contributed
US$300 000 out of its development grant facility, which would be increased in 2003.  The Secretariat
was proposing, in the 2003 TA Plan, that the WTO make a complimentary contribution of
CHF 100 000.  It would be a joint World Bank and WTO facility in collaboration with the three major
standardising institutions to address the signifi cant problem with regard to the export quality and
standards of products exported from developing and least-developed countries.  Mr. Wolter, Director
of the Agriculture and Commodities Division, and Mrs. Gretchen Stanton were to speak on that at a
meeting to be arranged.  That was the  sum of the new products.
17. He further spoke about a point that had been made clear in the priorities communicated by
Members, and that was the need for a higher training component in the technical assistance activities.When communicating their training priorities, many Members had pointed out that they preferred
training courses of a one to three-week duration rather than longer courses because of the limited
human resources some ministries possessed.  In order to respond to the need for institutional capacity
building with the focus on courses of short-term duration, the Secretariat had included 77 training
courses of short-term duration for 2003.  That was the largest number ever included in a technicalassistance plan.  The two 12-week regional trade policy courses in Nairobi and Casablanca were being
evaluated by the WTO TA Audit.  The Secretariat would issue a report concerning its future policy
and funding proposals in that area after the completion of the evaluation.  He concluded by
mentioning the lessons learnt when drawing up the 2003 TA Plan.  Demand was greater than supply.
The Secretariat therefore had a duty to sort and rationalise the requests.  Recipient countries were
calling for more emphasis on trade integration, referring to the type of technical assistance that had
been mentioned by the Director-General, that was TA to build infrastructure.  The Secretariat hadlearnt that all activities would come to nothing in  the recipient countries if technical assistance was
not an integral part of the overall development strategy's of the country or of its Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers (PRSP) as appropriate.  The former lesson that co-ordination challenges remained
acute had been reinforced.  The Director-General had recommitted himself to that and it would be
tackled in co-ordination with recipients and donors.  Strategic partnerships and synergies wereindispensable and the Director-General would pursue them both within the JITAP, a key area of
synergy, and the IF.  The Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Bank and the IMF, were important
and without them little would be achieved. He reiterated the point made by the Director-General that
there were principle challenges in Africa, South and Central Asia, the Caribbean, LDCs and acceding
countries.  There was a need to accelerate the implementation of the IF and Members needed to beaware that the Secretariat was dealing with the issue of ad hoc activities.  He said that Members had
asked the Secretariat to ensure that technical assistance and market access were complimentary, not
substitutes.  With respect to principles, he reconfirmed that the 2003 TA Plan had been designed on
the basis of recipient-determined priorities.  The Secretariat had sorted and rationalised the requests to
something manageable.  It had not proceeded on a strictly demand driven path, because if it had therewould be 1038 activities in the 2003 TA Plan.
18. The Chairman invited DDG Mr. Abbot to make a statement on the financial implications of
the 2003 TA Plan.WT/COMTD/M/42
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19. DDG Mr. Abbot said that he had been asked to provide an overview of the Secretariat's cost
estimates for the proposed WTO technical assistance and training activities for 2003.  He made it
clear that he was not making any judgement as to whether Members should be spending more or less
money on technical assistance.  Members had the right to accept, reject or modify the 2003 TA Plan
according to their wishes.  His mission was to tell Members what the 2003 TA Plan would cost.Adjustments to the cost estimates would have to be made if Members made changes to the 2003 TA
Plan.  In other words, he would provide information as to what a pledging conference would have to
deliver if the Secretariat was to execute the draft 2003 TA Plan.  He hoped that the figures he was
going to present to Members, taken together with th e details provided in the documents related to the
Coordinated WTO Secretariat Annual Technical Assistance Plan for 2003 (WT/COMTD/W/104,
WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1) and to the activities of the WTO Training Institute in 2003
(WT/COMTD/W/103) would provide Members with the basic information they required to preparetheir authorities' positions in advance of a pledging conference for the Doha Development Agenda
Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) that might be held later in 2002.  The problems associated with the
creation of the DDAGTF in the pr evious year were an element of the past.  The Committee on
Budget, Finance and Administration (BFA) would take  the results of the discussions in the CTD into
consideration later in the year.  Adjustments would be made to the financing, if necessary, and theCommittee on BFA would then make a recommendation to the General Council on a target amount
for the 2003 DDAGTF.
20. He further said that the cost estimates he was going to present to Members would be fully
adjusted to reflect the results of Members' discussions.  Members had received document CRP(02)/3
containing the financial implications of the 2003 TA Plan.  For costing purposes, the 441 activitiescovered by the 2003 TA Plan had been regrouped into three categories:  the Geneva-based activities,
regional activities and national activities.  Geneva-based activities were held at the WTO headquarters
and would involve either Geneva-based delegates or a mixture of Geneva-based and capital-based
officials, as well as some outside speakers. Geneva-based activities for capital-based delegates were
something the Secretariat wished to do more of, but they were costly as participants travelling costs
had to be financed.  Regional activities involved several WTO Members or observers and also
involved the financing, travelling and subsistence costs for the participants.  The national activities
took place in a given country and required the fina ncing of WTO staff members’ travel.  Globally, the
Secretariat had arrived at a figure for those 2003 activities of between CHF 30 and 31 million.  The
total comprised of three elements.  First, the total estimate for activities was CHF 35,571,750.
Second, a reduction on that expected from cost sharing arrangements with individual countries and
other organisations was expected to amount to CHF 5,073,755.  That resulted in a net total of betweenCHF 30 and 31 million.  In arriving at those figures, the Secretariat had applied standard cost
methodologies assigning different standard costs for a one day activity for one person depending upon
whether the event was classed as a national activ ity (CHF 1,850), a regional activity (CHF 1,150), or
an activity in Geneva headquarters (CHF 2,700).  Some of the figures had increased and others
decreased from the previous year, and he would explain the reasons.  Three additional elements hadbeen identified and their costs had been estimated in  order to arrive at the total cost of the package.
The first was the future activities of the WTO Traini ng Institute that were not covered by the regular
budget.  Those amounted to CHF 180,000, which was less than in 2002.  The second element was the
project posts funded through extra budgetary funds, also known as "L posts".  Those were not
financed by the Programme Support Fund.  The "L po sts" were temporary assistance posts, which did
not tend to be temporary.  Financing them am ounted to CHF 2,475,470.  The third element related to
the overheads, which was a standard way of covering administration costs and was a function of the
total.  Those overheads were 13% of all direct costs and amounted to CHF 4,309,950.  The
consolidated total was CHF 37,463,415.  However, Members were expected to contribute
CHF 36,500,00 as there were some funds left over from the previous year.
21. He continued by saying that the planned volume of technical assistance in 2003 was more or
less the same as in 2002, and the number of planned regional activities would also remain
approximately the same.  However, the cost estimates were significantly higher than the estimatedWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 9
cost of the WTO technical assistance and training activities planned for 2002.  There were several
reasons for that.  First, the 2003 TA Plan included a significant number of activities to be held at
WTO headquarters to which more capital-based officials would be invited.  In 2002, such activities
had been restricted for the most part to Geneva-based delegates.  Inviting capital-based officials had
the benefit of spreading information and enhancing capacity in the national administrations in capitalsafter the end of the activity.  Including overheads, that accounted for approximately CHF 10 million
of the increase to the cost estimates.  In 2002, it had initially been proposed that the "L posts" be
financed out of the Programme Support Fund, and some of them had been financed in that way.
However, two-thirds of them had to be financed through the Global Trust Fund.  2002 was not a full
year because the staff had to be recruited and had only taken up their posts in the second part of 2002.
Having a full year in 2003, the costs of the same posts would be larger than in 2002.  Airfares had
increased significantly in 2002 following the 11 September 2001 events while the estimates for 2002had been based on 2001 average costs before 11 September.  The Secretariat often had to organise
activities in upper-market hotels, in the absence of  decent cheaper alternatives to ensure adequate
conference facilities.  Those hotels would regularly charge more for a night than the total UN per
diem for the country hosting the activity.  As customers the WTO could not control those elements.
The anticipated average number of participants in regional activities was expected to be 20 per centhigher in 2003 compared to 2002.  While it was clear that WTO Members could not influence all
elements of the increased costs, any adjustment to the 2003 TA Plan which might result from the
discussions in the CTD would influence the cost estimates.  The cost estimates presented did not
contain any provision for the repetition of the courses held in Casablanca and Nairobi, pending the
evaluation of those first two pilot three-month trade policy courses.  If the evaluation was positive andthe courses were to be repeated, then the Secretariat would make the necessary cost estimates and
provide them as an addendum.  Those courses might then not only be repeated, but as requested by
the Director-General, they might include a greater number of participants.  Members' views with
respect to those courses were welcome.  He concluded by saying that, at the first pledging conference
held on 11 March 2002, Members had pledged CHF 5 million for 2003.  The Secretariat anticipatedthat the DDAGTF would show a positive balance at the end of the year.  The actual size of the surplus
would depend on the receipt of the remaining contributions pledged for 2002.  The Secretariat hoped
that pledges to the DDAGTF for 2003 would amount  to CHF 36.5 million, from which should be
subtracted the pledges that had been made and any balance left from 2002.  Although the figure was
high, technical assistance was crucial to the DDA and many Members attached high importance to it.
22. The representative of Kenya said that, on behalf of the African Group he was pleased to hear
that technical assistance was one of the four priority  areas that the Director-General had identified in
his administration, and that WTO comparative advantage would be applied in building the required
technical assistance.  The African group was also pleased that the Director-General would seek
increased collaboration with other inter-governmental organisations and bilateral donors.  He noted
with appreciation that there was going to be a focus on commercial infrastructure, which would
address the issue of supply-side constraints.  The African Group looked forward to studying the newproducts introduced to the 2003 TA Plan in the attempt of addressing the DDA.  He agreed that
Members needed to focus on the quality rather than the quantity of technical assistance.  That would
ensure that the Members received the right products to meet their needs.  The JITAP could be one of
the programmes that could be emulated and extended to other African countries.  His delegation
needed time to study the document in order to see how it related to the needs of African countries.However, it seemed to address some of the areas that his delegation had requested and he welcomed
the new products proposed.  He disagreed with the Secretariat with respect to the duration of courses.
Shorter courses had proved to be more expensive than the longer ones and the long courses were more
comprehensive and addressed the actual needs of the beneficiary countries.  He was pleased to hear
that the regional courses held in Nairobi and Casablanca were undergoing evaluation.  His delegationbelieved that those two courses had proved their usefulness, and many of the participants interviewed
in Nairobi had confirmed that that was the type of technical assistance that addressed their
Governments' needs.  He hoped that the Secretariat would view those courses from that angle. ThoseWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 10
courses should have been included in the list of activities for 2003 for planning purposes.  It was
easier to strike off figures than to add the same figures after the budget process was completed.
23. The representative of Lesotho said that his delegation shared the views that had been
expressed by the Director-General.  There was an urgent need for enhanced cooperation between
UNCTAD and the WTO, in implementing the mandate emanating from the Doha MinisterialConference.  When considering the concentration of requests to the WTO for technical assistance, it
appeared that there was a significant focus on the Singapore issues.  That was where his delegation
wished to see enhanced cooperatio n between the two institutions due to the unique experience that
UNCTAD possessed in that area.  He agreed with the Director-General that enhanced market access
did not necessarily lead to enhanced productive and export capacity in developing and least-developed
countries.  There was therefore a need to focus, perhaps more than in the past, on addressing
supply-side issues.  He was pleased with the Dire ctor-General's referral to the need for enhanced
participation of agencies such as UNIDO, which might have a comparative advantage in certain areas.
He encouraged such coordination to be undertaken as soon as possible as other organisations could
effectively contribute to the WTO TA programme.  He said that the issue of accession was of great
importance.  Over the past four years the issue of accession had been on the agenda of the
Sub-Committee on LDCs as well as on the agenda of the Ministerial Conferences that had been heldduring that time.  What had been lacking were concrete steps to make the TA programmes for
acceding countries effective.  His delegation hoped to see a more focused and concrete approach to
addressing the concerns of acceding countries, particularly LDCs.  His delegation was prepared to
work with the Secretariat in formulating practical ap proaches to that issue.  He concurred with the
Director-General that there was a need to improve the quality of the TA programmes undertaken bythe WTO.  Over the past four years his Government had been receiving technical assistance and
capacity building.  However, there was little differen ce in the content of the courses between then and
at present and that pointed to a need to concentrate on the quality of the courses.  The capacity in
Members and observers requesting assistance was improving and there had to be a parallel process to
enhance the quality of the assistance provided.  The WTO had to appreciate that countries had movedforward from where they were four years ago.  Rehearsing trade policy principles was not in line with
the unfolding agenda that Members were faced with in the WTO.  There had to be a process of
continuously upgrading the content of the courses.  He agreed with the Director-General that strategic
partnerships were critical, and his delegation encouraged the Secretariat to work towards establishing
more strategic partnerships with regional institutions and other multilateral agencies as a way of
ensuring that Members programmes were fully supported and in line with processes in other
institutions.  He concluded by saying that his delegation was of the view that the 2003 TA Plan shouldnot be directed towards the Cancun Ministerial Conference but should be a long-term plan that was
sustainable and that delivered long lasting results.  The 2003 TA Plan needed to take into account and
support other dynamics that were taking place at the national and regional levels in order to be
effective.  His delegation needed more time to consider the 2003 TA Plan as well as the figures that
had been presented by DDG Abbot to see whether those figures would be supportive of what hisdelegation felt was a priority in the 2003 TA Plan.
24. The representative of Mauritius said that his delegation supported the statement made by the
representative of Kenya on behalf of the African Group.  He was pleased, as coordinator of the small
and vulnerable economies Group in Geneva, to hear the comments that the Director-General had
made with respect to small economies.  The Director -General had said that, "we need to be aware that
there are several regional challenges to which we need to respond.  Countries in these regions have
needs as critical as those of the LDCs.  These include countries in Africa, South and Central Asia, the
Caribbean, and others."  He thanked the Director-General for recognising that the small and
vulnerable economies had problems.  He was pleased that the three requests that his Government had
made on customs valuation, services and the Singapore issues had been included.  His delegationwould need more time to consider the 2003 TA Plan before commenting in detail on it.  He
highlighted that no mention had been made of small and vulnerable economies in the Secretariat's
presentation of the "lessons from 2002 implementation", and he hoped that that would be considered.WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 11
25. The representative of Haiti said that he agreed with the Director-General that technical
assistance and integration into the multilateral trading system was of great importance.  The 2003 TA
Plan presented a list of activities to assist developing and least-developed countries to integrate further
into the multilateral trading system.  The Director -General had referred to issues of particular
importance to his delegation, for instance quality over quantity in technical assistance delivery and theimportance to be accorded to acceding countries.  Haiti had been a Member of the WTO since the
GATT but the Committee on Trade and Development had to attach importance to the countries in
accession.  It was important for the credibility of the WTO to enable the accession of LDCs.
Coherence with other institutions was also important.  The WTO could offer technical assistance in
the form of internships, institutional capacity building, and reference centers.  However, such
assistance was by itself not sufficient.  Supply capacities needed to be strengthened and new
infrastructures were required.  The WTO could not offer that service which was why coordinationwith other organisations such as the World Bank, IMF and regional banks was essential.  He agreed
with the representative of Lesotho that Members n eeded to do their utmost for UNIDO to participate
in the discussions.  He was aware that a memorandum of understanding was being elaborated between
the WTO and UNIDO and he hoped that that cooperation would soon be established.  The non-
exhaustive list of agencies to cooperate with the WTO had to include the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU).  Telecommuni cation was important, and the ITU, which was
preparing its World Summit on the Information Society,  had to work hand in hand with the WTO to
offer developing countries the possibility to derive benefits from the technology that was proliferating
throughout the world.  His delegation also wished to see the WTO establish links with the
International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) as it could assist in strengthening developing and
least-developed country infrastructure.  It could assist in strengthening those countries' capacities to
use energy resources, for instance water, solar, nuclear and wind energy which were needed for those
countries to develop.  The Common Fund for Commodities, which had requested observer status in
the CTD was another organisation of importance to Members.  Members' capacities required to be
strengthened to become self-sufficient in f ood.  The Common Fund for Commodities could strengthen
the WTO's position in agriculture.  He said that the discussion on internships was still open and
Members would see how they could use technical assistance to make progress.  He was certain that
many members would make contributions at the pledging conference and he thanked those members
who had contributed more than expected.
26. The representative of Venezuela said that WTO's work was high priority for her Government.
The presence of the Director-General at the meeting was a sign of WTO's intention to give priority to
its technical assistance and training activities.  Her delegation had followed the development oftechnical cooperation and training programmes conducted by the WTO and it had made suggestions
with a view to improving those programmes and ach ieving efficiency.  She said that her delegation
was pleased that a new impulse had been given to those programmes.  She commended the Secretariat
for its efforts in drawing up the 2003 TA Plan.  She said that the Secretariat had contacted her
delegation in order to establish priorities for technical assistance and had taken on board herdelegations suggestions.  She noted that progress had been made with respect to collaboration with
other Geneva-based organisations and hoped that it would continue.  Despite those efforts there were
still weaknesses in terms of implementation and efficiency in enforcing the provisions of WTO's TA
programme.  There was a lack of the necessary human resources as well as the fact that the Technical
Cooperation Division had other internal priorities.  Delegations had made efforts of communicatingtheir priorities to the Secretariat as well as consulting with their capitals and the Technical
Cooperation Division.  The divisions in charge had continued to inform Members that it took long to
prepare documents and that they were not in a position to carry out the activities requested by
Members.  That had been a bitter experience for her delegation.  Her Government had spared no effort
in communicating its requests.  However, it had so far not received any response.  Any response thatwould be made was bound to be negative.  Efforts made towards improving the TA programme had to
go hand in hand with a greater awareness in the technical divisions.  The better people in her country
were trained the better they would cooperate with the WTO and comply with their duties as instructed
by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference.  The quality of TA programmes was improving.WT/COMTD/M/42
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However, her delegation was concerned with the fact that approximately 30 activities in
Latin America and the Caribbean had been forfeited.  On the other had, she was pleased to note that
the activities conducted and planned for 2003 by the Training Institute emphasized the training of
trainers programmes.  She hoped that it would be possible to connect that programme with university
networks.  She encouraged the Secretariat to continue efforts in that direction and to improvecoordination with academic institutions.  Her delegation hoped that sufficient means would be given
to the Training Institute in order to coordinate with other institutions as part of a high level academic
network.  The new programme implied new challenges and her Government had applied for
18 activities.  Her delegation felt that the number of participants in each course should be increased
and that pilot courses be conducted in the Latin American region.  She echoed the point made by the
Director-General at the High Level Segment of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board
Meeting, that technical assistance was key to improve the understanding of processes, in particular tothe understanding of the consequences of negotiations for developing country Members.
27. The representative of South Africa said that the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan showed that
WTO TA was moving in the right direction.  He expressed his appreciation for the Director-General's
interest in the issue of technical assistance because it was one of the pillars of the current negotiations.
He said that he would begin by making some broad contextual points before commenting in detail onthe 2003 TA Plan and on some of the remarks that the Director-General had made.  With respect to
the broader context, he said that it was important for Members to recognise that both market access
and TRTA and capacity building were among the key issues that Ministers had put on the agenda of
many global conferences and committed themselves to supporting as they were critical to the
development process.  Those conferences included the International Conference on Financing forDevelopment, the World Food Summit and the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The WSSD had reaffirmed the commitment of all the leaders who were present, to the DDA with the
emphasis on development.  The leaders had also committed themselves to increased technical
assistance and capacity building, particularly during the negotiations.  While discussing the issue of
capacity building, Members needed to be aware that genuine, meaningful and substantial technicalassistance and capacity building was most effectively provided by genuine market access for
developing countries. Genuine market access required significant and substantive changes in the trade
policies of developed countries.  Although those issues were being discussed in other fora of the
WTO, he reminded delegations that the key issues involved were domestic support and export
subsidies, some of the rules that increase protection such as trade remedies, and a number of the
regulatory issues including Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to
Trade (TBTs) which could have and had had the effect of increasing protection and increasing thebarriers to developed country markets.  Recent studies had highlighted the fact that those policies of
developed countries had had and continued to have a negative developmental effect on developing
countries and estimates of losses ranged anywhere between US$50 billion to US$100 billion per
annum.  That had to be kept in mind when the 2003 TA Plan was discussed.
28. He continued by saying that the DDA contained a commitment to include technical assistance
and capacity building as a term of the agreement to launch the new round of negotiations.  Therefore,
it was a significant negotiating issue that Ministers would pay a lot of attention to at the next
Ministerial Conference.  He said that special and differential treatment (S&D) was a key issue as
developing countries had not benefited as much as they should have from the processes of
globalization and because the benefits had accrued mainly to developed countries.  The need foradjustment by developing countries as they continued with the process of integration was something
that would cause increased burdens on already marg inalized and vulnerable economies.  The process
by which those economies liberalised and integrated into the world economy had to be managed
cautiously.  It had to be carried out in a customized and properly sequenced manner.  S&D was
therefore important, and the way in which capacity building was managed for beneficiaries of S&Drequired careful discussion.  He agreed with the Director-General's broad categorisation of technical
assistance and capacity building.  The three categories that the Director-General had suggested that
Members focus on were the need to assist countries to negotiate effectively, the need to build capacityWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 13
for countries to implement rules,  and the need to build commercial infrastructure including supply-
side support.  With respect to the need to  negotiate effectively , he said that while the WTO had an
important role to play, it was not competent to provide the support that developing countries required.
Members required assistance in three broad areas in order to negotiate effectively.  First, developing
countries needed to develop appropriate trade policies and strategies so that their negotiating strategywas part of a broader set of development and economic policies.  Second, Members needed to develop
appropriate trade and market access strategies and think about how their bilateral and regional
strategies were synchronized with their multilateral strategies.  He did not think that the WTO could
provide the necessary assistance in that particular area.  Third, a more sustainable way of developing
the capacity of Members to negotiate was to build appropriate institutions to develop
intra-Government cohesion and for consultations and consensus building with other stakeholders -
including the private sector and NGOs.  That area required more attention and competence than wasavailable within the current mandate and portfolio of resources in the WTO.  He would make some
proposals regarding how to deal with those issues.  He went on to say that there was a need for the
WTO to take into account the need to work with other institutions on negotiating skills, on issues
relating to implementation and compliance, and to commercial infrastructure and supply-side support.
There had to be coherence with other multilateral institutions such as UNCTAD, ITC, and the World
Bank, not only in the form of general coordination but also in terms of policy content and substance.
One of the questions raised in discussions duri ng the previous months was how Members without
capacity would identify their own interests and make demands on the Secretariat.  What was required
was needs assessments.  A deeper process was required in order to establish what developing
countries needs were.  He said that while the WTO Secretariat was doing a good job with its limitedresources, it needed to draw on experiences ga ined over the years in capacity building, trade
negotiations and trade policy development.  He referred to the experiences of the more developed
developing countries, which were not utilised in the development and implementation of WTO
technical assistance programmes.  He said that there was a need for some kind of advisory structure to
the current WTO Secretariat on technical assistance and capacity building.  Another question hewished to raise was how the WTO meaningfully could contribute to the process of implementation of
WTO agreements in developing countries, particularly in those that required S&D.  He asked how it
could be ensured that the development objectives and strategies of those countries were in alignment
with the implementation requirements of the WTO agreements and with the implementation
difficulties that those countries faced.  Proposals to create a monitoring mechanism had been made in
that regard.  A monitoring mechanism would develop appropriate capacity building programmes
which would be in alignment with the implementation problems and development strategies ofdeveloping countries.
29. He further said that he had made those points because he had been asked to chair an informal
group of Members which had met over the past few months and were concerned about those issues.
He had chaired three out of four meetings held.  The origins of that informal group went back to the
discussion that had taken place with the Canadian delegation.  The group consisted of all the majordeveloped country donors and a number of beneficiary developing countries.  The WTO Secretariat
had participated in a number of the discussions.  The group had been seized with the need to improve
the efficiency and quality of the technical assistance and capacity building programmes that had been
implemented and were being implemented.  The group had been concerned with the need to ensure
that the 2003 TA Plan took into account the lessons and experiences of the previous years.  The grouphad identified four issues for further discussion and with regard to which it hoped to make
contributions.  The first issue was how the quality of the current technical assistance programmes
could be improved and how it could be ensured that the 2003 TA Plan did not suffer from the same
difficulties and criticisms that the 2002 TA Plan had.  The second issue was how to ensure that a
simple and quick needs analysis was carried out.  It did not have to be as complex as the IF diagnosticanalysis but would still establish which were the needs at the country level.  The third issue was how
to ensure that there was real coherence notably between the multilateral agencies but also between the
bilateral donors and the multilateral institutions.  There had been a number of difficulties in the field
where bilateral donors had tended to influence the programmes in the direction of their own policesWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 14
and strategies.  That was a common concern and there was a desire to reduce that tendency and to
make the WTO programme a true multilateral one, but one that still included the contribution of
multilateral agencies.  The fourth issue related to the need for overall guidance for the WTO TA.  He
said that the group was keen to discuss with the Director-General how to go forward on that issue.  He
concluded by saying that the next meeting of developing countries participating in the informal groupwas going to be coordinated by the delegation of Colombia.  Both the delegations of South Africa and
Canada were available to discuss any of the issues in more details with any other delegations who
were interested in participating in the group.
30. The representative of Zambia said that he would not make any substantive comments on
the 2003 TA Plan.  He would also defer any detailed comments in his capacity as coordinator of the
LDC Group for a later date.  He thanked the Director-General for his policy statement which had
given Members the feeling that Members and the Secretariat were moving toward some sort of policyconvergence in the area of technical assistance and capacity building.  He believed that stating policy
objectives in advance of doing something always clarified matters.  His delegation had always stated
that there were parts of TRTA and capacity build ing that the WTO Secretariat was most suited to
deliver and other parts that it was not.  It was good that that had been reflected in the documents.
Most of the LDCs preferred a certain type of technical assistance.  That was the long-term technicalassistance and capacity building such as supply-s ide assistance, trade infrastructure creation and
institution building.  He recalled that there had been demand for increased cooperation between the
WTO and institutions such as UNCTAD.  There had also been a request for UNCTAD to be included
in the sharing of resources so that it could deliver the assistance that developing countries needed and
that the WTO could not supply.  He sought clarification with respect to the statement in bullet point 6on page 5, in document WT/COMTD/W/104 which read "sixth, recipient countries have shifted
priorities in their TA/CB requests ".  He said that that was inaccurate as Members priorities had
remained consistent.  What Members had done was to reclarify their priorities with the realisation of
what the WTO could offer.  Another statement in bullet point 6 on page 5, read "As an agency, the
WTO cannot deliver, in this regard, except throug h co-ordinated arrangements with development
agencies and bilateral donors, and the recipient countries themselves".  He compared that with the
statement in paragraph 6 on page 6, of WT/COMTD/W/104, that read "The challenge of the 2003
WTO Annual Plan for TA/CB is to build capacity in the beneficiary countries for effective
negotiations, legal implementation of WTO Agreements, and trade integration."  He said that the first
mentioned quotation stated that the WTO could not deliver "trade integration" and yet it was included
in paragraph 6.  He therefore sought clarification with respect to how the WTO Secretariat would deal
with trade integration.
31. The representative of Bangladesh said that the 2003 TA Plan mainly focused on seminars and
workshops.  His delegation had repeatedly mentioned that those types of activities were neither
helpful to his Government, nor LDCs in general.  Only Members with expertise in WTO agreements
could benefit from seminars and workshops by developing their expertise and updating their
knowledge.  His Government had identified its capacity building needs and realised that there was aneed to develop institutional capacity.  His Government could not participate effectively in WTO
negotiations unless it could develop domestic institutions.  It had therefore submitted technical
assistance requests to the WTO with the objective of developing endogenous capacity to analyse
WTO related issues.  With that in mind his Government had proposed the selection of one private
university and one government-owned training institute to develop capacity to run trainingprogrammes on WTO trade-related issues of interest to his Government.  Those training programmes
would be directed to government officials, private sector and civil society representatives.  They
would include the findings of recent research and analysis of WTO-related issues, particularly in areas
with a bearing on ongoing negotiations and where negotiations might be required.  When requested by
either the government or the private sector the institutions would provide policy advice onWTO-related matters to assist the Government and th e private sector representatives to implement the
WTO agreements.  Such assistance would include advice in the submission of periodic notifications
and reports and in observing standards.  As part of the 2003 TA programme, his delegation hadWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 15
requested assistance from the WTO to build capacity of such institutions.  That included the provision
of facilities such as library and a database on WTO related material, the equipment required for
teaching and running courses, teaching aids and training modules on subjects of specific interests to
LDCs, training of faculty and other resource personnel to fulfil the objective mentioned in
paragraph 34 a-d in document WT/COMTD/W/104, i.e. training of trainers and to associate theinstitutions with seminars and workshops run by th e WTO in Geneva, Bangladesh or its region.  His
delegation had requested the increased participation of candidates from Bangladesh in the
Geneva-based training programmes as well as the organisation of regional seminars and workshops in
Bangladesh with the participation of LDCs, in the areas of market access for agricultural and non
agricultural products, services negotiations and in the area of trade and environment.  His delegation
had also requested the organisation of national workshops on TRIPS, WTO rules, and agriculture in
association with his Government.  He said that most of the needs expressed by his Government hadunfortunately not been taken into account in the 2003 TA Plan.  Although in the 2003 TA Plan there
were three national courses for Bangladesh, as fo r the other LDCs, the key need of institutional
building had not been included in the 2003 TA Plan.  He hoped that due consideration would be given
to the capacity building needs of his Government in the revised 2003 TA Plan.
32. The representative of Jamaica said that his delegation welcomed the 2003 TA Plan which
listed the range of activities to be conducted at the national and regional levels.  The 2003 TA Plan
was presented in two separate documents.  Docu ment WT/COMTD/W/104 gave an overview of the
challenges faced and the Secretariat's thinking in developing the 2003 TA Plan, and
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1 contained the activities to be implemented.  He noted from
section 5 of WT/COMTD/W/104 that 118 countries had submitted a total of 1038 requests with theSingapore issues, capacity building and services being the top three priority areas.  The document also
stated that there had been a shift in Members' technical assistance requests to greater emphasis being
placed on capacity building for trade integration and the need to address supply-side constraints.
However, the focus remained on capacity buildin g in the area of the WTO negotiations and
understanding and implementing the WTO agreements.  His delegation supported the increasedemphasis on building what had been described as commercial infrastructure.  He noted from
document WT/COMTD/W/104 that while the Secretariat acknowledged that that was outside the
ambit of the WTO, it would be making greater efforts to enhance coordination between the WTO and
other international organisations such as the World Bank, UNIDO and UNDP with a view to meeting
Members requirements in that area.  His delegation had always held the view that technical assistance
should not only be restricted to increase Members' awareness about the rules, but should also consider
supply-side constraints which hindered production and Members' ability to compete in the globalmarket-place.  While it was obvious that the WTO would increase its efforts in that regard, it was still
not clear how, operationally, the greater inter-agency co-ordination and implementation envisaged in
the 2003 TA Plan would be achieved.  In that context, his delegation hoped that the scope of the
standards trade development facility, which Members had been informed about, would be broad
enough to encompass not only the traditional technical assistance relating to the WTO agreements butto go beyond that.
33. On the issue of the nature of the requests submitted by Members he went on to say that it was
not surprising to note that, in addition to the requests for the more conventional modes of technical
assistance, there was at present a shift towards more resource intensive activities such as internships
and national short trade policy courses in an effort to build capacity.  As the work programme and thenegotiations launched at the Doha Ministerial Conference intensified, Members requests for technical
assistance in newer areas would increase as there was greater value added to be gained from such
programmes.  His delegation was able to speak of the benefits of such programmes as it had been a
beneficiary of the WTO mission internship programme which had been introduced on a pilot basis by
the WTO in 2001.  He noted that in response, the Secretariat had undertaken to develop variousmodes of technical assistance such as seminars, workshops, training activities, training of trainers, and
distance learning programmes.  He also noted the development of the two new modes of technical
assistance, namely the trade clinics and the use of the WTO references centres as a point forWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 16
establishing training of trainer programmes.  Those new modes were interesting and his delegation
wished to receive further information on them.  He said that section IX of
document WT/COMTD/W/104 acknowledged that there were certain regions, including the
Caribbean, that were in urgent need of enhanced technical assistance and capacity building to adjust
to a more open trading environment and to co mpete and participate more effectively in the
multilateral trading system.  His delegation appreciated that the Caribbean region had been accorded
priority by the WTO and that it would obtain greater levels of assistance from the WTO in
cooperation with other regional and international organisations.  He hoped that funding for the
regional three month trade policy courses would be forthcoming and sustained so that that particular
programme could continue and be extended to other regions.  He admitted that it was difficult to
narrow his Government's requests for technical assistance in 2003 to the required limit, given his
country's numerous technical assistance requirements.  However, his delegation looked forward toworking with the WTO and the relevant regional bodies in staging the activities that had been
approved.
34. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation was pleased to
receive the 2003 TA Plan three months before the end of the year.  That gave Members time to
consider and comment on it.  His delegation would discuss it with all member states of the EuropeanCommunities.  They were the major donors of the Trust Fund.  Technical assistance was a crucial part
of the DDA and it was encouraging that developing country Members had identified needs related to
the negotiating agenda, including the Singapore issues, trade policy development, trade and services,
rules, agriculture, market access and TRIPS implementation as a matter of priority.  His delegation
agreed with the three stage approach presented by the Director-General.  Those three stages includedtechnical assistance for negotiations, technical assistance for institutional capacity building and
implementation, and technical assistance for trade integration and commercial infrastructure.  That
approach related closely to the European Commissions' objective identified in its recent
communication to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.  The European Commission
had, in that communication spelt out how it intended to go about following up on the DDA, theMonterrey Conference on Financing for Development and the WSSD in Johannesburg.  It laid down a
doctrine for trade and development for the next five years which coincided with the three stage
approach.  It was important to acknowledge that the WTO could not do everything on its own as it
was neither a full time training institute nor a development agency.  The work on technical assistance
and capacity building was important and related to the DDA but should not be to the detriment of the
core work, which was negotiating new rules within a short time period.  His delegation felt that some
improvements could be made with respect to the implementation of the 2003 TA Plan.  He wouldprovide some observations and would further liase with the Secretariat.  His delegation welcomed the
needs based approach on which the 2003 TA Plan was based.  However, he asked for more detailed
information regarding the identification of those needs by developing countries and by the Secretariat.
His delegation had the impression that the theoretical basis for imbedding technical assistance in the
national development policies and in the PRSPs was not necessarily backed by reality and hisdelegation wished to hear more about the practical implementation of the process.  His delegation
welcomed the cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions and the regional development banks
and he asked for a detailed explanation as to what the practical arrangements for that cooperation
were.  He knew that the Director-General was keen to have close cooperation with other agencies.  He
requested that the Secretariat indicate how far it was responding to the technical assistance needsidentified in the diagnostic trade integration studies undertaken by the IF.  With respect to regional
coverage, he stressed the importance of focusing on LDCs and low-income countries.  He said that an
issue that needed to be discussed in more detail was the evaluation of the implementation of the 2002
TA Plan.  He understood that implementation was behind schedule and that by the end of 2002, a
good part of the 2002 TA Plan would not have been implemented.  He asked whether the non-implemented activities would be taken up in the following year in parallel with the 2003 TA Plan or
whether they would be dropped.  It was important to analyse in depth the financial side of the
implementation of the 2002 TA Plan, for instance in terms of what had been spent, how procurement
had been done and how much was left.  That was crucial information to both the Members and theWT/COMTD/M/42
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donors.  It was important for donors to be able to make an assessment of the financial implications of
the 2002 TA Plan before committing themselves to new pledges.  It was a question of accountability
towards their constituencies and taxpayers.
35. He went on to say that he had been surprised by the costing of the 2003 TA Plan.  The figures
were three times higher than those for the 2002 TA Plan and a lot of the 2002 activities had not yetbeen implemented.  He said that it was ambitious to triple the total amount without having been able
to implement the planned activities for 2002.  Members would have to consider both the financial side
of the implementation of the 2002 activities and the implications of the estimated costs for 2003.
When pledging for the 2003 TA Plan Members needed to be certain that the capacity was available to
implement a meaningful and operational plan, wh ich would help Members in their endeavours to
achieve the objectives of the DDA.  Until that was clear a pledging exercise would be difficult and
donor fatigue could be expected.  He concluded by raising the issue of the Secretariat's capacity todeliver 450 individual activities.  When considering the three stage approach presented by the
Director-General  he acknowledged that the Secretariat had said that the third stage was not core WTO
business.  The development of infrastructure was more a question for other development cooperation
partners.  He also acknowledged that in the second stage there would be an attempt to outsource a lot
of the activities to specialised development agencies.  He said that he was still concerned that theWTO Secretariat alone would deliver the first stage.  If it had to deliver 450 activities it was likely
that Secretariat staff would spend more time flying around the globe than assisting the negotiating
groups with the priority work before the Cancun Ministerial Conference and between the Cancun
Ministerial Conference and the end of the negotiating round.  He therefore urged the Secretariat to
consider whether it would be possible to outsource some of those activities, either to regional publicmanagement institutions, university institutes or co nsultants, or by the way of tendering which would
ensure the best value for money.  Attempting to  do everything on its own would over-stretch the
limited human resources that the Secretariat possessed.  Carrying out regional activities was also
better as it was closer to the source where the capacity should be increased.  It should therefore be
done by local public or private organisations as far as possible.  He said that the European Union hadhad a good experience in outsourcing those kinds of activities.  His delegation looked forward to an
in-depth discussion which should result in an effective 2003 TA Plan:  a 2003 TA Plan which could
be served by the limited resources, which was well-founded, which could be implemented
during 2003, which was well linked to the priorities of the DDA and which remained within the
reasonable limits of what could be pledged by the donor community in the WTO.
36. The representative of Thailand said that her delegation was pleased that the Director-General
had identified TA as one of his four priority areas.  She also supported the focus on the quality of
technical assistance.  Importance therefore had to be attached to the evaluation system.  She agreed
with the Director-General that technical assistan ce should not only focus on the Fifth Ministerial
Conference to be held in Cancun but that it should go beyond the Doha Ministerial Conference
negotiations.  In that regard she echoed the statement made by the representative of South Africa
regarding the problems faced by developing countries with respect to non-tariff measures.  Herdelegation felt that that was a priority issue and it was Members' task to streamline that issue in their
technical assistance and capacity building requests so that benefits could accrue to them through the
technical assistance programmes.  She thanked the Secretariat for the two national seminars on
regional trade agreements and on investment granted to her country in 2002.  Her delegation did not
only attach importance to those negotiation issues but also to human resource development.  She saidthat her delegation found the regional trade policy courses in Nairobi and Casablanca interesting.  It
would be useful to expand that kind of activity to other regions by making use of the existing facilities
in each region.  She gave the example of the ESCAP facility and the UNCTAD Trade Related
Training Institute.  Her delegation looked forward to working closely with the Secretariat on that
issue.
37. The representative of Uruguay said that her delegation acknowledged the Secretariat's effort
and attention paid to the priorities suggested by Member delegations.  Her Government had requestedWT/COMTD/M/42
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three national activities to be conducted in the areas of trade and the environment, dispute settlement
and trade and investment.  She noted that only one of those requests, that on trade and environment,
had been included in the 2003 TA Plan.  The requests her Government had made were of high priority
as they were important components of the technical assistance that her country required.  She hoped
that due attention would be paid to those requests.
38. The representative of Canada said that her delegation realised that when preparing the
2003 TA Plan it was difficult to accommodate the unlimited demands with the constrained ability to
deliver.  Her delegation appreciated that the 2003 TA Plan was available three months before the end
of the year as that enabled delegations to work collectively, comment and have it approved, costed
and funded for delivery in January 2003.  She cited the informal network chaired by the delegation of
South Africa, that had been created to discuss TA and said that it was open to all delegations that
wished to participate in it.  With respect to the 2003 TA Plan, she said that the Secretariat was
attempting to do too much itself.  More effort needed  to be made to collaborate with bilateral donors,
multilateral agencies and the larger developing countries that had indicated their willingness and
ability to mentor.  Her delegation wished to see a detailed, costed report of what had been
accomplished during 2002 with the funds provided for the 2002 TA Plan.  That report should also
contain information regarding what had not been done due to the ad hoc activities undertaken.  Thatwould enable Members to consider what could be delivered in 2003.  The 2003 TA Plan was an
ambitious plan and considering what had been delivered of the 2002 TA Plan it seemed impossible
that all of the activities in the 2003 TA Plan would be delivered.  She said that her delegation was
surprised by the costing because figures that had been presented at the Committee on BFA meeting
were different.  Her delegation had concluded from those figures that it would be difficult to spendCHF 25 million during the remainder of the year if only 11 million had been spent in the first nine
months of 2002 on the 2002 TA Plan.  CHF 5 million had already been committed for the 2003 TA
Plan.  Her delegation looked forward to the joint discussions of the Committee on BFA and the CTD
on the costing of the 2003 TA Plan.  Her delegation wished to see a closer relationship between the
categories used in the 2003 TA Plan and the database that was being created for tracking all TRTA.That would enable Members to better analyse their collective progress as well as the progress of the
WTO TA delivery.
39. The representative of Mexico said that technical assistance was a fundamental element to
promote the development of developing countries and help them integrate into the multilateral trading
system.  He said that technical assistance should be directed towards assisting Members to utilise the
rights conferred upon them in the multilateral agreem ents and in that respect assist them to comply
with their obligations.  A few Members like his own were both donors and recipients of technicalassistance and had been able to gain experience on the effects of technical assistance.  He said that the
Director-General's fourth and fifth point in his introductory comments were fundamental.  It was
important to build technical capacity in Members.  The quality of the various technical assistance
programmes was also important. He agreed that quality should be given priority over quantity.  A
point that had been recently raised was the need to analyse the durability of the effects of technicalassistance.  What often occurred was that technical assistance to strengthening human capacities had
diminishing returns with time.  When human resour ces received training from various organisations,
their knowledge became attractive for the private se ctor and in many instances the Government could
not compete with salaries from the private sector.  All the technical assistance granted towards human
resources and human capacity building did not remain in the institutions.  Members needed to focuson that if they wished to avail themselves of the various rights in the agreements.  His delegation
would be presenting a proposal on technical assistance with respect to TBT.  That was an example of
how Members could focus more on assistance to institutions rather than assistance to individuals.  It
was not that human capacity was not important, but institutions represented an essential element for
the implementation of WTO agreements.  His Govern ment's TBT proposal would seek to ensure that
technical assistance was directed to offices on rules, providing documentation and offering quality
management services.  Regardless of the operations involved, there would be a guide indicating the
rights and obligations that existed in the framewor k of the TBT Agreement.  By that example, hisWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 19
delegation felt that it was providing something that could be useful in other fora because institutions
would be strengthened more than human capacities.
40. He continued by saying that the representative of Bangladesh had mentioned that many
Members focused on holding seminars and workshops without having the capacity to implement
provisions.  It would be an advantage to optimise technical assistance resources by having a commonobjective and not delivering 50 courses on the same subject.  He said that resources should be geared
towards a concrete objective.  His delegation's proposal could facilitate for Members to benefit from
each other's experiences and optimise resources in Members which might not have the same level of
experience in that area.  He said that his delegation would soon present that document to the
Secretariat.  Strengthening the capacities of institu tions rather than humans was something that should
be taken into account.  That would make the allocation of technical assistance resources more
effective.
41. The representative of Morocco said that his delegation supported the statement made by the
representative of Kenya on behalf of the African Group.  The 2003 TA Plan would be of crucial
importance for developing and least-developed countries in the present negotiating context of the
WTO.  The creation of a real development round as decided at the Doha Ministerial Conference
would depend on the technical assistance and capac ity building provided in the period before the
Cancun Ministerial Conference keeping in mind that important decisions would have to be taken, for
example with respect to the Singapore issues.  The issue remained complex for developing countries.
Only a real strengthening of negotiating techniques would assist developing and least-developed
countries to fully integrate into the multilateral tr ading system.  His delegation endorsed the approach
presented by the Director-General making negotiating techniques and capacity building a priority.  Herecalled his delegation's thoughts presented at the high level meeting on technical assistance held in
July 2002.  The first related to specialisation.  In a negotiating context, such as that post-Doha, it was
indispensable to focus on the deepening of the WTO agreements rather than for Members to restrict
themselves to consider the articles at face value .  Such an approach required the identification of
well-targeted themes for a specialized audience.  Second, such activities should be included in a
regional context.  That would respond to the dual objective of rationalizing the cost of the training by
including more participants and permitting greater interaction between participants with different
backgrounds.  Third, he agreed with the representative of Kenya that the technical assistance activities
should be held over longer periods.  Experience had shown that beneficiaries initially required more
time to understand certain complex issues.  Fourth, the theoretical courses should be complemented
by practical experience.  Training could be given in the form of internships in the administrations of
Members with more developed structures for dealing with WTO issues.  That kind of partnershipbetween administrations should enable the recipients  to deepen their practical knowledge by working
with concrete cases experienced by the host administration.  With respect to the 2003 TA Plan, he
noted with satisfaction that three activities were foreseen for Morocco relating to investment, SPS and
a technical mission to assist in the preparations for the trade policy review for Morocco scheduled for
June 2003 .   His Government had indicated other priority areas such as transparency in government
procurement and the upholding of other commercial matters.  He said his delegation would revert to
the trade policy course held in Casablanca at a later stage.  A national evaluation of that course was
being undertaken, keeping in mind that it was a pilot project.
42. The representative of Cuba said that her delegation would study the documents in order to
comment on the substance at the following meeting.  She said that technical assistance provided by
the WTO had to have two fundamental objectives to become an effective tool for the integration of
developing countries into the multilateral trading system.  Those were facilitating the effective
participation of developing countries in negotiations and helping to facilitate increased market access.
With respect to the participation of developing countries in negotiations, important contributions were
made by the seminars, workshops and various courses included in the 2003 TA Plan.  However,human infrastructure was not sufficient for the exporters of developing and least-developed countries
to become competitive in the international market and have access to their principle market.  MaterialWT/COMTD/M/42
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infrastructure was necessary to support national efforts to implement the rules conditioning the
packaging, labeling and other technical regulations required by industrialized countries or to comply
with SPS and environmental measures governing imports in the main markets and to get access to
new technological developments that were already part of the new conditions in international trade.
Document WT/COMTD/W/100 contained an interesting characteristic of the growth of world exports,namely its correlation with the level of technology.  That was missing from the 2003 TA Plan.  If
Members did not wish developing countries to be condemned to be exporters of commodities whose
prices declined by the day it was necessary for WTO's technical assistance to be closely coordinated
with that of other institutions.  She agreed with the representative of the European Commission that
the WTO could not do everything alone.  There were other international organisations which had
comparative advantages in that respect, for instance the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC),
the United Nations Conference of Trade and De velopment (UNCTAD), the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO), the International Telecommuni cations Union (ITU), and the Common Fund for
Commodities.  In that connection she drew Members' attention to an ICC project connected to poverty
alleviation through exports.   That was an example of what other institutions were doing and what
could be achieved by working in a coordinated fashion.  The technical assistance that her Government
country had received from the WTO had contributed to improving the awareness of the public andprivate sectors in her country but it was not sufficient .  It was for that reason that her Government had
presented its priorities for 2003.  Taking into account that the document on the 2003 TA Plan had
been recently distributed, she suggested that the ite m be kept on the agenda for the following meeting
of the Committee so that delegations could analyse priorities bilaterally with the Secretariat.
Technical assistance and capacity building was a matter that had been given priority by Ministers atthe Doha Ministerial Conference and by the Director-General in his statements.  Technical assistance
together with market access were necessary for Members like Cuba that had an open economy with
high export dependency.
43. The representative of Sri Lanka said that her delegation was pleased to note that the
Director-General had identified technical assistance and capacity building as one of the four pillars
that he intended to pursue during his term at the WTO.  He had provided a broader definition of
technical assistance by including programmes pertaining to building trade integration and commercial
infrastructure in developing countries.  Her delegation shared the comments made by most
delegations, particularly those made by the representatives of Kenya and Mauritius on the proposed
2003 TA Plan.  She welcomed the Director-General's new initiative that the WTO Secretariat through
its 2003 TA Plan intended to respond to the needs of regions such as Africa, South and Central Asia
and the Caribbean.  Her delegation was pleased to note that priority would also be given to countriesin the South Asian Association of Regional Co operation (SAARC) region.  The region consisted of
three developing countries and four LDCs, two of which had not yet acceded to the WTO.  It was
therefore a region with special challenges that required enhanced technical assistance.  She said that
her delegation was sympathetic towards the Secretariat's situation with respect to delivering the
technical assistance and capacity building programmes.  As had been stated, the 2003 TA Plan hadbeen designed on the basis of refined requests received from developing countries.  The requests
varied because of the different levels of development among requesting Members.  In that sense, a
programme identified by one member might be inade quate from another Member's point of view.  She
said that her delegation did not agree with what had been said by the representative of Mexico as
some developing countries needed human resource development just as much as institutional building.It was not possible for one single programme to suit every developing country.  In that regard, her
delegation was grateful that the document containing the 2003 TA Plan captured the varying degrees
of technical assistance and capacity building needs of developing countries.  She believed that
Members would be able to approve the proposed 2003 TA Plan which represented the minimal list of
technical assistance requirements of developing countries.  She had heard other delegations' concernswith respect to having to prioritise their requests and not having all of them included in the 2003 TA
Plan.  Her delegation shared the views stated by the representative of Uruguay and her Government
had also had to prioritise its requests to meet a minimal list of needs.  She hoped that the funds
necessary to implement the 2003 TA Plan would be secured.WT/COMTD/M/42
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44. The representative of Senegal said that it was unnecessary to recall how important technical
assistance was for developing countries in general and LDCs in particular.  He commended the
Director-General for his outlook on technical assistance and on the priority areas he had set.  He said
that he was pleased to see that the Secretariat had begun work on the 2003 TA Plan earlier than in the
previous year as it had taken some time for the CTD to consider the 2002 TA Plan.  Although themany national technical assistance requests could not be met, some of them could be met at the
regional level.  His delegation believed that Member's requests should be approved on an indicative
basis as it would be good if some ad hoc requests could be met as well as long as they remained
within the overall budget.  He said that it was a ppropriate, as the Director-General had pointed out,
that technical assistance be considered for a period extending beyond the Fifth Ministerial Meeting.
That was important for the LDCs within the IF.  It was a matter of having clear objectives for
WTO TA.  The third type of technical assistance mentioned, i.e. for commercial infrastructure, wasimportant for the LDCs as, second to market access, it was a question of having effective access.  That
could only be achieved if supply capacity was improved.  However, it was not for the WTO to carry
out all assistance alone.  Some of it was within the mandate of other international organisations.
Nevertheless, the WTO provided the framework for a broad overview of all trade-related questions.
The Secretariat could still assist Members on demanding TA not related to its specific area ofcompetence.  He mentioned that the technical assistance programme in the TBT and SPS area had to
be provided in cooperation with standard setting organisations for developing countries to really
benefit.  He concluded by saying that his delegation supported the statement made by the
representative of Kenya.
45. The representative of Mauritania said that his delegation associated itself with the statements
made by the representative of Kenya on behalf of the African Group and the representative of Zambia
on behalf of the LDCs.  He said that he was pl eased to hear the Director-General confirm that
technical assistance would be one of the four pillars of his mandate.  The priorities he had set out were
clear and consistent with what had already been achieved in the spirit of the DDA.  The
Director-General had said that the key to successf ul capacity building was for it to be cumulative,
sustainable and of high quality.  He hoped that that would provide a new momentum to technical
assistance which would be beneficial to developing countries and LDCs.  His delegation commended
the Director-General for having begun consultations regarding the IF.  Before considering the
substance of the proposed 2003 TA Plan, he agreed that the basis of the 2003 TA Plan should be the
needs of beneficiary countries.  In that regard, his delegation was grateful for the activities planned in
Mauritania in the areas of capacity building and implementation of agreements.  His delegation would
cooperate with the Secretariat to achieve the aims that had been set out in the ambitious 2003 TAPlan.
46. The representative of Australia said that, like other delegations, her delegation recognised the
importance of technical assistance for developing and least-developed countries as a core element of
the WTO's work.  In that regard her delegation appreciated the comments made by the
Director-General.  Her delegation welcomed the Secretariat's efforts to draw on lessons from the 2002TA Plan and recognised that while much work was being done to address issues of concern, Members
had ongoing responsibilities to improve the 2003 TA Plan whenever possible.  Recent discussions had
highlighted the large number of requests for assistance received by the Secretariat.  That raised
concerns relating to the capacity of the Secretariat to respond to them.  Her delegation welcomed
efforts to address those issues by the provision of a more focused, sequenced and sustainableprogramme of assistance.  Her delegation also wondered whether a stronger effort to integrate trade
into development strategies would allow beneficiary countries to divert some types of requests to
alternative responsible agencies, thereby allowing international organisations and donors to
collaborate more effectively.  Her Government was keen to ensure that the technical assistance
mandates from the Doha Ministerial Declaration were met.  Her Government supported an increasedfocus and responsibility for TRTA in other committees and working groups and was working to
ensuring that its bilateral assistance was complimenta ry to the Secretariat's activities.  Her delegation
recognised the need to work together to analyse the needs of developing country members and theWT/COMTD/M/42
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need to consider ways of mainstreaming trade into national and regional development strategies.  The
shared goal was the delivery of effective, high quality assistance to Members.  With respect to the
Global Trust Fund, her Government was considering issues relating to further contributions and
would need to study the document  provided on the financial impact of the 2003 technical assistance
training activities (CRP(02)/3).  Being a donor, her Government had clear requirements for
evaluations of activities and monitoring of the expenditures.  She said that her delegation appreciated
the Secretariat's efforts to ensure transparency in its reporting and evaluation work.  Nevertheless, she
asked the Secretariat to provide further information on the quality and effectiveness of the activities
delivered under the 2002 TA Plan.
47. The representative of Uganda said that his delegation associated itself with the statement
made by the representative of Kenya on behalf of the African Group, and the statement made by the
representative of Zambia on behalf of the LDCs.  His delegation had not had the time to studythe 2003 TA Plan and would provide detailed comments on it at a later stage.  However, his
delegation was in a position to comment on the vision, objectives and approach of the 2003 TA Plan.
He thanked the Director-General for having em phasised that technical assistance should be
cumulative, sustainable and result in long term benefits.  His delegation shared the view that, apart
from the day-to-day training programmes, there was a need for the construction of tradeinfrastructure, which was not within the WTO's competence.  However, the WTO had the leverage to
coordinate with other organisations such as the World Bank, UNDP, and UNIDO to ensure that
activities were sequenced in order to have maximum impact.  The issue of collaboration with other
institutions was important in implementing the 2003 TA Plan.  His delegation had repeatedly said that
the WTO was able to explain the rules, the consequences of not complying with them and give adviceon how to comply.  However, the WTO did not have the competence in all areas of interest to
developing countries and there was a need for it to collaborate with other organisations.  In some
areas, such as the participation in negotiations, it was difficult for the Secretariat to give developing
countries negotiating positions, as the WTO was a rule making body and as the Secretariat was
servicing the negotiations.  The WTO was not completely irrelevant in that respect, but cooperationwith other relevant organisations would have positive impact.  That was also true for capacity
building for the effective participation of developing countries in trade.  He said that the 2003 TA
Plan should remain principally demand driven in that the beneficiary countries should define the
needs.  Any attempt to devise other means of needs identification would be a step in the wrong
direction.  In its PRSP programme, the World Bank emphasised consultation with the stakeholders.
He did not know why the question of how to identify the needs had been raised.  The needs had to be
left to the Members to identify.  The demand on the WTO to carry out a number of TA activities andat the same time to service negotiations was a dilemma for the WTO.  On the one hand, Members
needed technical assistance which involved the partic ipation of a large part of the Secretariat.  That
might lead to difficulties in servicing the negotiations.  On the other hand, without technical
assistance, negotiations would be held with unprepared developing country delegations.  Developing
country Members would then sign agreements which they would not be able to implement because ofa lack of capacity to do so.  A balance between staff time spent on technical assistance and servicing
negotiations was needed if Members were to move forward.  The proposal made by the delegation of
Canada with respect to the building of partnerships with other organisations was a possible solution.
48. The representative of Barbados said that the presence of the Director-General and the DDGs'
at the meeting served to highlight the importance given to technical assistance in the WTO.  Her
delegation thought that the strategic direction being adopted by the Secretariat in the elaboration of
the 2003 Plan seemed well thought out.  The strategic focus, in conjunction with the guiding
principles that had been outlined, provided a framework within which the delivery of WTO technical
assistance might be effectively carried out.  She said that she wished to highlight a few issues which
her delegation felt were of specific importance.  The first was the question of the sustainability of theWTO's technical assistance and capacity building activities.  There was no need to recall the
importance of ensuring that TRTA and capacity building activities mandated at the Fourth Ministerial
Conference received full implementation and follo w through.  With respect to the warning made notWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 23
to allow a situation of donor fatigue to develop, she said that there was no space in the undertaking for
donor fatigue.  Second, her Government attached importance to coordination between agencies,
donors and beneficiaries in the delivery of technical assistance.  The aim of such coordination was to
ensure that needs were identified and met and that  no critical issue remained outside the jurisdiction
of one institution or the other.  It had to be ensured that nothing fell through the cracks.  She hadraised that point because the Secretariat had rightly identified what it could not do.  Some donors in
other fora had indicated the types of assistance that they would prefer to fund, either bilaterally or
through other multilateral agencies.  Members therefore needed to ensure that no type of assistance
became left out in the process such as the issue of the development of commercial infrastructure.  On
the question of national versus regional activities, she said that while she agreed with the need to seek
quality over quantity, technical assistance needed to be properly focused in order to be effective.
Therefore, it was clear that a balance had to be struck between regional and national activities.  Thegoal should be that of effective technical assistance delivery rather than "the greater yield".
49. She went on to say that her delegation had taken note of the Secretariat's comments on the
issue of "ad hocism" and looked forward to a continued flexible delivery of WTO technical assistance
both in the remainder of 2002 and in the 2003 TA Plan.  She said that her delegation also welcomed
the statement made by the Secretariat that technical assistance and market access were complementarynot substitutes.  The representative of South Africa had mentioned the issue of S&D and she said that
Members needed to avoid the tendency of reducing S&D to technical assistance because the two were
not substitutes either.  She said that her delegation found it positive that the Secretariat recognised
special challenges in some regions and welcomed that the Caribbean Community had been identified
as a region facing significant trade policy and trade development challenges.  In addition to the sub-regional institutions mentioned by the Secretariat, the Caribbean Development Bank was also
involved in the developmental efforts of the Caribb ean countries.  Her delegation was pleased to see a
commitment to continue "Geneva w eek".  Many Caribbean countries were non-residents and "Geneva
week" was an important tool for those Members.  Her delegation also welcomed the new products in
the 2003 TA Plan, which had been elaborated in the Secretariat largely by the Training Institute.Those included the training-of-trainers programme, the training courses for trade negotiators and the
internships.  Her delegation was interested in receiving more details on those new products.  Her
delegation was pleased that the decentralised regional trade policy courses in Nairobi and Casablanca
had gone well.  In those exercises Members could see not just the training of officials but the linkage
between the WTO and academic institutions in the field, as well as the opportunity for the training of
trainers.  Her delegation looked forward to the evaluation of those programmes and to their extension
to other regions such as the Caribbean region.
50. The representative of India said that in his introductory remarks, the Director-General had
underscored the importance of quality over quantity in the delivery of technical assistance as well as
the need to have cumulative, systemic, and sustainable capacity building.  Many delegations had
underscored the importance of those elements in their in terventions.  In that context, he reiterated that
the technical assistance and capacity building efforts should not only be event-based, but lead toeffective institutional and human resource development in the recipient countries.  The Secretariat had
broadly classified technical assistance and capacity building into three categories.  Technical
assistance for building effective capacity for trade negotiators, technical assistance for the
understanding of the rules and their implementation, and technical assistance for the development of
commercial infrastructure.  As alluded to by a number of delegations, technical assistance in all threecategories would be important for many developi ng countries and LDCs.  His Government had
submitted its requests for technical assistance and capacity building for 2003.  However, it had
subsequently been requested to identify two prior ity national activities, which would be incorporated
in the 2003 TA Plan.  Cutting down the requests had not been an easy task.  It was clear from the
documents containing the 2003 TA Plan and the presentation which had been made by Mr. Osakwe,that there was a gap between demand and supply.  His delegation noted the new tools and activities
included in the 2003 TA Plan such as outreach programmes and internship programmes for regional
co-ordinators.  The Secretariat documents had been only recently received by delegations and hisWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 24
Government was still examining them.  His delegation would comment on their substance at a later
stage.  While his delegation agreed that outreach programmes would be useful, it was not certain that
the cost of those programmes should be financed  from the technical assistance budget, which was
meant for capacity building in developing countries.  His delegation welcomed the Director-General's
statement that the Secretariat's technical assistance objectives were not only focussed on the nextWTO Ministerial Conference but also on establishing an architecture for WTO technical assistance.
He said that there should not be a presumption that technical assistance and capacity building on
certain issues would necessarily lead to some decisions at the Fifth Ministerial Conference.  The
purpose was to enable developing country Governments to better evaluate the implications of closer
multilateral cooperation for their development policies and objectives, for them to be able to make
informed decisions at the Cancun Ministerial Meeting.
51. The representative of the Czech Republic said that he was aware of the complexity involved
in drawing up the 2003 TA Plan, given the resource limits Members faced, the large number of
requests for technical assistance and the core business of the WTO, which was that of being a
negotiating forum.  His delegation was impressed by the number of activities proposed by the
Secretariat as well as the ability of Members to identify their needs.  It was apparent from
the 2003 TA Plan that improved coordination and coherence within the Secretariat and withmultilateral agencies and donors was more important than ever before.  High quality technical
assistance delivery and effective use of scarce resources should be the leading principles.  The
Director-General and others had mentioned that a nd his delegation shared those sentiments.  It was
important that technical assistance and capacity building remained focused on activities related to the
implementation of the DDA.  Equally important was to strike a geographical balance in terms of theMembers that benefited from those types of activities.  There was no doubt that priority attention
would continue to be paid to developing and least-developed countries.  However there were other
Members who had specific needs and they had every right to claim access to the programmes
organized and financed through the 2003 TA Plan.  From that perspective, his delegation appreciated
that the draft 2003 TA Plan attempted to respond to some of the needs of the countries in Central andEastern Europe and to their interest in having continued access to the WTO technical assistance and
capacity building activities.  He said that there was a need to further develop relations between the
WTO Secretariat and other regional and multilateral agencies which delivered technical assistance.
His Government had experienced how beneficial such relations could be for all involved.  An
example was the close cooperation between the WTO Secretariat and the Joint Vienna Institute, which
was a common destination for his Government's officials who took part in various activities related to
trade and WTO.
52. The representative of the Philippines said that she was pleased with the Director-General's
policy statement, in particular that the WTO Secretariat would focus its technical assistance on what it
did best, namely on technical assistance to build effective negotiation capacity, explaining the
agreements, their implementation and the nuances of those agreements.  She agreed with the
representative of Canada that the Secretariat should not take on more responsibilities than it couldhandle.  She said that there was a need for the Se cretariat to coordinate with other institutions that
were in a position to deliver the requested technical assistance.  Her delegation was pleased to hear
that WTO's technical assistance was not only geared towards the Cancun Ministerial Conference, but
beyond it.  That showed the commitment of the WTO to enable Members to become effective
negotiators in the long run.  The policy statement by the Director-General also mentionedcoordination, which all Members could agree with.  The Director-General had stated that the
Secretariat would continue its coordination with other agencies and advocate the role technical
assistance could play in the construction of commercial infrastructure if delivered in collaboration
with development institutions and bilateral donors.  The focus should be on quality and not quantity of
WTO's technical assistance activities.  She commended the Secretariat for the way in which it hadaccomplished the process of arriving at the 2003 TA Plan.  She said that her delegation could claim
ownership of the 2003 TA Plan because it had work ed closely with the Secretariat in drawing it up.
Like other delegations, her delegation had had to prioritise its requests.  She said that the transparencyWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 25
shown was important.  She had been surprised by the transparency shown in Annex 2 of document
WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1.  She said that taking on board the lessons that the Secretariat had learnt
from the implementation of the 2002 TA Plan was a move in the right direction.  It was important to
continue to learn from past experiences and find ways of improving TA delivery beyond the
implementation of the 2002 TA Plan.  In that connection, page 3 of documentWT/COMTD/W/104/Add.1 provided a good summary of where things stood.  She said that she had
noticed that the number of national activities exceeded the number of regional activities.  She had
identified two specific national activities for the Philippines.  The Secretariat should feel free to
inquire from her delegation if it was prepared to convert those activities to regional activities that
would enable more countries to benefit.  The multiplier affect of regional activities for WTO
Members would be enhanced if the venues of those activities were as dispersed as possible.  With
respect to the budget, she said that she sympathise d with potential donors.  She agreed with the
suggestion by the representatives of the European Communities and Canada that Members receive
information on how much of the 2002 budget had been spent and how much of it could be carried
over to 2003.
53. The representative of Switzerland said that his delegation valued the efforts made by the
Secretariat to enhance the quality and impact of its technical assistance in the face of increased
requests from beneficiary countries.  He agreed with the Secretariat that it was necessary to provide a
sharp strategic direction for WTO technical assistance.  His delegation welcomed the will to take
account of the lessons drawn from the implementation of the 2002 Plan and of the suggestions made
by the Membership at the High Level Meeting on Technical Cooperation in July 2002.  In that
respect, his delegation was of the opinion that special attention should be given to the technicalcooperation audit carried out earlier in the year (WT/COMTD/W/97).  The Audit had presented sound
recommendations concerning inter alia  objective setting for major groups of technical assistance
projects and the need to give higher priority to the selection of participants of training activities.  He
said that it had been a deception for his delegation to notice that, in spite of the Secretariat's objective
to limit ad hoc activities to a minimum, their level in 2002 continued to undermine the rationality ofWTO TA Plans.  Stricter and transparent measures had to be taken to bring those activities under
control.  So far 1038 requests for technical assistance had been communicated to the Secretariat
for 2003.  His delegation believed that that trend should be viewed positively since it showed a
growing interest for TRTA among developing countries.  However, it highlighted the necessity of
sorting and rationalizing those demands.  The idea proposed by the Secretariat to ensure that requests
were linked to priorities identified by Members in their development plans and poverty reduction
strategies was of utmost importance.  His delegation approved of the direction taken by the Secretariaton that matter.  At the same time, his delegation was aware that that would not be an easy task, since
not all Members had plans that could help them identify the right priorities.  For the future, Members
might wish to search for solutions that strengthen ed the link between national plans and the delivery
of technical assistance.  The high number of demands forced Members to look for innovative
solutions.  The proposals presented in the 2003 TA Plan were interesting, such as grouping nationalrequests into a regional activity, systematic and cumulative capacity building, and developing
partnerships with other multilateral institutions.  Partnerships with other multilateral institutions were
necessary, especially in the fields beyond the direct competence of the WTO.  In that connection, he
asked for more information regarding the partners hips the Secretariat intended to be build with
bilateral donors.  He said that with respect to the delivery modes, his delegation feared that the tradeclinics  approach for special and immediate needs could end up increasing the number of ad-hoc
activities.  He said that the three pillars for the 2003 TA Plan, namely capacity building for effective
negotiations, the legal implementation of WTO Agreements, and trade integration seemed
appropriate.  He agreed that the WTO needed to concentrate on its core competencies.  He concluded
by saying that the costing that had been proposed for the 2003 TA Plan had surprised his delegation.The 2003 TA Plan and its costing needed further consideration.  In that sense, his delegation
supported the request by the representatives of the European Commission and Canada that the
Secretariat provide a detailed report on the implementation and accomplishment of the 2002 TA Plan
so that Members would have a better  view of what was possible for 2003.WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 26
54. The representative of Norway said that her delegation was pleased to see that the elements in
the 2003 TA Plan had been closely linked to the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  That was the right
way to move forward.  Her delegation found pa rt II on the "Lessons from the Implementation of
the 2002 Annual TA/CB Plan" on page 5 in document WT/COMTD/W/104 useful, as those lessons
could provide useful input to further improving the Plan.  She said that bullet point 6 in paragraph 4stated that recipient countries had expressed further needs for capacity building with a view to trade
integration.  She agreed with the representative of the European Commission and others that the WTO
could not be expected to deliver such assistance, with the exception of coordinating cooperation with
development organisations, bilateral donors and the recipient countries themselves.  She said that her
delegation would appreciate information from the Secretariat on any such additional assistance
offered which went beyond the scope of the current work within the IF.  It was necessary to anchor
TRTA within the recipient countries, and integrate it with their PRSP's and their national developmentplans.  She said that, as mentioned by the representative of Switzerland, her delegation believed that it
was important to consider the long term effects of  the proposed trade clinics and how to anchor them
within the recipient countries themselves to ensu re sustainability.  Her delegation would appreciate
the Secretariat's views as to whether those trade cl inics would also cover ad-hoc requests.  Concerning
the requests for assistance from the 118 countries, her delegation had noted with interest that theSingapore issues ranked top of the list.  Page 8 of document WT/COMTD/W/104 contained
references to new guidelines that the Secretariat had been following during the drafting of the 2003
TA Plan.  On page 19, in paragraph 48, the Secretariat had indicated the need for clearer guidelines
with regard to how the DDAGTF might be used.  He r delegation would appreciate further information
with respect to any problems re lated to the allocation of the funds, and the reasoning behind the
request for clearer guidelines.  She concluded by underlining the need to give particular attention to
the needs of the LDCs.  In that respect, it was appropriate that 47 per cent of the national activities, as
mentioned in paragraph 34, would, if adopted, take place in an LDC.  Further follow-up of the IF for
the TRTA delivered to LDCs would play a key part  in the process of meeting the needs of LDCs.
55. The representative of Japan said that his delegation shared many of the views expressed by
the Director-General in his introductory remarks.   His delegation was aware that the Technical
Cooperation Division had worked hard to reflect the lessons learnt from ongoing activities and would
try to improve those activities in the 2003 TA Plan.  He said that the cost estimate had surprised his
delegation.  His delegation believed, as mentioned by other delegations, that Members needed to be
informed in detail of the 2002 activities before examining the cost of the 2003 TA Plan.  The 2003 TA
Plan could not be endorsed in isolation from its financial implications.  Therefore, he agreed with the
proposal made by the representative of Canada that there be a joint session between the CTD and theCommittee on BFA.  The needs of LDCs, developing countries and economies in transition went far
beyond the practical responses that could be given by the WTO.  His delegation had observed that
TRTA was one of the areas where an excellent partnership among developed and developing
countries had developed.  He said that he appreciated the initiative taken by the delegations of
South Africa and Canada to hold constructive discussions on that issue.  His delegation was buildingfurther cooperative relations with Members on the issue of TRTA.  Such a practise should be
strengthened through constructive discussions in the CTD, aiming at pragmatic and practical
solutions. In that regard his delegation was encouraged by the statement made by the representative of
the Philippines.  With respect to coordination wi th other agencies he said that his delegation
understood that there were three pillars of activities.  He believed that the WTO could be an advocateof the third pillar of technical assistance for the construction of commercial infrastructure while not
directly dealing with the issue.  Coordination with other international agencies was therefore
important for developing countries to be integrated in the multilateral trading system.  The Secretariat
needed to inform Members of the detailed arrang ements of such coordination, including information
regarding co-financing arrangements for the jo int activities carried out in 2002.  During the
discussions on the 2002 TA Plan his delegation had raised issues of flexibility.  Ad hoc activities
should not be allowed to damage the TA Plan.  Flexibility had to be within acceptable margins of
the 2003 TA Plan.  Some delegations had mentioned that bilateral donors had been considering
extending their bilateral technical assistance in the field of trade.  However, due to the policy issuesWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 27
involved it was sometimes difficult for bilateral donors to implement that assistance alone.  His
Government was one such donor that had been working hard to collaborate with the WTO to extend
assistance based on its own bilateral scheme to TRTA.  That would be implemented with the
cooperation of UNCTAD later in 2002.  In addition, some developing countries had raised the point
that they were willing to host such TRTA activities  in their regions and in some cases they had done
so.  Considering those requests and the mood among the Members, his delegation believed that a
certain amount of flexibility and a certain level of ad hoc activities might be permitted in order to
respond to such positive action by Member countries.  He concluded by saying that his delegation was
concerned with some of the proposals made by the Secretariat, including the cost estimates.  His
delegation was ready to actively participate in th e debate on TRTA in the CTD or in the Committee
on BFA.
56. The representative of Hungary said that her delegation believed that the technical assistance
activities provided by the WTO effectively responded to the needs that emerged from the Mandate in
the Doha Ministerial Declaration in order to promote the process for the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
Her delegation was pleased that Central and Eastern European Countries were involved in some of the
training programmes.  Her Government's  experiences with the training programmes were positive and
the participation of her Government's experts in those programmes had deepened their knowledge in
specific matters relating to the WTO.  She hoped that similar participation would be possible in future
WTO technical assistance activities.
57. The representative of the Slovak Republic said that the draft 2003 TA Plan was a good basis
for further discussion.  He thanked the Director-General for his focus on the issue of technical
assistance and capacity building for the implementation of the DDA and the training of negotiators inWTO matters.  He said that in the 2003 TA Plan priority attention had been paid to the developing
and the least-developed countries;  however in that regard he pointed out that there were other
countries with specific needs and interests resulting from difficult transformation processes and he
hoped that the needs of economies in transition had been recognised in the preparation of the 2003 TA
Plan.  There were some activities on the national and regional level which would take place in Centraland Eastern Europe and the geographical balance in terms of benefitting from those activities was
well known.  He thanked the Secretariat for the possibility of having continued access to WTO
technical assistance and capacity building activities.  His Government's experience was positive and it
showed how essential the national seminars, training courses and other regional activities were.  In
that regard, he underlined the need for streng thening relations between the WTO Secretariat and
agencies that delivered national and regional technical assistance activities.  One of his Government's
positive experiences was connected with the cooperation between the WTO Secretariat and the JointVienna Institute.  He hoped that that would continue as both organisations would benefit from their
efforts.
58. The representative of Hong Kong, China said that his delegation found the new ideas in the
draft 2003 TA Plan interesting.  Comments had been made on the concept of trade clinics.  His
delegation wished to hear in more detail how the concept of trade clinics would be implemented inpractice and especially what the mechanism would be for making requests and what type of assistance
the clinics would provide.  His delegation appreciated the efforts to further cooperation with the
international standard setting organisations on the issue of standards.  That initiative was particularly
welcomed as it related to one of the implementation issues that developing countries were concerned
about.  Some of them were of the view that techni cal standards could become an increasing barrier to
trade when tariffs were lowered.  He requested more information on how the WTO intended to
increase cooperation with international standard setting organisations.  His delegation welcomed the
ideas of training trainers, involving academia and using WTO reference centres.  In that regard, his
delegation requested the Secretariat to provide updated information on the WTO reference centres, so
that Members would get a better idea of the people involved and whether involvement in the referencecentres could be enhanced.  He said that he had noticed that the 2003 TA Plan covered many areas
and that many of the requests submitted by Members might not be met.  The fact that the draft 2003WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 28
TA Plan had been produced in advance gave Members an overview of the global shape of it and
enabled them to compare it with the overall objective of the DDA and to consider whether the 2003
TA Plan could fully meet the needs of developing countries.  He noticed that a range of activities were
already organised in some negotiating areas.  Howe ver, in other areas relating to negotiations, such as
trade facilitation, no global activity seemed to be planned.  He asked Members whether that suitedtheir needs from a negotiations point of view.  His delegation agreed with the points raised by the
representatives of the Philippines and Uganda regarding the supply side constraints of the Secretariat
in providing technical assistance.  In that regard he echoed the delegations which had called for a
review of the implementation of the 2002 TA Plan.  He said that it seemed that only a portion of
the 2002 activities had been implemented.  That was a reflection of the fact that the number of
technical assistance activities had increased since 2001 and that Members needed to review the
situation in order to ensure that the implementation of the 2003 TA Plan would not put unrealisticdemands on the Secretariat which also had to service the negotiations.  The Trade Negotiations
Committee (TNC) had recently stated that those negotiations were going to intensify.
59. The representative of the United States said that her Government was pleased with the
demonstrated commitment of the Director-General, the Secretariat staff and the Membership to the
critical task of providing TRTA and capacity building.  She said that the development and theimplementation of the 2002 TA Plan had been a challenge for the WTO.  Members had undertaken a
complex process and difficult challenges lay ahead.  Her delegation was pleased that the Secretariat
had noted Members concerns and had attempted to learn lessons from the experiences it had gained
in 2002.  Her delegation believed that a strategic approach was critical as Members moved forward.  It
was important that the Secretariat had chosen to focus its 2003 TA Plan on its areas of competencerelated to trade negotiations as well as implementation and long term integration.  It was particularly
important that the Secretariat would be working with other institutions to improve the quality of the
jointly delivered programmes.  The 2003 TA Plan represented an effort to rationalise Members' work.
The effort to blend bilateral and regional programmes was important as was the effort to reduce the
number of ad hoc activities although Members knew that flexibility was required in the area of TRTA.There was an attempt to have a range of shorter and longer-term projects to meet developing country
needs and there was an effort to incorporate different approaches and new tools.  Her delegation
shared the views of others that Members had to find a way to make progress on technical assistance
and capacity building while not undermining WTO's central task.  There was a need to deliver real
liberalisation for the whole trading system to benefit the global economy.  She agreed with other
delegations that it was important to consider how the Secretariat might cooperate with other
organisations to deliver projects even in its core areas of competence.  There was a lot of work to bedone as technical assistance had to be delivered effectively while not undermining the servicing of
negotiations.
60. She went on to say that her delegation shared the concerns expressed by other donors
regarding the costing of the 2003 TA Plan.  It was reasonable for Members to expect that the cost
would have remained roughly the same for approximately the same number of projects.  The highestimated cost of the 2003 TA Plan presented donor delegations with a serious challenge to convince
their budget authorities to be forthcoming.  Donors would, in that light have to carefully consider the
2003 TA Plan.  Her Government, like others wo uld have to justify budgetary requests and
demonstrate that money was spent effectively.  The amounts spent through September on the projects
in the 2002 TA Plan seemed surprisingly low to her Government and that made it even more difficultto argue for an increase in the WTO budget.  Her delegation joined the delegation of Canada and
others in calling for a full account of the spending on the 2002 TA Plan, including information on
short term costs, long term projects and how to justify that some short term programmes were more
expensive than long term ones.  That was particularly important when delegations approached their
budgetary authorities with such a large increase in expenditures.  Her Government was a largebilateral donor in the area of trade-related  technical assistance and capacity building and had
contributed approximately US$620 million in that area in fiscal year 2002.  It remained committed to
trade-related technical assistance and capacity building and wished to keep contributing.  However, aWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 29
demonstrated effective management of the funds contributed was critical in that respect.  Her
delegation welcomed the effort on the part of Members to look into how future TRTA in the WTO
could be made effective.  It also welcomed the opportunity to work with the delegation of South
Africa and other interested Members to ensure that the quality of TRTA would be constantly
improved.  Her delegation supported the proposal made by the representative of Canada that the 2003TA Plan be reviewed in conjunction with the Committee on BFA.
61. The representative of El Salvador said that she also spoke on behalf of the delegation of
Guatemala.  She said that it was comforting to find a 2003 TA Plan that aimed to meet the specific
needs of all countries in order to strengthen thei r negotiating capacity.  She understood that the work
of compiling the requests had not been easy.  Her delegation had observed that amongst the activities
scheduled for the Latin American region, there was no activity in the area of trade facilitation, which
would help Latin American countries to remove the technical barriers that hampered trade.  Takinginto account the above, she was aware that UNIDO had approached the Latin American region to
provide support and had a programme aimed at meeting the needs of those countries in the area of
trade facilitation.  She asked the Secretariat if the revised 2003 TA Plan would include the UNIDO
programme or if there was another activity in conjunction with UNIDO that was in the process of
being evaluated and that if for that reason had not been included in the programme.  As an example ofthe urgent need she cited the results of a study which showed that 50 per cent of the problems
occurring in intra-regional trade were related to th e issue of trade facilitation, such as procedures,
customs valuation, and transparency.  She said that the Central American Vice-Presidents had
attended a UNIDO Meeting in Vienna the previous week to support the programme that seemed to be
generating increased competitiveness in the area.  She emphasised the fact that other programmesexisted in other organisations such as the World Trade Net in the ITC which could also play a role in
the negotiations of WTO agreements, such programmes could be a good compliment to the work
carried out by the WTO.
62. The representative of Mexico said that following what had been said by the representative of
Sri Lanka he wished to clarify that the comments that had been made by his delegation were intended
for the Secretariat to review.  While he believed that institutional capacity was most important there
were clearly situations where human capacity building was necessary as well.
63. The representative of China said that her delegation was aware that the drawing up of
the 2003 TA Plan had involved a lot of work and that it had been necessary to take many elements
into consideration to complete the effort.  She noted that the Plan had been improved by learning from
experiences from the 2002 TA Plan and that the 2003 TA Plan therefore presented more practical and
flexible TRTA in favour of developing countries .  As a newly acceded Member, her Government had
conducted a series of seminars, workshops and training courses to improve the public awareness of
the WTO and its rules.  Since there were numerous domestic demands in that regard, the technical
assistance that had been delivered by the WTO had played an important role to contribute to
institutional and legal capacity building in her Government.  An aspect worth highlighting was the
delivery mode of technical assistance .   She agreed that it was the quality and not the quantity of TA
that counted.  Her delegation regarded the content of the technical assistance delivered to be the
critical issue.  Seminars which presented general ideas or broad WTO rules were normally ineffective
since such knowledge was not easily put into practice in specific economic environments.  Therefore,
her delegation suggested that future technical assistance activities be more focused.
64. The representative of Romania said that, as a developing country in Eastern Europe, her
Government attached great importance to technical assistance as a tool for economic development
through improved participation in the multilateral trading system.  The draft 2003 TA Plan was an
important step in the direction of making technical assistance more focused and tailored to the needs
of different groups of Members.  It appeared to be well structured and included the contribution of
other institutions.  Her delegation found the 2003 TA Plan to be in accordance with the DohaMinisterial Declaration.  She was pleased that several technical assistance activities would benefitWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 30
officials from her country even if not all the activities her delegation had requested had been included.
Several delegations had mentioned that the cost of the 2003 TA Plan was too high.  She said that her
delegation was of the view that no amount was too large when spent on that form of education if the
overall budget so allowed.  At the same time, she said that her delegation supported the idea of having
an accurate account of the cost of each technical assistance project.  When working with theSecretariat on technical assistance matters, her Government had supported the inclusion of a project
proposal received from an academic institution in Romania for a network of regional WTO centres.
She asked for more information on that proposal.  Involving academia in all WTO matters was one of
the best ways to ensure a stable country and region.
65. The representative of Indonesia said that the Director-General had mentioned his commitment
to make the 2003 TA Plan a success and to ensure  that it would benefit the recipient countries,
especially the developing and least-developed countries.  Technical assistance was a core element ofthe WTO's work to develop the capacity of developing and least-developed countries to participate in
the global market.  That was one way of increasing the level playing field of developing and
least-developed countries vis à vis their developed training partners.  His Government was one of
those that had received WTO technical assistance for capacity building.  However, bearing in mind
the broad scope of the WTO agreements, his delegation was of the view that the WTO technicalassistance programmes should not be limited to only a few agreements.  Due to the lack of capacity
and a limited understanding of the costs and benefits of the current negotiations, it was difficult for
developing country governments like his own to limit their requests for technical assistance.  He was
aware of the Secretariat's limited human resources to meet Members' requests for technical assistance.
He highlighted the urgent need for increased collaboration between the WTO and other relevantinternational organisations and having bilateral donor countries working together with the Secretariat.
Such collaboration would be important in light of the limited resources that the Secretariat possessed.
It was his delegation's view that to increase the quality and effectiveness of the technical assistance
plans, the Secretariat should evaluate the 2002 TA Plan and report to Members.
66. The representative of Oman said that, as a recently acceded country with extensive market
access commitments, her delegation was surprised to find that it had only been granted two technical
assistance activities for 2003.  That would not as sist her Government's efforts to implement the
commitments that it had undertaken in its accession negotiations, especially as her Government had
not been granted any transitional periods for implementing the WTO Agreements.  Her delegation
believed that the assistance given to recently acceded Members should be increased.  Her Government
would only be able to implement its commitments if the Secretariat increased the number of activities.
She was aware that some Members were concerned with the cost of the 2003 Plan and might try toreduce it.  However, that would also mean reducing Members' implementation efforts.
67. The representative of Ecuador said that the 2003 TA Plan was an improvement over the 2002
TA Plan.  He said that his delegation would appreciate if future agendas included the possibility of
commenting on the 2003 TA Plan in light of the 2002 TA Plan.  That would ensure consistency and
efficiency.  It would be beneficial if some flexibility was applied to the requests presented byMembers.
68. The representative of Zimbabwe said that her delegation supported the statement made by the
representative of Kenya on behalf of the African Group.  Her delegation welcomed the initiatives that
had been taken by the Director-General and the innovative new activities that had been highlighted by
the staff of the Technical Cooperation Division.  Her delegation hoped for enhanced cooperationbetween the WTO and regional institutions in the African region.  She also hoped that supply side
constraints would be addressed.  There should be some flexibility in addressing ad hoc requests for
technical assistance.
69. The Chairman said that the 2003 TA Plan submitted by the Technical Cooperation Division
was in many ways unique.  It had been drafted well before its commencement date of January 2003.WT/COMTD/M/42
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He was aware that the drafting of the 2003 Ta Plan had not been an easy task.  Its early circulation
gave Members time to review it.  He said that, keeping in mind that Members had not had sufficient
time to study the 2003 TA Plan and that several changes had been proposed, he suggested that the
Secretariat should revise the 2003 TA Plan acco rding to the comments made.  The Committee would
meet again to consider it.  He noted that several delegations had asked for an account of theperformance of the 2002 TA Plan and he believed that a brief performance report could be provided.
He proposed that Members meet again on Monday , 11 November at 3 p.m. to discuss the 2003 TA
Plan.  A suggestion had been made for the CTD and the Committee on BFA to meet jointly and that
was something that would be taken up with the Committee on BFA.  There were some technical
problems in having a joint meeting.  He said that he was aware that the Committee on BFA would be
meeting on 11 and 12 November but he was not aware what the agenda contained and whether they
would be willing to discuss the 2003 TA Plan.  An Airgram inviting Members to a meeting on 11November would be circulated.
70. It was so agreed.
(iv) Overview of the training activities of the WTO Secretariat (WT/COMTD/W/105)
(v) WTO Training Institute – Planned activities in 2003 (WT/COMTD/W/103)
71. The Chairman said that the two remaining sub-items under agenda item C related to the
training activities of the WTO.  The Secretariat had prepared two notes, one containing an overview
of the training activities of the WTO Secretariat contained in document WT/COMTD/W/105 and one
on the planned activities of the WTO Training Institute in 2003 contained in
document WT/COMTD/W/103.  Those two notes were self-explanatory so unless there was a request
for it, he would not ask the Secretariat to make any general introduction to them.  He said that theDirectors of the two divisions concerned, Mr. Ch iedu Osakwe of the Technical Cooperation Division
and Mr. Claude Mercier, Director of the Training Institute, were willing to respond to any queries
Members might have or listen to any comments Members might wish to make.
72. The representative of Senegal said that his delegation had not had time to look at the
documents.  He said that the activities were important to his Government and he suggested that
Members revert to the documents at future meetings.  He also proposed that documents of that sort be
made available to Members well in advance of the meeting at which they would be considered.
73. The Chairman said that the issue of having documents issued well before the meetings was
something that the Secretariat was taking seriously and all committees were concerned about.  He said
that the documents had been made available and if there was something that delegations wished to
take up then it would be considered.
74. The representative of Canada said that her delegation had some questions that it would raise
when other delegations had had the chance to study the documents.  They related in particular to the
courses in Nairobi and Casablanca that were currently under evaluation.  She said that many
delegations had stated how important those courses had been for the training of their country officials
and she asked when the evaluation would be completed.  She also asked which elements of that
training  programme were securely funded.  That was a question that also arose with respect to the
budget that had been presented earlier which seemed to include elements that were traditionally
funded out of the regular budget.  In addition, her delegation wondered which activities were to be
funded from the Trust Fund and which were to be funded from the regular budget.
75. Mr. Mercier, Director, Training Institute said that the Secretariat was aiming to have a final
evaluation of the Nairobi and Casablanca courses by the end of October.  The two courses had just
been completed.  Reports were being received from the resource people that had been used from both
within and outside the Secretariat.  The Secretariat was awaiting reports from the two institutions withWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 32
which the Secretariat had the partnership agreement.  The assessments the Secretariat had received
from the participants were in the process of being reviewed.  It was an inter-divisional exercise which
was being conducted under Mr. Rolian's Audit Unit.  The Director-General would provide
observations in due course.  In response to the second question posed by the representative of Canada,
he said that the Secretariat, in the annex to the document WT/COMTD/W/103, had attempted toidentify where the funding was available, where there was no need for additional funds and where
traditional activities of the Training Institute were normally financed by the regular budget.  He said
that the 5
th Specialized Course on Dispute Settlement shown in row 5 on page 4, was provided for in
the costing estimate that had been provided by DDG Abbott.  That type of course was traditionally
financed by other sources such as Trust Fund type of money, though it existed long before the Trust
Fund came into being.  Such courses were mandate d by the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU)
and did not constitute ad hoc requests.  They were addressed to all Members of the WTO, not just tothe developing countries.  In each of those courses the participation of up to 10 participants from
LDCs was financed.  The Secretariat did not fund the participation of other developing or developed
country participants.  The induction days did not involve any costs as they were one-day activities.
The trade policy courses were part of the institutional mandate dating back to 1956.  The only caveat
would be the courses that would be held in 2003.  Due to the Conference 'ITU Telecom World 2003',the Secretariat would not be able to deliver more than one course, if it could even carry out one.  That
was due to the fact that there would be no rooms available in or around Geneva during the duration of
that Conference.  Even the traditional lodgers could not be used for the participants because they
could charge up to five times the price of a room charged to the WTO.  If the Secretariat could not
arrange even one course, it would attempt to reallocate the money usually allocated for the three-month trade policy courses to the 2-3 week specialised courses carried out under the same mandate.
Those might deal with specialised topics or they could be trade negotiation skills seminars.  He said
that what he had mentioned about the 5
th Specialized Course on Dispute Settlement also applied for
those courses.  Since the decision of the Comm ittee on BFA in 2001, the two three-week courses for
LDCs (one in French and one in English) that used to be financed out of Trust Fund money hadbecome part of the regular budget due to the trade-off in the Budget 2002 exercise between symposia
and those courses in terms of financing from the Trust Fund.  Where financing was lacking was for
the training of trainers programme.  That was a separate programme having been put forward in the
2003 TA Plan.  The first phase of that programme in 2002 was financed from the Trust Fund. He said
that that activity had been put under the regular budget requests for 2003.  If the Committee on BFA
turned it down then it would have to be considered  under the Trust Fund.  The distance learning was a
continuation of the programme that was agreed in 2001 and the money had already been partlyaccounted for in the 2002 formulation of the budget over two years.  That left the university
networking activity for which no funding was available in addition to the constrained human
resources.  It was hard to develop a network with universities especially when they all wished to set
up training institutes or required the WTO to provide other resources, including human resources.  In
2002 alone the Secretariat had received several requests for such activities but had not received anyfunds.  The Secretariat had therefore proposed a modest programme in the regular budget for 2003 in
the hope that something could be developed, time and resources permitting.  The Secretariat had been
asked to carry out 16 courses with the same amount of staff because only a few new posts had been
provided in 2001 and the recruitment of new staff had not been finalised.  He encouraged Members to
consider that programme as a best endeavour approach.  If the resources were made available, thenthe Secretariat would do its best to deliver, the programme would otherwise have to be curtailed.  He
concluded by saying that the budget of the Training Institute was being discussed in detail in the
Committee on BFA.
76. The representative of Kenya asked whether adopting the documents would affect the African
Group's proposal with respect to the Nairobi and Casablanca trade policy courses.  The Chairman had
said that there would be changes to the documents.  He said that he therefore assumed that the
changes would relate to all the documents so as  to retain the equilibrium.  If the changes related to just
one document, then his delegation would need to study all the documents before accepting them.  He
asked how much it would cost to turn the three-day, one-week and three-week courses into compactWT/COMTD/M/42
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three-month courses.  Some donors had questioned the budget so it was important to consider the
most effective way of delivering the courses.
77. The Chairman said that it was the Technical Cooperation Division's documents relating to the
2003 TA Plan that would be subject to modifications based on the discussions that had taken place
and not the proposals that had been made in document WT/COMTD/W/103 andWT/COMTD/W/105.  However, the point made by the representative of Kenya that the two
documents had to be consistent was important and would be taken into account.
78. The representative of Barbados reiterated her delegation's interest in some of the field-based
activities such as the training of trainers programmes, the cooperation with academic communities
and institutions which was being carried out through the Training Institute.  Her delegation found it
interesting that the Training Institute had initiated many new activities.  Her delegation looked
forward to further development of some of the othe r initiatives such as the distance learning, video
conferencing, and Internet-based courses.  She said that the pilot projects for regional trade policy
courses that had been held in Casablanca and Nairobi were important exercises, not only because of
their capacity building aspects but also because of their linkage to the training of trainers and
cooperation with the academic institutions.  Her delegation looked forward to considering those
further.
79. The Committee took note of the documents and the statements made.
D. N OTIFICATION UNDER THE ENABLING CLAUSE
- Notification from India and Sri Lanka (WT/COMTD/N/16)
80. The Chairman said that item D related to notifications under the Enabling Clause.  At the last
meeting of the CTD, some delegations had requested more time to consider the notifications regarding
the Free Trade Agreement between India and Sri Lanka contained in document WT/COMTD/N/16.  It
was, therefore, agreed that the item be kept on the agenda.  There had also been a request for a
clarification of the notification procedures regarding free trade agreements.  More specifically,
information had been sought as to whether such notifications under the "Enabling Clause" also
required notification in the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA).  He therefore askedthe Secretariat to clarify the notification procedures.
81. Mr. Low, Director, Development and Economic Research Division, said that the situation, as
far as the Secretariat understood, was that any regional trade agreement (RTA) had to be notified to
the WTO.  Depending on the legal cover sought, Article XVIII, GATS Article V, or the Enabling
Clause, the notifications would be sent to the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in
Services or the CTD.  A notification would never be sent directly to the CRTA.  The decision to refer
the notification to the CRTA remained with the body which had received the notification, and it wasup to them to set the terms of any examination by the CRTA.  The CRTA in practice only examined
what had been referred to it.  There was thus no legal requirement to notify the CRTA as such.  What
had happened in practice was that the process of referring agreements notified under Article XXIV to
the CRTA for examination had become more or less automatic, it was a growing practice in the case
of RTAs notified under Article V of the GATS, but it was rare for notifications of RTAs under theEnabling Clause to be referred to the CRTA.  In fact, the MERCOSUR Agreement was the only one
that had been referred to the CRTA.
82. The Committee took note of the notification and clarification provided by the Secretariat.WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 34
E. G ENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES
(i)  Notification by Japan (WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.11)
(ii) Notification by Switzerl and (WT/COMTD/N/7/Add.1)
83. The Chairman said that, at the last meeting, the delegation of Japan had introduced a
notification contained in document WT/COMTD/N /2/Add.11.  The delegation of Switzerland had
also introduced a notification contained in doc ument WT/COMTD/N /7/Add.1.  At that meeting, some
delegations had posed questions that required detailed answers.  It had therefore been decided that the
two items be kept on the agenda.  To the extent that  the two notifications related to measures in favour
of LDCs, they had been forwarded to the Sub-Co mmittee on LDCs for substantive consideration and
reporting back, according to the reporting procedures agreed to at the 32nd Session of the CTD.
However, it had been pointed out at the last meeting that the overall Generalized System of
Preferences (GSP) Scheme to which the notifications referred was for the CTD to consider, so thenotifications did not exclusively apply to the LDCs.
84. The representative of Japan said that his delegation appreciated the interest shown by other
delegations in his Government's GSP scheme.  At the last meeting, his delegation had not been able to
provide comprehensive responses to all questions made.  Document WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.11
containing the notification by the Government of Japan consisted of a couple of parts.  One related toLDC beneficiaries and the other to ceiling quotas for industrial products.  His delegation had
understood the questions posed at the last meeting to relate to how the Government of Japan would
manage the ceiling quotas for industrial products and to the relation between those quotas and the
GSP scheme for the LDCs.  The answer was that th e industrial products to which the Government of
Japan applied the ceiling quotas would not be affected by its GSP scheme for LDCs.  As earlierexplained, the GSP scheme for LDCs already included tariff and quota-free treatment for 99 per cent
of the imports into Japan of industrial product s from LDCs.  The GSP scheme for LDCs was a
separate scheme which did not affect the ceiling quotas for industrial products.  With respect to the
management of the ceiling quotas for industrial products, he said that the Government of Japan
granted preferential tariffs on 81 industrial product groups.  The ceilings in the GSP scheme related tothe total value or quantity of each product group and was provided at the beginning of each fiscal
year.  The fiscal year in Japan began on 1 April.  The most-favoured nation rate of duty would apply
after the ceilings had been exceeded.  The preferential treatment would also be suspended for a
particular product group with reference to a particular preference receiving country if preferential
imports originating in that country exceeded a maximum amount of 20 percent of the total value or
quantity of the ceiling.  The Government of Japan determined the amount of imports from a particular
country based on the customs statistics in Japan.  There might therefore be some differences betweenthe reality and the statistics once the statistics were finalized.  However, the Government of Japan
attempted to apply the maximum 20 per cent country amount as far as possible since it would allow
more countries to enjoy the preferences.
85. The Committee took note of the clarifications made.
F. P ARTICIPATION OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN WORLD TRADE
(WT/COMTD/W/100 and Add.1)
86. The Chairman said that agenda item F related to the participation of developing countries in
world trade.  The CTD had the mandate to keep under continuous review the participation of
developing country Members in the multilateral trad ing system.  In order to assist the Committee to
fulfill that part of its Mandate, the Secretariat had produced a paper contained in document
WT/COMTD/W/100.  The item had been kept on the agenda as some delegations had expressed the
wish to have more time to study the paper.  A request  had also been made at the last meeting for theWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 35
Secretariat to provide country-specific information of  the aggregated regional analysis presented in the
paper.  Addendum 1 to the document (WT/COMTD/W/100/A dd.1.) aimed to res pond to that request.
87. The representative of the United States said that her delegation believed that the Addendum
provided more detailed information on a country-by-c ountry basis.  She noted that the well researched
report mainly focussed on trade trends which her delegation believed to be an important piece of thepicture.  However, her delegation wondered whether it would be possible to look into some of the other
factors that assisted Members to increase their partic ipation in trade, such as considering the trade-policy
review mechanism and extract indicators which would assist Members to get a broader sense of the
participation of developing countries  in world trade.  She was not aw are of how much work that would
involve.  Nevertheless, to look at trends meant to onl y consider one part of the picture.  A broader focus
would be of benefit to the Committee.
88. The representative of Paraguay said that his delegation had not had enough time to study the
Addendum in detail.  However, he realized that it re lated to a disaggregation of the data that had been
provided in the earlier document.  His delegation would comments on the paper at the next meeting of
the Committee.
89. The Chairman said that he believed that th e suggestion made by the representative of the
United States to work with other processes within the WTO and to benefit from possible synergies was
an excellent one.  He suggested that the Committee take note of that suggestion and attempted to do
something about it.
90. It was so agreed.
G. P ARAGRAPH 51 O F THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING
DEVELOPMENTAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER TO
HELP ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATELY
REFLECTED
91. The Chairman said that the Committee had decided to keep an item relating to Paragraph 51 of
the Doha Ministerial Declaration as a standing item on the agenda.  Paragraph 51 related to the
identifying and debating developmental and environmen tal aspects of the negotiations in order to help
achieve the objective of having sustainable de velopment appropriately reflected.  The issue of
sustainable development had also been the su bject of the informal consultations held on
10 September 2002, shortly after the Johannesbur g World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD).  At the informal consultation, it had been  agreed that, at the CTD Meeting, the Committee
might also consider the negotiated documents that emerged from the WSSD.  The documents had been
circulated in multi-symbol document WT/COMTD/W/106 - WT/CTE/W/220, as the CTE also wishedto consider them.  He hoped that delegations had been  able to consider the contents.  One of the issues
that the Committee might wish to consider was how the outcome of the WSSD should be treated in the
context of the WTO in general, and the CTD in part icular.  He urged delegations to address both the
substantive elements of Paragraph 51 as well as the developmental aspects of the outcome of the WSSD,
and to indicate how views that had been expressed in the latter might fit into the work of the CTD.  He
said that he believed that Members would welcome any new suggestion that delegations might wish to
offer.  As there were no requests for the floor, the Chairman said that it seemed clear that delegations
still required time to consider all aspects of the topic.
92. The Committee decided to revert to the item at its next meeting.WT/COMTD/M/42
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H. C ONSIDERATION OF ARTICLE XVIII AS MANDATED BY PARAGRAPH  12 O F THE DOHA
MINISTERIAL DECLARATION (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1), T HE DECISION ON IMPLEMENTATION -
RELATED ISSUES AND CONCERNS (WT/MIN(01)/17), A ND IN CONJUNCTION WITH TIRET 3
OF JOB(01)/152/REV.1 O F 27 O CTOBER 2001
93. The Chairman invited Members to move on to address Agenda Item H relating to GATT
Article XVIII as one of the outstanding implementation issues.  The Secretariat had been asked to
produce background documents relating to how Article XVIII had been applied in the WTO and in
the GATT.  The result of the Secretariat's analysis was contained in documents WT/COMTD/39 and
its Addendum 1 (WT/COMTD/39/Add.1).  He said that  he believed that the questions before the
Committee were how it should deal with Article XVIII, excluding Section B, as an outstanding
implementation issue, what delegations wished to get out of the consideration of it, and what the goal
of the reporting in December should be.  At the informal meeting in September, the delegation ofSri Lanka had noted that the Secretariat documents had indicated that Sri Lanka had invoked
Article XVIII in the past.  However, the records in the Mission of Sri Lanka did not indicate what
difficulties the delegation had faced in invoking the Article.  The delegation, therefore, asked the
Secretariat for information on traces in WTO records of any difficulties the Government of Sri Lanka
might have encountered in invoking Article XVIII.
94. Mr. Low, Director, Development and Economic Research Division, said that the Secretariat
had attempted to search for information with respect to the invocation of the Government of Sri Lanka
of Article XVIII.  It seemed that Article XVIII had been invoked eight times by the Government of
Sri Lanka.  The Secretariat had compiled the docum ents with respect to the invocations by the
Government of Sri Lanka, referred to in the footnotes of the Secretariatdocuments WT/COMTD/W/39 and its Addendum 1, and provided those to the delegation of
Sri Lanka.  The Secretariat was diffident about attempting to make judgements about what difficulties
were associated with the invocations.  The Secret ariat could compile the documents referred to into
some kind of working document if that was helpful.  However, he did not believe that the Secretariat
was in a position to carry out an analysis of difficulties encountered by Members in the process ofinvoking different WTO provisions.  That would have to be left to the judgement of the Members
concerned.
95. The representative of Sri Lanka said that his delegation was grateful for the information
provided.  He said that information regarding the practical experience of the use of Article XVIII:C
had to be provided by Members.  The Government of Sri Lanka had used Article XVIII:C in a
particular situation at a particular time as the economic circumstances and the trade policies being
followed at that time were quite different from the current situation of the country.  His country hadfaced balance-of-payments difficulties in the 1940's and 1950's and there had been other economic
development constraints.  A different trade policy regime had therefore been followed in the 1940's
and 1950's.  For example, an import licences schemes had been restricting foreign exchange
allocations.  It was against that background that the Government of Sri Lanka had invoked
Article XVIII at that time.  From 1977 onwards, as the trade policy context had changed,, theGovernment of Sri Lanka had followed a more liberal economic policy under which import licence
requirements and exchange rate controls had been abolished.
96. The Chairman said that the comments made by the representative of Sri Lanka reflected the
fact that the philosophy of trade and its relationship with development had been evolving over time.
He went on to say that, at the informal meeting in September, the delegation of India had madereference to its submission in document WT/GC/W/363 of 12 October 1999.  The delegation of India
had also suggested an in-depth analysis of each pr ovision of Article XVIII to identify the elements
preventing developing countries from making use of those provisions and that contributions from
Members, including experience from Members that had invoked the provisions, would be useful in
that respect.WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 37
97. The representative of India said that Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference had given a
clear mandate for a complete review of Article XVIII with a view to ensure that it served the original
objective of facilitating the progressive development of economies in developing countries and to
allow them to implement the programmes and policies of economic development designed to raise the
general standard of living of their people.  Article XVIII was not a new issue.  It had been on theagenda since before the Seattle Ministerial Conference.  Her delegation had been flagging the issue of
a review of Article XVIII as her delegation believed that Article XVIII was the most important S&D
provisions, the implementation of which should serve the basic objective of development.  Her
delegation had also explained at considerable length the rational behind seeking a review of
Article XVIII.  There was a need to clarify the procedural ambiguities which prevented its effective
utilisation.  The Secretariat papers noted that Article XVIII had been replaced twice.  Once in 1948
and the second time in 1957.  The objective underlying the last change was to represent and accord anew and more positive approach to the problem of economic development and to the ways and means
of reconciling the requirements of economic development with obligations undertaken under the
GATT regarding the conduct of commercial policy.  Considering the obligations that Members had on
account of a changed and increasingly competitive trading environment and the balance that needed to
be struck with developmental imperatives, there was a need to re-examine and reassess Article XVIIIso as to make it more user friendly and geared towards integrating developing countries faster into the
multilateral trading system.
98. She further said that developing countries were finding it increasingly difficult to have
recourse to the provisions under Article XVIII on account of the almost punitive provisions of
compensation which would actually nullify the impact of the development measures taken by themfor raising the general standards of living.  The ability of a Member, in the process of development of
its economy, to offer additional concessions or face suspension of concessions of other measures
being taken by the Member to promote industrial development was limited.  Thus, where Members
were satisfied that all reasonable efforts had been made to consult, by the member seeking to invoke
the provisions of Article XVIII, then for the purposes of paragraphs 7.(b) and 18.(b) of Article XVIII,as the case might be, shall be sufficient for WTO Members, acting jointly, to concur in the proposed
measure without the member having to offer additional concessions or having to face temporary
suspension of concessions.  It might be recalled that her delegation had initially made that proposal in
document WT/GC/W/363 of 12 October 1999.  In addition to making a determination that the
economic benefits accruing to the member using Article XVIII far outweighed the adverse impact on
global trade of that measure it was important to establish that there was a significant negative impact
on the exports of another Member.  Suspension of equivalent concessions or demands for additionalcompensation did otherwise not appear to be justified.  Her delegation also felt that there was a need
to amend Article XVIII:C, particularly paragraph 13 by adding the words "development of a
particular industry" to the already existing objective of Section C of "establishment of a particular
industry".  Further, her delegation had earlier indicated that the procedures under paragraphs 14 to 21
of Article XVIII also required reconsideration.  Under the present system, the member resorting toSection C of Article XVIII had first to seek the concurrence of the contracting parties which shall,
inter alia , consult as to the purpose of the proposed measures, alternative measures available under
other provisions, effect of the proposed measure on the economic and commercial interest of other
contracting parties.  Even after all that had been done, any other contracting party substantially
effected could take action to withdraw equivalent concessions.  As indicated by her delegation, thatwould defeat the objective of seeking to initiate the proposed measures.  Her delegation therefore
urged Members to consider those suggestions in order to further clarify and improve the elements
which were currently hampering the effective use of Article XVIII by developing country members.
99. The representative of the United States said th at her delegation wished to address two points.
The first related to the overall Article XVIII review and the second specifically to Section C of
Article XVIII.  Her delegation had reviewed recent information and records of the CTD discussions
over the past year.  Her delegation was still not persuaded that a current review was warranted.  No
compelling arguments or new information had been presented to change that view.  Her delegationWT/COMTD/M/42
Page 38
was still prepared to listen to any new ideas a nd to reflect on them.  Much time had been spent on
implementation issues of the last few years, including tiret 3.  She recalled substantial consideration as
part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations as well.  That might be an area where there was no
consensus to move forward.  With regard to Arti cle XVIII:C her delegation continued to believe that
it should only be used after recourse to all other WTO mechanisms had been exhausted.  Memberscurrently had recourse to the Agreement on Safeguards and Countervailing Duties and the
understanding of balance-of-payments.  Those provisions had served the needs of the international
community well.  At the Doha Ministerial Conference, Members had agreed to a rules discussion.
However, no consensus had been reached to open negotiations on Article XVIII.  She asked Members
what had changed.
100. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation's view was in line
with that presented by the representative of the United States in that there was no new material which
allowed for a review of Article XVIII.  No compe lling case had been made for any changes.
101. The representative of Canada said that her delegation supported the position presented by the
representatives of the United States and the European Communities.
102. The representative of India said that it was her delegations understanding that the mandate
with respect to Article XVIII was clear.  It was part of the implementation issues which Members
were discussing and for which Members had a deadline to meet.  Her delegation was looking for a
constructive dialogue on the issue.  That was why her delegation urged Members to participate in the
debate and keep the mandate given by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference in mind.  Her
understanding was that Article XVIII was an outstanding implementation issue that had to be further
reviewed.
103. The Chairman said that the item was on the ag enda of the CTD because of the documents that
had emerged from the Doha Ministerial Conferen ce.  The Committee would have to address it in
whatever way Members agreed by consensus to deal with it.
104. The Committee took note of the statements made.
I. E LECTRONIC COMMERCE
105. The Chairman said that item K dealt with electronic commerce and was another of the
Committee's standing agenda items.  At the last meeting of the Committee the delegation of Pakistan
had made a number of suggestions.  In considering how to deal with the issue, he said that delegations
might also wish to keep in mind the Committee's work programme on e-commerce contained in
document WT/COMTD/35.
106. The representative of Canada suggested that the Secretariat be asked to prepare an update of
the situation in the Secretariat regarding the CTD's work programme on e-commerce.  That update
would inform Members about which of the seminars had been held, their results, and how they were
linked to other work on e-commerce in the WTO as the issue of e-commerce was dealt with by four
separate WTO bodies.
107. The Chairman proposed that the Secretariat would provide such an update and that the
Committee revert to the topic at a future date.
108. It was so agreed.WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 39
J. D RAFT ANNUAL REPORT
109. The Chairman said that it was too early to prepare a draft Annual Report of the CTD,
particularly as the discussion on some items had not been completed.  Furthermore, the
Sub-Committee on LDCs had scheduled a Meeting for 7th November, and Members might wish to
await the outcome of that Meeting before finalizin g the Annual Report of the CTD.  It had already
been agreed that the Committee meet again to discuss the Technical Assistance Plan for 2003 on
11 November 2002.  The Committee could possibly discuss the Draft report at that meeting, if time
permitted.  He said that he wished to provide Members with the opportunity to inform him of any
particular item they might wish to include in the CTD Annual Report or to discuss any aspect of a
possible Report.
110. The representative of the European Communities said that he supported the proposal by the
Chairman as it was important that the Committee had the results of the discussions in the Sub-
Committee on LDCs as well as the continued discussions on the 2003 TA Plan before it before
finalizing the report.  He was concerned that there might not be enough time for a discussion of the
draft Annual Report of the CTD on 11 November.
111. The Chairman said that should there not be sufficient time on 11 November, another date
would have to be sought to deal with the Annual Report of the CTD.
K. O THER BUSINESS
112. The Chairman said that the delegation of Croatia had suggested a topic for discussion, and
Members had agreed to its inclusion.  The item related to a Ministerial Trade Conference held in
Zagreb, Croatia, in June 2002.
113. The representative of Croatia said that he was making the statement on behalf of the
Governments of Croatia, Lithuania and Moldova.  Those Governments wished to thank the Secretariat
for its report on the WTO Ministerial Trade Conference for Central and Southeast Europe held in
Zagreb, Croatia, on 11 and 12 June 2002, contained in the document WT/COMTD/41 of
11 September 2002.  He also thanked the WTO Secretariat for the preparation and organization of thatimportant and useful event.  His delegation had carefully read the Secretariat report, which was useful
and contained accurate information reflecting in general the discussions held during the Conference.
He had also noted the clarification that the report had been prepared under the Secretariat's own
responsibility, and was without prejudice to the positions of Members or to their rights and
obligations under the WTO.  In that respect, the delegations he represented stressed that without
having any intention to comment on the content of the report, they felt it necessary to highlight a
specific issue that had not been included in the Report, but which was of significant importance totheir Governments.  That point had been raised and emphasized by the representatives of the three
Governments in practically all session of the conference in Zagreb and particularly in the session
related to the DDA negotiation round.  It related to  their Governments respective approaches and
positions in the current negotiating round, which were strongly influenced by the fact that they had
only recently acceded to the WTO.  In that process, they had made extensive market-accesscommitments, which had been recognized in paragraph 9 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  They
therefore believed that that fact should be seriously taken into account and be adequately reflected in
the DDA negotiations, including in different modalities for future market-access commitments.  They
had, together with a number of other Members, consistently raised that issue in other bodies.
However, as the WTO Ministerial Conference held in Zagreb was an activity organized under aprogramme that fell within the competence of the CTD, they felt it necessary to state for the record
that that specific issue had also been strongly emphasized in the Conference by senior high-level
officials of their Governments.WT/COMTD/M/42
Page 40
114. Mr. Low, Director, Development and Economic Research Division, said that the point made
had been well taken.  He proposed that the Secretariat issue a corrigendum to that document to take
the point made by the representative of Croatia into account.
115. The representative of the United States said that her delegation had recently circulated a
document on capacity building considerations relating to transparency in government procurement
(WT/WGTGP/W/34) to the Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement.  That
document set out a series of questions for Members' consideration relating to the practical
implications of building transparency into govern ment procurement systems.  Her delegation offered
that paper as a contribution to the CTD's review of technical assistance and capacity building as well.
Her delegation requested that that document be circulated with a dual symbol, adding the CTD
symbol.
116. The Chairman asked the Secretariat to look into that matter and reminded delegations that the
next formal session of the CTD was scheduled for Monday, 11 November 2002 at 3 p.m.
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