. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/4 
5 April 2004  
 
(04-1517) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
AGENDA ITEM 5:  TECHNICAL COOPERATION 
 
Statement by the Representative of the UNCTAD at the TBT Committee Meeting of 23 March 2004
 
 
 1. Since early 2003, UNCTAD has been implementing a UK-DFID funded project for 
six developing countries in Asia and seven in Central America and the Caribbean, whose activities 
focus to a significant degree on the issue of envi ronmental requirements, market access and export 
competitiveness for various specific sectors.  More than 20 country-case studies are being prepared on 
four different sectors:  leather and footwear;  el ectrical and electronic goods;  horticultural products; 
and organic produce.  For each product group, sub -regional workshops and national policy dialogues 
are being held.  
2. The analysis is focusing on four critical areas: (i) the level of awareness on environmental 
requirements in key export markets;  (ii) eff ectiveness of information gathering, analysis and 
dissemination;  (iii) current national adjustment measures for meeting the new requirements;  and (iv) elements of more pro-active adju stment policies in developing countries. 
3. Preliminary results of this work are available for leather and footwear and electrical and 
electronic products, mostly based on analysis and discu ssions in the Asian beneficiary countries of the 
project:  Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.  
4. The analysis and policy dialogues have been ve ry helpful in clarifying and conceptualizing 
issues at the interface between environmen tal requirements, market access and export 
competitiveness.  Discussions have concluded that it is important to see the distinction, but also the 
interplay between policy and capacity-constraints issu es at three different intervention levels:  the 
national level in developing countries, the WTO level and the international level outside the WTO.  It 
has also been very useful to exchange nationa l experience on different adjustment approaches and 
toolkits, including effective information management  and public-private part nerships.  Furthermore, 
there have been a number of sector specific reco mmendations on policy and capacity-building issues. 
The country-case studies and the conclusions of  the sub-regional workshops are available on 
UNCTAD’s Trade, Environment and Developmen t website (www.unctad.org/trade_env/). 
5. The 7th Session of UNCTAD’s Commission on Trade in Goods and Services, and 
Commodities in February 2003 asked the UNCTAD secr etariat to launch exploratory activities for the 
possible creation, as a project-based activity, of  a Consultative Task Force on Environmental 
Requirements and Market Access for Developi ng Countries.  The UNCTAD secretariat and the 
National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro) of the Brazilian 
Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade will jointly organize a workshop, as a 
pre-UNCTAD XI event, on 7-8 June 2004 in Rio de Jan eiro that will review the preliminary results of 
exploratory activities for the Consultative Task Force.  
6. The workshop is expected (a) to make recommendations on the objectives, concept and nature 
of activities of the Consultative Task Force;  and (b) discuss the findings of a number of specific 
studies on the involvement of developing country expor ters in pre-regulation- and pre-standard-setting 
consultations and the feasibility of internationa l and sub-regional clearinghouses of information on 
environmental regulation and standards. G/TBT/GEN/4 
Page 2  
 
7. The workshop is open to all UNCTAD member St ates.  The outcome of the workshop will be 
reported to UNCTAD XI, which will be held a week la ter in Sao Paulo.  Further information on the 
workshop is available on UNCTAD’s website. 
 
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