. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/SE/W/8
5 March 2003
(03-1269)
Committee on Trade and Development
Dedicated SessionOriginal:  English
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION BY THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Draft Decision on the Small Economies
Communication from Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Fiji Islands,
Mauritius, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga and Trinidad and Tobago
The following communication, dated 3 March 2003, has been received from the above
delegations with the request that it be circulated.
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1. Paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration states the following:  "We agree to a work
programme, under the auspices of the General Council, to examine issues relating to the trade of small
economies.  The objective of this work is to frame responses to the trade-rela ted issues identified for
the fuller integration of small, vulnerable econom ies into the multilateral trading system, and not to
create a sub-category of WTO Members.  The General Council shall review the work programme and
make recommendations for action to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference".
2. The work programme remains under the overall responsibility of the General Council, which
has instructed the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) to have a focussed programme of
work for small economies conducted in dedicated sessions and to report regularly to the General
Council (WT/L/447).
3. The CTD has to date held three sessions dedicated to the Work Programme.  A series of
consultations have also been held.  It had before it the following background documents prepared by
the Secretariat:  "Small Economies:  A Literature Review" (WT/COMTD/SE/W/4);  "Trade and
Economic Performance:  The Role of Economic Size?" (WT/COMTD/SE/W/5);  and  "WTO
Provisions Potentially of Particular Interest to Small Economies" (WT/COMTD/SE/W/6).
4. Its programme of work has focussed on submissions from delegations:  "Work Programme on
Small Economies – Issues relating to the Trade of Small Economies (WT/COMTD/SE/W/1/Rev.1);
"Work Programme on Small Economies – Structural Impediments of the Small Economies"
(WT/COMTD/SE/W/2);  and "Work Programme on Small Economies – Concrete Proposals to
address certain specific concerns and problems affecting the Trade of Small Economies"(WT/COMTD/SE/W/3) that identify the characteristics of small economies that make them especially
vulnerable (see in particular WT/COMTD/SE/W/1/Rev.1, paragraph 4);  the trade-related issues that
adversely affect their trade and development (see in particular WT/COMTD/SE/W/1/Rev.1,
paragraph 5);  and action necessary to respond to these trade issues in order to offset the inherent
economic disadvantages faced by small, vulnerable economies (see in particular the seventeenproposals set out in WT/COMTD/SE/W/3).  The dedicated sessions gave Members the opportunity to
consider the proposals made.  The proponents of the submissions responded to questions posedWT/COMTD/SE/W/8
Page 2
"Questions from the United States and Initial Responses in Regard to Proposals Contained in WTO
Document WT/COMTD/SE/W/3" (WT/COMTD/SE/W/7).
5. Pursuant to the Framework and Procedures of the Work Programme on Small Economies,
trade related issues have been identified and appropriate responses framed.  Accordingly, the CTD
requests the General Council to use the proposals contained in WT/COMTD/SE/W/3 as the basis for
making recommendations for action to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference, for the fuller
integration of small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system.
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