. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/10 
23 June 2004  
 
(04-2714) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Special Session  
 
 
 
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON  
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
Report by the Chairman, Mr. Faizel Ismail (South Africa),  
to the Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
I. STATUS OF WORK 
1. Since the report to the twelfth meeting of  the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) in 
April 2004 (TN/CTD/9), a number of bilateral and pl urilateral consultations have been held with 
Members in an attempt to move the work on speci al and differential treatment (S&D) forward with 
the objective of fulfilling the mandate contained in Pa ragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, 
to carry out "the review of all special and di fferential treatment provisions with a view to 
strengthening them and making them more  precise, effective and operational".  
2. As indicated in the last report to the TNC, in an attempt to unlock the existing impasse on 
S&D, three questions were put to Members, namely;  
• What did Members wish to do with the proposals on which they had already agreed to in 
principle; 
• How could the current discussions on S& D be made more productive;  and 
• What suggestions Members had on the way forw ard so as to fulfil the Doha Mandate of 
making S&D more precise, e ffective and operational. 
3. During these consultations, it had also been sugg ested that engaging in a broader debate on 
the underlying development issues related to the S& D would assist in identifying possible areas of 
convergence.  Some Members had expressed support for such an approach, while others insisted on 
the need to focus on the Agreemen t-specific proposals.  Members did not question the importance of 
the development dimension of the DDA and fully agreed on the need to make progress on the S&D 
Work Programme.  However, views differed on wh ether or not it was opportune to harvest the 
package of recommendations on the 28 Agreemen t-specific proposals or whether these should be 
adopted only after the package has been further stre ngthened.  Most Members have stressed the need 
for any possible package in July to include a strong developmental component.  
4. With a view to exploring the way forward and to identify possible S&D elements for the July 
package, the Chairman of the Sp ecial Session has continued to hold informal consultations.  During 
these meetings, it has been impressed  upon Members that they should identify the broad elements that 
could possibly form part of the July package.  Based on the preliminary feedback obtained from Members in these consultations, it does appear that, inter alia , the following elements could constitute 
the development component of the July package:  
• A rededication and commitment to the developm ent dimension of the WTO and the need to 
ensure that the Doha Round is  a genuine development round; 
• A decision on the 28 Agreement-specific proposals on which Members had agreed to 
in principle;  and  TN/CTD/10 
Page 2  
 
• Elaboration of the process that would unloc k the current impasse and take the work on 
remaining issues forward.  
 5. Development concerns form an integral part of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. Members 
therefore feel that it is important to rededi cate and recommit themselves to the development 
dimension of the Doha Declaration which has pl aced the needs and interests of developing and 
least-developed countries at the heart of the WTO wo rk programme.  They also believe that it is 
crucial to set up a process that will ensure that a ll the remaining aspects of the S&D Work Programme 
are addressed.  In that context, it was stressed during the informal consultations that it would be important to formulate a set of guiding principles to advance the work on S&D.  Inter alia , these 
could include a commitment to participate and stre ngthen the multilateral rules-based system and to 
work towards ensuring that this system is fair, ba lanced, coherent and supp ortive of development.  
However, Members continue to ha ve somewhat different views on th e approach towards the  adoption 
of the package of 28 Agreement-specific proposals on which there is an in-principle agreement.   
II. FUTURE WORK 
6. The Chairman is continuing to hold further bila teral and plurilateral consultations to flesh out 
the above elements.  An open-ended informal meet ing of the Special Session has been scheduled 
shortly after the TNC meeting.  The objective of  the meeting is to discuss Members' views on the 
language relating to the S&D component of the July package. The next formal  meeting of the Special 
Session is scheduled to be held on 19 July 2004.  
 
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