RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
16December 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5519)
Sub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF1DECEMBER 1997
Chair: Ambassador E.L.Herfkens (TheNetherlands)
1. TheSub-Committee adopted theagenda ascontained inWTO/AIR/736.
A. Follow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries
2. TheChair saidthattheHigh-Level Meeting onLeast-Developed Countries 'Trade Development
hadbeensuccessful. Ithadputtheproblems oftheleast-developed countries highontheinternational
agenda andontheagenda oftheagencies concerned. First, market access offers hadbeenmade, and
those made bydeveloping countries wereparticularly noteworthy. Some offers werestillpending and
sherecalled thattheEuropean Communities wereconsidering changing theirrulesoforigin. Second,
anIntegrated Framework hadbeenendorsed. Thecountry round-tables hadbeendifferent foreach
country, given theirdemand driven nature. Finally, thetwothematic round-tables hadformulated
recommendations which hadbeenwidely agreed upon regarding capacity building andinvestment in
least-developed countries. Oneofthereasons behind thesuccess oftheHigh-Level Meeting wasthe
absence ofplenary sessions, making themeeting livelier thanwould otherwise havebeenthecase.
Furthermore, supply sideconstraints hadbeenaddressed inthethematic round-tables oninstitutional
andinfrastructural capacity andoninvestment. Theexercise hadbeendemand driven, putting theleast-
developed countries inthedriver 'sseat. Thecountry-specific round-tables hadbeenanimportant step
inthatdirection. TheHigh-level Meeting should notbeaone-off event butthebeginning ofaprocess.
Itwastherefore important thatthefollow-up bediscussed inthegoverning bodies ofallagencies
concerned.
3. Shesaidthatbefore going intothefollow-up inthecontext oftheWTO, shewould inform
delegations onfollow-up actions intheother agencies. Sherecalled thatmany WTO Members were
alsomembers andshare-holders ofthegoverning bodies oftheother fiveagencies involved andas
suchshould advocate follow-up actions inallsixorganizations. TheCouncil ofDevelopment Ministers
oftheEuropean Communities haddiscussed thefollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting atitsrecent
meeting. Importance hadbeenattached tobringing andkeeping thebilateral donors onboard and
shehoped thatthiswould leadtotheissue being taken upintheDevelopment Assistance
Committee (DAC) oftheOrganization ofEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD). The
Steering Committee oftheWorld Bank Governing Board would discuss theBank'sfollow-up tothe
High-Level Meeting on8December andshehoped thatthiswould leadtothereconfirmation ofthe
World Bank'sparticipation inthe"Integrated Framework forTrade-Related Technical Assistance,
including forHuman andInstitutional Capacity-Building, toSupport Least-Developed Countries in
theirTrade andTrade-Related Activities" (theIntegrated Framework)1andacommitment toincorporate
theissueoftrade-relatedtechnicalassistancetoleast-developedcountriesinConsultativeGroupmeetings
organized bytheWorld Bank. Shewashopeful thattheBoard oftheWorld Bank would beprepared
1TheIntegrated Framework iscontained indocument WT/LDC/HL/1.WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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tostudy therecommendations from thethematic round-tables andconsider towhatextent theWorld
Bank would beabletoimplement them. Thegoverning body oftheUNDP, theExecutive Board,
wastomeetinJanuary 1998. There wasalready anitemontheAgenda forthatmeeting relating to
thefunctioning oftheUNDP Round-Tables, linking ittotheIntegrated Framework. Shewashopeful
thattherecommendations from thethematic round-tables would beconsidered aswellasUNDP 's
participation intheIntegrated Framework. InUNCTAD, open-ended consultations bythePresident
oftheTrade andDevelopment Board hadbeenheldon27November withtheregional coordinators
andithadbeendecided thatAmbassador Daniel Bernard ofFrance, whochaired theleast-developed
country segment ofthelastUNCTAD Trade andDevelopment Board, beasked toholdconsultations
within UNCTAD onthefollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting. Adecision would betaken bythe
UNCTAD Trade andDevelopment Board inJanuary 1998. TheSecretary General ofUNCTAD had
confirmed thatallfollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting, including thethematic round-table
recommendations andtheIntegrated Framework would easily fitintotheworkprogramme ofUNCTAD
within which least-developed countries were ofhighpriority.
4. Sheturned tothefollow-up oftheHigh-Level Meeting asfarastheWTO wasconcerned.
TheReport oftheHigh-Level Meeting, circulated indocument WT/COMTD/12, contained anumber
ofsuggestions which should betaken upbytheSub-Committee. Thereport hadserved asthebasis
forthesuggestions shewould make totheSub-Committee.
(i) Report totheMinisterial Conference encompassing thefollow-up totheHigh-Level
Meeting
5. TheChair saidthattheSecretariat could berequested toprepare areport totheupcoming
Ministerial Conference, covering notonlythemarket access commitments, butalsofollow-up interms
oftheIntegrated Framework andinterms ofthethematic round-tables. Sheenvisaged thatadraft
ofthereport would besubmitted totheSub-Committee sothattheSub-Committee could decide whether
ornottorecommend itbeputontheAgenda oftheMinisterial Conference. However, thereport
should bewritten closer totheMinisterial Conference asitshould encompass asmuch aspossible of
thefollow-up. Thereport oftheHigh-Level Meeting stated that:
TheMeeting recommended totheWTO thatafullreport ontheoutcome andfollow-up
oftheMeeting andannouncements ofimplementation ofautonomous market access
measures andcommitments infavour oftheleast-developed countries beprepared by
theDirector-General oftheWTO andsubmitted totheWTO Ministerial Conference
inMay1998.
Shetherefore suggested thattheSecretariat beasked toprepare thereport andtosubmit it,indraft
form, totheSub-Committee andthattheprocedure tobefollowed thereafter could bedecided ata
laterstage. Shealsoreferred topoint (d)onpage3oftheReport oftheHigh-Level Meeting where
theChair oftheHigh-Level Meeting hadstated thatthefollow-up totheIntegrated Framework should
beincluded intheAgenda oftheforthcoming WTO Ministerial Conference.
6. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saiditwasclearthatthereport should contain issues
suchasmarket access commitments andfollow-up tothecountry-specific round-tables butthere were
other issues which itmight bebetter nottoinclude init.Hetherefore suggested thattheSecretariat
beasked toprepare anoutline ofitsreport andsubmit itforconsideration totheSub-Committee.
7. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities pointed tothewording oftheReport ofthe
High-Level Meeting andsaiditwasfortheDirector General, notforMembers, tosubmit thereport.
Adetailed discussion onanoutline oradraftshould therefore notbeheldintheSub-Committee. TheWT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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report should bewritten atalaterstage sothatitcould bemore substantial interms ofwhathadbeen
donesince theHigh-Level Meeting.
8. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatitwasnecessary toclarify whether theSub-Committee
wished toseeadraftorwhether itshould beleftuptotheSecretariat toproduce andsubmit thereport.
Hispreference wasfortheGeneral Council, either byitself orthrough theSub-Committee, toask
theSecretariat toproduce areport under itsownresponsibility, andhetherefore agreed withthe
representative oftheEuropean Communities thatitshould beareport prepared bytheDirector General.
TheDirector General would report tothenextMinisterial Conference ontheactivities oftheWTO
andhemight include asection ontheoutcome ofandfollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting, orhemight
choose totreattheissueseparately. TheChair oftheSub-Committee could discuss theissuewiththe
Director General andtheSub-Committee could endorse therecommendation thattheDirector General
report tothenextMinisterial Conference andaskthattheGeneral Council todothesame.
9. Therepresentative ofTanzania saidthathisdelegation supported therepresentative ofthe
European Communities inthatthereport should beonebytheDirector General. However, thereport
would onlybeuseful iftheMembers thathadmade market access commitments during theHigh-Level
Meeting notified theWTO andUNCTAD.
(ii) Recommendations a,bandcformulated bytheChairman oftheHigh-Level Meeting
tocountries andagencies implementing theIntegrated Framework2
10. TheChair saidthathersecond suggestion related tothree points thathademerged from the
discussions heldduring theHigh-Level Meeting withrespect totheIntegrated Framework. Theideas
contained inthose points were notnew, theyhademerged attheverybeginning oftheHigh-Level
Meeting process andhadnowbeenformulated asrecommendations bytheChairman oftheHigh-Level
Meeting tocountries andagencies implementing theIntegrated Framework. Given thattheyhadbeen
brought outinaclear manner sheasked theSub-Committee toagree torequest thattheSecretariat
takethose points intoaccount inthefurther implementation oftheIntegrated Framework.
11. Therepresentative ofEgypt saidthatthepoints mentioned werelinked totheissueofafollow-up
mechanism asMembers needed tobeinformed oftheprocess. Theissue should therefore bekept
inmind when thefollow-up wasdiscussed.
12. TheSecretariat saidthattheIntegrated Framework itself contained certain paragraphs which
addressed thesubject. Forinstance, theinvolvement ofbilateral development partners andmultilateral
institutions, other thanthesixagencies mostdirectly involved inthepreparations oftheHigh-Level
Meeting, wasdescribed inparagraphs 5(e)and5(f).Asfaraspriorities wereconcerned, paragraph 5(k)
oftheIntegrated Framework dealtwithimplementation andstated thateachofthesixagencies should
beresponsible foragreeing withthegovernment ofeachleast-developed country concerned thespecific
modalities andtiming ofitstrade-related technical assistance activities. Thepriorities would be
established inthatprocess andinthecourse ofimplementation byeachofthesixagencies. Later,
when other organizations became involved, priorities would beestablished byallofthem separately
intheirdiscussions withtheleast-developed country concerned.
13. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatwhattheSub-Committee wished todowassimply
toreinforce themessages emanating fromtheIntegrated Framework. Themessage would berepeated
intheGeneral Council andinother institutions inorder foragencies nottoforget it.Itwasnoteasy
2Seebottomofpage2andtopofpage3oftheReportoftheHigh-LevelMeeting(documentWT/COMTD/12).WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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tomake sixinstitutions cooperate andtomake them doexactly what Members wished them todo.
Apolitical message likethiswastherefore always welcome.
(iii) Notification ofautonomous market access offers made during theHigh-Level Meeting
14. TheChair saidthatshehoped thatallMembers agreed thatitwasimportant thatalldelegations
which hadmade autonomous market access offers during theHigh-Level Meeting notified those as
soonaspossible. Ifdelegations agreed, shewould, together withtheChair oftheCommittee onTrade
andDevelopment, request Members tonotify theirmarket access offers.
15. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatitwasimportant thatdelegations lived uptotheir
commitmentsandbegannotifyingthemarketaccessofferstheyhadmadeduringtheHigh-LevelMeeting.
Hisdelegation would trytobeamong thefirsttodoso.
16. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthathisdelegation wasworking onputting
itsoffers intoEuropean Community Regulation andwould notify assoonasthatprocess wasfinished.
17. Therepresentative ofTanzania saidthathisdelegation thanked alldelegations thathadextended
theirmarketaccessoffersduringtheHigh-LevelMeeting.Hisdelegationalsorequestedotherdelegations
which hadyettoannounce theiroffers todoso.
(iv) Requests forTrade Policy Reviews coming from least-developed countries
18. TheChair saidthatoneoftherecommendations fromtheRound-Table onCapacity Building
wasthattheSecretariat givepriority toTrade Policy Reviews ofleast-developed countries whenever
aleast-developed country requested one. Shetherefore hoped thatdelegations agreed withherthat
theSub-Committee could commend theTrade Policy Review Body foralready having dealtwiththe
issueofrequests fromleast-developed countries initsreport of1997. There waslittleelsetobedone
thanfortheSub-Committee tocongratulate theTrade Policy Review Body withthefactthatithad
already incorporated theoutcome oftheHigh-Level Meeting intoitswork.
(v) Assistance toleast-developed countries intheirprocess ofacceding totheWTO
19. TheChair saidthatthere wasreference inoneoftherecommendations from theHigh-Level
Meeting totheneedfortheWTO Secretariat tobehelpful toleast-developed countries intheiraccession
process. Itwasherunderstanding thatinthecaseofVanuatu 'saccession, theSecretariat, incooperation
withthechairman oftheWorking Party, hadbeenabletofindwaystofacilitate andshorten theaccession
process. Thesame procedure might beapplicable toother least-developed countries. Shesuggested
thattheSecretariatbeaskedtoprovidetheSub-Committeewithsuggestionsonhowtheaccessionprocess
ofleast-developed countries could befacilitated.
20. Therepresentative ofMorocco agreed thatitwasaworthy initiative butwasoftheviewthat
therequest should bekeptinformal andpragmatic. Iftheaimwastosystemize afacilitated process,
there would beariskofcreating twoaccession procedures. Theonlything theSub-Committee could
do,ifitwassatisfied withwhathadbeendoneinthecaseofVanuatu, wastoinsist thattheSecretariat,
together withthechair oftheworking party inquestion, continued tousetheavailable techniques to
facilitate theaccession process oftheleast-developed countries. Areport should notberequested as
theprocess thencould turnintoaprocedure which would create short-cuts toaccession. TheWTO
system wasbased ontheruleoflawandshould continue tobeequal forallparties. There wasno
needforspecial action astechnical assistance activities constantly werebeing reviewed andasGuidelines
andModalities forthatwork hadbeenestablished.WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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21. TheChair rephrased hersuggestion toreadthattheSecretariat beasked tolookintotheissue
andmake suggestions tothechairman ofeachindividual least-developed country 'saccession working
party. Thatphrasing would prevent anyoutcome which ledtospecial terms. Theacceding least-
developed countries werealldifferent onefrom another andtheprocedure followed therefore hadto
takethecountry specifics intoaccount, butshould notcreate special terms foranygroup ofcountries.
22. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthathisdelegation didnotseeaproblem inthe
Secretariat examining waysoffacilitating assistance toaccession. However, itcould notbeemphasized
enough thatanexamination should notleadtotheformulation ofspecial terms ofaccession. What
hadbeenspecial intheVanuatu accession process hadnotbeenspecial terms, butrather theassistance
given. Theexercise should belimited topossible ways inwhich theSecretariat could improve the
technical assistance given by,forexample, providing thenecessary documentation beyond whatwas
already done. Hisdelegation would notbeencouraged bysuggestions from theSecretariat, evenif
onlyintheform ofasecretariat document, thatsuggested thatthere bespecial terms.
23. Therepresentative ofEgypt agreed withtheprevious speakers inthatspecial terms should
notbeconsidered. However, theformulation suggested bytheChair wasrather limiting. Inaddition
towhathadalready beenmentioned, theissueshould beconsidered ingeneral terms. Itwasimportant
torefer totechnical assistance andissues suchasdocumentation. Hewished toremind theSub-
Committee thatoneoftheEgyptian proposals fortheHigh-Level Meeting wastoprepare foraseminar
tobehosted byEgypt, andcarried outincooperation withITC, UNCTAD andWTO, todiscuss
difficulties andchallenges faced, inparticular byleast-developed countries, intheaccession process.
24. TheChair suggested thattheSub-Committee kepttheaccession process under review, without
discussing special terms ofaccession foranyspecific group ofcountries. Thesubsequent Sub-Committee
meeting could address theissueoftechnical assistance andprocedures inthelightoffacilitating accession
ofleast-developed countries. Itwould beuptotheMembers oftheSub-Committee tothendetermine
whether itswork should leadtoagreed conclusions orrecommendations.
(vi) Integration ofthejointIntegrated Technical Assistance Programme forSelected African
andLeast-Developed Countries intotheIntegrated Framework
25. TheChair referred tothejoint"Integrated Technical Assistance Programme forSelected Least-
Developed andOther African Countries" ofITC,UNCTAD andWTO andrecalled thattheprovisions
ofparagraph 3oftheIntegrated Framework called forthatProgramme tobesubsumed intheIntegrated
Framework. Shesaidthattheissue oftheintegration ofthejointIntegrated Technical Assistance
Programme forSelected African andLeast-Developed Countries, asfarastheleast-developed countries
wereconcerned, intotheIntegrated Framework needed tobetackled incooperation withUNCTAD
andITC, andthatITCshould takethelead. Adecision hadalready beentaken anditwasnowup
totheSecretariats toimplement it.
(vii) Useofapartofthebudget surplus forfollow-up activities totheHigh-Level Meeting
26. TheChair saidthattheBudget Committee hadrecommended totheGeneral Council thatabout
SwF7million ofthe1996surplus bespent onarange ofsuggested issues ofwhich onewasthefollow-
uptotheHigh-Level Meeting. Nodecision hadbeentaken withrespect totheamount tobesetaside
forfollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting norontheexact activities. However, informal consultations
wereplanned. ShesaidthattheSecretariat should consider using partofthebudget surplus tofinance
thefollow-up oftheHigh-Level Meeting. Ameeting would bearranged byAmbassador Morjane,
ChairmanoftheCommitteeonBudget,FinanceandAdministration,Mr.Hoda,DeputyDirectorGeneral
andherself, inadvance ofthemeeting oftheBudget Committee scheduled forJanuary 1998, toinform
WTO Members ofprecise follow-up activities. Awritten document would beprepared which wouldWT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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givedelegations anideaoftheprojects themoney would goto.TheBudget Committee should then
beabletomake recommendations totheGeneral Council. Thereason forherraising theissueinthe
Sub-Committee wasthatshewasaware ofthelimited resources available toleast-developed country
delegations, andassheknew thatsome ofthose delegations attended theSub-Committee meetings she
sawitasapossibility toinform them about budgetary developments.
27. Therepresentative ofMorocco saidthatitwasimportant thatdelegations, andespecially least-
developed country delegations, attend themeetings oftheBudget Committee asthere presently was
noleast-developed country representation atthose meetings. Attendance wasimportant astheinterests
oftheleast-developed countries werebeing discussed. Almost allWTO implementation wasdiscussed
intheBudget Committee andheurged least-developed countries whocould afford ittoattend those
meetings andspeak upfortheirinterests. Hisdelegation wasoftheopinion thatastherewasasurplus
intheWTO budget, theTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division could bemore aggressive and
propose newtechnical cooperation programmes. Ifitwassuggested thatpartofthesurplus should
gototechnical cooperation activities, ortofollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting, adocument containing
proposed programmes andprojects wasnecessary fordelegations getanideaofhowthemoney was
going tobespent. Hisdelegation would welcome thatthesurplus beusedforsuchactivities astechnical
cooperation orfollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting butwished getmore precise information onhow
themoney would bespent soastoensure thatitwent towhathisdelegation considered aspriority
areas. Hetherefore urged theDirector oftheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division toprovide
delegations, before thenextmeeting oftheBudget Committee, withaconsistent anddetailed document
sothatitwould bepossible tomake useofsome ofthebudget surplus ontechnical assistance activities.
(viii) Least-developed country arrears
28. TheChair saidthatthesame logic asforinforming theSub-Committee onthediscussion of
theuseofthebudget surplus wasbehind herreporting ontheissueofarrears: sheonlyraised theissue
inorder toinform least-developed country delegations andnotwiththeviewforanyaction tobetaken.
Adecision hadbeentaken onthefactthatthesanctions least-developed countries weresubject towhen
theywereinarrears suchasnon-eligibility toparticipate incourses andprofit fromtechnical assistance
would nolonger beapplied toleast-developed countries. Apolicy hadalsobeenadopted which aimed
atclearing thearrears ofleast-developed countries buttherewasnoconsensus onusing WTO resources
tofinance this.However, atleastonepotential donor hadexpressed aninterest infinancing theclearing
ofthearrears oftheleast-developed countries. Shehoped thatarevised version ofthearrears policy
would soonbecirculated inorder forittobesettled. Oneoftheissues raised inthatcontext was
whether thecurrent minimum contribution of0.3percentoftheWTO budget might bereduced to
more closely reflect theleast-developed countries 'actual share ofworld trade.
(ix) Thefollow-up mechanism
29. TheChair saidthatasthefollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting wastobecarried outwithin
theSecretariats ofthedifferent organizations, ways formembers ofthose organizations tomonitor
theimplementation oftheresults oftheHigh-Level Meeting hadbeenlooked atinJune. Sheinvited
opinions andideas onthatissueandshewasconvinced thatfurther consultations wereneeded. There
wereessentiallytwowaysforMembersoftheSub-Committeetomonitorthefollow-uptotheHigh-Level
Meeting, atleastasfarasthethreeGeneva-based institutions wereconcerned. Thefirstoption would
betoholdcommon consultations ofthememberships ofUNCTAD andWTO. Thesecond option
formonitoring thefollow-up would bethrough thecreation ofasteering committee comprising ten
totwelve ambassadors representing donor countries, least-developed countries andother developing
countries. Thesteering committee would holdregular meetings withtheSecretariats oftheconcerned
agencies soastoensure theinvolvement ofdelegations andthetransparency oftheprocess. Shewas
opentosuggestions andwould holdfurther consultations ontheissue.WT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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30. TheSecretariat saidthatthesixagencies werecommitted tocontinuing theinter-agency process
toreview theneeds-assessments ofthose countries thathadshown aninterest inparticipating inthe
process butwhich hadnotbeenfeatured attheHigh-Level Meeting. Aninter-agency meeting had
beenheldrightaftertheHigh-Level Meeting atwhich aschedule offuture work hadbeenagreed on.
Theagencies would meet again on2-4December toformulate theirintegrated responses (pursuant
toparagraph 5(d)oftheIntegrated Framework) totheneeds-assessments ofthefollowing countries:
Angola, Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic ofCongo, Equatorial Guinea,
Ethiopia, theGambia, Lesotho, Maldives andMauritania. Thesixagencies hadtentatively setaside
thelastpartofJanuary toworkonintegrated responses tothefollowing countries: Laos, Samoa, Niger,
Sudan, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Comoros, CapeVerde, Togo, Solomon Islands andMozambique.
Itwasofcourse possible that,inaddition tothose 22countries, more least-developed countries would
express awishtoparticipate andwould submit completed needs-assessments. Theagencies would
decide onhowandwhen toreview those when theyarrived.
31. Therepresentative ofMorocco suggested thattheprocess should startasaninformal onewith
meetings opentoallmembers ofthethreeGeneva-based institutions. Asmany delegations aspossible
should beallowed toattend inthebeginning oftheprocess inorder tomake itastransparent aspossible.
Thenumber ofdelegations attending suchmeetings would mostprobably naturally bereduced. Ifthere
subsequently wasaneedtoformalize theprocess, aself-selected group ofinterested delegations would
haveemerged.
32. Therepresentative ofBrazil supported theideaofhaving openandtransparent consultations.
33. Therepresentative ofTanzania saidthathepreferred theideaofasteering committee ora
hybrid ofthetwoideas mentioned. Amixture ofthetwomight leadtoaprocess which wasboth
transparent andfocused.
34. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthathisdelegation preferred tostartwith
thefirstoption asitwould beuseful toinvolve asmany members aspossible ofthethreeorganizations
togetherwiththethreesecretariatsandtheleast-developedcountryrepresentatives.Therewasaninterest
inkeeping thelarger memberships informed anditwould contribute tothetransparency oftheprocess.
35. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthatifthefirstoption would involve jointmeetings
ofthethree institutions itwasbetter tocreate asteering committee. Whether jointmeetings ofthe
memberships ofthethreeGeneva-based organizations werebeing heldinaformal oraninformal setting,
theorganizations would runtheriskofencountering thesamekindofproblems ashadbeenencountered
inthepreparations fortheHigh-Level Meeting. Thatwassomething which hadtobeavoided and
asteering committee wasthustheonlyoption considering those circumstances.
36. Therepresentative ofEgypt saidthathisdelegation alsoattached importance tothetransparency
oftheprocess andsupported whathadbeensaidbytherepresentatives ofMorocco andBrazil.
37. Therepresentative ofDjibouti saidthatitwasnecessary tocreate abodyincharge oftheGeneva-
based organizations follow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting.
38. TheChair saidthatshewould beholding further consultations ontheissue.
(x) Follow-up fortheleast-developed countries notshow-cased attheHigh-Level Meeting
39. TheChair saidthattheSecretariat already hadprovided information ontheissueoffollow-up
fortheleast-developed countries notshow-cased attheHigh-Level Meeting. Inaddition, itwould
beuseful fortheSub-Committee togetinformation about theextent towhich theeffort hadalreadyWT/COMTD/LLDC/M/10
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beenintegrated intotheUNDP Round-Tables ortheConsultative Group Meetings oftheWorld Bank.
Forthose delegations whoreported tocapitals thatwould sendinstructions todelegations attending
themeetings ofthegoverning bodies oftheother agencies, theneedtoprompt theWorld Bank and
theUNDP totakeupthefollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting intheirregular Round-Tables and
Consultative Group Meetings could beanissue toraise.
40. Therepresentative ofEgypt asked howtheinformation given anddiscussed during themeeting
could beconveyed tothefiveother agencies. Itwasimportant thatallorganizations concerned were
aware ofthediscussions thathadbeentaken place asagreement hadbeenreached onissues thatmight
affect thework oftheother organizations aswell.
41. TheChair saidthatthedelegations present atSub-Committee meetings werealsoshare-holders
oftheWorld Bank andmembers oftheUNDP. Iftheircapitals attached importance tothefollow-up
oftheHigh-Level Meeting, delegations would notonlyexpress thatopinion atWTO Meetings, but
when similar issues wereontheagendas oftheappropriate bodies oftheother organizations aswell.
Agencies hadthetendency oflistening totheirowngoverning body rather thantoother agencies.
Itwould beanadvantage ifasmany delegations aspossible raised thesameissues intheother agencies.
Thatwasthereason whyshe,atthebeginning ofthemeeting, hadgiven thedates when theissues
would figure ontheagendas ofthegoverning bodies oftheother agencies. Shehoped thatthemessages
emanating from theSub-Committee meeting would beconveyed tocapitals through thedelegations
present andfurther totherepresentatives tothegoverning bodies oftheother agencies.
42. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities didnotseeanything wrong intheWTO
Secretariat itselfinforming theother agencies oftheoutcome ofthediscussions intheSub-Committee.
Theexercise wasabove alloneofcoordination among thesecretariats oftheagencies. Thebestway
toputpressure ontheother agencies wastomake itknown thattheWTO hadalready taken upthe
issue offollow-up totheHigh-Level Meeting. Thatwould pushother agencies totakeuptheissue
aswell. Delegations should coordinate nationally.
43. TheChair saidthattheWTO Secretariat would sendacopyofthereport oftheSub-Committee
meeting totheother agencies.
44. Therepresentative ofMorocco suggested thattheSecretariat considered scheduling Sub-
Committee meetings for1998 andtoputthem intotheCalender ofMeetings for1998.