RD/COMTD/AFT/20* 
21 November 2023  
 Page: 1/3 
Committee on Trade and Development  
(Aid for Trade)  Original:  English/anglais/inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT – 59TH SESSION ON AID FOR TRADE  
REPORT ON THE DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  
ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
14 November 2023  
 
 
Comité du commerce et du développement (Aide pour le commerce)  
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT – 59TH SESSION ON AID FOR TRADE  
REPORT ON THE DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  
ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
14 November 2023  
 
 
Comité de Comercio y Desarrollo (Ayuda para el Comercio)  
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT – 59TH SESSION ON AID FOR TRADE  
REPORT ON THE DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  
ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
14 Novem ber 2023  
 
_______________  
  
 
* In Original language only/En langue originale seulement/En el idioma original solamente.  
1 Documents issued in the RD series are not official WTO documents. They usually appear in their 
language of submission and will not be translated systematically into the working languages of the WTO. They 
are intended for use in WTO meeting rooms and are attributed an unofficial symbol for archiving purposes only.  
Les documents de la série RD ne sont pas des documents officiels de l 'OMC. Ils ne paraissent 
généralement que dans la langue dans laqu elle ils ont été communiqués et ne seront pas systématiquement 
traduits dans les langues de travail de l'OMC. Ils sont destinés aux salles de réunion de l'OMC et une cote non 
officielle leur est attribuée à des fins d'archivage.  
Los documentos de la serie RD no son documentos oficiales de la OMC. Por lo general se distribuyen en 
el idioma en que han sido presentados y no se traduce n sistemáticamente a los idiomas de trabajo de la 
Organización. Se distribuyen para su uso en las salas de reunión de la OMC y se les asigna una signatura no 
oficial a efectos de archivo únicamente.  RD/COMTD/AFT/20  
 
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  REPORTING ON THE DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND ENVIRONMENTALLY 
SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
CHINA, CTD 14 NOV 2023  
 
Dear colleagues,  
 
It is my pleasure to take this opportunity and provide a short briefing on the work of the Dialogue 
on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade.  
 
Currently co -sponsored by 76 Members representing more than 85% of global plastics trade, the 
Dialogue has been working for more than 3 years now to identify ways in which e nhanced trade 
cooperation can support global, regional and domestic efforts to address the economic, health, social 
and environmental impacts of plastic pollution.  
 
As we all know, plastic pollution is a true 21st century global challenge of increasing co ncern, in 
particular for vulnerable economies, small island developing states and LDCs who often lack the 
capacity to cope with increasing levels of plastic pollution.  
 
With that recognition in mind, our co -sponsoring Trade Ministers entrusted us to find "concrete, 
pragmatic and effective" outcomes by MC13 on what else could be done from the multilateral trading 
system side to address the issue. Since then, we've been working hard to identify these areas, 
dividing our discussions under three workstreams: t rade efforts to support reduction; trade 
promotion to reduce pollution; and cross -cutting issues, which include improvements to 
transparency, regional and international cooperation and, importantly for our discussions today, 
relevant aid for trade approach es. 
 
Following our initial discussions and the last AfT Global Review process, and with the support of the 
Secretariat, it became clear that while there were already a number of AfT programmes that were 
potentially relevant to trade -related efforts to addr ess plastic pollution, we did not have the full 
picture of what those projects were, what they were aiming to achieve and what were the specific 
needs recipient members might have.  
 
The Dialogue thus launched in July last year a Survey to identify potentia l ways in which future 
global review processes could better capture such information. It also sought to understand: what 
AfT programmes were already being deployed; what were the results achieved so far; and what 
were the specific needs and objectives reci pient members required to implement trade -related 
actions to address plastic pollution.  
 
The Survey was finalized in August and a Factual report containing its key findings can be found in 
the document INF/TE/IDP/W/12. It contains a wealth of relevant info rmation for us and I invite all 
to have a look. I'd also like to thank deeply all delegations and stakeholders who participated actively 
in the Survey. This was a first attempt to provide more transparency to the topic and we already 
learned a lot. As one donor delegation told us in one of our meetings, when they started this process, 
they were certain they would not find many programmes relevant to plastic pollution – as they went 
along, they not only discovered they were doing a lot already, but that more  and better could be 
done. We hope we continue to collect such information in the future and invite all delegations to 
participate.  
 
So let me very briefly provide you with some of the main takeaways:  
 
First,  participants shared ideas on how the AfT questionnaire could better capture plastic -related 
programmes. Overall, participants converged on the utility of a prior categorisation of existing 
programmes to better identify their nature, scope and linkages to trade – including specific plastic 
products, polymers and additives targeted, potential non -plastic substitutes and alternatives 
available in the recipient members and technologies needs. This would in turn help with the 
development of more targeted AfT pr ogrammes related to addressing plastic pollution. Participants 
also noted that in collecting this information, relevant stakeholders engaged in fighting plastic 
pollution should be involved, not least the UNEP, UNCTAD, World Bank, OECD, and others. 
Partici pants also noted that sharing concrete examples at AfT stocktake events could help increase 
engagement on the topic and that a public platform collecting such information could also be helpful.  RD/COMTD/AFT/20  
 
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Second,  the Report also includes the trade needs and priorit y objectives most often indicated by 
recipient donors who replied to the survey. Domestic private sector and civil society engagement, 
followed by access to technology were the needs most often raised, while improving environmentally 
sound management, reco very and recycling of plastics and moving towards more circular plastic 
economies were the top two objectives among respondents. There is much more granularity in the 
report. For instance, it identifies for each of 8 specific plastic pollution -related obje ctives what are 
the top needs recipient members required to realize them. Again, I invite you to have a deeper look.  
 
Finally,  the Report also contains examples of over 35 existing AfT programmes focusing on trade -
related aspects of addressing plastic poll ution. These examples were provided by both donors and 
recipient members who shared their own perspectives and experiences related to the successes and 
challenges faced.  
 
The Dialogue had launched a second Survey, this one specifically focused on so -called  trade -related 
plastic measures – or TrPMs – already adopted or planned to be adopted by WTO members. The 
Survey, captured 223 TrPMs from 85 different WTO Members, from all regions and levels of 
development. About 60 of such measures also identified specif ic needs required for their 
implementation. These largely matched the needs most often identified in the AfT Survey, but they 
do provide some further, measure -specific examples of challenges and opportunities in this area. I 
invite you to have a look at th e report which is available in the document INF/TE/IDP/W/11.  
 
Let me finish by noting that the coordinators of the Dialogue, namely Australia, Barbados, China, 
Ecuador, Fiji and Morocco have  already circulated the first Draft of the proposed MC13 statement  as 
well as its attached open, illustrative, non -exhaustive and evolving compilations of suggestions, 
practices, options, and opportunities. These are grounded in the results of the two Surveys and on 
discussions held throughout the Dialogue's meetings. Co ordinators are now working to integrate 
comments already received. We'd like invite all delegations to join us next Thursday, 23rd November 
when the Dialogue will host its last pre -plenary meeting of the year. It will be a key opportunity to 
help us work t owards finalizing our outcomes for MC13 which will hopefully include constructive 
outcomes based on our experience in identifying specific needs and existing programmes to support 
trade action in this area.  
 
One thing we can say for certain is that there is a lot of good will, momentum and efforts being 
deployed to address the growing scourge of plastic pollution and trade clearly can and must play its 
role. 
 
We also invite those delegations that are not yet co -sponsoring the Dialogue to do so – this is a  key 
opportunity to be part of this crucial piece for trade to address such a pressing 21st century challenge 
presented by plastic pollution.  
 
Thank you.  
 
 
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