WT/MIN(22)/5  
 
10 June 2022  
(22-4385) Page: 1/5 
Ministerial Conference  
Twelfth Session  
Geneva, 12 -15 June 202 2   
 
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE -RELATED COMPONENTS OF COTTON  
PROGRESS REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR -GENERAL TO THE 1 2TH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE  
1. Paragraph 11 of the Bali Ministerial Decision on cotton (WT/MIN(13)/41), adopted by Members 
on 7 December 2013, invites " the Director General to continue to provide periodic reports on the 
development assistance aspects of cotton, and to report on the progress that has been made in 
implementing the trade -related components of the 2005 Hong Kong Minist erial Declaration, at each 
WTO Ministerial Conference ". This report, drafted in response to that mandate, is being forwarded 
for Ministers' consideration at the Twelve Ministerial Conference.  
2. The report  covers: (1) the Dedicated Discussions of the relevan t trade -related developments 
for cotton  mandated by the Bali and Nairobi D ecision s; and (2) the state of play of the negotiations 
on cotton.  This report follows the previous progress reports on the implementation of the trade -
related components of cotton i n documents WT/MIN(15)/12 and WT/MIN(17)/13. This report is 
complementary to, and should be read in conjunction with, my latest periodic report on the 
development assistance aspects of cotton.1  
I.  DEDICATED  DICUSSIONS OF THE RELEVANT TRADE -RELATED DEVEL OPMENTS FOR 
COTTON  
3. Since the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires, nine d edicated discussions of 
the relevant trade -related developments for cotton have taken place .2 
4. These d edicated discussion s were held  in the context of the Committee on  Agriculture in 
Special Session and were organized back -to-back with the Director -General's consultative 
framework mechanism on the development aspects of cotton , as WTO "cotton days" . Since 
November 2018, the duration of  these WTO "cotton days"  has been extended to several days due 
to Members' increasing engagement in both  the trade and  development assistance aspects of  cotton .  
5. While regre tting the lack of an outcome on Cotton  at MC11, Members have reaffirmed the 
importa nce of this topic, and welcomed the holding of th ese d edicated discussion s as concrete step s 
towards  implementation  of the Bali and Nairobi D ecision s on cotton. Members recognized that t he 
dedicated discussion s, although separate from negotiations, provide  a useful  opportunity  to 
exchange views on  policies related to cotton trade from a WTO perspective and to inform  the ongoing 
negotiations on cotton.  
6. The dedicated discussion s are regularly  informed by backg round papers by the Secretariat3 
which compile information and data from Members' notifications and other submissions to the WTO 
 
1 WT/GC/238/Rev.1 - WT/CFMC/DG/9/Rev.1 - WT/MIN(21)/5/Rev.1, circulated on 2 June 2022.  
2 19 June 2018, 28 November 2018, 4 June 2019, 20 November 2019, 30 July 2020, 
13 November  2020, 28 May 2021 , 4 November 2021  and 12 May 2022 . The Chair reports on these  meetings 
can be found respectively in TN/AG/39  - TN/AG/SCC/10 , dated 18 September 2018; 
TN/AG/40  - TN/AG/SCC/11 , dated 11 February 2019; TN/AG/42  - TN/AG/SCC/13 , dated 10 September 2019; 
TN/AG/43  - TN/AG/SCC/14 , dated 21 January 2020; TN/AG/45  - TN/AG/SCC /15, dated 28 September 2020; 
TN/AG/48  - TN/AG/SCC/16 , dated 22 December 2020 ; TN/AG/4 9 - TN/AG/SCC/1 7, dated 13 July 2021 , and 
TN/AG/ 51 - TN/AG/SCC/1 8, dated 22 November  2021. The Chair report on the May 2022 meeting will be 
circulated shortly.  
3 TN/AG/GEN/34  - TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13 and its revisions and addendums.  WT/MIN(22)/5  
 
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  on export subsidies, domestic support and market access, including both tariff and non -tariff 
measures. The Secretariat background papers also include informati on on relevant recent policy 
developments shared by Members in their reply to a  questionnaire, as well as relevant information 
on cotton markets and policies from Trade Policy Review reports.  
7. Members have also continued to benefit from presentation s by th e International Cotton 
Advisory  Committee (ICAC)  on global cotton market and trade trends , as well as on recent 
developments relating to government measures affecting  cotton . These presentations are highly 
appreciated by Members and elicit great interest.  
8. Members welcomed the launch of the Cotton Portal by the WTO and the International Trade 
Centre (ITC) on 11 December 2017  at MC11  in Buenos Aires.  This represented a significant 
development  as the Portal provides a single -entry  point for cotton -specific inf ormation on market 
access, trade statistics, business contacts and development assistance, hence facilitating trade in 
cotton and the monitoring of Members' market access commitments.  The Portal has been improved 
with several new features since its launch,  such as a dedicated ICAC statistics page , a new export 
potential map application to help producers export cotton , and a user guide on the Portal. To further 
enhance the tool, in 2021, a user survey was developed to assess the needs of users from the priva te 
sector, WTO Members and from institutional partners, in particular , in Africa.  
9. Two technical sessions  were held  as part of the 28 November 2018 meeting on the occasion 
of the 10th Dedicated Discussion. Members benefitted from (1) a presentation on  ePing, an SPS and 
TBT alert system also applicable to cotton, and (2) a hands -on session on the Cotton Portal as 
requested by the Cotton -4 countries (C -4)4 during the Dedicated Discussion in June 2018.   
10. Following the outbreak of the COVID -19 pandemic, several initiatives were taken a t the 
request of the C -4 to assess its impact on the cotton sector in least -developed countries.  The 
Secretariat organized first an Information Session5 on COVID -19 and Cotton: "From Facts to 
Solutions" in the margins of the 30 July 2020 Dedicated Discussion. Members subsequently agreed 
at the 15th Dedicated Discussion on 28 May 2021 to include a new standing item on the agenda 
relating to "COVID -19 and Cotton" , starting with the November 2021 meeting . Members also  invite d 
the WTO Secretariat to conduct a study to assess the impact of COVID -19 on the cotton sector in  
the C-4 and other  Least Developed Countries (LDCs) .6 The Secretariat presented the main findings  
of this study at the 16th Dedicated Discussion on 4 November 2021, under the new agenda item.  An 
information session7 on disruptions in supply chains affecting cotton exports from LDCs was held 
during the May 2022 "cotton days" to follow up on the study.  Since 2020, the presentations by ICAC 
have also addressed the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic on the cotton sector.   
II.  NEGOTIATIONS  
11. Following MC11, the negotiations on cotton have continued in open -ended meetings of the 
Committee on Agriculture in Spec ial Session (CoA -SS), complemented by small -group consultations 
in the standard  cotton quadrilateral plus - "Quad Plus"8 – format . Discussions at the bi -annual 
dedicated discussions of the relevant trade -related developments for cotton also inform negotia tions.   
12. Following his designation as Chair of the CoA -SS on 9 April 2018, Ambassador J.R. "Deep" 
Ford (Guyana) included cotton in the initial series of open -ended meetings and consultations which 
he convened during the rest of that year. During that period, the United States also circulated a 
communication on the situation in cotton .9  
 
4 Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, plus Côte d'Ivoire as an observer.  
5 The report on the Information Session ca n be found in document TN/AG/SCC/W/34  - WT/CFMC/W/8 2, 
dated 19 October 2020.  
6 TN/AG/SCC/W/40 - WT/CFMC/W/97  - see also section 9 of report WT/MIN(21)/5/Rev.1 , 
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/covidinpactstudyc4ldcscotton_e.pdf .  
7 A report on the information session will be circulated shortly.  
8 C-4, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, European Union, Pakistan and the 
United  States , plus Turkey since 2020.  
9 JOB/AG/144 , dated 25 September 2018.  WT/MIN(22)/5  
 
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  13. The Chair of the CoA -SS then initiated, during the first half of 2019, a topic -by-topic working 
group process, led by Members, which included meetings on cotton in a t echnical Quad Plus10 format.  
The Working G roup actively engaged in t wo main tasks . Firstly, it undertook a  cotton -related data 
collection exercise within the Quad Plus group : this was  based on a questionnaire which  the C-4 sent 
in July 2018 to a group of M embers . Further to Members' suggestions, the scope of the data collected 
was broadened to production, prices, yields, area of cultivation, number of producers and domestic 
support data, as well as available complementary information on market access and ex port 
competition . Secondly, the Working Group initiated an  exchange on elements and potential options 
for an outcome on cotton , focusing on trade-distorting support for cotton, through  an exercise of 
illustrative calculations based on various Members' past  submissions.  
14. On 31 July 2019, the Chair circulated a report entitled "Working towards doable elements for 
meaningful outcomes". This sought to summarize the various suggestions and ideas put forward by 
Members with a view to clarifying some of the negotiating issues, including cotton, and helping  to 
make progress in identify ing steps that could be taken towards possible "landing zones " on these.11 
15. The C -4 tabled on 18 September 2019 a proposal for a Ministerial Decision on cotton12, whic h 
notably included a reduction of the aggregate measurement of support (AMS) for cotton following a 
tiered formula, a reduction of Blue Box support, and the prohibition of Green Box direct payments 
to cotton producers. While some Members supported the C -413, some other Members, while 
recognizing the Ministerial mandate to treat cotton ambitiously, expeditiously, and specifically, 
considered that the C -4 proposal was excessively ambitious.  
16. On the occasion of the launch of World Cotton Day on 7 October 2019 a t the WTO, the C -4, 
Brazil, China, Côte  d'Ivoire, India, the EU and the US adopted a joint statement14 at the High -Level 
Trade Session on Cotton. The joint statement confirmed the commitment of participants to intensify 
discussions on factors negatively im pacting cotton trade and markets, and to continue efforts aimed 
at enhancing transparency and monitoring trade measures affecting the global cotton market.  
17.  On 14 February 2020, the CoA -SS Chair circulated a report entitled "Elements and processes 
for a po ssible outcome in agriculture at MC12" .15 This confirmed that cotton-specific trade -distorting 
support constitute d the central element of the negotiations on cotton, but that Members' views ha d 
differed sharply on what could constitute a realistic outcome in this regard. A few days after the 
report was issued, the C -4 circulated the Koudougou Ministerial Declaration on Cotton, which the 
group had adopted at the end of January 2020.16 
18. On 24 June 2020, Ambassador Deep Ford circulated his last report as CoA -SS Chair, entitled 
"Implications of COVID -19 and continuity of CoA -SS negotiations" .17 This report conveyed his 
assessment that all Members recognized the importance of enhancing transparency and  monitoring 
cotton -related trade measures , and that cotton -related market access and export competition did 
not appear to be controversial, while wide divergences persisted on cotton trade -distorting domestic 
support.  
19. Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta  (Costa Rica) was appointed as the new Chair of the 
CoA-SS on 21 July 2020. In October 2020, she launched an intensive Facilitator -led process which 
continued until June 2021, which included work on cotton in the technical Quad Plus format .18 The 
main objective  of this process was  to progress the various topics by assisting the Chair with technical  
work and improve d understanding of different issues and concerns, to narrow gaps , and to identify 
potential options .19 
 
10 Chaired by the Agricultural Counsellor from Brazil as "Friend of the Chair".  
11 JOB/AG/163 , dated 31 July 2019.  
12 TN/AG/GEN/49/Rev.1 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/20/Rev.1, dated 18 September 2019 , replacing 
TN/AG/GEN/49 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/20 , dated 15 July 2019 . 
13 See notably the submission by the African Group in document JOB/AG/173, dated 
25 November  2019.  
14 JOB/AG/165 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/21, dated 10 October 2019.  
15 JOB/AG/180 , dated 14 February 2020 . 
16 TN/AG/GEN/50 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/GEN/22 , dated  17 February 2020 . 
17 JOB/AG/187 , dated 24 June 2020.  
18 Co-facilitated by the Agricultural Counsellors from Brazil and Burkina Faso . 
19 Compilation of Facilitators' reports in JOB/AG/201 , dated 10 June 2021 . WT/MIN(22)/5  
 
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  20. The cotton co -facilitators, Brazil and Burkina Faso, noted in their final report that several  
Members considered  that trade -distorting support to cotton could not be addressed in isolation from 
the overall  agricultural negotiation, especially on domestic support. Several Members also 
considered that progress on transparency  would constitute a valuable first step on which Members 
could build to pave the way for further incremental progress ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference. 
Members therefore focused t heir work on ways to enhance transparency during that process.  
21. On 16 June 2021, the Chair of the CoA -SS circulated a report entitled "Way forward towards 
MC12".20 This built upon the work that Members had undertaken during the Facilitator -led process, 
as well as their written submissions and presentations, and the Chair's numerous meetings and 
consultations.  
22. Like her predecessor, the Chair referred to previous mandates and stressed that cotton was 
seen by many Members as an important element of an MC12 agri cultural package, in view of its 
critical role for socio -economic development and for the livelihoods of m illions, particularly  in least 
developed country  Members . She also regretted the absence of convergence on the issue of trade -
distorting domestic supp ort for cotton, but acknowledged the work undertaken  in the Cotton Quad 
Plus format on transparency. Finally, the Chair also noted the absence of new inputs on the issues 
of export competition or market access in relation to cotton.  
23.  The Chair subsequently  circulated on 29 July 2021 a first draft text on agriculture .21 This 
document aimed to serve as a tool to help Members build convergence for an outcome on agriculture 
at MC12.  
24. The C -4 circulated on 8 September 2021 an updated proposal for a Ministerial D ecision on 
cotton that was close in substance to the one presented in 2019.22 
25. Following an intense period of consultations, the Chair circulated on 23 November a revised 
draft text23 under her own responsibility for consideration by Ministers at MC12. The text mainly 
covered transparency and the continuation of negotiations on trade -distorting domestic support for 
cotton in accordance with the mandate to address  cotton ambitiously, expeditiously, and specifically, 
while considering the overall context of th e agriculture negotiations, particularly the negotiations on 
domestic support.  
26. Following the postponement of MC12 after the outbreak of a particularly transmissible strain 
of the COVID -19 virus , the agriculture negotiations resumed in early 2022 including on cotton and 
intensified in May 2022.  
27.  The LDC group circulated in that context a communication24 on 14 April, in which it stressed 
the need to continue the negotiations on domestic support for cotton, and more specifically to 
negotiate specific modalitie s by MC13 to cap and progressively eliminate all forms of cotton trade -
distorting support. The group also suggested to freeze in the interim trade -distorting support on 
cotton at 2019 -2020 levels and refrain from introducing new such subsidies. The C -4 sub sequently 
expressed a similar position during the 1 June CoA Special Session meeting.  
28. The Chair circulated on 31 May a revised draft Ministerial Decision on agriculture including a 
section on cotton, along with a draft declaration on food security and a dr aft decision on the 
exemption of WFP food purchases from export restrictions. Following comments made by Members 
at the informal meeting of the CoA -SS held on 1 June 2022 and subsequent inputs, the Chair 
circulated a revised version of the draft text on 4 June, for a first introduction at an informal meeting 
of the CoA -SS on the same day. Revised versions of the three texts were circulated on 8 June 202225 
following the special meeting of the General Council held on 7 June 2022. These texts were 
introduced during an informal meeting of the CoA -SS held on 9 June 2022. The Chair indicated at 
 
20 JOB/AG/202 . 
21 JOB/AG/215 . 
22 TN/AG/GEN/51 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/23. The African Group also included a section on cotton in tis 
submission JOB/AG/206 , dated 12 July 2021 and entitled " COVID -19 and the Food Security Crisis Calls for 
Urgent Action at the WTO - Eleme nts of a Food Security and Livelihoods Agenda" . 
23 TN/AG/50 . 
24 JOB/AG/227 . 
25 Documents JOB/AG/232, JOB/AG/233 and JOB/AG/234 . WT/MIN(22)/5  
 
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  the end of the meeting that she would finalize the draft texts in light of Members' comments and 
send them under her own responsibility for consideration by Ministers at M C12.  
29. On cotton, the draft text while constituting a streamlined version of the previous one contained 
in TN/AG/50 . It proposes first the continuation of the negotiations on cotton trade -distorting 
domestic support in accordance with modalities to be agreed by MC13  and in line with the mandate 
to address it ambitiously, expeditiously, and specifically  within the agriculture negotiations  taking 
into account progress made in the overall domestic support negotiations . 
30. The draft text also reaffirms the continuation of the dedicated discussions on cotton as 
mandated by the Bali and Nairobi Decisions on cotton. These dedicated discussions are aimed at 
examining relevant trade -related development across the three pillars of market access, domestic 
support, and export competition in relation to cotton.  
31. Finally, the draft text acknowledges the continuation of the work under the development track 
as part of the Director -General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton.  
III.  CONCLUSION  
32. As I said on the occasion of World Cotton Day on 7 October 2021, cotton trade is vital for 
millions of people's lives and livelihoods, especially in least develop ed countries and in particular in 
Africa.  
33. The United Nations General Assembly has also recogni zed the critical role that cotton plays in 
economic development, international trade, and poverty alleviation , in the resolution it adopted 
proclaiming 7 October as World Cotton Day . 
34. The work of the WTO on cotton constitutes a unique example of a product -specific integrated 
approach addressing both development, markets, and trade, and involving close cooperation 
between international, regional, national, and non -governmental actors.  
35. The dedicated discussions on cotton constitute a very useful forum to exchange views on  
policies related to cotton trade from a WTO perspective and to inform  the ongoing negotiations on 
cotton . The development of the Cotton Portal consti tuted a valuable achievement. The various 
initiatives undertaken following the COVID -19 outbreak including two information sessions and the 
study on the impact of COVID -19 on the cotton sector,  also demonstrated the usefulness of the 
dedicated discussions to monitor developments in the cotton sector including in exceptional 
circumstances.   
36. As regards the negotiations on cotton, all Members recognize the mandate agreed over 
15 years ago for cotton to be addressed "ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically within the 
agriculture negotiations "; nonetheless, progress has remained elusive in recent years on the central 
negotiating issue of trade -distorting domestic support for cotton.  
37. I sincerely hope that Ministers will agree on an outcome on cot ton this year as part of an 
agricultural package, that will constitute a significant step forward. My hope is that MC12 will 
reinvigorate the negotiation process and allow Members finally to turn words into tangible decisions 
on the reduction of trade -distorting support for cotton with a clear timeline ahead. Doing so would 
ensure that global cotton markets policies would support the competitiveness of producers in least 
developed and other countries, especially the most vulnerable low -income and resource -poor 
farmers.  
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