TN/AG/48  
TN/AG/SCC/16  
 
22 December 2020  
(20-9291) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Agriculture  
Special Session  
Sub-Committee on Cotton    
 
14TH DEDICATED DISCUSSION OF THE RELEVANT   
TRADE -RELATED DEVELOPMENTS FOR COTTON  
13 NOVEMBER 2020  
Report1 by the Chair person , Ambassador  Gloria ABRAHAM PERALTA  
1.  Pursuant to the Bali Ministerial Decision on Cotton  of 7 December 20132 and the Nairobi 
Ministerial Decision on Cotton  of 19 December 20153, the 14th Dedicated Discussion of the Relevant 
Trade-Related Developments for Cotton took place on 13 November  2020. The Dedicated Discussion 
was held back -to-back with the 34th Round of the Director -General's Consultative Framework 
Mechanism on Cotton  (DGCFMC) dealing with the development assistance aspects of Cotton .  
2.  In my introductory remarks,  I recalled the various activities held in October to celebrate the first -
year anniversary of the World Cotton Day (WCD). The  celebrations included stands exhibiting cotton -
related artefacts and documentation sponsored by the C otton-4 (C4) , China, the International Trade 
Centre  (ITC) and the WTO  and a photo exhibition set up in the W TO, as well as on-line celebrations  
including a dedicated WCD webpage and social media posts. I noted that these celebrations had to 
be considered in the context of the initiati ve led by the C4 countries  towards  the official recognition 
of 7 October as WCD by the United Nations General Assembly. I  also expressed the hope that  the 
efforts made to celebrate WCD  would contribute to creating an auspicious environment leading to 
concr ete results in the Cotton negotiations, including on the outstanding issue of trade -distorting 
domestic support.  
3.  My update on the state of play in the agriculture negotiations  with a focus on cotton  was brief  
since the last CoA Special Session meeting had been held only three days prior to this meeting. I 
noted the launch of a facilitators' led process on 1 October and the appointment of Sergio CARVALHO 
from Brazil and Emmanuel OUALI from Burkina Faso as co -Facilitators for Cotton consultations. I 
referred to the report by the two Facilitators during the CoA Special Session meeting and I committed 
to closely follow their progress and support their efforts.   
4.  Under the agenda item "General Statements from Member s", Burkina Faso , on behalf of the C4, 
underlined how the COVID -19 pandemic had severely impacted the Cotton sector , resulting in 
important financial losses and increased unemployment. Cotton farmers in Africa were  suffering from 
trade policy measures take n at the international level  in this context . The C4 voiced concern 
regarding a possible increase of trade -distorting domestic support provided by some Members in 
response to the pandemic. The C4 therefore urged Members  to find a solution in the negotiatio n on 
Domestic Support and noted that the reduction  and, if possible, the gradual elimination of  trade-
distorting domestic support remained a priority for the Group.  
5.  The C4 also emphasized the importance of transparency in relation to the measures taken in  
response to COVID -19 in the Cotton sector, as well as regarding the implementation of the Nairobi 
commitments on Market Access and Export Subsidies for Cotton. The C4 also stressed the 
importance of transparency in relation to the  removal of all restricti ve trade measures with a view 
to facilitat ing the supply of essential medical goods and food products, as well as  the exports of 
 
1 This report is circulated under the Chair's own responsibility.  
2 Document WT/MIN(13)/41  - WT/L/916, dated 11 December 2013 . 
3 Document WT/MIN(15)/46  - WT/L/981, dated 21 December 2015 . TN/AG/48 • TN/AG/SCC/16  
 
- 2 - 
 
  agricultural commodities, in particular Cotton, which remain ed one of the main sources of income 
and employment for several LDCs.   
6.  Chad stressed that Cotton had a critical role to play to increase incomes and enhance welfare of 
millions of poor farmers in Africa, while contributing to women empowerment, food security  and 
agriculture moderni zation. Chad also echoed the C4's diagnosis regarding the COVID -19 pandemic's 
impact on the Cotton sector. Chad reaffirmed its commitment to the multilateral trading system and 
the negotiations on Cotton, and reminded Members of the ir obligation to f ind fair, balanced, 
substantial, measurable and lasting solutions o n the issue of Domestic Support , with a view to 
creating a level playing field that would benefit African Cotton producers.  
7.  China supported the C4's call in considering th e Domestic Support pillar as a priority. China 
reiterated that the asymmetry in Members' AMS entitlements had to be addressed first while 
reaffirming its willingness to play a constructive role and work with Members to achieve an outcome 
on Cotton.  
8.  Pakist an referred to its statement made during the 13th Dedicated Discussion on 30 July 2020. 
Noting that its national  reforms of the Cotton sector during the last two decades  had eliminated 
government interventions, Pakistan regretted that the global Cotton mar ket situation showed a 
different picture. Pakistan highlighted the negative effects of subsidies provided by developed 
countries  on Cotton farmers in LDCs  and many other developing countries. Such subsidies led to  the 
decline  in Cotton production and cultivation area  in those countries. Pakistan reminded Members of 
the decision taken by Ministers in Nairobi and supported the call by the C4 to address the Co tton 
issue specifically, expeditiously, and ambitiously. Pakistan called for  the WTO Members' swift and 
speedy action to address trade -distorting support to enable its Cotton farmers to fairly compete 
across the globe, especially in the wake of the C OVID -19 pandemic.  
9.  Like other speakers, the European Union (EU) deplored the devastating economic crisis resulting 
from the C OVID -19 pandemic. It had severely hit the Cotton sector and at the same time support 
to Cotton had increased. The EU pointed to the Joint  Statement adopted at ministerial level during  
the WCD launch event on 7 October  2019 which called for an intensification of discussions on factors 
negatively impacting Cotton trade and markets , as well as enhancement of transparency and 
monitoring of  Cotton trade -related measures . The EU stated its readiness to work with other 
Members in this regard and regretted Members' low record of compliance with notification obligations 
and low response ra te to the Secretariat questionnaire including certain major players in the Cotton 
market. The EU urged Members to implement the Joint Statement and noted that as a first step 
Members should improve transparency and provide accurate notifications and replie s to the 
Secretariat's questionnaire. The EU noted its readiness to support reasonable and balanced proposals 
and cautioned that unrealistic and overambitious proposals would lead to failure.  
10.  India noted its support to the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration to address Cotton ambitiously, 
expeditiously and specifically and viewed the commitment made by the C4 in its Koudougou 
Ministerial Declaration on Cotton signed on 12 February 2020 as critica lly important  for small and 
marginal farmers in developing countries. On Domestic Support, India considered that  addressing 
the existing asymmetries in the Agreement on Agriculture by capping, reducing and finally 
eliminating final bound AMS entitlements was the best way forward; on Market Access, India 
suggested to focus on the expeditious implementation of duty -free and quota -free access to Cotton 
imports from LDCs as mandated by the Nairobi Ministerial Decision. India noted that it had provided 
duty-free access to nearly all Cotton imports from LDCs and flagged the concern that several 
Members have not implemented the Nairobi mandate. Finally, with respect to the Cotton 
development assistance component, India reaffirmed its engagement to build a longstand ing 
development partnership with Africa .  
11.  The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC)4 updated Members  on the latest 
developments in the global Cotton  market . ICAC  focused its presentation on the following three 
aspects: (1) trends of world C otton production, consumption, and stocks;  (2) the impact of the 
 
4 ICAC's presentation can be found on  
https://www.wto.org/eng lish/tratop_e/agric_e/agenda_item_3_i_a_icac_presentation_wto_trade_subsi
dies_nov_2020_final.pdf . TN/AG/48 • TN/AG/SCC/16  
 
- 3 - 
 
  COVID -19 pandemic on the textile and apparel sector and its impact on Cotton demand ; and (3) 
evolution of global  assistance to Cotton production .  
12.  The Secretariat introduced the revised background paper5 and addenda6 focusing on the 
updates and highlights of the background paper. The background paper compile s up-to-date 
information and data from Members' notificat ions and other submissions on Export Subsidies, 
Domestic Support and Market Access, including both tariff and non -tariff measures. The background 
paper also captures the Members' latest responses to the questionnaire on Cotton  policy 
developments, as well as relevant information on Cotton  markets and policies included in Trade 
Policy Review reports . 
13.  I reiterated that the quality of the background paper relied on the quality and timeliness of 
Members' notifications and submissions to the WTO, including repli es to the questionnaire circulated 
by the Secretariat. I invite d all Members  to contribute to th e document and be more forthcoming in 
sharing information on recent policy developments, particularly key Cotton actors.  
14.  Members also heard a presentation7 from the Secretariat on Cotton tariffs and the Integrated 
Data Base . The WTO Secretariat introduced the new IDB notification  obligations resulting from the 
IDB Decision G/MA/137 and presented summary Cotton tariff data extracted from the IDB database. 
It was noted that the IDB database contained MFN applied tariffs and import statistics , as well as 
preferential applied tariffs and import statistics for preferen tial regimes  by developed countries to 
developing and least -developed countries  which was particularly relevant for this Cotton monitoring.  
15.  I echoed t he Secretariat 's call for  Members to submit the ir applied tariff data in a complete and 
timely manner. I stressed that the Members' full compliance with IDB notification obligation s, 
including the optional elements such as the applied tariffs under preferential regimes , are important 
to inform the disc ussions in many WTO fora including the Dedicated Discussions  and the 
negotiations.  
16.  The International Trade Centre (ITC)  made a presentation8 on the Cotton Portal . ITC 
summarized the main features  of the Portal  and noted the growing number of users from a cross the 
world.  ITC also introduced a new tool on market price information which provides free access to 
real-time data on prices and market updates from various sources for more than 300 agricultural 
products , including Cotton -related ones .  
17.  The C4 urged Members'  to step up their effort s aimed at expanding the preferential duty regime 
for imports of Cotton and Cotton-related products originating from LDCs. The C4 also reaffirmed its 
support to the Facilitators' led approach and suggested the continua tion of the discussions in the 
Quad Plus format with a clear timetable. The C4 noted that the consultations held in 2019 could 
serve as a basis to identify points of convergence with a view to reaching an outcome on Cotton at 
MC12 on trade -distorting suppo rt. 
__________  
 
 
5 The presentation can be found on 
https://www .wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/agenda_item_3_i_b_presentation_of_gen34r13_pdf.pdf . 
6 Documents TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 12 - TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 12, TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 12/Add.1  - 
TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 12/Add.1 and TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 12/Add.2  - TN/AG/SCC /GEN/13/Rev. 12/Add.2,  
dated 2 November  2020, and  TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 12/Add. 3 - TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 12/Add. 3, 
dated  3 December 2020.  
7 The presentation can be found on 
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/agenda_item_3_i_c_idb_and_cotton_tariffs.pdf . 
8 ITC's presentation can be found on 
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/agenda_item_3_i_d_itc_cotton_portal_mpi_13nov2020.pdf .