TN/AG/SCC/W/18  
WT/CFMC/41  
 
17 May 2013  
(13-2599)  Page: 1/15  
Sub-Committee on Cotton    
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ASPECTS OF THE  
COTTON-RELATED DECISIONS IN THE 2004 JULY PACKAGE AND  
PARAGRAPH 12 OF THE HONG KO NG MINISTERIAL DECLARATION 
ITEM 2C - COHERENCE BETWEEN TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT ASPECTS:  
UPDATE ON THE DEVELOPMENT ASPECTS OF COTTON 
Report of the 18th Round of the Director-General's  
Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton1 
6 December 2012 
  
1  INTRODUCTION 
1.1.  Pursuant to paragraph 12 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, this is the Fourteenth 
Secretariat Progress Report to the Sub-Committ ee on Cotton on the Development Assistance 
Aspects of Cotton. Since the last Progress Report, there have been several developments. First, on 
12 November 2012, the Director-General circulated the 14
th version (WT/CFMC/6/Rev.13) of the 
Evolving Table on Cotton Development Assistan ce under cover of his letter addressed to 
Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives. Second, the 18th Round of the Director-General's 
Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton (DGCFMC) took place on 6 December 2012. Finally, WTO Members have maintained an active interest on all aspects of the cotton dossier, as mandated in the 1 August 2004 General Council Decision and in the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration. 
2  EIGHTEENTH ROUND OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK 
MECHANISM ON COTTON  
2.1.  The Chairman (DDG H.V. Singh) welcomed all participants to the 18
th Round of the DGCFMC, 
in particular those who had travelled from Capitals, the focal points of the C4 countries, 
Ambassador Vokouma, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso and C4 Coordinator and other 
C4 participants, as well as Ambassador John Adank, Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture in 
Special Session (CoA SS) and of its Sub-Committee on Cotton (SCC). 
STATEMENT BY THE C4 COORDINATOR REPRESENTATIVE 
 
2.2.  Ambassador Vokouma of Burkina Faso, on behalf of the C4 countries, said that since the 
Eighth Ministerial Conference (MC8), in Decemb er 2011, no new data had been registered with 
regard to the trade aspects, despite the commitm ent reaffirmed several times by Members at the 
Hong Kong Ministerial in December 2005 to address cotton "ambitiously, expeditiously and 
specifically." He noted that despite repeated action  by the C4, the various Chairs of CoA SS and by 
the Director-General as Chairman of the Trad e Negotiations Committee (TNC) since December 
2005, no progress had been made on the trade aspects of the cotton issue. Efforts undertaken 
through bilateral, plurilateral or multilateral channels had faltered on the inability of Members to agree on even the most vital issues for the poorest and most vulnerable among them. 
2.3.  He continued by saying that it seemed clear that new approaches should be developed to 
achieve results in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). For the C4, these new approaches, 
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  regarding cotton in particular, should be based on the intensification of dialogue, solidarity and 
active search of a sustainable trade solution to the problem of cotton subsidies in a constructive spirit and openness, while taking into account the constraints of various players in the negotiations. The C4 would want to be involved in the drafting of these new approaches; it was of 
utmost importance that cotton be part of the "package" that would be reached before or at Bali. 
2.4.  He thanked the bilateral and multilateral partners for their financial contributions and 
technical assistance made to the C4 and indeed to all 36 African cotton producers, and 
acknowledged the efforts and commitment by the WT O Secretariat in carefully preparing for the 
meetings of the CFMC. He also welcomed Ambassador John Adank's initiative and role as facilitator in the dialogue between the various protagonists of the cotton issue. He informed the meeting that Mr. Arthur P. Kafando, Minister Coordinator of the C4 had asked him to reiterate his gratitude to 
the partners in the North and South who were supporting them through the development 
dimension of the cotton issue – which was a core part of their agenda.   
2.5.  He further stated that the concerned African countries intended to continue the collaboration 
they had formed with the European Union (EU), United States (US), China, Brazil and India in 
order to keep their cotton sectors alive. He went on to underscore that in 2013, two crucial events would take place: the 4
th Global Review of Aid for Trade, scheduled for July 2013 and the 9th WTO 
Ministerial Conference. He stressed that these should be opportunities to pursue further actions for 
the development component of the cotton dossier and in that regard, urged Members to demonstrate ongoing commitment and support to resolving the difficulties facing the African cotton sector, while keeping in mind that the focus on trade was the ideal solution to the 
long-endangered cotton sector. 
2.6.  The representative of Brazil, on behalf of  the G-20, indicated that he considered cotton as 
being one of the most important development issues of the DDA, the reason as to why the Group 
had consistently supported the C4 countries' proposals in the Round. He welcomed the C4 
countries' consideration to table new contribution s as a positive development and reiterated the 
Group's view that any outcome related to the cotton dossier was a priority. 
2.7.  The representative of China supported th e statements made by the C4 countries and by 
Brazil on behalf of the G-20 and reiterated China's support to the mandate stipulated in the 
Hong Kong Declaration. 
2.8.  The representative of India supported the st atements made by the C4 countries and Brazil on 
behalf of the G-20, and restated the importance of  cotton as a vital component of the DDA, both in 
its trade and development aspects, and was theref ore disappointed to see no progress on that 
front so far. She echoed the need for an explicit decision on cotton; any failure to achieve a 
substantive outcome on that issue would continue to limit the gains that they had striven to 
achieve under the development pillar of cotton. 
TRADE POLICY ASPECTS OF COTTON 
 
2.9.  Ambassador Adank of New Zealand thanked the Chair for the opportunity to brief the 
meeting of the DGCFMC on the Trade Policy Aspe cts of Cotton. The meeting provided a good 
opportunity for an update and exchange of views on  the state of play of the DDA with regard to 
cotton, and timely in advance of the TNC taking place the following day. 
2.10.  The Ambassador provided an overview on th e state of play on Agriculture in general, to 
contextualize the issues. Since the last meeting in June, he had chaired two meetings of the 
CoA SS – on 28 September and 16 November 2012 – and had held several consultations in 
between on G-20 non-papers introduced at the 28 September informal (JOB/AG/20 and JOB/AG/21). The first G-20 non paper proposed an understanding on Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) 
administration provisions while the second proposed that the Secretariat circulate updated 
information on both Tariff Rate Quota administration as well as Export Competition. Furthermore, at the meeting on 16 November, Indonesia on behalf of the G-33 had introduced a proposal on some elements of the draft modalities text on Agriculture (TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4) for early agreement 
to address food security issues (JOB/AG/22). Although these proposals constituted a positive 
development for the negotiating process and demonstrated the willingness of Members to look for possible venues for progress, consistent with the gu idance given by Ministers at MC8, they also TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  raised some questions, and in some cases, conc erns, amongst other Members. He pointed out that 
the process of discussion on those papers was still at its early stage and that to his understanding, the Members intended to consider these proposals not only on their own merits but also in the context of the overall balance to be found betwee n the issues, both within and outside discussions 
on agriculture that may be proposed for decision in 2013. 
2.11.  He recalled that at the meeting on 16 November 2012, the request by the G-20 for studies 
on both TRQ administration as well as Export Competition had been endorsed by the Members with 
the understanding that that information compilation exercise would be undertaken by the 
Secretariat within its normal transparency function s and would: (i) not, in any way, prejudge any 
substantive issues that Members may want to pursue in the CoA SS; (ii) remain factual and be based whenever possible on information notified by Members; and (iii) cover in a balanced way the 
various topics to be addressed. He noted that in  the case of Export Credits, where there was a 
specific information gap due to the absence of notifications, the Secretariat would circulate a 
questionnaire to Members seeking information in  that area. Following the request by another 
group of Members, the Secretariat would also prepar e in parallel and following the same principles, 
a study related to Export Prohibitions and Restrictions based on Members' notifications. On the G-20 proposal on TRQ administration, he had been  encouraged by the Members' willingness to 
engage in the consultations which reflected Members' recognition across the spectrum that 
progress on Agriculture remained crucial. The co nsultations had predictably revealed a range of 
sensitivities about the extent to which a selective approach may be able to achieve the overall balance necessary in agriculture. During the meeting on 16 November, he had indicated that "It 
was fair to say that he had not heard 'no' from any Member on the idea that TRQ administration 
may form part of a broader range of Doha-related decisions taken forward the following year, even if it was not possible to say that there had been an unreserved ‘yes’ to the specific proposal of the 
G-20". 
2.12.  He reported that the discussions on 16 No vember on the G-33 proposal on Food Security 
were still preliminary. All Members had recognized the critical importance of Food Security, but 
some Members had reacted with caution and insisted  on the complexity of the issue, and on the 
need to examine closely the proposal so as to  better understand the current practices of the 
Members supporting the proposal. Referring to the TRQ proposal, some Members had taken the view that the assessment of this proposal could have been different, had it been considered in 
isolation rather than as an element of the overall agricultural modalities. Others had considered 
that the best way to contribute to Food Securi ty would indeed have been to conclude the DDA 
including an Agriculture modalities text. In concluding, he had understood that at this stage some 
Members needed more time to reflect on the proposals for decision submitted by the G-20 and the 
G-33 and he had therefore reiterated his invitation  to the Members to engage directly with the 
proponents to discuss the issues on which they sought further clarification. In the meantime, he 
remained available for discussions with any delegati ons or groups that would like to outline their 
views. His intention was to initiate subsequently, and at the appropriate moment in time, a new process of consultations with Members.   
2.13.  Turning to the cotton issue, he recalled that WTO Members had agreed in the terms of the 
July 2004 Framework and at the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial, to treat cotton "ambitiously, 
expeditiously and specifically" within the agriculture negotiations. The Draft Agriculture Modalities text had specific language on cotton which remained the basis for further negotiations on the 
topic. He reminded Members of their agreement at MC8 on specific elements of political guidance 
on cotton to which they had confirmed their commitment to ongoing dialogue and engagement to progress the mandate in paragraph 11 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration to address cotton 
"ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically," within the agriculture negotiations. 
2.14.  He continued by saying that Ministers at MC8 had also highlighted the value of ongoing 
reporting on development aspects of cotton, including by the Director-General, and had commended the work undertaken within the Director-General's Consultative Process to advance 
the development-assistance aspects of cotton. Thus, while there was no agreement on a 
substantive step forward or standstill on cotton as advocated in the C4 proposal, cotton was the only agricultural product specifically mentioned in the concluding Ministerial statement. However, 
since their last meeting in June, he had little to report specifically from his side on the cotton 
issue. TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  2.15.  He recalled that during the last meeting of the Informal CoA SS, he had taken good note of 
one Member's reiteration of the importance of the cotton issue, and of not excluding the possibility 
for some Members to present a proposal on cotton at  some later stage. He stood ready to listen to 
any update Members wished to make in this regard. He concluded that, as confirmed at MC8, 
Members agreed that the mandate for an "ambitious , expeditious and specific treatment" of cotton 
in the Agriculture negotiations had not changed and there was a need for ongoing dialogue and 
engagement in this area. Furthermore, he emph asized that he would continue to encourage 
dialogue between all key cotton players, to get a sense of how they saw progress being made. 
2.16.  The representative of Pakistan informed the meeting that Pakistan's market for cotton was 
liberalized with a zero tariff. Price volatility in cotton was still an issue and she hoped that it would 
be resolved in accordance with the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. She underlined the 
importance of cotton for the national farmers and said that the elimination of subsidies in other 
markets would have a positive effect on th e well-being of Pakistan's poor farmers. 
2.17.  The representative of Brazil said that cotton remained at the heart of the DDA and was its 
most important developmental issue; he remarked that Brazil and the G-20 had been at the 
forefront of the discussion on cotton and had consistently supported the position of the C4 in the Doha Round. He truly hoped that by the next Ministerial Conference in Bali, progress on the cotton 
dossier would be achieved. For Brazil, the current short-term situation of lower subsidies to the 
cotton sector was proving elusive. To his understanding, the high price level was maybe coming to an end; potentially harmful distorting programmes still in place constituted a clear threat to African producers. Brazil was following with grea t attention the discussions in Washington directed 
at drafting a new Farm Bill, assessing its likely impact and potential to generate serious prejudice. 
He revealed Brazil's concern regarding the cotto n programmes of the upcoming Farm Bill to the 
degree of distortion that may be introduced into the world market. Under no circumstances would 
Brazil be in a position to view favourably any se t of programmes that could be more distortive than 
the existing legislation. He concluded by sharing his authorities' apprehension of the introduction of a particular insurance programme, which would have precisely that negative effect – reason 
why Members should consider deliverables on the cotton dossier now rather than later.  
2.18.  The representative of Burkina Faso convey ed his country's appreciation of the efforts of 
Ambassador Adank. He voiced concern on the lack of significant progress, notwithstanding the 
many proposals put forward by the C4 countries and the efforts made by the Ambassador. He 
recalled that, at the meeting of 29 June 2012, he had informed the Members of the C4's travel to 
Washington with the objective of intensifying dialogue with the US – a time at which the US was revising its "Farm Bill". In Washington, they had been confronted with two versions of the text on 
cotton subsidies, i.e. the version that was being circulated in the House of Representatives and the 
one in the Senate. They had tried to find out more about the new system that the US was considering to put in place and had raised a number of concerns with their partners through a 
frank dialogue in both Washington and Geneva. They  intended to continue this dialogue as advised 
at the MC8, and also planned to consult with Amba ssador Adank. He reiterated the C4's priority of 
having market access on a duty-free, quota-free (DFQF) basis for cotton for all African cotton exporters; they would continue to closely monito r the implementation of the bilateral agreement 
between the US and Brazil regarding upland cotton. He concluded by restating the Group's 
flexibility and openness to discuss with other players. 
2.19.  The representative of Argentina thanked th e Chair and Coordinator of the C4 for both their 
presentations, and hoped that in December 2013, the cotton dossier as defined in the Doha 
mandate would have advanced effectively. 
2.20.  The representative of Australia thanked th e Chairman of the CoA SS and said that she was 
pleased to see that there had been a renewed en gagement and reinvigoration of the Agriculture 
Negotiation; it was important from the perspective of making progress in the negotiations more broadly. She noted that the one thing which sadly was absent as clearly stated by the Coordinator of the C4 – was the lack on any outcome on cotton. She reaffirmed her country's willingness to 
engage in trying to find an outcome. The obse rvations made by the delegations that had been 
following closely the development in certain Member's policy orientation and how they were developing policies for the next few years might point to something that could be looked at further 
in the context of the negotiations – to see how those developments might impact on the 
negotiations more broadly. In her perspective, this could be done in the negotiations settings, and comments and observations made by the Members could also be pursued more broadly. TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  COTTON PRODUCTION AND TRADE TRENDS 
 2.21.  By way of introduction, the Chairman no ted that the world had witnessed considerable 
variations and developments ranging across several areas, such as production, trade trends, 
stocks, prices, and prospects, including for cotton-producing LDCs. The International Cotton 
Advisory Committee (ICAC) was assisting in understanding and interpreting these trends. He invited Mr. Terry Townsend, the Executive Director of ICAC, to make a factual presentation on 
the state of the global cotton market.  
2.22.  The representative of ICAC demonstrated the range in prices of each season beginning 
1973-1974 by taking the average Cotlook A Index (C otlook A Index – the indicator of the average 
level of world prices of cotton) and calculating the percentage at the highest value each year. He 
explained that in a usual cotton season, the highest prices of the year would be 15 or 20% above 
the average and the lowest prices would be some 15 or 20% below the average. There were some years when the range of 20, 30 and 40% was exceed ed by a substantial amount including in the 
2010 and 2011 seasons. When in a specific year prices fluctuated abnormally around the average, 
there were some specific factors that affected the market that year – which led to that extraordinary volatility. He explained that there had been no other season since 1973-1974 in 
which prices during the first four months (Augus t, September, October, and November) had shown 
as little variation as was occurring. In 2012, prices had varied by a few percentages points around an average of 83%. Moreover, while prices had come down, they were not coming down as much as may have been suggested.  
2.23.  During the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Cotlook A Index averaged US$0.74 cents per pound and 
there was a range roughly between 50 to 90 cents because of the recession and the particular response of the market after that recession. Pr ices spiked in 2010 and 2011, and the average 
increased to US$1.64 – way outside the historic range. The average prices came down to 
US$0.83 cents per pound – beginning with very little variation but still pretty high by historic average. The volume of cotton stocks and the level or the strength of the demands would have 
suggested that prices could be lower than they were – volatility was very low, prices were lower 
than the previous year and two years before that but still remained high by historic standards. 
2.24.  In the early 2000s, the stock was around 9-10 million metric tons, coinciding with relatively 
low prices. The A Index was at around 50 cent per pound at that time. During the recession, 
farmers responded with reduced plantings and stock fell. As the world economy came out of the 
recession, and prices rose, farmers responded by  boosting production. For the current season, 
ending stocks by 31 July 2013 were expected to amount to more than 16 million metric tons, 
doubling what they were four seasons earlier. He explained that stocks would be rising to cover 
nearly nine months of use. On average, the world cotton industry was comfortable when the 
stock/use ratio was 50% meaning, stocks would comfortably cover six months of use; the situation 
would get a little tight once stocks fell to cover four to five months of use. 
2.25.  He went on to say that African producers were affected by, as well as benefitting from the 
opportunities provided by the current world – mark et situation. The production in the mid-2000s 
was two million metric tons for all of Africa. During the recession, it went down to one million 
metric tons; it has since partially recovered and was now estimated at 1.7 million tons. As a share 
of worldwide production, Africa's share dropped fr om 7% down to 4% and has since recovered to 
6%. African exports climbed due to a shift in the location of mill use of cotton. Exports were 
around 1.5 – 1.7 million metric tons in the middle of the last decade, developed during the 
recession and were now recovering as a share of the world exports. They had fluctuated from 16% 
to 10% and were now coming back to 16%. This was a reflection of market opportunities being 
provided by the policies of China that were stabilizing prices – reducing volatility and keeping 
prices from dropping more than they would by shifting mill use from Chinese mills to other 
locations.  
2.26.  He continued by saying that not all regions of Africa were responding in the same manner to 
these opportunities. In recent years, francophone Africa had taken advantage of the higher prices 
and production was still expanding. Eastern an d Southern Africa had also expanded their 
production in recent years but recently less so due to weather and lower prices. Likewise North 
Africa's production had decreased over the long te rm. He illustrated this with the example of six 
African countries, representative of what had been happening across all of Africa. The six countries chosen exemplified certain trends in policy, production and consumption and trade. Egypt, TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  synonymous with cotton, had an unbroken consistent line of statistics dating back to the 1870s – 
efforts that should be applauded. In 1960s, the Government of Egypt nationalized the cotton industry, remaining nationalized through to the mid-1990s. In that period, cotton farmers actually 
had specific quotas for cotton they had to deliver. Under that regime, cotton production in Egypt 
was around 300 to 400 thousand tons each year; mill use, proximally equal to production, resulted 
in an inefficient industry but provided  employment for tens of thousands.  
2.27.  By the mid-90s, the Government of Egypt conc luded that the cost of the inefficiency and the 
implicit subsidies involved in nationalization were greater than the benefit and in 1994, Egypt 
passed four specific laws that led to the libera lization of the cotton sector. The shift from a 
nationalized cotton industry where farmers had quotas for what to plant, and how much to produce, to the current liberalized system, where farmers choose based on relative prices, resulted 
in a downward trend in cotton production. Farmers made the choice because they were better off 
growing other products, especially rice, given the pr ices. As the industry liberalized, mill use also 
declined; the Government of Egypt then gradually privatized textile mills, which allowed older mills 
to go out of production – which led to a competitive textile sector. Currently, mills that are 
operating are world class both in terms of techno logy and profitability. During the period of 
nationalization, the objective was to keep production and consumption more or less in balance and 
export only a small amount of surplus. With liberalization, exports actually climbed from 
essentially zero to 100 thousand tons or more each year. 
2.28.  The second of the six examples was the one of Burkina Faso, where the privatization or 
structural adjustment programmes implemented in the 1990s came off well. Burkina Faso broke 
up its state monopoly cotton company in 1995, leading to three separate companies operating 
competitively in three different regions of the co untry. Production was increased though with peaks 
and troughs associated with weather and prices; at lower cost and with greater efficiency than was 
occurring during previous regimes. Mill use of cott on in Burkina Faso had been stubbornly stuck at 
about 4,000 tons but there were efforts with a jo int venture from India to improve this in the 
future. Basically everything produced was exported. 
2.29.  Mali, a neighbouring country, was another example of a country that was doing fairly well 
but had not introduced structural adjustment programmes. The state cotton company of Mali – Compagnie Malienne du Développement des Textiles (CMDT) still existed. Efforts to privatize CMDT had been ongoing for the past ten years. Before the recent political turmoil, bids for different 
segments of CMDT had been evaluated but this ha d been put on hold. Production in Mali was not 
increasing and hovered around an average of 150,000 tons. As in Burkina Faso, there was no growth in mill use. Exports essentially equalled production. It was interesting to note that in 
Burkina Faso, where industries had been reformed  and privatized, cotton production had remained 
at levels fairly similar to Mali. It was hard to say unambiguously that structural adjustment programmes either helped or halted. 
2.30.  Côte d'Ivoire was an example of a country  where the cotton sector had survived against all 
odds. The constant political turmoil in Côte d'Ivoire should have meant the end of the cotton industry which was highly capital-intensive and required a lot of organization. In fact, production and exports of cotton had more or less remained stable. Production had been maintained around 
100,000 to 150,000 tons. As with the other countries , there had been year-to-year variation linked 
both to prices and the weather, but the real message was that the institutional reforms that Côte d'Ivoire had put in place in the 1990s to sh ift responsibilities from the government to the 
professional associations to organize the industry had been successful. Côte d'Ivoire used to have 
a fairly significant textile industry in the 1990s but this was based entirely on subsidies, where cotton was taken from farmers below market prices and given to textile mills, resulting in mill use 
of 20,000 to 30,000 metric tons a year. As the subsidies were phased out, mill use in Côte d'Ivoire 
had fallen and was now essentially the same as in Burkina Faso and Mali – just a few thousand tons.  
2.31.  Zimbabwe was another example in the early 1990s of sustainability through the private 
sector. The hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, the difficulties with land tenure issues and all the 
problems that had plagued the general economy of Zimbabwe were well known but despite this, 
the cotton industry provided employment to ap proximately 200,000 households. Production had 
been rising and exports expanding. As with Côte d'Ivoire, mill use which used to be subsidized 
decreased with the elimination of subsidies. Zimbabwe was another example of how the government shifted authority over the organization and the provision of inputs to the private TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  sector in the 1990s. The cotton sector of Zimbabwe had remained relatively healthy and continued 
to grow. 
2.32.  The last country he commented on was Tanzania, which was the best performer in 
encouraging mill use. There again, a lot of year-to-year variation in production for a number of 
reasons with exports generally following producti on. In Tanzania, mill use had risen to a fairly 
significant level of 30,000 metric tons. Tanzania bene fitted from its location on the eastern side of 
Africa – proximity to Asian markets; and had been getting a lot of joint venture, direct foreign 
investment from Thailand and Indonesia (private sector). Tanzania was considered to be a 
profitable location for investment, leading to an increase in efficient and world class high quality textile production in Africa using African cotton with the products exported to the world markets including Asian markets. It was notable to see what could be done with the combination of good 
government and the accident of geography. 
2.33.  He summed up the situation in Africa by drawing attention to the underlying problem faced 
by African producers, which was a decline in yield. In the early 1990s, the world yield was around 
550 to 600 kilograms per hectare and had since grown to 750. In the early 1990s, the African 
yield in all of Africa was around 400 kilograms per hectare and had since dropped to 350. The gap between the world yield and African yield had been widening. A year to year variation could always 
be explained by weather and other issues but the fundamental problem was mainly caused by the 
inability to supply inputs, particularly fertilizers to farmers on a consistent basis. In countries like the US, Australia or Brazil, between 300 kilogram s and 400 kilograms of fertilizers per hectare 
were applied on cotton to maintain the soil fertility. To compare: in Africa, this figure was 
4 kilograms. Hundreds of thousands of farmers across Africa had no access to fertilizers at all while 
the slash and burn agriculture still remained a common practice. Land would be farmed for two to three years and then a family would move on to another plot of land for a few years to allow the 
original land to recover. The problem of supplying inputs to African farmers – small holders was 
the crucial challenge facing the cotton market. 
2.34.  He concluded by focusing on trade data, with China being the biggest importer by far. 
Figures for the previous season showed that Chin a had imported 5.3 million metric tons, against 
the rest of the world 4.4 million metric tons. For the current season, China was expected to import around 2.5 million tons and the rest of the wo rld, 5.2 million tons. Though cotton world trade 
dropped from 10 million tons to around 7.7 million tons, it did not significantly affect the level it 
had been at over the past decade. The US wa s still the largest exporter, exporting around 
2.5 million tons for the current season down from 3 million tons two seasons ago. Exports from India had dropped for the season as mill use in India had risen. The opportunity being provided by 
the drop in textile mill activities in China was that other countries were stepping in to fill the gap. 
Much of the surplus of cotton in India was being used for the textile industry, leading to a drop in exports from over 2 million tons to as little as 1 million tons. Brazilian exports were declining from 
a million tons to a little less than 800,000 tons po ssibly due to anticipated less plantation by Brazil. 
These were forecasts, because Brazil had not begun planting its crops yet. Nevertheless, Brazil was expected to do so because of the shift in prices of cotton, relative to those of soy beans and maize. Australia had also come down from a record in the previous year of more than a million 
tons. It was expected that Australia would be pr oducing and exporting a little less. Francophone 
Africa would continue to take advantage of the current market opportunities, producing and exporting more. Pakistan, the next largest export er with a very controlled economy based on 
quotas of production for exports rarely showed any variation from year to year. 
2.35.  The Chairman thanked the representative of ICAC for his substantive presentation and 
noted that out of the several important factors identified, the key ones should be looked into. He 
underlined that this had been illustrated with the experience of a number of African countries and 
that in addition to structural adjustment programmes, other aspects such as FDI, access to market, ease of transport and availability of inputs were important factors. One worrying key feature was the gap between yields which were infl uenced by the timely supplies of inputs. These 
were poverty related issues and deserved special attention in development programmes. 
2.36.  The representative of Pakistan was particularly interested to see how the different aspects 
of trade policy and the choices that countries made had created an impact on production. She 
underlined the importance of input supplier indu stries to promote production. She gave the 
example of fertilizer. Their non-availability was a very crucial factor. Lack of quality seeds was another factor which could have a huge impact on the yield and production. These were the areas TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  where most targeted and focus work was needed, which could be done under development 
programmes. 
2.37.  The representative of the United States th anked the representative of ICAC for his valuable 
expertise and expressed appreciation on the presen tation as being one of the richest in terms of 
linkages between the development side and exchan ges of expertise or other types of information 
provided by donors. The issues laid out in the pr esentation were not just on what had been done 
on the development side and the donor assistance but on the linkage with the private sector and 
with conducive national policies as well. 
2.38.  The representative of Burkina Faso expr essed thanks to Mr. Townsend of the ICAC and 
informed the meeting that a number of initiatives were underway with Brazil in particular with 
regard to the experience in Mali, aiming at increasing yields. He mentioned the West African 
Common Industrial Policy (WACIP) programme. On organic cotton, he informed that the first 
conclusions of the extension of organic cotton had been drawn. Regarding the organization of the sector, the reforms reported by the representative  of ICAC were correct. Burkina Faso expected a 
little more for this year's harvest, around 500,000 tons because it had been a good rainy season. 
The first harvest would be around 500,000 tons and the other two supplements would be either 200,000 or 300,000 tons.  
2.39.  The representative of Benin thanked both the Chairman and the representative of ICAC. The 
sector in Benin had experienced some problems but these were being solved. He invited the 
representative of ICAC to come to Benin. He announced that production in Benin was estimated at around 500,000 tons that year. He concluded by in forming that other authorities were working to 
improve the industry and that Mr. Town send's experience would help them. 
2.40.  The representative of Cameroun thanked both  the Chairman and the representative of ICAC 
for the clear update and analysis of the case studies presented. He noted that there was no one 
clear solution. Each country had its own way of dealing with its issues. Privatization had not given 
the results anticipated or expected but two aspects should be taken into consideration by partners 
and donors: the transformation and yield. Many lessons could be learned from the case of 
Tanzania, and maybe that was the way to follow. 
2.41.  The Chairman concluded on this item by th anking again the Executive Director of ICAC, for 
his presentation and the Members and participants who intervened with comments.  
DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S EVOLVING TABLE ON COTTON DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 
 
2.42.  The Chairman said that the Evolving Table (ET) was the WTO Members' well-established 
common transparency tool for tracking and monitoring the commitments and disbursements by 
the development community in the implementation of the mandate on cotton development 
assistance. It had also become the common platform for a development dialogue between the donor community and assistance recipients for the development of the cotton sector. On 
12 November 2012, the Director-General had circulated to Members the fourteenth version of the 
ET, contained in document WT/CFMC/6/Rev.13. He invited Mr. Shishir Priyadarshi, Director of the Development Division, to highlight the key points of the ET. 
2.43.  The Director of the Development Division recalled that the ET had been prepared on the 
basis of inputs from Members, namely, Australia, Brazil, EU and some of its member States 
(Germany and the Netherlands), Japan, Switzerland and the US. He noted that inputs had also been received from one recipient of assistance namely Cameroon and encouraged other 
beneficiaries to do likewise in order to have as complete a picture as possible of all the 
development assistance being channelled to the cott on sector. Moreover, inputs had been received 
from several multilateral organizati ons, i.e. the IMF, ITC and OIC. 
2.44.  He explained that under the ongoing activities of the Cotton Specific Development 
Assistance, the number of beneficiaries stood at 27 and the number of commitments at 59. The value of commitments had increased reaching US$354 million, whereas the total value of disbursements stood at US$97 million with a ratio of total disbursements totalling only 28% of 
commitments. For the broader framework of de velopment assistance under the heading of 
Agriculture and Infrastructure-related Developmen t Assistance, the number of beneficiaries stood TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  at 29 and the number of commitments were 47. The value of commitments, stood at 
US$4.70 billion and the total value of disbursements re mained stable at US$1.1 billion with a ratio 
of 23% of disbursement of total commitments. The main change corresponded to a project from 
the Netherlands for €11 million that was taken away  because it was reported as having started in 
2002. He also drew attention to footnote a on pa ge 10, signalling that "Part II did not include the 
totality of agriculture and infrastructure-related assistance by the EU and its member States, such as through the 10th EDF". 
2.45.  Moving on to information on the completed activities, an important aspect of both the 
monitoring and transparency aspect of this exercise, he reported an increase in the total number of completed activities, 132, benefiting 40 beneficiaries. The total value of commitments for the completed projects was over US$309 million. He noted one salient point in a footnote included in 
the Summary on page 28, pointing out that some activities reported from certain multilateral 
agencies, which were partly funded by the Europe an Commission, were already listed in Part I – 
active activities and that the purpose of the footnote was to avoid the double-counting of certain 
projects. 
2.46.  Similarly, under the completed activities  under the framework of the broader assistance 
under Agriculture and Infrastructure-related Development Assistance, the number of completed 
activities stood at 67, covering a total of 17 beneficiaries. The total value of these completed 
activities in terms of commitments was US$306 million, whereas the value of actual disbursements related to these activities was US$304 million, underscoring a significant increase in the commitments and disbursements for the completed activities. He recalled the main goal of the ET, 
as a well-established monitoring tool of development assistance for cotton. The ET had become an 
example of transparency, where al l the inputs were cross-checked and verified and that it had 
helped to develop synergies in other areas of the WTO. It served to avoid the double-counting of 
activities, and was an important tool in the implementation of the DDA mandate and a common 
platform for a development dialogue between the donor community and recipients of assistance 
for the cotton sector development. 
2.47.  With regard to the gap between commitments and disbursements, he added his voice to 
that of the Chairman to request donors to enhance their reporting of activities in order to close this gap in a significant way. On the notification of National Cotton Sector Focal Points, he said that their number had increased by only two, to reach nine. He urged cotton proponents to 
communicate the names and coordinates of their national focal points in order to improve the 
information channels with assistance providers and make the exercise meaningful and productive. Finally, on the question of the qualitative assessment of assistance, it was essential to make 
progress on two tracks: firstly, all stakeholders should endeavour to enhance their reporting in 
order to provide the most accurate quantitative pi cture of all the projects listed in the ET, and 
secondly, participants should deepen the end-results' analysis of the activities reported, bringing in 
a qualitative dimension. 
2.48.  The representative of the European Union thanked the Secretariat for the presentation and 
encouraged donors active in the cotton sector to include their programmes in the table, in 
particular, South–South partners. He informed the meeting of some updates of programmes of the 
European Commission (EC) as well as for Germany and the Netherlands. The EC together with its 
member States made the biggest contribution amongst donors to the African cotton sector. Their programmes covered strategic areas under the action framework of the EU-African partnership on 
cotton; a programme which benefited from its steering and monitoring committee overseeing the 
implementation of the main regional strategies. This committee also benefited from its discussion with professional organizations, regional organizations and donors. In light of this, he reported on 
the latest developments regarding this EU-Africa pa rtnership. At the beginning of the year, the EU 
had signed a financing agreement to support the consolidation of the EU-Africa partnership for a total amount of €11 million; those programmes were included at the bottom of page 3 of the ET. He added that the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization 
(FAO) had been tasked with implementing specific activities of the regional cotton strategies and 
that the contract for this was signed that week. The FAO was in charge of supporting the competitiveness and sustainable intensification of the African cotton sector through capacity 
development on integrated production and test management and disseminating 
environmentally-friendly agricultural practices through farmer field courses in five African countries. TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  2.49.  He continued by saying that the ITC woul d work closely with the regional focal points 
regarding competitiveness and commercial viability of African cotton value chains. He further explained that the delay between the signing of financial agreemen t and finalizing the contract was 
mainly due to the discussions that had taken place with the regional stakeholders to ensure the 
best implementation of the cotton strategy – to  start in January 2013. This programme aimed to 
improve coordination between actors within the sectors as well as the regions and enhance competitive sustainable agricultural practices in line with the EU-development approach set out in 
the agenda for change. On the qualitative assessment of the table, he noted that the programme 
supported the regional focal points hosted by the three regional organizations: COMESA, WAEMU and ECCAS, and aimed to re-enforce the capacities of professional associations and cotton stakeholders. In addition to these regional foca l points, there would also be a pan-African focal 
point based in Brussels at the ACP House and be tasked with coordinating support in the main 
three regions and with the monitoring and implementation of the regional strategies. On the question of gaps between commitments and disb ursements, he was of view that the overall 
calculation of disbursement rates which involved programmes with different time-frames did not 
give a consistent story. For individual gaps in disbursement, there were different reasons according to specific cases and programmes. On ho w to work more on the qualitative side of the 
table, he suggested preparing a more qualitative report perhaps on a yearly basis. 
2.50.  The representative of the United States co mmented on the first part of the table by saying 
that the figures were not as high, possibly because some of the partners were presently targeting 
more important projects. He recalled that in terms of numbers, his delegation had provided the 
Secretariat with some updated information on disbursements; he encouraged international 
organizations to put more emphasis in that regard. 
2.51.  The representative of Australia informed on the update of data and notified the meeting of a 
modest project which had started late in 2011 , allowing an exchange between Australia's 
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research  Organization and West and Central African 
Council for Agriculture, Research and Development. This had several stages to it and was delivered 
during the course of the year. It involved several exchanges such as the travel to Australia in 
March 2012 of the Burkina Faso Minister for scienti fic research and innovation to which there were 
subsequent follow up meetings and a workshop held in Burkina Faso in September 2012. Several keys messages came out of the interaction held thro ughout the course of that year, such as while 
the average yields in West African cotton farms were well below that of a number of Australian dry 
land cotton farms, it was not the case in all instances. Marked distances were noticeable between those farmers who had access to adequate finance and applied good best practices management in 
their farming. Their yield was significantly different from those who did not have that access to 
financing – which was quite a critical issue. Other findings related to how to improve yields and the profitability of West African farmers. The focus was on machinery to improve yield, the equipment 
to improve the fibre quality, micro finance to pr ovide farmers with credit online, and more herb 
tolerant cotton to improve weed control. 
2.52.  Based on Australia's intervention, the Ch airman suggested that a presentation on best 
practices be worth considering for the next meeting. 
2.53.  The representative of Burkina Faso thanke d the Secretariat for being an important interface 
between the technical and financial partners and beneficiaries, and encouraged Members to 
continue to work together as much as possible. Before commenting on the table, he welcomed the 
Ambassador from Zimbabwe and the UEMOA. He spoke of the importance and social significance of 
cotton for Burkina Faso. It occupied about 350, 000 farms assisting over four million people, 
mobilizing upstream and downstream sectors that benefited from its induced effects, including 
Trade, Banking, Manufacturing and Transportation . The revenues generated by this stimulated 
domestic consumption and state benefits, particularly through the collection of taxes, main source of funding for economic and social development. He noted that for the cotton season 2012/2013, the harvest of seed cotton was expected in the range of 572,000 tons for 549,000 hectares 
planted. He welcomed the new structure of the ET in permitting a better assessment of the 
programmes and projects on cotton and their operat ional status. He reiterated the C4 countries' 
satisfaction with respect to the relevance of the Consultative Framework put in place by the 
Director-General. 
2.54.  With regard to the figures, he noted that  most of the projects were being implemented in 
the field, but the provisions put in place by donors  did not always enable, at this stage, to assess TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  the amounts disbursed. He confirmed that some projects were being implemented in the C4 
countries by Brazil, EU, France, US, ITC, UNID O, CFC and the World Bank. He recalled that 
Burkina Faso, on several occasions, had expresse d the wish to include the principle of true 
coordination of interventions by donor countries, which would contribute to a better rationalization 
of the programmes' content and resources allocated for their implementation. This coordination 
would ease the implementation of similar programmes by several donors, capitalize on the acquis of projects already implemented, and promote synergy between programmes which were under 
way. He underscored the importance for donors and beneficiary countries to cooperate and 
coordinate on the design and implementation of  programmes in order to improve cotton sector 
competitiveness. Some initiatives in that direction were being developed with the C4 (Cotton Road Project) and the UEMOA (Revised Strategy agenda  Cotton textiles), as well as the partnership 
EU-Africa on cotton. He noted that the importance of focal points and their presence in the 
beneficiary countries should facilitate cooperation with donor countries. Regarding the ET, in particular its annexes on the development assistance in agriculture and infrastructure, he made 
specific comments and informed on the working session held the day before between focal points 
and the ITC. 
2.55.  The representative of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) thanked the Chairman and 
elaborated on the recent interventions in the cotton sector addressing important constraints in 
Africa. He notified the completion of one of the CFC flag projects in the African cotton programme, which focused on the introduction of quality meas urements of cotton based on instrument testing. 
The project was made possible through joint financial support from the CFC and the EU through its 
ACP-agricultural commodities programme and had,  amongst others, enabled the establishment of 
two state-of-the-art regional testing centres. He  mentioned that two new African cotton projects 
had become fully operational that year. The first entitled "Improving Productivity and Marketing of 
Cotton" was initiated by the Dutch NGO "Solidaridad" with activities in Tanzania and Zambia. This 
pro-cotton project was a pilot project focusing on using well-established producers organizations as intermediaries to effectively reach out to sm all holder cotton producers to enable them to 
access technical assistance including better economic practices, access to finance, capacity 
building, access to markets and products diversif ication and value addition. The second project 
concerned the development of national cotton class systems in Kenya and Mozambique. The project was to provide assistance to both countries to develop and introduce instrument-based 
testing in both countries. Recently, they had initiated a new partnership model for CFC projects 
with the objective of up-scaling efforts for sustainable and commercially viable commodity production.   
2.56.  The new CFC partnership model would target specific commodities' constraints for 
enterprises and provide them with financial in struments tailored to their needs. The CFC's 
governing bodies had decided that the focus of the Fund's assistance portfolio would from 2013 
onwards be directed towards loans rather than grant support thereby placing greater emphasis on 
supporting commodities' development activities, which had a direct income generating impact and enabled repayment of the loans provided. Guidelines  on the type of activities which could possibly 
qualify for CFC support were provided on the Fund's website where the application could also be 
downloaded. It was expected that this focus on support to private led activities would generate an 
impact throughout the various commodities value chains, including cotton. He hoped that more than in the past, targeted projects would from th e outset be focused on direct impact. Activities 
addressing expansion of export potential were pa rticularly welcomed, providing a possible link to 
the WTO's Aid-for-Trade Initiative. At this moment, in the early phase of new and challenging developments with the objective of making the Fund's commodity development support more 
effective, with a more direct substantive income generating impact, it could take more time to 
firmly establish the programme. However, he reco nfirmed at this stage that the Fund remained 
committed to further support cotton development acti vities with an even wider range of new and 
dedicated commercial partners targeting activities, which had a sound prospect of increasing the 
income generating capacities of actors in this supply chain with a clear potential for future 
expansion. 
2.57.  The representative of the International Trade Centre (ITC) thanked the EU for supporting 
the cotton sector in Africa and gave highlights on what the ITC was doing. Under the European 
Development Fund (EDF) – cotton projects, three thin gs were being done together with the EU and 
FAO. First, support in strategies implementation  management of those three regional strategies 
that had been developed together with COMESA for West, East and Southern Africa, UEMOA for 
West Africa and ECCAS for Central Africa. As mentioned earlier by the representative of TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  Burkina Faso, the strategies were also potential instruments to coordinate donor activities in the 
different regions and to accelerate the implementati on rate mentioned by the US. He recalled that 
the strategies not only covered cotton but the enti re value chain of cotton. Second, the promoting 
of African cotton in selected markets mainly in Asia and Africa. Third, the ITC supported the local 
fibre transformation in Africa to the introduction of new low-cost technology. The ITC was 
envisaging collaborating with partners from India in a South-South cooperation, as well as within Africa with partners in Ethiopia who had much to share. He concluded by saying that as regards 
South-South cooperation, the ITC continued its collaboration with China and that every year ITC 
implemented a training programme together with the Ministry of Commerce of China.  
2.58.  The Chairman thanked the C4 focal points for coming to the Consultative Framework for the 
second time. He said that the discussions under the "Qualitative Assessment Accompanying the 
Quantitative Monitoring and Review of the Evolving Table", had made the dialogue amongst 
participants more interactive and provided a basis for improving the effectiveness of the exercise. As stated by the Director-General in his cover note of the most recent ET revision: "he was 
confident that the enhanced interaction between donors and recipients would also enable a 
qualitative assessment to emerge of the various pr ojects in the Table". He noted that there were 
still challenges needed to be addressed collectively, and that those included the necessity to 
sustain implementation so as to bridge the commitment/disbursement gap. He continued by 
saying that all cotton proponents would need to identify their focal points to report about cotton projects, programmes and activities; they would continue to depend on them for any meaningful monitoring and review of implementation. In some cases, he regretted to note that for individual 
projects, no data for disbursement was available an d that this would be one of the items which he 
would take up in his consultations. He concluded by thanking China for the funds provided to enable the participation of the C4 focal points to be at the meeting. 
SOUTH-SOUTH COTTON COOPERATION  
 2.59.  The Chairman recalled that the mandate on this item was reflected in paragraph 12 of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. The contributions from Brazil, China, India, and Pakistan on the platform of South-South cooperation had been discussed earlier and been particularly important. 
2.60.  The representative of India said that her country remained deeply committed to providing 
technical assistance for capacity building to fellow developing countries and LDCs under the South-
South cooperation framework. As reported in the previous meeting, the cotton technical assistance 
programme was launched by India in March 2012 with a budget of Rs 210 million. The programme would provide technical assistance in the form of training and capacity building to seven cotton 
producing countries in Africa including the C4 countries, Nigeria, Uganda and Malawi over the 
period of three years. The programme would cover activities aimed at helping the C4 countries and the other cotton producing countries identified under the project to increase cotton production, 
improve extension and support facilities, enhance research and development, create and 
strengthen marketing and distribution infrastructu re and downstream industries in the textile and 
clothing sectors. She stated that the progra mme had taken off successfully and was now under 
active implementation in collaboration with governments of the partner countries closely 
associated with specific implementation plans in each country. Sensitization workshops had been 
held in the beneficiary countries with a view to spreading awareness about the programme and ensuring that the benefits trickled down to the cotton farmers and relevant stakeholders. A project 
had also been set up in Burkina Faso and a programme coordinator had been identified in the 
partner country. A website had been created to provide updated information about programme implementation. Activities undertaken under that programme included a 15-day training 
programme on new dimensions of agricultural ex tension management, which was held in India in 
September 2012 with 18 participants from designated partner countries. The training programme included lectures and field visits to provide an exposure on cotton extension practices. A second 
training programme on cotton production technologies was conducted at the institute for cotton 
research in Nagpur in October and November with 32 participants from identified partner 
countries. The programme included lectures and practice sessions on topics covering seed production, seed processing of organic cotton, integrated water and waste management and 
exposed participants to recent developments in cotton productions technologies. Activities in the 
pipeline included regional training programmes on post-harvest management and value addition of crop residue, an exposure visit for policy makers, and a five-day training programme for scientists, 
during December and January. A regional knowledge , cluster training centre on post-harvest and 
genuine technology was proposed to be set up. A suitable site for its establishment was being TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  identified in consultations with Benin. On the  whole, the programme was on track and progressing 
well in collaboration with partner countries including the C4 countries. Feedback from participants had been positive and he hoped to continue further activities as planned. 
2.61.  The representative of China mentioned that a joint communique had been signed between 
the C4 and China at MC8. He conveyed that China was always committed to helping African 
countries to upgrade their agriculture technology and boost their cotton production. Focusing on the C4 countries and how China had helped them, he mentioned that Benin and China had signed 
a memorandum on cotton cooperation in September 2012. China has also sent a team of technical 
experts to Benin to carry out technical work. They had provided technical training to the farmers to help them prepare the land for cotton production. Some production facilities had also been constructed. China's assistance funds to the Government of Benin would cover all costs and 
expenses according to the memorandum signed between the two countries.  
2.62.  As for Mali, agricultural technology demonstration centres had been established with help 
from China and focused on technology of green and vegetables production. China had decided to 
expand such a facility to cover the cotton production. China and Mali were now discussing further 
details to implement this strategy and how to cover the cotton production in that project. As for Chad, small farms, machine and agriculture production inputs such as fertilizers suitable for local 
land conditions had been provided by China. Training courses on cotton production and field 
management had also been provided. China had held a symposium on cotton crops between China and the C4 countries in Beijing. Government officials, industrial representatives, technical managers and scientific researchers from Burkina Faso and the other C4 countries had been 
invited to attend the symposium and this had been  quite a success. In 2013, China would continue 
all its efforts to provide further technical assistance and capacity building to the C4 countries and others in that region and would keep in close touch with the C4 countries, and discuss with them 
the details and their requirements in terms of cotton production and trade. He concluded by 
confirming that China would keep the Committee in formed on any new development in this area 
vis-à-vis  the C4 countries. 
2.63.  The representative of Brazil expresse d appreciation for the work of the Framework 
Mechanism and the importance that Brazil assigned to South-South cooperation to the cotton 
producers in Africa. Cooperation with Africa was a priority for Brazil for food development for the benefit of the populations of the respective countries. As a developing country itself, Brazil was 
well aware that this cooperation should be based on a dialogue in order to bear fruit. Bilaterally, as 
the current version of the ET on cotton showed, Brazil had provided data on progress and implementation of its programme of cooperation, technical assistance, technology transfer and 
capacity building with Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali in the field of cotton. He informed the 
meeting that the project was now entering into its fourth year; cooperation was focusing on shared best practices. He suggested arranging for people from the field to come in to take stock of the 
cooperation. Brazil's project had an environmenta l and an economic component related to how to 
improve the productivity by bringing seeds to Africa which were adapted to the geographical conditions. He gave examples on what had been done  in the last four years, to transmit knowledge 
to a larger audience by organizing over 20 courses related to the rotation of crops, how to adapt 
the seeds to the conditions in Africa which had benefitted over 400 technicians in the 4 countries. 
2.64.  He announced that Brazil had also compiled a manual of best practices highlighting 
everything that could work in that particular environment. There was a model farm in Mali, in 
which they presented how to apply all those techniques in the field. He announced that Brazil's 
cooperation with the C4 countries and others was being enlarged. As mentioned in the previous meeting, there was a memorandum of understandi ng between EBA – the Brazilian cotton institute 
and the Ministry of Foreign Relations which reflec ted the common goal of the parties engaged in 
the implementation of cooperation actions to strengthen the cotton sector in developing countries and especially in Sub Saharan Africa. EBA was an institution created to receive temporary compensation paid annually by the US, due to losses encountered by the Brazilian cotton 
producers in the context of their upland cotton dispute. EBA earmarked 10% of what it receives to 
finance international cooperation projects in the cotton sector to be developed through the Brazilian cooperation agency, which may be executed in partnership with international 
organizations or institutions. Recently, Brazil had finalized the agreement with UNDP and FAO with 
a total funding reaching US$35 million. Furthermore, the Minister of External Relations and the Brazilian cotton institute had also signed anothe r agreement to fund scholarships for Brazilians and TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  foreign researchers including from LDCs in the field of cotton with a total of funding of 
US$8 million. 
2.65.  The representative of the United States wa s of view that the discussion under this agenda 
item was richer than the ones they had previo usly had. As mentioned by Ambassador Vokouma 
one needed to make sure to have the right coordination and assessment: one should not talk 
about qualitative aspects until all the projects had been spoken about. He noted with appreciation 
Brazil's lead in providing the data to the ET and encouraged all other South-South partners that 
were providing data to include it also in a written format for the ET because it would make it easier 
for the coordination from the recipient side. 
2.66.  The Chairman thanked all the speakers for their intervention with important contributions. 
He recognized that these updates enhanced implementation and strengthened South-South 
cooperation and encouraged developing countries to deepen and extend this cooperation. He said 
that the contributions made would be accorded due recognition in the Periodic Reports of the Director-General on Cotton to the Membership. 
DOMESTIC COTTON SECTOR AND OTHER REFORMS/NATIONAL COTTON FOCAL POINTS 
 2.67.  The Chairman recalled that the Sixth Version of the ''Table on Domestic Cotton Sector 
Reforms for Cotton Sector Development'' (WT/CFMC/21/Rev.5) had been circulated on 12 November 2012, with new inputs from Chad and Mali and the continuation of the prevailing initiatives in Burkina Faso. Over time, the constructive donor/recipient dialogue under this item had underlined the relationship between resource s provided by the development community, on 
the one hand, and more efficient resource use by recipients of assistance, on the other. 
2.68.  The representative of Burkina Faso informed  the meeting that the internal reforms initiated 
in the cotton sector had been taken into account and highlighted two other ongoing reforms, 
namely a programme called "Global Index Insurance Facility" (GIIF) whose purpose was to provide 
insurance solutions tailored to developing countries. This programme was initiated and supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the establishment of a regional strategy to 
develop agricultural insurance index in West Africa called "Assurance Récolte Sahel" for a duration 
of five years and would provide coverage to the largest number of farmers in the area of intervention of the project with initially four countries namely Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. 
2.69.  The second reform was the adoption of a policy for reducing costs of input supply through 
the establishment of an Agricultural Inputs Cotton Fund. This initiative was welcomed and supported by the State and the technical and financial partners. The Fund would constitute a 
guarantee, allowing companies to grow cotton, with the help of the banking system without risks. 
It would use their treasuries to finance the supply of inputs from tenders with several suppliers in competition, paid either in cash or by letter of credit. At the institutional level, the Fund would be 
the responsibility of the Interprofessional Cotto n Association of Burkina (which included cotton 
companies and producers). For this purpose, an Association, housed in a commercial bank was created, to ensure the appropriate management of  the resources of the Fund's inputs, which would 
be the subject of purchase through competitive bidding. In conclusion, he listed the benefits 
provided by the implementation of the Fund. 
2.70.  The representative of Benin said that major reforms were being undertaken in Benin 
because of the difficulties the sector had known. Today's reforms involved structures to give a new 
dimension to the industry. Till now, Benin had not been able to appoint a focal point to come to 
Geneva, nonetheless, he thanked the WTO and China for the provisions they had taken for Benin to be effectively represented at the meeting. He promised to provide data as soon as possible. 
2.71.  The Chairman thanked the speakers an d expressed particular appreciation to the 
delegations of Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali for the latest inputs. He encouraged LDCs, other than 
the C4 countries, to consider submitting their inputs to the Secretariat, as early as possible for the next version of the Table. Finally, he proposed that the 18
th Round of Consultations take note of 
the reports, updates provided and statements made, which would be reflected in the records of the 
18th R o u n d .  W i t h  r e g a r d  t o  t h e  s u b m i s s i o n  o f  c o ordinates of designated National Cotton Focal 
Points, he announced that since the last meeting, the Secretariat had received two additional TN/AG/SCC/W/18 • WT/CFMC/41 
 
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  communications making it a total of nine focal points. He urged cotton proponent countries to take 
action as quickly as possible to designate other national cotton focal points to make the list more meaningful and, in the context of the qualitativ e assessment, to make the dialogue and exchange 
more substantive. He also encouraged exchange of experiences among focal points. This process 
could also serve as a platform enabling an exch ange of information amongst the donor community, 
Geneva negotiators and actors in the field.  
2.72.  The Chairman concluded the meeting with the following points: (i) useful discussions. He 
reiterated the standing position of the Director -General and the emphasis he put on both the 
cotton development assistance and the trade policy aspect; (ii) the work of Members and invited participants in the DGCFMC as part of the cont ribution to the overall efforts to reinforce the 
development dimension of the rules-based multilateral trading system. He underlined that the 
Secretariat would continue to work to assist the process. A smooth transition had been seen in 
that regard, and the monitoring and reporting of Members' progress on any activities delivered and harvested would continue as well as that of new contributions, disbursements of current 
commitments, and operational status relating to the commitments undertaken by the development 
community. Of equal importance, and based on inputs from the recipients of development 
assistance, was the progress in monitoring the implementation of domestic cotton sector reforms, 
which would also continue; (iii) South-South cooperation had emerged as a key aspect of the 
implementation of the mandate on the development-assistance aspects of cotton and the work in this forum. There was great interest in this dimension of the work. The significant contributions of Brazil, China, India and Pakistan were acknowledged with appreciation. This area of Members' and 
participants' work would continue to be de epened and extended; (iv) he would conduct 
consultations to take forward some of the sugges tions which had been made, to seek how to make 
more effective a process which had grown substantially; and (v) he suggested that the next round 
of consultations take place before the summer break of next year and that the Secretariat would 
consult with regard to the specific dates. 
__________