WT/WGTDF/12  
 9 October 2013  
(13-5473)  Page: 1/3  
  
 
  REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON TRADE, DEBT AND FINANCE (2013)  
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
1  INTRODUCTION 
1.  The Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance ("the Working Group") was established at the 
4th Session of the Ministerial Conference in Doha  in November 2001 with the following mandate 
("the mandate)1:  
"We agree to an examination, in a Working Group under the auspices of the General Council, 
of the relationship between trade, debt and finance, and of any possible recommendations 
on steps that might be taken within the mandate and competence of the WTO to enhance the capacity of the multilateral trading system  to contribute to a durable solution to the 
problem of external indebtedness of developing and least developed countries, and to 
strengthen the coherence of international trade and financial policies, with a view to safeguarding the multilateral trading system from the effect of financial and monetary instability. The General Council shall report to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference 
on progress in the examination". 
2.  This report describes the activities  of the Working Group since the 8
th Session of the Ministerial 
Conference in Geneva in December 2011. 
2  THE WORKING GROUP'S AC TIVITIES SINCE THE 8TH SESSION OF THE MINISTERIAL 
CONFERENCE 
3.  The Working Group held five formal meetings  between March 2012 and October 2013: on 27-
28 March 2012 for a two days seminar, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Martin Glass (Hong-Kong, China); on 15 June 2012 under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Hisham Badr; on 26 November 
2012, under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Faizel Ismail (South Africa). The two meetings held 
in 2013, on 7 May and on 8 October, have also been chaired by Ambassador Ismail.  
4.  As concluded in the Report of the Workin g Group to the 2011 Ministerial Conference 
(WT/WGTDF/10), Members wished to "continue exchanging views on trade finance in relation to 
market developments after the 8
th Session of the Ministerial Conference, including on 
internationally agreed initiatives; and to continue to proceed with the work programme on the relationship between exchange rates and trade, by  working at holding a seminar on the topic in 
the first quarter of 2012". The latter topic (exchange rates and trade) has been dominating the 
agenda of the Working Group in the past two years. 
5.  Accordingly, the Working Group met over two days on March 27 and 28, 2012, in a seminar 
format, to discuss the direct and indirect econom ic relations between exchange rates and trade. 
This seminar had been proposed by the delegati on of Brazil in Document WT/WGTDF/W/53, and 
agreed by Members. After consultations, the cons ensus reached for the main parameters of this 
seminar included four half-day sessions to discuss the perspective of the various actors on the relationship between exchange rates and trade – the private sector, the government sector, international institutions and academia. Each session was introduced by a moderator and a panel 
of four speakers, followed by statements, questi ons and answers. The Director-General's opening 
statement and presentations by most speakers ha ve been posted on the WTO external website. 
The report of the meeting/seminar is contained in WT/WGTDF/M/24. 
                                               
1 WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1, paragraph 36. WT/WGTDF/12 
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  6.  The Working Group met on June 15, 2012 to take stock of this seminar and to consider future 
steps. In principle, Members had shown willingne ss to continue the discussion mainly from an 
analytical point of view, as they had been emphasizing the complexity of the relationship between exchange rates and trade flows. In this context, Members were encouraged to bring to the committee's attention new literature on the subject, which the delegation of China did 
(WT/WGTDF/W/66). At the request of Members, the Secretariat prepared a limited update of its 
previous literature survey (WT/WGTDF/W/65). To prepare for the next steps of discussions, the 
delegation of Brazil announced that it would subm it a proposal based on national meetings and 
seminars. The Secretariat also reported on a meeting of the Director-General's Expert Group on 
Trade Finance (WT/WGTDF/W/63). The report of the meeting is contained in WT/WGTDF/M/25. 
7.  The Working Group met on November 26, 2012. The delegation of Brazil presented its new 
submission, contained in WT/WGTDF/W/68. The proposal contained an analysis of existing WTO provisions on exchange rates and trade, an d suggested a way forward for addressing the 
institutional and legal issues that had been identified in "pillar two" of its original proposal 
(WT/WGTDF/W/53). Members offered initial reactions to Brazil's paper. It was agreed that further discussion would take place in the first semester of 2013. At this meeting, the Secretariat also reported on a meeting of the Director-General's Expert Group on Trade Finance 
(WT/WGTDF/W/67). The report of this Working Gr oup's meeting is contained in WT/WGTDF/M/26. 
8.  The Working Group reverted to the substance of Brazil's proposal (WT/WGTDF/W/68) at its 
meeting on 7 May 2013. As summarized in WT/WGT DF/M/26, Members expressed their willingness 
to continue the discussion that began at the November 2012 meeting, for several reasons. Some 
Members wished to express a more detailed opinion after having consulted their capital regarding 
the substance of Brazil's proposal. Other Members had found merits in deepening Brazil's suggestions. Some other Members had shown interest in continuing the discussion on exchange rates and trade, albeit mainly from an analytical point of view and not with a focus on rules. The 
Chairman had suggested that such discussion be held  on the basis of five questions that were part 
of its own summary of the November 2012 meeting.  The Chairman had also invited the IMF to 
present recent progress in achieving exchange rates and macroeconomic surveillance, in an effort for the two organizations to be more "coheren t". In summarizing the meeting, the Chairman 
highlighted the five points made by Members on th e way to move forward. First, there was general 
interest for continuing the analytical discussion on the relationship between exchange rates and trade. Second, before any consideration of any work on rule-making, there was a need to better understand the issue itself. Third, the IMF presenta tion and participation at the meeting had been 
highly appreciated. Fourth, there was a need to build a stronger relationship between the IMF and 
WTO on the topic, in the context of the existing WTO coherence mandate. Members could clarify what the strengthening of the institutional relationship implied, for example for Brazil's proposal under the "second pillar". Fifth, Members were interested to receive from the IMF the new 
surveillance reports on a regular basis, and possi bly have a discussion on it from the perspective 
of trade policies. It was agreed that some of thes e points could overlap, and that the delegation of 
Brazil would present a revised submission on the basis of these suggestion s. The report of this 
Working Group's meeting is contained in WT/WGTDF/M/27.  
3  CONCLUSION 
9.  Members recommended that the Working Group continue to examine the relationship between 
trade, debt and finance, and to make appropriate recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate and competence of the WTO to enhance the contribution of the multilateral 
trading system to the alleviation of the external  indebtedness of developing and least developed 
countries, and to strengthen the coherence of international trade and financial policies with a view to safeguarding the multilateral trading system from the effects of financial and monetary instability. 
10.  Members wished to continue exchanging views on the relationship between exchange rates 
and trade after the 9
th Ministerial Conference, in particular with a view to strengthen the coherence 
between the IMF and WTO. Members also wished to  continue to exchange views on trade finance 
in relation to market developments and internationally agreed initiatives to improve the availability 
of trade finance in developing countries.   WT/WGTDF/12  
 
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  11.  On October 8, 2013, the Working Group adopte d its Annual Report (2013) to the General 
Council. 
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