WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
31 July 2012  
 
(12-4242) 
Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries 
Sixty-Fifth Session   
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 16 APRIL 2012 
 
Chairperson:  Ambassador Steffen Smidt (Denmark) 
  
A. 
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  ......................................................................................................... 1  
B.  MARKET ACCESS FOR LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  ................................................................ 1  
-  Notification by India (WT/COMTD/N/38) .................................................................................. 1  
-  Notification by China (WT/COMTD/N/39 and WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.1/Rev.1) ....................... 2  
-  Notification by Chinese Taipei (WT/COMTD/N/40 and WT/COMTD/N/40/Corr.1) ................. 3  
-  Notification by Korea (WT/COMTD/N/12/Rev.1/Add.1) ............................................................ 4  
C.  UPDATE OF THE WTO WORK PROGRAMME FOR THE LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
(WT/COMTD /LDC/11) ................................................................................................................... 5  
D.  ACCESSION OF LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (WT/L/846): ....................................................... 6  
-  Report by the Chairman on In formal Consultations ................................................................... 6  
E.  OTHER BUSINESS  ....................................................................................................................... 10  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Sub-Committee adopted the agenda, contained in WTO/AIR/3920.  
B. MARKET ACCESS FOR LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  
2. The Chairman said that four notifications were on the agenda, namely from India 
(WT/COMTD/N/38), China (WT/COMTD/N/39 and WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.1/Rev.1, Chinese 
Taipei (WT/COMTD/N/40 and WT/COMTD/N/40/Corr.1) and Korea (WT/COMTD/N/12/Rev.1/Add.1).  He took up the no tifications, one-by-one, staring with India. 
- Notification by India (WT/COMTD/N/38) 
3. The representative of India recalled the provisions for developing countries under the 
Decision on duty-free and quota-free market access (DFQF) for LDCs taken at the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference in 2005.  She quoted from that Decision saying that: "… developing-country Members declaring themselves in a position to do so should provide duty-free and quota-free market 
access on a lasting basis, for all products originatin g from all LDCs …".  She noted that India's duty-
free tariff preference (DFTP) scheme for LDCs , announced on 8 April 2008, was the first 
comprehensive scheme by a developing country under the Hong Kong DFQF mandate.  The scheme 
was notified to the WTO on 23 September 2011. 
4. She went on to explain that the main objectiv e of India's duty-free tariff preference scheme 
was to provide effective and substantial market acces s to products of export interest to the LDCs, so 
as to enable their integration into the multilatera l trading system.  The scheme, which had been WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
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  operational since September 2008, would provide duty-free access on 85 per cent of tariff lines, 
phased-in through annual 20 per cent cuts over a five-year  period.  On a further 9 per cent of tariff 
lines, India would provide LDCs with additional marg ins of preference also to be phased-in over five 
years in equal annual increments.  Six per cent of tariff lines would be excluded from the preferences.  
She added that, overall, India's scheme would provi de preferential market access to LDCs on tariff 
lines accounting for some 92.5 per cent of the global exports of all LDCs, covering most products of 
immediate interest to LDCs such as cotton, co coa, aluminium ores, copper ores, cashew nuts, and 
sugar cane.  
5. She continued by saying that India's market access scheme was open to all 48 LDCs.  In order 
to make use of the scheme, individual LDCs needed  to submit a request to the Indian Government, 
together with a letter of intent and details about the official responsible for issuing certificates of 
origin.  Some 28 LDCs had been notified as beneficiaries thus far, although seven of them had yet to submit the information about agencies authorized to issue certificates of origin;  she urged those 
LDCs to complete the remaining formalities.  In conclusion, she said that India remained committed 
to improving the scheme, and asked for feedback fro m LDCs about any difficulties they had faced in 
accessing the scheme.  She noted that the list of pr oducts and tariff lines covered by the scheme - as 
well as those excluded from it - were available online and had also been provided to the Secretariat.  
She added that despite the global recession, I ndia's imports from LDCs had increased since the 
scheme's implementation in 2008, outpacing the growth of imports from the rest of the world. 
6. The representative of the European Union ask ed whether India had recent data on the 
percentage of its imports from LD Cs that entered its market duty-free, citing data from the Secretariat 
Market Access Paper (2011) which indicated that th e figure for the year 2009 was nearly 6 per cent.  
If the number remained low, it would raise questions  about the actual effectiveness of India's tariff 
preference scheme, such as whether the products of r eal value to LDCs were being left out.  He also 
sought confirmation that market access conditions we re identical for all 48 LDCs, and asked whether 
India planned to phase-out the products curren tly slated for exclusion from the scheme.  
7. The representative of the United States th anked the representative of India for her 
introduction of India's DFTP scheme for the LDCs .  At the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) 
meeting, his delegation had raised a number of questi ons with respect to a few notifications that were 
on the Sub-Committee's agenda.  He  looked forward to receiving responses to those questions.  He 
also looked forwarded to reviewing the LDC pref erence schemes on the agenda in dedicated sessions 
of the CTD, as per the transparency mechan ism for preferential trade arrangements.   
8. The representative of India responded that  India's preference scheme applied 
non-discriminatorily to all 48 LDCs.  He said that country-specific import data from the LDCs had 
been provided to the Secretariat.  Data on speci fic tariff lines were being compiled and would be 
provided in due course.  India had a substa ntial amount of trade under the DFTP scheme; 
approximately, 88 per cent of the country's tota l imports from LDCs came under the programme in 
2010-11.  The authorities were also considering the na rrowing down of the current exclusion list.  In 
particular, he pointed out the fact that India was one of the few developing countries that had been providing significant market access to the LDCs.  He regretted the fact that several developed 
Members had not provided duty-free coverage as comprehensively as had been done by India.   
- Notification by China (WT/COMTD/N/39 and WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.1/Rev.1) 
9. The Chairman invited the representative of China to introduce China's notification, noting that 
an advance copy of this notification had been  introduced by the Chinese delegation at the 
October 2011 meeting of the Sub-Committee.    WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
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  10. The representative of China said that his dele gation had introduced the contents of the 
notification concerning its DFQF programme for the LDCs at the October 2011 meeting of the 
Sub-Committee.  The Chinese DFQF programme had been operational since 1 July 2010.  The 
scheme at present covered 60 per cent of its total tariff lines.  China had committed to expand the 
tariff line coverage to 97 per cent of all tariff lines in the future.   
11. He added that data had been provided at the tariff-line level, containing the tariff lines 
covered under China's DFQF programme for the LD Cs.  Import data from LDCs had also been 
submitted to the Secretariat recently.  Additional in formation on tariffs would be provided shortly.   
12. The representative of the European Union requ ested the delegation of China to provide 
information on the value of imports from LDCs to China under the DFQF programme, in particular in 
the year 2011.  He noted that predominant im ports from LDCs by China had so far been raw 
materials.  He wondered whether export items of LD Cs to China had experienced any diversification 
in recent years.  He further noted that the DFQF programme had covered 60 per cent of all tariff lines of China.  He wished to know whether the lack of  diversification of LDCs' exports to China was due 
to the coverage of the DFQF programme.  In this  regard, his delegation would look forward to the 
planned expansion of the programme from its current 60 per cent to 97 per cent of all tariff lines.  He 
also enquired whether the Chinese authorities would extend the coverage from 40 to all 48 LDCs, in 
light of their similar needs. 
13. The representative of China acknowledged that raw materials did account for a substantial 
share of China's imports from LDCs, but stressed that this was the case for other major economies 
too, including the EU, as reflected in the yearly re ports prepared by the Secretariat on market access 
for LDCs.  This pattern of trade with LDCs was due to a combination of supply constraints of the 
LDCs as well as the kinds of international trade that  had evolved over the past years.  As regards the 
tariff line coverage under the DFQF programme, he reiterated the commitment of China to soon 
expand the coverage from 60 to 97 per cent of all tariff lines, and echoed India's observations that 
some key Members were yet to do the same.  He also underlined that LDCs' lack of export 
diversification had little to do with the tariff line coverage of China's DFQF programme, since there 
were numerous factors behind such performance of  the LDCs.  Concerning the LDC beneficiaries of 
the DFQF programme, he said that it was applicable to those LDCs with whom China had diplomatic 
relations.   
- Notification by Chinese Taipei (WT/ COMTD/N/40 and WT/COMTD/N/40/Corr.1) 
14. The Chairman invited the representative of Ch inese Taipei to introduce its notification. 
15. The representative of Chinese Taipei reported th at his country had been providing duty-free 
market access on products of interest to LDCs since 17 December 2003, in addition to wide-ranging 
MFN duty-free treatment available to the LDCs as well as to other WTO Members.  He added that 
Chinese Taipei had been providing non-reciprocal preferential duty-free treatment covering 151 products in the HS 2007 nomenclature, available to all LDCs until such time as they graduated from 
the LDC status.  Chinese Taipei was the sixth-largest destination for LDC exports in 2010, with a total 
import value of US$3.83;  and nearly 20 per cent of  those LDC imports enjoyed duty-free treatment.  
He emphasized the importance of improved market access for LDCs to boost their trade and accelerate growth, as well as consolidate their integr ation into the global economy.  He looked 
forward to further discussions on the implementa tion of Annex F of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration.  
16. The representative of the European Union s ought more information on the utilization of 
preferences, in particular for the products that had been covered under the duty-free scheme.  That WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
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  would help the EU understand the impact of the duty-free access provided to the LDCs.  He also 
enquired as to whether the authorities of Chinese Taip ei had any plan to phase-out the exclusion list. 
17. The representative of Chinese Taipei took note of  the request from the EU.  He said that his 
authorities were in the process of compiling ne cessary data which would be submitted to the 
Secretariat in due course. 
- Notification by Korea (WT/COMTD/N/12/Rev.1/Add.1) 
18. The representative of Korea said that the Korean  Government had decided to further extend 
its preferential DFQF access to 95 per cent of tota l tariff lines on 25 November 2011 (4,802 items in 
6-digit of HS2007).  He added that the value-add ition threshold had been lowered from 50 per cent to 
40 per cent.  Korea had been granting DFQF acces s to LDC products since 2000, and had taken steps 
to faithfully implement the DFQF Decision taken at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  He 
hoped that the latest expansion would further contribu te to LDCs' export diversification, enhance their 
trade capacity and accelerate their economic growth. 
19. The representative of the European Union we lcomed the decision of Korea to extend 
duty-free coverage for LDCs to 95 per cent of its to tal tariff lines.  He requested information on the 
import value of those products that had been added to its LDC DFQF scheme.  He sought a 
clarification as to whether the preferences were av ailable to all LDCs, and enquired as to when the 
authorities intended to phase-out the exclusions from DFQF treatment.  
20. The representative of Korea said that imports from LDCs had been increasing gradually since 
the enhancement of the DFQF scheme for LDCs.  He said that he would contact his capital 
concerning specific data on imports from LDCs and w ould provide that data to Members, through the 
Secretariat, as soon as possible.  His delegation co uld also consider providing the data through the 
PTA's database.  With regard to further expansion of DFQF coverage , at present his authorities had no 
specific plan to increase the coverage beyond 95 per cent.  Korea would continue to explore ways to 
enhance LDCs' integration into the multilateral trading system. 
21. The representative of Haiti, on behalf of the LDC Group, congratulated the Chairman on his 
re-election.  He said that the LDCs, while ma king up 12 per cent of the world's population, accounted 
for less than 1.2 per cent of global trade.  Th e ultimate and individual goal of each LDC was to 
graduate out of the LDC category;  he stressed  that the LDCs were committed to implementing 
policies and programmes in support of that goal .  At the same time, achieving graduation would 
require assistance from other WTO Members in the form of special and differential treatment (S&D) to help LDCs play a more meaningful role in the multilateral trading system.  He expressed 
appreciation to Members that had taken steps to enhance market access for LDCs, and thereby 
facilitating trade expansion from the LDCs;  these Me mbers had acted as responsible global citizens, 
making a wise investment in the future by em powering new consumers.  He urged developed 
Members, as well as developing Members according to their level of development, to give due 
considerations to improving market access for LDCs to the potential mutual benefits of all parties 
involved.  
22. He said that the LDC Group was ready to engage  constructively on all the outstanding issues 
before the Sub-Committee as well as the WTO as  a whole.  He highlighted the importance of 
enhanced market access for LDC goods and services.   In this regard, he recalled the commitment 
made by Members on DFQF market access for LDCs  through Annex F of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration.  He added that simplified and transpar ent preferential rules of origin would help ensure 
meaningful market access for LDC products.   WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
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  23. He noted that although South-South trade w as growing incrementally, developed Members 
remained the LDCs' dominant markets.  He tha nked developed Members that had accorded close to 
100 per cent DFQF market access to the LDCs, and called upon other developed Members to do so.  
He also expressed appreciation to developing countri es that had provided LDCs with enhanced market 
access.  He welcomed and took note of the notifica tions made by India, China, Chinese Taipei and 
Korea.  He expressed appreciation for the steps being taken by these Members towards ensuring 
transparency of their DFQF programmes.  In this regard, additional information on the percentage of 
imports from LDCs covered under these respective DFQF programmes would add more clarity on 
these preferences.   
24. The Chairman proposed that the Sub-Committee t ook note of the notifications made by India, 
China, Chinese Taipei and Korea, as we ll as the interventions of Members. 
25. It was so agreed. 
C. UPDATE OF THE WTO WORK PROGRAMME FOR THE LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
(WT/COMTD /LDC/11) 
26. The Chairman recalled that a discussion on th e update of the WTO Work Programme for the 
LDCs had taken place at the October 2011 meeting of the Sub-Committee.  Members had considered 
the present work programme as a useful basis fo r continuing activities under the Sub-Committee.  The 
LDC Group had outlined some elements for possible in corporation in an updated version of the work 
programme, such as to reflect the UN LDC-IV Co nference, the Enhanced Integrated Framework 
(EIF), and the issue of LDC accession.  He inv ited the representative of the LDC Group to introduce 
the Group's suggestions to update the current work programme.  
27. The representative of Haiti, on behalf of the LDC Group, introduced the proposed changes to 
the LDC Work Programme, underlying that the modi fications were systemic in nature without 
changing the substance of the current work progra mme.  He said that the suggestions from LDC 
Group had been indicated in track-change mode in the room document which had been kept at the 
back of the meeting room.  The suggestions reflecte d the following issues in broad terms.  First, the 
Istanbul Programme of Action, adopted at the UN LDC-IV Conference (Istanbul, Turkey, May 2011) 
had been mentioned to replace the reference to its  predecessor - the Brussels Programme of Action for 
the LDCs for the Decade 2001-2010.  Second, refe rences to the Integrated Framework had been 
replaced with EIF which had been operational since Ju ly 2009.  Third, references had been made to 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Decision of 2005 in certa in specific contexts to update the work 
programme, without detailing the substantive issues covered by the Hong Kong Ministerial Decision.  
Fourth, the latest developments with regard to LDC accessions, including the MC8 Decision on LDC 
Accession, had been mentioned to make the work pr ogramme more relevant in  this area of work.  
Finally, he said that the need for a periodic re view of the work programme had been included in 
LDCs' suggested changes.  He hoped that Members would be favourable to the changes proposed by 
the LDC Group.  His delegation remained open to any query or request for clarification with regard to 
the details of the suggested changes to the current LDC Work Programme. 
28. The representative of European Un ion reserved the right to revert  to the changes proposed by 
the LDC Group, since the document had just been pr ovided to Members.  She made some preliminary 
observations on the suggested changes to the Work Programme.  Her delegation had some 
reservations on the reference to post-accession t echnical-assistance activities since there could be 
difficulties in regard to what technical assistance  would comprise post-accession.  She added that each 
WTO committee had its own technical-assistance programme, and each donor country had various 
support programmes of its own which could address the needs of acceding LDCs.  Her delegation 
would further examine the suggestions from the LDC Group and would come back to those at a future 
occasion. WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
Page 6  
 
  29. The representative of the United States recalle d the discussions held last time at the 
Sub-Committee on this topic.  It was his understanding  that the present exercise would be a technical 
update of what was already an extensive work programme for the LDCs covering issues such as 
market access, technical assistan ce, LDC accession, participation of LDCs in the multilateral trading 
system, etc.  His delegation would closely exam ine the suggested changes proposed by the LDC 
Group.  He looked forward to further engaging in this work.   
30. The representative of India welcomed the elements  suggested for incorporation into the Work 
Programme and looked forward to their early adoption. 
31. The representative of China welcomed the input s provided by the LDC Group concerning the 
update of the LDC Work Programme.  He would tr ansmit the LDC Group's suggestions to his capital 
and would come back to it at a future occasion.  
32. The Chairman proposed that the Sub-Committee take note of the suggestions made by the 
LDC Group with a view to updating the WTO Work Programme for the LDCs, as well as the 
statements made.  He would revert to this item at a future meeting of the Sub-Committee. 
33. It was so agreed. 
D. ACCESSION OF LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (WT/L/846) 
- Report by the Chairman on Informal Consultations 
34. 25. The Chairman recalled that at the Sub- Committee's formal meeting on 20 January 
2012, Members had agreed to work through informal  consultations to develop the recommendations 
to the July 2012 meeting of the General Counc il to further strengthen the 2002 LDC Accession 
Guidelines, as mandated by the MC8 Decision on LDC Accession.   
 
35. He said that since the launch of the informal  consultations on 26 January 2012, nine such 
consultations had been held.  A series of consulta tions had also been scheduled for the month of 
May 2012.  The discussions had been structured ac cording to the elements of the MC8 Decision on 
LDC Accession.  He said that with regard to be nchmarks in the area of goods, one group of Members 
would have liked the acceding LDCs to comprehe nsively bind both agricultural and non-agricultural 
tariff lines, on grounds of stability and predictability of the multilateral trading system.  On the other 
hand, the LDC Group had been arguing for flexibilit y in binding coverage, in particular for non-
agricultural products consistent with acceding LDCs ' development, financial and trade needs.   
36. He noted that comprehensive binding coverage for agricultural products had been a standard 
feature of all WTO Members' commitments.  A number of possibilities were being explored for 
binding coverage for non-agricultural products.  As  far as the services benchmarks were concerned, 
he recalled that the MC8 Decision had simply asked for exploring benchmarks in the area of services.  
Nevertheless, Members had been e ngaged constructively in the deba te.  Both quantitative as well as 
qualitative aspects of services benchmarks were being di scussed.  He noted that the statistics prepared 
by the Secretariat had informed the debate, notably  by illustrating the wide difference in commitments 
undertaken by original LDCs and recently acceded  LDCs in the telecommunications and financial 
sectors. 
37. He continued by saying that there had been some convergence of views on the element of 
transparency of accession negotiations.  Members s eemed agreeable to make best use of existing 
mechanisms, in particular the Working Party meeti ngs for acceding LDCs, to enhance transparency in 
accession negotiations.  With regard to S&D, there wa s a general recognition of the need to consider  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
 Page 7 
 
 
  additional transition periods to comply with WTO ru les, which would be adapted to the specific needs 
of each acceding LDC.  With regard to provisi ons of technical assistance for acceding LDCs, he 
informed Members that while the LDCs had initia lly sought the establishment of a new funding 
arrangement, they had agreed instead to focus on  making optimal use of existing mechanisms in a 
more effective manner, taking guidance from schemes such as the EIF.  Delegations had also been 
discussing the possibility of developing some sort  of technical-assistance plan aiming at greater 
coordination of technical assistance at all stages of the accession process. 
38. In conclusion, the Chairman reminded Members of the limited time available for the 
conclusion of the work at hand.  In this re gard, he recalled that Ministers had asked the 
Sub-Committee to submit recommendations to the General Council by July 2012.  He noted that 
considerable progress had been made in informal consultations.  Given the current progress of work, 
he was hopeful that he could present an outcome fo r formal consideration by the Sub-Committee in 
June 2012 for subsequent submis sion to the General Council.   
39. The representative of Haiti, on behalf of the LD Cs, thanked the delegations involved in the 
consultations for their constructive engagement.  He  hoped that Members would be able to conclude 
their work in time for the General Council to r each a decision by the July 2012 deadline – a decision 
which would represent a significant achievement to wards further strengthening, streamlining and 
operationalizing the 2002 LDC Accession Guide lines, as envisaged by the MC8 Decision.  
40. He went on to say that the acceding LDCs represented 40 per cent of the WTO's ongoing 
accession negotiations, and that several LDCs remained entirely outside the fold of the Organization.  
This was the case despite the calls made at the D oha Ministerial Conference in 2001 to facilitate and 
accelerate LDC accessions, and the General Council's subsequent adoption of the 2002 Guidelines on 
LDC accession.  He reminded Members that the MC8 Decision on LDC accession stemmed from a shared understanding that there was a need to inv est the 2002 Guidelines with some operational tools 
and precision, particularly with regard to  acceding LDCs' market access negotiations.   
41. The idea of benchmarks for market access negotiation was a welcome development.  He 
stressed that during the consultations, the LDCs had shown readiness to recalibrate their original 
position and work towards arriving at benchmar ks on goods and services that responded to the 
development challenges of acceding LDCs.  In this regard, the under lying premise should be to avoid 
an outcome which might put acceding LDCs into a situation of disproportionate disadvantage 
compared to other WTO Members.  
42. He continued by saying that it would be impe rative for the acceding LDCs to have adequate 
flexibility in both binding coverage as well as in average bound tariff rates which could preserve their 
policy space.  With regard to services benchmarks, he  said that a quantitative ap proach combined with 
some qualitative guidelines appeared to be the most practical response to the constraints faced by the 
acceding LDCs.  These elements could offer greater predictability to the market access negotiations, 
and eventually help accelerate the overall accession process.  
43. He believed that the work in the informal  consultations had progressed well.  Common 
grounds on various elements of the MC8 Decision were being detected.  He urged Members to 
continue to demonstrate understa nding and flexibility to help reach a meaningful outcome for the 
acceding LDCs.  He also thanked the Chairman for hi s work to facilitate the accession negotiations of 
Lao PDR and Yemen, and expressed hope that their respective accessions would be concluded before 
the end of the year. 
44. The representative of India expressed full support to  the statement made by Haiti, on behalf of 
the LDC Group.  India attached great importance to the MC8 mandate to develop recommendations to 
strengthen, streamline and opera tionalize the 2002 LDC Accession Guidelines.  He recalled that WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
Page 8  
 
  Ministers had given clear directions to the Sub-Co mmittee to devise benchmarks in the area of goods, 
taking into account the level of commitments unde rtaken by existing LDCs, as well as to explore 
benchmarks in the area of services.  The MC8 Decisi on, he argued, recognized the need to moderate 
demands made on acceding LDCs, which were often beyond their ability to meet.  The decision also recognised the resource constraints being faced by the acceding LDCs. 
45. He went on to say that benchmarks would be an important element for ensuring that due 
restraint was exercised by Members in seeking concessions and commitments from LDCs on goods and services trade.  He emphasized the importance of developing benchmarks that took into account 
the levels of commitments undertaken by existi ng LDCs.  Referring to the statistics on binding 
coverage and average bound rates prepared by the Secretariat, he pointed to the huge difference 
between the concessions and the commitments undert aken by RAM-LDCs as co mpared to the LDCs 
that joined the WTO in 1995.  He stressed that benchmarks should be fair and comparable to the 
commitments undertaken by the existing LDCs.  He added that in light of acceding LDCs' development needs and capacity constraints, it w ould be unfair to expect them to take on 
commitments beyond what other deve loping Members had undertaken.   
46. He referred to the current discussions on goods  benchmarks, including the Chair's working 
paper on goods benchmarks, where three bands of binding coverage  were being considered for 
non-agricultural products: 100 per cent, 87.5 per cent and 75 per cent.  In this regard, he pointed out 
that in the ongoing DDA negotiations some non- LDC developing countries could bind their 
non-agricultural tariff lines at 75 per cent.  Th e existing LDC Members of the WTO had been 
exempted from any reduction commitments under the DDA negotiations.  He argued that asking 
acceding LDCs to do more than what developing  countries, such as what small and vulnerable 
economies (SVEs) would have to do in the Doha  Round, would go against the spirit of the MC8 
mandate.  He underscored the importance of ensuri ng a balance between the commitments of existing 
LDCs and commitments being sought from the accedi ng LDCs, with the need to allow policy space to 
the acceding LDCs to pursue their development obj ectives.  His delegation, along with the LDCs, 
would reassess the options being considered for acceding LDCs and would reflect on the way 
forward.  He felt that the LDC Group had alread y shown sufficient flexibility to accommodate the 
position of Members.   
47. In the area of services benchmarks, he urged Members to exercise restraint in seeking 
commitments in view of acceding LDCs' lack of  regulatory and institutional frameworks.  He 
supported the proposal of LDCs for a combinati on of quantitative and qua litative benchmarks in 
services.  He also stressed the need to pay full atten tion to the other pillars of the Ministerial Decision, 
namely enhancing transparency in the accession ne gotiations, ensuring S&D provisions including the 
additional transition periods and enhancing technical assistance.  He underlined the importance of 
targeted capacity building in th e acceding LDCs which could expedite their accession processes.  
Accession processes were complex and resource-intensive.  Given various capacity constraints of 
acceding LDCs, it was difficult for them to undertake la rge scale liberalization.  He pointed out that 
India, despite its limited resources, had provided technical assistance to acceding countries.  His 
delegation would continue such support for acced ing LDCs, including for Ethiopia, Lao PDR and 
Yemen.   
48. He reiterated the commitment of India to rema in fully engaged for the timely fulfilment of 
MC8 mandate.  He urged Members to support the on going consultative process, being held under the 
aegis of the Sub-Committee, with a view to arriving at recommendations by July this year as directed 
by the Ministers.  Doing so, he concluded, would send a clear signal about the WTO's commitment to facilitating the accession of LDCs and integrati ng them into the multilateral trading system. 
49. The representative of the European Union said th at her delegation was fully involved in the 
current work on LDC accessions, with a view to impr oving the 2002 LDC Accession Guidelines.  The  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
 Page 9 
 
 
  EU would continue its engagement to address specific  requests of LDCs.  She was of the view that the 
reference to modalities under the DDA negotiations mi ght not be useful for the undertakings being 
considered from the acceding LDCs.  She felt that it would be unfair to keep large gaps between 
applied and bound rates of acceding LDCs on the grounds of policy space and flexibility.  She 
underlined the need for a flexible approach that woul d also provide a certain level of predictability for 
the exporters as well as importers.  As regard s the services benchmarks, her delegation would 
continue to study the notions of qualitative a nd quantitative benchmarks, stressing that qualitative 
benchmarks would be suitable  for benchmarks in services. 
50. The representative of China extended support to th e statement made by Haiti, on behalf of the 
LDC Group.  He noted the incremental progress being made on various elements of the MC8 
mandate.  He echoed the point made by Haiti that  developing benchmarks  for goods and services 
should be the central element of this mandate.  He expressed disappointment with the commitments 
being sought by some Members from acceding LDCs, and reiterated the point made by India that a 
balance was needed between the co mmitments of existing LDC Members and those to be undertaken 
by the acceding LDCs.   
51. He noted that divergences remained substan tial on benchmarks for both goods and services, 
particularly on the quantitative benchmarks being so ught by the LDC Group for the latter.  The LDCs 
had made some concessions in the informal consulta tions, deviating from their original position.  This 
demanded reciprocal concessions from major player s, which could pave the way to settle the 
benchmarking issue.  His delegation would not seek full binding coverage from the acceding LDCs 
for non-agricultural products; neither would it de mand an average bound rate which was not suitable 
to the acceding LDCs.  As regards the services benc hmarks, his delegation would be favourable to the 
idea of a combination of qualitative and quantitative pa rameters.  In conclusion, he urged Members to 
fulfil the MC8 mandate to further strengthen, streamline and operationalize the 2002 LDC Accession 
Guidelines in both letter and spirit.   
52. The representative of the United States consider ed the work on LDC accessions as well as the 
process as productive.  Members had been working we ll together.  He commended the Coordinator of 
the LDC Group for effectively reflecting the interest s of the acceding LDCs and also for appreciating 
the position of other Members.  His delegation was committed to complete the work by the July 2012 
General Council deadline.  He, however, noted that some interventions at the meeting sounded less 
optimistic.  He said that it was not helpful to lo ok for lessons from the Doha negotiations, not least 
because those negotiations were d eadlocked.  He added that drawing on the experience of Doha 
negotiations might not be useful in the present exercise.  He argued that there was a substantial 
difference between the negotiations with existin g Members and the negotiations with acceding 
governments; in the latter case, the negotiations invo lved initial obligations of acceding governments.  
Hence, the parallels being drawn with the Doha ne gotiations might not be helpful for the work being 
undertaken on LDC accessions.   
53. He continued by saying that his delegation ha d an open mind with regard to the services 
benchmarks.  He underlined that arriving at mean ingful quantitative benchmarks in services was 
difficult, since the nature of services commitments was different from those of goods.  He illustrated 
the difference by saying that a benchmark for highe r or lower number of services sub-sectors would 
say little about the quality of commitments in t hose sub-sectors since it would depend on a host of 
other conditions such as what modes of supply were  covered under those sub-sectors, what type of 
restrictions accompanied those modes of supply, et c.  That was why he believed that developing a 
meaningful quantitative benchmark in services was di fficult.  As a result, his delegation saw more 
value in coming up with benchmarks that were more qualitative and normative in nature and which 
would be meaningful to all participants.   WT/COMTD/LDC/M/65 
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  54. The Chairman clarified that the figures for binding coverage for non-agricultural products 
mentioned in his working paper were simply inte nded to illustrate possibilities for some sort of 
balance between bindings and average rates.  His pa per was not prejudicial to any further discussion 
on benchmarks for goods. 
55. The Chairman proposed that Members take note of his oral report, and of the statements made 
by delegations.  He would continue  his consultations with the aim of reporting to the Sub-Committee's 
next meeting, tentatively scheduled for June. 
56. It was so agreed. 
E. OTHER BUSINESS  
57. In the absence of any other business, the meeting was adjourned. 
 
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