WT/L/1054  
WT/GC/199  
TN/C/19  
 
8 January 2019  
(19-0075) Page: 1/3 
  Original: English/French  
 
AFRICAN GROUP DECLAR ATION ON WTO ISSUES  
The following communication , dated 28 December 2018, is being circulated to the General Council 
and Trade Negotiations Committee, at the request of the delegation of South Africa on behalf of the 
African Group.  
 
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We, Ministers of Trade of the Member States of the African Union , meeting in Cairo, on 12  and 
13 December 2018, at the occasion of the 7th Meeting of the African Ministers of Trade (AMOT) in 
order to, amongst other things, review the stat e of play in the WTO negotiations, following the 
outcome of the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference;  
 
Took note  of the recent developments at the WTO since our last meeting on 18 September 2017, 
including the rise in trade protectionist measures that have been challenged as being in breach of 
WTO rules and principles, the Appellate Body impasse, and new negotiating proposals by a few 
Members that include calls to change the rules and procedures in the WTO;  
 
Took note of the informal processes amongst groups  of Members in the Joint Statement Initiatives 
on electronic commerce, investment facilitation, domestic regulation, and micro, medium and small 
enterprises and acknowledged that some African Group Members participate in these informal 
processes;  
 
Concern ed with the multiple difficulties and challenges faced by African countries who are in the 
process of acceding to the WTO;  
 
Acknowledged and welcomed  developments to achieve the objectives of the African Union 's 
Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, through a r ules-based governance system established by the 
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA);  
 
Reconfirmed  our pledge to work on supporting efforts in the Multilateral Trading System that 
promote and defend Africa 's interests in line with the African Unio n's "Agenda 2063: The Africa We 
Want", and recogni zed the need to build coherence by ensuring that the African Group 's negotiating 
objectives at the WTO fully support the AfCFTA objectives for continental industriali zation, structural 
transformation and in tegration;  
 
Welcomed  the growing recognition of the importance of industrial policy for development;  
 
Agreed to:  
 
1. Reiterate our concern with the lack of progress on issues of longstanding importance to 
Africa;  
 
2. Reaffirm  positions adopted in the AMOT  Ministerial Declaration of 30 November 2016, 
notably African Trade Ministers ' commitment to meaningful outcomes on trade distorting 
domestic support, cotton, public stockholding for food security purposes, the special 
safeguard mechanism, and Special and Differential Treatment; and recogni zing the 
challenges faced by NFIDCs and emphasi zing that any outcome in agriculture negotiations 
shall accord flexibilities to address NFIDCs and LDCs particular situation;  
 WT/L/1054 • WT/GC/199 • TN/C/19  
 
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  3. Recall and reaffirm the importance of implementing WTO Ministerial, and General Council 
Decisions and Declarations adopted since Doha in 2001, that keep development at the centre 
of the work program;  
 
4. Reaffirm the importance  of the negotiations on fisheries subsidies and the need for Special 
and Differential Treatment for African countries to guarantee policy space necessary to 
strengthen their fishing industries and capacities for economic and social development;  
 
5. Reiterate our concerns that the Aid for Trade initiative should contribute to me eting the 
objectives of trade -related capacity -building, overcoming supply -side constraints, 
infrastructure development, or facilitating the integration of developing economies, in 
particular LDCs in regional and global trade in ways that support their dev elopment. We call 
upon Members to strengthen and improve the Aid for Trade initiative so that it delivers real 
benefit to recipient developing countries and LDCs, and to avoid conditioning its 
implementation to the participation on negotiating new issues i n the WTO;  
 
6. Commit to strengthen in close coordination with Ministries responsible for Trade on our 
common positions and stay abreast of all developments at the WTO, and ensure that 
development remains an integral component of all negotiating outcomes for  all African 
economies in line with the Doha Development mandate;  
 
7. Reiterate  our commitment in pursuing outcomes on Special and Differential Treatment in 
line with Paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration;  
 
8. Reaffirm that Special and Differential Tr eatment shall be an integral part of all WTO 
agreements and future multilateral outcomes and shall be embodied, as appropriate, in 
schedules of concessions and commitments and in the rules and disciplines, so as to be 
operationally effective and to enable developing countries, in particular LDCs in Africa, to 
effectively address their development needs in line with Africa 's industrial development 
priorities as encapsulated in the African Union 's Agenda 2063 on structural transformation 
and industriali zation;  
 
9. Invite all WTO Members to extend to African graduating countries the existing Special and 
Differential Treatment measures and exemptions available to LDCs for a period appropriate 
to the development situation of those countries;  
 
10. Pledge support to Afri can countries in the process of WTO accession and urge Members to 
desist from making unreasonable requests on African acceding countries to extend any 
commitments made as a result of their membership to the AfCFTA or that are inconsistent 
with their levels  of development;  
 
11. Underscore  that Africa 's priority trade policy objective is the AfCFTA that will build a Single 
African Market for Trade in Goods and Services, and to ensure that WTO outcomes do not 
undermine those objectives;  
 
12. Re-commit  to a rules -based Multilateral Trading System that is fair, equitable, inclusive 
and development -oriented, and that prioritises Africa 's interests;  
 
13. Reaffirm the importance of preserving and adhering to the principles and procedures of the 
WTO as established in the Marra kesh Agreement. This includes: the architecture for 
Development and Special and Differential Treatment, for developing countries and least 
developed countries; the procedures and principles governing plurilateral agreements; a 
multilateral mandate is the n ecessary prerequisite to advance any negotiating proposal at 
the WTO; and the WTO Secretariat preserves its international stature and always remains 
above the partisan position of Members;  
 
14. Oppose  unilateral trade measures and  call on WTO Members to refrai n from any and all 
measures that undermine WTO principles and the rules based multilateral trading system;  
 
15. Urge  that priority attention is given to resolving the Appellate Body impasse and commit to 
work with all WTO Members to find mutually agreeable sol utions, while preserving the 
essential features and integrity of the system;  WT/L/1054 • WT/GC/199 • TN/C/19  
 
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16. Insist  that any discussions on the future of the WTO shall include the views and interests 
of the African Group and address the core issues of development and inclusiveness;  
 
17. Instruct  officials to work towards a common position on WTO reform.  
 
 
ADOPTED BY AFRICAN UNION MINISTERS OF TRADE  
Cairo, Egypt, 12 -13 December 2018  
 
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