RESTRICTED  
  
WT/GC/M/150  
 
24 April 2014  
(14-2503)  Page: 1/36  
General Council 
14 March 2014   
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING 
HELD IN THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD ON 14 MARCH 2014 
Chairperson: Mr Shahid Bashir (Pakistan) 
In the course of the meeting, the Chairman, th e Director-General and several delegations bade 
farewell to Ambassador Selim Kuneralp (Turkey) and Ambassador Jayant Dasgupta (India), who 
were leaving their post at the WTO, and expresse d appreciation for their valuable contribution 
during their time as Permanent Representatives.  
Subjects discussed:
1 
 
1   REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE .................... 2  
2   PREPARATORY COMMITTEE ON TRAD E FACILITATION – REPORT BY THE 
CHAIRMAN ..................................................................................................................... 19 
3   WORK PROGRAMME ON SMALL ECONOMIES – REPORT BY THE CHAIR OF THE 
DEDICATED SESSION OF THE COMMITTE E ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT .................... 21  
4   IMPROVING THE GUIDELINES FOR GRANTING INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS PERMANENT OBSERVER STATUS IN THE WTO – STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN .............................................................................................................. 22
 
5   COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION – REPORT ON MEETING OF FEBRUARY 2014 ........................................................................................ 22
 
6   WTO PENSION PLAN MANAGEMENT  BOARD – ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN, 
MEMBERS AND ALTERNATES – PROPOSAL BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL 
COUNCIL ....................................................................................................................... . 23 
7   APPOINTMENT OF OFFI CERS TO WTO BODIES .......................................................... 23  
8   COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH VENE ZUELA – STATEMENT BY PANAMA .................. 26  
9   ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR MEMBERS IN ARREARS – STATEMENT BY 
THE CHAIRMAN .............................................................................................................. 27  
10   ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON ................................................................................... 28  
ANNEX I - TNC CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS AT THE INFORMAL TNC MEETING AT THE 
LEVEL OF HEAD OF DELEGATION HELD ON 6 FEBR UARY 2014 ....................................... 31  
ANNEX II - STATEMENT BY ECUADOR AT THE INFORMAL TNC MEETING AT THE 
LEVEL OF HEAD OF DELEGATION HELD ON 6 FEBR UARY 2014 ....................................... 36  
 
                                               
1 The Proposed Agenda was circulated in document WT/GC/W/680. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1  REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE TRADE NEGOTI ATIONS COMMITTEE 
1.1.  The Chairman invited the Director-General, as  Chairman of the TNC, to report on the TNC's 
activities since his last report to the Council. 
1.2.  The Director-General, Chairman of the TNC, said2 that the report would be brief for two 
reasons. Firstly, because the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups would be issuing full written 
reports3 of their consultations at the end of the meeting, which Members would have time to read 
and consider. He thought that would be more pr oductive than him reading them out. Secondly, 
because he was planning to convene a meeting of the TNC on 7 April, which would provide an 
opportunity for a more detailed discussion on each of the negotiating areas. As such, he would not spend too much time on those discussions. 
1.3.  Since the Ninth Session of the Ministerial Co nference in Bali, the TNC had held one informal 
meeting on 6 February 2014. His statement at the meeting had been issued in document 
JOB/TNC/37
4. 
1.4.  Since that meeting he had been listening to Members in Geneva and talking to the Chairs of 
Negotiating Groups who had been conducting their own consultations. He had also seized the 
opportunity, whenever he was visiting capitals around the world, to further their work and bring greater focus to their forward planning. 
1.5.  When Members had met in February, they had discussed their next steps after Bali, and he 
had highlighted the two priorities for their work in 2014. 
1.6.  The first priority was to deliver on the bl ood, sweat and tears that Members had put into the 
Bali Package by implementing the decisions and ag reements that they had reached. He knew that 
the work was incredibly important for all of them in demonstrating that not only could they reach 
negotiated outcomes, but that they could also implement them bringing real benefits to the people they were there to serve. 
1.7.  The second priority was to prepare a clearly defined work program to conclude the Doha 
Development Agenda. This needed to be done by the end of the year. 
1.8.  At the TNC in February, he had asked the Chai rs of the Negotiating Groups to start a dialogue 
with Members on the issues that they might be able to take forward using a set of very simple 
parameters to guide discussions. A broad range of  views had been expressed at that meeting in 
February. Overall he had felt that the tone was very positive and he did not hear any Member say that they had not been ready to engage on the basis that he had outlined. They had done what 
they said and had proceeded on that basis. 
1.9.  He said that he had met with the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups the previous day and they 
had confirmed that they had held an initial round of consultations with Members. 
1.10.  The Chairs' full written reports of their discussions would be made available at the end of 
the meeting and he encouraged Members to study them in detail. He would give just a brief summary of progress in each of the respective areas.  
1.11.  It seemed that some factors had been common among some of the Groups. For example, in 
Agriculture, Market Access, and Services, it had come across strongly that the approach should be balanced across all three issues and that all three should be tackled together, simultaneously. There had also been a clear emphasis on the para meters during the discussions, particularly on 
the importance of development and on ensuring that they focused on outcomes that were doable. 
1.12.  Regarding the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture, the Chair's consultations 
had highlighted a range of views. Most Memb ers had acknowledged the need for a balanced 
                                               
2 The Director-General's statement was subsequently circulated in JOB/GC/60. 
3 The reports by the Chairs of the Negotiating Bodi es can be found in JOB/GC/61-67. They were also 
subsequently circulated as TN/AG/27, TN/CTD/28, TN/MA/28, TN/RL/W/255, TN/S/38, TN/TE/21 and TN/IP/22. 
4 The statement is reproduced in Annex I to the present record. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  approach among the three key pillars of Agriculture in the areas of Market Access, Domestic 
Support and Export Competition. Among the three p illars Export Competition was recognized as an 
important priority for a large group of Members. Many Members had highlighted the importance they attached to the draft modalities, while other Members had placed less emphasis on it.  Some 
Members had stressed that it was important to en sure that further discussions were assisted by 
appropriately updated data and information on Memb ers' policies. The need to ensure a coherent 
approach to the work within the Regular Commi ttee on Agriculture to implement Bali outcomes 
and the ongoing work in the Special Session had also been mentioned. 
1.13.  On the Negotiating Group on Market Access, in relation to what had gone wrong , several 
factors had been cited. Those included negotiating approaches, the different expectations among Members regarding the NAMA outcome, and the different perceptions about the balance in the 
current modalities text.  
1.14.  As to what should be done , several questions had been discussed, including whether or not 
to continue where Members had left off, the possibi lity of updating the technical negotiating base 
and whether to discuss in a more generic manner the question of what was doable in that area.  
1.15.  Some delegations had expressed their view s on the latest draft modalities, but, as he 
understood it, no common position had been reached. The Group's discussions would need to 
continue in order to establish how Members could contribute to a meaningful result on Market 
Access. The Chair had offered some personal conclu sions and suggestions at the end of his report.  
1.16.  On the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services, there had been broad 
convergence that, in addition to balance across the three market access pillars, balance would be 
needed within the Services agenda itself. Such  an outcome required the exploration of new 
approaches.  
1.17.  Many had said that, with any outcome in Services, the Development dimension of the Round 
needed to be fully reflected. The need to avoid pr evious mistakes had also been seen as crucial. 
Some wished to avoid the sequencing of DDA negoti ations, which in their view had placed services 
at a disadvantage, while others had stressed that progress in Services should be contingent on 
progress elsewhere.  
1.18.  While further deliberations were needed, it had been widely accepted that an appropriate 
level of ambition in services would have to be commensurate with those in Agriculture and NAMA.  
1.19.  Regarding the plurilateral negotiations on Services, which were taking place outside the 
WTO, some had seen those as complementary to the WTO negotiations and had emphasized the 
potential for cross-fertilization between the two tracks. Others had taken the view that such initiatives could undermine the multilateral process. 
1.20.  On the Negotiating Group on Rules, most Members had agreed that there needed to be 
serious horizontal reflection as to the overall scope  and level of ambition of the post-Bali activity. 
It should be the basis for determining whether any or all of the Rules issues would be included in 
the next phase of their work. 
1.21.  A substantial number of delegations had been  open to including Rules in the work program, 
but had considered that it could only be addresse d once clarity had been achieved on the level of 
ambition for the three "core issues". In contrast, a few delegations had considered that Rules itself 
constituted a "core issue", and that outcomes on at least certain Rules issues would be essential.  
1.22.  On the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS, based on the interim Chair's consultations 
earlier that week, it seemed that negotiations on a register for wine and spirit geographical 
indications would depend on the relationship of that work to other TRIPS issues and the wider 
Doha Round. 
1.23.  In addition, some Members had expressed interest in recommencing the consultation 
process on TRIPS implementation issues. Th ey needed to look into it further. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.24.  On the Special Session of the Committ ee on Trade and Environment, he said that 
Ambassador Selim Kuneralp would give his own personal update to Members when the General Council Chairman opened the floor, as that was his last meeting as Chair of the Negotiating Group. 
1.25.  He understood that in those discussions Members had reiterated the view that 
environmental negotiations remained an import ant element of the overall Doha mandate and 
continued to be high on delegations' political agendas. 
1.26.  On the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development, the Chair had 
encouraged Members to review the three areas of outstanding work, concerning the remaining 
Agreement Specific Proposals including the Cancún-28.  
1.27.  The indications were that delegations recognized the centrality of Development in their 
post-Bali work and had an open mind on the possible elements in its Development pillar. Some 
Members had observed that the work program would inevitably influence the contours of the work 
program on S&D.  
1.28.  The Chair had reported that there was a sense of preparedness for serious engagement 
among the Members and an acceptance of the need for creative approaches. However, for that to 
happen, Members would need a clear road map with tangible substance. A clear articulation of concerns and interests would help them move towards a successful outcome in the work of the 
Special Session.    
1.29.  On the Special Session of the DSB, work had continued on the basis of the "horizontal 
process" launched in June of the previous year, which was geared towards identifying achievable outcomes across the board in three areas namely: remand, post-retaliation, and third party rights. 
Some elements had been presented as possible bases for solutions. That effort had been very well 
received and would set the tone for further work. Further progress would require willingness to be 
flexible across the board in order to develop achievable outcomes that reflected the interests of all 
participants. 
1.30.  He thanked all the Chairs for their work and paid particular tribute to the outgoing Chairs, 
Ambassador Selim Kuneralp (Turkey), Ambassador Fook Seng Kwok (Singapore), Ambassador 
Fernando de Mateo (Mexico) and Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama). He knew that everyone 
in the room, and even those outside, had greatly appreciated their efforts.  
1.31.  He had also been considering how best to ensure that Members advanced LDC issues. Those 
had been key in Bali and would only take on greater significance as work progressed. Following 
consultations with the LDC Group, he had asked Ambassador Steffen Smidt to continue as the 
Facilitator for LDC issues for the upcoming year. He was pleased to say that Ambassador Smidt had agreed to the request, and thanked the Danish Government for allowing him to do so. He 
thought it was a very welcome development and he trusted Members would extend to Ambassador 
Smidt the same support and cooperation that they had given him during the previous year. 
1.32.  He thought Members had made an excellent start. He had heard a lot of good feedback and 
he thought that there was much which they could build on constructively. Nevertheless, much 
remained to be done. 
1.33.  On the basis of the Chairs' reports, and of his own conversations, he wished to instruct the 
Chairs to continue their work and the process of consultation. He would do the same. Members 
would need to reflect on what they had heard and to consider their next steps. 
1.34.  The first quarter of 2014 was almost behind. In the space of just nine months the work 
needed to be completed. It was essential that Me mbers were fully engaged in those consultations. 
As he had said at the TNC in February, 2014 should be a defining year for the WTO, not just as the 
year that to implement the first negotiated outcomes, but also as the year in which the Doha Round was put firmly back on track. He encouraged Members to continue working and to redouble 
their efforts.  WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.35.  That was an ongoing conversation. As he had said, he would convene a meeting of the TNC 
on 7 April to report on further progress and to provide for a fuller debate among Members on the way forward.  
1.36.  Mr Kuneralp (Turkey), Chairman of the Committee on Environment in Special Session, 
reported5 that following the TNC Chair's request to Chairs of Negotiating Groups, he had engaged 
in February and March in an open-ended and transparent dialogue with Members to try and 
identify those issues that they might be able to take forward in a post-Bali context.  
1.37.  He had held bilateral consultations with mo re than thirty delegations representing a wide 
spectrum of regions and interests. He was grateful to all of them for their thoughtful contributions 
and to the Secretariat team that had supported him in those consultations. 
1.38.  He noted that delegations had reiterated clearly that environmental negotiations were an 
important element of the overall Doha mandate an d remained high on their agenda. He believed 
that, in the face of the pressing environmental challenges that the world was confronted with, delegations and the WTO itself could not afford to  sit back and appear to be indifferent to the 
benefits that would result from a successful conclusion of the environmental chapter of the Doha 
negotiations. He recognized that delegations needed to prioritize their efforts in the post-Bali context and that had been made clear to him.  
1.39.  It was also evident that recent developments among a subset of WTO Members would have 
an effect on the level of priority that delegation s currently gave to the topic of removal of trade 
barriers on environmental goods. Time was need ed for them to know more precisely how to 
proceed with the mandate under Paragraph 31(iii).  
1.40.  Nevertheless, he had detected a considerable degree of openness and interest. He sensed 
that many delegations stood ready to engage in work on specific aspects of the mandate, especially those aspects that remained largely unexplored, including for instance non-tariff 
barriers, organic goods, and the development perspective. He believed that the fact that they 
might currently have different levels of priority should not prevent them from engaging in the CTE-SS and discussing some aspects of the mandate, in particular those which went beyond tariff 
reduction and were of specific interest to developing countries. He encouraged them to come 
forward with precise ideas for further multilateral discussions and to focus on the elements that could be used to advance the work in that particular area. 
1.41.  The liberalization of environmental goods was only one part of the negotiations. He recalled 
that the Doha mandate also included two items related to the relationship between Multilateral 
Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and the WTO. He was of the view that, with the appropriate level of effort and negotiation, this could become ripe in the near future. A draft compilation text 
put forward in 2011 by the then Chairperson was av ailable and could be revisited. Since the topic 
had not been discussed for some time, his sense was that they would need a first "informative" step to bring delegations up to speed and to a llow them to revisit and update their proposals. 
Then, they would be appropriately equipped to negotiate seriously and make progress on a 
possible outcome.  
1.42.  This was the last meeting of the General Council that he was attending as Chair of the 
Special Session of the Committee on Trade and the Environment, but also as Ambassador of his 
country to the WTO.  He thanked all his colleagues for the friendship and support they had given 
him during his time in Geneva and offered a part icular word of appreciation for the Secretariat 
whose standards of professionalism he had always admired.  He was proud to have served as a 
member of the Secretariat for many years in his younger days and wished all of them plenty of 
success in the period ahead.  He also wished all the best to his successor as Chair of the Special Session. 
1.43.  All delegations which spoke thanked th e Director-General, Chairman of the Trade 
Negotiations Committee, for his report on the consultations held by the Chairs of the negotiating 
groups and for his tireless efforts. 
                                               
5 The CTE-SS Chairman's statement was subsequently circulated in JOB/GC/66 and TN/TE/21. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.44.  The representative of the Plurinational Stat e of Bolivia, wished to express his delegation's 
preliminary positions regarding certain points that had been mentioned. Bolivia felt that in Bali, the 
result achieved had been too unbalanced against the interests of the majority of developing 
countries and that was a scenario which should not be repeated in the future. Bolivia believed 
therefore that any post-Bali work program needed to be balanced and that its primary, secondary 
and tertiary components, should be Development. In concrete terms, this meant that from the 
outset priority had to be given to issues that were not of a binding nature in the Decisions and 
Declarations adopted in Bali, as noted in the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the Ninth Ministerial 
Conference. 
1.45.  A second aspect that future work had to take into account was that agriculture remained at 
the heart of the negotiations, and any work in the other pillars of the Doha Round had to be 
commensurate with the work and level of ambition of agriculture. This meant that in accordance 
with the Bali Ministerial Declaration, delegations ha d to begin by addressing issues such as export 
competition, food security, and the elimination of  cotton subsidies. Bolivia was willing to discuss 
the other pillars of the Doha Round, but this had to reflect the balance of what was obtained in 
agriculture. In this sense, agriculture set the le vel of ambition of the Ro und. Bolivia was therefore 
interested to see what developed countries were prep ared to do to continue the agricultural reform 
that had been needed for so long. 
1.46.  Bolivia hoped that the mistakes made in the past two years would not be repeated; in this 
respect, Bolivia did not support new early harvests or small, Bali-type packages of results, where 
only some benefited and gave nothing in return, th us diluting the single undertaking. This was not 
the best scenario for developing countries. The single undertaking was still the only guarantee 
developing countries had that their interests would receive proper attention from the multilateral trading system. If the early harvest route was fo llowed, for each new statement of intent in 
agriculture, the developing countries would have to pay with legally binding agreements that 
promoted the interests of oligopolistic multinational corporations and did not provide tangible benefits for the economies of their countries. Be fore considering moving towards new scenarios 
and promoting issues that were not of interest to the majority of developing countries, Members 
first needed to resolve last century's problems. 
1.47.  The representative of Lesotho, on behalf of the African Group said that Members had to live 
up to their MC9 Ministerial instructions on post-Bali work. Those instructions extended beyond the 
work on Trade Facilitation into the Bali decisi ons that had not garnered binding outcomes. They 
further extended to the drawing of a work program on pending DDA issues.  
1.48.  The work program on pending DDA issues was of great importance to the African Group. 
The Group had taken a good note of the Director-G eneral's report on that issue, as presented 
through the lens of specific negotiating areas. In that context, it was critically important for Members not to miscalculate the pre-requisite amo unt of time and effort needed for drawing the 
work program. The first quarter was already behi nd them, as the Director-General had observed. 
For its part, the African Group considered it was important that Members did not defer discussion on the DDA work program to the eleventh hour. The fact that for the past three years Members had decided to focus on a narrow set of issues could not in itself be considered a reason legitimate 
enough to defer negotiations to the eleventh hour again. In that context, the African Group trusted 
in the abilities of the TNC Chairman and the Chairs of the negotiating groups to treat the drawing of the work program on the DDA with a great sense of urgency. 
1.49.  The Group was acutely aware of the fact that Members needed to individually and 
collectively prepare for the exercise of drawing the post-Bali DDA work program with all issues literally on the table. It needed no mention that negotiations on the DDA work program would 
inevitably be tough. On its part, the African Group was scheduled to hold a retreat that would help 
it constructively and proactively engage in drawing the work program on the DDA issues.  
1.50.  In the last engagement on the full spectrum  of all the DDA pillars, many questions had been 
left open. Those questions remained glaring at Members. Buying time would not drive questions 
away from their side. Likewise, drifting attentio n from the Multilateral Trading System would not 
wish them away. They needed to be confronted head on. Work on the DDA program needed to be 
overseen by some key principles as in the past. In this regard, it would be lamentable if Members 
would throw away thousands of hours invested in constructing the 2008 DDA negotiating texts, 
primarily because every word in the modalities represented real consensus or interests of WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Members. It was the considered view of the African Group that these texts had to be the genesis 
of Members' collective engagement in an effort to draw the DDA work program.  
1.51.  On the negotiations under the Preparatory Committee on Trade Facilitation, the African 
Group welcomed the progress made so far. Time was of the essence to complete other pending 
tasks as instructed by MC9. The Group was gr ateful to those Members who had favourably 
answered the call to facilitate participation of capital-based officials in the Preparatory Committee sessions.  
1.52.  There were other key issues on Trade Facilitation that needed to be given great care. All 
developing countries had to be assisted to undertake fresh Trade Facilitation needs assessments or update the existing ones. That would have a great bearing in the Members' ability to notify their commitments in accordance with Categories A, B and C of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The 
terms of the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement as inscribed in Section 2 had to 
also equally apply to countries undergoing the WT O Accession process. Members had to take good 
care to ensure that once the Trade Facilitati on Agreement entered into force, it would not 
subsequently become a barrier to the goal of the WTO to achieve universal Membership. 
1.53.  The centrality of Development in the DDA could not be overemphasized. That was a 
principle that every Member acknowledged. In th at period, Members needed to ensure that the 
outcomes of their negotiations had measurable indicators of the Development they all ascribed to. 
Likewise, the principle of single undertaking should be preserved both in word and deed. As the African Group had stressed in the February TNC m eeting, trade liberalization could not in and of 
itself be enough to deliver the Development promise. Members should not lose sight of that. With 
all issues being on the table, Members had to ensu re that all outcomes bore an important imprint 
on Development. 
1.54.  The representative of Cuba said that her delegation had had consultations with some 
negotiating group Chairs in a very positive enviro nment. Cuba had shared wi th them its views with 
respect to future work and how the work program for the following months should be structured. In this regard, Cuba fully supported the views ex pressed by Bolivia. Cuba shared the view that 
priority in the work program should be given to the pending issues of the DDA. It was essential 
that that work be done with an inclusive, transp arent, bottom-up approach. It needed to also be a 
balanced process, respecting the principle of the single undertaking and where issues regarding Agriculture and Development had a central place. Cuba reaffirmed that the Doha Round continued 
to be the centrepiece of the Organization's work and the principal mandate for all Members. 
Therefore, it would be necessary to give priority to the aspects that were not dealt with in Bali, and those that had not been finalized. 
1.55.  Regarding the Trade Facilitation Agreement, she stressed that, as had been agreed in Bali, it 
should take effect in accordance with Article X Paragraph 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement and with the principle of the single undertaking.  
1.56.  Cuba was concerned that after so many efforts to restore the Organization's credibility, 
some Members continued to promote plurilateral initiatives. She noted that a small group of Members was, under the agenda of the Council for Trade in Services, using room W to promote and give updates on progress in the plurilateral initiative in that area, known as TISA, and even to 
engage in fruitless proselytizing activities. Cuba regretted that some had fallen into that trap. Cuba 
reiterated its position in defence of multilateralism and would continue to reject plurilateral approaches, which strategically aimed at reducing the policy space of developing countries. 
1.57.  The representative of Indonesia, on behalf of the G-33, said that the Group fully shared the 
Director-General's view on the importance of the im plementation of the Ministerial Decision in Bali, 
including designing the mandated program in Agricu lture. The Group held the strong view that the 
process of establishing the work program should be based on a transparent, inclusive, and bottom-
up approach. Members also needed to have frank conversations, building up from what they had achieved in Bali. In this regard, the G-33 wished to share some general principles to guide and facilitate the work. First, Agriculture had to be the centre of the post-Bali work program. The 
balance in the work program should be determined by the level of ambition in Agriculture. Second, 
Development that supported food security, livelihoo d security, and rural development objectives of 
developing countries and LDCs should remain integral and a critical part of any outcome in WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Agriculture. Third, the work program in Agriculture had to aim at implementing the Doha mandate, 
including the single undertaking principle. Fourth, the Rev. 4 draft of the Agricultural modalities should be the basis of the work and focus on addr essing outstanding issues therein was needed to 
facilitate the conclusion of the Doha Round.  
1.58.  As mandated in Bali, Members needed to prioritize work on a clearly defined work program 
with the aim of making a recommendation for a permanent solution of public stockholding for food security purposes as well as other issues in the Bali Package where legally binding outcomes could 
not be achieved. Resolving the issue of the permanent solution on the public stockholding for food 
security purposes would contribute to the achiev ement of food security. The G-33 was also of the 
view that the progress and concrete outcomes on Domestic Support and Export Competition were critical elements for facilitating a successful conclusion of the Doha Round. The Group was 
committed to engage constructively in the issue of Market Access, especially in developing a 
simple, operational, and effective special safeguard mechanism and special products. 
1.59.  The representative of Kenya, on behalf of  the ACP Group, said that the Group had recalled, 
at the informal TNC meeting on 6 February 2014, that Members had committed themselves to 
start implementing the Bali Ministerial Decisions and had agreed on a set of parameters to guide 
them in the formulation of the post-Bali work program. 
1.60.  In the previous month, the Chairs of th e Negotiating Groups had engaged Members in both 
informal and formal consultative meetings in their quest to move the agreed Bali Package forward.  
The ACP Group thanked them for their efforts in that regard. 
1.61.  He wished to express some of the views of the ACP Group concerning the Bali Declaration 
mandate that defined the envisaged work program on the remaining issues in the Doha 
Development Agenda (DDA) by the end of the year.  First, the ACP Group wished to call upon the 
Chairman of the TNC to start holding a series of consultations on the post-Bali work program, 
which was a critical mandate from Bali. The Group also asked him to establish, as soon as 
possible, a clear schedule of meetings in a structured and focused manner that could facilitate in gauging any progress realized. It was important that delegations were seen to be fulfilling the 
instructions of their Ministers within the period allotted and not just devoting their already meagre 
resources on implementing the Trade Facilitation Decision alone. It recalled convergence during 
the previous year, including its redoubled efforts and engagement with other delegations to ensure 
that Bali became a success. The Group wished to see the same effort being exerted to defining the 
work program on the remaining issues in the DDA that were important to them and central to 
concluding the Round. 
1.62.  In addition, the ACP Group wished to know from their partners how they were going to 
deliver on their commitment to conclude the Round. In defining a post-Bali work program, the 
Group believed that certain principles were of core significance. The single undertaking should be adhered to with respect to not only the remaining areas of the DDA but also those areas where 
agreement had been reached in Bali on a binding or non-binding basis. While it would affirm its 
commitment to implementing the Bali Decisions, it  also expected that the work on the post-Bali 
work program would be implemented on a scale comparable to that of Trade Facilitation. 
1.63.  The ACP Group attached importance to the exhortation to Members in the Bali Declaration 
to build on and prioritize Development, Agricu lture, and LDC outcomes that represented their 
expectations for tangible binding agreements.  While Members were already well into the start of the year, notwithstanding the informal small-scale consultations held by a few negotiating group 
Chairs, no program appeared to have been elaborated thus far in the relevant negotiating bodies 
and committees to take up implementation of the DDA or special and differential treatment issues 
which were still on the table. The ACP Group attached considerable importance to securing the 
gains identified in Rev. 4 and other negotiating texts, including building on commitments to 
capacity building and assistance in anticipation of the conclusion of the DDA, in a manner that took into account challenges related to implementati on that had been raised by the Group. It 
emphasized that the agreed post-Bali work progra m should be seen to be diverse and robust to 
ensure adequate coverage of the interests of the Membership in terms of balance and ambition. 
1.64.  With regard to Trade Facilitation, the Gr oup noted that the newly established Preparatory 
Committee was under the auspices of the General Council. He urged that the work of the WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Preparatory Committee be conducted with full respect of the capacity constraints of small 
delegations which had to examine issues with great care and contribute to the legal review mandated in the Ministerial Decision. He was well aware that there had not been enough time to conduct that review before Bali, even though such a review should have been done before 
agreeing on the text.  He therefore stressed the need for the Preparatory Committee to fully 
observe the consensus rule, not a reverse consen sus rule, and operate in accordance with the 
agreed General Council procedures. 
1.65.  The ACP Group urged the Committee to conduct meetings in a manner that did not rush 
delegations into agreeing on elements that were  not informed by the Group's development needs 
and taking into account its constraints and ability to follow other meetings relevant to pursuing its interests in the conclusion of the DDA. The Group was still reflecting on matters that should further 
shape the contours of the work program, in pr eparation for the consultations and schedule of 
meetings that were to be organized by the TNC Chair to expedite the work on an urgent basis. 
1.66.  The representative of Uganda, on behalf of the LDC Group, said Members found themselves 
at a critical moment in time, when they ponder ed the future and perhaps the fate of the Doha 
Development Agenda, as it related to the emanci pation of the poorest and weakest Members of 
the system. He urged Members to shun the winding path of good wishes and limited substance.  
1.67.  The LDC Group recognized the important role  that Bali had played as an essential element 
in their collective effort to reinvigorate the Doha Round, and the inclusive Multilateral Trading System. However, given the non-binding and time-bound outcomes for developing countries and LDCs, a lot remained to be done. It noted the point that as demandeurs , it was incumbent upon 
the LDC Group to take the lead on those issues with the view to ensure that they were kept high 
on the agenda and therefore deliver meaningful re sults for it. Yet, the Group was mindful of the 
fact that a lot depended on its partners. 
1.68.  There were two important tracks that had be en determined by the Ministers on the decision 
on the operationalization of the Services Waiv er. One involved Members in their individual 
capacities, voluntarily and proactively extendin g preferences to LDCs' Services and Service 
Suppliers, consistent with the Waiver Decision, which had commercial value and promoted 
economic benefits to LDCs. It had never been envisaged that the two processes should run sequentially. On the contrary, Ministers had envi saged a situation where the two processes would 
and could run in parallel.  
1.69.  To that end, the Group urged Members to take proactive steps in ensuring that the LDC 
Decisions emanating from MC9, though non-bindin g and in some cases containing best endeavour 
language, were implemented in a meaningful way to promote their economic growth and 
development. 
1.70.  The credibility of that process would largely depend on how the developed-country Members 
fulfilled their commitments not only in Section II of the Trade Facilitation Agreement but in all the 
Bali Decisions, including those specific to LDCs. The LDC Group commended those Members who 
had already taken bold steps in specific commitments to allocate funds for the provision of assistance and support for capacity building. It en couraged others to do likewise. In addition, it 
urged Members to not impose onerous procedural requirements on accessing the said assistance 
and support. 
1.71.  At that juncture, the LDC Group recogniz ed and commended the EIF as a vehicle for the 
delivery of Aid for Trade. The Group called for the extension of the EIF mandate beyond its 2015 
deadline and recognized the opportunity of the comprehensive evaluation to help shape its future. 
It took note of the impending funding gap at that  stage of the program with increasing demand for 
LDC Country support. It urged the development partners to continue to deliver on their 
commitments and bring in the required resources so as  to afford the EIF the opportunity to fulfil its 
mandate. 
1.72.  LDCs and developing countries in the proc ess of accession were not sure about their fate 
with regard to the implementation of the Trad e Facilitation Agreement. He urged Members to 
extend the same kind of assistance and support fo r capacity building to Acceding Members.  They 
would not be able to afford implementation of the Agreement upon its entry into force without WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  reasonable implementation capacity. Further, they should also be able to benefit from the 
transitional periods in the implementation of Categories B and C. 
1.73.  On the work of the Trade Facilitation Pr eparatory Committee, it was important for capital-
based officials to participate in all the meetings. Their participation would be instrumental in aiding 
the expeditious entry into force of the Agreement.  To that end, the LDC Group wished to request 
the Secretariat to fund the participation of LDCs. It welcomed the offer of the EU in that regard and encouraged other partners to do the same.  
1.74.  With regard to the Plurilaterals, th e LDC Group had been amazed by the seemingly 
contradictory narratives presented, on one hand, by the celebratory chorus of many with regard to 
the triumph of multilateralism in December, while others espoused the view that Members were faced with the fervent pace and vigour of plurilateral arrangements, most of which in their own 
right account for in excess of 70% of global trade in their respective sectors. There was no second 
guessing on how problematic that scenario presented. Members should all be working to strengthen and not to undermine the Multilateral Trading System.  
1.75.  On the work program, the Director-General, in a passionate and persuasive way, had 
encouraged Members to reflect on the past, as it had been the best way of forging a way forward. He had urged them to be realistic and focus on what was doable.  
1.76.  When one reflected on the Marrakesh Agreement, it would be found that the framers of that 
sacred document had recognized the need for positi ve efforts designed to ensure that developing 
countries, and especially the least developed am ong them, secured a share in the growth of 
international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development. Members were 
still aspiring to achieve that goal. 
1.77.  It was critical that following on the Bali Ministerial Declaration, in crafting the work program, 
Members needed to focus on the conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda and avoid the 
temptation of introducing new issues. There had to be a better balance in the post-Bali 
negotiations and the principle of the single under taking should be preser ved. Development should 
be the central pillar. Their modalities for work should take into account the full participation of 
small and less resourced Missions in all the meetings. The LDC Group urged the Director-General 
to develop a clear and precise timetable on the work program. 
1.78.  The Doha Development Agenda had been launched with the ultimate aim of bringing visible 
change to the lives of people. For long, Member s had spoken about Development. The developed, 
developing, and least-developed Members agreed that Development had to be the centre of their 
negotiations. Yet, it had always managed to escape their grasp at every opportune moment. Members should choose to make a difference. He said that this should be the year when they all 
said what they meant, and meant what they said. 
1.79.  In concluding, the LDC Group thanked the Director-General for making it possible for it to 
have a facilitator, thanked Ambassador Smidt for agreeing to work with the Group and looked 
forward to fruitful collaborations with him. 
1.80.  The representative of Brazil, on behalf of  the G-20, said that, as the discussions on the 
preparation of the post-Bali work program started gaining momentum, the G-20 wished to 
underline that the post-Bali work program had to be  conducive to the implementation of the Doha 
Development mandate and should be cantered on Agriculture. The work program had to address 
the core elements of the DDA agricultural negoti ations. It needed rapid results in the reform 
process in Agriculture to promote Development. Agriculture had historically lagged behind in 
previous negotiating Rounds and it was high time Members started correcting the distortions 
caused by high levels of protectionism in agricultural trade.  
1.81.  In that regard, the G-20 reaffirmed that Agriculture remained the key determinant of the 
level of ambition of the results of the DDA nego tiations and the benchmark for the landing zones 
Members would arrive at. Additionally, the G-20 co nsidered that the revised draft modalities for 
Agriculture (TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4) were the basis for a successful agreement as they reflected years of negotiations and trade-offs.  WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.82.  The G-20 reaffirmed its intention to follow closely the implementation of the Bali Ministerial 
Decisions in Agriculture. In that context, the Group also recalled the agreement reached at Bali that issues where legally binding outcomes could no t be achieved would be prioritized in the post-
Bali negotiations. 
1.83.  Finally, on process, the G-20 was not in favour of sequencing the work Members would 
carry out in 2014. It believed that the discussions on the implementation of the Bali results, on 
new information gathering exercises and on the work program should happen concomitantly. In 
keeping with its long-standing tradition, the G-20 was ready to work constructively towards 
making progress in the reform process of Agriculture disciplines, in accordance with the Doha Development mandate. 
1.84.  The representative of Jordan, on behalf  of the Arab Group, congratulated all the WTO 
Members on the success of the Bali Ministerial me eting and thanked the Director-General and the 
Members for their tireless efforts to achieve positive outcomes in Bali. Throughout the whole negotiation and consultation process, the Arab Group had supported the Director-General’s efforts 
and had worked closely with all Members in order to conclude the negotiations and reach a 
successful outcome at MC9. The Group welcomed the Bali Package and was of the view that the 
Package should provide a good start to continue wo rking and to build on for future negotiations. It 
was important to ensure that the WTO could resp ond to the needs and priorities of developing 
countries, fulfil the mandate of the Doha Ro und, and deliver real development outcomes.  
1.85.  He said that the single undertaking princi ple should be emphasized as a guideline for the 
successful and balanced conclusion of the Round. The single undertaking was still relevant as the 
only principle that could ensure the right bala nce among the outcomes of the Doha Round. The 
importance of full participation, inclusiveness and transparency should be respected throughout the process. The importance of respecting an d acknowledging the work accomplished since the 
beginning of the Doha Round and maintaining the 2008 draft modalities as the basis for the future 
work should also be emphasized. 
1.86.  The Arab Group did not support any attempts to add new issues to the WTO mandate before 
concluding the DDA. In its view, there were many different options to approach new issues or the 
so called “21st century issues”. Members could di scuss those issues in workshops, seminars, or 
special meetings with relevant organizations, but introducing new issues into the negotiations before ending the Doha issues was unacceptable.  
1.87.  The Arab Group also wished to underline the centrality of Agriculture in future negotiations, 
and emphasized that without any tangible Agri culture outcomes, there would not be any other 
success stories like the Bali Package. The work on a permanent solution for the Public Stockholding 
issue should be prioritized and not be linked to the work program on other DDA issues. Other non-
binding outcomes that resulted from Bali, mainly Export Competition and Cotton issues, as mentioned in the Ministerial Declaration, should also be prioritized in the DDA work program. 
1.88.  Developing countries needed a permanent solution to address unequal rules in Agriculture, 
in order to promote an agenda for decent jobs, food security and sustainable development. Thus, the development aspects of the Round should not only be safeguarded but also strengthened. He 
assured everyone that the Arab Group stood ready to engage constructively, as it had always 
done, in the continuous negotiations and the future work program towards a successful and 
balanced conclusion. 
1.89.  The representative of Nigeria said that the two significant tasks ahead were to implement 
the Decisions reached in Bali, and to prepare a clearly defined work program on the remaining 
DDA issues by the end of 2014. However, the Bali  Package, and the anticipated benefits, could 
only be achieved through Members' collective ac tion in the following months. That challenge was 
particularly critical regarding the implementation  of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, given its 
scope and the complexity of the commitments undertaken in Bali. His delegation called on Members to adhere to the MC9 mandate and to av oid any deviation from the goal of successfully 
concluding the Doha Round as soon as possible.  
1.90.  Nigeria was pleased to note the progress arising from extensive consultations and ongoing 
efforts. It was encouraging that Members had signal led, very clearly, their determination to forge WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  ahead with the remaining issues in the DDA negotiations and bring them to a conclusion as quickly 
as possible. The collective commitments to the Doha Round at the highest level remained very strong. While work in Agriculture negotiations was continuing, particularly given the renewed mandate at the MC9, it was his delegation's view that Rev.4 of the December 2008 modalities text, 
which had not only been stabilized but was also a product of hard negotiations and trade-offs, 
should be the basis for their negotiations. 
1.91.  His delegation also noted with keen in terest and encouragement that discussions were 
progressing smoothly at the level of the Preparatory Committee, following the adoption of the 
Committee’s work program and the commencement of the legal review for the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement. He hoped that there would be opportunity for Nigeria's capital-based experts to participate in the work of the Preparatory Committee through sponsorship.   
1.92.  Nigeria was mindful of the fact that the outcome of Bali was a mini-package within the 
overall single undertaking of the Doha Work Program. Preparing a clearly defined work program on the remaining Doha issues by the end of 2014 was a must. Members had agreed on the need to be 
creative and open-minded to new ideas that might allow them to overcome any stumbling blocks. 
Nevertheless, that creativity had to be consistent with the DDA mandate. To that end, his delegation wished to state that the preparation of a post-Bali work program should ensure that the 
following principles were respected: (a) centralit y of Agriculture and Development; (b) balanced 
and realistic outcome rather than ambition; (c) flexibility  and open-mindedness; and, (d) transparency, inclusiveness and full participation of all Members, taking into consideration the concerns of small delegations. 
1.93.  Given the seamless challenges facing the Or ganization, at that particular point in time, 
Nigeria encouraged Members to work together with  the Director-General and the Chairpersons of 
the various negotiating bodies on the work program in an inclusive and transparent manner. 
Nigeria fully supported the statements made by the African Group, the ACP Group, the G-33 and 
the G-20.   
1.94.  The representative of Chinese Taipei, on behalf of the RAMs Group, was pleased to hear that 
everyone was ready to engage, and that the momentum was gearing up for the implementation of 
the Bali decisions and for the preparation of th e post-Bali work program. The RAMs Group also 
understood that in order to complete the work program by the end of the year, their primary tasks were to keep up the momentum, to continue th e dialogue, bearing in mind the parameters the 
Director-General had provided, and to find ways of acting together collectively.  
1.95.  The RAMs Group shared a few thoughts on the post-Bali work from its particular 
perspective. First, the Multilateral Trading System was always the principal forum for promoting 
global trade. It urged Members to complete the DDA and all its mandates, which included reaching 
a comprehensive final package. Members should also be flexible to look at all possible approaches that could help achieve completion of the Round.  
1.96.  Second, the Development dimension was the central pillar of the post-Bali work program 
and the needs and interests of developing-country Members should be at its heart as well. In view of the extensive commitments made by the RAMs Members at the time of their accessions, the 
special flexibility needs of the RAMs, as instructed in paragraph 58 of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration, had to be given due consideration.  
1.97.  Third, the three core issues: Agriculture,  NAMA, and Services, needed to be treated inter-
connectively. In other words, those three pillars were integral parts of the DDA package and 
therefore, no single issue should be treated independently from the other two. The RAMs Group 
also underscored the need to maintain a balance between the level of ambition of each of those three pillars as integral parts of the result of  the DDA negotiations, and the 2008 modalities text 
contained in Rev. 4. This should be the basis for the future negotiations on Agriculture and NAMA.  
1.98.  Fourth, as clearly stated in paragraph 1.11 of the Bali Ministerial Declaration, Ministers had 
instructed Members to develop a work program on the remaining DDA issues. They should devote their full commitment and entire efforts to the comp letion of that decade lo ng Round, by reaching 
consensus on the remaining DDA issues. The clock was ticking and they should not deviate from 
the course that Ministers had set. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.99.  The representative of Pakistan said that her country was a firm believer that the Multilateral 
Trading System, no matter how slow in its pace, provided the ultimate solution to inclusive trade 
growth and the integration of the developing coun tries into the trading system. Bali had provided 
Members an opportunity to renew their faith in the system. They then had to engage with an open 
mind for creative solutions. Her delegation wished to add a few markers that the path ahead 
needed to take into consideration the progress th at had already been made in all pillars of the 
DDA, it had to be inclusive, and LDC issues needed to be prioritized. Her delegation realized the 
importance of open markets and its linkage with  development, peace, and prosperity and would 
engage with an open mind in any process. 
1.100.  Agriculture and Development, being the prio rities set by the Ministers in Bali, provided 
Members an opportunity to have a frank dialogue on the way forward. Such a dialogue was 
important to address some of the imbalances in trade rules that had hindered developing country 
exports. Those imbalances had to be addressed to ensure continuation of the reform process and a 
level playing field. Members had to ensure that the rules under consideration provided all 
developing countries real market opportunities and enhance their development and growth 
prospects. Her delegation also supported the statement made by G-20. 
1.101.  The representative of Solomon Islands supported the statements made by the LDC Group 
and the ACP Group. Four months on after Bali, it was critical that Members made some tough 
decisions. That statement was made on the premise that Bali was a one-off event. He recalled that all delegations had made statements in the months leading up to Bali that the small package was an attempt to salvage the Multilateral Trading System (MTS).  
1.102.  The outcome in Bali had been far from balanced. Members had a fully-fledged binding 
Agreement on Trade Facilitation, while the rest had been merely temporary, non-binding and best endeavours. As they moved forward and as had been  decided by their Ministers, they needed to 
concentrate their efforts on ensuring that permanent and legally binding solutions were found for 
those decisions. 
1.103.  On the LDC Package, which were Ministerial Decisions already taken earlier, in particular 
with respect to DFQF and the Services Waiver, genuine efforts needed to be made to ensure that 
those Decisions were not mere rhetoric but shou ld bring about tangible benefits to the LDCs. 
1.104.  On Trade Facilitation, if Members were serious about implementing the Agreement, there 
had to be a coordinated approach on how or where developing countries could access the 
assistance required to implement it. He suggest ed that a simple and transparent mechanism be 
put in place to enable those needing assistance to access it. 
1.105.  The Bali Ministerial Declaration had tasked Members to prepare within the following 
9 months a clearly defined work program on the remaining Doha Development Agenda issues. 
Doha had been so named for a reason and that was to recognize that trade was not an end in itself but a means to an end. He thought a good majority of Members had joined the WTO to ensure 
global trade rules were crafted such that they brought development for their people. He implored 
all Members to keep that in mind as they prep ared the remaining post-Bali Work Program. Their 
ultimate aim should be to make a difference in the lives of those in the world still living under the scourge of abject poverty since in the globalized world of today, " we are only as strong as the 
weakest link ". 
1.106.  The representative of India said that many  of the points that the African Group, the ACP 
Group and the LDC Group, and some of the other in dividual interventions made, were very closely 
aligned with his delegation's thinking and its expectation of the work which was to follow in the 
coming months. 
1.107.   India fully associated itself with the statements made on behalf of the G-33 and the G-20 
and paramount among the points that had been made  in those two statements were the following: 
first, that Agriculture and Development remained the core of the Doha Round and those would have to determine the level of ambition for the work program and for the conclusion of the Round. 
The second was that Members had to be flexible, but the flexibility had to be all round, and it had 
to first approach the problem of the level of ambi tion. There were the related issues of whether it 
should be a single undertaking or different, small-sized, partial harvests. He asked what should be WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  the basis and where should Members start from. Should  it be from where they left off in 2008 or in 
2011? Those were the issues that Members needed to approach with a very rational, low-key setting and to have a free and frank exchange of views. His delegation looked forward to 
participating in those deliberations and hoped that Members would be able to replicate the kind of 
success that they had in Bali in terms of putting together a very comprehensive work program to 
conclude the DDA. 
1.108.  Since that was the last meeting of the General Council in which he would be participating 
as Ambassador of his country, he wished to commend the effective leadership of the Director-
General and the qualities that led to the first success in many years: perseverance, adopting both inclusive and problem-solving approaches. Those wo uld be required in great measure in the days 
to come, in order to face the challenges and to keep the path straight towards the goal. He 
personally wished him success in his endeavours. He was sure that he would steer the ship home 
in December, as had been mandated by the Ministers. He also thanked the General Council Chairman for a very successful stint at the helm of the WTO and noted the quiet efficiency and 
diplomacy which he had exercised, in tackling many difficult and possibly contentious issues, 
through his diplomatic skills and without a ripple coming to the surface. 
1.109.  He thanked all his colleagues from different delegations. It had been a very enriching 
experience engaging in discussions with that very  unique body of delegations with very bright, 
experienced, and wise minds. He also expressed appreciation for the work which had been put in by the Chef de Cabinet, the Deputy Directors- General and the entire Secretariat. He also 
expressed appreciation for members of his own delegation who had been the real source of 
strength and a pillar of India's contribution to the deliberations in the WTO. He would seek the 
same support, unqualified guidance and help that all of them had extended to him for his successor who would be joining in April. He also wished the Chairs and all WTO Members success 
in their future endeavours. In the following months, they would be facing a lot of challenges 
collectively.  
1.110.  The representative of South Africa congra tulated the Director-General on the outstanding 
efforts in delivering an outcome in Bali, the first major trade agreement since the Uruguay Round. 
He had read with interest his speech to the US Chamber of Commerce. He was right about US leadership, not just in creating the Multilateral Trading System but also the two other pillars of global economic governance at Bretton Woods: World Bank and IMF. It was also true that the 
United States had been the driving force in each of  the eight rounds of the GATT, from 1947 to the 
Uruguay Round. 
1.111.  For the majority of developing countries, th eir experience of that history had been rather 
mixed. The exclusion of Agriculture at the outset  of the GATT, at the insistence of the United 
States and the Common Agricultural Policy in the EEC, had blocked out the exports of developing countries. Similarly, the increasing protectionism in clothing and textiles through the short and 
long term Textile agreements had raised the barriers for much of developing country 
manufactured exports. The Uruguay Round had gone some way to address those issues for the first time but many writers, such as Michael Finger and Joseph Stiglitz, had made the argument that the results of the Uruguay Round had been imbalanced against developing countries. It was 
for that reason that the Doha Round, the first und er the new WTO, had been mandated to address 
those inequities and asymmetries in the current WTO rules. The Doha mandate had thus argued that the needs and interests of the developing countries should be prioritized. 
1.112.  The contribution of the Director-General at  Bali and that of the Membership as a whole had 
been immense. Bali had indeed deflated the doom sday predictions of the pessimists that the WTO 
could not make decisions by consensus, that multilateralism could not work. It was the pessimists 
that had argued that the Doha Round was dead. They had also argued that the new phenomena of 
global value chains, in the world economy, had render ed tariffs to be obsolete and that it was only 
services and non-tariff barriers that mattered. Those analysts thus threw Agriculture and the remaining extremely high tariffs, domestic suppo rt, and export subsidies into the dustbin of 
history, as they were considered to be yesterda y's issues, neither doable nor realistic. It was 
amazing also how, rather than to criticize th ose Members who struck major blows against the 
Multilateral Trading System, those analysts instead urged the protagonists of plurilaterals and 
mega-bilaterals to impose those outcomes upon the rest of the WTO Membership.  WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.113.  For the majority of developing countries, the Bali outcome was a demonstration of good 
faith. Their issues had been subordinated in the interest of demonstrating that the multilateral system was important to all. They had heard the arguments of some that Trade Facilitation would 
bring major gains for developing countries with appropriate scepticism. However, the credibility of 
the WTO and multilateralism would be tested in the implementation of the post-Bali work program. 
It was clear that many of the poorest countries had agreed to Trade Facilitation on the understanding that the issues that they had been fighting for since Doha, LDC issues, Cotton and 
Export Subsidies, would be addressed as a matter of priority.  
1.114.  The world economy had changed. There we re several major emerging economies in the 
developing world. However, the United States remained the largest world economy and emerging countries still had development challenges. More than just US leadership would be required to 
break the impasse of the Doha Round. Members all had an interest in building a more open, fair, 
balanced, and inclusive Multilateral Trading System. He urged Members to work together in the subsequent months to build a new vision of how to  take the Multilateral Trading System forward.  
1.115.  The representative of the European Union noted that Members were indeed going through 
an important moment. The Director-General had talked about 2014 being a defining year. He 
thought it had been very much what it needed to be, and in a positive way. What Members would 
be doing in the coming months had the potential to save the multilateral system and the activities 
of the WTO for many years to come. The European Union remained firmly dedicated to the objective of concluding the DDA and was ready to play its part in moving forward. Members needed again to come together with the objective of advancing their discussions. Similar to the 
pre-Bali effort, they needed to engage and to work  constructively and with realism. The European 
Union put its trust in the Director-General to guide that process and the Organization ahead. 
1.116.  The main priority was the implementation of  the Bali Package. It was a process that was a 
real test for the credibility of the WTO and its Me mbers. It also provided the necessary confidence 
that was needed to open doors towards more difficult negotiations on the remaining elements of the DDA. How to successfully address the core issues was the question that was on everyone's 
mind: approaches that were not successful in 2008 and were unlikely to succeed in today's much 
changed trading environment. Members needed to  approach the post-Bali discussion with open 
minds and to do so from the beginning. It was clear that one could not lose sight of the inter-connection of the various issues, as only a balanced approach between all areas would provide a 
recipe for success. Everyone needed to be ready to contribute to a deal and everyone needed to 
benefit from it.  
1.117.  He highlighted that the DDA did not end with Agriculture, NAMA and Services. 
Development, and in particular the interest of the LDCs, needed to play a central role in Members' 
discussions. Moreover, they could not forget th ose areas where the WTO could really provide 
added value in today's world, including Rules. Some issues that had already been mentioned, such 
as domestic support and export subsidies, formed part of the core agricultural agenda and there 
was a broad recognition that they could only be properly addressed in the WTO. The same went 
for other forms of subsidies which affected the market and traders of all WTO Members. There 
were also other issues that had been mentioned in the TNC Chair's report and needed to be part of 
the negotiation in the coming weeks and months. The European Union was ready to work with 
others to find a common way forward, building on the success of Bali and with the objective of strengthening the multilateral system further. 
1.118.  The representative of Qatar fully endorsed the statement by Jordan on behalf of the Arab 
Group. He reaffirmed Qatar's support for the Multilateral Trading System as well as for the day-to-
day work of the WTO regular bodies and re-emphasized his delegation's support to the on-going 
efforts of WTO Members as they sought to define the post-Bali work program. Qatar attached 
great importance to the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda. In that regard, it urged all WTO Members to agree on a work program to complete the DDA on its current mandate and on the basis of the single undertaking.  
1.119.  The representative of Paraguay highlighted his delegation's firm commitment to continue 
working on the basis of the consensus achieved in Bali, which would enable Members to advance 
decisively towards the much desired conclusion of the Doha Round. Paraguay had an interest in 
establishing an ambitious and comprehensive work program with a view to meeting the objectives 
of the Doha mandate. The Trade Facilitation Ag reement, a historic achievement for the WTO, WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  demonstrated Members' faith and belief in the Multilateral Trading System. The Agreement could 
be used as a development tool for countries, in view of the significant and positive impact that it could have on their economic operators. 
1.120.  Paraguay was aware that the road ahead wo uld require immense effort on everyone's part, 
and it was in favour of stepping up work on the implementation of the new understandings while 
respecting the agreed and established time frames. To make progress in achieving the Doha objectives, the work program should be balanced and take into account the interests of all 
Members, especially countries with particular vulnerabilities that hindered their more competitive 
integration into the markets. Paraguay was committed to working on the three pillars, maintaining a similar level of ambition in each, with agriculture at the centre of the work, in accordance with what was agreed in Bali.  He further stressed that  Paraguay's main interest was to move forward 
in the area of market access, bringing down re maining barriers and stemming the proliferation of 
protectionist measures. Such barriers and measures impeded the growth of international trade, particularly in relation to agricultural products. The other objectives were to ensure greater 
predictability and to reduce the distortions affecting international trade. He stated that his 
delegation would work with a good dose of pragmatism and realism to devise a doable work program which allowed for the creation of jobs and development opportunities. 
1.121.  It was Paraguay's hope that reform proce ss would continue with a view to eliminating all 
distortive measures, thus levelling out the international market with balanced and equitable disciplines in all the pillars. As producers of agri cultural goods, Paraguay had a strong interest in 
balancing the level of ambition of the Agriculture p illar with that which existed in the pillars of non-
agricultural products (NAMA) and Services. His delegation called upon everyone to continue 
working with a view to strengthening confidence in the Multilateral Trading System, to define and agree on legally binding commitments, and to learn from the difficulties of the past. 
1.122.  The representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said that the negotiating agenda for the 
remaining issues should be balanced among the interests of all WTO Members, and should take 
into account the level of development and special needs for developing and least-developed 
countries. He emphasized the importance of th e horizontal balance among the remaining Doha 
Development Agenda issues.  
1.123.  While Members were shaping their negotiating agenda and the way forward, they should 
take into account the special situation of Recently-Acceded Members (RAMs), since they had 
undertaken extensive market access commitments at the time of their accession. The overall 
t h r u s t  a n d  p a c e  o f  n e g o t i a t i o n s  s h o u l d  b e  d e s i g n e d  i n  s u c h  a  w a y  t h a t  i t  t o o k  i n t o  a c c o u n t  a l l  elements of the post-Bali work program with equal priority, keeping the special needs and 
interests of developing and least-developed countries  at the forefront. Members should continue to 
reaffirm their commitment to strengthen the Multilateral Trading System. That would be in the best interest of all Members and international trade in general. 
1.124.  The representative of Jamaica associated hi s delegation with the statements of Kenya, on 
behalf of the ACP Group, and Indonesia, on behalf  of the G-33. His delegation wished to underline 
the importance of faithful implementation of the Decisions taken in Bali. With regard to Trade Facilitation, Members needed to ensure the timely  and effective completion of the work of the 
Preparatory Committee in accordance with its mandate, which included the completion of a legal 
review that was consistent with negotiating practice and did not in any way revisit decisions settled by Ministers in Bali, including with respect to the text agreed, as well as the processes to 
be followed in giving effect to the Agreement.  
1.125.  Regarding the work program for the completion of the DDA, Jamaica felt that, now that 
Chairs had undertaken their initial consultation s and new Chairs had been appointed, Members 
needed to collectively move with an appropriate sense of urgency to conclude the work program in 
a timely and effective manner. In that effort, his delegation counted on the TNC Chair, in 
particular, to help in the development of a structured work program that would ensure that work mandated be completed in a comprehensive and doable manner within the timeline set by 
Ministers. The approach taken to the pre-Bali agenda could provide useful guidance in that regard. 
All those efforts needed to be undertaken in a bottom-up, Member-driven manner with fairness 
and transparency. Jamaica was firmly committed to securing the goals that Members had set in 
Bali.  WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1.126.  The representative of the United States said it was worth recalling the buoyant mood that 
all Members felt in Bali. He thought part of the reason everyone was buoyant was because all 
Members knew that Bali was an enormous test and everyone had worked together to pass that test. It had been a remarkable moment and a remarkable signal to the world on the potential 
vibrancy of the Multilateral Trading System. Members faced a new test: whether they could 
implement the results successfully. He said that most of what he was hearing from a broad diversity of WTO Members made him very encouraged  that they would be faithful in following the 
implementation schedule that had been laid out by their Ministers.  His delegation looked forward 
to working with others in that regard.  
1.127.  He noted that there had been some somewhat strange comments about the United States, 
and he did not intend to be drawn into a lengthy debate. However, he wished to note that the US 
Trade Policy Review would take place later in the year, and there would be a fulsome opportunity 
for any Member with particular concerns to raise them. The United States would respond vigorously as always. Since there had been a discussion about history, he stressed that his 
delegation was very proud of the history of the United States in building the Multilateral Trading 
System, as it had been noted, and in maintaining what was, according to its last Trade Policy Review, the most open major economy in the world - an open economy that had been a benefit in 
terms of export opportunities for virtually every country in the world. 
1.128.  The United States was very proud of its development assistance programs on which it had 
spent billions of dollars over the years, and recently including enormous expenditures on the specific topic of trade capacity building, which was particularly significant as Members worked 
together on implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement. But the United States was not resting 
on its long history and could also point to its recent history where its actions speak for themselves. He recalled that all Members had been in a room together in the run up-to Bali and at Bali, and he 
was very satisfied with the role that the United States had played in supporting the Multilateral 
Trading System. That had been very much on demonstration for everyone. He was also very pleased to point to a recent anecdote that President Obama had been able to meet with the 
Director-General during his recent trip to Washingt on. Certainly, if anyone was looking for a recent 
indication of US interest, it had not been an a ccident that President Obama met with the Director-
General of the WTO. He noted that Members could have a longer conversation about all of those 
topics in the appropriate venues. 
1.129.  The representative of Japan said that, since the last informal TNC meeting, his delegation 
had been engaging in the discussion with Chairs and other Members on the basis of the 
parameters that the Director-General had outlined  and confirmed in his speech in Washington. He 
appreciated that speech especially as it highlighted the importance of trade to growth, job 
creation, and democracy. He noted that, as all Members were expected to rethink their approach of the past decade and to define their new appr oach, it was quite natural that their discussions 
were still at the preliminary stage. For the same reason, he would refrain from repeating Japan’s 
well-known positions in each of the negotiating pi llars. He wished to emphasize the absolute need 
to fully take into account the rapid changes surfac ing in the real world economic scene at present. 
1.130.  The representative of Bangladesh aligned his delegation with the statement of the LDC 
Group. He was grateful to the Director-General for attaching priority to LDC issues and making 
Ambassador Smidt available in Geneva as the LDC Facilitator. That genuinely demonstrated how serious the Director-General was about the implementation of LDCs' priorities. 
1.131.  The representative of Egypt associated hi s delegation with the statements by the Arab 
Group, the African Group, and the G-20. It also supported the statements delivered by the G-33, 
the LDCs, and the ACP. He said that developing countries had begun the Doha Round on the 
premise that it would address the inequities of th e current international trading system and that it 
would create new development opportunities. Thirteen years of negotiations had passed without concluding the Round. However, the Ninth Ministerial Conference had witnessed a breakthrough in WTO history with the adoption of the “Bali Package”, and all Members had discovered that 
consensus could be reached if they had balanced  topics discussed in an inclusive and transparent 
atmosphere. 
1.132.  Indeed, Members had to build upon their success in Bali, and as they went forward, it was 
clear to his delegation that the only way of overcoming the impasse and bringing the Round to a 
successful conclusion required a renewed dialogue among WTO Members. That called for WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  discarding the mercantilist approach and adhering to  the principles that had been reflected by his 
delegation in many occasions in the past. 
1.133.  As agreed in Bali, Members would have to establish a roadmap in order to finalize, in the 
course of the year, a defined work program on the remaining Doha Development Agenda issues. 
In that context, he emphasized some parameters which his delegation believed were of crucial 
importance for Members' future work at the WTO.  First, the importance of ensuring that the 
outstanding agenda items of the DDA particularly in the areas of Agriculture, LDC’s related 
flexibilities, S&D, and Implementation Issues we re prioritized for the post-Bali work program. 
Second, the multilateral principles should be respected.  In this regard, any attempts to conclude agreements or suggest initiatives outside the WTO would complicate the situation. Third, creativity, openness and pragmatism were all terminologies reflecting good intentions; 
nevertheless, they had to be considered equally by the whole Membership, and should lead them 
to the ultimate goal of concluding the DDA. Fourth, it was also important that Members committed themselves to adhere to the principle of fairness, taking into consideration that developing 
countries constituted more than two-thirds of the Organization’s membership, and honour the 
multilateral convergences and agreements that had been reached during the last thirteen years. 
1.134.  Since 1947, Members had never allowed a Round to die and surely they would not want 
that to happen to a Development Round. This was a time when mere intention would not suffice, 
and for those with outstanding responsibilities to rise to the occasion. Priority should be given to the conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda. The starting point, in his delegation's view, was to pick up the pace from where negotiations had been left off and the December 2008 draft 
modalities should be the basis for further engagement. His delegation urged Members to re-initiate 
the discussions on those modalities, by maintain ing the parts that had been accepted by all 
parties, and starting negotiations aimed at reaching consensus on the remaining parts in all its 
areas in one push. Egypt reaffirmed its commitment to work positively and constructively with 
other Members, in all possible configurations, to achieve a successful post-Bali work program that would allow for the resumption of the negotiations on all issues and their conclusion. 
1.135.  The representative of the Republic of Ko rea said that Members had witnessed a great deal 
of challenges in moving forward the post-Bali work program. As was the nature of the initial stage 
of consultation, there was no clear pathway in front of them. To spearhead the current situation, diverse and multi-level consultations needed to be explored with an open, creative and flexible 
mind during the first half of the year. He emphas ized that the implementation process of the Bali 
Package was essential in itself and that a successful implementation was important to maintain and garner trust and confidence for a post-Bali work program. He stressed the importance of 
outreach activities outside of Geneva to help contribute to make Members' work successful. 
Without the support and attention of the business community, the legislative branches, and academia, it would be heavy lifting to move forward.  In that regard, he welcomed the recent 
outreach activities of the Director-General to th e United States, Brussels and New Delhi, and he 
encouraged him and Members to continue to do so. 
1.136.  The representative of Barbados said that her delegation continued to be committed to the 
Multilateral Trading System and to priority bein g given to Agriculture and to Development as the 
main focus of the Round. She also emphasized the importance of respecting Paragraph 47, and 
that due attention had to be given to the critical commitment of the single undertaking in the process of arriving at outcomes which were balanced. 
1.137.  She thought that while Members had all been pleased to have achieved success in Bali, 
they could not deny that, while they had agreed  to make specific and binding commitments in 
Trade Facilitation, in the other areas of the Bali Package which related to LDCs, they had only been 
able to achieve statements of good intentions and best efforts. For that reason, Members needed 
to ensure that the promise of priority to be gi ven to the DDA work program and to its completion 
by December 2014, be treated with urgency. It was difficult to conclude that there was evidence of 
such urgency. 
1.138.  The General Council took note of the Director-General's report and of the statements. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  2  PREPARATORY COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION – REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN 
2.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at its first meeting of 31 January 2014, the Preparatory 
Committee had elected Mr Esteban Conejos (Philippines) as Chairman. The Preparatory Committee 
had been established under the General Council by the Ministerial Conference to carry out specific 
tasks.  
2.2.  Mr Conejos (Philippines), Chairman of the Preparatory Committee on Trade Facilitation, said 
that the Committee had been off to a good start. Members had been able to get it up and fully 
operational in a short time. They had swiftly managed to agree on a work plan and schedule of 
meetings, clearing the procedural path and allowing for substantive work to commence. There had been a common understanding that the Preparatory Committee should continue the practice of the Negotiating Group to conduct its business in a Member-driven, bottom-up, transparent and 
inclusive manner. Work would therefore proceed on the basis of delegations' contributions, and he 
had been heartened to see that those cont ributions had already started to come in. 
2.3.  In response to Members' request for a sequenced approach, it had been decided to start with 
the legal review before turning to the other task s of the Committee. Delegations had been urged 
to present their related proposals before the end of March so that they could finish that job swiftly, ideally no later than by the end of April. It had been decided that, where consensus could not be 
found on a departure from the already existing t e x t ,  t h e  l a n g u a g e  a g r e e d  u p o n  i n  B a l i  w o u l d  
remain. In carrying out the review, attention would be paid to ensuring linguistic accuracy in all official WTO languages.  
2.4.  Members had had a productive meeting on 10 March, which had allowed them to formally 
adopt the work plan and schedule of meetings, an d to start the substantive work on the legal 
review. He had been encouraged to find them engage in that exercise in a positive spirit and constructive mood. They needed that sense of commitment and cooperation in order to fulfil their 
tasks. It had also become clear, however, that there was still a lot of work ahead, and not much 
time to get it all done. Members therefore had to re-double their efforts and focus on the tasks at 
hand. He was confident that, with their support and dedication, they could make it work. 
2.5.  All delegations which spoke thanked the Ch airman of the Trade Facilitation Preparatory 
Committee for his report. 
2.6.  The representative of Mexico said that his delegation fully and unreservedly supported the 
work program and the schedule of meetings that the Preparatory Committee Chairman had 
adopted. Adhering to the principles that had been established in the work program was a key 
element to ensure success in the work of the Preparatory Committee.  This included in particular the principle that, as far as the legal review of the Agreement was concerned, if there was no 
agreement to deviate from the text agreed upon, it  was the default existing text that prevailed. 
Even if, as the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee had mentioned in his introductory remarks, the work would be sequenced and would begin with  the legal review, Mexico was already working 
very hard to prepare its notification of Category A commitments, with the aim of submitting it in 
April.  Mexico would be notifying the majority of provisions, if not all of them, under Category A. He wished to reiterate that Mexico would not include any provision in Category C. 
2.7.  The representative of Uganda said that hi s country had first carried out a Trade Facilitation 
needs assessment in 2008, with the help of USAID and the WTO, and the report had been 
presented to the WTO. However, his delegation noted that although it was a good report, it could not be used to assess the financial implications of the measures that it was having difficulty in 
implementing. In 2012, Uganda had received technical assistance from UNCTAD and had 
developed comprehensive implementation plans for Trade Facilitation. He noted that his delegation was currently in dialogue with some development partners to see if some of those programs could 
be funded and thanked those who had responded positively. However, Uganda could foresee 
challenges in funding these activities, because de velopment partners’ funding priorities kept on 
changing and they were programed at different periods. For example, the EDF 11 program that would run from 2014-2020 would focus on rural development, governance, transport inter-
modalities, and agriculture. Unlike before, trade was not regarded as a priority sector. That meant 
that funding for Trade Facilitation activities could only be done if the activities were related to the above thematic areas. That required coordinated efforts at the national level, especially at the WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  programming stage. Otherwise, many of the Trade Fa cilitation activities identified for funding were 
likely to be left out of the program. That applied to other funding frameworks as well. 
2.8.  In addition, although many countries were members of regional trading blocs, some Trade 
Facilitation challenges were specific to each of them. There had been an increase in establishing 
regional funding mechanisms by developed countri es which might address regional challenges, but 
not necessarily address the specific Trade Facilitation challenges countries were facing. It was for that reason that Uganda appealed to developmen t partners to be cognizant of the individual 
peculiarities when developing regional projects. While there might be good will in Geneva, 
priorities were set at national level and might no t be in tandem with the Geneva process. Members 
had seen that happen in other commitments, such as TRIPS, where LDCs had been required to develop priorities that required technical assistance  and capacity building. Up to the present, there 
still had been limited progress. 
2.9.  The representative of Paraguay said that his delegation was confident that the Preparatory 
Committee Chairman's work plan would take Members to a safe harbour and that it shared his 
views as to how work in the Preparatory Committ ee should be tackled. The most important was for 
Members to meet their deadlines. His delegation believed that the legal review exercise of the 
Trade Facilitation text should be strictly restricted to correcting material errors without changing 
the substance of what had been agreed in Bali. Any attempt to improve the text through new 
additions could complicate the exercise unnecessar ily. He reaffirmed the words spoken by the 
Chairman of the Preparatory Committee as stated in their recent meeting, that if there was no consensus in the legal review exercise within the established time frame, Members should simply 
adhere to the text agreed on in Bali. Likewise, the preparation of the Protocol of Amendment to 
annex the Trade Facilitation Agreement to the WTO Agreements needed to be a simple, straightforward exercise restricted solely to incorporating the Agreement as it had been done in 
the past for other Agreements, and that the Agreement could become part of WTO Agreements as 
soon as possible. 
2.10.  The representative of Pakistan expressed satisfaction at the work plan adopted by the 
Preparatory Committee on Trade Facilitation. In that regard, Pakistan urged all Members to keep in 
view the timelines agreed by their Ministers in Ba li. The legal review was an exercise of purely 
formal character and should be completed at th e earliest possible. A repeat of NGTF-style 
negotiations would be counterproductive and would undermine the historic accord achieved in Bali. 
2.11.  The representative of Mali thanked the Secret ariat for its support in organizing the national 
workshop for a self-assessment of Mali's needs in Trade Facilitation on 9-13 December. Following 
three days of work in groups, the workshop had identified the priority needs of his country for 
technical assistance. It had drawn up recommendations and had taken note of the commitments 
taken by Mali in order to implement the Trade Facilitation measures.  
2.12.  A total of thirty-five different measures had been retained and classified in the three 
categories, A, B, and C. For priority needs in technical assistance, he listed: pre-shipment and 
post-shipment inspection; pre-arrival processing; risk management; post-clearance audit; trade facilitation measures for authorized operators; customs co-operation; electronic payments; cooperation between border agencies; national tr ade facilitation committee and the single window. 
Under recommendations, he listed: examine and monitor the outcome of the needs evaluation; 
develop a strategy for working with the national donor coordinator in order to find new donors; 
establish a work plan, and begin technical assistan ce and capacity building; and place particular 
emphasis on the issue of transit in Mali, as it is a landlocked country. A specific commitment had 
been included in the final report in the workshop  to organize a meeting for all stakeholders in 
order to ensure that the notification to the WTO concerning the measures established for the 
implementation of the Bali Decision on Trade Facilitation was drafted and that the implementation 
of the measures contained in the Trade Facilitation Agreement began as soon as possible. 
2.13.  The representative of Japan said that as  the implementation of Bali outcomes was of the 
utmost importance, Japan welcomed the first formal meeting of the Preparatory Committee. His 
delegation would continue to strongly support th e leadership of the Chairman of the Preparatory 
Committee to work expeditiously together with other Members in accordance with the Bali Ministerial Declaration and the agreed work plan. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  2.14.  The representative of Rwanda said that  Rwanda was preparing its notifications and it 
expected most of its provisions to be in Category A. He extended thanks to the Chairman of the 
Preparatory Committee for his leadership, foresight, clear sightedness and commitment in ensuring that the three subjects decided by Minist ers would be taken up carefully, particularly the 
legal review, the protocol of amendment, and the receipt of Category A notifications. His 
delegation had undertaken to implement the Agreement and its expectation was that the Ministerial Decision would be followed without any alteration, in particular with regard to the 
amendment process of the Marrakesh Agreement under Article 10.3. 
2.15.  The General Council took note of the repo rt of the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee 
on Trade Facilitation and of the statements. 
3  WORK PROGRAMME ON SMALL ECONOMIES – REPORT BY THE CHAIR OF THE 
DEDICATED SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
3.1.  The Chairman recalled that in line with the framework and procedures agreed by the General 
Council in 2002, the Work Program on Small Economies was a standing item on the General 
Council's agenda and the Committee on Trade and Development reported regularly to the Council 
on the progress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on that subject. He invited Mrs Marion Williams 
(Barbados), Chair of the Dedicated Session of the CTD, to report on the progress of work in the 
area. 
3.2.  Mrs Williams (Barbados), Chairperson of the Dedicated Session of the CTD, pointed out that it 
was the first report of the CTD's Dedicated Session on the Work Programme on Small Economies 
since the successful conclusion of the Bali Mini sterial Conference. While there had been many 
successes in Bali, she was especially pleased to report that the decision by Ministers on the Work 
Programme on Small Economies had been one of them. 
3.3.  The Decision (WT/L/908) recognized the important work undertaken on behalf of Small 
Economies since 2002 and instructed the WTO Secretariat to continue to provide information and 
analysis for the CTD's Dedicated Session on the areas identified in the Work Program on Small Economies. It also specifically mandated further work on the challenges and opportunities 
experienced by small economies when linking into global value chains in trade in goods and 
services. Preliminary work on that subject had already begun and Members would soon have a chance to discuss the future work in more detail. 
3.4.  She drew Members' attention to the successful workshop which had been held in 2013 on the 
effects of non-tariff measures on the exports of sm all economies. A full report of the workshop had 
been circulated in WT/COMTD/SE/M/26 and contained some interesting data on the main challenges small economies faced with exporting specific products. She thanked Members for their 
support and active participation during her term as CTD Chair and wished her successor well, as 
he sought to execute the mandate of that important Committee, as the focal point for Development in the WTO. 
3.5.  The representative of Barbados thanked th e Chair of the CTD for her report and Members for 
their continued commitment on the Small Economies Work Programme, as reflected in the 
Decision on the Work Program on Small Economie s which had been adopted by Ministers at the 
MC9. In that regard, her delegation looked forw ard to working with Members and the Secretariat 
on the areas identified in item (k) of Paragrap h 2 of the Work Programme on Small Economies and 
to commencing work on the challenges and oppo rtunities experienced by small economies when 
linking into global value chains in trade in goods and services. 
3.6.  Barbados agreed that the 23 October 2013 workshop on the effects of non-tariff measures on 
the exports of small economies had been a succe ss, and looked forward to the WTO’s continued 
work with small economies in that regard. She informed Members that SVEs were currently 
undergoing a period of transition in coordi nation and would inform Members of the new 
coordinator in due course. 
3.7.  The General Council took note of the repo rt of the Chair of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statement. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  4  IMPROVING THE GUIDELINES FO R GRANTING INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS PERMANENT OBSERVER STAT US IN THE WTO – STATEMENT BY THE 
CHAIRMAN 
4.1.  The Chairman recalled that the matter had been on the General Council's agenda since 
February 2012. That was because, at its November 2011 meeting, the General Council had agreed 
to initiate a process of consultations to consider the issue of Observer Status for IGOs in the WTO, 
further to a communication by the Arab Group entitled "Improving the Guidelines for Granting 
Observer Status to Intergovernmental Organizations in the WTO" (WT/GC/W/643), which had 
been then supplemented by a further communication in document WT/GC/W/654. 
4.2.  He noted that his predecessors had conduc ted consultations on that matter, and throughout 
the previous year he had continued those consultations in different configurations, including in the 
context of the preparations for MC9. As Members would recall, he had reported on those 
consultations to each General Council meeting during the previous year. 
4.3.  At the General Council meeting on 26 November, in reporting on his consultations, he had 
noted that it appeared that there was no convergence on how to take that process forward. In the 
discussion, some delegations had indicated that the process of consultations should continue, and others had noted that it had not seemed to be an area for productive discussion. 
4.4.  As that was his last meeting as Chairman of  the General Council, he wished to urge continued 
engagement from all sides to address the issue, in a constructive manner and with a solution-finding spirit. Participation of IGOs in the work of the WTO, including at Ministerial Conferences, was of crucial importance, and he believed all delegations agreed with that.  For his part, he would 
brief his successor so that he could consider how to address that matter. 
4.5.  The representative of Jordan, on behalf of the Arab Group, said that for more than a decade, 
some Members had continued to undermine the Guidelines on the participation of IGOs and their 
contribution to the work of the WTO, which was conducive to the coherence needed in the 
Multilateral Trading System.  
4.6.  He said that divergence over the interpretation of the Guidelines granting IGOs Observer 
Status had continued to grow with no clear indication as to how some IGOs had been granted 
permanent observer status while others continued to be barred from receiving the same status. The Arab Group invited those WTO Members to refrain from politicizing that issue so that observer 
status could be granted to all IGOs. 
4.7.  The Arab Group requested to keep that it em on the agenda of the General Council until a 
satisfactory and permanent solution could be re ached and looked forward to receiving positive 
news in that regard. 
4.8.  The representative of the United States sa id that his delegation would oppose any standing 
item on the agenda as a matter of institutional concern. The United States respected the right of 
Members to propose items for the agenda of individual meetings at the appropriate time but it 
would not support any type of standing item. 
4.9.  The General Council took note of the Ch airman's statement and of the other statements. 
5  COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION – REPORT ON MEETING OF 
FEBRUARY 2014 (WT/BFA/141) 
5.1.  The Chairman drew attention to the report of the Budget Committee in document 
WT/BFA/141 and invited Mr Michael Stone (Hong Kong, China), Chairman of the Committee, to 
introduce it. 
5.2.  Mr Stone (Hong Kong, China), Chairman  of the Committee on Budget, Finance, and 
Administration, recalled that, at its meeting in  February, the Committee had reviewed Members' 
overall situation on outstanding contributions. The number of Members subject to Administrative 
Measures and the total amount of contributions had continued to reduce in 2013. He would read at 
the end of the meeting the updated list of the Members and Observers currently under WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Administrative Measures. In the meantime, the Co mmittee recommended to the General Council to 
urge Members and Observers under Administrative Measures to liquidate their arrears. 
5.3.  The Committee had also reviewed information related to the long-term employee benefit 
obligations of the Organization – the Pension Plan  and the after-service Health Insurance Scheme. 
Members had expressed a keen interest to ex amine those matters further. The Committee had 
noted that the existing Pension Plan Management Board had been charged with managing that scheme and was fully aware of the need to manage the long-term liabilities and to actively work 
on the matter. A similar situation had not been obtained for the after-service Health Insurance 
Scheme. The Committee had decided to establish a Working Group to review specifically the long-term liabilities related to after-service health insurance.  
5.4.  The Committee had also decided to establish a Working Group to review the WTO Financial 
Regulations. The external auditor had highligh ted the need to modify the current Financial 
Regulations. The Committee had been informed abou t the Organizational review initiated by the 
Director-General at the end of 2013. Members had expressed a great interest in being consulted 
and kept informed on the progress made on th e organizational review process, and Deputy 
Director-General Brauner had responded positively to that expression. The Committee had been updated on the administrative progress reports related to the budgetary and financial situation, 
the extra-budgetary funds and the WTO Risk Management System. 
5.5.  The General Council took note of the statement, approved the Budget Committee's specific 
recommendation contained in paragraph 1.2 of its report in document WT/BFA/141 and adopted 
the report. 
6  WTO PENSION PLAN MANAGEMENT BOARD – ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN, MEMBERS AND 
ALTERNATES – PROPOSAL BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL (WT/GC/W/679) 
6.1.  The Chairman recalled that Article 4(a) of the Regulations of the WTO Pension Plan provided, 
inter alia , for the election by the General Council of a Chairman, four members and four alternates 
to the Management Board of the WTO Pension Plan, each for a three-year term.  
6.2.  The term of office of the current membership of the Management Board would expire on 
7 May 2014. 
6.3.  Following consultations held on that matte r, he had circulated document WT/GC/W/679, in 
which he had proposed the names of the represen tatives who had agreed to have their names put 
forward for election as Chairman, members and alternates. He had also invited delegations to 
submit any comments they might have regarding the proposed nominations by the close-of-business on 7 March. He had not received any comments regarding the proposed nominations.   
6.4.  He proposed that the General Council agree to elect the candidates whose names were listed 
in that document, to serve in those positions on  the Pension Plan Management Board for a three-
year term. 
6.5.  The General Council so agreed. 
7  APPOINTMENT OF OFFI CERS TO WTO BODIES 
7.1.  The Chairman recalled that in accordance wi th the Guidelines for Appointment of Officers to 
WTO Bodies approved by the General Council in December 2002 (WT/L/510), he, together with his 
colleagues – Ambassador Fried (Canada), Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, and 
Ambassador Matus (Chile), former Chairman of the General Council – had conducted consultations with delegations on a slate of names for the appointment of Chairs to WTO regular bodies listed in 
Groups 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the Annex to the Guidelines. In addition, they had also consulted on the 
appointment of Chairpersons to four negotiat ing bodies, namely: the Committee on Trade and 
Environment in Special Session, the Committee on Trade and Development in Special Session, the 
TRIPS Council in Special Session and the Services Council in Special Session. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  7.2.  In undertaking the process set out in the Guid elines, he had put into effect the practical steps 
to improve their implementation agreed by the General Council in July 2012 (JOB/GC/22). 
7.3.  He thanked Ambassador Fried and Ambassado r Matus for their assistance, which had been 
very valuable to him and to delegations. In line  with the practical steps, they had started their 
consultations by meeting first with Group Coordi nators. Subsequently, and in accordance with 
Paragraph 7(d) of the Guidelines, they had provided a specified time-period in which they would be available to hear the views and suggestions of  interested delegations. Those consultations had 
taken place over two weeks, in order to provide a greater opportunity for all interested delegations 
to meet with them. They had consulted all delega tions that had come forward and had requested a 
meeting, and regularly had kept Group Coordina tors informed of progress. That process had 
included an informal open-ended Heads-of-Delegation meeting which had been held the previous 
day. 
7.4.  He expressed the sincere appreciation of  his colleagues and himself for the excellent 
cooperation they had received from the Group Coor dinators during that process. He also thanked 
all the delegations they had consulted for their cooperative and constructive spirit. 
7.5.  On the WTO regular bodies, he was pleased to inform delegations that, on the basis of these 
consultations, there was a consensus on the following slate of names: 
General Council 
 H.E. Mr. Jonathan FRIED (Canada) 
Dispute Settlement Body 
 H.E. Mr Fernando DE MATEO (Mexico) 
Trade Policy Review Body 
 H.E. Ms Mariam MD SALLEH (Malaysia) 
Council for Trade in Goods 
 H.E. Mr Joaquim REITER (Sweden) 
Council for Trade in Services 
 H.E. Mr CHOI Seokyoung (Rep. of Korea) 
Council for TRIPS 
 H.E. Mr Mothusi PALAI (Botswana) 
Committee on Trade and 
  Development H.E. Mr Pierre Claver NDAYIRAGIJE (Burundi) 
Committee on Balance-of- 
  Payments Restrictions H.E. Mr Martin EYJÓLFSSON (Iceland) 
Committee on Budget, Finance  
  and  Administration H.E. Mr Francisco LIMA (El Salvador) 
Committee on Trade and  
  Environment H.E. Ms Päivi KAIRAMO (Finland) 
Committee on Regional Trade  
  Agreements H.E. Francisco PIREZ GORDILLO (Uruguay) 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and  
  Finance H.E. Mr Bertrand de CROMBRUGGHE de 
PICQUENDAELE (Belgium) 
Working Group on Trade and  
  Transfer of Technology 
 H.E. Mr Abdolazeez AL-OTAIBI (Kingdom of Saudi 
Arabia) 
7.6.  Appointments for these bodies would be for one year as usual, in keeping with the general 
rule in the Guidelines. The appointments would be  made formally by the WTO bodies concerned at 
their subsequent meetings in 2014. 
7.7.  On the negotiating bodies, he was pleased to inform delegations that, following their 
consultations, there was consensus on the following appointments: WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Committee on Trade and 
  Development in Special Session  H.E. Mr Harald NEPLE (Norway) 
Committee on Trade and  
  Environment in Special Session H.E. Ms Wiboonlasana RUAMRAKSA (Thailand) 
 
Council for TRIPS in Special Session 
  
H.E. Mr Dacio CASTILLO (Honduras) 
Council for Services in Special Session H.E. Mr Gabriel DUQUE (Colombia) 
 
7.8.  These appointments would also be made fo rmally by the bodies concerned at their next 
meeting. 
7.9.  The General Council took note of the stat ement and of the consensus on the slate of names 
for the appointment of officers. 
7.10.  The representative of Chinese Taipei expressed her appreciation for the efforts and the hard 
work that the Chairman, Ambassador Fried (Canad a) and Ambassador Matus (Chile) had made in 
the process of consultation for the appointment of  officers to WTO bodies. She congratulated all 
incoming Chairpersons for 2014 and assured them of her delegation's strong support and 
cooperation. The enthusiasm and patience for se rving WTO Members should be highly encouraged 
and appreciated.  
7.11.  She understood and believed that the main principles for the selection process were 
transparency, self-balance in the structure of WTO bodies, balance between developed and 
developing country Members, and balance among th e regional groups. The guidelines also stated 
that restraint should be exercised in blocking consensus on a candidate without having good 
reasons. She regretted that some of those principles had not been fully observed. The opportunity 
of serving WTO Members by those with strong commitment, was not treated equally nor fairly. Her delegation sincerely hoped that the Guidelines and principles would be fully respected in the 
future. 
7.12.  The representative of Dominican Republic sa id that, as Chairman of the Informal Group of 
Developing Countries (IGDC) and of the Group of Latin American Countries in the Caribbean 
(GRULAC), he wished to thank the Chairman for the tremendous efforts he had exerted during the 
course of his Chairmanship that year, which would be a memorable one because it had 
represented a huge success with the Bali achievements. Work had been successfully carried out within the Organization and a lot was due to the Chairman and his team, and the Director-General 
and had resulted in an outstanding result.  
7.13.  The representative of Lesotho, on behalf of the African Group, congratulated the Chairman 
for the tremendous work that he had done during his term of office and in steering the course on 
the road to Bali. In the same token, the African Group wished the best to his successor at the start 
of the implementation phase. The Group was commi tted to work and support all the Chairs in their 
respective Committees and Councils in the course of the year and beyond. 
7.14.  He stressed that there had been goodwill and a lot of effort put into those consultations and 
that the good effort, in terms of interaction and consultation, should be carried forward. 
7.15.  The Chairman, on behalf of the General Council, expressed his sincere appreciation to the 
outgoing Chairpersons of all WTO bodies for their very dedicated work in chairing those bodies.  
7.16.  He recalled that, in keeping with Paragraph 7.3 of the Guidelines for Appointment of Officers 
to WTO Bodies, the outgoing Chairpersons of the Council for Trade in Goods and the Council for Trade in Services were to conduct consultations to select Chairpersons for the bodies established 
under their respective Councils.  The Guidelines also provided that those Chairs should announce 
the start of their respective consultation proce sses at the February General Council meeting. He 
invited Mr Castillo (Honduras), Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods, and Dr Al-Otaibi (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Chairman of the Services Council, to make their respective 
announcements. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  7.17.  Mr Castillo (Honduras), Chairman of the Co uncil for Trade in Goods, informed Members that, 
in accordance with the Guidelines for Appointmen t  o f  O f f i c e r s  t o  W T O  B o d i e s  a p p r o v e d  b y  t h e  
General Council in December 2002 (WT/L/510), he would be starting consultations for the 
appointment of Chairpersons of the subsidiary bodi es of the Council for Trade in Goods. He would 
be carrying out that process with a view to prop osing and agreeing on a balanced slate of names 
at the next meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods, scheduled for 9 April 2014. He intended to make sufficient time available to meet with any interested Members and to hear their views and 
suggestions. He would also send a fax to all Heads of Delegations indicating his availability during 
the coming week. He would start that process with group coordinators, as suggested in document JOB/GC/22. Following that, he would conduct further consultations as necessary. In order to ensure the efficiency of the process and the balanc e mentioned in the Guidelines, he would work in 
coordination with the Chairman of the Services Council. 
7.18.  Dr Al-Otaibi (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Chairman of the Council for Trade in Services, said 
that in accordance with the Guidelines for the A ppointment of Officers to WTO Bodies, adopted by 
the General Council in December 2002, in document WT/L/510, he would be starting his 
consultations for the appointment of Chairpersons to  the subsidiary bodies of the Council for Trade 
in Services. He would be consulting with a view to arriving at a proposed slate of names of 
Chairpersons for 2014 that enjoyed the wide support  of the Membership. In order to ensure the 
balance of the slate, as mentioned in the Guidelines, he would be consulting with the Chairman of the Goods Council and would make sufficient time available to meet with any interested Members. 
7.19.  The General Council took note of the statements. 
8  COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH VENE ZUELA – STATEMENT BY PANAMA  
8.1.  The representative of Panama, speaking under "Other Business", expressed his country's 
deep concern at the announcement made by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that it was 
breaking diplomatic, economic, and trade relation s with Panama. Panama was concerned that the 
breaking of diplomatic, economic and trade relations would lead to the imposition of measures that were restrictive and discriminatory against trade with their country.  
8.2.  In addition to the general concern, there was also a specific one. Since early that week, 
Panama had, through a number of media, learne d that Venezuela had suspended authorizations 
granted by the Comisión de Administración de Divisas  (CADIVI) for the purchase of foreign 
currency for consumption abroad for travel to Panama. The direct consequence of that measure 
was that it was impossible for Venezuelan citizens to acquire dollars for their use during their 
travel to Panama and that it blocked operations of payment of purchases in dollars with credit 
cards in Panama. That affected trade in goods and services for Panama in the mode of 
consumption abroad. 
8.3.  Panama wished to protest against the action taken by Venezuela and requested that these 
and any other measures which Venezuela intended to apply against Panama be notified to 
Members. Panama also asked Venezuela to confir m the accuracy of these facts, explaining the 
justification for that measure under the specific provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreements which would enable Venezuela to take those exceptional measures that discriminated against Panama's goods and services. Panama was carefully and closely analysing the way in 
which Venezuela was applying its trade policy with regard to Panama's goods and services and 
would be following up on that issue in any fora it considered appropriate in the Organization. As in other circumstances, Panama reserved its rights under the WTO Agreements. 
8.4.  The representative of Bolivarian Republic of  Venezuela said that "Other Business" was not a 
place where substantive points for discussion could be introduced. However, Panama had used it 
to present an alleged trade concern. The political objective was clear, to sow doubt in the General 
Council as to the transparency of the foreign policy, and particularly the trade policy, of the 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He said that his country's decision to break off diplomatic relations with the current Government of Pana ma had been based on the interventionist and 
unfriendly action of that Government on repeated  opportunities against Venezuela through a very 
clear policy intended to promote foreign intervention in his country. The Government of Panama 
had been the only one in Latin America and the Caribbean voting against Venezuela in the Permanent Commission of the Organization of American States at the meeting held on WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  7 March 2014. On the other hand, an absolute majority of countries, twenty–nine from Latin 
America and the Caribbean, had supported the demo cratically elected government of President 
Nicolás Maduro Moros.  
8.5.  The representative of Panama had raised his government's concerns about some alleged 
discriminatory trade measures which had been adopted by Venezuela. The Government of 
Venezuela was concerned to see the destiny of a sister country, which was governed by authorities that acted against harmony, mutual respect of sove reignty, and non-interference in the affairs of 
another state. If the concern of the Panamanian Government was mainly of a financial nature, 
then they might sleep soundly because his country – Venezuela – had always honoured and would continue to honour all of its commitments, as President Nicolás Maduro Moros had stated. 
8.6.  He stated that an alleged debt referred to by the Government of Panama had been 
fraudulently inflated in order to illegally obtain resources and that was once again another 
expression of the atypical style that characterized the current administration of that country. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was concerned about, and indeed regretted the diplomatic 
impasse in view of the historically friendly relations that had always existed between the peoples 
of Panama and Venezuela. Further explanations would be given by the Venezuelan economic authorities at a subsequent stage to the WTO authorities. 
8.7.  The representative of Plurinational State of Bolivia was doubtful as to the relevance of raising 
a political issue in the General Council. However, given the distorted information was being 
provided by certain sectors of the media, he wi shed to take the opportunity to acknowledge the 
actions taken by the Government of Venezuela in  defence of its legitimate and democratically 
elected government. The Bolivarian Government has shown great solidarity in the work it 
conducted in the Latin American region in th e areas of both trade and the promotion and 
protection of human rights. It had also set an example for regional unity. The Plurinational State of 
Bolivia had reiterated, at the highest level and in various fora, its firm support for the 
constitutional Government of its sister State, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.  
8.8.  The representative of Cuba supported th e efforts of the Government of the Bolivarian 
Republic of Venezuela in getting out of the situation that it currently found itself in. Her delegation 
also fully supported the explanations provided by Venezuela and underscored that the General Council was not the forum where bilateral issues of that nature should be taken up. Nor was "Other Business" the appropriate item to raise i ssues of that nature.  She reiterated Cuba's 
support for the points made by Venezuela. 
8.9.  The representative of Nicaragua said that his country supported what had been stated by the 
delegations of Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba. Nicaragua had some doubts as to the appropriateness 
of clarifying or discussing the matter in the General Council. 
8.10.  The representative of Ecuador questioned the relevance of the issue being brought up in 
that forum. 
8.11.  The General Council took note of the statements. 
9  ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR MEMB ERS IN ARREARS – STATEMENT BY THE 
CHAIRMAN 
9.1.  The Chairman recalled that the new revised Administrative Measures for Members in arrears, 
contained in WT/BFA/132, Annex I, had entered into force on 1 January 2013. Among those 
Administrative Measures was a requirement that , at the end of each meeting of the General 
Council, the Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration should provide 
information with regard to which Members and Ob servers were under Administrative Measures. He 
invited the Chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr  Michael Stone (Hong Kong, China) to provide 
the Council with that information.  
9.2.  Mr Stone (Hong Kong, China), Chairman  of the Committee on Budget, Finance, and 
Administration, said that the General Council had approved the new rules for Members and 
Observers subject to Administrative Measures. Those rules had been implemented effectively on WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  1 March 2013 and as required by the decision of the General Council, he would list Members and 
Observers under all categories of Administrative Measures as of 13 March 2014. 
9.3.  There were five Members and one Observer  in Category I: Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, 
Paraguay, Tanzania, and Iran (Observer). There we re five Members and one Observer in Category 
II: Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, The former Republic of 
Macedonia, Vanuatu, and Syrian Arab Republic (Observer). There were eight Members and one Observer in Category III: Central African Repub lic, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominica, Dominican Republic, 
Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Sierra Le one, and Sao Tomé and Principe (Observer). 
9.4.  The Chairman noted that, under the new revised Administrative Measures, he was also 
required at each Council meeting to request Members and Observers in Categories II and III of the 
Measures to inform the Secretariat as to when their payment of arrears might be expected.   
9.5.  The General Council took note of the statement. 
10  ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON 
10.1.  The Chairman6, as the outgoing presiding officer of the General Council, thanked all 
Members for their cooperation and friendship during his term as General Council Chairman. At the 
end of this memorable journey, he felt a great sense of gratitude for the confidence that Members had extended to him.  2013 had been a turning po int for the organization, and Members had faced 
many challenges.  He noted that, during the first half of the year, the selection process of a new 
Director-General, when Members had nominated nine  candidates was unprecedented in the history 
of the organization.  With Members' active cooperation and support, the process had been completed before its deadline.  He wished to acknowledge in particular Amb. Jonathan Fried 
(Canada) and Amb. Joaquim Reiter (Sweden) who ha d been with him in that exercise.  At the end 
of the year, the Bali Ministerial Conference was a critical moment.  He stressed that Members had risen to the occasion, worked together, overcoming national differences, and had delivered 
historical results. He recalled that, when he had been elected to the Chair the previous year, he 
had said that transparency, inclusiveness and consensus would always be his guiding principles.  He said that, in his tenure as Chair, he had tried to respect these principles in all his actions.  
Members would be the final judge.  His job would have never been possible without the co-
operation and support of all delegations, for which he was deeply honoured and grateful.  He wished to sincerely thank two WTO Directors-General he had worked with, Mr Pascal Lamy and Mr Roberto Azevêdo, for whom he had the utmost respect.  He said he had received endless 
support from the Secretariat, including interpreters, translators, and in particular from the Council 
and TNC Division and wished to thank them for their tireless efforts this year.  The Membership was very lucky to be able to count on the professionalism of the WTO Secretariat, whose hard 
work often went unnoticed.   
10.2.  He believed that during the past year Members had come to appreciate more clearly what 
this organization meant to all of them and also what was needed to keep it working.  However, 
there was no doubt that challenging times were ahead. Members had to implement the results of 
Bali, and fulfil the mandate of the Doha Development Agenda. Members needed to continue working with this same spirit. He said that Amb. Jonathan Fried understood these points very well and that the Council could not be in better hands.  He wished him good luck and he was certain 
that he could count on the support that it had been his privilege to enjoy.   
10.3.  On the basis of the understandings that had been reached on the appointment of officers to 
WTO bodies, the General Council elected by acclamation Ambassador Jonathan Fried (Canada) as 
the next Chair of this body.   
10.4.  The Director-General said that Ambassador Bashir had done a remarkable job in steering 
the General Council through a very challenging and important year. He had given his experience 
as a diplomat and trade negotiator to suppo rt the Membership. He knew that his good 
temperament, loyalty, integrity, and persistence had been appreciated by all. He had also overseen the appointment of a new Director-General. He had conducted that challenging process 
                                               
6 Before moving to the election of the Chairperson, the Chairman bade farewell on behalf of all to the 
outgoing Counsellor in the Council & TNC Division, Mr Ian Huxtable, thanking him for his years of dedicated 
service to the General Council and Ministerial Conference. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  in an exemplary way that had allowed Members to reach consensus in a timely and orderly 
fashion, as Members had recognized at the time.  
10.5.  On a personal level, he thanked Ambassado r Bashir for his support since his appointment as 
Director-General, in the lead-up to Bali, and afterw ards.  He owed him a personal debt of gratitude 
for his pertinent and wise counsel in areas ranging from the negotiating process to each of the 
substantive issues. In all his activities, Ambassador Bashir had always had the welfare of the institution at heart and the Director-General would continue to rely on his support and wisdom in 
the months ahead. On behalf of the Secretariat, he expressed their sincere gratitude for his work 
over the last year.  It had been a pleasure working with him and assisting him in that role. 
10.6.  He also congratulated Ambassador Jonathan Fried (Canada) on his election as the new Chair 
of the General Council. That came as recognit ion of the work he had done throughout the 
negotiations, and the positive and constructive contribution which he had made in so many areas, 
and in particular as Chair of the Dispute Settlem ent Body. He assured the newly-elected Chairman 
that he could count on his full support and that of the Secretariat. He urged Members to also 
extend all the support and cooperation that they had extended to Ambassador Bashir and that 
should rightly accompany their choice of him as their General Council Chairman. He wished him every success in his new role. 
10.7.  The newly-elected Chairman said that it was with humility and some trepidation that he 
accepted the role that the Members had asked him to play. In doing so, he had the good fortune of 
being able to build on the work of the outgoing Chair, Ambassador Shahid Bashir. It was often somewhat trite to say that someone was a gentleman and a scholar. But, he said, Ambassador 
Bashir was both.  His success during his challenging tenure, that encompassed the selection of a 
new Director-General and the Bali package itself as bookends, had been due in large measure to the dignity, respect, and courtesy with which he had treated each of them. His remarkable 
knowledge of the GATT and WTO, and even his vast  experience in applying that knowledge, had 
never kept him from still being a student and from ensuring that their decisions were always taken on the basis of sound facts and good law. He knew that many others would join him in continuing 
to seek Ambassador Bashir's guidance and advice. 
10.8.  In taking on the Chairmanship, he was acutely aware that, as Members' discussion that 
morning showed, they were all preoccupied with de veloping “a clearly defined work program” that 
ye ar in  the  T N C, as  d ire c te d  b y the  N inth M in i sterial Conference.  But Ministers had also given 
work to do in the General Council – Ministers ha d given them a clear direction to implement their 
Decisions. As such, they had a two-track approach where the General Council work had to accompany, and keep pace, with the TNC. He commi tted to give on-going and highest priority to 
the implementation work. 
10.9.  Ministers had also underscored the importance of the ongoing work of the WTO. It was the 
General Council that, in between Ministerial Conferences, exercised their authority. Collectively, 
Members should take seriously their responsibility  for oversight of the work of the Councils and 
Committees, of accessions, and for budget and admi nistrative matters.  He undertook to ensure 
that the agenda through the year would allow them to discharge those responsibilities. 
10.10.  He looked forward to working with all Members on implementation, and on oversight. He 
welcomed the opportunity to consult with them throughout the year. There would have several 
opportunities to talk, and he would not take up much more time at the meeting. 
10.11.  However, he wished to briefly share some  initial thoughts. To borrow a corporate analogy, 
Members were most fortunate to have a CEO, in the person of the Director-General, as a true 
global leader.  Members sitting as a General Council  were, effectively, the shareholders’ meeting.  
And as they worked by consensus, they were also a very large Board of Directors, and on behalf of 
Ministers, they provided executive oversight.   
10.12.  This did not mean getting bogged down in the day-to-day operations of the Organization, 
for which they looked to the CEO, or to get bogged down in rhetoric to score debating points. To the contrary, they had a collective responsibility to  provide strategic direction. He looked forward 
to regular meetings with Council and Committee Chairs to facilitate a common, institution-wide 
view of that direction and to setting a General Council agenda that kept them focused at the WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  strategic, rather than operational, level. More broadly, their responsibility for strategic direction 
meant that they always had to put their work in context. 
10.13.  Their most central context was the imperati ve of fostering development. In his view, to 
give strategic direction required them to ensure that the work was coherent with others with 
development mandates, and to be aware of, an d literate about, the various factors that 
contributed to sustainable and inclusive growth. He looked forward to consulting with Members on this, on whether they would wish to have inform al or open-ended General Council meetings and 
discussions, or more opportunity to hear outside views. He again thanked Members for the 
opportunity to serve and wished them all well in building on Bali. 
10.14.  The representative of Japan wished to pay tribute and expressed sincere gratitude to 
Ambassador Bashir (Pakistan) for his leadership and dedication as Chair. He had always been very 
fair and steady, even in the midst of sometimes very hot debates, in managing discussions. He 
looked forward to working with the new Chairman.  
10.15.  The representative of the European Union commended the Chairman for having a very 
good start and congratulated him on his election. The European Union wished him a wholesale 
success, thanked him for his introductory remarks,  and looked forward to another great Chair of 
the General Council. On behalf of the European Union and all its Member States, he expressed 
their profound appreciation and gratitude to Am bassador Bashir (Pakistan). He had guided the 
Organization through a very important year in its history, a year that was also a very challenging one. Things could have gone very wrong many times and could have interrupted all the paths that took Members to Bali successfully. They owed a lot of it, to a very significant extent, to 
Ambassador Bashir. He had guided the General Council's work and process with great wisdom. 
Ambassador Bashir had always looked for the common interest, and the interest of the Organization, with impartiality and fairness, and he was able to contribute in an absolutely unique 
way to that extraordinary process in what he thought would be seen as a very unique year in the 
history of the Organization. He had been a great Chair of the General Council, exactly when the Organization had needed him the most. The European Union thanked and congratulated him for a 
crucial job that had been done in an extremely effective and efficient way. 
10.16.  The General Council took note of the statements. 
_______________ 
 
 WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  ANNEX I 
TNC CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS AT THE INFORMAL TNC MEETING AT THE LEVEL OF 
HEAD OF DELEGATION HELD ON 6 FEBRUARY 20141 
Good morning everybody. 
 
As this is our first meeting of 2014, I would like to wish you all a happy and successful New Year – I very much hope it is a productive one. 
 
I want to thank you all for the role you played, individually and jointly, in delivering that historic success in Bali. After an 18 year drought, Bali proved that the WTO can deliver negotiated outcomes. It delivered significant gains for the global economy and particularly for our developing 
and least-developed Members. And it moved the spotlight back onto us here in Geneva. 
 But Bali has not finished the job. We ha ve two very significant tasks before us. 
 
First and foremost, we need to implement the decisions and agreements reached in Bali. Second, the Bali Declaration instructs us to prepare a clearly defined work program on the remaining Doha 
Development Agenda issues by the end of 2014. And we should remember that the Bali 
Declaration instructs that those areas where decisions were non-binding in nature must be a priority in our post-Bali work. We must keep a relentless focus on these issues.   
So the real work starts now. These two tasks will fo rm the bulk of our work over the course of this 
year – and so this is what I want to talk about today.   
First, let's focus on implementation.  
 The true significance of the Bali results, and the tangible realization of their benefits, will only be 
achieved as a result of the actions that you, the Members, take over the coming months. This is an 
important test for the system – and one which we must pass if we want to move forward and see the benefits of Bali made real. We must work together to keep up the momentum and the pressure that allowed us to reach a successful outcome in the first place.  
 
The Bali Package consists of ten ministerial decisions, each of which requires different steps to take forward. A lot of the implementation efforts will fall outside the TNC – but for clarity I think it 
would be helpful to take a few moments to set out some of the actions needed to implement each 
of those decisions.   
Let's start with Trade Facilitation , where the work has already started, and where there are 
important milestones for implementation over the coming months.  
 The first meeting of the Preparatory Committee was convened by the General Council Chairman on 
31 January. And we already have a chair, as you elected Ambassador Esteban Conejos by 
acclamation. Let me congratulate Ambassador Conejos, and wish him all the best in his new role.  
The Preparatory Committee will swiftly commence the execution of the tasks Ministers gave it in 
Bali – specifically, to ensure the entry into forc e of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and prepare 
for its efficient operation.  
 
The Bali decision on Trade Facilitation also calls on the Committee to carry out three immediate tasks:  
 undertaking a legal review of the Agreement;  
 drafting a protocol of amendment to include the Trade Facilitation Agreement in 
Annex IA of the WTO Agreement;  
 and receiving notifications of Category A commitments. 
 
                                               
1 Also issued as JOB/TNC/37. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Our ability to move the whole of the WTO agenda forward hinges on our ability to fulfil the 
promises to provide timely and effective technical assistance and capacity building wherever it is demanded by developing and least-developed countries.  
To help those countries make full use of the flexibilities set out in Section II, and to facilitate 
preparations for the Agreement's entry into force, the Secretariat will continue its needs assessment program. But in addition there is an imperative on developing Members to identify 
what support they need as early as possible.  
 Donor Members and various donor organizations are also getting ready to provide comprehensive support on Trade Facilitation. I met with them yesterday for an initial conversation about the 
importance of coordination and transparency in the provision of support to developing countries. 
Many donors were present at the meeting – over 25 countries and organisations were there.   
In due course, the conversation needs to be broadened out to include beneficiary countries once 
there is greater clarity on their needs. The WTO w ill of course help to facilitate the interaction 
between the donors and the beneficiaries.  
 
So there is important – and urgent – work ahead.   I must also take this opportunity to thank Ambassador Sperisen-Yurt for his leadership and 
chairmanship of the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation.  
 Let's turn now to Agriculture , where there were three decisions in Bali. For each of these three 
decisions Ministerial guidance specifically indicates that the Committee on Agriculture will 
undertake follow-up activities in terms of monitoring and review.  
 
The Committee on Agriculture met on 29 January an d discussed follow-up on these issues. So let 
me briefly take each one in turn.  First, export competition. This decision calls fo r dedicated discussions based on notifications and a 
questionnaire to be circulated by the Secretariat.  The annex of the Declaration includes elements 
for enhanced transparency on export competition which will form the basis of the Secretariat's questionnaire.  
 
The Committee on Agriculture agreed to hold the annual discussion on export competition during its meeting in June this year. This timing could also be appropriate in 2015 as it would provide 
adequate time between that discussion and the review foreseen at MC 10. That's for you, the 
Members, to follow through in the Committee on Agriculture. The Secretariat will circulate the questionnaire soon with a view to circulating a summary of the questionnaire results in advance of the June meeting. 
 
Second, with respect to the decision on TRQ administration, the Committee on Agriculture is 
expected to review and monitor the implementation  of the Understanding. The monitoring to be 
conducted in the context of the TRQ underfi ll mechanism will depend on the Members' 
submissions. Some Members have indicated that  they planned to take advantage of this 
mechanism. Others noted that the Committee on Agriculture could begin applying the monitoring 
procedures laid out in the Annex of this Decision  as soon as submissions were received by the 
Committee.   That leaves the decision on public stockholding for food security purposes. Here the monitoring 
activity of the Committee will again depend on how Members decide to push this monitoring agenda. As you will recall, Ministers agreed to es tablish a work program to be undertaken in the 
Committee on Agriculture with the aim of making  recommendations for a permanent solution on 
this issue – that's what the decision says. This work program will take into account Members' 
existing and future submissions. Indeed, the conversation on the work program has already started with a discussion at last week's meeting of the Committee on Agriculture. 
 
I'd like now to turn to the decisions on Development and LDC issues. The adoption of an LDC 
package was a key achievement of the Bali Ministerial – representing a very significant step 
forward towards the better integration of LDCs into the multilateral trading system.  
 WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  But, here too, Bali represents a beginning, not an end. A significant amount of effort is needed to 
convert these decisions into concrete gains for the LDCs.   On the operationalization of the services waiver th e LDCs will need to table their collective request 
as soon as possible. This will kick-start the pr ocess, leading towards the high level meeting at 
which Members will indicate if, and in what areas, they are prepared to give preferential access to LDCs. In parallel, the Council for Trade in Services is convening an informal meeting to discuss the 
operationalization of the waiver. I encourage all Members to actively participate in this process, so 
that we can bring fruition to this important instrument.  Next, the decision on Duty-Free Quota-Free market access. Similarly here, Members will need to 
notify their DFQF schemes and any other relevant  changes that they may have adopted. In my 
view the LDCs should be pursuing this issue in the Committee on Trade and Development. Of course all Members have a responsibility here, and the Secretariat will be on hand to support the 
process, but the demandeurs must keep up the pressure. 
 The same goes for the last decision in the LDC pa ckage – which is on prefer ential rules of origin. 
Members have concrete guidelines before them to make further improvements to their LDC 
preference schemes. I encourage Members, when ever possible, to draw on these multilateral 
guidelines and make a further contribution to help ease market access for LDC products. There will be an opportunity to annually review developments through the Committee on Rules of Origin. 
 
The other important development decision taken at Bali – though not specific to LDCs – was to establish a Monitoring Mechanism on Special and Differential Treatment. Members will take this 
forward through a Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and Development.  I should also mention here those items which were  held over from Bali – for example the Cancun 
28 proposals and the 6 Agreement-specific proposals. These items are under active consideration 
in the Special Session of the Committee on Trade an d Development and this work will need to be 
picked up as soon as possible.   
The tenth decision of the Bali package relates to Cotton , which of course is sensitive for many 
Members, particularly the Cotton-4. I understand that informal consultations are underway to call 
a meeting of the Director-General's Consultative Mechanism. That meeting would likely be held 
back-to-back with a dedicated discussion on cotto n in a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture 
in order that we can move this issue forward.  
You all worked incredibly hard last year to conclude the negotiations and deliver the Bali package. 
So now let's make it count, by delivering th e benefits of the package. But, as I say, 
implementation is only the first task.   
The second is to get talks going again and prepare a clearly defined work program on the 
remaining Doha Development Agenda issues by the end of 2014. I have begun some very early and very preliminary consultations on these issues – for example:  
 
 At the World Economic Forum in Davos I attended the informal ministerial gathering 
convened by the Swiss Confederation – about which Ambassador Winzap will say a few 
words when I have concluded my remarks.  
 Last week I visited India and Oman where I talked to the business sector and 
government officials. 
 In recent days I have addressed Members of the LDC and ACP Groups.  
 I have also seized every opportunity to exchange views with individual delegations.  
 I've been listening to Me mbers very carefully.  
 
I think that in order to look forward, we must also look back. We must learn from the mistakes of the past – and also, now, from the success in Bali . Bali offered us a number of good lessons in how 
to be successful multilaterally. But I believe it will be very difficult to replicate the approach where 
we avoided the core issues – agriculture, industrial goods, services – and found harvests elsewhere.   WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  Most likely, any future multilateral engagement will require outcomes in agriculture. This was a 
central pillar of the DDA and many delegations have  been stressing that, if agriculture comes into 
play, then so do the other two legs of the trip od: industrial goods and services. We may even 
conclude that we are not yet ready to properly tackle these three areas, but we can't avoid the 
conversation. 
 Even though we can’t replicate Bali precisely, there are lessons learned that we must keep in 
mind. Our dialogue about the future is just beginni ng, but I believe that some parameters seem to 
be already framing this conversation.  I will talk through these parameters now, as I perceive them personally – though I stress that this 
is not an exhaustive list, nor is it arranged in order of priority or importance. It is intended merely 
to provide some inspiration in our discussions.  
1. First, development has to be preserved as the central pillar of our efforts. Above all, we 
must have tangible results for the poorest Members. This remains a development round. 
 
2. Second  is that we must be realistic and focus on those things which are doable. Instead of 
abstract goals, let's look at what we can do and set goals that are reachable. Members have 
to be honest with each other and with their domestic constituencies about what can realistically be expected from the negotiatio ns. We must find a balance between ambition 
and realism. 
 
3. The third  parameter is that the big issues in the DDA are interconnected, and therefore they 
m u s t  b e  t a c k l e d  t o g e t h e r .  S o ,  a g a i n ,  a s  i t  w a s  i n  B a l i ,  b a l a n c e  i s  k e y .  W e  m u s t  f i n d  a n  
approach in which all Members contribute and all Members benefit. And, again, where no 
one is faced with impossible demands. Bali worked because all Members wanted it. Everyone 
has to see themselves in the issues on the table.  
 
4. Fourth , in order to make headway in these areas, we must be ready to be creative and 
keep an open mind to new ideas that may allo w Members to overcome the most critical and 
fundamental stumbling blocks. This creativity, however, has to be coherent with the DDA 
mandate, which is flexible enough to accommodate new paths. Let me very clear about this: I am not proposing changing the DDA mandate – quite the opposite really. 
 
5. Fifth, the process must continue to be inclusive and transparent, engaging all Members at 
all stages of the negotiations. This was a very important factor in Bali. 
 
6. Sixth , our efforts must have a sense of urgency. This was also an essential element of the 
success in Bali. We must be careful, however, not to rush recklessly into another cycle of 
failures due to bad planning. We cannot affo rd to wait another 18 years for a result.  
 
Finally , I think that, as well as being open-minded to new ideas, we should also be open-minded 
about how far-reaching our next steps will be. 
 
Of course what we want to do is to find a path towards the conclusion of the Round. It may be that 
it can be done in one step – or we may need more than one step. Again, that is something that we 
h a v e  t o  d i s c u s s .  B u t  w h a t e v e r  w e  d o  w e  w i l l  a l w a y s  b e  m o v i n g  i n  o n e  d i r e c t i o n  –  a n d  t h a t  i s  
towards the conclusion of the Doha Round.   I think that we should keep these parameters in mind over the coming weeks and months. In 
summary: 
 
1. development as a central pillar 
2. doability – balancing realism and ambition, with no-one being asked to do the impossible 
3. recognising that the issues are interconnected so must be tackled together 
4. staying creative and open minded 
5. always being inclusive and transparent  
6. maintaining a sense of urgency  
 As time is of the essence, I have asked the Chai rs of the Negotiating Groups to start a dialogue 
with Members on issues that we may be able to take forward – using the parameters that I just WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  mentioned as a guide for discussions. The exact format of these meetings will be up to the Chairs 
– they will have full discretion on how they conduct these discussions – but I have asked them to ensure that the format is as open as possible.  
I think we need to start by asking simple questions: What went wrong? What should we do now? 
What level of ambition should – or could  – we have? While we may star t with a range of different 
opinions I trust that in time commonalities will emerge and, in due course, that we will be able to 
find convergence.  
 And I can assure you that there is no hidden or pre-cooked agenda here. I am approaching this process – along with the Chairs – with a completely open mind. We want to hear your views. I 
don't intend to impose any strict time-frame on this initial process – but I have asked the 
negotiating chairs to feed back with some initial thoughts and findings from their consultations, if possible at the General Council on 14 March.  
 
Bali represents not just a huge achievement for a ll of us – but also a huge opportunity. There is 
real political momentum and we must build on it. The work has only just begun. 2014 should be 
the year that we implement our first negotiated outcomes – and the year that the Doha Round is 
put back on track. It will not be easy, but it is achievable.   We all have a role to play. Every voice will be hear d. And I hope that together we can capitalise on 
the success in Bali, and seize the opportunity that it has provided. 
 Thank you for listening. WT/GC/M/150 
 
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  ANNEX II 
STATEMENT BY ECUADOR AT THE INFORMAL TNC MEETING AT THE LEVEL OF 
HEAD OF DELEGATION HELD ON 6 FEBRUARY 2014 
At its request, the statement made by Ecuador at the above-mentioned meeting is included below 
as part of the Minutes of the General Council meeting. 
 
_______________ 
 
 Regarding the post-Bali process, Ecuador believes that the process initiated should be aimed at concluding the Doha Round and be based on the interests and needs of the developing countries, 
not only on an abstract and undefined development dimension. Agricultural reform, in particular, 
should constitute a decisive element of this process.  
More specifically: 
Firstly, the post-Bali work programme should focus exclusively on DDA issues; secondly, the post-Bali work programme should be balanced  and therefore agriculture should constitute a 
key part of it; thirdly, the post-Bali work pr ogramme should be based on the results already 
achieved and the principle of the single under taking; fourthly, the post-Bali work programme 
should be based on a transparent and inclusive process.  
__________