WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/GC/M/138 
15 November 2012 
 (12-6286) 
General Council 
3 October 2012  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard 
on 3 October 2012 
 
Chairperson:  Mrs Elin Johansen (Norway) 
 
 
At the outset of the meeting, the Chairperson, on behalf of all Members, welcomed the 
Russian Federation and Vanuatu, wh ich had formally become the 156th and 157th Members of the 
WTO community on 22 August and 24 August, respectively.  In the course of the meeting, 
delegations echoed the Chairperson' s words, and said they looked forward to completion of the 
accession process of Lao PDR.  The Chairperson also  noted that the Working Party on the Accession 
of Lao PDR had approved ad referendum  its Report on 28 September, and that she intended to 
convene a meeting of the General Council on 26 October to take up that accession. 
 
 
Subjects discussed:1 Page 
1.  Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee .......................................... 2  
2.  Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committ ee on Trade and Development ...................................... 24  
3.  Situation regarding the rights to the Havana Club rum trademark in the United 
States – Communication from Cuba ..................................................................................... 25  
4.  Improving the guidelines for granting intergovernmental organizations 
permanent observer status in the WT O – Statement by the Chair .................................... 29  
5.  Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration – Reports on meetings of 
July and September 2012 .......................................................................................................  29 
6.  WTO Pension Plan .............................................................................................................. .... 30 
(a)  Report of the Management Board for 2011 .............................................................................. 30  
(b)  Election of an alternate to the Management Board – Proposal by the Chair of the 
General Council ............................................................................................................... ......... 31 
7.  Appointment of officers to WTO bodies – Negotiating Group on Market Access 
and Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance – Statement by the Chair ................... 31  
8.  Ukraine's request to renegotiate concessions under GATT Article XXVIII – 
Statement by the European Union ........................................................................................ 32  
9.  Measures to streamline the production of documents and the conduct of 
meetings – Statement by the Director-General .................................................................... 36  
10.  Appointment of the ne xt Director-General .......................................................................... 37  
11.  Administrative Measures for Members in arrears – Statement by the Chair .................. 37  
                                                      
1 The Proposed Agenda was circulated in document WT/GC/W/660. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 2  
 
  1. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
1. The Chairperson invited the Director-General, Chairman of the TNC, to report on the TNC's 
activities since his last report to the Council. 
2. The Director-General, Chairman of the TNC said2 how pleased he was to see the Russian 
Federation and Vanuatu taking their seats as WTO Members at the present meeting.  He also 
expressed his condolences to the delegation of Vanu atu for the recent loss of Vanuatu's chief WTO 
negotiator, Timothy Sisi, who would be sorely missed by his friends, of which there were many in the 
room.  The global economy was currently faci ng increasingly strong headwinds. Slowing global 
output growth had led to the WTO downgrading its 2012 forecast for world trade expansion from 3.7 
per cent in April to 2.5 per cent, and to scaling back estimates for 2013 from 5.6 per cent to 4.5 per 
cent.  The trade slowdown in the first half of 2012 ha d been driven by an even stronger deceleration in 
imports of developed countries, and by a corr esponding weakness in the exports of developing 
economies.  Past experience had shown that in an increasingly interdependent world, economic 
shocks in one region quickly spread to others – no one was immune.  In other words, and all seemed 
to agree this was becoming increasingly obvious, the only way to effectively face up to this crisis was 
through global collective action.  Although welc ome measures aimed at containing the slowdown in 
economic growth had been announced by some Member s, more still needed to be done.  There was a 
need for a strong and renewed commitment to revita lize the multilateral trad ing system, to increase 
demand and to restore economic certainty at a tim e when it was badly needed.  Members should not 
indulge in trade-restrictive practices. 
3. Against this sombre backdrop, it was encouragi ng that since the July General Council, work 
in the DDA had seen signs of momentum.  At the July Council meeting, several delegations had 
signalled their collective desire to be more active on the negotiating front as from the autumn, in recognition of the absence of progress and results from the first half of the year.  From the beginning of September, the responses he had heard in his co ntacts with Ministers, officials and the private 
sector in capitals, delegations in Geneva – includi ng at the previous week's WTO Public Symposium 
– and Chairs of negotiating groups  with whom he had met in Septem ber, had confirmed this collective 
desire to re-engage.  He was also aware that dur ing the summer break a number of delegations had 
been exploring ideas among themselves.  In additi on, at the regional level, agreement among APEC 
countries on a list of environmental goods and servic es had been attained.  These were encouraging 
signs on which Members now had to build.  The challenge was to accelerate work in the coming 
weeks and months before the year's end, exploring if there was more room for progress in some areas.  
However, he wished to be clear.  As he had sai d in July, neither was he under any illusion that the 
factors that had shaped the impasse Members faced had changed substantively,  nor did he harbour any 
dream about achieving grand designs or comprehens ive deals.  At the pr esent juncture, Members 
could and had to explore those spaces, areas or topics on which they could make progress.  They needed to explore any and all options, small as  they might be, for incremental progress on the 
negotiating agenda. Taking small st eps now would be crucial for th e credibility of the rule-making 
capacity of the WTO tomorrow.  As Members took th ese small steps, they also had to look at the 
wider picture, at the areas where progress had been more elusive, and start exploring and testing new 
approaches, including on so-called more intract able issues, in order to deliver results. 
4. Over the past months, several delegations had highlighted issues they were prepared or not 
prepared to advance in the absence of certain gua rantees.  Trade Facilitation, including resolving 
section II on technical assistance and capacity building,  had been at the heart of this discussion.  A 
number of ideas had also started to emerge informally  on what could constitute others elements to be 
delivered if there were to be a Trade Facilitation out come.  Ideas for possible elements emerging, thus 
far, had ranged from TRQ administration in Agricu lture to a number of other development-related 
                                                      
2 The Director-General's statement was su bsequently circulated in JOB/GC/23.  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 3 
 
 
  issues such as S&D treatment and the Monito ring Mechanism, and non-DDA issues like ITA 
expansion.  Members needed to test and explore th ese ideas in the work ahead .  This led him to the 
next part of his report – updating Members on the work that had been on-going in some negotiating 
groups and the sequence of work envisaged by Ch airs, which would involve all – Ambassadors as 
well as technical experts.  Starting with areas wher e the path ahead had been mapped out, negotiations 
in the area of Trade Facilitation continued on several tracks.  Members were looking at several issues, 
for example S&D, customs co-operation, expedited shipments, and cross-cutting issues, within the 
facilitator process.  The results of these negotiations  would be brought back to the Negotiating Group 
for incorporation into the Draft Consolidated Ne gotiating Text.  At the session the following week, 
delegations would decide on the issues for the sub sequent phase of the facilitator process in the lead-
up to the December meeting of the NGTF.  Negotiati ons also continued in other Member-led settings, 
bilateral and plurilateral, with the results of this  work being fed back to the broad negotiating group 
framework.  Work was equally being undertaken in th e area of technical assistance.  The Secretariat 
was finalizing its preparations for a Trade Facilita tion symposium for African countries in November 
in Nairobi in cooperation with the African Deve lopment Bank, and was launching a comprehensive 
programme that would assist developing and least -developed countries with identifying their TF 
needs and priorities. 
5. On S&D treatment, the relevant Chair was conti nuing with his work on the three clusters, i.e. 
the six Agreement-specific proposals, the Mon itoring Mechanism and the 28 Agreement-specific 
proposals agreed in principle at Cancún.  The Ch air had mapped out a detailed work plan for the 
Special Session for the second half of the year.  The p ace of this work plan had been adjusted to allow 
Members more time for internal c onsultations and preparation to ensu re their meaningful participation 
in the consultations.  Two meetings of the Speci al Session would be convened each month, with each 
meeting devoted to exclusive focus on one of the thr ee clusters, respectively.  The first such meeting 
had been held on 28 September, at which Memb ers had engaged in a text-based discussion on the 
Monitoring Mechanism.  This had been characte rized by constructive and meaningful engagement 
and had seen progress on some of the key issues.  On the Agreement-specific proposals, Members 
were working closely with the c oncerned technical people of the relevant WTO bodies.  The Chair 
had also been complementing his open-ended cons ultative process with bilateral and plurilateral 
discussions with the different stakeholders.  In  the DSU negotiations, work continued toward 
completing a discussion of all 12 issues under considera tion.  Meetings were taking place that week.  
A further set of meetings was likely to take place the following month to discuss, in particular, the 
revised text on developing-country interests.  This text was expected to be presented by the end of 
October.  As this phase of the work concluded, Me mbers would be able to take stock of the progress 
made and consider the way forward, including the possible issuance of a revised Chairman's 
document. 
6. Turning to the other areas, on Agriculture, an informal meeting of the Agriculture Special 
Session had been held on 28 September, where Members had shown a willingness to re-engage.  
There had been an openness to renewed dialogue, star ting with consideration of two papers introduced 
at the meeting.  The Secretariat would provide the information needed to allow Members to engage in 
a discussion based on shared facts.  In Services, no  meetings of the Special Session had been held.  
However, a group of Members had reported that th ey continued to discuss alternative methods of 
negotiation aimed at the further opening of trade in  Services.  On rule-making, the Chairs of the 
working parties on GATS Rules and Domestic Regulation were each consulting on ways to move 
forward the negotiations in their areas, and their working parties were meeting during the Services 
cluster being held that week.  On the rest of the issues under the Doha agenda, the Chairs were 
consulting on the best means to adva nce work in each respective area.  In sum, he saw the beginning 
of much-needed work to deliver on a basket of i ssues on which work was advancing.  What was now 
needed was to seriously engage in  bridging gaps on these issues.  This had to be done in a pragmatic 
and constructive manner, without setting a priori  red lines and without pushing for unattainable levels 
of ambition.  The key had to be to work on deliverables. WT/GC/M/138 
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  7. Before concluding, he wished to add a few words on the "WTO Panel on Defining the Future 
of Trade".  He recalled that in April, he had convened this panel under hi s own responsibility, to 
undertake an assessment of the realities of the multilateral trading system in the 21
st century.  The 
panel had met for the first time in May.  The previo us week, on the side-lines of the Public Forum, a 
number of members from the panel had met with de legations to listen to their views on what WTO 
Members considered to be the key factors driving wo rld trade at present.  On that occasion, there had 
been a very insightful and constructive discussion, and many ideas had been put on the table.  He wished to thank delegations who ha d actively participated in this brainstorming.  The panel had duly 
taken note of all the comments and observations made and would feed them into their deliberations.  
The panel members remained available to further engage with delegations. 
8. Delegations thanked the Director-General for his report. 
9. The representative of Brazil said his delegation was pleased to see that Members were 
following the directions given by Ministers at MC8.  While Brazil acknowledged that the Single 
Undertaking might not be concluded soon, it was trying to explore possible partial DDA outcomes 
where progress could be made.  Some said that because the Single Undertaking would not be 
concluded in the near future, the DDA was dead.  In fact, Members' work seeking an early harvest 
showed precisely the opposite – the DDA was very mu ch alive.  For Brazil, it continued to be a 
priority.  Members had been trying to identify possible short-term outcomes within the DDA, without losing sight of its long-term objectives.  In that  context, some Members had singled out Trade 
Facilitation (TF) as a low-hanging fruit.  That might or might not be the case.  All would depend on 
the level of ambition sought for the TF agreement.  With respect to TF being a self-balancing pillar, 
Brazil – and the developing world in general – st rongly disagreed.  The commitments in this area 
would clearly demand a far greater contribution from some Members than others.  Members therefore needed to strike a balance, with trade-offs that were realistic and pragmatic.  In addition, other 
outcomes were needed so as to allow full ownershi p of the process by the membership as a whole.  
One obvious candidate was Agriculture, which was the heart of the Round.  The G-20 had been 
working on Agriculture issues that were perfectly doable.  Some i ssues might be difficult for some 
Members, but they were not impossible.  It was not reasonable to expect efforts from only one side.  All had to contribute.  Moreover, his delegation wish ed to inform Members that Brazil, together with 
other interested Members, was also working on othe r agricultural issues in the context of SPS and TF.  
The first was the ad hoc  consultation mechanism to address SPS trade concerns, and the other was a 
proposal to help simplify and expedite the clearan ce of perishable goods, which would be explored 
shortly in the TF Negotiating Group.  Regarding the desire expressed by some  to intensify work and 
establish deadlines for achieving results, Brazil st rongly suggested avoiding that path, which had 
repeatedly failed in the past. 
10. Speaking for the G-20, he said these Members had consistently said that Agriculture was the 
centrepiece of the Doha Round. At the current j uncture of the DDA negotiations, the G-20 strongly 
believed that outcomes in Agriculture were ess ential for facilitating progress on other DDA issues 
currently under discussion.  Therefore, it was hi gh time to resume the technical discussions on 
Agriculture.  In keeping with the final document of MC8, the G-20 had been working since July 2012 
on the identification of agricultural issues where progress could be made in order to take the 
development objectives forward in a possible ear ly harvest under Paragraph 47 of the Doha 
Declaration.  Without prejudice to the overall conclusion of the DDA negotiations based on the DDA 
mandate, the G-20 had circulated two non-papers fo r discussion at the last meeting of the negotiating 
body on Agriculture on 28 September – one propos ing a new Understanding on TRQ Administration 
and another containing a request for additiona l studies and updates on export competition and TRQ 
administration.  These non-papers were the first outco mes of this exercise.  Other concrete proposals 
might follow.  At the meeting, the G-20 had also underscored the significance its  Members attached to 
both Export Competition and Cotton, which were a prio rity for many developing countries.  The G-20 
had noted a genuine interest by the membership in further discussing these non-papers, and expected  WT/GC/M/138 
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  to engage further with interested  delegations promptly.  Pragmati sm and realism were needed now 
more than ever.  The work of the G-20 was based on the need to move the Round forward, by suggesting viable development issues in Ag riculture that had a positive impact on the DDA 
negotiations. 
11. The representative of Korea said that overall, Kor ea shared the Director-General's assessment.  
As Members took stock of the DDA negotiations and considered their work programme, they were 
faced with the most challenging question, which was well captured in the general theme for the 
previous week's WTO Public Forum – "Is Multilate ralism in Crisis?"  The Director-General had 
answered this question by saying that yes, mu ltilateralism was struggling, but Members had proved 
themselves up to the task before them and could do it again.  The next fundamental question was how 
to ensure that 2012 was not a wasted year, particular ly given the decision to hold the next Ministerial 
Conference in Bali in 2013.  Korea shared the view  that, as mandated by Ministers at MC8, Members 
needed to continue to explore realistic and pragma tic ways to operationalize Pa ragraph 47 of the Doha 
Declaration.  Given the current stalemate in  the DDA negotiations as well as the ongoing global 
economic crisis, Members should ch ange gears in order to move forward in areas where progress 
could be made on a step-by-step basis, rather than seeking a "big-bang" deal in  the near future.  In a 
nutshell, they should explore feasible ways to identify and harvest low-hanging fruit.  In this way they 
could build up mutual trust and the credibility of the system as a whole.  Trade Facilitation, among 
other issues, was the best candidate for this, alth ough issues involved in sel f-balancing needed to be 
addressed.  A successful deal on Trade Facilitation woul d further promote global trade liberalization, 
which would enormously benefit bot h exporters and importers.  In addition to the DDA, there were 
several other areas where progress could and should  also be made, such as ITA expansion, an 
international services agreement, WTO accessi on, GPA accession, and environmental goods. 
12. On ITA expansion, Korea was pleased that mean ingful progress had been made.  Since a draft 
consolidated working list had come out in July, c onstructive and frank exchanges of views on the list 
had taken place at the technical level.  It was en couraging that the number of ITA participants had 
been growing.  With continued discussions at the working level, Korea would like to see tangible 
progress in the months to come.  In Services, Kore a shared the view that this initiative was in line 
with the general agreement reached at MC8 to seek fresh and credible approaches.  Thus, Korea had 
been working with some other Members to expl ore different negotiating approaches aimed at 
achieving progress towards the liberalization of trad e in Services.  The Global Services Summit held 
on 19 September in Washington DC had genera ted good momentum.  The Members involved were 
meeting that week, and Korea hoped they would be ab le to get a clearer and more concrete roadmap 
on which to base future consultations.  On WT O accessions, Korea welcomed the adoption of Lao 
PDR's accession package the previous week by its Wo rking Party.  This was particularly meaningful 
as Lao PDR was the first LDC to finalize its membership terms since the General Council had adopted the Guidelines on LDC Accession.  In the same vein, Korea hoped that the accession of new 
parties, including China, to the revised Governme nt Procurement Agreement would gain momentum. 
13. On environmental goods, Korea was pleased that the APEC Members had agreed on a list of 
54 environmental products at the APEC Summit in Vl adivostok, and was ready to work closely with 
other Members to see how to translate the APEC ag reement into tangible action at the WTO, thereby 
adding momentum to efforts in Geneva.  In light of all these tasks, the next question was what 
timeline should be considered for harvesting low-ha nging fruit in the DDA and other areas.  Given the 
decision to hold MC9 in December 2013, Members would need to finalize a substantial amount of 
their work during the first half of 2013, and could th erefore not sit on their hands for the remainder of 
2012.  While trying to keep the ball rolling, all needed to guard against protectionism.  As the 
Director-General had aptly said in a recent stat ement, the traditional "exports good, imports bad" 
dichotomy was no longer valid in the current highl y inter-connected world where the import content 
of exported goods was 40 per cent.  Under these ci rcumstances, inward-looking measures would only 
result in a negative impact on all, including those taking such measures.  Korea remained ready to WT/GC/M/138 
Page 6  
 
  work closely with other Members to defy protectioni st tendencies, as restrictions in one country could 
affect the efficiency costs of the entire value chain. 
14. The representative of the European Union said the accession of the Russian Federation was an 
important moment for the multilateral system as it e xpanded to include a larg e and important country 
with a dynamic economy.  The EU looked forward to  Russia's participation in the multilateral trading 
system, and recalled that membership in the WTO entailed benefits, but also  important obligations 
and the overall responsibility for making the multilatera l system function properly.  Some questions 
had already arisen in terms of the fulfilment of  such obligations.  The EU was addressing these 
bilaterally with Russia and hoped that these attempts would be successful.  Regarding the TNC, in the 
current circumstances, for the EU the starting poin t remained the guidance of MC8, and it remained 
committed to looking at issues on their merit, making progress where possible and exploring new 
approaches with the positive and constructive spirit re quired by all.  Concrete steps forward in areas 
where work was already taking place was the best way to overcome the present stalemate and build 
the stepping stones that could restore the negotiating function of the WTO and enable Members to move towards conclusion of the whole DDA.  In this respect, the EU welcomed the positive 
engagement undertaken regarding discussions on the Agreement-specific proposals and the 
Monitoring Mechanism in the CTD Special Session.  His delegation thanked the Chair of that body 
for his constructive approach and believed there was real room for progress on those issues. 
15. The same held true for the discussions on Trade Facilitation. These were progressing at 
technical level, with most delegations realizing the vast benefits that an agreement would bring, both 
in terms of its intrinsic economic value as well as sy stemically, showing that the WTO was capable of 
delivering at least some part of the DDA.  Memb ers needed to come together now to move these 
negotiations forward and to constructively res pond to any lingering concerns regarding a TF 
agreement and its eventual implementation.  In the same spirit, they needed to find solutions in order 
to advance in other areas.  On Agriculture, the EU  was ready to discuss constructively new ideas that 
had recently been put on the table, keeping in mind the overall balance of the agricultural "package".  
More broadly, the EU commended the efforts bei ng made by Members and the Chairmen of the 
negotiating groups to find solutions to breaking th e continued stalemate in various areas of the 
negotiations.  Discussions on the review of the ITA showed that market-access negotiations were 
possible.  An informal process had now started.   Countries that had produced product lists for the 
expansion of the coverage of th e ITA were now discussing on the basis of a single compiled list of 
products, and Members needed to start moving now into a negotiation phase.  A useful process on 
NTBs had also begun.  The EU hoped that all count ries would continue to make efforts to achieve 
results in both processes.  Members were now 14 mo nths away from the MC9, and should make sure 
that they used this time wisely and with a sense of ur gency in order not to find themselves a year later 
searching for creative ways of explaining why they  had not taken the steps Ministers at MC8 had 
asked them to take.  They needed to move forw ard and start responding again with real negotiated 
outcomes to the demands and expectations of their societies. 
16. The representative of Lesotho, on behalf of  the African Group, said that since the July 
meeting of the General Council, the formal pict ure in the WTO had not changed much.  The way 
forward remained misty.  It seemed as if unpacking MC8 remained a painstaking task. It turned out 
that unpacking MC8 was just as tedious as packing it had been for Ministers.  On some issues, 
interpretations and counter-interpretations a bounded.  However, some steady progress was being 
made.  The Trade Ministers' dialogue in Almaty, Ka zakhstan on the particular concerns of landlocked 
developing countries, the ACP high-level forum on emerging issues and challenges in the multilateral 
trading system, the Beijing discussion on global value chains and their implications for the multilateral trading system, and many other ongoing info rmal plurilateral consultations, had all been 
noted with keen interest.  They were all tantamount  to preparatory work for the challenges that lay 
ahead in the negotiations.  The African Group w as aware of ongoing bilateral and plurilateral 
consultations, some of which had been referred to by the Director-General, and hoped that somewhere  WT/GC/M/138 
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  along the line, these discussions would be multilateralized .  Worthy of special mention were the panel 
discussions during the session on trade at the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board and the WTO Public Forum, both of which had tackled fundamental  trade issues.  The WTO Public Forum had been 
particularly stimulating and thought-provoking on a broad spectrum of issues.  It had afforded 
Members an opportunity to hear the voices of those viewing things from a different angle outside 
WTO.  That had been refreshing, and the encounter  with the panel moderated by the Director-General 
had been particularly interesting. 
17. On the substantive issues, the African Group wished to raise the following points.  First, 
Trade Facilitation continued to be the most topi cal issue in Members’ discourse on a potential early-
harvest agreement following the outcome of MC8.  He briefly reiterated the Group's position on TF, 
which was often referred to as if  it were monolithic, when in fact it was composite.  Given that it 
contained a spectrum of elements, TF was not necessarily a win-win potential agreement in the context of the DDA negotiations.  It was also not exactly a self-balancing pillar within the DDA, 
either internally or externally.  Hence, the African  Group did not agree that TF should be delivered as 
a stand-alone provisional agreement, and understo od there was wide support for this view from 
Members.  The Group also understood there was genera l acceptance of the underlying rationale of this 
position – namely, that other pro-development el ements of the DDA should be the foundation on 
which any provisional early-harvest  agreement should be anchored. 
18. A consensual interpretation of the MC8 outco me by Members would be achieved only if it 
was preceded by an equally consensual and cred ible implementation framework on which a Doha 
Paragraph 47-based agreement woul d be grounded.  Devoid of this  framework, caution was advised 
regarding attempts to interpret the outcome of MC8, pa rticularly if such attempts came in the form of 
recycling the already-failed approaches in striving to build an early-harvest  package, as had been 
attempted on the eve of MC8.  Sadly, this seem ed to be the trend, as Members were once again 
gradually getting caught up in the vicious circle of building up an early-harvest package, albeit 
without establishing a common denominator on the in terpretation and implementation framework of 
Paragraph 47.  It seemed more logical that in or der to make headway, Members should expend their 
negotiating capital first and foremost on the subs tantive issues under respective negotiation areas, 
including TF.  Moreover, Members should perhap s contemplate more thoroughly the concept of 
provisional implementation of early-harvest agr eements as per the mandate in Paragraph 47, 
specifically on how it had to be implemented a nd on defining the safeguards and guarantees that 
would ensure that the rest of the DDA would neith er be eroded, added on, subjected to indefinite 
procrastination, nor abandoned altogether.  Regard ing the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), 33 
of 54 countries in Africa were LDCs.  The EI F was the Aid for Trade window specifically and 
exclusively for LDCs, which aimed to assist them  in mainstreaming trade in national policies, 
strategies, plans and programmes of action, and suppor t them in integrating their trade into the rules-
based multilateral trading system.  The EIF was currently undergoing its mid-term review.  It was a 
working formula and was effective.  It was deliver ing, and therefore was highly appreciated by LDCs, 
and it should be consolidated a nd continued without major changes to its current core framework. 
19. The representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Ar abia, on behalf of the Arab Group, expressed 
the Group's appreciation for the Director-General's continued efforts and leadership in looking for 
possible solutions, both in and outside Geneva, to overcome obstacles inhibiting progress in the negotiations.  The Arab Group continued to believe in the value of a rules-based multilateral trading 
system and was committed to the conclusion of th e DDA.  It recognized that very limited progress 
had been made since MC8 and considered that a ll Members should continue to explore constructive 
solutions to allow for substantive discussions to  resume.  In this context the Group once more 
underscored the importance of concluding the DDA as confirmation of the credibility of the multilateral trading system, and the need for negotiating processes that upheld and reflected the 
principles of full participation, inclusiveness and tr ansparency.  Negotiations should move forward in 
areas where there was convergence by building on progress already made, but this could not be done WT/GC/M/138 
Page 8  
 
  at the expense of the Round’s development mandate.  The development dimens ion was central to the 
DDA, and any negotiations should factor in this  essential element. Meanwhile, Members had to 
remain cautious about taking a plurilateral path as  an alternative to the multilateral process.  The 
conclusion of multilateral trade talks was of key im portance.  It was needed to stimulate economic 
growth, generate an increase in employment oppor tunities and reduce poverty.  The conclusion of 
negotiations on any issue should ha ve positive effects for all Members, least-developed, developing 
and developed alike.  It was important for all Me mbers to use the remaining time in 2012 efficiently, 
in order to make sure they achieved tangible results in the first half of 2013, since most of the second 
half of that year would be devoted to prepara tions for MC9.  The Arab Group would continue to 
engage in all processes that contributed to progress in the DDA negotiations and the regular work of 
the WTO. 
20. The representative of Japan said that since the July General Council, the global economy had 
continued to face a number of challenges with vari ous downside risks, despite the efforts being made 
by Europe and the major economies, including by the monetary authorities, to support growth and 
financial stability.  Having said that, macroeconom ic policies alone could not achieve Members' 
policy objectives.  These should be accompanied by a ppropriate structural policies, including trade 
policy, to pursue strong, sustainable and balanced growth.  From this viewpoint, the increased number 
of protectionist measures introduced, especially by members of the G20, was of great concern, not only for the open trading system, but also for the global economy.  Needless to say, measures inconsistent with the WTO agreements in all areas, including import procedures, should not be taken.  
Also, for those who were members of the G20 and/ or APEC, the commitments made should be fully 
respected in order to call others to follow.  On the positive side, it was encouraging to see the recent 
development regarding the ITA.  Work undertaken in the CTD Special Session was promising as well.  
Japan hoped that work would be furthered in areas where progress could be made on the basis of a pragmatic and realistic approach, including Trad e Facilitation.  Regarding the recent proposal 
submitted by the G-20 in Agriculture, although aspects re lating to market access should be dealt with 
and decided in a broader context, Japan would par ticipate in the discussion with a view, first, to 
clarifying the ambiguity in the Revised Draft Modalities for Agriculture (TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4), which was a basis of the proposal. 
21. The representative of Pakistan said that at th e recent WTO Public Forum, a cross-section of 
stakeholders had acknowledged the importance of momentum at the multilateral level and also a 
paradigm shift in the global economy.  Pakistan  was eagerly awaiting the report of the panel of 
experts who were deliberating the future of trade.   During an interaction with Members, views had 
been expressed that the future of trade was closely linked to the p ast and the issues already on the 
table under the Doha mandate.  The guidance provide d by Ministers at MC8 was still valid.  During 
the past summer, Members had been able to de velop convergence on a flexible accession process for 
LDCs, which had been approved by the Genera l Council.  Although the process to complete 
negotiations on development-related issues – su ch as the Monitoring Mechanism and some 
Agreement-specific proposals – had been slow, the process was moving in the right direction.  Similarly, negotiations on a multilateral agreemen t on Trade Facilitation were on-going and had the 
potential of convergence once the differences among Members were addressed with an open mind. 
Recently, Brazil, on behalf of G-20 Members, had introduced a proposal on strengthening quota 
management in Agriculture, based on an Annex to  the Revised Draft Modalities on Agriculture, for 
which the square brackets had been removed.  A lthough certain Members had systemic concerns, the 
proposal could be a starting point for discussion in th e relevant negotiating body.  The three elements 
of the Doha Round could move together for an early harvest in 2012 without waiting for MC9.  
Provisional and definitive implementation in these ar eas might generate momentum to take up further 
issues in the DDA. 
22. Food security, though mostly considered a non-trade issue, remained a concern of food-deficit 
countries.  Pakistan had remained engaged on this issue, but no consensus had been found at MC8.   WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 9 
 
 
  Deliberations on this issue should begin soon in an appropriate setting.  In the backdrop of increasing 
prices of agricultural commodities and less-than-op timum production of certain grains, food security 
should remain on Members' radar in 2012.  In addition, import content in manufactured goods was 
rising and could reach 60 per cent in the next decade.  The global value chain was a reality that required addressing border and behi nd-the-border measures.  While this would be important for 
growth of global GDP and employment, developing countries had concerns, as it would be difficult 
for them to move up the ladder of value addition.  This might require a paradigm shift in the trade 
policies of all countries, and would require support in technology and investment, and policy space to 
support and promote efficiency of physical and lega l infrastructure.  This was a complex area that 
would require in-depth analysis and the dissemi nation of initially non-binding best practices for 
guidance for Members who were still not fully engaged in  the global value chain.  As this was a cross-
cutting area of deliberation, it might require the establishment of a mechanism of deliberations. 
23. The representative of China recalled that Memb ers had agreed at the July 2012 General 
Council that immediately after the summer break, they should change gears at various levels and re-
engage in the negotiations in a more cooperativ e and efficient manner.  China commended the 
Director-General and the Chairs of the respective negotiating bodies for their hard work in September 
and called on all to get down to work.  The successful WTO Public Forum held a week earlier had confirmed the cruel reality that multilateralism was in  crisis, mostly because of Members’ inability to 
conclude the Doha Round.  As the Director-Gener al had repeatedly pointed out on recent occasions, 
"Multilateralism is at a crossroads.  Either it advances  in the spirit of shared values and enhanced co-
operation, or we will face a retreat from multilateralis m."  As a firm and consistent supporter of the 
multilateral trading system, China strongly preferred the former, and would do its best to advance the 
Doha Round and deliver outcomes wher e possible.  As all were aware, the present was a very difficult 
time, with gloomy economic prospects, rising prot ectionism and policy fragm entation from bilateral, 
plurilateral and regional initiatives.   The importance of multilateralism and the Doha Round was more 
obvious than ever.  This was why China held totally contrary views to the article in The Economist  in 
early September entitled "Goodbye Doha , Hello Bali".  China still firmly believed that through joint 
efforts, some tangible results could be deliver ed in the short term, and the Round could be 
successfully concluded when the political and economic atmosphere was ripe. 
24. In the months ahead, the most important t ask for Members was to identify areas where 
progress could be achieved in accordance with the MC 8 political guidance.  Members had tried hard 
before the summer break, but unfortunately no consen sus had been reached.  Nevertheless, they had at 
least realized that Trade Facilitation, while one of the possible candidates for an early agreement, had 
to be balanced by other issues.  Members coul d continue to progress only if they collectively 
acknowledged this reality.  Good faith and mutual tr ust were the decisive elements in the above-
mentioned water-testing exercise.  On the one ha nd, any request proposed by Members should be 
realistic, and the approach of "asking for the moon" had to be avoided.  On the other hand, Members 
should show maximum willingness and flexibility rega rding any reasonable request, with a view to 
forging consensus on the different interests.  Chin a noted with encouragement that new proposals had 
been tabled recently by some Members, and a new NAMA Chair would be appointed at the present 
meeting.  It welcomed and supported these new indications of momentum and would make its 
contribution in the future negotiations. 
25. The representative of Haiti, on behalf of the LDC Group, said the Group welcomed the 
decision to hold a dedicated meeting of the Gene ral Council on 26 October to take up the accession of 
Lao PDR.  However, the Group was still concerned about the accession of Yemen, which was also a 
priority for 2012, and called on the parties involved to complete the remaini ng work in a spirit of 
compromise as soon as possible.  The LDCs t ook note of the Director-General’s report and 
assessment of the state of the trade negotiations  and were committed to continuing their positive 
engagement in these negotiations.  They were aware of the current state of the world economy, as they 
were negatively affected by the slowdown in term s of price increases and a downward turn in Foreign WT/GC/M/138 
Page 10  
 
  Direct Investment. The Group wished to underline that the development aspect of multilateral trade 
was of the utmost importance to it.  The Group was still working on the implementation of the MC8 
Decisions and urged all Members to continue  to fulfil the commitments undertaken in 
December 2011.  Regarding the current EIF mid-te rm review, the Group wished again to express its 
attachment to the continuing capacity-building th is programme was providing to LDCs.  It looked 
forward to the symposium on LDC priority needs and technical and financial co-operation, to be held 
in Geneva from 31 October to 2 November 2012, and invited all its partners to take part in and 
contribute to the success of the symposium.  The Group was pleased to announce that the long-
planned LDC retreat would be held the third week end of October, at which the LDCs planned to 
review and renew their agenda for the period leading up to MC9. 
26. The representative of Australia said the world faced a challenging economic environment, and 
the multilateral trading system needed to be st rengthened if Members were to respond to these 
challenges.  His delegation was encouraged by signs of momentum in certain areas.  While this was 
not enough to break the major impasses, a step-by- step approach to advancing issues where progress 
could be made was a sensible way forward at the present time, and Australia hoped this could build 
momentum over time to allow Members to grapple with some of the larger issues.  Based on the 
discussion so far, his delegation was also encouraged that there seemed to be a shared view among a 
range of delegations, and that Members were willing to move forward and try to advance issues where 
they could.  A few areas were central to that pr ocess.  On Agriculture, Australia welcomed the G-20 
paper that had been put forward at the Special Session of the Agriculture Committee the previous 
week.  The Cairns Group was still consulting, but fro m Australia's perspective this was an extremely 
encouraging development.  Australia had been concer ned for some time that there had been very little 
work going on in Agriculture.  The G-20 had put fo rward a very sensible, credible paper, which 
deserved serious discussion and which could potentially  be one of the low-hanging fruit to which a 
number of delegations had referred.  In fact, without something being delivered in Agriculture, some 
of the other low-hanging fruit in areas such as TF,  ITA, etc., would be very hard to deliver.  
Therefore, Australia implored all Members to enga ge seriously on this paper and was encouraged by 
their initial comments in this regard. 
27. Advancing work on TF was very important .  Developing countries' concerns over 
implementation-related issues had to be addressed seriously and, in fact, this was being done.  There 
had been some positive progress at the most recent  TF Negotiating Group meeting, and the Director-
General had referred to a number of activities that had been undertaken in various parts of the world 
in that regard.  Australia was ready and willing to  engage in looking furthe r at what could be done 
regarding perishable products as part of a TF outcome, and looked forward to hearing more from 
Brazil and others on that issue.  These kinds of effort s to respond to some of the developing countries' 
concerns about TF would be fundamental to Members'  ability to move forward in this area.  With 
reference to the APEC meeting, Australia welcomed  and appreciated Russia's leadership in delivering 
a very successful APEC outcome across the board.  However, his delegation was particularly 
interested in the outcome on environmental goods, not  only because of the outcome itself, which was 
a general liberalizing outcome that was available not just to APEC members but to WTO Members 
and others as a whole, but also because of the way this outcome had been achieved, with pragmatism, 
an extremely constructive environment, a bottom-up process and a very realistic position taken by all 
participants.  Those concepts and that kind of a pproach was something Members could learn from in 
Geneva as well. 
28. Australia continued to be interested in moving the ITA discussions forward.  It also continued 
to be engaged in the area of Services, and Korea had clearly set out Australia's objectives in advancing work in this area.  Regarding previous  discussions about the value of information sharing 
and building understanding of issues through semin ars and studies, Australia continued to be 
interested in encouraging a discussion around food secu rity issues, and welcomed that a number of 
other Members had shown interest in other area s, such as standards and fisheries subsidies, inter alia .   WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 11 
 
 
  If Members could advance all the issues he had ment ioned, on their own merit and without linkages, 
they would be starting to put a credible work progr amme together.  Australia also joined others in 
expressing caution about setting artificial deadlines.  It  would be best to take stock of progress in each 
area and then make assessments further down the line  on where that might lead in the coming years. 
29. The representative of Barbados, on behalf of the SVEs, thanked all t hose who had spoken for 
their insights.  Over the past several months, Memb ers had been meeting in va rious configurations as 
well as in the regular WTO Committees in attempts to find a way forward in the trade negotiations.  
This had required deep reflection, not only on the negotiations but on the future of multilateralism, as 
had been reflected in the theme of the recent WT O Public Forum.  For small countries, while new 
approaches were interesting, they could not repl ace the multilateral approach.  SVEs continued to 
affirm the importance of a multilateral approach th at respected transparency  and inclusiveness, and 
that emphasized a bottom-up approach.  The WTO had been built on this premise and served as a 
means of ensuring that the vulnerable were protected and given a voice, so as to help stem the trend 
towards increasing marginalization.  The guidance from Ministers at MC8 that Members should make 
progress where progress could be made, together with the fact that Members had not been able to 
make progress on core DDA matters, had prompted them to look to those deliverables that could be 
detached from core DDA issues, such as LDC issu es and Trade Facilitation.  The SVEs noted the 
intensive discussions that had been held in the area of TF and that some progress was being made.  
They also noted that there was recognition of the need for S&D treatment, and trusted that current 
suggestions and new recommendations in that regard  would be taken on board, lest the disadvantaged 
be further disadvantaged. 
30. The SVEs also noted that there was still no c onsensus on whether the TF initiative should be a 
stand-alone initiative.  On the question of a plurila teral approach in Services, which was taking place 
on the periphery of the negotiations, the SVEs we re observing these developments but asserted their 
preference for a multilateral approach.  It also a ppeared that following the success in facilitating LDC 
accessions, there was hope of progress on other LDC i ssues.  In addition, there had been progress on 
the regular work of the WTO, some of which had not received concentrated attention previously.  
These were positive developments.  However, Member s should not lose sight of their goals and settle 
for too little.  While global circumstances partly explained the current difficulties, Members also 
needed to work more assiduously at finding soluti ons.  The SVEs therefore restated their commitment 
to the multilateral process and to the WTO, and re mained hopeful that with continued exploration, 
Members might be able to extract the best they could from the negotiations to date.  They were 
hopeful that greater progress would be made in identifying a way forward that would reflect the 
principles that had given rise to this organization, and were committed to playing their part in working 
toward this end. 
31. Speaking on behalf of Barbados, her delegation wished to say a word on some of the work in 
progress on Trade Facilitation.  While Barbados appreci ated the efficiencies that could result from TF, 
it was concerned about the likely outcomes for signifi cant net importers – significant not in aggregate 
terms, but in terms of the ratio of imports to expor ts.  For Barbados, a country with a ratio of imports 
to exports of approximately 4:1, it was clear that  for every 10 per cent increase in imports, exports 
would need to increase by 40 per cent if its trade bala nce was not to worsen as a result of TF.  There 
was therefore a real possibility of a consequent worsening of its trade balance.  Barbados had 
therefore started work on a proposal for special cons ideration to be given to significant net importers 
with respect to negotiating safeguards or waivers of  commitments and obligations related thereto, or 
both, under the initiative.  Her dele gation hoped to be able to submit th is proposal shortly.  However, 
it did not wish to be misunderstood, and reiterated its view that TF under the right conditions could be 
very beneficial to achieving efficiencies in Memb ers' trading environments, provided it could be 
ensured that the situation of certain groups – in particular net significant importers, like Barbados – 
did not worsen as a result of the implementation of this  initiative.  Her country did not wish to have to 
choose between an improved trading environm ent and a worsening balance of payments. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 12  
 
  32. The representative of Mexico congratulated the Russian Federation on the outcome of the 
recent APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Vladivost ok.  Mexico was particularly pleased to see that 
at this meeting, a number of the commitments as sumed and messages sent by the G20 Leaders at Los 
Cabos in June had been endorsed.  In the course of the meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico had worked 
intensively with other Members to send out clear a nd concrete signals reaffi rming the G20 Leaders' 
commitment to ensure that trade was a tool to tackle the crisis, creating better conditions for job 
creation, economic recovery and development.  The world needed more trade, not less, and more opportunities to compete, not fewer.   There was a need to resist protectionism in all its forms by 
refraining from raising or implemen ting protectionist measures and by making efforts to eliminate any 
existing measures that had protectionist effects.  The outcomes of the Vladivostok meeting were also 
in line with those of the meeting in Los Cabos w ith regard to the endorsement of the commitment to 
strengthen the multilateral trading system and a dvance the Doha negotiations through new and 
credible approaches, including the conclusion of th e negotiations in specific areas where progress was 
feasible.  All of these messages were consistent with the guidance from Ministers at MC8.   
33. The Single Undertaking was sacrosanct, but at MC8, Members had agreed to accelerate the 
negotiations in those areas where agreement could be reached more rapidly.  From the discussions and 
technical work that had taken place since then, it was becoming increasingly clear that there was a 
focus, which was Trade Facilitation, around which ot her areas could be identified for an agreement 
that could strike a balance that benefited all Memb ers.  However, if Members insisted on including all 
issues, they would once again go back to the startin g point.  The path was laid out.  Members now had 
only to step up the pace.  Members had heard that they had to change gear, but Mexico wished to 
remind everyone that reverse was also a gear, and urged Members to avoid that gear.  The other 
elements that needed to be stepped up were Agri culture and development-related issues.  In this 
respect, Mexico appreciated the intensification of  work in the Special Session of the CTD on S&D 
treatment and the Monitoring Mechanism.  It al so supported the important work done by the 
Agriculture G-20, as presented by Brazil for that Group.  Mexico welcomed Members' preliminary 
reactions to the two papers submitted by the G-20 at the latest meeting of the Special Session of the 
Committee on Agriculture, which showed the constr uctive spirit with which the G-20 had carried out 
its efforts.  His country hoped that in the near future there could be a fruitful discussion on the 
proposals contained in those papers.  Regarding Trade Facilitation, Mexico reiterated its full 
willingness to reach a substantive an d balanced agreement.  As a developing country with export 
interests, Mexico was convinced th at all provisions in that draft ag reement were rele vant to improving 
its competitiveness and that of each and every Member.  While Mexico welcomed the progress 
achieved in the TF Negotiating Group, it urged further in tensification of work so as to advance jointly 
on both Sections I and II of the draft text.  It also offered its full support to the Chair of the CTD Special Session in his outstanding efforts to ach ieve a rapprochement among Members on the issues 
under discussion in that body. 
34. The representative of Indonesia said his dele gation commended the Director-General's 
leadership and tireless efforts to advance the ne gotiating agenda.  At MC8, Members had committed 
to continuing their work to advance the negotiations.  They had also committed to looking into ways 
to overcome critical stalemates and move the Doha negotiations forward.  In this regard, Indonesia 
welcomed and supported the initiative of the G-20 in submitting the non-paper on TRQ administration 
and export competition in the recent meeting of the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture.  
This was the right step to make progress in the DDA  Agriculture negotiation, as well as to build trust 
and confidence to move negotiations in other area s forward.  Indonesia stood ready to contribute and 
engage constructively in all areas of negotiation.   As the host of MC9, Indonesia encouraged all 
Members to explore different, fresh and credible  negotiating approaches while respecting the Doha 
mandate and the principles of transparency and inclus iveness, in order to enable them to bring about 
fruitful and meaningful deliverables for all.  A ll Members' full support, commitment and engagement 
in this process would play a pertinent role in the success of MC9.  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 13 
 
 
  35. The representative of Switzerland said it was enc ouraging that the Director-General sensed 
some desire from the membership to reengage constructively. 
36. Speaking on behalf of the G-10, and with rega rd to the G-20 Agriculture proposal presented 
by Brazil, he recalled Switzerland’s statement for th e G-10 at the previous week’s Special Session of 
the Committee on Agriculture, that the G-10 remain ed committed to a successfu l conclusion of the 
multilateral negotiations and was also open to disc ussing alternative approaches in order to move 
forward.  The G-10 had been demonstrating its goo d will in trying to achieve a reasonable balance 
between liberalizing agricultural markets across th e board and the need to accommodate Members’ 
specific domestic situations and concerns.  Any future work should be based on what had already 
been achieved.  The G-10 thanked Brazil and th e G-20 for their initiative, which it was examining 
thoroughly.  It would be happy to discuss this  initiative with Brazil and the G-20 Members in the 
coming weeks with an open mind, and with pragmatism and realism. 
37. The representative of Zimbabwe said that the recent WTO Public Forum had provided a much 
needed reality check for Members’ activities following the summer break. He associated his 
delegation with the statements by Lesotho for th e African Group, Brazil for the G-20, and Haiti for 
the LDCs.  His country shared the view that pr o-development elements of the DDA should be the 
foundation on which any provisional early harvest  should be anchored, in line with the MC8 
guidance, and bearing in mind that no area was self-balancing.  Therefore, it would be important that discussions also took place in areas such as Agricultu re, which was key to economic development as 
well as being central to the Doha Round negotiations .  In the same vein, the importance of the Cotton 
issue could not be overemphasized.  Members should keep in focus the elements of the Doha 
Declaration that would enable them to make progr ess in the negotiations, while respecting fully the 
development component of the Doha mandate. 
38. The representative of India said that on the substa ntive issues, what his delegation had said at 
the July General Council remained valid, as there had been little time since then to make any 
significant progress.  However, on the positive side, India detected a willingness on the part of many 
Members to engage in what Trade Ministers had set out as guidance at MC8.  India agreed with those 
delegations who had said that this juncture was not only about completing the DDA or about 
completing Trade Facilitation along with a few other i ssues, but that it was an historic moment when 
Members had to decide whether multilateralism w as going to survive in a significant manner, or 
whether the WTO was going to remain a dispute settlement forum with rules negotiated 17-18 years earlier unchanged, or whether Members would try to  take the DDA agenda forward.  Ministers' 
political guidance at MC8 had been very clear.  They had acknowledged the fact that the Single 
Undertaking was not likely to materialize in the sh ort term.  In the context of the global economic 
downturn, with rising unemployment figures and the problems economies faced in terms of inflation 
and rising food prices, it was very difficult to take bi g steps and to take the trade liberalization agenda 
forward in a significant manner.  It was in this context that Members had to chart out what to do, not 
only up to MC9, but perhaps beyond.  India did not wish to set any artificial deadlines or targets, 
because deadlines in the context of the WTO, es pecially the Doha Round, had always failed.  
Members had to see what could be done collectively in  a constructive and cooperative spirit.  If this 
were taken as the first axiom, the other elements would follow. 
39. Some had hinted very strongly at the underlying message that Trade Facilitation was self-
balancing, a low-hanging fruit that would benefit everyone and improve efficiencies across the board.  
That might happen, but only given a lot of cav eats and assumptions.  The proposals on TF, as they 
currently stood, were mainly about facilitating cu stoms procedures, expediti ng shipments and advance 
rulings to expedite the movement of imports acro ss customs borders, and releasing goods at customs 
ports within a few hours of their arrival.  That would be a positive outcome that would bring about 
efficiency gains, but in only one area and, as Ba rbados for the SVEs had said, potentially causing 
problems in other areas.  He wished to mention a World Bank study, which had often been misquoted WT/GC/M/138 
Page 14  
 
  in WTO fora, and an OECD study that said that TF would contribute to 10 per cent gains in world 
trade.  These studies, and especially the World Bank study, had also concluded that the main gains from TF would come from improving the physical infrastructure – i.e. ports, railways, road networks, as well as computerisation and the E-services aspect.  This called for a considerable amount of infrastructure expenditure and, at the presen t juncture when governments were facing budget 
constraints, trade deficits, current-account deficits  and fiscal deficits, there was no big push coming 
from developed countries or donors who wanted a positive outcome in TF to address these large requirements. 
40. Thus, on the whole, Members needed to assess th e level of ambition in different areas where 
progress could be made.  TF could be a likely candidate for an early agreement – he was not talking 
about an early harvest – but there were many ot her areas, some of which had already come up for 
discussion.  The proposal discussed in the recent Committee on Agriculture Special Session on TRQ 
administration was one.  This was an old implementation issue from the Uruguay Round, and the first 
paper on this matter – regarding a quota under-fill mechanism about more transparency – dated back 
to soon after the conclusion of the Uruguay Round.  It was an old 20
th century issue, but it was 
positive that there was a willingness to engage on it,  as that was the first step towards building 
confidence and trust.  Members should be able to talk openly about what could be done, taking into 
consideration that some countries might have redlin es.  The other point was that there should not be 
any limitation or artificial restriction put on trying to  curb the legitimate aspirations of a country or 
group of countries in bringing forward someth ing which had been under discussion in the Doha 
Round, to see if progress could be made in that area.  In this context, he noted the point made by 
Korea about trying to multilateralize in the WTO th e environmental goods list which had been agreed 
at the APEC meeting.  In this regard, the propone nts would have to put forward a proposal.  Members 
should not stand in the way of anyone suggesting anything, and there should not be any artificial 
timeline, because this was not only about MC9 bu t also about the future of multilateralism, and 
Members needed to take small steps of trust-bu ilding and confidence-building in order to establish 
what could be done collectively. 
41. His delegation thanked Pakistan for drawing atte ntion to an important aspect in Agriculture, 
i.e. food security, which had not been part of the Agriculture negotiations except in a very peripheral 
manner, because Agriculture and the preamble to  the Agreement on Agriculture itself had been 
mentioned as a non-trade issue.  There were just a few provisions in the Ag riculture Agreement that 
addressed food security, which was of great concern to  many developing countries.  India itself had a 
major concern about food security and providing f ood to the poor and the indigent at reasonable or 
below-market prices.  It wished to put forward a proposal on this in order to elicit the reactions of other countries as to their willingness to look at this  issue and whether this could be an area where 
progress could be made, in line with what had been discussed in the Doha Round and in the 
Committee on Agriculture Special Session.  That was just one of the small initiatives India wished to 
take forward to address some of its urgent c oncerns.  The G-20 paper on TRQ administration had 
been put together after a great deal of effort by Brazil as the coordinator of the G-20.  Ninety-seven 
per cent of the proposal, except for some editorial c ontributions, was basically what was there in the 
Revised Draft Modalities on Agriculture (TN/AG/W/4/ Rev.4) and had been agreed tentatively in 
negotiations in the Special Session.  There were a few other issues the G-20 was working on that 
needed to be discussed further in the Group, but In dia wished to have an honest discussion about what 
was possible.  If there were serious redlines due to  economic and political constraints, these should be 
accepted, respected and addressed.  That did not mean that any country or group of countries should have the liberty to refuse to discuss redlines.  Nothing was a redline at  the present juncture, in keeping 
with the spirit of political guidance at MC8, whic h was the spirit in which India wished to move 
forward and try to make progress in the WTO. 
42. The representative of Paraguay said that for two weeks his delegation had noticed that work 
had gathered momentum again, with interesting di scussions, a few working proposals, and a series of  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 15 
 
 
  meetings ahead.  He wished to refer briefly to  three activities in which Paraguay had been involved 
during this period.  First, there was the Fourth Meeting of Trade Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 12 Septembe r 2012, followed by a two-day meeting known as 
the "High-Level Global Event on Trade, Trade Fa cilitation and Aid for Trade".  He thanked the 
Secretariat for the support provided in preparing these events.  Paraguay, as coordinator of the Group 
of Landlocked Developing Countries, had had th e honour of preparing the draft Ministerial 
declaration with the contributions of delegations in  Geneva.  The Ministerial Declaration adopted at 
the Fourth Meeting of Landlocked Developing C ountries had been circulated to Members in 
document WT/GC/148.  Paraguay was also grateful for the active participation of a WTO delegation 
headed by DDG Rugwabiza, which had made a significant contribution to the discussions at both 
meetings. 
43. This Ministerial Declaration provided important guidance with respect to the activities of the 
Landlocked Developing Countries in the trade and development areas.  It included guidelines for 
work in the WTO and the Doha negotiations.  It reit erated these countries' inte rest in the negotiations 
on Trade Facilitation, in particular regarding freed om of transit and S&D treatment, with emphasis on 
the determination to reach a clear and binding agreemen t.  It also referred to other aspects of TF that 
were of special interest, such as customs cooperation, expedited m ovement, and release and clearance 
of goods.  Ministers had made it clear that they we re ready to move forward in the negotiations, and 
had also expressed their concern at the adoption of measures that limited market access.  They had 
attached special importance to the accession proced ure for landlocked develo ping countries and had 
asked that that the process be simplified and take account of S&D treatment, in view of the 
geographical disadvantage.  Eight countries were cu rrently in the process of accession, and he wished 
to congratulate the delegation of Lao PDR, which ha d agreed the terms of its protocol of accession, 
thus entering the final stage of the process.  He reiterated Paraguay's support for the remaining 
acceding countries, in particular Kazakhstan and Ta jikistan, which had been working intensely over 
the past few months.  Above all, he wished to highlight the interest expressed by Ministers in 
encouraging productive transformation and crea ting a technological base that would enable 
landlocked developing countries to increase their share in foreign trade, which at present represented a 
mere one per cent of world trade. 
44. Second, he referred to his delegation's effo rts to implement what had been agreed by 
Ministers at MC8 regarding moving forward with th e Doha Round in areas where this was possible.  
For Paraguay, an essentially agricultural country with  80 per cent of its exports in the agricultural 
sector, it was important to achieve results that woul d ensure access to broader and more predictable 
markets.  Thus, his delegation supported the wo rk being done by the G-20, welcomed Brazil's 
initiative and hoped that this work would be well recei ved by Members and incorporated in the efforts 
to explore areas where progress could be made.  One such area was Agriculture, a pillar of the Round 
and a pillar of development.  Third, he thanked th e Secretariat and the Director-General for organizing 
the WTO Public Forum 2012, in which his delega tion had participated.  The title, "Is Multilateralism 
in Crisis?", had opened a fundamental dialogue to  identify new mechanisms and new initiatives in a 
multilateral context to consolidate what had been  achieved over decades of efforts, and to keep 
advancing, albeit step-by-step.  Paraguay was con cerned at the growing number of measures that 
reduced market access.  These measures, although a pplied on a non-discriminatory basis, tended to 
have the greatest impact on countries like Paraguay,  which did not have the capacity to adapt and 
which, given their geographical location, were unabl e to attract investment that would generate the 
economic and productive transformation that would ultimately provide greater market access and competitiveness. 
45. At the same time, Paraguay was witnessing a pro liferation of dispute settlement cases which, 
though it might be seen as a mark of confidence in  the multilateral system, was also a sign of the 
escalation of protectionism.  He agreed with the Dire ctor-General that there was a need to change the 
rules of the game for progress to take place.  In this respect, Paraguay looked forward to the WT/GC/M/138 
Page 16  
 
  forthcoming review of the Aid for Trade initiativ e and to addressing the subject of global value 
chains.  His country aimed to transform its production, and the focus chosen could help it to design its strategy.  Paraguay was aware of the need to inve st in education, capacity building and training to 
absorb and develop knowledge.  It also supported th e creation of discussion fora that were not linked 
to the negotiations, but that would serve to highlig ht the role of trade in promoting development, 
which was its main objective. 
46. The representative of Bangladesh  associated his delegation with the statement by Haiti for the 
LDCs.  In his statement, the Director-General ha d mentioned that there had been momentum and re-
engagement on a number of issues.  Bangladesh wished to see that momentum or any sign of progress on priority issues for LDCs.  Regarding Trade Fac ilitation, Bangladesh had no problem engaging with 
any process for a substantive outcome, but wished to see that the commitment and the decisions 
already made in the market access areas, particul arly DFQF, were implemented, and the recognition 
that TF could not be considered a self-balancing issue.  Bangladesh wished to see all the MC8 
decisions with respect to LDC issues implemented and Ministers' political guidance fully respected 
within the remaining period before MC9.  It had fu ll faith in the multilateral trading system and would 
remain fully engaged with any process, whether ne w or existing, to revitalize the system.  Quite 
simply, Bangladesh wished to see that the deci sions already taken for LDCs were implemented 
without further delay. 
47. The representative of the Plurinational State of Bo livia said that with rega rd to the main focus 
of the negotiations, Agriculture, the September session of the UN Human Rights Council had adopted 
a resolution aimed at improving the promotion and protection of the human rights of peasants and 
other people working in rural areas.  This resolu tion, proposed by Bolivia, was based on a study by 
the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee whic h showed that hunger, like poverty, was still 
predominantly a rural problem, and that in th e rural population it was peasants, small-scale producers 
and landless workers who suffered disproportionately.  In a world that produced more than enough to 
feed the entire global population, more than 700 m illion people living in rural areas continued to 
suffer from hunger.  In 2010, 80 per cent of the wo rld's hungry lived in rural areas.  What was more, 
of the one billion people in the world who lived in extreme poverty, 75 per cent lived and worked in 
rural areas, and 70 per cent of those who went hungry were women, a great majority of whom worked 
in agriculture in rural areas.  Th e resolution on the promotion and protection of the human rights of 
peasants and other people working in rural areas ha d been adopted with a view to promoting and 
protecting the human rights of this group of pe ople who were particularly marginalized and 
discriminated against. 
48. While this collective effort would never have been possible without the support of the main 
co-sponsor countries, South Africa, Cuba and Ec uador, it also had relied on the support of a 
significant number of members of various regiona l and other groups present at the WTO, and sub-
regional groups such as the Bolivarian Alliance fo r the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), not to 
mention the support of the rest of the co-sponsors, a ll of whom Bolivia thanked sincerely.  Given the 
importance of this issue in both the Human Rights Council and the WTO, she wished to extend special thanks to all the developing-country Memb ers that were also members of the Human Rights 
Council and that had voted in favour of the promo tion and protection of the human rights of peasants 
– namely, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Fa so, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, 
Cuba, Djibouti, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Indonesi a, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, 
the Russian Federation, Thailand, Uganda and Urugua y.  She thanked them for believing, together 
with the other co-sponsor countries, that human right s should be put before trade interests.  Bolivia 
also thanked the European Union for its willingn ess to engage in dialogue, and those developed 
countries which had been able to contextualize tr ade interests in relation to human rights and had 
abstained.   WT/GC/M/138 
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  49. As for those few countries who had considered  inappropriate the crea tion of an open-ended 
intergovernmental working group with the mandate of preparing and finalizing a declaration on the 
rights of peasants and other people working in  rural areas, and who had opposed legitimate 
agricultural reform in the WTO trade negotiations, Bo livia urged them to reconsider their views so 
that real and effective solutions could be found in  both fora for the good of the majority, i.e. for 
developing countries and, in particular, peasants in these countries.  With regard to the even smaller 
minority that had opposed the creation of this subs idiary body on the grounds of cost, Bolivia 
reminded these countries that the cost of this work ing group would amount to just 0.0054 per cent of 
their domestic support for 2008, while the cost in te rms of the lives of the men, women and children 
who literally died of hunger in rural areas was incal culable.  It was not only weapons that killed – 
hunger killed as well.  The Vienna Declaration resulting from the 1993 World Conference on Human 
Rights clearly stated that the first duty of States was to protect human rights. 
50. On a personal note, she said that despite being a relatively young ambassador who was still 
learning where countries' real interests lay, she w ould continue to defend the right to development, 
both at the WTO and in the Human Rights Council,  and would continue to  defend human rights, 
including those of peasants, in the necessary fora.  Any attempts to deny or move away from the right 
to development and multilateralism – such as the l ong-running issue of value chains formerly known 
as clusters, the breaking down of the multilateral tr ading system through plurilateral proposals, panels 
that had not been requested by Members, or i ssues that primarily facilitated developed-country 
exports and which might harm deve loping countries, in particular t hose which were importers – were 
not welcome.  In this respect, Bolivia agreed with  the majority of Members, which had expressed their 
views individually or through their groups. 
51. The representative of the Philippines said his de legation commended the Director-General for 
consistently speaking out forcibly on the challeng es currently facing the global trading system.  It 
took particular interest in his recent statement in Singapore that, at the present point in the life of the WTO, what Members needed was less talk and for governments to make practical reaffirmations of 
their commitment to international trade cooperation.   At MC8, Ministers ha d given Members concrete 
guidelines to move the negotiations forward in sp ecific areas where progress and early agreement 
could be achieved.  To that end, the Philippines had actively and constructively engaged with the rest 
of the membership to achieve a balanced outcome w ith development at its core.  It would continue 
down this road until Members achieved the full prom ise of the DDA for its people and the people of 
the world. 
52. The representative of Argentina associated his de legation with the statement by Brazil for the 
G-20.  More than ten months after MC8, it was difficult to say whether Members had made 
satisfactory progress on the MC8 guidelines.  For this reason, it was worth asking what was being done and what needed to be done.  In response to the first question, it was significant that the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation was so far th e only one which had been meeting regularly.  
His delegation did not oppose continuation of technical work in any area.  However, TF was not the 
only issue where progress could be made.  Developi ng countries had stated on many occasions that 
TF was not self-balancing.  Without a clear recogniti on of this starting point, it would be difficult to 
move towards a possible agreement.  Ministers at MC8 had stated that any agreement that might be 
reached at any time would have to fully respect th e development dimension contained in the mandate.  
The second question related mainly to Agriculture .  What was missing was a substantive discussion 
on the development issues that were central to th e Doha mandate.  In this respect, the papers 
submitted by the G-20 represented a first step to reopen discussions in the Agriculture negotiating 
body.  Argentina had participated, a nd would continue to participate, actively in this forum to advance 
the discussions on Agriculture in all the mandate d areas where progress could be achieved.  
Nonetheless, commitments on the export competition pillar would be essential to achieving progress 
towards provisional or definitive agreements in ot her areas of the negotiations.  It was therefore 
important to bear in mind that for a country such as Argentina, it would be extremely difficult to WT/GC/M/138 
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  accept commitments in other areas of the Doha mand ate without reaching substantial agreements in 
Agriculture.  His delegation reiterated its commitme nt to work actively in seeking approaches that 
would allow Members to move the negotiations forw ard in order to reach a satisfactory multilateral 
conclusion of the DDA in line with its mandate. 
53. The representative of Turkey said the work th at had taken place since July, as summarized by 
the Director-General, was far from negligible.  It  was clear from the present discussion that while 
there was agreement on the stakes involved in a successful conclusion of the DDA, there was still 
disagreement on how to reach that objective.  In  the months ahead, Members needed to redouble 
efforts to ensure that bridges were built across the di vide that still existed betw een different views.  In 
particular, efforts had to be made to ensure that the Trade Facilitation negotiations led to an outcome 
that was satisfactory to all.  In Agriculture, Turk ey welcomed the recent submission of the G-20 paper 
on TRQ administration.  His delegation, like others , was examining it carefully, and felt that through 
such initiatives a fresh momentum could be given to the negotiations in this important area.  Turkey 
was an active participant in both the ITA and inte rnational services agreement negotiations.  While it 
fully understood the concerns of so me delegations about the plurilater al nature of these negotiations, it 
hoped that these concerns could be a ddressed to the satisfaction of all. 
54. The representative of Singapore said his delega tion wished to address a couple of points.  
First, on the statement that the multilateral trading sy stem was in crisis, he said that multilateralism as 
a whole was in crisis.  That label had been desi gned for the WTO Public Forum to provoke reflection, 
and it had.  However, in many of the sessions he ha d attended, he had heard the prevailing view that 
the WTO was still a highly relevant and needed glob al institution.  Thus, the reality was somewhere 
between the two views.  The stakeholder panel referr ed to by other delegations  had offered some very 
useful insights.  It had drilled further down a nd had examined the genera lisation about multilateralism 
being in crisis.  Many crises confronted countries at present – income inequality, poverty, hunger and 
the unsatisfactory redistribution of the benefits  of globalized trade.  Those were real and 
overwhelming challenges which stumped not only de veloping economies, but also developed ones.  
However, every member of the panel had said that th ese were all issues that had to be tackled first and 
foremost at the national level.  Income redistri bution was a national-level problem.  The multilateral 
trading system, which included the negotiations at the WTO, should not be expected to solve these 
issues, or be blamed for these unhappy challenges.  The 157 WTO Members were not vested with the 
authority to solve the world's problems at large.  Members had to be aware of these problems, but their role and contribution was to provide the rul es and transparency so that companies and traders 
could better navigate stormy waters, especially dur ing times of economic crisis.  The WTO could not 
incorporate all the ills of the world in the negotiatio ns in Geneva.  That would only ensure that there 
was no good outcome.  What Members could take care of was world trade, and allow the developmental benefits arising from it to accrue and subsequently empower  national governments to 
focus better on redistributing benefits to their peopl e.  The latter could not be done at the multilateral 
level. 
55. The stakeholder panel had also addressed whethe r plurilaterals, bilatera ls and regional trading 
arrangements were good or bad fo r the multilateral trading system, and they had yielded a lot of 
wisdom.  First, they had all supported the multilate ral trading system.  Second, they had recognized 
that in the absence of global-level movement, gove rnments had to continue pursuing liberalization 
where it could be forged.  Business representatives on the panel had made it clear that they could not 
wait indefinitely.  Members had also been reminde d that regional trade arrangements, for example, 
could help build regional capacities so that deve loping and LDC Members received help from their 
neighbours to ready themselves for the multilateral co mmitments in the WTO.  The collective wisdom 
from these discussions said that these options were s econd-best and sub-optimal.  However, at the end 
of the day, the 157 Members could make it optimal  by moving at the multilateral level.  Former 
President Mogae of Botswana had given a very sober reminder that the WTO was only as good as its 
Members.  Thus while Members repeated th eir views about the DDA impasse and called for  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 19 
 
 
  harvesting certain elements, they should not construe  this competing list of elements for harvest as 
divergent to the point where multilateralism was in crisis. 
56. There was often more convergence than Memb ers liked to admit, and some of this 
convergence was in the CTD Special Session.  He thanked delegations for the constructive attitude 
taken by each of their experts in that body.  As Brazil had said, the height of low-hanging fruit was 
subjective and relative, and Singapore echoed Brazi l's call for realism and pragmatism.  Members 
were collectively only as good as the worst of them.  If they all did the right thing and were serious about give and take, they could walk tall and a ll the fruit would seem low-hanging.  If they played 
games and distrusted and resisted the give and take  needed, they would shrink in individual stature, 
walk a little shorter and, because they were short in trust and credibility, even the lowest-hanging fruit 
would seem out of reach.  There was enough tec hnical commonality among Members to make some 
progress.  The Director-General had been very pragmatic in saying "some progress", no big bang.  His delegation hoped that making progress might help ch ange the mood and whet Members' appetite for 
doing more good and walking taller.  Singapore thanke d the Director-General for the injection of 
reality through the stakeholder pane l.  This had been a timely re minder of some fundamentals that 
Members had perhaps forgotten.  While his delegati on fully supported Mexico's caution not to use the 
reverse gear, Members had to be brave enough, if they  ended up in a dead-end, to take a step back and 
start doing things in a more meaningful way.  Members had enough to make the necessary small steps.  It was up to the collec tive membership to make things optimal rather than sub-optimal. 
57. The representative of the United States said his delegation wished to pick up on the sentiment 
expressed by a significant number of Members at the present meeting in emphasizing the current state 
of discussions as very optimistic.  Members seemed to  see the glass as half full.  While the US agreed 
with Lesotho for the African Group and Kenya that  the path was misty, as well as possibly rocky and 
uphill, there seemed for the first time to be a pa th emerging through the mist.  His delegation was 
struck by the similarities in the statements by many delegations at the present meeting.  This had come through clearly in mention of the need to continue work and to operationalize the MC8 
guidance.  Ministers at MC8 had given Members, in broad terms, a very clear sense of the direction 
they should be taking.  The general guidance given at the present meeting had been useful calls for 
pragmatism and realism, and lots of "step" analogies – step by step, small steps, stepping-stones – all of which were helpful.  He wished to comment briefly on the specific issue of Trade Facilitation, 
because many delegations had addressed this.  His dele gation had listened carefully  to the diversity of 
comments and felt there was a lot of convergence on this issue.  There seemed to be a lot of 
agreement on the importance of TF.  The US also agreed that TF was unlikely to succeed as a stand-
alone issue, and no delegation had advocated this.  The difficulty – and Lesotho for the African Group 
had had a very interesting insight here – was that in seeking to put issues together, Members wanted 
to avoid mistakes made in the past.  The obvious exam ple of where they had collectively made a lot of 
mistakes was the summer of 2011, when the small- package fever had broken out, which had quickly 
generated into an exchange of poison pills  which had ultimately led to stalemate. 
58. The good news now was that in the discussion of how to broaden out the discussion, there had 
not been that same reflex of delegations towa rds poison pills.  For example, the US was very 
encouraged by the initial contribution of the G-20  on TRQ administration.  His delegation strongly 
agreed that Agriculture was not an issue that could simply be left behind.  It had read The Economist  
article mentioned by a few delegations and saw it as not a productive suggestion for how to move 
forward, and the notion that agriculture be some how cast aside.  His delegation was encouraged by 
the constructive spirit that had been brought to the pr esent discussion so far and by what seemed to be 
a very careful collaboration on the part of the G- 20 to make an additional contribution to this 
discussion.  The ability of all Members to stay on th is constructive path would be key to whether or 
not they succeeded this time, or wh ether there was a repeat of summer 2011.  What was very apparent 
at the present juncture was that members of all de legations knew each other well, and all would know 
instantly when someone had veered from the construc tive path.  He wished to  assure China that the WT/GC/M/138 
Page 20  
 
  US would not ask for the moon.  All knew each othe r's red lines without need of repetition.  All would 
recognize poison pills if they were injected into the process.  Thus, what all had to hope for at the end 
of the day was good faith, and if good faith was there, the US was confident that Members could move towards a successful outcome.  In the past fe w months, this misty but potential emerging path 
had come out of Members' rhetorical support for trying  to do something.  Clearly, all supported this in 
the abstract and in terms of their rhetoric, but ther e had been more than that.  Members' agreement on 
LDC accessions had given them a lot of momentum goi ng into the summer.  They were beginning the 
autumn with a discussion at the present meeting that  indicated that momentum could continue going 
forward.  The US echoed China's advice that Members now get down to work. 
59. The representative of Tunisia associated his dele gation with the statements by Lesotho for the 
African Group and Saudi Arabia for the Arab Group.  The accessions of the Russian Federation and 
Vanuatu were proof of the organiza tion's evolution towards universality.  In this regard, Tunisia called 
on all partners to refrain from imposing excessive demands that hindered deve loping countries' efforts 
to enjoy the benefits of the multilateral tradi ng system, and hoped that Lao PDR and Yemen could 
join as soon as possible, thus honouring Members' promise to make the accession of these two 
countries a priority for 2012.  One year from the next  Ministerial meeting, progress was mixed, if not 
scant.  In the meantime, the economic crisis conti nued, and the situation could deteriorate.  The 
younger generation legitimately demande d jobs, and citizens still aspired to a better life.  The question 
was whether Members would truly be able to honour  the commitments made at the MC8 and to resist 
protectionism.  The benefits of trade openness were at risk of being gradually undermined.  In fact, 
the crisis was worsening and would threaten some of  the developmental gains made in recent years by 
a number of developing countries.  While the WTO was not in danger, as some might suggest, it was 
not immune to turmoil and to the profound changes ta king place.  There had been some talk of a new 
paradigm.  The Director-General had called upon Members to show pragmatism and flexibility.  
Members had to concentrate first and foremost on advancing work, putting the Doha Round back on 
track and making development the cornerstone of th e endeavours to achieve an outcome at MC9 that 
was satisfactory to all, in accord ance with the directions from Ministers at MC8, and was built on 
contributions from everyone.  The focus should al so remain on the main objective of helping the 
developing countries to benefit from the globali zed economy and of using trade as leverage for 
sustainable development.  Members had to step up their concerted efforts to find an inclusive 
approach for the benefit of all. 
60. The representative of Hong Kong, China said his delegation shared the Director-General's 
overall assessment.  The step-by-step approach wa s the only way to make progress at this time of 
chronic economic crisis when political time and focus was elsewhere.  He wished to touch on a few of 
the areas mentioned by the Director-General and other Members where progress was being made.  On Trade Facilitation, there was a well-defined pro cess that was producing good progress.  Discussions 
were taking place in a positive atmosphere of genui ne engagement, but Members needed to step up a 
gear or two if they were to make substantive pr ogress, as there were still wide differences between 
them which had to be squarely addressed.  A high- level TF agreement would be highly beneficial for 
all Members, so delegations had to take up the real issues under both sections of the TF agreement, 
and soon.  Progress was also being made in some other development areas, particularly under the 
active leadership of the CTD Speci al Session Chair, with respect to  the Monitoring Mechanism, the 
Cancún 28 Agreement-specific proposals and the six S&D Agreement-specific proposals.  The 
Agriculture G-20 non-papers were an interesting a nd very encouraging deve lopment, and Hong Kong, 
China was pleased with the willingness of Members to e ngage on the issues therein.  As the Director-
General had said, useful work and progress wa s also being made under the ITA expansion 
negotiations, GPA accessions, and some other areas where Members were exploring different and innovative negotiating approaches as suggested by Ministers, such as on Services.  There were 
grounds for optimism, but at the same time, the politi cal push or imperative to talk turkey did not yet 
seem to be there.  This was much-needed in the not- too-distant future if Members were to turn this 
optimism into something more tangible.  In order to gain that political backing, solid practical  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 21 
 
 
  progress needed to be made in Geneva on the range  of issues that were active.  Hong Kong, China 
was willing to work strenuously in that direction a nd looked forward to engaging with all Members to 
make practical progress and to build mutual trust and confidence. 
61. The representative of Chinese Taipei said that Ministers at MC8 had instructed Members to 
strengthen the WTO multilateral trading system, promote development-related issues and find new 
approaches to revive the DDA.  His delegation we lcomed the ongoing work being done in various 
individual bodies, and looked forward to the seei ng how the report of the Panel for Defining the 
Future of Trade could contribute to the work of strengthening the WTO system.  Chinese Taipei was 
heartened by the progress made on LDC issues, par ticularly in relation to LDC accession.  The 
improved guidelines should facilitate the accession process for LDCs, and his delegation looked 
forward to welcoming more LDCs, such as Lao PD R and Yemen, as Members, and to their further 
integration into the WTO system.  It also welcomed the stock-taking work conducted in the CTD Special Session on Agreement-specific proposals, th e Monitoring Mechanism and other S&D-related 
issues. 
62. Regarding the DDA, his delegation welcomed all the technical work in the Trade Facilitation 
negotiations by the relevant Chair and others.  On the DSU review, several rounds of technical 
discussions had been conducted since the start of 20 12, but there was still some way to go before the 
end of the tunnel was in sight.  Work on both TF and the DSU needed to be stepped up.  On Agriculture, Chinese Taipei welcomed the paper pr esented by the G-20 at the 28 September meeting 
of that negotiating body, and in this regard wi shed to associate itself with the statement by 
Switzerland for the G-10.  Regarding environmenta l goods and services, the adoption of the list of 
environment goods in APEC was a positive signal to Members, and it was hoped that this momentum 
could be transferred to Geneva for further discussi on.  As for other DDA areas, Members needed to 
find ways to get the work started.  In additi on, his delegation was positive about the work being 
undertaken in the areas of ITA expansion and Servi ces liberalization.  It welcomed the idea that 
Members needed to work collectively, exploring ne xt steps on how, where and when they could make 
progress, and he assured the Chair of his de legation's fullest support in this regard. 
63. The representative of Ghana associated his delega tion with the statement by Lesotho for the 
African Group.  Ghana wished to underscore the im portance of the Single Undertaking in relation to 
the DDA.  An understanding had been forged when the DDA was launched that there would be a mix 
of issues that could meet the interests of different  Members.  For Ghana, the important issues included 
Implementation and S&D treatment.  Also important were rules to effectively discipline agricultural 
subsidies which had posed serious problems for Ghan a’s and other countries' agricultural sectors.  The 
Single Undertaking was therefore an important instru ment for preserving fairness and balance, and his 
delegation wished to underscore its importance.  On Trade Facilitation, all Members agreed that 
improving TF measures was essential.  However, to take on board broad comm itments in the WTO to 
implement customs procedures of the type that had been proposed in the draft TF text posed 
tremendous challenges for Ghana and others, both fina ncially and administratively.  Ghana also had 
concerns with some of the rules which had been proposed, as some might not be the most suitable to 
its circumstances. Some of these assumed a sophisti cated level of administrative capacity, as well as 
the existence of adequate and fairly  advanced infrastructure.  This was not the reality on the ground.  
As such, developing countries, including Ghana, had put emphasis on the S&D provisions in the draft TF text.  They had said that the extent and timi ng of developing-country Members’ entering into 
commitments should be related to their implem entation capacities, and that developed countries 
should provide support and assistance in a comprehe nsive manner.  These S&D provisions remained 
bracketed in the draft TF text.  The brackets on develo ping countries’ proposals in Section II had to be 
removed.  These countries wanted assurance that th ey would not be rushed into commitments they 
were simply not in a position to implement.  Th e needs of many developing countries at present were 
not so different from what they had been before  the Doha Round was started. They wanted to 
graduate from supplying primary commodities and to transform their production structures.  To do so, WT/GC/M/138 
Page 22  
 
  they needed the current trade rules to be rebalanced, in order to provi de a more level playing field.  
Therefore, Members needed to reinforce, refocus and conclude the negotiati ons on those development 
issues that were already part of the DDA mandate. 
64. The representative of Kenya thanked the Direct or-General for the consultations he had 
undertaken with various groups, as well as for the em erging views and assessment of the state of the 
global economy he had shared with the Council.  It  was encouraging to note that after the summer 
break, the Chairs of the various negotiating groups had initiated consultations on various issues, 
informed to a large extent by the provisions of the elements of political guidance of MC8.  Kenya 
hoped that this collective effort would ultimately crystalize in an acceptable package that could be 
collectively pushed for an early or provisional ag reement before or during MC9.  Such a package 
should fundamentally include Agriculture, Trade Fa cilitation and also implementation of issues that 
had been agreed on and that touched on the interest s of LDCs and development, including Services.  It 
was not appropriate to negotiate at the level of the negotiating bodies decisions or agreements which 
had been reached at the Ministerial level.  What needed discussing was how to implement them and, if 
there were difficulties in implementation, Members need ed to get back to Ministers and try to clarify 
what needed to be done.  Trying to balance what  had already been agreed with new issues was not 
appropriate.  Therefore, Members had to face the ch allenges that had been central to the failure to 
conclude the Uruguay Round and that had also made  it very difficult to conclude the DDA.  Those 
included Agriculture and Services and their balanc e with Trade Facilitation, and the implementation 
of LDC and other development issues.  To move in that direction, Members needed to start serious 
preparations for MC9, so as not to waste any mo re time on tactics and discussions, as had been done 
in the past, especially during 2011.  This kind of package was doable in  accordance with the MC8 
consensual text.   
65. An early or provisional agreement would inspir e the dampened negotia ting mood in the DDA, 
which badly needed a revamp and confidence-building ahead of MC9.  In addition, the centrality of 
development had to be embraced in all aspects, a nd the principle of the Single Undertaking – with 
Agriculture and Trade Facilitation at its fulcrum – ha d to be respected.  Additionally, every effort 
should be made to ensure that all elements of such a package were working and moving forward 
together, underpinned by the principles of inclus iveness, transparency and sincerity, in order to 
overcome the challenges related to ba lancing, sequencing and building of mutual trust.  With deeper 
commitment and determination, Members could toge ther wrap up something, however small, that 
could help the poor and make the upcoming Minist erial in Bali more fruitful, more objective and 
responsive to their needs.  During MC8, Ministers ha d noted with regret that the negotiations were at 
an impasse, but had committed themselves to work actively in a transparent and inclusive manner to 
conclude the DDA in accordance with its mandate.  The current situation sh ould not be allowed to 
prevail, only to have a verbatim repeat of MC8 in  Bali.  If Members continued with the same kind of 
language and tactics, and repeated this in Bali, it would be a disaster for the WTO, as the organization 
would become irrelevant to many people.  Thus, it was important to make use of the opportunity to be 
more constructive, and not obstruc tive, and work on some package of measures that all Members 
could agree on and that would form a basis for strengthening the organization for the present and 
future. 
66. The representative of Norway said that like ot her delegations, Norway was encouraged at 
signs of reinvigoration in various areas – in Trad e Facilitation, S&D, devel opment issues, and lately 
also in Agriculture, with proposals for looking at TRQ administration and Secretariat studies.  
Norway was ready to enter any discussion on Agri culture with an open mind and would welcome 
discussions on how various studies could bring releva nt information to the fore.  Members were 
presently doing the sensible thing moving ahead on those areas where progress could be made and picking out topics suitable for earlier implementation th at could deliver real benefits for development, 
the global economy and the multilateral trading system, but a solid dose of realism was also needed.  
In order to produce results in a limited numbe r of areas – be it on TF, TRQ administration,  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 23 
 
 
  development issues or other topics – Members would need a completely different level of 
engagement.  This included testing out possible agreements rather than clarifying positions, and 
sorting out their own problems rather than expecting others to jump first.  If Members were aiming for 
any Ministerial decisions in Bali, they needed to realize that time  was already extremely short.  
Therefore, Members were right to be doing this wo rk, and they needed to do it better.  However, 
additional steps needed to be considered, and Norway wondered whether it was wrong to leave the 
more difficult questions, like market access, to th e side.  Unfortunately, Members needed to accept 
that the ambition of Doha would not be achieved fo r some time, but the direction and the development 
dimension of Doha were not bein g challenged.  Taking the cue from Ministers at MC8, Members had 
collectively agreed on that direction, but in practi ce, in the absence of forward momentum, they had 
individually diverged from the path.  Protectionist pressures were growing stronger, partly because of 
the ongoing global economic worries and their social  consequences, but partly also because these 
pressures were in fact always there, and with th e prospects of a multilateral agreement fading from the 
headlines, they had been allowed to grow and were  difficult to contain.  Therefore, Members could 
not afford the luxury of waiting for the stars to align at some undefined moment in the future.  To do 
so risked finding out that they had moved too far backwards in the meantime.  It was time to start a 
serious conversation on the difficult issues and on how  far Members might be able to move in the 
short term, while waiting to fulfil the Doha mandate  in its entirety and full ambition, in the longer 
term.  
67. The representative of Nepal said his delegation endorsed the statement by Haiti for the LDCs.  
When one spoke of the way forward, Nepal, as an LDC, wished to emphasize that the LDC-specific 
Decisions of MC8 had to be implemented without further delay.  Without addressing the LDC issues, 
the real purpose of the multilateral trading system w ould not be fulfilled.  These issues, as they were 
low-hanging fruit, could be harvested early without making them subject to progress in other areas.  Nepal also stressed that the Enhanced Integrated  Framework should be give n continuity beyond 2013, 
when the midterm review would take place. This mechanism was delivering results and had a positive 
impact on his country's trade capacity building.  Nepal thanked its development partners for their 
support and looked forward to receiving an even higher level of support in the days to come. 
68. The representative of Cuba said her delegation supported the statements by Brazil for the 
G-20, Lesotho for the African Group and Barbados for the SVEs.  Cuba fully agreed with Brazil 
regarding deadlines, as Members should not set deadlines they knew they could not meet.  The Director-General's report summarized the critical state of the Doha negotiations, and her delegation 
wished to share some of Cuba's thoughts and positio ns on this matter.  Cuba was concerned not only 
about what it had observed at the WTO for more than  ten years, but about what it could face if it 
peacefully accepted the liberalizing formulas and appro aches of interest to some Members, that were 
being sought to be included in the work of this organization without properly analysing them.  Cuba 
had an open mind regarding the need to examine the causes of, and to urgently seek possible solutions 
to, the longstanding problems afflicting the majority  of developing-country Members.  The future 
could not be built on weak, uneven foundations, as  this would run the risk of collapse.  
Accommodations could not be made at the expen se of the weakest or those who had waited a long 
time for a response from this organization in order to have their priorities and basic development 
needs addressed.  She asked if it was fair to ask developing countries for greater market opening or to 
sell them the idea of value chains as a panacea to induce them to dismantle the few instruments or 
measures they could use to regulate foreign trade flows.   The answer was no.  Nor was it right to try to 
lead them down a path of plurilateralism, or to the conclusion of agreements between just a few 
countries.  It had taken many years and much effo rt to build the multilateral trading system, and it 
should be preserved and improved. 
69. Fortunately, as had been seen in the WTO Pub lic Forum, it was no longer possible to easily 
confuse or deceive developing countries.  They had learned from their mistakes, as well as from the 
failed and successful experiments of others.  It was true that the world had seen significant changes WT/GC/M/138 
Page 24  
 
  over the past few decades in the design, production,  trade and consumption of goods and services, and 
this, in turn, had changed the way countries were in tegrated into the global economy.  There had also 
been changes in the organization of production, in  economic operators, in forms of regulation and in 
institutions.  This had led some to say that Member s were in a transitional phase, but towards what it 
was not clear.  Given the purview of the WTO, its priority should be the conclusion of the Doha 
mandate, the components of which remained fully rele vant.  Cuba reaffirmed its commitment to the 
principle of the Single Undertaking and wished to  stress that it was not prepared to accept any 
approach that jeopardized inclusiv eness, transparency or multilatera lism.  It was not in favour of 
giving up the only pro-developmen t mandate adopted in the history of the multilateral trading system, 
in order to venture into new areas that were not in  the interest of developing countries, nor did it 
subscribe to attempts to establish plurilateral alte rnatives or any other form of negotiation that could 
compromise or weaken the multilateral nature of the negotiations.  Cuba rejected the claims of those 
who sought to encourage a plurilateral approach, essentially in the Services sector.  Moreover, with 
regard to Trade Facilitation, it disagreed with tho se who posited that such an agreement would be to 
everyone's advantage.  There was still much work to  be done in this area.  Imbalances existed between 
Sections I and II, as well as within both Sections, a nd needed to be redressed.  With respect to value 
chains, the Secretariat could continue studying this  issue through the initiative launched in 2011.  
However, Cuba was not in a position to engage in talks on the subject in the various WTO bodies until the Doha mandate had been fulfilled.  Her de legation wished to congratulate both Bolivia and 
Cuba on the United Nations' recent adoption of a r esolution for the protection of human rights in a 
highly sensitive sector such as that of peasants.   
70. The General Council took note of the Directo r-General's report and of the statements. 
2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development 
71. The Chairperson said that in line with the fra mework and procedures agreed by the General 
Council in 2002, the Work Programme on Small Economies was a standing item on the General 
Council's agenda, and the Committee on Trade and De velopment reported regularly to the Council on 
the progress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on th is subject.  She invited Mr Maruping (Lesotho), 
Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the CTD, to  report on the progress of work in this area. 
72. Mr Maruping (Lesotho), Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the CTD, recalled that the 
most recent report on the Work Programme on Sma ll Economies had been made at the July General 
Council, at which he had reported that the CTD' s Dedicated Session had met on 6 July and that 
Members had discussed future work related to th e December 2011 Ministerial Decision on the Work 
Programme on Small Economies.  A particular focus of that meeting had been on the effect non-tariff 
measures (NTMs) could have on sm all economies, which was one ar ea specifically identified by 
Ministers for further work in the Dedicated Session and which had been the subject of a Secretariat 
paper in WT/COMTD/SE/W/26.  The Dedicated S ession would continue its work on NTMs, but 
would also begin focusing on other areas identif ied in the SVEs Work Programme, as had been 
mandated by Ministers at MC8.  Future subject s for discussion at upcoming meetings of the 
Dedicated Session would include the impact of WT O rules on small economies,  the institutional and 
administrative constraints faced by small economies, and the effects of trade liberalization on small economies. 
73. The representative of Barbados, on behalf of  the SVEs, welcomed the report by the CTD 
Dedicated Session Chair.  As reflected in that re port, the SVEs had continued to engage actively on 
several fronts, despite the clear set backs to the conclusion of the Doha Round.  They continued to 
view the CTD Dedicated Session as crucial to the a dvancement of the SVEs Work Programme, and as 
a critical conduit to assist them in advancing their mandate and negotiating priorities and to strengthen 
their participation in WTO regular bodies.  In th at regard, she wished to update Members on the  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 25 
 
 
  SVEs' work on the impact of NTMs on SVEs being conducted under the guidance of the CTD 
Dedicated Session.  Following the brainstorming ses sion and the seminar organized with inputs from 
UNCTAD, ITC and the WTO Secretariat earlier in 2012, the SVEs had developed suggestions for 
improving the study on the impact of NTMs on SVEs, and were positioned for this study to 
commence before the end of 2012, as scheduled. Th ey expected that the wealth of information 
provided thus far would lead to a useful analysis which could help inform policies that could assist 
SVEs in integrating into the global trading enviro nment.  In addition to work on NTMs, the SVEs 
were considering other areas of analysis that fell w ithin the instruction of Ministers at MC8, which 
cited analysis of:  (i) the impact of WTO rules on sm all economies;  (ii) the constraints faced by small 
economies in their institutional and administrative  capacities;  and (iii) the effects of trade 
liberalization on small economies.  Within this ma ndate, the SVEs would be examining the scope for 
further work under the direction of the CTD.  Furthermore, the SVEs were committed to increasing their participation in the discussions held under th e auspices of the CTD Special Session on the issue 
of the Monitoring Mechanism and the Agreement- specific proposals on S&D treatment.  The SVEs 
thanked the Secretariat for its support and remain ed committed to continui ng work under the guidance 
of the CTD. 
74. The representative of Cuba thanked the Chair of the CTD Dedicated Session for his report 
and Barbados for its statement on behalf of the SV Es.  The work carried out by the Dedicated Session 
deserved attention and should be followed closely.  Cuba offered its full support to the SVEs' work 
and was ready to provide statistical data, with a vi ew to measuring more effectively the impact of 
NTMs on SVEs' trade. 
75. The General Council took note of the report of the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statements. 
3. Situation regarding the rights to the Havana Club rum trademark in the United States – 
Communication from Cuba 
76. The Chairperson drew attention to the co mmunication from Cuba in document WT/GC/147 
requesting that this item be placed on the agenda of  the present meeting and invited Cuba to introduce 
it. 
77. The representative of Cuba said that in docum ent WT/GC/147, her delegation had requested 
inclusion of this item on the Council's Agenda in order to express once again its great concern over 
the infringement of the IPRs of the owner of the Cuban rum trademark "Havana Club" in the US.  As 
Members were aware, more than ten years earlier, the DSB had ruled that Section 211 of the US 
Omnibus Appropriations Act of 19 98 was inconsistent with the TRIPS Agreement and the Paris 
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.  Nevertheless, the US had continued to fail to 
undertake any action to comply with the recommendations and rulings of the DSB.  For this reason, Cuba had felt compelled to reiterate the questions  addressed to the US at the July General Council 
meeting that had not yet been answered:  (i) what  prevented the US from issuing Cubaexport with the 
licence required to renew the trademark that rightf ully belonged to it before the US Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO), taking into considerati on compliance with its international intellectual 
property commitments;  (ii) how these actions coul d be defended before th e General Council from the 
perspective of the commitment the US had been required to fulfil in the DSB in relation to 
Section 211 for ten years;  (iii) how the US could endorse the validity and recognition of a misnamed 
"original owner" who had abandoned the trademark fo r more than two years when, in accordance with 
the Lanham Act, any third party could have register ed the Havana Club trademark after two years if it 
had not been used or there was no intention of usin g it;  and (iv) given all that had happened in the 
case of Cubaexport, what IPR guarantee the US afforded  in its territory to Members, in particular 
Cuba. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 26  
 
  78. Additionally, Cuba wished to reiterate the ar guments that supported its complaint at the US' 
prolonged non-compliance.  In 1976, the Cuban co mpany Cubaexport had obtained ownership of this 
trademark on US territory in accordance with the procedures established by the USPTO.  The 
registration had been renewed without any hindra nce, in 1986 and 1996, under a general licence 
permitting payment of the renewal fee, until Section 211 had been adopted.  Upon the adoption of this 
measure, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations had al so been amended to bring them into line with 
the new legislation, by incorporating the restrictions  contained therein, all within the network of rules 
that made up the unilateral economic, commercial a nd financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the 
US.  Under this amendment, in 2006 the Office of  Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of 
the Treasury had denied Cubaexport a licence pe rmitting payment of the trademark registration 
renewal fee, and consequently the USPTO had not b een able to process the application submitted.  At 
this point, the US should have already implemen ted the DSB recommendations.  However, not only 
had Section 211 remained in force and intact, but th e US Government had also decided to apply it to 
the detriment of an owner that had held the trad emark for 30 years.  During years of court battles 
between Cubaexport and the Office of Foreign Assets  Control, the US civil courts had upheld the 
decision of the Department of the Treasury, thereb y legitimizing the application of a measure that 
violated the basic principles of multilateral trade in  the industrial property area – m.f.n. and national 
treatment.  As recently as 14 May 2012, the US S upreme Court had rejected Cubaexport's petition for 
the case to be reviewed, thereby depriving the Cuban entity of its legitimate right to ownership of the 
trademark. 
79. With the refusal to grant a licence to Cubaexpor t, compliance with the criteria referred to in 
Section 211(a)(1) – regarding the a lleged relationship of the Havana Club trademark with nationalized 
property in Cuba and the absence of consent of th e original owner – had been pre-established.  
However, the question was to which original owne r this referred.  The company José Arechabala, 
which owned the Havana Club trademark in the US, of its own volition had allowed trademark 
registration to lapse, and it had been more than  two years following abandonment that Cubaexport had 
obtained registration of this trademark in its favour  from the USPTO.  The US Government itself had 
stated during the dispute in the WTO that in cas es of abandoned trademarks, there was no original 
owner whose consent was required under Section 211.  This requirement would therefore not be 
applicable in the case of Havana Club.  In this  respect, Section 211 was also inconsistent with the 
Lanham Act on intellectual property protection in the US, which attached particular importance to the 
abandonment of trademarks by their original owne rs and afforded third parties the possibility of 
registering such trademarks at a later date, if the trademarks had not been used for two years or if 
there was no intention of using them. 
80. Moreover, Cuba asked with what legitimacy the US Government claimed the right to defend a 
national from another country allege dly affected by the process of nationalization in Cuba.  During 
the US judicial proceedings that had now reached  their unjust conclusion, the Office of Foreign 
Assets Control had stated that it had not issued the licence required by Section 211 because it was 
under State Department orders not to do so, since th at would be inconsistent with US foreign policy 
towards Cuba.  The US Government was entirely r esponsible for everything that had happened.  The 
WTO legal texts, in this case the TRIPS Agreemen t, had to prevail over the political interests of 
individual countries.  What had happened was a seri ous violation of multilate ral intellectual property 
commitments by the US, a country that paradoxically  had played a leading role in building the new 
multilateral system of rights and obligations in that  area.  This dispute, together with other ongoing 
lawsuits against Cuban patents and trademarks in US courts, left no doubt as to the underlying 
objective – to destroy, by any means, Cuba's in tangible goods, which we re important competitive 
resources for the country's sustainable development.   In contrast, Cuba had always respected its 
obligations under international intellectual property legislation without the slightest discrimination, 
and in doing so had ensured that more than 5,000 US trademarks and patent s continued to benefit 
from registration in Cuba, in spite of the fact that no use was made of them in Cuban territory, given 
the US blockade against Cuba.  It was shameful that the US should maintain measures in place for  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 27 
 
 
  more than 14 years that were contrary to the TRIPS Agreement, when they had been declared 
inconsistent by the DSB over 12 years earlier.  The implementation of S ection 211 had resulted not 
only in the usurpation of Cubaexport's rights to the Havana Club trademark, but also in protection of 
the unlawful misappropriation of this trademark by Bacardi, a company which, in a flagrant act of piracy, was using it on US soil to market rum that was not of Cuban origin, thereby also deceiving the 
consumer.  If the US Government failed to act and to reverse its decision and issue the licence 
required to renew the trademark by its legitimate owne r, for which it had full authority, it alone would 
be responsible for any negative consequences that might  arise in respect of the reciprocal protection of 
intellectual property. 
81. The representative of Ecuador expressed his delegation's support for Cuba's statement and 
stressed that Article 21 of the DSU referred expressly to the prompt compliance with the 
recommendations and rulings of the DSB, particularly on matters affecting the interests of developing 
countries.  Ecuador hoped the US w ould step up its efforts to ensure  immediate compliance with these 
recommendations and rulings by fully repealing Secti on 211.  Additionally, this dispute, in which 
more than eight years had passed without implementation of those recommendations and rulings, 
emphasised a main flaw in the WTO dispute settle ment mechanism.  With regard to Bolivia's 
statement under Item 1 of the agenda, Ecuador wished  to express its full support for the issues raised, 
especially with regard to the unquestionable pr imacy of human rights over trade interests. 
82. The representative of Brazil said this was an old matter, and Brazil expressed its concern once 
again.  The dispute settlement mechanism was a co rnerstone of the multilateral trading system as 
embodied in the organization.  Non-compliance by any Member with the rulings of the DSB 
undermined the stability of one of the pillars on wh ich the system was founded.  For this reason, 
Brazil urged the US to bring its measure promptly  into compliance with the DSB's recommendations. 
83. The representative of Argentina said this issue was of concern to his delegation.  When 
Members with a relatively large economic weight fail ed to comply with DSB rulings and affected the 
interests of developing countries, they undermined the solidity of the multilateral trading system and 
its sustainability, with consequences that went beyond  the simple trade interests affected.  At the same 
time, non-compliance with DSB rulings generated a l ack of credibility as to the ability of the system 
to correct measures that were considered incompatib le or inconsistent with WTO rules.  This was 
further aggravated by the protraction of an unfair si tuation that was detrimental to one of the weakest 
Members.  Therefore, Argentina joined Cuba's call and urged both parties, especially the US, to adopt 
the necessary measures for a resolution of this matter. 
84. The representative of the Plurinational State of  Bolivia supported the concerns expressed by 
Cuba.  As stated at various meetings of both DSB and the Council for TRIPS, Bolivia was struck by 
how the most powerful countries were able to evad e their responsibilities in the organization.  The 
DSB had ruled more than ten years earlier that S ection 211 of the US Omnibus Appropriations Act 
was inconsistent with WTO rules, yet the matte r remained unresolved.  Bolivia had a systemic 
concern with respect to this matter, as the decisi ons of the DSB were final and should be binding.  
According to arguments put forward by the US  on other occasions, Memb ers' concerns were 
unwarranted, as the US implemented most of the DSB's rulings.  This was thus a case of selective compliance with DSB provisions, which involved double standards and politicization of the dispute settlement system, and which could seriously unde rmine the credibility of the DSB, the multilateral 
trading system and its institutions.  Without entering into the details of this case, Bolivia wished to 
stress that a DSB ruling remained unfulfilled, and to remind Members that countries with fewer 
resources and capacities had fulfilled their obligations before the DSB.  Therefore, it hoped that after 
a decade of non-compliance, the US would set an example and act in accord ance with WTO rules.  
Bolivia wished to reiterate its concern over the f act that countries were making political use of the 
organization's rules, both in this case and in othe rs – for example, in the context of generalized 
systems of preferences for Andean countries. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 28  
 
  85. The representative of Nicaragua said that on many occasions, his delegation had supported 
Cuba's claim in this long-standing case, where for years repetitive reports had been submitted with the 
only variable being the date of submission.  This threatened the credibility of the dispute settlement 
mechanism which represented an essential compone nt for the integrity of the multilateral trading 
system, a fact that had been recognized by the US it self in the past.  For Nicaragua, this state of non-
compliance should be of concern to all Members, especially because it affected the interests of a 
developing-country Member.  Nicaragua urged the US  to intensify its efforts so as to bring its 
legislation into conformity with DSB rulings and recommendations and to repeal Section 211. 
86. The representative of Mexico said that paragraph 1 of Article 21 of the DSU provided that 
"[p]rompt compliance with recommendations or rulings of the DSB is essential in order to ensure 
effective resolution of disputes" – and he stressed – "to the benefit of all Members."  In this respect, 
Mexico urged the US to make all efforts to find a so lution to this dispute.  The respondent had to act 
immediately to ensure effective compliance with th e ruling handed down in this particular case.  The 
dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO was an  example of dispute settlement throughout the 
world and had been quoted by all jurists wishing to make reference to a system that worked.  
Therefore, Mexico wished to ensure that this  mechanism would continue to work properly. 
87. The representative of Zimbabwe said his delega tion had made its position on this matter very 
clear in the DSB.  It again urged the US to im plement the rulings and recommendations of the DSB, 
as its continued non-implementation threatened to undermine the authority of this august body. 
88. The representative of China said that as clearly stipulated in the DSU,  the dispute settlement 
system of the WTO was a central element in provi ding security and predicta bility to the multilateral 
trading system, and prompt compliance with DSB rulings was essential.  However, ten years after the 
adoption of the Panel Report and Appellate Body Report in this dispute, the US had still not 
implemented the rulings.  This prolonged non-comp liance was incompatible with the requirement 
under the DSU, especially when a developing-country  Member’s interests were undermined.  China 
urged the US to implement the DSB’s rulings without further delay.  
89. The representative of Chile said that as it had done  repeatedly in the context of the DSB, his 
delegation called on both parties to find a solution to this long-standing case. 
90. The representative of the Dominican Republic said that as it had done at the previous General 
Council meeting, his delegation urged the US to im plement the decision adopted by the DSB ten years 
earlier.  Failure to comply with this decision unde rmined the credibility of decisions taken by this 
important WTO body. 
91. The representative of Uruguay said his delegation shared the systemic concerns expressed by 
other Members.  For this reason, Ur uguay reiterated its call to the parti es to this dispute to make every 
possible effort to put an end to ten years of non-co mpliance, using some of the remedies that were 
provided in the dispute settlement mechanism. 
92. The representative of the European Union tha nked Cuba for its communication.  This case 
was regularly discussed in the DSB, where the EU continued to express its expectation that the US 
authorities would soon take steps towards implem enting the DSB ruling and resolve this matter. 
93. The representative of the United States said that as all knew, this issue was before the DSB, 
and his delegation would not repeat those discussi ons in the General Council or other WTO bodies.  
In particular, the US had provided a status report in this dispute less on 17 September in accordance 
with Article 21.6 of the DSU.  This matter had al so been discussed at the 28 October meeting of the 
DSB, where numerous delegations had spoken, and his delegation re ferred Members to the Minutes of 
that meeting.  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 29 
 
 
  94. The representative of Cuba said her delegation re gretted the US statement.  As Cuba had 
already said in the DSB, the US status reports did not say anything about what the US authorities were 
doing from a legislative point of view to put an end to  this issue.  Cuba did not deem credible that in 
ten years, a power such as the US had not been  able to find a solution to this situation. 
95. The General Council took note of the statements. 
4. Improving the guidelines for granting in tergovernmental organizations permanent 
observer status in the WTO – Statement by the Chair 
96. The Chairperson recalled that at its November  2011 meeting, the General Council had agreed 
to initiate a process of consultations to consider th e issue of Observer Status  for IGOs in the WTO, 
following a communication by the Arab Group en titled "Improving the Guidelines for Granting 
Observer Status to Intergovernmental Organizati ons in the WTO" (WT/GC/W/643), which had then 
been supplemented by a further communication in do cument WT/GC/W/654.  As she had said at the 
Council's July meeting, she had continued her consul tations on this matter.  However, at the present 
time, she was not able to report any change in the positions previously expressed.  She would continue 
this process and report back to the General Council as appropriate. 
97. The representative of the Dominican Repub lic, on behalf of the Informal Group of 
Developing Countries, expressed the Group's support for the work the Chairperson had done on this 
issue and its hope that this would lead to a prompt  resolution.  Since this issue warranted further 
attention, the Group requested that it be include d on the agenda of the General Council’s next 
meeting. 
98. The General Council took note of the statements. 
5. Committee on Budget, Finance and Administrati on – Reports on meetings of July and 
September 2012 (WT/BFA/131, WT/BFA/132) 
99. The Chairperson drew attention to the re ports of the Budget Committee in documents 
WT/BFA/131 and 132 and invited Mr Zananavi čius (Lithuania), Chairman of the Committee, to 
introduce the reports. 
100. Mr Zananavi čius (Lithuania), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration, said that at its meetings in Ju ly and September 2012, the Committee had reviewed 
progress reports on the budgetary and financial situa tion of the WTO, extra-budgetary funds, human 
resources and the building project.  The collect ion of contributions, the cash position of the 
organization and the implementation of the 2012 budget had remained satisfactory at midyear.  
However, the receipt of voluntary contributions  by the DDA Global Trust Fund had remained at a 
level of concern that impacted the implementation of planned activities.  The Committee had received 
an update on the streamlining me asures approved by Members as part of the 2012 budget.  Those 
measures were coming into effect and were expect ed to achieve the foreseen level of financial 
savings.  However, Members and the Secretariat woul d have to continue their efforts to transform 
those measures into structural cha nges.  On human resources matters, the Secretariat had informed the 
Committee on several on-going initiatives.  The Comm ittee had also reviewed the implementation of 
the salary-scale methodology for 2012. 
101. The Committee had been updated on progress on th e building project, and the Secretariat had 
emphasized that the building project remained overa ll within the approved budget and schedule.  The 
Committee had also approved funding for some secu rity facilities and the accreditation facility.  The 
Committee had been informed of the accessions of  the Russian Federation and Vanuatu and had 
recommended to the General Council that a pro-rata  contribution to the 2012 budget amounting to WT/GC/M/138 
Page 30  
 
  CHF 1,415,888 be assessed on the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as a contribution to 
the Working Capital Fund amountin g to CHF 206,257 as an advance to the Fund.  It had also 
recommended to the General Council that a pro-rata  contribution to the 2012 budget amounting to 
CHF 10,380 be assessed on the Government of Vanua tu, as well as a contribution to the Working 
Capital Fund amounting to CHF 51,180 as an advance to the Fund.  The Committee had received the 
conclusions and the recommendations of its Work ing Group on Administrative Measures, which had 
held a number of meetings and extensive consulta tions with Members, Observers and regional groups 
over the past three years.  It had concluded its work by reaching a consensus on 11 September 2012.  
The Committee had reviewed the report of the Working Group and recommended to the General 
Council that the revised Administrative Measures a ppearing in Annex 1 of its report in WT/BFA/132 
be implemented as from 1 January 2013.  The prop osed amendments to th e Administrative Measures 
focussed on the following: maintaining globally the basis of the existing system of Administrative 
Measures while simplifying some elements; reinforc ing the role of the Director-General; extending 
Administrative Measures to Observers; and providi ng a gradual set of measures applicable to 
Members and Observers. 
102. The General Council took note of the statem ents, approved the Budget Committee's specific 
recommendations in paragraphs 6, 8 and 10 of the report in document WT/BFA/132, and adopted the 
reports in documents WT/BFA/131 and 132. 
6. WTO Pension Plan 
(a) Report of the Management Board for 2011 (WT/L/863) 
103. The Chairperson drew attention to the annual report of the Management Board of the WTO 
Pension Plan for 2011 contained in WT/L/863, which was submitted to the General Council in 
accordance with Article 5(d) of the Regulations of  the WTO Pension Plan.  She invited Mr Niggli 
(Switzerland), Chairman of the Management Board, to introduce the report. 
104. Mr Niggli (Switzerland), Chairman of the Ma nagement Board of the WTO Pension Fund, 
said that included in the report were both the fina ncial statements and the Report of the External 
Auditor.  The Management Board was pleased to re port that it had again received a full certification 
of the financial statements without reservation. The full report of the auditor could be found in 
Annex 3 of document WT/L/863.  The year 2011 was the first year in which the Management Board's 
revised investment strategy had been implemented.  The new strategy had marginally outperformed 
the benchmark of the portfolio by 0.2 per cent.  As significant portions of the portfolio were now 
indexed investments, it was not expected that the performance of the portfolio would deviate 
significantly from its benchmark markets.  Nonetheless, 2011 had been a difficult year for the 
economy, and by extension, financial markets, and in 2011 the investments of the Pension Plan had 
produced a real rate of return of -0.3 per cent.  Learning from past experience, and especially from the 
financial crisis that had started in 2007, the Boar d had done significant work at the strategic level 
during the past few years, in order for the Plan to better navigate in all types of weather.  
Nevertheless, investment performance would always move, sometimes positively, sometimes 
negatively, if and when the market moved.  Ho wever, diversification would hopefully have a 
dampening effect on volatility.  The bottom line was th at as an institutional investor, the Plan was in 
the market for the long term. 
105. On the governance front, the Board wished to draw attention to its on-going efforts to manage 
the Pension Plan cost-effectively by limiting and reducing costs where appropriate. In addition to 
implementing a revised investment strategy that br ought with it significant reductions in investment 
management fees, the Board had engaged a new investment advisor, also at a lower fee.  It had completed a competitive tender process in 2011 for the services of a consulting actuary that had 
resulted in a lump-sum rather than variable-fee struct ure that would also be advantageous for the Plan.   WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 31 
 
 
  The Board could not ignore that there had been a s light deterioration in the actuarial position of the 
Plan in 2011, as described in paragraph 23 on page 8 of the report.  This had been due almost entirely 
to the impact of financial markets and the underp erformance of investments relative to actuarial 
assumptions.  The next full actuarial  valuation and report for the Plan would be issued in 2014 on the 
basis of the end-of-year 2013 position of the Plan.  At  that point the Board would have a clear view on 
whether it would be necessary to address any persistent actuarial imbalances in the Plan.  He wished 
to remind Members that the WTOPP was a young plan and that actuarial valuations were estimates of what would happen many years in the future.  Obviously, a great deal of uncertainty was inherent in these kinds of projections.  However, it was clear that the Plan was in no imminent danger, and its 
relative youth would allow for careful and measure d responses to any apparent actuarial trends. 
106. The General Council took note of the Annual Re port of the Management Board for 2011 in 
WT/L/863 and of the statement. 
(b) Election of an alternate to the Management Board – Proposal by the Chair of the General 
Council (WT/GC/W/659) 
107. The Chairperson 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 Pens ion Plan.  In a communication circulated to 
delegations in WT/GC/W/659, she had indicated th at an alternate, Mr Jean-Marc Mignon (France), 
was no longer available to serve on the Board, and sh e had proposed the name of a representative who 
had kindly agreed to have his name put forward for election as alternate.  She had also invited 
delegations to submit any comments they might have  by close-of-business on 25 September.  She had 
not received any comments regarding the proposed nom ination, and accordingly, proposed that the 
General Council elect Mr Ken Chang-Keng Chen (Chinese Taipei) to serve as alternate on the 
Management Board of the Pension Plan for the re mainder of the Board's term, i.e. until May 2014. 
108. The General Council so agreed.3 
7. Appointment of officers to WTO bodies – Ne gotiating Group on Market Access and 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance – Statement by the Chair 
109. The Chairperson recalled that at the July 2 012 General Council meeting in July, she had 
announced that, after the summer break, she would be conducting consultations on the Chairmanships 
of the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finan ce and the Negotiating Group on Market Access, 
following the departure of Mr Badr (Egypt) an d Mr Wasecha (Switzerland), respectively.  As 
indicated in her faxes of 12 and 19 September, sh e had been conducting these consultations, with the 
assistance of Mr Bashir (Pakistan), Chairman of  the Dispute Settlement Body, and Messrs Matus 
(Chile) and Agah (Nigeria), former Chairmen of the General Council.  The consultations had shown a 
consensus among Members on the appointment of Mr Faizel Ismail (South Africa) as Chair of the 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance, who would be elected as Chair at the next formal meeting of the Working Group.  Concerning the Negotiating Group on Market Access, the 
consultations were proceeding, but more time was n eeded to achieve consensu s on this appointment.  
She therefore intended to continue this process, w ith the assistance of the Chairman of the DSB and 
the former Chairs of the General Council.  In add ition, she had been informed that Ms Hiswani Harun 
(Malaysia) would be leaving her post as Chair of the Committee on Trade and Environment in Special Session as of 1 November.  It was therefore necessar y to include the appointment of a new Chair for 
this body in this process of consultations.    
110. The General Council took note of the statement. 
                                                      
3 The Decision was subsequently circulated in document WT/L/866. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 32  
 
  8. Ukraine's request to renegotiate concessi ons under GATT Article XXVIII – Statement 
by the European Union 
111. The representative of the European Union, sp eaking under "Other Business" and also on 
behalf of Croatia, expressed serious  concern about Ukraine's recent announcement of its intentions to 
renegotiate a significant part of its WTO commitment s.  This request for renegotiation was the most 
comprehensive made since the WTO had been created, affecting almo st 400 tariff lines.  The EU was 
of the firm opinion that the procedure set out in GATT Article XXVIII was not meant for renegotiating a significant part of the accession commitments of WTO Members.  It was all the more surprising that this had happened so shortly after Uk raine's accession.  Ukraine's request raised very 
obvious and serious systemic concerns, as it ri sked undermining the credibility of Members' 
commitments to their WTO obligations.  The covera ge of the tariff changes in itself could make it 
extremely difficult – in practical terms, most proba bly impossible - for Ukraine to maintain a "general 
level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions not less favourable to trade", as required 
by Article XXVIII.  The fact that Ukraine had not yet provided any information about the scope of the 
tariff changes and the level of the future bindings onl y added to the uncertainty in this respect.  The 
EU sought sound explanations from Ukraine for the reasons for this action and urged Ukraine to 
inform all Members in a transparent way about pl anned tariff changes.  Overall, the EU invited 
Ukraine to carefully consider its position on this issue. 
112. The representative of Mexico said it was of great concern that only four years after accession, 
Ukraine wished to increase its bound tariffs for a si gnificant number of tariff lines.  There were a 
number of reasons for Mexico's concern.  First, the 2008 global financial cris is had taught a valuable 
lesson, i.e. open markets were the best medici ne for economic recovery.  The problem was that 
globally there were protectionist pressures, and some countries were giving in to these pressures.  Ukraine's decision went beyond a simple increase of tariffs to bound levels.  Its decision would mean 
a tariff increase to unknown levels.  Second,  having a recently-acceded Member invoke GATT 
Article XXVIII was unprecedented and would create a negative precedent for the multilateral trading 
system.  Third, Mexico doubted whether the pr ocedures for the renegotiation of tariff concessions 
provided for the renegotiation to be carried out in  such a short period of time, as requested by 
Ukraine.  For example, for those cases where th ere was no agreement and compensation by one party 
was required, the procedure established that the compensatory concessions should be accorded in the 
products for which the Member – in this case a recently-acceded Member – enjoyed an initial 
negotiating right over the other party.  In the case at hand, it would be extremely difficult to identify 
the initial negotiating rights, due to the short time  Ukraine had been a Memb er.  Most worrying was 
the uncertainty of the full scope of Ukraine's in tention.  It was clear, however, that this would 
establish a dangerous precedent.  Mexico therefor e asked Ukraine to reconsider its position and 
refrain from carrying out this action. 
113. The representative of Brazil said that on 12 September, Ukraine had notified Members of its 
intention to resort to GATT Article XXVIII in order to modify concessions contained in its Schedule.  
These modifications covered more than 350 tari ff lines from a wide range of agricultural and 
industrial sectors, such as beef, poultry, pork, flow ers, fruits and vegetables, industrial machinery, 
refrigerators, washing machines and cars.  Many of these products were key export priorities for 
Brazil.  According to available data, US$4.6 billion of imports might be affected by this re-binding, 
which amounted to more than ten per cent of  Ukraine’s imports from countries outside the 
Commonwealth of Independent States.  The tariff lin es notified by Ukraine covered 15 per cent of all 
Brazilian exports to that country.  Ukraine's wide-ra nging initiative raised serious systemic concerns, 
but it also raised legal issues of conformity with the spirit and letter of WTO disciplines.  Given its 
magnitude, the initiative would, by necessity, fail to observe a key tenet of GATT Article XXVIII, 
which was to maintain the "level of reciprocal  and mutually advantageous concessions" negotiated 
during Ukraine’s accession just a few years earlier.  Brazil urged Ukraine to reconsider its decision.   WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 33 
 
 
  114. The representative of New Zealand said that like others who had spoken on this issue, New 
Zealand wished to express its concern regarding Ukraine’s extensive Article XXVIII request.  His 
country was concerned with the systemic implications  of an Article XXVIII request of this scale – it 
could not recall a precedent for such a move under th is procedure.  A renego tiation of over 350 tariff 
lines covering such a range of products also rai sed commercial concerns, although Ukraine had not 
yet provided the information necessary to assess the magn itude of such changes.  New Zealand joined 
others in requesting Ukraine to provide the necessary additional information on its proposed 
modifications to these tariffs to all Members as soon  as possible, and to ensure that all affected 
Members were able to participate in  a transparent multilateral process. 
115. The representative of Turkey associated his delega tion with the concerns expressed by the EU 
and other Members with respect to Ukraine's request  to renegotiate a significant number of its tariff 
lines.  Ukraine was an important trading partner fo r Turkey and a neighbouring country.  This request 
seemed to have created systemic and commercial concerns among many Members, since the number of tariff lines put forward in it was unprecedented in GATT or WTO history.  Turkey was considering 
the practicality of having so many tariff lines in cluded in the Article XXVIII renegotiation request, 
and wondered how it would be possible to renegotia te all the bindings individually, and how the 
balance required by Article XXVIII could be maintain ed in these circumstances.  Like others, Turkey 
called on Ukraine to reconsider its request.  
116. The representative of Australia said his delega tion supported the concerns raised by the EU 
and other Members and registered its own systemic and commercial concerns with Ukraine's 
Article XXVIII request.  While a request under Ar ticle XXVIII was an option available to all 
Members, it was of concern that Ukraine's request covered such a large number of tariff lines and 
sectors.  Ukraine's decision came  at a time when global leaders had called on all countries to resist 
increasing trade protectionism.  Australia urged Uk raine to be transparent in its Article XXVIII 
request and called for the circulation of the proposed  revised bound tariffs for each tariff line and for 
further information to explain the rationale for Ukraine's request, as soon as possible.  The 
Article XXVIII process required Ukraine to maintain  a general level of reciprocal and mutually 
advantageous concessions not less favourable to trad e.  Australia asked Ukra ine to identify in a 
transparent manner how it would provide compensati on across the rest of its schedule of concessions, 
in order to maintain the balance required by Article XXVIII. 
117. The representative of Switzerland said his delegation shared previous speakers' concerns 
regarding Ukraine's intention to modify its bound ra tes, as notified on 12 September.  The envisaged 
deconsolidation was unusual and of major significan ce, as it affected more than 350 tariff lines.  
Switzerland attached great importance to reaching a so lution that would be in line with the values and 
spirit of the WTO system and rules, and therefore invited Ukraine to carefully reconsider its position 
regarding this request. 
118. The representative of the United States said that like others, the US remained strongly of the 
view that Ukraine should reconsider its requ est to renegotiate over 350 tariff bindings under 
Article XXVIII.  Ukraine's proposed action had serious  systemic implications and the US, like others, 
was deeply concerned about the precedent it could cr eate.  The broad scope of Ukraine's proposal and 
the significant trade effects across a range of key products was highly unusual for an Article XXVIII notification.  It was unclear the extent to whic h Ukraine would be able to compensate Members for 
the concessions it sought to modify.  Moreover, the process had not been sufficiently transparent to 
involve all affected Members, and this only exacerba ted the US concerns.  Nearly three weeks after 
Ukraine had tabled this notification, Members s till did not know what its real objectives were, what 
proposed new rates it sought, how it contemplated compensating Members and whether the correct 
data was available to analyse the situation. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 34  
 
  119. The representative of Nigeria said his delegati on had taken note of Ukraine's Article XXVIII 
request.  Nigeria joined others in appealing to Ukra ine to reconsider its request in the overall interests 
of the multilateral trading system and the integrity of the WTO at this particularly difficult time. 
120. The representative of Cambodia, speaking on be half of ASEAN, expressed concern over the 
systemic implications which could potentially ar ise from Ukraine's notification in G/SECRET/34.  
ASEAN Members had export interests in some of th e tariff lines notified.  Given that a significant 
number of lines were affected, it was difficult, esp ecially for developing-country Members, to assess 
the impact of such a move without full informatio n on the intended modified bound rates.  It was 
important to discuss and explain any implications in the Committee on Market Access in a structured, 
transparent and inclusive manner.  All Members ne eded to fully understand the implications such a 
move could have on their own interests, and on the WTO and the multilateral trading system.  
ASEAN therefore encouraged Ukra ine to join with other Member s in the Committee on Market 
Access for a thorough discussion before implementing any changes. 
121. The representative of Japan said his delegation agreed entirely with the EU and many other 
delegations and reiterated their st atements.  Japan was shocked by the broad range of measures being 
considered by Ukraine, which were a source of seri ous concern, not just in terms of Japan's trading 
interests, but also regarding the systemic impli cations.  Japan therefore strongly urged Ukraine to 
reconsider this request. 
122. The representative of Malaysia said her delegati on joined others in expressing serious concern 
over the recent notification by Ukraine of its in tention to modify its Schedule pursuant to GATT 
Article XXVIII, affecting more than 350 of its tariff lines.  Given the extensive coverage of tariff lines 
that would be impacted, this proposed action would have serious consequences on the future trade of 
Ukraine’s trading partners, particularly developing  countries like Malaysia.  Further, the lack of 
clarity and understanding on the process and proced ures involved in the invocation of this provision 
raised structural and systemic concerns for those who would be affected.  WTO Members were part of 
an organization that thrived on transparency, in clusiveness and predictability, where there were 
dedicated committees established to provide a platfo rm for them to openly deliberate on issues that 
had implications for their trade.  Thus, Malaysia strongly urged Ukraine to subject this proposal to a 
multilateral process that would provide an avenue fo r Members to seek clarification, and for Ukraine 
to engage with affected parties not only on the technical aspects, but also  the economic and trade 
repercussions that would ensue from such action. 
123. The representative of Colombia said his delega tion joined others in expressing concern over 
the implications of the notification by Ukraine circ ulated on 12 September.  Colombia recognized the 
rights of Members to modify their bindings  in certain cases, in accordance with GATT 
Article XXVIII.  However, it wished to draw atten tion to the difficulties and risks, for such a large 
number of tariff lines, entailed in negotiations u nder the procedures set forth in this Article.  
Moreover, it would be difficult to maintain an a ppropriate balance under the terms of Ukraine's entry 
into the WTO, which had been negotiated fairly recen tly.  Colombia wished to stress in particular how 
important it was for the procedure to be as transparent as possible.  This meant, inter alia , that 
Ukraine should provide full and timely information as quickly as possible with respect to the changes 
it sought to make to its Schedule.  This would allow interested parties to perform the relevant analysis 
and assessment.  Colombia hoped that the need to ma intain trade flows would be taken into special 
consideration during this procedure.  For devel oping countries such as Colombia, these flows were 
concentrated in a limited number of products.  This  particular circumstance required respect for the 
balance that had been struck during the negotiations that had defined the terms of Ukraine's entry into 
the WTO.  In the light of the above, Colombia asked  Ukraine to reconsider its position on this issue, 
which was unprecedented in the organization's history.  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 35 
 
 
  124. The representative of Hong Kong, China said hi s delegation joined others in expressing 
serious concern at Ukraine's intention to renegotia te its tariff concessions on more than 350 tariff 
lines, and the current lack of clarity in what w as proposed.  While products of Hong Kong, China did 
not constitute a major share of Ukraine's imports, like other Members who had taken the floor, Hong 
Kong, China was very concerned about the far-reachi ng systemic implications of such a large-scale 
modification of tariff concessions by a Member whic h had joined the organization only four years 
earlier.  As a staunch supporter of the multilatera l trading system, Hong Kong, China urged Members 
not only to refrain from raising new barriers to trade in goods and services and from implementing 
WTO-inconsistent measures in all areas, but also to roll back protectionist measures and continue 
maximum restraint in implementing WTO-consistent measures with a significant protectionist effect.  
In this connection, his delegation was mindful that  Ukraine's proposal might send a very bad signal 
that amidst the current unsatisfactory economic situ ation, Members could resort to backtracking from 
their current commitments in order to protect th eir domestic industries.  His delegation therefore 
sincerely hoped Ukraine would reconsider its request. 
125. The representative of Chile joined others w ho had expressed concern regarding Ukraine's 
intention to renegotiate a considerable part of the commitments assumed during its accession process.  
Although use of Article XXVIII was a Member's ri ght, both the magnitude of this request and 
Ukraine's recent accession generated systemic concer ns and set dangerous precedents.  Chile therefore 
joined the call for Ukraine to reconsider its request. 
126. The representative of Canada said his delegati on wished to join the EU and others in 
expressing concern that the extensiveness of Ukrain e's notification went well beyond the intended 
purpose of Article XXVIII.  Canada was also concer ned about the lack of transparency by Ukraine 
with respect to the scope of its proposed modi fications and the process it intended to pursue.  
Canada’s understanding was that a country seeking to  modify its tariff schedule had to indicate the 
nature of those modifications in the notification it self.  His delegation encouraged Ukraine to provide 
more information to Members regard ing its rationale and intentions in  this regard in a timely manner. 
127. The representative of Norway said that her dele gation shared the concerns by the EU and a 
number of other delegations.  The request from Ukrain e raised a number of systemic concerns related 
to the predictability of commitments in the multila teral trading system and Norway urged them to 
reconsider.  Her delegation remained hopeful that th e systemic concerns would be taken into account 
by Ukraine in the next steps and that it would l ook to demonstrate transparency, inclusiveness and 
responsibility.  Norway would follow these developments closely. 
128. The representative of Guatemala said his delega tion joined others that had expressed concern 
about Ukraine's notification of its intention to m odify a significant number of tariff concessions.  In 
particular, Guatemala was concerned about the effect s of this exercise on its trade interests and the 
serious implications it would have at the multilate ral level.  While Guatemala did not question the 
right of Members, in the present c ase Ukraine, to make use of the flexibilities and rights established in 
the WTO Agreements, these flexibilities and rights s hould be exercised with restraint so as to 
maintain the spirit of cooperation within, and comm itment to, the multilateral trading system that had 
existed since the GATT 1947.  Given the considerable  number of tariff headings Ukraine intended to 
modify, Guatemala feared that Ukraine might not be able to offer compensation with equivalent effect 
to all Members that are entitled to it, and that there would be no other solution but to withdraw 
concessions, as provided for in Article XXVIII of th e GATT 1994.  In Guatemala's view, this would 
establish a highly negative precedent and could set the multilateral system back to a pre GATT 1947 
situation.  In view of the above, Guatemala urge d Ukraine to be more transparent regarding its 
intentions to modify tariff concessions, and to recons ider the serious implications this would have for 
the multilateral system. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 36  
 
  129. The representative of China said that binding tariff reductions were one of the basic principles 
of WTO, which served to guarantee the security and predictability of the multilateral trading system.  
Like others, China was paying close attention to th is matter and hoped this issue would be dealt with 
in a manner consistent with the spirit and rules of the WTO.  China was currently evaluating the 
situation and its impact and would revert to this matter in future as appropriate. 
130. The representative of Ukraine thanked the EU and other Members for their statements, of 
which his delegation had taken note, and asked these delegations to send their statements to Ukraine's 
mission in Geneva for forwarding to his capital. 
131. The General Council took note of the statements. 
9. Measures to streamline the production of documents and the conduct of meetings – 
Statement by the Director-General 
132. The Director-General, speaking under "Other Bu siness", said that as he had foreshadowed at 
the July General Council, he had met with Chairs  of several regular WTO bodies after the summer 
break to exchange ideas and further explore ways  to make progress towards fulfilling the General 
Council Decision on streamlining the production of doc uments and ensuring the efficiency of the 
Secretariat's servicing of the membership.  The Secr etariat had also continued its own internal efforts 
towards achieving cost-saving and efficiency over and above the measures wh ich he had detailed in 
July.  A number of committees had systematically begun to explore how, within their mandate and rules of procedure, they could contribute to cost-sav ing in the three areas of translation, printing and 
distribution of documents, and sch eduling and conduct of meetings .  In a number of committees, 
several initiatives were already under way, includ ing on a pilot basis.  For example, the TPRB had 
agreed to discontinue the printing and distributio n of a number of its documents, such as questions 
and answers and TPR reports, but with the proviso that these be made available on demand and that 
an e-mail list of delegations be maintained for fast, direct and more efficient distribution of reports.  
The TPRB was also exploring the possibility of di scontinuing the translation of its reports on TPR 
reviews, by providing delegations with a trilingual  podcast of the proceedings of each review to 
complement the written report that contained delegati ons' statements in the language in which they 
had been delivered.  A pilot progr amme of podcasts of TPR reviews had been launched, and informal 
consultations were being conducted by the TPRB Chair to hear the views of delegations on this pilot 
programme before any decision was taken. 
133. He wished to stress again that some of these in itiatives were at a pilot level and at the present 
juncture were being explored with  delegations.  He encouraged Chairs, who were essentially at the 
forefront of this exercise, to continue, or for t hose that had not started, to initiate efforts with 
delegations towards achieving the collective goal of cost-saving and efficiency.  Given the financial 
pressures facing all, there was a need to achieve  additional savings, but without compromising the 
quality of WTO work and service to the membership .  He encouraged all delegations to work 
constructively and with an open and positive attitude with Chairs in fu rther exploring this issue.  He 
would continue to press for further measures in this respect and would report more fully to 
delegations on progress at the December Genera l Council.  He wished to remind delegation 
coordinators to complete and return to the Secr etariat the survey form for reviewing the list of 
subscribers to official documents in print and the nu mber of copies dispatched to each subscriber.  As 
he had announced in July, the Secretariat expected  to move towards an electronic subscription model 
in the last quarter of 2012, and delegations' feedb ack was important input towards achieving this goal. 
134. The General Council took note of the statement.  WT/GC/M/138 
 Page 37 
 
 
  10. Appointment of the next Director-General 
135. The Chairperson, speaking unde r "Other Business", recalled4 that under the Procedures for the 
Appointment of Directors-General adopted by the General Council in December 2002 (WT/L/509), 
the process for the appointment of Directors-General had to start nine months prior to the expiry of the term of the incumbent Director-General with a notification from the Chair of the General Council.  
In the present case, since the term of office of the current Director-General, Mr Lamy, would come to 
an end on 31 August 2013, the ap pointment process would begin on 1 December 2012.  In line with 
the agreed procedures, she would formally notify th e opening of the process in a communication to all 
Members at the beginning of November.  She reca lled some of the time-lines for the appointment 
process that had been set out in the 2002 Procedures.   First, Members would have one month after the 
start of the appointment process to nominate candi dates, in other words, in the present case from 
1 December until 31 December.  Nominations shoul d be addressed to the Chair of the General 
Council.  Second, the candidates no minated would then have three months to make themselves known 
to Members and to engage in discussions on the pertinent issues facing the organization, i.e. from 
1 January until 31 March 2013.  Third, shortly after the close of the nomination period, the candidates 
would be invited to meet with Members at a form al General Council meeting, where they would be 
invited to make a brief presentation including their vision for the WTO, to be followed by a question-
and-answer period.  This meeting was likely to be scheduled at the end of January 2013.  Fourth, the 
remaining two months prior to the conclusion of  this process would be devoted to selecting and 
appointing one of the candidates.  The process would conclude with a meeting of the General Council 
convened not later than three months prior to the e xpiry of the incumbent's term, at which a decision 
to appoint a new Director-General ha d to be taken.  In other words,  a decision on the appointment of a 
new Director-General had to be taken no later than 31 May 2013. 
136. She recalled that in line with the procedures, this process was conducted by the Chair of the 
General Council in consultation with Members.  The procedures also established that the Chair of the 
General Council would be assisted in this process by the Chairs of the Dispute Settlement Body and 
the Trade Policy Review Body acting as facilitators.  Needless to say, and for the benefit of those who 
had not been present at the time of the last Dir ector-General selection process, the role of the 
Secretariat in this process was exclusively one of support to the Chair and the facilitators, meaning the 
Secretariat had no role in the selection process and would not be present at the deliberations of the 
facilitators.  In concluding, she noted once again that  full details of the procedures could be found in 
document WT/L/509, and that she would formally no tify the opening of the appointment process in a 
communication to all Members at the beginning of November. 
137. The General Council took note of the statement. 
11. Administrative Measures for Members in arrears – Statement by the Chair 
138. The Chairperson, speaking under "Other Busine ss", recalled that under the Administrative 
Measures for Members in arrears currently in place, there was a requirement that at each meeting of 
the General Council, the Chairman of the Comm ittee on Budget, Finance and Administration should 
provide information with regard to which Me mbers were under Administrative Measures in 
Categories II through IV.  She noted that the revised Administrative Measures that the Council had just approved under item 5 of its agenda would ente r into force on 1 January 2013.  She invited the 
Chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr Zananavicius  (Lithuania), to provide the Council with this 
information. 
139. Mr Zananavicius (Lithuania), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration, said that as at 2 October 2012, th e Members under Categories II through IV were the 
                                                      
4 The Chairperson's statement was subs equently circulated  in JOB/GC/24. WT/GC/M/138 
Page 38  
 
  following:  in Category II – Grenada; in Category 3 - Dominica and the Bolivarian Republic of 
Venezuela; in Category 4 – Guinea-Bissau, C ongo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
140. The Chairperson said that under the revised Ad ministrative Measures, she was also required 
at each Council meeting to request those Members in  Categories III and IV of the Measures to inform 
her, before the next meeting of the General Counc il, as to when their payment of arrears might be 
expected. 
141. The General Council took note of the statements. 
__________