JOB/GC/261  
 
22 June 2021 
(21-5085) Page: 1/2 
General Council  
 Original: English  
 
  
MC12: SHAPING THE PACKAGE AGENDA  
The following communication, dated 22 June 2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Russian Federation.  
 
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1.1.  The 12th WTO Ministerial Conference is key for the WTO revitalization, both in terms of high 
potential for tangible deliverables as well as outli ning areas of further work under the WTO reforming 
process.  
1.2.  Collective efforts are needed to demonstrate the continued relevance of the WTO for the 
international trade, its ability to respond efficiently and promptly to the pressing challenges faced 
by int ernational trade and investment, which have been especially exacerbated by the global 
pandemic.  
1.3.  Designing the MC12 package early is fundamental for ensuring success at the 12th Ministerial 
Conference.  
1.4.  MC12 must deliver tangible results aimed to improve the  WTO's functioning, enable the WTO 
to adapt to evolving economic conditions and to better respond to the interests of all Members, as 
well as enhance its role in global economic governance.  
1.5.  In order to achieve these goals the MC12 package should contain Me mbers' commitment 
regarding the following essential elements:  
(1) Multilateral framework. Members need to express their commitment to strengthen 
multilateralism and support rules -based, non -discriminatory and transparent 
multilateral trading system (MTS) with the WTO at its core, which is an essential for 
the economic recovery after the pandemic.  
(2) WTO reform. The establishment of a WTO Working Group on the WTO reform is 
required. The group shall be vested with the authority to discuss issues of relevance 
to the WTO reform with a focus on improvements of the negotiating, monitoring and 
dispute settlement functions of the WTO, as well as institutional improvements in its 
functioning. The group will discuss these matters in an open, transparent and inclusive 
manner striving for multilateral outcomes, including with a view to establish formal 
WTO 2030 Vision by the next MC.  The General Council shall regularly review the 
progress of these discussions. This could be reflected in the [Ministerial Decision]  [Joint 
Ministe rial Statement] on the WTO reform.  
(3) Restoration of the full operation of the dispute settlement system. Members urgently 
need to launch substantive discussions aimed to improve the WTO dispute settlement 
system, including through addressing Members' existin g concerns about certain 
adjudicative approaches and specific rulings, while preserving the essential features of 
a two -tier adjudication process. These discussions should aim to achieve multilaterally 
agreed solutions with a view to restore the full opera tion of the dispute settlement 
system. The outcomes of the negotiations to improve dispute settlement procedures 
within the DSB special sessions already achieved should be taken into due account.  JOB/GC/261  
 
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  (4) Competitive neutrality. WTO rules relevant for elimination of competitive distortions in 
international trade should be further developed or reinforced in order to meet modern 
realities, trends and practices. Discussions aimed at identification and forthcoming 
elimination of such distortions, including industrial and agricultural subsidies, on 
activities of state owned and transnational enterprises, barriers in access to technology 
and exemptions from trade rules, should be launched.  
(5) Transparency. Arrangements on enhanced transparency and notifications, including in 
respect of tariff policies, are needed. The Members' efforts aimed to improve 
transparency and notifications disciplines, as well as agreement to further enhance 
transparency of applied tariff rates, should be supported. Multilateral discussio ns on 
transparency -related issues based on the consolidation of the existing proposals "on 
the table" should be launched.  
(6) More effective negotiating function. The WTO legal framework should be adapted to 
address modern challenges and realities in internati onal trade. Members should 
continue to work on the traditional agenda, in particular advance on the agricultural 
issues. The fisheries subsidies  negotiations should be concluded on the basis of the 
mandate contained in SDG  14.6 with the view to prohibit ha rmful fisheries subsidies, 
while ensuring sustainable economic development of Members' fisheries sectors.  
 At the same time, the negotiations and discussion on plurilateral agreements and 
arrangements among interested Members that are open for participatio n of all 
Members and result in such agreements and arrangements the benefits of which are 
applied on a MFN -basis, therefore extended to non -signatories as well as participating 
Members, should be acknowledged as one of the legitimate means of WTO legal 
framework adaptation. In parallel to respective on -going negotiations, Members 
should elaborate on possible ways for better integration of the results of plurilateral 
negotiations and discussions into the WTO framework.  
 Substantive progress should be achieve d on the Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs)  on 
investment facilitation, domestic regulation in services, e -commerce, as well as on 
MSMEs. This could be reflected in respective Joint Ministerial Statements on JSIs. In 
addition, the Members' efforts aimed to  promote MSMEs participation in international 
trade, including through adequate and effective opportunities for their participation in 
domestic regulatory development processes, should be supported multilaterally.  
 
(7) The renewal of the multilateral moratoria  on customs duties on electronic 
transmissions  and on non -violation and situation complaints under the TRIPS 
Agreement is needed.  
 
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