TN/TE/21  
 
21 March 2014  
(14-1777)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session    
 
 COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT IN SPECIAL SESSION  
REPORT1 BY THE CHAIRMAN, AMBASSADOR SELIM KUNERALP  
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL, 14 MARCH 20142 
 
 
1.  Following the TNC Chair's request to Chairs of Negotiating Groups, I engaged in February and March in an open-ended and transparent dialogue with Members to try and identify those issues that we might be able to take forward in a post-Bali context.  
2.  I have held bilateral consultations with more than 30 delegations representing a wide spectrum 
of regions and interests. I am grateful to all thos e delegations for their thoughtful contributions to 
my efforts and to the secretariat team that supported me in those consultations. 
3.  As you know, this is my last General Council meeting as Chair of the CTESS and I would like to 
share with you my personal sense on how I see the way forward in the CTESS. 
4.  First of all, let me state that delegations reiterated clearly that environmental negotiations are 
an important element of the overal l Doha mandate and remain high on their agenda. I believe that 
in the face of the pressing environmental challenges that the world is confronted with, delegations, and indeed the WTO itself, cannot afford to sit back  and appear to be indifferent to the benefits 
that would result from a successful conclusion of the environmental chapter of the Doha 
negotiations.  
5.  This being said, I recognize that delegations do need to prioritize their efforts in the post-Bali 
context and this has been made clear to me.  
6.  It is also evident that recent developments among a subset of WTO Members will have an 
effect on the level of priority that delegations currently give to the topic of removal of trade barriers on environmental goods. I anticipate that time is needed for delegations to know more 
precisely how to proceed with the mandate under Paragraph 31(iii).  
7.  Nevertheless, I detected a considerable degree  of openness and interest by many delegations. 
I sense that many delegations stand ready to engage in work on specific aspects of the mandate, especially those aspects that remain largely unexplored, including for instance non-tariff barriers, 
organic goods and the development perspective. I believe that the fact that delegations may 
currently have different levels of priority should not prevent them from engaging in the CTESS and discussing some aspects of the mandate, in particular those which go beyond tariff reduction and 
are of specific interest to developing countries. I therefore encourage delegations to come forward 
with precise ideas for further multilateral discussi ons and to focus on the elements that can be 
used to advance the work in this particular area. 
                                               
1 This report is circulated under the Chair's own respon sibility and is without prejudice to the position of 
WTO Members in the negotiations. 
2 This is a reproduction of document JOB/GC/66 issued after the General Council on 14 March 2014. TN/TE/21 
 
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  8.  The liberalization of environmental goods is only one part of the negotiations. You will recall 
that our Doha mandate also includes two items related to the relationship between Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and the WTO. I am  of the view that, with the appropriate level 
of efforts and negotiations, this item could become ripe in the near future. A draft compilation text 
put forward in 2011 by the then Chairperson is av ailable and could be revisited. Since the topic 
has not been discussed for some time, my sense is that we would need a first "informative" step to bring everybody up to speed and to allow delegations to revisit and update their proposals. Then, 
delegations would be appropriately equipped to negotiate seriously and make progress on a 
possible outcome.  
9.  As I said at the outset, this is the last meeting of the General Council that I will attend as Chair 
of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and the Environment, but also as Ambassador of 
my country to the WTO.  I wish to thank all my colleagues for the friendship and support they 
have given me during my time in Geneva.  A particular word of appreciation for the Secretariat whose standards of professionalism I have always admired. I am proud to have served as a 
member of the Secretariat for many years in my younger days and wish all of them plenty of 
success in the period ahead.  And lastly, I wish all the best to my successor as Chair of the Special Session. 
 
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