WT/L/1004  
 
20 December  2016 
(16-6965) Page: 1/5 
  Original: English  
 
DECLARATION  
2ND MEETING OF THE AF RICAN MINISTERS OF T RADE (AMOT)  
ADDIS ABABA  
 
29-30 NOVEMBER 2016  
The following communication, dated 13 December 2016, is being ci rculated at the request of the 
Delegation of Senegal.  
 
_______________  
 
PREAMBLE  
We, the Mini sters of Trade of the Member States of the African Union, meeting in Addis Ababa, on 
the 29th and 30th November 2016, at the occasion of the 2nd Meeting of the African Ministers of 
Trade (AMOT) in order to, amongst other things, review the state of play in  the WTO negotiations, 
following the outcome of the 10th Ministerial Conference;  
 
Recalling  and reaffirming  the WTO Ministerial, and, General Council Decisions and Declarations 
adopted since Doha in 2001 until Nairobi in 2015, and our positions adopted in the Brussels 
Declaration on WTO Issues of 2015;  
 
Concerned with the multiple difficulties acceding African countries face in the process of accession 
to the WTO;  
 
Emphasizing  the increasing need for the Members of the African Group to secure a meaningful 
share of world trade, increase their economic growth to support sustainable development and 
enhance their productive capacities through diversification and industrial development;  
 
Aware  of the positive contribution that the multilateral trading system could have on the African 
Union' s agenda on Boosting Intra -Africa Trade and the establishment of the Continental Free Trade 
Area;  
 
Deeply concerned  by the potential negative impact of Mega Regional Trade Agreements being 
introduced by some Members, at the WTO , which is seriously and fundamentally under mining the 
DDA mandate, the WTO' s principles of inclusiveness and multilateralism; and thereby leading to 
preference erosion;  
 
Emphasizing  that continental integration, structural transformation and industrializa tion shall 
remain the overriding priorities for Africa, following the establishment of the Continental Free 
Trade Agre ement (CFTA), in line with the " Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want ";  
 
Hereby  adopt the following common position in the context of Post -Nairobi negotiations, and 
thereafter:  
 
PRINCIPLES  
1. Reaffirm  our commitment to the negotiating mandates, developmental objectives and 
principles of the DDA, including special and differential treatment and less than full reciprocity;  
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  2. Restate  our call that agree ment on a development package must remain at the core of any 
negotiating outcome taking into account the concerns and interests of all African Group Members;  
3. Recognize the dynamism in the global economy and call upon  Members to prioritize and 
conclude all unresolved issues in the DDA that yield specific development milestones for the 
African Group as soon as possible;  
4. Underscore  the preeminence of the guiding principles in the WTO and DDA negotiations 
namely, full Member participation, inclusive, transparen t and bottom -up processes, and 
consensus -based Member -driven negotiations;  
5. Commit  to constructive engagement in the pursuit of a meaningful outcome at the 
Eleventh  WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11);  
POST -NAIROBI  
6. Stress  that the work we undertake in multil ateral trade and rule -making support Africa’s 
continental integration agenda and, at a minimum, not undermine it;  
7. Underscore  the primacy of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the 2004 July Framework 
as the main mandate and reference for post -Nairobi neg otiations;  
8. Call upon  Members to take concrete steps to conclude the remaining issues in the DDA, 
with development at the heart of all negotiating outcomes;  
9. Strongly  favour and support a multilateral ap proach to all WTO negotiations;  
NEGOTIATIONS POST -MC10  
AGRICULTURE  
10. Restate  our call to correct the systemic imbalances in the Agreement on Agriculture, 
inherited from the Uruguay Round, through which distortions in the global marke ts continue to 
undermine Africa' s potential economic gains;  
11. Underscore  that ag riculture remains central to Africa's agenda at the WTO, and will be the 
determinant of the level of ambition in the negotiations, and Reiterate  that a successful 
conclusion for Doha Round must address  all outstanding issues, and meet the developmental 
needs for African countries;  
12. Reaffirm  our commitment to the mandates in the agriculture negotiations as provided in 
the Doha Ministerial Declaration (2001), July Framework (2004), Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration 
(2005), Bali Ministerial Declaration (2013), General Council Decisions (2014), and Nairobi 
Ministerial Declaration (2015) . These agreed upon mandates must be respected and on the basis 
of the revised draft modalities on agr iculture of 6 December 2008 (TN /AG/W/4/Rev.4);  
13. Recognize  the difficulties that  continue to face the Net -Food Importing Developing 
Countries (NFIDCs) since the Uruguay Round, and we emphasize the importance that any outcome 
in Agriculture negotiations shall accord flexibilities to address their particular situation, and in 
order to d eliver improved food security and agricultural productivity;  
14. Urge  WTO members to abide by the Nairobi Ministerial Declaration, and fulfil their 
commitments to make all concerted efforts to agree and adopt the permanent solution for Public 
Stockholding for  food security purposes by the Eleventh Ministerial Conference, and underscore 
that the permanent solution shall cover existing and future programmes;    
15. Emphasize  that correcting the existing distortions in Agriculture, particularly through 
disciplines on  domestic support is a priority for African countries in MC11, to obtain commitments 
to reduce trade distorting domestic support in developed countries, and Reaffirm  the 
strengthening of disciplines of Green Box subsidies to prevent trade distortions and b ox shifting; WT/L/1004  
 
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  and Underscore  that Special and Differential Treatment for developing countries in particular 
NFIDCs and LDCs must be an integral part of any outcome;    
16. Insist  that an effective, easy -to-use Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) shall be provided  
to developing countries, as a trade remedy instrument to protect farmers from import surges and 
low-priced imports;  
COTTON  
17. Reaffirm  the importance of cotton in the economies of many African countries, particularly 
LDCs, and note with grave concern the lac k of progress in implementing the results of the WTO 
Ministerial Conference held in Hong Kong in December 2005, with regard to cotton, with a view to 
eliminating all trade distorting policies affecting the sector. Therefore, we Strongly Urge  Members 
to fas t track the resolution on the issue of cotton, as decided by Members, expeditiously, 
ambitiously and specifically, by MC11;  
SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT (SDT)  
 
18. Reaffirm that Special and Differential Treatment shall be an integral part of all WTO 
agreements and future multilateral outcomes and shall be embodied, as appropriate, in schedules 
of concessions and commitments and in the rules and disciplines, so as to be operationally 
effective and to enable developing countries, in particular LDCs, to effe ctively address their 
development needs in line with Africa’s industrial development priorities as encapsulated in the 
Agenda 2063 on structural transformation and industrialization;   
19. Reiterate our interest in pursuing outcomes on Special and Differential Treatment in line 
with Paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declar ation that would support Africa' s industrialization 
objectives;  
FISHERIES SUBSIDIES  
20. Reiterate  the necessity of multilateral agreement to discipline certain forms of subsidies 
that contribute  to overfishing and overcapacity as agreed in goal 14.6 of the 2030 Agenda for 
development while Reaffirming  the need for African countries, in particular LDCs, for a Special 
and Differential Treatment taking into account the importance of the fishery sect or to their 
economic and social development and the strengthening of their fishing industries and capacities;  
SERVICES  
21. Take note  of the importance of services in African economies as a share of GDP;  
22. Reaffirm the flexibilities for developing countries as in scribed in the GATS, Negotiating 
Guidelines and Procedures, Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and the LDC 
Modalities and Reaffirm  that Members may decide on how to proceed on their own offers taking 
into account their particular development objectives and offers from other Members;  
23. Restate that any outcome on GATS Article VI.4 disciplines on domestic regulation does not 
involve implementation of new and/or onerous administrative requirements or requirements that 
intrude into the domestic -policy making processes;  
24. Welcome  twenty -three (23) notifications on preferential treatment that have been 
submitted by Members pursuant to the Operationalization of the LDC Services Waiver; and further 
Urge  Members to remove or reduce restrictions, and/or spec ial procedures, in favo ur of LDC 
services and service suppliers;  
25. Call upon  the WTO Members to address the knowledge gap and the increasing challenges 
facing African countries towards strengthening their domestic services capacity in all modes of 
supply;  WT/L/1004  
 
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  ACCESSIONS  
26. Urge WTO Members to expedite the accession process of African countries, in particular 
LDCs, without prescribing conditions that are not only inconsistent with their levels of development 
and regulatory capacity but are much higher than commitmen ts taken by WTO Members with the 
same level of development;  
27. Urge WTO Members, WTO Secretariat and relevant international organizations to continue 
to provide valuable technical assistance and capacity -building prior to, during, and in the follow -
up, to the  accession process in line with their needs and development priorities;  
LDCS  
28. Emphasize the need for priority at tention to be accorded to Least -Developed Countries 
(LDCs) issues in accordance with priority documents WT/GC/W/717, TN/C/W/73, 
WT/COMTD/LDC/W/63  in line with paragraph 24 on the Nairobi Ministerial Declaration in order to 
facilitate their full integration into the multilateral trading system;  
29. Call on  WTO Members not to pose pressure in demanding LDCs on accession to take 
commitments that is beyon d their level of development and regulatory capacity;  
30. Call upon WTO Members to show maximum flexibility to African LDCs undergoing 
accession; and stress the importance of Members to fully implement the 2002 Accession Guideline 
and 2012 General Council Dec ision on LDCs Accession;  
ENHANCED INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK (EIF)  
31. Recognize  the contribution of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) in mainstreaming 
trade in development policies of LDCs and building their trade capacity. This significant role in 
helping LD Cs achieve their development objectives is duly recognized by the 2030 Agenda for 
Sustainable Development Goals;  
32. Emphasize  the need for enhanced financial contributions to the programme aimed to 
facilitate predictable trade -related support to LDCs, based on the programme needs as set out in 
the EIF Phase Two Programme Framework;  
33. Call upon  the International Community to support African countries emerging from wars or 
heavily indebted as well as African countries under unilateral sanctions ' with a view to en hancing 
their contributions in the regional and global trade.  
AID FOR TRADE  
34. Underline  the importance of Aid for Trade initiatives in trade -related capacity -building, 
overcoming supply -side constraints, infrastructure development, and facilitating integrati on of 
developing economies, in particular LDCs in regional and global trade. Towards this end, we Call 
Upon  Members to accord priority to LDC projects and ensure that Aid for Trade will be available 
for projects identified by the recipient governments, par ticularly in the areas of trade development, 
trade -related infrastructure, building productive capacity and trade -related adjustment, and 
lowering trade costs;  
Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)  
35. Urge  all WTO Members including the  African Group Members who have not yet submitted 
their instrument of ratification on the amendment of the TRIPS Agreement relating to trade to do 
so in order to speed up the implementation of the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement;  
36. Urge  WTO Members to  amend the TRIPS Agreement to include a mandatory requirement for 
patent applicants to disclose the origin of biological material and traditional knowledge used in 
their inventions, evidence of prior informed consent and benefit sharing arrangements with t he 
country of origin and the relevant communities with a view to establishing a mutually reinforcing WT/L/1004  
 
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  relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention of Biological Diversity in 
implementing the obligations under the two agreements;  
37. Reiterate that non -violation and situational complaints as envisaged un der 
subparagraphs  1(b) and 1 (c) of Article XXIII of GATT 1994 do not apply to the TRIPS Agreement 
and call on the 11th Ministerial Conference to permanently exclude such complaints under the 
TRIPS Agreement;  
Trade Facilitation Agreement  
38. Stress  on the importance of the Facility as a tool for the delivery of Assistance and Support 
for Capacity Building in the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. We call  for the 
expansion of its scope to  include both soft and hard infrastructure projects to facilitate the full 
implementation of the Agreement. We also urge  different donors (World Bank, TFAF and others) 
to work together in order to shape certain financial and technical assistance specifical ly for African 
countries to enhance the trade facilitation intra -continent;  
DSU 
39. Recall  the African Group proposals on the reform of the DSU and Urge  Members to ensure 
that any reform should facilitate the participation of African countries in the dispute s ettlement 
system, thereby alleviating the difficulties African countries face in using the system.  
Done in Addis Ababa, 30 November 2016  
 
 
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