JOB/GC/10 6 
 
3 October  2016 
(16-5259) Page: 1/2 
General Council    
 
 AGENDA ITEM 2: IMPLE MENTATION OF THE BAL I AND NAIROBI OUTCOM ES –  
STATEMENT BY THE CHA IRMAN  
MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER  2016 
1.1.  You will recall that to continue to follow up  on the decisions made in Bali and Nairobi – and to 
do that in an inclusive and transparent mann er – I, and my predecessors, have been providing 
regular reports on implementation matters at our meetings. My report today will only focus on 
matters where updates are available.  
1.2.  Starting with e -commerce, you will recall that at the July General Council m eeting, 
Ambassador Suescum (friend of the GC Chair) reported on the Work Programme on Electronic 
Commerce and his report was subsequently circulated in document WT/GC/W/721. The Chairs of 
the Council for Services and the Council for Goods had also submitte d reports on their respective 
areas. The renewed interest seen in July when Members submitted various papers on e -commerce 
continues today – and this was also seen last week at the Public Forum where many of the 
sessions focused on digital trade/e -commerce . In terms of process, Ambassador Suescum will 
continue his consultations with Members on the way forward starting this week. The next 
Dedicated Discussion will be held later in October.  
1.3.  On Aid for Trade, which was among the Bali Decisions, at our July mee ting, I updated 
Members on implementation of the 2016 -2017 Aid for Trade work programme and I brought 
Members' attention to the Aid -for-Trade monitoring and evaluation exercise, which is an essential 
part of preparatio ns for the next Global Review. Let me reiterate my request that Members 
respond to this exercise by completing the appropriate questionnaires and submitting case stories 
before the deadline of 31 Octo ber. A background note has been prepared by the Secretariat which 
also contains a letter from the Director -General and OECD Secretary -General inviting Members to 
respond to the monitoring and evaluation exercise. I understand the Director -General wishes to 
intervene on this matter at the end of my statement.   
1.4.  On Agriculture, in the September meeti ng of the Committee on Agriculture , the Chair noted 
that there are two issues that are relevant for u pcoming regular CoA monitoring.  First, the next 
dedicated discussion on export competition is scheduled for June 2017 and the questionnaire on 
export compe tition will be circulated later in the year. Second, the provisions on international food 
aid in the Nairobi Export Competition decision will be reviewed within the annual monitoring 
exercise on the follow -up to the Marrakesh NFIDC decision. This will take  place during the next 
meeting of the CoA in November 2016.  
1.5.  Let us move  to Development and LDC issues.  Duty-Free Quota -Free market access for LDCs, 
also among the Bali Decisions, remains a standing item on the CTD's agenda. At the November 
meeting of the C TD, the Committee will undertake its annual DFQF review on the basis of a 
Secretariat report, as per the Bali Decision.  
1.6.  Regarding  the Monitoring Mechanism on Special and Differential Treatment, five meetings 
have been held since the Bali Ministerial Confer ence, but no written submissions have yet been 
made. The next meeting of the Monitoring Mechanism will be held in November.  
1.7.  On Preferential Rules of Origin for LDCs, the Committee on Rules of Origin discussed the 
implementation of the Bali and the Nairobi Ministerial Decisions in its formal meetings in May and 
the recent one in September and, as mandated by both decisions, reviewed the latest 
developments related to preferential rules of or igin for LDCs. Efforts in the Committee have JOB/GC/106  
 
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  focused on the elements  for which follow -up action by the Committee was mandated. In particular, 
the Committee discussed methodologies for the calculation of utilization rates and a draft template 
for the notification of preferential rules of origin. Additional consultations on both items will be 
needed before Members can deem both adopted. Preference -granting Members were reminded 
that they must submit a notification to the Secretariat about the measures they are taking in order 
to implement the Decision. In the case of develope d countries, this notification is due by the end 
of this year. As mandated by the Decisions, a more detail written report has been discussed and 
will be forwarded to the General Council. In addition, an oral report wi ll also be delivered to the 
Sub-Committ ee on LDCs.  
1.8.  In paragraph  28 of the N airobi Ministerial Declaration, Ministers instructed the Committee on 
Regional Trade Agreements to discuss the systemic implications of RTAs for the multilateral 
trading system and their relationship with WTO rules, and also agreed to work towards the 
transformation of the current provisional Transparency Mechani sm into a permanent mechanism. 
The Chairman of the CRTA has been conducting consultations on these issues, and reported on 
these consultations at the meeting of t he CRTA last week.  
1.9.  And finally, work in the area of Trade Facilitation continued to make headway. Progress was 
especially made with respect to bringing the Trade Facilitation Agreement closer to entry into 
force. Since my last report, several Members were able to complete their domestic ratification 
process, bringing the overall number of acceptance instruments to a current total of 94. This 
means that we have received 85 per cent of the ratifications require d for the TFA to take effect.  
1.10.   With that moment co ming closer with every ratification instrument we receive, I urge all 
developing country Members wishing to benefit from the Agreement's S&D provisions to hand in 
their category notifications as soon as possible. This is especially pressing with respect to  
notifications on categories B and C, where input continues to lag behind. We only received 
5 submissions as of this morning, far less than the 87 category A notifications presented so far.  
1.11.   I equally urge Members who have not yet deposited their acceptance  instrument to intensify 
their efforts to complete their ratification processes so that the Trade Facilitation Agreement  can 
swiftly enter into force.  
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