WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/CFMC/W/57 
12 October 2012 
 (12-5535) 
 Original: French 
  
 
DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK 
MECHANISM ON COTTON 
 
Communication from Burkina Faso 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 5 October 2012, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Burkina Faso.  
_______________ 
 
 
COMMENTS ON THE 13
TH VERSION OF THE EVOLVING TABLE 
 
 1. Burkina Faso welcomes the new structure of the evolving table, which not only makes it more 
readable, but also allows a better operational appreci ation of the various elements of the projects and 
programmes on cotton and in the agricultural sector. 
2. As we review the 13
th version of the table (WT/CFMC/6/Rev.12), Burkina Faso would like to 
express once again to the WTO its appreciation of  the importance of the consultative framework 
set up by the Director-General, as a dynamic frame work in which the donor community has been able, 
in concrete terms, to express its commendable intention to support the cotton sector in Africa 
in general, and in the C-4 countries in particular. 
3. Burkina Faso does not have any particular comments to make on the figures contained in the 
evolving table, which does not mean that it fully validates them, but most of the projects are being implemented in the field, and current arrangements make  it difficult, at this stage at least, to determine 
the amounts entered as disbursements. 
4. Burkina Faso confirms the implementation of projects under cotton specific development 
assistance from the following donors: 
 - Brazil :  Programme for the development of the cotton sector in the Cotton-4 countries 
(Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali); 
 - European Union :  Project to improve the fertility of soils in organic farms of the 
cotton-growing area of Burkina Faso ( Amélioration de la fertilité des sols dans 
les explotations biologiques de la zone cotonnière du Burkina Faso ), and the 
project "Support to cotton classing SOFI TEX laboratory towards international 
accreditation ISO17025"; 
 - France :  Capacity-building project for producers' organizations; 
 - United States :  WACIP in favour of the C-4; WT/CFMC/W/57 
Page 2  
 
   - CFC :  Project to prevent seed cotton contamination in West Africa; 
 - ITC:  Establishing a close alliance with sp inning mills in Asia to reduce cotton 
contamination; 
 - UNIDO :  "Impact study of the global economic an d financial crisis in least developed 
countries' manufacturing industry:  the case of the cotton sector in three countries of 
the WAEMU region", and the project "Devel opment of South-South cooperation with 
India and China."  It should be noted, howev er, that in terms of operational status, 
the project "Development of South-South cooperation with India and China" for a value of US$1,200,000, which was initia ted in 2008 for the cotton-producing 
countries of sub-Saharan Africa, is still at the project formulation stage; 
 - World Bank :  Agricultural Diversification and Market Development Project; 
 - ADB :  Cotton Multinational Competitiveness Programme;  and 
 - Integrated Framework :  DTIS preparation, including cotton sector analysis. 
5. Burkina Faso would like to have further information from certain donors on the status of their 
projects, in particular: 
 France, for the following projects: 
- Strengthening a regional approach in EU-Africa Partnership;  and 
- Fair trade and organic cotton. 
 Germany, for the Promotion of cotton value chains in sub-Saharan African countries. 
 
 The Netherlands, for Support to Unions of Communal Cotton Producers. 
6. On several occasions, Burkina Faso has argued that there should be proper coordination of the 
activities of donor countries in order to help rationalize the content of the projects and programmes 
and the use of resources allocated for their implemen tation.  We would thus avoid situations where 
several donors implement similar programmes, and w ould be able to build on the programmes that 
have already been implemented and enc ourage synergies among ongoing programmes. 
7. Moreover, during the meeting of the Consultativ e Mechanism in June 2012, the International 
Cotton Advisory Committee also recommended gr eater collaboration and coordination between 
donors and beneficiaries in developing and impl ementing the projects and programmes aimed at 
improving the competitiveness of the cotton sector. 
8. It is important that the donor countries and the beneficiary countries should be able to 
work together to ensure that this collaborati on and coordination in deve loping and implementing 
projects and programmes for the improvement of the competitiveness of the cotton sector 
actually materializes. 
9. The presence of focal points in the beneficiar y countries should facilitate this collaboration 
and coordination with the donor countries.  Burk ina Faso would recommend that the donor countries 
communicate, for each project or programme, the co ntact information of the services responsible for 
each project or programme in order to facilitate  cooperation between those services and the focal 
points.  WT/CFMC/W/57 
 Page 3 
 
 
  10. Burkina Faso would also suggest that we consider  the inclusion, in the next evolving table to 
be prepared by the WTO Secretariat, a new colu mn identifying the services or entities appointed by 
the donor countries as contact points for each of the different projects. 
11. On the subject of agriculture and infrastructur e-related development assistance, Burkina Faso 
does not have any particular comments. 
12. Nor does Burkina Faso have any particular comments on the annexes. 
__________