WT/MIN(15)/4  
 
5 November 2015  
(15-5869)  Page: 1/3  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: English  
 
 DECLARATION OF THE AFRICAN UNION IN FORMAL MINISTERIAL MEETING ON THE 
TENTH WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
 
The following communication, dated 3 November 2015,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Lesotho on behalf of the Africa Group.   
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AU Trade Ministers met on 19 October 2015 in Brusse ls to consider the state of play of the DDA 
negotiations in preparation for MC10 to be held in Nairobi in December 2015. Ministers 
underscored that engagement in the MC10 process sh ould be framed by the overriding priority 
accorded to Africa’s industrial development in Agenda 2063 and other continental policy frameworks. Ministers took note of recent inte rnational agreements including the Addis Ababa 
Declaration on Financing for Development and th e Post-2015 Development Agenda that reaffirmed 
the important role of trade in meeting internationally-agreed development objectives and targets and that development should be an integral component of all multilateral trade agreements.  
1  ON THE OUTCOMES FROM THE NAIROBI MINISTERIAL 
1.1  LDCs 
i. Ministers agreed that the LDC Package must  include binding commitments that will 
be commercially meaningful for Africa and must be more than a repetition of the 
promises made in Bali. It should include a substantive delivery of a package beyond 
the Bali promises. It must also not erod e any of the trade preferences currently 
enjoyed by African countries. 
ii. Cotton must be addressed ambitiously, expe ditiously and specifically in all three 
pillars of market access, domestic support and export competition. 
iii. Further, the work in favour of LDCs sh ould continue in the post-MC10 period. 
1.2  Agriculture 
i. The Rev.4 modalities should remain the basis for the agriculture negotiations as it 
enshrines the overall balance achieved after more than a decade of negotiations. 
ii. There should be enhanced accessibility to a flexible, easy to use Special Safeguard 
Mechanism in agriculture. 
iii. There should be a strengthening of the flexibilities accorded to Net Food Importing 
Developing Countries (NFIDCs). 
iv. Overall Trade Distorting support should be bound and reduced substantially by 
developed countries. 
v. On domestic support, there should be stricter disciplines on Green box measures to 
ensure that they are at most, minimally trade distorting. WT/MIN(15)/4 
 
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  vi. There should also be a reduction in product specific de minimis  of developed 
countries in accordance with Rev.4. There should also be limited and bound product 
specific Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) in accordance with Rev 4 for developed countries. 
vii. There should be a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security 
purposes in accordance with the Bali Ministerial Decision and the General Council Decision of November 2014. 
viii. On Export Competition, while African countries can support an outcome that 
eliminates export subsidies, Ministers agr eed to seek an outcome on food aid that 
ensures its provision addresses unintended consequences that damage national regional production in countries. 
1.3  Development 
i. There should be binding outcomes in accordance with paragraph 44 of the Doha 
Ministerial Decision on the 25 S&D proposals advanced by the G90. 
ii. The strengthening of S&D provisions is in line with Africa’s industrial development 
priorities as encapsulated in the Agenda 2063 and with the need to preserve adequate policy space. 
1.4  TRIPS 
i. The transitional period under Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement with respect to 
pharmaceutical products and the waivers from the obligations of Article 70.8 and 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreement should be extended for 30 years. 
ii. Ministers agreed that the Non Violation and Situation Complaints system is 
inapplicable under the TRIPs Agreement and will seek a permanent moratorium on this at MC10. 
1.5  Accession 
i. For acceding African countries, there should be the principle of accelerating accession 
procedures without imposing onerous concessions and commitments. 
ii. In addition, technical support should be provided prior to and post accession to the 
acceding countries. 
1.6  Fisheries  
i. There should be a tightening of the discipline on fisheries subsidies to ensure that 
those forms of subsidies do not pr omote overfishing and overcapacity. 
1.7  Other Issues 
i. Concern was expressed that proposals on Transparency have yet to be received and 
that it will not be possible to accept any outcome that will involve implementation of 
any new and onerous administrative requirements or requirements that intrude into domestic policy making processes. 
2  ON THE PROCESS LEADING UP TO MC10 
2.1.  Ministers emphasized willingness to engage with all Members to ensure a meaningful 
outcome from Nairobi. 
2.2.  Ministers agreed that the outcome from Nairobi should be a Ministerial Declaration with clear 
decisions on substantive priority issues with a strong development dimension. WT/MIN(15)/4 
 
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  2.3.  Ministers emphasized that to deliver an agreed Ministerial Declaration by Nairobi, a 
transparent, participatory and inclusive drafting  mechanism and process, with full and regular 
multilateral oversight, is needed.  
2.4.  Ministers insist that they are kept fully informed of the various iterations of the Declaration as 
it is developed. 
3  ON THE FUTURE OF TH E DOHA DEVELOPMENT ROUND 
3.1.  Recalling the importance of the conclusion  of the Doha Development Round to the African 
integration and industrialization agenda, the Minist ers recognize that there is little prospect for a 
credible conclusion for the DDA at MC10. As such, they agreed that there must be a continuation of the negotiation beyond the Nairobi Ministerial within the DDA framework. 
3.2.  Ministers reaffirmed the negotiating mandat es, developmental principles and objectives of 
the DDA. 
3.3.  Ministers reaffirmed the centrality of the pr inciples of the single undertaking; less than full 
reciprocity; and Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT). 
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