JOB/GC/105  
 
3 October 2016  
(16-5258) Page: 1/2 
General Council    
 
 AGENDA ITEM 1 – REPORT BY THE CHAIRM AN OF THE  
TRADE NEGOTIATIONS C OMMITTEE  
MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 20 16 
Director -General's Report at the Informal Heads of Delegation Meeting on 30 September 2016  
1.1.  I have continued my consultations since the end of July.  
1.2.  I partic ipated in the G20 leaders' summit in Hangzhou earlier this month and I was in New 
York last week for the UN General Assembly. I have also met with a number of ministers and 
senior officials, as well as business leaders.  
1.3.  Here in Geneva, I have continued a range of consultations, including meeting with the 
Negotiating Group Chairs on 15  September, and the Group Coordinators on 16 September.  
1.4.  This week's Public Forum also provided an important moment to interact with civil society, 
the private sector and other  stakeholders, as well as the ministers, parliamentarians and other 
public officials who were in attendance. I hope you found it a useful opportunity to exchange ideas.  
1.5.  In the coming weeks, there will be further opportunities to engage. The Negotiating Gr oup 
Chairs will report in a moment on their planned activities and next steps and I would encourage 
your full participation in those processes.  
1.6.  In all of my contacts, I have sensed a growing interest in our work, especially as the past two 
Ministerial Con ferences have shown our ability to deliver multilateral results. I have been 
encouraged by the calls I have heard to strengthen the WTO, resist protectionism and increase co -
operation on trade issues. The G20 leaders were particularly vocal on this point.  
1.7.  At the same time, there are also widespread concerns about the growth of anti -trade and 
anti-globalization sentiment. If this rhetoric is not countered effectively, and immediately, it could 
easily lead to the adoption of misguided policies which would wo rsen economic growth and job 
prospects. Of course these are the very problems that such policies claim to address.   
1.8.  You will all have seen the revised forecasts which we published on Tuesday this week. We 
expect to see an expansion of just 1.7% in 2016. Th at would be the lowest level of trade growth 
since the financial crisis.  
1.9.  And in the face of these challenges I think we need to put more vigour into our work here.  
We need to continue delivering trade reforms that generate more inclusive growth and 
development gains.  
1.10.   It is therefore important that we deepen our discussion about what Members want to 
achieve at MC11, and focus minds on how to get there.  
1.11.   I think we have made some progress in the first half of the year.  Clearly some issues are 
starting to dr aw more attention. These include public stockholding, other agriculture -related 
topics, such as domestic support, and services; but also other issues such as SMEs, e -commerce, 
services facilitation and fisheries subsidies.  JOB/GC/105  
 
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  1.12.   For any issue under discussion, w e need to ensure that the conversations remain inclusive 
and address a broad range of interests, including the development dimension. We also need to 
look more closely at what progress can be made for LDCs.  
1.13.   This is the time to engage. This is the moment to  ensure that your priorities and concerns 
are reflected – to ensure that they are on the table.  
1.14.   As I said before the summer break, we need to change the pace of our engagement in order 
to make progress.  I also said that we would need to move from reflecti on to action.  
1.15.   However, I  also believe that this can only happen if you talk to each other so that we avoid 
mistrust and misperceptions about what you yourselves are trying to achieve. I think there are two 
things which would help to deal with this point:  
 First, we need clarity from the proponents on what they would like to see as a final outcome 
of these conversations. Some are not engaging partly because they do  not have a clear 
sense of what others want to achieve.  
 Second, we should  be mindful  that, in order to advance multilaterally, we should be flexible 
to accommodate the circumstances of different M embers.  
1.16.   With these elements in mind, I think the immediate priority now should be to deepen 
conversations between Members to scope out the issues for MC11  – or between now and MC11.  
1.17.   We can only go as far as our legs allow. Whatever we do – on any issue – will not be the 
end of the road. It will be a first step.  
1.18.   Pragmatism remains a vital ingredient. We should take the steps that we can. We should  
not feel discouraged if there are difficult elements in a discussion. We should make the progress 
that is feasible in a given moment and try to build on those outcomes over time.  
1.19.   We should especially look for those balancing elements that take into account Members ' 
different interests and positions – elements that respond to the needs of developed, developing 
and least -developed M embers.  
1.20.   So I urge you to talk to e ach other. Talk to some of the M embers that perhaps you do  not 
usually talk to. Talk to people that yo u know will disagree with you. We need to widen and deepen 
our exchanges to build a clearer idea of what we want to achieve for MC11.  
1.21.   On my part, I will continue to reach out to Members, here and in capitals, to facilitate these 
discussions.  
1.22.   That conclude s my report.  
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