JOB/GC/202  
 
19 October 2018  
(18-6550) Page: 1/2 
General Council    
 
 
AGENDA ITEM 2: IMPLEMENTATION OF TH E BALI, NAIR OBI AND BUENOS AIRES  
OUTCOMES - STATEMENT BY THE CHA IRMAN  
THURSDAY, 18 OCTOBER  2018 
1.1.  This item remains on the agenda to follow up on the decisions adopted in Bali, Nairobi and 
Buenos Aires – and do so in an inclusive and transparent manner.  
1.2.  On Friday, 12 October, I held a meeting with the Chairs of Regular Bodies, where we heard 
updates o n the work taking place in WTO Councils and Committees, including with respect to the 
implementation of the Ministerial mandates . 
1.3.  Before I move on to my report, I take this opportunity to emphasize, as I also did at the 
meeting with the Chairs, the key rol e that the regular work in the WTO can play in addressing various 
challenges facing this organization today. In this respect, it is important to ensure that regular bodies 
function efficiently and be fully responsive to Members' needs and I believe this is  crucial to improve 
the way this organization operates.  
1.4.  Let me now turn to my report, which today will focus on those areas where there are updates 
since my last report in July.  
1.5.  Regarding the Ministerial Decision on the Work Programme on Electronic C ommer ce, you will 
recall that, at the July meeting of the General Council, the Chairs of the four subsidiary bodies 
reported on developments in their respective areas. In addition, South Africa and India introduced 
a paper on the moratorium on Customs Duties on  electronic transmissions. At that meeting, I 
mentioned that I would consult Members on the way forward with regard to the moratorium. Since 
then, I held bilateral consultations with some twenty delegations who responded to my invitation. 
On the basis of t he views expressed by delegations through these consultations, I now intend to 
convene an open -ended informal meeting in late November. The details of this informal meeting will 
be communicated in due course. In the meantime, I welcome any ideas and sugges tions to make 
this discussion informative and useful to all Members and I remain open to meet with any interested 
delegation. Let me also recall that the next review of progress of the Work Programme on Electronic 
Commerce will take place at the December meeting of the General Council.  
1.6.  Moving now to some of the Decisions on Agriculture,  at its recent September meeting, the 
Committee on Agriculture adopted the report of its first triennial review of the Nairobi Decision on 
Export Competition1. With respect t o the implementation of the Nairobi Decision by Members with 
scheduled export subsidies reduction commitments, Australia, Colombia, Israel, Norway,  
Switzerland and Uruguay have their revised schedule certified - while Canada, the European Union, 
South Afri ca and the United States have circulated draft revised schedules. Other Members with 
scheduled export subsidies commitments also had an opportunity at that meeting to update the 
Committee on the steps taken to implement the Decision.  
1.7.  The Committee also con tinued its review of the Bali Decision on TRQ Administration . 
Contributions from several Members, together with a background document on TRQ administration 
and fill rates prepared by the Secretariat, assisted these discussions. The Review of the Bali Decis ion 
is expected to conclude in 2019.  
                                                
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  1.8.  Turning to the LDC Services Waiver , at the meeting of the Services Council which took place 
last week, the LDC Group introduced a communication titled "Possible Elements for a Review of the 
Operation of Notified Prefere nces" which suggests a number of elements that could be part of the 
review mandated by the relevant Nairobi Decision.  
1.9.  In the debate, delegations offered their initial reactions to the communication and the LDC 
Group stated its readiness to engage productiv ely. The Chairman will be consulting with delegations 
on how to advance the process so as to  fulfil the Council's mandate.  
1.10.   Regarding the Bali Decision on Duty Free -Quota Free market access for LDCs , you will recall 
that last year it was not possible for th e Secretariat to prepare a report on DFQF market access for 
LDCs due to divergent views expressed by some Members on its scope and coverage.  The CTD 
Chairman recently held informal consultations with the key delegations involved to see if positions 
had ch anged. Since this is not the case, it does not seem possible for the Secretariat to prepare this 
report. Nonetheless, the mandated annual review for 2018 will still be carried out in the next CTD 
meeting on 21 November, albeit without a Secretariat report.  
1.11.   Regarding the Bali Decision on the Monitoring Mechanism on Special and Differential 
Treatment , there is still no common understanding on how to proceed with the review of the 
Mechanism, which was mandated to take place three years after the first formal m eeting. The CTD 
Chair intends to hold consultations with Members to see whether a common understanding can  be 
reached on the way forward.  
1.12.   On Aid for Trade , the CTD Chair recently held informal consultations so that Members could 
provide their inputs on the  draft Aid for Trade monitoring and evaluation formats, which will form 
the basis of the next Global Review. Substantive comments were made, and it was agreed that the 
Secretariat will update the formats accordingly. The revised monitoring and evaluation f ormats 
should be ready for Members' consideration by the next formal CTD Aid for Trade meeting in 
November.  
1.13.   Lastly, on the implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation , we now stand at 
139 ratifications, covering nearly 85% of the total. There is progress also in the submission of 
Category A, B and C notifications which now stand at 114, 71 and 60 respectively. More important 
than the numbers themselves is the fact that these figures show a continued upward trend in terms 
of implementation of the A greement.  
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