RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/15 
20 January 2005 
 (05-0244) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
9 December 2004  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 9 December 2004  
 
Chairman: Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi (Director-General)  
 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
 
1. Introductory statemen t by the Chairman...............................................................................1  
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of th e Bodies Established by the TNC...................................3  
3. Statements by participants..................................................................................................... 11 
 
 1. Introductory statement by the Chairman 
1. The Chairman
 said that since the last TNC meeting in October, he had had the opportunity of 
extensive direct contact with Ministers, particularly in the APEC context but also in a number of bilateral meetings in Europe, Asia and Latin America.   He was pleased to report to delegations that in 
all these contacts he had found a firm determination at the political level to press on vigorously with 
the negotiations and ensure that there was no w asted moment in 2005.  He was sure that all 
delegations shared this determin ation, and the challenge before Members for the new year was how 
best to put it into practice. 
2. Delegations would recall that at the October TNC there had been broad agreement that the 
immediate priority at that stage was to advance th e detailed work in the negotiating bodies following 
the July Decision.  The general view then had been that the formulation of specific objectives for next 
year and in particular for the Sixth Ministerial Conf erence could best be approached in the light of the 
further progress that needed to be made in the work  of the negotiating bodies.  At that time, many 
people had identified the spring of 2005 as a pos sible point for reviewing progress and defining 
further objectives. 
3. At the same time, however, he had pointed out th at Members also needed to continue to keep 
an eye on the big picture.  The fact of pursuing ve ry necessary and important work at the level of the 
individual negotiating bodies should not mean losing si ght of the Round as a whole, or of its overall 
balance and objectives.  Maintaining the holistic view was the task of the TNC, and it was one that he 
took very seriously.  This was why he thought th at, given recent developments and indications, it 
would be timely and appropriate to invite the TN C early in the new year to renew its collective 
consideration of the way forward for the Round as a whole. 
4. The developments he was referring to were, firs tly, that as the respective Chairpersons had 
informed him and as they would report at the pr esent meeting, work in the negotiating bodies was TN/C/M/15 
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 indeed being pursued seriously and in a spirit of  shared commitment.  The new Negotiating Group on 
Trade Facilitation had got off to a promising start.  In older-established sectors, it was clear that 
Members continued to face some serious problems and they should talk about these.  There was clearly no room for complacency.  Overall, though, he saw sufficient progress – and possibly more importantly, sufficient collective will to make fu rther progress – to serve as a basis for broader 
reflection. 
5. Secondly, recent political events in some Me mbers did not appear to have led to any 
significant hiatus or transition period.  On the contrary, there had been renewed expressions of 
commitment to the Round and its conclusion on all sid es.  So, compared to what many had expected 
in October, participants had in fact gained time, not lost it.  The task now was to make full use of this 
time and the political momentum that had delivered it.  Negotiators need to help Ministers focus 
effectively on the key problems and priorities. 
6. This was why, as TNC Chairman, he intended to launch a process of collective reflection 
which he hoped would lead to an early common understanding on objectives for 2005, looking to the Hong Kong Ministerial and beyond.  He did not intend to enter into this in a substantive way at the 
present meeting, although as always initial views were  most welcome.  Clearly, this was an exercise 
which required serious thought and preparation.  He asked all delegations to come back early in the 
new year prepared to engage in consultations that  he would conduct on these important questions.  He 
hoped that these consultations would provide a basi s for a productive discussion at the next meeting 
of the TNC, which would ta ke place on 14 February 2005. 
7. He wished to underline that advancing the overa ll strategic thinking in this way was in no 
sense intended to diminish the importance of the so -called technical work in the negotiating bodies.  
On the contrary, this needed to be maintained and in tensified.  It was simply that participants needed 
to operate on the micro and macro levels simultane ously and in a mutually-reinforcing manner.  This 
would continue to be the principle on which he wo rked with the negotiating body Chairpersons, and 
he was sure it would also be the spirit in which delegations all worked together to make 2005 a year 
of real progress in the Round. 
8. Finally, he wished to make an interim re port on the work he had been undertaking on 
implementation in his capacity as Director-General , as he had foreshadowed at the October TNC 
meeting.  In line with the July Decision, he had continued with his consultative process on all 
outstanding implementation issues under paragraph 12(b) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, 
including on issues related to the extension of th e protection of geographical indications provided for 
in Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement to products  other than wines and spirits.  This process was 
being undertaken without prejudice to the positions  of Members, in accordance with the July 
Decision. 
9. The work was progressing on two tracks.  The first track concerned all outstanding paragraph 
12(b) implementation issues except the GI extension issue.  In the light of initial consultations which 
he had undertaken in October, he had requested th e Chairpersons of concerned WTO bodies to act as 
his Friends, as allowed for in the July Decision.  He  had asked them to carry out consultations, on his 
behalf, on the scope for progress on the issues relevant to the WTO body they chaired. 
10. The Chairpersons acting as his Friends in rela tion to the issues under paragraph 12(b) were: 
Mr. Tonini, Chairman of the Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions; 
Mr. Twyman, Chairman of the Committee on Customs Valuation; 
Dr. Farahat, Chairman of the Committee on Market Access; 
Mr. Drouet, Chairman of the Committee on Safeguards;  TN/C/M/15 
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 Mr. Dalela, Chairman of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade; 
Mr. Palayathan, Chairman of the Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures; Mr. Miller, Chairman of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual 
        P r o p e r t y  R i g h t s .  
 
11. He wished to express his appreciation for their efforts on his behalf.  Their task was not easy, 
and he was grateful to them for the willingness th ey had shown in accepting to take it on.  They had 
all reported to him on their consultations thus far.  In  most areas, the situation did not appear to have 
evolved much since the last time these issues had been taken up the previous year.  Nonetheless, there appeared to be a willingness among delegations to e ngage, and he urged ever yone to maintain this 
momentum, so that Members could continue to expl ore appropriate solutions to these issues in line 
with the mandate.  His Friends were  continuing their work on his behalf , and he intended to meet with 
them all again early in the new year to re view the next steps on this track of work. 
12. On the second track, namely the GI extension issu e, in the light of a number of consultations 
he had undertaken in October and November, he had requested Deputy Director-General 
Mr. Thompson-Flôres to conduct, on his behalf, a technical level process aimed at clarifying the 
issues related to GI extension, building on th e work already undertaken.  He understood that 
Mr. Thompson-Flôres had convened th e first consultation for the following week, the main purpose of 
which would be for Members to id entify the issues that they cons idered should be the subject of 
discussion and clarification in the technical level process. 
13. In the July Decision, delegations had been asked to redouble efforts to find appropriate 
solutions to the outstanding implementation issues as a priority.  He was committed to making every 
effort to carry out this mandate.  The July D ecision also asked him to report on his consultative 
process to the TNC and the General Council by May 2005, and he intended to report again to the TNC 
on an interim basis at its meeting in February.  He was hopeful that further progress would have been 
made by that time. 
14. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the Chairman's statement. 
 
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of the Bodies Established by the TNC 
15. The Chairman  noted that the Chairpersons of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Development and the Negotiati ng Groups on Market Access and Trade Facilitation would provide 
Members with oral reports on their respective areas.  Written reports had been circulated in the 
following official documents: 
Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture:    TN/AG/14 
Special Session of the Services Council:     TN/S/18 Special Session of the Council for TRIPS:     TN/IP/11 Negotiating Group on Rules:       TN/RL/10 
Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body:    TN/DS/11 
Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Environment:   TN/TE/10 
 16. Ambassador Groser (New Zealand), Chairman  of the Special Session of the Committee on 
Agriculture , said that delegations had before them the form al report of the last Special Session, which 
was essentially factual.  He wished to complement it with his personal report so that delegations, in 
particular Heads of Delegations, who by nature of  their responsibilities were not able to attend every 
meeting of every negotiating group,  could have an overall impression  of where things were going. TN/C/M/15 
Page 4  
 
 17. In June and July, agriculture had received a hi gh degree of political attention, more than any 
other issue in the Doha Development Agenda, and had benefited from that.  Broad guidance had been 
given on some issues, and while some of it was not particularly precise, it was nevertheless extremely 
helpful to negotiators.  Under the market access p illar for example, which he suspected would be the 
most difficult of all three pillars to resolve ultimat ely, the guidance was to use a tiered formula.  In 
addition, there was going to have to be some flexib ility for sensitive products, but even in this area the 
test of substantial improvement in market access had to be met for each and every one of those 
sensitive products, as for the others.  Such signals we re extremely useful to negotiators in containing 
the limits of their own disagreements.  Specific political guidance had also been received on other 
matters, such as the elimination of export subsidi es and parallel measures, which was as ambitious as 
possible. 
18. Strong political guidance had thus been provide d to the agriculture negotiations, and as the 
TNC Chairman had said, this should be a lesson across the whole negotiations.  Of course, the 
achievements in July were ultimately only words on paper, or potential agreements.  Nothing would 
change in world agriculture markets as a resu lt of them because it was only at the successful 
conclusion of the nego tiations as a whole that these words would take on real meaning. 
19. Assuming that the Special Session of the followi ng week would follow the same pattern as 
the last one – steady progress and a good atmosphere – he wished to give his assessment of the work 
over the last almost half a year since the framewo rk was agreed.  Overall, the work was going quite 
well.  There were certain positive elements that he wished to highlight, and other elements for which 
he would not use the word negative, but which gave  one pause.  On the positive side, negotiators had 
avoided the trap of starting what would have been  a renegotiation of the framework under the guise of 
establishing a complicated work programme, which w ould have wasted an enormous amount of time 
and served no useful purpose.  Instead of falling in to that trap, they had accepted that the framework 
was the work programme and that the issues identif ied in it were the issues  they now needed to 
develop, first technically and subsequently poli tically.  Everything in the framework had to be 
discussed, even if some issues were going to be discussed  in other forums or other institutions or other 
modalities in the DDA.  All the issues in the fra mework had to be discussed by the agriculture 
negotiators in due course and with  their cooperation a certain dynamic had been developed.  They had 
allowed him the freedom of initially choosing the issues and then refining the process as it moved ahead. 
20. He had used the metaphor of a series of lo cks, such as in a canal, in which what was 
contained in the framework passed into the first lo ck, the informal meeting, and then into smaller 
locks, as the process accelerated downstream, with more intensive negotiations involving 
representatives of groups and countries with clear inte rest in a specific issue,  then feeding it back 
through a process of transparency to the wider gr oup of participants.  This process had not been 
worked out intellectually, it had just developed and was working well.  It might not serve negotiators 
well in the future, but it had served them reasonably well in the past few months. 
21. In terms of the choice of issues, he had tried to  prioritise what he called gateway issues.  This 
was the concept that on key issues, one did not even  try to get to the hard politics of certain issues 
until one had clarified at a technical level certain issues that bore on them.  A good example of this was that one could not begin to negotiate a tiere d market access formula until one had found a way of 
putting non- ad valorem  tariffs onto an equivalent basis.  At the following week's meeting, another 
similar gateway issue would be take n up before moving on to other areas.  Negotiators had to define 
the base for the commitments, which was very political but which could not be negotiated by 
Ministers.  Further political guidance would be necessary at a later stage, but for now he was trying to 
achieve the right degree of preparation for a mo re intensive, overtly more political focus on 
agriculture then.  In this sense,  the process was working quite well.  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 5 
 
 
 22. As he had made clear to negotiators, his objec tive was a series of texts, not a comprehensive 
negotiating text or revised framework, but rather a series of papers bearing on the specific issues.  
How this might be put together in a consensus way was for later, and in his view, this was the essence 
of transparency.  At the end of th e process, the crucial issues that Heads of Delegations would have to 
report to their governments were what the outcome meant for their country, what commitments were 
they being asked to undertake, what advantages coul d they get from it, and for that, they needed a 
piece of paper.  That was the real guarantee of tran sparency.  Naturally, there was resistance to this 
because nobody wanted to be tied down to one part un til they could see the whole picture.  However, 
he believed that this was understood by ever ybody and that ways could be found around the 
understandable concerns. 
23. Overall, he would characterize the work as very positive.  The atmospherics had been 
excellent, and even those countries with the most obvious difficulties in moving forward on agriculture had been extremely help ful.  Nobody had resorted to procedural blocking devices in a 
disguised attempt to block substance and that was commendable.  However, as he had said earlier, one 
thing gave him pause.  While all of this was positive,  in half a year he was not sure that he could 
really say that negotiators had made dramatic forward progress building on the framework.  The 
reasons for this were not so much political as the te chnical complexity of the issues.  A large number 
of countries, even those countries with much  experience in negotiating agriculture, were 
understandably having great difficulty in taking positions on the mix of these technical issues.  The standard answer to this would be more technical co- operation, and that would ha ve its role to play, but 
he believed Heads of Delegations s hould advise their governments to be ready next year to intensify 
this negotiation.  Governments had to be ready to take some greater risks in allowing the negotiation 
to move forward on the basis of imperfect understanding,  because if the work continued at this pace, it 
would take a very long time to complete the modalities. 
24. That was his assessment.  It w as a positive assessment.  It was an assessment which indicated 
to the other negotiating groups the value of having  political level engagement and guidance and of 
keeping a good atmosphere and making sure everybod y's issues would be aired in due course and 
carrying forward steady progress. 
25. Ambassador Jara (Chile), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in 
Services  said that the last cluster of services mee tings for 2004 had taken place the previous week, 
and he would characterize it as a very good session.  First of all, three new initial offers had been 
presented, from El Salvador, Egypt and Malaysia.  Bearing in mind that Members were supposed to 
table their initial offers by 31 March 2003, 47 offers  had been received thus far, representing 71 
Members.  Excluding least-developed countries (LDC s) which were not required to make an initial 
offer, some 36 Members still owed an initial offer.  He believed that this number was still substantial 
and, in terms of their economic and political weight , some of the Members concerned were certainly 
very important.  This was a very serious problem  and as time went by, it became more and more 
serious.  It upset the balance in the negotiation a nd if it continued, it might seriously affect the 
negotiations, not only in services but also the overall  balance of a package.  Once again, he believed 
that it was his duty to encourage those who had not done so, to table their initial offers as soon as possible.  At a seminar on services for Arab countries he had recently attended in Beirut, he had been 
in touch with six Members which had not tabled an initial offer a nd had been encouraged by their 
positive reactions.  He would shortly be asking the TNC Chairman to cooperate with him in this 
regard. 
26. In terms of the quality of the offers, nothing had changed.  The quality of the offers that had 
been tabled was poor and in the July package Memb ers had been asked to improve their offers only 
by May 2005.  Before and during the last cluste r of meetings, some Members had expressed to him 
their deep sense of disappointment and dissatisfaction with the state of play in the services 
negotiations, and he believed this was a commonly shared perception. TN/C/M/15 
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 27. The question of whether the services negotiations were lagging behind was largely relative to 
other negotiating groups.  The ne gotiations were not lagging on procedures because, unlike other 
groups, modalities were in place, although they did not carry the same implication as for other groups.  However, on substance the negotiations were probabl y behind and there was a lot of catching up to 
do.  To improve on this, at least in the case of the basic modality for these negotiations which was 
request and offer, it should be taken into account that this was a slow and cumbersome process in 
which all governments, from all Members, faced the difficulty of coordinating the ministries and 
agencies that dealt with services.  In the light of these complexities, it was nece ssary to react early and 
to change the course of the work.  He was not a bout to push the panic button, but if there was no 
change, the services negotiations were heading toward s a crisis.  If by February 2005, when the next 
cluster would take place, Members did not have a more or less clear idea of where they wanted to be 
by the time of the Hong Kong Ministerial Confer ence, he believed the negotiations would be in 
trouble.  This would prevent negotiators from orga nizing their work in a way which would yield the 
kind of substantial results that everyone expected .  And this would not only affect the services 
negotiations, but might also affect other areas. 
28. From what Members had said to him, he believed that there was not only an awareness of the 
situation, but also a willingness to change gears and to look at new ways in which to approach these 
negotiations, not only through the requ est and offer process, but also in terms of sectors, modes of 
delivery and the rule-making process.  With regard to sectors, a number of informal groups had been 
meeting on a sectoral basis to promote their interests and presumably, at some point in time, they would want to bring to the negotiating table the results of their work to seek consensus.  In the area of 
modes of delivery, much work had been done on modes one and four, which were of particular 
interest to developing countries, but not exclusively.   In addition, there had been a call for more work 
to be done by the subsidiary bodies on rule ma king, as well as the need for them to meet more 
frequently.  This work covered the areas of subs idies, special safeguard mechanism, government 
procurement, domestic regulations and issu es concerning classification and scheduling. 
29. Overall, the situation did not look very good but he believed there was the commitment and 
political will to change gears and to do so early in the year so that the negotiations could deliver the 
needed results by the time of the Hong Kong Minist erial.  In February, there would be an extended 
cluster of three weeks, which would be held on an  exceptional basis to avoid having another cluster 
before June.  He believed this was also a sign from Members of their commitment to expedite the 
work.  Further meetings would take place in June and September.  The Special Session would then 
have to evaluate and assess and make the appropria te report to the TNC, the General Council and the 
Ministerial Conference for the appropriate political guidance.  This would depend very much on the 
way that the work was organized towards the Hong Kong Ministerial. 
30. The Chairman
 said he shared the concerns expressed by the Chairman of the Special Session 
of the Council for Trade in Services, and he urged Me mbers to reflect seriously on what he had said.  
He wished to underline the Chair's remark that that there was a lot of catching up to do.  He called 
upon the remaining 36 Members to fully participate in the Round. 
31. Ambassador Ahmad (Pakistan), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS , 
said that his written report had been circulated in  document TN/IP/11 and had been submitted on his 
own responsibility as Chairman.  With regard to the st atus of work in the Special Session, since the 
General Council's Decision of 1 August 2004, the Special Session had held two meetings, on 
23 September and on 30 November.  At  the meeting of 30 November and as he had suggested at the 
23 September meeting, delegations addressed va rious issues regarding the establishment of a 
multilateral system of notification and registration of  geographical indications for wines and spirits.  
In particular, they addressed questions relating to the notification phase of the system, and the three 
sets of issues that had been discussed at the Se ptember meeting.  These were:  legal effects and 
participation; administrative and other burdens;  and a number of issues of technical or procedural  TN/C/M/15 
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 nature relating to the operation of a notification and registration system.  Delegations had had a useful 
discussion of certain technical aspects, in particular the content and nature of notifications and the role 
of the administering body.  The Special Session had agreed that the Secretariat would update a background note on the Central Registry of Notifi cations (CRN) and that the CRN administrator 
would be invited to attend the next session to res pond to questions.  With regard to the outstanding 
issues, a range of issues required further work, incl uding, but not limited to, resolving the key issues 
of the legal effects of registrations and participation in the system.  Fi nally, with regard to meetings in 
2005, it had been agreed that the Special Session woul d hold meetings back to back with the meetings 
of the regular session of the TRIPS Council, on 11 March 2005, in the weeks starting 13 June and 24 October, and that an additional mee ting would be held on 16 September. 
32. Ambassador Valles Ga lmés (Uruguay), Chairman of  the Negotiating Group on Rules
, said the 
present meeting was the first time that he had reporte d to the TNC in his capacity as Chairman, and he 
wished to express his appreciation for the confidence Members had placed in him.  He would do his best to help the Round move forward.  Further to his written report, he wished to note that since his 
predecessor had last reported to the TNC in July, the Group had continued and indeed stepped up the 
pace of its work.  In the past five months, th e Group had held three meetings on anti-dumping and 
subsidies and countervailing measures, including fisheries subsidies, and the same number of 
meetings on regional trade agreemen ts, and another set of meetings was scheduled for the following 
week. 
33. Of course the number of meetings was not as im portant as the quality, and here again he was 
pleased with the developments.  In the area of  anti-dumping and subsidies, the Group had been 
conducting a detailed examination of informal elabor ated proposals of which 28 had been received to 
date.  The focus of most of these proposals had b een anti-dumping, and while other proposals would 
doubtless be submitted, many of the issues originally  identified had now been further explored.  The 
first phase of exploration was thus reaching its e nd.  The Group was perhaps not as far advanced in 
the area of subsidies disciplines generally, and fi sheries subsidies in particular, although progress had 
been made.  He was pleased to note that while the discussion in the meeting had been vigorous, the 
atmosphere had been excellent and he sensed a gene ral feeling of engagement on all sides.  He was 
also pleased to note that delegations had been maki ng extensive use of the opportunities for bilateral 
and plurilateral consultations.  The mutual unders tandings that these consultations fostered should 
help to make progress in the near future. 
34. In the area of regional trade agreements, the Group had continued to work mainly on 
transparency issues.  In addition, it had begun an ex amination of priority, systemic issues identified by 
some of the participants.  He agreed with the TN C Chairman that there w as no room for complacency, 
and he would not allow it in his group, but at th is stage, there was no need to over-criticize. 
35. Ambassador Spencer (Australia), Chairman of the Special Session of the Dispute Settlement 
Body , said he had circulated a brief, factual report on developments in the DSB Special Session since 
its last meeting.  While he could go into some de tail and give his personal perspectives on the future 
work of the Special Session, all its meetings ha d been open-ended, so Heads of Delegation would 
know exactly what had taken place.  He would simply  add that if a substantive outcome was to be 
achieved by the next Ministerial Conference, the level of engagement would need to be stepped up, to 
allow the work to move beyond what had been a very interesting, constructive exchange on some 
highly esoteric and legal issues but which had gi ven little sense of actual negotiated outcomes. 
36. Ambassador Ali (Bangladesh), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Environment , said his written report was contained in document TN/TE/10, and he wished to 
convey his general impression of the last mee ting that the Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session (CTESS) had held.  He would address the three parts of the mandate before his committee individually.  On paragraph 31(i), he was very encouraged that delegations had entered TN/C/M/15 
Page 8  
 
 into a phase of substantive discussions.  For some  time, several delegation s had been calling for 
national experiences to be shared with the CTESS.  The basic idea  was to share experiences on the 
manner in which coordination took  place between trade and environm ent officials at the national 
level.  He was pleased that, to date, the most subs tantive discussion on this issue had taken place at 
the last meeting.  Delegations had discussed the ways in which different governmental bodies 
contributed to policy formulation, the manner in which conflicting opinions were resolved, how 
different stakeholders were associated, and so on. 
37. Coordination at the national level could be key to preventing conflicts between MEA and 
WTO obligations that might arise at the internationa l level.  It was in light of this that he had 
encouraged delegations to continue submitting thei r national experiences to the CTESS.  The national 
experience sharing exercise might lead to a variety of different outcomes, which could not be 
prejudged at this stage, but it was important that th is exercise be held.  In parallel to the national 
experience sharing, some Members were discussing potential outcomes – looking at the principles that underlie the MEA-WTO relationshi p – which was enriching the debate. 
38. Many interesting comments had been also made at the last meeting on the linkages between 
paragraphs 31(i) and 31(ii) whic h was the second part of the mandat e.  A number of delegations had 
called for coordination at the intern ational level, between MEAs and the WTO, to be explored.  This 
drew a clear linkage to paragraph 31(ii).  Theref ore, he had encouraged delegations to explore 
potential synergies between the first and second part s of the mandate.  On environmental goods, 
which was in paragraph 31(iii) of the DDA, he was encouraged that national  lists of en vironmental 
goods were being submitted to the Committee.  He had called on delegations to continue submitting 
their lists of environmental goods, while explaining the methodology they used in constructing 
them.  He was conscious, however, that ultimately  these negotiations should feed into the broader 
NAMA negotiations, and that it was important that the CTESS pay attention to the overall direction and pace of work of the WTO on  market access for industrial goods. 
39. Ambassador Jóhannesson (Iceland), Chairman  of the Negotiating Group on Market Access
, 
said the non-agricultural market access (NAMA)  Group had met from 8-11 November and from 6-8 
December 2004.  On procedural matters, for both the November and December meetings, he had sent 
out detailed organizational faxes which proposed a number of issues for discussion.  Questions had 
accompanied these issues which had been intended to stimulate an exchange among delegations.  In 
suggesting topics for discussion, he had made it clea r that neither the issues nor the questions were 
exhaustive.  The reaction of delega tions had indicated that the faxes had been useful in enabling them 
to come to the meetings better prepared which stimulated more productive discussions.  It was his 
intention to continue with this practice. 
40. At the same time, he noted that both sessions  had had rather prolonged discussions on the 
organization of the Group's work.  While there had been a broad agreement that the Group needed to 
focus on technical issues in this phase of its work, there had been differences of opinion as to what 
those issues should be.  Some Members had prefer red to concentrate on technical issues pertaining 
only to the formula, while others had felt that discussions should cover the formula, flexibilities and 
sectorals and other elements.  These differences of  view on how the Group should proceed with its 
work had been made abundantly clear at the Group's November session. 
41. In light of that discussion and subsequent c onsultations, the only practical way of moving 
forward at that point had been to select a manag eable number of technical issues covering a broad 
spectrum of elements in the NAMA framework for th e Group to discuss during its next two meetings,  
i.e. the December 2004 and the 31 January to 4 Febr uary 2005 meeting.  Some concerns had been 
voiced at the December meeting regarding the pro posed structure of work, but delegations would 
agree that this approach of breaking the elements  in the NAMA framework up into more "manageable  TN/C/M/15 
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 bits" had worked and had served its purpose well.  This approach structured the discussions which 
allowed for a more focussed debate on different aspects of the framework. 
42. However, while these procedural discussions mi ght have been considered necessary, they 
tended to deviate the attention and effort of Me mbers from the substance of NAMA work.  This was 
all the more unfortunate given the fact that a number of delegations were already spreading 
themselves thin trying to cope with  the increased workload.  In this  connection, he assured delegations 
that every issue would be discussed, and this was lin ked to the equity in the process of which he was 
very conscious.  He said that if any delegation wished  more focus to be given to an issue, one way of 
ensuring that was to put forward a proposal or pape r on that subject to allow the Group to give that 
matter its priority attention. 
43. On substantive matters, one delegate had said that while Members had had some good 
meetings, there was not a sense of achievement and this had been echoed privately by others.  He 
thought that this was a function of what Members sat down to achieve.  He viewed the Group laying 
the groundwork for future intensive discussions wh ich needed to take place in order to finalize 
modalities.  This phase was not about having an ag reement or convergence on technical issues which 
many would agree was too early, although he would welcome convergence at this  stage.  Rather, it 
appeared to be the time to air viewpoints on the various technical issues, and he thought delegations 
had been successful in that respect. 
44. The discussions in both the November and Dece mber sessions had been productive and quite 
enlightening and it appeared to him that delegations  had entered into an exercise of clarifying and 
defining issues to convey a sharper picture of each  other's thinking and positions.  This was true 
particularly of the exchanges that had taken place in December.  Some of them might have been a 
repetition of the discussions which had taken place ear lier in the negotiations.  There was also a thin 
line which separated the technical issues from the mo re substantive political or policy issues.  He 
believed Members had made some progress in seeing more clearly the various perceptions surrounding various issues and hoped that the same would be achieved at the January 2005 session.  
The question remained what delegations  did after the January 2005 session. 
45. The Group would have to change its pace after th e January 2005 meeting and there might be a 
need to approach its future work in a more holistic  or aggregate manner.  The clarification exercise 
Members which were currently engaged in and whic h would be continuing initially in the new year 
should be used by them to prepare substantive inpu t in the shape of concrete proposals on modalities.  
There had been calls by some Members that the Group should focus only on the formula initially.  
However, from the discussions, he believed that su ch discussions would not progress very far without 
being accompanied by concrete proposals.  This was tr ue not only of the formula but all aspects of the 
modalities.  Proposals might not necessarily be new; th ey might even be a re-mixing of old ones, but 
one thing was clear – Members needed to have that  input in order to energize the process.  He hoped 
to start this kind of a discussion or negotiation by early spring 2005.  The challenge was to make the 
transition from the technical phase to real negotiations  early next year.  That was where the onus was 
on the Members – in particular to translate the cons tructive spirit that had prevailed in the discussions 
so far into real negotiations. 
46. Mr. Ismail (South Africa), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , said he would make an oral report on the work of the Special Session – a written report 
would be submitted to Members after the present me eting.  Since the July Decision, the Special 
Session had held two formal meetings on 28 Octo ber and on 7 December.  A number of informal 
meetings had also been held during this period.  These meetings had focused mainly on process and 
Members had been attempting to find an approach  that would take the work on S&D forward in 
accordance with the mandate contained in the July Decision. TN/C/M/15 
Page 10  
 
 47. At the formal meeting held on the 28
 October, Members had made a number of useful 
suggestions on the best way to proceed.  Members ha d been of the view that attempting to address the 
Agreement-specific proposals with the same approach as done in the past was unlikely to result in any 
significant progress.  There had been increasing support for the view that it would be more productive if the underlying issues that the proposals were s eeking to address be identified, and the proposals 
then discussed with a view to redrafting them and where necessary discussing these issues in cross-
cutting thematic clusters.  Members had also begun to support the view that the Agreement-specific 
issues be discussed in parallel with the cross-cutti ng thematic issues which Members had prioritized.  
These cross-cutting thematic issues included the need for a discussion on flexibilities in WTO rules 
together with work on the role and functioning of  a possible Monitoring Mechanism.  Secondly, a 
thematic group would focus on how to enhance tr ade-related capacity building and the question of 
building coherence in the implementation of th ese programmes,  i.e. coordination with other 
development agencies. 
48. He had also met with the Chairpersons of all the negotiating groups and bodies to which 
Members had referred the Category II Agreement-specific proposals.  They had shared perspectives 
and ideas on how to re-invigorate the consideration of these S&D treatment proposals in these various 
bodies.  He was pleased that the Chairman of th e Agriculture Special Session had taken a cue from 
this approach as had others.  He was also pleased to  report that the Chairpersons had pledged to co-
ordinate their efforts with that of the CTD Speci al Session to avoid overlapping meetings so as to 
facilitate maximum participa tion by smaller delegations. 
49. Members had been cautiously positive in these va rious discussions about the approach that he 
had suggested.  Understandably, they had a nu mber of concerns and had sought a number of 
clarifications on this approach.  A number of th em had also sought time to examine the suggested 
approach more carefully and to c onsult among themselves.  His intention, at least at this stage, was 
not to try and seek a consensus on every detail of the approach that he had put forward.  Instead, he 
wished to try and build a broad convergence on the appr oach that he had suggest ed so that delegations 
could take the work on S&D forward.  He intended to hold further consultations early in 2005 and 
would report the progress made at the next meeting of the TNC.  Finally, he wished to thank all 
Members for their co-operation, good spirit and ser iousness to which they contributed to the CTD 
Special Session during the past few months. 
50. Ambassador Noor (Malaysia), Chairman of  the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation
, said 
since its establishment by the TNC on 12 October,  the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation had 
held two formal meetings on 15 a nd 22-23 November.  Informal cons ultations had been conducted in 
preparation of those sessions in a variety of formats.  
51. At its first meeting, the Group had agreed on its  work plan and schedule of meetings, as called 
for in its mandate.  It had been decided to proceed  with work on the basis of Members' contributions 
and other input that the Negotiating Group might re quest.  Other relevant organizations would be 
invited to attend the Group's formal sessions on an ad  hoc basis.  It had been agreed to devote the 
second meeting of the Group on 22 and 23 November  largely to an educational and stocktaking 
process.  Presentations had been given by the Secretariat on the main legal framework under 
consideration and the WTO's engagement in the area  of technical assistance.  Delegations had further 
benefited from briefings by othe r relevant organizations (World  Customs Organization, UNCTAD 
and the World Bank) on the work they were doi ng on trade facilitation, and the programmes they 
were able to offer in support of developing a nd least-developed countries through capacity building 
and technical assistance in this area.  All those inputs had been well received and had added to the 
understanding of both the issues and options at stake.  
52. The meeting had also offered an opportunity for Members to present their views on the 
principles and objectives of these negotiations.  Refere nces had been made to the importance of S&D  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 11 
 
 
 treatment in this process, as well as of technical assistance and support for capacity building.  Several 
Members had stressed the need to work on the identification of Members' trade facilitation needs and 
priorities, with calls also being made for an analys is of possible cost implications.  Requests had been 
further made for the special problems of landl ocked countries to be taken into account.  All 
participants who had spoken agreed on the need  for advancing trade facilitation and pledged their 
commitment to the negotiating process, which was expected to bring benefits to all.  
53. The next formal meeting would be held on 7 and 9 February 2005.  He encouraged 
delegations to provide their written submissions and c ontributions in advance of this meeting.  Such 
contributions would allow to deepen and enlarge th e debate.  Overall, it was his belief that Members 
had made a good start to these negotiations, and he thanked all delegations for their cooperation and 
constructive attitude . 
54. The representative of the European Communities  said that it had been mentioned that the 
Chairpersons' written reports were factual, but his delegation believed that this was not the case with 
the report on the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Environment.  Paragraph 3 of this 
report was not a fair reflection of what had been said at the last meeting of that body, and for his delegation this was quite a fundamental issue.  It was simply not factually correct to report that:  
"several Members maintained that a discussi on on governance principles could not precede the 
identification of the problem which needed to be so lved".  In fact only one delegation and not several 
had taken that view and as many as seven delegatio ns had supported the EC's view that what these 
negotiations needed to do was to prevent conflicts of law.  Indeed, the fact that in the past no such 
conflicts between WTO and MEAs had occurred was not a guarantee at all that this would be no 
problem in the future. 
55. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the reports by the Chairpersons of the bodies 
established by it and of the statements made.  
 
3. Statements by participants 
56. The representative of the United States  said that when the TNC had last met, the discussion 
had been strongly coloured by general uncertainty.  There had been questions about the transitions in 
both the United States and Europe, and how they mi ght affect the negotiations.  In the United States 
the picture was much clearer now.  The United States  continued to be ambitious and aggressive in its 
approach to the DDA negotiations.  While it had its own domestic requirements in 2005, it saw no 
obstacles to progress.  This had been Ambassador Zoellick’s message at APEC the previous month, 
and in Europe and Africa during the present week.  He was focused on the importance of moving the 
DDA forward and building upon the good work that ha d been achieved in July.  The United States 
appreciated that the European Union had ma de similar signs of commitment to the DDA. 
57. Her delegation agreed with the Chairman that Me mbers would need to intensify their work in 
the new year.  The work to date had been useful  in laying the foundations for the tough issues that 
were ahead of Members.  Her delegation welcomed the reports of the Chairmen which reflected the 
hard work that was being done in all areas of th e negotiations.  Her delega tion noted the more positive 
atmosphere that the Services Chairman had cite d from the services cluster the previous week, 
including the additional offers, but it also noted and concurred with his assessment that more progress was required. 
58. Members needed to find a way to develop the overa ll agenda so that as decisions were taken, 
no negotiating area was left behind, which might mean  differences in terms of approaches and number 
of meetings, but they were looking for a bala nced result and that required across-the-board 
engagement.  It also meant that delegations in Gene va needed to consider carefully the timetable for TN/C/M/15 
Page 12  
 
 progress and how the next months were used to prepare the ground for Hong Kong and to maximize 
accomplishments for the Ministerial Conference. 
59. Domestically, the United States had intensified its consultations to ensure that the process was 
focused on the right questions, the right issues in terms of commercial importance and ensuring that 
there existed the right mix of ambition and flexibilit y in the work.  Now Memb ers needed to focus on 
the hard substantive questions in  all areas of the negotiations. 
60. Clearly, while Geneva would remain the locus of work, greater interaction with capitals, 
involving both senior officials and Ministers would ensu re progress.  The task in Geneva was to make 
sure that Members kept the negotiations focused so  that the potential for progress was maximised as 
events outside of Geneva took place – whether it was at APEC or the OECD the following year, or at 
the upcoming meetings of the G-20 in India, or the many other events that would bring Ministers 
together in regional or other configurations. 
61. There was no magic formula for success, so Me mbers would need to employ a variety of 
approaches and adapt these approach es as they went along.  As Members looked ahead, it would be 
important to explore what reasonable benchmarks a nd milestones could be used to ensure that the 
substantive issues moved ahead in negotiating areas , and adjust and accommodate concerns as the 
negotiations moved forward.  The United States was ready to do its part. 
62. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago
, on behalf of the ACP Group , said that given the 
current exceedingly delicate and technical stage in  the negotiations and without getting too involved 
in the details, the Group would like to provide a brief insight into its current thinking on the evolution 
of the process.  In the area of agriculture, the pr agmatic approach adopted by the Chairman of the 
Special Session in respect of the sequencing of i ssues for consideration had placed Members in good 
stead.  This had, to some extent, ensured that i ssues of importance to all Members would be given 
equal weight during the current technical phase.  Th e conduct of "first readings" of some elements, 
paralleling further technical work on others, had a llowed the Group to maintain a coherent focus and 
establish clearer cross-linkages. 
63. However, although the ACP was mindful of the fact that some measure of variable geometry 
might be needed to plough through sticking poin ts and achieve sustained progress, there was a 
creeping uneasiness within the Group in r espect of the so-called "Room F Process" .  Though it might 
be too early to raise an alarm, the ACP would like to flag the need for continued openness, 
transparency and inclusion, as well as its interest  in ensuring that the Group was allowed adequate, 
proportionate representation at meetings held in smal ler configurations, if and when they were held. 
64. The ACP Group appreciated the establishment of the Sub-Committee on Cotton, its terms of 
reference and its open-ended natu re.  The Group also welcomed the commitment to address cotton 
ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically within agriculture.  In addition to providing a political 
lever, as it were, it was equally essential that this Co mmittee arrived at tangible solutions to the trade 
and development dimensions of this important issue. 
65. On NAMA, following some tinkering at the firs t two meetings in October and November, it 
would seem as though the Chairman of the Negotiating Group had got it just about right.  His organizational  fax outlining a list of technical issues to be considered at the recently concluded 
December and forthcoming January-February meetings  had succeeded in stimulating deeper technical 
discussions, traversing a wide range of elements.  The ACP Group had also engaged in bilateral and 
plurilateral deliberations with its  major interlocutors, based on th e issues outlined by  the Chairman, 
which had been exceedingly useful.  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 13 
 
 
 66. This notwithstanding, as the work proceeded, there had to be recognition of the fact that from 
the perspective of ACP countries these negotiations should seek to deliver policy instruments, policy 
space, and targeted provisions which facilitated th e broadening of the narrow industrial base of the 
Group's Members, as well as safeguard the developm ent and upgrading processes being undertaken in 
some of its Member States. 
67. The foregoing would undoubtedly necessitate the operationalization of the principle of less 
than full reciprocity, as articulated in paragraph 16 of the Doha Mandate and c onsistent with Part IV 
as well as Article 36 of the GATT.  It was also essential that the complementarity between the principles of S&D and less than full reciprocity  be preserved.  In addition, the Group looked forward 
to the discussions in January of, inter alia, non-reciprocal preferences, the treatment of unbound tariff 
lines in relation to the formula, and the flexibility in paragraph 8 of Annex B of the July package, 
since these represented issues central to its Members. 
68. ACP countries continued to have a substantial in terest in the services negotiations.  This was 
particularly so since the services liberalization unde rtaken thus far invariably had not succeeded in 
redressing imbalances in supply-side capacity, effi ciency and competitiveness which existed among 
WTO Members.  The Group, however, would like to reiterate its willingness to engage more 
substantially in the process, and as such, highlighted the need for technical as sistance to ensure that 
ACP countries met the deadline for the submission of revised offers, as well as  the need for respect 
for the principle of progressive liberalization. 
69. The issue of the treatment accorded to LDCs wa s also germane to the ACP Group.  In this 
regard, it was essential that as th e modalities were developed, targeted measures were crafted to 
provide support for the diversification of the pr oduction and export base of LDCs.  Equally critical 
were the provision of broader duty-free and quota-free market access for all products originating from the LDCs, addressing their supply-side constraints, and reducing NTBs which affected their exports. 
70. The ACP continued to have an explicit interest in attaining an early harvest on the outstanding 
Agreement-specific S&D proposals, within the parame ters outlined in the Ministerial mandate.  Also 
central to the ACP was the need for S&D provisions to be of economic value, precise, effective and 
operational.  The incorporation of S&D treatment  into the architecture of WTO rules was also 
essential.  Furthermore, it was important that  appropriate solutions to the outstanding 
implementation-related issues and conc erns be found.  Accordingly, it might be necessary to devise 
a clearer road-map, with speci fic, time-bound objectives. 
71. It was also noteworthy that the Small Economies issue addressed in paragraph 35 of the Doha 
mandate represented another key area for many ACP countries.  Essentially, discussions in this area 
had been beset by the dichotomy of framing appr opriate responses to the particular trade-related 
problems faced by small economies without creatin g a new category.  However, the ACP urged 
Members to negotiate in favour of compromise so as to transform the various proposals on the table 
into concrete recommendations. 
72. With regard to the process, as delegations looke d towards the horizon of the Sixth Ministerial 
Meeting in Hong Kong, it might be necessary to co nstantly evaluate the progress being made.  As 
such, the Group favoured the idea of conducting st ocktaking exercises, within the established 
framework, as recently proposed by Australia in an  informal meeting.  However, for such an 
undertaking to be productive, the inventory
 should have substantively increased relative to that which 
was contained in the July package. 
73. Accordingly, he wished to underscore th e ACP's commitment to continue to engage 
positively and constructively with Members to ensure that the largely technical principles, elements 
and concepts with which they were presently grap pling were moulded into modalities in a timely TN/C/M/15 
Page 14  
 
 manner.  However, for this to be realistically achieved it was important for Members to view the 
cross-cutting issues highlighted by the ACP Group th rough the broad prism of development, and for 
there to be an understanding of the need, in so me instances, for the weaker and more vulnerable 
Members to be accorded flexibility to make contri butions in accordance with their ability to do so. 
74. The representative of Morocco
 said that 2004 had in general been a positive year but his 
delegation would have liked it to ha ve been even more productive.  Th e reason for this was that it had 
set high hopes on the July package, and this was probabl y also true of the majority of delegations.  His 
delegation had expected that, after July, the negotiati ons would be really re-launched in all areas.  
Unfortunately however, this had not been the case,  as could be seen from the Chairpersons' reports, 
which showed a number of blockages in some areas.   The political agreement reached in July had 
given hope that there would be a political leap forw ard and real negotiations, not just a re-reading of 
what had been agreed by Ministers. 
75. One example of this disappointment was in the area of NAMA, where his delegation did not 
fully understand why there were difficulties, despite  the efforts of the Chairman.  His delegation 
believed that the discussions should focus on modaliti es rather than being limited to a re-reading of 
Annex B.  The question of the formula should also be taken up, as this represented a major obstacle 
and there were no signs that it would be settled qui ckly.  His delegation hoped that, when the work 
restarted the following year, the Chairman would focus his efforts on this matter. 
76. On services, his delegation agreed with the concerns expressed by the Chairman.  Morocco's 
initial offer had been finalized at one point, but it was now under review in the light of its free trade 
agreement with the United States.  Morocco now hoped to submit it early the following year.  More 
technical assistance should be given to those Members which had yet to submit an offer, or the 
process would continue for too long.  Turning to trade facilitation, he said his delegation was pleased 
at the start of negotiations in this area.  The effo rts made by the Chairman had allowed the programme 
of work to be put into place and an educational process to start, aimed at a better understanding of 
trade facilitation, which would sure ly lead to progress being made. 
77. In that area of development issues, S&D was still an area where there were problems.  The 
Special Session Chairman had done his best to make progress on the Agreement-specific proposals, 
and had now started to take a cross-cutting appr oach.  Innovation was needed in this work, and 
delegations had be realistic and pragmatic and the proposals should be looked at again to see what 
was in fact realizable and what had to be set asid e, taking into consideration the differences between 
developed, developing and least-dev eloped countries.  The efforts to date had reached their limits and 
a new approach was now needed to unblock the s ituation or no progress would be made, and this 
would be harmful to the Doha Round, whic h was supposed to be a development round. 
78. Finally, his delegation hoped that 2005 would be a year in which true progress would be 
made.  2003 had been a year of failure, and 2004 a y ear in which the process was re-launched. 2005 
had to be the year of success on all fronts, otherwise the success of the Ministerial Conference would 
be under threat and no-one wanted to take that risk .  As the United States had said, the picture was 
now much clearer, and his delegation believed that the July Decision had put everything in place to 
permit progress to be made and the conclu sion of the Doha Round to be reached. 
79. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDC Group , said he wished to remind the 
Chairpersons that, although their meetings were open-ended, most LDC dele gations could not attend 
meetings all the time due to human resource constraints and therefore their reports to the TNC were 
useful and much appreciated.  The LDCs were gratifie d that the technical work appeared to be gaining 
momentum.  They saw the July p ackage as an intermediate step in  the negotiations only in selected 
areas.  In other areas not covered in the July pack age, work was to proceed as well.  Members of the 
LDC Group wished to contribute to the success of th e Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and it was  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 15 
 
 
 in their interest to do so.  They looked forward to  a constructive phase of engagement in each of the 
areas of interest to them, and in this regard, they would submit proposals for consideration and 
approval by Members. 
80. The LDCs looked forward to the usual understa nding and cooperation of both the developing 
countries and the developed-country  partners in the WTO.  They hoped that, in some areas, 
developed-country partners and de veloping countries that were able to do so would take some positive 
steps in favour of the LDCs.  The Group would br ing issues in some areas to the attention of 
Members, so that by working together with de termination, the LDCs would be effectively and 
positively integrated the multilateral trading system.  It  had not been the Group's intention to speak at 
the present meeting, but it was important to  keep the plight of the LDCs in mind. 
81. The Doha Round was about development and de velopment was about developing countries, 
especially the LDCs.  The issues which needed urgent  attention and which were clearly mentioned in 
the Doha Ministerial Declaration, included among others, technical assistance, capacity building, 
addressing supply-side constraints and S&D issues – on which agreement had not yet been reached.  
Other issues were preferences, the non-requirement  for LDCs to undertake commitments that they 
could not fulfil, the provision of duty-free and quota-free access for LDC exports to developed 
markets and those markets in developing countries th at were able to do so .  One further matter 
mentioned in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, but which was least talked ab out in the current work 
but which was stifling trade, was the problem of foreign debt which was ravaging the economies of 
most LDC countries.  This problem should be brought to the centre stage of the WTO's activities.  On cotton, the LDCs requested that the matter be vigorou sly pursued so that results could be achieved, as 
defined in the July package. 
82. The LDCs were grateful for the support which they had been given by both developed and 
developing countries.  Once all the issues that they had highlighted and other issues had been fully 
addressed and resolved, the LDCs would be true pa rtners making a useful contribution to the world 
trading system in the interests of interna tional peace and security in this one world. 
83. The representative of Norway
 said that the Chairpersons reports all highlighted that 
constructive work was underway to advance the negotiations, but at the same time there were 
differences in speed and advancement among the nego tiating groups.  It had been stated that the 
agriculture negotiations were more advanced than th e other groups, which might or might not be true, 
but being presently ahead did not mean that these negotiations would continue to be ahead next 
spring.  All Members should continue to work as hard as possible on both technical and substantive 
issues to keep up the momentum.  Norway, together with its friends in the G-10, was prepared to do 
its part to achieve a result that was true to  the mandate while safeguarding its interests. 
84. The negotiations on trade facilitation had just star ted, and as this issue formed a part of the 
Single Undertaking, there was a need to catch up with  the other areas.  His delegation was certain this 
could be done if all delegations put their hearts  and minds to it and presented negotiating proposals 
and texts next spring.  Trade facilitation held great promise for all Members, developing and 
developed countries alike.  The NAMA Negotiating Group had recently met and useful work had 
been done, but more remained.  Th ese negotiations should be easier than the agriculture negotiations, 
as it was primarily just one of the three pillars – th e market access pillar – that was being negotiated.  
Although the Negotiating Group had had a good discussi on of different elements included in the 
mandate, it was still far from convergence.  The ma in challenge was to balance the call for an 
ambitious result in NAMA with requests for flexibility.  These were integrated parts of an entity.  The 
more Members required flexibilities and exceptions, th e more ambitious the formula and other tariff 
reduction modalities would have to be, and vice versa. TN/C/M/15 
Page 16  
 
 85. There was also a need to take a closer look at non-tariff barriers and what Members expected 
from these negotiations within NAMA.  Some of these barriers should be dealt with in the trade 
facilitation negotiations and in ot her negotiating bodies such as the Rules Group.  Members also 
needed to have a clearer idea of what was expected  for the remaining barriers that had been identified 
in the NTB notifications.  Not all the identified barriers were such that they required negotiated 
changes to current agreements, but perhaps rather a more rigorous application of the obligations that 
were already there. 
86. Turning to services, he said that a lot of useful  work had been done, but there did not appear 
to be real advancement.  Since Norway shared the Services Chairman's concerns, it had submitted, 
together with a number of other delegations, a doc ument urging Members to revise their offers and 
commit to meaningful liberalization.  Many of th e offers submitted thus fa r were of poor quality and 
Norway was concerned that a number of key players had not tabled offers of a quality conducive to 
bringing the process forward.  There was no merit in using the progress in the negotiations in NAMA 
and agriculture as a justification for failing to ta ble a substantial offer on services.  Obviously the 
services negotiations were part of the Single Undert aking, and nothing was agreed until everything 
was agreed. 
87. The rules negotiations were important to th e overall balance in this Round.  A real 
modernization of the Anti-dumping Agreement that limited the "grey-zones" and took away possibilities for abuse so rampant today, was a sine qua non  for this Round.  Norway, as a member of 
the "Friends of Anti-dumping Negotiations" had presen ted a number of proposal s, and would continue 
to do so.  Together with its Friends it would ensu re that momentum was kept, that negotiating texts 
were on the table, and that parallelism a nd an ambitious outcome were achieved. 
88. The representative of the European Communities
 said his delegation agreed with the 
Chairman that Members should not lose sight of th e Round as a whole and that an overall balance was 
paramount in that context.  It also agreed that th e role of the TNC was to link together the different 
elements of the Single Undertaking and that there should be a meeting of the TNC early in the new 
year. 
89. Overall balance and progress across the board we re pre-conditions for a successful outcome 
of the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  When Pete r Mandelson had visited Gene va on his first working 
day, he had made it perfectly clear that for the EU the DDA was a first priority, that it should be 
concluded no later than in 2006 and that this coul d only be done if Hong Kong was a major staging 
post with ambitious results across the board.  Hi s delegation was pleased that the United States' 
engagement was similar.  Hong Kong was just around the corner, and if Members were to draw the 
right lessons from previous Ministerial Conferences, then most would agree that 90 per cent of the work would have to be done in Geneva and be concluded before the actual Ministerial Conference 
took place.  This implied that Members had to have  a pretty clear picture before the summer break. 
90. Ambitious results across the board require d some catching up in sectors other than 
agriculture, which, as the Special Session Chairman  had rightly said, had received very intense 
political guidance that had also been very conduciv e to the substantial technical work which was 
currently going on.  That had been less the cas e elsewhere and his delegation remained concerned 
about progress in NAMA and services, and the frank statements by the respective Chairmen showed 
the urgent need to switch to a much higher gear  in both sectors, although his delegation recognised 
that one of the difficulties was the lesser degree of  political guidance than in agriculture.  In moving 
into a higher gear, miracles could not be expected  from the Chairmen, who both continued to do a 
good job, for this had to come from the membership  and especially on services where it had to come 
from capitals because the process was different to th at in other areas.  Members should also not 
neglect other areas which had hardly been a substan tive part of the July fra mework, such as rules and  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 17 
 
 
 geographical indications.  There was an awareness th at these issues could not be back loaded due to 
their importance to many Members. 
91. His delegation agreed that the technical work  taking place currently was essential and that 
next Spring would be far too late for this.  These efforts were necessary, but it would also be 
necessary to move sooner rather than later from a technical mode into a negotiating mode and judging 
from past experience, this would not happen automati cally within the Geneva process.  Rather, fresh 
dynamics would be needed to make this tran sition happen, including some early Ministerial 
involvement.  His delegation agreed with the United States that there was no magic formula and that a 
variety of process tools were needed, such as mini-M inisterial meetings, smaller meetings, or regional 
groups.  This process had to be kick-started early ne xt year since just continuing with the technical 
work and taking stock of it in late spring would leave little time for ambitious results to be achieved in 
December. 
92. In conclusion, he said that delegations we re doing their work, but they should not be 
complacent about it.  The work should move pretty  soon from the technical mode into the negotiating 
mode and Members should use all process tools at Mi nisterial level in order to induce the necessary 
dynamics in the process. 
93. The representative of Chinese Taipei  expressed his delegation's appreciation for the enormous 
efforts the TNC Chairman and the Chairpersons of the negotiating bodies had made over the months 
since the July Decision to forge consensus among Me mbers and to ensure continued progress in the 
DDA negotiations.  His delegation agreed with the Chairman that the work  was back on track and 
moving forward.  The progress made on the techni cal aspects had been most encouraging, and his 
delegation hoped this new-found mo mentum could be sustained and would carry Members through to 
a successful Ministerial Conference in Decemb er 2005.  The DDA negotiations were a single 
undertaking and an overall balanced outcome in al l areas was vital to the adoption of the final 
package. 
94. The agriculture negotiations, which might be called the lynchpin issue, seemed to have 
changed gear and discussions on the technical issues had been making much smoother progress.  As 
far as NAMA was concerned, his delegation urged th at discussions on the technical matters continue.  
Once breakthroughs had been made in these two key areas, Members should then be able to advance 
to the discussion on substance. 
95. In the case of the services negotiations, the enormous potential for progressive market 
liberalization could not be overemphasized.  Recent developments had been ve ry constructive, and his 
delegation was particularly pleased that Members had signalled that they were prepared to engage in 
an extended services cluster next February.  However,  considering the relatively few initial offers that 
were currently on the table and the severe pressure to meet the deadline of May next year, Members 
should redouble their efforts to submit meaningful initial and revised offers as soon as possible.  On 
trade facilitation, Members had agreed on a work  programme, which was a good start, and his 
delegation looked forward to more active participat ion from Members so as to generate a successful 
outcome on this important topic. 
96. On the question of balance, his delegation fo und the new atmosphere of the discussions and 
the progress made thus far to be encouraging.  But Members would do well to remind themselves that before the next Ministerial Conference, there were  still many obstacles ahead to be overcome.  His 
delegation would not be surprised to see a few hi gh-level gatherings bei ng convened outside the 
WTO.  Past experience had shown that this kind of gathering could be quite useful in adding 
momentum to the Geneva-based negotiations.  Howeve r, his delegation wished to emphasize that, in 
the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness, it w as essential that any progress made on major issues 
was communicated to Members as soon as possible.  Fi nally, he wished to reiterate his delegation's TN/C/M/15 
Page 18  
 
 commitment to the lofty goals of the DDA negotia tions and to assure the Chairman that he could 
count on Chinese Taipei's full cooperation and active participation in the process. 
97. The representative of Singapore
 said he wished to start by highlighting some positive 
developments.  First, the post-July process had got of f to an encouraging start.  Delegations had begun 
a process of technical discussions in agriculture, whic h was the first step on the difficult road to 
modalities.  Second, on NAMA, delegations had al so begun technical discussions, even though they 
were traversing old ground, but a process of enga gement had begun.  Third, his delegation was 
encouraged by the smooth launching of the Trade Facilitation Negotiating Group. 
98. In summary, Members had made a good start since July, however his delegation was neither 
optimistic nor pessimistic.  As it would prefer to be  realistic, he wished to highlight five points for 
Members' collective reflection.  First, Member s had to recognize that they were still far from 
concluding the Round.  Hence the need for a subs tantive outcome at Hong Kong.  The more they 
achieved at Hong Kong, especially in the area of modalities for agriculture and NAMA, the better the 
chances of concluding the round in 2006. 
99. Second, there remained substantial differences that needed to be bridged, not only in 
agriculture and NAMA, but also in services, rule s and S&D issues.  Hence the need for political 
engagement through 2005 to complement the proce ss in Geneva.  Delegations had to engage their 
Ministers early so that they were not surprised at Hong Kong. 
100. Third, Members should not underestimate the di fficulty of some issues, for example in 
services.  There might be a sense that agricultu re and NAMA should fall into place before Members 
focused on services, but this issue was too complex to  deal with at the last minute.  Members would 
have to think hard about how to define the yards tick for success for services.  At the same time, they 
should not forget the technically complex services rules negotiations, which comprised the emergency 
safeguard mechanism, subsidies, government proc urement and domestic regulation.  The question 
was what were the outcomes Memb ers envisaged in this area, a nd this was where some political 
dialogue would be useful. 
101. Fourth, his delegation believed the rules negotiatio ns were essential for an overall package.  
In anti-dumping for example, Members should focu s on an achievable outcome in Hong Kong.  
Proponents would have to become realistic on what  could be done.  But equally those who faced 
political constraints needed to recognise that there had to be some outcome in this issue.  Finally, 
S&D and development.  These were crucial for any package and Members had to manage them 
politically.  Otherwise, these issues could de-ra il all the other elements of the package. 
102. Singapore believed that a good outcome in Hong Kong was doable.  Delegations needed to 
work hard, and, if necessary, engage their Ministers early and also make them work hard.  That could 
make the road to Hong Kong smoother. 
103. The representative of Hong Kong, China  said that, for obvious reasons, his delegation was 
acutely aware that the Sixth Ministerial Conference was only one year away.  The good atmosphere 
following agreement on the July package had carried  forward, and good progress had been seen in 
technical work across a broad front.  Nevertheless, mu ch remained to be done if delegations were to 
be able early next year to signal in advance to Ministers that there was scope for a substantial and 
balanced outcome at the Hong Kong Ministerial.  He wished to comment on only a few key areas, starting with development. 
104. Development concerns were an integral part of the DDA.  There was no question in the mind 
of his delegation that Members had to come to serio us conclusions in this area by Hong Kong.  His 
delegation did not doubt the sincerity  of all parties in searching for so lutions to the outstanding issues  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 19 
 
 
 in S&D and implementation, but neither did it unde r-estimate the difficulty involved.  Questions had 
been raised on the conceptual approach recently  proposed by the Chairman of the CTD Special 
Session to advance the work on S&D.  He wished to confess that his delegation also was not sure 
exactly how it would work.  Nevertheless, given th e mandate and the July 2005 deadline, it was happy 
to explore all possibilities that could facilitate the work.  These were not easy issues and his 
delegation would urge both open mi nds and hard thought by all de legations during the vacation. 
105. Turning to rules, he said that, as a small open economy, Hong Kong, China had always been 
vulnerable to external shocks.  Experience had show n that abusive use of trade remedies, especially 
anti-dumping measures, could easily nullify hard-won ma rket access gains.  Traditionally, therefore, 
Hong Kong, China placed great weight on the rules of international trade and by definition a balanced 
outcome at the Ministerial Conference had to include rules.  The Negotiating Group had had a lot of 
useful technical discussions on a wide variety of pr oposals in recent months.  His delegation believed 
that participants should now narrow the focus and begi n translating key proposals into draft texts.  By 
the same token, his delegation would be looking to  secure clearer rules relating to regional trade 
agreements, especially in enhancing transparency. 
106. The Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation had had a good start under the leadership of its 
Chairman.  His delegation welcomed the positive a nd constructive comments by various delegations.  
There was now solid ground on which to move fo rward, and his delegation believed there were 
significant benefits to be had here by all, but esp ecially developing countries.  It looked forward to 
more intensive work next year so that  they could be harvested in Hong Kong. 
107. While welcoming the increasing number of initial offers on services, his delegation lamented 
the overall quality of offers.  The same level of offers in other market access negotiations would be 
regarded as unacceptable.  If the respective Mini sters were to convince their respective business 
constituents that these negotiations were worth pursui ng, there should be a higher level of collective 
ambition.  As his delegation had said in the Special Session the previous week, participants needed to 
inject credibility to the process by injecting substance.   On services rules, he wished to reiterate that 
these were needed to ensure the effectiveness and certainty of market access commitments and that 
they had to march hand-in-hand with the mark et access negotiations towards the Ministerial 
Conference.  Hong Kong, China expected major trad ing partners to show more leadership in both 
their revised offers and their approach to the rules negotiations. 
108. In NAMA, the technical discussions, even if th ey had sometimes seemed circular, had been 
useful, not least in progressively revealing more clearly where the fault lines lay.  Urgent creative 
thought was needed on possible compromises and how  to pull the different elements together.  
Participants also needed to th ink about when and how to get political guidance on key issues in 
advance of the Ministerial Conference.  In agricultu re, the situation was similar.  Hong Kong, China 
was glad to see Members' active engagement in th e technical work, and the movement, bit by bit, 
towards text-based discussions.  Without arguing wh ich area of the work was more advanced, it was 
important to remain practical and steadily prepare the groundwork for the hard political decisions that 
would ultimately need to be taken. 
109. Paving the way towards a successful, substa ntial and balanced outcome in Hong Kong 
demanded that Members proceeded in an atmosphere of mutual trust.  That did not mean that work in all areas should, or indeed could, proceed at exactly the same pace.  It did mean that there had to be 
clear evidence of good faith and continuing high am bition in all areas, including exploring ideas 
without prejudice to positions but with genuinely  open minds.  In that spirit, his delegation 
wholeheartedly agreed with the Chairman's suggesti on that all delegations should use the vacation to 
reflect on what they wanted their Ministers to take  away from Hong Kong in twelve months' time, and 
how to focus and intensify the work in order to achieve that end before they got there. TN/C/M/15 
Page 20  
 
 110. The representative of Korea
 said that his delegation was pleased to hear from the reports by 
the Chairpersons of the negotiating bodies that subs tantive discussions were underway in most areas, 
even though they were of a technical nature in many cases.  His delegation hoped that, building on the current work, real progress would be achieved soon.  His delegation agreed fully with the Chairman 
that participants needed to wo rk harder, because there was not have much time left until the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Conference, while much work remain ed to be done.  The road to the July package 
had been really difficult, but as everyone was aware,  the work in the next stage would be even more 
complex and challenging.  It was a really tall order. 
111. His delegation would not attempt to assess pr ogress in negotiating groups since it had 
elaborated its views in the negotiating groups.  Ho wever, his delegation was concerned.  There was 
significant uneven progress between different areas of  the negotiations.  In particular, progress was 
slow in the negotiating groups on NAMA, servic es, rules and S&D issues.  Obviously it was 
imperative to make as much progress as possible in each  and every area, but it was critical to secure 
balance in the overall negotiations if a significant a nd substantial package was to be achieved at the 
Hong Kong Ministerial. 
112. In this light, his delegation shared the Chairman 's assessment that negotiators needed to move 
quickly from technical work to real negotiations.  Fo r that, an early stock taking exercise was needed, 
including setting the goals for the Hong Kong Minister ial and this should be done in the early months 
of next year.  Agreeing on ambitious goals at the right time was not an easy task.  It required proper political inputs and guidelines and therefore the involv ement of Ministers at an early stage and on 
various occasions was very important.  His delegation supported efforts to facilitate such involvement 
of Ministers.  Korea had high ambitions for the Hong Kong Ministerial, and his delegation would 
work with the Chairman and the other delegations to achieve that goal. 
113. The representative of Costa Rica
 said there had been clear signals of commitment to the 
Round from various Members, which was a cause fo r optimism, and the work following the July 
package had been intensive.  However, these two fact ors would have to be translated into concrete 
results in the future.  His delegation supported the Ch airman's intention that 2005 would be a year of 
progress.  As the Chairman had suggested, a process of collective reflection was a necessary step, and 
his delegation believed this should take place as early  as possible because it would give more impetus 
to the technical work in each of the negotiating areas. 
114. The first months of 2005 would be crucial to achieving true progress throughout the year.  It 
was necessary to move as soon as possible from the t echnical work to the give and take and bridge 
building which would make it possible for Member s to agree on modalities in NAMA and agriculture 
and to achieve real progress in other areas by the end of  next year.  This was not an easy task and if 
substantial progress was to be achieved by the Hong K ong Ministerial, then an enormous effort had to 
be made in Geneva.  However, political impetu s from capitals would also be necessary and his 
delegation agreed that the participation of senior officials or Ministers would be important, depending 
on the timing and circumstances. 
115. Costa Rica had given its full support to the launc hing of this Round, because it believed in the 
multilateral trading system and the value of these tr ade liberalization negotiations on the basis of the 
most favoured nation principle.  Trade opening on  a multilateral basis was a fundamental component 
of economic growth and developm ent, helping to fight poverty in Costa Rica and many other 
developing countries.  Therefore Costa Rica was committed to the enormous efforts which would 
have to be made in 2005 in order to make real  progress at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, 
which would in turn facilitate a successful outcome of the Round in the following year. 
116. The representative of Pakistan  said his delegation had been quite encouraged by the 
Chairpersons' reports and believed that, with th is kind of commitment, 2005 should be as productive  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 21 
 
 
 as 2004.  The Chairman's proposal to hold a TNC early the following year should put the work on the 
right track.  After the current technical phase of work , there was a need to change gear and move to a 
negotiating phase.  The TNC meeting in February woul d be the right moment to do that and to look at 
the overall picture.  His delegation believed that al l the necessary ingredients were there.  There was 
political commitment, and the Chairm an's feedback after meeting with  various Ministers showed that 
they wanted negotiators to move faster than at  present.  Pakistan welcomed the expressions of 
continued strong commitment in the statements by th e United States, the EC and others.  The fact that 
the new EU Commissioner had visited Geneva on hi s first day of office and had made clear his 
commitment to the DDA was an excellent sign. 
117. As far as the negotiating groups we re concerned, his delegation w as quite satisfied at the pace 
of work, especially in agriculture, NAMA and trade f acilitation.  It hoped that the pace would pick up 
in the negotiations on the DSU, TRIPS, services and S&D.  In the services negotiations, Pakistan was one of Members which had yet to submit an offer, but  it wished to give its offer the due attention with 
the aim of submitting a meaningful offer and hopefull y this would be soon.  On S&D, his delegation 
appreciated the renewed efforts of the Chairman and his involvement of other negotiating group 
Chairmen in this process.  On NAMA, most of  the issues revolved around finding an acceptable 
formula, and if the gap could be closed there, it would be easier to proceed on other issues.  In the 
rules negotiations, his delegation was looking for ambitious results.  The fact that 28 proposals had been submitted showed that there was a lot of intere st in this area, but his delegation was concerned 
that there had not been much movement in closi ng the gaps on these various proposals.  Similarly, 
more progress was needed on transparency in RTAs.  Pakistan fully shared the concerns expressed by 
others, in particular Singapore and Hong Kong, China, on the need for progress since the July 
Decision did not contain much in this area.  On tr ade facilitation, a good start had been made and the 
agreement on the work programme was a good signal .  This was one area where coherence among 
international organizations could be used to its fullest because there were many other international 
organizations and there was a lot of expertise and commitment in this area. 
118. Finally, his delegation would urge continue d movement in all areas, without holding 
negotiations in any one area hostage to other areas.  All issues were to be agreed as a single undertaking and any advancement in one area s hould not be resented but instead appreciated. 
119. The representative of Brazil
 said the present meeting, coming at the end of the year, was a 
good opportunity to review the progress made a nd to programme for next year.  From the 
Chairpersons' reports and the statements by other delegations, there was a sense that work was being 
done in every area of the DDA, that there was no slackening in any of the committees and that 
progress was being made.  Members should be pleased with this, and his delegation agreed with the 
Chairman that they should not be complacent and should move expeditiously.  However, it was clear 
that in certain areas this was more difficult than in others, which was due to the fact that the 
negotiations were shifting gear from the framewo rk document to a modalities phase, which required 
much more intense technical work.  In certain areas, such as agriculture, NAMA and services, these 
discussions were more complex than in others.  Whereas export subsidies had been eliminated 50 
years ago and domestic support well disciplined 40 years ago in NAMA, the same issues were still being tackled in agriculture.  So, in agriculture, it was not a question of dealing only with market 
access and barriers at the border, but also many issues th at had been solved in other areas.  In services, 
as the Special Session Chairman had said, beyond the important issue of rules, delegations were 
basically dealing with requests and offers so things were a bit more simple. 
120. Thus, when referring to parallelism, one should consider the difference in complexity and 
difficulty between agriculture and the other areas.  Brazil believed that the solution was to move 
expeditiously in all areas of th e negotiations, and to avoid trying to establish a sort of artificial 
parallelism between one area and the other.  Brazil was prepared to do that, and fully supported the TN/C/M/15 
Page 22  
 
 Chairman's suggestion for an early discussion about  what should be programmed for Hong Kong and 
beyond. 
121. While Brazil's views had been fully set out in  each in each of the negotiating bodies, he 
wished to comment on a few of areas of the negotiati ons.  First, on agriculture, the G-20 was certainly 
engaged and would demonstrate so again the following week in the Special Session.  It had been 
putting forward ideas, proposals and so on, and the statement the Group had made at the initial session 
of this phase of the work had clearly indicated not only its commitment, but also its view that, in any 
set of items in the organization of work, negotiato rs should keep the central issues in all the three 
pillars of the negotiation clear in their minds.  If the central issues were tackled, progress would be 
made.  In this regard, the G-20 was not only enga ged in putting forward its views in the Committee, 
but also in extensive work in terms of outreach to and discussions with other groups, in particular 
developing countries, so it could try to acknowledge ev eryone's concerns and have everyone on board.  
This was the only way to succeed in this sort of nego tiation.  In this context, the issue of cotton had 
been mentioned by several delegations, and this was an important issue and should not be forgotten as 
a specific issue in the negotiations. 
122. In the NAMA negotiations, and as he had said, th ere was a more limited set of problems.  It 
was true that the central issue of the negotiations was the question of the formula and this should be 
tackled.  However, while technical work would be need for that, it would be less extensive than in 
agriculture – the issue of ad valorem  equivalents, for example, which was a very complex issue, was 
less important in NAMA than in agriculture.  The fact remained that the guidelines for NAMA were 
different to a certain extent to the guidelines for ag riculture, with a preambular paragraph that kept 
certain issues open for discussion.  There would have  to be a procedural discussion, not as any kind of 
impediment to the negotiations, but rather because certain issues in that paragraph had not been 
solved at a political level.  His delegation agreed  with the Chairman of the Negotiating Group that 
everything should be discussed, and it was prepared to  do so.  One would then have to see what kind 
of answers could be found for some of the prob lems, and it would then be for those who defended 
certain modalities in these negotiations to present th eir views clearly so that these could be discussed 
and agreement reached on what should be done.  In  its statement, Norway had said that the more 
flexibility was sought, the more ambitious the ta riff reduction formula should be, and that was 
certainly a principle that Brazil defended in the ag riculture negotiations.  So Brazil hoped that Norway 
would apply the same principle to the agriculture negotiations. 
123. Another important area was the rules negotiations.  For Brazil, rules was clearly linked to 
NAMA, and those who wanted ambitious outcomes in NAMA should also be prepared to have 
ambitious outcomes in rules.  One could not deli nk the question of market access in industrial goods 
from the questions of anti-dumping and counterva iling duties.  This was central to Brazil's 
consideration of the level of ambition and it cl early saw these two topics linked together.  Brazil 
would like to see substantive progress in the rules negotiation by the time of Hong Kong, and this 
would be one of the elements in its assessment of the balance of these negotiations. 
124. The question of S&D and the general issue of development, as mentioned by many 
delegations, were central aspects of these negotiations  and clear progress had to be made by early next 
year.  The Chairman of the Special Session had in dicated the possibility of new approaches, and his 
delegation favoured that.  Both the cross-cutting issu es and the issue of coherence should be explored, 
but in any event significant and effective pr ogress was needed, not only in S&D but also in 
implementation, where delegations were relying on  the Director-General's efforts to see progress. 
125. In conclusion, he said that a meeting such as this one, where progress could be reviewed was 
useful.  From what had been said, his delegati on believed delegati ons should congratulate themselves 
because there was movement in all areas of the negotiations.  There were problems, but they were not 
impeding progress.  However, de legations should also focus on the future.  Both developed and  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 23 
 
 
 developing countries had a lot to gain from the conc lusion of this Round.  In the new year, Members 
should focus their attention on the conclusion of the Round, which required them to faithfully fulfil the promise in the Doha mandate in all areas of th e negotiation.  It was impor tant to conclude soon, 
but it was also important to conclude according to  the mandate that had been agreed in Doha. 
126. The current momentum should be built upon early next year.  There was room for Ministerial 
involvement and his delegation favoured that early next year as well as later on during the year.  In 
particular in this phase of the negotiations, m odalities were being discussed and these were very 
technical, and if there was no progress in Geneva, then the negotiations were going to fail.  The 
negotiations on modalities shoul d be done here in Gene va, and Ministers had a contribution to make.  
However, very technical and specific issues could be not transferred to Ministers, and Members had to 
rely on the negotiating bodies in Geneva to move things ahead and in parallel in all areas of the 
negotiations.  Although it agreed to defer the final agreement for later on, Brazil's goal was to reach 
full modalities by Hong Kong, both in NAMA and agricu lture, to have revised offers in services, to 
have a negotiating package outlining the rules nego tiation, to have a clear package on development 
issues and to have parallel progress in all areas of  the negotiations.  If that was done, then Members 
would be able perhaps to conclude these negotia tions by 2006, which was also a goal that Brazil 
shared. 
127. The representative of Switzerland
 said the present meeting should allow Members to assess 
the progress achieved in the negotiations since July and to give the necessary orientation and direction 
to the overall process.  Indeed, the TNC had a key role to play in two respects.  First, it should see to 
the balanced advancement of all issues under negotia tion.  Second, it should map the road to ensure a 
successful Ministerial Conference at the end of next year.  The optimal outcome for Hong Kong 
would be to agree on modalities for agriculture and NAMA, to achieve a critical mass of tangible market access commitments in services, to secure  an eventual substantial agreement on the other 
issues, notably on trade facilitation, rules, enviro nment and DSU.  Although achievable, this was an 
ambitious objective and time was unfortunately not on the side of Members.  As had already been 
underlined, the Ministerial Conference would take pl ace in just one year.  This meant that Members 
would have to redouble their effort s in all subjects under negotiation. 
128. Switzerland noted with satisfaction that Member s had resumed work in a constructive spirit 
on all subjects, even if this generally positive attitu de had not led to an equa l level of progress.  In 
some cases, substantive work had advanced at a good pace and important deci sions had been taken.  
For instance, Members had engaged seriously in t echnical discussions on agriculture.  They had 
circumscribed the issues and made their case in a structured fashion.  It was true that no major 
breakthroughs had taken place so far.  This had no t been expected.  But th e work undertaken had 
undoubtedly been extremely useful to prepare the ground for compromise solutions on issues that 
Members needed to resolve before striking the final deal.  If one considered that the frontier between 
so-called technical and political issues was some what blurred, these developments could not be 
understated.  They should ease an agreement on modaliti es.  In terms of process, the negotiations on 
agriculture were surely an example that other ne gotiating bodies should emulate if Members wanted a 
successful Ministerial in Hong Kong. 
129. Switzerland also welcomed the setting up of th e negotiating machinery on trade facilitation as 
well as the adoption of a work plan.  This was a first phase and Members now had to intensify their 
efforts to catch up with other negotiations and delv e directly into the legal and practical challenges 
raised by this issue.  The Negotiating Group on  NAMA was at a stage which should have been 
reached long ago.  Members were now getting to the h eart of the matter.  They should continue in this 
way and focus their work on the real issues which would shape the final results.  These issues were 
the formula, the sectoral initiatives, NTBs and fl exibility.  Members should now swiftly discuss the 
technical aspects of these issues to be able to st art real negotiations on the crucial issues as soon as TN/C/M/15 
Page 24  
 
 possible.  If they wanted to draw up modalities by the Hong Kong Conference, Members should 
definitely intensify their work on NAMA. 
130. Services was another critically important area.  It was in every Member's interest to 
participate actively in the negotiations.  A lot of additional work needed to be done to get an 
ambitious result, which would defin itely benefit the entire Membership .  Given the specificity of the 
GATS negotiations, the time left to come to a succe ssful outcome was short.  2005 would thus be an 
extremely important year for services, where negotiati ons in the area of market access, but also on 
rules, notably on domestic regulations, would have to  progress a great deal.  In light of the May 2005 
benchmark for revised offers, it was crucial for Memb ers to engage substantively in the request and 
offer process.  In this regard, the February services cluster would be very important.  It would be the 
last possibility for Members to prioritize and refine  their requests before the May benchmark.  To 
secure a high-quality outcome in May, it was also es sential to have a certain number of initial offers 
on the table.  Switzerland therefore urged Members who had not submitted their initial offers yet to do 
so expeditiously. 
131. As regards the DSU review, constructive work  had taken place since July.  Discussions on 
sequencing, post-retaliation and rema nd authority had been helpful and might be ripe for consensus.  
But Members needed more than this.  Improving thir d party rights and professionalization of the panel 
proceedings were also important issues which shoul d be addressed as a matter of priority.  Members 
should endeavour to complete this review in Au tumn 2005.  The Ministerial Conference in Hong 
Kong could be used to formally register a successful outcome. 
132. The negotiations on rules appeared to be the poor cousin of the Doha Agenda.  This was 
worrisome.  It was difficult to imagine that the overall outcome of the Round might not include 
substantial results on rules, especially on anti-dumping measures.  The technical phase had now run its course and Members should embark on real nego tiations.  Improving market access in agriculture 
and NAMA would not make much sense if such openi ngs could be nullified by abusive use of trade 
remedies. 
133. His delegation thanked the Chairman for his report on the consultations on geographical 
indications.  Their outcome was encouraging and his delegation was looking forward to engaging 
actively and constructively on this issue with a ll Members.  The mandate was clear, enabling the 
General Council to decide on appropriate action on "G I-extension" no later than July 2005.  On S&D, 
his delegation welcomed the Special Session Chairman 's informal suggestions for an approach to 
future work.  It would certainly stimulate the debate and help Members find mutually agreeable 
solutions. 
134. In conclusion, he said it was almost an understate ment to say that the task ahead of Members 
was enormous.  Reaching an optimal outcome in Hong Kong would not only require a lot a technical 
work but also, as already underlined, political impetus.   As well, the role of Chairpersons would be 
decisive.  Success also depended on their ability to  move the negotiations forward.  Progress would 
certainly be facilitated if Chairpersons enjoyed pr oper discretion in selecting the negotiating process 
they deemed most appropriate.  Of course, the coroll ary to such discretion was that they would also be 
liable for ensuring the full tran sparency of the negotiations. 
135. The representative of Japan
 said four and a half months had passed since Members had agreed 
on the July package.  At the technical discussions level, his delegation believed Members had 
managed to advance their discussions to the best extent  possible, thanks to the efforts of the respective 
Chairmen of the negotiating groups and of dele gations.  While some might comment that the 
negotiations were advancing more in one sector than in others, it was not constructive simply to pass 
judgment on which sector was advancing fast and which sector was not.  Needless to say, every sector needed steady progress.  Japan had been a strong advo cate of a broader package for the result of this  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 25 
 
 
 Round.  To obtain such result, Members needed to make steady progress, not only in agriculture, 
NAMA and services, but also in rules and other areas. 
136. Since the last TNC, some Members had had elec tions or re-shuffling of cabinets.  In that 
context, Japan was heartened to note that there was a rising sense of urgency among Members for the 
Doha Round negotiations.  The flip side of this co in was that Members had a high level of ambition 
for the Doha Round.  Japan very much welcomed this high level of ambition.  His delegation hoped 
that the present meeting would serve as an opportunity for all Members to share this sense of urgency.  
Building upon this sense of urgency, Members sh ould aim for their overarching goal – a successful 
conclusion of the Doha Round under a single undertak ing by the end of 2006 at the latest, if not 
earlier.  Delegations might recall that at the Gene ral Council meeting in July, Ministers had been so 
ambitious that they had even hinted at delivering something beyond modalities at the Sixth Ministerial 
Conference in Hong Kong.  Members should ma intain such a high level of ambition. 
137. The results to match such high ambition, however, did not descend from heaven.  Rather, in a 
down-to-earth manner, delegations had to carefully  and diligently plot their progress through various 
stages.  This required careful planning on how they  reached their goal, including planning when and 
on what issues they needed to seek political injection.  In preparing for any Ministerial Conference, 
they should work towards limiting the number of items  that they would ask the Ministers to decide, 
lest the Ministerial Conference became over-burde ned.  This applied equally to the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference.  In order for there to be a giant step at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, 
delegations had to make one thousa nd small steps before then.  At the present meeting, they had a 
much better idea of what those one thousand steps were than at the beginning of the Doha Round.  
Working backwards from December 2005, there was little  time to squander.  Delegations had to act 
now by engaging in discussions constructively and seri ously, so that their high ambitions led to real 
benefit to all Members of the WTO. 
138. His delegation thanked the Chairman for his analys is and for proposal he had made.  The July 
package had been a testimony to the effectiven ess of the Geneva process.  Building upon this 
confidence and to succeed in the Geneva process le ading up to the Hong Kong Ministerial, Members 
certainly needed collective reflection.  However, dele gations could not afford to spend a great deal of 
time discussing the abstract.  Rather, the discussion shoul d be geared towards concrete actions.  If this 
collective reflection was coupled with actions, his delegation could offer more support to the idea. 
139. The representative of Mexico  said his delegation shared the optimism expressed by many 
delegations regarding the progress achieved since the July package.  His delegation believed that 2004 
had been a very productive year for this organi zation.  His delegation welcomed the Chairman's 
suggestion for an exercise of collective reflection,  which would be an important complement to the 
negotiating process in Geneva.  It was extremely impo rtant to involve Ministers in the process and to 
keep them constantly informed on progress or any pr oblems identified at the technical level in order 
to facilitate the decision-making process.  However, de legations still had a great deal to do in Geneva.  
The July guidelines had given them precise elements  on which to move ahead in key areas of the 
negotiations, whether or not Ministers met.  Mexico  agreed that the results in Hong Kong had to be 
ambitious, but this depended on Members.  Members had to back up their level of ambition with the 
same level of commitment when it came to moving the negotiations forward at all levels. 
140. Turning to the negotiating group Chairman's reports, he said that the report by the Agriculture 
Chairman showed solid progress and identified are as requiring more work.  His delegation agreed 
with him that agriculture was a good example of what  could be achieved with political will, but would 
add that it was also due to his leadership.  On ser vices, it was unfortunate that there were so many 
requests and offers outstanding, but this was not th e fault of the Chairman of Special Session.  His 
delegation hoped that the next cluster would reflect a better level of commitment by all.  He wished to 
recall that Mexico had made an ambitious offer wi th substantive commitments.  Mexico hoped that TN/C/M/15 
Page 26  
 
 the quality of the initial offers or revised offers that  would be received in the next few months would 
maintain the level of commitment that it had shown.  In addition, his delega tion urged a strengthening 
and intensification of the technical  work, so as to have disciplines in the areas of domestic regulation 
and subsidies.  An absence of results there would imply a lack of balance in the services negotiations, 
as also in the Doha Round as a whole.  The Chairm an of these negotiations, as capable as he was, 
could not do the Members work for them.  In th e NAMA negotiations, it was important for work to 
start now on the formula.  This was the central co mponent of the negotiations in this area and would 
set the level of ambition. 
141. In S&D, his delegation recognized the efforts made by the Special Session Chairman to 
unblock the process.  Mexico was participating in th is negotiation with an open mind, but at the same 
time, it attached much importance to not altering th e existing delicate balance in S&D treatment.  In 
the recent meeting of the Special Session, his dele gation had stated that the informal suggestions 
made by the Chairman constituted an important co ntribution to the process.  However, it had also 
expressed certain reservations, in particular regard ing the conceptual approach, which contained the 
innovative element called situation flexibility.  N onetheless, his delegation wished to reiterate its 
willingness to continue its participation in the c onsultations that the Chairman would organize in 
order to comply with the mandate.  Other ar eas where further substantial progress was required 
included the negotiations on rules, in particular anti-dumping, and on dispute settlement, where as the 
Special Session Chairman had said, delegations need ed to end their discussions on an esoteric level 
and get down to negotiations.  His delegation' s remarks on this occasion did not reduce the 
importance of the other negotiating areas.  It had simply identified areas where it believed it was 
essential for the political-level decision-making proc ess to be more involved.   Geneva delegates 
should redouble their efforts to facilitate their s uperiors' task of giving them clear and precise 
instructions, as had been the case last July. 
142. The representative of Thailand
 said her delegation was encourag ed the negotiating groups had 
increased the pace of their work and were seriously  involved in technical discussions.  There was a 
responsibility to ensure that each group could keep pace with the others so that the outcome of the 
negotiations was balanced and ambitious.  Four months had elapsed sin ce the July package and 
delegations had embarked upon the technical issues  to lay down the ground work for substantive 
negotiations.  The technical issues were certainly complex, but within these complexities there were 
many elements that needed political involvement in order to move forward.  Indeed, important 
messages had been received from the political leve l that the multilateral trading system and a 
successful conclusion of the DDA were still the prio rity.  The APEC leaders in Chile, and the United 
States Trade Representative and European Commissi oner in Paris had recently expressed their strong 
desire and commitment to keep up the July momentum  with a view to achieving substantial results in 
the negotiations at the Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.  Members should take the best out of 
this good will. 
143. In this regard, it would be useful to hold th e next TNC meeting early next year so that 
Members could assess the progress on various issues and work together intensively, in particular on the highly complicated issues, as well as drawing up  a roadmap for the year.  In addition, Members 
could also identify elements where political guideline was needed to push the pr ocess forward.  This 
political engagement early in the year would therefor e help pave the way for setting the agenda of the 
Sixth Ministerial Conference. 
144. Her delegation would like to touch briefly on some  areas that might seem less advanced than 
the others.  In the services negotiations, market acc ess and rules were inseparable as the relationship 
between them was mutually reinforcing.  In this connection, in order to move negotiations forward, 
increased efforts should not only be made in the ar ea of market access but also in the rule-making 
aspect of the negotiations.  In the Negotiating Group  on Rules, her delegation hoped to see some 
eventual progress in this area next year so as to keep pace with the other areas of negotiations.  The  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 27 
 
 
 bilateral and plurilateral consulta tions encouraged by the Chairman of the Negotiating Group would 
not only enhance mutual understanding among Members, but also facilitate a shift to the next phase of 
negotiations where a draft text might be needed. 
145. On implementation issues, Members should not slip past another deadline which they had 
agreed to, namely to find appropriate action by July  2005.  On S&D, it was important to keep in mind 
the Doha mandate, which was to make existi ng S&D provisions more precise, effective and 
operational, and which should be strictly followed.  In this regard, any approach to find appropriate 
solutions to this issue should not undermine th e existing rights and obligations of developing 
countries.  In conclusion, her delegation stood read y to work constructively with the TNC Chairman 
and other delegations with a view to moving the negotiations forward and arriving at substantial 
outcomes in the Round by the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. 
146. The representative of Botswana  said the reports by the Ch airpersons of the respective 
negotiating bodies had been very enc ouraging.  Members collectively needed to take full advantage of 
the current positive negotiating atmosphere to pu sh the DDA negotiations significantly forward in 
order that the Hong Kong Ministerial Conferen ce could achieve a successful outcome.  Cancún was 
now history and Members needed to move ahead. 
147. His delegation fully endorsed the statements by Trinidad and Tobago on behalf of the ACP 
Group and by Zambia on behalf of the LDC Group.   These statements had fully and adequately 
articulated issues of interest to developing countri es.  From the Chairpersons' reports, it seemed a lot 
of groundwork had been covered, but Members had to be mindful th at, while a lot had been done, a 
lot more remained to be done.  The July packag e had the unique characteristic of having deferred a 
considerable number of issues, in particular the critic al ones, to a later stage of the negotiations.  This 
included the end date for phasing out trade-di storting subsidies in agriculture, modalities for 
designating special products and operationalizing th e safeguard mechanism.  There was a further 
difficulty in that the ambiguous wording of the July  Framework lent itself to diverse interpretation of 
what it intended exactly and how it was supposed to be put into practice. 
148. As his delegation had stated before, the Doha  Round should ensure that the liberalization 
process brought about tangible benefits, in particul ar to developing countries.  In this regard, 
agriculture was an area which should receive prioritiza tion.  This was an area of interest to many 
developing countries, especially those which were  single-commodity dependent.  His delegation 
would like the modalities to be development-friendly,  and would therefore continue to emphasize also 
the need for the negotiations to treat  S&D treatment as a priority area. 
149. There was also a need  to ensure that Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs), 
such as his, were not adversely affected by the r esults of the Round.  Similarly, issues such as 
preferences, Special Products, the Special Safeguard  Mechanism, and the situation of NFIDCs should 
be addressed effectively in the nego tiations.  One of the commitments in  the July package had been to 
substantially reduce trade-distorting domestic suppo rt and to phase out export subsidies by an end 
date to be negotiated.  Members needed to avoid the possibility of getting bogged down on 
negotiations for the end date. 
150. In NAMA, the less than full reciprocity princi ple that had been agreed in Doha was of 
paramount importance to his delega tion and developing countries in general.  Members needed to 
ensure that they searched for a fo rmula to eliminate tariffs as appropriate which took account of this 
principle.  Botswana was one of those countries th at had bound 96 per cent of its tariffs during the 
Uruguay Round.  It hoped and expected that these ne gotiations would therefore take into account such 
efforts already made by some developing countries when they were requested to apply the formula 
reduction approach.  In trade facilitation, his delega tion welcomed the start of work as reported by the 
Negotiating Group's Chairman and the work plan as ag reed to by the Membership in November.  His TN/C/M/15 
Page 28  
 
 delegation's only appeal in this regard was for the Chairman to ensure that the schedule of meetings 
took into account small delegations, whic h would otherwise be constrained. 
151. Lastly, on S&D, his delegation hoped the CTD Spec ial Session would be able to give to the 
General Council in July 2005 a report with clear recommendations as per the July package.  As everyone was aware, this area had suffered a numbe r of missed deadlines, and Members needed to 
make every effort to avoid a repetition of that situ ation in order that the Doha Round could become a 
true Development Round.  In conc lusion, he wished to assure the Chairman of his delegation's full 
support and cooperation in his efforts to steer the DDA negotiations to a successful and timely 
conclusion. 
152. The representative of Peru
 said that it was important to keep the positive momentum which 
had been generated following the July package.  The international stage on which the negotiations 
were taking place was now more clearly defined, and as the Chairman had said, Members had gained time and they should take advantage of it.  This  was why his delegation welcomed and supported the 
convening of a TNC meeting at the beginning of next year.  As part of this favourable situation, his 
delegation wished to highlight the meeting of Lead ers of APEC, of which Peru was a member, which 
had recently taken place in Santiago, Chile.  At this  meeting, 21 leaders of one of the most dynamic 
regions of the world in economic and trade terms had expressed their strong political support for the 
multilateral trading system and for the need to reach  substantive and balanced results in all areas of 
the negotiations at the Sixth Ministerial Conference. 
153. His delegation believed a number of factors and variables should be taken into consideration 
in the lead-up to Hong Kong.  Taking into account  the numerous and complex issues in the different 
negotiating areas, Members would have to agree on the specific objectives of the Ministerial 
Conference.  In this context, Peru believed that, for Hong Kong, it was indispensable to have, at the 
minimum, agreement on modalities in agriculture and NAMA, substantially improved offers in 
services as well as substantive progress in the negotia tions relating to domestic  regulation, subsidies 
and classification, and more progress in rules, particularly on fisheries subsidies and RTAs. 
154. In attaining these objectives, Members had to ta ke into account the Doha mandate which had 
established that S&D should form an integral part of the market access and rules negotiations.  S&D 
had an important component relating to the questi on of flexibility, or even different levels of 
commitment in line with the particular needs and sensitivities of developing countries.  But this was 
only one facet of S&D.  Another fundamental face t was its offensive focus, which implied that 
developed countries should give special considerati on to requests for market  access for agricultural 
goods, such as tropical products and substitutes fo r illicit drugs, for non-agricultural goods and for 
sectors and modes of supply in services trade of par ticular interest to developing countries, such as 
mode 4.  Both facets had to be present for the Round to be really a Development Round. 
155. The majority of the technical work should take  place in Geneva, leaving only a small number 
of the most difficult issues for consideration at the Ministerial Conference to avoid previous 
experiences.  His delegation agreed with others th at it would be necessary to have greater involvement 
in the pre-Hong Kong period of Ministers and senio r officials to unblock complex technical aspects 
through political inputs. 
156. Another issue of considerable importance for hi s delegation was the question of transparency 
and the inclusion of all Members in all phases of negotiations.  These two elements were vital to 
guarantee not only the efficiency of the negotiations but also the legitimacy of decisions which were 
adopted.  In this regard, his delega tion believed that the representation of all interests in play should 
be guaranteed in particular in the final stages  of the negotiations known as green rooms.  His 
delegation also believed that everything possible s hould be done to ensure that the various processes 
which would take place next year, particularly the selection of the next Director-General and  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 29 
 
 
 discussions on the Sutherland Report, did not affect the negotiations nor distract the attention and 
efforts of Members which should be concentrated  on the key aspects of the negotiations he had 
already mentioned. 
157. Turning to a number of specific negotiating ar eas, he said that the reports on agriculture, 
NAMA and trade facilitation had been clear – it was essential to reinforce the work at the technical 
level in order to make progress.  On services, his delegation shared the sense of urgency and concern 
created by the fact that a number of Members ha d not presented initial offers.  However, although 
market access was a very important aspect of the services negotiations, it was not the only area of importance for many countries, including Peru.  An improvement in market access offers should then 
generate substantive progress in the rule-making asp ects of these negotiations, including classification 
and domestic regulation.  The rules phase to be un dertaken after July, following the submission of 
improved offers, should be used to conduct an ov erall evaluation of the way in which sectors and 
modes of interest to developing countries had been in corporated into the offers, in particular those 
from developed countries, in accordance with para graph 15 of the guidelines for the negotiations. 
158.  Finally, on S&D, his delegation recognized the efforts made by the Special Session 
Chairman.  His delegation wished to underline the im portance it attached to th e need to respect fully 
the Doha Mandate and the July Decision and to the priority to be accorded to proposals on existing 
Agreements.  With regard to the issues of flexib ility and a situational approach, in recent informal 
discussions Peru had expressed a number of concer ns, and would urge a cautious approach, while 
maintaining priority on Ag reement-specific proposals. 
159. The representative of Chile
 said everyone was aware that a formidable task was ahead, 
namely to produce very substantive results fo r the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  Chile 
expected that such results would bring the work very close to the conclusion of the negotiations, 
which meant that it also expected, like others, that modalities on agriculture and NAMA would be 
established by Hong Kong.  That was a huge task.  Howe ver, if it was to be done and if the work was 
to proceed in a balanced way, substantial results  would also have to be achieved across all the 
different negotiating areas, including in crucial areas such as anti-dumping.  Like Brazil, Chile 
believed that this latter area was closely linked to the NAMA negotiations.  Chile also expected 
substantial progress on fisheries subsidies and a clear  vision of the outline of an agreement on trade 
facilitation.  In the work on anti-dumping, the tec hnical analysis phase was sl owly concluding and as 
time went by, the work would evolve into what hi s delegation regarded as the core phase of the 
negotiations which would be based, lik e any negotiation, on texts.  In this case, it was important that 
over the next weeks, negotiators start preparing those texts and developing their priorities in these 
negotiations. 
160. As the Chairman had mentioned, there had recently been encouraging messages from some 
Members on the need for a sense of urgency, whic h had led to a new dynamism and a renewed sense 
of commitment.  Peru had referred to the recen t APEC meeting in Santiago, Chile, and both the 
Ministers and the Economic Leaders present there had highlighted the need to maintain the 
momentum that had developed with the July package and renewed their commitment to the 
negotiations and the priority they attached to them.  The relevant statements from this meeting would 
shortly be circulated to Members.1 
161. His delegation agreed with the Chairman that, early in 2005, negotiators should take 
advantage of the momentum and proceed with a se nse of urgency.  A change of pace would be 
necessary in several areas of the negotiations.  At ev ery turn, delegations needed a global view of the 
negotiations and in that respect the TNC played a un ique and crucial role.  In the new year, to allow 
Members to look at Hong Kong in a balanced way, his delegation would suggest that the Chairman 
                                                      
1 Subsequently circulated  in document WT/L/599. TN/C/M/15 
Page 30  
 
 produce perhaps an informal document, on the basis of the Chairpersons' reports and discussion at the 
present meeting.  This would help Members have not only a broad overall view of the state of play in 
the negotiations, but also to see where more work was needed, and to help them to organize better 
their work. 
162. The representative of Colombia
 said the present meeting was important, coming one year 
before the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  The reports by the Chairman and the other 
Chairpersons' showed the burden of work ahead, and Colombia was ready to contribute towards a 
successful outcome.  Her delegation was pleased that during the year to come there would be progressive evaluations of the state of play in the process, and a high-level collective reflection in the 
Spring, as suggested by the Chairman , would guarantee results at the end of the year.  This would be 
just the right timing.  Such an evaluation would be an opportunity to identify problems, review the 
work programme, judge the balance in the pro cess and look at how the DDA matched the Doha 
mandate, as well as to define the n ecessary adjustments to the process. 
163. This was the Development Round.  Thus far, it had been very difficult to take any action to 
put into effect the development dimension in the multilateral trading system.  Her delegation 
understood that development issues concerned all Memb ers and that there was a wide diversity in the 
concerns of developing countries, touching on all th e areas involved in the process.  In the discussions 
on development in different areas, Colombia had ob served that many aspects related to S&D and the 
contribution of S&D to development were part of the negotiations on im plementation, which was 
where progress should be sought.  Colombia believed that it would be beneficial to the process to attempt to find multilateral solutions to some of  the proposals made in order to facilitate the 
implementation of commitments and avoid contr oversial situations.  Colombia hoped to see 
modalities in NAMA and agriculture for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, and on services, it 
supported the remarks made by the Special Session Chairman. 
164. The representative of India
 said his delegation shared the broadly positive assessment of the 
work post July which had been evident in the di scussion at the present meeting.  The negotiating 
groups had met regularly and had seen all round cons tructive engagement.  India remained optimistic 
at the prospect of progress, though it shared the con cern expressed by the Chairman of the Services 
Special Session, echoed by the TNC Chairman, on the status of the ne gotiations in that area.  Other 
than the core areas of the market access negotia tions, progress on implementation and development 
issues remained very important to a large section of  the membership.  In that context, his delegation 
took note with appreciation of the Chairman's conti nued efforts, and those of his Friends, to achieve 
forward movement on implementation issues so as to meet the time lines prescribed in the July 
framework.  India welcomed the revival of the pro cess and urged constructive engagement on the part 
of all. 
165. The representative of Benin  said his delegation associated itself with the statements by 
Zambia on behalf of the LDC Group and by Trinid ad and Tobago and on behalf of the ACP Group.  
Benin was pleased at the establishment of the Sub-Committee on Cotton on 19 November.  It hoped 
that the collective commitment that Members had taken within the July framework on issues relating 
to cotton would come to fruition and that the work  in the Sub-Committee would be carried on with the 
same dynamism and sense of coopera tion which had prevailed in the consultations on the mandate of 
the Sub-Committee, as well as at the adoption of th e mandate in the Agriculture Special Session on 
19 November. 
166. The representative of China  said his delegation fully supported the Chairman's proposal to 
start the process next year as early as possible.  In  spite of the political constraints, Members had 
managed to make use of the time since the July package reasonably well.  The technical discussions 
on agriculture, NAMA and other sectors were on the ri ght track.  However, it appeared that Members 
would be facing some very challenging tasks fro m early next year for further progress in the  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 31 
 
 
 negotiations.  While the July package provided a good basis for the future work, all Members 
recognized the enormous amount of work ahead when they would discuss all the technical details of the issues.  In order to fulfil the task of achie ving some kind of breakthrough before the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference next year and trying to co mplete the round in the following year, all Members 
had to redouble their efforts to accelerate the proce ss and, above all, a demonstration of political will 
was needed from all Members for an ambitious result. 
167. On agriculture, his delegation supported the stat ement by Brazil.  China believed agriculture 
was right at the centre of this Round.  While it was true that the technical discussions were doing well, 
it was also true that the Special Session had a str ong Chairman and the discussions were handled in an 
orderly manner, yet his delegation did not believe th at it was proper to try to shift emphasis to other 
sectors if one considered the extremely complicated nature of this sector and the enormous amount of 
work ahead.  In addition, Members would have to spend a lot of time and energy to handle the cotton 
issue.  The right approach was probably to keep th e momentum of the agricultural negotiations and at 
the same time try to accelerate negotiations in othe r sectors in order to achieve progress in a balanced 
way. 
168. On NAMA, his delegation appreciated the diligen t work of the Chairman and the Members.  
It believed it was important to concentrate efforts on finding the right formula to be accepted by all Members, but at the same time delegations should also work on other elements of the modalities.  
This was obviously a very challenging task.  In orde r to build consensus in a relatively short time, 
Members could also consider the possibility of some  kind of improvement on the basis of the Girard 
formula through some clarifications and removal of the some of the ambiguities.  A single formula 
might not be able to address the concerns of all Members, but a formula was definitely needed and 
some concessions made here could possibly be co mpensated in other sectors.  Another important 
point in these negotiations was the principle of less  than full reciprocity for developing Members.  
Any successful NAMA modalities had to deal with this issue properly. 
169. On services, his delegation fully appreciated th e reason why the Chairman might be about to 
push the panic button.  It was true that 2005 was goi ng to be the year of heavy lifting for services.  
Members faced the deadline of May 2005 for improved offers and China hoped that further 
liberalization of services trade could be achieved th rough this Round, particularly in mode 4 which 
was of great export interest to the developing Memb ers.  Further efforts also had to be made on the 
rules aspects of these negotiations. 
170. On trade facilitation, a good start had been ma de under the leadership of the Negotiating 
Group's Chairman with an agreed work programme and a training workshop in cooperation with some 
other international organizations.  China hoped th ere would be great progress in the negotiations 
which would help improve the environment of tr ade and bring benefit to all Members.  S&D 
treatment and financial and technical assistance to developing Members were of great importance for 
reaching agreement on this issue.  Last but not least, the issue of development.  Members also had 
some important deadlines to be met in this field.  They would have to spend enough time and energy 
to address the issues of S&D and implementation.  It should always be borne in mind that S&D 
treatment for developing Members was an integr al part of the negotiations in all sectors. 
171. In conclusion, he said China fully supported the Chairman's proposal that all Members should 
play a more constructive and positive role and make gr eater efforts for the suc cess of this Round.  In 
order to involve Ministers for their political guidance in the process as soon as possible, some kind of 
mini-Ministerial meetings might be needed at some  time next year.  All the technical preparations 
were necessary for such mini-Ministerials in orde r to produce added value for the whole process.  At 
the same time, the principle of inclusiveness an d transparency should not be ignored.  How to 
combine small group meetings with open-ended meeti ngs in a balanced way was a challenge to all the 
Chairpersons of the negotiating groups.  Finally, he wished to reiterate China's determination to work TN/C/M/15 
Page 32  
 
 closely and constructively with the Chairman and all other Members for the final success of this 
Round. 
172. The representative of Indonesia
 said his delegation considered 2004 as a good year for the 
WTO – after the ordeal in Cancún, Members had been able to resuscitate the DDA.  The present 
meeting showed the hard work that Members had put in to attain the success of the DDA.  Their target 
for 2005 was clear – to conclude the DDA negotiations by the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  
There was no doubt that this was a huge task but I ndonesia truly believed it was a target that Members 
could achieve. 
173. Turning to substance, he said that progress afte r the July framework had been mixed.  There 
had been a relatively constructive and good pace of wo rk in agriculture, but this had not been the case 
for other issues.  In 2005, Members needed to ensure  that progress was achieved equally on all issues.  
This, however, did not mean that the pace of work in  agriculture should be reduced, but rather that the 
pace in all the other issues should be increased.  Hi s delegation wished to emphasize that, in working 
towards the target, process was just as important as s ubstance at this stage of the negotiations.  It was 
vital that all Members had confidence in the pro cess.  His delegation recognized that there was no 
single process that would make all Members happy, but it believed a good process was one that could 
bring end results.  The July process had brought e nd results, but this did not mean that Members 
should simply duplicate it in order to meet their Hong Kong Ministerial target.  There was room to continue to increase transparency and inclusiveness, and his delegation hope that in 2005 the process 
would continue to be more transparent and inclusive. 
174. Finally, in approaching the Hong Kong Minister ial Conference, the mistakes of the past 
should not be repeated where a particular text  was put on the table without the support of the 
Members.  In this connection, his delegation shared  the view of Brazil that senior officials should be 
involved in the Geneva process.  This could he lp to ensure that any text for the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference received the widest suppor t in Geneva before it was transmitted to the 
Conference. 
175. The representative of Malaysia
 said that, in the area of services, his delegation wished to 
emphasize that there had to be a balance between  progress in the area of market access and in rule-
making.  His delegation was particularly keen to see progress on work in the area of the emergency safeguard mechanism, because services was a new sector for Malaysia and therefore it knew very little about its intricacies.  On the other hand, it was becoming important and therefore the consequences of any mishap in terms of liberaliza tion of its services sector would be major.  Turning 
to S&D, like Thailand, his delegation urged Member s to stick to the basic mandate in the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration, which was making S&D provi sions more precise, eff ective and operational.  
This was already a major task and was difficult, and going beyond that would make it unnecessarily complicated and in fact would have the potential of undermining the result of the whole Round. 
176. The Chairman
 said that, since this was the last TNC meeting for the year, he suggested that 
delegations reflect upon what they had done in 2004.  If one thought back to the first few meetings at 
the beginning of the year, one would remember f acing some difficult situations, not only because of 
the wounds from Cancún, but also because of some pot ential political changes that had threatened to 
make this year a difficult one.  Some had even sai d a lost year.  It was encouraging that these 
difficulties had been overcome, and Members had do ne so because they ha d committed themselves to 
succeed.  Although he agreed that there was no ma gic formula, the commitment to succeed and the 
belief that failure was not an option were th e true elements of the success this year. 
177. In his opinion, 2005 should be a better year because Members could build on the July result 
and because he believed that the economic health  of the global economy would continue to be  TN/C/M/15 
 Page 33 
 
 
 favourable.  There would thus be no excuse for Memb ers not to make the resolution that they would 
achieve much more in 2005 than they had done in 2004. 
178. He believed that one clear message which ha d come out of the present meeting was that, 
despite all the positive atmospherics that had been  seen in the negotiations since July, Members 
should not even think of being complacent.  Alt hough this was not the time to sound the alarm, he 
believed it was useful at the present meeting for Memb ers to alert themselves to the monumental tasks 
that would confront them throughout 2005, if they  were to have a successful Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference. 
179. He wished to draw out the six elements that had emerged from the discussion and his 
introductory statement, so that they could ser ve as the basis for the further work in 2005. 
180. First, it had been said in different ways by delegations and by the Chairpersons of the 
negotiating groups that the work in the new year shou ld be intensified as early as possible.  Of course, 
January would probably be a busy month, so early February would be when he would expect all 
delegations to engage in the wide range  of work that awaited them for 2005. 
181. The second point was that he hoped that with th e collective reflection as early as possible in 
2005, Members would have the opportunity to gain  an early understanding of their objectives for 
2005, looking forward to the Hong Kong Ministerial a nd beyond.  This was the TNC's duty – to take a 
holistic look at the Round.  Even though they had not yet set their sights on any potential date for conclusion of the round, it was incumbent upon Members to look beyond 2005. 
182. A third key point made by many was the involvement of Ministers.  He would do his best in 
this respect and he would need the co-operation of Members, so that there could be political 
involvement from the capital and from the Ministers.  He would use every opportunity, be it in the 
form of informal mini-Ministerials or the different regional meetings that involved Ministers, to bring 
the work in Geneva to the attention of Ministers.  At the same time, one had to remember that the 
basic work would need to be performed here in Ge neva, but it did need to be accompanied by political 
input and guidance. 
183. The fourth point he had heard several times in  the present meeting was the need for balanced 
results.  Several delegations had mentioned linkages, such as between  Market Access and Rules, so 
the network of linkages between the different issues was well recognized. 
184. The fifth point was that, if Members wanted to avoid building castles in the air for Hong 
Kong, and he was sure no-one would like to do that, they needed to be realistic.  In order to do so, 
they needed to finalize 80 to 90 per cent of their work before Hong Kong, which meant they needed a 
work programme that could meet this expectation. 
185. And the last point, which followed on from the fift h point, was that in order to achieve their 
objectives, Members had to try to replicate the work that they had done in 2004, which meant 
achieving some serious results before the summer r ecess.  They could not hope to wrap up all the 
issues after the summer break, just before they went to Hong Kong. 
186. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the statements. 
187. In closing the meeting, the Chairman  said the next meeting of the TNC would take place on 
14 February 2005. 
__________