. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/CFMC/W/50 
20 June 2011 
 (11-3036) 
 Original:   French 
  
 
DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK 
MECHANISM ON COTTON 
 
Communication from Burkina Faso 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 15 June 2011,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Burkina Faso.  
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COMMENTS ON THE TENTH VERSION OF 
THE EVOLVING TABLE 
 
 
1. At the 13
th and 14th Rounds of Consultations organized by the WTO Director-General in June 
and December 2010, Burkina Faso made the following comments, which it reiterates: 
(a) Burkina Faso has noted an upward trend in the support provided by multilateral and 
bilateral donors to the African cotton sector.  It appreciates the efforts of the donor community in this respect. 
(b) The 2010 version of the evolving table, lik e those of 2006 and 2007, is presented in 
the form of a listing of programmes and pr ojects and does not provide information on 
their impacts in terms of cotton sector development. 
(c) The table appears to be essentially designed to highlight the financial value of the 
programmes, projects and activities initiated by donors, summarizing their financial 
value for each of the C4 countries.  It  also contains programmes, projects and 
activities for which the beneficiaries are eith er countries mentioned by name, or all of 
the African countries, or African cotton-exporting countries, or member countries of economic organizations, or inte rnational organizations, etc.  This raises the problem 
of how to break down the values among countries in the case of programmes, projects and activities intended to be implemented in several beneficiary countries.  Indeed, 
regional projects and programmes for whic h overall amounts are given are impossible 
to assess.  Where programmes, projects and ac tivities are presented in that way, it is 
impossible to come up with any reliable ac counting of the value of cotton-specific 
development assistance by country, as shown on page 14 of the table. WT/CFMC/W/50 
Page 2  
 
  (d) The donor countries should be helping the beneficiary countries to make their 
projects and programmes easier to understand by providing the WTO Secretariat with more information regarding, for example: 
 The national focal point or executing agency for the project or programme; 
 
 the objectives of the projects or programmes; 
 
 the operational status of the project or programme (implementation period/ 
implementation status/disbursement status); 
 
 the beneficiaries of the project or programme. 
 
(e) It was also pointed out that there were a number of similarities between the projects 
and programmes developed and financed by  multilateral and bilateral donors, leaving 
room for rationalization of the use of resources and increased efficiency.  To remedy these cases of inefficiency and to take be tter account of the specificities of cotton 
sector development needs in the countries co-sponsoring the Sectoral Initiative in 
Favour or Cotton, the C4 proposed the development of common and unifying programmes and/or projects grouped together in  a "basket of projects or programmes" 
to be presented to the donor community.  On the basis of their particular sensitivities, 
the donors would decide to finance them on their own or co-finance them.  Discussions are currently taking place among the C4 to come up with joint projects. 
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