WT/MIN(22)/3  
 
8 June 2022  
(22-4316) Page: 1/7 
Ministerial Conference  
Twelfth Session  
Geneva, 12 -15 June 202 2 Original: English  
 
OACPS MINISTERIAL DECLARATION ON THE  
TWELFTH WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE  
The following communication, dated 6 June 2022, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Jamaica on behalf of the ACP Group.  
 
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Preamble  
We, Ministers of the Members of the Organization of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States 
(OACPS) with portfolio responsibility for World Trade Organization (WTO) affairs, meeting in 
Brussels, Belgium, on 30 May 2022, within the framework of the preparation for the Twelfth WTO 
Ministerial Conference (MC12), to be held from 12 to 15 June 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland,  
 
Recalling  the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO and reaffirming our commitment to the 
developmental manda tes and issues adopted at the Ministerial Conference in Doha in 2001, as well 
as Ministerial Conferences that have followed;  
 
Reaffirming  all our Declarations communicated to the WTO;  
 
Expressing  concerns about the adverse effects of current geopolitical developments on access to, 
and production, availability and affordability of food, as well as the impact on realisation of the 
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to povert y eradication, zero hunger 
and good health and wellbeing;  
 
Expressing  grave concern about the long -term public health, economic, financial and trade impact 
of the COVID -19 pandemic on our member States, including the continued lack of equitable and fair 
access to vaccines, diagnostics and medical treatments and supplies to prevent, contain and treat 
the virus;  
 
Recognizing  that no country is safe until all countries are safe and are in a position to effectively 
contain the spread of the virus and its varian ts; 
 
Being mindful  that the pandemic has cost millions of lives, negatively affected livelihoods and 
continues to leave the world in peril;  
 
Concerned  about the rising energy, fertilizer and food prices as well as food insecurity as a result 
of the pandemi c and the current geopolitical situation;  
 
Also concerned  that the pandemic has reversed the gains made towards our national development 
goals, and threatens the achievement of the SDGs by 2030, in respect of which trade plays a pivotal 
role; 
 
Also express ing deep concern about the severe impact of climate change and natural disasters 
which continue to undermine the effective integration of OACPS Members into the global value 
chains;  
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  Notes with concern  the continued impact of the COVID -19 pandemic on the c ost of maritime 
transportation and its effect on the OACPS Members and acknowledges  the challenges associated 
with increased freight rates, surcharges and fees on the cost trade for OACPS Members.  
 
Recogni zes that the pandemic has severely tested the resil ience of supply chains for OACPS 
Members.  
 
Further concerned  that upon reflection of our declaration at MC11 on the challenges of job 
creation, poverty, inequality and exclusion across the global economy, the conditions in these areas 
have worsened;  
 
Notin g that OACPS Members are developing countries that are diverse in characteristics and include, 
but are not limited to, Least -Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), 
Small Vulnerable Economies (SVEs), Landlocked Developing Countri es (LLDCs), Preference 
Dependent Economies (PDEs), Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs), Low Income 
Countries (LICs), Middle Income Countries (MICs), Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), Heavily 
Indebted Middle Income Countries (HIMICs), limi ted commodity exporting countries, and countries 
in war, post -conflict, and post -natural disaster situations;  
 
Reaffirming  that the WTO should be inclusive, transparent and rules based, and should always 
seek to accommodate the heterogeneity of its members hip in the implementation of existing trade 
agreements and the negotiation of new agreements, and that effective and appropriate special and 
differential treatment for developing countries and LDCs is an integral part of current and future 
WTO agreements;  
 
Stressing  that the WTO should support inclusive economic recovery to mitigate the trade effects of 
the pandemic, especially on developing countries and MSMEs;  
 
Recognizing  the importance of industrial development for sustained economic growth and 
prosperi ty, and the importance of more coherent considerations of the relationship between 
industrial development, trade and investment;  
 
Emphasizing  the need for the WTO to ensure that its rules, on a priority basis, enable, and support 
least-developed countries and developing countries in pursuing policies to achieve industrialization, 
structural transformation and diversification and resilience of their economies, in order to raise the 
standard of living of their population, foster full employment, assist in rec overy from the impact of 
climate change, the pandemic as well as facilitate OACPS Members to build back better and stronger; 
and 
 
Further emphasizing  the continued need for targeted and sustainable financial, technical and 
capacity building assistance programmes to support OACPS Members to implement their 
agreements, to manage their trade policy reform processes, and to be able to benefit from 
opportun ities presented in international trade, thereby facilitating their strategic integration into the 
global economy in a manner that advances their growth and development.  
 
We affirm  the need for WTO Ministers to use MC12 as an opportunity to provide guidance  on all 
pillars of WTO work, including on further strengthening the WTO’s central role to provide an inclusive, 
transparent, fair, consensual, rules -based and development -oriented multilateral trading system 
that results in equitable growth and development , taking into account the fact that the majority of 
WTO Members are developing countries seeking to increase their share in world trade.  
 
In this regard,  
 
WTO's response to the COVID -19 Pandemic  
1. We call for the decision to put the WTO in a position to,  inter alia : 
 
a. aid in the availability of, and contribute to the ramping up and diversification of production 
for, COVID -19 products including vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to prevent, treat 
and contain the spread of the virus, including addressing  intellectual property rights 
related aspects;  WT/MIN(22)/3  
 
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  b. facilitate the WTO Secretariat's ability to collaborate with Members to monitor pandemic -
related trade measures;  
c. preserve policy tools and create policy space to promote economic recovery and address 
the issue  of pandemic -induced challenges to food and livelihood security from a trade 
policy perspective;  
d. facilitate technology transfer, technical assistance and capacity building for developing 
countries and LDCs;  
e. streamline its response initiative into the work  programme of WTO Councils, Committees 
and Working Groups in a manner that preserves the developmental agenda and promotes 
economic resilience and recovery;  
f. collaborate with multilateral financial institutions and private sector stakeholders to ensure 
inadequate access to finance does not occasion a contraction of global trade;  
g. explore ways to address the escalating freight costs and irregular maritime transport 
services and, in this regard, convene a meeting of the key stakeholders, including the IMO 
and UNCTAD to discuss the current situation and frame responses;  
h. ensure that the WTO's experience with the COVID -19 pandemic allows for the creation of 
a blueprint to respond to future global crises, and contribute to the resilience of the 
economies of its Me mbers; and  
i. ensure that the WTO response does not alter the rights and obligations of WTO Members.  
Fisheries subsidies  
2. We call for the negotiation process to be transparent, equitable inclusive and take into account 
the proposals and contributions of all  WTO Members and Groups of Members, including the ACP 
Group. We reaffirm our commitment to deliver an agreement on fisheries subsidies at MC12, that 
focuses the burden on those responsible for harmful subsidisation. We, therefore, call for an 
agreement on fisheries subsidies that:  
 
a. adheres to the mandate of these negotiations as reaffirmed by WTO Ministers at the 
Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, including as it relates 
to the provision of effective and appropriate special a nd differential treatment for 
developing countries and LDCs;  
b. recognize that special and differential treatment is not only required for the 
implementation of the disciplines but also to provide policy space that supports 
development, and that technical ass istance and capacity building should be provided 
without it being conditional on accepting specific obligations;  
c. exempts small players whose share of global fish catch is below an appropriate de minimis 
threshold from certain provisions of the Agreement;  
d. excludes subsidies for disaster relief and artisanal/small -scale fishing, and allocation of 
licences, including fees, and quotas for fishing rights;  
e. ensures that sovereign rights of Members within their maritime jurisdictions are respected, 
national judicial processes are unfettered, and Members' right to determine national 
fisheries management systems are preserved; and  
f. contains notification commitments that are proportionate to responsibility for harmful 
subsidies and IUU fishing, which do not creat e unnecessary burdensome obligations such 
as those which would reveal commercially sensitive information, and which provides longer 
compliance periods for the developing countries and LDCs.  WT/MIN(22)/3  
 
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  Agriculture  
3. We call for an outcome on agriculture that:  
 
a. prioritizes food and livelihood security as an important objective in negotiations on reform 
to the Agreement on Agriculture.  
b. Leads to substantial reduction in trade -distorting domestic support;  
c. prioriti ze the elimination of Final Bound Total Aggregate Mea sures of support, considering 
the urgent need to level the playing field for global agricultural trade, address 
concentration of support, as well as to ensure that an agreement prevents circumvention 
of subsidies commitments;  
d. preserves the policy space for  developing countries and LDCs under Article 6.2 of the 
Agreement on Agriculture, for them to unlock their productive capacity and pursue their 
rural development, agricultural transformation and livelihood objectives;  
e. addresses the subsidies, market acces s, transparency and development related concerns 
of cotton producers in developing countries and LDCs;  
f. achieves a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security purposes (PSH) 
that includes all products, has food security as its objective, cov ers existing and new 
programmes, contains requisite safeguards to prevent market distortions and appropriate 
notification commitments but with simplified formats that are easy to use for developing 
countries and LDCs, accompanied by necessary technical ass istance;  
g. includes support for a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) that assist developing 
countries and LDCs to temporarily increase tariffs beyond their bound duties to address 
market imbalance emanating from surges in agricultural imports and price depre ssion, 
and which does not have onerous requirements for its application when needed;  
h. removes export restrictions in respect of purchases by the World Food Programme with 
the understanding that the World Food Programme takes procurement decisions on the 
basis of its principles to "do no harm" to the supplying member when its food security is 
not harmed and promote local and regional food procurement;  
i. contains a work programme aimed at addressing issues related to tariff simplification, 
tariff escalation, pr eference erosion, designation of special products and unjustified non -
tariff barriers that impede the market access opportunities of developing countries and 
LDCs; and  
Food Security  
4. To address the current increases in  energy, fertilizer and food prices  as well as food 
insecurity, we:  
 
a. emphasi ze that increased domestic production, the protection of and support for low -
income and resource -poor farmers, and improved trade capacity play a critical role in the 
accessibility, availability, stability, and util ization of food in OACPS members.  
b. believe an outcome at MC12 on public stockholding (PSH) accessible to all developing 
countries, including NFIDCs and LDCs to address the escalating food security crisis and 
livelihoods challenges of farmers in developing c ountries should be a priority  
c. urge WTO Members to continue their bilateral and regional development cooperation and 
capacity building initiatives with a view to strengthening the food security capacity of 
OACPS members.  WT/MIN(22)/3  
 
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  d. call on WTO Members to exercise due  restraint in the imposition of any trade measure, 
that may harm the food security objectives of OACPS members, in accordance with current 
WTO obligations,.  
e. further call for the WTO to concretely address the impact of soaring food prices on NFIDCs.  
Non-Tariff Measures  
5. We underscore the important role of the WTO in addressing non -tariff measures adversely 
affecting exports originating in members of the OACPS. In this regard, we call for the establishment 
of work programmes in the relevant bodies, includin g the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures, the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade and the Council for Trade in Services, which 
focus on identifying challenges and building capacity in developing countries and LDCs with a view 
to finding durable solutions in respect of measures affecting their trade performance.  
 
Special and differential treatment  
6. We call for an outcome on special and differential treatment in line with paragraph 44 of the 
Doha Ministerial Declaration, including the agreement specific proposals put forward by the G90. We 
recall that special and differential treatment is an integral part of WTO negotiations and should be 
available to all developing countries and LDCs in existing and future WTO Agreements. We recognize 
the right of WTO Members to opt out of special and differential treatment provisions if they choose 
to do so.  
 
Servic es 
7. We call on Members to note the ACP Group's submission JOB/SERV/305, which elaborates the 
impact of the COVID -19 pandemic and services challenges and opportunities, especially in the travel, 
tourism, hospitality, air freight, maritime and land transpo rt sectors. For Members of the OACPS, 
these services sectors constitute the engine of physical trade and contribute towards enabling 
services trade in all modes of supply. We further support an outcome at MC12 that prioritises the 
needs of developing count ries.  We call for the implementation of the 2015 Ministerial Decision on 
Preferential Treatment to Services and Service Suppliers of Least Developed Countries and to better 
operationalize related decisions in order to facilitate and advance LDCs' particip ation in services.  
 
8. We call on WTO Ministers to use MC12 to:  
 
a. provide certainty that barriers are removed, including arbitrary travel advisories, which 
are not science -based and act as barriers to tourism trade;  
b. harmonize recognition of vaccine and test  certifications to avoid obstacles to movement 
of persons and travel; and  
c. consider the services sector opportunities that arose from the pandemic, specifically 
reducing barriers to our education, ICT and creative industries professionals delivering 
through  virtual means.  
WTO Reform  
9. We recognize that all organizations will need to adapt to the evolving characteristics of their 
respective environment, including the broader global economic landscape. The WTO is no exception. 
We, therefore, call for discussi ons relating to WTO reform to take place under the General Council. 
Discussions should be comprehensive, balanced, structured, non -discriminatory, transparent, 
inclusive and based on the proposals of all Members.  
 
10. We call for the urgent reconstitution  of the Appellate Body, which is a fundamental organ of 
the WTO.  
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  11. We believe that WTO reform should:  
 
a. adhere to the principles of transparency, inclusiveness, consensus -based decision -making, 
and fairness and equity in the balance of WTO Members' right s and obligations;  
b. ensure the interest of developing counties and LDCs are advanced through the application 
of special and differential treatment in WTO agreements, addressing asymmetries in WTO 
Agreements and a rebalancing of trade rules to provide them the policy space to pursue 
their strategic and industrialization objectives;  
c. provide policy space to OACPS Members to industrialize and change the structure of their 
economies;  
d. foster greater coherence between trade and development, including an enhanced r ole by 
the WTO to raise standards of living and employment, and for promoting sustainable 
development as enshrined in the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO;  
e. Facilitate inclusive growth and development, integration of OACPS countries in global value  
chains in view of increasing their participation in global trade, and facilitation of their 
movement up production value chains;  
f. enable the WTO to work efficiently and effectively through its Councils, Committees and 
Working Groups to support and accommod ate the work of its heterogenous membership, 
in a manner that does not apply undue burden nor punitive measures; and  
g. reaffirm the foundational principles of the Marrakesh Agreement and strengthen the 
multilateral character of the WTO.  
Accessions  
12. We urge WTO Members to take into account the development and capacity constraints of 
OACPS Members that are pursuing accession to the WTO, and call for concessions to be 
commensurate with their size, capacity and development needs. The COVID -19 pandemic has h ad 
a negative impact on the accession processes of OACPS Members and we urge WTO Members to 
give special consideration in this regard.  
 
13. We urge WTO Members to adhere to the General Council's Decision of 25 July 2012 on 
Accession of LDCs operationalisin g the 2002 LDCs Accession Guidelines.  
 
Aid for Trade  
14. We call on donors to continue to support the trade capacity building efforts of all Members of 
the OACPS and ensure that Aid for Trade assistance is in the form of new funding, without diverting 
from existing bilateral assistance in other areas.  
 
Decisions in favour of LDCs  
15. We underscore the importance of LDC issues in the WTO, including the need for a longer and 
uniform transition period to assist graduated LDCs in adjusting to their post -LDC st atus in the 
multilateral trading system.  
 
16. We call for full implementation of previous WTO Ministerial Decisions in favour of LDCs. We 
call for an outcome at MC12 on the proposal for graduation of LDCs.  
 
Standing Agenda Items  
17. Electronic Commerce Dec ision 
 
a. We recall the Decision of the General Council in December 2019 to reinvigorate the Work 
Programme on E -commerce, including structured discussion on all trade -related topics WT/MIN(22)/3  
 
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  brought forward by Members. These include important issues such as data loca lisation, 
internal taxes, data flows, source code, digital divide and infrastructure development.  
b. We recognize the need for further analysis on the impact of the moratorium on consumers 
and businesses as well as the impact on government revenues and digita l industrial 
development in our countries.  
c. We call on WTO Members to resolve the question of the moratorium by MC12.  
18. Trade -Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Non -violation Situation Complaints 
moratorium  
 
a. We urge WTO Members to make permanent  the moratorium on the application of 
Subparagraphs 1(b) and 1(c) of Article XXIII of GATT 1994 on non -violation and situation 
complaints (NVCs) to the TRIPS Agreement . 
19. Small Economies Work Programme  
 
a. We reaffirm Paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the Decision of 
subsequent WTO Ministerial Conferences on the small economies work programme, and 
that due regard be given to the priorities of these economies in all areas of the negotiations 
to ensure their further integration  into the multilateral trading system.  
b. We affirm that trade and climate change and natural disasters are critical to the tool box 
of elements the WTO must tackle given the vulnerabilities of our members to climate 
change and natural disasters.  
c. We underlin e that all measures taken to tackle climate change and bio diversity loss must 
be designed, adopted and implemented in full conformity with the WTO agreements and 
must not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised 
restriction on international trade and must not create unnecessary obstacles to 
international trade. We express our concern at any discriminatory measure that will distort 
international trade, risk new trade frictions and shift the burden of addressing climate 
change to other trading partners, developing countries and OACPS members.  
Ministerial Declaration outcome document  
20. We call on WTO Ministers to agree on a consensual outcome document containing a clear work 
plan for decisions by the Thirteenth Ministeri al Conference (MC13) on outstanding work.  
 
21. We urge the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference to give due consideration to this Declaration.  
 
Done in Brussels, 30 May 2022  
 
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