RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
9 December 2005 
 (05-5865) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Twelfth Dedicated Session  
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 17 OCTOBER 2005 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Gomi Tharaka Senadhira (Sri Lanka) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA ........................................................................................................1  
B. COMMUNICATION FROM ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA , BARBADOS , BOLIVIA , CUBA, 
DOMINICA , DOMINICAN REPUBLIC , EL SALVADOR , FIJI, GRENADA , GUATEMALA , 
HONDURAS , JAMAICA , MAURITIUS , MONGOLIA , NICARAGUA , PAPUA NEW GUINEA , 
PARAGUAY , SOLOMON ISLANDS , ST. KITTS AND NEVIS, ST. VINCENT AND THE 
GRENADINES AND TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - "SMALL ECONOMIES REPORT TO THE 
COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT IN DEDICATED SESSION " 
(WT/COMTD/SE/W/14) ............................................................................................................2  
C. ORAL REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN CONCERNING THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND 
DEVELOPMENT IN DEDICATED SESSION 'S REPORT TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL ........................9  
D. OTHER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................10  
 
    
 
A. A
DOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Chairman  recalled that the draft agenda for the meeting was contained in 
Airgram WTO/AIR/2689 issued on 7 October 2005. 
2. The representative of Mauritius  requested to include under "Other Business" a brief 
presentation of three new papers by a group of sm all economy proponents.  These three papers were 
available in the room but had not yet been officially circulated. 
3. The representative of the Solomon Islands  also wished to include under "Other Business" a 
brief presentation of a new paper concerning WTO accession matters by a group of small economy proponents.  This paper was available in the room but had not been officially circulated. 
4. The agenda was adopted
 as amended. WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
Page 2  
 
B. C
OMMUNICATION FROM ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA , BARBADOS , BOLIVIA , CUBA, DOMINICA , 
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC , EL SALVADOR , FIJI, GRENADA , GUATEMALA , HONDURAS , JAMAICA , 
MAURITIUS , MONGOLIA , NICARAGUA , PAPUA NEW GUINEA , PARAGUAY , SOLOMON 
ISLANDS , ST. KITTS AND NEVIS, ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES AND TRINIDAD AND 
TOBAGO - "SMALL ECONOMIES REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
IN DEDICATED SESSION " (WT/COMTD/SE/W/14) 
5. The Chairman  asked if any of the delegations which had co-sponsored the 
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 would like to take th e floor to introduce the submission to the 
Dedicated Session. 
6. In reference to the proposal WT/COMTD /SE/W/14, the representative of Barbados  made an 
intervention, which is reproduced below.   
Intervention by Barbados :  
 
Thank you Chair and I welcome the presence of the Deputy Director-General 
responsible for development. 
Much has happened since we last met in fo rmal session – more on the outside than on 
the inside of this house.  We are, neverthe less, pleased to see that in the last week 
significant progress has been made in the critical area of agriculture. 
Chair, we last met on May 25, 2005 when document W/13 was presented as a means 
to provide a bridge between the characteris tics and problems which were identified in 
W/12 and the third and most important step in the characteristics-based approach; that 
of framing responses.  I take the opportunity  to once again reiterate that all of our 
Ministers at Doha must have recognized  the need for Members to address the 
concerns of small economies as captured in the Paragraph 35 mandate.  This is the 
task we again address today. 
We have seen small positive steps taken si nce July and an increasing recognition of 
the problems of small, vulnerable economies.   There is still much work to be done.  
To this end we look to this committee to pr ovide the leadership and impetus to allow 
us to move forward. 
It would be remiss of me not to public ly express appreciation to those Members - 
both developing and develope d - who continue to dem onstrate an understanding of 
our concerns and who have exercised an increasing willingness to ensure that there is 
a meaningful outcome to the small economies Work Programme.  For example, in the 
statement made by the EC Trade Commissioner at the Mini-Ministerial in Zurich last 
week he specifically mentioned the need to "make progress on a number of issues which are of particular importance to th e LDCs and small economies…."  China has 
also consistently, and in the TNC last T hursday, made referenc e to advancing the 
Small Economies Work Programme.  The United States, Canada, Japan, India and 
Brazil, among others have  often given good advice. 
I am expressing this gratitude because with our very limited resources, the small 
economies proponents are unable to carry this burden alone.  We know what we need 
but continue to welcome the support ne cessary to achieve a reasonable outcome. 
Today, in W/14, we present a report on the activities of the Small Economies Work 
Programme since the tabling of W/13.  This  report is aimed at providing information 
to enable the CTD to undertake its monito ring and reporting function, while also  WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
 Page 3 
 
 
maintaining its role as a forum to discuss and take decisions on issues and proposals of interest to small, vulnerable economies.  It is expected that the CTD reports to the 
General Council will cover the matters discussed  in the CTD as well as in the relevant 
negotiating and other bodies of the WTO.  Fo r this reason we have appended to W/14 
the formal statements made by the wider group of small economies in the Agriculture 
Special Session and in the Negotiating Group on Market Access.  
Reference is also made to a paper on Fisheries Subsidies disciplines which was 
cosponsored and tabled by a sub set of small economies in the Negotiating Group on 
Rules.  The co-sponsors are Antigua a nd Barbuda, Barbados, Dominican Republic, 
Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea,  the Solomon Islands, St. Lucia and 
Trinidad and Tobago. 
I should also point out Chair that later in this meeting the delegations of the Solomon 
Islands and Mauritius will introduce additi onal proposals tabled by some small, 
vulnerable economies.  These documents are available as room documents today. 
Mr. Chairman in W/14 we recommend the continuation of the two-track approach 
where the CTD maintains its function of discussing and taking decisions on areas of 
interests to small economies;  as well as continuing to monitor the progress of small 
economies proposals in the negotiating and other bodies; while Agreement-specific 
proposals are tabled in the relevant negotiating and other bodies. 
Maintaining this two track approach is es sential to our success.  The role of the 
CTDDS must not be diminished as we resp ect the dynamics in the negotiating and 
other bodies.  It is our expectation that the CTD's recommendation to the Hong Kong, 
China Ministerial Conference, reflected in th e Declaration, would be the inclusion of 
language that reflects the work carried out and the progress made in the context of the 
CTD as well as in the negotiating and other bodies and shall instruct the negotiating and other bodies to continue to address th e concerns of small, vulnerable economies 
towards the ultimate goal of framing respon ses to the problems identified.  It is 
equally important that the Chairs of th e Negotiating Bodies and other groups reflect 
the interests of the small, vulnera ble economies in the conclusions and 
recommendations to the Ministerial Conference.  
I submit that two things are required to adva nce the interest of small economies in the 
negotiating groups: an awareness of the pr oblem by Members at large, and an 
articulation of possible solutions. In Ag riculture and NAMA our statements as 
appended (JOB(05)/161 of 27 July 2005 Agriculture and (JOB(05)/165 of 
29 July 2005 NAMA), in addition to other statements made in the CTD and in negotiating bodies would have helped to raise awareness of our concerns. 
There is no doubt that small economies solutions  will lie in the zone of special and 
differential treatment which is integral to  all areas of the negotiations.  However, 
Members must be persuaded that because of small economies' vulnerability, some 
special responses are desirable – similar to the consideration exte nded to "Developing 
countries that allocate almost all de mi nimis support for subsistence and resource 
poor farmers" in the July 2004 Decision. 
To conclude Chair, we submit W/14 for the consideration of the membership. Its 
value must be reflected in the Committee's  report to the General Council later this 
week as a means of advancing the Work  Programme beyond Hong Kong.  In this 
context the following should be noted: WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
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Specifically, between October and Novemb er 2005 the negotiating and other bodies 
in which small economies' needs and c oncerns have been raised should be 
encouraged to give meaningful considerati on to appropriate responses.  The Chairs of 
those bodies should ensure that adequate rec ognition of responses is made in the draft 
declaration so that enhanced special and differential treatment concessions are 
extended to small economies where appropriate. 
Mr. Chairman, after December 2005, the small economies proponents will continue 
refining and enhancing our body of propo sals in the negotiating bodies and in the 
CTD as appropriate.  In all cases, the CTD will be kept informed. 
The final outcome of the Round should ther efore see the delivery of effective, 
meaningful and operational responses to the trade-related problems of small 
economies. 
7. The representative of Honduras
 as a co-sponsor of WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 supported the 
statement of the representative of Barbados.  He noted that WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 in its first part was 
a summary of the work done so far and that the last part contained suggestions on how to proceed 
further.  He said that progress had been slow but he was confident on the ultim ate success of the Work 
Programme on Small Economies.  He noted that concrete proposals on addressing the issues affecting 
small economies had already been introduced in th e Agriculture and NAMA negotiations.  He also 
noted that the small economies remain ed committed to trade liberalization but this had to be done at a 
pace that was bearable for small economies.  He also  stated that discussion of this matter was of the 
utmost importance and that his delegation was keen fo r it to be given effect through concrete action at 
the Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China.  He said the small economies expected to have 
precise language on the future of the Work Progra mme in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. 
8. The representative of Cuba  said that the two-track process would help to find specific 
responses to the problems faced by small economies. 
9. The representative of the United States  welcomed the introduction of WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 
and the proposals that had been made in the Ag riculture, NAMA and Rules negotiating bodies.  He 
noted that it was only in the specific negotiating bod ies where Members could arrive at an agreed 
balance of rights and obligations in the specific ar eas and that this was not the role of the CTD. 
10. The representative of the Dominican Republic  said that WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 summarized 
the work done pursuant to the mandate in paragra ph 35 of the Doha Declaration and was intended to 
be an input for the Dedicated Session's report to the General Council.  She noted that paragraph 44 of 
the Doha Ministerial Declaration stated that "provi sions for special and differential treatment were an 
integral part of the WTO Agreements" and indicat ed that "all special and differential treatment 
provisions shall be reviewed with a  view to maki ng them more precise, effec tive and operational."  It 
was thus necessary for the WTO, given the gravity  of the problems faced by small economies, to 
agree on concrete, precise, effective and operational responses to the problems identified by the small 
economies in the CTD.  Regarding the responses pr oposed in the context of Agriculture and NAMA, 
she said that for her delegation it was of special im portance that the appropriate flexibilities be given 
to help small economies integrate into the multila teral trading system.  Such flexibilities had been 
identified in general terms in documents JOB(05)/161 and JOB(05)/165 respectively.  She expected 
that more concrete responses would be introduced in  the near future.  Finally, she hoped that work 
would continue in the Dedicated Session to adopt the report to the General Council that would help 
Ministers attending the Sixth Ministerial Conference satisfy the needs and concerns of small 
economies.  
11. The representative of Mauritius  expressed his support for the statement made by the 
delegation of Barbados.  He highlighted that work was taking a new profile and remarked the  WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
 Page 5 
 
 
presence of Deputy Director-General Mrs. Rugwabiza.  He welcomed the effort s by the Chairman and 
the management to move forward th e work progamme on small economies. 
12. The representative of the European Communities  welcomed the introduction of 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 and agreed that the two-track approach with the Dedicated Session in a monitoring role was the best way to move forward.   He said it was essential to deliver on the Work 
Programme given the merit of the concerns expressed by small economies.  He noted that the 
concerns of small economies in the negotiating groups  should be dealt with seriously.  He recognized 
the need to ensure that small economies had a part  in the Work Programme of each group.  He also 
welcomed the new proposals and noted that it was exactly  this type of proposal that could realistically 
be expected to address the problems and concerns of the small economies. 
13. The representative of Switzerland
 thanked the sponsors of the recent submission 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 and said it was a very useful and very timely submission.  He said that on 25 January delegations received a Chairman's note on the paragraph 35 mandate.  He noted that the 
objective of this committee's work was to frame re sponses to the trade-related issues (identified for 
the fuller integration of small vulnerable economies in to the multilateral trading system);  and to avoid 
creating a sub-category of WTO Members.  He  said the Chairman had suggested conducting 
discussions in three parts: consider the use of char acteristics to identify what could be accepted as 
small, vulnerable economies – without naming any group of countries; consider the trade related 
problems which could be reasonably attributed to those characteristics – without naming any group of 
countries; and, frame responses to the trade -related problems – without naming any group of 
countries.  Despite the hard work of the proponent s as well as the good discussions that took place, he 
said it was not possible to come-up with an agreed definition of the characteristics and problems of 
the small economies.  Yet, there we re some shared opinions on some of the 17 elements in the list of 
specific characteristics and problems contained in document WT/COMTD/SE/W/12.  This showed that it should be possible to narrow the views on the particular situation of small economies and 
achieve some degree of common understanding of the problems that need to be addressed.  He noted 
that in document WT/COMTD/SE/W/13 the proponent s shared with the Members their views on 
possible solutions to the problems set out in the previous submission.  Switzerland had said it thought 
that the majority of the problems would have to be  resolved in the core negotiations.  This was the 
direction which was now proposed in WT/COMTD/ SE/W/14.  He believed that the way forward 
suggested in paragraph 8 of that proposal should be integrated into the report going to the ministers in 
Hong Kong.  This is why he had carefully studied the proposal and wished to make the following 
comment.  Regarding the monitoring role of the CTD,  he said that his delegation agreed in principle 
that the CTD could have a monitoring role.  It woul d be a way to make the mandate in paragraph 35 
of the DDA more specific and operational.  However, he did not believe that the CTD should monitor 
small economies' proposals in the negotiating bodi es and other bodies.  He believed that the CTD 
should monitor whether the problems and sensitive issues for which policy responses were needed 
were properly addressed in the negotiations.  He sai d that if the CTD would monitor the proposals, 
this would require that all Members agree on the requ ests made in the proposals;  and this he thought, 
was not possible.  He referred to policy responses ou tlined in JOB(05)/161 paragraphs a) to c) in 
agriculture or JOB(05)/165 paragraph 6 for NAM A and said specific proposals in the relevant 
negotiating and other bodies could be made by the pr oponents.  Finally, the third step would consist in 
monitoring progress by the Dedicated Session to assess whether the issues were taken care of in the 
negotiations and whether the policy r esponses emerging were appropriate.   
14. The representative of El Salvador
 stated that the objective of WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 was to 
give new impetus to the work of the Dedicated  Session.  He noted that the representative of 
Switzerland had captured the essence of the arguments  made by the small economies.  He also said 
that El Salvador had a minuscule percentage of world trade and one of the objectives it was pursuing 
was to increase this percentage. WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
Page 6  
 
15. The representative of Japan
 said it was the right time to have an agreement on the way 
forward for the work of the Dedicated Session.  He shared the general view that the two-track 
approach was the best way to move forward with th e work of the Dedicated Session and this approach 
should be pursued before and after the Sixth Minist erial Conference.  However, he doubted it would 
be possible to give appropriate consideration in the negotiating bodies to the proposals of small 
economies in October and November 2005 as was called for in paragraph 10 of 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/14. 
16. The representative of Canada  welcomed the two-track approach that was proposed in the 
paper.  He also welcomed the efforts that had b een made by the proponents to consult with other 
Members prior to presenting this paper to the Dedicated Session. 
17. The representative of Peru  said she recognized the concerns expressed by the small 
economies as well as a need for th eir special circumstances to be taken on board.  She said it was 
agreed that this would be done in three stages: fi rst, identifying the characteristics of small economies; 
second, identifying the trade related problems of smal l economies; and third, formulating responses to 
those problems.  She believed that in order to move  on to the third stage there should be consensus on 
the characteristics and problems.  This had not yet been done.  She thought that moving to the third 
stage without finishing the first two did not mean that  the first two would be closed.  Nevertheless, her 
delegation agreed with what was being proposed in  document WT/COMTD/SE/W/14.  This showed a 
willingness to continue working to find solutions to  the problems of small economies.  In her view, 
the two-track approach was the best way to move forward with the Work Programme.  However, the 
proposals made by the small economies in the diffe rent negotiating bodies should be dealt with in 
accordance with the framework and mandate  of the different negotiating bodies. 
18. The Chairman  confirmed that discussions on trying to identify the characteristics and 
problems faced by small economies had not been clo sed.  However, the Dedi cated Session needed to 
move forward with the Work Programme.  Theref ore, proponents had been encouraged to present 
specific proposals to the negotiating bodies. 
19. The representative of the Solomon Islands  welcomed the introduction of the paper and 
highlighted the importance of the two-track appr oach for advancing the Work Programme on Small 
Economies. 
20. The representative of India  welcomed the new submission by the group of proponents and 
recognized that the two-track approach was the best way forward for the Dedicated Session to 
advance the Work Programme for Small Economies.  However, he said that the small economies 
needed to be patient with the consideration of their proposals in the negotiating bodies as some of the 
issues were blocked. 
21. The Chairman  said that patience was important and that he was sure that the proponents 
understood this.  However, he also thought that it was important to flag some of the issues of the small 
economies early in the negotiations. 
22. The representative of Guatemala  said that the ambitions of small economies did not culminate 
at the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  He said that the negotiations would contin ue after the Ministerial 
Conference and that it was then that the results for the small economies would be seen.  He also 
agreed that the stages on identifyi ng the characteristics and problems of small economies were not 
closed. 
23. The representative of Brazil  noted that WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 concentrated on a procedural 
approach to advance the Work Programme on Sma ll Economies.  This was very positive and his 
delegation was in agreement with the approach that  had been put forward.  He also welcomed the 
annexing to WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 of the proposals th at had been made by the small economies in  WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
 Page 7 
 
 
the agriculture and NAMA negotiations.  However, he noted that it would be difficult to achieve any 
concrete response to the proposals made to the Ag riculture and NAMA negotiating groups before the 
Sixth Ministerial Conference as some very difficult horizontal issues were still being worked out in those negotiations.  He also commented on the new proposals that had been made available at the 
meeting and that would be circulated as documen ts WT/COMTD/SE/W/15 - 18. He noted that these 
were exactly the kind of proposals that had a high probability of being agreed to by Members as a 
solution to some of the problems of small economie s.  He said the proponents had been very modest 
in their ambitions with these new proposals and noted  that in some instances the creation of regional 
authorities on certain issues was already allowed in some of the WTO Agreements. 
24. The representative of Ecuador
 said the two-track approach was an appropriate way to 
continue with the discussions on finding responses to the problems of small economies.  However, 
this would be without prejudice to her delegati on's position that the question of identifying the 
characteristics and problems of small economies was not closed.  She believed that many of the 
problems that had been mentioned by the proponent s were not exclusive to the small economies and 
were shared by other developing countries.  Rega rding the proposal that had been made on NAMA, 
her delegation had some problems in accepting the so lutions that were being proposed.  She noted 
that, in her view, special and differential treatment was applicable to all developing countries and had 
to be dealt with according to th e frameworks agreed for each negotiating group, for example Annex B 
of the August 2004 decision for NAMA and Annex A fo r Agriculture.  Her delegation did not believe 
that there should be additional flexibilities grante d to a specific group of Members that went beyond 
those that were being requested by the LDCs. 
25. The representative of Mexico  said she shared the concerns that had been expressed by the 
representative of Peru in her intervention.  
26. The representative of Hong Kong, China  said the two-track approach was the best one to 
advance the Work Programme.  She thought the monitoring role of the Dedicated Session was interesting and noted that duplication of work be tween the CTD and the negotiating bodies should be 
avoided.   
27. The representative of Bolivia
 said that for the small economies the Work Programme on 
Small Economies was as important as any other area of the negotiations.  Therefore, the objective of 
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/14 was to facilitate the work of the Dedicated Session. 
28. The representative of Mongolia  said the General Council needed to ask the Ministerial 
Conference to extend the deadlin e for the Work Programme on Small Economies.  However, he 
believed it was necessary for the Ministerial Confer ence to give specific guidance to the Dedicated 
Session and set a clear time limit on the Work Programme. 
29. The representative of China  was of the view that the Doha Development Agenda needed to 
address the concerns of all the developing count ries, including the small economies.  He asked 
whether the new set of proposals that would be circulated in documents WT/COMTD/SE/W/15 - 18 
would change the current situation in the agreem ents concerned.  He also asked whether the 
proponents were going to introduce the new proposals in the respective negotiating bodies.  
30. The representative of Egypt  expressed his support for the proposals contained in document 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/14.  He also said that the Sixth Ministerial Conference presented a very good opportunity to better structure the process in the Dedi cated Session.  He also asked the representative 
of Switzerland to clarify his proposal.   
31. The representative of Barbados
 asked the representative of Switzerland to provide him with 
his written proposal.  He also supported the statements  that had been made calling for the needs of all 
developing countries to be addressed in the negotiati ons.  He was surprised that there were still some WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
Page 8  
 
delegations that insisted on continuing to discu ss the characteristics and problems of small economies 
and that still believed that there could not be specifi c solutions for the specific problems of a group of 
Members without creating a new subcategory of Me mbers.  He noted that there were numerous 
examples in the WTO of specific issues of a gr oup of countries being addressed.  Many of these 
examples had been reflected in paper WT/COMTD/SE/W/13.  One of these examples was the 
treatment of net food importing developing countries during the Uruguay Round.  This did not detract 
from the special and differential treatment given to other developing countries.  More recently, there 
was the August 2004 General Council Decision for sp ecial consideration for countries that allocate 
almost all de minimis support for subsistence and resource poor farmers.  In addition, in 
paragraph 1(d) of the August 2004 General Council Decision, there was a mandate that "special 
attention shall be given to the specific trade and de velopment related problems, needs and concerns of 
developing countries".  He said this was the ge neral call for addressing the needs of developing 
countries that other delegations had referred to.  Bu t paragraph 1(d) went further, saying that "the 
trade related issues identified for the fuller inte gration of small vulnerable economies into the 
multilateral trading system should also be addressed ".  There was, therefore, an exceptional and 
additional call to address the issues of small vulnerable economies.  He asked all Members to see the 
wisdom in moving beyond consideration of the ch aracteristics and vulnerabilities of small economies 
and to start focusing on trying to grapple with the responses.   
32. He noted that the representative of India ha d said that small economies should be patient.  
They were willing to be patient, but there was also  an issue of timing.  The small economies were 
only asking that some language be used to demons trate an urgency for moving forward with the Work 
Programme on Small Economies.  Th is could be done by the Chairman of the Agriculture and NAMA 
negotiations just expressing a willingness to address th e concerns of small economies.  He noted that 
at this juncture the small economies were not  asking for specifics, just recognition of the 
understanding that their concerns should be addressed. 
33. He said the small economies were not trying to take anything away from other developing 
countries.  In the past, there had been WTO respon ses to the special concerns of a group of Members 
with certain characteristics.  Paragraph 35 of the D oha Ministerial Declaration was just asking for this 
to be done also for the small economies.  He cautioned against further infighting among developing 
countries which could be used by developed countries to justify inaction in addressing the concerns of 
developing countries. 
34. The representative of China
 asked the representative of Barbados for some clarification.  He 
noted that the treatment for de minimis subsisten ce farmer support and cotton issues were only in the 
area of agriculture whereas the concerns of small economies covered all WTO agreements.  He asked whether this difference in scope made any difference.  
35. The representative of Jamaica
 agreed with the representative of Barbados that there was 
indeed a precedent in the WTO about concerns of a group of Members being addressed in a specific 
area.  However, she noted that the paragraph 35 mandate on small economies was much broader and 
covered many areas of the WTO.  The mandate on the Work Programme for Small Economies called 
for specific recommendations to be made to address the issues of concern to the small economies in 
all areas of the WTO.  She also agreed with the de legations that had mentione d that the discussions on 
the characteristics and problems of small economies were not closed.  However, she noted that the 
discussions had moved beyond that and into the area of responses to the issues and concerns of the 
small economies. 
36. The representative of Mauritius  requested the Secretariat to bring back the papers that had 
been circulated on the literature review and the doc ument that contained the WTO provisions that may 
have to do with possible solutions for small econom ies.  This latter docum ent gave a synopsis of 
possible areas where work could be done.  He noted th at the legal texts of the WTO were replete with  WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
 Page 9 
 
 
instances where a characteristics ba sed approach was used to deliv er responses to the problems of 
particular countries. 
37. The Chairman  said the presence of Deputy Director General, Mrs. Valentine Rugwabiza, had 
been noted by various delegations and signified the interest that the WTO's management and the 
Director-General had taken in the work of the CT D.  He said he was quite happy about the progress 
that had been made in the Work Programme. He could also see that areas of convergence were 
starting to emerge among Members with regards to the concrete approach wh ich could be taken to 
continue progress in the Work Programme.  He noted  that the two-track approach was a result of the 
work done by the proponents and other interested  delegations, who realized that progress in the 
Dedicated Session had to be accompanied by progre ss in the negotiating bodies in dealing with the 
concerns of small economies.  He was also ve ry happy to see that both the proponents and other 
developing countries believed that most of the i ssues and concerns were similar between developing 
countries but that there were certain specific concer ns that required specific attention for the small 
economies.  This was where special solutions were being looked at.  The Dedicated Session could rest 
assured that there would not be any attempt by th e small economies to take any kind of rights and 
obligations in the Organization away from devel oping countries.  There was just a need for 
recognition that in certain specific cases, specific solutions to advance the interest of small and 
vulnerable economies were required.  Given the tone  of the discussions, he was quite optimistic that 
the Dedicated Session would continue to make progress in the Work Programme on Small Economies. 
38. Regarding the more immediate issue of the draft text for the Ministerial Declaration, the 
Chairman announced his intention to hold informal consultations to arrive at a consensus text. 
C. O
RAL REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN CONCERNING THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND 
DEVELOPMENT IN DEDICATED SESSION 'S REPORT TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
39. The Chairman  noted that copies of the report as well as a paragraph which could be used in a 
draft Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration were availabl e in the room.  He said the draft report to the 
General Council was based on a report prepared and adopted by the Dedicated Session in July 2003, 
just before the Cancún Ministerial Conference.  It followed the same structure.  It had an introduction 
which referred to the mandate in  paragraph 35 of the DDA and the 2002 Framework and Procedures 
for the conduct of the Work Programme on Small Economies.  The introduction also mentioned the 
1 August 2004 General Council Decision and provide d a factual listing of all meetings since 
July 2003.   
40. A second section focused on submissions and pro ceedings in each of the Dedicated Sessions 
starting with the Sixth Dedicated Session held in October 2003.  Finally, there was a third section titled "Future Work".  This last section appeared in  square brackets and contained the same language 
as that used for the report in July 2003.  He thought  it would be helpful to see what kind of language 
Members had agreed to at that time for the Dedicat ed Session's last report to the General Council, and 
had reproduced it in the new draft.  The Chairman said he would need to hear from Members as to 
what else they would like to add or change in th e report, especially concerning the recommendations.   
41. He said the paragraph for the draft text for the Ministerial Declaration concerning the Work 
Programme for Small Economies was also available in the room.  The Ministerial Declaration text was quite factual.  The Declaration in effect took "note of the report of the CTD in Dedicated Session 
to the General Council and the recomme ndations made therein".  It was,  therefore, not the Declaration 
that would contain recommendations but the CTD' s report to the General Council concerning the 
Work Programme on Small Economies.  The Chairman  reiterated his intention to hold consultations 
on the draft text for the Ministerial Declaration be fore the end of the week and opened the floor for 
discussions. WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
Page 10  
 
42. The representative of Barbados
 said that, as a preliminary comm ent, she wished to see in the 
draft text for the Ministerial Declaration some mo re specific reference on how to concretize responses 
to the concerns of small economies and the results  of the two-track process the Dedicated Session 
would be engaging in.  She said that she would expand more on these thoughts in the consultations.  
She also noted that even if a preliminary agreem ent was reached at the consultations, the text may 
need to undergo some changes before the Ministeria l Conference to reflect the dynamic nature of the 
negotiations.  
43. The Chairman  announced that consultations would be held on Wednesday, 19 October 2005 
on the Ministerial Declaration paragraph.  Regard ing the report of the Dedicated Session to the 
General Council, he noted that consu ltations would also be held in th e next weeks to adopt this report 
at the next meeting of the Dedicated Sessi on which was scheduled for 16 November 2005. 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
44. The representative of Mauritius  on behalf of Antigua a nd Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, 
Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Jamaica, Mauritius, Pa pua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and 
Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines said he would be presenting a set of three proposals 
dealing with Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measur es (SPS), Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and 
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).1  He said these proposals were 
without prejudice to individual country positions a nd to the rights of the proponents to submit 
additional proposals in future Dedicated Sessions or  in the appropriate WTO bodies.  He confirmed 
that these proposals would also be made to the appropriate negotiating and other bodies following the 
logic of the two track process.  
45. Regarding the issue of TBT, he said that as small, vulnerable economies, the co-sponsors of 
this proposal suffered from a severe lack of adequate financial, technical and administrative capacities 
to fulfil their obligations under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.  These countries had to 
prepare, adopt and apply technical regulations and conformity assessment systems, which were 
necessary to ensure the quality of exports and to protect human, animal and plant life or health and the 
environment and to gain access to export markets.  He said that given the small size of their 
economies, the unit cost associated with implemen tation of the TBT Agreement was higher in these 
countries than in most other WTO Member countries.   He explained that the paper contained the 
following proposal:  "Recognising the contribution th at international standards and conformity 
assessment systems can have in improving effici ency of production and facilitating the conduct of 
international trade, the General Council is to recomm end to the Ministerial Conf erence that there shall 
be explicit recognition of Members' rights to d esignate a regional body to provide such technical 
support as is necessary to assist them in fulfilling their obligations under the TBT Agreement.  
Members and the WTO, within its competence, sha ll provide the technical and financial assistance 
required to enable these small, vulnerable economies to fulfil their objectives under this Agreement." 
46. Regarding the paper on SPS, he said the reasoning behind this paper was very similar to that 
found in the paper concerning TBT.  The paper contained the following proposal: "Recognising the 
special difficulties encountered by the co-sponsors of this proposal in complying with SPS measures, and as a consequence in access to markets, and also in the formulation and application of SPS in their 
own territories, the General Council is to recommend to the Ministerial Conference that there shall be 
explicit recognition that WTO Members may designa te a regional body to provide technical support 
as is necessary and to carry out the functions necess ary to assist them in implementing the provisions 
of the SPS Agreement.  Members and the WTO, within its competence, shall provide the technical 
and financial assistance required to enable these sma ll, vulnerable economies to fulfil their objectives 
under this Agreement." 
                                                     
 
1 These proposals were later circulated as documents WT/COMTD/SE/W/15 - 16 and 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/18.  WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
 Page 11 
 
 
47. Regarding the paper on TRIPS, the representativ e of Mauritius said that many developing 
countries had experienced severe difficulties in the im plementation of many of the provisions of the 
TRIPS Agreement.  These problems were particular ly pronounced for the small economies, which had 
extremely limited capacity to implement comp lex rules and procedures found in the TRIPS 
Agreement.  He noted that  Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreemen t made provisions for developed 
countries to provide, upon request, technical and fina ncial co-operation to assist in the implementation 
of intellectual property rights provisions.  However,  the co-sponsors of the proposal, given their small 
administration and the complex nature of the Agreement, had even experienced difficulties in identifying their needs and requirements in order to make requests for assistance.  Moreover, given 
the small size of their populations, some of  these economies did not have the manpower and 
institutional capacity necessary to establish domestic  offices and relevant agencies or to train 
personnel to deal with these matters.  Thus, the unit cost and administrative burden of implementing 
the agreement at the national level were generally higher in small economies than in most other WTO 
Member countries.  
48. The paper contained the following proposal:  "Recognising the underlying public policy 
objectives of national systems for the protection of intellectual property, including developmental and 
technological objectives, and also the need to en able these small, vulnerable economies to create a 
sound and viable technological base, the Genera l Council is to recommend to the Ministerial 
Conference that there shall be an explicit recognitio n of Members' rights to designate a regional body 
to provide such technical support as is necessary to as sist them in fulfilling their obligations under the 
TRIPS Agreement.  Members and the WTO, within its competence, shall provide the technical and 
financial assistance required to enable these small,  vulnerable economies to fulfil their objectives 
under this Agreement." 
49. The representative of Mauritius sai d that all these three proposals had been made available on 
a provisional basis and he requested that the prop osals be formally circulated as soon as possible. 
50. The representative of the Solomon Islands
 introduced the fourth paper.2  This new paper 
concerned Accession to the WTO and was sponsor ed by Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, 
Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Mauritius, Papua New Gu inea, Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, and 
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  He said that Ar ticle XII of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing 
the WTO provided that a State or separate custom s territory may accede to the WTO on terms to be 
agreed between it and the WTO Members.  Th e process of meeting these terms and conditions 
involved a multilateral track whereby acceding countries must demonstrate to the Members of the 
WTO Working Party on Accession that their trade re gimes were, or would soon be, in conformity 
with WTO rules.  It also involved a parallel bilateral track under which the acceding country 
negotiated tariff concessions as well as commitments with  respect to agriculture and trade in services 
with any Member of the Working Group wishing to enter into such negotiations. 
51. There were, however, no specific rules or disciplines concerning accession negotiations, or 
even generally accepted benchmarks.  This had opened the door to problems that had complicated the 
accession process, and which had resulted in accedi ng countries being required to accept many more 
obligations than founder WTO Members at similar stages of development. 
52. He noted that the case of Va nuatu, a least-developed acceding country, illustrated the extent 
of commitments sought from an acceding, small and vulnerable economy.  During its accession process, Vanuatu (with a population of around 160,000) was requested to join plurilateral Agreements 
on Government Procurement and on Trade in Civil Ai rcraft, which are optional, as a condition for its 
WTO accession.  Vanuatu had refused and noted th at it should not be obliged to accept much more 
stringent commitments than those of the LDCs w ith original WTO Member status, thus avoiding 
setting a precedent unfavourable to other acceding LD Cs.   On tariffs, Vanuatu's average bound rate 
                                                     
 
2 This proposal was later circulated as document WT/COMTD/SE/W/17. WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
Page 12  
 
of tariff was 49 per cent, Fiji – 40, Papua New Guin ea – 40, and Solomon Islands – 80.  This clearly 
demonstrated that Vanuatu had made offers not di ssimilar to those made by much larger and more 
developed countries in the region, and much lowe r than offers made by LDCs such as Solomon 
Islands.  Vanuatu had also agreed to zero-for–zero commitments in more than 160 tariff lines and was 
in full conformity with zero-for-zero initiatives in in formation technology.  It had offered to provide 
duty-free access for aircraft and parts and pharmaceuti cals by 2005.  No other LDC made offers even 
remotely close to those of Vanuatu during the Uruguay Round.  He went on to say that in the services 
sector, the commitments made by Vanuatu were fa r more extensive than those made by other WTO 
Members.  It had made service sector commitmen ts with clear and unambiguous market opening 
commitments in 18 areas.  This was more than four  times the average for LDCs that were Members of 
the WTO.   
53. He said that, after almost ten years, and despite lengthy accession negotiations, Vanuatu 
remained an observer at the WTO.  So were Sa moa, another LDC, and Tonga.  Tonga began its 
process in 1996 and Samoa in 1998.  As demonstrated  in the case of Vanuatu, the accession process 
was biased against the applicant.  The process gave  enormous powers to the WTO Members to extract 
concessions that would not be possible in a genuine ly rule-based system.  He concluded that the 
process must therefore be reformed and the paper pr esented sought exactly that.  It sought to do four 
things: 
1. to remind Members that the process of accession to the WTO of small, vulnerable economies 
placed unreasonable demands on applicant count ries and that small, vulnerable economies 
had been particularly affected; 
 
2. it should therefore be agreed that, in both the negotiations on rules in accession Working 
Parties and in the negotiations on market  access commitments, acceding small, vulnerable 
economies would only be required to undertake commitments commensurate with their level 
of development; 
 
3. to point out that while there had been some a ttempts by the WTO to improve the process, this 
had not reduced the problems faced by sma ll, vulnerable economies acceding countries 
because of the lack of basic rules governing the process.  This was a major inherent flaw in 
the accession process; 
 
4. and to address this inherent flaw in the accession process, it should be agreed that if a party to 
the negotiations on the accession of any appli cant country considered that the terms of 
reference of the relevant Working Party we re not being observed, it may request the 
establishment of a panel to be appointed by the Director-General to examine the case and 
report with recommendations to the Genera l Council and the Ministerial Conference. 
 
54. He highlighted that the last point was exactly the right bestowed on all WTO Members during 
a dispute and no WTO Member would countenance a system where panellists reviewing the WTO compatibility of their trade regime were also compla inants.  Thus, a report of a panel of experts would 
fulfil the perfectly legitimate demands of WTO Members that there be a review of the trade regime of 
applicants.  This report could then act as the b asis for negotiation of necessary reforms of the trade 
regime of WTO applicants.  
55. The representative of Cuba
 supported the content of the proposals.  She noted that the 
implementation costs of some of the agreements to  small economies were too high and that technical 
and financial assistance was required.  She also  shared the proposal on reforming the accession 
process since many small economies were facing demands for accession that went beyond their 
effective possibilities.   WT/COMTD/SE/M/12 
 Page 13 
 
 
56. The representative of Barbados  noted that the basis of the proposals was the desire and need 
by the small economies to comply with WTO oblig ations, but for which assistance was needed.  
57. The representative of the United States  welcomed the proposals and said they would be 
carefully studied. 
58. The Chairman  reminded Members about the upcoming consultations on 19 October 2005 and 
said the next Dedicated Session would be held on 16 November 2005. 
59. The meeting was adjourned .  
__________