WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 19 October 2010 
 
 
(10-5406) 
Sub-Committee on Cotton  
  
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ASPECTS OF THE 
COTTON-RELATED DECISIONS IN  THE 2004 JULY PACKAGE AND 
PARAGRAPH 12 OF THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL 
DECLARATION 
 
Item 2C - Coherence Between Trade and Development Aspects:
 
Update on the Development Aspects of Cotton  
 
Secretariat Progress Report 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Pursuant to paragraph 12 of th e Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration,
1 this is the Ninth 
Secretariat Progress Report to the Sub-Committee on Cotton (SCC) on the Development Assistance 
Aspects of Cotton.  Since the last Progress Report, there have been several developments.  First , the 
13th Round of the Director-General's Consulta tive Framework Mechanism on Cotton (DGCFMC), 
took place on 7 June 2010.  Second , on 12 May 2010, the Director-General circulated the 9th version 
of the ET (WT/CFMC/6/Rev.8) under cover of his letter addressed to Ambassadors and Permanent 
Representatives.  Finally , WTO Members have maintained an active interest on all aspects of the 
cotton dossier, as mandated in the 1 August 2004 Ge neral Council Decision – "the July Framework 
Package" and, in the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.   
II. 13TH ROUND OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK 
MECHANISM ON COTTON 
2. The Chairman (DDG H.V. Singh)  welcomed all participants to the 13th Round of the 
Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton (DGCFMC).  He welcomed in 
particular H.E. Mr. Léonce Koné, Minister for Co mmerce, Enterprise Promotion and Handicrafts, of 
Burkina Faso;  and, H.E. Ambassador David Walk er of New Zealand, the Chair of the Committee on 
Agriculture Special Session and of its Sub-Committee on Cotton.   
                                                      
1 "We invite the Director-General to  furnish a third Periodic Report to our next Session, with updates at 
appropriate intervals in the meantime, to the General Council, while keeping the Sub-Committee on Cotton fully 
informed of progress"  (WT/MIN(05)/DEC:  paragraph 12).   This document has been prepa red under the Secretariat's own 
responsibility and without prejudice to the positions of Members 
and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 2 
 
 
  3. The Chairman underlined several messages on behalf of the Director-General.  First
, the 
Director-General shared the position of Members on  the continued priority  accorded to the cotton 
dossier in the mandate of the Doha Developmen t Agenda (DDA).  In accordance with the Doha 
mandate, the satisfactory resolution of the cotton dossi er remained a top priority for the WTO and for 
him as Director-General.  Second , the Director-General reiterated his position, reflected in his letter to 
the Membership on 30 April 2009, that:  "Cotton rema ins key in the DDA and is a test of the Doha 
Development Round".  This positio n had been re-affirmed in his letter to Members, dated 
12 May 2010, under cover of which he had forwar ded the 9th Version (WT/CFMC/6/Rev.8) of the 
Evolving Table on Cotton Development Assistance (ET).  Finally , the Director-General had urged 
Members to act expeditiously to address the cotton dossier in the context of the Doha Development 
Round, in light of the serious challenges for poverty reduction in those LDCs' economies where 
cotton was a vital mainstay.  The Director-General w ould continue to work with all Members to find 
an urgent and satisfactory resolution to the cott on question, and to achieve coherence between the 
trade policy and the development assistance aspects, w ithin the context of an ambitious and balanced 
conclusion to the Doha Round.  
A. STATEMENT  BY THE  C4 COORDINATOR   
4. The representative of the C4 (H.E. Mr. Léonce Koné, Burkina Faso Minister for Commerce, 
Enterprise Promotion and Craftsmanship)  expressed appreciation at the invitation from the WTO 
Director-General to the 13th Round of the DGCFMC.  He was representing the C4 - co-authors of the Sectoral Initiative in favour of cotton.     
5. The 13th Round followed from the mandate by Ministers at the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference (HK MC) in 2005.  The C4 welcomed th e untiring efforts by the WTO Director-General 
in particular to attain the current level of ex changes on the development assistance aspects of cotton 
and what was on the table.  Minister Koné welc omed the level of involve ment of bilateral and 
multilateral development partners and for the assistan ce provided to the cotton sector in Africa, which 
was facing enormous difficulties.  The C4 invited ot her countries and organizations to join in support 
of the cotton sector.  The C4 was similarly apprecia tive to the WTO Secretariat for its very careful 
preparation for the current meeting and for the u seful documentation that had been provided for the 
meeting. The Minister welcomed the participation of  C4 experts that had travelled from capitals, in 
particular the focal points, whose contributions were considerable despite the difficulties they 
encountered in data collection.   
6. The current version of the Evolving Table indi cated a rise trend in the support provided by 
development partners to the cotton sector in Af rica.  There was also progress in the reforms 
undertaken by African countries in making their cotton sector more productive.   
7. The 68th Plenary Meeting of the ICAC was held in Cape Town, South Africa on 
11 September 2009.  The Statement from that meeti ng stressed that there had been a drop of 12% in 
world cotton consumption during the marketing season which ended on 31 July 2009.  Recently, 
cotton prices were rising in the international ma rket.  However, this "passing trend" was not a 
definitive solution to the problem of trade-distor ting domestic subsidies whose negative impact was 
acutely felt on the cotton sector.   
8. The Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration had ma ndated that cotton must be dealt with 
ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically.  To date , that mandate was far from being achieved.  The 
current rate of negotiations led to pessimism.   The conclusion of the Doha Round was not imminent.  
Minister Koné asked how the concerns of milli ons of cotton producers could be allayed and the 
financial haemorrhage and the fiscal impact be stopped.  If no solution was rapidly found in the 
multilateral negotiations, the cotton sector would disappear.  The C4 hoped that the negotiations  TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  would continue and would pick up pace so that the reduction and elimination of trade-distorting 
subsidies would take place within a reasonable pe riod of time.  The C4 urged developed countries 
which were granting trade-distorting subsidies to th eir producers to eliminate or substantially reduce 
the level of these subsidies and to give priority to the application of WTO rules.   
9. The C4 had learned, just like several WTO Member s, of the signature, on 5 April 2010, of the 
bilateral agreement between the US and Brazil.  This  related to the implementation of the arbitration 
in the dispute between these two countries in the case on subsidies to upland cotton.  The C4 hoped 
that this agreement, whose development they were  closely following, would open a gap in the wall of 
subsidies that were crushing development efforts in the poorest countries.  It was important to stress 
that, following this agreement, ther e had been bilateral and trilateral meetings with Brazil and the US.  
The hope was that these meetings would be the ma rker for a turning point in a positive evolution 
towards the solution to the cotton issue.  They reiterated their recognition and gratitude to their 
Brazilian partner who were working with the C4 co untries on the programme of support for cotton.  
There had also been a promising beginning re garding cooperation with India which had just 
undertaken a prospective mission in Burkina Faso, Be nin, Mali, Chad, Nigeria and Uganda.   The C4 
was highly interested also to note the offer of t echnical assistance and capacity-building which had 
been announced by Pakistan, through the co mmunication dated 2 November 2009.     
10. The C4 welcomed the solidarity and the consta nt support that it had received throughout the 
advocacy of the Sectoral Initiative on Cotton from the African Group, the ACP, the LDCs and the G20.  This mobilisation should be actively mainta ined with the objective of eliminating and/or 
reducing the use of trade-distorting subsidies wh ich hampered development.  The C4 hoped WTO 
Members would take account of its appeal and deci de to bring their policies in line with the HK 
Ministerial Decision.  Implementation of this manda te was urgent for LDCs.  The C4 and LDCs did 
not have the luxury of the Doha negotiations drag on.  Elimina tion of trade-distorting domestic 
support and the conclusion of the Doha Round were at the very basis of their development.   
B. TRADE
 POLICY  ASPECTS  OF COTTON 
11. The Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture Special Session (CoA/SS) and of its Sub-
Committee on Cotton (SCC) (Ambassador David Walker)  reported that cotton was one of the 
outstanding issues in the draft agriculture modalities in the negotiations.  Therefore, it was one of the 
issues on which he had consulted with Members as part of the process of consultations held on the 
issues that were bracketed or otherwise annotat ed in the draft agricultural modalities document 
TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4.  Ambassador Walker recalled that he had reported on his consultations on all of 
those issues at the time of the stock-taking meeting.   He had held a number of consultations on cotton 
in the months leading up to the stock-taking meeting.  Unfortunately, he had to report that his consultations confirmed that not all Members were in a position to agree to the text as drafted in 
Rev.4, and also to report that no new contributi ons either technical, or substantive, had been 
forthcoming in his consultations to that point.  All Members, however, had emphasized that they 
remained committed to finding a solution that addressed  the issue of cotton ambitiously, expeditiously 
and specifically, consistent with the commitments ma de at the HK MC in December 2005.  It had also 
been suggested to him, in his consultations, that  a number of Ministerial level contacts had been 
taking place at particular levels and that tho se contacts had been useful and had enhanced 
understanding in respect of different perspectives .  Since the period of stock-taking, he further 
reported that he had held meetings of the Agricu ltural Negotiating Group, but at that point, had not 
undertaken any consultations specifically on cotton.  He was, however, aware, as Minister Koné had 
alluded to, that there were some intensive bila teral discussions underway between Brazil and the US 
in the context of their dispute action, and that alongside those consultations, there had been some 
engagements with the C4 countries.  Ambassador  Walker remained hopeful that the consultation 
process could produce some developments which co uld assist in moving forward with the resolution TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  of the cotton question in the Doha Round agricultur e negotiations which, as had been stated earlier, 
was a matter of great urgency for a number of par ticipants in the negotiations.  He stood ready to 
assist participants move the cotton dossier forward, at the earliest possible opportunity.   
12. The representative of Brazil
 made two statements:  one, on behalf of the G20;  and, the other, 
on behalf of Brazil.  The G20 st rongly reiterated its full support for the demand and position of the C4 
in both its trade and development dimensions.  De veloping country producers and exporters of cotton, 
particularly the poorest among them, continued to  face unfair competition from developed country 
subsidies.   
13. Cotton was a vital component of the Doha Round agriculture negotiations and a central issue 
in the December 2008 draft Agriculture text.  Cotton must be addressed ambitiously, specifically, 
expeditiously, in accordance with the mandate, as agreed by all WTO Members at the 2005 HK 
Ministerial Conference.   
14. The G20 was disappointed and concerned that the current substantive negotiations on cotton 
were deadlocked and not moving forward as fast as  it wished in the consultations of the Special 
Session on Agriculture.  The G20 would continue to work closely with the C4.  There could be no 
agreement on modalities without properly addressing cotton.    
15. Speaking on behalf of Brazil, the representativ e of Brazil underlined that his delegation had 
consistently emphasized that cotton, both in its  trade and developmental aspects, was a vital 
component of the DDA.  Thanks to the incentive ge nerated by the Director-General's Consultative 
Framework Mechanism, cotton had also evolved into  a salient feature of South-South Cooperation, 
with increasing attention being devoted to assi stance to cotton producers in Africa.   
16. The G20 statement had addressed the issue of cotton in its trade dimension.  Brazil would like 
to add that it was extremely concerned about the ongoing negotiations on cotton in the DDA.   
17. As a result of the ruling of the arbitration in the US-Cotton dispute, which spelled out in the 
clearest possible way the adverse effects caused by some domestic US subsidies on cotton producers 
worldwide, Brazil had started a bilateral process with the US with a view to implementing real reform 
of those trade-distorting US programmes.  These negotiations were taking place in the shadow of possible countermeasures that could include the susp ension of concessions or obligations in the areas 
of services and intellectual property.  Brazil remained  of the view that a successful conclusion of the 
DDA negotiations on cotton could potentia lly help to eliminate the need for retaliatory action in that 
dispute.    
18. On South-South Cooperation, Brazil believed in its effectiveness and its positive impact on 
the developmental dimension.   
19. Bilaterally, as the current version of th e Evolving Table (ET) showed, Brazil was 
implementing an ambitious program  of cooperation, technical assistance, technology transfer and 
capacity-building with Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali in the field of cotton.  A presentation 
prepared by the Brazilian Agency of Cooperation (ABC) and the Brazilian Enterprise for Agriculture 
Research (Embrapa) showed the progress of bilate ral cooperation with the C4.  Brazil's overall goal 
was to:   
(a) contribute to improving the development of the cotton sector of the C4 countries;    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  (b) transfer Brazilian technology so as to promote increased productivity of the cotton 
chain in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, increasing producer earnings and favouring job creation in the C4 countries;  and   
(c) raise income generation through cotton production.   
20. Brazil intended to expand its b ilateral initiative to all cotton-producing countries in Africa.  
Brazil was confident that this cooperation would pr ovide a major contribution to redressing structural 
challenges in those countries.  However, as Minister  Celso Amorim remarked during his visit to Mali 
in 2009, the real plague to cotton production in Afri ca were the subsidies of developed countries.   
21. The representative of India
 associated his delegation fully with the statements made by 
Minister Koné on behalf of the C4 and by Brazil on behalf of the G20.  India fully supported the C4 
stand that cotton should be taken up as priority.  Hi s delegation fully shared the C4’s disappointment 
that no progress had been made on the cotton dossier since 2005.  It had to be recognized that unless 
the issue of cotton was resolved, it would not be pos sible to conclude the Round.  Therefore, there 
was a need to work strenuously to address this issue as mandated – ambitiously, specifically and 
expeditiously.   
22. It had been noted on previous occasions that the major cause for the critical situation of cotton 
in developing countries in general, and the C4 speci fically, was the continuing prevalence of the high-
level of trade-distorting subsidies in developed count ries.  The issue of subsidies would have to be 
dealt with meaningfully and frontally if there was sincerity in addressing the alarming situation.  The 
C4 should also enjoy enhanced market access in developed countries and there should not be any non-
tariff barriers to the export of their cotton.  India fully supported C4 proposals in this regard.   
23. India remained steadfast in its commitment to  promote South-South Cooperation in general 
and specifically in the cotton-producing and exporting  countries in Africa.  India’s recent interactions 
at institutional level also reflected the difficult situ ation of the C4 countries.  During India-Benin and 
India-Burkina Faso Joint Commission Meetings, this  issue came up and was reflected in the Joint 
Statements.  India had offered its full support to  the C4 in providing all possible development 
assistance to them in the area of cotton.   
24. He stated that his delegation would like all C4  countries to benefit from India’s Duty Free 
Tariff Preference Scheme (DFTPS), which had been in operation since April 2008.  He called upon 
the delegation of Chad to subscribe to the Scheme by signing a "Letter of Intent" and forwarding the 
letter to India.   
25. He noted that his delegation had a positive devel opment to share with the participants in the 
13th Round of the DGCFMC.  India had, in close collaboration with C4 Countries, Nigeria and 
Uganda, dispatched a multi-disciplinary cotton de legation during the period of 3 to 13 May 2010.  
During the visit extensive talks were held with a ll relevant stakeholders.  The purpose was to seek 
inputs on capacity-building, technology transfer, research and development and to share India’s 
expertise in its R&D centres through training, high er education programmes, formulate an effective 
cooperation programme, and to explore business a nd investment opportunities.  It was abundantly 
clear from the visit that there was vast scope for promoting multi-faceted cooperation between India, the C4, Nigeria and Uganda in the area of cotton development, value additio n, and textile cluster 
formation.  The report of the delegation’s visit w as being finalised.  His delegation would be making a 
detailed statement on the visit under the rubric of  South-South Cooperation.  He conveyed India's 
sincere thanks to the authorities of the C4, Nigeri a and Uganda for the exce llent cooperation extended 
to the delegation.  He reiterated India’s strong commitment to assist the C4 in their development 
efforts.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  26. The representative of the European Union
 underscored that it fully supported the calls to treat 
cotton ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically and had already acted upon this mandate.  First, the 
EU no longer provided Amber Box support to its cott on producers.  In its 2006 reform, the EU had 
decoupled support to cotton in a significant manner.  Second, the EU had not used export refunds for 
cotton.  Third, the EU had fully liberalized access to its market for cotton.  All of this showed that the 
EU had made good on the three attributes of th e Hong Kong mandate: ambitious, expeditious and 
specific.  Hence, the EU had acted, knowing that it  only accounted for about 2% of worldwide cotton 
production.  In this context, full effect would be given to the HK mandate, only if others followed on 
the same path.   
27. The representative of the United States  stated that the US was fu lly committed to a successful 
completion of the DDA and fully supported the ma ndate of HK.  The long-standing view of his 
delegation on the Doha negotiations on cotton, had not changed:  ther e must first be a determination 
of the general commitments on the three pillars of the agriculture negotiations before a determination 
of the commitments specifically for cotton.  As  mentioned by Minister Koné and Ambassador 
Walker, the United States had recently embarked  on a separate bilateral process with Brazil in 
response to the litigation on cotton.  His delegation hoped that this process would soon lead to a 
negotiated solution to that dispute.   As part of the bilateral process, the United States had recently 
agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding with Braz il regarding funds for an entity in Brazil that 
would provide technical assistance and capacity-build ing in the cotton sector in Brazil. According to 
the MoU this fund could also be used for interna tional cooperation in the cotton sector in Sub-Saharan 
Africa, as the Brazilian colleague had indicated.   
28. The representative of Colombia  stated that his country was k eenly interested in the cotton 
dossier.  Colombia had seen exports of cotton drast ically fall in the past decade as the outcome of 
world distortions with negative effects on incomes and rural employment.  Therefore, as stated in 
Hong Kong and agreed, his delegati on considered that cotton must be dealt with in an ambitious, 
expeditious and specific manner, especially in relatio n to domestic support.  His delegation reiterated 
its support for the proposal of the African Group and th e C4 in particular, in seeking to move forward 
and adhere to the commitments agreed in Hong Kong.   
29. The representative of Nigeria  stated that his delegation fully supported Burkina Faso's 
Minister's statement and that of Brazil on behalf of  the G20.  Nigeria welcomed the response of the 
donor community to support the trade and devel opment of the cotton sector in Africa and in 
particular, in the C4 countries.  The sector po ssessed the potential to transform national economies 
and contribute to poverty alleviation.  His dele gation urged development pa rtners to continue to 
strengthen coordination in the delivery of well-target ed support in order to assist the most vulnerable 
segments of the population in the context of a regional  strategy for cotton.  It would be recalled that 
the July 2004 Framework Agreement called for ad dressing the trade-related problems in the cotton 
sector ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically in all three pillars of the agriculture negotiations.  
He reiterated that the price pros pects and consequently the export shares of low-cost producers, 
including many African countries, could be consider ably improved, if support by developed countries 
was reduced substantially or eliminated altogether.   
30. He noted with concern the lack of progress in the agriculture negotiations, particularly as 
regards cotton.  In spite of the impasse, cotton re mained one of the central issues in the DDA work 
programme.  A satisfactory solution on cotton d eserved priority, because cotton addressed the 
overriding issues of poverty reduction, rural livelihoo ds and food security in low-income countries.  
The implementation of the development aspects also  deserved global attention by the international 
community.  In spite of the remarkable progress th at had been made, challenges still existed both in 
the short-term and in the long-term.  In this re gard, his delegation was encouraged by the active 
participation of the C4 in part nership with the development co mmunity in the DGCFMC process.  
The C4 effort had been key and positive in  the implementation of the mandates.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  31. The representative of Nigeria wished to place on record its appreciation to Brazil, China and 
India for the support and commitment shown for the plight of the cotton-producing countries in Africa.  The recent trip by India to the C4 countries, including Nigeria and Uganda, had been productive.  It was a testimony of India's commitment in the context of South-South Cooperation.  In 
conclusion, Nigeria supported the C4 proposal for the creation of a safety net for cotton-producing 
LDCs, given the level of dependence.  However,  his delegation wished to underline the critical 
importance of widening trade solutions and development assistance benefits to encompass the 36 African countries that produce and trade cotton.  In the context of South-South Cooperation, Nigeria welcomed with keen interest the offer by Pakistan for technical assistance.  The proposal was 
currently being examined in the capital with the vi ew to taking advantage of the scheme.  Nigeria 
believed that cotton research and development we re good steps in the right direction towards 
improving cotton productivity.   
32. The representative of Tanzania
 considered the 13th Round of the DGCFMC timely and 
welcomed the continued efforts to try to reach a settlement and resolve the deadlock of the cotton 
issue.  He regretted that the issue remained unresolv ed, in spite of the mandate for the dossier to be 
treated ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically.  In the letter by the DG, he noted the reference to 
cotton as a litmus test in the Doha Round.  Members were in agreement.  However, if the DDA was to 
deliver on development, then the cotton issue had to be urgently addressed.   
33. He noted that C4 Minister Koné, was categorical in his statement in referring to two issues.  
First, there were the trade-distorting subsidies, wh ich had to be addressed am bitiously.  Regrettably, 
to date, no results had been registered, as had b een confirmed by Ambassador Walker.  There was 
nothing substantial to report since 2005.  Second , there was the issue of the development assistance 
aspects of cotton being offered to the C4 and al l African cotton growers.  His delegation was 
appreciative of this support, but reiterated what Minister Koné had said, namely, that technical 
assistance and capacity-building, without an elimin ation/reduction of the trade-distorting subsidies 
would not resolve the problem.  Concrete action was required rather than continue with "this talk-
show", where everybody stressed the importance of resolving the cotton dossier, but to no effect.   
34. The representative of China  reiterated that the cotton issue was a significant and central 
component of the Doha Round agriculture negot iations and should be addressed ambitiously, 
specifically and expeditiously, according to the ma ndate agreed by all Members at the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference.  China was disappointed by the fact that no progress had recently been made 
on cotton in the DDA and that substantive negotiatio ns on cotton were deadlocked.  China shared the 
common assessment that there would be no solutio n to the Doha Round without properly addressing 
the cotton issue.  China strongly supported the C4  position on opening to nego tiations and dialogue on 
cotton issues.  China would continue to work closel y with C4 countries in that regard.  He provided 
information regarding China cotton-related trad e with C4 and other African cotton-producing 
countries, and information on cotton-relate d assistance to African countries.   
35. First, on cotton trade with the C4 and other A frican cotton-producing and trading countries, in 
spite of the world financial and economic crisis, China had kept its  cotton trade policy stable and 
accorded importance to Africa as one of the major sources for cotton import.  For instance, in 2009, 
cotton imports from African countries were increased by more than 30% in volume, if compared to 
2008.  In 2009, China's imports from Burkina Faso were increased by 126% in volume and 85% in 
value.  China would continue to increase its imports  from the C4 countries and from the other African 
countries.   
36. Second, China continued to provide cotton relate d assistance and aid, in the framework of its 
cooperation policy.  China had provided assistance to  African cotton development in various forms of 
assistance and aid, such as investme nt, loans with preferential rates, training courses and technology TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  cooperation.  For instance, on investments, at th e end of 2008, China had invested US$673 million in 
the African textiles industry, representing an increase of 262% over the last two years.  Since 1995, 
China had provided loans with preferential rates to African countries to develop large-scale cotton and 
textile projects in order to create local empl oyment opportunities and increase local government 
revenues.  In 2009, the Chinese Government provided an interest-free loan to Benin, specifically in 
supporting a Sino-Benin textile joint venture proj ect.  On training, since 2008, China had hosted 
18 training courses in relation to cotton and textiles fo r African countries.  The subjects of the training 
courses covered the textile industry, planning and management, textiles enterprises management, new 
breeds of cotton and new cultivation technology, cott on textile technology, etc.  About 400 trainees 
from African countries had been trained in th ese training courses.  On agricultural technical 
assistance, the Chinese Government had establish ed and constructed agricultural technology 
demonstration centres in African countries since 2008.   These centres would be used to train local 
agricultural technicians and farmers, demonstrati ng and extending agriculture technologies, including 
cotton farming technologies.  Fourteen centres woul d first be constructed in 14 African countries, 
such as Tanzania, Zambia and some cotton-produc ing countries like Cameroon and Benin.  All the 
construction work for the centres in the 14 African countries had already started before the end of 
2009, and were expected to be completed by 2010.   The construction work in centres in Benin and 
some other countries had been completed and been put  to use in March 2010.  In addition, China was 
sending more than 100 agricultural specialists and experts to 35 African countries to assist local 
farmers in agriculture production, including cotton farming and processing.  For example, a team of 
cotton farming experts had travelled to A ngola and Côte d'Ivoire in late 2009.   
37. China would continuously attach great importanc e to aid and cooperation in cotton industries 
with African countries, enlarge the scale of aid, impr ove efficiency of the utilization of capital in aid, 
and expand economic and technical cooperation with African countries through various measures and 
different approaches.  China would strengthen communication between the major cotton-producing 
countries in Africa, the Chinese Government and th e coalition of cotton and textile enterprises.   
38. The representative of Argentina
 supported the statement made by the G20.  Argentina was 
convinced that there must be compliance with the D oha Mandate in order to solve the cotton issue.  
His delegation believed that unless a solution was found , it would be very difficult to conclude the 
Doha Round.  He drew attention to an issue his delegation had frequently underlined, namely, the 
relationship that existed between Green Box disciplin es and C4 proposals.  On the draft modalities for 
agriculture (TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4), his delegation had not ed that the provisions stipulated in Annex B, 
to the understanding of his delegation, were not co mpatible with the mandate and implied a greater 
flexibility of the disciplines of the Green Box which could annul the benefits from the reductions that 
had been proposed by the C4.  This was due to the fact that the cuts in the Blue Box could then be 
compensated through an increase of subsidies to the Green Box and thus, the reduction requested by 
the C4 would be annulled.   
39. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDCs' Consultative Group, associated the 
LDCs with the statement made by the C4 Coordi nator, Minister Koné.  The LDCs' Group expressed 
appreciation for the efforts by various partners to  promote the cause of the cotton producers.  There 
was no doubt that this process of exchange of information had improve d understanding of the 
concerns of cotton producers and had focused support fo r the sector.  As stated in previous statements, 
trade and development solutions to cotton remained critical to lifting millions of people, dependent on 
cotton for their livelihood, out of poverty.  The LDCs ' Group had consistently stated that the delayed 
conclusion of the Doha Round was a denial of deve lopment benefits.  The cotton negotiations were 
closely linked to the agricultural negotiations, and this was of concern to the Group. The Group reiterated its previous position that the manda te for cotton had to be implemented.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  40. The Chairman , in conclusion, expressed appreciation to Ambassador Walker for  his 
presentation and also to the participants for their engagement on the issues.  It was self-evident from 
the exchange of views that cotton remained an issue to which Members attached priority.  He 
requested the Chairman of the Committee on Agri culture Special Session and of its Sub-Committee 
on Cotton to take away with him the feedback received from the 13th Round of the DGCFMC to his 
various consultative formats.   
C. DOMESTIC  COTTON  SECTOR  AND  OTHER  REFORMS  / NATIONAL  COTTON  
FOCAL  POINTS 
41. The Chairman , in introducing the item, noted that Domestic Cotton Sector and Other Reforms 
had been on the agenda of the consultations from the very beginning in 2004.  At the 11th Round of 
Consultations, the First Version of the "Table on Domestic Cotton Sector Reforms for Cotton Sector 
Development" (WT/CFMC/21) had been circulated , based on inputs from several cotton proponents 
(Benin, Burkina Faso and Chad).  He expressed appr eciation that the Second Version of the "Table on 
Domestic Cotton Sector Reforms for Cotton Sector Development" (WT/CFMC/21/Rev.1) had been 
circulated on 12 May 2010, based on inputs from Beni n and Burkina Faso.  The inputs from Chad and 
Mali, as well as additional inputs from Benin, had be en received after the updated Table on Domestic 
Cotton Sector Reforms had been circulated.  The Secretariat was in contact with the relevant 
delegations to have their inputs reflected in the ne xt version (Rev.2) of the Domestic Cotton Sector 
Reforms Table (DCS-RT).  On behalf of Memb ers and participants, the Chairman conveyed 
appreciation to Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali,  for the time and effort they had invested in 
domestic coordination to provide the inputs for the preparation of the second ve rsion of the Table, and 
in the recent inputs yet to be reflected in an updated version.   
42. He noted that over time, the constructive donor/recipient dialogue under the item had 
underlined the strong relationship between resource s provided by the development community, on the 
one hand, and more efficient resource use, pr oductivity and greater openness amongst recipients of 
assistance, on the other.    
43. The representative of the United States  stated that this part of the work of the DGCFMC was 
vital as part of the overall exercise and thanked the C4  countries that had submitted inputs for updates.  
His delegation felt that the Domestic Cotton Sector Reforms Table should be an evolving document.  
He suggested that there could be more recent and frequent comprehensive updates to the Table.  Since 
it was only received on the day of the meeting, his de legation would review it in careful detail.  He 
expressed his delegation's interest in knowing whethe r Chad had more recent information on its cotton 
reform, in addition to that provided, and whether Chad could provide the DGCFMC with a copy of the road map to which it had referred.  Revi ew of these programmes would be useful.   
44. The representative of Chad,
 in response to the US, said he was hopeful to be in a position to 
provide a copy of the road map as soon as possible.  He drew attention to the latest update and the 
recent measures that the Government had undertaken.  This was the audit of the cotton chain.  He 
stressed that the road map would go into further deta il and explain exactly what remained outstanding.  
He noted, however, that in the road map his au thorities had mentioned the technical and financial 
audit which had been audited by his Government and which would highlight the main results that 
were expected from the audit group, i.e. review ing the production tools, reforming the process of 
inputs for greater yields and the financial reform of cotton in Chad.  Therefore, beyond what was 
included in the road map, it would clearly express th e political will of the Government to privatize the 
cotton sector.  He undertook to make available to the WTO Secretariat the road map as a formal official document, for distribution.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 10 
 
 
  45. The Chairman
 concluded the item on several notes.  First, he expressed particular 
appreciation to Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Ma li for their inputs, which had made possible the 
preparation of the first version of the Table.  Following the 13th Round of Consultations, the second 
version would be updated to reflect the more r ecent inputs.  Second, he thanked Members and 
Participants for their comments on the Table (W T/CFMC/21/Rev.1).  He hoped that this would 
encourage and deepen the process of engagement.  Th ird, he encouraged others who had not yet done 
so to consider submitting their inputs, to the Secret ariat, as early as possible for the third version of 
the Table.  Finally, he proposed that the 13th R ound of Consultations take note of the reports and 
updates provided and the statements made.  Those would be reflected in the records of the 13th Round.   
46. It was so decided .    
D. DESIGNATION  OF NATIONAL  COTTON  SECTOR  FOCAL  POINTS   
47. The Chairman  invited participants to consider the last part of the Item on namely, the 
submission of the coordinates for designated Nati onal Cotton Sector Focal Points.  He informed 
participants that, so far, the Secretariat had onl y received and registered returns from seven proponent 
countries.  The same number as when the DGCFMC met at its 12th Round in October 2009.  The 
designated National Cotton Sector Focal Points were  contained in Part IV of the Table on Cotton 
Development Assistance (WT/CFMC/6/Rev.8).  He urged cotton proponent countries to take early 
action to designate their National Cotton Sector Focal Po ints.  In this connection, he noted that a team 
of Indian cotton experts had recently visited six A frican countries.  It would be useful to have 
designated cotton sector focal points who would foll ow up to such visits.  Designated cotton sector 
focal points would increase the efficiency of the operation.   
48. The representative of Burkina Faso , in response, recalled his recent statement on national 
cotton sector focal points.  He agreed with the Ch airman their roles were clearly spelled out.  The 
expectations of their work were growing.  They were intermediaries, who collected information and 
improved efficiency of the operation.  They worked  to update the Evolving Table.  To assist these 
objectives of the designated national cotton sector focal points, the C4 again repeated its request that 
these focal points should participate in the Rounds of  the DGCFMC.  To do so, they had to travel to 
Geneva and participate at the me etings and meet with other desi gnated focal points to harmonize and 
share experiences. Funding assistance was required to  enable the participation of designated focal 
points at sessions of the DGCFMC.   
49. The 13th Round of the DGCFMC took note  of the statements made.   
E. COTTON  PRODUCTION  AND  TRADE  TRENDS   
50. The Chairman  noted that in 2008 and 2009, the cotton sector was subjected to significant 
adversity resulting from a succession of crises, wh ich reflected the global financial and economic 
crisis of the period.  Many cotton-producing and exporting countries had been negatively affected, particularly the African countries, of which several  depended on the cotton sector for their growth and 
poverty reduction strategies as well as for rura l well-being and livelihood concerns.   
51. He invited Mr. Terry Townsend, the Executive Director of the International Cotton Advisory 
Committee (ICAC), to make a factual presentation on the state of the global cotton sector in 2010 
since the recent global and financial economic cris is and share ICAC's prospects and analysis for 
future cotton production and trade trends in the near term.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  52. The representative of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC)  reported that the 
situation in 2008 and 2009 was one of the worst in the history of the world cotton industry.  He was 
pleased to report that today that the situation in the cotton industry had subs tantially improved.  The 
world economy was under recovery and growth, more th an analysts had expected in 2009.  Recovery 
and growth were reflected in str onger growth in world consumption of  cotton in many countries.  Mill 
use of cotton was rising in the largest countries that had textile industries. China, India and Pakistan 
remained the countries that consumed cotton the mo st.  Others, like Turkey, Brazil, Bangladesh were 
also experiencing strengthened demand.  That was a great improvement over the last two years.  
Countries such as the US, the EU, Japan and other developed countries were, however, experiencing a 
decline in the mill use of cotton, but this reflected long-term structural change and was not related to 
current economic factors.   
53. Another matter that had substantially improve d from the perspective of the cotton industry 
was cotton prices.  Cotton prices were on the increase.  Prices of competing crops, particularly maize, soy, wheat and rice were lower than they had been in  the previous year.  As a consequence, the strong 
decline in cotton area that had occurred in recent years had been reversed in 2010.  Soy beans was 
among the biggest competing crops to cotton.  Cotton prices had risen relatively to prices of competing crops.  The only exception to this change  was sugar.  Worldwide, therefore, cotton area 
was rising in almost all the cotton-producing countries.   
54. Another factor that had negatively affected  the cotton industry two years ago was the 
substantial rise in the cost of cotton production rela ted to fertilizer prices.  Cotton was a fertilizer-
intensive crop.  As fertilizer prices rose, the cost of producing cotton rose correspondingly.  That 
occurred at the time when returns from cotton pr oduction were falling.  That obviously put cotton 
producers in all countries in a squeeze between falling revenue and rising costs.  Fertilizer prices had 
substantially moderated from their peaks in the midd le of 2008.  Fertilizer prices were higher than 
they had been a decade ago but, nevertheless, substantia lly lower than at the peak  of the crisis.  In the 
current year, as cotton prices had risen and the cost s of production had returned to former levels, 
cotton producers were now in much  better conditions and a substan tial increase in cotton area was 
expected.   
55. At the start of the current century, cotton produc tion averaged 19 to 20 million metric tons.  In 
the middle of the decade, prices had dramatica lly risen and consequently production, reaching a 
record of 27 million metric tons in 2004/05 season and had stayed closed to that level for three 
succeeding years.  Starting in 2008/09, prices of fer tilizers began rising rapidly in contrast to the 
declining price of cotton, and declining pro duction area.   Production for the 2009/10 season was 
known with certainty and would attain 22 million t ons, but far below the record level.  Based on 
current estimates, ICAC expected  world cotton production to rebound to about 25 million metric tons, 
leaving it below the record level, but still substantially  above the levels of the most recent two years.   
56. With improvements in demand, imports of cott on were rising.  China was the largest single 
importer of cotton.  Imports had dropped to about 6 to 6.5 million tons during the 2008/09 season, at 
the peak of the recession.  They had improved substantiall y to a little more than 7 million metric tons 
during the current season.  ICAC estimated that for the 2010/11 season, imports would rise to about 
8 million metric tons.  As imports rose, obviously exports would follow.  Of the major exporters, a 
decline was expected only in India.  US exports were  expected to rise to about 3 million tons.  Exports 
from Uzbekistan would rise to about 900.000 tons.  Exports out of the CFA zone (the currency zone 
for Francophone Africa) were forecast to increase by 500,000 tons.  Brazil would increase exports and 
Australia would see a modest increase.  Exports fro m India would decline only because they had been 
unusually large this year.  India was facing tighter stoc ks;  and, would, therefore, export less cotton.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 12 
 
 
  57. With the rise in consumption and fall in productio n in the current season, the consequence, for 
the first time in five years, was a substantial drop in  cotton stocks.  That had had the effect of a rise in 
cotton prices.  World cotton stocks had declined to about 10 million tons, approximately the level 
which existed a decade ago, going down significan tly from the peak levels of more than 12 million 
tons, in the 2004/05 seasons.  For the coming se ason, ICAC expected both consumption and 
production to rise, leaving the world cotton market in re lative balance.  It expected stocks to remain at 
around 10 million tons.   
58. The Cotlook A Index was an indicator of the average level of global cotton prices.  During the 
1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the index had shown great variation from year  to year, as any commodity 
did, but the average was US¢74 per pound.  Prices we re below the long-term average price for every 
season during the last decade.  They came clo se to the average at US¢73 per pound during the 
2007/08 season, but then dropped back to US¢61 in  the 2008/09 season.  Therefore, the cotton 
industry had gone through an entire decade in whic h prices had been below the average that had 
prevailed for the previous three decades, putting gr eat pressure on producers worldwide.  Last season, 
the average was US¢61 per pound.  In the current seas on, with the decline in stocks, the A index was 
rising to an average of US¢78 per pound.  IC AC's estimate for the 2010/11 season was based on the 
fundamental statistical measures of supply and use.  It estimated US¢86 per pound, but there would always be a range of estimate.  The 95% confidence for 2010/11 season stretched from US¢72 to US¢102, a range of US¢30 per pound, which was the historical range between high and low prices in 
any season in the cotton industry.  Nevertheless, even  at the bottom of that range, US¢72, that would 
leave cotton prices much higher than they were during most of the previous decade.  And if prices 
came anywhere close to the forecast estimate of US¢86 per pound of cotton lint, cotton producers 
would have done far better in th e 2010/11 season than they would have done in any season since the 
mid-1990s.   
59. Direct assistance to the cotton industry was defi ned by ICAC as assistance paid directly to 
cotton and was not general agricultural support.  ICAC  had collected information on direct assistance 
to the cotton industry since the 1997/98 season.  Tota l direct assistance paid by all countries that made 
such payments were nearly US$8 billion in the 2005/06 season, and approxi mated US$2.5 billion in 
2006/07 season.  In other years, total assistance had ranged between these levels.  For the current 
season, which began in August 2009 a nd ended on 31 July 2010, ICAC estimated that total assistance 
would be around US$4.5 billion.  There was no tr end either increasing or decreasing in the total 
assistance paid to cotton.  Despite  all of the discussions that had taken place in multilateral trade 
negotiations, with the focus on cotton, there was no tr end, rising or falling.  By country, the US and 
China provided the most direct assistance. The US ha d programmes that were triggered by levels of 
world cotton prices.   In the 2008/09 season, when pri ces were lower, total payments to farmers in the 
US were higher and totalled US$3 billion.  In the current season, as the mark et prices increased, the 
formula used to calculate the payments declined, w ith the US making payments totalling a little less 
than US$2 billion to cotton farmers in 2009/10.  China used a different system of direct payments, in 
which it controlled imports so as to keep domestic  prices received by farmers in China above the 
world market price.  ICAC collected data and ad justed for both quality and location to estimate for 
border differential.  That had stayed constant  at about US$2 billion both in 2008/09 and 2009/10.  
Last season, India supported domestic prices with the minimum support price.  That would not be 
continued in the next 2010/11 season.  The EU had a programme, where most of the benefits were 
decoupled, but there were still 35% of total paymen ts that were still linked to cotton production and 
totalled about US$400 million at the exchange rate us ed for each year.  Turkey had a relatively small 
programme, through which it made payments to grow ers in the order of US$200 to US$300 million.  
Likewise, Brazil made payments of around US$200 to  US$400 million per year.  A lot of variation in 
the payments from year to year in Turkey and Br azil largely reflected changes in exchange rates 
rather than actual shifts in programmes.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  60. On the basis of cents per pound, producers in Spain produced very little cotton and the 
payments received were huge relative to the market  price.   Producers were receiving approximately 
US$2 per pound.  Producers in Greece receive d between US¢20 and US¢70 per pound of cotton 
produced under the EU programme.  Producers in the US  payments were linked to prices.  Prices were 
lower in 2008/09 and so the rate per pound of produc tion was higher.  It was around US¢30 in 2010.  
In Turkey, prices were between US¢15 in 2009 an d about US¢30 in 2010.  Support in China was 
about US¢10 per pound and Brazil the same.  Support in India was very low in 2009 and was zero in 2010. 
61. The 13
th Round of the DGCFMC took note  of the report by ICAC.   
F. EVOLVING  TABLE:   UPDATED  VERSION  (WT/CFMC/6/R EV.8) 
62. The Chairman  noted that the Evolving Table had em erged as a common transparency tool, for 
tracking and monitoring the commitments and disbur sements by the development community in the 
implementation of the mandate on cotton development assistance.  It had also become the common platform for development dialogue between the donor community and recipients of assistance for 
cotton sector development.   
63. On 12 May 2010, the Director-General circulat ed to Members the latest version of the 
Evolving Table, contained in document WT/CFMC/ 6/Rev.8.  Certain inputs which were received 
after the circulation of the latest version would be reflected in the next update of the Table.  He invited the Secretariat to describe essential features of the current 9
th Version of the ET.   
64. The representative of the Secretariat2 informed Members that the ET was circulated by the 
Director-General on 12 May 2010.  That was the 9th version of the ET.  All the entries were 
cumulative from the original version.  They had b een checked, verified and had been subjected to an 
extensive exchange of views.  The entries were the result of the engagement between providers and 
recipients of assistance.  Entries for the updated 9th version had been made possible by the 
contributions of Brazil, the EU and several of its  members, Japan and the United States.  From the 
multilateral institutions, contributions had been received from the CFC/ICAC, the ITC, IMF, UNIDO 
and the World Bank.  Late inputs had been received  from the FAO.  Those would be reflected in the 
subsequent version.   
65. In DG Lamy's forwarding letter of 12 May 2010, circulating the 9th version, he had noted that 
the number of beneficiaries in Part I had increased  from 23 to 41.  There was also an increase in 
commitments from 153 to 161.  Although there was a decrease in value, from US$564 million in the 
8th version to US$551 million in the current 9th version (a 2.3% decrease), the explanation was 
reflected in developments in Part II of the ET.  There had been significant improvements in 
disbursements, which had increased by 24% from US$215 million in the 8th version to 
US$266 million in the current version.   
66. In Part II, many of the providers of assistan ce were investing their efforts and resources 
within the larger context of agriculture and in frastructure support.  Those were reflected in 
agricultural  productivity, irrigation, Integrated Pest Management Systems, etc.  The number of 
beneficiaries had decreased from 41 to 35;  and the r eason for that was related to the preference of the 
development community to provide for group assistance on the basis of regional platforms.  As a consequence, there was a reduction for assistance give n to individual beneficiaries.  That accounted 
for the apparent reduction of the number.   
                                                     
 
2 Director of the Accessions Division.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  67. In Part II, the number of commitments had increased by 12% from 84 to 94 in the current 
version.  The monetary value of commitments reflected had substantially increased from US$2.89 billion to US$3.86 billion in the current versi on.  Disbursements in Part II had also increased 
from US$178 million to US$229 million in the current 9
th version.   
68. The ET was a tool for transparency, building syne rgies and assisting providers and recipients 
to avoid duplication and, monitoring progress on the implementation of the Doha mandate on cotton.  
The numbers were consolidated;  and added up.  They represented a critical mass of commitments.  
The Director-General, in his 12 May letter, had dr awn attention to the significant improvements in 
disbursements flows, and had expressed appreciation to all Members, particularly in the last couple of 
years when many Members had been fiscally challe nged.  Improvements needed to be matched by 
continued monitoring.  Regrettably, commensurat e progress had not been achieved on the score of 
operational reports.  Reports were  infrequent.  The state-of-play on operational im plementation was 
unclear and uncertain.  There was a need for more intensive engagement of domestic national focal 
points and providers of assistance.  That would help  enormously.  Focal points needed to be notified, 
as pointed out by the Chairman.  Th ere was also a need for a better u se by all partners of cotton focal 
points.  Recently, the suggestion had been made a bout the importance of undertaking impact analysis 
on all the figures in the Table.  The Secretariat position was that, obviously, that would be a useful 
exercise, but an impact analysis if it did occur, wo uld best be between providers and beneficiaries.  
The Secretariat would not be in a position to undertake impact analysis, particularly, on the 
operational aspects in-country.   
69. The representative of the United States  welcomed the opportunity to update the 13th Round of 
the DGCFMC on US Government development programm es, since the last meeting in October 2009.  
The update would cover the activities of the US Agen cy for International Deve lopment (USAID);  the 
Western Africa Cotton Improvement Programme or WACIP, which was operating in the C4 countries 
as well as Senegal;  the Millennium Challenge Corpora tion activities;  and, several US Department of 
Agriculture Committees.   
70. The West African Cotton Improvement Progra mme (WACIP) had been  announced in late 
2005.  It had a broad mandate to address the lack of competitiveness of West African cotton, as compared to cotton produced in other regions , by supporting key national and regional cotton 
producer groups and other important private sector  entities involved in the cotton value chain.  
WACIP worked in three main in tervention areas.  First, creating momentum for longer-term policy 
and institutional changes, that would encourage in vestment and value addition.  Second, improving 
the value addition by explorin g niche-processing and marketing opportunities for cotton-based 
products.  Third, increasing productiv ity of cotton, the quality of cotton lint, and farmers income from 
cotton and other crops in the cotton rotation.  Since the last session of the DGCFMC, WACIP had 
carried out a variety of activities.  There were se veral examples.  There was the increase in farmers' 
incomes.  WACIP conducted several activities focused  on strengthening the capacity for use of bio-
technology in ensuring bio-safety.  Staff of Burkin a Faso’s national bio-safety agency and its satellite 
bodies were trained and Burkina Faso’s Safety La w was translated into three local languages and 
distributed.  As part of the project to strengthen capacity of cotton programmes of C4 agricultural research institutes, WACIP, in collaboration with th e Institute Du Sahel, had organised procurement 
of approximately US$800,000 worth of computers and laboratory equipment.  In the area of cotton 
ginning, WACIP had organised a 10-day study tour to the two sights of WACIP’s pilot ginning 
programme, and the carrying out of the first of t hose tours with SODEFITEX in Senegal;  with a 
similar programme in Benin in April.  A film had been made on WACIP’s ginning investments in 
Senegal, which would be shortly distributed.  With respect to cotton artisans in these countries, WACIP continued its efforts in artisanal product d esign and development.  A recent success was the 
display and sale of cotton handicrafts produced in WACIP-trained and assisted artisans in New York 
and Frankfurt.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  71. Under the Millennium Challenge Corporation, with the approval of the MCC Compacts with 
Senegal in September 2009, MCC had engaged in agricultural programmes with its partners in Benin, 
Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal.  That totalled n early US$2 billion over five years.  From the 
Department of Agriculture, work had continued wi th the C4 countries across a number of "Food for 
Progress" Programmes, notably, in Mali, with a US $12 million programme to encourage agricultural 
development and improved trade capacity.  Also, in  Senegal, there were two "Food for Progress 
Programmes" to build and strengthen farmer organisat ions, market development, agricultural training 
and micro-credit.   
72. All these activities were laid out in the most recent update of the ET.  Comments had been 
received from the Republic of Mali on the US Millennium Challenge Corporation projects in Mali.  
The comments indicated the MCC projects involved not only agriculture, but others dealing with Bamako airport and the development of an industri al zone.  The US had noted those comments.  
However, it felt that it was useful to recognise th at in cotton development, as in any agricultural 
development, farm-to-market roads were important, as were better air ports.  Industrial zones could be 
involved in ginning or provide services to agricultural sector inputs or the export sector.  It was, 
therefore, appropriate that those particular progra mmes were also included in Part II of the ET.   
73. The representative of the European Union (EU)
 thanked the Secretariat for its hard work in 
compiling the Table.  It was a useful overview of ongoing development assistance programmes and inter alia  it was also useful to donors, as a tool for donor coordination.   
74. The EU welcomed very much the overall positive trends in assistance committed and 
disbursed to the cotton sector in the C4 and the African continent more widely.  As mentioned on 
previous occasions, the EU had mobilised significan t levels of support for the implementation of the 
EU-Africa partnership on cotton.  The current update of the ET again showed higher levels of 
commitments and disbursement for the EU.  In terms of figures, the total level of funds managed by 
the EU budget, now stood at €170 million in terms of  allocation, of which over €100 million had been 
disbursed.  So, from the EU budget alone, more than 63% of the allocations had been disbursed.   
75. A number of EU member States, in particular, France, Germany and the Netherlands had also 
contributed significant support to the sector.  As a whole, the EU had allocated over €350 million to 
cotton programmes and projects since 2004.  If the di sbursement levels were  taken into account, and 
an exchange rate of US$1.23 per Euro was used, th is would fall, approximately, in the range of 80% 
to 90% of all total disbursements reported in the ET.  The EU was certainly fulfilling its commitments 
to support the cotton sector and ro ughly disburse its assistance.   
76. As on previous occasions, the EU had not incl uded in this overview the assistance that was 
indirectly related to cotton, like general agricultu ral projects, infrastructure, or trade facilitation, 
private sector development, and general macro-ec onomic assistance.  EU macro-economic assistance 
was considerable in some of the main cotton-pr oducing countries.  Inputs had been provided only for 
Part I of the Table.   
77. In terms of future support, the EU had indicated  at previous meetings that an update of the 
EU-Africa partnership for cotton had been carried  out.  The renewed action framework would form 
the basis for the identification of new support programmes on cotton for the African Continent, 
funded from the 10
th European Development Fund, for a value of  at least €10 million.  It was foreseen 
that the identification and formulation work, in cl ose consultation with African partners would be 
undertaken in the second half of the year leading to a decision in early 2011. TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  78. The EU would also like to comment briefly on the Secretariat’s response on the opportunity 
and feasibility to undertake some type of impact an alysis of cotton development projects.  That point 
had been raised by Burkina Faso in  one of the documents that had been distributed for the meeting.  
The EU took note of the Secretariat’s position that that was an area of work that probably went 
beyond the mandate of the WTO.  The EU would like to stress that with respect to EU-funded 
projects, all of its projects were subject to regular  monitoring and evaluation.  External evaluations 
were always prepared jointly with EU partner count ries and the results were clearly available to the 
partner countries' authorities, which in the case of the EU budget, was normally with the Minister of 
Planning or the Minister of Finance.  Therefore, those evaluations existed and, hopefully, through the 
focal points, the EU should be in a position to broa dly share those evaluations.  The EU agreed with 
the Secretariat that that kind of exercise was better done directly between the donors and the 
beneficiaries and in-country.   
79. Regarding the Secretariat's reference to the la rge increase in the number of beneficiaries under 
Part I, indicating that it had increased from 21 to  41, the EU asked whether the increase was over a 
one-year period alone, or it was from the start and what were the reasons for that increase.     
80. The representative of the World Bank (WB)
 welcomed the opportunity to briefly discuss the 
WB assistance on cotton.  A recent study by the WB suggested that the quality of African cotton was 
increasing.  The fact that it was hand-picked and the low unit production cost gave African cotton an 
important group potential on the world market in the long run.  The study suggested that the effective 
strategy for African cotton sector should look at th ree objectives.  Achieving greater value through 
improved quality, marketing and added value to by-products.  Bridging the competitiveness gap 
through farm-levered productivity, ginning effi ciency and improving sustainability through 
institutional development and capacity-building of stake-holders, as well as strengthening governance, 
regulatory structures and management systems.   
81. The WB work on cotton focused on all these areas,  recognising most of the needs to foster 
diversification on less traditional crops.  For example,  in Mali, the agricultural diversification project 
aimed at fostering the performance of the supply chain for both traditional products like cotton and 
non-traditional products like fruit or horticulture.  The project aims were to remove critical 
constraints, improving productivity and efficiency  and building organisa tional and institutional 
capacity;  both public and private along the supply chain.  Similarly, in Burkina Faso the agricultural diversification and market development project aimed at increasing competitiveness of selected agricultural sub-sectors.  Support and assistance includ ed improvement of aggro-silva-pastoral supply 
chain performance, the development of irrigation and marketing infrastructure and improvement of 
the business environment and th e regulatory framework.   
82. Under the agricultural action plan, for the fiscal year 2010/2013 the WB would increase 
lending to agricultural and related sectors, scali ng-up examples of good practice.  The WB support 
from IDA, IBRD and the IFC projected an increase  through a business line average support in fiscal 
year 2006/2008 from US$4.1 billion annually to between US$6.2 and US$8.3 billion annually, while 
maintaining portfolio quality.  World Bank support would be aligned around the following five focus 
areas:  rising agricultural productivity, linking farmer s to market strengthening value chains;  reducing 
the risk of vulnerability;  facilitating agricultural entry and exit;  rural non-farm income;  and, 
enhancing environmental sustainability and services.   Clearly, the combination of support among that 
thematic IDA would differ across countries and regions according to the characteristics and the 
priority of each country.   
83. The representative of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
 reported on the details of 
its project on strengthening the management capac ity of cotton cooperatives in Kenya and Zambia.  
The project value was around US$190,000 and the implementation period was between 2009 and 
2011.  It had been financed by EC/AAACP funds.  The details on the project had been communicated 
to the WTO Secretariat and he apologised for the late transmission of the information.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  84. On operational implementa tion of cotton related projects, he reported on three activities.   The 
first was the promotion of organic cotton production in  Tanzania.  The overall objective of this project 
was to facilitate market linkages between orga nic cotton producers and the fashion industry, 
particularly in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.  The project was undertaken in close cooperation with 
national stake-holders as well as the Italian Institute for Ethical and Environmental Certification.  A 
number of operational activities had already been co mpleted.  They were mainly of a normative 
nature and included, for instance, a desk study on  the development of organic cotton production in 
Tanzania.  They also included the collection of information on existing organic cotton initiatives in 
Tanzania and the identification of the main constr aints and opportunities for improving profitability of 
organic cotton production.  Furthermore, it also included a survey, aimed at the identification of 
opportunities for the development of integrated a nd collaborative networks, which included farmers 
and textile manufacturers.  The activity identified lo cal farmers organisations to be involved in the 
development and implementation of  the experimental and participatory learning methodology.   
85. The second operational activity related to the cr eation of business models to strengthen the 
linkages between farmers and buyers of cotton and th e cotton industry.  The overall objective was to 
improve the linkages between farmers and buyers of cotton particularly in Uganda, Zambia and 
Kenya.  It included a number of agricultural production systems, such as cotton-maize systems, high value horticulture, tree crop systems, particularly in  Tanzania.  The overall idea was to strengthen the 
linkages between the business corporations and the co tton companies, with the objective of increasing 
the farmers’ value share in the overall value added.   
86. The third operational activity concerned the st rengthening of local capacities to adapt good 
agricultural practices and integrated production and pest management schemes for cotton stock 
production systems in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali.  The overall objective was to increase the 
productivity and the income of cotton farmers, an d in particular, to improve the environmental 
sustainability and farmers’ health through goo d agricultural practices and Integrated Pest 
Management.   
87. Activities would be scaled-up with trainers and producers.  That would include the 
diversification of training curricula to include sesame  in the case of Mali and rice in Mali and Benin.  
In Burkina Faso, income-gener ating activities would be introduced as well as self-financing 
mechanisms for farmer field schools in Burkina.     
88. The representative of Burkina Faso
, on behalf of the C4, thanked the development community 
for the efforts they had made in providing aid in  order to improve competitiveness of the cotton sector 
in the C4.  The C4 commended the WTO Secretaria t for the work in compiling data from all countries 
and which had now been consolidated in the 9th version of the Table.   
89. The C4 felt that it would be useful to introdu ce the concept of assessing the efficiency of the 
assistance that countries received on cotton.  A ssistance provided should contribute to the 
improvement of competitiveness of C4 cotton chains.  It  was, therefore, felt that the establishment of 
an assessment mechanism, on the question of eff ectiveness of assistance provided, would improve 
understanding.  The C4, therefore, considered it woul d be a good idea if donors, who had not already 
done so, could integrate assessment and evaluation mechanisms to follow-up on the type of support 
being provided.  The DGCFMC was, perhaps, the most  adequate forum to deal with this particular 
issue.   
90. The representative of Mali  expressed his delegation's appreciation to WTO Members, who 
were assisting the C4 and had done so since the beginning of the initiative.  He also thanked the 
donors who had just reported on the extent of their participation.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  91. The exercise with the ET was an instrument for dialogue;  and the dialogue was improving 
with every successive meeting of the DGCFMC.  Hi s delegation paid tribute to the very professional 
work by the Secretariat.  Nonetheless, his delega tion felt there was scope for improving the ET.  His 
delegation had identified several points.   
92. For example, the representative of the Worl d Bank had referred to a possible increase in 
future credits, concessional funding and other WB  country programmes (under the new programme 
2010/2013), which could be applied to the cott on sector for cotton development assistance to 
beneficiary countries, if they so wished.  That was an opportunity for the Malian delegation to again 
question the way in which the Tabl e was presented.  Although there had been constant references to 
cotton specific development assistance from the ve ry beginning, perhaps that concept should be 
clarified once and for all.  How was it possible to compare assistance provided from the MCC with other types of assistance such as World Bank and IMF credits, concessional funding, etc.?  How could 
the latter be totalled as part of the sum of assist ance for cotton-specific development assistance in 
African countries?     
93. There were other improvements possible in the Table.  For example, at the bottom of each 
page, there were the monitoring variables, namely:  "D" – discontinued;  "S" – suspended; "PFS" - 
project formulation stage.  Had the values for "di scontinued" and "disbursement " reconciled?  At what 
stage was the programme discontinued?  Perhap s, a new column would improve understanding.  
There were projects that had stayed between two to  three years in the project formulation stage.  
Those required clarification.  The suggested additiona l column could assist in explaining those issues 
and improving understanding, such as the extended dur ation of projects at the project formulation 
stage.   
94. In Part I, there were too many projects which we re not dated.  His delegation was curious as 
to whether they were effectively in the current period, and, therefore, eligible to be considered in the 
period from 2005, or from 2004.  The Integrated Framew ork Programme should not be in Part I.  It 
was not specifically cotton-oriented.  He considered that it should be in Part II.   
95. UNCTAD was very active in that area.  Howeve r, there was no reference to UNCTAD, which 
had organised a number of activities to support the sector.  UNCTAD had done so for some years.  If there was any particular reason why UNCTAD was not in the Table, whereas the ITC appeared there, 
it would be good to have that information and to understand why.   
96. In the ET there were entries for Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan.  His 
delegation considered that the ET was specific for as sistance given to the cotton sector in Africa.  If 
the situation were different, then the figures would be much greater and other countries should also 
appear on the Table.  Could the situation be  clarified and the information harmonized?   
97. In Part III, there were figures from 2006.  He  asked if those figures indicated what was 
available at the time and was no longer available.  He believed that the most useful information would 
be for figures that were immediately available.  The situation had been discussed about three years 
ago.  Furthermore, it would be g ood to show what other funding oppor tunities were available to other 
African countries that needed development financing for their cotton sector.   
98. He stated that his delegation agreed, as reflected  in the ET, that the number of beneficiaries 
were increasing.  That was positive.  However, his delegation felt that there was a need to recap in 
every section of the ET, so as to take stock of the evolution in the number of beneficiaries.  That 
would show what each beneficiary country had r eceived in terms of shares and proportions.  His 
delegation understood that that request was neither as  straightforward nor as simple as it sounded.  To 
address that request, perhaps, several Tables could be designed:  one for the period from 2006-2010;  
and then another table for the reference period 2008-2010.  At each session and for each revision of 
the ET, there would be a review of the past three-y ear period, as compared to the present situation.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  99. His delegation agreed with the an alysis by Burkina Faso and, in that regard, would support 
the idea of a follow-up and evaluation mechanism.  That  was an idea for all to consider favourably.  It 
would be useful to review all the assistance that  had been provided for several reasons, including 
governance.   
100. The representative of Nigeria  thanked the Secretariat for the 9th version of the ET.  His 
delegation found the Secretariat presentation insightf ul and user-friendly.  His delegation had noted, 
with encouragement, the gradual shift to regional platforms and strategies.  His delegation had also 
noted the conclusion highlighted in this section with respect to work in progress.  Particular note had 
been taken of the issues relating to impact analysis , where the Secretariat had stated that appraisals 
could only be undertaken by providers and the benefi ciaries.  There should be further reflection on 
this, particularly in respect of the best output fo r the assessment mechanism.  In this regard, Nigeria 
supported the position suggested by Burkina Faso and Mali.    
101. His delegation expressed appreciation to the US a nd the EU in particular for their update and 
commitment in addressing the lack of competiti veness.  His delegation welcomed the various 
interventions, to address the challenge of increasi ng cotton productivity and the incomes of cotton 
farmers in C4 countries in particular, and in the whol e African continent, in general.  He thanked the 
bilateral and all the multilateral donors for th eir continued support and collaboration.  
102. Finally, his delegation reiterated the need to impr ove disbursement efforts.  It agreed with the 
Secretariat on the need to increase the rate of absorption of assistance provided.  It shared the critical 
importance of improving in-country engagement  between providers and recipients.   
103. The representative of Chinese Taipei  commended the WTO Secretariat for its hard work in 
preparing the ET.  He expressed appreciation to the donor Members and the relevant international 
organizations for their significant contributions and cotton cooperation programmes.  His delegation 
felt that these programmes could be further stre ngthened in order to continuously provide the 
necessary assistance with a development dimension to the vulnerable cotton producers.   
104. In this regard, his Government wished to draw the attention of the DGCFMC that the 
International Cotton Advisory Committee had set up an expert panel on Social, Environmental and 
Economic Performance (SEEP) in 2007.  Its est ablishment was aimed at providing relevant 
information on the negative and positive impa ct of global cotton production and making 
recommendations for further action and analysis.  In recognition of its import rules, his Government made donations to SEEP in each of the years since 2007.  Those donations had been used to support 
studies carried out for the benefit of several cotton-producing countries.   
105. His Government agreed that more effort should be made in support of the assistance and 
cooperation programmes for cotton producers worldwide,  especially in Africa.  His Government stood 
ready to cooperate with all WTO Members.   
106. The representative of UNCTAD
 intervened to respond to the comment by the delegation of 
Mali, regarding why UNCTAD was not on the list of the ET.  She "was guessing" that the ET referred 
to technical assistance activities and "not specifical ly to consensus-building meetings", such as those 
organised by UNCTAD in the past.  At the previous session in October 2009, UNCTAD had reported that the Secretary-General of UNCTAD was orga nising a follow-up meeting to the one held in 
December 2008 at UNCTAD and which was aimed at  identifying possibilities for support to the 
cotton sector in Africa and particularly in the C4 countries.  Following that meeting, it had been 
decided that a follow-up meeting would be held in Africa.  UNCTAD was currently organising for 
this follow-up meeting in partnership with the Government of Benin.  It was raising funds.  
Unfortunately, there was no new information that  could be provided at the meeting.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 20 
 
 
  107. On technical assistance activities, there was a sm all project which was part of the programme 
that was mentioned by FAO.  That was a feasib ility study for a guaranteed fund for the cotton sector 
in Côte d'Ivoire.  UNCTAD was in bilateral discussi ons with the Côte d'Ivoire Delegation to organize 
a validation mission for the feasibility study.  The aim was first to establish the utility of the project 
with stake-holders in the cotton sector in Côte d' Ivoire.  Thereafter, support would be provided by 
UNCTAD to find partners to set up the guarantee fund.   
108. The Chairman
 identified several points that had been  raised in the exchange of views, 
including expressions of appreciation for the wo rk of the Secretariat and suggestions for 
improvement.  He reminded participants that the ET was based on the kind of data which was 
transmitted to the Secretariat, and efforts by the Secretariat to improve th e data through bilateral 
contacts, etc.  He confirmed that the Secretariat would maintain its effort to improve the data it 
received and make it more user-friendly.  The Roun ds of the DGCFMC were important occasions for 
raising concerns, asking questions and providing info rmation.  The Secretariat would respond to the 
best of its ability at the meeting and through follow-up contacts.   
109. The representative of the Secretariat3 categorized the questions in three:  the set of questions 
from Mali;  some from the EU;  and others.   
110. He noted that the representative of Mali had reiterated the need for impact assessments and 
analysis.  The position of the Secretariat, as earlie r explained, was that, while useful and probably 
necessary, that would be a duty for the country receiving the assistance in collaboration with the 
provider of assistance.  As a consequence, it could then decide on priorities, re-adapt, re-formulate 
and evolve.  That was not a job for the Secretariat.  If the results of any assessments were 
communicated to the Secretariat, the Secretar iat could disseminate these to the DGCFMC.   
111. The representative of Mali had asked whether the Secretariat could not total the individual 
monetary value gained by the recipient of assistance over time.  That was doable.  There were lots of 
things that could be done with the Table.  Such an operation was simple.  It would involve using the 
additive formula in Excel.   
112. The representative of Mali had asked why non-African s were reflected in the ET.  The answer 
was that the mandate for cotton was not exclusive for Africa;  it was for LDCs.  The mandate was 
provided for in paragraph 1.b of the 1 August 2004 General Council Decision.  It could also be found 
in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Annex A of the 1 Au gust 2004 General Council Decision;  and, in 
paragraph 12 of the 2005 the Hong Kong Ministerial Decl aration.  And so, although, in the reality, the 
assistance reflected tilted preponderantly in favour of  African LDCs, the legal mandate was for all 
LDCs.   
113. In continued response to the questions from th e representative of Mali, the Secretariat noted 
that UNCTAD was not reflected in the ET because it had not responded to the request for inputs with 
the submission of any data.  There was no discrim ination and there was no exclusion.  Inputs received 
from all respondents were reflected in the ET, as l ong as they related to cotton.  Entries in the ET 
were supplier-driven, based on responses to the request for inputs from the Chairman.     
114. On the designated monitoring variables, "di scontinued" meant exactly what it conveyed – 
"discontinued".  To explain, the Table was an Evolving Table.  That meant that priorities of the recipients, as well as the providers, changed.  A good example were the previous entries on "price risk 
management".  At the start of the ET, cotton price was at a high degree of variability and was trending 
downwards.  In the past 12 months, as observed in  the presentation by Mr. Townsend, while there was 
                                                     
 
3 Mr. Chiedu Osakwe, Director, Accessions Division.  TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  some price variability, cotton price was trending upward s.  As a consequence, several of the recipients 
had asked providers of assistance to focus less on price risk assessment and to invest more on 
improving productivity, improving competitiveness.  Th at was the reason why some projects, related 
to price risk, had been discontinued.  Specifically, several of the activities by France had been reduced 
in that regard.  The reduction, however, corr esponded to increased productivity assistance.  The 
programmes/entries on pages 4 and 5 of Part I (E nglish version) reflected those changes.   
115. In response to the question about scope for th e improvement of parameters for the ET, the 
Secretariat considered there was always scope for improvement.  However, it was recalled that the structure and architecture of the ET had been the subject of discussions and understanding at 2007 
High Level Session (HLS) on cotton, chaired by the Di rector-General, with the participation of C4 
Ministers.  The current structure was the product of compromise between many Ministers, including non-C4 Ministers and the Director-General.  The Secretariat was Member-driven.  If there was a 
consensus to change it, it would be changed.  Howeve r, it needed to be recalled that the structure had 
been agreed at the Cotton HLS.   
116. In its final response to the representative of Ma li, the Secretariat addressed the issue about the 
relationship of activities reflected in the ET and th e contributions by the IMF and the World Bank.  
The Secretariat recalled that the answer to that question laid in the compromise at the 2007 Cotton 
High Level Session.  The Secretariat drew attenti on to footnote number 15 on page 23 of the English 
version of the Table.  Footnote 15 explained precisel y the reason and the basis for the entries from the 
World Bank and the IMF:  those entries reflected resources either in terms of credits or poverty 
reduction growth facilities or country programmes.  Those resources were available to the individual 
beneficiary countries, if they decided, on the basis of  national priorities, to allocate part or the entirety 
of those resources to cotton.  It was to be recal led that Footnote 15 had been "negotiated".   
117. The Secretariat responded to the question from the EU as to why the number of beneficiaries 
had increased in Part I.  The number had increas ed because of increased activities under South-South 
cooperation.  The entries by ITC and the CFC, implementing programmes in conjunction with China 
and India, and programmes by Brazil, accounted for th is increase in beneficiaries in Part I.     
118. The representative of Mali
 thanked the Secretariat for the information provided and 
considered it generally very satisfactory.  He clar ified the point he had made regarding the inclusion 
of countries outside of Africa in the ET.  The Malian delegation had always advocated systemic approaches.  His delegation had not suggested th at non-African countries should be excluded from the 
ET.  His delegation had simply asked for cl arity because it was focused on African-producing 
countries.   
119. The Chairman
, in concluding the item, stressed that  what was critical was to sustain a 
constructive dialogue, such as was taking place.  In the absence of further comments, he would 
conclude on this item by identifying three basic poi nts.  First, he expressed appreciation to the 
bilateral development community for the continuing contributions in the face of the fiscal challenges 
that several had faced, as a result of the recent gl obal financial and economic crisis.  Second, there 
was continued necessity to bridge the commitment  and disbursement gap, deepen implementation 
while taking account of the progress made in this rega rd.  Third, account needed to be taken of the 
relationship of the cotton development assistance im plementation exercise, the broader issue of trade 
capacity-building and trade and poverty-reduction.   The DG would continue to place full support on 
all these issues.  Bridging gaps also involved part nership support and proactivity from domestic cotton 
sector focal points.   
120. The DGCFMC took note  of all the statements made under this item.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 22 
 
 
  G. SOUTH-SOUTH
 COOPERATION  FOR  COTTON  SECTOR  DEVELOPMENT 
121. The Chairman  invited participants to take up item 7:  South-South Cooperation for Cotton 
Sector Development.  He recalled the backgrou nd to the item.  The mandate was reflected in 
paragraph 12 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declarat ion.  On 22 November 2007, a seminar had been 
organised on South-South Cooperation for Cotton Sector Development.  Contributions on the 
platform for South-South Cooperation was voluntary.  This was an area where strong and effective leadership was being provided by Brazil, China and I ndia. Pakistan had recently circulated a proposal.  
The International Trade Centre (ITC) was also ma king important contributions in this area.  He 
invited participants, who so wished, to intervene.     
122. The representative of Brazil
 elaborated on its presentation from the Brazilian Cooperation 
Development Agency.  It acknowledged the presence in the delegation of Doctor Jose Geraldo de 
Stefan who was working in Mali, at the Brazilian model farm.     
123. He introduced the Brazilian support programme for cotton sector in the C4 countries.  The 
partner institutions, on the Brazilian side, we re the Brazil Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the 
Brazilian Agriculture Research Corporation (Embrapa ), which was the executing institution.  On the 
C4 side, the four executing institutions were:  the "Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du 
Bénin";  the "Institut de l'Environnement et des R echerches Agricoles du Burkin a Faso";  the "Institut 
Tchadien de Recherche Agronomique pour le Dével oppement";  and the "Institut d'Economie Rurale 
du Mali".  The main objectives of this programme w as to contribute to improve the development of 
the cotton sector in the C4 countries, by providing conditions for the Governments in those countries 
to resolve the issues related with  sustainable development of the cotton chain.  The second objective 
was the transfer of Brazilian technology, so as to pr omote increased productivit y of the cotton chain in 
Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, increased producer earnings, and improved employment in the cotton sector in the C4 countries.  The third obj ective was to increase income generation through 
cotton production, along with higher productivity obta ined from the rotation of food crops and cotton.  
These would contribute to increased food security in those countries.   
124. The establishment of the project had started in  October 2008, when a Brazilian technical and 
political mission was despatched to the C4 countries.  A consultant on tropical agriculture visited both Mali and Burkina Faso, with a view to defining the headquarter for the C4 project.  That would be where the validation and demonstration unit would be  based.  In February 2009, a technical mission 
was despatched to Bamako to ne gotiate the project and to initiate  operational activities in Sotuba, 
Mali, which had been chosen as the C4 project head quarters.  In July 2009, the technical cooperation 
agreement between the Federal Republic of Brazil a nd the African Union in the field of Agriculture, 
was formalized.  This Agreement would provide the umbrella for the fu ture cooperation activities 
with all African countries.   
125. The project would work towards providing genetic improvement, with the purpose of 
developing resistant and competitive seed varie ties, which was a growin g aspect of the cotton 
industry.  The project would seek to introdu ce new farming methods, emphasising fertilisation 
techniques and efficient agronomic management, in order to guarantee the conservation of natural 
resources and increase productivity.  Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods would be 
introduced, with the use of biological control and the installation of bio-factories to produce parasitoids.  In addition, there would be implemen tation of  technological showcase units to validate 
and demonstrate the technologies introduced with Br azilian germ-plasm varie ties, and finally, the 
formulation of a C4 Good Practice Manual on Cotton Farming, based on what was obtained and had been learnt at the demonstration units.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  126. The research farm in Sotuba, Mali, was constantly  being adapted to produce the best results.  
The objectives were the development of research in the field of genetic improvement, soils, nutrition,  
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the fight ag ainst plagues, capacity- building and reinforcement 
in cotton-producing innovative technologies, and developing tools for the diffusion of technology.   
127. In June 2009, C4 researchers visited Brazil.  They were introduced to the cotton genetic 
improvement programme that was being undertaken at  research centres by Embrapa.  In July 2009, 
planting was begun with 10 Brazilian cotton varieties at the demonstration plots at the pilot unit in 
Mali.  Also initiated was the "C4 Project Techni cal Coordinators" programme of work.  This 
transferred responsibility for the agronomic manageme nt of the Brazilian cotton varieties to Sotuba.  
In September a technical mission of C4 researchers went to Brazil to participate in the Brazilian 
Cotton Congress and were also presented with th e improvement programme of Embrapa Cotton in 
Paraíba.  There, they were introduced to cott on management and farming techniques in Brazilian 
centres in Campina Grande.  In October 2009, Minist er Celso Amorim visited the C4 project with the 
President of Mali and the Minister of Agriculture.  That was the occasion in which there was the first 
harvesting of the varieties and the construction of the corner stone of the future buildings of the 
C4 project.    
128. In December 2009, a mission was despatched to  undertake analysis and assess results, aimed 
at evaluating the productivity of co tton varieties, tolerance to local pests and diseases, as well as fibre 
quality and the resistance of the varieties of cotton that were transferred to Sotuba.  The outcome of 
the 2009 agronomical results and analysis indicated that the fibres of the Brazilian varieties made 
them apt for use in the textile industry.  Accordi ng to the laboratory analysis, validated by Embrapa, 
the varieties could be used in the cotton improve ment programmes of the C4 countries, aimed at 
obtaining new combinations of productive materials adapted to the conditions of the West African and 
Sub-Saharan region.   
129. For the current year 2010, there was a first meeting of the C4 Project Management 
Committee, held in March 2010 in Brazil.  Directors and researchers of the C4 agriculture institutes 
participated in the event as well as representatives of Embrapa in the offices of UNDP in Brazil and 
Mali.  It was felt that this event was essential to improve communication mechanisms and action planning.  The next activities for Mali included a mee ting to be held in Burkina Faso in August, and 
another in Benin in December.  Cooperation activiti es were, therefore, being mainstreamed not only 
with Mali but in farm units in other C4 countries as well.    
130. There had been other activities for 2010.  From 9 to 14 April, an activity on capacity-building 
in direct planting was organized in Brazil.  The objective was to demonstrate the viability of the 
Brazilian direct planting technique which took accoun t of sustainability of the production system by 
combining particular cotton cultures with other cove r plants.  Transfer of knowledge had taken place, 
through practical activities and th rough the demonstration of cover plants and cotton on straw and 
ditch digging to demonstrate the different root sy stems developed by cover and fallow plants.  There 
had also been a scientific demonstration of the circumstances that made it possible for cotton to 
develop more direct and deeper roots over plants as compared to that in land laid fallow;  that 
contributed to enhanced crop sustainability and productivity.  The exchange of visits by C4 
researchers to Brazil and vice versa would deepen  the project and enhance technology transfer.  
Surveys would identify opportunities and promot e technological understanding to improve the 
performance of the C4 project.   
131.
 Brazil felt that the Cotton Cooperation Programme was a good illustration of what South-
South Cooperation could achieve.  Depending on fu ture developments and the availability of 
resources, there was scope for further activities.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  132. The representative of Pakistan
 referred to Director-General Lamy's letter to Members dated 
12 May 2010.  Her delegation fully subscribed to th e views expressed in the last paragraph about the 
inseparability of the provision of cotton deve lopment assistance from the actual trade policy 
negotiations that were currently taking place in th e DDA.  Efforts must be maintained for a successful 
conclusion of the DDA.  There was no doubt that the cotton dossier had become a "litmus test" for its 
development dimension.  In this regard, Pakist an fully supported the statement by His Excellency 
Minister Koné, on behalf of the C4 and the G20 st atement, by Brazil.  Her delegation hoped that, 
under the leadership of Ambassador Walker, a solution would be found in accordance with the 
mandate.   
133. As efforts to address the distortions continued,  it was vital to sustain development assistance 
on cotton by sharing information and by ensuring transfer of technology.  Pakistan was supportive of South-South Cooperation a nd believed that that was a healthy trend.   
134. Pakistan had requested the Secretariat to circulate a communication dated 30 March 2010 
(WT/CFMC/27).  That communication elaborated a project proposal for training opportunities, 
available to all low-income countries, especially African cotton-growing countries.  That project 
would be delivered at the Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Pakistan.   
135. The institute was recognised as a Centre of Ex cellence in the Asian region.  The Institute 
recognised its mandatory role in extending Cotton Research and Development (R&D) facilities within 
and outside the muslim world.  CCRI initiated th e Asian Cotton Research and Development Network, 
in 1999, with support and advice from the Interna tional Cotton Advisory Committee.  The Network 
met every two years in a different country.  The Institute had also implemented large scale projects, 
with funding from FAO, the Asian Development Bank, the UK and the Common Fund for Commodities.  It had been contin uously engaged in short-term trai ning and study tours of foreign 
scientists from Kenya, Nepal, Syria, Ghana,  Madagascar, Turkey, India and Sudan.   
136. The project proposal, as contained in WT/CFMC/27 provided an overview of cotton 
production in Africa and the dependence on cotton.  Training was designed in two major areas:  
cotton production;  and, cotton protection.  In cotton production, it included cotton education,  management, weed control, breeding techniques for development of high-yielding cotton varieties, 
development of commercial hybrid cotton, techniqu es to grow the seed of wild species and the 
introduction of different cotton varieties.  Simila rly, for cotton protection, it included courses on 
insecticides, resistance management, integrated pest  management, biological control of cotton pests, 
cotton disease management, and cotton leaf core vi rus disease management.  Training in those areas 
were targeted for the scientists involved in cotton R&D.  Pakistan was ready to share research space 
in the form of greenhouse, field experimentation and laboratory facilities for trainees from Africa.  
The ideal period for training would be between  April and November, between the sowing and 
harvesting season.  There were one-year and five-year  project costs, with different options for the 
training duration.  Pakistan was grateful for the kind comments by the Minister of Burkina Faso and 
the Nigerian delegation.  Pakistan looked forwar d to meaningful research collaboration with the 
African cotton-growing countries.   
137. Pakistan was of the view that knowledge sharing was beneficial for all the partners.  It had a 
boomerang effect.  It normally returned with di vidends;  dividend of a prosperous, secure and a 
happier world.  Pakistan was ready to share more th an 50% of the project cost and hoped that partners 
would emerge from amongst the donor community who were ready to share the dividends.   
138. The representative of India
 recalled that India had offered to despatch an integrated Indian 
delegation to the C4 countries and at that time ha d also received requests from Nigeria and Uganda to 
assist them explore the development and trade aspects of cotton in a comprehensive manner.  India  TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
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  had now done so.  He expressed the appreciation of the Indian Government to the C4, Nigeria and 
Uganda for their generous hospitality and close co operation in the course of the Indian technical 
assistance mission to their countries.  India enjoyed close historic relations with those countries.  
Their acceptance of the technical assistance missi on and the formulation of a programme for the 
delegation at short notice was testimony of their sincere efforts to ameliorate the conditions of cotton 
farmers and revitalise cotton farming and the cotton industry.   
139. The representative of India informed the 13th Round of the DGCFMC that he had had the 
privilege of leading the Indian delegation to the C4 countries, Nigeria and Uganda.  The delegation 
visited all C4 countries (Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad and Mali), Nigeria and Uganda, from 3 to 
13 May 2010.  The delegation made full use of the limited time available.  The Indian delegation 
represented all aspects of the cotton industry.  It included policy makers and research and technology 
generation specialists who addressed the issues of:  development, transfer of technology, marketing, 
export/import, post-harvest management by product u tilisation and setting up industrial cluster/textile 
parks.  The team was composed of Dr. K. Kranth i, Director, Central Institute for Cotton Research, 
Dr. S. Screenivasan, Director, Central Institute of Research and Cotton Technology, 
Dr. Anupam Barik, Director, Directorate of Cott on Development, Mr. P. K. Agarwal, General 
Manager, Cotton Corporation of India Limited a nd Dr. Milan Sharma, Head (Market Analysis and 
Research), and IL&FS Cluster Development Initiativ e, a private sector infrastructure development 
company.   
140. India had important links with the cotton econom ies in all the countries visited.  Nigeria's 
textile industry was set up by Sindhi entrepreneur s.  India had been buying cotton from Benin, 
Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda and supplying textil es/yarn.  Textile mills owned by Indians of 
Ugandan/Rwandan origin we re operational in Uganda and several  other African countries.  Chad's 
largest industrial project, a US$29 million textile mill at  Sarh, was built with an Indian line of credit.  
It was inaugurated on 30 December 2009 by Chadian President Deby.  This project was designed to 
enable Chad add value to its main agricultural crop.   
141. The mandate of the delegation was:   
• assessing the actual requirements in the areas of cap acity-building, technology transfer, research 
and development in the countries visited (C4, Nigeria and Uganda);  
• sharing the expertise developed in India R&D with partner African countries through inter alia  
training;  and, capacity-building;   
• formulating an effective cooperation programme;  
• exploring business and investment opportunities in  C4 countries, Uganda and Nigeria.   
142. Prior to the visit, a detailed questionnaire had been  sent to the countries to be visited.  That 
helped in obtaining advance information and prep aration for the mission.  In the course of the 
Mission, the delegation had extensive exchanges with the host authorities.  Several areas of possible 
collaboration emerged.  These fell, broadly, into sev en different categories.  Those were:  cotton and 
cotton research;  soil fertility;  water managemen t;  ginning;  capacity-bui lding;  institutional 
reinforcement;  and, value addition.   
143. The representative of India requested countries,  from where inputs were still awaited, to 
urgently forward those inputs.   As soon as the re port was finalised and submitted, the Government of 
India, in consultation with the countries involved,  would explore the possibilities for formulating a 
cooperation programme.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 26 
 
 
  144. His delegation considered that Africa was rapidly changing.  It is was not the same Africa of a 
decade ago.  There was optimism and dynamism in economic and commercial activities.  In the 
course of the visit, the Indian delegation observed changes taking place in Africa, in such cities as 
Bamako, Kampala, Abuja and Lagos, one of the bigg est and fastest growing cities in the world.  
Extensive opportunities existed for forging closer ties with Africa.   
145. In his letter to Chief Ministers of Indian States on 3 February 1949, Prime Minister Nehru 
wrote in his letter:   
"Whatever the immediate future may be in Africa, it is clear that the whole Continent 
of Africa has got a big future and changes will take place there fairly rapidly.  These 
changes will be governed by the new political  consciousness of the African people.  
We welcome this new consciousness a nd wish to cooperate with it."   
146. India was committed to further strengthened the mutually beneficial and growing ties with 
Africa.  It was committed to continued close collabora tion with the C4 on the issue of cotton in all its 
dimensions.   
147. The representative of the European Union
 thanked the representatives of China, Brazil and 
India for their statements, reporting on their activities on South-South Cooperation in cotton production and trade.  The EU had read and had taken note with great interest the proposal from Pakistan, concerning the extension of training facilities to cotton scientists of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the West African cotton-producing countries.  In 
general, the EU was very supportive of South-South Co operation in this field.  More broadly, it felt 
that the countries that had intervened were in a ve ry good position to offer technical and scientific 
knowledge to their counterparts in Africa.  
148. In the case of Pakistan, the EU had taken note of Pakistan's request for some donors to step in 
and contribute financially to the initiative.  In this context, the EU would be very happy to hear the 
view from African stake-holders and would actua lly recommend that the communication submitted by 
Pakistan should be shared with the focal points and other actors in the field, so that donors including 
the EU, could consider it for possible financing.   
149. More generally, the EU noted that South-Sout h Cooperation was growing in importance and 
possibly also in financial value.  The EU wondered wh ether it was, perhaps, the time that it should be 
reflected in the ET.  This would certainly improve the visibility of the activities by South-South partners.  So far, as understood, they had been communicated more on an ad hoc  basis.  Those inputs 
could be added, if appropriate, in a dedicated  section of the Table devoted to South-South 
Cooperation.   
150. The representative of Chad,
 on behalf of the C4, thanked Braz il, China, India and Pakistan for 
their contributions within the framework of South-South Cooperation.  The C4 considered that the direct engagement by India would be adopted by other countries.  The Indian and Brazilian 
contributions were hugely reward ing and enriching.  The C4 encouraged other countries from the 
emerging South to continue along these lin es to assist the African Continent.   
151. The representative of Nigeria
 thanked the delegations of Braz il, Pakistan and India for their 
informative presentations.  Those represented bright  prospects for cotton development in Africa.   
152. Nigeria was convinced about th e effectiveness and the positive impact on cotton development 
from South-South Cooperation, as attested to by the be neficiaries.  His delegation believed that, in the 
various programmes of cooperation and technical  assistance, technology transfers and capacity- TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
 WT/CFMC/29 
 Page 27 
 
 
  building had been well coordinated and implemented.  Those were addressing or reducing poverty and 
providing additional revenue for the various countries.   Furthermore, it was the firm belief of his 
delegation that those activities would significan tly address the challenges faced by the cotton-
producing countries, contribute to the developmen t of the cotton sector, and complement Africa's 
limited resources.  His delegation expressed the hope  for a more regional-oriented strategy to 
complement that support.   
153. Nigeria commended Brazil, China, India, Pa kistan and encouraged other countries to 
contribute similarly.  More success stories and good case studies would be positive and enhance 
South-South Cooperation.  His delegation thanked the EU for its continued support and collaboration.   
154. The representative of China  recalled that his delegation had spoken earlier in the day, on 
China's contributions under South-South cooperation.  He  did not wish to repeat what he had said.  He 
wanted to express his delegation's appreciation to th e Delegations of Brazil, India and Pakistan for 
their cooperation and contribution under South-So uth Cooperation.  China desired working very 
closely and cooperatively those countries to con tinue to contribute more in Africa.   
155. Finally, recalling elements of China's c ontributions earlier signalled under South-South 
Cooperation, he underscored China' s particular contributions in the areas of investments, funding, 
training and agricultural technical assistance.  On i nvestment, he noted that by the end of the year 
2008, China had invested more than US$6 billion in the African textile industry.  On funding, he 
informed the DGCFMC that China had granted lo ans with preferential rights.  The Chinese 
Government had already, in 2009, provided inte rest-free loans to several African cotton-producing 
countries, like Benin.  On training, since 2008, Ch ina had hosted 18 training courses related to cotton 
and the textile sector for African countries.  On ag ricultural technical assistance, China, had already 
embarked on the project of constructing 14 agricultu ral demonstration centres in 14 African countries, 
including in some of the C4 countries.  The construction of the agricultural demonstration centre in Benin was completed in March 2010 and, was alread y in use.  China would jointly, closely and 
cooperatively with all Members, continue to foster South-South Cooperation.   
156. The Chairman
 concluded the item on South-South Cooperation by acknowledging the 
important contributions reported by the delegations of Brazil, China, India, and the project description 
by the representative of Pakistan.  Those were im portant contributions that  operationally strengthened 
South-South Cooperation.   
157. South-South Cooperation constituted a critical el ement of development cooperation.  It was 
emerging as a substantive component of the develo pment aspects of the DDA.  Developing countries 
were encouraged to deepen that cooperation and their voluntary contributions in that regard.  The 
contributions made would be accorded due recogn ition in the Periodic Reports by the Director-
General on cotton to the membership.     
158. He considered that, overall, cotton developmen t assistance, including South-South aspects, 
had made substantial progress.  He expressed appr eciation to all the providers of assistance.  He 
recalled that, the follow-up to the agreed outco mes of the 2007 seminar on South-South Cooperation 
for the cotton sector had given participants a fundame ntal grounding.  This had laid the basis for the 
growth in South-South Cooperation that the DGCFM C had observed and with fruitful results.   
159. He expressed profound appreciation to the Secretariat Team4 that had sustained hard work on 
the ET and coordinated the inputs under South-South Cooperation.   
                                                      
4 Ms. Tisseree Coppa; Mr. Gerardo Melo gno;  and, Mr. Chiedu Osakwe.   TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
WT/CFMC/29 Page 28 
 
 
  160. The DGCFMC took note
 of all statements made.   
H. ANY  OTHER  BUSINESS   
161. The Chairman , in the absence of any issues raised unde r "Any Other Business", made several 
remarks to conclude the 13th Round of the DGCFMC.   
162. He stated his belief that the discussions had b een very useful.  Although continued and steady 
progress was being made on the development assistance aspects of cotton, Director-General Pascal Lamy had reminded Members in his lette r of 12 May 2010 of "the inseparability of the 
provision of cotton development assistance from th e actual trade policy negotiations that were 
currently taking place in the DDA".  That was a v ital reason for continued collective efforts to 
successfully conclude the DDA.   
163. On the development assistance aspects, the Secretar iat would continue to work to assist that 
process.  The Secretariat would continue to monitor and report to Members the progress on 
disbursements and operational stat us relating to the commitments undertaken by the development 
community, and on any adjustments being made by  assistance providers to improve delivery and 
expand the scope of beneficiaries.  Based on inputs from the recipients of development assistance, the 
Secretariat would continue to monitor progress in the implementation of domestic cotton sector reforms, including some of the points that had been raised and clarified at this 13
th Round of the 
DGCFMC.   
164. South-South Cooperation had emerged as a key asp ect of the implementation of the mandate 
on the development assistance aspects of cotton.  He  informed participants that Director-General 
Lamy had asked him to stress his hope and desire that  this cooperation would deepen and intensify.   
165. He informed the 13th Round of the DGCFMC that the next Round of Consultations would 
take place in the second half of 2010, at least a month before the December General Council.  The 
Secretariat would consult with regard to the specific dates for the 14th Round.    TN/AG/SCC/W/13 
 WT/CFMC/29 
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DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK MECHANISM ON COTTON 
 
13TH ROUND OF CONSULTATIONS ON COTTON DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 
 
7 June 2010 (9.00 a.m.) 
 
PROVISIONAL AGENDA  
 
 
1. Introductory Remarks - Chairman5 
2. Statement by C4 Coordinator - H.E. Mr. Léon ce Koné, Minister for Commerce, Enterprise 
Promotion and Handicrafts, Burkina Faso  
3. Trade Policy Aspects:  
- Briefing by Chairman CoA Special Session/Chairman SCC 
- Exchange of Views 
4. Domestic Cotton Sector and Other Reforms/National Cotton Focal Points: 
- Update by Cotton Proponents 
- Exchange of Views 
5. Cotton Production and Trade Trends: 
- Presentation by the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) 
- Exchange of Views 
6. Director-General's Evolving Table on Cott on Development Assistance - Updated Table 
(WT/CFMC/6/Rev.8) 
- Secretariat Remarks 
- Updates by the Development Community 
7. South-South Cotton Cooperation 
- Update by South-South partners  
8. Any Other Business 
__________  
                                                      
5 DDG H.V. Singh is chairperson pro tem  for the Dir ector-General.