RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/20 
10 October 2005 
 (05-4603) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
14 September 2005  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 14 September 2005  
 
Chairman: Mr. Pascal Lamy (Director-General)  
 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
 
1. Statement by th e Chairman.....................................................................................................1  
2. Statements by the Chairpersons of the Bodies Established by the TNC .............................4  
3. Statements by participants..................................................................................................... 10 
 
 
1. Statement by the Chairman 
1. The Chairman  recalled his intentions regarding the procedure for the present meeting which 
he had sent out in a fax received by all delegations  on 6 September.  Members were all aware of the 
immediate challenge facing them – to prepare th e basis for success at th e Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference – and they all knew that they had very  little time for those preparations, including the 
organization of TNC meetings wh ich he hoped would be brief, business-like, realistic and action-
oriented, starting with the present meeting.  He urged delegations to a void lengthy and repetitive 
statements, and dwelling too long on general considerations.   
2. For the sake of economy and to live up to what he ha d just said, he did not intend to engage in 
a general diagnosis of the current situation or to qua lify it as good or bad, urgent or non-urgent.  All 
delegations could do that themselves and that was not really their essential task.  What they really had 
to do was to put themselves back on course toward s an objective for the Ministerial Conference, 
namely – and this was what he proposed they ad opt as a common goal – to ensure that Hong Kong 
took them two thirds of the way on the path that s till remained to complete the round of negotiations 
by the end of 2006.  All Members knew that Hong Kong was not the end of the round, but they also knew that if they had not reached the two thirds mark by Hong Kong, the prospects of concluding the 
round by the end of 2006 would be seriously jeopardized.  He said this was the target on which 
Members should be focussing all of their efforts, an d it was in this spirit that he wished to present 
Members with a precise diagnosis of the essential key issues which, in his view, were those that they 
would have to resolve if they wanted to achieve a coherent outcome in Hong Kong.  This list of key 
issues was not exhaustive – it did not contain all of the issues that Members would be settling.  He 
was simply trying to identify those which were stra tegic, those which would have to be settled if 
Members were to turn the current vicious circle into a virtuous circle. 
 TN/C/M/20 
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 3. He wished to start with agriculture and hi ghlight some points where progress was needed 
urgently.  In export competition, Members needed to prepare agreement by Hong Kong on an end 
date for the elimination of export subsidies, plus  the issue of parallelism for exporting state trading 
enterprises, export credits and food aid.  On domest ic support, they needed a clear understanding on 
what would be done, which in his view had to incl ude the reduction commitments and in particular a 
tiered formula for reductions of the final bound to tal Aggregate Measure of Support.  As everyone 
knew, this presupposed agreement on the Blue Box and Green Box criteria.  On market access, 
Members needed a solid package which was of equiva lent ambition.  This meant a tiered formula for 
tariff cuts together with certain flexibilities, in particular the selection and treatment of sensitive 
products and of Special Products.  He wished to add to  this list all elements of the cotton dossier.  He 
said this was a short list, but it was by itself a very  tall order.  The Agriculture Special Session had 
restarted its work in the present week and he tha nked the Agriculture Chairman for having so rapidly 
taken up this task and with an energy and a level of  understanding of the details of the issues.  He said 
he would be giving very close and supportive atten tion to the group's work, along with all the others. 
4. On NAMA, the core elements as he saw them  were the formula, flexibilities and unbound 
tariffs.  The Negotiating Group would start on this in  the coming days, after agriculture.  However, 
within these three core elements th ere were issues which were clearly going to require a lot of work 
and Members needed to find the right balance betw een the formula and flexibilities.  Other elements, 
such as preference erosion, the sectoral component and non-tariff barriers (NTBs), also needed to be part of the Hong Kong picture in his view. 
5. On services, he said that what  was new, as compared to prev ious rounds, was the importance 
that a number of developing countries attached to it, which in itself should suffice to energize this part 
of the negotiations.  From now until Hong Kong, Members should develop different approaches in 
services, leading to an increased number and to an  enhanced quality of the commitments.  What 
Members should have were commitments which effectively opened trade in services, with the corresponding improvements in the rule-making area. 
6. On rules, Members should in his view arrive as  closely as possible to draft negotiated texts in 
anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures a nd in fisheries subsidies.  They also needed 
third-generation proposals with clear drafting proposals as soon as possible so that they could focus on the improvements to the Agreements.  In the ot her sectors of the negotiations, Members had yet to 
clarify what would be needed for Hong Kong,  and this should be done as soon as possible. 
7. He wished to end his short list by saying a fe w words about development.  Most importantly, 
this was integrated across the various sides of the negotiations.  Substantial results should be achieved 
in each particular area of the negotiations, so that  the sum of all areas delivered on the development 
dimension of the Doha Round.  The challenge was to maximize the development value of every sector 
and of the Round as a whole.  This in his view was the bulk of what Members had to look after and negotiate about development.  There were also a number of separate issu es which were labelled 
"development-related", some of which came under th e aegis of the General Council.  Concerning the 
work on S&D treatment, which the TNC had been over seeing there was still a clear need to define an 
acceptable outcome for Hong Kong.  He also believ ed that on TRIPS and Public Health Members 
needed to intensify work in order to reach agre ement on an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement.   
8. All Members knew that the DDA would only succeed if the development dimension was at 
the centre of the negotiations and he was convinced  that an "Aid for Trade" window could help 
Members translate the development package of the Round into reality.  The IMF and the World Bank 
– which would hold their annual meetings in less th an two weeks – had started focusing on this issue, 
as had the recent G8 Summit in Gleneagles.  TN/C/M/20 
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 9. Regarding procedure, he said Members should consider the present meeting as marking the 
start of a new and he hoped, more productive ph ase for the TNC which should now fulfil its intended 
purpose of being the focal point for progress in the different negotiating sectors.  All Members needed 
to remember that the TNC had been set up by Mi nisters in Doha to, "supervise the progress of the 
negotiations".  He said while detailed work should  take place in the negotiating groups, it was in the 
TNC that Members looked at progress across the boa rd, within the single undertaking.  Members 
would be meeting in formal mode later on, but he also intend to hold informal TNC meetings at the 
Heads of Delegation level as a guarantee of transp arency and inclusiveness in the negotiations.  He 
would also be reporting to Members on all his othe r informal consultations – and there would be 
many – through this channel.   
10. He had no intention of announcing the date of the next TNC at the present meeting.  There 
was already a schedule of meetings of the negotiatin g groups for the next couple of weeks and it was 
only after they had met that the way ahead could be more clearly seen.  Thus, in the days to come, he wished to give priority to the meetings of the negotiating groups. 
11. He wished to recall, on the procedural front, th at the previous day was 13 September, and the 
Ministerial begun on 13 December.  The calculation was easy:  three months – and three months did 
not necessarily mean three full months of work.  He said Members should be looking at mid-October and mid-November as marking two intermediate st ages along their path.  Members would soon have 
to determine what needed to be done in order to  achieve their goal, and he said that mid-October 
would be a good time to assess the progress made and to  come up with a clearer picture of Members' 
ambitions for Hong Kong.  In about mid-November, that was one month before the Ministerial, the 
negotiating groups would have to ha ve produced substantive and specific results.  All Members would 
be reviewing the progress as they went along and he w ould see this continual review, rather than fixed 
benchmarks – which was why he had spoken of approximately mid- October and mid-November – as 
the best way to keep on track.  The present meetin g marked the start of a three-month period of 
permanent negotiations – and in saying permanent, he used the analogy of a football team confining 
itself to a training camp for the few weeks preceding a decisive match. 
12. Still on the subject of procedure, he stressed th at the Geneva process was the central process 
in the Round.  Nothing else, in his view, could re place it, and any events outside that central forum 
should be organized in such a way as to reinforce what Members were doing in Geneva, in terms of 
both timing and subject-matter.  In other words, any su ch events had also to feed back into the Geneva 
process, and contribute to it rather than detract from it. 
13. As far as he personally was concerned, he w ould be fully hands-on, and would encourage 
whatever cross-collaboration Members needed.  He  had already established a very close working 
relationship with the General Council Chairman and with the negotiating group Chairs.  He had also 
started an intensive series of contacts with delega tions in Geneva, including the coordinators of 
regional and other groupings.  Together with his frequent meetings with th e negotiating group Chairs, 
he believed that constant contact with ambassadors in Geneva was the best way for him to keep his 
finger on the pulse, and to play the role of honest broker that Members had entrusted him with. 
14. Ultimately, Members would need to bring toge ther the work currently taking place in the 
negotiating groups – in other words, stop working in "s ilos" and join up the dots.  This would be done 
from the bottom up, and not from the top down, and in saying this, he realized that he was addressing 
a number of concerns that had been expressed from time to time.  He knew that this would not be 
done overnight, and his intention was to ensure a smooth transition between a vertical approach by 
subject and a more integrated approach, which was what would be submitted to the Ministerial 
Conference.  It would be done in close coopera tion with the General Council Chairman and the 
negotiating group Chairs.  If all went well, this pro cess should enable Members to have a consolidated 
text in about mid-November, leaving sufficient time for delegations to prepare their Ministers before TN/C/M/20 
Page 4  
 
 the Ministerial – while some of them were permanen tly at the heart of the negotiating process, others 
were less so, and experience had show n that delegations needed time. 
15. He said that the two concerns that should be at the centre of Members' attention during the 
weeks to come if they wanted to succeed in Hong Kong were first, to  join together in resisting the 
temptation of the lowest common  denominator – in other words, Members should not give in to the 
temptation of reducing their ambitions, and he was c onvinced that it was not by doing so that they 
would achieve success in Hong Kong.  Secondly, Members should properly target each one of the 
crucial subjects and focus on the proper sequence of those subjects in order to move forward and 
continuously assess their own progress. 
16. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the Chairman's statement. 
2. Statements by the Chairpersons of the Bodies Established by the TNC 
17. The Chairman  noted that Ambassador Valles Galmés , Chairman of the Negotiating Group on 
Rules, was not able to be at the present meeti ng since he was absent from Geneva on business.   
18. Ambassador Falconer (New Zealand), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on 
Agriculture , said what was clear to him and in the Special Session in the previous day, was the 
fundamental urgency of what needed to be done.  He agreed with the Chairman that Members had a 
task ahead which needed to be  effectively completed around mid-November.  This meant that 
negotiators in Geneva had two months which was a very short period of time. 
19. He believed it was well understood that Me mbers were in an absolutely new game 
qualitatively.  As far as agriculture was concerned, up  to the end of July Members had been on a path 
which had been called various thi ngs, but first approximations had been one of them and it had had 
certain consequential characteristics.  It had been structure driven and was intended to be piecemeal.  
His group was past first approximations and its task  was now to prepare modalities for Hong Kong.  It 
was simple in conceptual terms but difficult in political and operational terms, and modalities could 
be an obscure term.  It meant the blueprint – the b asis for the end game of the Round for the last third 
of the agricultural part of the negotiations in the following year.  The blueprint was needed in Hong 
Kong and could be produced if Members focussed on  the essentials.  He said that although there were 
many things to focus on, the essentials had to be done.  What some people would consider not to be 
the essentials had to be tackled but Members had to  have a due sense of priority and sequencing and 
that would be part of his group's work.   
20. There were no miraculous rabbits out of the hat that could be produced by any Member and 
certainly not by the Chair.  As Chair, he woul d work vigorously with the Members in order to 
facilitate and encourage the key political decisions n eeded in order to move forward.  Everyone had 
seen the former Agriculture Chairman's report at the end of July, that represented where Members 
were at the moment.  It would also represent where they would be in the middle of October or even 
later, unless there was key political movement.  He was quite certain that the membership did not 
intend that this should be the case.  He had the impr ession that it had been well appreciated in the time 
since the end of July that intensive work was needed in Capitals and he believed it was being 
undertaken.  The real question now was the extent to which that would bear the fruit which would 
enable Members to achieve the negotiated outcomes that were necessary for success in Hong Kong.  
Based on the discussions the previous day, he said Me mbers had not advanced further since the end of 
July.  Although time was very short, it was still early  days but it had to remind Members of how much 
work remained to be done.  If Members remained in  this situation for much longer, that time would 
become frighteningly short.   TN/C/M/20 
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 21. He had posed some questions to  delegations during the Special Session of a generalized kind 
that he had hoped would facilitate work.  Essentially they rotated around three points of approach that 
Members ought to seriously ask themselves.  The first was whether Members could constructively progress only by focussing on structure without having some conception of numbers and ambition.  He asked if it was now time to l ook more broadly at whether those structures could be constructively 
achieved in their own right or whether they needed to be invested with a greater sense of how the 
ambition applied in order for that to be done.   
22. Secondly, Members needed to seriously face up to  thinking about what the levels of ambition 
were for this negotiation given the time left.  Th e Chairman had made the point that in Hong Kong, 
this was a decision which would have to be taken.   The question was whether it was time now to be 
sure that at the front of Members' attention was how they were going to begin to address that issue 
when the time was right to address it.   
23. The third point was a question about balance.  At the end of July Members' minds had been 
focussed on the specifics, in the details on each pillar.   Everybody had had in mind balance but he did 
not think that the question to be posed was what we re the kinds of balance that Members were looking 
for.  This was not self-contained to the agriculture negotiations.  It went to the heart of the single 
undertaking and beyond his responsibility.  The im portant message was that Members were not 
operating in silos and certainly as Chair he would not want to create the impression that Members were doing things with the left hand that the right did not know about.   
24. Finally on process, he was holding an open-ende d informal session the following day and was 
hopeful that he would begin to get at least some ki nd of initial reaction to the questions he had posed 
or at least the correction as to whether he had posed the wrong questions.  The group needed to know 
the responses now rather than later so that it c ould do its work.  He had had a series of intensive 
bilaterals with delegations and ke y groups and he intended to continue even in the following week.  
He also hoped to use those consultations to informally  test out the reactions that delegations had to the 
kind of questions that he thought should be in everybody's mind.   
25. The Special Session was scheduled to conclude on Friday of the present week and his feeling 
was that beyond that date the group was effectively on call.  If this was a training camp, then delegations had to be ready to make those efforts out  on the field at any particular time.  The group 
had a scheduled meeting on 17 October but he said it could not wait until then to address issues.  
Whether in informal or formal session, the meetings  had to now be part of an on-going process.   
26. Ambassador Jara (Chile), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in 
Services,  said that his group had had a cluster of meetings with the last one finalised on 1 July.  
Regarding the state of play, there were 69 initial offe rs representing 93 Members.  This left 23 offers 
outstanding, not including LDCs, and 54 if LDCs were included.  Revised offers totalled 27 
representing 51 Members.  Since the July cluster, on e initial offer and three revised offers had been 
tabled.  He said at the current rate Members might attain by the end of the Round a complete set of 
initial offers representing a critical mass of countri es.  He again reminded delegations that had not 
submitted an initial offer to do so and pointed out that  the number of revised offers was still very low. 
27. Regarding the work his group had undertaken since his last report he said there was 
widespread dissatisfaction with the state of play in  terms of numbers, but more importantly also in 
terms of the quality of the offers.  From the offers  tabled, Members were not effectively liberalizing 
trade in services and therefore not creating new business opportunities.  In response to the request of 
delegations, an intensive schedule of informal mee tings had been organised that would lead the group 
to the next cluster towards the second half of the current month and ending on 30 September.  A 
meeting on the implementation of modalities for LD Cs had been held on 5 September based on two 
recent comprehensive and specific proposals made by the LDC Group.  He foresaw that Hong Kong TN/C/M/20 
Page 6  
 
 would have to produce some la nguage concerning LDC modalities and therefore Members needed to 
focus attention on these proposals and be more specific  to take advantage of the little time left.  He 
had also held consultations on th e S&D treatment proposals that had been referred to the Special 
Session.  Not much progress had been made at a multilateral level because most consultations had 
taken place at bilateral and plur ilateral levels and the group was waiting for feedback which would 
help jump start the negotiations at the appropriate time.   
28. The group had also begun consideration of co mplimentary approaches to the request-offer 
process and also how to intensify this process.  He  had in the previous day held an informal open-
ended session discussing approaches that had been propo sed by six Members, some of them in written 
form.  This had been a good in-depth preliminar y discussion which aimed at ensuring that everyone 
was aware of the proposals and understood them including their implications.  It had been only a first 
step which had to be intensified over the next days  and weeks to determine how best to organize work 
in the group and what kind of approaches were effec tively needed to revert the unsatisfactory situation 
in order to provide elements that would be input for political guidance that would be requested from Ministers at Hong Kong.   
29. The group had also envisaged a further identifi cation exercise of expectations by Members in 
all areas of the services negotiations and he w ould welcome additional or new assessments of the 
offers tabled and of the process.  The outcomes woul d be input for the Chair's next formal report to 
the TNC.  Consultations on technical assistance w ould also be held at an appropriate time.   
30. Ambassador Jóhannesson (Iceland), Chairman  of the Negotiating Group on Market Access
, 
agreed with the Chairman's comments on the lim ited time remaining, the difficult task facing 
Members and the need to move into a new phase in the negotiations.  Regarding the state of play in 
the Group, he had provided Members with a comprehe nsive and thorough report in July.  There had 
been no new developments since then and he said he had nothing to add in substance to that report.  A 
NAMA meeting was scheduled for the following week  and he had sent out an organizational fax 
setting out his intention to organize the discussions on the core elements of the formula, unbound 
tariffs and flexibilities in an integrated manner.  The Group had previously approached the issues in a 
segmented manner and he thought it might be more pr oductive to have discussions in an integrated 
manner.  The meeting would also discuss the issue of NTBs.   
31. He said the challenges with respect to the fo rmula, unbound tariffs and flexibilities remained 
– how to get optimum balance between ambition and flexibilities and how to move into a meaningful 
dialogue of numbers.  It was essential that Memb ers addressed these challenges, keeping in mind the 
new phase they were in and the limited time left.   
32. He stressed the need for specific proposals by Members wishing to address NTBs in a 
multilateral manner.  These proposals had not been fort hcoming.  As to future work, and as he had 
already indicated in his organizational fax, while  two additional NAMA weeks had been scheduled, in 
early October and early November, the Group would be in a continuous negotiating mode and this 
meant that he might need to call meetings when  required and he sought de legation's understanding in 
this regard.   
33. Consultations in different formats and configur ations were a necessary part of this process, 
but he assured delegations that these would not re place the multilateral process.  They would only 
attempt to nudge the process along.  Regarding this issue, he had held a consultation on ad valorem  
equivalents (AVEs), the previous day and he would be holding anothe r consultation on product 
coverage the following day.  Regarding the consulta tions on the AVE issue, he said good discussions 
had taken place and he hoped that the consultation on product coverage  would follow suit so that the 
Group could put these issues behind it.  He intended to report on these consultations in the following 
week at the NAMA session.  These were tec hnical issues on which he hoped to seek quick  TN/C/M/20 
 Page 7 
 
 
 resolution,which would help with the more diffi cult issues which remained and needed to be 
addressed.   
34. Ambassador Ahmad (Pakistan), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS , 
said the Special Session had two meetings sche duled prior to Hong Kong, one during the present 
week on 16 September and the other in the last w eek of October, back-to-back with the regular 
session of the TRIPS Council.  Regarding the status of work in his group, he had been holding 
informal consultations on the steps to be ta ken to assist progress in the negotiations.  These 
consultations had focused on overcoming the proble m that had been impeding work prior to the 
summer break.  The Special Session had not able to  discuss productively all the proposals on the table 
because of concerns of some delegations about th e relationship between one of those proposals and 
the mandate of the Special Session.  Thanks to  the goodwill and cooperation of delegations, he was 
pleased to report that it would be possible to find a way of enabling the substance of each of the 
proposals to be discussed in a productive way at th e end of the present week.  To this end, the 
Secretariat was issuing a note that would facilitate comparison of the three proposals.   
35. While he welcomed what he believed to be a good sign of a cooperative willingness to 
overcome problems impeding the work of the Special S ession, he wished to make clear that finding a 
way of enabling all the proposals to be productivel y discussed was only a first step enabling progress 
to be made.  It did not represent any narrowing of  differences regarding substantive matters, where 
positions remained as he had been describing at ea ch of the TNC sessions.  In particular, there 
continued to be two key points of differences.  Firs t, on the issue of the extent to which there should 
be legal effects consequent on the registration of a geographical indication in the system.  Secondly, 
on the issue of participation.  In addition, there were other issues which needed further discussion, 
such as costs and administrative burdens.   
36. Ambassador Spencer (Australia), Chairman of the Special Session of the Dispute Settlement 
Body , said he did not have much to add to the written report he had circulated in July.  The DSU 
Special Session would be meeting the following week  and there would be a variety of consultations 
held during the week.  The focus would be on the fi ve or six subjects on which proposals had been put 
forward and discussed in recent months.  He hoped that the group could make a good start so that it was in a position to put a text before Ministers in Hong Kong.  He did not wish to pre-judge at the present stage what that text might be, but the group would be aiming for the maximum possible outcome.  He hoped that delegations had used the summe r break to review their positions to be able in 
the next three months to focus on what they wanted  out of the review of the DSU.  He said that as 
Chair, he would do whatever was possible to facilitate progress, but it was the responsibility of 
delegations to negotiate amongst th emselves and not to rely on the Chair to produce an outcome.  
Following on the Chairman's football analogy he said the focus should be converting more of the goalkeepers that seemed to be prevalent in Geneva into strikers. 
37. Ambassador Ali (Bangladesh), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Environment , said the CTESS would resume its work the following day with the first set of 
formal meetings after the summer break.  Members were deeply conscious that there was very little 
time left between the present meeting and Hong Kong.   
38. As early as March, he had reported to the TNC that, although it was clear that all parts of the 
paragraph 31 mandate were importa nt and required delegations' seri ous attention, paragraph 31(iii) 
had emerged as the most likely candidate for tangible progress by the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference.  There was a general view that, as a potential outcome for the Conference, delegations 
could prepare a list of environmental goods.  In that  regard, he had encouraged them to continue 
submitting their ideas, as well as their lists of goods, for Members' consideration.   TN/C/M/20 
Page 8  
 
 39. In July, he had reported to the TNC the state of progress in the negotiations on all aspects of 
the CTESS' mandate.  With respect to paragraph 31 (i), the CTESS had examined terms contained in 
the mandate along with holding discussions on potentia l outcomes.  Many Members had shared their 
national experiences and domestic implementation of STOs in MEAs.  He believed that Members had 
wished to consider what lessons, if any, could be  drawn from this exercise that could contribute to 
fulfilment of the mandate under pa ragraph 31(i).  The proposals made with regard to potential 
outcomes were on principles to govern the rela tionship between the WTO and MEAs and on a 
mechanism for "mutual supportiveness and defe rence" between the WTO and MEAs.   
40. On paragraph 31(ii), a number of excellent id eas for greater information exchange and co-
operation between the WTO and MEAs were contai ned in document TN/TE/7.  He hoped Members 
would explore these and other ideas as well as consider th e nature of an instrument that could emerge 
as the outcome of this part of the mandate.   
41. On paragraph 31(iii) a total of nine lists of  environmental goods had been tabled by 
delegations.  This was a considerable  improvement over the situation in March.  It had been clear that 
for the in-depth analysis and technical work required for progress, there would be need for 
intensification of work.  A Member had proposed an  alternate approach for the negotiations, one that 
it had labelled the "environmental project approach ."  He had welcomed all submissions and had 
hoped that common ground would be found among th e list approach to environmental goods, the 
environmental project approach and other methodologies that Members might wish to consider.   
42. Recognizing that little time was left till the Hong Kong Ministerial, he had welcomed the call 
by many Members for intensification of work a nd to focus on the mandate contained in paragraph 
31(iii).  He had convened the present week's form al meeting in addition to the normal October 
meeting to provide an opportunity to delegations to  have an exchange on the submissions that they 
had received just before the July meeting.  This would also be an occasion for delegations to discuss 
the possible structure of the work in the coming weeks.   
43. In July, he had held consultations to ascertain Members’ aims on paragraph 31(iii), 
particularly on environmental goods, before Hong Kong.  His intention was to continue these 
consultations in the present week to get a sense of  what was reasonable to achieve by Hong Kong and 
what would be the appropriate process to achie ve the necessary progress.  He hoped that Members 
would also use the week's meeting to explore ways of finding common ground among the proponents of the list approach to environmental goods, th e environmental project approach and any other 
proposals for defining environmental goods.  To assist Members in their discussions, the Secretariat 
had prepared a document which brought together the information in the submissions by various 
Members in a concise form.  This document was w ithout prejudice to the positions of Members.   
44. He said it went without saying that other part s of the CTESS' mandate continued to be of 
equal importance and it was understood that Members would continue to work on paragraphs 31(i) 
and (ii) this year, in preparation for 2006.  L astly, he said a further meeting of the CTESS was 
scheduled for 13-14 October.  
45. Ambassador Noor (Malaysia), Chairman of  the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation
, said 
that although his Group had not met since the last TNC, he wished to share his thoughts on the future work.  An important aspect of the Group's work would be preparation of its report for the Hong Kong Ministerial.  The Group would have to further assess a nd concretize the proposals that had been tabled 
and their linkages to technical assistance and capacity building and also address broader issues of 
S&D. 
  TN/C/M/20 
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 46. He recalled that at the Group's session on 25 and 26 July Members had agreed to base their 
future deliberations on a compilation by the Secretar iat of all proposals tabled so far, contained in 
document TN/TF/W/43.  A first opportunity to do so would be the Group's meeting on 19 and 20 
September which aimed at furt her advancing discussions on those contributions and deepening 
Members' understanding of the specific suggestions that had been made.   
47. Special emphasis would again be placed on technical assistance and capacity building in 
continuation of the focussed dialogue  initiated in May.  He said while progress had already been made 
under this item, Members needed to intensify the pace and come up with concrete ideas on how to operationalize this fundamental component of the Group's work.  Effective technical assistance and 
capacity building-support would be a crucial factor for the success of the negotiations and the ability 
to move forward.  He called on all Member s to do their part in this regard.   
48. He said that most of the upcoming meetings of the Group would be informal but open-ended 
to enable productive exchanges.  He would also be available for informal consultations with interested 
delegations to complement the discussions and allow for optimal preparation.  Members had a lot of 
work ahead of them and limited time to get it all done.  He agreed with the Chairman that Members 
should fully utilise the available time.   
49. Mr. Ismail (South Africa), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , said that the CTD Special Session had carried  out intensive work on the five remaining 
LDC Agreement-specific proposals that Members had pr ioritized in the months before July.  In his 
reports to the TNC and the General Council in July, he had indicated that although the Special Session 
had not in a position to make specific recommenda tions on any of the LDC proposals, Members had 
been able to significantly narrow down thei r differences as they debated these proposals. 
50. Although the group had been very close to reaching agreement on a number of the LDC 
proposals, it had not able to do so.  He remain ed hopeful that during the coming months Members 
would be able to build on the many useful sugges tions made and generate the necessary political will 
to close the few gaps that re mained on these LDC proposals.   
51. Regarding the focus of work in the run up to Hong Kong, he said it was important for 
Members to be clear about what they wished to achieve by the Conference and it was with this in 
mind that he would be consulting with Members during the following two weeks.  Once Members had clearly expressed their wishes, his intention was to continue with the remaining LDC proposals.  He 
also intended, if Members agreed, to use the ti me available to address the remaining Agreement-
specific proposals especially those that had b een prioritized by the African Group.   
52. He agreed with the Chairman that Members had a major challenge in the coming weeks and 
they would have to be prepared for a very inte nse phase of consultations.  He was confident that 
creative and meaningful solutions to some of th e challenges that the LDCs and other developing 
countries had put before Members in their proposal s could be found.  These solutions would have to 
be consistent both with the development objectives of the DDA and the fair and balanced rules-based 
system.  A meaningful package for LDCs and other developing countries would involve some 
sacrifice and might cause discomfort for different grou ps of Members both large and small.  However, 
if Members were to succeed, they would all need to  move from their comfort zones and be prepared to 
make those sacrifices.  He therefore urged Member s to continue to engage constructively in the 
process and demonstrate the necessary flexibility and political will that would lead them to a positive 
outcome at Hong Kong.   
53. The Chairman
 thanked all the Chairs for their focused  remarks which would help concentrate 
the attention and energy of the negotiators.  What they had said should help Members agree that they 
were entering into a new qualitative phase of thei r work, more focused, more continuous, more TN/C/M/20 
Page 10  
 
 integrated within and across a number of sectors, a nd going beyond issues of structure to tackle more 
fundamental questions of ambition, which in many of  the negotiating groups had now to do with the 
numbers.  The analogy of a training camp had been confirmed by the Chairs of the different Groups.  
They had all signalled their availability which woul d use up a lot of their energy and resources in 
terms of time and the price Members would all have to pay for this was reciprocal availability.  This 
meant that they should agree, and he strongly advise d in this direction, that from the present meeting 
on Members should be on call.  This was he beli eved the main procedural conclusion from what 
delegations had just heard. 
54. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the statements by the Chairpersons of the 
bodies established by it and by the Chairman. 
3. Statements by participants 
55. The representative of Hong Kong, China  said his delegation agreed with the Chairman on the 
need to be in a continuous negotiating mode and to  move from a vicious circle to a virtuous one.  
Members needed to move forward now on the assumption that the problems in various areas, serious as they might be, particularly in agriculture, would be solved.  They should not wait for those 
problems to be solved first because without any ag reement on them everything fell apart.  Members 
should not lie to themselves that it was necessary to  wait – they could move forward in a spirit of 
trust.   
56. Regarding the mindset, he said Members should stop worrying about losing out.  They needed 
to take a more optimistic view about what they  had to gain.  Members needed to think about 
maximising gains rather than about minimizing losses.   The more ambitious they all were the bigger 
the package would be and the bigger the gains for all.   
57. The representative of Mexico
 said his delegation agreed with the assessments by the 
Chairman and the Chairs of the negotiation bodies which illustrated the complicated situation facing 
Members as they tried to achieve two-thirds of the path to the end of the Round in 2006.  On NAMA, 
he said Members had a collective experience of about 60 years of negotiation and therefore it was an 
area where they knew what to do and would do so.  On services, Members had less experience, which 
was limited to the Uruguay Round but they needed to move beyond what they had achieved then.   
58. In agriculture, Members were in uncharted terr itory, but this subject was the key to progress 
across the board and Members needed to quickly advance by mid-November in order to have a 
successful Hong Kong Ministerial.  The proposals by the G20 had been recognized as providing a 
middle ground of the different positions.  But this did not mean that Members should not advance on 
the other issues independently of progress in agricultu re.  In this regard, his delegation was consulting 
with others to come up w ith an integral proposal on unbound tari ffs, flexibilities and on the formula in 
the NAMA negotiations.  Rules was another fund amental area for an outcome in Hong Kong 
particularly on anti-dumping, subsidies, and al so on dispute settlement and rules in services. 
59. The representative of Mauritius , on behalf of the ACP Group , said that Members had only 
three months to prepare for the Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, which was a crucial milestone 
to completing the Round.  They all had to rededicate their collective efforts so as to make the best of 
the time left in order to arrive at a meaningful outcome at Hong Kong.   
60. He said the ACP Group had taken note of the Chairm an's statement and the fact that this was 
a new qualitative phase.  The Group was committed to the successful completion of this process of 
negotiations.  However, he pointed out that the Group's priority would be to ensure that its 
development needs and priorities were fully taken in to consideration in the negotiations.  The position 
of the Group on various substantial issues in the negotiations had been expressed on various occasions  TN/C/M/20 
 Page 11 
 
 
 at the TNC and he would not repeat them on this occasion.  He wished to draw attention to the 
Group's statement at the 28 July TNC since the Group believed that there had been no significant 
development since then.   
61. He wished to draw attention to a crucial point  to which the Chairman had also alluded and 
which for the ACP Group was important if Members wish ed their contributions to ensure an efficient 
and meaningful preparation for the Hong Kong conferen ce.  These were issues of principle to which 
the Group attached very high importance.  The AC P Group wished to see the negotiation process fully 
transparent and inclusive.  This was the only guar antee for ensuring that the process was fully owned 
by all Members and that the outcome would be ba lanced and cater for everyone's interests.  The 
Group also wished to underscore that the Geneva process should remain central in the conduct of the 
negotiations and in arriving at the draft modalities to be presented in Hong Kong.   
62. The Chairman  confirmed that he would shortly star t holding consultations, including with 
regional groups.   
63. The representative of Pakistan  said that in order to move the process forward, Pakistan had 
hosted a G20 Ministerial meeting on 9-10 September.   Although the meeting had mostly focused on 
agriculture, other issues had been discussed and the Bhurban Declaration would be circulated to all 
Members.  Using the football game analogy, he said that the attitude in their training camp had been 
very positive and that all players had turned up.  In  addition not only strikers and goalkeepers but also 
midfielders had been present to represent the middl e ground.  All G20 Members had been represented, 
including ten Ministers and over 100 delegates.  In addition, Ministers and Senior Officials of LDCs, 
the African Group, ACP countries, the G33 and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Conference had also 
been present.  He said it had been a great privilege fo r Pakistan to host such an important event.   
64. The Bhurban Declaration reaffirmed that agri culture was the engine of the DDA and that 
meaningful results in agriculture were essential to lead the Doha Round to a successful conclusion.  
Ministers had expressed their view that the agriculture  negotiations were in a critical situation.  The 
G20 had presented detailed proposal s on all three pillars which had been recognized as technically 
solid, politically credible and representing the mi ddle ground.  The G20 was now awaiting its big 
partners to respond constructively to its proposals.   
65. The G20 was fully engaged and ready to achie ve full modalities in agriculture in good time 
before Hong Kong.  The Ministerial was less than  13 weeks away and therefore Ministers had called 
for the pace of negotiations to be intensified.  The level of ambition for Hong Kong might be defined 
by October to avoid the same misfortune as Cancùn.  This might include the use ofconcrete figures.  
Ministers had felt that they should meet before the TNC scheduled for October to resolve sticking 
issues, if any, to facilitate the process forward.  They  had also stated that there was no alternative to a 
bottom-up approach which should be based on real  negotiations and which were inclusive and 
transparent.  Ministers had called for urgently addressing the concerns of cotton-producing developing 
countries as well as concerns of recently acceded Members and small and vulnerable economies.  
Lastly on agriculture, they had said ambitions shou ld not be lowered as it was at the heart of this 
round of the negotiations.  The Ministers expected that as a result of current negotiations there could be substantial and effectiv e reduction in trade distorting subsidies and tariffs. 
66. On NAMA, Pakistan had tabled a forward-looking proposal and he urged Members to look at 
it more closely.  The proposal had taken into account  the concerns of all and at the same time was 
ambitious.  He said Members needed to move to text-based proposals on anti-dumping and other 
areas.  On development issues, Members needed to move forward from the LDC specific issues to 
other issues of interest to many developing countries .  Overall, his delegation was concerned with the 
lack of progress and hoped Members could in tensify the pace of the negotiations.   TN/C/M/20 
Page 12  
 
 67. The representative of Paraguay
 said his delegation agreed with the Chairman's approach to the 
work that Members had to undertake up until Hong K ong.  In particular, his delegation agreed with 
the Chairman's remarks about integrating developm ent into all parts of the negotiations and the 
importance of making Geneva the centre of Members' debate.  He said that concentrating the work in 
Geneva was very appropriate for developing countries and small ec onomies which had small 
delegations in Geneva.  He emphasized the need  to maintain a transparent process and said his 
delegation could not accept packages negotiated behind its back.   
68. He referred to the recent visit to the Director-G eneral by Paraguay's Foreign Minister, H.E. 
Leila Rachid, during which she had briefed him on a meeting of landlocked developing countries 
which had taken place in Asunción in August.  This meeting had culminated in a statement which had 
established the priorities for landlocked countries in  the negotiations of the Doha Round.  It had 
referred mainly to trade facilitation, agriculture, within which cotton was fundamental and NAMA.  
The landlocked developing countries would continue  working within the framework of the CTD on 
these different aspects so that their objectives would be fulfilled and they counted on the Chairman's 
support in this regard.   
69. The representative of India  said that his delegation agreed with the Chairman on the task 
facing Members before Hong Kong as well as on hi s emphasis on urgency, focus, sequencing and 
integration of work.  He wished to draw attention to a significant omission in the Chairman's short list 
of issues which concerned the cluster of implementa tion issues – a matter of vital interest to his 
delegation.  He would partic ularly flag in this dossier two issues  of great importance to his delegation: 
the pressing need to make concrete progress on th e relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and 
the CBD and the need for additional flexibilities fo r developing countries in the TRIMs Agreement.  
He recalled the direct responsibility exercised by the Chairman's predecessor in seeking progress on 
implementation issues and urged the Chairman to urge ntly restore that process under his supervision.  
He also requested the Chairs of various negotia ting groups to focus on the emerging development 
deliverables in the negotiations to enable Memb ers take up a comprehensive stocktaking of the 
development outcome of the Round. 
70. The Chairman  noted India's concerns on implementation.  He was aware that his predecessor 
had been working hard on this and he also would work actively with Members to find ways forward 
where possible, so that an overall package could be constructed.  He said he would show the same 
sense of energy and involvement as his predecessor. 
71. The representative of Honduras  said that his Country's positions could to be found in the 
minutes of the TNC of 28 July, however, on this occasion, he wished to refer to two issues and make 
some general remarks which were of fundamental importance to the Round.  In agriculture, Honduras 
had actively participated to ensure that S&D treatm ent be translated into the concrete provisions on 
the flexibilities which had to be obtained by small developing countries with low bound tariffs, which 
constituted their only protection.  Honduras believed that countries whic h were in a similar situation 
to its own should not be compelled to continue reducing their tariffs.   
72. Honduras attached a high level of importance to making progress in the Round, and had, in 
August, tabled its revised offer whic h would shortly be circulated to all Members.  This revised offer 
was a contribution to the objectives of these negotiations and Honduras was taking on new and 
important commitments in the financial sector –  in the banking and insurance sub-sectors.   
73. Regarding general aspects which we re relevant and impor tant and to which he wished to draw 
attention there were collateral issues taking place in  parallel to the negotiations many of which had 
consequences on the work in different negotiating groups.  For this reason, his delegation urged the 
Chairman to be vigilant in this respect and hope d solutions would be found before the Ministerial  TN/C/M/20 
 Page 13 
 
 
 Conference.  On meetings taking place outside the WTO, he said that his delegation was confident 
that the Chairman would maintain the principle that this was a Member-driven organization.   
74. The Chairman  said the delegation of Honduras had draw n attention to a number of issues 
which had been termed collateral issues, and it had not escaped his attention that, as well as the 
difficulties that had to be overcome if Members were  to be successful in Hong Kong, were different 
collateral issues on which the deadlines in terms of consultations, arbitration or litigation could 
interfere with the preparatory process for Hong Kong .  He said he had all these issues in mind and 
agreed that vigilance was needed so  as to ensure that such issues did not have a negative impact on a 
process which could regain momentum.   
75. The representative of the Philippines  said that his delegation agreed with the Chairman that 
the bottom-up approach and not the top-down proc ess was important for the success of Hong Kong 
and had to be borne in mind.   
76. Regarding the development dimensi on, speaking on behalf of the G33 , he said the G33 had 
been a constructive participant in the negotiations particularly regard ing the issues of Special Products 
and the Special Safeguard Mechanism to protect  food security, livelihood security and the rural 
development needs of millions of farmers.  The G3 3 agreed that numbers had to be put on the table 
and wished to draw attention to the issues of tariff cutting and the binding of all tariffs in ad valorem  
terms, as well as to certain aspects of market acces s which had been part of the Bhurban Declaration 
of the G20.  These related to not lowering the leve l of ambition and achieving a fair and level playing 
field for the international trading system for all Members.   
77. The representative of Bolivia  said that his delegation agreed with the Chairman that the level 
of ambition should not be reduced.  His delegation hope d that priority would be given to development 
issues including fulfilling the paragraph 35 mandate of the Doha Declaration on small economies, 
taking into account that working papers ha d been submitted in agriculture and NAMA. 
78. The representative of Bulgaria  said that, like India, he wished to draw attention to 
implementation issues and in particular to geographica l indications (GIs).  He stressed that it was the 
only implementation issue that had been specifica lly mentioned in the Doha Declaration.  His 
delegation did not wish to see the process to Hong Kong skip this issue, which was key for his 
country.  Thus far GIs had been addressed under the TNC and the then Director-General had 
organized consultations.  He hoped that that process would continue in order to arrive at a result by 
Hong Kong. 
79. The Chairman  reiterated that he would continue the process on implementation, including 
what his predecessor had undertaken as Director-General on the issue of GI extension.  He would 
discuss with the new team of Deputy Director-Gener als whether or not he would seek their assistance 
to move this process forward.  He would a dvise delegations accordingly as soon as the various 
responsibilities had been allocated.  
80. The representative of El Salvador  expressed her delegation's commitment to the process up 
until the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and to reaching balanced outcomes that would offer 
opportunities for economies such as El Salvador's.  Sh e wished to underscore two issues.  First, the 
statement made by the G33 which El Salvador ha d recently joined and secondly, the work programme 
on small and vulnerable economies under the auspices of the General Council which was considered 
key in the development dimension.  Finally, her delegation agreed with the Chairman on the 
importance of the Geneva process as the centre of Members' work and on a transparent and  
participatory process. TN/C/M/20 
Page 14  
 
 81. The representative of Costa Rica
 said that his delegation supported the goal of achieving 
positive results in Hong Kong and the only way of do ing this was through fulfilling the high levels of 
ambition of the Doha mandate and the 2004 July Decision as only then would there consensus.  Agriculture was crucial and it was important that  convergence was reached as soon as possible on the 
most important elements.  It was necessary to have early efforts in the market access pillar particularly 
on the formula as a principle element.  There were  also other elements which would determine the 
level of ambition, such as the mandate on tropical products.  His delegation agreed that flexibilities 
should be given priority but clarity on the amb itious elements relating to  market access and the 
formula were needed.  His delegation believed that  a process which took up all three pillars would 
allow a wider view that was less defensive and woul d facilitate the necessary trade-offs.  He said  
other areas of the negotiations had been awaiting results from agriculture where progress had been 
modest and this had to change.  Th e little time left meant that progr ess also had to be made in NAMA, 
rules, trade facilitation and other issues, in paralle l with agriculture.  It was only through progress in 
all areas that Members could have a global view and assess the possible outcome of the Round which 
would then allow them to make concessions and to have flexibilities in the different areas.   
82. With regard to process, his delegation agreed w ith the Chairman on th e need to work in a 
transparent manner and also that consultations with  different groups and in different formats were 
important.  These were necessary to move the negotia tions forward and to keep Members informed.  
However regarding consultations w ith regional groups, it should be borne in mind that the positions 
and objectives of different countries within a group that  might exist in a region could differ, such as 
was the case in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Consultations should thus be organised more on 
the basis of common interests rather than on geographical considerations. 
83. The Chairman
 reassured the delegation of Costa Rica that he would not limit his consultations 
to geographical groupings.  He would engage in consultations  with all groupings or  constituents in the 
WTO and his door was open to all Members.   
84. The representative of Chinese Taipei  said that his delegation agreed it was necessary to 
intensify the negotiations and that it was important that the Geneva process was the main forum given 
the time constraints.  Ambitions for the Round should  not be lowered.  There were just over 12 weeks 
to the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting and a lot of wo rk remained.  Members needed to redouble their 
efforts and be flexible if they were to achieve a successful conclusion of the Round.  From the present 
meeting onwards, there needed to be concrete evid ence of movement in positions in order to ensure 
that the Hong Kong Ministerial was worthwhile. 
85. The representative of Kenya  underscored the importance of the development dimension and 
hoped that the Chairpersons of the negotiating bodies would integrate it into the negotiations so that the outcome from Hong Kong would be development- oriented.  His delegation agreed that all 
delegations should remain on call, but it hoped that  the Chairpersons of the negotiating bodies would 
coordinate their consulta tions and meetings so that there were  no parallel activities which would make 
it difficult for delegations like Kenya to attend.   
86. The Chairman
, in response to Kenya, said it was one of the duties of the Secretariat to assist 
the various Chairs in coordinating schedules and re laying the necessary information so that small 
delegations were not affected by simultaneous of consultations.   
87. From the focused and brief interventions at the present meeting there appeared to be general 
agreement on the specific diagnos is on substance and process which he had outlined at the beginning 
of the meeting.  He urged delegations to now build  on this and the Chairs of the negotiating groups 
and he would be counting on their support and cooperation.  Everyone had realised the urgency of the 
situation and the need to make progress.    TN/C/M/20 
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 88. Before closing the meeting, he wished to draw  attention to the departure of H.E. Mr. Luiz 
Felipe de Seixas Corrêa, Permanent Representative of  Brazil.  He said he, and he believed all 
delegations, considered Felipe de Seixas Corrêa a fi rst class diplomat and friend and, in his own 
personal case, an extremely courageous rival.  He asked the delegation of Brazil to relay to him the 
gratitude of all delegations.   
89. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the statements. 
__________