RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/117 
23 February 2009 
 (09-0940) 
General Council 
18 December 2008  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 18 December 2008  
 
Chairman:  Mr Bruce Gosper (Australia) 
 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
 
1. China – Transitional Review Under Section 18.2 of the Protocol of Accession to 
the WTO Ag reement.............................................................................................................. ...2 
2. Report by the Chairman of th e Trade Negotiati ons Committee ..........................................7  
3. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and Development ......................................16  
4. Work Programme on Special and Differential Treatment - Report by the Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development..............17
 
5. Follow-up to the 1 August 2004 General Council Decision and the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration on the Doha Work Programme – Statement by the Director-General on the Development Assistance Aspects of Cotton ................................19
 
6. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 – Communications from Honduras and Guatemala – Statement by the 
Chairman....................................................................................................................... ..........19
 
7. Transparency for Preferential Trade Arrangements – Statement by the 
Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Development ...................................................25  
8. WTO Pension Plan............................................................................................................... ...26 
(a) Annual Report of the Mana gement Board for 2007 .................................................................26  
(b) Actuarial position of the Pension Plan – Statement by the Chairman of the 
Management Board............................................................................................................... ....27  
9. Committee on Budget, Finan ce and Administration ...........................................................27  
(a) Report of the Committee on its meeting of 9 October 2008.....................................................27  
(b) Report of the Committee on its m eeting of 23 October 2008...................................................28  
(c) Report of the Committee on its meetings  of November and December 2008 ..........................29  
10. Review under Paragraph 8 of the Decision on the Implementation of 
Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaratio n on the TRIPS Agreement and Public 
Health – Report of the Council for TRIPS ...........................................................................29  
11. Waivers under Article IX of  the WTO Agreement..............................................................30  WT/GC/M/117 
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  (b)
 Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 changes into WTO schedules of tariff 
concessions – Draft decision................................................................................................... ..30 
(c) Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 changes into WTO schedules of tariff 
concessions – Draft decision................................................................................................... ..30 
(d) Review of waivers pursuant to Article IX:4 of the WTO Agreement ......................................31  
12. Appointment of officers to WTO bodi es – Announcement by the Chairman 
pursuant to paragraph 7.1(a) of the Guidelines...................................................................31  
13. Review of WT O activities....................................................................................................... 32 
(a) General Council, Dispute Settlement Bo dy, and Trade Policy Review Body ..........................32  
(b) Sectoral Councils .............................................................................................................. ........32  
(c) Committees on Trade and Development, Trade and Environment, Balance-of-
Payments Restrictions, Budget, Finance and Administration, and Regional Trade 
Agreements ..................................................................................................................... ..........32  
(d) Working Groups on Trade, Debt and Finance  and Trade and Transfer of Technology ..........32  
(e) Committees under the Plurilate ral Trade Agreements..............................................................32  
14. Administrative measures fo r Members in arrears...............................................................33  
 
 
1. China – Transitional Review Under Section 18.2 of the Protocol of Accession to the 
WTO Agreement (WT/GC/116, G/L/875, S/C/31, IP/C/50 and WT/BOP/R/89) 
1. The Chairman  recalled that Section 18.2 of the Pr otocol of Accession of China to the WTO 
Agreement provided that "[t]he General Council sh all, within one year after accession, and in 
accordance with paragraph 4 of Section 18, re view the implementation by China of the WTO 
Agreement and the provisions of this Protocol."  Section 18.2 also provided that "[t]he General 
Council shall conduct such review in accordance with  the framework set out in Annex 1B and in the 
light of the results of any reviews held pursuant to pa ragraph 1.  China also can raise issues relating to 
any reservations under Section 17 or to any other specific commitments made by other Members in 
this Protocol.  The General Council may make r ecommendations to China and to other Members in 
these respects."  Paragraph 4 of Section 18 further provided that this review should take place after 
accession in each year for eight years, with a final revi ew in the tenth year or at an earlier date decided 
by the General Council.  The General Council's fi rst review had been conducted in December 2002 
and, under the periodicity provided in Section 18, the eighth review would therefore be held in 2009 
with a final review in 2011 or an earlie r date decided by the General Council.   
2. The following issues were to be addressed by the General Council at the present meeting, in 
keeping with Annex 1B of China' s Protocol of Accession:  First, reports of subsidiary bodies on 
China's implementation of the WTO Agreement and of  the related provisions of the Protocol;  second, 
development of China's trade with WTO Members and other trading partners;  and finally, recent 
developments and cross-sectoral issues regardi ng China's trade régime.  He proposed that, in 
addressing this agenda item, China as well as other de legations address all three of these points in a 
single intervention.  In connection with this revi ew, he drew attention to a communication from China 
recently circulated in document WT/GC/116, whic h provided information re quired under Sections I 
and III of Annex 1A of the Protocol of Accession.   The reports of the subsidiary bodies on their 
respective reviews of China's implementation of th e WTO Agreement and of the related provisions of 
the Protocol of Accession were contained in the following documents:  G/L/875, S/C/31, IP/C/50 and 
WT/BOP/R/89.  WT/GC/M/117 
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  3. The representative of China  said that 2008 had been an extremely unusual year for China and 
the whole world.  Early in the year China had faced  one of its most severe snow storms, and millions 
of migrant workers had been stranded at railway sta tions in coastal cities, with their annual spring 
festivals totally spoiled.  In the middle of the year, the violent earthquake in Sichuan Province had claimed more than 88,000 lives, with more than 5 million people becoming homeless.  In the last 
quarter of the year, the financial crisis had stru ck the whole world, and China had also been hit 
heavily.  The Shanghai stock exchange index had fa llen by two-thirds, from around 6,000 to less than 
2,000.  Millions of small investors had suffered heavy losses.  China's exports had also fallen by 
2.2 per cent in November compared to the same peri od in 2007.  This was the first drop in the past ten 
years and a result of shrinking demand in major markets. The challenges and difficulties China had 
faced in 2008 were unprecedented.  In spite of all the crises and challenges, the Government remained 
firm to its policies of opening and reform.  Pe ople in the capital were currently celebrating the 
thirtieth anniversary of the refo rm and opening process started by Deng Xiaoping.  The Government 
was fully committed to multilateralism, sustainable development, and building a harmonious society 
and world.  China was fully aware that the ge nerous support and assistance from around the world 
had helped it in overcoming the difficulties of th e snow storm and the earthquake, and that the 
tremendous joint efforts from volunteers and athletes  all over the world had helped China in hosting a 
very successful Olympic Games. 
4. China was fully aware of its responsibility to contribute its share to overcome the current 
world financial and economic crisis.  The recent announcement of the stimulus package was an 
important step in that direction.  China would spend RMB4 trillion, equal to roughly US$600 billion, 
over the next two years on national infrastructure projects, including railways and airports, welfare 
projects such as education, health care, social security net, and projects of environmental protection 
and reconstruction of areas afflicted by the eart hquake.  This package had been received very 
positively by the world community.  Since China had joined the WTO, it had been working hard to 
open its market further and had made great contri butions to the world economy.  China's average 
tariff rate had dropped from 43.2 per cent before join ing the WTO to 9.9 per cent.  Its average tariff 
level on industrial goods had been cut down to 8.95  per cent and bound at that level – one of the 
lowest among developing-country Members.  China' s tariffs on agricultural products were now bound 
at 15.2 per cent, which was much lower than the wo rld average of 62 per cent and even lower than 
some major developed-country Members.  Export subsidies for agricultural products had long been 
totally removed in China, and the level of domest ic support was limited to de minimus and green box 
levels.  Trade in services had also achieved a high level of liberalization.  Around 100 out of 160 sub-
sectors had been opened to foreign investment, w ith foreign companies entitled to 100 per cent 
ownership in 54 sub-sectors.  Full national treatment was provided to foreign service suppliers in most 
of the committed sub-sectors.  China had stre ngthened IPR protection through more uniform 
legislation, more efficient law enforcement and deep ening international co-operation.  The "Outline of 
the National Intellectual Property Strategy" had be en published in June 2008, which had greatly 
boosted morale for further strengthening IPR protection. 
5. Transparency and public participation in Chin a's trade policy decisions had been greatly 
improved.  All trade-related laws  and regulations were now publishe d, as China had committed to do 
upon accession.  Since the beginning of 2008, public  opinion had been solicited for all drafts of 
administrative regulations of the State Council and de partmental rules of rele vant Ministries.  This 
was a step further in Chin a's commitments upon WTO accessi on to provide public-comment 
opportunities.  Due to China's reform and opening  policy, its economy had maintained a rapid and 
steady development, which in turn had contributed to the world economy.  According to the World Bank, China's annual contribution to world econo mic growth had averaged 13 per cent since its 
accession to the WTO, which equaled US$75 billion a dded each year to the world economy.  During 
the period 2001-2007, China had imported roughl y US$4 trillion worth of goods from various 
countries, with an annual increase in its imports of 30 per cent.  There has been a net increase of more 
than US$100 billion in China's imports each year  since 2001.  Many Members, particularly WT/GC/M/117 
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  neighboring Asian countries, had benefited a grea t deal from China's fast-growing imports.  The 
international financial crisis had not only negatively affected world trade flows, but had also entailed 
the risk of trade protectionism by some Members.  His delegation had noted with great concern some 
abusive measures, such as trade remedies of anti-du mping and safeguards, and technical barriers to 
trade, which hampered the smooth flow of trade.  China firmly believed that resorting to trade 
protectionism at a time of crisis was not the right  approach.  This could only dilute Members' joint 
efforts to save the world economy, and would not help  resolve problems.  Faced with the crisis, all 
Members should strengthen mutual trust and work to gether to weather the hard times.  As his Trade 
Minister had stated at the Ministerial meeting in  July, "[w]e are in the same lift going up and down 
together, not on a seesaw board with one rising at the other's expense."  China attached great 
importance to the TRM and had made serious efforts in all the reviews in the 16 bodies under the 
General Council, answering more than 300 questions raised by Members.  Representatives of relevant 
Chinese Ministries and agencies had participated in  the process and had listened attentively to 
Members' concerns, with a view to identifying the n ecessary means to improve work in the future.  He 
wished to thank the Chairs of the Councils , Committees and Sub-Committees, as well as the 
Secretariat for their hard work in the process.  He wished also to thank all the Members who had 
participated actively and responsibly in the review pr ocess.  China remained stea dfast in its belief that 
trade was the source of economic v itality, and an open, vibrant and healthy multilateral trading system 
could make it better equipped to deal with the sev ere winter of the world economy.  China was willing 
to work with all Members for an early conclusion of the Doha Round in order to realize a world of 
greater trade liberalization and to deliver the development Round commitments. 
6. The representative of Nigeria
 said his delegation acknowledge d that the TRM had been 
included in the China's Protocol of Accession as a sp ecial precautionary instrume nt, with the objective 
of monitoring and enforcing implementation of WTO commitments, as well as promoting transparency and the exchange of information in trad e relations with China.  Nigeria also noted that 
the TRM involved simultaneous annual reviews, first by all the 16 WTO subsidiary bodies, and then 
by the General Council, making use of the results of  the reviews by the subsidiary bodies.  This 
exercise was in addition to the Trade Policy Revi ew Mechanism, which provided for a broad review 
of the trade regimes of all Members on a scheduled  basis.  To date, the TRM remained unique to 
China.  Throughout the implementation of the TRM,  some Members had always participated in the 
process by submitting written questions to China prior to the meetings of the 16 sub-bodies involved in the review.  However, other delegations, including Nigeria, had also raised issues orally with China 
during those meetings.  Nigeria wished to thank the Chinese delegation for the very comprehensive 
and detailed written replies and oral responses that  it had consistently provided, both during the 
previous reviews and the current one.  As one of  the first Members to r ecognize the market-economy 
status of China, Nigeria shared the view that Chin a was moving in the right direction and at the right 
pace, in spite of the enormous challenges and co sts of the commitments it had undertaken.  Nigeria 
also noted that by significantly addressing issues raised during the review, China had, once again, 
demonstrated its capacity to implement its WTO commitments in both letter and spirit.  Nigeria 
encouraged China to remain  steadfast in this endeavour and, in particular, to pay special attention to 
the enforcement of regulations relating to expor ts of substandard goods, including copyright and 
patent infringements.  Nigeria wished Ch ina a successful conclusion of the TRM. 
7. The representative of the United States
 said he first wished to thank the representative of 
China for highlighting some of the important cha nges that had taken place in  China's economy during 
the past year.  He also wished to thank the othe r Chinese officials, in both Geneva and Beijing, who 
had worked so hard to respond to the numerous ques tions that had been raised during these reviews.  
The United States recognized that a significant amount of  time and effort was required, particularly by 
the Ministry of Commerce, which oversaw China’s participation in the WTO.  As all knew, the TRM 
had been created largely because Ch ina had been admitted to the WTO before it had revised all its 
trade-related laws and regulations  to make them WTO-compliant, and also because China had been 
allowed a number of transition periods before it t ook on certain WTO obligations.  Obviously, China  WT/GC/M/117 
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  was no longer a new Member and thus, over the past y ears, the focus of these transitional reviews had 
changed.  The scheduled phasing-in of the key co mmitments China had made in its Protocol of 
Accession had ended two years earlier, and the focus now was essentially on adherence to the range 
of WTO rules that obligated all Members.  The TR M remained an important and useful mechanism, 
particularly by providing additional transparency for China’s trade régime.  A number of important 
questions had been raised at the current year’s tr ansitional review.  Many, although not all, of the 
individual reviews had generated pr oductive exchanges, and China had put a great deal of time and 
effort into reviewing and considering Members’ questions and preparing responses.  His delegation 
had noted that China had taken many impressive steps over the past seven years to reform its economy, and much of that reform had been tied to China’s WTO membersh ip.  The implementation 
of these commitments, as China had just pointed out, had led to very substantial increases in trade, 
both exports and imports, a nd had helped deepen China’s integra tion into the international trading 
system, and had also facilitated and strengthened th e rule of law and the ec onomic reforms China had 
begun thirty years earlier.  In its statement Chin a had mentioned this change, and how regulations 
would be reviewed and subject to public opi nion, which was just one example of this. 
8. The United States appreciated China’s willingness to  engage with it bilaterally in a number of 
formal and informal working groups, and had seen more progress through these channels in the past 
year than it had in 2007.  That said, one issue involving an important WTO obligation where bilateral work had initially failed to address US concerns had to do with restrictions China had placed on 
suppliers of financial information services, wh ere the United States and two other Members had 
pursued the Dispute Settlement Mechanism.  He was pleased to report that China and the three 
Members involved had been able to reach a se ttlement without going through all of the dispute 
settlement procedures.  That said, China’s pursuit of a number of industrial policies involving substantial government intervention continued to be  the root of many of the problems the United 
States faced in its economic and tr ade relations with China.  Subs tantial government intervention was 
still evident in several areas, and he wised to men tion a few examples that were most worrisome to his 
Government.  As the Appellate B ody had confirmed earlier that week, China had been applying auto-
parts regulations that imposed prohibited local-cont ent requirements for motor vehicles.  The United 
States looked forward to China's prompt implementa tion of the Appellate Body's report once adopted.  
China also continued to deploy export quotas, export licence fees, minimum export prices, export 
duties and other export restrictions on a number of  raw materials in which China was one of the 
world’s largest producers.  This enabled China to provide substantial artificial advantages to a wide 
range of its downstream producers who used those ra w materials.  China had also generated a vast 
number of central, provincial and local governme nt programs that were designed to increase 
worldwide recognition and sales of famous brands of Chinese merchandise.  While the United States 
did not object to promoting brand recognition, it appeared that these programs were being pursued 
through prohibited exported subsidies.  The issue of  national standards had been discussed in previous 
reviews.  In a number of areas of high technology where there were existing international standards, 
China continued to pursue unique national standards.  There were also pressures put on foreign 
companies seeking to participate in this standard s-setting process to license their technology or their 
intellectual property on unfavourable terms.  An exam ple of an area where the United States had this 
concern, and had had it for some time, was in the so-called "3G Telecommunications Standards", 
where China's regulatory authorities, to date, had co ntinued to promote a home-grown standard.  His 
delegation understood that China had very recentl y announced that it would soon issue licenses that 
would allow people to use 3G Telecommunications  Standards other than the Chinese home-grown 
standard.  However, the United States was concerned th at this appeared to be connected to conditions 
that would ensure first that the home-grown st andard was competitive with these international 
standards.  Finally, in the area of government in tervention, China had also sought to protect many 
domestic industries through an increasingly restrictiv e investment regime which it intended to impose 
in so-called “pillar industries.”   WT/GC/M/117 
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  9. Nigeria had mentioned a concern about Intell ectual Property Rights protection in China, 
which was clearly an area of continuing US concer n.  While his delegation welcomed the steps that 
had been taken, it still did not see significant reductions in IPR infri ngement levels in China.  In 
Agriculture, the Chinese market remained one of the least transparent and predictable of the world’s 
major markets for agricultural products, due primar ily to selective intervention in the market by 
Chinese regulatory authorities.  This often took the form of what appeared to be capricious customs 
and quarantine practices that delayed or halted sh ipments, and the imposition of SPS measures of 
questionable scientific bases.  In Services, regulatory authorities in a number of areas such as banking, insurance, telecom and express delivery continued to frustrate foreign providers of those services.  
Again, this was effected primarily through opaque regulatory processe s and overly burdensome 
licensing and operating requirements.  In additi on, China still did not allow foreign credit-card 
companies and other suppliers of electronic pa yments processing to provide those services for 
domestic currency transactions in China.  Th e United States did recognize the difficulties China 
confronted as it sought to continue its transition from a planned economy to a more market-oriented 
economy.  As China had mentioned and all had noted, it had now been 30 years that China had been 
proceeding down this path of economic reform, and the United States complimented China on that.  It 
also recognized the important contribution China' s economic progress had made to a global growth 
and development.  Important work remained to  be done, and the United States looked forward to 
continuing to work with China on these issues in the years ahead. 
10. The representative of Japan
 said the China TRM was very significant process to facilitate 
Members' understanding of how China was impl ementing its accession commitments, as well how 
China was addressing its current trade-related issues.  With a view to a fruitful outcome of the TRM 
process, Japan always submitted the points on which it wished to focus well in advance of each TRM 
session.  As mentioned at the December 2007 Gene ral Council, Japan hoped for continuous efforts 
and cooperation by China with the aim of making th e TRM process more effective.  Although it fully 
understood that China was tasked with a heavy work load, Japan reiterated its hope that China would 
submit the required information as early as possi ble before each TRM session, and would provide 
clear and relevant answers in writing to the questions .  In the current year's review, Japan wished to 
highlight the fact that many of the specific issues it had raised in the relevant committees and councils were also shared by many other Members.  Japan  hoped China would continue to establish relevant 
laws and regulations and would ma ke further efforts to implement them properly with a view to 
improving transparency and strengthening consistency. 
11. The representative of the European Communities
 thanked China for its statement and 
welcomed China's commitment to multilateralism and its readiness to play its part in overcoming the 
present economic and financial crisis.  The EC re cognised that the Chinese people had had to face a 
particularly difficult year in 2008.  The present ag enda item concerned transparency, which was an 
essential element of WTO membership, and the TRM had been approved by China as part of its Protocol of Accession.  The EC looked forward to  receiving further replies from China on the issues 
left unanswered in the TRM process, specifically the questions asked in the WTO bodies on TRIMS, 
TRIPS, TBT, Market Access, Trade in Financ ial Services and Trade in Services. The EC 
acknowledged the fulfilment by China of many of its WTO obligations, while some further 
clarifications and measures would be needed to bring China's policy into full compliance with WTO 
rules and principles.  The EC looked forward to the ac hievement of this goal in the foreseeable future.  
Regarding the EC's specific concerns, a number of them were similar to those raised by the United 
States.  The EC's concerns were the following:  On TRIMS, the EC appreciated China's efforts to 
answers questions in the TRIMs Committee.  None theless, the EU requested China to review its 
position on joint venture ownershi p limitations.  The EU appreciated China's concerns about a 
measured development of its economy, but such arguments should not be used for protectionist 
purposes.  On TRIPS, the EC had not yet received satisfactory replies on internet piracy and customs 
enforcement, or on questions relating to legali sation and notarization for power of attorney and 
evidence.  On SPS, the EC reiterated its concerns  about limited market access for food products in  WT/GC/M/117 
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  China, in particular concerning beef, plant hea lth standards and microbiological criteria.  Sound 
scientific analysis should be the basis of deci sions on SPS issues.  On TBT, the EC appreciated 
China's efforts to improve transparency and pr edictability in rule-making and administrative 
procedures.  Participation of foreign-owned comp anies in standard-setting technical committees was 
still an issue of concern for the EC.  Regrettabl y, China had not addressed this problem in its 
communication to the TBT Committee.  The EC also wished to underline the administrative burdens 
faced by foreign companies under the current Compul sory Certification System.  On market access, 
the EC had asked questions in the Market Access Committee on Chines e export restrictions, 
specifically on restrictions that were put in place  for environmental reasons, and the reason why they 
were not applicable as well to domestic producers.  On financial services, China had not yet replied to 
the EC's questions on qualification requirements and waiting periods for subsidiaries of foreign banks.  
The EC would be grateful to receive replies also  on its questions on foreign ownership caps, high 
capital requirements and insurance licensing.  In th e Council for Trade in Services, the EC welcomed 
China's answers on postal and courier services, and was looking forward to receiving China's feed-
back on air transport services and distribution of  refined oil and pharmaceutical products.  The 
ongoing legislative process should not prevent Ch ina from answering questions on fundamental 
issues, such as postal services. 
12. The General Council took note  of the statements and of the reports submitted by the 
subsidiary bodies on the conduct of their respective reviews, and agreed  that the seventh review by the 
General Council of China's implemen tation of the WTO Agreement and the provisions of its Protocol 
of Accession had been concluded. 
2. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
13. The Chairman , recalling that Members had had a long and substantive discussion on 
developments in the negotiations at a formal meeti ng of the TNC the previous day, urged Members, in 
the interests of efficiency and the good use of ev eryone's time, not to repeat that discussion in the 
General Council and to seek the floor under this Age nda item only if they felt they had something 
new to add to the views and positions expressed at th e TNC meeting.  While he recognized that some 
delegations might wish to comment on matters raised  at the previous day's TNC meeting that went 
beyond the mandate of that body, he believed that  on some of these matters Members might wish to 
reflect further.  Following such reflection, Memb ers would have an opportunity to discuss these 
matters at the next meeting of the General Council me eting if they so wished.  He then invited the 
Director-General, as Chairman of the TNC, to repor t on the TNC's activities since his last report to the 
General Council. 
14. The Director-General  said that since he had last reporte d to the General Council in October, 
the TNC had held one formal meeting the previous day and which had marked the end of a period of 
very intensive work aimed at establishing modalities in Agriculture and NAMA.  As he had reported 
to the TNC, Members were not far from achieving th eir goal, having made ve ry good progress in both 
areas.  However, they had ultimately had to recogn ize the reality that calling Ministers to try to 
finalize modalities by the year's end would be runni ng too much of a risk of failure which could 
damage not only the Round but also the WTO system as a whole.  His statement at the TNC had been circulated in document Job(08)/134, and he would not repeat all the points he had made.  He had 
taken from the TNC discussion that there was a colle ctive will to advance the Doha negotiations on all 
fronts.  All Chairs had expressed their readiness to provide a forum where Members could resume 
negotiations across the board – on Agriculture and NAMA, and also on Services, Trade Facilitation, 
Rules, TRIPS-related issues and S&D treatment or E nvironment to name a few.  He had also taken 
that the entire membership believe d that a Doha Development Round that was better adapted to the 
new trading realities and that responded to the needs a nd aspirations of all Members, and in particular 
developing countries, was worth fighting for.  This  had been and remained Members' priority for 
2009.  He had also taken from the discussion th at all believed the WTO was more than WT/GC/M/117 
Page 8  
 
  the Doha Round and that one needed  to ensure that the organisation remained relevant and attuned to 
the wider trading scene.  At the TNC, Member s had discussed a number of areas where the WTO 
could work in 2009, including on ensuring a bette r overview of developments in the international 
trading environment that were having an impact on the multilateral trading system, and this was also 
true for trade finance and Aid for Trade.  All of th is was in addition to Members' regular work in the 
committees and councils, which testified to the st rong foundations of the rules-based multilateral 
trading system.  At the TNC, many delegations ha d also urged holding the next regular Ministerial 
meeting in the course of 2009, in order to take a st rategic look at the future and steps to advance the 
goals of the organization.  Many had mentioned Sisyphus, the king cursed to roll a huge rock up a hill 
only to watch it roll down again and to repeat this throughout eternity.  Even the most tenacious minds 
would be discouraged by the idea of rolling up and down through eternity.  He believed that following 
the recent discussions and reflections, the future l ooked a bit brighter, and he suggested one think 
rather of the German poet Goethe when he said "[w]hat is not started today is never finished 
tomorrow.”  The present day began Members' work for 2009. 
15. The Chairman
 recalled his urging at the outset that delegations seek the floor under this item 
only if they felt they had something new to add to the previous day's discussion in the TNC.  All 
statements at the TNC meeting would be faithfully re flected in the records of that meeting, and did 
not need to be repeated in the General Council.  On  those matters in particular that went beyond the 
Doha negotiations to matters of wider interest and relevance to the WTO Agenda as a whole, he 
appreciated that Members might need to reflect, and there would be a further opportunity in the General Council to discuss those items .  He sought all delegations' understanding and cooperation in 
the interests of the efficient conduct of  business at the present meeting.   
16. All delegations who spoke  thanked the Director-General for his report. 
17. The representative of India
 thanked the Director General for hi s efforts to ensure continuity of 
work in the negotiations in the next few weeks a nd months.  The framework of engagement he had 
presented was appropriate and relevant to the situ ation in which Members found themselves.  It was 
important that future work in Agriculture and NAM A was based on the considerable convergence that 
had been built on the majority of issues in the ma ndate.  It was therefor e essential that future 
discussions build on the understandings reflected in the two texts.  Similarly, it was also essential to 
bear in mind that if Members were to conclude the negotiations in 2009, the Doha mandate had to 
remain unchanged.  Any efforts to modify the ma ndate or dilute its de velopment content would 
inevitably lead to a serious impasse.  If Memb ers based their further work on these understandings, 
the work of Sisyphus would become immeasurably easier.  The other areas in the Single Undertaking 
now deserved equal attention.  The much delayed te xt on Rules should be tabled at the earliest, to 
enable negotiations to begin on key issues like anti- dumping, subsidies and fisheries subsidies.  For 
reasons obvious to all, these issues, especially indu strial subsidies, had acquired fresh relevance in 
recent weeks.  An effective outcome on Rules would be a strong antidote to protectionist tendencies.  
The Services negotiations also needed to be resu med early.  Apart from the issue of LDC modalities, 
it was important to test  the appetite for ambition in Services market-opening.  The signaling exercise 
of July had provided some indications, but fell far sh ort of India's expectations.  Moreover, the signals 
that had been transmitted required revalidation in  the changed global economic scenario.  On 
domestic regulations, a revised text was required so that disciplines could be put in place before the end of the Round as mandated.  The TRIPS issues required equal emphasis.  The case for an 
ambitious outcome on the three TRIPS issues had already been made by more than a hundred 
Members.  It was essential that Members begin substantive negotiations on these issues as a part of the Single Undertaking.  Progress had been made in the Trade Facilitation negotiations, but this 
needed to be fast-tracked.  An ambitious outcome  in Trade Facilitation could arguably do more for 
global trade flows than any specific sectoral negotia tion.  The trade-offs in Trade Facilitation were 
within this area itself.  WT/GC/M/117 
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  18. On many issues, developing countries could only be asked to undertake commitments if 
appropriate technical and capacity-building assistance was made available.  The linkage between the 
two issues needed to be squarely recognized and dealt with.  Several Members had spoken about early 
outcomes.  The rationale for this was unexceptionabl e.  Members clearly had to recognize that as far 
as the negotiations were concerned, there was a cert ain credibility deficit in the public mind.  This 
could be partly bridged by ensuring early outcom es in key areas of the development mandate.  DFQF, 
Cotton and Bananas were prime candidates for such an initiative.  His delegation was pleased to note 
that there was now widespread acceptance of the view that there was more to the WTO than the 
current negotiations.  It was equally important, for r easons of credibility and relevance of the WTO, to 
allow the real world to intrude occasionally into Me mbers' efforts.  Issues such as the impact of 
measures being taken by several countries on trade flows in the context of the current economic 
downturn needed to be discussed.  Problems being faced, especially by developing countries, in accessing trade finance needed to be reviewed.  Si milarly, actual flows of aid for trade assistance 
needed to be monitored.  There were other issues,  such as food security, which also required a forum 
within the WTO.  Members could not use their pre- occupation with the negotiations as a pretext to put 
their heads in the sand.  Finally, with regard to Ministerial meetings, his delegation was pleased that 
the consultations of recent days were leading Me mbers to the conclusion that Article IV of the 
Marrakesh Agreement needed to be honored.  Minist erial Conferences needed to be held regularly, 
perhaps annually, to discuss various trends in glob al trade, including the progress in negotiations.  
Such conferences could not be linked to the negotiati ons alone.  India urged the Director-General to 
consult further with Members so that they could take  a final decision in this regard at the February 
General Council. 
19. The representative of Nigeria
 thanked the Director-General, the General Council Chair and 
Chairs of the respective Negotiating Groups and the entire membership for the intensified efforts to 
keep the Doha Round alive and focused.  Like othe rs, Nigeria wished to place on record its deep 
disappointment over the failure to secure agreem ent on modalities in Agriculture and NAMA before 
the end of the year.  Nevertheless, it wished to  pay special tribute to the Agriculture and NAMA 
Chairs for their good work and the comprehensive revi sed texts that had been tabled on 6 December.  
Nigeria noted the prevailing political will among the membership to preserve the achievements made 
thus far, after seven years of tortuous negotiations.  In view of the increasing deterioration in the 
global economy, Nigeria was encouraged by the pre sent commitment by all Members to reaffirm and 
defend the basic values of the multilateral trading sy stem.  It therefore welcomed the initiatives aimed 
at the early resumption of negotiations in 2009.  His country was convinced that if there were an early 
harvest in the DDA negotiations, priority needed to be given to the key issues of Cotton, Trade 
Facilitation and DFQF market access for LDCs. 
20. At the present critical stage in the negotiations , it was very important that Members carefully 
reflect on a few aspects of the organization.  First was the need to insulate the WTO and its overall 
mandate in respect of global economic governance from its responsibility as the forum for multilateral 
trade negotiations.  This was even more im perative as Members' work went beyond trade 
negotiations, despite the fact that this remained cruc ial to a rules-based intern ational trading system.  
In this regard, Nigeria welcomed and supported the Director-General's initiativ e regarding the internal 
task force to produce regular updates on country-speci fic developments and measures, as well as keep 
developments in the area of trade finance within the WTO's radar.  Nigeria also agreed that a regular 
WTO Ministerial meeting in 2009 would assist in this  endeavour.  Second was the need to ensure that 
the mandate and work programmes of the organizati on were not held hostage  by developments in 
Member countries.  Nigeria was convinced th at Members should always respond to their 
commitments and obligations in the organization,  rather than the other way round.  With a 
membership of 153 countries, Members could not a fford to allow the future of the organization 
remain dependant on political dynamics in individua l Members.  Nigeria therefore shared the view 
that in spite of the present challenges, Members we re now, much more than ever before, closer to 
concluding the DDA negotiations.  Members therefore had to work strategically together by focusing WT/GC/M/117 
Page 10  
 
  on the core areas needing work in 2009.  Nigeria fu lly supported the statements by Cote d'Ivoire for 
the African Group, Mauritius for the ACP, and Tanzania  for the LDCs.  It also associated itself with 
the statements by Brazil for the G-20 on Agricult ure and Indonesia for the G-33.  He reaffirmed 
Nigeria's commitment to the principles of a rul es-based multilateral trading system and the Doha 
mandate as reinforced in the July 2004 Framework Agreement, and as further enunciated in the Hong 
Kong Declaration.  Nigeria assured the Director-Gen eral and Chairs of Negotiating Groups of its 
support and cooperation, and looked forward to working closely with them and all Members for the early conclusion of the Doha Round. 
21. The representative of Bangladesh
 thanked the Director-General for his leadership, which had 
been manifest in pushing from behind rather than  pulling from in front.  Hemingway had once said 
that courage was grace under pressure, and all of  his colleagues had shown courage and he had 
learned greatly from them.  At the TNC the previous  day the Director-General had laid out the basic 
premises of the current state of affairs, the criti cal part in moving forward, the flanking measures and 
possible intermediate outcome.  Bangladesh largel y agreed with those elements.  The Director-
General had also referred to three points of depa rture while taking stock and reflecting on the way 
forward, and had mentioned the mandates, texts a nd new guidelines that were the future points of 
reference.  His delegation wished to add to tho se that the system as a whole remained one of the 
points of reference.  This was because low-inco me, vulnerable, marginalized economies had joined 
this open, multilateral rule-based system in antic ipation of getting fairer  treatment in trade 
negotiations as well as in trade dealings.  Duri ng the present decade in the WTO, the LDCs had, 
although marginally, improved their trade performance, but their share of global trade remained less 
than one per cent, and the LDCs' terms of trade ha d yet to reach the level of the 1980s.  The recent 
growth in LDC trade, as well as marginal improvement in their terms of trade had been largely due to 
high commodity prices and particularly petroleu m product exports from certain LDCs.  Export and 
import figures showed that the LDCs had in fact gi ven more effective market access to the developing 
and developed countries than they had gained.  This was a matter of empirical evidence.  Most of the 
LDCs today remained much more open, and in that sense more aspiring, to integrating into the global 
economy than many of the developing and develope d countries.  Bangladesh, for example, currently 
had an import-weighted tariff rate of only 15 per cen t, which spoke for itself in terms of how open the 
economy was, with no quantitative restrictions and no banned items as such.  His country remained 
committed even to binding some of its tariff lines if a substantial and balanced outcome of the Doha 
negotiation was on the table.  Thus, protecting the sy stemic value in favour of the marginalized and 
the vulnerable also remained one of his country's points of departure.  While in the WTO countries 
might not get what they deserved, the organiza tion should at least deliver on what they had 
negotiated.  If the systemic value was not preserved,  the feeble but positive developments seen by the 
LDCs might vanish overnight.  With  the financial crisis looming large, these apprehensions remained 
very real, and thousands of people who had come out of poverty in the recent decade, due in part to 
the contribution of trade, might vanish and these countries might again sink below the poverty line.  
Thus, his first point to the membership, the Secretar iat, the Director-General and the Chairs, was the 
need to preserve the systemic value, which was one of the WTO's precious achievements. 
22. His second point related to the mandate, which ne eded to be protected both from insiders and 
from outsiders.  His delegation had noticed that certa in insiders had, or w ould have liked to have 
selectively, conveniently and sometimes creatively interpreted the mandate.  The integrity of the 
mandate from Doha needed to be protected.  Co nversely, certain outsiders, driven by different 
motivations, might raise various contingent issues which they could not tackle.  Members needed to be vigilant regarding both these onslaughts.  Regarding the texts, Bangladesh welcomed the 
documents prepared by the Agriculture and NAM A Chairs through very hard labour.  These 
represented a very good lock-in or consolidation of what Members had achieved in July.  However, 
having said this, he recalled that, as Plato had said, just or right meant nothing but what was in the 
interests of the stronger party.  A "balanced" or "ri ght" text should not be in the interest only of the 
stronger party.  The texts needed to be improved in some well-known areas..  The Chairs would alert  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 11 
 
 
  Members to the remaining outstanding issues in these areas, whether preference erosion, special 
products or SSM.  Bangladesh remained engaged in  this work, taking the texts as a basis to move 
forward.  It had accepted the sequence of resolvin g Agriculture and NAMA earlier, but there was now 
a certain amount of critical mass allowing Member s to move on other issues.  These issues 
particularly related to the areas of interest of the LDCs.  One was the area of Services and the LDC 
modalities in Services, or whether putting a mora torium on anti-dumping duties against the LDCs.  
This work needed to be taken up at an early stage.   There was also the issue of an early outcome, 
where he had three points.  First was that this i ssue seemed to come and go in the WTO. Whenever 
there was a crisis, a credibility gap or a confidence deficit, Members had talked about early harvest, 
which they had conveniently forgotten when better times came.  He hoped this time it had come to 
stay.  This early harvest or early understanding w as something Members would see in the future.  The 
second point was whether it should, after eight year s, and possibly more, of negotiations, be called 
"early", or whether it should rather be called an intermediate outcome or first approximation.  The 
third point related to what would be included.  Co tton was essential, as it remained the human face of 
the Doha Round.  Bananas could also be included, as in many ways it was a key issue, and there was 
also duty-free quota-free treatment for LDCs, which w as the jewel in the crown of the Doha Round.  
Without the delivery of this jewel, Members could not address the credibility or confidence gap of the 
LDCs.  He recalled that Members had moved a l ong way since Ministers had talked about duty-free 
quota-free at the Hong Kong Ministerial.  A number  of Members – the EC, Canada, Australia, New 
Zealand, Switzerland and Japan – had come out conc retely and effectively in favour of giving duty-
free quota-free treatment to LDCs.  In addition, th e number of developing countries in a position to 
provide this treatment had increased significantly sin ce then – India, Turkey, China, Brazil and many 
others were giving strong signals to this effect, on a universal, transparent and effective basis.  His 
delegation failed to understand how , if textile exports from Cambodia and Bangladesh could enter 
duty-free quota-free into Turkey or India, they c ould not enter into other stronger economies without 
jeopardizing the latter's industrial potential.  Thus , duty-free quota-free had to be one of the major 
elements of any intermediate outcome.  Regard ing the need to make progress on the non-Doha 
activities, his delegation was pleased that trade prot ectionism was being monitored, that trade finance 
was being examined, and that Aid for Trade was also  being attended to.  It was very important that 
while doing these things, Members looked at the sp ecific impact on the LDCs.  When one talked 
about LDC exports, one was talking not only about goods but also services, and as all knew, income 
from services played a big role in these countries.  At the same time there was a need to see whether 
basic financial resources remained buoyant in this  respect.  The present year had been a tough but 
very instructive one, and by all early indications  2009 would be more cha llenging, but multilateral 
trade had to be the solution to those problems.  Bangladesh remained optimistic.  In the 19th century 
Don Marquis had said that an optimist was a fellow w ith very little experience.  He looked forward to 
gathering more experience in 2009. 
23. The representative of Peru  said that the frustration of the July Ministerial meeting was the 
bitter epilogue to two years of continuous effort to achieve a consensus that would bring Members 
closer to the repeatedly postponed conclusion of th e Doha Round.  Unfortunate ly, given the high-level 
imprimatur attached to the decisions adopted by the G-20 and the APEC countries, and the urgency of 
the global economic crisis that had given rise to  those decisions, international public opinion had 
judged harshly the fact that in Geneva, Members ha d been unable to agree on the technical principles 
that would enable this important commitment to be tr anslated into action.  It would be disappointing if 
governments did not analyse the reasons for this untim ely failure, but it would be  even more serious if 
they did not face up to those reasons in an objectiv e and realistic manner.  Although it was true that 
Members had managed to complete the longest part of  the journey, it was also true that the progress 
made did not in any way diminish the magnitude of the political obstacles, pockets of resistance, fears 
and mistrust that stood in the way of a basic consensus on modalities in Agriculture and NAMA.  
Despite the powerful resuscitating effect the Doha  Round would have on the world economy, it could 
legitimately be questioned whether, in the midst of the increase in political pr essures characteristically 
associated with critical economic circumstances, it wo uld be possible to overcome those factors which WT/GC/M/117 
Page 12  
 
  so negatively shaped the positions of the trading partners most seriously affected by the recession – 
one which, in most people's view, might worsen and c ontinue into the future.  In such a situation, and 
given the reaction of the specialized press to the decision not to convene a Ministerial meeting if there was no chance of it being a success, it was vital not to create any more unfounded expectations and to 
exercise sober discretion when disseminating inform ation on the Doha negotiations, which were to 
resume in January.  A cautious approach to provi ding information would help safeguard the well 
deserved credibility of the multilateral trading syst em embodied by the WTO, which comprised not 
only an important body of rules regulating intern ational trade, but a respected dispute settlement 
system for their enforcement. 
24. Peru welcomed the work programme proposed at  the TNC meeting the previous day by the 
Director-General.  It hoped that the new impetus Me mbers were to inject into all areas of the DDA 
would enrich the negotiations on Agriculture and NAMA and improve the overall balance of Members' efforts.  Peru also welcomed the emph asis that was to be placed on monitoring the trade 
impact of the measures adopted by Members to deal with the crisis, and on the priority that deserved 
to be given to funding Aid for Trade.  On the other hand, although the ideas aimed at achieving an 
early harvest in areas such as trad e facilitation seemed attractive, it should be recognized that they 
might conflict with the principle of a Single Unde rtaking which, for better or worse, governed these 
negotiations, particularly if Members were dete rmined to preserve scrupulously the mandate and 
parameters agreed in Doha and H ong Kong.  In the current circumstances, Members had to bear in 
mind how frequently the WTO was erroneously judge d on the basis of the elusive Doha process.  
Such judgments unfairly ignored the current rules a nd mechanisms that had kept protectionism at bay 
for the past few decades, and the fact that it was these rules and mechanisms that could prevent 
protectionism from resurfacing like a baneful reac tion that would only aggravate and prolong the 
current economic crisis.  There could therefore be no better time to reaffirm Members' faith in and 
commitment to free trade and the opening up of ma rkets, the two cornerstones of the WTO system. 
25. The representative of Bolivia
 said her delegation wished to comment on issues that had not 
been discussed in the recent TNC meeting, specifically  two issues of importance to Bolivia.  The first 
was the adoption or otherwise of the report on Serv ices in document TN/S/34 and its annex.  As all 
knew, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela had so me problems with the format of this document, 
as it failed to take sufficient account of their concer ns.  Bolivia could not accept, for example, the way 
in which they had been treated as second-class c ountries in the document's annex, "Elements Required 
for the Completion of the Services Negotiations", where they had been mentioned merely in a 
footnote, while the body of the text concerned all other Members.  It was as if these countries did not 
have the same rights or were less important than the rest of the membership.  The footnote in question 
read as follows:  "At the meeting of the Special Sess ion on 23 July 2008, the delegations of Bolivia, 
Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela expressed their disagre ement with this annex and requested that their 
position be registered.  For that purpose, the following text has been provided by the delegation of 
Venezuela on behalf of Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua, with the request that it appear in this Annex.  It 
has not been subject to any discussion by other delega tions at the Special Session ... ."  Her delegation 
wished to note that this text had not been discussed as a result of lack of time.  The footnote went on to say that "[t]here is no consensus on a new text on services.  Various delegations consider that there 
is no mandate to agree on elemen ts that go beyond the points agreed by all Members in the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration and that there is no obligation to make commitments at the highest 
possible level.  Any language that modifies Memb ers' current obligations has no binding force.  
However, there is total agreement on immediate im plementation of any treatment in favour of the 
least developed countries and the sm all and vulnerable economies."  Th is paragraph had been carried 
in a footnote, but it should form an integral part of  both the document itself and, of course, the annex.  
Neither Bolivia nor any of the delegations concerne d could ever agree to this document or its annex 
being considered as adopted or taken note of, un til the appropriate amendments were made, since 
there was no consensus on them as provided for unde r Article IX of the WTO Agreement.  She was 
raising this issue in the General Council since at the TNC meeting the previous day when her  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 13 
 
 
  delegation had asked for a clarification before th e Director-General's concluding remarks, her 
delegation had not been given the floor again.  She had therefore been obliged to make this clarification before the General Council at the presen t meeting.  In this respect, Bolivia sought the 
Chair's confirmation that the TNC's taking note of the oral report to it by the Chair of the Council for Trade in Services in Special Session did not imply the adoption, approval or taking note of document 
TN/S/34, which did not have the consensus of the membership. 
26. The second issue concerned the proposal at  the TNC that the Trade Policy Review 
mechanism be used to ad dress issues relating to the current financ ial crisis.  Bolivia understood that 
the mechanism in question had not been created fo r that purpose, given that there had been no 
financial crisis at the time, but that the Directo r-General sought Members' mandate to use it in the 
present circumstances.  Bolivia was not against this  initiative per se, but foun d it hard to accept this 
proposed use of the TPR mechanism without further discussion and information.  The reasons for this 
were as follows:  the previous da y's TNC meeting had been the first time Bolivia had heard about this 
initiative and, as far as her delegation knew, the only proper information Members had received in 
this respect had come from three paragraphs in the statement by the Director-General at that meeting 
and a few other statements that seemed to refer to this issue.  Up to the present, the matter had never 
been discussed multilaterally, and her delegation did not therefore have enough information at present 
to give the initiative the green light.  This did not me an that Bolivia was agains t the initiative.  It was 
simply asking for more time in order to examine it.   One of the questions Bo livia wished to ask was 
whether the initiative fully included the developmen t aspect.  Were developing countries afforded 
special and differential treatment?  Would the initia tive differentiate between internal and external 
considerations that had nothing to do with the fina ncial crisis, but which could lead to changes in 
trade policy?  In 2006 and 2007, for example, Bolivia had experienced flooding and had received 
support from the United Nations Office for the Coordi nation of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), while 
in 2008 it had been hit by drought.  All this had been  a result of the worseni ng climatic conditions and 
the change in the world climate caused by uns ustainable economic production in the developed 
countries.  In the light of these disasters, Bolivia ha d been obliged to impose export restrictions, since 
the price of comestible oil had tripled to three dollars, whereas 60 per cent of its population lived on 
an income of less than two dollars a day.  This situation was unsustainable not only from the point of 
view of development and the right to food and h ealth, but simply for humanitarian reasons, as it was 
affecting the most vulnerable Bolivian families.  Bolivia  had not been able to allow things continue in 
this way and had been unable to stop applying restric tions simply to satisfy the WTO or the markets, 
while overlooking the most fundamental and basic human rights of the most vulnerable sector of its 
population.  Bolivia should not be put between a rock and hard place in this wa y and be made to make 
these choices, and wondered whether the above circum stances would be taken into consideration if 
the exercise in question was carried out within th e TPRB.  She asked if, for example, the United 
Nations, the WHO in the event of health problems, OCHA, UNDP, UNEP, UNCTAD or other bodies 
would be included, and whether information from these bodies would be taken into consideration.  
Above all, however, Bolivia believed that a prel iminary exercise should be carried out.  Members 
should first assess all the policies implemented by th e developed countries since the beginning of this 
crisis that were inconsistent with WTO rules.  These should be the first policies Members reviewed in 
order to determine the limits within which the or ganization was operating.  Her delegation understood 
that the limit was approximately US$4.1 billion, wh ich was what developed countries had given their 
bankers who had caused the crisis currently affec ting all.  These countries were causing severe market 
distortion and, as Venezuela had said at the TNC m eeting, were responsible for a high level of 
protectionism based on subsidies to their banke rs, bringing about forced nationalization and 
socializing the losses without having previously di stributed the gains.  Bolivia could not make an 
informed decision until there had been an in-depth  multilateral discussion that gave it enough time to 
address these doubts, and until the terms of refere nce for this new use of the TPR mechanism had 
been established.  Her delegation therefore requested  more time so that multilateral discussions could 
be held before it took a decision.  Such discussion w ould enable it to improve this initiative – one that, 
as her delegation had said before, it did not oppose – and make the best possible decision.  She asked WT/GC/M/117 
Page 14  
 
  that her delegation's statement at the 17 December  TNC meeting be included in the records of the 
present meeting.
1 
27. The Chairman , in responding to Bolivia, said that on the first point, he could confirm that 
taking note of a statement or report did not imply approval or adoption in the present or any other 
case.  It did not mean there was a consensus on th e issue, but was a purely neutral act that was 
standard practice in all WTO bodies.  It simply regi stered that the matter had been heard by the body 
in question, and nothing more.  He appreciated th e clarification Bolivia had offered at the present 
meeting of its position, which would of  course be part of the formal record of the present meeting.  On 
the second point, as he had indicated at the outset of  the meeting, he appreciated that on matters 
pertaining to the overall business of the WTO – more than simply the Doha negotiations, which were 
a matter for the TNC – Members might need to re flect further, and there would be a further 
opportunity to discuss these matters in the General Council.  He looked forw ard to consulting with 
Members in the interim on these issues and had noted the perspectives Bolivia had offered. 
28. The representative of Norway  said that in listening to the statements at the TNC meeting the 
previous day, a few points had struck her.  Members had done a lot of work in the autumn.  They had 
texts that had earned strong support from a wide ma jority of the membership, not only in certain 
quarters but within a number of gr oups and among a great number of Members with different focuses, 
interests and views.  Obviously, most Members were  worried that the points where their particular 
national interests lay would not be stabilized enough in 2009.  This had been thoroughly reflected at 
the TNC meeting the previous day.  However, overa ll a vast majority seemed to have been able to 
accept what could have been a package, had it been  finalized.  Only a few Members had not – for 
legitimate and understandable reasons – been able to  agree on a number of, for them, crucial issues at 
present.  The most positive and important message the previous day had been the strong commitment 
throughout the membership to the DDA, to the manda te and to the multilateral trading system.  This 
was what Members should focus on when looking  ahead.  All knew that in multilateral trade 
negotiations, timing was of the essence – one could have  the right solution at the wrong time, or the 
wrong solution at the right time, and the moment was lost.  Members should not fool themselves into 
believing that the Round could be fixed by 2 January.  This was perhaps the most important factor in 
the months to come – Members needed to keep c ool, preserve and build on what had been achieved, 
monitor the situation even more carefully than prev iously, and pick the right moment to re-engage and 
strike a deal.  The need to fight protectionism ha d been mentioned by a majority of Members at the 
TNC.  This was an important task.  The monito ring mechanism under the Trade Policy Review Body 
proposed by the Director-General was a constructiv e and expeditious measure to this effect.  The 
financial crisis was recent, and Members did not know where it was taking them and what it would 
imply for the DDA.  On the other hand, this was not 1930s.  There was a viable multilateral trading 
system that had ensured growth and prosperity ba sed on agreed trade rules for decades.  So far, 
countries had not closed their borders to trade and reverted to isolationism.  While Members were 
temporarily stuck in the multilateral negotiations , they were seeking new areas for liberalization 
through bilateral and regional deals.  The EU was expanding.  EFTA had met with India in regional 
trade negotiations the previous day.  Not everything in trade was happening in the WTO.  While bilateral deals could pose a threat to the multilateral system if they became the preferred system and 
WTO rules were put on the backburner, these should al so be seen as a positive indication that the will 
to liberalize trade was still there.  Hopefully, this  will would prevail and bring Members back to the 
WTO when the time was right. 
29. The representative of China
 thanked the Director-General for his consistent and conscientious 
efforts in guiding Members in the negotiations, against the backdrop of the ongoing deteriorating 
global financial and economic crisis , the Agriculture and NAMA Chairs for tabling the revised texts, 
                                                      
1 The statement by Bolivia at the meeting of the TNC on 17 December, whic h is reflected in the 
records of that meeting in document TN/C/M/29, is incorporated by reference into the present records.  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 15 
 
 
  as well as all other Chairs for their reports.  Chin a supported the statements by Brazil for the G-20, 
Indonesia for the G-33, and those by other developing-country groups.  Since China had invested hugely in this process over the past seven year s, it supported the idea of preserving the existing 
progress with the appropriate treatment by the Ge neral Council of the Agriculture and NAMA Chairs' 
texts, and supported the road map the Director-Gener al had described for the negotiations in 2009.  At 
the same time, China urged Members to keep beari ng in mind two important principles:  First, they 
should stick to the various Ministerial mandates th at they had agreed to, and which reflected the 
delicate balance among different interests.  To re open any of them would increase difficulties for the 
Round to be concluded.  Second, Members should re main committed to the developmental objective, 
which was not only unique to this Round, but also  epoch-making for the multilateral trading system.  
Obviously, there were still many deve lopment issues that remained to be resolved, such as cotton, and 
duty-free-quota-free treatment for LDCs.  China wished  to reiterate its firm commitment to working 
with all Members for a successful conclu sion of the Doha Development Round. 
30. The representative of Sri Lanka
 thanked the Agriculture and NAMA Chairs for their tireless 
and diligent efforts to address the difficult work  before them, as well as other Chairs for the 
considerable work carried out in their respective negotiating groups.  He reiterated Sri Lanka’s firm 
commitment to the conclusion of the Round, who se central development mandate was of importance 
to many countries engaged in these negotiations.  The Director-General and many Members had 
underlined the current difficult financial and ec onomic environment and its  adverse and negative 
impact on developing countries.  Sri Lanka, as  a net-food and net-en ergy importing vulnerable 
economy which largely depended on external factors, had been badly hit by this state of affairs, 
coming hard on the heels of the global food and ener gy crisis.  His country was highly dependent on 
exports of goods and services for the developmen t of its economy, and conclusion of the Round 
would provide much-needed improved market access for its key exports in critical markets.  Sri Lanka 
was also struggling to achieve some level of sust ainability in its agricultural production in order to 
minimize its dependence on food imports.  Such su stainability would not only assure food security 
while easing the financial burden, but would also provide livelihood security for a large segment of 
the rural farming community which engaged in subsis tence farming.  Sri Lanka had interests in all 
areas of the current negotiations, but there were ce rtain issues of paramount importance that had a 
substantial impact on the development of its economy.   In NAMA, Sri Lanka would undertake to bind 
up to 80 per cent of its tariff lines at an average of 30 per cent.  With a view to participating 
constructively in the negotiations and to integr ating successfully into the trade liberalization 
environment foreseen under the framework of the WTO, Sri Lanka had agreed to undertake this 
commitment, despite the fact that this would cons train the terms of policy space available to it to 
develop its industries.  At the same time, Sri Lanka’s successful integration into this rule-based 
trading environment required comparable market acces s for its export interests.  In this way, Sri 
Lanka hoped that the Round would pr ovide meaningful market access in the form of reduction of high 
tariffs and tariff peaks on products of export interest to it. 
31. At the present time of economic slowdown, growth in Sri Lanka was severely hampered both 
by external and internal constraints.  Sri Lanka ’s garment industry remained the backbone of its 
economy and the only industry that could inject reasonable impetus into the Sri Lankan economy to 
diversify and develop other sectors.  A delayed R ound, coupled with any pr oposal to further delay 
tariff reductions on sensitive products other than what  was currently on the table, would leave Sri 
Lanka with nothing.  Amidst the concerns expressed by other Members, he wished to reiterate that 
this industry in Sri Lanka did not pose any threat to  other trading partners.  Sri Lanka in fact had an 
insignificant share in world trade, which was declin ing overall.  Nevertheless, within Sri Lanka's 
economy, it remained the most important sector, providing employment, particularly for the rural women, and generating income unsurpassed by any othe r industry.  He repeated that further delays 
would prove to be the death knell for this industry, at a time when its strength was required to address 
the development needs of vulnerable segments of  the population for development and employment 
generation.  In agriculture, his dele gation wished to align itself with the statement by Indonesia for the WT/GC/M/117 
Page 16  
 
  G-33, and to stress the importance of adequate flex ibilities in agriculture for Sri Lanka.  His country 
had bound almost all of its agricultural tariffs at a low tariff average of 50 per cent, which would be 
subject to further reductions in the Round.  Ther efore, the flexibilities provided through the Special 
Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism were a must, and these in turn should be simple and 
effective, and not burdensome, in their operation.  Sri Lanka was not an agricultural exporter and did 
not foresee using these mechanisms in a protectionist way.  As he had already noted, his country was 
a net food importer.  However, at the same time, agricultural livelihood security was vital for a large 
segment of the rural population, and such flexibilities were required, particularly in view of the low 
tariff bindings.  He repeated that further delay of the Round would be detrimental to Sri Lanka, and it 
appreciated the urgency expressed by many to reach a successful conclusion.  At the same time, like 
other Members, Sri Lanka believed that time cons traints should not push the Round to a premature 
conclusion that would not allow Members to e ngage fully and adequately to address their 
development needs. 
32. The representative of Brazil
 asked that his delegation's statement at the 17 December TNC 
meeting be included in the records of the present meeting.2 
33. The Chairman  said that some delegations had suggested that he consult on the question of a 
Ministerial Conference and indeed on some other issues.  While he was willing to do this, he 
suspected that some delegations might find it difficult to do this in the next week or two, and towards 
the end of January many would have other preoccupa tions.  He could therefore suggest tentatively the 
weeks of 12 and 19 January for such consultations. 
34. The General Council took note  of the Director-General's report and of the statements. 
3. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development 
 
35. The Chairman  recalled that at its meeting in Febr uary and March 2002, the General Council 
had taken note of a framework and procedures fo r the conduct of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies, under which this Work Programme w ould be a standing item on the General Council's 
agenda.  The framework and procedures also pr ovided that the Committee on Trade and Development 
should report regularly to the General Council on th e progress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on 
this subject.  Ministers at Hong Kong had instruct ed the CTD, under the overall responsibility of the 
General Council, to continue the work in the Dedi cated Session and to monitor progress of the small 
economies' proposals in the negotiating and other bodies.   In December 2006, on the basis of a report 
by the Chair of the CTD in Dedicated Session, th e General Council had taken note that Members in 
that body would be pursuing the substantive work  under the Small Economies Work Programme.  In 
the absence of the Chairman of the Dedicated Sess ion of the CTD, and on his request and behalf, he 
invited Mr Faizel Ismail (South Africa), the prev ious Chair of the CTD, to read his report on 
developments in this area since the October Council. 
36. In the absence of the Chairman of the Dedicat ed Session of the CTD, and on his request and 
behalf, Mr. Ismail (South Africa), the previous Chair of the CTD , reported that the Dedicated Session 
had met on 3 December and had considered an update d version of a Secretariat paper which compiled 
all the proposals made so far by SVEs in the va rious negotiating groups and other WTO bodies.  This 
document had been circulated as WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/ Rev.2.  At the meeting, several delegations 
had welcomed the revised compilation and had request ed the Secretariat to keep updating it so as to 
reflect the latest developments concerning SVEs in  the negotiations and in the WTO committees.  The 
updates would also include the latest modifications  made in the 6 December texts on draft modalities 
                                                      
2 The statement by Brazil at the meeting of the TNC on 17 December, which is reflected in the records 
of that meeting in document TN/C/M/29, is incorp orated by reference into  the present records.  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 17 
 
 
  for Agriculture and NAMA.  During the meeting, ther e had also been suggestions by some of the SVE 
proponents that one new area for study and elabora tion in the Dedicated Session could be the impact 
the financial crisis was having on small and vu lnerable economies, especially on the demand for 
goods and services from SVEs, the implications for key sectors such as tourism, financial services, fisheries, textiles, light manufacturing and primary agriculture production, as well as the impact on the 
ability of SVEs to access export financing.  Accordingly, the Chair had requested the Secretariat to 
consult and to report back to the next Dedicated Session. 
37. The representative of Barbados
, on behalf of the small, vulnerable economies , acknowledged 
the tireless efforts of the Dedicated Session Chair and of the Chairs of the Agriculture and NAMA 
negotiations towards bridging differences and con tinuing the progress towards final modalities.  
Regrettably, despite significant efforts on the part of all Chairs, and declarations from the G-20 and 
other groupings, Members were not there yet.  While  it might be easy to focus on what Members had 
not achieved, it was preferable to focus on where they were now, how far they had come and how 
they were going to complete the task.  The revi sed texts in Agriculture and NAMA, although still 
containing some areas of concern, reflected progress and were good bases on which to continue 
negotiations early in 2009.  In th e revised text on Agriculture, some  of the proposed modalities on the 
SSM remained of concern, and th e SVEs supported the statement by Indonesia for the G-33.  Within a 
Development Round, with clear development mandat es, and with the upheaval in the world trading 
system, instruments such as the SSM would be impor tant for developing countries to safeguard food 
and livelihood security.  Since July there had b een no discussion on SSM flexibilities for SVEs.  The 
SVEs looked forward to constructiv e engagement early in 2009 on the SSM for developing countries, 
including the required flexibilities for SVEs.  One ha d to be careful to preserve the gains achieved 
thus far.  It was critically important that all Memb ers, and in particular those in leadership positions, 
made the requisite efforts to ensure that the signi ficant progress achieved thus far would, in 2009, be 
consolidated into final modalities as part of the Si ngle Undertaking.  The year 2009 would be very 
difficult for many economies.  The challenges posed  by the financial crisis and the slowdown in 
growth and productive output would continue, with  particularly acute difficulties for SVEs.  The 
WTO had to play its part in stabilizing the global economy by way of continuous improvements in the 
rules-based trading system.  A successful, developm ent-oriented conclusion to the Doha Development 
Round would be an important contribution to such an endeavour.  The SVEs supported the procedure 
the Director-General had outlined wi th respect to the process to be fo llowed in 2009, in particular the 
continuation of the work in all of the negotiating areas under the Single Undertaking.  As always, the 
SVEs stood ready to play their part in achieving this end. 
38. The General Council took note  of the report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statement. 
4. Work Programme on Special and Differential Treatment - Report by the Chairman of 
the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development (TN/CTD/23) 
39. The Chairman  recalled that Ministers at Hong Kong had instructed the Committee on Trade 
and Development in Special Session to expeditiously complete the review of all the outstanding 
Agreement-specific proposals and to report to the General Council – with clear recommendations for 
a decision – by December 2006.  Regarding the Cate gory II proposals that had been referred to other 
WTO bodies and negotiating groups, Ministers had al so instructed that these bodies expeditiously 
complete the consideration of these proposals and repo rt periodically to the General Council, with the 
objective of ensuring that clear recommendations  for a decision were made not later than 
December 2006.  Ministers had further instructed th e Special Session to coordinate its efforts with 
these bodies, so as to ensure that this work was completed on time.  Furthermore, the Special Session 
had been mandated to resume work on all other outstanding issues – including on the cross-cutting issues, the monitoring mechanism,  and the incorporation of S&D treatment into the architecture of 
WTO rules – and to report on a regular basis to th e General Council.  In December 2006, it had been WT/GC/M/117 
Page 18  
 
  agreed that Members would continue their consideration of the outstanding Agreement-specific 
proposals in the Special Session of the CTD as well as in the other WTO bodies to which the 
Category II proposals had been referred.  He invite d Mr Sophastienphong (Thail and), Chairman of the 
CTD in Special Session, to report on the progress of work  in this area, including the status of work on 
the "Category II" proposals, i.e. those referred to other WTO bodies. 
40. In the absence of the Chairman of the Dedicat ed Session of the CTD, and on his request and 
behalf, Mr. Ismail (South Africa), the previous Chair of the CTD
, said that the Chair's report in 
document TN/CTD/23 was factual, highlighting the work the Special Session had carried out in 2008 
as well as indicating how he proposed the Special Session continue its work in 2009.  In 2008 the 
work of the Special Session had continued in line  with the mandate contained in the Hong Kong 
Declaration and had focused on the Agreement-spec ific proposals and the Monitoring Mechanism.  
On the Agreement-specific proposals, text-based di scussions had focused on six of the 16 remaining 
Agreement-specific proposals on the basis of the langua ge contained in Annex I of his report.  While 
Members had been able to make some progress in terms of clarifying certain elements of the various proposals, they were yet to make any textual ame ndments to the language currently on the table.  
More recently, the discussions had been focusing on those proposals where the divergences appeared 
to be more significant, such as those relating to  the SPS Agreement.  This was not to say that 
agreement had been reached on any of the othe r proposals, but the Chair hoped Members would 
concentrate their efforts on closing the gaps on tho se issues that were presently more problematic.  
With respect to the remaining ten Agreement-specifi c proposals, these would continue to be set aside 
until such time that Members put forward new langua ge or ideas.  On the Category II proposals, the 
Chairs of the different bodies to which these propo sals had been referred had continued to provide 
updates on the status of the work.  As had been repor ted in the past, there had not been much progress 
on these proposals.  The Chair had also been inform ed that issues raised in  some of the proposals 
formed an integral part of the ongoing negotiations  or work in a number of these bodies.  In this 
respect, the Secretariat was in the process of identifyi ng those proposals that could be deemed to have 
been addressed as part of the ongoing negotiations.  This would help the Special Session focus and 
ensure that progress was expedited on the outstanding proposals. 
41. With respect to the Monitoring Mechanism, discu ssions had been continuing on the basis of 
three non-papers.  The first was the Chair's own non-paper contained in Annex II of the report in 
TN/CTD/23;  the second was a submission tabled by a group of developing countries in February 2008;  and the third was an informal non-paper recently tabled  by another developing-
country Member.  While there were still a number of  elements in the non-pape rs that required further 
clarification, the discussions, as well as Members suggestions, were enabling Members to provide more substance to the elements of the Monitoring Mechanism.  In terms of future work, this would 
continue in line with the mandate contained in th e Hong Kong Declaration.  The idea was to conclude 
this work as soon as possible and certainly no later than the conclusion of the Doha Round.  On the 
Agreement-specific proposals, text-based discussions  would continue on the basis of the language 
currently on the table with the hope of buildi ng on the progress already made and coming up with 
recommendations for a decision as soon as possible.  Those proposals that had been set aside would 
be addressed only if the proponents tabled new languag e or ideas.  On the Category II proposals, the 
Chair would continue to coordinate efforts with the relevant Chairs to ensure that progress was 
expedited on these proposals, particularly those th at had not been considered as part of the ongoing 
negotiations.  The Special Session would also continue  to fine-tune the elemen ts of the Monitoring 
Mechanism with the intention of reaching an agreemen t on its scope, structure and terms of reference.  
This work would continue on the basis of the Chai r's non-paper, as well as the two submissions tabled 
by Members. 
42. The General Council took note
 of the report by the Chairman of the CTD in Special Session.  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 19 
 
 
  5. Follow-up to the 1 August 2004 General Council Decision and the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration on the Doha Work  Programme – Statement by the Director-
General on the Development Assistance Aspects of Cotton 
43. The Chairman  recalled that the mandates for the treatment of this item were contained in 
paragraph 1(b) of the Decision adopted by th e General Council on 1 Augus t 2004, paragraph 5 of 
Annex A of that Decision, and paragraph 12 of  the Hong Kong Declaration.  At Hong Kong, 
Ministers had reaffirmed the 2004 mandate and had we lcomed the efforts of the Director-General in 
the implementation of that mandate, pursuant to th e 1 August 2004 Decision.  They had welcomed in 
particular the process of the Consultative Framew ork Mechanism initiated by the Director-General, 
and had taken note of the Director-General's Second Periodic Report and the assessment of the 
positive evolution of development assistance geared to  the cotton sector.  In inviting the Director-
General to furnish them with a Third Periodic Report at their next Session, Ministers had asked the Director-General to "keep the Sub-Committee on Co tton fully informed of progress", and to provide 
"updates, at appropriate intervals ... to the Gene ral Council".  In carrying out this mandate, the 
Director-General had last reported on this matter  to the Council in December 2007.  Against this 
background, he invited the Director-General to  update the General Council on the work being 
undertaken in regard to these matters. 
44. The Director-General
 said he believed that important progress had been made in the area of 
cotton development assistance, as reflected in the fifth edition of the Evolving Table that had recently 
been circulated.  Of course, cotton development assistance was only one aspect of the cotton dossier 
as a whole; the other being the trade-related aspects th at were part of the negotiations under the DDA.  
There was no doubt that progress had to continue to be made on both fronts.  As he had repeatedly 
stated, cotton remained a litmus t est of the development dimension of the Doha Round.  The fifth 
edition of the Evolving Table showed improveme nts in the amount of development assistance 
committed to the cotton sector, as well as in the actua l disbursements.  Cotton development assistance 
had now reached US$550 million.  Si milarly, development assistance for cotton within the broader 
framework of infrastructure-related projects had now  reached US$2 billion.  Both areas had witnessed 
an important increase in actual disbursements.  There was a need for continued engagement on the development assistance aspects of cotton by all player s, and notably by the donor community.   In 
addition, there was a need for continued domestic cotton-sector reform to give credibility to the 
overall exercise being conducted.  He wished to commend Brazil, China and India for continuing to 
drive the dialogue on South-South cooperation in the cotton sector. 
45. The representative of Burkina Faso
 thanked the Director-General for his report on the 
development assistance aspects of cotton and for all hi s efforts to convene meetings on this matter and 
to encourage the participation of development partne rs.  As a beneficiary country, Burkina Faso also 
wished to thank the development partners for their co ntributions to the development aspects of cotton.  
As all knew, African cotton industries were currently  experiencing enormous difficulties and, at the 
present stage, such involvement was of course welcom e.  His delegation also wished to thank Brazil, 
China and India, which were continuing to intens ify their South-South cooperation in the cotton sector 
and to step up their technical assistance and capac ity-building efforts in co untries like his.  Burkina 
Faso reiterated its support for all th at was being done in this area. 
46. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
6. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 – 
Communications from Honduras and Guatem ala (WT/GC/85, WT/GC/90 and Corr.1, 
WT/GC/100, WT/Min(05)/9) – Statement by the Chairman 
47. The Chairman  recalled that this matter had first been  raised by the delegations of Honduras 
and Guatemala at the General Council meeting in December 2004.  It had subsequently been WT/GC/M/117 
Page 20  
 
  considered by the Council at each of its regular m eetings since then, without resolution.  In the light 
of the views expressed at these meetings, and the requests for consultations made by Honduras and 
Guatemala and other delegations, his predecessors as Chair and he had held consultations regularly in 
order to assist in finding a way forward.  He recalle d that the matter referred to the General Council 
concerned the non-recognition of claims of substa ntial interest submitted by Honduras and Guatemala 
in the very specific context of the EC's modifica tion of its concessions as a result of enlargement from 
15 to 25 members, and the modification of its concession on bananas in its move to a tariff-only 
regime as from 1 January 2006.  This matter had been  brought to the General Council in keeping with 
Paragraph 4 of the 1980 Procedures for Negotiati ons under Article XXVIII, under which, when a 
Member renegotiating its Schedule did not recognize a claim of principal or substantial supplying 
interest, the Member making the claim "may refer the matter to the Council."   
48. He informed delegations that on 17 December  he had held further consultations to allow 
delegations to be updated on the further contact s that might have taken place among the parties 
directly concerned since October with regard to  the broader issues involved, and of any further 
developments regarding the negotiated settlement on th is issue that the parties had been pursuing over 
the past year.  He had invited to the consultations  all the delegations who ha d spoken on this issue at 
previous meetings of the Council, and had made clea r that the consultations were without prejudice to 
any Member's rights under the WTO.  He had to repor t that regrettably the issue remained unresolved.  
This situation clearly continued to be quite unsatis factory from the point of view of the delegations 
which had brought this matter to the Council's atten tion.  He had nevertheless been encouraged to 
hear that the EC intended to organize further di scussions with the parties concerned the previous 
evening, and looked forward to hearing of the pr ogress of these discussions.  He stood ready to offer 
his good offices in this process as, he was sure, woul d his successor.  That being said, he wished to 
emphasize that consultations at th e level of the General Council could not be allo wed to become just a 
routine matter without any discernible progress over such a long period of time.  He therefore strongly exhorted the delegations primarily  concerned to reconsider pos itions and reinvigorate their 
discussions with a view to finalizing this matter at the earliest opportunity. 
49. The representative of Honduras
 said this matter was already in its fourth year in the General 
Council, and the parties had still not been able to r esolve it.  At this last General Council meeting for 
2008, Honduras wished to summarize its concerns re garding the EC's refusal to recognize Honduras' 
interests as a substantial supplier.  He wished to place on record that th e EC was in breach of 
Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII of the GATT 1994, for th e following reasons.  Substantial interest was 
to be calculated on the basis of trade levels that would have existed in a market free from 
discriminatory quantitative restrictions, and therefore an illegal time-frame could not form the basis of 
a rules-consistent calculation.  His country had the right to use the years 1989-1991 in order to calculate its share of the EC market.  Moreover,  according to considerations stemming from two 
dispute settlement panels, Honduras had been one of the EC's main  banana suppliers during that 
period.  The Understanding on the Interpretation of  Article XXVIII specified that rights deriving from 
market share should be determined in a flexible  manner in the case of small and medium-sized 
developing countries that had been adversely affected  by the withdrawal of a tariff concession.  In 
addition to denying recognition of Honduras' interest s, the EC had refused to honour the agreement on 
bananas that had been reached on 27 July, and under wh ich eight annual cuts to the EC's banana tariff 
had been foreseen, starting on 1 January 2009.  Hi s delegation failed to understand why the EC had 
decided to turn its back on an agreement that entailed obvious concessions on the part of Latin 
America.  Since 1 January 2006, the EC had b een under the obligation to establish a significantly 
lower, non-discriminatory tariff, as had been determin ed in Ecuador's Article 21.5 case.  In addition, 
the obligation to make adjustments further to the EC's enlargements dated back much farther than 
1 January 2006.  Equally important was the fact th at in almost all new EC member States, bananas 
were subject to either zero or very low tariffs , and none of those States were granting tariff 
preferences to the ACP countries.  It was unthinkabl e for Latin America to acc ept that the EC refused 
to comply with the July agreement, postpone its entry into effect or envisage modifications that  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 21 
 
 
  entailed a major sacrifice.  On the contrary, as of  1 January 2009, when the agreement had been 
scheduled to enter into force, these countries woul d have ample justificati on for putting conditions on 
the table aimed at securing compensation for the millions  of dollars lost as a result of the delay.  If the 
EC implemented the July agreement according to the agreed terms and on the appointed date, the 
banana issue would be comprehensiv ely and definitively resolved.  In so doing, the EC would also be 
settling Honduras' claim for recognition as a substantia l supplier of bananas to the EC market.  His 
delegation trusted that under the Chair's leadersh ip, the EC would recognize the rights claimed by 
Honduras in respect of bananas, as well as the compensation the EC owed it as a result of its 
enlargement to 25 members in regard to products for which Honduras' rights as a principal and substantial supplier had already been recognized. 
50. The representative of Guatemala
 thanked the Chairman for his efforts throughout the year to 
move this issue forward.  However, as one c ould see, no progress was being made, and the previous 
day's meeting had yielded absolutely nothing, cont rary to what might have been hoped.  Guatemala 
agreed entirely with the statement by Honduras.  Neve rtheless, it felt compelled to repeat what it had  
been saying in the General Council for four years now,  which was that it had a twofold interest in this 
matter – from a trade standpoint and from a systemic standpoint.  Guatemala had also repeatedly 
stated that its trade interest was not limited to bananas alone.  However, a comprehensive solution to 
the banana issue was key to facilitating the settlement  of the matter before the Council.  The ability to 
resolve the problem lay in the EC's hands.  As the entire membership was aware, the leading MFN 
banana-producing and exporting co untries and the EC had reached an agreement on trade in bananas 
on 27 July.  The chief characteristic of this agreem ent had been that it was not locked into modalities 
or Doha Round negotiations.  In other words, it had been a stand-alone, independent agreement.  This 
was specified in the actual text of the agreement.  One of the major consequences of this agreement, 
the outcome of which primarily benefited the EC , was that its entry into force and strict 
implementation would bring to a final close all ongoi ng disputes and legal proceedings against the EC 
in respect of the banana issue, including the cu rrent claims under Articles XXIV and XXVIII.  This 
showed beyond a doubt the goodwill with which the MFN producers had participated in the 
discussions, driven as they had been by the desire to reach a satisfactory solution for all parties and 
ultimately put an end to disputes that had been runn ing for years.  The agreement had been the result 
of successful negotiations.  In other words, what ever success might be achieved in multilateral 
negotiations depended, in the long term, on the mora l integrity of those engaged in them, which was 
to say that all Members were responsible for the c onsequences of the decisions they took.  Members' 
capacity to conclude agreements resided first in th e trust they had in the trading partner with whom 
they negotiated and, second, in their confidence in the multilateral trading system and its rules that 
applied equally to all.  His delegation therefore rep eated that the ability to finally resolve the question 
of non-recognition of Guatemala's rights under Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII of the GATT 1994 regarding the banana issue lay in the EC's hands.  All the EC needed to do was implement the July 
agreement on trade in bananas within the time-frames and under the terms set forth in that agreement.  
He recalled that his delegation's mandate was to m onitor Guatemala's trade and systemic interests.  
Guatemala would  therefore continue to exerci se its rights in the General Council and any other 
relevant body in the organization until the EC had actually implemented the July agreement. 
51. The representative of Panama
 associated his delegation with the statements by Honduras and 
Guatemala.  Panama, like Honduras and Guatemala, w as a major supplier of bananas to the European 
Communities and obviously had fundamental inter ests in this matter.  The Latin American 
banana-supplying countries relied on banana exports to the EC to support their developing economies 
and to sustain the many rural communities whose liv elihoods depended on this product.  The tariff of 
€176/mt applied by the EC to MFN exports of banan as, and the zero-tariff treatment applied to the 
ACP countries, were undermining the Latin American countries' efforts to combat poverty, especially 
at a time such as the present when  their economies were going through a difficult stage.  On 27 July, 
the EC and a number of Latin American countries, including Panama, had c oncluded in Geneva the 
agreement on trade in bananas, under which the EC had agreed to reduce progressively the tariff in its WT/GC/M/117 
Page 22  
 
  WTO Schedule from €148/mt on 1 January 2009 to €114/mt on 1 January 2016, with a view to 
putting an end to all the proceedings and compla ints that remained pending before the WTO.  
Although the Banana Agreement was to have been  implemented immediately, irrespective of the 
success or failure of the Doha Round, the EC had ch osen not to honour it when the Doha negotiations 
on Agriculture and NAMA modalities had been suspe nded in July.  Moreover, on 26 November, the 
Appellate Body had confirmed that the tariff of €1 76/mt applied by the EC since January 2006, was 
inconsistent with its WTO obligatio ns and had to be reduced.  The ti me had come for the EC to bring 
its unlawful banana import regime into line with WT O rules once and for all.  The July agreement on 
bananas was the most appropriate way to end this  long-standing dispute amicably.  His Government 
still accepted the bound reductions and other legal conditions established in that agreement, but would 
not accept any amendments that further reduced these reductions or modified th e legal obligations.  It 
therefore called upon the EC not to delay in honour ing its commitment to end this dispute, under the 
terms and conditions of the July Agreement on bananas, in accordance with its WTO compliance 
obligations and its pledge within the G-20 framework to reject protectionism. 
52. The representative of Ecuador
 said this matter was a systemic one that was critical for the 
recognition of the rights of small exporters under Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII of the GATT 1994, 
and needed to be resolved.  His delegation reitera ted that the whole banana problem and the question 
of possible flexibilities for countries in respect of tropical products and preference erosion under the Round could be settled if the EC signed the ag reement on bananas of 27 July, which would, 
moreover, put an end to the longest running legal di spute in the history of the WTO.  Ecuador was 
extremely frustrated at the EC's failure to fo llow up on a commitment negotiated in good faith by 
Ecuador in a lengthy process conducted by the Direct or-General.  The July agreement on bananas was 
completely independent of any ag reement on modalities in the Doha Round.  A reading of the text, 
and of paragraphs 4 and 5 in par ticular, showed that Ecuador and ot her Latin American countries were 
right in that this was unquestionably true.  Yet again – most recently the previous evening in a meeting with the main MFN suppliers – the EC had reiterated its refusal to implement the agreement 
for internal reasons that were entirely without fo undation, since the object of this agreement was 
compliance with the recommendations of the Disput e Settlement Body and payment of compensation 
pursuant to Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 in r espect of the successive EU expansions of 2004 
and 2007.  As had already been stated by others, the EC held the key to the settlement of this long-
standing dispute, as it did to obviating the need for Ecuador to use cross-retaliatory trade measures or 
bring new claims against the EPAs between the EC  and the ACP countries and the subsidies granted 
to European producers.  His delegation asked both the General Council Chair and the 
Director-General to urge the European Communities to sign the July agreement and put an end to a 
chapter that had become a constant irritant in the history of the GATT and WTO. 
53. The representative of Costa Rica
 said that since 1992 the EC's banana régime had been 
examined in many different bodies, and its incons istency with the rules of the multilateral trading 
system had always been confirmed.  This long-standing dispute comprised, inter alia , seven panel 
proceedings, including four compliance panels, five  arbitration procedures – including two under the 
Annex to the Doha Waiver on the ACP-EC Partne rship Agreement – three appeal proceedings, and 
two requests for the good offices of the Director -General, not to mention the proceedings under 
Articles XXVIII and XXIV of the GATT 1994 in conn ection with the EC's expansions from 15 to 
25 members, and subsequently to 27 members.  These proceedings also encompassed the claims 
submitted by Honduras and Guatemala under the present agenda item.  On 27 July , the Latin 
American MFN banana-exporting countries had reach ed an agreement with the EC, known as the 
Geneva agreement on trade in bananas.  In a surp rising turn of events, the EC had linked compliance 
with that agreement, which put an end to years of dispute, to an agre ement on negotiating modalities 
under the Doha Round.  This unila teral position of the EC had no s upport in the agreement reached, 
which specified its independence from the Round, both in its negotiating history and its purpose, 
which was to seek to settle all disputes and claims br ought in the WTO in relation to the banana issue.  
Costa Rica reiterated its call to the EC to respect  the rights and obligations that existed between  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 23 
 
 
  Members, regardless of their size, and urged it to let good sense, good faith and the letter and spirit of 
what had been agreed prevail in this case, and th erefore to comply with the agreement of 27 July. 
54. The representative of Mexico  said he would confine his statem ent to reiterating what he had 
said at the last General Council meeting, but more exp licitly.  To start, his delegation wished to thank 
the Chairman for all his efforts on this issue.  Mexico  had various interests in this matter, starting with 
a systemic interest in the recognition of negotiating rights, a systemic interest in compliance with the 
results of the dispute settlement system, and an export interest as well.  Mexico had participated in the 
consultations the previous day, and simply wished  to reiterate its support for what Guatemala and 
Honduras had stated under this agenda item.  It ur ged the Community to settle the problem of the non-
recognition of rights – above all, the right to market  access – in a way that was acceptable to all of the 
countries involved. 
55. The representative of Paraguay  thanked the Chairman for his ef forts to resolve this issue, 
which had been on the Council's agenda for quite so me time.  His country did not have a direct 
interest in this matter, but was always interested in  issues that could be of interest to small exporters, 
since what was happening to Honduras and Guatemala now could very well happe n to Paraguay in the 
future.  WTO rules generally tended to be tailore d to the large economies, so that in the dispute 
settlement system, rulings and decisions genera lly favoured the large economies.  Only when 
Members were faced with cases such as this one, was it possible to start thinking about matters of concern to the small countries.  Consequently, it w as necessary to address the systemic issues raised 
by the involvement of small exporters.  In a ddition, the large economies should implement their 
decisions fairly, particularly when it was their actions that had caused the difficulties at issue. 
56. The representative of Argentina
 said that as some delegations had noted, this issue had been 
under consideration in the Council for several year s without resolution, an d it was a matter that 
affected small and vulnerable economies and bana na-producing and exporting countries.  As had 
rightly been emphasized, it was a question that had b een the subject of several rulings by the Dispute 
Settlement Body as well as several arbitration decisi ons, and Argentina considered that at the present 
stage this matter had a systemic impact not only on  the organization, but also on the Round.  His 
delegation therefore encouraged all interested par ties to adopt the measures necessary to facilitate the 
settlement of this matter, and in so doing help r each a solution that would contribute to the conclusion 
of the Doha Round. 
57. The representative of the European Communities  said that on the specific issue of negotiating 
rights raised by Honduras and Guatemala, he wished  to reiterate that the EC had based itself on WTO 
law and well-established practice when recognizing and rejecting claims for recognition of such 
rights.  The EC would have no interest in doing otherwise, because it attached enormous importance 
to the respect for and correct application of WTO agreements.  It had been precisely for this reason 
that during the Article XXIV:6 exercise followi ng the EC's enlargement in 2004, the EC had 
recognized negotiating rights for those claims that di d fulfil the criteria, including with regard to 
bananas.  The same approach had been followe d in the more recent Article XXIV:6 discussions 
following EC enlargement to include Romania and Bulg aria.  In this context, the EC had recognized 
the negotiating rights of Ecuador and Costa Rica fo r bananas.  No other Member had claimed any 
rights with respect to bananas.  That being said, the EC recognized that there might be a systemic 
issue in this case and had indicated that it was ready to look into this system ic issue and to discuss 
solutions and reviews of these problems, either in the General Council or in the Council for Trade in 
Goods, but would encourage Guatemala and others  to present concrete ideas so they could be 
discussed on a solid basis.   
58. On the wider issue of bananas, his delegation had listened carefully to the statements by a 
number of MFN suppliers  and fully understood their concerns and their sense of frustration that this 
long-standing issue had not yet been definitively settled.  The EC and the exporting countries had WT/GC/M/117 
Page 24  
 
  been working hard until very recently with the aim of developing a comprehensive agreement on 
bananas that could be inserted into the DDA mo dalities on Agriculture, which would also have 
addressed the issue of negotiating rights in the par ticular case of bananas.  Prior to the July 
Ministerial, the EC would have been ready to ag ree to a free-standing agreement which had been put 
forward by the Director-General in his good offi ces exercise.  Unfortunately, apart from the EC, only 
one Latin American banana supplier had been ready to  accept that agreement.  At that time, the Latin 
American MFN suppliers had wished to negotiate fu rther in the framework of the Ministerial meeting 
– they had wished to squeeze the lemon further a nd had successfully done so, as the deal had been 
slightly improved.  However, this had been in th e context of the Ministerial meeting, and while the 
parties had come very close to an agreement, the EC had made it very clear – which some were now 
contesting – that the deal then being discussed was in the context of Agriculture modalities.  It was 
quite obvious that there had been no initialled agre ement or deal, and that therefore there was no 
formal approved agreement.  There was the outlin e of a deal, but it was not a formally initialled 
agreement.  This being so, as no modalities had been agreed in July, it had not been possible to reach 
an agreement on bananas.  His delegation had re iterated in the run-up to that week's possible 
Ministerial meeting, that if modalities were agreed, the EC would again be ready to put the deal of 
27 July on the table and to put it into the modalitie s context and approve it.  However, and the EC 
regretted this very much, Members had not achieve d modalities, and therefore the parties were again 
in a situation where they had to find other possib ilities of settling this long-standing issue.  It was 
exactly for this reason that his delegation had ask ed the MFN suppliers the previous night for a 
meeting, with a view to finding a solution to the banana  issue.  He wished to make it very clear in this 
context that the EC was willing to respect its obligations resulting from the recent Appellate Body 
outcome which required it to rebind its tariff on ba nanas.  However, it would prefer not to do this 
unilaterally, but in the framework of an overall agreement which inter alia  would also resolve the 
issue of negotiating rights under Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII, which was the subject of the present 
agenda item. 
59. The representative of Honduras
 said that as a small country, Honduras was extremely serious 
in respect of the justifications it had presen ted to the Council in documents WT/GC/90 and 
WT/MIN(05)/9.  These proceedings came within the scope of the 1980 Procedures for Negotiations 
under Article XXVIII, and until such time as this ma tter was resolved, this item would remain on the 
Council's agenda.  On another matter, his delegati on had noted the European Communities' words in 
regard to the search for a solution to the specific problem of bananas.  In this connection, his 
delegation was somewhat confused, because in Ju ly the EC had been speaking of a stand-alone 
agreement, only to tell Honduras later that this ag reement was contingent on modalities.  This had 
been the case until a week earlier, and now the EC w as speaking of another option.  His delegation did 
know how the EC intended to act on its stated intere st to resolve this problem.  Members should give 
this issue serious attention in the face of a s ituation that deserved to be addressed as a matter of 
priority. 
60. The representative of Guatemala  said he wished to emphasize  that the July agreement on 
trade in bananas was not, and never had been, linke d to the outcomes of the negotiations on modalities 
or those of the Doha Round.  The agreement itself was sufficiently clear.  Th is was confirmed by its 
negotiating history.  There was no room for interpre tation.  Whatever apparent confusion or possible 
difference of interpretation that might have arisen wa s mystification on the part of the EC in order to 
mask its intention not to fulfil its obligations a nd honour its commitments.  By denying the existence 
of a stand-alone agreement on bananas with th e MFN producers, the EC not only belittled the good 
faith and flexibility of those producers, but also disregarded its commitments vis-à-vis  the entire WTO 
membership.  If the EC decided not to fulfil the commitments it had undertaken in the organization 
and vis-à-vis  the membership, it also had the obligation to  assume the consequences of its decisions.  
Therefore, and again for the record, Guatemala di d not accept any of the EC's arguments concerning 
the linkage it attempted to make between the agreement on bananas and the modalities.  These 
arguments were entirely groundless.  In particular, his delegation wished to clarify a point recently  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 25 
 
 
  made by the EC supposedly in support of its flaw ed interpretation of the link between the agreement 
on bananas and the modalities.  All had heard that  the link between the agreement and the modalities 
was confirmed by the fact that the parties had not  accepted the agreement reached in July regarding 
most tropical products and products subject to prefer ence erosion.  This could not, on any account, be 
interpreted as the agreement on bananas being lock ed into the modalities.  The agreement concerning 
tropical products and products subj ect to preference erosion was pa rt of the parties' commitments 
deriving from the agreement on bananas itself.  Therefore, as long as the EC did not honour its commitment in respect of that agreement, he asked why Guatemala should fulfil its part of the 
undertaking.  His delegation had also listened closel y and with interest to the Director-General's 
suggestion to consider the bananas matter as an early harvest.  While Guatemala was agreeable and 
open to the idea of it being regarded as an early harvest , this did not mean it agreed that there existed, 
or had existed, a link between the agreement on ba nanas and the modalities.  On the contrary, it 
should be recalled that the 27 July agreement on ba nanas represented a delicate balance of interests 
among all the negotiating parties and that it was not confined to the Doha negotiations.  It involved 
other rights as well, including those under Articl es XXIV:6 and XXVIII of the GATT.  Settlement of 
the banana issue therefore depended on the EC and th e EC alone, and in order to achieve this, the EC 
had to implement the agreement on trade in banan as within the time-frames an d under the terms laid 
down therein, which had been agreed by all the negotiating parties, including the EC.  The EC's 
failure to implement the agreement on bananas stem med from problems within the EC itself and not 
from any misunderstanding on Guatemala's part.  A lthough it was hard to see any viable solution 
other than the delicate equilibrium arrived at in  the July agreement, Guatemala stood ready to 
cooperate with the EC in exploring and finding solu tions with a view to resolving the EC's internal 
political problems with regard to bananas. 
61. The representative of the Dominican Republic
 said his delegation had noted the statement by 
the European Communities that in seeking a resolution to this dispute it did not wish to unilaterally 
bind its tariff on bananas in the WTO, and wished to  conduct negotiations with all of the interested 
parties.  He reiterated that in any negotiations th at took place on this subject, the interests of the ACP 
banana-exporting countries had to be taken into account. 
62. The General Council took note  of the statements and agreed  to revert to this matter at its next 
meeting. 
7. Transparency for Preferential Trade Arrangem ents – Statement by the Chairman of the 
Committee on Trade and Development 
63. The Chairman  recalled that in December 2006, the Council had adopted a Decision with 
regard to Transparency for Preferential Trad e Arrangements, under which the Committee on Trade 
and Development had been asked to consider transparency for preferential arrangements under 
paragraph 2 of the Enabling Clause – other than RT As – and to report back within six months for 
appropriate action by the General Council (WT/L/ 672).  The Decision had been adopted without 
prejudice to the results of the deliberations the CTD would be called upon to undertake.  
Subsequently, in July and December 2007, and again in July 2008, on the basis of reports from the 
Chairman of the CTD, the General Council had agreed  to extend the deadline for the CTD to consider 
this matter and to report back for appropriate action by successive six-month periods, i.e. until 
December 2008.   
64. In the absence of the Chairman of the Dedicat ed Session of the CTD, and on his request and 
behalf, Mr. Ismail (South Africa), the previous Chair of the CTD , reported that immediately following 
the summer break, the Chair had continued with his sm all-group informal consulta tions on this matter.  
This had allowed the proponents – Brazil, China, In dia and the United States – to further refine their 
draft proposal on a Transparency Mechanism for Pr eferential Trade Arrangements, and eventually 
circulate it as document JOB(08)/103 in October.  The draft proposal had been introduced by the WT/GC/M/117 
Page 26  
 
  proponents at the October 2008 meting of the CTD.  Th e Chair had hoped to be in a position to call an 
informal open-ended CTD meeting soon after to c onsider the draft proposal in some detail and 
subsequently to have it considered by the CTD its ne xt meeting.  To that end, after the October CTD 
meeting the Chair had held further small-group info rmal consultations to try to iron out as many 
outstanding issues as possible.  The delegations pr esent at the most recent small-group consultations 
had been the four proponents plus Barbados, Canada , the EC, El Salvador, Chile, Japan, New Zealand 
and St. Lucia.  The Chair had held a number of r ounds of informal consultations in the small-group 
format, which had been useful in moving the process forward.  That being sai d, there remained some 
issues to be settled, including some issues relating to the procedures that would be used to consider a 
preferential trade arrangement in the context of the proposed Transparency Mechanism.  While the 
Chair was optimistic that Members would be able to  sort out these and other outstanding issues, it was 
clear that more time would be required before this could be achieved.  As the Chair had informed the 
Committee at its December meeting, he intended to continue working with Members on this matter.  
In particular, he would continue his informal consultations early in 2009, with the intention of having 
the proponents' draft proposal considered at an  informal open-ended CTD meeting as soon as 
possible.  The matter would also be taken up again by the CTD at its next formal meeting scheduled 
for March 2009.  On this basis, the CTD had agreed at its December meeting that a request for more 
time to deal with this matter should be made to th e General Council.  Therefore, he wished to request 
that the General Council allow the CTD until July 2009  to consider this matter and report back for 
appropriate action. 
65. The Council took note
 of the report by the Chairman of the CTD, and agreed  that the deadline 
for the CTD to consider this matter and to report b ack for appropriate action be extended to July 2009. 
8. WTO Pension Plan 
(a) Annual Report of the Management Board for 2007 (WT/L/736) 
66. The Chairman  drew attention to the annual repor t of the Management Board for 2007 
contained in document WT/L/736.  The annual repor t of the Management Board had been submitted 
to the General Council in accordance with Article 5(d) of the Regulations of the WTO Pension Plan.  
This was the eighth report of the Management Boar d since the establishment of the Pension Plan on 
1 January 1999.   
67. Mr Niggli  (Switzerland), Chairman of the Management Board of the Pension Plan , said that 
2007 had been the calm before th e storm as far as the Pension Plan was concerned.  A fifth 
consecutive year of positive investment returns ha d been recorded, with the strategy yielding a 
nominal return of over 4 per cent.  The real rate of  return achieved by the investment strategy since 
the launching of the Plan in 1999 still fell short of th e target of 3.5 per cent.  The Management Board 
would undertake a thorough review of the investment  strategy in 2009, since it had now been in place 
for four years.  Apart from continuing to monito r the performance of the Plan's investments, the 
Management Board had also pursued  its consideration of the funding position of the Plan, on the basis 
of specific recommendations by an expert working group to modify certain assumptions used in the 
long-term actuarial valuation of the Plan.  He would revert to this matter in  his subsequent statement 
concerning the actuarial position of the Plan.  The Ma nagement Board had also turned its attention in 
2007 to the possible impact on the Plan of mana gement decisions taken in the context of a 
restructuring exercise.  The Board was concerned lest recourse to early retirement arrangements as a 
means of reorganizing the staffing of the Secretariat a dversely affect the actuarial balance of the Plan.  
The Board had been pleased to note  that the recent restructuring ex ercise undertaken by the Director-
General had included a provision to protect the interest s of the Plan in this regard.  He recalled that 
the Plan was now in its tenth year of existence.  During that period, the number of active participants 
had increased from 509 to 710.  The number of beneficiaries stood at 129 at the end of 2007.  The  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 27 
 
 
  value of the assets under management had incr eased from Sw F 145.5 million in January 1999 to 
Sw F 365.9 million in December 2007. 
68. The General Council took note  of the statement and of the Annual Report of the Management 
Board for 2007 in document WT/L/736. 
(b) Actuarial position of the Pension Plan – Statement by the Chairman of the Management 
Board 
69. The Chairman  invited Mr. Niggli (Switzerland), Chairman of the Management Board, to 
introduce this matter. 
70. Mr Niggli  (Switzerland), Chairman of the Management Board of the Pension Plan , said that as 
indicated in the annual report for 2007, the actuarial  position of the Pension Plan had been the subject 
of a regular triennial review in December 2007.  Pr ior to the conduct of the actuarial valuation, the 
Management Board had set up an expert worki ng group to review the actuarial assumptions 
underpinning the valuation.  On the basis of  the report submitted by the working group, the 
Management Board had decided to modify two key assumptions concerning the allowance for future 
mortality improvements and future general salary in flation.  Principally as a result of those two 
changes, the actuarial valuation at 31 December 2007 had showed that the contribution rate required 
to keep the Plan in balance in the long term had increased from 23.1 per cent to 27.0 per cent of 
pensionable remuneration.  The current rate of c ontribution was 22.5 per cent.  The Plan was thus 
currently in a position of actuarial deficit.  As required under Article 9 of the Plan Regulations, the 
Management Board had considered at length the op tions for corrective action to redress the actuarial 
deficit.  As provided for under the Plan Regula tions, the Management Board had examined possible 
adjustments both to contributions and to benefits, with  a view to identifying a solution that would both 
secure consensus support in the Board and promptly and effectively address the emerging deficit.  The 
Management Board had finally agreed to recommend a balanced approach to the correction of the 
deficit, combining an adjustment to benefits with an adjustment to contributions.  On the one hand, 
the normal retirement age would be increased fro m 62 to 65.  On the other hand, the overall 
contribution rate would be increased from 22.5 per cent to 24.3 per cent.  With those two adjustments, 
the long-term actuarial balance of the Plan would be  restored.  As required under Article 9(c) of the 
Plan Regulations, the above recommendation had been submitted to the Committee on Budget, 
Finance and Administration in the course of its mid-term review of the 2008-2009 biennium budgets.  
The Committee had unfortunately not been in a position to endorse that recommendation in 2008 and would resume its consideration of the item early  in 2009.  The Management Board was extremely 
conscious of its fiduciary responsibility for the mana gement and administration of the Plan, and more 
particularly for its actuarial balance.  It was also anxious that the current actuarial deficit be redressed as soon as possible through the application of co rrective measures which had the support of both sets 
of Plan stakeholders, Members and participants alike.   With that goal in mind, the Management Board 
looked to the Budget Committee to take up this question as an urgent item of business in 2009. 
71. The General Council took note
 of the statement. 
9. Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration 
(a) Report of the Committee on its meeting of 9 October 2008 (WT/BFA/105) 
72. The Chairman  drew attention to the report of the Budget Committee on its meeting 
of 9 October in document WT/BFA/105. 
73. Mr Stirø  (Norway), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration , said 
that the agenda of this meeting had included (i ) various administrative up-dates and progress reports, WT/GC/M/117 
Page 28  
 
  (ii) the status of extra-budgetary activities, (iii) a progress report on the building projects of the WTO, 
(iv) the Director General's Budgetary and Financ ial Report for 2007 and the report of the External 
Auditor thereon, as well as the Report on Extra-Budg etary Funds for 2007 and Report of the External 
Auditor thereon, (v) an oral report on Secretaria t Version.3, and (vi) the presentation of the new 
Office of Internal Audit.  On the issue of the Bu ilding Projects of the WTO, it had been reported that 
the architectural competition had been launched a nd posted on the WTO website.  Furthermore, the 
renovation works were on schedule and by February, the south wing of the CWR building would be in 
full renovation mode.  With respect to the revised co st estimates for the removal to CDM, it had been 
explained that the difference with respect to th e May estimates amounting to Sw F 1.4 million was 
mainly due to the fact that no exact figures had be en available at the time. The extra costs for IT, 
electricity, structural modifications and security c ould, however, be absorbed by the existing budget 
for 2008.  With respect to the Director-General 's Budgetary and Financ ial Report for 2007, the 
Committee had been informed that the year 2007  had ended with an accumulated surplus of 
Sw F 12 million. This amount was composed of a budgetary saving of Sw F 8 million, a decrease of 
provisions in arrears of Sw F 2.3 million, c ontributions from two new Members (Tonga and Viet 
Nam) of Sw F 0.5 million, and an excess of miscellaneous income over expenditure of 
Sw F 1.4 million.  He drew attention to the recommendation of the Committee contained in Paragraph 23 of WT/BFA/105 with respect to the Director-General's Budgeta ry and Financial Report 
for 2007, on which Council action was required. 
74. The General Council took note
 of the statement, approved  the Budget Committee's specific 
recommendations in paragraph 23 of its re port in document WT/BFA/105, and adopted  the report. 
(b) Report of the Committee on its meeting of 23 October 2008 (WT/BFA/106) 
75. The Chairman  drew attention to the report of the Budget Committee on its meeting 
of 23 October  in document WT/BFA/106. 
76. Mr Stirø  (Norway), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration , said 
the agenda of this meeting included a report by the Director-General on Secretariat Version.3.  With 
respect to grading and classification, the Committee ha d been informed that it  had been decided to 
keep the current structure, with the exception of the introduction of new entry-level grades for 
professionals (grade 6) and support staff (grades 1-2) , as well as the opening-up of grade 11 for a very 
limited number of non-Directors.  The Committee ha d also noted that the Director-General had 
decided to terminate the current financial bonus system as from 2009 and to replace it by a new system of rewards, both financial and non-financial,  such as scholarship grants for high-performing 
staff.  Regarding career development, training and m obility, it had been pointed out that the training 
budget had been significantly increased in the bienni um 2008-2009.  With regard to the streamlining 
of the Secretariat structure, the Committee had noted that the Trade Facilitation and Trade and 
Finance Division would be discontinued as of 1 January  2009 with its activities re-distributed to other 
divisions. The DDA Special Duties Division would also  be discontinued, and the External Relations 
Division would join the Information and Media Relati ons Division.  In addition, the Procurement Unit 
would be transformed into a new Procurement Sec tion, and a temporary Renovation Project Logistics 
Office would be created.  The Budget and Finance S ections would be consolidated, and the Technical 
Assistance Logistics Unit transferre d to the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation.  The 
Committee had also been informed  that several early retirement packages had been negotiated, 
generating long-term savings, as the respective posts w ould be filled at lower grades and two Director 
posts would not be re-filled.  The report in WT /BFA/106 was a descriptive report and contained no 
recommendations. 
77. The General Council took note
 of the statement and adopted  the Budget Committee's report in 
document WT/BFA/106.  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 29 
 
 
  (c) Report of the Committee on its meetings of  November and December 2008 (WT/BFA/107) 
78. The Chairman  drew attention to the report of the Budget Committee on its meetings 
of November and December 2008 in document WT/BFA/107. 
79. Mr Stirø  (Norway), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration , said 
the agenda of these meetings had included (i) vari ous administrative up-dates and progress reports, (ii) 
the status of extra-budgetary activities, (iii) the ITC Mid-term Review for the Biennium 2008-2009, 
(iv) the Revision of the 2009 Budget, (v) the utilization of the Surplus 2007, and (vi) a report on the actuarial situation of the WTO Pension Plan.  On this last item, the Committee had noted the recommendations proposed by the Chairman of the WTO Pension Plan Management Board to restore 
the Plan's actuarial balance.  Several Members ha d considered the time fra me too short to take a 
decision on such an item and had asked to revert to this matter as a priority issue at the beginning of 
2009.  The Committee had agreed to resume its cons ideration of the matter in early 2009.  The 
recommendations following from these meetings of the Committee could be fo und in paragraphs 13, 
18, 21 and 22 of the report in document WT/BFA/107 .  Briefly, these recommendations related to the 
Mid-term Revision of the ITC with a budgetary charge of Sw F 16.9 million for the WTO, the 
revision of the 2009 budget of the WTO with an amount of Sw F 183.7 million for the WTO 
Secretariat and an amount of Sw F 5.5 million for the Appellate Body and its Secretariat, and the 
Utilization of the Surplus 2007, i.e. Sw F 4 million in application as income against the budget for 
2009, thereby reducing Members' contributions a nd the remaining Sw F 8 million to establish a 
Members' transition operating fund.  These reco mmendations were before the Council for action. 
80. The General Council took note
 of the statement, approved  the Budget Committee's specific 
recommendations contained in paragraphs 13, 18,  21 and 22 of its report, including the draft 
Resolution referred to in paragraph 18, adopted  the draft Resolution on the Revised Expenditure of 
the WTO in 2009 and the Ways and Means to Meet Such Expenditure contained in paragraph 18 of 
the report, and adopted  the Budget Committee's report in document WT/BFA/107 as a whole. 
81. The General Council so agreed . 
10. Review under Paragraph 8 of the Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the 
Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (WT/L/540 and Corr.1) – 
Report of the Council for TRIPS (IP/C/49 and Corr.1) 
82. The Chairman  recalled that in August 2003, the Ge neral Council had adopted a Decision on 
the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public 
Health.  Paragraph 8 of that Decision provided that the TRIPS Council shall review annually the 
functioning of the system set out in the Decision w ith a view to ensuring its effective operation, and 
shall annually report on its operation to the Gene ral Council.  The Decision also provided that the 
review by the TRIPS Council shall be  deemed to fulfil the review requirements of Article IX.4 of the 
WTO Agreement.  The report by the TRIPS Council on its review under paragr aph 8 of the General 
Council Decision was before Members in document IP/C/49 and Corr.1. 
83. Mr Francis  (Trinidad and Tobago), Chairman of the TRIPS Council , said that at its meeting of 
28 October, the TRIPS Council had taken up the a nnual review pursuant to paragraph 8 of the 
Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of th e Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and 
Public Health.  The TRIPS Council's report in IP/C/49 and Corr.1 set out factual information 
regarding the implementation and use of the system  established under the Decision.  In addition, it 
provided an update on the status of notifications of acceptance of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS 
Agreement, as adopted by the General Council on 6 December 2005, which was open for acceptance 
by Members until 31 December 2009 or such later date as might be decided by the Ministerial 
Conference.  The TRIPS Council's report also contained,  in an annex, the record of the discussion that WT/GC/M/117 
Page 30  
 
  had taken place during the TRIPS Council's review of the waiver decision under that agenda item.  He 
drew attention to the fact that, when the TRIPS Council had reviewed the Decision in October, only 
eighteen notifications regarding the acceptance of the Amendment had been submitted.  Since then, 
Brazil had notified its instrument of acceptan ce on 13 November 2008 (WT/Let/636).  Given the 
importance of this matter and that the present time- frame for acceptance of the Protocol lasted until 
31 December 2009, he called upon all Members to  carry out promptly the necessary internal 
procedures so that they could deposit their instruments of acceptance as soon as possible. 
84. The General Council took note
 of the statement and of the report of the TRIPS Council in 
IP/C/49 and Corr.1. 
11. Waivers under Article IX of the WTO Agreement 
85. The Chairman  noted that the draft waiver decisions for the matters listed in sub-items 11(a) 
and (b) below had been taken up for consideration by  the Council for Trade in Goods at its meeting on 
18 November, and were matters on which the Chair of  the Goods Council had to report to the General 
Council.  He would therefore invite the Goods C ouncil Chair to report on that  Council's consideration 
of these matters in a single intervention, and the General Council would then take up each draft 
decision for action separately. 
86. Ms Tan  (Singapore), Chair of the Council for Trade in Goods , said that with respect to sub-
item 11(a), the Goods Council had approved the dr aft waiver decision in connection with the 
introduction of HS2002 changes into WTO schedul es of tariff concessions (G/C/W/601/Rev.1), and 
had recommended that the draft decision be forwar ded to the General Council for adoption.  With 
respect to sub-item 11(b), the Goods Council had also  approved the draft decision in connection with 
the introduction of HS2007 changes into WTO sche dules of tariff concessions (G/C/W/602), and  had 
recommended that the draft decision also be forwarde d to the General Council for adoption.  Since the 
Goods Council had approved this draft decision, sh e had been informed that two additional Members 
had requested to be included in the Annex to the decision listing the Members covered by the waiver 
decision, and therefore suggested that the General Council consider for adoption the draft decision in 
G/C/W/602 with the addition of the Dominican Republic and Israel to the Annex. 
87. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
(b) Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – 
Draft decision (G/C/W/601/Rev.1) 
88. The Chairman  drew attention to the draft decision in G/C/W/601/Rev.1 which provided for a 
waiver from the application of Article II of GA TT 1994 until 31 December 2009.  He proposed that, 
in the light of the report made above by the Chai r of the Goods Council, and in accordance with the 
Decision-Making Procedures under Articles IX and X II of the WTO Agreement agreed in November 
1995 (WT/L/93), the General Council adopt the draft decision in G/C/W/601/Rev.1. 
89. The General Council so agreed .3 
(c) Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – 
Draft decision (G/C/W/602) 
90. The Chairman  drew attention to the draft decision in document G/C/W/602 which provided 
for a waiver from the application of Article II of GATT 1994 until 31 December 2009.  He proposed 
that, in the light of the report made above by th e Chair of the Goods Council, and in accordance with 
                                                      
3 The Decision was subsequen tly circulated as WT/L/744.  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 31 
 
 
  the Decision-Making Procedures under Articles IX and XII of the WTO Agreement agreed in 
November 1995 (WT/L/93), the General Council adopt the draft decision in G/C/W/602 with the addition of the Dominican Republic and Israel to the Annex. 
91. The General Council so agreed
.4 
(d) Review of waivers pursuant to Ar ticle IX:4 of the WTO Agreement 
(i) Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for rough diamonds, granted on 15 December 2006 
until 31 December 2012 (WT/L/676) 
(ii) Canada – CARIBCAN, granted on 15 D ecember 2006, from 1 January 2007 until 
31 December 2011 (WT/L/677, WT/L/741) 
(iii) Cuba – Article XV:6 of GATT 1994, granted on 15 December 2006 until 31 December 2011 
(WT/L/678, WT/L/742) 
92. The Chairman  recalled that in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article IX of the WTO 
Agreement, "any waiver granted for a period of mo re than one year shall be reviewed by the 
Ministerial Conference not later than one year af ter it is granted, and thereafter annually until the 
waiver terminates."  There were three waivers befo re the General Council for review.  The waivers in 
sub-items 11(d)(ii) and (iii) provided for an annua l report to be submitted by the Members concerned 
regarding the operation or implementation of those waivers with a view to facilitating their annual 
review by the General Council under paragraph 4 of Article IX.  The reports from these Members had 
been circulated in documents WT/L/741 and 742. 
93. The General Council took note  of the reports in documents WT/L/741 and 742. 
12. Appointment of officers to WTO bodies – A nnouncement by the Chairman pursuant to 
paragraph 7.1(a) of the Guidelines (WT/L/510) 
94. The Chairman  recalled that the Guidelines for the Appointment of Officers to WTO bodies 
(WT/L/510) provided that the outgoing Chair of th e General Council would conduct consultations on 
the appointment of chairpersons to the WTO bodies ou tlined in Groups 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Annex to 
the Guidelines.  The Guidelines al so provided, in paragraph 7.1(a), that in order to promote 
transparency, the selection process should be starte d with an announcement by the Chairman at the 
General Council meeting held in December each year.  Accordingly, he wished to inform the Council 
that he would be starting the selection process for th e appointment of chairpersons to the WTO bodies 
outlined in Groups 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Annex to th e Guidelines.  In accordance with Paragraph 7.1(b) 
of the Guidelines, he would be assisted in the selection process by the serving Chairman of the 
Dispute Settlement Body, Mr Matus (Chile), and an y former Chair of the General Council still serving 
in Geneva as Permanent Representatives, in th is case Mr Noor (Malaysia).  In keeping with 
paragraph 7.1(d), his colleagues and he would comm unicate, as early as possible, a specified time-
period in which they would be available to hear the views and suggestions, if any, of Members, 
individually and/or in groups.  Furthermore, as provi ded for in Paragraph 7.1(c) of the Guidelines, he 
would request the Secretariat to distribute to delegati ons in the meeting Room a list of past Chairs of 
major bodies in order to provide some structure for Members' subsequent deliberations on the possible 
distribution of chairs based on past practice and the need for balance.  He wished to note that, in 
accordance with paragraph 2.1 of th e Guidelines, representatives of Members in financial arrears for 
over one full year could not be considered for appointment. 
                                                      
4 The Decision was subsequen tly circulated as WT/L/745. WT/GC/M/117 
Page 32  
 
  95. The General Council took note
 of the statement. 
13. Review of WTO activities 
 Reports of: 
 
(a) General Council (WT/GC/W/595), Dispute Se ttlement Body (WT/DSB/47 and Add.1), 
and Trade Policy Review Body (WT/TPR/232) 
(b) Sectoral Councils (G/L/876, S/C/30 and IP/C/51) 
(c) Committees on Trade and Development (WT/COMTD/69), Trade and Environment 
(WT/CTE/15), Balance-of-Payments Restri ctions (WT/BOP/R/90), Budget, Finance 
and Administration (WT/BFA/108), and Re gional Trade Agreements (WT/REG/19) 
(d) Working Groups on Trade, Debt and Finan ce (WT/WGTDF/7) and Trade and Transfer 
of Technology (WT/WGTTT/10) 
(e) Committees under the Plurilateral Trade Agreements (GPA/95, WT/L/743) 
96. The Chairman  drew attention to the annual reports of the various Councils and Committees in 
the documents referred to under th is Agenda item, which had been drawn up in pursuance of the 
Decision concerning procedures for an annual overvi ew of WTO activities and for reporting under the 
WTO (WT/L/105).  In the interests of moving the meeting along in a smooth and efficient way, he 
proposed that the Chairpersons of the various bodi es not introduce their respective reports at this 
meeting.  He would, of course, invite any Chairper sons who wished to draw particular attention to 
some aspect of the work carried out in their bodies, or to add anything to their reports, to take the floor. 
97. Mr Niggli (Switzerland), Chairman of th e Committee on Government Procurement
, said that 
with regard to the main GPA negotiations, wh ile the successful conclusion of the coverage 
negotiations under the Agreement desired by all participants had so far eluded the Committee, 
Members had made clear their continued commitm ent to the negotiations, and the tone of the 
discussions had been very positive, particularly du ring the second half of the year.  Delegations had 
also made clear that they were continuing to work  together intensively to seek solutions to the 
outstanding issues in those negotiations.  In these circumstances, he continued to hope that a way 
would be found to enable the Co mmittee to conclude the coverage negotiations in the coming year.  
This would have the important benefit of also enab ling the revised text of the Agreement, which had 
been provisionally adopted in December 2006, to ultimately come into effect.  With regard to accessions to the Agreement, he wished to congra tulate Chinese Taipei for the Committee's positive 
decision on 9 December regarding its accession to th e Agreement.  Accession to the GPA, for which 
Chinese Taipei had first applied in March 1995, was a historic and path-breakin g step of which Chinese 
Taipei should be proud.  Chinese Ta ipei's accession was also an impor tant milestone for the Committee 
and the Agreement on Government Procurement.  He thanked all the Parties and observers to the GPA 
for their co-operation on this matter.  Lastly, he wished  to draw attention to the important work that had 
been done during the year w ith regard to the accession of China – which had applied fo r accession to the 
GPA one year earlier – and also with regard to th e accession of Jordan.  The Parties had expressed the 
hope that Jordan's accession might be concluded earl y in 2009.  Apart from those just mentioned, six 
other Members were in the process of negotiating thei r accession to the Agreement, and a further six had 
provisions regarding accession to the Agreement in th eir respective Protocols of Accession to the WTO. 
98. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 recalled that, as all knew, in the course of its accession 
to the WTO, Chinese Taipei had committed itsel f to acceding to the Agreement on Government  WT/GC/M/117 
 Page 33 
 
 
  Procurement.  Since becoming a Member in 2002,  it had made continued efforts to honour this 
commitment.  During the lengthy process of its nego tiation to join this Committee, it had highlighted 
the fact that it had already invested great time and effort to overcome the many obstacles in order to reach the present point.  He wished to thank all, particularly the Director-General and the Committee 
Chair, who had facilitated Chinese Taipei's accessi on to the Agreement on Government Procurement, 
and assured them that his delegation would play an  active role in the fu ture activities of this 
Committee. 
99. The General Council took note
 of the statements, adopted  the report of the Committee on 
Trade and Development in document WT/COMTD/69, and took note  of the reports of the other WTO 
bodies, including the reports of the Committees under the Plurilateral Trade Agreements, in 
documents WT/DSB/47 and Add.1, WT/TPR/232,  G/L/876, S/C/30, IP/C/51, WT/COMTD/69, 
WT/CTE/15, WT/BOP/R/90, WT/BFA/108, WT/REG/19, WT/WGTDF/7, WT/WGTTT/10, GPA/95 and WT/L/743. 
100. The General Council then adopted
 the draft report of the General Council contained in 
document WT/GC/W/595, on the understanding that  the Secretariat would make the necessary 
adjustments to that draft report to include matters  that had been considered at the present meeting.5 
14. Administrative measures for Members in arrears 
101. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that at its meeting in May 2006, the 
General Council had approved a recommendati on from the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration regarding revised Administrative Measures for Members in arrears.  Among these 
Administrative Measures was a requirement that, at each meeting of the General Council, the 
Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration should provide information with 
regard to which Members were under Administ rative Measures in Categories II through IV. 
102. Mr Stirø  (Norway), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration , said 
that in pursuance of the revised Admi nistrative Measures, he wished to inform the General Council that 
the Members under Categories II through IV of the Administrative Measures as at 17 December were 
as follows:  Mali, Nicaragua and Para guay in Category II;  Senegal in  Category III;  and the following 
Members in Category IV:  Burundi, Central A frican Republic, Chad, Commonwealth of Dominica, 
Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, 
Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Republic of Congo, Sierra  Leone and Togo.  He wished to emphasize that 
the General Council had also authorized the Bu dget Committee to waive the application of the 
Measures for Members in Category IV who agreed to, and abided by, a schedule of instalment 
payments aimed at liquidating all arrears.  In th is context, he invited the Members concerned to 
contact the Secretariat to discuss modalities for establishing such instalment plans. 
103. The Chairman  then recalled that under the revised Administrative Measures, he was also 
required at each Council meeting to request those Members in Categories III and IV of the Measures 
to inform him, before the next meeting of the Ge neral Council, as to when their payment of arrears 
might be expected.  In keeping with the Admi nistrative Measures, he would report on Members' 
replies to the next meeting of the General Council.   Since the October General Council meeting, he 
had not received any replies from the Members concerned. 
104. The General Council took note of the statements.  
__________  
                                                      
5 The Annual Report of the General Council was subsequently circulated in document WT/GC/117.