. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/74 
10 November 2005 
 (05-5274) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC  
AND THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA 
  
 The following communication, dated 1 November 20 05, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegations of the Kyrgyz Republic  and the Republic of Moldova.   
 
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SPECIAL FLEXIBILITIES AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING 
FOR SMALL LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Paragraph 38 of the Doha Declaration, as well as  paragraph 1(d) and other sections of the 
General Council's Decision of 1 August 2004, unde rline the difficulties faced by "small low-income 
economies in transition" in their efforts to im plement economic and trade policy reforms.   
2. The Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Moldova , are countries that acceded to the WTO in 
recent years (1998-2001).  These countries have b een undertaking a high level of liberalization 
commitments, a level that is unprecedented in the history of GATT/WTO.   
3. This paper highlights that, in terms of econom ic capacity, these "small low-income economies 
in transition" are at the same stages of developm ent, if not lower, as other developing countries and 
some LDCs, but have much stricter WTO commitments.  At the same time, however, they do not yet avail themselves of the needed flexibilities.   
II. REASONS OF OUR PROPOSAL 
4. Our countries are, in principle, very favourable concerning the clarification and improvement 
of GATT Articles V, VIII and X.  In particular, Ar ticle V is important for our trade competitiveness 
since a significant proportion of our trade depends on efficient transit operations since our countries 
are landlocked.  We do, however, f ear, like developing countries, th at the commitments resulting from 
the negotiations might be beyond our implementation capacities.   
5. The objective economic indicators clearly show that the level of development of our 
economies is comparable to low-income develo ping countries and, in fact, to some LDCs.  
Furthermore, as already mentioned, our countries are landlocked and face additional difficulties in 
economy and trade. 
6. Our participation in world trade is quite insi gnificant.  According to the available trade 
statistics, our share in world total exports is 0. 008%.  All these facts underline that economic growth 
and stability of our societies are extremely vulnerable to changes in trading conditions.    TN/TF/W/74 
Page 2  
 
 7. Paragraphs 2, 3, 5 and 6 of Annex D of th e General Council’s Decision of 1 August 2004 
contain comprehensive provisions on S&DT and technical assistance and capacity building for 
developing and least-developed countries.   
8. For our countries, though our level of developmen t is quite low, the WTO Agreements as well 
as the Doha Ministerial Declaration did not stipulat e any specific flexibilities.  Therefore, in this 
Round of negotiations, we could not yet av ail ourselves of the flexibilities we need. 
III. PROPOSAL 
9. In this respect, we request the Negotiating Gr oup on Trade Facilitation to agree that Members 
which are small low-income economies in transition be  also granted special flexibilities with regard to 
trade facilitation and be provided w ith an adequate technical assistance and capacity building in 
accordance with paragraphs 2, 3, 5 and 6 of Anne x D of the General Council’s Decision of 1 August 
2004. 
 
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