WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/AG/GEN/10 
29 June 2005 
 (05-2812) 
Committee on Agriculture 
Special Session Original:   English 
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM ARMENIA, GEORGIA,  
THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC OF  MOLDOVA 
 
 
Introduction 
1. Paragraph 38 of the Doha Declaration, as well as paragraph 1.d and other sections of the 
General Council's Decision (1 A ugust 2004) underline the difficulties faced by "small low-income 
economies in transition" in their efforts to impl ement economic and trade policy reforms.     
2. At the same time, paragraph 47 of Annex A of the same Decision calls for "specific flexibility 
provisions" for recently-acceded Members in order to address their particular concerns.   
3. Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Moldova, are countries which 
acceded to the WTO in recent years (1998-2003).  These countries have been undertaking a high level 
of liberalization commitments, a level of which is  unprecedented in the history of GATT/WTO.  Two 
of these countries (Georgia and the Republic of Mol dova) were included in paragraph 9 of the Doha 
Declaration, which recognized extensive market access commitments made by those countries which 
had acceded to WTO just before the Doha Minist erial Conference.  Based on the legal framework 
created by this paragraph, the group of recently- acceded Members was formed  within the framework 
of WTO. Ever since Doha, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova have been actively and constructively participating in th e negotiating process within the fram ework of the group of RAMs.  
4. 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 
LDCs, but have much more stricter WTO commitm ents. Therefore, we request that these "low-
income economies in transition" be granted special flexibilities identical to those already provided to 
LDCs and other vulnera ble developing countries.
1 
The level of development of our economies    
5. According to the development statistics provi ded by the World Bank, the annual per capita 
Gross National Income of Armenia (US$875) and Ge orgia (US$877) are at the bottom range of the 
income level for the lower-middle income count ries (US$766-3,035 in 2003).  Both the Kyrgyz 
Republic (US$382) and the Republic of Moldova (US$542) are classified as one of 61 low-income 
economies with a per capita GNI of less than US$765 in 2003. 2 
6. In addition, three of our countries (Armenia , the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of 
Moldova), as landlocked countries, are facing additional difficulties in economy and trade. 
                                                      
 1 Reference is made to the communication made by  a group of recently acceded Members during the 
special session of the Negotiating Grou p on Market Access (01/02/2005). 
2 http://www.worldba nk.org/data/country class/OGHIST.xls.  TN/AG/GEN/10 
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 7. The OECD DAC includes low-income countries  in transition in the list of developing 
countries and territories, together with a number of  African and Asian countries (see also attached 
OECD DAC list). 
8. Many developed countries such as the United States, Canada, the European Communities, 
Japan, and Switzerland extend their Generalized Sy stem of Preferences (GSP) to low-income 
countries in transition as to most other LDCs  and eligible developing countries.   
9. The World Development Indicators (WDI) 2004 of the World Bank reveal that, for the period 
between 2000 and 2003, agriculture's share in the GDP in our countries was higher (22-38%) than the average of the low-income countri es.  The agricultural sector conti nues to absorb more than 50 per 
cent of the total labour force in our countries.  
10. Similar to other low-income developing count ries, the share of food imports in total 
merchandise trade is very high.  The share of f ood imports to the total me rchandize imports was over 
20 per cent in Armenia and Georgia, and approximat ely 13 per cent in the Kyrgyz Republic and the 
Republic of Moldova in 2000, compared to the average of the low-income countries of around 11 per cent.  
11. According to trade statistics, our participation in world trade is insignificant. The share in 
world total exports is as follows: Armenia – 0.01% , Georgia – 0.004%, the Kyrgyz Republic and the 
Republic of Moldova – 0.008%. 
12. The exports of the low-income economies in tr ansition are destined to a limited number of 
markets: 
• Armenia: European Union, 15 (38.9%), Isr ael (21.2%), Russian Federation (13.6%), 
United States (8.2%), Switzerland (4.9%); 
• Georgia: Russian Federation (17.7%), Turkey  (17.3%), European Union, 15 (16.4%), 
Turkmenistan (12.3%), Armenia (8.6%); 
• Kyrgyz Republic: United Arab Emirates (24.8%), Switzerland (20.3%), Russian 
Federation (16.7%), Kazakhsta n (9.8%), Canada (5.3%); 
• Republic of Moldova: Russian Federation (39%), European Union, 15 (26.7%), 
Romania (11.4%), Ukraine (7.1%), Belarus (5.2%).   
13. All these facts underline that the economic grow th and the stability of our societies are as 
susceptible to changes in agricultural trading conditi ons as that of the majority of WTO Members that 
are designated as developing countries, if  not least-developed countries.    
The reform commitments made under ou r terms of accession to the WTO 
14. With great and sincere enthusiasm, Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic 
of Moldova have made extensive commitments in the areas of market access,  export subsidies, and 
domestic support under their terms of accession to th e WTO, with a view to substantially liberalizing 
their markets, agricultural production and trade. 
15. Our agricultural tariffs are bound at a very low level (simple average is 12.7%, see table 
below) compared to the Uruguay Round final bound tariffs of the developing-country and LDCs 
Members (simple average – 43.4 per cent in devel oping countries and more than 78 per cent in 
LDCs). .....  TN/AG/GEN/10 
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 16. During the Uruguay Round, most developed countries were provided with the Special 
Safeguard (SSG) for eligible products to cushion th e impact of market access improvements.  In the 
Doha negotiations, the developing countries and th e least-developed countries are urging to have  
access to Special Safeguard Measures (SSM) as an in strument to cushion the necessary adjustment 
process.  Low-income economies in transition, howeve r, have neither the right to invoke the SSG nor 
are they indicated as beneficiaries of the SSM.   
17. With respect to export subsidies, pursuant to  Article 9.4 of the Agreement on Agriculture 
(AoA), developing countries are not required to  undertake reduction commitments on some export 
subsidies.  Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic  and the Republic of Moldova have already bound 
their export subsidies at zero, and are deprived from using such flexibility provided to developing 
countries.  Furthermore, our countries do not have  other measures affecting export competition such 
as export credits and trade distorting practices by exporting STEs.  
18. With respect to domestic support, developing countries are allowed to  exclude investment 
subsidies generally available to agriculture and in put subsidies generally available to low-income 
resource-poor producers from the Aggregate Measur ement of Support (AMS) calculation and thus 
from reduction commitments.  Economies in tr ansition do not enjoy such flexibilities. 
19. Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and th e Republic of Moldova have had to set their de 
minimis  level at 5%, but, for the developing country Me mbers, the Agreement of Agriculture provides 
them with 10% de minimis  level. 
20. While we continue our efforts to fully impl ement our commitments, we do face serious 
problems in terms of adjustment costs in our still fragile economies.  The rapid liberalization process, 
resulting from our accession to the WTO, has created additional structural and social difficulties for 
our farmers and we need to have access to other ne w markets of developed a nd developing countries.  
21. The end of the implementation periods for our terms of accession, including reductions in 
tariffs and the AMS commitments is between 2005 and 2008. Hence, there might a problem of an  overlap between accession commitments on the one hand and new commitments under the Doha 
Round on the other hand. 
Agricultural Products – Final Bound Tariffs  
  Armenia Georgia Kyrgyz 
Republic Republic of 
Moldova 
Reduction commitments Up to 2003 up to 2006 up to 2003 up to 2005 
Simple average of ad valorem tariff bindings 
(%) 14.7 11.7 12.3 12.2 
Distribution of ad valorem  tariff bindings: (%)     
0 (duty-free) 1.3 8.3 1.2 3.0 
0.1-5.0 0.4 1.5 7.1 8.3 
5.1-10.0 1.0 7.4 56.0 32.7 
10.1-15.0 97.2 69.5 11.7 35,7 
15.1-20.0 0.0 6.9 21.8 11.8 
20.1-30.0 0.0 4.0 0.1 0.1 
Share of non ad valorem tariff bindings (%) 0.0 2.5 2.4 8.3 
Minimum ad valorem duty 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
Maximum ad valorem duty 15.0 30.0 30.0 25.0 TN/AG/GEN/10 
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 Special and differential provisions for developing  countries, including low-income economies in 
transition  
22. The afore-mentioned countries, namely Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and the 
Republic of Moldova, are particularly low-income  countries in terms of their level of economic 
development and facing great difficulties in undergoing the transitional period.  Moreover, they are in 
the middle of economic and institutio nal reform process under the terms of accession to the WTO.   
23. In this respect, we request the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture to agree that 
all Members which are small low-income economies in transition which recently acceded to the WTO 
be granted the same flexibilities with regard to agri culture as have already b een agreed for LDCs and 
other vulnerable developing countries.  
24. While we fully agree that all Members need to further reduce tariff protection and trade 
distorting domestic support and eliminate all form s of export subsidies, we nonetheless require 
additional, temporary flexibility in order to adju st our economies to international competition.  
25. We expect that our concerns and interests will be fully taken into account in the forthcoming 
negotiations and the elaboration of modalities.  TN/AG/GEN/10 
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