RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/SE/M/9 
23 March 2005 
 
 (05-1227) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Ninth Dedicated Session  
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 21 FEBRUARY 2005 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. C. Trevor Clarke (Barbados) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA ........................................................................................................1  
B. DOHA WORK PROGRAMME ON SMALL ECONOMIES (PARAGRAPH 35 OF THE DOHA 
MINISTERIAL DECLARATION ) .....................................................................................................1  
C. OTHER BUSINESS ........................................................................................................................5  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Chairman  welcomed Members to the 9th Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Development devoted to the issue of small econo mies.  He said the draft agenda for the meeting 
was circulated in airgram WTO/AIR/2504, issued on 11 February 2005.   
2. The agenda was adopted .  
B. DOHA WORK PROGRAMME ON SMALL ECONOMIES (PARAGRAPH 35 OF THE DOHA 
MINISTERIAL DECLARATION ) 
3. The Chairman  said item B of the agenda related to  the Doha Work Programme on Small 
Economies and called for a review of all work a nd proposals submitted and discussed to date in the 
Dedicated Session.  He recalled that he had given a report to the General Council the week before in 
which he had said that there was an understanding a bout the need for work in the Dedicated Session 
to make progress.  He said Members were very we ll aware of the difficulties posed by the mandate 
given in paragraph 35 of the Doha  Declaration.  He explained that it was exactly these difficulties 
which first had to be resolved before the Dedicat ed Session could move ahead with its work.  He 
recalled that paragraph 35 required the Dedicated Session to frame responses to the trade-related 
issues and not create a sub-category of WTO Members.  He said he had indicated at the last informal 
meeting on 25 January 2005 that, over the past year , the objective of not creating a sub-category of 
WTO Members continued to frustrate any progress on the first part of the objective which was to frame responses.  At the last informal meeting, he had started to seek an understanding on the possible 
way forward.  He explained that Members had excha nged views based on three steps:  the first was to 
consider the use of characteristics to identify wh at could be accepted as small, vulnerable economies 
without naming any group of countries;  the second w as to consider the trade-related problems which 
could reasonably be attributed to those characteristics, without naming any group of countries;  and the third was to frame responses to those trad e-related problems without naming any group of 
countries.  He reminded Members that in his repor t to the General Council he had said that the CTD 
could not create a sub-category of countries even if it wanted to.  He said the General Council could, 
however, respond to characteristics provided it tr eated all economies that fit those characteristics 
equally. He went on to say that it was his impression, based on the several consultations which had WT/COMTD/SE/M/9 
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 been held, that Members were inclined to give this  approach a try.  The Ch airman then opened the 
floor to see if Members needed further clarification.  
4. The representative of Brazil
 said his delegation was well aware of the difficulty of fulfilling 
the very important task that the Chair had been charged with and the sensitivities of the issues for a 
large number of Members.  It was essential that the Dedicated Session fulfil the Doha mandate on 
small economies.  He said the way forward suggested  by the Chairman could be a possibility.  He 
questioned the first step proposed by the Chairman concerning the identification of characteristics and 
said the objective of the mandate in paragraph 35 of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) was to 
frame responses to the trade-related problems.  He  said his delegation did not see the need for the 
Dedicated Session to spend its time trying to define characteristics.  The Dedicated Session had to 
move forward and to look at the problems and then try to frame res ponses.  In regard to document 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/12 and its indicative list of specific characteristics and problems, he said that in some instances, the characteristics could be descr ibed as problems.  But in some other cases, he 
thought it was doubtful whether characteristics were really a general problem of small economies.  
For instance, he said that being very open, was a characteristic of several small economies but not all 
of them and, that even open and closed economies sh ared a number of problems.  He said it was also 
not clear how one would deal with the problem of  an economy being open in the WTO.  He asked 
what would be the logical consequence of consider ing this as a problem?  He added that in other 
cases, some of the problems were not exactly trade related. He said it would be difficult to envisage 
trade solutions for some of these problems.  But,  he said some were trade related such as "the 
concentration of exports on a few products" – especia lly when they have to do with commodities or 
traditional products.  He also mentioned the high cost  of trade or transit costs which could provide a 
focus of Members' attention.  He suggested that Members move directly to the second and third steps 
proposed by the Chairman and not linger on the fi rst step which he thought was not especially 
productive.  
5. The representative of Colombia
 said her delegation remain ed committed to reviewing 
trade-related issues connected with small economies in order to frame responses related to trade to 
further their integration into the multilateral tr ading  system.  She welcomed the informal 
consultations which the Chair had held recently to  organize and advance work on the Doha mandate.  
She said this approach was an attempt to find solu tions.  She emphasized, however, that this approach 
was not designed to create a new sub-category of countries within the WTO and wondered what new 
steps could be taken to further the work.  She said sh e shared the concerns of Brazil.  She thought it 
would be good to have a clear idea of the three el ements the Chairman was proposing and the order of 
priority in how Members would deal with them.  She preferred to focus on steps 2 and 3 in this 
approach before beginning a debate on the characteristi cs of step 1.  She believed that by dealing with 
trade problems and concerns, including those of small economies, Members could identify some of the characteristics.  When discussing steps 2 and 3, she suggested referring to documents 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/4 and WT/COMTD/SE/W/5 as references so that the Dedicated Session could 
focus the debate on elements which were within the scope of the WTO.  She said she was aware of all 
the problems existing in small economies and in deve loping countries in general but that she was not 
convinced that all of these problems could  be r esolved within the WTO.  She said her delegation 
believed that improved coherence and cooperation with other intern ational organizations would be 
essential if the WTO was to find solutions.  She also believed that the WTO Agreements contained 
some provisions which could be used in particular situations.  Some issues, however, needed to be 
addressed in the framework of the current negotiations.  
6. The Chairman
 said some Members had expressed their preferences for addressing items 2 
and 3.  He had recognized that there was a close re lationship between items 1 and 2.  He hoped that 
Members could agree to also addressing items 1 and 2 together.  He referred to the delegation of 
Brazil's comments and agreed that some of the items on the indicative list related to item 1 and some 
related to item 2.  He reiterated that Members coul d perhaps discuss items 1 and 2 together.  He said  WT/COMTD/SE/M/9 
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 the end goal was really to consider all the issues ass ociated with the mandate and that he did not want 
any Member to insist that discussions excluded any one issue.  
7. The representative of Cuba  said she wanted to indicate th at there was a close causal link 
between the three steps and that they needed to be  examined in parallel.  She said her delegation was 
keen to see progress before July 2005 so that the De dicated Session could have some kind of result for 
its Work Programme. 
8. The representative of Barbados  said she supported the Chairman's proposal and agreed with 
other Members that the characteristics and problems were intricately linked.  She said the Dedicated Session should focus on how it wished to move forw ard and that some progress should now be made, 
especially since Members had spent several years engaged in discussions.  
9. The representative of El Salvador
 said his delegation attached great value to a Work 
Programme which assisted small economies with their integration into the multilateral trading system.  
He supported the Chairman's proposed approach for dealing with the characteristics and problems and 
said the two were closely linked.  He looked forw ard to moving on to the substantial debate.  
10. The representative of Barbados  said she wished to reiterate the high priority that small 
economies placed in the paragraph 35 mandate.  She said that the importance of this political 
mandate, given by the Ministers at Doha, was reinfor ced in the 2004 July packag e.  The July package, 
she said, also set the timeframe of the 6th Ministerial Conference for the submission to Ministers of 
recommendations for action in the context of th e Small Economy Work Programme.  She emphasized 
that it was imperative that the Dedicated Session ma ke progress in an expeditious manner in order to 
meet this deadline.  She said her delegation was fully committed to the approach upon which the 
Dedicated Session was now embarking and welcom ed the constructive spirit being shown by 
Members. 
11. She explained that the Members of small economi es considered that the first two stages of the 
proposed approach were intimately linked.  It was difficult to examine the characteristics of small, 
vulnerable economies without discussing their trade-re lated problems and vice-versa.  She added that 
in May 2002, a number of Members had tabled the document WT/COMTD/SE/W/1/Rev.1 which 
identified a range of trade-related characteristics a nd issues of vital concern to small economies.  She 
explained that these issues constrained the ability of  small economies to participate effectively in the 
multilateral trading system.  She said that a number of Members had now submitted a new document WT/COMTD/SE/W/12 which captured several of the issues and characteristics contained in document WT/COMTD/SE/1/W/Rev.1.  She explained th at the paper had been circulated to Members 
the week before and that it had been prepared as a contribution to the discussions.  She hoped the 
document would be welcomed by Members and used  as a basis for discussions in the next phase of 
deliberations, a phase which would try to fra me responses to trade-related problems. 
12. The representative of Guatemala
 said document WT/COMTD/SE/W/12 was a submission 
from the following 15 small, developing economies:  Antigua and Barbuda, Bo livia, Cuba, Dominican 
Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Hondur as, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nicaragua, 
Paraguay, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago.  He explained that the Decision adopted by the 
General Council on 1 August 2004 in relation to  the Doha Work Programme reaffirmed the 
commitment of WTO Members, as part of the Work  Programme and in confor mity with paragraph 35 
of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, to tackle "the trade-related issues identified for the fuller 
integration of small, vulnerable economies into th e multilateral trading system, and not to create a 
sub-category of WTO Members".  He said that in accordance with that mandate, the objective of the 
latest submission was to tackle the trade-relate d problems of the small economies with a view to 
integrating them more fully into the multilateral trading system. WT/COMTD/SE/M/9 
Page 4  
 
 13. He went on to say that the document he was presenting to Members contained a non-
exhaustive list of characteristics and problems that mu st be analysed as a whole – a short and concise 
list which was intended to contribute to the work of th e Dedicated Session.  He also wished to make it 
clear that the list should be regarded as an integral  part of the documentation submitted since the start 
of the discussions.  He added that it was not intend ed to replace any of the proposals already made by 
other Members.  Lastly, he said the purpose of the document and the intention of the Members 
sponsoring it was to help move the work forward in  the most efficient and constructive manner.  He 
said the Members which put forward the proposals were ready to undertake the necessary efforts, 
together with other Members, to obtain the best resu lts within the time-limits imposed by the process.  
He said the aim was to provide Ministers with conc rete results in time for th e Ministerial Conference 
in Hong Kong, China.  He explained that he di d not wish to read out each of the individual 
characteristics and problems listed in the docum ent since Members already had the document for 
reference. 
14. The representative of Ecuador
 said her delegation remained interested in and committed to the 
examination of trade issues relating to small econo mies.  She hoped to be able to frame responses to 
the trade-related issues so that small economies coul d become better integrated into the multilateral 
trading system.  She said her delegation welcomed th e informal consultations held in recent weeks 
and the new approach to organizing the debates a nd fulfilling the mandate established at Doha and 
reiterated in the July Decision.  She said it was gr atifying that this approach sought to focus the 
debates on the trade-related problems facing the sm all and vulnerable economies so that solutions 
could be found within the context of the WTO,  but without creating a new sub-category of WTO 
Members.  She asked what further steps were now  envisaged for continuing work in the Dedicated 
Session.  She said her delegation favoured clarifying the three steps and the order of priority for dealing with them.  She thought Members should fo cus their deliberations on steps 2 and 3 before 
turning to the characteristics of small, vulnerable econom ies referred to in step 1.  By dealing with the 
trade-related problems and concerns facing the developing countries, which include the small 
economies, it would be possible to identify some of the characteristics identified in step 1.  She 
explained that it was important to bear three factor s in mind in the work of the Dedicated Session.  
The first was that Members should do everything possible to avoid repeating the discussions which 
had already taken place.  She referred to two p ast documents which had been prepared by the 
Secretariat under the symbols WT/COMTD/SE/W/ 4 and WT/COMTD/SE/W/5 and which could be 
used to help further discussion.  The second, was to focus the discussions on those issues that fell 
within the scope of the WTO.  She said she was aware that developing coun tries faced many problems 
but believed that not all of those problems could be resolved in this forum.  Greater cooperation with 
other international bodies was of fundamental impor tance to seeking solutions.  Her third point was 
that her delegation believed that the WTO Agreemen ts contained certain provisions which could be 
used in particular situations.  She added that some of the questions raised so far needed to be tackled 
in the context of the ongoing negotiations but that she welcomed the new contribution submitted by a 
group of countries.  She stressed the need to first agree on a methodology and approach for the 
discussions, before considering specific proposal s.  She asked how the proponents planned to 
differentiate between the problems and the characteris tics.  She said it also would be interesting to 
know the relationship between the indicative list propo sed in the latest submission and the trade issues 
with which the WTO is specifically concerned. 
15. The Chairman
 thanked the delegations for their remark s and then proposed that the Dedicated 
Session move into informal mode.  It was so agreed .   
16. In concluding, the Chairman reverted back to  formal mode and said that in the discussion on 
how the Dedicated Session could move forward, he thought there was general agreement that items 1 
and 2 could be integrated.  He said the propone nts had put forward a paper (WT/COMTD/SE/W/12) 
that reflected exactly that.  He said that those Members that had a real concern about looking at 
characteristics before looking at problems would have seen that their preference for looking at the two  WT/COMTD/SE/M/9 
 Page 5 
 
 
 together had been taken into consideration.  He sai d that there seemed to be a little bit more difficulty 
focusing on problems first to the exclusion of char acteristics.  He hoped that those Members which 
preferred that approach would accept that it was a litt le more difficult and that, therefore, steps 1 and 
2 should be considered jointly.  He explained th at Members had expressed some concerns about the 
characteristics and that some had said that a few ch aracteristics were also shared by some developing 
countries.  Some other Members had said, however, that some of these characteristics showed a 
greater intensity or frequency in small economies.  It  was the intensity of some of these characteristics 
that made them relevant to the discussion of prob lems concerning small and vulnerable economies.  It 
was the combination of these characteristics – the degree of their impact on small economies – that was the core of the issue.  He stated that some  Members had questioned whether the characteristics 
should be looked at individually or collectively.  He added that, however, the Dedicated Session 
decided to do it, Members had, nevertheless, to consider the collective impact of these different 
characteristics.  He elaborated and said that it could very well be that a combination of these characteristics– and the impact of that combina tion - on small economies was worth considering.  
17. In connection with the discussion of these items in the negotiating bodies, he agreed that 
some of the issues were already in other negotiati ng bodies.  It seemed to him that if the small 
economies wanted to pursue other issues in those ne gotiating bodies, that was something they would 
have to consider.  Even if that was done, he said th e CTD could continue to have a role to play.  The 
CTD had a mandate and that had to continue the work on that mandate.  He said the Dedicated 
Session could work on steps 1 and 2 and then move to  step 3 and if it could reach an understanding on 
the collective set of issues, then the Dedicated Session could have an  appropriate report to send to the 
General Council.  That was the mandate of the Dedicated Session.  
18. The Chairman said he wanted to be cautious, but  that he was also very pleased that Members 
had reached a stage where the constraints of not forming a new category of Members had been placed 
to one side.  The Dedicated Session could now focus on the challenges outlined in  the three steps.  He 
said there was a tacit understanding that Members addr ess steps 1 and 2 and then focus on step 3.  He 
believed Members now had a platform for moving the process forward. 
C. O
THER BUSINESS  
19. No issue was raised under "Oth er Business".  The Chairman  adjourned the meeting.  
 
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