RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/M/18 
3 March 2006 
 (06-0917) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session  
 
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13 AND 16 FEBRUARY 2006 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
1. The Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services held a formal meeting on 13 and 
16 February 2006.  The agenda for the meeting,  chaired by Ambassador Fernando de Mateo of 
Mexico, is contained in document WTO/AIR/2755. 
2. The Chair  suggested that the Council adopt the agenda. It was so agreed . 
A. A SSESSMENT OF TRADE IN SERVICES  
3. The Chair  recalled that this item had been on the agenda of the Council since 2000 in 
accordance with Article XIX:3 of the GATS. Under this item, both overall and sectoral assessment 
had been discussed based on notes of the Secretariat, Members' submissions, or studies by other 
international organizations. He noted that ther e was no new submission under this item for this 
meeting. 
4. The representative of Cuba  stated that her delegation took a great interest in assessment of 
trade in services which was unfinished business of the Council. It was a prerequisite for making 
progress in market access negotiations.  She noted that  for years, Members had not been able to have 
genuine dialogue and to make dynamic decisions to  fulfil the mandate. Referring to her delegation's 
contribution (TN/S/W/44) to this exercise as well as its statement made under this agenda item at the 
Council's Special Session meeting of September 2005, she indicated that her delegation had been pro-
active on this issue.  She suggested that the Council take up the exercise again and that the Secretariat 
prepare an updated compilation of the contributi ons Members had tabled and, based on this 
compilation, present an assessment regarding the overall and sectoral results of liberalization.  
5. The representative of Mexico  confirmed that assessment of trade in services was very 
important. Seeking clarifications from Cuba on its proposal, he wondered whether the Secretariat was 
the appropriate body to undertake the assessment, as he  understood that it was the Members' task. He 
asked whether Cuba was suggesting that the Secret ariat simply compile all the documents in this 
regard.  
6. The representative of Cuba  reiterated her delegation's proposal that the Secretarial compile all 
the relevant documents and prepare a draft assessment  with all the information contained. However, 
her delegation was open to any othe r suggestions Members might have. 
7. A representative of the Secretariat  stated that the Secretariat could update the list of the 
documents submitted under this item without delay. He, however, invited Cuba to clarify its request 
which sounded to him like a background paper. He  understood that the Council had been addressing 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. TN/S/M/18 
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  this item in light of the Negotiating Guidelines (S/L /93) as an on-going process in the negotiations as 
opposed to being a finite process that would issue a set of final conclusions.  It was under this 
assumption that assessment of trad e in services had been a standing item on the agenda under which 
Members were free to make contributions. 
8. The representative of Cuba  suggested that the Secretariat first prepare the compilation and 
that the Council then consider the possibility of a background paper.  
9. The representative of th e European Communities  sought clarifications on the compilation. 
10. A representative of the Secretariat  reiterated that the Secretaria t would update the list of the 
documents submitted under this item. 
11. The representative of the Philippines  sought clarifications on three issues: (1) whether the list 
of documents suggested by the Secretariat would contain the reference numbers of documents; (2)  
whether the presentations by other international or ganizations under this ite m would be included in 
the compilation; (3) whether this compilation would be similar to those compilations prepared in other 
negotiating groups.  He said that since the negotia tion was now in its final stage, the compilation 
might be useful to Members.  
12. The Chair  confirmed that the list of documents suggested by the Secretariat did contain 
reference numbers and would be ava ilable to all Members at the end of  the meeting. It would include 
references to the presentations by other international organizations.  
13. The representative of Cuba  said that her delegation woul d take a look at the document 
suggested by the Secretariat and come back to its request for a compilation and a background paper at 
a later stage of the meeting. 
B. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODALITIES FOR THE SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR LEAST -
DEVELOPED COUNTRY MEMBERS IN THE TRADE IN SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS  
14. The Chair  recalled that at its mee tings in June and Septembe r 2005, the Council had discussed 
this issue, based mainly on three submissions. An in itial paper had been submitted in June by the LDC 
Group, raising a number of questions for discussion. During the cluster of last September, the LDC 
group had circulated a follow-up room document,  focusing on special market access for LDC 
Members in the GATS. At that time, a submission ha d also been made by the European Communities, 
addressing the questions raised by the LDC Group.  It had been agreed at the meeting of last 
September that the Council would revert to this ite m at this meeting. In accordance with paragraph 9 
of Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declarat ion, Members "shall develop methods for the full 
and effective implementation of the LDC modali ties." In particular, Members "shall develop 
appropriate mechanisms for according special priority " to LDCs, in accordance with Article IV:3 of 
the GATS and paragraph 7 of the LDC Modalities, by 31 July 2006. At the informal meeting of 
7 February 2006, a number of delegations had stated  that they would be open to any initiatives on this 
issue. 
15. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDC Group, drew Members' attention to 
document Job (05)/114 regarding implementation of the LDC Modalities. The main aim of the 
document was to explore ways in which the gr oup, together with Members, could develop 
mechanisms for according special prio rity to LDCs.  The group had si ngled out paragraphs 6, 7, 8, 
and 9 of the Modalities for the Special Treatment fo r LDCs and had asked some specific questions on 
how Members intended to implement them.  The group hoped that Members would continue to 
provide answers to their questions so as to facilita te this exercise.  The group viewed the answers to 
their questions as a platform wher e Members could work together to implement the LDCs Modalities TN/S/M/18 
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  and Article IV:3. The group hoped that these re sponses would fit in their proposals on the 
implementation of the LDC Modalities and especially on the mechanism providing special priority to 
sectors and modes of interest to LDCs, in particular Mode 4.  In this regard, and thanking the EC for 
taking time to answer their questions (TN/S/W/ 54), the group called upon other Members to do the 
same.  The group encouraged Members to provide answers to their questions , sharing in this way 
responsibility in shaping the process of implementing the LDC Modalities.  In the following months, 
the group would focus on establishing a mechanis m for special priority for sectors and modes of 
supply in accordance with Article IV:3 of the GATS.   Their intention was to provide ideas of legal 
and political ways of implementing such a mechanism.  
16. Echoing the statement made by Zamb ia, the representative of Uganda  stated that the key 
challenges facing LDCs at this critical phase of negot iations were to find ways to implement the LDC 
Modalities as referred to in paragr aphs 3 and 9 of Annex C of the Hong Kong Declaration.  She drew 
attention to the measures proposed in paragraph 9 of Annex C as a step towards developing methods 
for the implementation of the LDC Modalities.  Th ese included expeditiously: developing appropriate 
mechanisms for according sp ecial priority including to sectors and modes of supply of interest to 
LDCs in accordance with Article IV:3 of th e GATS and paragraph 7 of the LDC Modalities; 
undertaking commitments in such sectors and modes of supply identified by LDCs that represented 
priority in their development po licies in accordance with paragra phs 6 and 9 of the LDC Modalities; 
assisting LDCs to enable them to identify sector s and modes of supply that represented development 
priorities; providing targeted and effective technical assistance and capacity building; and developing 
a reporting mechanism to facilitate the review re quirement in paragraph 13 of the LDC Modalities. 
Her delegation regarded the above -mentioned paragraphs as an expression of Members' commitments 
to integrating LDCs into the multilateral trading sy stem.  In her delegation's view, the next critical 
step was constructive engagement with part ners on how best this mechanism could be 
operationalized. She called upon Members to engage in the proposals of the LDC Group that would 
come out shortly and constructively, and interpre t them in light of the political will Members had 
shown in the Hong Kong Declaration.  
17. The representative of Canada  stated that one of the important outcomes of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference, as part of the overall ba lance, was paragraph 9 of Annex C regarding the 
implementation of the LDC Modalities.  His dele gation was working on responses to document Job 
(05)/114 addressing issues on special treatment for LD Cs in the request-offer process.  Some of the 
steps Canada was taking were with respect to implementing Article IV, reviewing Mode 4 and 
tackling the relationship between disciplines on dom estic regulation and Mode 4.  Supporting an 
informal meeting on the issue of LDC modalities, his delegation would circulate its communication shortly.  
18. The representative of Norway
 welcomed the fact that the issue of implementing the LDC 
Modalities had been given high priority as it figur ed prominently in the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration and Annex C. While all Members were urged to participate actively in the services 
negotiations, LDCs were not expected to make an y new commitments given their particular economic 
situation. As announced in Hong Kong, Norway had withdrawn the bilateral requests made to LDCs.  
This did not mean that Norway's interest in enga ging LDCs meaningfully  in the services negotiations 
was weakened.  On the contrary, Norway belie ved that advances in technology and the ever 
deepening linkage between essential services and e xports of  goods made it imperative for everybody 
including the LDCs to decide how to take advantage of globally interdependence and organize their 
services industries in an efficient manner. Norway wish ed to be able to engage constructively in the 
process regarding the implementation of the LDC Modalities in the coming months and pursue 
actively other elements in this regard such as expl oring ways to improve market access for sectors and 
modes of particular interest to LDCs, the provisi on of targeted technical assistance, and capacity 
building which would contribute to improving LDCs  and developing countries' knowledge of services TN/S/M/18 
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  trade.  Like Canada, Norway was working on a communication and hoped to present it in the near 
future.  
19. The representative of Cuba  stated that Cuba wished to join  the statements made by Zambia 
and Uganda and noted that Canada and Norway were working on contribut ions. Cuba echoed the 
request that Members make contributions to  this exercise as quickly as possible.  
20. The representative of Australia  understood the priority LDCs a ttached to the implementation 
of the LDC Modalities. His delegation had had a nu mber of bilaterals with the LDC Group addressing 
some questions raised in communication Job (05)/ 115, particularly Mode 4 related issues. Like 
Canada and Norway, Australia was preparing answer s to the questions in writing and hoped to present 
a communication in the near future.  Australia looke d forward to working with Members on this issue. 
21. The representative of Tanzania  echoed the statements made by Zambia and Uganda, and 
thanked Canada, Norway, Cuba and Australia for their support.  Tanzania called upon constructive 
engagement to ensure the operationalization of the LDC Modalities. Her delegation was concerned 
about a delayed response action and therefore asked for assistance from Members.  
22. The representative of the United States  recalled that her delegation had responded to the 
questions raised by the LDC Group, which had been  reflected in the minutes.  Worried that her 
delegation's responses on the LDC Modalities were lo st in the minutes, she wondered whether her 
delegation had to put its responses in writing and circulate them to the LDC Group.  
23. The representative of Djibouti  echoed the statements made by Zambia, Uganda, Cuba and 
some other delegations. He noted that some re quests for technical assistance on services from LDC 
Members had been neglected.  He sought clarifications from the Secretariat.  Referring to the GATS 
and the Ministerial Declaration, he understood that  assistance for LDCs was to be granted without any 
conditions.   
24. The representative of China  welcomed the detailed provision on the implementation of the 
LDC Modalities included in the Hong Kong Minist erial Declaration, which reflected active 
participation in the services negotiations by LDC Members and the willingness to address LDC 
concerns by other Members.  China fully supported paragraph 9 of Annex C, hoping that it would be 
implemented as soon as possible to enhance the pa rticipation of LDC Members in the services 
negotiations so that LDC Members might get real  benefits from the DDA to promote their own 
economic development. 
25. Echoing the statement made by China, the representative of Mexico  stated that the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration contained a number of  important references that focused Members' 
debate on the interest of LDCs. Referring to paragra phs 25 -27 of the Declaration and paragraph 9 of 
Annex C, he stated that these paragraphs stressed  the importance of the implementation of the LDC 
Modalities and thus gave the Declaration some substa nce.  Noting that to achieve an agreement would 
partly depend on how the LDCs' concerns could be addressed, he urged Members to implement the 
LDC Modalities as quickly as possible.  Drawing at tention to the deadline on the implementation of 
the LDC Modalities and referring to paragraph 2 of the Declaration,  he stated  that it was fundamental 
to fulfil the Ministerial mandate on LDCs.  He reiterated that both deve loped and developing 
countries had responsibility vis-à-vis  LDCs and that this respons ibility was differentiated.  
26. The representative of Madagascar  echoed the statements made by Zambia and Uganda and 
thanked Australia, Norway and othe r delegations for their support for the implementation of the LDC 
Modalities.  Her delegation was making efforts to fulfil its commitments. Thus it was preparing its 
offer in hope of submitting the document in the ne ar future. For this purpose, she called upon the 
assistance of the Secretariat and other Members. TN/S/M/18 
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  27. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDC Group, th anked all the delegations for 
their support for helping the LDCs integrate into the world trading system.  He hoped that Members 
could  move forward to implement the LDC Modalities.  In this regard, he looked forward to receiving 
answers to the questions raised by the LDC Group.  Taking note of the statement made by the United 
States, he appreciated that the answers by th e Unities States would be circulated in writing. 
28. The Chair  suggested that the Council take note of the statements made.  Recognizing the 
importance of the issue and the limited time left to  fulfil the mandate of the Hong Kong Declaration, 
he further suggested that he hold open-ended consultati ons in this regard and that the Council revert to 
this item at its next meeting. 
29. It was so agreed . 
C. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSALS ON S&D  TREATMENT PROVISIONS  
30. The Chair  recalled that this item had been di scussed in this Council since 2003, as 
periodically referred to by the General Council. The delegation of Rwanda on behalf of the African 
Group had submitted a paper (Job(05)/151) in Ju ly 2005 compiling responses to questions and 
comments regarding S&D proposals in the GATS. It had been agreed at the meeting in September 
2005 that the Council would revert to this item at this meeting. The Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration required WTO bodies including this Counc il to expeditiously complete the consideration 
of these proposals and report periodically to the Ge neral Council, with the objective of ensuring that 
clear recommendations for a decision were made no later than December 2006. At the informal 
meeting of 7 February 2006, several Members had no ted that this was one of the important tasks of 
the Council this year. To facilitate discussions unde r this item, the Chair urged Members, especially 
demandeurs, to contribute further thinking, and ma ke new submissions on the issue of S&D proposals 
in the GATS. 
31. The representative of Kenya , on behalf of the African Group, recalled that Members had 
raised a number of questions or had made some comments on this issue.  The responses to these 
questions and comments were contained in docume nt Job(05)/151.  He further recalled that in 
addition to these responses, the African Group had informal consultations with some Members on 
some proposals.  The African Group would continue to have consultations with other Members to 
narrow the differences on this issue. 
32. The Chair  suggested that the Council take note of the statements made and revert to this item 
at its next meeting, and that he  hold consultations on this issue. 
33. It was so agreed . 
D. PROPOSALS RELATING TO THE NEGOTIATIONS UNDER ARTICLE XIX  OF THE GATS 
34. The Chair  suggested that the Council first pick up the latest proposal submitted this month by 
a group of Members on energy services. He also drew attention to two proposals presented at the 
Council's meeting in September 2005, one from the de legation of Pakistan on Mode 4 related issues, 
contained in document Job(05)/211, the other fro m Chile, Hong Kong China, India and Mexico on 
cross-border supply issues, contained in document Job(05)/214.  
35. The representative of the European Communities , on behalf of co-sponsors, presented a 
"Statement on services of common interest in the en ergy sector", contained in document Job(06)/17.  
He stated that this statement followed the previous work undertaken by some co-sponsors in an 
attempt to raise awareness among the membership  of the importance of energy services for the 
development and to better defi ne the scope of energy services so that commitments might be TN/S/M/18 
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  undertaken more easily using the CPC classification. The present statement went one step further, and 
identified those of the services which were consid ered essential to the chain of activities that 
constituted energy services.  Through the statemen t, the co-sponsors recalled the importance of a 
flourishing energy sector for a country's well-being and economic growth. The development of energy 
services allowed the availability and responsible usag e of energy resources in optimal conditions.  It 
also allowed more efficient use of energy, resu lting in increased competitiveness and welfare.  For 
that reason, the co-sponsors considered it essential th at the on-going negotiations result in a high level 
liberalization for the supply of services relevant for the energy sector with due respect for national 
policy objectives and the level of development of individual Members.  The services included in the 
list were considered essential and were intende d to provide a common basis for market access 
negotiations on energy services.  Energy services c onstituted a closely interrelated set of activities, 
and the absence of some of them from a country's offer undermined the value of its other energy 
commitments.  The list only dealt with services, not with resources, technology or mode of production 
used to provide those services.  The list was neut ral with respect to these elements. The co-sponsors 
recognized the right of Members to regulate servi ces and to introduce new regulations for meeting 
national policy objectives.  The services included in the list referred to various sectors and sub-
sectors.  Energy services pertained to a broad ra nge of sectors, and commitments in these sectors 
might directly impact the provision of energy services.  
36. The representative of the United States  stated that her delegation was one of the co-sponsors 
of the "Statement on services of common interest in  the energy services".  Her delegation welcomed 
the vigorous participation of the newly acceded Me mber, Saudi Arabia, in this work. The statement 
was important to the current round  of negotiations because it pointed  to one of the most significant 
areas of economic activity – energy – and provided a common basis for Members to schedule meaningful market access commitments for ener gy services.  As the statement clearly stated, 
scheduling commitments for energy and energy-relate d services did not extend to the ownership of 
energy resources, which remained under the full sove reignty and within the sovereign rights of each 
Member.  Scheduling such commitments was, however, important to each Member, for a thriving 
energy sector including energy services was today a basic element of economic well-being.  There was indeed a high correlation between rising and more  efficient energy usage and economic growth.  
37. The Chair
 suggested that the Council take note of the statements made. 
38.  It was so agreed . 
E. RESERVATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA  ON THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL DECLARATION 
REGARDING SERVICES  
39. The Chair  stated that this item was included in the agenda at the request of the delegation of 
Cuba.  
40. Referring to its delegation's communication contained in document TN/S/W/58, the 
representative of Cuba  reiterated its government's reservations  concerning the decisions on services in 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. Cuba had objected to the irregul arities in the negotiating 
process before and during the Conference, as we ll as the non-transparent and insufficiently 
participatory procedures used for the adoption of decisions, which resulted in a text on services Cuba 
did not support. Cuba and Venezuela had tabled a document with the Genera l Council regarding these 
irregularities. Cuba requested that such irregularities be  avoided in this stage of negotiations so that a 
satisfactory result could be achieved at the end of the round.  In the view of Cuba, although the text of 
Annex C had been amended at the last minute th anks to the G90, the amendments were not 
substantive and consequently the text put the inte rest of developed countries above the interest of 
developing countries, which was supposed to be at th e heart of this round.  He noted that services 
accounted for over 60 percent of the GDP in the industrialized countries and that these countries TN/S/M/18 
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  represented 70 percent of world trade in services.  The overwhelming majority of services enterprises 
from underdeveloped countries did not have either technology, assets or experience in order to 
withstand competition from multinationals of rich c ountries.  Referring to the UNCTAD statistics, he 
noted that medium and high-level developing c ountries that had opened up their services sectors 
without limits found that foreign capital was invest ed not to enhance competition or access to new 
technology or services quality but in mergers, acquis itions and increases in tariffs, which had led to 
inequality, poverty and exclusion.  Multinationals from the North with vast assets were monopolizing 
the major part of services in the world. They woul d get the major benefits once again from services in 
this round. Cuba considered that the Annex C negotiating mandate was qualitatively more ambitious 
than that contained in paragraph 15 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and altered the balance of 
interests between Members, placing underdeveloped countries at a disadvantage.  Annex C on Services was also more prescriptive and specific than  its counterpart in the July 2004 Package, 
impairing the flexibilities provided for in the GA TS and in the Negotiating Guidelines. The Cuban 
reservation regarding paragraphs 1, 2 and 7 of  Annex C was based on the fact that the new 
plurilateral, sectoral and modal negotiating appr oaches would in practice affect the flexibility 
mechanisms available to enable underdeveloped countries to liberalize only the sub-sectors of their 
choice and to the extent that they themselves determ ined, which could have im plications for strategic 
sectors of their economies. In the view of Cuba, Annex C of the Ministerial Declaration set out 
objectives for modes of supply which entailed comm itments to greater liberalization and qualitative 
parameters to measure the level of liberalization th at were inconsistent with the economic and social 
policy objectives of Cuba.  Commitments on elimin ation or substantial reduction of economic needs 
tests and MFN exemptions were presented without making an explicit distinction between developed 
and underdeveloped countries, thus eliminating the possibility for th e latter to use them as necessary 
instruments for sustainable development. In additi on, unrealistic time-limits had been set for the 
submission of the second round of revised offers, for submitting final draft schedules of commitments 
and for presenting plurilateral requests, without taking into account the fact that it had not yet been 
possible for most underdeveloped countries to meet the previous deadlines.  Consequently, Cuba 
considered these time-limits to be merely indicativ e. Cuba always considered that a prior assessment 
of the results of the liberalization of trade in servi ces, so as to measure its impact on the economies of 
the underdeveloped countries, was to be a precond ition for undertaking new commitments.  In the 
absence of such an assessment, Cuba considered that  the results of this Round might not have the 
social, economic and trade effects required by underdeveloped countries to achieve sustainable 
development.  Consequently, an early date needed to be set for the Council for Trade in Services to 
meet this requirement.  As a result, Cuba believe d that none of the points mentioned above obliged its 
government to undertake commitments that run count er to or limited Cuba's economic, trade and 
social development objectives.  Similarly, Cuba 's participation in any of the above-mentioned 
modalities or approaches would be carried out on a voluntary basis, and it would therefore maintain its sovereign right not to participate in them when it so decided. 
41. The Chair
 suggested that the Council take note of the statement made. 
42. It was so agreed . 
F. WORK OF THE SUBSIDIARY BODIES – REPORTS BY CHAIRPERSONS  
43. The Chairperson of the Committee on Trade in Financial Services  reported that the 
Committee had held a very short meeting on 7 Februa ry 2006. He had no news  to report with regard 
to the outstanding ratifications of the Fifth Protocol to the GATS embodying the results of the 1997 
negotiations. The Protocol was still to be accepted by Brazil, Jamaica and the Philippines. Under the 
agenda item on Technical Issues, the Committee had agreed that the Chairperson would resume his 
consultations – at an appropriate time – on the possi bility of inviting the international standard setting 
organizations to give a seminar on issues related to  the regulation and supervision of non-established TN/S/M/18 
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  institutions supplying financial services on a cross- border basis.  The Committee would meet again 
during the next cluster of services meetings. 
44. The Chairperson of the Working Party on GATS Rules  reported that the Working Party had 
held a formal meeting on 10 February with th e three usual items on the agenda. On emergency 
safeguard measures, ASEAN Members less Singapore had presented a room document focusing on 
certain selected technical and procedural issues re lating to an ESM.  Issues discussed by delegations 
included the definition of domestic industry, vested rights, determination of injury, modal issues, and 
special and differential treatment for developing countries. The demandeurs  had also indicated that 
they would continue to consider such topics in informal exchanges among re levant delegations. On 
subsidies, Switzerland had presented its response to  the questionnaire on the information exchange 
foreseen in Article XV of the GATS.  A number of issues had been raised in the ensuing discussion 
such as the definition of subsidy, public services,  and geographical covera ge.  The Working Party 
tasked the Secretariat with updating a previous note compiling views expressed on the issue of 
definition. On government procurement, there we re relatively brief discussions touching upon the 
more recent communication from the European  Communities on an Annex to the GATS on 
Government Procurement.  Issues such as thresholds, special & differential treatment, non-
discrimination, and procedural rules had been raised .  Overall, there was not much change in the long-
held positions on these issues.  For the various issu es, the Chairperson would undertake consultations 
so as to facilitate informal exchanges between Members.   
45. The Chairperson of the  Committee on Specific Commitments  reported that since its last report 
in September 2005, the Committee had held one in formal meeting on classification on 19 January 
2006, and one formal meeting on 8 February 2006 addressing the regular agenda items of scheduling 
and classification issues, and discussing organization of future work. Under the first standing agenda 
item, scheduling issues , the Committee continued to examine in  informal mode a set of general 
scheduling questions on the basis of a room document by Hong Kong, China.  As in the first round of 
discussion, only a few Members had participated in  the exchange.  There continued to be a gap 
between the strong interest expressed in substantiv e discussions, and the level of participation by 
some of the demandeurs  of these discussions.  In the context of the information exchange on the 
operation of economic needs tests, Korea had presente d a paper on criteria it ha d added to an ENT in 
its revised offer.  Members raised several questi ons on the nature of necessary specificity of such 
tests. Under the agenda item of classification issues,  only one formal intervention had been made with 
regard to Indonesia's revised proposal on the cl assification of energy services (S/CSC/W/42/Rev.1 
and Corr.1).  Other than on this proposal, there had been very little activity on classification issues in 
formal mode over the last year. The Committee had completed its sector-by-sector review of 
classification issues.  In the discussions where almo st 60 issues had been taken up, the Committee had 
considered a limited number of issues, which app eared uncontroversial during the first discussion.  
The Chairperson hoped that progress could be made  on these issues at the next meeting. Members 
held different views on the role of the Committee over th e course of this year, particularly in light of a 
need to prioritize work in the coming months.  Ther e appeared to be some general appreciation of the 
usefulness of discussing general sched uling issues, and a number of delegations were in favour of 
further work on economic needs tests.  A few delega tions had expressed an interest in a  discussion of 
the relationship between old and new commitments. 
46. The Chairperson of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation  reported that the Working 
Party had met twice since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, first in informal mode on 
17 January 2006, then formally on 6 February 2006 . At both meetings Members had held discussions 
on the proposals on regulatory disciplines under Article VI:4 of the GATS.  The substantive 
discussions had mainly been focussed  on the revised proposal by Mexico and Switzerland with regard 
to technical standards.  As in past practice, th e Chairperson would circulate the summaries of these 
discussions under his own responsibility. With the objective of fulfilling the Hong Kong ministerial 
mandate, Members had held discussions on procedural  and organizational issues relating to future TN/S/M/18 
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  work of the Working Party, including a tentativ e calendar of meetings for the Working Party, a 
possible roadmap for the negotiation, and a background note on the state of play in the Working Party. 
It was generally agreed that the Chairperson would circulate a tentative calendar and a roadmap for the negotiation.  On the calendar it had been stres sed that while it would be helpful for logistical 
purposes to plan and pace the work ahead, it needed to remain flexib le.  Delegations had indicated 
that the Working Party meetings were to be based on actual needs. The roadmap, which would also be 
a flexible one, would stipulate indicative milest ones for the negotiation.  For instance, Members 
should strive to submit their remaining proposals with specific language/texts in April.  There was a widely shared view that the Working Party needed to develop a first consolidated draft text of the 
disciplines before the summer break, but not necessarily  July.  Another view was that it would be 
useful to have the first revision of the text s ubmitted before the summer break.  The overall sense was 
that the Working Party had to expedite its work  taking into account the capacity constraints of 
developing countries.  The Chairperson intended to ci rculate very shortly a tentative calendar and the 
roadmap as an integrated document under his own responsibility.  Regarding the background paper on 
the state of play of the negotiations, Members had no ted that such a document was designed to help in 
facilitating domestic consultations and in bri dging the gap between the current phase of the 
negotiations, centred on Members' proposals, and the forthcoming drafting stage.  The Working Party 
would hold its next informal meeting on 1 Marc h 2006.  The Chairperson hoped to circulate the 
background note under his own responsibility before this meeting.  Referring to his report to the 
CTSS last year, he indicated that given the issues on the plate, the Working Party would need to touch 
the ground running in 2006.  It had in fact touched the ground and was running in the right direction.  
Members were committed to work together to fulfil the mandate  in the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration.  Moving forward, Members needed to be cognisant of the capacity constraints of 
developing countries and encourage them to pa rticipate more actively in the negotiation. 
G. R
EVIEW OF PROGRESS , INCLUDING PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 15 OF THE GUIDELINES FOR 
NEGOTIATIONS  
H. ORGANIZATION OF FUTURE WORK  
47. The Chair  suggested that the Council address item G and item H together. He stated that item 
G, review of progress, served to promote transparen cy in the negotiations and allowed the Council to 
fulfil its function of monitoring the progress of ne gotiations. Paragraph 12 of  Annex C of the Hong 
Kong Declaration had reaffirmed that the Council was to review progress in the negotiations and 
monitor the implementation of the objectives, appr oaches and timelines set out in the Annex.  He 
recalled that at the informal meeting of 7 Februa ry, many Members had expressed the view that the 
Special Session of the Council had an important role to play in this regard to ensure transparency and 
inclusiveness of the negotiation process. He further re called that at that informal meeting, the Council 
had discussed how to organize future work in a mo re efficient manner. A number of Members had 
suggested that future services clusters be organized so  that more time could be available for bilateral 
or plurilateral negotiations within the cluster. He noted that Members had diverging views as to 
whether more time was to be given to one or two subsidiary bodies during the cluster. He reiterated 
that he would hold consultations in this regard at the beginning of March when demandeurs would 
have made their plurilateral requests. 
48. The representative of Korea  stated that his delegation appr eciated the Chair’s efforts in 
preparation of the Hong Kong Ministerial text, Anne x C in particular. In his delegation’s view, this 
had been driven by Members’ evaluation of the stat e of play and reflected their wishes in the current 
round of negotiations. His delegation supported pa ragraph 7 regarding the plurilateral process, 
thinking it would help sectoral experts get toge ther. While noting that some Members had expressed 
their concerns on this paragraph,  his delegation did not believe that these Members regarded the 
plurilateral process as a win-and-lose situation.  Rather, his delegation understood that these 
Members’ apprehensions came from concerns over their regulatory capacities.  Some Members had TN/S/M/18 
Page 10 
 
 
  concluded in their evaluation that there had not b een a real negotiation in services.  His delegation 
was of the view that real negotiation started with  deepened communication an d exchanges of ideas to 
address regulatory concerns as a two-way process.  Setting up a platform for this two-way communication among experts would help jump-start  the real negotiation.  Furthermore, the 
plurilateral process was not totally unprecedented,  as Members had experienced it with the LDC 
Group.  A couple of meetings that Members had ha d with the LDC Group last year clearly gave a 
chance for better communication.  In addition to better communication among experts, Members’ 
collective efforts had another merit.  With a broa der coverage of offers, Members touched upon those 
areas where domestic stakeholders had built strong in terest relations.  Some of these interest relations 
seemed to be difficult to overcome on an individual  basis without Members’ support in concert.  For 
example, the Korean government had eliminated th e restrictions on the establishment of large retail 
stores in 1996 as a result of the Uruguay Round.  Since then, the Korean government had been under 
constant pressure to re-introduce ENT-type entry re strictions to protect small-sized stores.  Had the 
phase-in commitments not been inscribed and had th e restrictions not been lifted as scheduled, the 
Korean government might have been forced to depend on the easiest way to shield the domestic 
incumbents, instead of trying to develop more constructive and market-friendly policy measures to 
assist their adjustment.  This experience was not only the case for developing Members.  In some 
developed Members, there also existed domestic st akeholders who had the temptation to resort to 
unilateral actions for fear of foreign dominance in  their economic activities.  The plurilateral process 
would help experts exchange constructive ideas to  move forward the negotiations, while addressing 
the concerns on regulatory issues and thus overco me the difficult domestic conditions.  Combined 
with the conventional bilateral proc ess, plurilateral meetings among e xperts would lead to meaningful 
market access opportunities in negotiations.   
49. The representative of Antigua and Barbuda
, made his statement on behalf of his own country, 
Barbados, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Repub lic, El Salvador, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, 
Honduras, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nicaragua , Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, St. Kitts and 
Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.  This group of Members 
thanked the Chair for his hard work.  They thought  that there was an opportunity to obtain the best 
results of the services negotiations for small economi es in light of the new mandate in the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration.  The result in terms of Annex C allowed Members to continue the 
negotiations with a view to finalizing them.  Rega rding the coverage of the concerns of small, 
vulnerable economies, this group welcomed the fina l language adopted in pa ragraph 26 of the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration which stated that the “negotiations shall have regard to the size of 
economies of individual Members, both overall and in individual sectors”.  This group also noted the 
language provided in paragraph 8 of Annex C which specified that “due consideration shall be given 
to proposals on trade-related concerns of sm all economies”.  These references as mandated by 
Ministers gave this group of Members comfort as to how negotiations were to take into account their 
concerns and the objective that would guide thei r participation in the services negotiations.  
Recognizing that this language needed to be operati onalized, this group hoped to work together with 
Members to that end.  This year would be a dynamic one for the services negotiations.  It would be likely to have many meetings.  This would be a cha llenge for those with small delegations.  Yet, given 
the importance of services to their countries, th is group stood ready to undertake the necessary work 
towards presenting proposals relating to trade concerns  of small, vulnerable economies.  This group 
were committed to contributing to the success of th e negotiations in accordance with their particular 
circumstances.  They reaffirmed that for the Doha Round to be truly a development round, the concerns of all the developing countries had to be  considered and solutions found to address their 
specific circumstances.  The small, vulnerable ec onomies expected that their concerns would be 
accorded appropriate and meaningful treatment to  ensure that their objectives were realized.  
Furthermore, this group expected that sustaina ble measures were adopted to ensure that the 
development priorities of these economies were not compromised and that the benefits of the 
multilateral trading system could be shared by all. TN/S/M/18 
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  50. The representative of Brazil  noted that the prevailing negotiating atmosphere in Geneva in the 
weeks and months prior to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference had given rise to low expectations.  
Results at the Conference, although modest, were not meaningless, and represented an important step 
forward in the road towards a succ essful conclusion of the Doha Round .  A significant element in this 
outcome was the impressive degree of solidarity  and collaboration among developing Members, 
despite their diversity and the range of interests am ong them – an approach that could be seen as an 
example for the wider Membership.  This had be en reflected in the services negotiations where 
mandatory benchmarks and numerical targets had be en definitively put aside.  A number of concepts, 
however, were outlined in Annex C in  order to provide Members with guidance in this last stage of 
work, without predetermining the outcome of the negotiations, which was contingent on the progress 
in other negotiating areas.  In this way, a delicate balance had been struck between the imperative of 
preserving the fundamental architecture of the GATS and the requirement of further specificity for the 
services negotiations to proceed.  The discussions  in Hong Kong had bene fited from an intense 
interaction with civil society – trade unions, social  movements, NGOs, parliamentarians and private 
sector representatives – providing furthe r inputs into the work.  Brazil c ontinued to be of the view that 
services had not been, were not, and were not to b ecome any kind of obstacle to the Doha Round, as 
difficulties lay elsewhere. Brazil was ready to continue  to engage constructively to help the services 
negotiations move ahead smoothly and thus contribu te to a positive outcome for the DDA.  In the 
final stretch of the marathon, the realization of th e development of the Round was to be ensured.  
From the perspective of Brazil, the post-Hong Ko ng phase needed to be structured within the 
following parameters.  On process, procedures were to  be open, transparent, inclusive and democratic 
so as to enable Members, in particular developing countries, to have their interests duly reflected in 
the outcome of the services negotiations.  Process and substance were inseparable . In this context, the 
bottom-up approach which had guided Members to a successful result in Hong  Kong was essential  to 
achieve a perception of ownership by all Members in  the negotiations and in this way, a balanced 
outcome.  Time was short and the organizational ch allenge ahead of Members was huge.  Therefore, a 
simple and pragmatic approach was needed and it w as not the moment to reinvent the wheel.  As in 
bilateral negotiations which had ser ved Members well so far, there was no fixed recipe to organize 
plurilateral negotiations.  It was up to Members who chose to participate in each of these plurilaterals 
to define the procedures that most suited that pa rticular group.  Neverthe less, two caveats were 
needed: (i) any results of such negotiations would be  extended to all Members a the end of the round; 
(ii) although entirely Member-driven, participants  in plurilaterals were not to succumb to the 
temptation to create collective faits-accomplis . The GATS had a well-define d scope and any attempt 
to alter the basic elements of the Agreement woul d likely create turbulence Members could ill afford 
in the current phase of the negotiations.  Brazil was prepared to work towards a plurilateral process as 
foreseen under paragraph 7 of  Annex C.  It was clear from that te xt that this mechanism was a purely 
voluntary process, and Brazil was ready to continue to  work constructively within this format and to 
consider all the collective requests in might receive .  Noting that the organizational challenge of the 
process would be enormous with the establishment of  a considerable number of plurilateral groups, he 
said that it was essential to avoid overlapping meetings  and  to carefully schedule the next cluster.  
Brazil would continue to engage in bilateral negotiations, as they allowed for further precision and 
accuracy in Members' demands in some sectors a nd modes of supply.  On substance, market access 
negotiations in services had effectivel y begun with concrete schedules of offers on the table, contrary 
to other areas of the Round.  To establish a process that added to current offers, Members were to be 
attuned to both the need for corresponding advan ces in other areas and the key principles of the 
GATS, as enunciated in Articles IV and XIX.  In  this context, the DDA was to provide enhanced 
access for services exports of developing countries, most particularly through a serious effort to 
liberalize the temporary movement of natural pers ons.  As mandated by the Hong Kong Declaration, 
the development of a set of disciplines on domestic regulation was part of the single undertaking and 
perfectly within Members' grasp in 2006.  A si gnificant progress in these negotiations would give 
Members greater confidence in scheduling their ma rket access commitments.  Regarding safeguards, 
Brazil recognized the work put into the nego tiations mandated by Article X of the GATS and 
reinforced by the Hong Kong Declaration.  Brazil was confident that a serious, collective effort would TN/S/M/18 
Page 12 
 
 
  allow Members to add this important element to the outcome at the end of the year.  Finally, Members 
needed to redouble their efforts to find an appropr iate solution to the issues of S&D proposals and 
implementation of the LDC Modalities.  
51. The representative of Malaysia  informed the Council that Malaysia had submitted its revised 
offer (TN/S/O/MYS/Rev.1) on 7 December 2005.  Mala ysia was pleased that it was able to meet the 
particular commitment agreed upon by Members in July 2004.  Malaysia’s revised offer included 
several new commitments in the professional services and a number of technical refinements and 
improvements in financial services.  Malaysia continued to place importance on improving its 
services offers, taking into account national polic y objectives and the level of development of 
Members, both overall and in individual sectors.  However, it admitted that the outcome from Hong 
Kong presented it with a continuous  challenge to further improve its services commitments.  Hong 
Kong had set a deadline of July for submission of a second round of revised offers.  This time round, 
the process of improving offers through the bilate ral request-offer approach would be supplemented 
by a plurilateral process.  The plurilateral mechanism was another way of seeking to improve offers through the request-offer approach but between a bi gger group of Members.  This process needed to 
be as simple as possible so as not to tax resources of already overburdened Members during the 
critical period of the Doha negotiations.  How the plurilateral meetings woul d be organized would be 
very important. Meetings were to be planned within the 2-week clus ter and not be extended beyond 
this period.  Overlapping meetings  were to be avoided as far as po ssible.  For the process to work, 
sectoral experts needed to be present.  However, the financial implications  of having experts present 
over a long period in Geneva would be enormous.  M eetings needed to be organized in a manner that 
did not require the presence of these experts beyo nd a 2-3 day period.  Malaysia was open to 
transparency of the process.  Information on the nature of the requests to Members, the list of 
requesting Members and the requested Members could be made known to the membership.  The 
timing of meetings needed to be circulated in order to enable other interested Members to take part.  
In the view of Malaysia, the plurilateral process was a useful tool to further engage Members towards 
arriving at more positive outcomes in terms of impr oved offers.  However, Malaysia urged that in 
making requests, requesting Members be realistic in  their demands.  Seeking no limitations in all 
modes was not feasible under the present circumstances.   Requesting Members needed to take this 
opportunity to understand the problems faced.  A pl urilateral process would afford an opportunity for 
exchange of information and bette r understanding of each Member’s situation as regards a particular 
sector within a wider context.  At the end of the day, requests would be considered but the decision on 
improving offers remained with each Member.  Her delegation believed that domestic regulation and 
ESM would provide balance to the negotiations.  A conclusion on ESM could become impetus 
towards improving the negotiations by providing the confidence developing Members needed to 
substantively engage in the market access negotia tions.  The ASEAN less one had already initiated 
the process at the last meeting of WPGR with a ne w room document to exercise the mandate endorsed 
by Ministers in Hong Kong and to intensify focused discussions.  Although a number of issues 
remained, this group urged Members to participate in this focused discussion in a substantive manner 
so as to arrive at a more positive position towa rds the conclusion of the discussion on ESM.  
52. The representative of the Philippines
 stated that a delicate horizontal balance had been struck 
by Members in Hong Kong.  While neither the Hong Kong Declaration nor Annex C embodied any 
new commitments or obligations aside from th ose already provided for in the GATS and the 
Negotiating Guidelines, Members were joined, in  good faith, to make the document an additional 
basis for further work in Geneva.  The Philippi nes remained committed to the meaningful and 
successful conclusion of the Doha Development R ound.  He outlined some broad themes that his 
delegation considered vital, in addition to market  access issues.  First was development. Members 
needed to remain faithful to the sh ared vision to facilitate the participation of developing countries in 
services trade, while taking account of their economic situation and level of development.  These were 
the fundamental principles on which the negotiations r ested.  He recalled that in the negotiations last 
year running up to Hong Kong, the Council had been  suddenly reacquainted with Article XIX of the TN/S/M/18 
Page 13 
 
 
  GATS from all the debates and discussions and that  the full flexibilities currently enjoyed by 
Members under the GATS were in no way impaired by  Annex C.  He reminded Members that another 
important provision was Article IV of the GATS, which provided for the strengthening of domestic 
services capacity of developing countries, and thei r efficiency and competitiveness.  An important 
sub-paragraph in this article was the call for liber alization of market access in sectors and modes of 
supply of export interest to developing countries.  Second, paragraph 4 of Annex C provided for an 
intensification of efforts to conclude the negotia tions on rules-making.  His delegation continued to 
believe in the need for emergency safeguard in services. While admitting that there were complex 
regulatory issues and divergent views on desirability  and feasibility, his de legation believed that 
through international cooperation and dialogue, most of the technical, legal or policy issues raised 
were not as impossible as they seemed.  Third, para graph 5 of Annex C provided for the development 
of disciplines in domestic regulation before the end of the current round of negotiations.  His 
delegation also read this particular mandate in the light of paragraph 25 of the Ministerial Declaration 
that reaffirmed the right of Members to regulate.  His delegation would look to ensuring that the 
domestic regulation negotiations would result in the optimal balance between the right to regulate (on 
a broad, horizontal basis) and providing for n ecessary disciplines, particularly on qualification 
requirements and procedures to reduce unnecessary regulat ory barriers to trade in Mode 4 which was 
of importance to developing Members.  Finally, it w ould not be wise to think that the plurilateral 
process was the panacea to Members' disappointment  in the services negotiations.  Someone had to 
exercise leadership in these negotiations.  His delegation expected the demandeurs in the market 
access side of the services negotiations to provide the leadership, particularly vis-à-vis  their 
expectations from other Members, by showing the way and giving genuine market access to 
developing countries in sectors of interest to them.  Referring to the Joint Statement of 29 September 
2005 of some ASEAN Member States, he stated that there remained room for improving the 
engagement between and among Members at the expert s- and capital-levels, if only to allow a deep 
appreciation of trade interests of Members and produce productive dialogue.  This was a real and 
fundamental issue, whether in the bilateral, plur ilateral or multilateral settings.  His delegation would 
continue to urge Members to reflect on and devise methods and approaches that would result in more 
focused and intense discussions of some technical i ssues, which were usually not possible in Geneva 
during the cluster, not only because of the absence of  appropriate experts, but also because of the 
limited time.  In this regard, Members needed to be  mindful of the capacity constraints on the part of 
many small, developing country de legations.  This was an important fact recognized both in the 
Guidelines and in Annex C, which was to be refl ected in how the plurilateral process eventually 
evolved.  The final wording of paragraph 7 of Anne x C reaffirmed and did not alter the principle of 
request-offer method of negotiations and the desi re for an increased level of commitments under 
Article XIX:4 of the GATS was to yield to the du e respect needed for national policy objectives 
mandated by Article XIX:2 of the GA TS.  Paragraph 7 of Annex C also reaffirmed the primacy of 
capital-based policy making and not Geneva consultation in the ne gotiations.  In view of the 
foregoing, his delegation was ready to engage in discussing all possible options for making the work 
in the services negotiations more dynamic, better mana ged, and more efficient.  He finally reminded 
Members that time was short.  
53. The representative of Egypt  stated that his delegation appr eciated the Chair's efforts during 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and its preparatory process in Geneva. The Chair's 
professionalism had tangibly contributed to enabling th e membership to take another step forward in 
this pillar of negotiations.  He recalled that his delegation had constructively worked with the Chair 
and the membership, before and during the Minist erial Conference, with a view to achieving a 
consensual outcome. He noted that Annex C had b een a controversial issue for many developing 
countries. In this context, his delegation had embraced Hong Kong with a problem-resolving attitude 
and a prime objective to safeguard the credibility of  the important process and preserve the level of 
ambition.  The starting point for his delegation had been the removal of any reference to the 
problematic issue of numerical targets. His delegation commended the Chair for his wisdom in this regard as this was an essential requirement for many de legations to even consider Annex C or assist in TN/S/M/18 
Page 14 
 
 
  building a much-needed consen sus. His delegation trusted that this issue was now totally left behind.  
Annex C represented an important tool which was to  positively serve in a dvancing the negotiations, 
but how valuable it was would depend on the extent to which it was utilized to meet Members' aspirations in achieving a balanced outcome in servi ces.  Such an achievement would only take place 
if the negotiations process, from now onwards, was fe atured by a leading role from the major trading 
partners in addressing the imbalances of the negotia tions and the concerns of the developing and least 
developed countries. His delegation could not afford to be ambitious on specific modes of supply or 
sectors and disregard others of export interest to developing and least developed countries, 
particularly Mode 4.  On the other hand, if the application of the objectives and approaches in 
Annex C were carried out in cont radiction with the fundamental principles and flexibilities of the 
GATS, which were also enshrined in the Annex, the services negotiations would be unable to deliver 
results adequately reflecting the developmental aspec t of the Doha Work Program. This could simply 
lead to the failure of the whole process.  Annex C had provided Members with a vehicle.  Members 
needed to be wise drivers in order to reach the right destination.  Th is also applied to the rule-making 
negotiations, which were to advance in tandem with  the specific commitments process.  Disciplines to 
be reached under the mandate of Article VI:4 we re to be development-friendly with appropriate 
flexibilities for developing and least developed count ries.  He reaffirmed his delegation's well-known 
position on the mandate of Article XIII regarding government procurement, which did not include 
issues related to market access and national treatment.  Noting that less than one year was left before 
the conclusion of this round of negotiations and that there was still a lot to be done bilaterally, 
plurilaterally and multilaterally, he thought that th e organizational element was of extreme importance 
in this multifaceted process, bearing in mind the relevant challenges faced by many developing 
countries in this regard.  This process was not carried  on in isolation of the progress in other tracks of 
the negotiations. The “single-undertaking” created an  important linkage among the various pillars 
with a view to securing a balanced package of right s and obligations for all Members.  His delegation 
was confident that with a strong political will a nd good faith, Members could succeed in making the 
services negotiations a positive ingredient contributing to a successful outcome of the Doha Round.   
54. The representative of Norway
 stated that the Hong Kong Declaration set out a very ambitious 
plan for negotiations with respect to both substance a nd timelines.  In addition to intensified efforts in 
the request-offer negotiations, Norway wished to  see progress in methods for full and effective 
implementation of the LDC Modalities, disciplines  on domestic regulation, and rules.  On the 
plurilateral process, Norway had actively participated  in a large number of consultations on collective 
requests in the past week.  Norway believed th at the collective requests would be useful and 
complement the bilateral request-offer process by simplifying and focusing the work.  Since there 
were only 12 days left to comp lete plurilateral requests in accordance with the timeline of the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration, Members had no time to  waste.  It was Norway’s view that Members 
had to adhere strictly to the timeline if Members were to harvest a result in the services negotiations 
by the end of the year.  Norway did not envisage a formal role of the Special Session of the Council 
for Trade in Services in the plurilateral process, other than to be forum for addressing the general 
progress of negotiations, including informing the me mbership of the progress of the plurilateral 
negotiations.  While LDCs were not to be targeted  by any collective request s, guidance was needed 
from the Special Session and the LDCs  as to how th ey could be best engaged in the present process 
of negotiations and thus contribut e to integrating LDCs into the multilateral trading system.  The 
request-offer process needed to be as transparent as possible.  It was in everyone’s interest to be aware 
of which plurilateral requests had been made, thus providing all delegations the possibility of getting 
engaged even if they had not received a request.  Distributing timetables for when and where meetings 
took place and which delegation was c oordinating the negotiations would be an important part of the 
effort.  As much information as possible on the cont ent of collective requests and the participation of 
Members in the plurilateral negotiations needed to be  made available to the public.  Norway shared 
the idea of taking stock of progress in the services ne gotiations in April to ensure adequate parallelism 
vis-à-vis the other main pillars of the Doha negotiations, i.e. NAMA and agriculture.   TN/S/M/18 
Page 15 
 
 
  55. The representative of Chinese Taipei  first thanked the Chair for his hard work in the 
negotiations.  He noted that Annex C provided Memb ers with a clear roadmap for future work to 
improve commitments in services, in terms of both quality and quantity.  The request-offer approach 
and the substantial agenda on rules-making means adde d to the fact that services negotiations were by 
nature time-and resource-consuming.  Therefore, Members needed to accelerate their work if they 
were to deliver an ambitious level of commitments on services by the end of this year.  His delegation 
viewed several items of particular importance.  Firstly, on market access, even though there were 
several important timelines, the first one to meet s oon was on the plurilateral requests.  In the view of 
his delegation, the plurilateral approach was still primarily based on the request-offer tradition and 
was to be seen simply as an additional or supplementary tool for strengthening the negotiating 
process.  Each country had the right to choose the sectors that it would open to foreign services 
providers according to its national policy objectives.  One of the merits of the plurilateral approach 
was that it was more efficient and less time-consumi ng.  In this regard, his delegation had identified 
the sectors that interested them most and had been  working very hard over the past few days with 
Members that shared the same interest.  Members need ed to try to  make the most efficient use they 
could of the meetings at the end of March and in early April.  The logistical support was needed from 
the Secretariat to arrange all these meetings.  Second ly, on the rules side, his delegation were treating 
the negotiations on domestic regulation as a priori ty on the agenda thinking that they were 
complementary to market access.  His delegation we lcomed the decision at the WPDR meeting that 
the Chair would prepare a roadmap for the year ah ead.  If the Hong Kong ministerial mandate was to 
be fulfilled, a first consolidated text needed to be  prepared and available before the summer break and 
at least one round was needed for discussion.  His delegation also wished to discuss how to improve 
and clarify key elements as "certainty" and "compara bility" in the scheduling issues.  The implications 
of the criteria used in economic needs tests, for exampl e, had to be considered sooner rather than later. 
Thirdly, this round was a development round and Memb ers needed to ensure that the implementation 
of the LDC Modalities and the issue of S&D proposal s were given the same weight of importance as 
in market access negotiations.  His delegation wish ed to participate in the discussions on these 
subjects.  Noting some suggestions made on how to streamline meetings of the subsidiary bodies, his 
delegation wished to be included in  any consultations the Chair might hold in this regard.  Finally, he 
emphasized that the full transparency and inclusiv eness of the whole membership in the process were 
crucial elements to be maintained for a successful outcome.  
56. The representative of China  noted that Members were working hard during this cluster based 
on the mandate and guidance for further work in ser vices negotiations set out in  Annex C of the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration.  China supported the ca ll of the Declaration for Members to participate 
actively in the services negotiations with appropr iate flexibility for developing Members.  On 
negotiating objectives, China’s particular attention was given to sectors and modes of supply of export 
interest to developing Members.  China was spec ially interested in, among others, new or improved 
commitments in Mode 4 and maritime transport services; removal or substantial reduction of MFN 
exemptions and clarifications of remaining MF N exemptions.  China also called upon Members to 
intensify their efforts in rule-making negotiations to reach a balanced result for the overall services 
negotiations.  Noting that Members were preparing plurilateral requests during the present week, 
China regarded the plurilateral request-offer pro cess only as a complementary approach aiming to use 
the time and resources of negotiators more effici ently.  The plurilateral request-offer exercise 
remained Member-driven taking into consider ation the appropriate flexibility for individual 
developing Members as provided for in Articles IV and XIX of the GATS.  The situation of newly 
acceded Members also needed to be  taken into account in the negotiations.  The organization of such 
negotiations needed to consider the capacity and resource constraints encountered by many 
developing Members.  Therefore, the bilateral and plurilateral meetings during the next cluster needed 
to be well organized in a compact way so that  China could attend the meetings and undertake 
negotiations efficiently.  TN/S/M/18 
Page 16 
 
 
  57. The representative of Switzerland  thanked those delegations that had submitted offers 
recently or would do so in the near future.  His delegation noted that Members had made progress in 
preparing plurilateral requests and continued to me et bilaterally. His delegation had held about 10 
bilateral meetings and had had constructive discussi ons.  Noting that the collective request was one 
instrument endorsed by Ministers in Hong Kong, hi s delegation would participate in this process in 
some selected sectors where Switzerland had export interest.  His delegation believed that collective 
requests were to support the requests made last year and strengthen the presentation of the well-
known interest. One of the main advantages of this process was the increase of the level of efficiency 
and rationalization, which would be helpful to ever ybody, be it requestor or requestee.  Switzerland 
had refrained itself from making any request to LD Cs, nor to newly acceded Members.  LDCs would 
not be targeted by collective requests.  He understood  that the plurilateral approach was taken because 
the progress in services negotiations was not satisfactory.  He hoped that with this additional, 
complementary instrument, real progress could be made by the summer in terms of commitments. 
58. The representative of Canada  stated that his delegation had b een concerned about the lack of 
progress in the services negotiations. It was relativel y satisfied with the results in Hong Kong on 
services.  He noted that balanced package of services elements had been proposed to Ministers 
building on the pre-conference negotiations in Geneva , and that the conference had resulted in new 
ministerial guidance to enhance negotiations in 2006. This new direction was fully consistent with the 
GATS and various guidelines and modalities that Members had agreed upon to govern the 
negotiation. Hopefully it would allow Members to reinvigorate the negotiating process.  The body of 
the text and Annex C represented a comprehensive set  of commitments by Ministers to ensure that 
services remained the core of the Doha Round.  Ministers had agreed to pursue very positive 
outcomes for LDCs, small economies, and to focus on technical assistance. They had also agreed to 
focus attention on rules and particularly domestic regulation.  Furthermore, they had approved an 
effort to enhance the prospect for meaningful ma rket access commitments being secured.  In addition, 
they had agreed to complement the existing b ilateral request-offer process with plurilateral or 
collective request-offer process.  Market access demandeurs  had the first responsibility to keep 
Members on schedule and on target.  He noted th at various groups had ha d meetings during the 
current week with a view to finalizing collective requests by 28 February.  Initial reports were that 
such work was quite productive. These requests would help clarify or focus priority in the negation 
and help streamline and facilitate process rather than  complicate it.  There was a need to break new 
ground and not much time left.  He understood th at the plurilateral process remained bottom-up and 
Member-driven.  The development and use of co llective requests would require some flexibility on 
the part of all Members.  Intensive engagement on market access was needed if timelines were to be 
met.  While believing that all Members had incentives to do this,  he admitted that it would require 
time and that there existed constraints on some delega tions in this regard.  He took particular note of 
the statements made by some dele gations on this point.  He thought that Members needed to find 
ways to make better use of time during the next cluster, which might involve changes to the regular 
schedule. On this issue, he agr eed that compressing the time devoted to some subsidiary bodies in the 
cluster could be an option.  He therefore urged th e Chair and the Secretariat to begin work on some 
ideas in this regards.  On domestic regulation, refe rring to the Hong Kong Declaration, he noted that 
technical work needed to elaborate disciplines, cons ultations required with regulators at home and, in 
particular, consultations the civil society expected meant that a realistic assessment was needed as to 
what would actually be accomplished in this area.   Urging proponents in the LDC Modalities, S&D 
proposals and technical assistance to bring concre te proposals to the table, his delegation was open-
minded on these issues and looked forward to seeing them  featured in the Special Session this year. In 
conclusion, noting the observation by some that services was the orphan of the negotiations, he 
believed that things would only be different if Members had more senior officials or ministerial 
engagement.  The services negotiations had gained some engagement in Hong  Kong and would have 
it again when Ministers focused on calibrating the potential outcome of this round as a whole. His 
delegation's plea was to make sure that services wa s a positive contributor to this calibration and not a TN/S/M/18 
Page 17 
 
 
  problem. This would require active engagement by all.    It was time to roll  up collective sleeves and 
get to work.  
59. The representative of Chile  stated that Annex C laid out a work plan for this year and 
reflected the aspiration of many Members on both ma rket access and rule-making.  Therefore, she 
thanked the Chair for his patience in the negotiations  on this Annex.  Noting that during the current 
week many groups working on plurilateral requests had met, she hoped that some requests could be 
tabled by the end of the month or later.  On transparency, her delegation believed that it was an 
important issue and would share its views with ot her Members in this regard later.  Given the 
importance of rules and disciplines, her delegation wi shed to obtain resources to participate in the 
discussion, particularly on domestic regulation.  Thanking Antigua and Barbuda for speaking on 
behalf of the small, vulnerable economies, her dele gation was willing to discuss, either formally or 
informally, any proposals this group would put forward.   Noting that time was short, she requested the 
Chair to hold consultations on how to organize the next cluster as well as the work after the next 
cluster.  She pointed out that time needed to be gi ven to the subsidiary bodies, particularly the WPDR, 
as well as the plurilateral negotiations.  In this re gard,  she wished to get the support from the 
Secretariat to avoid overlapping, as delegations, especia lly small ones, needed to be able to participate 
in meetings.  In addition, the Council also needed time to examine some important issues such as the 
LDC Modalities.  
60. The representative of Singapore  stated that a good outcome in services was critical to the 
overall success of the DDA.  The Hong Kong Declar ation set out the process including some models, 
qualitative parameters and timelines to facilitate the services negotiations.  For a good outcome in 
services, Members needed deliverables on both mark et access and rules aspects of the negotiations. 
On market access, the Hong Kong Declaration set ou t a number of timelines.  It was important that 
Members met the timelines stipulated in the Decl aration.  One aspect of the Hong Kong Declaration 
outcome was the plurilateral request-offer approach id entified in paragraph 7 of  Annex C.  This would 
complement, not supplant, the bilateral request-o ffer process. Understanding that groups were at 
various stages of developing collective requests, he r delegation encouraged these groups to circulate 
their requests as soon as possible.  As highlighted  by others, the plurilateral process would allow 
Members to look at the issue of how to reorganize the work.  Would the current two-week cluster be 
sufficient to handle all the plurilateral negotiations?  Would there be a need for inter-cluster meetings?  
It was possible that more meetings were needed, given the slate of issues on the services agenda, both 
on market access and rules.  Nonetheless, what was important was not the number of meetings, but 
rather how to optimize and use the meetings in an efficient manner.  She noted that when organizing 
the work, Members needed to be cognisant of the cap acity and constraints of developing countries. On 
rules negotiations, there was traction on the issue of domestic regulation.  In this regard, work was 
needed towards fulfilling the mandate in the Hong Kong Declaration.   
61. The representative of Hong Kong, China  stated that he felt en couraged by the positive 
atmosphere in terms of taking forward the work pl an Ministers had set in Annex C of the Hong Kong 
Declaration.  He, however, said that Annex C was on ly a work plan and that Members needed to fill 
in the substance.  Noting that Members had to uched upon issues such as the LDC Modalities, S&D 
proposals, concerns on small economies, he would fo cus on certain areas particularly important to his 
delegation.  On market access negotiations, his de legation had participated in the preparation of 
plurilateral negotiations and envisaged to join so me delegations in making collective requests and 
receiving such requests from other delegations.  Noting that some delegations had emphasized the 
need to make the negotiations effective by organizing meetings efficiently and to facilitate the participation of experts and delega tes, he suggested that a schedule of meeting be made as early as 
possible and overlaps of meetings be avoided as far as possible.  While recognizing that some 
overlaps of meetings might be unavoidable, he believe d that if there was a will to participate in the 
negotiations, there was always a way to participate.   Echoing  the statemen t by Chile, he requested 
that the Secretariat provide logistic arrangeme nt for scheduling meetings, booking rooms and other TN/S/M/18 
Page 18 
 
 
  organizational matters.  He also supported the sugg estion that the Chair hold consultations on how the 
next cluster could be best organized to maximize th e efficiency.  His delegation thought that the time 
for subsidiary bodies might be compressed.  On rules,  he believed that the roadmap to be provided by 
the Chair of the WPDR would be a useful guidance on what Members needed to do in order to obtain 
results on Article VI:4.  The onus was on the proponents as well as other Members to press on with 
the work, bearing in mind the roadmap and the manda te for the result.  In this area, much more 
intensive work was needed.  His delegation woul d continue to actively engage in other rules 
negotiations, in particular on s ubsidies and looked forward to engagement on substance.  He 
cautioned Members not to waste any time on procedural discussions.  Recalling the previous 
suggestion made by Chile and supported by the Un ited States and his delegation that the Chair hold 
consultations on the status of documents produced by subsidiary bodies, he requested the Chair to 
carry on with the consultations. He emphasized that th e aim of such consultations was to find a way to 
avoid unnecessary debate once there was any request fo r technical inputs from the Secretariat so that 
more time would be available for discussi on on substance in subsidiary bodies.   
62. The representative of Japan  stated that his delegation attached importance to services and 
would actively engage in negotiations in accordance  with the Hong Kong Declaration, in particular 
Annex C.  On market access, his delegation agreed that plurilateral negotiatio ns were to be conducted 
in an efficient and transparent manner.  His dele gation had actively engaged in a number of meetings 
to fulfil its responsibility for plurilateral requests.  On the issue of time and resource constraints, he 
stated that it was important to find an efficient way to do business.  In this regard, he echoed the 
request that the Chair hold consultations on how to organize the next cluster, including the meetings 
of the subsidiary bodies.  His delegation attach ed much importance to rule-making, domestic 
regulation in particular.  He encouraged Members to join in the effort to create a consolidated text, 
hopefully in the summer so as to conclude the nego tiation by the end of the year.  His delegation 
would also continue the negotiation on safeguard w ith regard to its desirability and feasibility.  
63. The representative of Indonesia  stated that the dynamics in Hong Kong clearly demonstrated 
that the success of services negotiation would only be possible if developing countries were 
comfortable with market opening in a way that gave  them freedom to liberalize at their own pace.  
New methods and timelines had been agreed upon to carry forward the negotiation.  The legitimate 
right of developing Members to sequence libera lization in accordance with their development 
priorities was to be recognized.  An adequate technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries was to be secured, not only in  negotiations, but also in the implementation 
process.  In this regard, Indonesia wished to em phasize that the implementation of Annex C of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration was not to erode developing countries’ flexibilities with respect to 
trade policy space as carefully negotiated in the Ur uguay Round.  The services negotiations were to 
allow developing countries to open up the sectors at the pace that addressed their level of 
development.  As for other sectors, the sequencing was important.  Services liberalization was to be 
undertaken in the context of requis ite domestic institution and regula tion.  As mandated in paragraph 
7 of Annex C, Indonesia wished to underline that the plurilateral negotiation was to be pursued in 
accordance with the principles of the GATS and th e Negotiating Guidelines, taking into account the 
limited capacity of developing countries and smaller delegations to participate in such negotiation.  
On domestic regulation, Indonesia noted that para graph 5 of Annex C required Members to develop 
disciplines on domestic regulation pursuant to the ma ndate under Article VI:4 of the GATS before the 
end of the current round of negotiations.  Also noting paragraph 25 of the Hong Kong Declaration 
which affirmed the right of Members to regulat e, Indonesia wished to stress the importance of 
domestic regulation in the services negotiations.  With  regard to ESM, for Indonesia, to establish an 
emergency safeguard mechanism in the rules negotiati on was key for a balanced package in services.  
Indonesia continued to believe in the need fo r emergency safeguard in services sectors for 
encouraging liberalization.   TN/S/M/18 
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  64. The representative of Pakistan  thanked the Chair for his effort  in the process of preparing 
Annex C before Hong Kong.  While Pakistan woul d participate effectively and constructively in 
plurilateral and bilateral process on market access , it did not wish to see the negotiation on rules 
neglected.  She reiterated her delegation’s position  on the plurilateral approach that developing 
countries’ flexibilities provided for in the GATS an d the Negotiating Guidelines were to be clearly 
maintained in the plurilateral process.  Pakistan was flexible on the organization of meetings as long 
as it was made known adequately in advance to enable sectoral experts to be present and participate in 
the process.  Finally, she suggested that the course fo r new delegates provided by the Secretariat be an 
annual activity so that new delegates from the capita l would be able to get to know the latest 
development quickly.  
65. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDC Group, thanked the Chair for the manner 
in which he continued to preside over the Council.  The LDC Group would continue to cooperate and 
provide its support. The Group appreciated that the st atements made by other delegations had raised 
the constraints faced by LDCs.  Referring to paragraphs  3 and 9 of Annex C, he stated that the critical 
next step for LDCs was to find an appropria te mechanism for the implementation of the LDC 
Modalities.  The Group would get back to this issu e at the Council with some specific proposals.  
Referring to a previous statement, he stated that th e LDC Group request that had been tabled last year 
was to be construed in the context of resource c onstraints faced by LDCs, not to be understood as a 
plurilateral request within the meaning of Annex C.  LDCs put their resources together as a group 
owing to limited capacities. The LDC Group remained constructively engaged in accordance with its 
well-known constraints. 
66. The representative of Thailand  stated that Annex C controlled negotiations in terms of format, 
scope, expectations and timelines. She noted that th is year significant resources would be channelled 
to negotiations on market access with three tracks in parallel: multilateral, plurila teral and bilateral.  
She thought that the plurilaterals should enjoy the freedom the bilaterals had and that there were no 
pre-determined rules by which all Members involved in plurilateral groups were to abide.  Issues 
regarding the role of the Secretariat and transparency  of the content of plurilateral requests were to be 
left to each group to decide.  She suggested that the electronic bulletin board could be better used for 
transparency purposes and to facilitate logistical arrangements.  Schedules of plurilateral meetings 
could be posted including deta ils of participating capital based expe rts of different plurilateral groups.  
This would make the plurilateral process more mana geable bearing in mind the limited capacity of 
certain Members including developing countries to e ngage in all meetings.  She cautioned that all 
other issues including the rule-making, sche duling and classification issues should not be 
subordinated or sidelined and that progress across the board was needed. Her delegation expected a 
concrete outcome in the area of domestic regulation as part of the package at the end of this round.  
On this issue, her delegation support the idea di scussed at the WPDR that the Chair use his good 
office to come up with an indicative timeline fo r different phases of negotiations.   As for the 
remaining rules, echoing the statements made by the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, her 
delegation attached great importance to ESM an d urged Members to engage in more focused 
discussion.  Her delegation believed that it was premat ure to decide on extending the cluster to more 
than two weeks or compressing time devoted to some subsidiary bodies.  She noted that some 
Members had shown flexibility with respect to this idea.  She pointed out that nothing would prevent 
Members from operating in off-cycle mode outside cl usters and that the value added would be the 
presence of capital based experts, which would be dr iven by the systemic interest of individual 
Members and subject to their capacity and resourc es constraints.  It would require both collective 
responsibility and a leap of faith in coming to terms with all the challenges ah ead in the path towards 
a successful and balanced services packag e by the end of this year.    
67. The representative of Australia  thanked Thailand and Malaysia  for submitting their revised 
offers.  He stated that Annex C, though not perfect, did provide guidance on how to improve quality 
and coverage of offers.  The ministerial endorsement of the plurilateral process on market access TN/S/M/18 
Page 20 
 
 
  negotiations was an important outco me and would lead to a meaningful market access improvement 
in sectors of interest.  He noted that many sector al groups had met to prepare plurilateral collective 
requests during the current week.  Australia, while wo rking with some other interested Members on a 
collective legal services request, acknowledged th e importance of continui ng with the bilateral 
request-offer process.  Believing that plurilateral negotiations complemented bilateral negotiation, 
Australia would continue to engage in the latter.  It had held bilateral meetings during the current 
week.  On the issue of developing disciplines on do mestic regulation to support market access, he 
stated that a consolidated draft text was needed to commence real negotiations on the disciplines, at 
the latest by the summer break.  Acknowledging th e challenge to undertake both market access and 
rules negotiations, his delegation also noted the need to  ensure an efficient and effective use of time.  
In this regard, his delegation supported the suggestion that the Chair hold consultations.  
68. The representative of Morocco  stated that Annex C was satisfactory.  His delegation called 
upon transparency in the plurilateral process taking into account the limited capacity of developing 
Members.  He also drew attention to the importan ce of other areas in the services negotiations, such as 
ESM, on which an agreement needed to be reached in the Doha Round.  
69. The representative of the United States  stated that he had felt a return to the energy and spirit 
of cooperation from participating in various bilateral or plurilateral m eetings during the current week.  
His delegation was fully committed to the plurilatera l process and participated in a large number of 
groups.  He thought that this process was largely r esponsible for the renewed energy.  His delegation 
was hopeful and had already seen some benefits from the process in terms of focusing expectations 
and subjects for discussion. Great clarity had seen emerging from the process, which would be helpful 
not only for delegations, but also for communicatin g to people outside what the services negotiations 
were about.  Referring to the statements made by  other delegations on the need to better organize 
future meetings in a way to avoid overlaps and maximize the time and resources and take advantage 
of participation of capital based experts, his dele gation supported the suggestion that the Chair hold 
consultations in this regard.  While pursuing the plurilateral process vigorously, his delegation 
remained committed to the bilateral process.  After the deadline for plurilateral requests, his 
delegation would communicate to capitals directly  whereby his delegation would refine or better 
focus its initial requests in order to be more cl ear about its expectations for a successful services 
package at the end of this round.  His delegati on welcomed Malaysia’s revised offer and looked 
forward to meeting Malaysia in the b ilateral or plurilateral process.  
70. The representative of the European Communities  stated that his delegation welcomed the 
ministerial determination in paragraph 27 of th e Hong Kong Declaration to intensity the services 
negotiations. The Ministers had acknowledged the im portance of the services negotiations which was 
one of the three market access pillars of this r ound and one of the central element of the single 
undertaking. The successful outcome of the DDA implied a successful outcome of services 
negotiations.  The EC was committed to contribute to  the intensification of negotiations using Annex 
C as the platform to this effect.  In this cont ext, the EC was working with other Members on the 
preparation of collective requests.  It had had constructive meetings during the current week and 
hoped that collective requests would be finalized and sent within the deadline set out in Annex C.  
The plurilateral process had the potential to lead to ambitious results and was a tool that would allow 
focused discussion and flexibility mentioned in the GA TS.  As engaging in the plurilateral process, 
the EC like other delegations needed to make sure that the limited time would be used in the best way.  
Therefore, the EC wished to be involved in th e consultations the Chair would hold regarding  
organization of the next cluster.  The EC’s comm itment was not only related to the market access 
negotiations, but also related to other parts of  the work programme included in the Hong Kong 
Declaration, in particular on domestic regulati on and the implementation of the LDC Modalities.  
With progress towards the July d eadline for revised offers, there w as a need to get an increasingly 
clear picture of the emerging situation.  In this c ontext, it would be important to take stock of the 
progress achieved and prospects in April.  TN/S/M/18 
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  71. The representative of India  stated that Annex C had achieved the balance between the 
flexibility, an important part of the GATS, especi ally for developing countries, and maintaining the 
requisite ambition in services.  The Declaration ha d provided the guidance need ed in terms of process 
and substance for market access, ru les as well as for other issues such as the LDC Modalities.  His 
delegation wished to emphasize the importance of  domestic regulation on which there was a clear 
mandate for developing disciplines. On market ac cess, his delegation had b een engaging in a number 
of plurilateral meetings during the current week hoping that the plurilateral process would be helpful 
and that the bilateral process would continue.  Noting that the biggest challenge was time, his 
delegation looked forward to the consultations th e Chair would hold regarding organization of the 
next cluster. He acknowledged that the issues of tr ansparency, inclusiveness, and pre-scheduling were 
very important and would help  in the overall substance and content of the process.   
72. The Chair  stated that on the issue of how to or ganize future work on both market access and 
rules, the Council would hold an open-ended informal meeting at the beginning of March.  In addition, 
he would start to hold informal consultations with individual delegations in the following week.  He 
assured Members that the consulta tions would be inclusive.  
I. OUTLINE OF THE CHAIRMAN 'S REPORT TO THE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE  
73. The Chair  stated that based on the discussions of th e Special Session of the Council for Trade 
in Services held during this cluster, he would re port to the Trade Negotiations Committee that the 
Council had met in informal session on 7 February 2 006 and in formal session on 13 and 17 February 
2006.  His written report was made further to hi s oral remarks made to the TNC on his own 
responsibility at its meeting on 7 February 2006.  He would report to the TNC that Members noted 
that the Hong Kong Declaration provided the esse ntial guidance for the services negotiations to 
conclude by the end of this year, by providing a set of clear negotiating objectives and a timeline to 
achieve them. Members also recogni zed that the Hong Kong Declaration did not define or provide a 
formula for the outcome of the negotiations, much would depend on the early and intense engagement 
by Members, particularly in the request-offer pr ocess.  Only through this engagement, would the 
services objectives set out in the Hong Kong Declara tion be met, allowing a successful conclusion of 
the services negotiations by the end of this year.  The first deadline established in the Hong Kong 
Declaration on services was the end of this month. By that time, Members wishing to submit plurilateral request-offers would have done so.  At the informal meeting of 7 February, some 
Members had emphasized that it would be up to individual Members to take a decision as to how to 
proceed with the plurilateral request-offer process.  He would also report to the TNC that the Council 
had continued its discussions unde r the item "Implementation of LDC Modalities".  Under the item 
"Proposals Relating to the Negotiations under Article XIX", the Council had received a new 
negotiating proposal on energy services submitted by a group of Members. In addition, the delegation of Cuba had made a reservation on the Hong Ko ng Declaration regarding services.  Finally, on 
"Organization of Future Work", it was agreed that he would hold consultations at the beginning of 
March on how to better organize the services clusters .  The next cluster of formal meetings was 
scheduled to take place from 27 March to 7 April. By that time, a good number of collective requests 
would have been submitted and plurilateral negotiations between  demandeurs and addressees would 
have been engaged.  The Council would review any progress in this regard.  He suggested that the 
Council take note of the statement he made.  
74. It was agreed
. 
J. OTHER BUSINESS  
75. The representative of Cuba  referred to the list of documents on assessment of trade in services 
circulated on Monday 13 February.  She noted th at there were few documents and that those 
circulated recently were room documents not av ailable on website.  Refe rring to her delegation's 
proposal that the Secretariat compile all the documents  with regard to assessment of trade in services, TN/S/M/18 
Page 22 
 
 
  she suggested that such compilation be made in two sets: one dealing with general documents, the 
other addressing sectoral assessment.  The objective of this compilation was to facilitate Members' 
analysis and to advance common asse ssment so as to fulfil the obligation under Article XIX:3 of the 
GATS.  She reiterated her delegati on's other proposal that the Secretariat prepare a note on the impact 
of liberalization of trade in services, based on th e documents circulated, statistics available and 
various sources of information from UNCTAD and OECD.  She said that such note would be helpful 
for common assessment and was nothing new.  She r ecalled that in 1999 the Secretariat had prepared 
an informal note on the development impact of trade liberalization under the GATS (contained in 
document Job 2748/Rev.1 dated 7 June 1999).   She reiterated that this was an issue of vital interest to 
developing countries that needed to know the impa ct of liberalization of trade in services on their 
economy.  Without knowing this, it would be difficu lt for them to move forward in negotiations.  She 
invited other Members to consider her delegation's proposals and suggested that the Council revert to 
them at its next meeting.  
76. The Chair  suggested that the Secretariat compile two sets of documents with regard to 
assessment of trade in services, one of general nature, the other on sectoral issues.  On Cuba's second 
proposal, he would hold consultations.   
77. Referring to the report of the Council's meeti ng of 31 October, 3 and 24 November 2005, 
contained in document TN/S/M/17, the representative of Venezuela  stated that the position of his 
delegation had not been correctly reflected.  On page 16, paragraph 60 was ambiguous and did not 
reflect the statement made by his delegation.  For example, the person making the statement was not a woman, but the paragraph referred to "she". Referri ng to Annex II of the abovementioned report, the 
summary of the comments by some delegations at the informal meeting of 18 November 2005, he 
asked why there was no reference to the statem ent by his delegation which had made request 
afterwards. His delegation hoped that assessment of trade in services would be undertaken. He noted 
that some delegations were seeking mechanisms to carry out such assessment while other delegations 
seemed to forget those pending issues.  He remi nded Members that his delegation, like Cuba, had 
reservation on Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, which was contained in document 
WT/MIN(05)/SR/12.   
78. The Chair
 stated that Venezuela's request would be recorded in the report of the meeting.  He 
recalled that only Cuba had stated its reserva tion on Annex C at the meeting of the Council. 
79. A representative of the Secretariat  stated that on technical assistance, the Secretariat was 
always willing to respond to Members' priorities a nd needs.  He recalled that this issue had been 
addressed at an informal meeting held in 2004 which was very informative and useful for the 
Secretariat to refine its work.  The approach to t echnical assistance was not a "one-size-fits-all",  but 
to look at the specific needs of governments at different  stages.  Noting that this year was the last year 
of the current round of negotiations and that a provision on technical assistance was included in the 
Hong Kong Declaration, he said that it would be u seful for the Secretariat to have comments and 
views from Members on this issue so as to address Me mbers' priorities and needs in the most effective 
way in view of available resources. He invited Memb ers to approach the Secretariat for this purpose.  
Welcoming the suggestion made by Pakistan on th e briefing for new delegates, he said that the 
Secretariat would look at the practical arrangeme nt for such course soon and make a proposal to 
delegations.  
80. The Chair  suggested that the Council take note of th e statements made before he adjourned 
the meeting.   
81. It was so agreed .  
__________