WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/626 
8 November 2005 
 (05-5249) 
 Original:   English 
  
 
CONSULTATIVE AFRICAN MEETING ON WTO NEGOTIATIONS 
Cairo, 27 October 2005 
 
Communiqué
 
 
Communication from Egypt 
  
 The following communiqué has been received by  the Chairman of the General Council from 
the Delegation of Egypt with the request that it be circulated to all Members. 
 
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  1. We, the African Trade Ministers and representa tives of Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, 
Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe meeting in Cairo on the 27
th of  October2005, 
acknowledge that the Doha Development Ag enda is passing through a critical time. 
2. We are gathered here today to help build th e momentum in a way that ensures a safe landing 
in Hong Kong in 2005, and a successful development orientated outcome that faithfully fulfils the 
expectations of the Doha De velopment Agenda in 2006. 
3. We would like to underline the immense effo rts Africa has exerted to liberalize its trade 
regime both regionally and multilaterally. We c onsider both approaches to liberalization as 
complementary and mutually supportive, ra ther than as a substitute to each other. 
4. We recognize the role that inte rnational trade is playing in promoting economic development, 
creating jobs and alleviating povert y. We reiterate that the success of  the DDA is in the interests of 
African member countries and re-affirm the need for the negotiations to be inclusive and transparent. 
5. We emphasize that the success of the Hong Kong Ministerial will be measured by its 
development outcomes. Despite all forms of technical  assistance and capacity building, we insist that 
development has to be explicitly incorporated  in every aspect of the trade negotiations. 
6. We acknowledge that a harmonized approach  by all developing countries will deliver 
meaningful results that reflect our priorities, incl uding the effective integration of African countries 
into the multilateral trading system. This will include  ensuring more equitable and fair trading rules, 
thereby guaranteeing that the benefits of the Round will be enjoyed by Africa, and in particular the 
Least Developed Countries. 
7. Welcoming the African Union Cairo Declara tion on June 2005 and, the LDC's Livingstone 
Declaration on June 2005. 
 We hereby adopt this joint communiqué: WT/L/626 
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 Development Issues
 
 8. We reiterate our firm view that development concerns should be placed at the heart of the 
entire Doha Work Programme in order to ensure th e needs and interests of developing countries and 
LDCs and African countries. 
9. We need to engage in continuous and constructiv e discussions with our trading partners in the 
developed world, as well as with different developi ng countries groups, to maintain our unity around 
the cause of development. 
10. We call on developed Members and developing-country Members in a position to do so to 
operationalize the commitments made to provide  bound duty and quota-free access for all products 
originating from LDCs. 
11. While the defensive interests of LDCs in Ag riculture and NAMA negotiations are preserved 
in the July Framework, this alone does not deliver a development round. 
12. We insist that this should be reflected in th e outcome of the Ministerial conference in Hong 
Kong. We reiterate that Hong Kong's success highly depends on the development outcomes. 
13. We urge Members to continue to make positiv e efforts designed to ensure that African 
countries secure a share in the growth of world tr ade commensurate with the needs of their economic 
development. This can be done through building supp ly-side capacity for countries to take advantage 
of improved market access opportunities. 
14. We thank the WTO, International Organizati ons (UNCTAD, ITC, ECA and others), and 
developed countries for providing technical assistan ce and capacity building to African countries. 
15. We acknowledge the existing assistance initiatives n eed to be re-examined, with the aim of 
improving and developing its institutional frameworks. 
16. We emphasize that the outcomes on Aid for Tr ade and enhanced Integrated framework 
proposals should be reached at Hong Kong, China. 
17. We appreciate the G-8 initiative at Gleneagles to support the e ffort of African countries to 
build lasting peace and prosperity. 
18. In order to achieve our goal by Hong Kong, we  need to widen the concept of development 
from the narrow margins it is confined to, which re fers only to special and differential treatment, 
flexibility and policy space, etc., to the wider pe rspective which reflects that development means 
better market access conditions, adequate forms of flexibility and sufficient as well as efficient 
capacity building initiatives. 
19. We need to make sure that all issues that refl ect Africa's development needs which are related 
to enhanced technical assistance, food security , rural development, livelihood, preference, 
commodities and net food imports are fully taken into consideration. 
Agriculture
 
 
20. We acknowledge that Agriculture is key to the prosperity and development of many African 
countries, especially LDC's.  It has the potential to  significantly improve the livelihoods of millions of 
citizens in the developing world.  WT/L/626 
 Page 3 
 
 
 21. We believe that trade liberalization in Agricultu re is the real sign of the developed world's 
commitment to reach a fair, credible and sustainable Multilateral Trading System. 
22. We urge all WTO Members to double their efforts to step up the momentum on the 
agriculture negotiations. 
On Domestic Support  
 
23. We acknowledge that the US proposal was a step in the right direction, but it needs to be built 
on and improved in the negotiating process  to ac hieve convergence on specific modalities. In this 
regard the following should be  taken into consideration: 
(a) Urgent agreement on the level and structur e of the reduction commitments within the 
tiered reduction formulae for both overa ll trade-distorting domestic support and 
AMS. 
(b) The importance of progress on strict Blue Box criteria, and the review and 
clarification of the Green Box to prevent box-shifting.  
(c) De minimis for developing countries shall be ex empted from reduction commitments. 
(d) Policy space should be worked out in the negotiations, such a space should enable 
African countries to have adequate resour ces to fulfil their essential developmental 
objectives. 
Export Competition  
 24. We note that export competition is the most adva nced pillar of the negotiations. However, we 
need to reach consensus by Hong  Kong on the timeline and modalities for phasing out all forms of 
export subsidies. This elimination shall be wit hout prejudice to the S&D treatment of NFIDCs and 
LDCs. 
25. There is also a need to decide on how to implement the parallel elimination of all forms of 
export subsidies encompassing disciplines on export cr edits, food aid, and expo rting STEs, taking into 
consideration the NFIDCs interests. 
26. For food aid we stress that emergency food aid should be exempted from any disciplines. 
On Market Access
 
 27. Urgent decisions are needed regarding the le vel of ambition of the tariff cuts. We call on 
WTO Members, and in particular developed countries  to abandon their self interest, in order to reach 
convergence. 
28. We support applying different thresholds for the tiers for tariff cuttings for developed and 
developing countries with different tariff cuts, ensu ring proportionality by taki ng due consideration of 
the differences in tariff structure. 
29. We highlight the importance of developing m odalities to address the negative effects of 
preference erosion. 
30. We stress the importance of the full operationali zation of special and differential treatment, in 
particular in the development of adequate m odalities on Special Products (SPs) and the Special 
Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). WT/L/626 
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 31. We call on developed countries to offer bound duty and quota free market access to 
agricultural products originating in LDCs African countries. 
32. We recognize the adverse effect of the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on trade flows. 
The Cotton initiative
 
 
33. We stress the importance of cotton for African countries, and we recall what we achieved in 
the July framework 2004.  WTO Members agreed  to treat the case of cotton specifically, 
expeditiously and ambitiously.  We raise our c oncerns that until now there is no understanding of 
what these terms mean, in terms of their operation. 
34. We need a clear statement before Members arrive at Hong Kong as to how the Hong Kong 
meeting will address the cotton issue.  We urge WTO Members to come up with a concrete and 
operational resolution to the cotton problem and to incorporate it as an integral part of the decisions to be taken at Hong Kong. 
35. We urge that the following issues be resolved fairly in Hong Kong: 
(a) An urgent action on domestic and export subsidies.   
(b) A date to be fixed for an end to all cotton subsidies.  
(c) A decision to compensate the cotton produ cers for the huge losses they have suffered 
as a result of the subsidies.  
(d) The modalities to resolve Cotton must be placed  on a fast-tracked time table such that 
the agricultural modalities reflect the specifi c mandate of this strategic initiative.  
Commodities
 
 
36. We highlight that commodities are a key priority  for African countries, that affect livelihood, 
food security and rural development needs in African countries. 
37. We urge Members in Hong Kong to address the crisis of instability and secular decline in 
commodity prices with the aim of attaining stable, equitable and remunerative prices. 
38. We reiterate our position in the Cairo declarati on on this issue and call for the concerns and 
proposals as set out in a paper submitted in the agriculture negotiations (JOB(05)/113), should be 
urgently considered. 
NAMA  
 39. We recognize that in order to ensure an out come which provides the necessary developmental 
gains for all developing countries, especially those in Africa and the LDCs, efforts must be made to 
resolve the outstanding issues within this area, without linking progress to other negotiating areas. 
40. We call for the disentanglement of these negotia tions from the Agricultural track to achieve 
advancement by Hong Kong. 
41. We also would like to emphasize the following positions, in order to push the negotiations 
forward:   WT/L/626 
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 (a) Applying the formula with differentiated coefficients in a manner that reflects 
proportionality in reduction commitments and fully incorporates the principle of Less than Full Reciprocity to addresses African countries' needs.  
(b) Taking as priority Special and Differential Treatment, to address African countries’ 
developmental needs.  
(c) Stressing that less than full Reciprocity and the flexibilities provided under 
paragraph 8 are two stand–alone provisions, complementary in nature rather than 
substitutes.  
(d) The issue of preference erosion should be addressed through an appropriate 
methodology to be negotiated.  
(e) Stressing that any sectoral initiatives should be implemented on a voluntary rather 
than on a mandatory basis. 
(f) Re-affirming the exemption of LDCs  from tariff reduction commitments. 
(g) Effectively addressing non-tariff barriers nego tiations in tandem with those on tariff 
reductions. 
Services
 
 42. Despite the fact that the progress on the services negotiation fronts is not satisfactory, we 
believe that there is still a chance in the round to make some serious commitments. 
43. We recall that the request offer will still rema in the main negotiating approach for services 
liberalization. 
44. We caution against the possibility of exploring new methods to complement the request offer 
approach as it could alter the progressive nature of the GATS negotiating process and threaten the 
existing flexibilities provided to developing countries and LDCs. 
45. We remain concerned about the quality of o ffers tabled thus far, and call for their 
improvement, focusing on the modes and sectors of export interest to developing countries, in 
particular Mode 4.  
46. We highlight the importance that negotiations  should take into account the respect for 
national policy objectives and the le vel of development of African countries and provide flexibility 
for them. 
47. We underscore that negotiations should fac ilitate the increased participation of African 
countries in trade in services, and ensure meeti ng the special needs of LDCs, and accept that LDCs 
are not expected to take on further commitments. 
48. We stress the necessity of delivery of increased  technical assistance and capacity building to 
African countries in order to assist them to partic ipate more effectively in the request-offer phase and 
rules-making process. 
Done in Cairo 27 October 2005 
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