RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/M/51 
13 April 2005 
 
 (05-1518) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Fifty-First Session  
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 16, 26 NOVEMBER AND 10 DECEMBER 2004 
 
Chairperson:  H. E. Mr. C. Trevor Clarke (Barbados) 
  
A.
 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA ........................................................................................................2  
B. OBSERVERS ............................................................................................................................... ..2 
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers ...............................................................................2  
(ii) Request for observer status by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States..........................2  
(iii) Further consideration of the requests for observer status by the League of Arab 
States, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf 
Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la 
Francophonie and the Common Fund for Commodities ............................................................3  
C. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING ................................................................................3  
(i) Presentation of the International Development Law Organization............................................3  
(ii) Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2005 (WT/COMTD/W/133/Rev.1)..............................8  
D. DECLINING TERMS OF TRADE FOR PRIMARY COMMODITIES , AND ITS IMPLICATION TO 
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY COMMODITY EXPORTING COUNTRIES ....................17  
E. PARAGRAPH 51 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING 
DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER TO HELP ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATELY REFLECTED .............26  
F. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ..........................................................................................................32  
G. GRADUATION OF THE MALDIVES FROM LDC  STATUS (WT/COMTD/W/128) ........................32  
H. PARTICIPATION OF THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES IN THE GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM 
(WT/COMTD/W/136) ..............................................................................................................3 2 
I. DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT (WT/COMTD/W/137) .....................................................................35  
J. OTHER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................35  
 WT/COMTD/M/51 
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A. A
DOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Chairman  recalled that the draft agenda for the meeting was contained in document 
WTO/AIR/2425/Rev.1 circulated on 11 November 2004.  
2. The Chairman proposed to place an item on th e agenda under Other Business.  This item 
concerned the 2004 Joint WTO/OECD Report on Tr ade-Related Technical Assistance and Capacity 
Building (TRTA/CB). 
3. The Committee adopted  the agenda as amended. 
B. OBSERVERS  
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers 
4. The Chairman  noted that agenda Item B(i) related to requests for ad hoc observer status.  He 
recalled that at previous sessions of the CTD, Members had agreed to invite a number of intergovernmental organizations on an ad hoc, meet ing-by-meeting basis:  the Arab Maghreb Union 
(AMU);  the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC);  the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS);  the Economic Cooperation Orga nization (ECO);  the Inter-Arab Investment 
Guarantee Corporation;  the Islamic Developm ent Bank (IDB);  the African Union (AU);  the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC);  th e South Centre;  the Pacific Islands Forum;  the 
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP);  the West African Economic and Monetary 
Union (WAEMU);  and the World Intellectual Propert y Organization (WIPO).  He said that following 
the decision taken at the previous meeting of the Committee, those organizations had been invited to 
the meeting.  He then proposed that those organizati ons be invited to the next formal meeting of the 
CTD. 
5. It was so decided
. 
(ii) Request for observer status by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States 
6. The Chairman  recalled a request from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) 
to be granted observer status to the Committee on Trad e and Development.  At  the previous meeting, 
the Committee agreed to the Chairm an's proposal to have informal consultations on the request with 
the interested delegations and to revert to it at the present meeting.  He reported that following his 
consultations there was still no change in the pos ition of Members that would allow the OECS 
observer status at that time.  He said the OECS  had indicated a willingness to accept ad hoc observer 
status if Members were willing to grant it.  He asked that Members give consideration to that request at the next meeting.   
7. The representative of Egypt
 on behalf of the Arab Group said that this proposal might be the 
way out of the current impasse.  His delegation was willing to consider ad hoc observer status for the 
OECS at the next meeting. 
8. The representative of Antigua and Barbuda  spoke on behalf of the six countries of the OECS: 
Antigua and Barbuda;  Dominica;  St. Kitts and Nevis;   Grenada;  Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the 
Grenadines, all island states with a combined population of half a million people.  His delegation's 
main concern was to have representation in Geneva.  He said that since becoming a Member of WTO, 
there had been no representation in Geneva and that  participation had also been insufficient and 
infrequent.  He said that the Prime-Ministers of  the OECS had met the previous week, and among 
other issues, the OECS' applicati on for WTO observation status was discussed.  At that meeting, the  WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 Prime-Ministers expressed regret that the initial application was unsuccessful, especially at such a 
critical time during the negotiations when small stat es needed to have a voice at the table along with 
the other Members of WTO.  The Prime-Ministers had also expressed hope that the difficulties faced 
by the OECS' request for observership would eventua lly be resolved.  He thanked the representative 
of Egypt for the intervention and for a positive sign al that showed that the Committee was moving 
towards full inclusion of all Members.   
9. The Committee agreed  that the ad hoc status of the OECS in the WTO would be addressed at 
the next meeting. 
(iii) Further consideration of the requests for observer status by the League of Arab States, the 
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization for 
Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Inter nationale de la Francophonie and the Common 
Fund for Commodities 
10. The Chairman  noted that the third sub-item in that item of the agenda related to outstanding 
requests for observer status.  At previous meetings , the Committee had had before it a number of such 
requests.  Those requests came from the League of Arab States, OPEC, the Gulf Organization for 
Industrial Consulting, the Organisa tion Internationale de la Fran cophonie and from the Common Fund 
for Commodities.  He recalled that the positions of delegations were we ll known and were on the 
record.  He said that if there was no change in po sitions to extend observer status to any of those 
applicants, then the Committee would revert to those requests at the next meting.   
11. It was so agreed . 
C. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING  
(i) Presentation of the International Development Law Organization 
12. The Chairman  recalled that at its last meeting, th e Committee agreed to the International 
Development Law Organization's (IDLO) request  to make a presentation on the objectives and 
activities of the IDLO in the field of technical assistan ce.  He offered the floor to the representative of  
the IDLO for the presentation.   
13. The IDLO representative  made the following presentation:  
"It is a great honor to address the Committee on Trade and Development of the WTO 
on behalf of the International Development Law Organization or IDLO.  I come here 
today to report to you on the active part nership between the WTO and IDLO and to 
suggest ways in which this pa rtnership can be strengthened. 
For those who do not know us, let me offer a brief introduction.  IDLO is an 
international intergovernmental organization founded in 1983 and is headquartered in 
Rome, Italy, with regional offices in Sydney, Cairo and Kabul.  Currently IDLO has 17 member states.  In its 21 year history IDLO has been a pioneer in promoting the rule of law and good governance as key elem ents of the development process.  IDLO 
offers training and technical assistance to  legislative, regulatory, and judicial 
institutions and officials in developing a nd transition economy countries.  To date, 
IDLO has trained or provided technical assi stance to more than 14,000 lawyers and 
other officials from 162 states.  The alumni of IDLO programs have gathered together to form national alumni associations to advance legal reform and disseminate legal 
knowledge in 38 countries.  The extensive scope of IDLO's work has established its WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 international reputation as one of the leading organizations with a core competency in 
building legal and institutional capacity in developing countries. 
A critical way in which IDLO has worked to  advance the rule of law is by building 
the capacities of developing and least-dev eloped countries to understand and work 
with the rules-based multilateral trading syst em.  Over the past five years, IDLO has 
emerged as a center of excellence in trade cap acity building.  A cornerstone of those 
activities is its three-week regional Public  International Trade Law Course, which 
IDLO offers three times a year in different  locations around the world for participants 
coming from developing and least-developed countries and economies in transition.  Through this course and other programs conducted on an ad hoc  basis, IDLO has 
trained hundreds of trade officials from 75 countries since 2000, in close partnership 
with WTO, which has contributed experts a nd materials for these courses.  Results of 
IDLO evaluations of these programs, as further recognized by WTO officials involved, have been ove rwhelmingly positive. 
In addition to providing professionals w ith relevant knowledge on trade law and 
policy, IDLO has helped build institution s capable of disseminating such knowledge 
on a sustainable basis.  IDLO provided technical and advisory support to create the Trade Law Center for Southern Africa or TRALAC.  This center serves as an example of how building local expertise can lead to the sustainable circulation of trade law knowledge on a regional basis.  Si milarly, IDLO's efforts to build the 
capacities of the alumni of its programs have also begun to pay dividends in the field 
of trade:  by way of example, Sri Lanka n alumni chapter recently conducted its first 
locally-organized training session on trade law, which was followed by a specific workshop on TRIPS.  Similarly, the IDLO alumni association in Romania organized three events focusing on TRIPS and other In tellectual Property related issues this 
year.  I also know that some alumni of IDLO's trade courses are now delegates to the 
WTO;  some may even be in the room today. 
To formalize the WTO/IDLO relationship and increase collaboration, IDLO and the 
WTO entered a Memorandum of Understanding in 2003.  Under this agreement, over 
50 staff of the WTO Secretariat have contributed to IDLO programs.  In addition, in 2003 the WTO and IDLO co-financed a Trade Training Capacity Building Program and last month, a Public International Trade Law Course in Sydney for trade officials 
from developing and least-developed countries of the Asian and Pacific regions.  We 
must now continue identifying concrete acti ons that can consolidate and broaden the 
field of cooperation between the two organizations. 
IDLO can further assist the WTO in carrying out its mandate in a variety of ways.  First, IDLO can play a role in carrying out technical assistance to align domestic law 
and regulation with WTO obligations with specific concern for newly acceding WTO 
member states and those that are planning to join the Organization.  In doing so, 
IDLO can draw upon its expertise in the broa der field of regulatory law and policy.  
These efforts are critical not only to ensure  that WTO obligations are respected but, 
more importantly, have legal effect and allow countries to exploit the benefits of the 
multilateral trading system. 
Second, in terms of plans currently bei ng formulated between the organizations, 
IDLO hopes to collaborate with the WTO on sub-regional trade training capacity building courses.  This new set of activ ities would enhance trade training capacity  WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 and trade related economic research exper tise within national and regional trade 
training institutions on the range of WTO topics. 
Third, IDLO can apply its subs tantial expertise in the area of judicial training to assist 
states in meeting their obligations under various WTO Agreements.  Assistance on 
developing the capacities of judiciaries to en force laws giving effect to agreements 
such as TRIPs, as recently done in Bulgaria, Colombia, Guinea Conakry, Mali and 
Senegal, is one example of how this work could be performed. 
Fourth, IDLO can lend its expertise in identifying needs and designing capacity 
building programs to developing countries undertaking needs assessments to determine their own technical assistance and training needs. 
Finally, IDLO would like to assist the WTO in its efforts to continuously improve the 
quality of its trade capacity building activ ities, focusing on concrete and sustainable 
skills development.   
Furthermore, IDLO wishes to announce its de sire to engage the WTO Secretariat in 
an upcoming pilot capacity building project it plans to undertake with the Ministry of 
Trade in Afghanistan, with the financial support of the Italian government. 
To explore these and other possible areas of collaboration, IDLO professional staff 
have accompanied me on this mission and during this week we will consult with 
interested WTO staff and delegations.  
To realize the aims of a mutually benefi cial, rules-based multilateral trading system, 
we must continue in our commitment to help developing and least-developed 
countries play a meaningful role in it.  IDLO agrees strongly with the Doha 
Declaration’s statement that technical cooperation and capacity building are core 
elements of the development dimension of the multilateral trading system.  The scale of the challenge is formidable, but it is  a challenge that IDLO, through its ever-
strengthening partnership with the WTO, is eager to address." 
14. The Chairman
 on behalf of the Committee thanked the IDLO for the presentation and opened 
the floor for any questions and comments on IDLO's technical assistance activities.   
15. The representative of Australia  noted that the Australian Government was very pleased to 
provide financial assistance through the APEC Support Fund to IDLO for its public international trade 
law course which was held in Sydney, October 2004.  Her delegation agreed with the IDLO's 
statement that it was a very good course and consider ed it a practical contribution to the developing 
country participants in the course, particularly t hose from the Asia and Pacific region.  Her delegation 
hoped that the course would be held again and c ontinue to be of assistance to those seeking to 
enhance implementation and improve the effec tiveness of their trade policy and strategy. 
16. The representative of Colombia  said that her country was one of those which had benefited 
from the technical assistance provided by the IDLO .  She expressed support for the strengthening of 
cooperation between the IDLO and the WTO and noted  that other areas of the work of the WTO 
which might be of interest to the de veloping countries should be explored. 
17. The representative of the United States  said that her delegation welcomed the information as 
well as the ideas put forward on how the IDLO coul d work more intensively with the WTO in the 
future.  She considered it helpful to have the institutions which were cooperating with  the WTO 
speak to the Committee and inform Members of th eir activities to meet the needs being faced by WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 Members.  She was of the view that other institutions doing work with the WTO should also be 
invited to share their experiences. 
18. The representative of Egypt
 endorsed the partnership betwee n the WTO and the IDLO as it 
would contribute to advance the technical coopera tion programmes.  He said that integration of 
developing countries into a multilateral rules-based system required legal assistance in the field of 
legal reform and building of institutional capacity.   
19. The representative of Malaysia  said that her country had also benefited from the IDLO 
courses held in Australia in which she was one of th e participants in Sydney in 2001.  She said that 
the course provided her with a first exposure to  the WTO agreements and a good foundation of 
knowledge on WTO.  She was pleased to hear that  the IDLO had continued to draw up programmes 
and cooperation with other bodies a nd provided better coherence in te rms of technical cooperation for 
developing countries and LDCs.  She believed that the IDLO's work would help build up a large body 
of WTO expertise, especially among developing countries. 
20. The representative of Venezuela  said that this visit allowed Members to understand the work 
of organizations that lend assistance to developi ng countries to make their national legislations 
compatible with international commitments, partic ularly WTO commitments.  He asked what  the 
IDLO's plan was for negotiation capacity building or , in other words, assisting governments in their 
efforts to carry out negotiations. 
21. The representative of the European Communities  commended the IDLO for its very 
impressive numbers, including the training of 14,000 lawyers and officials in 162 states and the 38 alumni associations.  These associations were impor tant to keep contacts between the participants 
and to increase further knowledge.  His delegation th ought that the IDLO focused on what was a very 
important part of the integration of the devel oping countries into the multilateral trading system, 
particularly the legal, regulatory, judicial and institutional strengthening of  the developing countries, 
which was key for their participation and integration into the global economy.  He said that the five 
ways in which the IDLO provided assistances were ex tremely focused.  He noted the role that the 
IDLO could play in performing needs assessments,  which his delegation viewed as an important 
element.   
22. The representative of Costa Rica
 said that the presentation and particularly the commitments 
toward the building of technical assistance in favour  of developing and leas t-developed countries  
would allow those countries to increase their partic ipations in world trade negotiations.  He also 
thanked the donors for the contributions, so that the IDLO might carry out its objectives.  He 
continued by saying that Costa Rica was one of th e countries which benefited from IDLO's technical 
assistance and his delegation supported the work and shared the ideas to strengthen links with work 
done by the WTO Secretariat.  His delegation also  asked whether the IDLO was going to integrate 
into its training programme a subject concerning the facilitation of trade negotiations. 
23. The representative of Canada  noted the wide range of sponsor ships and partnerships that the 
IDLO had secured. These relati ons included governments of deve loped and developing countries, 
multilateral organisations, private sector cooperati on and private individuals.  She noted the 
significant amount of pro bono  work that was done for the organization.  This showed how much 
people respected the work of the IDLO.  She al so commended the work of the IDLO on gender 
balance in training programmes, the elimination of  discrimination against women and  efforts aimed 
at improving the legal literacy of women.   
24. The representative of Morocco  said that his country had also benefited from the IDLO's 
activities.  He asked for more information from th e IDLO on the technical assistance programmes that 
would benefit Arab countries.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 25. The representative of India  thanked the IDLO for the inform ation provided on the scope and 
parameter of its various technical assistance activit ies.  He would pass this information on to his 
authorities in the capital.  
26. The representative of the Kyrgyz Republic  said that his country still lacked a solid base of 
trade lawyers and had never been a recipient of the IDLO's assistance.  His delegation expressed a 
wish to participate in the IDLO's programme. 
27. The representative of Kenya  stated that his country was also a beneficiary of the IDLO.  He 
asked whether the IDLO did or planned to do an y analytical work to see how WTO rules affect 
individual economies and how they tied in to development in the process. 
28. The representative of Indonesia  expressed his expectation that the IDLO would work closely 
with the WTO to provide capacity building.  He sai d his delegation would like to have consultations 
with the IDLO on how to benefit from its activities.  He also sought information on the activities that 
took place in the Asian region. 
29. The representative of Rwanda  said his delegation would like to learn more and wished to 
establish a contact with the IDLO.  He said that Rw anda, as an LDC, needed a lot of legal assistance 
and assistance in analysing WTO commitments and their implications on development.  He supported 
the comments made by the representative of Canada about the importance of the women's programmes, women's protection and legal activities.   
30. The representative of China
 said that he had benefited from IDLO's assistance and believed 
that it was useful.  His delegation encouraged the IDLO to continue its technical assistance activities 
in capacity building to developing countries. 
31. The representative of Djibouti  asked whether the IDLO had specific programmes for LDCs, 
especially for African countries, and whethe r the IDLO offered any policy guidance on 
implementation of WTO rules. 
32. The representative of the IDLO  responded that he was pleased that a number of delegations 
knew IDLO so well.  With regard to the questi on about negotiations, he said the IDLO had initially 
started its activities by giving courses on how to negoti ate.  In response to Djibouti's question, he said 
that in 2005 the course for development law in Ro me would be devoted to Francophone countries and 
that Djibouti could follow that course.  He noted that some of the Member s stressed the concerns 
related to equal treatment between men and women,  and agreed that women played a fundamental 
role in the development of developing countries.  He also stressed the importanc e of the rule of law in 
development and investment, because the lack of clear rules discouraged entrepreneurs and capital 
from coming in from abroad for investment purposes.  He, therefore, thought that those were serious 
obstacles for development.  In response to the repr esentative of Morocco, he noted that an agreement 
had been signed in Cairo a month ago with Arab Mi nisters of Justice for the setting up of a regional 
centre in Cairo which would cover the Arab re gion and would enhance cooperation with those 
countries.  To respond to the representative of Ke nya concerned about the assessment of the results 
and the impact of activities, he said this was done w ith local authorities and with the participants.  He 
concluded by saying that the aim of his visit wa s to create better work conditions between the WTO 
and the IDLO so that it could better respond to the needs of developing countries. 
33. The Committee took note  of all statements made. WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 (ii) Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2005 (WT/COMTD/W/133/Rev.1) 
34. The Chairman
 recalled that at the previous meeting, the Committee had already started its 
examination of the Technical Assistance (TA) Plan for 2005.  At that meeting, several Mermbers 
made comments and suggestions.  Those were incorpor ated into a revised version of the draft Plan.  
That revised version was circulated under docum ent WT/COMTD/W/133/Rev.1.  He invited the 
representative of the Institute for Training and Tech nical Cooperation (ITTC) of WTO to present that 
revised version of the TA Plan for 2005.   
35. The Secretariat  noted that it had made a few changes to the TA Plan following the discussions 
at the last meeting.  The changes mostly concerne d paragraph 69, as well as the corresponding parts in 
the annex to the Plan, i.e. reflecting the way the Decision of the General Council in August, the "July 
package," was taken account of in the Plan.  This meant that: 
• The regional seminars on Trade and Investme nt and Trade and Competition Policy were 
deleted  and requests for TA in these areas would be  handled through national seminars as had 
been indicated at the last meeting. Regional seminars could be held, but only if several 
national requests emerged in the same (sub-)region; 
• These topics would stay on the agenda of th e Trade Policy Courses (Geneva and RTPCs); 
• The duration of the regional seminars on NAMA was increased by one day;  
• The number of participants to the region al seminars on trade facilitation was doubled; 
• A world-wide coverage of NAMA and trade facilitation would be assured;  
• Targeted assistance would be provided in the fi eld of services, as called for by the General 
Council Decision, with a view to enabling develo ping countries to participate effectively in 
the services negotiations.  Thus, in this area, the request–offer process for new or improved 
commitments would lead to a country-focused a dvice to stimulate national contributions;  in 
essence the emphasis of TA would rest with the national seminars, which were better geared towards addressing the issues; 
• Regional seminars on services would be maintain ed, and focus on developments in rule-
making negotiations and other relevant issues arising from the ongoing services negotiations.  
The venue for these seminars needed to be d ecided by the Services Division in consultation 
with ITTC and the Members. 
 36. He added that regarding budgeting, there ha d been a number of discussions and the 
Secretariat had issued a new document with the fina ncial figures related to the implementation of the 
Plan which had been issued as JOB/04/150. 
37. The representative of Morocco
, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, welcomed the content 
and the products of the 2005 Plan, which largely responded to the development dimension of the 
Ministerial Declaration and the Doha Development Agenda, and the relevant elements contained in 
the July package, notably in technical assistance and capacity building.  The Arab Group noted that 
the Plan was designed to enable the WTO Secret ariat to achieve the key objectives mandated by 
Members, namely to enhance institutional and human capacity in the beneficiar y countries and to deal 
with trade policy concerns through coherent ac tivities and a sound balance between quantity and 
quality.  The Arab Group endorsed the objectives of th e activities set out in the Plan to mainstream 
trade into national development po licies and poverty reduction.  Such  activities should also help to 
bring about a better share for the beneficiaries in the multilateral trading system and their effective 
participation in the Doha negotiations with the s upport of the Institute fo r Training and Technical 
Cooperation.  The WTO Arab Group also welcomed the scheduled organization of regional trade  WT/COMTD/M/51 
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 policy courses in regions which had not yet benef ited from them, including the region of the Arab 
countries and the Middle East.  The Arab Group expected this initiative to go forward and it stood ready to consider the details with the Secretariat of that Organization.  The Arab Group endorsed the 
flexible nature of the TA Plan 2005 and reserved the right to call later for activities to be organized and to clarify certain types of programmes so that th ey were in keeping with the needs of the regional 
group.  He encouraged the Secretariat to pursue the regional partnerships approach, and emphasized 
the importance of follow-up and assessment of technical assistance activities for the purpose of 
quality enhancement.  However, any assessment must be flexible, transparent, equitable and realistic, 
both at the institutional level and at the level of indicator definition and performance objectives. 
38. The representative of European Communities
 said that his delegation was happy with the 
sensible solution found for the three Singapore issues that were dropped in the July package.  He 
thought that was a pragmatic approach and ensured that the WTO would stay involved in those three 
issues which in his delegation's view were important  for developing countries.  He asked whether the 
Secretariat could take a more proactive approach in offering specific assistance to those countries that 
wanted assistance to prepare their servi ces offers to ensure that they we re able to meet the deadline of 
May 2005.  He also urged the Secretariat to explore the possibility of cooperating with other 
institutions such as the International Trade Centre (ITC) on this issue.  Regarding needs assessments, 
his delegation thought this to be an extremely important element of making TA more relevant, 
efficient and effective.  He acknowledged what the WTO had done in this area, including the 
establishment of trade clinics a nd guidelines for developing Memb ers to do the needs assessment 
themselves.  He suggested including needs assessme nts in the criteria for accepting TA requests from 
developing countries.  On the Integrated Framewor k (IF) and JITAP programmes, he believed that the 
participation of the WTO in the IF's Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS) should be funded 
from the WTO's regular budget.  The activities that related to the result of the DTIS, the so called 
Technical Assistance Matrix, qualified for the global trust fund.  He thought the participation of the 
WTO itself should come from the regular budget.  Las tly, he said his delegation was happy to see that 
the overall budget proposal for the global trust fund  for next year now amounted to CHF 34 million. 
39. The representative of Japan  said that the TA Plan 2005 reflected the discussions held so far 
and that his delegation supported the revised Plan and appreciated the efforts made by the  Secretariat. 
40. The representative of Benin  noted that the CTD would have an important role to play in the 
run up to the next Ministerial Conference.  Regard ing the issue of cotton, he called for consistency 
between the development side and the trade side.  He recommended that the results achieved on the 
development side of the Sectoral Initiative on Cott on should be reported periodically and that the 
WTO Sixth Ministerial Conference, scheduled for Hong Kong, China in December 2005, undertake 
an overall assessment of these results.  He said it w ould be necessary in 2005 to organize a follow-up 
meeting of the cotton workshop held in Cotonou in Ma rch 2004 to take stock of the situation.  As for 
the Sub-Committee on Cotton which was establishe d on 19 November 2004, Members should receive 
periodic reports on the progress made on the develo pment dimension of the cotton issue.  He called 
attention to the difficult economic and social cons equences that the expiry of the Agreement on 
Textiles and Clothing (ATC) would have on developing country Memb ers that were cotton producers 
and exporters.  He said it was incumbent upon the Memb ership to seek useful solutions to cope with 
this new situation. 
41. The representative of Kenya  sought clarification on whether regional activities on customs 
valuation, dispute settlement, rules, GATS and trad e and environment would be extended to Africa.  
He said some of the African countries, if not all,  would need the workshop on these issues to be in 
their region.  He also said that needs assessments should not make acce ss to TA more difficult than it 
was at the moment.  His delegation said that it need ed more information to be able to understand the 
suggestion proposed by the European Communities. WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 10  
 
 42. The representative of Djibouti
 supported the issues raised by  the representative of Morocco 
on behalf of the Arab Group Members of the WTO.  He thanked the WTO Secretariat for having taken into account the certain subjects within  TA, for example, the NAMA negotiations, trade 
facilitation and services.  His delegation believed that those fields were important to Africa and the 
LDCs.  He said that at the regional level, there s hould be balance in terms of the organization of the 
seminars and added that there was only one regional  seminar in East Africa in English and none in 
French.  
43. The representative of Peru
 said that the TA Plan 2005 would allow Members to assess with 
greater detail the results of such technical  assistance and how it would benefit each region, 
particularly developing countries and Latin America.   His delegation gave sp ecial importance to the 
trade policy courses in Spanish and understood that  a course was not being scheduled for 2005, but 
would be held permanently for the next few years.   That was important so that Latin American 
countries could benefit more from the training courses in Spanish.  His delegation wished to include 
in the Doha programme the interests of Latin Americ a or the Andean sub-region in the area of rules, 
particularly fisheries subsidies. 
44. The representative of Egypt  suggested that activities on government procurement be carried 
out on a national basis for those countries that requested it. 
45. The representative of Rwanda  said that African countries had great problems in submitting 
their services offers because they could not ca rry out the necessary national assessments.  Some 
assistance had been provided by th e ITC and some countries such as Canada and the United States, 
but assistance was still limited to certain countries.  He noted in the Plan that there were seminars 
scheduled for the sub-region but that this had not been  confirmed.  He asked that Africa be included.  
He asked the Services Division to be ready to  receive national requests concerning national 
assessments, and, if possible, that these assessments be carried out by the WTO Secretariat.  African 
countries could then actively participate in the negotiations in services. 
46. The representative of India  was of the view that the TA Plan should be in step with the 
mandate in the Doha Declaration and the July Ge neral Council Decision and remain demand driven.  
Also, he said there should be no pre-conditions fo r access to TA.  He sought clarification from the 
Secretariat on the issue. 
47. The representative of Venezuela , like Egypt, also asked about government procurement and 
why some of the Singapore issues were still included  in trade policy courses as stated in paragraph 69 
of the Plan. 
48. The representative of China  noted that TA was related to ongoing negotiations or existing 
agreements.  He noted, however, that the ATC woul d expire in 2005.  He said, therefore, that 
activities on textiles were no longer relevant after that  date.  He suggested that there should be no 
regional activities in the area of textiles and that any assistance on this matter should be addressed on 
the basis of individual requests. 
49. In regard to the regional services seminars, the representative of Brazil  said that help in 
making services offers should be balanced and also address rule-making.  He agreed with China on 
the points made on textiles. 
50. The representative of Malaysia  questioned the need for regional seminars on government 
procurement since the Government Procurement Agreement was a plurilateral agreement.   
51. The representative of Thailand  expressed concern about the EC's proposal especially since 
technical assistance was demand driven and Member s should conduct their own assessment.  He also  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 11 
 
 
 requested more information on technical assistance activities on development, special and differential 
treatment and small economies. 
52. The representative of Cuba  expressed concern that the TA Plan did not include seminars for 
Latin-America on development, special and differe ntial treatment and small economies and suggested 
that regional activities on these subjects be include d.  She also believed that assistance in the 
elaboration of services offers was very important. 
53. The representative of Korea  noted that although attention to the issues in the July Decision 
was important, other issues were also important es pecially given the limited amount of resources 
available in the Global Trust Fund (GTF).  Regard ing the GTF he asked whether there were any 
limitations on the kind of activities that could be fina nced.  On needs assessment,  he thought that this 
should not create obstacles to access TA activities. 
54. The representative of Uganda  suggested that TA on services should be flexible to take 
account of the negotiations.  Assistance should be provided with the offers, requests and revisions.  
On the issue of textiles, he noted  that the assistance being envisione d related to the adjustment to a 
post-ATC environment, not a continuation of the ATC.  It was a relevant fact that a certain number of 
countries had to undertake significant adjustments to the post-ATC period and it was unfair for a 
Member to block the activities requested by another Member. 
55. The representative of the United States  noted that the Plan provided a good framework but 
that the challenge was to be found in its implemen tation.  She expressed her satisfaction that more 
time was being dedicated to NAMA and trade facilita tion issues and the change of approach to the 
seminars on services.  Regarding the issue of governme nt procurement, she noted that what was in the 
2005 Plan was not anything different from what had been done in the past and did not breach the 
understanding on the Singapore issues reached in the July Decision of the General Council.  Regarding the issue of textiles, she noted that the WTO provided specific help on a very specific issue 
like cotton and that textiles would be no different an d would benefit a larger group of countries.  The 
purpose of the assistance was not to reintroduce the quot a system in the ATC but to assist with a real 
problem that some countries were having in adjus ting to a post-ATC environment.  Regarding needs 
assessment, she believed that the needs assessment should be kept in mind but not necessarily become 
a pre-requisite for receiving technical assistance. 
56. The representative of Bangladesh
 was of the view that seminars on government procurement 
were not necessary for those countries that were  not signatories of the Government Procurement 
Agreement.  He noted that on the contrary, techni cal assistance on textiles was very important.  He 
too said this would not be an extension of the AT C.  He said it was a reality that some Members 
needed assistance to adjust to a post-ATC environment.  
57. The representative  of Turkey  said he saw no reason to oppose providing assistance on textiles 
problems.  The expiry of the ATC was a fact and the post-ATC period would be challenging to several countries.  The textiles sector was just a nother industrial sector and he saw no problems for 
the WTO to provide technical assistance on this issue to those countries that needed it.  
58. The representative of El Salvador
 shared the concerns of some Members regarding the 
elimination of the textiles quotas.  He said that his delegation would be very in terested in participating 
in any event held on the adjustments to the post-ATC period. 
59. The representative of the Dominican Republic  noted that TA on the adjustments to a post-
ATC environment was of vital importance to its industry. WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 12  
 
 60. The Secretariat
 replied to many of the questions posed by Members.  On the question raised 
by Morocco on behalf of the Arab Group, he said that as far as the regional trade policy courses were 
concerned, the Secretariat had developed a progra mme with the intention of covering all regions.  
This, however, had yet to be achieved.  He said the Arab Group would be covered as soon as possible 
and noted that regional trade policy courses were quite an undertaking.  They required a lot of 
preparation, financial resources and staff requirements.  He said he was happy to pursue discussions 
with the Arab Group at some point to see when  and how a regional trade policy course could be 
organized in that region. 
61. On the issue of how the Secretariat could provi de TA to support Members in the negotiations 
on services and in assessing their needs to present their requests and offers, it had been discussed 
whether the Secretariat could be more proactive or assist countries more actively and directly.  The 
proposal in the TA Plan was to have a combinati on of regional and national approaches.  He noted 
that there had been some decisions that were ta ken by the Council for Trade in Services on the issue 
of the assessment and referred to paragraph 14 of the Guidelines and Procedures for the Negotiations 
on Trade in Services in document S/L/93.  This d ecision stipulated that the Council for Trade and 
Services in Special Sessions shall continue to carry  out an assessment of trade and services in overall 
terms and on a sectoral basis with reference to the objectives of the GATS and Article 4 in particular.  
This would be an ongoing activity of the Council and negotiations should be adjusted in the light of 
the results of the assess ment.  He said technical assistance shoul d be provided to developing country 
Members on request in order to carry out national and regional assessments.  He underlined, however, 
that Members had to make the request to have such  assistance at a national or regional level.  Most 
requests for national technical assistance that the S ecretariat had received over the past two or three 
years did not specifically refer to the need for su ch an assessment.  In most cases, requests were 
couched in more general terms and typically called for the Secr etariat to conduct a national seminar 
on the GATS and the ongoing services negotiations.  Based on the recent past, the Secretariat had 
conducted about 30 to 40 national services semina rs per year.  The programmes for these activities 
had been drafted in consultation w ith the beneficiary countries and, ge nerally speaking, the Secretariat 
had not been asked to undertake su ch an assessment.  He thought it was important to stress that the 
initiative came from Members.  The Secretariat c ould not impose seminars on Members if they had 
not been requested.  The Secretariat could only as sist when there was a request and it was up to 
Members to come forward with that request.  If an y such request was received, the Secretariat would 
be happy to help Members in making the necessar y services assessment, either nationally or 
regionally. 
62. On the issue of needs assessment, he noted that this issue was becoming increasingly 
important for the WTO. The Secretariat recognized that as well.  The Secretariat had undertaken 
significant efforts to assist countries in performi ng their needs assessments.   The needs assessment 
increasingly provided a basis for conducting technical assistance.  He said the Secretariat had 
undertaken a number of needs assessments for countri es on a pilot basis and that  these resulted in a set 
of guidelines that were circulated and that Members we re encouraged to apply to  identify their needs.  
The Secretariat also had held discussions with various regional organization secretariats. There had also been discussions within the Secretariat, par ticularly with the Trade Policy Review Division, to 
see how, in a more systematic way, the Secretariat could cover the needs assessments for technical assistance through the Trade Policy Review process.  There were a number of initiatives in the early 
stages of development.  He also said the Secret ariat was discussing with one donor country which had 
in the past been quite generous in providing fu nding for technical assistance activities.  He was 
hopeful that these discussions could lead to contributi ons that would actually allow  the Secretariat to 
help beneficiaries in a more direct, tangible and concrete manner.  The Secretariat was looking at setting up programmes that would be directly gear ed to helping beneficiaries in undertaking their 
needs assessment and provide targeted technical a ssistance in the negotiating process.  For the time 
being, the Secretariat would continue to provide  the technical assistance on a demand-driven basis.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 13 
 
 
 63. On the comments made by Benin, the Secretaria t said it was considering how to follow-up on 
the cotton initiative and other discussions and programmes held on this subject.   
64. On the concerns expressed by Kenya, about some  of the regional seminars and how certain 
regions were sometimes not covered in the TA Pl an, the Secretariat said it was operating with a 
generous budget of 24 millions CHF in the GTF.  Nevertheless, this was a somewhat tight budget, 
because there were a lot of activities that stretche d its resources.  Therefore, it was necessary to 
prioritize the activities and see how the objectives indi cated – mainly to provide support in the Doha 
Development Agenda (DDA) negotiati ons - could be met.  It was decided to reduce the number of 
regional seminars in some areas and for some topics and to conduct them as part of a two-year cycle.  
Those countries that had indicated that their regions  were not covered in the Plan for 2005, should 
bear in mind that those subjects may have been cove red in 2004.  Accordingly, it was foreseen that a 
number of areas or a number of agreements would be covered through a two-yearly cycle and that the 
Secretariat would cover all the regions at least ev ery second year with a regional seminar on any given 
topic.  For those areas where negotiations were unde rway, all the regions would be covered, so this 
would achieve an equitable balance. 
65. On the question by Peru that there was no Ge neva based Trade Policy Course in Spanish for 
2005, the Secretariat said this was true, but that it corresponded to the cycle and the sequence established in the past for the Trade Policy Course in Geneva as it rotated among the three official 
languages.  There was one underway in Spanish and the next one in Spanish would be offered in 
2006.  The Secretariat explained that if it were to  undertake an annual trade policy course in Spanish, 
it would probably not be able to fill the course prope rly.  For 2005, there were two specialized courses 
scheduled in Spanish. 
66. In regard to Egypt's concern that government  procurement was still on the agenda when the 
other Singapore issues had been dropped, the Secret ariat explained that the Government Procurement 
Agreement was still a WTO agreement, even t hough it was a plurilateral and not a multilateral 
agreement.  So the Secretariat said it had covered th at in the agenda, in the same way that it had done 
in the past.  Transparency provisions, however, were separate issues which no longer formed part of 
the WTO's agenda.  The Secretariat made it clear that the focus was on the Government Procurement 
Agreement, under which there were at the time di scussions on how to simplify the Agreement and 
make it more flexible for developing countries desiri ng to accede to that Agreement.  The Secretariat, 
therefore, thought it would be useful to keep it on the agenda.  Moreover, government procurement 
aspects were also part of the WTO's agenda  under the GATS discussions where multilateral 
negotiations on government procurement of service s were continuing under the Working Party on 
GATS Rules.  Additionally, the back-to-office re ports from the activities undertaken encouraged the 
Secretariat to continue maintaining those ac tivities and pursuing efforts in that field. 
67. Regarding the follow-up process of the regional trade policy courses discussed in 
paragraphs 34 to 39, these paragraphs  outlined the direction for the Secr etariat.  The Secretariat noted 
it had not been able to fully develop phase 2 pa rts of the regional trade policy courses.  The 
Secretariat was still considering what could usef ully be done under the second phase and reference 
was made in the cited paragraphs to follow-up ac tions which could include universities establishing 
academic programmes on WTO matters.  This was actu ally one of the programmes that was included 
in the TA Plan.  The Secretariat said it wanted to network more with the universities and actually 
develop more capacity at that level in the sense th at these universities could, at the end of the day, 
contribute to providing policy advice that would be useful for the policy community in itself.   
68.
 Regarding the question by Venezuela on paragr aph 69, the Secretariat explained that it 
understood from other interventions that Member s seemed to be happy with the way this was 
addressed.  Regarding the last sentence of paragra ph 69, these issues have always been part of the WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 14  
 
 trade policy and regional trade policy courses.  They would continue to be treated the same way they 
had been treated in the past, irr espective of the Ju ly package.   
69. On the question raised by Thailand concerning the issue of trade policy courses on special and 
differential treatment (S&D), LDCs and small econo mies, the Secretariat said that the title "trade 
policy course" was not well chosen since the traini ng event was more like a seminar where issues 
were addressed.  The purpose of this seminar wa s basically to discuss the state of play on the 
discussions in Geneva on S&D.  The Secretariat expl ained that, here again, not all regions would be 
covered since some were already covered this year. 
70. Regarding the question by Tanzania on the univers ity workshops referred to on page 43 of the 
TA Plan, the Secretariat explained that there were  only two workshops for university professors on 
WTO matters.  These two workshops were for Ar ab Middle East countries and for Central and 
Eastern European and Central Asian countries respec tively– these regions were chosen because they 
were not covered through the regional trade policy c ourses.  In order to establish some contacts and 
deal with some of the issues in those regions, alth ough not in the same detail as in a regional trade 
policy course, the Secretariat thought it would be useful to undertake these workshops for the 
university professors, keeping in mind that for exam ple Tanzania would be covered by the African 
regional trade policy course.  He said that if Tanz ania would like to have a national workshop, for 
example on WTO issues for university professors, th e Secretariat would certainly consider that. 
71. The representative of Kenya
 noted that for some of the activities and regions there was some 
urgency in receiving technical assistance, for exam ple on  rules in the African region.  He said 
assistance was needed with plurilateral agreements  such as the Information Technologies Agreement. 
72. The representative of the European Communities  urged delegations needing assistance on 
services to make their requests as soon as possible.  He mentioned that assistance on this issue could 
also be provided with the help of the OECD.  He al so asked the Secretariat to clarify how funding was 
made available for the WTO's participation in the IF , and whether this participation should come from 
the regular budget or the GTF. 
73. The Secretariat  clarified that the WTO's regular participation in the IF was funded from the 
regular budget.  However, for those technical assi stance activities resulting from the IF and where the 
WTO played a leading role as assistance provi der, the funding came from the GTF.   
74. The representative of Venezuela  requested that the TA Plan cl early state that the Agreement 
on Government Procurement was a plurilateral agreement.   
75. The representative of Uganda  welcomed the EC's proposal to have the OECD help on 
providing assistance on services but thought that the currently scheduled events should not be 
postponed. 
76. The representative of Canada  suggested that on the issue of  textiles, the necessary assistance 
should be provided through other institutions  such as the ITC, UNCTAD and others.   
77. The Chairman  said it did not seem as if a consensus could be reached on the adoption of the 
TA Plan for 2005.  He said he would hold consu ltations on this issue and reconvene the meeting on 
26 November 2004 to see if the TA Plan could be adopted then. 
78. The meeting was suspended . 
79. The meeting was reconvened on 26 November 2004.  The Chairman  recalled that the 
Committee had already started its examination of th e TA Plan for 2005 at the previous meeting in  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 15 
 
 
 September 2004.  He also recalled that the Committee had discussed the Plan again on 
16 November 2004, but that it had not been possible for the Committee to adopt the TA Plan for 2005 because of differences among Members regarding certa in regional seminars.  He informed Members 
that he had held various informal consultations on this issue with in terested Members but  that these 
had not resulted in finding a solution that addressed the concerns of all parties.  While it was not his 
intention to now open the floor for discussion on this  item, he asked if any Member had comments on 
any other matter in connection with the TA Plan for 2005. 
80. The representative of the European Communities
 suggested that there needed to be a 
correlation between the national activities for a country  and its needs assessment.  However, he said 
that the needs assessment was not to  become an additional step to have access to TA and he was not 
asking a re-write of the Plan on this issue.  He  was only focusing on the need to encourage this 
approach as a best practice. 
81. The representative of Venezuela  requested that the representative of the EC provide more 
detail.  
82. The representative  of Cuba  questioned the EC's proposal and asked who would be the judge 
on whether the TA requested would be granted. 
83. The representative of India  said that he did not see anything wrong with the way the Plan 
dealt with the issue of needs assessment and that this was probably the best way to proceed on this 
issue. 
84. The Secretariat  clarified that the issue of need s assessment was still being discussed in 
consultations to see how they could be made more effective but it was not envisioned that this would 
become an additional conditionality.  
85.  The representative of the European Communities  clarified that no changes in the drafting of 
the Plan were being sought, but only a reassurance that there would be an interaction between the 
recipient countries and the Secretariat to better pr ioritize the technical assistance to be undertaken. 
86. The representative of China  said that if the response of the Secretariat had been satisfactory 
on the issue of needs assessment, th en there should not be any reason to  add any additional text to the 
TA Plan.  He said that all activities should be carri ed out in accordance with the TA Plan, and that it 
was not appropriate to undertake activities that were  not contemplated in the Plan except for national 
activities. 
87. The representative of Sri Lanka  said that he considered the EC 's suggestion to be valuable.  
He added that countries should be encouraged to perfo rm a needs assessment and if they were not able 
to do a needs assessment on their own, then the Secretariat should provide assistance to perform this 
needs assessment. 
88. The representative of Venezuela  thanked the EC representative for his clarification and 
recognized the efforts made by the European Communities as an important donor country.  He noted, however, that the status quo regarding needs assess ments seemed to be working but that suggestions 
were welcome on how to improve the process.  In any case, he said, there should not be a single 
methodology for performing a needs assessment, as the idea was that each country would have a 
"custom made suit" of technical assistance that would reflect their particular situation. 
89. The representative of Barbados
 reiterated the importance of the TA Plan as an exercise to 
prioritize the TA needs of developing countries.  However, paragraph 8 the TA Plan recognized that 
there should be flexibility in its implementation.  This flexibility was very important to enable the WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 16  
 
 Secretariat to respond to urgent technical assistance needs which may arise in developing countries.  
Therefore, pragmatism in the implementation of the Plan was desirable at both the regional and 
national level. 
90. The Chairman
 proposed that the Committee take note th at everything in the TA Plan for 2005 
was agreed, except sub-paragraph 11 of paragraph 68 and the part of Annex II which concerned the 
list of activities relating to textiles and clothing.  Consultations would continue to resolve this 
outstanding matter and Members were asked to be pr epared to return to the CTD at short notice to 
formally adopt the TA Plan.   
91. The representative of Canada  asked whether it would be possi ble to pass the budget along to 
the Budget Committee for approval, given that the am ount of money to be approved for funding of the 
TA Plan would remain the same, independent of how the textiles issue was resolved.   
92. The Chairman  said that he had assurances that the Budget Committee was not in a position to 
conclude its work the following week, and that a delay did not restrain the budget outcome.  He, 
therefore, preferred not to proceed in the directi on suggested by Canada until the textiles matter  was 
resolved.  He said this was also th e preference of the parties involved. 
93. The representative of China  asked for clarification on whether the Secretariat could proceed 
with the preparations of some of the activities that have already been scheduled in the Plan which may 
take place in early January 2005 or some period afte r January 2005.  If the Secretariat could not do so 
because the Plan was not adopted, then  he requested that all preparations for any activities that would 
be taking place next year be stopped immediately.   
94. The Chairman  said the Committee had an understanding of  the issue to be resolved and the 
key matter was for him to assist the parties on both si des to seek an early resolution of the problem.  
He was assured that the Committee had another coup le of weeks to resolve the matter and thought it 
might be better to leave it to the Secretariat to clarify the interaction between the CTD and the TA 
Plan and the Budget Committee.  Thus, there was a fo rmal issue on the Secretariat side and there was 
the consultative issue on the paragraph that he men tioned with respect to textiles and clothing.  The 
latter was for Members to resolve.  He noted that if he was not clear it was because he was not clear.  
He said he had learned that sometimes it was better in the WTO to leave things unclear.  But what was clear was that he would continue to dialogue with  the parties and see if a quick resolution to this 
matter could be achieved.  After the issue was resolv ed in the Committee, he would need to reconvene 
the CTD to adopt the TA Plan. 
95. The meeting was suspended
. 
96. The meeting was reconvened on 10 December 2004.  The Chairman  informed Members that 
at its meeting on 3 December 2004, the Budget Co mmittee had approved the financing of the TA 
Plan, as authorized by the CTD. 
97. The Chairman recalled that at the last fo rmal session of the CTD, which was held on 
26 November 2004, he had said that everything in the Plan for 2005 was agreed except 
sub-paragraph (xi) of pa ragraph 68 and the part of Annex II which concerned the list of activities 
relating to textiles and clothing.  He had said that consultations would continue  on this matter and that 
the CTD would need to reconvene in formal sessi on in order to adopt the Plan.  He informed 
Members that at the last open-ended informal mee ting held on 2 December 2004, he had reported on 
the status of his consultations with the parties.  T hose consultations had contin ued after that meeting.  
The position now being explored concerned an adjustme nt to the references to textiles and clothing in 
paragraph 68(xi) and Annex 2, and the inclusion of  a new paragraph 62 which would read as follows:  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 17 
 
 
 "Given the importance of textiles and clothing for certain developing and least-
developed countries in a post-ATC environmen t, technical assistance activities in this 
area shall be conducted in response to the de mand of beneficiaries.  In doing so, the 
most cost-effective and efficient manner in  which the activities can be conducted will 
be explored by the Secretariat.  To th is end the indicative figures regarding the 
number of national activities per country will be  applied flexibly to take account of 
the additional requests that ma y result from this approach." 
98. The Chairman asked Members whether they ha d any comments on the proposed amendments.  
There were no comments from the Members.  The Ch airman then proposed that  the Plan in document 
WT/COMTD/W/133/Rev.1 be adopted as amended. 
99. It was so decided . 
D. DECLINING TERMS OF TRADE FOR PRIMARY COMMODITIES , AND ITS IMPLICATION TO TRADE 
AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY COMMODITY EXPORTING COUNTRIES  
100. The Chairman  recalled that at the last meeting it was ag reed to invite various organizations to 
share their experiences on the work they had done on commodities.  It was also  agreed that the first 
speaker in this series would be a representative from UNCTAD.  In order to clarify the content of the 
presentation, he said he had invited Members to  participate in an informal meeting on 
8 November 2004.   
101. The presentation given by the representative of the UNCTAD  is re-produced below: 
"A. BACKGROUND: Real prices are low...   
Commodity price indices 1964-2004 (1985=100)
 
 
12-monthly averages  
Current $ Current SDRs  Real prices* Product 
Group 
1964 1994 2004** 1994 2004** 1964 1994 2004** 
Tropical 
beverages 33 91 55 63 38 89 58 37 
Other food 66 152 133 106 91 178 96 88 
Vegetable 
oilseeds and 
oils 46 107 112 75 77 124 67 74 
Agricultural 
raw materials 46 140 126 98 87 124 89 83 
Minerals ores 
and metals 49 124 155 86 107 132 79 103 
Crude 
petroleum 8 57 127 39 87 22 35 83 
 Source:  UNCTAD, Commodity Price Bulletin  various issues 
 * Current prices in dollars deflated by Manufactures Export Unit Value Index for 
developed-countries 
 ** October 2003-Sept 2004 average 
… in spite of the recent upward movements, basically owing to the general, albeit 
uneven, recovery of the world economy, a nd to fast-increasing commodity demand in WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 18  
 
 Asia, especially China.  Industrial raw mate rials, including cotton and rubber, were 
the principal gainers, benefiting from the economic upturn and strong Chinese 
demand.  Tropical beverages were again left  behind, partly the result of continued 
supply overhangs and insensitivity of  demand to economic conditions.  
Changes (per cent) in average monthly prices (October 2003 – September 2004) 
 
over the same period a year earlier  
 
Tropical 
beverages Other 
food Vegetable 
oilseeds, oils Agricultural 
raw materials Minerals ores 
and metals Petroleum 
2 9 22 18 36 22 
 Source: UNCTAD database  
Increasing yields, on the average have not  compensated for the price declines – 
except in some countries (mostly new areas brought into production) and for some 
products. 
Selected commodities: Index of real prices 2002-2003 (1985=100)  
and yields (2001-2003)as a proportion of (1984-86)  
 
coffee cocoa maize cotton  
price yield price yield price yield price yield 
Sub-saharan 
Africa 21* 122 141 103 107 
Developing 
Asia 25** 151 109 139 121 
Lat. Amer. 
and Carib. 22*** 147  
  
51° 
63 163 216 
Developed      
  
49°° 
122  
  
69°°° 
 
97 
Source:  UNCTAD, Commodity Price Bulletin  various issues and FAO 
statistical database  *Robustas  ** ICA indicator 1976 *** Brazilian and other arabicas 
°Average daily prices °°Argentinian °°° Index A 
 
The amplitude of volatility is higher than  earlier. Apart from lags in (the often 
imperfect) supply response to price signals  and the impact of weather conditions, 
speculative activity also generates price fluctuations. 
Instability indices for prices: Commodity groups and selected products  
 
 1989-92 2000-03 
Tropical beverages  
coffee 
cocoa 8.2 
12.9 
9.1 9.1 
11.2 
14.1 
Other food 
wheat 
sugar 
bananas  3.6 
12.1 
12.1 
17.7 4.0 
7.0 
15.0 
20.3 
Vegetable oilseeds and oils 
soyabean oil 
palm oil  6.7 
3.5 
10.2 9.3 
9.1 
11.3 
Agricultural raw materials
cotton rubber  3.6 
10.5 
5.7 6.0 
15.3 13.2 
  Source: UNCTAD secretariat calculations  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 19 
 
 
 Developed countries are becoming more important exporters  and developing 
countries more important importers of agricultural products (including processed 
forms).  On the export side, the major factors behind this trend are agricultural support in developed countries and the more rapid growth of exports of high valued 
processed items from these countries than from developing countries.  On the import 
side, the main reasons for the increasing share of developing countries are rapid 
industrialization and income growth, whic h generate demand for both imports and 
domestic supplies.  Nonetheless, developed countries still account for two thirds of 
world non-fuel commodity imports.  They are likely to remain a dominating influence for many years to come, and they have a crucial role in establishing conditions in 
international commodity markets that are favourable to developing countries.  
 Share in world trade (%)
 
 
Developed countries Developing countries  
1970 2001 1970 2001 
Food items:   
Exports 58 64 33 33 
                              
Imports 72 66 18 28 
Ag raw materials:  
Exports 58 62 31 31 
                              
Imports 73 62 14 34 
 Source: UNCTAD database 
Between 1990-91 and 2001-02, the share of  processed products rose from 42 per cent 
to 48 per cent of global agricultural trade. Developed countries are more successful in 
this respect.  Looking at developing countri es' trade, coffee, sugar and cotton, which 
were the top agricultural exports thirty year s ago, have now been replaced by fish and 
vegetable oils.  Non-traditional exports su ch as fruit and vegetables and flowers have 
also become much more important.  Not all countries have been able to participate 
profitably in this transformation.  The bulk of the increase in dynamic exports has originated from the more advanced and al ready diversified countries of South East 
Asia and Latin America.  Success stories from other regions, such as flower exports of Kenya, can also be cited.  These countries not only have entered markets of non-traditional products, but also add value to  their exports, for example by supplying 
ready-made flower bouquets and vegetables that have been packaged, bar-coded and 
ready to be put on the retailers' shelves. 
B. SYNOPSIS:  UNCTAD’S WORK ON COMMODITIES 1. Mandate
 
 UNCTAD's work on commodities is based on the diagnosis of the 
commodity situation and the direction provi ded by its membership at UNCTAD XI.  
Sao Paulo Consensus, which says…  
 Over 50 developing countries depend on the exports of three or fewer 
commodities for more than half of their export earnings.  The decline and instability of world commodity prices and resultin g terms-of-trade losses have reduced 
economic growth in many deve loping countries, particularly in economies that are 
not diversified, such as the LDCs and the African countries, and contributed to increased poverty and indebtedness.  Moreove r, the added value retained by many WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 20  
 
 developing countries' producers of commodities is decreasing in some sectors, and 
their participation in domestic and interna tional value chains is a major challenge.  
This situation may be further complicated by concentrated market structures at the international and national level. Furthermore, countries often face difficulties in meeting the standards and requirement s in developed countries' markets. 
(Paragraph 64) 
 A concerted focus should be put on the difficulties faced by commodity-
dependent developing countries.  Efforts by these countries to restructure, diversify and strengthen the competitiveness of thei r commodity sectors, including through 
local processing, should be supported, includi ng by the provision of enhanced market 
access on a secure and predictable basis, adequate technical and financial assistance, 
and strengthening of capacity and institutions , in both the public and the private 
sectors.  Investments in infrastructure, domestic structural reforms and prudent and transparent fiscal policies will encourage productive investment in the commodity 
sector.  Existing compensatory financing schemes should be reviewed with a view to 
assessing their effectiveness and, as may be required, making them more user-
friendly and predictable and possibly combining them with modern risk management and risk-sharing instruments.  The potential of regional integrati on and cooperation to 
improve the effectiveness of traditional commodity sectors and support diversification efforts should be exploited.   Relevant suggestions contained in the 
report of the Meeting of Eminent Person s on Commodity Issues 5 and the relevant 
outcome of discussions at the fiftieth session of the Trade and Development Board 
and in the General Assembly on the report should be given serious consideration.  
Support for commodity development projects – especially market-based projects – and for their preparation under the Second Account of the Common Fund for Commodities should be encouraged.  It is al so important to address fully the problem 
of the cotton sector faced by African countries at the national level and in the relevant 
fora at the international level.  (Paragraph 74) 
 UNCTAD should continue to monitor developments in commodity markets 
and assist developing countries, in partic ular those most dependent on commodities, 
in formulating strategies and policies to respond to the challenges of commodity markets, including over-supply, and addressing links between international 
commodity trade and national development, pa rticularly poverty reduction.  It should 
analyse and promote exchange of information on commodity markets and experiences with factors, policy issues and responses influencing the competitiveness 
of the commodity sector so as to contribute to diversification, adding value, and more effective participation in the supply chain, including through assistance for institution 
building; analyse and support the devel opment of appropriate and effective 
mechanisms and capacity to respond to comm odity price fluctuations and to mitigate 
earnings shortfalls, in particular by improving the capacity to apply modern commodity price risk management and fi nancial instruments; and follow up, as 
appropriate, on the recommendations addressed to UNCTAD in the report of the Meeting of Eminent Persons on Commodity Issues.  UNCTAD should also continue 
work on agricultural, forestry and fishery products, metals and minerals, and oil and 
oil products.  It should further help to build effective partne rships among relevant 
stakeholders aiming at viable solutions and sustainable approaches to commodity 
problems, including by fostering public-private cooperation in commodity chains with a view to ensuring, inter alia  through market-based principles, a more equitable 
distribution of revenues and benefits  along the supply chain and supporting 
diversification. It should include a regi onal perspective in its work.  UNCTAD and  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 21 
 
 
 the Common Fund for Commodities should strengthen their cooperation.  
(Paragraph 100) 
 And the establishment of the International Task Force on Commodities. 
(Paragraph 114 and Annex) 
 The principal aspects of this ass essment and work programme are: 
1. Dealing with low and fluctuating prices and their impact.  
2. Improving competitiveness. 
3. Support to negotiation of International Commodity Agreements. 
 
2. Approach  
 UNCTAD's work on commodities is anchored in complex realities.  
UNCTAD takes a holistic view of the commodity situation.  It is focused on obtaining development gains from the commodity sector and making it a positive factor in the development process and poverty reduction, particularly in LDCs.  The 
traditional problems of declining terms of trade and price fluctuations are very 
important but so are the new problems re lated to generating, identifying and 
exploiting the opportunities offered by new developments in commodity markets.  
There is a need to differentiate between ma rket access and market entry issues, with 
the former subject to negotiations at WTO and the latter generally falling outside the 
realm of WTO.  UNCTAD's wo rk helps prepare the ground for dealing with these 
two types of issues, in the WTO, in RTAs and outside the negotiating framework.  
The latter include national policies that re quire international support.  Technical 
cooperation and consensus building functions  of UNCTAD are particularly important 
in these areas.  
 A single track approach (action on prices or market access alone) will not be 
sufficient to generate development gains. 
3. Premises
 
 The situation is bad but windows of op portunity exist, principally owing to 
rapid growth in Asia (basically China and I ndia) and levelling of the playing field as a 
result of trade negotiations.  They can be u tilized if supply capacity is there or can be 
developed.  
a. Prices 
 Different prices (internationally quoted prices, border prices, farmgate prices, 
consumer prices) are important for different actors in the commodity economy.  There may be little correspondence between these different prices. 
 There are immediate (catastrophic leve ls), short term (volatility) and long 
term (structural oversupplies) problems related to prices, each with a different 
potential remedy.  
b. Competitiveness  Modern supply chains have specific re quirements that must be understood.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 22  
 
  Improving competitiveness and supply capac ities is the key.  Without market 
access and well functioning markets, however, this may be of little value. 
 Opportunities exist and new ones are emerging.  These have been, and are 
being, exploited by some competitive supplie rs with business skills rather than those 
with preferential market access.  
 It is crucial that these opportun ities, including the new 'windows of 
opportunity' opening in fast growing large markets such as China and India, are not closed by developed countries exploiting their permitted support levels.  
4. Some policy options
 
a. Liberalization 
 Generally it means more rules to be ab ided by, small producers are inherently 
disadvantaged.   
 Liberalization takes place in WTO and under structural adjustment 
programmes. Also, new market structures are a new element of a liberalized environment. 
 In WTO, Agreements on Agriculture, NAMA, SPS, TBT, TRIPs, Services, 
are particularly relevant.  So are various articles of GATT Part IV. 
b. Prices  Will be helped by successful conclusion of Doha work programme.  Need to differentiate between ac tion on prices and on dealing with the 
undesirable consequences of low and volatile prices.  The second is more likely.  
 For catastrophic price levels, for a shor t term solution, elimination of supply 
overhangs is necessary. 
 Action to deal with price levels and instability, by producers alone or together 
with consumers, is very complicated.  Mo re than anything else, it calls for political 
will by a wide variety of actors, who must act in concert.  This political will does not 
seem to be there, either among producers or  consumers.  International policy dialogue 
may help generate some overall political w ill, but any action must be on a commodity 
by commodity basis and based on a very realistic approach.  Action by producers alone may benefit from a stronger political will,  but experience shows that it is easy 
to break. 
 It would be irrational to prevent producers who can produce competitively 
from doing so. The important developmental challenge is to eliminate exit barriers 
faced by others and enable them to ge t out the vicious circle of poverty and 
dependence on low value commodities. 
 Dealing with structural oversupplies calls for elimination of exit barriers and 
enabling diversification by uncompetitive producers into high value alternatives.  
Massive international financial and technical  support is necessary, to be supplied in a  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 23 
 
 
 coordinated manner for cohe rent action in individual countries.  In reality, 
development assistance to agriculture is much less than it was earlier.  
 Action to increase global generic demand would help.  To improve 
competitiveness with respect to synthetics, scientific research must be supported on a 
commodity by commodity basis.  Techni cal specifications and acceptance by the 
industry are the critical factors in this respect. 
 Regarding instability, market based pri ce risk management instruments have 
the potential to provide a safety net.  They  will not reduce instability.  Given the large 
economic cost of price risk exposure, e fforts to create the capacity to manage 
commodity price instability should be a part of all rural development schemes. 
 Compensatory finance may help countries (not necessarily producers) but 
there are large practical difficulties.  These have been recognized by those supplying 
compensatory finance (EU and IMF), and attempts at improving them are under 
discussion.  It can be turned into an au tomatic insurance scheme with much more 
predictability.  Domestic measures are needed to shield producers. 
c. Competitiveness  
 Various aspects, including information, technology, finance, institution 
building must be dealt with to improve competitiveness and supply capacity, and achieve successful participa tion in modern supply chains 
Resource flows  to agriculture must be increased . OECD DAC flows to agriculture, 
which comprised 11.7 per cent of the total in 1981-82, declined to 5.6 per cent in 
2001-2002 (OECD), and there is no indica tion that it has rebounded.  The Common 
Fund for Commodities is the only internati onal organization that provides finance 
exclusively for the commodities sector.  Its meagre resources need to be increased. 
Awareness of and understanding market cond itions and requirements are among the 
first prerequisites of improved co mpetitiveness.  Access to useable information  is the 
key factor.  There are global information sources, but many of them are costly. 
UNCTAD’s Infocomm programme provid es useful information on several 
commodities freely on the Internet. 
The ability to meet the standards  is very limited among small farmers.  In many 
cases this requires considerable investments, which the small farmers are unable to undertake individually.  Moreover, instituti ons and infrastructure for quality control 
and assurance are lacking.  Global initiatives that would provide support in these 
areas, including both financial and technical assistance is required.  Support to farmers' organizations would also help. 
Owing to the large quantities  involved in trade, small farmers are disadvantaged as 
their participation in supply chains.  Bu ying from small suppliers leads to higher 
transactions costs for the buyers who prefer to deal with a small number of large 
suppliers.  Organization among small farmer s could reduce some of these transaction 
costs, but it is a complicated venture.  International cooperative movements could assist in this area.  
Access to finance  is an important constraint for the agricultural sector, particularly in 
developing countries, and especially for small farmers.  Warehouse receipt finance is WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 24  
 
 probably the simplest technique for providing finance to producers.  Improvement of 
the legal environment with respect to ownership rights, bankruptcy, and the 
transferability of warehouse receipts, contr acts and export licenses is a prerequisite 
for enhancing finance opportunities for farmers, and international community can provide much help in this respect.  Gl obal initiatives could be envisaged to support 
pilot projects on commodity finance. 
The distribution of the value added along the supply chain is affected by the 
difference in the market power  of the agents.  Large international firms dominate 
world markets and enter into commercial relations with much smaller entities. Cooperative action may increase bargaining power.  While national rules on 
competition policy may deal with dominance on domestic markets, no corresponding 
mechanism exists regarding the situation in  international markets.  Nevertheless, 
there have some been proposals to bring a di scipline to concentration in international 
commodity markets.  These include an inte rnational review me chanism for proposed 
mergers and acquisitions among agribusiness companies that are present in a number 
of countries simultaneously, and extending transparency requirements now imposed 
on state-trading enterprises to companies w ith 20 per cent or more of a national or 
global market in a given commodity. 
d. A multi-stakeholder approach  Partial solutions and single-track appr oaches are unlikely to be effective, as 
has been seen in the past.  A coherent , multi-faceted stance, however, requires a 
global multi-stakeholder participation in the conceptualization as well as 
implementation of programmes to deal with the problems of the commodity sector in general, and small farmers, in particular .  In this connection, it is necessary to 
overcome scepticism and find the political will. 
 To further this 'mindset change', an  International Task Force on Commodities 
has been launched at UNCTAD XI (UNCT AD 2004a, p.34).  It will examine such 
global initiatives, provide substantiv e ideas and give a political boost where 
warranted.  It will help in ensuring netw orking and synergies between activities of 
different bodies and different actors, inter alia  to avoid duplication and ensure 
coherence, and in generating technical cooperation ideas, building upon technical 
cooperation projects so that their impact s are enhanced, and identifying technical 
cooperation projects that fall outside the purview of existing organizations, in 
particular multi-stakeholder projects." 
102. The representative of Kenya
 suggested having more discussions on the presentation at the 
next meeting to give more time for delegations to analyse the paper which  addresses some of the key 
points in this matter.  He suggested including more information in the paper that was presented as he 
did not believe that it covered the vast experience of UNCTAD on this issue. 
103. The representative of the United States  asked what concrete programmes UNCTAD was to 
implement after the São Paulo mandate.  She said this  could help identify what could be done by the 
WTO and thus to avoid a duplication of efforts. 
104. The representative of UNCTAD  replied that the main problem was one of resources as 
commodities did not receive much extra budgetary support.  Activities at the country level were 
therefore relatively low.  There was some specifi c work being done on pro duct diversification and 
integration in value chains.  He explained that  UNCTAD had done some specific studies on the role 
of supermarkets, but that when it came to stud ying specific products, there were some resource  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 25 
 
 
 problems.  In JITAP, UNCTAD was trying to inte grate the commodities and commodity value chains 
into identification export opportunities from the devel opmental point of view.  Some studies were also 
being done on the question of cost of compliance with standards, like SPS, private standards, and 
standards for export of food products for certain specific countries.  UNCTAD had also done some 
work on information, risk management and finance.   For this a website had been created to provide 
free information to users on commodities markets, th rough links to other sites.  Some innovative work 
was being done on financing, such as a meeting on how to generate financing for the agricultural 
sector.  Here UNCTAD had found that using a value chain approach to financing provided much more 
opportunities for agriculture than just focusing on  production.  What this meant was that for 
production that was to be exported, the financing banks might be guaranteed some receipts from the 
exports, so that the export revenues would be redir ected to the banks providing more opportunities for 
the financing of credit unworthy producers.  UNCTAD was also doing some work on commodity 
exchanges in developing markets, like they had d one in India, and also on risk management.  
UNCTAD had produced a report to the General Asse mbly of the UN which provided an overall view 
of what was happening in this area and concluded that  there was potential for expansion.  He said that 
there was also some consensu s building work which was bei ng done between developed and 
developing countries on how best to prioritize the work in this area. 
105. The representative of Australia  said it was necessary to have some more time to have a closer 
look at the paper presented.  He also noted that it would be useful to hear from other institutions 
active in this field.  
106. The representative of Canada  said that it was necessary to hear other presentations on the 
subject and then to have a wide ranging discussion of the issues.  
107. The representative of Venezuela  noted that since it was not possible, due to a lack of time, to 
have a dialogue with UNCTAD's representative, it w ould be useful to invite him back at a later 
meeting. 
108. The representative of the United States  warned against duplication of  the work carried out by 
the WTO with the work of other IGOs.  She al so mentioned that the work in the NAMA and 
Agriculture negotiating groups which touched on th is matter was about to start.  She suggested 
inviting other institutions such as the FAO, the ITC,  the World Bank and the OECD to also speak to 
the Committee on their work in this  area.  She said that the United States had identified some experts 
from the private sector who might be able to shar e their experiences on risk management and futures 
exchange.  She said it would be useful to hear  from these experts from the New York and Chicago 
exchanges, and also from Malaysia, Brazil and Sout h Africa.  She added that these discussions should 
then be given a WTO angle. 
109. The representative of Brazil  believed it would be useful to invite UNCTAD back after the 
paper had been read carefully to have more opportu nities to interact before moving on to the next 
presentations.  He would also look into the possibility of inviting Brazilian experts.  
110. The representative of Cuba  said she agreed with Venezuela and that she also wanted to 
engage in a dialogue with UNCTAD.  She supporte d the comments made by Venezuela and suggested 
having a special session on this issue. 
111. The representative of Kenya  said that the presentations must help define the work of the WTO 
on this matter and, therefore, more informati on was needed from UNCTAD.  He suggested first 
finishing with a thorough discussion of UNCTAD 's work, including the report to the General 
Assembly, before moving on to hear other institutio ns or country experiences especially on the issue 
of product diversification.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 26  
 
 112. The representative of China
 noted that this was a cross-cutti ng issue of a lot of importance to 
developing countries.  He said that at the moment it was not possible to comment on UNCTAD's paper and the report to the General Assembly.  He al so said that studies should be not based on theory 
and hypothesis but should be based on scientific facts.  
113. The representative of the United States
 said that she did not want to repeat discussions that 
had taken place in other institutions.  She also me ntioned that there should be a balance in the 
presentations and that it was important  to hear from other institutions. 
114. The representative of Switzerland  said that better coordination was needed as there were two 
events on this issue taking place at the same time .  He also welcomed the opportunity to further 
interact with UNCTAD and expressed his desire to achieve concrete results and move away from 
discussions on process. 
115. The Chairman  proposed to invite the UNCTAD represen tative back for the next meeting to 
continue the discussion on the presentation.  He al so said that since this issue was introduced by 
Kenya, the Committee should be guided on how next to proceed by Kenya. 
116. The representative of Venezuela  insisted that the debate w ith UNCTAD be finished before 
moving on to other presentations.  
117. The representative of Kenya  said that they believed that UNCTAD possessed more 
information than what they had included on th e paper and presentation and asked UNCTAD to 
expand on what had been presented. 
118. The representative of Malaysia  noted that his delegation would be happy to contribute to the 
discussions on this item by making a presentation on their experience. 
119. The representative of Rwanda  supported the statements made  by Kenya and looked forward 
to further discussions on this issue. 
120. The representative of Canada  said that it was important to make sure the Committee also 
heard the views of other organizations.   
121. The representative of China  said that the Committee should even tually also invite the World 
Bank and the FAO to hear what kind of work these organizations were doing on the issue of 
commodities. 
122. The Chairman  proposed to invite the representative of  UNCTAD back for the next meeting of 
the Committee and to continue the debate on UNCTA D's presentation.  However, he said he would 
also invite a representative of Malaysia to make a presentation on its experiences in product 
diversification. 
123. The Committee so agreed . 
E. PARAGRAPH 51 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING 
DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER TO HELP ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATELY REFLECTED  
124. The Chairman  recalled that at the last regular meeting, the CTD had discussed how best to 
move forward on this item.  One of the suggestions  that had been made was to continue with the 
presentations by the Secretariat of the differe nt negotiating groups.  The rules negotiation was 
mentioned as one of the areas which so far had not been presented to the Comm ittee.  At the informal  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 27 
 
 
 meeting of 8 November 2004, the issue of how to proceed with the work of the Committee on this 
issue was also discussed.  It was decided that an invitation would be extended to the Secretariat to 
speak to the Committee on the devel opmental aspects of the Negotiating Group on Rules.  He then 
offered the floor to the Secretariat for its presenta tion on the developmental aspects of the Negotiating 
Group on Rules. 
125. The Secretariat  made the following presentation on the developmental aspects of the 
Negotiating Group on Rules: 
"The Secretariat has been asked to make a presentation on the developmental aspects 
of the Negotiating Group on Rules.  A thorough presentation of all proposals relating to development would require an extensive period of time.  As Members are aware, 
more than a hundred and fifty papers ha ve been submitted to the Negotiating Group 
on Rules to date.  Many proposals explic itly refer to development issues or the 
Special and Differential Treatment to Deve loping Countries.  Other proposals, while 
not expressly referring to development, may relate somehow to developmental 
aspects.  
My intention is neither to make an exhaustive description of all proposals relating 
specifically to development, nor to examine possible developmental impact of these and/or other proposals. 
My intention is rather to make an intr oduction on the negotiations on Rules, followed 
by a reference, by way of example, to  some of the proposals which Members 
themselves have identified as being rela ted to development, to Special and 
Differential Treatment to Developing Count ries or to sustainable development, and 
then try to respond to questions Members may have. 
It should be clear to Members that this presentation is simply an overview of the 
negotiations and in no way intends to reflect the totality of proposals made, nor the different views, positions and opinions of  participants in the Negotiating Group on 
Rules.  It goes without saying that this presentation in no way prejudices the positions 
of Members in the negotiations. 
Introduction
:  
The Mandate for Rules Negotiations:  Paragra ph 28 of the Doha Declaration, reads:  
'In light of experience and increasing application of these instruments 
by Members, we agree to negotiations aimed at clarifying and 
improving disciplines under [the Agreement on Anti-dumping] and 
[the Agreement] on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, while preserving the basic concepts, principles and effectiveness of these Agreements and their instruments and objectives, and taking into account the needs of developing a nd least-developed participants.' 
The mandate also includes the aim to 'clarify and improve WTO disciplines on 
fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing 
countries'. 
The Negotiating Group on Rules has been meeting on a regular basis since 2002, both 
formally and informally.  Negotiations on the disciplines and procedures on Regional 
Trade Agreements are also conducted unde r the Negotiating Group on Rules, but are WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 28  
 
 in fact treated distinctively in terms of Secretariat support – therefore I will not talk 
about this aspect of the negotiations today. 
In August of last year, the Secretariat issued a Compilation of all proposals presented 
to the Group until that time. This compilation is contained in document TN/RL/W/143.  Although the compilation has not been updated, it still contains 
reference to most if not all of the pro posals which expressly refer to development 
issues. 
Since the issuance of the Compilation, about  25 new proposals have been submitted 
to the Group.  These new proposals (i.e. post-Cancun papers) can be found in the 
document series TN/RL/GEN/... 
There are three main areas of negotiations: 
 1) Anti-dumping  2) Subsidies and Countervailing Measures  3) Fisheries Subsidies Anti-Dumping
 
This is the area of the rules negotiations  on which Members have focused the most. 
The number of issues identified by Members as deserving clarification and improvement cover practically all Artic les of the Agreement on Anti-Dumping. 
The largest number of proposals on AD has be en made by a group of Members which 
call themselves the 'Friends of Anti-Dumping Negotiations' or FANs.  This group, as 
you know, includes both developing and deve loped Members and calls for improved 
and strengthened disciplines on Anti-Dumping. 
It should be noted that, in addition to the FANs, other Members – both developing 
and developed – also have tabled proposals on anti-dumping. 
In terms of development -related proposals on AD, the issue of Special and 
Differential Treatment for Developing C ountries is perhaps the one of most 
relevance. 
A number of Members have proposed revisiting Article 15 of the Agreement on AD.  
This provision calls for 'special regard' to  be given by developed country Members to 
the 'special situation of developing country Members when considering the 
application of [anti-dumping] measures.' 
The FANs, for example, have proposed to develop the terms of Article 15 to make 
this provision fully operational and include  provisions to give developing country 
Members meaningful and effective Special and Differential Treatment. 
Several other proposals on S&D were re ferred to the Group by a letter of the 
Chairman of the General Council in May 2003.  These are basically proposals from the African Group and call for 'constructive re medies' to be explored by developed 
country Members when applying anti-dumping measures on products from 
developing countries.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 29 
 
 
 Other proposals regarding developing countries were made on issues such as 
initiations of investigations, price undertakings, de minimis thresholds, lesser duty 
(mandatory application of the lesser-dut y rule when applying AD measures on 
products from developing countries), a nd Reviews and other areas of the AD 
Agreement. 
I should also note that some developing c ountries have expressed concerns in the 
Group about negotiating AD disciplines which would be too difficult to be applied in practice.  These Members have stated that, having recently established an AD authority and having little experience in the application of the current rules, they would have difficulties in applying even more complex procedures in terms of 
investigation requirements etc. 
Finally, a number of proposals on increased transparency and due process in the 
conduct of AD investigations have been made which, although not expressly relating 
to development, may (or may not) have developmental aspects.  As I said, the 
purpose of this presentation is not to make an exhaustive listing or analysis of the 
development aspects of all proposals to the Group, but rather to provide Members 
with an overview of the negotiations, with  examples of proposals which have been 
identified by Members themselve s as relating to development. 
Negotiations on Anti-Dumping have shown that this is not simply an 
exporter/importer issue, nor a developed/de veloping country issue.  AD measures are 
now being applied by a variety of WT O Members, both amongst developed and 
developing ones.  And this, of course, is reflected in the negotiations. 
Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
 
The proposals on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures may be divided in two main 
areas: (1) the disciplines on Governments' subsidies programmes, which we usually call the 'subsidies disciplines';  and (2) the disciplines on the application of 
countervailing duties (CVD). 
Most of the proposals on countervailing me asures presented to the Group relate, at 
least to some extent, to proposals on AD.  No specific proposals on development have been tabled in the area of CVD (only, of c ourse, to the extent that there should be a 
harmonization of rules on AD and CVD, where applicable). 
In the Subsidies Disciplines area, a number of development-related proposals have 
been tabled. Approximately 20 proposals re late to Article 27 of the Agreement on 
Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement). 
Article 27, as you know, establishes rules for Special and Differe ntial Treatment for 
Developing Countries and contains a series of special provisions and waivers of obligations.  Proposals on Article 27 basically  call for more flexibility in terms of 
allowing governments to have recourse to different categories of subsidies as an 
instrument of development. 
There have also been proposals to reintr oduce Article 8 of the SCM Agreement.  As 
Members are aware, Article 8, which contained provisions on Non-Actionable 
Subsidies (the 'green light' in the traffic-li ght structure of the Agreement) was subject 
to provisional application under Article 31 of the SCM Agreement, and lapsed on 
31 December 1999.  Article 8 described th ree types of subsidies (assistance for WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 30  
 
 research activities, assistance to disadvant aged regions and assistance to promote 
adaptation of existing facilities to new envi ronmental requirements) which would be 
considered as non-actionable, under certain conditions and following certain criteria. 
One proposal under the current negotiations ca lls for the reinstatement of Article 8, 
with an additional type of subsidy (assi stance to product diversification), when 
applied by developing countries. 
As I said, these are only a few examples of proposals made in the area of subsidies 
disciplines, which have been expressl y identified by Members as relating to 
development. Many other proposals have  been tabled, which certainly have 
developmental aspects. 
Fisheries Subsidies
 
It comes as no surprise that this is the area of the Rules Negotiations in which 
Members most clearly identified 'sustainable development' aspects of their proposals. 
The initial proponents of disciplines on fisheries subsidies are a group of Members 
who call themselves 'the Friends of Fish'.  These Members basically call for 
strengthened disciplines on subsidies related to fisheries, in view of both trade 
concerns and concerns with over-e xploitation, over-fishing and resource 
management. 
Currently, discussions on fisheries subsidies are mainly focused on types of fisheries 
subsidies and their categorization. 
Since the words 'sustainable' and 'developm ent' have been used specifically by 
Members in some of their proposals, I thought I might quote, for the benefit of 
Members, some of the formulations used in these proposals: 
- one proposal reads:  'determine the scope of subsidies to be 
negotiated in order to give [differen tial consideration] to subsidies of 
different natures and effects on trade, environment and sustainable 
development '; 
- another proposal suggests:  'to provide for the review of the lists of 
"prohibited" and "permitted" subs idies, both in terms of their 
operation and to consider whether they should be modified to further advance the ultimate aim, which is to match capacity to the available fish and so contribute to the sustainable exploitation of fishery 
resources '. 
I should also mention a paper with proposals from a group of Small 
Vulnerable Coastal States (all of them developing or least-developed countries), to the effect that 'any  development assistance granted to 
these small vulnerable coastal states by developed or more advanced 
developing countries to facilitate sustainable management  should 
be excluded from the definition of subsidy in Article 1 of the SCM Agreement'. 
In the negotiations on Fisheries subsidies, therefore, Members have clearly indicated 
developmental and environmenta l aspects of some of their proposals.  This should  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 31 
 
 
 help to achieve, as called for in Paragraph 51 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, 'the 
objective of having sustainable development appropriately reflected '." 
126. The representative of Chile  noted that in the anti-dumping negotiations, the issue of special 
and differential treatment had been clearly identif ied but that no discussion on how to address this 
issue had been held. 
127. The representative of Venezuela  requested more information on how the Negotiating Group 
on Rules was addressing paragraphs 28 and 32 of the Doha Declaration on trade and environment and 
the interests of developing countries. 
128. The representative of Guatemala  asked for the presentation to be made available to Members. 
129. The representative of Hong Kong, China  asked whether the Committee would also have an 
opportunity to discuss the negotiations taking pl ace in the Negotiating Group on Rules on regional 
trade agreements. 
130. The Secretariat,  in reply to Venezuela, noted that the Negotiating Group on Rules had 
discussed papers that were presented by the Members.  To the extent that these papers covered issues 
related to trade and the environment and the inter ests of developing countries, these issues would be 
addressed in the course of the discussions.  The Secretariat said there had been a number of proposals 
mostly on fisheries subsidies that relate d to sustainable development to date.   
131. The representative of Barbados  said it was difficult for some Members to follow these very 
technical issues, as they lacked experts in the area and some did not have trade remedies legislation.  
She noted that special and differential treatment shoul d not be in the form of exceptions from some of 
the rules but should be an integral part of the agr eements.  She also said that the issue of fisheries 
subsidies was of great importance to some developing countries. 
132. The Secretariat  noted that proposals on new disciplines for fisheries subsidies had been put 
before the group.  In some of these proposals it was recognized that the issue of fisheries subsidies 
had developmental and environmental aspects but that it also affected trade. 
133. The representative of Venezuela  noted that the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and 
Environment had reported on his consultations w ith the CTD Chairman.   He asked whether the 
Chairman could report on the information excha nge that was ongoing with the Chairman of the 
Committee on Trade and Environment. 
134. The Chairman  said that he had had various discussions  with the Chairman of the Committee 
on Trade and Environment and that both recognized  the challenges in the interpretation of the 
mandate in paragraph 51.  However,  there was nothing new to report to the Committee.  He suggested 
organizing a meeting with the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Environment and any 
interested Members to see if a better understanding of the work under paragraph 51 could be had from 
such a meeting.  
135.  The representative of Venezuela  said that he would participate in such a meeting as this issue 
was of much interest to his delegation.  He said he had some ideas and views on how the work under 
paragraph 51 should be carried out. 
136. The Chairman  encouraged the representative of Venezu ela to prepare a paper for circulation 
to the Committee with his views on the issue of paragraph 51.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 32  
 
 137.  The representative of Venezuela
 said that his delegation together  with other delegations were 
working on a paper that would be submitted to the Committee on Trade and Environment. 
138. The Chairman  proposed that since the presentation on rules had not covered the Negotiating 
Group's discussions on regional trade agreements, this could serve as the next issue for discussion at 
the Committee. 
139. It was so decided .  
F. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE  
140. The Chairman  recalled that at the Committee's meeting in September, it had been decided to 
invite a representative of the ITU to speak on the la test developments in the preparation of the second 
phase of the World Summit of the Information Soci ety that would take place in Tunisia in 2005.  
Since the expert was unavailable, the Chairman proposed  to revert to this item at the next regular 
meeting of the Committee. 
141. It was so decided . 
G. GRADUATION OF THE MALDIVES FROM LDC  STATUS (WT/COMTD/W/128) 
142. The Chairman  recalled that this item was on the agenda of the previous meeting of the 
Committee.  Unfortunately, the delegation of the Mald ives could not travel to Geneva to  be present 
and it was decided that this issue would be taken up at  this meeting.  The Chairman noted that he had 
been in contact with the Maldives' delegation and th ey had said that their work on a plan for a smooth 
transition to developing country status was conti nuing.  He also understood that the Maldives would 
be able to present this transition pl an to the Committee at  its first meeting in 2005.  Therefore, he 
suggested reverting back to this item at  the next meeting of the Committee.   
143. It was so decided .  
H. PARTICIPATION OF THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES IN THE GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM 
(WT/COMTD/W/136) 
144. The Chairman  reminded Members that under this agenda  item, the Secretariat had prepared a 
note circulated to Members as document WT/COM TD/W/136 and corrigendum 1.  This note had 
been prepared to assist the Committee with its re quirement to keep under continuous review the 
participation of developing economi es in the multilateral trading system.  The note highlighted salient 
features of developing economies trade, focusing mainly on the period 2000-2003.  It also touched upon various issues including the participation in merchandise trade by each of the developing 
country regions, participation in world trade in servi ces, as well as a specific section on LDCs.  The 
Chairman then opened the floor for discussions on the paper prepared by the Secretariat. 
145. The representative of Canada
 said that it would be useful to have the full numerical 
information for some of the charts presented in the paper. 
146. The Secretariat  noted that more complete statistical information had been included in the 
appendix to the paper. 
147. The representative of Brazil  requested the Secretariat to introduce the paper and suggested 
placing this issue in the agenda for further di scussions at the next meeting of the Committee.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 33 
 
 
 148. The Secretariat  said that the paper had been prepar ed to assist the Committee with its 
requirement to keep under continuous review the participation of developing economies in the 
multilateral trading system.  The paper highlighted salient features of developing economies' trade, focusing mainly on the period 2000-2003.  It also touched upon various issues including the participation in merchandise trade by each of the developing country regions, participation in world 
trade in services, as well as a specific section on LDCs. 
149. The representative of the European Communities
 said that this was a very useful reference 
document.  He also made a series of observations b ased on the statistics presented in the paper.  He 
said that globally the picture painted by the paper was encouraging as the participation of developing 
countries had risen lately reaching again the high mark  that had been achieved in the year 2000.  He 
also noted the increase in South-South trade.  He said that the interesting disaggregation at regional 
levels allowed some useful analysis.  It was inte resting to see the increased growth sustained in the 
East Asia region, especially in China.  He also remarked on the increase in  trade between China and 
Latin-America.  He said that he was very encouraged by the section on services as one could see an increased growth in this area in Africa, although adm ittedly from a very low base.  He also noted that 
the paper also confirmed the increase by India in partic ipation in global trade.  In general, he found 
this a useful exercise that allowed Members to ke ep track of developments in trade by developing 
countries. 
150. The representative of Kenya
 asked the Secretariat to clarify the concept of "trade per capita" 
and asked what was the benefit of this statistic. 
151. The representative of Venezuela  asked the Secretariat about th e product coverage of the term 
"fuels" that was used in the paper.   
152. The representative of the United States  noted that the paper by the Secretariat was very useful 
to identify trends and patterns in trade by developi ng countries.  She highlighted that the fact that 
there had been overall growth of participation of developing countri es in world trade was important, 
and that the challenge now was to build upon this gr owth.  She also highlighted the growth levels 
achieved in such areas as office and telecom equi pment and machinery, tr ansport and consumer 
goods.  She said the positive growth rate achieved by LDCs and the increasing role of China was an 
engine for growth in world trade. 
153. The representative of China  commended the Secretariat for an accurate study which was 
based on scientific observations and not hypothesis or predictions.  He highlighted the fast growth in 
trade participation of all developing countries, includ ing LDCs.  He also highlighted the trade growth 
between China and other developing countries and also LDCs and underlined the importance of 
South-South trade and cooperation.  He said that  imports into China from LDCs are done on a zero 
tariff and quota-free basis and that this had contribute d to their growth.  He noted that there had been 
an increase in the participation of LDCs in world trade, although their participation was still relatively 
small. 
154. The representative of Antigua and Barbuda  noted that the statistics were in many cases very 
difficult to compile, especially in services.  He also expressed concern about the trade per capita 
analysis as it could provide a distorted view of  the situation of small countries like Antigua and 
Barbuda.  He asked what were the components of  the statistics reflecting trade in commercial 
services.  He also asked how Article 4 of GATS was being monitored by the Secretariat. 
155. The representative of Argentina , regarding statistics presented on the Falkland Islands, noted 
that the Falkland Islands were not a country, it was a te rritory over which a territorial dispute existed.  
He also noted that the correct denomination was Falkland Islands (Malvinas)  in English or Islas 
Malvinas (Falkland) in Spanish.  WT/COMTD/M/51 
Page 34  
 
 156. The representative of Venezuela
 asked where the Secretariat had obtained statistics for the 
Falkland Islands (Malvinas). 
157. The Secretariat , in reply to the questions on trade per capita, said that this concept was 
defined at the beginning of the paper.  This statistic  was not originally prepared for this document, but 
it thought that this could be useful additional inform ation, that could be annexed.  That being said, it 
was also mentioned by some Members that the developing countries were a heterogeneous group and 
it would be interesting to relate trade to other in dicators to give some ideas of the relation between 
countries in terms of trade performance.   
158. On the question regarding the scope of the te rm "fuels", the Secretariat referred to the 
"Standard International Trade Classification (SITC)", and said all the statistics had been prepared in 
the context of the SITC Classification III, and "f uels" was classified under SITC group section III.  
Regarding office and telecoms equipment classifi cation, these groups had been done several years 
back and with recent trade development and technolo gy changes, they had become less useful.  The 
Secretariat was looking at how to break them dow n further to make them more appropriate for 
economic analysis. 
159. On the sources used for services trade statisti cs and services classification, the Secretariat said 
it used the IMF balance of payments manual, and there were basically three major groups/categories 
there.  These were transport services, travel services and other commercial services which was broken down in several other components such as communi cation services, construction services, insurance, 
financial computer and information, royalties a nd licence fees, recreational services and other 
business services.  The problem was that other business services was a residual category so many 
different kinds of services fell in that category when  countries could not appropriately classify them.  
This made it quite difficult for economic analysis and to make cross-country comparisons.  Regarding 
the source of the statistics, the WTO Secretariat said it had no mandate to do its own data collection in 
terms of trade statistics.  The Secretariat relied heavily on other internati onal organizations' data on 
services.  The data was taken mostly from the IMF database, and complemented with national 
statistics.  Regarding merchandise trade statisti cs, these trade data were collected by the United 
Nations Statistics Division, by origin, destination and by product.  These data were then used to 
prepare the Secretariat's statistics according to th e Secretariat's geographic compositions and product 
definitions. 
160. The Secretariat apologized for the inclusion of statistics on the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), 
as this was not a country and should not have been included. 
161. The representative of Venezuela
 said that the note used the term "fuels" in a chart in page 4, 
and that in page 24 there was a mention that the te rm commodities included "crude oil, gas and coal".  
He requested more clarification on the scope of these terms, and considered that gas was not a commodity. 
162. The Secretariat
 said that the scope of the two terms was different and that this would be 
clarified in the note. 
163. The Chairman  proposed that at this stage the Committ ee take note of the statements made and 
decide to revert to this item at th e next meeting for further discussions. 
164. It was so decided .  WT/COMTD/M/51 
 Page 35 
 
 
 I. DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT (WT/COMTD/W/137) 
165. The Chairman  noted that a draft of the Committee's  Annual Report to the General Council 
was circulated by the Secretariat in docum ent WT/COMTD/W/137 and opened the floor for 
comments on the draft.   
166. The Committee adopted  the annual report.1 
J. OTHER BUSINESS  
 2004 WTO/OECD Report on Trade-Related Tec hnical Assistance and Capacity Building 
(TRTA/CB) 
 
167. The Chairman  raised an item under "Other Busine ss" concerning the 2004 WTO/OECD 
Report on Trade-Related Technical Assistance and Cap acity Building.  He noted that this report was 
available in the room under the Job Number 7340.4.  Concerning the report itself, he informed Members that the Secretariat would appreciate it if they could make their comments available by e-mail to the WTO's ITTC Division or to the OECD.  The e-mail addresses appeared on page 2 of the report.  Once comments were incorporated, the fina l version would be made available to Members.  
At the same time, the joint Website would be updated. 
168. The representative of the United States
 said that her delegation had completed its assessment 
of US bilateral technical assistance and would provide the information to the OECD. 
169. The representative of Canada  said she was impressed with the improvements on the website. 
She noted the website was easy to use and provided a lot of useful information.  She hoped that this 
tool would be used by the recipient countries. 
170. The Committee  took note of the statements made.   
171. The meeting was adjourned  on 10 December 2004. 
__________ 
 
 
                                                      
1 This report was circulated as document WT/COMTD/50.