RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/23 
22 March 2006 
 (06-1292) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
7 February 2006  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 7 February 2006  
 
Chairman: Mr. Pascal Lamy (Director-General)  
 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
 
1. Statement by th e Chairman.....................................................................................................1  
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of th e Bodies Established by the TNC...................................3  
3. Statements by participants..................................................................................................... ..7 
 
 
1. Statement by the Chairman 
1. The Chairman  said that since the beginning of the year, he had been pursuing his contacts 
with a wide range of Members at various different levels and in various locations.  His activities had 
included meetings with various groupings – African  Group, African Caribbean Pacific (ACP), Least 
Developed Countries (LDCs), Grulac, G20 – meeti ngs with a larger number of ambassadors in 
Geneva and with a number of Ministers, including in the margins of the World Economic Forum in 
Davos some 10 days prior to the present meeting.  He  had also recently returned from a visit to Chile, 
Peru and Argentina.   
2. From the conversations he had had during these activities, he had received three clear 
messages: one, that there was wid espread commitment to making good what had been agreed at Hong 
Kong; two, that there was a shared intention by the Members to move ahead across the whole of the 
Doha Development Agenda (DDA), making progress on a ll issues; and three, that all interlocutors had 
understood that they would have to move from thei r current positions and were willing to do so by 
moving "in concert".   
3. He said that obviously, agriculture, in partic ular market access and domestic support, and 
non-agricultural market access (NAMA)  remained the flagships of the convoy, but no-one was in any 
doubt that the convoy was a large one.  These two issu es had an important role in leading the convoy 
to port, but all Members knew that the convoy had to arrive together.  This was the very essence of 
the principle of the "Single Undertaking".  In the bodies under the TNC alone, Members were working on ten separate areas – beyond agri culture, including cotton, and NAMA – including 
services, where the Hong Kong Declaration had opene d the door for plurilateral negotiations which 
would be to a great extent demand driven.  For the negotiations to achieve real progress over the 
following weeks, the request-offer negotiations had to be intensified.  There was also rules, TRIPS, 
environment, trade facilitation, di spute settlement – although it was not  part of the Single Undertaking 
– special and differential treatment (S&D) and implementation. TN/C/M/23 
Page 2  
 
  4. In the other areas of the DDA, which were unde r the General Council, Members also had a 
long list of very important issues like small econo mies, e-commerce or commodities to name a few.  
Even a quick look at the Hong Kong Ministerial Declar ation illustrated the size of the task ahead of 
Members.   
5. The Declaration included a number of deadlines, toge ther with instructions in other areas.  To 
help Members plan and focus their work, they w ould have received a pape r setting out the various 
timelines for work this year, in particular for the first part of it
1.  The paper had repeated the very 
detailed timelines in the Hong Kong Declaration on  agriculture, NAMA and services.  It had also 
fleshed out with greater precision the work ahead  in the areas where the Hong Kong Declaration had 
been more general.  He said that this paper had not been intended as an item of discussion, or 
negotiation in its own right.  It did not alter the balance achieved in the Hong Kong Declaration.  It 
was simply a tool to assist Members, as well as th e Chairs of the negotiating groups, in keeping an 
overview of the progress that was needed to advanc e the negotiations as a whole, and in making sure 
that no issue slipped behind.   
6. He wished to say a word on process.  He believed that there could be no doubt that the 
process pre-Hong Kong had served Members well, even if it had not been perfect.  It had been met 
with widespread satisfaction, as the TNC had heard from delegations many times during the 
preparatory process.  He believed that Members should therefore maintain and, where necessary, 
improve on it.  A transparent inclusive process, based on a bottom-up approach was clearly in the 
interests of Members.  He wished to stress what  he believed was the essential outreach role played by 
the different groupings before and at Hong Kong which in his view needed to continue throughout 
2006. 
7. The work also had to continue to be integrated  in a coherent way, both across the subjects and 
the different levels of the negotiations.  This mean t that Members clearly needed not only to intensify 
the work in the negotiating groups, but also at the level of capital-based officials and of Ministers. 
8. He believed that all Members recognized the valu e of this multi-layered process, and that no-
one had any doubt that the Geneva process remained  the backbone of the negotiations.  Whatever 
might take place outside of this process, at whatever level, could not be anything other than an input 
to the multilateral forum where the decisions were made.   
9. For his part, as he had said, he had already inte nsified his consultations  with delegations in 
Geneva and capitals, including regula r meetings with the coordinators of the regional groupings.  He 
would continue to work in close cooperation with the Chairs of the negotiating groups and with the 
General Council Chairman, and togeth er they would ensure that there was a high level of coordination 
across the work.   
10. As Members would have probably noticed in th e Declaration, the Ministers had given him 
quite a long "to do" list: chairing the TNC; intensifying his work on implementation, providing updates on the development assistance aspects of Cott on; and working on Aid for Trade.  He wished 
to say a word on the last task.  He was now read y to establish the Aid for Trade Task Force – the 
composition of which he would announce at the Ge neral Council the following day – and to start 
consulting on appropriate mechanisms to increase fi nancial resources for Aid for Trade.  He intended 
to ensure that Members made solid progress in this  work, which he expected to continue through the 
year at different levels, so that the Aid for Trad e programme became operational with the end of the 
negotiations.  He would keep Members informed of progress in all these areas. 
                                                     
 
1 Contained in JOB(06)/13.  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 3 
 
 
11. However, this always remained a negotiation among participants.  If Members were to reach 
agreement on schedule, it was essential for them to in tensify their contacts with other delegations and 
with their capitals, to move towa rds the elements needed to conclude this Round at the end of the 
year.  In particular, it was now urgently necessary to move to negotiating elements of texts and to 
flesh out discussions on generally applicable provisi ons and formulae with bilateral consideration of 
concrete and specific trade effects.  He strongly enco uraged participants to step up this work, and he 
was aware that this had already started. 
12. Turning to implementation, he said he wished to make his first report in his capacity as 
Director-General, as mandated in the Hong Kong Minist erial Declaration.  Ministers had asked him to 
intensify his consultative process on all outstanding implementation issues under paragraph 12(b) of 
the Doha Ministerial Declaration, without prejudice to the positions of Members.  He had also been 
asked to report to each regular meeting of the TNC and the General Council, and the Council was to 
review progress and take any appropriate action no later than 31 July 2006.   
13. He had already started intensifying the consu ltative process, with the assistance of a number 
of the Chairpersons of concerned WTO bodies acti ng as his Friends and two of his Deputy Directors-
General, Valentine Rugwabiza who would take up the TRIMs issues and Rufus Yerxa for the issues 
of geographical indications (GIs) and the rela tionship between the TRIPS Agreement and the 
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).  He woul d be meeting with his Friends in the present 
week and he intended to ask them to resume info rmal consultations as early as the following week, so 
that he could report on progress achieved at the next TNC meeting.   
14. The report he had made on these issues to th e last TNC meeting in November 2005 had 
shown that the situation had not evolved signifi cantly since July, when the General Council had 
renewed the mandate given to the Director-General in  the July 2004 Decision.  It had been for this 
reason and with the aim of fulfilling the commitment on this issue they had undertaken at Doha, that 
Ministers had instructed this process should continue , which had been at least partially discussed in 
Hong Kong.  They had also reiterated their instru ctions to all relevant bodies to find appropriate 
solutions as a priority.  As he had said before, Members would need both flexibility and creativity in 
their approaches to this long list of issues if they were  to be able to respect their mandate.  He counted 
on the co-operation of all Members in this task. 
15. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the Chairman's statement. 
 
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of the Bodies Established by the TNC 
 
16. The Chairman  said that, in line with the review of Chairmanships which was taking place in 
the General Council, the new slate of names of nego tiating group Chairs was due to be agreed at the 
General Council meeting the following day.  He wished  to thank the Chairs for the intensive, and at 
times thankless task they had undertak en on behalf of all Members.   
17. Ambassador Falconer (New Zealand), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on 
Agriculture , said that since Hong Kong, his group had had one meeting which had been practical and 
business like and which had reflected the degree of  political momentum achieved in Hong Kong.  He 
would never over-exaggerate that, but he did not believe that Members would do themselves any 
favours by pretending that nothing had happened in Hong Kong.  Some of the things achieved there 
which had been reflected in the Hong Kong Declara tion had made a difference to the work of the 
group.  It remained to be seen how much differe nce that would be, but there was some degree of 
momentum.  Some of what had come out of Hong K ong, including cotton, had given a bit more shape 
to the process. TN/C/M/23 
Page 4  
 
  18. It had been clear from the discussions at the me eting that everybody had taken the deadline of 
the end of April very seriously.  The deadline itself had detectably raised the level of urgency and focus in the discussions.  He believed he had sen sed from the Members a real readiness to create a 
more tangible way of recording the progress made.  There had also been a sense that it would not 
make the job of the group any easier if Members sat in suspended animation for the following few 
months hoping that at the end of April they would pu ll some miraculous text out of thin air.  He 
believed that there had been a sense, that had al ways existed in the discussions pre-Hong Kong and 
which he believed was still present post-Hong Kong, th at there should be a bottom-up process.  It was 
perfectly compatible with such a process to have a more reiterative way of recording progress so that 
the surprise element, if any, was lessened.  If one saw various versions of the progress that was being 
made along the way, it was easier to have a sense of direction than if one interpreted a bottom-up 
process to mean that nothing ever took the shape of  the written word until the last possible minute.  
He hoped that there was a sense that this was a more  mature and more practical way to organize the 
group's work until the end of April and he proposed to continue moving in that direction.   
19. It was very clear that the direction was to have modalities by the end of April.  This was not a 
selective process – it meant that all the issues in the modalities would have to be done.  He had not 
seen or heard and would not expect to hear anybod y detracting from this.  It remained clear to him 
that this was the will of Members and in a transp arent and bottom-up process, it could not have been 
any other way.  However, he did not believe that it in dicated any lack of practicality.  He believed that 
there was a sense that in order to succeed, there was a kind of reasonably natural order of how the 
work should proceed.  Everything could not be done si multaneously but this did not mean that work 
should not proceed in a business-like way.  The issu es had to be dealt with in a proper order and he 
believed there was a willingness on the part of the Memb ers to be realistic about that.  But everything 
needed to be done and nothing could be forgotten.  He believed that there were ways to be reassuring 
about that as the work proceeded.   
20. As the Chairman had said in his opening stat ement, there needed to be a process among 
Members themselves because they need ed to talk to each other and to do so urgently.  But it was well 
understood that this was a multilateral process and that  whatever began among bilateral or plurilateral 
discussions had to come back and be worked through multilaterally so it was owned by the 
membership as a whole.  There was no alternative to  this process which was a means to ensure that 
the process functioned more effectively.  There also  needed to be a political process, not necessarily 
in the sense that politicians were physically pr esent all the time, but that there was a line of 
responsibility into the official process that ensu red that political movement  was present so that 
negotiators in Geneva could do the technical work th at was needed.  It was clear to him that this 
needed to happen and nobody had disagreed and he believed that this would be the key to whether 
Members could do their job effectively in the coming months.  At the technical level, one only needed 
to look closely at the Hong Kong text to see what he believed was a pretty clear diagnosis of what 
needed to be done immediately.   
21. Finally, he said there were only ten working week s for what was a very large range of issues 
to be dealt with, including nearer to the deadlin e, convergent issues.  There remained only three 
scheduled meetings of the Agriculture Special Sess ion before the end of April.  To be realistic, 
Members would need to make concrete progress in their forthcoming meeting the following week and 
in March if they were to do their job.  This was th e reality.  This meant, as the Chairman had said that 
at the end of April Members would need to have a text.  His group did not have a text with a capital 
"T" imminently, but it did need a practical process that looked credibly as if it was going to deliver one each step of the way if it was going to do its job.  This seemed pretty clear and Members would 
have the test of that the following week. 
22. 
Ambassador Fernando de Mateo Venturini (Mexico), Chairman of the Special Session of the 
Council for Trade in Services , said that the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration had provided essential  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 5 
 
 
guidance for the services negotiations to proceed to th eir conclusion by the end of this year.  It had 
established an indicative set of clear negotiati ng objectives, and laid down a methodology and 
timeline to achieve them.  The Hong Kong servi ces text had not however defined or provided a 
formula for the outcome of the negotiations.  The outcome was in the hands of the individual Members engaging in the request-offer process during the year.   
23. During this time, the negotiating process would be demand-driven.  The degree of success 
achieved in December would depend entirely on the e ffort that Members were prepared to put into 
ramping up the request-offer process.  In order to succeed, the negotiations would be increasingly 
dependent on inputs from capitals, s ubstantial coordination efforts at the domestic level and ultimately 
on much closer involvement by Ministers. 
24. The timeline for this work was summarised in JOB(06)/13.  The first deadline established in 
the Hong Kong text on services was the end of the presen t month.  By that time, Members wishing to 
submit plurilateral request-offers should have done so.  A second round of revised offers was due by 
31 July, as were appropriate mechanisms to impl ement LDC modalities.  The final draft schedules 
were due by 31 October.   
25. Important multilateral work in the Special Session remained over the following months, 
notably on the implementation of LDC modalities,  and the consideration of proposals on S&D 
treatment provisions.  In addition, work in subsid iary bodies in services would continue in their 
respective areas. 
26. The Hong Kong Declaration had given the service s negotiations a new sense of direction and 
purpose.  However, time was very short.  By thei r very nature, the services negotiations were a long 
and incremental process of repeated requests and offe rs.  One could not expect that a last-minute, 
magic formula would appear to resolve a process  which required much negotiation in Geneva and 
especially, preparation and coordination in capitals including high-level decisions.  Now was the time 
to redouble efforts to achieve durable results in services by the end of the year. 
27. Ambassador Valles Galmés (Uruguay), Chai rman of the Negotiating Group on Rules
, using 
the analogy of a pilot, said that what a negotiatin g group Chair had to do after that pause that a 
Ministerial Conference created was to  regain altitude and cruising speed and to use the new flight plan 
given to him by the Conference.  As pilot, he wa s relatively satisfied about the speed and altitude, and 
how the rest of the crew were getting to grips with the new flight plan given to them by Ministers. 
28. In this respect, he wished to take up the tw o main areas in the negotiation – anti-dumping and 
subsidies, including fisheries subsidies, on the one  hand and regional trade agreements (RTAs) on the 
other.  In the first area, negotiations were taking place during the present week.  In the paragraph on 
anti-dumping, Ministers had clearly indicated the direction and product that was expected.  The mandate was for the Chair to prepare consolidated te xts that would be the basis for the final stage of 
the negotiations, and he wished to point out that the words "the basis" were the only part of the 
Ministerial Declaration which had been underlined in the text. 
29. This mandate did not refer at all to dates, but th e indications that he had received as Chair in 
his consultations showed that Members wished to have this basis before the summer break at the 
latest.  He had also consulted with Members about the tasks that would be necessary to be able to 
fulfil the mandate in a timely manner, and he wished  to point out two of the most important aspects.  
Firstly, participants should undertake without delay th e work on the basis of detailed textual proposals 
on disciplines on subsidies in the fisheries sector – this was work which the Group had to start.  
Secondly, the Group had to complete the presentati on of outstanding proposal s concerning subsidies 
and also complete the analysis that had alread y begun of texts on a various issues related to anti 
dumping.  Discussions had already started on a possible work plan for March, April and June, so that 
as from the final session in June, the Chair could be able to start drafting consolidated texts, as TN/C/M/23 
Page 6  
 
  requested by the Ministerial Conference, sufficiently in advance so as to ensure a timely result to the 
negotiations. 
30. Turning to RTAs, he said the Group had moved forw ard in its analysis of text on the basis of 
an Informal Note by the Chairman.  He believed that the discussion had provided a good basis to be 
able to respect the mandate from Ministers to reach a provisional decision by 30 April.  The Group 
was considering the best way to guarantee that a tr ansparency mechanism would not undermine in any 
way the rights and obligations that already existed, in particular the Enabling Clause. 
31. On substantive and systemic matters in the area of RTAs, the Group had moved forward in 
what he would term a very interesting way, although  not totally satisfactory.  It had gone into some 
depth in its analysis of a roadmap that he had ma de available in order to guide the discussion on the 
important subject of clarifying and improving obliga tions on "substantially all the trade" in the 
Uruguay Round Agreements. 
32. Overall, a great deal remained to be done, particularly in anti-dumping.  The Group had had 
open and clear discussions on the need for interactiv ity in future dialogue and the disposition of the 
Chair to use all possible means, such as Friends of  the Chair, informal meetings, although ensuring 
full transparency, so that the basis of the work would be established by the summer break.  
33. Ambassador Ahmad (Pakistan), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS
, 
said he wished to simply inform the TNC that th e first formal meeting of the Special Session was 
planned to be held back-to-back with the regul ar session of the Council for TRIPS, on 16 and 17 
March.  Prior to that meeting, he would hold cons ultations on how the work should be organized this 
year so that the Special Session did not remain grounded and could complete its negotiations in line 
with the decision at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conf erence and in the light of the points that the 
Chairman had made at the present meeting. 
34. Ambassador Noor (Malaysia), Chairman of  the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation , 
wished on behalf of the Negotiating Group to place on record appreciation to the Ministers for approving the eight recommendations of the Group at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  
Together with the modalities which had been ad opted on 1 August 2004, the decisions of the 
Ministers in Hong Kong would provide further guidance to the Negotiating Group to proceed and 
conclude its work as part of the Single Undertaking. 
35. He said that the next meeting of the Group had been scheduled for 15-16 February.  He 
thanked all Members for their positive participation in the Negotiating Group since its inception.  He 
also expressed his appreciation to the Director-G eneral and Secretariat for their support to the 
Negotiating Group. 
36. Mr. Ismail (South Africa), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , said that he was pleased that after a great deal of debate and intense negotiations at 
Hong Kong, Members had been able to agree on a package for the LDCs by adopting the five LDC 
proposals contained in Annex F of the Declaration.   
37. As everyone was aware, the five decisions adopted at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference 
included a decision on duty-free, quota-free market  access, a decision on the TRIMs Agreement, a 
decision on waivers and two decisions relating to the Decision on Measures in Favour of LDCs.   
38. However, Members would still need to spend some time discussing how they would 
implement these decisions, particularly the decision on duty-free, quota-free market access for LDCs.  It would be recalled that the Chairman, Secretary Jo hn Tsang, at the Plenary Meeting on the last day 
of the Ministerial Conference, had stated that Decision 36 on duty-free quota-free market access for  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 7 
 
 
LDCs had been adopted with the understanding that the text contained in sub-pa ragraph (a)(ii) of that 
decision was a "framework" which Members had to bu ild upon to set out the means of implementing.  
Members had been urged to do this by the end of 2006.  
39. In addition, Ministers had instructed the Committee on Trade and Development in Special 
Session (CTDSS), to complete the review of all the outstanding Agreement-specific proposals and 
report to the General Council, with clear recommend ations for a decision at the latest by December 
2006.  The Special Session had also been instructed to resume work on all other outstanding issues, 
including on the cross-cutting issues and report on a regular basis to the General Council.  The bodies 
in which the Category II proposals were being addressed  were also to complete consideration of those 
proposals and report periodically to the General Counc il, with the objective of ensuring that clear 
recommendations for a decision were ma de no later than December 2006.   
40. He said that not only the CTDSS but all other negotiating bodies had a lot of work ahead of 
them this year.  It was therefore important that  the Special Session established a clear roadmap for 
work to enable Members to begin their planning.  A part of this had already been done by establishing 
certain timelines, which had been discussed during the recent informal Ministerial meeting held on the 
sidelines of the Davos meeting. 
41. He thanked Members for their fullest co-operation and assistance during the past two years in 
which he had chaired the CTDSS.  He remained c onvinced that the interest and concerns of all 
developing countries and especially the LDCs, and th e small, weak and vulnerable economies had to 
be addressed as Members strived to conclude the DDA by December 2006. 
42. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the reports by the Chairpersons of the bodies 
established by it. 
 
3. Statements by participants 
43. The representative of Djibouti  said that everyone had done excellent work at Hong Kong.  
The Ministers had given negotiators clear negotiati ng mandates after the hard work put in by the 
Chairman and the General Council Chairman over se veral months.  However, no-one should be too 
self-congratulatory.  At Doha, the Ministers had al so given clear mandates, and everyone was aware 
of the time that it had taken to achieve success.  Ministers had taken decisions, but progress depended 
on delegates in Geneva.  In the course of the year , agreement would have to be reached on a wide 
range of issues – at least that was what was hoped.  In the 11 years he had been a representative at the 
WTO, many deadlines had been set to try to incite  delegations to advance their work, and this was 
happening again.  However, his delegation hoped that  the interests of LDCs would not be drowned 
out in the wider discussion.  The LDCs were not very demanding, and the Chairman had promised to ensure a focus on these needs.  The LDCs were satisfi ed thus far, but they hoped that in the future 
they would continue to be heard. 
44. The main issues of interest to the LDCs, in cluding cotton which concerned many of them, 
were key to their integration. They were under no illusions that they would have to be able to 
negotiate carefully on these issues, and they w ould need technical cooperation for that. The donor 
countries had been generous in this respect, and the LDCs had benefited, but more was needed.  
Certain technical cooperation programmes did respond to their needs, such as the three month programmes in Geneva and in Africa which corr esponded to the LDCs' needs in the negotiations. 
45. His delegation hoped that delegati ons would be able to show a collective will to respond to 
the instructions from Ministers, in part if not in whole.  Not everything would be resolved, but his 
delegation hoped that achievements would be possible in some areas. TN/C/M/23 
Page 8  
 
  46. The Chairman
 said that he believed it was clear to everyone that several issues which were 
specific to the LDCs had been well discussed, negotia ted and agreed at Hong K ong, and that this was 
an encouragement to continue on the same path. 
47. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  said his delegation wished to 
place on record its position on JOB(06)/13.  In the head ing of the document, it was stated that: "For 
some issues, complementary information has been adde d with the aim of assisting participants to plan 
their work – this is indicated in italics".  His delegation wished to thank the proponents of this 
document for their intention to help Members plan their work.  However, it believed that the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration, which was the outcome of an arduous process of negotiation by Ministers, on which his delegation had expressed reserv ations due to the imbalance that it had brought 
to these negotiations, was already excessively coercive in terms of dates. 
48. It was also affirmed in the heading that this complementary information did not pretend to 
reinterpret or modify the decision taken by Ministers.   In reality, a simple look at it would show that 
the text in italics contained redundant complementar y information, reinterpretation of the Ministers 
texts, as well as obligations that had not been agreed  to in December.  His delegation also wished to 
draw attention to the fact that the document referred  to participants and not to Members.  It did not 
know what the intention was behind this language and requested clarification. 
49. As everyone was aware, his delegation had expressed two reservations on the Hong Kong 
Ministerial text, which had been formally reiterated at  the end of January to the Secretariat in a letter 
sent to the Chairman of the General Council and to  the Chairman.  His delegation had received a 
response to its communication containing the two r eservations.  It understood from this response, for 
which it thanked the Chairman, that the addressees considered that his delegation had requested an 
amendment to the Ministerial text.  His delegation wished to clarify formally that it was not requesting an amendment, it was simply formalizing its  reservation.  It believe d that, legally speaking, 
reservations were upheld in international practice, and it would therefore insist that it had a right to 
make them.  In particular, the reservations con cerned Annex C on services and paragraph 14 of the 
main body of the Declaration, which related to th e tariff reduction formula in NAMA.  Therefore, not 
only did his delegation not consider the text in italic s to be binding, but also it did not consider the 
text in bold related to these two reservations to be binding. 
50. One of the motivations for the reservations  introduced in Hong Kong was the imbalance 
generated prior to and during the Ministerial meeting by giving priority to market access concerns 
over the legitimate aspirations of developing countries in the final outcome of the Round.  Therefore, 
accepting additional dates, in particular those under rules, trade and environment, GIs, TRIPS and 
trade facilitation, would contribute to a greater imba lance in the negotiations.  These were areas where 
developed countries were the main demandeurs. 
51. Furthermore, this so called extended roadmap w as just one more example of the preoccupying 
tendency towards less and less transparency in th e way in which decisions were taken in the 
Organization.  This tendency had become more acu te since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, as 
his delegation and others had shown in the paper available at the present meeting entitled 
"Irregularities identified in the negotiation and deci sion making process at the Sixth WTO Ministerial 
Conference".  With the present document, a small gr oup of Members sought not only to reinterpret the 
will of all Ministers and the highest decision ma king body, but also to try to introduce a new 
institutional framework that would go beyond the wo rk of the various negotiating groups, which were 
the correct place where decision should be taken on how to operationalize the decisions adopted by 
Ministers. 
52. His delegation wished to draw attention to th e order of the issues in JOB(06)/13, in which 
issues central to an important number of developi ng countries had been left until after July, a date  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 9 
 
 
which was considered to be important for a number of political circumstances.  These issues included, 
inter alia , S&D treatment, the treatment of small econom ies and certain aspects related to Aid for 
Trade. 
53. For all the reasons given above, the Bolivarian  Republic of Venezuela believed that both the 
procedure with which these dates were reached and their applicability within the negotiations were 
questionable, and thus, the elements of reinterpre tation and the additional commitments would not be 
recognized by his delegation as legitimate obligations in the DDA. 
54. The Chairman  thanked the delegation of Venezuela fo r its comments on JOB(06)/13.  As he 
had said in his introductory statement, it was clear th at this paper did not contain any new obligations.  
He believed it was clear to everyone that it was si mply a guide for the work, and not a decision, nor 
the result of anything negotiated.  Consequently, it did not contain any new obligations for Members.  
Secondly, on Venezuela's reservation, he said th at the General Council Chairman and he would 
respond to that point at the Genera l Council meeting the following day. 
55. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDC Group , wished to state the Group's 
appreciation to the Chairman for his efforts in tryi ng to accelerate work that would lead Members to 
modalities, hopefully by end of April 2006.  Th e Group supported the idea of the draft 2006 Doha 
Work Programme, contained in JOB(06)/13, dated 30 January 2006.  Although the timelines for 2006 
had referred to the Ministerial decisions taken in  Hong Kong, he said that Members should not lose 
sight of the other important commitments made in Doha if they were to successfully conclude this 
development Round by the end of the year.   
56. For the LDC Group, the work programme had to be more than mere deadlines or timelines if 
Members were to work towards the implementation of the Hong Kong decisions.  There was need to 
include how modalities would be arrived at, or  simply, some implementation details.   
57. It was in this context that the LDC Group wished to draw attention to the a number of issues.  
On agriculture, Members should ensure that the review of the criteria of the Green Box, new 
disciplines on the Blue Box and an elaboration of disciplines that prevented shifting of domestic 
support between different boxes were completed by 30 April.  The LDCs wi shed to ensure that 
modalities on Special Products and the Special Safe guard Mechanism and modalities on the treatment 
of long standing preferences, including the need to address preference erosion, were addressed in the 
work programme. 
58. In establishing modalities no later than 30 April,  the LDC Group requested that modalities for 
appropriate provisions in favour of LDC and ne t food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs), as 
had been provided for in paragraph 4 of the Ma rrakech Decision, be agreed.  On completing 
disciplines on export state trading enterprises (STEs),  the Group was seeking an exemption for their 
exporting STEs with respect to disciplines governing the future use of monopoly power.   
59. On cotton, as part of the work programme, th e LDCs wished to include the following: the 
establishment of a calendar for the elimination of do mestic support shorter than the one in the other 
areas of the agricultural negotiations; the operati onalization of the decision on the elimination of 
export subsidies for cotton in 2006; and the setting up and implementation of a mechanism to address 
reduced cotton revenues resulting from the depression of  cotton prices in international markets.   
60. On NAMA, in establishing modalities no later than 30 April, the work programme had to take 
into account the following: the implementation of the duty-free, quota-free market access provision for LDCs; addressing challenges that might be faced  by non-reciprocal preference beneficiary 
Members as a consequence of the MFN liberalisation;  and the need to provid e LDCs with targeted 
technical assistance to identify non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and then to address them and related measures. TN/C/M/23 
Page 10  
 
  61. Regarding services, the LDCs would like the work programme to specify how the 2003 
Modalities for the Special Treatment of LDCs in th e negotiations on trade in  services could be built 
in. 
62. On trade facilitation, the work programme needed to specify ho w LDCs could be assisted in 
conducting needs assessments on a priority basis a nd how Members could make the required technical 
and financial assistance needs available to LDCs. 
63. Regarding TRIPS, the work programme should pr ovide details on how technical and financial 
assistance would be provided to countries with limi ted or no manufacturing capacity.  It should also 
outline appropriate mechanisms so th at transfer of technology, as provided for in Article 66.2 of the 
TRIPS Agreement, could be put into operation.   In addition, following the 29 November 2005 
Decision of the TRIPS Council on the extension of th e transitional period for LDCs, there was a need 
in the work programme to work out modalities for th e provision of effective and targeted technical 
and financial assistance in line with paragraph 4 of that Decision. 
64. On S&D treatment, the work programme needed to  capture the fact that LDCs had agreed to 
the text in Annex F on the basis that the moda lities for implementation would be discussed after Hong 
Kong.  Provision should be made for further clarif ication and discussion of Annex F in the WTO and 
not simply a schedule of notifications.  Specifically, there should be provision for a discussion on how developed countries, and developing countries d eclaring themselves in a position to do so, would 
provide LDCs with duty-free, quota-free market access for 97 per cent of tariff lines, what the 
composition of the exclusions would be and nego tiations for a gradual phase-down of the three per 
cent tariff lines excluded so that Members could arri ve nearer to the originally proposed 99.9 per cent 
duty-free quota-free market access. 
65. The work programme also needed to take account of the need to ensure that preferential rules 
of origin applicable to imports from LDCs were tr ansparent and simple, and contributed to facilitating 
market access.   
66. On Aid for Trade, the work programme should,  through a value chain analysis, carry out an 
assessment of the infrastructural needs of developi ng countries, especially LDCs, that needed to be 
addressed to enable them take advantage of th e improved market access opportunities expected from 
the successful conclusion of the Doha Round. 
67. On the Integrated Framework (IF), the work programme should address how the IF could be 
enhanced to meet the already stated needs of th e LDCs.  Finally, on other issues such as commodities, 
the work programme should address how declin ing and volatile commodity prices and the 
deterioration of the terms of trade could be addressed. 
68. The representative of Chad
, on behalf of the co-sponsors of the sectoral initiative on cotton2, 
supported the statement by Zambia on behalf of th e LDCs.  He said that the post Hong Kong phase 
was decisive in the negotiations, since it would be devoted to the elaboration of modalities, for which 
the deadline had been set for 30 April.  This w as why the co-sponsors of the sectoral initiative on 
cotton wished to invite all Memb ers to work towards taking into account the concerns of the poorest 
and most vulnerable Members by adopting full m odalities on the various issues under negotiation that 
concerned them most directly, and also in conform ity with the objectives set by Ministers in the Hong 
Kong Declaration. 
                                                      
2 Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali.  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 11 
 
 
69. Concerning more specifically the cotton issue, the four co-sponsors wished to set out the main 
points that they hoped to see addressed in the ne xt phase of work.  These points covered trade aspects 
as well as development assistance aspects of the cotton sector. 
70. On trade aspects, the action to be undertaken c oncerned all three pillars in agriculture, namely 
export subsidies, domestic support and market acces s.  On export subsidies, Ministers in Hong Kong 
had decided that "All forms of export subsidies fo r cotton will be eliminated by developed countries 
in 2006".  It was important therefore to set up a sy stem to control and verify the implementation of 
this measure, so that at the deadline of the end of 2006, this system would be  effectively operational. 
71. On domestic support, Members had agreed in Hong Kong that "trade distorting domestic 
subsidies for cotton production be reduced more am bitiously than under whatever general formula is 
agreed and that it should be implemented over a shor ter period of time than generally applicable".  
The work to be undertaken which should lead to th e adoption of a calendar for the elimination of this 
type of subsidy should be accelerated, so that, by 30 April, there would also be full modalities for this 
pillar. 
72. In the market access pillar, it was important fo r developed countries to agree on time to duty-
free and quota free access for cotton exports from LDCs , in accordance with the decision contained in 
paragraph 11 of the Ministerial Declaration. 
73. On the development aspects of cotton, the four co-sponsors encouraged the Director-General 
to continue his efforts in order to intensify the consultations which would lead, as soon as possible, to 
the adoption of institutional and methodological prov isions in order to put into place a mechanism 
enabling their countries to deal with income declines in the cotton sector. 
74. Furthermore, they would encourage the Director -General to continue to inform them at 
regular intervals of the actions undertaken and the initiatives taken by bilateral and multilateral 
partners with regard to technical and financial as sistance for the strengthening of the cotton sector in 
Africa, with an emphasis on what had actually b een achieved vis-à-vis the announcements made. 
75. Finally, it was important that the follow-up and monitoring mechanism for the 
implementation of the decisions adopted on cotton be  effectively set up in order to assess the progress 
made. 
76. The four co-sponsors hoped that Members woul d work on an accelerated basis on all these 
points, which were of considerable importance for their cotton producers and their economies as a 
whole.  In this way, Members would be giving thei r work, in particular on cotton, the essential bases 
in order to settle the problems being faced in the sector. 
77. The representative of Mauritius , on behalf of the ACP Group , thanked the Chairman for his 
informative report and for keeping Members informed about the state of play and his consultations.  
This, he said, was a good aspect of the transparency  exercise.  He also thanked the Chairs of the 
negotiating groups for their reports and was pleased to note that work had resumed.  He had taken 
note of the Chairman's statement that Members needed  to move on all the sectors of the negotiations 
in parallel.  This was one of the elements that  had been blocking progress earlier and he was pleased 
to note that Members were now moving in concert.   The ACP Group agreed with the idea of moving 
in concert, but he wished to emphasize that it had to be effectively in concert and effectively on all the 
issues.  For the Group, this meant not only moving across the sectors, all the sectors in NAMA, agriculture, trade facilitation and other areas, but also  moving in concert within the sectors – in all the 
elements that were of interest to the totality of  Members and not trying to sequence, hierarchize or 
prioritize issues, or create what formally were calle d core issues and subsidia ry or secondary issues.  
In this connection, he wished to draw attention to the fact that this was a development round and 
therefore the development issues were very importa nt and moving in concert would have also to TN/C/M/23 
Page 12  
 
  embrace all those issues.  The coordinator of th e LDC Group had outlined a long calendar of issues 
that were of importance to LDCs.  He said that ma ny of those issues were also of interest and 
importance to the ACP Group and therefore he associat ed the Group with that statement.  He also 
associated the Group with the statement by Chad on  behalf of the cotton group, which was also an 
important component of the ACP work programme. 
78. His delegation had taken note of what the Ch airman had said in terms of JOB(06)/13 and 
agreed that this was not a document for negotiation.  However, the Group wished to draw attention to 
something that it considered incoherent in that docu ment.  On the issue of long standing preferences, 
the Group had noted that this had been addressed only through a seminar proposed in May.  The 
timeline for completing modalities in NAMA and agriculture was 30 April.  The Group did not 
therefore understand how Members could really address the issue of preferences in its totality if they 
were to complete modalities in April and consider  the issue of preference erosion only through a 
seminar at the end of May.  He wished to emphasise  that the issue of preference erosion was for the 
Group a multifaceted problem and it demanded multifaceted solutions.  There were different aspects to it.  The Group agreed that part of the solu tion lay in addressing the problems of adjustment, 
capacity and building competitiveness.  In this respect, it agreed that adjustment aid and Aid for Trade 
were important and these could be addressed in a different track, not necessarily in the core negotiating track.  But this was only part of the solu tion –not the whole solution.  Preference erosion 
had also another segment to it.  Another set of so lutions which were linked to  trade-related solutions 
and trade-related solutions were at the WTO.   
79. There were also a cross-section of solutions that could be thought of on rules of origin, greater 
market access, and so on.  But the issue of prefer ence erosion was also linked with the formula.  It 
was linked to the tariff negotiations in terms of  timeframes and to whether Members were going to 
have several coefficients and what the impact woul d be of those coefficients on preference erosion.  
The Group did not therefore see how the issue of preference erosion could be addressed outside the context of the core modalities.  This was why, fo r the ACP, the issue of preference erosion was and 
had to be part of the modalities and the Group was goi ng to bring this to the table of the negotiations.  
He said that in the negotiations, everybody would have to assume their responsibilities.  The Group 
had its major concerns and at the end of the day it was only for Ministers to decide what could be 
accepted as a balanced outcome.   
80. In terms of process, he said that like the Chairman, the Group continued to emphasize the 
need for transparency and inclusiv eness and that only the bottom-up a pproach could deliver on this.  
Therefore, he wished to encourage the Chairman to continue in this direction, so that Members could 
have real political ownership and all identify with th e outcome.  In this context, he was aware that 
there were many bilateral meeti ngs being conducted to try to anal yze positions or discuss different 
scenarios.  In this context, he wished to re mind Members that the ACP had submitted a proposal on 
agricultural market access.  For the Group, tran sparency or inclusiveness did not mean only 
representation, but also taking on board the proposals or submissions of all the Members in the search 
for convergence and in an attempt to find the middle ground.  The Group would therefore appreciate and insist that its submissions be part of that  inclusive process in the search for convergence.   
81. The Chairman
 said that the subject of erosion of preferences would be addressed in the tariff 
discussions in the negotiating groups on agriculture and NAMA.  This was part of the work of these 
groups, and the points of view of both the propone nts and opponents would be discussed.  The idea of 
a seminar was to allow a discussion, outside of the negotiations and among both parties and perhaps 
other more neutral groups, of numbers, although the nature and scope would only be visible once the 
possible results of tariff reductions in agriculture and NAMA were clearer.  However, if it was more useful to hold the seminar before  the deadline for modalities he woul d accept that idea.  This question 
was in the hands of Members.    TN/C/M/23 
 Page 13 
 
 
82. The representative of the European Communities  said that his delegation shared to a large 
extent the assessment by the Chairman.  Hong Kong had been a modest success and Members needed 
to build on it.  His delegation did not object to the concept of moving in concert, but it needed to see progress across the board.  Members could only concl ude the Round in 2006 if the integrity of the 
Single Undertaking was fully preserved.  For his dele gation, that implied that by the end of April 
when Members were to adopt modalities for ag riculture and NAMA, the rest of the Single 
Undertaking had the same potential to reach an  overall balanced outcome for the Round.   
83. He welcomed the timelines document as a useful working tool, in particular since it contained 
some additional timelines over and above those deci ded in Hong Kong.  This was helpful, but it was 
not sufficient to make his delegation feel comfor table that the necessary progress across the board 
would effectively occur.  He would not argue th at the suggested timelines were no more than 
additional guidance, drawing on the views of the Chai rs of the negotiating groups and not meant to be 
adopted in any way or to commit Members.  Ho wever, it was up to Members to give the overall 
guidance in the negotiating process and the TNC was the appropriate forum to do so as it was the 
body which should oversee the overall state of the negotiations.   
84. In Davos, quite a number of Ministers had pushed for a stocktaking on services in mid-April, 
considering it useful to keep some pressure on the services process.  The aim of the stocktaking was to 
ensure that the tabling of offers in July became a point of arrival rather than a starting point, with 
some assurances on the level of ambition in these of fers.  Much depended on the Members themselves 
who should as a matter of priority make the best use of Annex C by launching ambitious plurilateral 
negotiations, but not to replace the traditional bilate ral request-offer process which remained central.  
His delegation strongly believed su ch negotiations were essential to  supplement a purely bilateral 
process. 
85. Ministers in Davos had also voiced concern that  the rules negotiations risked remaining far 
behind.  If Members wished to live up to the Hong Kong Declaration to ensure a timely outcome of 
the Round by the end of 2006, they needed to accel erate considerably the pace on rules if parallelism 
with other areas of the DDA was to be achieved. 
86. To his delegation's understanding, this would imply that the submission of consolidated texts 
should not wait until July when the NAMA and agricu lture negotiations were supposed to be closed 
with the submission of the draft schedules.  In othe r words, by the end of Ju ly, the rules text would 
need to be in a fairly definitive form and not just  a draft or even worse, just a compilation of the 
proposals put forward by Members.  His delegation was encouraged by the Chair's report, but not 
sufficiently.  Starting drafting as late as June  appeared to his delegation to be late. 
87. His delegation also had similar concerns on those rules areas which were part of the 
outstanding implementation issues, such as TRIPS-CB D and GIs.  In these areas, Members needed to 
accelerate the pace of negotiations, as was also the case for the register for wine and spirits.  Some 
delegations, and even the Chairman, had indicated  that the European Communities should be more 
realistic about certain aspects of its  proposal.  His delegation was ready to take up that challenge but it 
expected its partners to show preparedness to engage in real negotiations.  Th is also applied to every 
aspect of the Single Undertaking and he welcomed th at the Director-General with the help of his 
Friends was committed to energizing this process.   
88. It was clear from the Chairman's remarks and from the reports of the Chairs that the 
challenges ahead were considerable.  This was tr ue for the negotiations on what the Chairman had 
called the flagship issues – NAMA and agriculture bu t it was equally true for the other issues.   
89. In the following weeks and months, Members had to intensify negotiations at the bilateral, 
plurilateral and multilateral levels.  The Community  was already actively engaged in this process, 
including at Ministerial and Senior Officials level.  It would do its utmost to keep to the deadlines TN/C/M/23 
Page 14  
 
  Members had set together in Hong Kong, all the more as it was committed to  concluding the Round 
by the end of 2006.  But it wanted an ambitious outcome of the Round across the board and it expected the same commitment from all its partners.   
90. The Community was equally committed to making sure that the DDA in its results would live 
up to its name.  Members had made some modest progress in this respect in Hong Kong, but not 
enough.  The Chairman had mentioned some developm ent-related issues that needed to be addressed 
more in-depth, including preference erosion and Aid for Trade.  Regarding the latter, as a major donor 
the European Communities intended to play an active role in the task force that the Director-General 
would announce the following day.  Finally, he thanke d the Chairs for their commitment, in particular 
those who were stepping down.   
91. The Chairman
 said that, if he had understood correctly, the European Communities was not 
proposing to push any deadline back, but rather to br ing some forward.  This, of course, went beyond 
what had been agreed at Hong Kong, and was now  a matter for the negotiating groups.  As TNC 
Chairman, he would see advantages in reaching con sensus on accelerating the work in some areas, 
since his role was to expedite the negotiations rath er than slow them down.  This question was up to 
the Members in each negotiating group,  and anything he coul d do to help things would be part of his 
responsibilities as Chairman.   
92. The representative of Cuba  thanked the Chairman for his presentation on how the proponents 
of document JOB(06)/13 saw the proc ess of negotiations to fulfil th e Doha mandate, which had been 
reaffirmed at Hong Kong.  There was a clear need to give an orientation to the work, given the limited 
time available to conclude what had euphemist ically been called the Development Round.  
Nonetheless, the draft calendar that had been presen ted to delegations was an ambitious proposition, 
and in some areas went beyond what Ministers in Hong Kong had agreed when it came to the issues 
of greatest interest to developed countries.  Mo st development issues, on which limited concrete 
outcomes had been achieved at the Ministeria l Conference in Hong Kong and to which the 
commitment of developed countries was not yet clea r given the repeated non-fulfilment of the past 
few years, were those which should be prioritized rather than overloading Members with deadlines in 
other areas which were not the core of the D oha Work Programme.  The so-called development 
package remained essentially empty. 
93. With regard to Annex C on services, it was clear for Cuba that the dates that had been set in 
Hong Kong were only indicative.  Th is position had been formulized in the document that would be 
discussed in the forthcoming Services Special Session .  In services, deadlines had been imposed that 
were rather unrealistic without taking into account that the majority of developing countries had not 
been able to respect the preceding deadlines yet. 
94. It was not acceptable that the month of February alone had been designated to present 
proposals on trade facilitation.  Developing countri es did not enjoy the necessary conditions to accept 
such an early date.  Of course, it was not clea r in this proposal whether the trade facilitation 
negotiations should be concluded when the first comp lete report was presented to the TNC in July, or 
whether this would be a departure point for further dr afting.  In either case, July was a very premature 
date. 
95. Nothing had been proposed concerning the outcome  of the elimination of domestic support in 
the cotton sector, which constituted the main trad e distortion for this product.  Dates should be 
proposed for the submission of concrete propo sals in this area, as tools for the work. 
96. The deadlines set out with regard to the ne gotiations on trade and environment, which 
concerned paragraphs 31 (i) and (ii)  of the Doha Ministerial Declar ation, prejudged the results that  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 15 
 
 
these could lead to since they referred to "draft s", contradicting the mandate established in the 
chapeau text of the paragraph. 
97. The dates proposed for TRIPS and rules were ne w and could not be taken on as obligations by 
Cuba.  His delegation took them to be only indica tive.  The dates related to the negotiations on the 
Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) in the ca lendar had not been contained in the Hong Kong 
Declaration.  His delegation wished to underline st rongly that this area was not part of the single 
undertaking under the Doha mandate.  It believed that the dates concerning these negotiations should 
be agreed by Members in the Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body.  Some dates included 
by the proponents of this document did not have a logical connection with the evolution of the 
negotiations.  For example, his delegation wonde red what the point was of having a seminar on 
problems concerning preference erosion in agricu lture and NAMA once the modalities in both areas 
had been agreed by 30 April. 
98. The preparation of this document had not been based on a consensus of all Members.  Hardly 
20 countries, less than one seventh of the membersh ip of the Organization, had had the privilege and 
the opportunity to see and discuss it before the presen t meeting because they had participated in the 
meeting held for powerful nations in Davos, where a first outline had been presented.  Any decision, 
including the present one concerning the preparati on of a document, should be discussed and agreed 
first in a formal setting with the presence and particip ation of all Members of the Organization.  This 
process of selective and anti democratic participa tion was the reason that this calendar, like the 
Declaration in Hong Kong, contai ned numerous omissions, deviations from what had been agreed and 
flaws that should be corrected before it could be considered to be even an indicative document or a 
tool for further work.  The way that this calendar had been set up with parallel early dates for very 
important and numerous areas of negotiation prevented the effective contribution and reflection of the 
interests of the vast majority of the sm all delegations of developing countries. 
99. For Cuba, it was a great source of concern that an institutionalization had taken place in this 
Organization pseudo-parliamentary system with so-cal led green rooms, mini-ministerial meetings and 
informal consultations that did not leave any room for the necessary transparency or the articulation of 
consensus capable of sustaining it.  The WTO, his delegation had the moral obligation to point out, had become entrenched in a growing incapacity to tran sform itself to be in line with a coherent vision 
concerning the development needs of the vast majority of the world's population. 
100. Informal meetings could not take the place of formal meetings.  Bilateral or plurilateral 
meetings could not replace mu ltilateral negotiations.  Cuba could not accept representation 
mechanisms that denied in practice the legal precept that each Member had one vote,.  If the WTO 
Agreements bound all Members, all of them had the right to participate in the drafting and decision 
making related to those Agreements. 
101. Cuba believed that these issues should be subj ect to open and transparent debate, and to 
surveillance and monitoring, includi ng during the current negotiating pr ocess.  For this reason, Cuba 
and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ha d presented a document on irregularities in the 
negotiations and decision making process before a nd during the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, 
which had been distributed as a room document at  the present meeting and which would shortly be 
circulated as an official document of the TNC and the General Council.    
102. His delegation was aware of the effort the Chairman had put into helping Members move 
along the path of the negotiations, but it believed that more was needed – more transparency, 
participation and respect for a ll Members under equal conditions. 
103. The representative of Ecuador
 said his country appreciated the Director General's recent visit 
to the headquarters of the Secretary General of th e Andean Community in Lima, where he had been TN/C/M/23 
Page 16  
 
  able to get to know the Community's process of in tegration, and the opinion s and expectations of 
Ministers on the present round of negotiations. 
104. On this occasion, he would not go into deta il about Ecuador's positi on on the negotiations.  
However, he wished to stress that the goal of de velopment for his country in the negotiations had a 
number of pillars.  First, a substa ntial improvement in market access.   Second, trade liberalization on 
an MFN basis and the elimination of discriminatory tr eatment in international trade relations.  Third, 
the most complete liberalization of trade in tropical  products and alternatives to illicit crops.  Fourth, 
the inclusion of a broad and predictable programme  of assistance for trade, but which could not 
replace the substantial improvement in market access.  Fifth, elimination of all distortions to national 
production and agricultural trade.  Sixth, liberalization of flows of temporary labour.  And last, the 
relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD as a key element of the development 
package. 
105. On Aid for Trade, his delegation was looking forward to the Director-General's report the 
following day on progress in the implementation of  the important mandate given by Ministers in 
Hong Kong. 
106. Finally, he wished to refer to the issue of tr ansparency and inclusiveness.  Like others, his 
delegation was concerned about the process, which should be much more participatory than it was at 
the present.  With regard to JOB(06)/13, his dele gation took the complementary information in italics 
to be only a reference which placed no obligation on it. 
107. The representative of Uganda
 associated his delegation with the statement by Zambia on 
behalf of the LDC Group.  He wished to underline th e issues of utmost inter est to Uganda in this 
critical phase of  the negotiations.  In the area of  agriculture, on the domestic support pillar, Uganda 
believed that domestic subsidies had an impact on e xported products.  Unless they were cut, export 
subsidization would continue even after the elimina tion of export subsidies by 2013.  Therefore, there 
was a need to arrive at a decision leading to su bstantial cuts in total trade-distorting domestic 
subsidies to levels below those that were curren tly applied.  It was also important to develop 
disciplines on Green Box subsidies and their reduction. 
108. He said it was his delegation's view that it was necessary to intensify consultations for 
providing development assistance to African co tton-producing countries to help them become 
competitive and be able to diversify their products. 
109. In the area of NAMA, NTBs constituted a major hindrance to LDC exports even where LDCs 
had duty-free, quota-free market access.  His delega tion was interested in these negotiations assisting 
it identify NTBs to Uganda's exports so that these c ould be addressed in the negotiations.  In addition, 
preference erosion continued to worry his delegation.   He said it was necessary to ensure that the 
negotiations did not result in destruction of his count ry's few markets.  Uganda wished to see the issue 
of commodities being included among the first items to be addressed in the negotiations. 
110. In the area of services, Uganda recognized the great commitment that the membership had 
made in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration to implement and fully operationalize the LDC 
modalities.  This was a top priority for his dele gation and it was keenly following these negotiations 
to ensure that those modalities were operationalized. 
111. Turning to the development dimension of the nego tiations, he said that in the area of duty-free 
quota-free market access for LDCs, Ug anda's interest lay in clearly demarcating rules of origin 
applicable to this arrangement, and what woul d be presented by Members as their initial list of 
covered products.  Uganda was also  interested in reviewing outstanding Agreement-specific proposals 
on S&D.   TN/C/M/23 
 Page 17 
 
 
112. The representative of Dominican Republic  said her delegation took note that JOB(06)/13 was 
only intended to provide negotiators with a summary  of the dates and key deadlines established in the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and that it did no t reinterpret or modify in any way the decisions 
taken by Ministers in Hong Kong. 
113. Nevertheless, her delega tion had concerns on some points wh ich were not clear and it wished 
to identify them.  First, her delegation had been struck by the fact that a seminar was planned on 
preference erosion which would cover the areas of agriculture and NAMA and which would be held 
in May.  As everyone was aware, the countries wh ich supported the idea of taking preference erosion 
into account had indicated that the solution should be part of the negotiating modalities, which should 
be adopted in April.  Therefore, her delegation belie ved that if this seminar was to help Members to 
make progress in the negotiations, it would be more a ppropriate for the seminar to be held before the 
adoption of modalities in April. 
114. The second point which had struck her delegation concerned small economies.  On this point, 
her delegation was concerned at seeing that July was shown as the deadline for addressing proposals, and that the April-December period was established for monitoring progress on topics of interest to 
small economies, in particular in agriculture and NAMA.  She wished to stress, however, that the 
proposals that the small economies had put forward in the negotiating groups on agriculture and 
NAMA were a matter of priority for the Dominican Republic, and that these proposals had to be addressed and dealt with in the framework of the modalities to be adopted in April. 
115. Furthermore, the Ministerial Declaration had established dates in the services negotiations 
which set an accelerated pace for negotiations in this  area, which would imply considerable efforts by 
small delegations.  It was a source of concern to he r delegation therefore that some delegations might 
be considering the idea of holding an assessment in  the services negotiations in April.  Her delegation 
hoped that there would be a clearer discussion in the Special Session of the Council for Trade in 
Services on the purpose of such an assessment.  Fi nally, her delegation supported the statement by 
Mauritius on behalf of the ACP Group. 
116. The Chairman
 said that, as one could see from the timelines paper, the only date in the 
Ministerial Declaration on small economies was "a s soon as possible but no later than 31 December 
2006".  It was precisely for those Members who belie ved that this should be more precise, or even 
earlier, that there was a suggestion in the paper of July as a deadline for addressing proposals.  The 
aim was to try to go faster than the deadline of 31 December, which was perhaps not enough.  If it 
were possible to go even faster and focus more work  for small economies in the first half of the year, 
so much the better.  As he had said before, the timelines paper contained only accelerated additions to 
what was contained in the Ministerial Declaration. 
117. The representative of India  said that his delegation broadly shared the Chairman's assessment 
of the post Hong Kong situation an d expressed its appreciation to the him for his continuing efforts to 
build on the momentum generated in Hong Kong.  His delegation believed there had been welcome, 
though moderate progress in the negotiations at Hong Kong.  The fact that after Hong Kong all 
Members had shown a desire to ac tively engage in determining time lines and in negotiations to carry 
that mandate forward, augured well.  His delegati on would remain fully engaged in any process that 
strived for an early and successful completion of the Round as had been mandated by Ministers in 
Hong Kong.  In this connection, it welcomed the bilateral and plurilateral initiatives that had been 
taken in many areas of the negotiations as a means to  impart greater dynamism.  However it continued 
to believe that these should be at best comple mentary to the multilateral process and that the 
multilateral process should not be undermined as a result. 
118. The Chairman had rightly emphasized the need to unlock the long pending implementation 
issues, including the issue of the relationship betw een the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD.  This was 
an important part of the Single Undertaking in te rms of paragraph 12 of th e Doha Declaration.  A TN/C/M/23 
Page 18  
 
  positive outcome on this would substantially enhan ce the development outcome of the Round.  His 
delegation looked forward to working closely and constructively with DDG Yerxa on this important 
issue.   
119. His delegation agreed with the Chairman that the timelines document would be a useful tool 
for Members and would serve as a basis for cross re ferencing progress in different negotiating areas 
within the Single Undertaking.  The basic premise of this exercise was to provide comfort to all 
involved in these complex negotiations that the areas of their interest within the Single Undertaking 
were being addressed with equal vigour.  Conversel y, areas outside the Single Undertaking could not 
be part of such a dynamic and therefore, issues such as the DSU negotiations, should be kept out of 
this equation.  These, though, rema ined relevant to the overall progress of the Round.  There was also 
a direction in Annex C of the Hong Kong Minister ial Declaration regarding disciplines on domestic 
regulation.  There had however been, no reference to  this in the timelines document in JOB(06)/13.   
120. Lastly, he wished to say a word on incl usiveness in the negotiations.  A number of 
delegations had at the present meeting requested to be heard and had urged due  consideration of their 
interests and aspirations, in particular in the statem ents on behalf of the LDC, ACP and cotton groups.  
By taking due note of such concerns, Members added to the legitimacy of their considerations and the 
sustainability of their conclusions.  While small group processes could add value to the negotiations, 
they could only do so if the voices outside the groups were also heeded and respected. 
121. The representative of El Salvador
 said he wished to reiterate his country's high level of 
commitment to the Doha Round, as his delegation had stated repeatedly since its launch, since 
Members faced the challenge of concluding the negotia tions in the present year.  In this context, his 
delegation appreciated JOB(06)/13 as a guideline as th e work progressed, to en sure that no issue was 
left behind. 
122. His delegation appreciated the Chairman's remarks concerning the Work Programme on 
Small Economies.  However, his delegation wished to  stress that the various deadlines set out in the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and in JOB(06)/ 13 should duly take into account the proposals by 
the small economies, in particular the deadlines for modalities in agriculture and NAMA.  This was to 
ensure the efforts being made in the Work Programme for Small Economies would lead to truly 
effective results within th e timeframe provided for it. 
123. The representative of Brazil  said that the discussions in the present meeting of the TNC were 
very important because it was an occasion for Memb ers to reassert the multilateral nature of the 
process and, as had been expressed by the European Communities, where they gave guidance to the 
work.  Delegations could freely and in the presence of each other discuss how they were progressing 
in the negotiations, express their views and listen to  the Chairs.  This was therefore something that 
Members should pay attention to because it refl ected an important aspect of the system. 
124. His delegation agreed with the Chairman's as sessment of the Hong Kong results and of the 
work that had been done after Hong Kong.  Hong  Kong had introduced some guidance on certain 
aspects of the work.  These included in agriculture, the issue of the overall reduction in all forms of 
trade-distorting domestic support, the end date for export competition, the language on parallelism 
and progress in the consideration of the questions  of Special Products and the Special Safeguard 
Mechanism.  Hong Kong had also reasserted the importance of concluding the negotiations in the 
present year and had provided a schedule of work a nd a calendar to which Members were committed.  
Brazil was committed to concluding the negotiations successfully in 2006, which was the central end 
date to which all Members were committed.   
125. Regarding timelines and the calendar, his dele gation believed that that no matter what was 
said about moving in tandem or in concert and acro ss the board in all areas of the negotiations, that  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 19 
 
 
was the way they had to proceed.  There were  a number of different dates in the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration, and there was a clear impor tance attached to the conclusion of modalities in 
agriculture and NAMA by the end of April.  There we re other dates in the Declaration that were of 
importance but this did not detract from the commitm ent to move across the board – that was the only 
way to proceed in the context of the Single Undertak ing.  But Members also had to bear in mind that 
the dates were different depending on the subject  and that this was a Ministerial decision. 
126. He wished to briefly refer to the issue of th e timeline document and the statements that had 
been made.  He said it was seldom that one saw a document which was not submitted for approval but 
this was a working document.  The fact that it ha d generated so much discussion by the membership 
was a sign that the document was useful.  For his dele gation, the document had two advantages.  First, 
it pointed to the enormity of the task that Members had before them and to the short time available.  
Second, it tried to clarify certain issues and intr oduce an element of progressivity in Members' work 
in terms of the central deadlines contained in th e Hong Kong Declaration.  In this context, his 
delegation welcomed the document as a useful tool which should be permanently revised in the light 
of the progress, or lack of progress, that Members made in the negotiations. 
127. He wished also to make some specific comme nts on the document.  On the DSU negotiations, 
he agreed with the statements by Cuba and India in this regard.  This negotiation was a sort of 
permanent endeavour, and reflected the importance of the system for the whole of the membership.  It 
was not part of the Single Undertaking, and theref ore his delegation did not believe that there was 
need to include it at the same level as the other subjects. 
128. As the other delegations had suggested, there were  certain areas that also needed highlighting, 
such as coherence, which was an area to which hi s delegation attached importance, not only in the 
context of Aid for Trade, and commodities in paragraph 55 of the Hong Kong Declaration which 
should also be included in the timeline. 
129. On the question of preference erosion, his dele gation would not object to bringing forward the 
seminar as suggested by the countries that had a specia l interest in this issue.  As the Chairman had 
said, there were two views on this, but as this w as a seminar which would probably give guidance to 
future work, it might be a good idea to have it before the month of May. 
130. Regarding implementation, his de legation had taken note of the Chairman's determination to 
pursue these issues.  His delegation believed this was important and it hoped that all the issues in 
paragraph 12 could be pursued a nd move to negotiations so th at progress could be made.   
131. On the question of rules and the observations made by the European Communities, he said 
that this was an extremely important subject fo r Brazil and for many Members.  However, Members 
needed to take the timeline for th is area in the document as an indi cative reference for their work.  
The timeline would depend on how the negotiating group made progress and on a debate on the real 
nature of consolidated texts.  Therefore, to try to  push too much to anticipate this important document, 
would perhaps not be conducive to better results in the negotiations, which he believed all Members 
wished to see.  In the end, the question of  pa rallelism in progress on all fronts would be judged by 
everyone particularly regarding the subjects of importance.  This was therefore something that 
merited further consideration in the negotiating grou p and Members needed to keep on discussing it.  
He said that, in principle, the idea of moving along the lines of what had been suggested in the 
timeline document in terms of the month of July for consolidated texts by the Chair, if their nature 
already reflected a commitment to negotiate on the basis of those texts, was acceptable to his 
delegation. 
132. Turning to process, he said that he was awar e that the Chairman had on several occasions 
mentioned the importance he attached to discussing th e issue of process in the context of the WTO.  
He believed that all Members had also recognized that  they should not distract their attention from the TN/C/M/23 
Page 20  
 
  Round by devoting a lot of time to the issue of pro cess and to the issue of institutional reform of the 
organization which was a pending issue for all of them.   
133. Nevertheless, like India, Br azil acknowledged the importance of the statements made by 
several groups on transparency, the bottom-up a pproach, the importance of maintaining the 
multilateral nature of the negotiating process, of main taining the centrality of the modalities and of the 
rules-based negotiations in the context of bilate ral and plurilateral processes that could make a 
contribution, but which should not detract from the centrality of the mandate and of the rules-based 
negotiations in a multilateral process.  He sugg ested there was perhaps a need for a process of 
informal dialogue and consultation on some of thes e issues, without detracting from the negotiations 
which the Chairman could conduct.   
134. There were formal positions on the table and some delegations that had reservations on 
process had recognized that steps had been taken to make progress in guaranteeing transparency and 
the multilateral nature of the process.  If it was re cognised that the objective of those delegations was 
to contribute to the work of Members and to stre ngthen the process, then perhaps through a process of 
dialogue and informal consultations, some initial conclu sions could be made that could be reflected at 
a later date in the nature of how Members worked in the organization. 
135. The representative of Pakistan
 said that his delegation agreed in general with the Chairman's 
assessment of the present situation and the way forw ard.  It was concerned about the comments by the 
European Communities and other Members regarding fi nding a tariff or trade solution to the erosion 
of tariff preferences.  He wished to seek clarificati on from those countries that wished to have a tariff 
solution.  He asked if they wanted an ambitious DDA result or continuation of the status quo.  He said 
that if they wanted to keep preferential regimes int act, that would mean that they wanted to have S&D 
treatment for developed countries.  This would be against the Doha mandate and would be anti-
developmental because it would further accentuat e tariff peaks on products of export interest for 
developing countries.  The mandate of Members was to reduce or eliminate high tariffs, tariff peaks 
and tariff escalation. 
136. He said that Members should be looking at non- tariff solutions, such as rules of origin and 
Aid for Trade, to the problem of erosion of tari ff preferences.  Modalities were intended to reduce 
tariff barriers, while tariff preferences were desi gned to maintain the status quo.  The two were 
contradictory and could not go together.  
137. The Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration had been clear on the way forward for the NAMA 
and agriculture negotiations.  Taking the example of NAMA, he said that the Declaration required the 
adoption of a Swiss formula to reduce or as appropriate  eliminate tariffs, in particular, on products of 
export interest to developing countries, and ther e was no reference to S&D treatment for developed 
countries.  The only reference to preference erosi on was in paragraph 20 of the Declaration which 
required Members to intensify work on the assessmen t of the scope of the problem with a view to 
finding possible solutions.  It did not seek tariff or trade solutions.  Members should not confuse 
modalities with trade preferences.  His delegati on had no problem with holding a seminar in May 
2006 in order to establish the magnitude of the problem of preference erosion and seek guidance for non-tariff solutions.  
138. The representative of Paraguay
 said his delegation was aware of  the Chairman's concern to 
maintain transparency in the pr ocess and wished to encourage him to redouble his efforts in this 
respect.  This was very important for small delega tions such as his and helped them benefit from the 
negotiations.  His delegation supported the statem ent by the Dominican Republic concerning the 
importance of the proposals by the small economi es on agriculture and NAMA, and hoped that their 
concerns would be duly addressed in the modalities.  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 21 
 
 
139. The representative of Costa Rica  said his delegation believed that the document on the Doha 
Work Programme that the Chairman had referred to  was useful, and that it would help all Members 
have an overview of everything that had been agreed.  It was important that all issues be resolved and 
seeing the sequence of work would help delegations understand that they all had to contribute to 
building consensus in a constructive manner.  Th is could only be done through exchanges of 
concessions, and abandoning inflexible and tactical po sitions in the negotiati on.  Believing that one 
could participate in a round without making con cessions would only ensure that others also took 
defensive positions and that no-one would win in the end.   
140. As a developing country, Costa Rica believed that developing countries would be the clear 
losers in a round with poor results in terms of ma rket opening.  His country was therefore committed 
to concluding the Round successfully this year and wo uld work towards this goal.  However, it did not 
believe that the Round should be concluded at any cost , and in particular not at the cost of benefits to 
developing countries that had agreed to the Rou nd in the search for better access for their export 
products.  No-one could ask th is of developing countries. 
141. With regard to the statements made at th e present meeting on preference erosion and the 
seminar mentioned in the document, his delegation was concerned by the deflection of attention from 
the mandate on preferences from Hong Kong and in the July 2004 Decision.  A seminar on this issue 
could be useful, as had similar activities in previo us years from which the results could be seen, as 
well as work done by the Secretariat in this regard .  Nonetheless, his delegation was concerned at the 
linkage that was being made between the date of  the seminar and agreement on establishment of 
modalities because such a linkage did not exist.   The Hong Kong mandate contained important 
elements on preferences that should be met in term s of the modalities.  Paragraph 20 provided for an 
assessment of the scope of preference erosion which would take place as a result of multilateral 
liberalization.  It was only after having measured th e scope that solutions would be looked for.  This 
linkage existed under the mandate from Hong Kong a nd it was the only one that his delegation could 
accept as a prerequisite to agreement on modalities. 
142. Finally, his delegation wished to stress that  developing countries also had offensive and 
export interests.  Costa Rica hoped its interests would be met, such as on tropical products as 
highlighted in the statement by Ecuador.  He wished  to recall that there was a very clear mandate on 
tropical products and to underlin e that the mandate on preferences could in no way be seen as having 
priority over it.  His delegation supported the stat ements by Ecuador and Pakistan in this respect. 
143. The representative of Switzerland  said that Hong Kong had provided the basis for the 
development of the negotiations in the present year .  He said it was debateable whether after Hong 
Kong the glass was half full or half empty.  His dele gation would rather believe that the glass was half 
full and this was more a state of mind in trying to  advance in 2006 then a precise degree of work.   
144. On this basis, he believed that there were two new elements of a positive nature that had 
appeared at the beginning of 2006.  First was with  respect to mechanism.  His delegation welcomed 
the fact that there were now timelines.  This wa s a necessary new element in the list of instruments 
available and his delegation considered it, as the Ch airman had outlined, a flexible element which had 
to be updated on the basis of what was happening in the negotiating groups.  In that sense, he wished 
to underline his delegation's view that both the negotiating groups and the TNC remained the 
backbone of the negotiations.  They could not be circumvented.  When genuine progress was made, it 
came from the negotiating groups.   
145. His delegation also welcomed the intensificati on of bilateral consulta tions.  Switzerland was 
ready to participate but nonetheless he wished to sound a warning in this respect.  Reflecting on the 
past and looking at the various sectors where bilatera ls had been used rather than negotiating groups, 
he said that there were two sectors where progress had not been up to what it should have been until 
very recently.  These were the NAMA and the rules areas where a number of bilaterals had taken TN/C/M/23 
Page 22  
 
  place.  In the agriculture area to the contrary, there had been a much better balance between the 
different approaches.  
146. The second element where he had seen some progress  was on the issue of principle.  Since the 
beginning Members had had as a guiding principle, a number of elements, both regarding transparency and inclusiveness.  Some statements at the present meeting had shown that there could 
be improvement in this area and his delegation w as ready to listen to any suggestions on improving 
both transparency and inclusiveness. 
147. Finally a welcome novelty had been introduced  in the discussion and which he hoped would 
be translated into action in the future.  This con cerned future parallelism.  A principle which had been 
referred to previously as transverse conversality ha d now been translated into "in concert".  His 
delegation was prepared to subscribe to this element which together with the new elements in terms of 
mechanism, might provide the necessary comfort to  everyone to proceed with the negotiations.  
Basically, Members had to aim to have a balanced outcome under the Single Undertaking. 
148. The representative of Singapore
 said that he wished to make three points.  First, his delegation 
welcomed the timelines document, which showed how much remained to be done and how little time 
there was left.  The timelines were useful as sign posts to guide Members to the conclusion of the 
Round by end of 2006.   
149. Secondly, Members needed to keep up the pressu re, both in Geneva and in the capitals.  In 
that context, his delegation would welcome regular  informal meetings at Ministerial and Senior 
Officials' level, in various configurations.  But su ch meetings were not an end in themselves.  They 
had to push the process forward and had to deliver results. 
150. Third, as Members tried to race to the finish li ne, they had to keep an eye on the level of 
ambition.  Now was not the time to sacrifice ambiti on.  To keep the level of ambition high, Members 
needed commitment, leadership and sacrifice, in particular of the major players.  Ultimately, Members 
were aiming for a meaningful outcome, not just any outcome and certainly not a lowest common 
denominator outcome. 
151. On NAMA and agriculture, the work programme was simple and pressing  – establishment of 
modalities by 30 April.  Ambition in outcome for agriculture and NAMA was a function of both the formula and the exceptions to the formula, namely the flexibilities.  At this  stage, Members needed 
greater clarity on the use of such exceptions, such as treatment of sen sitive products in agriculture and 
paragraph 8 flexibilities in NAMA. 
152. Paragraph 24 of the Hong Kong Declaration provided for "a comparably high level of 
ambition" in market access for NAMA and ag riculture.  The key yardstick for measuring a 
comparable and ambitious outcome should be in terms of real market opening. 
153. On services, Members had set in motion a new plurilateral process after Hong Kong.  This 
was a bottom-up process and a time consuming one.  The engine of this process was the various friends groups.  Members needed to think of alloca ting more time for the services cluster so that the 
various friends groups could put their requests together. 
154. Finally, he wished to say a word on transp arency.  Under the Chairman's direction, the 
process had been kept open and transparent, and tr uly bottom-up.  As the work moved into the final 
phase, more effort would be needed to keep the process transparent.  There would be many small 
group and bilateral meetings which were essential to move the negotiations forward.  Members had to 
accept them as a reality.  But the sooner the results of  such meetings were brought into the larger  TN/C/M/23 
 Page 23 
 
 
negotiating groups, the better it was for the pro cess and the higher the chances of meeting the 
deadline. 
155. The Chairman  said that he would not sum up the discussion in a formal sense, but he wished 
to thank delegations for their statements, the cont ent of which had confirme d the overall diagnosis he 
had made at the beginning of the meeting, which was positive.  He believed that the statements had 
also confirmed Members' strong attachment to th e multilateral nature of negotiations and to the 
principle of the Single Undertaking.  The closer Members were to the end of the negotiations, the 
more they realised that there was a lot at stake.   The discussion had also shown Members' attachment 
to the calendar that had been adopted by Minister s in Hong Kong, which had set a certain rhythm of 
work, under which Members were now operating.  Th e discussion had also confirmed their wish to 
continue improving transparency in their processes,  which were complex given the way in which the 
organization functioned, but which everyone w as trying to improve little by little, within the 
permanent tension between legitimacy and efficiency .  On the timelines paper, he believed the 
discussion had confirmed that this was not an undert aking by the Members, but rather a working tool 
that gave them an overview and which could, of  course, be improved later, following the comments 
that had been noted.   
156. Finally, he said that Members could not ignor e the fact that their energy would now be 
expended in dealing with the subs tance of the negotiations.  It w as all well and good to talk about 
timelines, but all Members knew that the time had come to deal with figures and texts – words and numbers.  It was progress on these two specific points, words and numbers, which would be the benchmark for progress in the negotiations rather than any timeline, however good it was.  Members 
were starting the phase when they had to resolve th eir remaining differences.  Some had already been 
resolved at Hong Kong, but now they had to resolve the others without reducing their level of ambition – this was the task ahead of them in the coming weeks.   
157. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the statements. 
 
__________