RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
17 February 2011  
 
(11-0832) 
Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries 
Fifty-Seventh Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETIN G OF 17 NOVEMBER 2010 
 
Chairperson: Ambassador Jean Feyder (Luxembourg) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA .........................................................................................................1  
B. WTO WORK PROGRAMME FOR THE LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
(WT/COMTD /LDC/11):  MARKET ACCESS FOR LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES ............................1  
- Market Access for Products and Services of Export Interest to Least-Developed 
Countries (WT/COMTD/LDC/W/48) ..........................................................................................1  
C. FOURTH UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
(LDC-IV) TO BE HELD IN 2011 : ......................................................................................................9  
- Implementation of the Programme of Acti on for the Least-Developed Countries for 
the Decade 2001-2010:  Report by the Director-General of the WTO (JOB/DEV/8) ................9  
- Communication from Nepal (JOB/DEV/9) ...............................................................................14  
D. OTHER BUSINESS .......................................................................................................................17  
 
 A. 
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Chairman  welcomed the participants of the Geneva Week to the meeting and said that he 
would continue to make efforts to hold meetings  of the Sub-Committee during the Geneva Week in 
order to allow the non-resident LDCs to take part in it.   
2. He proposed that the Sub-Committee a dopt the draft agenda contained in 
WTO/AIR/3655/Rev.1.  He further proposed that unde r item C, the Sub-Committee first consider the 
second sub-item concerning the Report by the Director-General of the WTO on the implementation of the Programme of Action for the LDCs for the decade 2001-2010, following which the 
communication from Nepal would be taken up. 
3. The Sub-Committee
 adopted the draft agenda contained in WTO/AIR/3655/Rev.1, with the 
suggestion made by the Chairman. 
B. WTO WORK PROGRAMME FOR THE LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (WT/COMTD /LDC/11):  
MARKET ACCESS FOR LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  
- Market Access for Products and Services of Export Interest to 
Least-Developed Countries (WT/COMTD/LDC/W/48)  
4. The Chairman  recalled that according to the WT O Work Programme for the LDCs, the 
Secretariat had been preparing a document every year  to facilitate the annual review of market access 
for products originating from LDCs.  The Note contained in document WT/COMTD/LDC/W/48 was WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 2  
 
  the latest market access review by the Secretariat.  It provided an account of trends in LDC trade and 
market access conditions.  The evolution of trade ba lances for different categories of LDC exporters 
received special attention in the document.  He poi nted out that the documen t provided data for the 
period 2000-2008/2009 so as to examine the trade pe rformance of LDCs during the time-span of the 
Brussels Programme of Action (BPOA) for th e LDCs for the decade 2001-2010.  The document 
would serve as one of WTO's substantive contribut ions to the preparatory process of the Fourth 
United Nations Conference on the LDCs (LDC-IV) to be held in May 2011.  He invited the 
Secretariat to introduce the Note. 
5. The representative of the Secretariat
 said that the document had been prepared keeping 
several objectives in mind.  First, it highlighted re levant trends in LDC trade during the pre- and 
post-crisis period.  Second, it analysed the evol ution of trade balances of LDCs by country and 
product groups.  Third, it examined the market acc ess conditions for LDC exports in both developed 
and developing country markets.  Finally, the documen t made an attempt to cover the development of 
LDC trade in the last decade (2000-2008/2009) with  a view to making a contribution to the LDC-IV 
Conference. 
6.  He drew Members' attention to the statistical difficulties in examining the situation of LDC 
trade.  Statistics on LDC trade were characterized by their incompleteness and untimeliness.  Monthly 
or quarterly statistics from LDCs had been difficu lt to compile.  The Secretariat had thus relied on 
mirror statistics, making use of the imports reported by LDCs' trading partners.  He pointed out that 
the use of mirror data could not take into consideration intra-trade among the LDCs, nor trade with non-reporting developing economies, which had been a serious handicap given that South-South trade 
had become one of the most dynamic dimensions of international trade.  The insufficient coverage of 
preferential market access treatment given by de veloping countries to the LDCs was another 
challenge.  He said that efforts were being made to  improve statistical cove rage of LDCs, including 
compiling data on preferential trade with developing countries. 
7. He said that the growth of merchandise exports  of LDCs had accelera ted since 2003, largely 
due to the rise in oil and commodity prices.  Fuel s and minerals represented more than 60 per cent of 
all LDC exports in 2009.  The LDC exports of commercial services had accelerated in 2006 and 
sustained high rates of growth duri ng 2007 and 2008, mainly due to strong exports of travel services.  
While the value of sales of fuels and mining prod ucts had decreased abruptly in 2009 (-37 per cent), 
and had heavily influenced the decline of total e xports of goods (-28 per cent), the exports of services 
had been more resilient during this period and had fallen only by 5 per cent in 2009.  He pointed out 
that the global economic crisis (2008-2009) had not led to a fall of LDCs' share in world trade 
(exports plus imports), mainly due to the positive gr owth of their imports.  However, the share of 
LDC exports in world trade had retreated below the 1 per cent mark in 2009.  The LDCs, as a group, had recorded a large deficit in 2009 following thre e consecutive years of surplus (2006, 2007 and 
2008). 
8. He noted that the price of energy (principally oil) and minerals, which heavily influenced the 
value of LDC exports, had experien ced a rapid growth since 2003, but had dropped abruptly in 2009.  
The prices of food and beverage products had also  experienced a decline during the crisis, after 
reaching a peak in 2005.  The prices of other agricu ltural products and manufactures had been stable 
throughout the last decade as opposed to the sharp fluctuations in prices of energy and mineral 
products.  
9. He continued by saying that the LDC trade ha d undergone a major structural change over the 
last few years, with the emergence of South-South trade accounting for nearly half of LDC exports in 
2009.  This was driven largely by the rise of petr oleum and mineral exports from LDCs to developing 
countries.  LDCs' traditional markets - developed countries - remained buoyant for agricultural or 
textile and clothing imports from the LDCs.   WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
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  10. Exports from the LDCs had witnessed a downturn, similar to the global decline in world trade 
during 2008-2009;  it had started to rebound, sin ce the second quarter of 2009.  However, the 
recovery was far below the level that the LDC trad e would have reached if the pre-crisis trend had 
continued.  He explained that the recovery in LDC trade was mainly attributed to the recovery of the 
prices of oil and minerals which had experienced a sharp decline during the economic crisis.  In 
contrast, agriculture and manufacture exports of LD Cs had experienced only a slight downfall in the 
crisis years and the recovery had also been sl uggish due to depressed demand in the developed 
countries which had been the major markets of LD Cs for these products.  He pointed out that the 
demand for tourism services had not been affected to the extent it had been feared.  During 2007-2008, the tourism sector had recorded an annua l growth of 30 per cent and had only experienced 
a decline of 4 per cent in 2009;  the sector, nevertheless,  had made an early recovery from the decline.   
11. He went on to say that despite the slowdown in  exports during the crisis, the LDCs had not 
suffered any liquidity constraint.  Since tourism receipts and remittances from abroad did not decline 
significantly for most of the LDCs and since bilate ral and multilateral aid had remained at constant 
levels, the LDCs were able to avert a liquidity cr isis.  As a result, overall imports by the LDC group 
were buoyant during the crisis.  In this regard, he  further argued that a huge deficit in trade balance 
was not necessarily synonymous with a large deficit in balance of payments (BOP).  Citing two examples - Haiti and Lesotho - he indicated that  both these countries during 2000-2008, on average, 
had experienced trade deficits wh ich were equivalent to  27 and 50 per cent of their Gross Domestic 
Product (GDP), respectively, while the current account deficits were not more than 3 and 5 per cent of 
their GDP, respectively.  Therefore, a number of LDCs  had been able to partially offset their trade 
deficits by other sources of revenue.  On th e other hand, two energy products exporting 
LDCs - Angola and Myanmar - had registered a surplu s in their trade balance in the same period, but 
had large debt servicing obligations which had an impact on their BOP situation. 
12. He said that LDCs, as a group, had registered a deficit in their merchandise trade balance up 
until 2005.  The rapid growth in the price of ex tractive commodities had led to a surplus for three 
consecutive years (2006, 2007 and 2008).  The collap se of oil and mineral prices during the economic 
crisis had led to a sizeable trade deficit for the LDCs  in 2009.  He highlighted the fact that the value of 
imports for non-oil LDC exporters had risen faster than the value of their exports, exacerbating their 
trade deficit during the decade.  The coverage ratio of imports by exports deteriorated markedly for 
agriculture and manufacture exporters during 2000- 2009.  The disequilibrium between exports and 
imports was more acute for agricultural exporters which in 2009 covered only about a third of their 
import bill with their merchandise export earnings.  He  further stated that the review of the trade 
balance by product groups had shown that LDCs, as a group, had a surp lus in fuels and minerals and a 
deficit in agricultural and manufacture products.  Th e coverage ratio of agriculture products dropped 
from 100 per cent in the year 2000 to 61 per cent in 2008.  The trade deficit in agricultural products 
reflected the fact that household consumption ha d been rising faster than domestic production.  
During the same period, the coverage ratio of f ood products fell below 50 per cent, demonstrating the 
fact that export receipts from food products could not  cover half of the value of food imports in the 
LDCs.   
13. He noted that the market access conditions fo r LDC exports had con tinued to improve over 
the last decade.  The LDCs enjoyed some margin  of preferences in developed country markets 
compared to other developing countries, but this had narrowed down due to the extension of MFN 
duty-free treatment by the developed countries.  Th e share of "true" preferential duty-free access to 
developed country markets (total duty-free access minus all products receiving duty-free treatment on 
an MFN basis) had been higher for LDCs compared to that of developing countries.  For instance, 
with respect to clothing exports from LDCs, 64 pe r cent of LDC exports re ceived true preferential 
duty-free treatment in 2008, while the figure was 27 per cent for developing countries.  The 
comparison of average tariffs of developed countri es on imports from LDCs revealed that the LDCs 
had a higher preference margin for agricultural produc ts.  He said that the extent of tariff escalation WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 4  
 
  had varied among the LDCs depending on the type of  products exported by individual LDC.  While 
Asian LDCs had been facing high tariffs for their ex ports of final products (c lothing) to developed 
countries, tariffs were somewhat higher for semi-p rocessed intermediate exports from African LDCs.  
He concluded by saying that the rate of utilization of preferences by the LDCs had been improving.  
In 2008, the rate of utilization of preferentia l schemes in some selected developed countries had 
ranged from 82 to 94 per cent.   
14. The representative of Zambia
, on behalf of the LDCs, expressed appreciation for the work 
undertaken every year by the Secretariat in response to paragraph 7 of the WTO Work Programme for the LDCs.  She noted that the document was prepar ed as one of WTO's substantive contributions to 
the LDC-IV Conference.   
15. She said that the Note reflected the continued fra gility of LDCs in world trade.  LDCs were 
susceptible to exogenous shocks due to structural ri gidities and high concentration of exports.  She 
regretted the fact that the annual average growth ra te of 14 per cent achieved prior to the crisis in 2008 
had been eroded.  The growth of LDC exports ha d been largely driven by a few products, mainly 
fuels, minerals and clothing.  She referred to th e example provided in the Note that for eight LDCs, 
the top three products accounted for more than 95 pe r cent of their exports receipts, illustrating the 
vulnerabilities of these economies to fluctuations in international trade.  She expressed concern over 
the lack of diversification of LDCs' export b ase and heavy reliance on non-renewable resources - the 
extractive industries - which represented 60 per cen t of total LDC exports in 2009.  These factors 
explained the marginal share of LDCs in world trade, which stood at 1.04 per cent in 2008 but 
retreated below the 1 per cent mark in 2009 as a result of the global economic downturn. 
16. She continued by saying that the market des tinations of LDCs were also limited.  LDC 
exports were concentrated in five of their top 20 market destinations.  She underlined the need for 
enhanced market access opportunities for LDC exports.  She urged for the full implementation of the Decision on duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) market  access for LDC products adopted at the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, from which LDCs could reap some benefits.  She 
expressed appreciation to those Members that ha d provided DFQF market access to LDC products 
through various market access schemes and noted th e efforts undertaken by some developed as well 
as developing countries in providing DFQF market access to the LDCs. 
17. She stressed that market access schemes could only be effectively utilized if the 
accompanying rules of origin did not act as an impediment.  She hoped to see positive movement towards making preferential rules of origin simple and transparent.  She equally underlined the need 
to ensure that Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)  requirements did not impede LDC exports.  She 
hoped that targeted technical assistance and capacity -building support would be forthcoming for the 
LDCs to help strengthen their trade capacity , including standards-related capacity.   
18. She expressed satisfaction with the inclusion of an analysis on LDCs' services trade in the 
Note.  She believed that trade in services had a si gnificant role in global trade whose importance 
could not be downgraded.  Development of services exports from LDCs had the potential to facilitate 
LDCs' economic diversification which could also  ease LDCs' dependence on a few commodities.  
However, she noted that the share of LDCs in world commercial services had increased only 
marginally from 0.4 per cent in 2000 to 0.5 per cent in 2009.  Recei pts from international tourism in 
LDCs expanded by more than 14 per cent annuall y between 2000 and 2009, higher than the growth 
rate for other developing economies (10 per cent) and double the total world average (7 per cent).  
Despite the rise of tourism services, the LDCs were still minor players in world tourism.  She 
requested that more information on services trade be provided in the Note, in particular the proportion 
of receipts accruing to the LDCs from world tourism.    WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
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  19. She pointed out that the LDCs attached great importance to the services negotiations, 
especially in view of the contribution that this sect or could make to the economic development in the 
LDCs.  The WTO LDC Consultative Group had intensif ied its engagement with Members to finalize 
texts for a services waiver so that LDCs could mean ingfully integrate into global services trade.  She 
urged Members to adhere to the letter and spirit of  the modalities for special treatment for LDCs in 
the negotiations on trade in services adopted by Memb ers in 2003.  She believed that the adoption of a 
services waiver would create an enabling environm ent for preferential market access for services and 
service suppliers of LDCs.  
20. She further made some specific comments on the Note for consideration by the Secretariat.  
She noted that several data sources had been  used to report on LDC trade figures (e.g. UN 
COMTRADE, Global Trade Atlas).  She wondered how the Secretariat had dealt with the disparities 
that could occur from the combination of two or mo re data sets.  She suggested that a comparative 
analysis be made of the growth of LDC exports in relation to overa ll growth in world imports of both 
goods and services to gauge different determinants be hind LDC exports.  Chart 5 of the Note showed 
that the composition of LDC merchandise exports incl uded exports of machiner y and transport items.  
In this regard, she argued that there had been a hi gh level of activity in the extractive industries among 
neighboring LDCs, often among the multinational operat ors.  Specialized machinery could frequently 
pass the borders of different LDCs for temporary pur poses.  Therefore, she said that the export figure 
for machinery and transport could be reflective of re-exports which needed to be put into the right 
context.   
21. The representative of the United States  thanked the Secretariat for its Note, which provided 
valuable insights on export performance of LDCs.  He  found that many sections of the Note had made 
a valuable contribution to the literature in this area.  He noted that the document, like previous 
versions, highlighted the importance of South-Sout h trade for LDCs which represented 50 per cent of 
LDC exports in 2009.  He, however, regretted the fact that the data in the Note had continued to focus 
on developed country trade statistics, relying h eavily on mirror statistics and said that he would 
appreciate receiving additional information on constraints faced by the Secretariat in obtaining 
South-South trade statistics for LDCs and whether th ere were efforts undertaken to close these gaps.  
He believed that, based on the findings of the Note on the importance of South-South trade, 
paragraph 48 of the Note could be updated to clarify the point that increased market access conditions 
to other developing countries for the LDCs were not just a "supplement", but a key component for 
enhancing LDCs' export opportunities.  With respect to paragraph 49, he did not agree, at least in the 
context of US preference programmes, that prefer ence programmes were meant to "compensate" for 
the higher logistic and transaction costs in the LDCs ;  the manner in which the claim had been made 
was factually erroneous.  He s uggested that the Secretariat revise paragraph 49, including by 
acknowledging that the high transaction costs were perh aps one of the factors impeding LDC exports.   
22. He went on to make additional comments on the No te, for reflection by the Secretariat in the 
revised version of the Note.  He requested that foot note 20 be further explained in the Note.  He also 
wished to ascertain what definiti on had been used in paragraph 56 for "LDC beneficiaries", including 
clarification on whether those beneficiaries refe rred to LDCs as defined by the UN, through the 
national GSP programmes.  With respect to Box 4, he sought clarification on the term "LDC scheme", 
in particular whether it referred to specific bene fits under the Generalized System of Preferences 
(GSP) programme.  The words "scheme" and "prefere ntial scheme" had been used several times in 
paragraphs 56-58.  He wished to know whether those referred to the same thing.  He also pointed out 
that depending on the definitions, the title for colu mn one in Table 13 - "LDC duty scheme" – could 
be misleading, and that a better title for that co lumn might be "Duty application on LDC imports 
under GSP". 
23. He further said that the discussion in paragraph 56 and in Table 13 of the Note appeared to 
suggest that the US was "unusual" in terms of us ing free on board (FOB) value for customs valuation WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 6  
 
  by saying that countries "usually" used cost, insu rance & freight (CIF).  He felt that paragraph 56 
could be made more neutral by saying that "som e countries use CIF while others use FOB".  With 
respect to the DFQF market access data provided in Table 14 and in paragraphs 61-62, and 67, he 
wondered why the Secretariat had received information on DFQF market access only from a small number of developing countries (Chinese Taipei, Korea and Turkey), and not from any other 
developing countries.  He also sought clarification as to why there were no non-agricultural tariff lines 
with imports from LDC beneficiaries under Brazil's LDC duty scheme in Table 14.  In the context of DFQF market access for LDC products, he said that the use of the word "threshold" in paragraph 67 
conveyed the idea that this was an agreed upon ta rget and those countries below that 97 per cent 
threshold were not complying.  He suggested th at the second sentence in paragraph 67 be deleted 
from the Note.  With respect to Annex Table 3, he  found that the ratio of LDC manufactured exports 
to raw commodities and fuel was higher in devel oped countries than in developing countries and 
therefore wished to know why there was an entire chapter on tariff escalation in developed countries 
when tariff escalation in developing countries seemed to  be a larger issue.  He hoped that the revised 
version of the Note would address this discrepancy.  He would also submit some additional technical 
corrections to the Secretariat in writing concerni ng US preference programmes for reflection in the 
revised version of the Note. 
24. The representative of China
 expressed appreciation to the Secretariat for its Note, which his 
delegation had found comprehensive and informative.  The Note provided an up-to-date picture of 
market access conditions for LDC exports.  He also  praised the Secretariat for preparing a consistent 
high-quality document on this topic every year.  He believed that the Note would be a useful 
contribution to the preparation for the LDC-IV Conference in 2011. 
25. His delegation had studied the document carefully , and had a mixed feeling on the situation of 
LDCs in world trade.  On the one hand, LDCs' exports had increased rapidly during the past nine 
years (2000-2009) with an average annual growth rate of 14 per cent for merchandise exports and 
12 per cent for exports of commercial services, which had outpaced the growth of the world average.  
The market access conditions for LDCs had also seen a gradual improvement.  Emerging economies, 
including China, had been providing improved ma rket access opportunities to LDC products and had 
taken steps to further improve market access fo r LDC products.  However, on the other hand, the 
LDCs had experienced a sharp decline in exports sin ce 2008, leading to a record trade deficit in 2009 
which had demonstrated their vulnerability to exte rnal shocks.  The long-standing feature of export 
concentration had not been effectively resolved .  The higher logistic and transaction costs and 
stringent rules of origin associated with some preference schemes had continued to pose challenges 
for the LDCs to benefit from favor able market access conditions. 
26. He added that the recovery from the recent ec onomic crisis had been uneven and fragile and 
that the rebound of exports from the crisis had been one of the biggest challenges for all WTO 
Members, in particular the LDCs.  A lot of work  was required by all Member s to help LDCs better 
integrate into, and benefit from, the multilateral trading system.  He extended support to the 
conclusion drawn by the Secretariat that the ra pid completion of the Doha Round could further 
improve market access opportunities for LDC products as well as promote their development.  His delegation remained committed to the specific concerns of LDCs.  He hoped that the issues of interest 
to LDCs such as the implementation of the DFQF Decision, a solution on cotton, and the finalization 
of the services waiver could be a ddressed expeditiously and comprehe nsively.  The sense of urgency 
was critical, especially to address the legitimate con cerns of LDCs.  He felt that given the limited 
time, Members should fulfill their long-repeated  commitments and make the Round a truly 
development-oriented and inclusive one. 
27. He continued by saying that Aid for Trade was another area in which the WTO could play an 
important role in LDCs' developmen t.  Referring to paragraph 49 of the Note, he noted that structural 
impediments limited the capacity of LDCs of seizing the market access opportunities provided to  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
 Page 7 
 
 
  them.  The Aid-for-Trade Initiative and the Enhanced  Integrated Framework (EIF), with the aim of 
building productive capacity and economic infrastru cture for developing countries and LDCs, could 
provide the much needed platform for a tangibl e contribution to LDCs' trade capacity.  The 
forthcoming Third Global Review of Aid for Trade could be a valuable opportunity to examine the 
effectiveness of the Aid for Trade on the ground and inject new momentum to this work, which was 
of paramount importance to the LDCs.  
28. He then drew the attention of the Secretariat to  some specifics of the Note.  First, he pointed 
out that Chart 6 identified that China was the largest  export destination of LDCs in 2009 followed by 
the EU.  However, the figure for EU's imports fro m LDCs (US$28.8 billion) was higher than that of 
China (US$27.4 billion) in Annex Table 4.  In a ddition, paragraph 66 describ ed that China absorbed 
21 per cent of LDCs' exports in 2008, but the figur e in last year's Note was higher (23 per cent) 
(WT/COMTD/LDC/W/46/Rev.1).  He requested a clarification of the discrepancy of the data, and requested that the Secretariat correct the figures in  the revised version of the Note.  Second, he 
appreciated the work by the Secretariat in Anne x Table 6, especially for incorporating the recent 
DFQF treatment for African LDCs within the frame work of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.  
He took the opportunity to inform Members that since 1 July 2010, China had been granting zero 
tariff treatment to 4,762 tariff lines imported fro m 33 LDCs which had completed the exchange of 
letters for that purpose.  The other eight LDCs would enjoy the same treatment upon completion of 
the exchange of letters.  He also pointed out that this DFQF treatment was applicable to LDCs from 
other continents as well.  He further said that the zero tariff treatment of 4,762 lines accounted for 
nearly 60 per cent of China's total tariff lines, and 98.2 per cent of all LDC exports to China in value 
terms for the year 2008.  He reiterated the commitm ent of his Government to continue to expand the 
scope of such treatment to LDCs with a view to  achieving the final objective of covering 95 per cent 
of tariff lines.  He requested the Secretariat to refl ect this information in the revised version of the 
Note. 
29. The representative of Canada
 thanked the Secretariat for its comprehensive Note, which 
together with the presentation made at the mee ting provided a good understanding of the LDC trade 
over the last ten years.  Canada had been enc ouraging economic growth and development in the 
LDCs, including through its LDC tariff programme  which was transparent, predictable and 
far-reaching in terms of eligible  countries, product coverage, ru les of origin and overall ease of 
administration.  Canada's LDC tariff programme was among the most comprehensive in the world as it had provided DFQF access to the LDCs for 98.8 pe r cent of its tariff lines.  He encouraged the 
LDCs to make more use of this regime.  He suggest ed that the Secretariat include indicators reflecting 
the tariff line coverage, in particular in the context of date provided in Box 4 of the Note, which could 
provide a more balanced view of various countries' LDC tariff schemes. 
30. The representative of the European Union
 noted the interest of some Members concerning the 
EU's preferential rules of origin policy.  Reca lling his statement made in October 2010 at the 
Committee on Trade and Development (CTD), he reite rated that the new rules of origin would be 
applicable from 1 January 2011.  The Commi ssion had been working since 2005 on a more 
development-friendly rules of origin for all GSP bene ficiaries.  The new rules of origin criteria would 
soon be published, and he would inform the Secretar iat of the date of its availability in the public 
domain.  He hoped that the new set of rules of orig in would further strengthen the relationship of the 
EU with developing countries and LD Cs.  He believed that the LDCs would be able to benefit from 
the relaxation of EU's rules of origin criteria. 
31. The representative of the Secretariat  said that the divergences in data identified by some 
delegations between the main text and the Anne x Tables would be examined and duly corrected.  
With respect to the compatibility of statistics so urced from different channels, he clarified that 
monthly or quarterly data had been sourced from Global Trade Atlas while the annual data had been WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 8  
 
  sourced from the COMTRADE database.  Both these databases collected data from the same official 
sources, thus ensuring consistency of LDC trade data provided in the Note. 
32. He took note of the comments and suggestions made by the representative of the US with 
respect to various elements of the Note.  With re gard to Table 14 concerning tariff treatment of LDC 
exports in selected developing country markets, he  said that the availability of data on preferential 
trade between developing countries and LDCs was li mited.  That was why data in Table 14 was 
limited mostly to MFN data.  Efforts were bei ng made, including greater cooperation with ITC and 
UNCTAD, to improve data coverage  on preferential trade of LDCs vis-à-vis  developing countries.  
He would also include information on tariff escalati on on LDC exports to deve loping country markets 
in the revised version of the Note.  He took note of the suggestion made to appropriately word the 
paragraph mentioning the different definition of import values used by customs authorities.  He 
reiterated that comments made by Members at the meeting would be duly reflected in the revised 
version of the Note. 
33. The Chairman
 thanked all for their contributions.  He said that there had been positive 
developments in the growth of LDC exports over th e last decade.  However,  despite an increase of 
LDCs' share in world merchandise exports, their ex port base had remained narrow.  While LDCs had 
witnessed some degree of diversification in their market destinations, they needed to move up the 
value chain to broaden their export basket and increase their export earnings.  They also needed to integrate into the growing South-South trade.  He said that the world economy had experienced a severe downturn in the last two years, which had a ffected all economies.  While there had been good 
recovery by LDC exporters of oil and minerals, the recovery for the other categories of exporters had 
been sluggish. 
34. He noted that duty-free coverage was nearly 10 0 per cent for all developed Members with the 
exception of one.  He hoped that the remaining gaps  in the implementation of the DFQF Decision 
taken at Hong Kong would be closed  expeditiously.  He was encouraged to see that an increasing 
number of developing countries were making valuable  contributions to enhance export opportunities 
for LDCs by adopting market access schemes for LDCs.  He felt that some non-tariff measures such 
as preferential rules of origin and standards shoul d be addressed on a priority basis, to further 
facilitate exports from LDCs.  In this regard, he  had taken due note of the EU's announcement on the 
revised rules of origin criteria for the LDCs.  At  the same time, he underlined that the LDCs should 
make effective use of capacity-b uilding initiatives such as the EI F and the broader Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative to make a real difference in  their productive and trade capacities. 
35. He said that it would be interesting to inves tigate whether the small number of LDCs – mostly 
oil and mineral exporters – which had experienced ra pid export growth rates had been able to reduce 
poverty and unemployment in their countries.  The Secretariat had been comprehensively covering the 
market access schemes undertaken in favour of LD Cs.  He commended the Secretariat for including 
an analysis on the evolution of trade balances over th e last decade.  He noted that the drop in oil and 
mineral prices during the 2008-200 9 global economic crises, combined with drop in volumes of 
exports, had led to a large trade deficit for the LDCs in 2009.  The trade balances of agricultural 
exporters had deteriorated markedly between 2000 and 2009.  He added that the agricultural 
exporters, in 2009, had only been able to cover a third of their import bill with their merchandise 
export earnings.  The trade deficit in food produc ts had grown significantly over the last decade.  
According to UNCTAD, the food deficit stood at near ly US$7 billion in 2000, which had then soared 
to the present figure of more than US$25 billion.  He said that 60 to 70 per cent of employment in the 
LDCs was either directly or indirectly linked to ag riculture and that this sector had enormous potential 
for both subsistence and commercial exploitation in th e LDCs.  He hoped that the role of agriculture 
would be put in the right context in establishing the next Programme of Action for LDCs at the 
LDC-IV Conference.  He said that a revised version of the Note would be issued prior to the next  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
 Page 9 
 
 
  meeting of the Sub-Committee.  He proposed th at the Sub-Committee take note of the document 
contained in WT/COMTD/LDC/W/48 as well as of the statements made. 
36. It was so decided . 
C. FOURTH UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE LEAST -DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDC-IV) TO 
BE HELD IN 2011 : 
- Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least-Developed 
Countries for the Decade 2001-2010:  Report by the Director-General of the WTO (JOB/DEV/8)  
37. The Chairman
 said that the LDC-IV Conference would be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in 
May 2011 and that the preparatory process of the LDC-IV Conference was gathering pace.  A series 
of national, regional and global events had been held  over the past year.  He had had the opportunity 
to attend a number of meetings relating to the LDC-IV Conference.  The most recent was the 
UNCTAD event on productive capacity building held from 27 to 29 October 2010.  The intergovernmental negotiations in the United Nati ons in New York would begin from January 2011, 
where the UN member States would draw up a new Pr ogramme of Action for the LDCs.  He had been 
regularly briefing the Sub-Committee on developments  relating to the LDC-IV Conference.  At the 
previous meeting, the Ambassador of Turkey - th e host country for LDC-IV – had made a detailed 
statement providing its background, the process, as well as some of the substantive issues that could 
be considered by the international community.   
38. He said that the WTO Secretariat had been providing regular inputs on the implementation of 
the Programme of Action for the Decade 2001-2010.  He  recalled that at the previous meeting of the 
Sub-Committee held in June 2010, he had invited the Secretariat to consider how best it could 
contribute to the preparatory process of the Istanbul Conference.  In response, the Director-General 
had prepared a report on his own responsibility, wh ich had been issued as JOB/DEV/8.  The report 
gave an account of the steps taken both by Member s and by the WTO Secretariat to achieve the goals 
of the BPOA in the last decade, to the extent that  they fell within the competence of the WTO.  He 
invited the Secretariat to introduce the document. 
39. The representative of the Secretariat
 recalled that international organizations including the 
WTO had been invited by the UN General Asse mbly to provide necessary support and actively 
contribute to the preparatory process of the LDC-IV  Conference and to the Conference itself.  The 
report, which had been prepared by the Directo r-General of the WTO on his own responsibility, was 
not the first of its kind.  The Director-General  had submitted a similar report on the occasion of the 
mid-term review of the BPOA held in 2006.  He ad ded that the Secretariat had been providing regular 
inputs on the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Decade 2001-2010.  He said that the 
report looked at the various trade elements of the BPOA, reporting on measures taken in the WTO 
over the past decade towards the goals a nd objectives set out in the BPOA.   
40. He went on to say that the growth of LDC e xports had been higher than the world average 
during 2000-2009.  The share of LDC exports in world merchandise trade had reached close to 
1 per cent in 2009, while the share of LDCs in worl d trade in commercial services had remained static 
around 0.4 to 0.5 per cent during the period 2000-2009.   However, LDC exports had continued to be 
characterized by a concentration on a limited number of products, making them vulnerable to external 
shocks.  Supply-side constraints had continued to be one of the major challenges for expansion of 
LDCs' trade. 
41. The report of the Director-General broadly covered the LDC-specific developments in 
different areas of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations which had been prepared in WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 10  
 
  consultation with different divisions in the Secret ariat.  LDCs had been accorded a high degree of 
flexibility in all areas of negotiations, ranging from  agriculture to non-agriculture, services, trade 
facilitation, rules, etc.  The section on DFQF ma rket access provided information on the schemes that 
had been put in place by developed as well as devel oping countries pursuant to the DFQF Decision 
adopted by Members at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005. 
42. The report also looked at the technical assist ance and training programmes imparted by the 
WTO to strengthen trade capacity including human and institutional capacity in the LDCs.  During 
the period 2002-2009, on an average, the LDCs ha d been associated with 40 to 45 per cent of all 
trade-related technical assistance delivered by the WTO.  The LDC Unit, which was established in 
early 2003, had been playing a supportive role to  assist the LDCs in their participation in the 
multilateral trading system.   
43. He pointed out that the section on accession highli ghted that concrete progress had been made 
to facilitate and accelerate the accession of LDCs to  the WTO.  Since 2001, three LDCs (Cambodia, 
Cape Verde and Nepal) had acceded to the WT O, although Cape Verde had graduated from LDC 
status in December 2007.  Twelve LDCs were  in various stages of their accession process, 
representing 40 per cent of the total number of acced ing governments to the WTO.  He further noted 
that the Director-General attach ed special attention to accelera ting LDC accessions.  Since 2009, 
regular dialogues had been held between acceding LDCs and WTO Members to deepen engagement 
on LDCs' accessions.  Some of the LDC accessions were  at an advanced stage (e.g. Samoa, Vanuatu, 
Yemen).     
44. He said that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative was an important complement to any market access 
initiative provided to the LDCs.  The LDCs had b een receiving increased Aid-for-Trade funding.  In 
2008, 25 per cent of total Aid-for-Trade resources we nt to the LDCs, amounting to approximately 
US$10 billion.  The EIF, the vehicle for the LDCs to access Aid-for-Trade funding, covered almost all 
LDCs under its programme.  Forty-seven out of th e 49 LDCs were in different stages of the EIF 
process.  He emphasized the need for speeding up  the utilization of resources under the EIF.  In 
conclusion, he said that the report highlighted so me of the areas where the WTO had made significant 
contributions to attaining the goals and objectiv es of the BPOA, as well as identified some of the 
areas where further work was required to beneficially  integrate LDCs into the global economy and to 
further advance the objectives of the BPOA.  He sai d that he looked forward to receiving comments 
or suggestions on the report. 
45. The representative of Zambia
, on behalf of the LDCs, thanke d the Director-General of the 
WTO for his  informative report on the implementation of the programme of Action for the LDCs for 
the decade 2001-2010.  She, however, highlighted the fact that while progress had been made on a 
number of issues of interest to LDCs in the WTO,  Members were yet to implement their commitments 
in a number of areas.  This had partly been due  to the delay in the conclusion of the Doha Round 
negotiations.  She then drew Members' attention to  some of the areas where actions were needed at 
the LDC-IV Conference. 
46. She noted that an agreement had been reached  to exempt LDCs from undertaking reduction 
commitments in the areas of agriculture and non-agri culture.  The LDCs attached great importance to 
the full and effective implementation of commit ments made in favour of LDCs including those 
contained in Annex F of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  However, more work was required 
to make these commitments fully operational.  Seve ral developed country part ners were yet to fully 
implement the Decision on DFQF market access.  Sh e felt that developing countries which were in a 
position to do so could also take steps to implement the DFQF Decision.  She flagged that the mandate to make preferential rules of origin simp le and transparent was outstanding.  She called for 
an early harvest for cotton, DFQF market access fo r LDC products and for the adoption of services 
waiver – all of which could be a contribution by  the WTO to the LDC-IV Conference.  She also  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
 Page 11 
 
 
  looked forward to the establishment of a Monitoring Mechanism that would ensure that Special and 
Differential Treatment (S&D) provisions we re precise, effective and operational. 
47. She underlined the importance of trade in services for LDCs which went beyond pure 
economic significance due to the major role it played  in achieving social and development objectives, 
and as a means of addressing poverty, upgrading we lfare, improving universal availability and access 
to basic services.  Enhancing the role of LDCs in the services sector remain ed critical to trade and 
overall economic diversification in the LDCs.  It wa s against this background, and given the potentials 
of trade in services that the LDCs wished to see progress in the current discussions on the services 
waiver as it could help LDCs reap tangible benefits from an environment that facilitated the growth of 
services trade. 
48. She went on to say that accession had been another area of critical importance to the LDCs.  
She noted that only three LDCs had been able to acce de to the WTO over the past ten years.  Twelve 
LDCs were at various stages of their accession process.  She expressed concern over the current pace of accession negotiations.  She hoped that the WTO Memb ership could step up its efforts to accelerate 
the accession of LDCs to the WTO.  There was a wi ndow of opportunity for the WTO to show results 
in the Istanbul Conference next year, especially for tho se LDCs that had been on the 2010 priority list.   
49. She appreciated the progress made over the past years in providing technical assistance and 
capacity-building support to the LDCs.  The estab lishment of the DDA Global Trust Fund had helped 
to provide targeted and increased support to de veloping countries and LDCs.  She thanked all 
cooperating partners for their contributions to the Trust Fund, as well as the Secretariat for 
undertaking some focused initiatives in favour of LDCs.  She also expressed appreciation for the 
progress made in the EIF, which had become fully  operational with a functional administrative 
structure.  However, some more work was needed  to fully implement the programme on the ground.  
She called upon all stakeholders involved in the EI F to remain committed so as to ensure the 
successful implementation of the programme.  She reiterated that the EIF remained a valuable tool for assisting LDCs to mainstream trade into national de velopment strategies and thereby assisting them to 
effectively integrate into the global trading syst em, including leveraging Aid-for-Trade resources for 
the LDCs.  She thanked the EIF partners for their continued commitment to the programme, including 
for providing increased resources to the EIF Trust Fund. 
50. She noted that Aid-for-Trade flows to LD Cs had been increasing;  it had reached 
US$10 billion in 2008.  She emphasized the importa nce of the Aid-for-Trade  Initiative to build the 
supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastru cture in the LDCs.  She reiterated that the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative covered trade policy and regulations, trade development, trade-related 
infrastructure, productive capacity building and trade -related adjustment.  The global reviews of Aid 
for Trade had been a useful platform, providing Members an opportunity to assess developments in 
the implementation of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  She stressed that Aid-for-Trade resources should 
be over and above traditiona l programmes maintained by the cooper ating partners.  She hoped that the 
exercise of case stories planned for the Third Global Review scheduled for July 2011 would be useful 
in identifying the gaps as well as measures to e ffectively address those gaps.  She underscored the 
importance of an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with a view to ensuring effectiveness of the Aid -for-Trade Initiative.   
51. The representative of the United States
 appreciated the Secretariat's efforts to provide a 
factual report on the measures taken by the WTO since 2001 to enhance the role of trade in 
development.  Given that the report had only been made available recently, his delegation only had a 
few initial remarks.  Additional remarks on the repor t would be submitted later to the Secretariat. 
52. He said that while specific areas of WTO work had been addressed in the report, it could 
benefit more from a greater emphasis on the important role that the WTO could play in maintaining WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 12  
 
  an open, rules-based, transparent and non-discriminat ory global trade regime th at could help facilitate 
LDCs' participation in global goods and services trad e.  There was some recognition in the report of 
the important role that the Doha Round could play in securing additional market access for LDCs.  He 
believed that the potentials of the Doha Round could be further explored , particularly in the context of 
South-South liberalization.  He noted that some of the more detailed descriptions of the on-going 
Doha negotiations, particularly those discussing draf t negotiating texts, could benefit from a review 
by the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups, to ensure th e accuracy of the descripti ons.  In addition, some 
areas of the negotiations appeared to describe homogenous LDC negotiating objectives, whereas that 
had not been the experience of his delegation.  He  believed that the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups 
would be able to assist in any corrections to LDC negotiating positions, which could then be reflected 
in the report.  He thanked the Secretariat for the opportunity to share the suggestions that his 
delegation had on the report, and hoped that th e Secretariat would take those comments into 
consideration. 
53. The representative of Turkey
 was encouraged to see that the LDC-IV Conference had become 
a regular item of the Sub-Committee.  His delegation, as the host of the LDC-IV Conference, had 
briefed the Sub-Committee in the previous m eeting (June 2010) on the preparations of the 
Conference.  He shared some thoughts with Members in light of developments that had taken place 
since then. 
54. He thanked the Director-General of the WTO for his report on the implementation of the 
BPOA for LDCs for the decade 2001-2010.  The report provided a factual analysis of the measures taken by the WTO in favour of LDCs towards ac hieving the goals and objectives of the BPOA;  it 
constituted a valuable input, guiding Members in the right direction in preparing for the LDC-IV 
Conference.  His delegation believed that the co ntributions of the Geneva-based international 
organizations were critical for the preparations of the Conference. 
55. He said that the Geneva-based organizations ha d recently organized a series of events to 
contribute to the preparations of the Conference.  The civil society organizations in Geneva had held 
meetings on issues pertinent to the LDCs.  UNCTAD had organized a pre-Conference event from 25 
to 29 October 2010, the theme of which was "build ing productive capacities in LDCs for inclusive 
and sustainable development".  That meeting had been fruitful and had touched upon one of the core 
challenges of LDCs.  In addition, the fourth inter-a gency meeting had recently been held in Geneva.  
The meeting, which was chaired by the High Re presentative for LDCs (Ambassador Diarra), had 
elaborated on various side events to be organized during the LDC-IV Conference.  
56. He went on to say that the UNCTAD LDC Report 2010 entitled "Towards a New 
International Development Architecture for LDCs ", would be launched on 25 November 2010.  The 
Report would be taken up during the Executive S ession of UNCTAD's Trade and Development Board 
to be held on 29-30 November 2010.  He inform ed Members that there would be two more 
pre-Conference events before the end of 2010.  The first would be organized by UNDP on 
8-9 December, the theme of which was "Promoting Democratic Governance for LDCs Development".  
The World Bank would organize the second event on "Aid for Trade" on 13 December, hosted by the WTO.  He encouraged the Geneva-based organiza tions, LDCs and developmen t partners to actively 
participate to these events. 
57. He said that the Istanbul Programme of Acti on would be the roadmap for LDCs' development 
in the coming decade and that it should comprise meaningful and well-defined specific actions in 
favour of LDCs.  From the perspective of his dele gation, some of the priority areas for LDCs had 
been identified as follows: (i) development of producti ve capacities;  (ii) sca ling up and enhancing the 
quality of development aid;  (iii) diversification of the export base and market opportunities resulting 
in increased employment;  (iv) enhancing capacity in services trade, particularly tourism;  (v) deepening South-South cooperation and regional in tegration;  and (vi) promoting FDI and transfer  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
 Page 13 
 
 
  of technology.  He hoped that the areas that he had identified would be re flected thoroughly in the 
Istanbul Programme of Action.  In addition, he ca lled upon the international community to address the 
new challenges emerging from climate change, food deficits and the challenges stemming from the 
global economic crisis.  He suggested that the ne w Programme of Action be  coherent with other 
ongoing international processes, particularly Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Aid 
Effectiveness and Financing for Development and that it should contain a "monitoring and review 
mechanism" to ensure a systematic follow-up of the implementation of the targets that would be 
agreed upon at the LDC-IV Conference.    
58. He went on to outline some of the possible tr ade deliverables from the LDC-IV Conference.  
First, he underlined that the development partners  could consider expanding the coverage as well as 
simplifying the preferential "rules of origin" in  providing DFQF market access for LDC products.  
Second, he stressed that the Aid-for-Trade Initiativ e could be leveraged to enhance the capacity of 
LDCs to diversify their export base.  In this rega rd, he called for a firm commitment to increase the 
resources available for LDCs through the EIF.  Thir d, he invited the development partners to assist 
LDCs by taking concrete commitments to facilitate  technology transfer in the LDCs, including by 
providing incentives as provided for in Article 66.2 of  the TRIPS Agreement.  In the area of Official 
Development Assistance (ODA), he believed that the LDC partners could strive to allocate a fixed 
proportion of their ODA to productive sectors for the ne xt decade;  furthermore, they could also agree 
to provide development aid through the national bud getary processes.  He attached high importance to 
the role of democratic institutions as well as good development governance in all areas of work.   
59. He pointed out that less than two months were left before the start of the intergovernmental 
negotiations in New York to deve lop the outcome document of the LD C-IV Conference.  He urged all 
stakeholders to accelerate the work so as to submit their contributions in time for the negotiation of 
the outcome document.  He reiterated that as the host country, his Government was committed to 
ensuring a successful and meaningful outcome from the LDC-IV Conference.  His authorities would 
put in all the necessary effort to contribute substantia lly to the preparations at the international level as 
well as to make arrangements at home.  The Office of the High Representative for LDCs was building 
its network in Ankara.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been organizi ng brainstorming meetings 
with relevant Turkish Ministries and institutions.  The Scientific and Technological Research Council 
of Turkey (TÜB İTAK) would organize a preparatory meeting on science and technology for LDCs 
which was scheduled to take place in Ankara in Janua ry 2011.  He also welcomed the appointment of 
a group of Eminent Persons by the Secretary Genera l of the United Nations.  Furthermore, he was 
pleased to note that the private sector and the civ il society tracks had already started their work to 
contribute to the Conference.  He informed Memb ers that the Turkish International Development 
Agency (T İKA) and UNIDO would soon conclude a c ooperation agreement with a view to 
implementing joint projects on the development of productive capacities in the agriculture sector in 
LDCs, the results of which would be presented at the LDC-IV Conference. 
60. He welcomed the communication from Nepal, and congratulated the LDCs in Geneva for 
their hard work in producing the document.  He underlined the importance of the ownership of the 
process by the LDCs in the run up to the LDC-IV Conference.  In conclusion, he reiterated the 
commitment of his Government in raising awaren ess and interest among the international community 
so as to create a political momentum for the LDC -IV Conference.  The Seoul Declaration from the 
G-20 meeting had also recognized the importance of the LDC-IV Conference.  He called upon all 
stakeholders to work closely to make the LDC-IV Conference a success.     
61. The representative of the Secretariat  said that he had taken note of the comments made by 
Members on the report.  The Secretariat would seek to incorporate the suggestions before submitting the document to the UN Office of the High Representativ e for LDCs in two weeks' time.  He invited 
Members to send any suggestions or comments to the Secretariat prior to that time-frame so that the 
Secretariat could take those into account befo re issuing the final version of the report. WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 14  
 
  62. The Chairman
 thanked all for their comments and suggestions.  He thanked the 
Director-General of the WTO for his inputs into the LDC-IV process.  Measures taken in the WTO 
over the last ten years had largely contributed to attaining the goals and objectives of the BPOA.  He 
urged the international community to pay attention to  the challenges that had been identified and work 
towards concrete, focused and time-bound commitments  for LDCs' development.  He proposed that 
the Sub-Committee take note of the statements ma de and of the document contained in JOB/DEV/8.1 
63. It was so agreed . 
- Communication from Nepal (JOB/DEV/9)  
64. The Chairman  said that the inputs submitted by th e WTO LDC Consultative Group into the 
LDC-IV preparatory process had been circulated  to Members as JOB/DEV/9.  He invited the 
delegation of Nepal, in its role as the Coordinato r of the LDCs in the UN system, to introduce the 
document.   
65. The representative of Nepal  expressed his gratitude to the Director-General of the WTO for 
his commitment to the LDCs.  He thanked the Chairman for including an item on LDC-IV on the 
agenda of the meeting.  The meeting had provide d an opportunity to the LDCs to highlight their 
long-standing concerns and challenges in develo pment as well as to discuss ways and means to 
address them in an effective manner.  
66. He acknowledged the efforts made by the intern ational community for the last three decades 
for LDCs' development.  However, the challenges faced by the LDCs were enormous.  The past 
Programmes of Action had fallen short of fully achieving the goals and targets set out by the 
international community.  The number of LDCs has doubled since the creation of the LDC status in 
1971.  Only one LDC - Cape Verde - had graduate d from LDC status in the past decade.  Two 
LDCs - Maldives and Samoa – were in the transition stage of their graduation.   
67. He said that the LDCs, accounting for 12 per cent of global population, were the poorest and 
most vulnerable members of the international commu nity.  The LDCs represented only 1 per cent and 
half of 1 per cent of global trade in goods and comm ercial services, respectively.  Only seven LDCs 
accounted for 74 per cent of total LDC exports.  Sixty-two per cent of total LDC exports were 
represented by the oil-exporting LDCs.  He furthe r noted that nearly 80 per cent of total export 
receipts in LDCs had come from unprocessed primar y commodities and extractive industries.  This 
demonstrated that despite wide-ranging reforms undertaken by the LDCs, including structural 
transformation efforts, structure and direction of LDCs' trade remained largely unchanged.  The LDCs continued to be overwhe lmed by high transition costs, inadequate supply-side capacity and 
insufficient market access opportunities.  This ha d further been compounded by a series of recent 
global crises. 
68. He went on to elaborate on the potentials of trade.  Free and fair trade had a vital role to play 
in socio-economic development, which could unl eash immense progress and development in the 
world.  Trading opportunities could widen peop le's choices, reduce poverty, improve human 
conditions, and generate job opportunities.  He noted that trade had also fostered harmony, 
understanding and tolerance among na tions.  Trade had to be seen in a holistic manner along with 
other determinants of developmen t in a nation.  Linkages among trade and those determinants could 
be mutually reinforcing.  He said that the past 20 years of experience had revealed that trade could be 
an effective instrument for poverty reduction; and growth had come to those countries that were equipped with appropriate economic policies, functional institutions and sound regulatory 
                                                     
 
1 The document was later circulated as WT/COMTD/LDC/17.  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
 Page 15 
 
 
  mechanisms as well as had designed well-targ eted capacity building and development aid 
programmes.    
69. He continued by saying that imbalances and dist ortions in the international trading regime had 
deprived LDCs of their comparative advantages.  UNDP estimated that the real cost for developing 
countries of rich country's agricultural protectionism and subsidies might be as high as US$72 billion 
a year which was ironically almost equivalent to annual aid flows. 
70. Reports indicated that since 1990 more than  three million people had died from armed 
conflicts, and many more from famine and epidemics.  Over the past 15 years, approximately 80 per cent of the world's poorest countries had expe rienced a major war.  The World Bank reports 
stated that poverty and conflict went hand-in-hand.  Conflicts and climate change had been a threat to 
LDCs' development process, including peace, security  and stability.  Two thirds of LDCs had either 
experienced conflicts or were undergoing conflicts, which were highly associated with low human 
development and low economic growth.   
71. He said that LDCs had continued to face barriers in their efforts to expand trade.  Different 
studies had given varying figures on net gains that c ould accrue to LDCs with the removal of trade 
barriers.  The most conservative estimation had pu t it around US$287 million per year.  He pointed 
out that cotton subsidies were causing a loss of US$300 million in revenue to African cotton 
producing countries per year, which was higher than the total debt relief approved by the World Bank 
and the IMF under the Heavily Indebted Poor Co untries (HIPC) Initiative (US$230 million).    
72. Against the above background, he went on to outli ne the actions needed in  the area of trade at 
the LDC-IV Conference.  First, he underscored th e importance of a speedy conclusion of the Doha 
Round with development at its centre.  The de lay in the conclusion of the Round had denied 
development and raised concerns about the viabilit y of multilateralism.  He urged Members to work 
towards strengthening the rules-based, open, e quitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading 
regime.  He invited Members' attention to the call from the G-20 meeting recently held in Seoul for an 
early conclusion of the Doha Round, which coul d advance global partnership and ensure the 
predictability of the multilateral trading system.  Se cond, he called for an early harvest on issues of 
importance to the LDCs.  In this regard, he called for the full implementation of the DFQF Decision 
along with simplified and transparent rules of origin , as well as for the adoption of a services waiver 
to ensure preferential market access for LDCs including for services supplied under mode 4.  He 
argued that unhindered market access opportunities for LDCs could go a long way, including in sustaining and strengthening the democratic process as well as steering the power of youth into 
constructive channels.  Third, he underlined th e importance of a predictable flow of financial 
resources to the LDCs to achieve sustained and in clusive growth, sustainable development and gender 
equality.  Fourth, he put a special emphasis on enhanc ing supply-side capacity in the LDCs, especially 
in the area of agriculture, industry and services.  In this regard, the LDCs  should be provided with 
sufficient financial and technical assistance, suppor tive technologies to enhance the industrial and 
agricultural capacity including the capacity of the SMEs.  Trade Facilitation support was also critical 
for the LDCs to export products on a competitive basis.   Fifth, he stressed the need for technology 
transfer in the LDCs, including the effective impl ementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement 
to help LDCs upgrade their technological base.  Sixt h, he called for a fast-track accession process of 
LDCs in the WTO.  He noted that the LDCs c onstituted one quarter of the UN membership, 32 of 
which were Members of the WTO.  Since the forma tion of the WTO, only three LDCs had been able 
to accede to the WTO.  Twelve LDCs were at various stages of their accession process.  Accession 
process for LDCs were tedious, lengthy and complex.  Seventh, he called for exploring the potentials 
of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative to help LDCs divers ify their production and ex port base including the 
building up of competitive export sectors.  He express ed satisfaction with the operationalization of the 
EIF.  He thanked all donors for their generous c ontributions to the EIF Trust Fund, and made an 
appeal to further strengthen the Trust Fund.  He felt that the Aid-for-Trade resources in the present WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
Page 16  
 
  form were not sufficient to overcome supply-side cons traints in the LDCs.  Eighth, he suggested that 
the new Programme of Action include a financing ar chitecture to mitigate the adverse consequences 
of climate change and encourage "Green Growth " in the LDCs.  Climate change had become a 
"tragedy of commons" .  If early actions were not taken, estimates had suggested that the world might 
incur a loss of equivalent to at least 5 per cent of global gross domestic product each year.  The 
productive capacity in the LDCs had been eroding due to  the effects of the climate change.  Lastly, he 
said that South-South economic cooperation and trade had emerged as a vital component to shape the 
future landscape of world trade.  Given the in creasingly important role of emerging economies in 
global trade, finance, investment and governance, the potential of South-South cooperation needed to 
be tapped. 
73. He concluded by saying that the LDC Confer ences were held once in a decade, which had 
been a major undertaking of the international comm unity.  The international community should help 
LDCs achieve peace, security an d stability.  He looked forward to a renewed and stronger 
international partnership for result-oriented develo pment for the LDCs for the next decade.  He hoped 
that international support would be  comprehensive enough to  lift over 800 million people in LDCs out 
of poverty and accelerate their overall development. 
74. The representative of the United States
 expressed appreciation to the delegation of Nepal for 
sharing the LDC inputs to the Istanbul Programme of Action with Members.  He recognized the 
importance of the LDC-IV Conference in highligh ting the work accomplished since 2001 by the UN, 
its members, and other international organizations in  enhancing the role of trade in development for 
LDCs and in identifying the additional work that was needed.  He looked forward to working with 
Nepal and other LDCs in the UN in developing th e Istanbul Programme of Action over the coming 
months. 
75. He noted that some issues highlighted in th e LDC submission were under the mandate of the 
WTO.  He stressed that issues under active negotiations within the WTO, or under the purview of WTO bodies, should stay within the WTO.  He underlined the importance of exercising caution to 
ensure that there were no shadow negotiations of WTO issues in another forum, nor should there be 
the expansion of another forum's mandate into issues already addressed by the WTO. 
76. The Chairman
 thanked all delegations for their cont ributions.  He said that the next few 
months would be decisive in determining the futu re of the LDCs.  The LDC-IV Conference would be 
a key event where all, including WTO Members, had a responsibility to contribute to its success.  He 
called upon Members to extend their full support in r ealizing the goals and objectives of the LDCs.  
He appreciated the statement made by the representa tive of Turkey and requested this delegation to 
keep the Sub-Committee informed of developments.   
77. He said that the preparatory process leading up to the LDC-IV Conference was being 
coordinated by the UN Office of the High Repre sentative for the LDCs in  New York.  The UN 
General Assembly had set up an intergovernmenta l negotiating group in New York which would meet 
twice in 2011 - January and April - and would wo rk on the basis of inputs from all international 
organizations.  He urged agencies to finalize their i nputs prior to the intergovernmental negotiations in 
New York.  He noted that the document submitted by the LDCs covered a wide range of areas of 
interest to the LDCs.  He hoped that the LD C-IV Conference would address the development 
challenges of LDCs in a holistic manner.  He noted  the importance of building productive capacity in 
the LDCs.  In this regard, the Aid-for-Trade Initia tive and in particular the EIF were playing an 
instrumental role in enhancing the trade capacity  of the LDCs.  He recalled that the issue of 
productive capacity was also one of the key themes of UNCTAD's input for the LDC-IV Conference.   
78. He expressed concern over the continued narrow export base of the LDCs.  Most of the LDCs 
had been exporting only a few raw materials or agri cultural products.  The value addition from such  WT/COMTD/LDC/M/57 
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  exports had also been low.  He underlined the im portance of helping LDCs move up the value chain 
as well as broaden their production and export base.  He felt that productive capacity building would 
contribute to the creation of employment in the LDCs .  He drew Members' a ttention to another aspect 
relating to productive capacity building in the LDCs, in  particular the trade policy environment.  He 
said that trade policy environment and trade regulati ons in the LDCs might need to be examined to 
see whether those were conducive for building comp etitive productive capacity in the LDCs.  Over 
the last few years, it had been found that trade regula tion in the LDCs was, in general, weaker than in 
developing as well as developed countries.  In his view, this might hamper the productive capacity to 
take root in the LDCs and their ability to face intern ational competition.  In this regard, he had earlier 
cited the example of Haiti.  He hoped that the LDC-IV Conference would address the merits of a 
flexible trade policy regime that promoted developm ent.  He also referred to his discussion with the 
Director-General of the WTO con cerning the flexibilities available fo r the LDCs in the WTO.  He 
invited Members to explore these flexibilities with a view to promoting productive capacity in the 
LDCs, especially for enhancing capacity of their in dustrial and agricultural sectors.  He also hoped 
that the LDC-IV Conference would come up with so lutions that would reverse the trend of trade 
deficits being experienced by the LDCs.  He pr oposed that the Sub-Committee take note of document 
JOB/DEV/9 as well as of the statements made. 
79. It was so agreed . 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
80. The Chairman  said that the next meeting of the Su b-Committee was tentatively scheduled for 
the first quarter of 2011.  The exact da te would be communicated in due course. 
81. In the absence of any other business, the meeting was adjourned.  
 
 
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