RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/SE/W/23 
2 October 2009 
 (09-4713) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Dedicated Session  
 
 
DRAFT 
 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT  
IN DEDICATED SESSION TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL 
  
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declara tion was agreed to by Ministers at the Doha 
Ministerial Conference.  It states: 
"We agree to a work programme, under the auspices of the General Council, to 
examine issues relating to the trade of small economies.  The objective of this work is 
to frame responses to the trade-related issu es identified for the fuller integration of 
small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system, and not to create a sub-category of WTO Members.  The Ge neral Council shall review the work 
programme and make recommendations for action to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference." 
2. At its meeting on 1 March 2002, the General Council took note of a framework and 
procedures for the conduct of the Work Programme on Small Economies.
1  Paragraph 2(d) of that 
document states that the "General Council shall inst ruct the CTD to have a programme of work on 
small economies which will be conducte d in dedicated sessions of the CTD". 
3. The General Council Decision of 1 August 2004 r eaffirmed the mandate given at Doha by 
stating that:  
"The trade-related issues identified for th e fuller integration of small, vulnerable 
economies into the multilateral trading system, should also be addressed, without creating a sub-category of Members, as part of a work programme, as mandated in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration."
2 
4. Paragraph 41 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Decl aration of 18 December 2005 reaffirmed the 
Ministers' commitment to the Work Programme on Small Economies by stating that: 
"We [...] urge Members to adopt specific  measures that would facilitate the fuller 
integration of small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system, without creating a sub-category of WTO Member s.  We take note of the report of the 
Committee on Trade and Development in De dicated Session on the Work Programme 
on Small Economies to the General Counc il and agree to the recommendations on 
future work.  We instruct the Commi ttee on Trade and Development, under the 
overall responsibility of the General Council, to continue the work in the Dedicated 
                                                     
 
1 WT/L/447. 
2 Paragraph 1(d) in the 1 August 2004 General Council Decision in document WT/L/579. WT/COMTD/SE/W/23 
Page 2  
 
  Session and to monitor progress of the sma ll economies' proposals in the negotiating 
and other bodies, with the aim of providing  responses to the trade-related issues of 
small economies as soon as possible but no later than 31 December 2006.  We instruct the General Council to report on pr ogress and action taken, together with any 
further recommendations as appropr iate, to our next Session." 
5. Since the November 2005 Report of the Comm ittee on Trade and Development in Dedicated 
Session to the General Council, dedicated sessions of the CTD have been held on 26 April 2006, 
20 July 2006, 29 September 2006, 3 Decemb er 2007, 3 December 2008, 15 July 2009 and 
[12 October 2009].  The reports of the meetings are contained in documents 
WT/COMTD/SE/M/14 - 19 and WT/COMTD/SE/M/20 (to be issued). 
6. In the framework and procedures for the conduct of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies, the General Council agreed that the Wo rk Programme would be "a standing item on its 
agenda and that the CTD would report regularly to the General Council on the progress of work in the 
dedicated sessions".  Oral progress reports by the CTD Chairmen were made at the meetings of the General Council held in 2006 on 8 Fe bruary, 15 May, 27 July, 10 October and 14 December.  The 
reports of these meetings are contained in documents WT/GC/M/101 - 104 and WT/GC/M/106.  
Reports to the General Council in 2007 were ma de on 7 February, 9 May, 27 July, 9 October and 
18 December.  The reports of these meetings are contained in documents WT/GC/M/107-110 and 
WT/GC/M/112.  Oral  reports to the General C ouncil in 2008 were made on 5 February, 7 May, 
31 July, 14 October and 18 December.  The reports  of these meetings are contained in documents 
WT/GC/M/113-117.  In 2009, oral reports to the Ge neral Council were made on 3 February, 26 May, 
28 July and [20 October].  The reports of these m eetings are contained in documents WT/GC/M/118, 
WT/GC/M/120 and WT/GC/M/121 - 22 (to be issued). 
II. SUBMISSIONS AND PROCEEDINGS 
7. Since the 6
th Ministerial Conference, the work of  the Dedicated Sessions has focused on 
submissions by delegations.  At the 14th Dedicated Session held on 26 April 2006, Members agreed to 
begin work on  drafting a recommendation to the General Council which recognized the rights of 
Members to designate regional bodies to assist them in the implementation of their obligations in the 
areas of Sanitary and Phytosan itary Measures (SPS), Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and 
Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).  Members also agreed to examine the 
respective comments received from the Chairs of the SPS and TBT Committees and the TRIPS Council and to incorporate their concerns into the draft recommendation.  Finally, Members discussed 
how best to monitor proposals made on small econo mies issues in the negotiating bodies and agreed 
to use as a basis for this work  a compilation document (WT/COMTD/SE/W/21) prepared by the 
proponents. 
8. At the 15
th Dedicated Session held on 20 July 2006, the Chairman reported on the 
consultations held in the SPS and TBT Co mmittees and in the TRIPS Council on the 
recommendations which had been  submitted by the proponents.3  He said Members recognized that 
small economies should have the right to use re gional bodies to assist them in meeting their 
obligations, including making notifi cations under the SPS, TBT or TRI PS Agreements.  He added that 
a small number of concerns had been expressed in re gard to technical assistance and the responsibility 
for compliance with the obligations in the Agreem ents and that these were now reflected in the 
revised proposals contained in doc uments WT/COMTD/SE/W/15/Rev.2, 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/16/Rev.2 and WT/COMTD/SE/W/18/Rev.2.  
                                                      
3 WT/COMTD/SE/W/15/Rev.1, WT/COMTD/SE/W/16/Rev.1 and WT/COMTD/SE/W/18/Rev.1.  WT/COMTD/SE/W/23 
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  9. At the 16th Dedicated Session held on 29 Septem ber 2006, Members adopted a report on 
"Measures to Assist Small Economies in Meeti ng their Obligations under the Agreements on SPS 
Measures, TBT and TRIPS", and agreed to fo rward it to the General Council for adoption 
(WT/COMTD/SE/5).  Concerning the monitoring of progress of the proposals made by small economies in the negotiating and other WTO bodies, Me mbers agreed to suspend the consideration of 
proposals made in the negotiating bodies until negotiati ons resumed, but that they would continue to 
monitor proposals made in the regular WTO bodies.  
10. At the 17th Dedicated Session held on 3 Dece mber 2007, Members welc omed a revised paper 
(WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/Rev.1) prepared by the Secretariat which compiled all the proposals made by the proponents of small and vulnerable economies in the negotiating groups and other WTO bodies 
since the launch of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).  The Secretariat was asked to continue 
updating the paper to reflect the mandate for the Wo rk Programme and any related decisions, such as 
the recommendations in WT/COMTD/SE/5 which were agreed by the General Council at its meeting 
of 10 October 2006.
4  
11. At the 18th Dedicated Session held on 3 December 2008, Members discussed a further 
revision of the paper which compiled all the propos als made by SVEs in the DDA negotiations and 
WTO bodies (WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/Rev.2).  In light of the financial crisis, Members agreed to have 
the Secretariat liaise with the financial crisis ta sk force to assess the impact on the demand for goods 
and services of SVEs and the implications of the cris is on key sectors of interest to SVEs such as 
tourism, financial services, fisheries, textiles, light manufacturing and primary agricultural production. 
12. At the 19th Dedicated Session held on 15 July 2009, Members took note of a further revision 
of the paper (WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/Rev.3) which comp iled all the proposals made to date by the 
SVE proponents in the DDA negotiating groups and other WTO bodies.  The revised paper included 
references to SVEs in the latest draft modalities text  for agriculture in TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4, circulated 
on 6 December 2008, and the latest draft modaliti es text for non-agricultural market access in 
TN/MA/W/103/Rev.3, also circulated on 6 December 2008.  The compilation of SVE proposals also 
included references to the latest draft texts subm itted by the proponents in the services, rules 
(including subsidies and countervailing measures and fisheries subsidies) and trade facilitation 
negotiations as well as to the Aid-for-Trade initiative. 
13. [At the 20th Dedicated Session held on 12 Octobe r 2009, Members adopted the draft 
Dedicated Session's report to the General C ouncil in document WT/COMTD/SE/W/23, later 
circulated as WT/COMTD/SE/6.] 
III. FUTURE WORK 
14. Pursuant to the mandate contained in the D oha Ministerial Declaration, the General Council 
Decision of 1 August 2004, the WTO's 6th Ministerial Declaration in Hong Kong and the Framework 
and Procedures for the Work Programme on Small Ec onomies, issues relating to the trade of small 
economies have been examined in the Dedicated Sessions of the CTD and proposals for responses 
have been made.  However, there is a need for furt her work in order to fully achieve the mandate of 
the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
15. The Dedicated Session of the Committee on Tr ade and Development therefore proposes that 
the General Council recommend to the 7th Ministerial Conference that Ministers take note of all the 
work conducted to date and instruct the Committee on Trade and Development to continue its work in 
Dedicated Sessions under the overall responsibility of  the General Council in accordance with the 
mandate contained in the Doha Ministerial Declar ation, the 1 August 2004 General Council Decision, 
                                                      
4 WT/GC/M/104. WT/COMTD/SE/W/23 
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  the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration  and the Fr amework and Procedures of the Work Programme 
on Small Economies.  The dedicated sessions shall c onsider in further detail the proposals contained 
in the various submissions that have been received to this date, examine any additional proposals that 
Members might wish to submit and, where possible, and within its mandate, make recommendations to the General Council, on any of these proposals.  The General Council may refer any proposal, as 
appropriate, to relevant negotia ting and other WTO bodies to frame responses for urgent action and 
reporting back through the Dedicated Session.  The Dedicated Session will monitor this work with a 
view to helping ensure that solutions are found to fra me responses to the trade -related issues identified 
for the fuller integration of small, vulnerable ec onomies in an appropriate manner in the negotiating 
and other bodies.   
 
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