RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/124 
14 April 2010 
 (10-1919) 
General Council 
17 December 2009  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 17 December 2009  
 
Chairman:  Mr. Mario Matus (Chile)  
 
  In the course of the meeting, the Chairm an and several delegations bade farewell to 
Ambassador Eckart Guth (EU), expressing apprecia tion for his hard work and dedication during his 
time as Permanent Representative.  Subjects discussed
: Page  
1. China – Transitional review under Section 18.2 of the Protocol of Accession to 
the WTO Ag reement.............................................................................................................. ...2 
2. Report by the Chairman of th e Trade Negotiati ons Committee ..........................................8  
3. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and Development ......................................17  
4. Work Programme on Special a nd Differential treatment...................................................18  
(a) Report by the Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development.................................................................................................................... .........18  
(b) Reports by Chairpersons of other WTO bodies to whom Special and Differential 
treatment proposals ha ve been referred ....................................................................................18  
5. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 
1994 – Communications from Honduras and Guatemala – Statement by the 
Chairman....................................................................................................................... ..........22  
6. Information on Geneva Agreement on Trad e in Bananas – Communication from 
Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, European Union, Guatemala, Mexico, 
Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela...............................23  
7. The financial and economic crisis and the role of the WTO – Communication from Argentina and Ecuador.................................................................................................31
 
8. Accession of developing countries – Comm unication from Gabon on behalf of 
the Informal Group of Developing Countries ......................................................................37  
9. Review of the exemption provide d under Paragraph 3 of GATT 1994 .............................43  
10. Initial review of the Transparency Mech anism for Regional Trade Agreements – 
Statement by the Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules........................................45  
11. Transparency for Preferential Trade Arrangements – Statement by the 
Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Development ...................................................47  WT/GC/M/124 
Page 2  
 
  12.
 Committee on Budget, Finance and Admini stration – Report of the Committee 
on its meetings of Nove mber and December 2009 ...............................................................48  
13. TRIPS Counc il Matters.......................................................................................................... 51 
(a) Review under Paragraph 8 of the Decision on  the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of 
the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreem ent and Public Health – Report of the 
Council for TRIPS .............................................................................................................. ......51  
(b) Proposal for a decision on an extension of  the period for the acceptance by Members 
of the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement......................................................................51  
14. Waivers under Article IX of  the WTO Agreement..............................................................53  
(a) Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 changes into WTO schedules of tariff 
concessions – Draft decision................................................................................................... ..54 
(b) Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 changes into WTO schedules of tariff 
concessions – Draft decision................................................................................................... ..54 
(c) Review of waivers pursuant to Article IX:4 of the WTO Agreement ......................................55  
(i) Kimberley Process Certification Sche me for rough diamonds, granted on 
15 December 2006 until 31 December 2012 ............................................................................55  
(ii) Canada – CARIBCAN, granted on 15 Decem ber 2006, from 1 January 2007 until 
31 December 2011 ............................................................................................................... .....55  
(iii) Cuba – Article XV:6 of GATT 1994,  granted on 15 December 2006 until 
31 December 2011 ............................................................................................................... .....55  
15. Review of WTO activities – Continuation ............................................................................55  
(a) Committees on Trade and Development, and Budget, Finance and Administration................55  
(b) Committee under the Plurilater al Trade Agreements ...............................................................55  
16. WTO Pension Plan – Election of an alternate to the Management Board – 
Proposal by the Chairman of the General Council..............................................................57  
17. Appointment of Officers to WTO bodi es – Announcement by the Chairman 
pursuant to Paragraph 7.1(a) of the Guidelines...................................................................57  
18. Statement by the Chairman regarding the Chairmanship of the TRIPS Special 
Session........................................................................................................................ ..............58  
19. Statement by the Chairman in connect ion with Administrative Measures for 
Members in  arrears ............................................................................................................. ...58 
 
 
1. China – Transitional review under Section 18.2 of the Protocol of Accession to the WTO 
Agreement (WT/GC/123, G/L/910, S/C/33, IP/C/55, WT/BOP/R/95, G/TBT/27, G/SPS/52) 
1. The Chairman
 recalled that this review was taking place under the provisions of Section 18 of 
the Protocol of Accession of China to the WTO Agre ement.  In line with these provisions, the General 
Council was to review the implementation by China of the WTO Agreement and the provisions of the 
Protocol.  The review was being conducted in acco rdance with the framework set out in Annex 1B 
and in the light of the results of reviews held in  the subsidiary bodies.  China could raise issues 
relating to any reservations under Section 17 or to  any other specific commitments made by other 
Members in the Protocol.  The General Council c ould make recommendations to China and to other  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Members in these respects.  Under the periodicity prov ided in Paragraph 4 of Section 18, this was the 
eighth review, with a final review to take place in 2011 or an earlier date decided by the General 
Council.  In accordance with Annex 1B of the Pr otocol, the following issues were to be addressed by 
the General Council at the present meeting:  Fi rst, reports of subsidiary bodies on China's 
implementation of the WTO Agreement and of th e related provisions of the Protocol;  second, 
development of China's trade with WTO Members and other trading partners;  and finally, recent 
developments and cross-sectoral issues regardi ng China's trade regime.  He proposed that in 
addressing this agenda item, China as well as other de legations address all three of these points in a 
single intervention.  In connection with this revi ew, he drew attention to a communication from China 
recently circulated in WT/GC/123, which provided information required under Sections I and III of 
Annex 1A of the Protocol  of Accession.  The reports of the subsidiary bodies on their respective 
reviews of China's implementation of the WTO Ag reement and of the related provisions of the 
Protocol of Accession were contained in the documen ts listed in the Agenda for the present meeting. 
2. The representative of China  said his country had always attached great importance to the 
Transitional Review Mechanism (TRM) ever since its accession to the WTO.  In order to facilitate the 
review process of the 16 bodies under the General Council within their respective mandates, since 
2002 China had provided relevant information in ad vance of the review meetings and had responded 
to hundreds of questions and comments by Member s every year in a cooperative and constructive 
manner.  China had devoted a huge amount of human  and fiscal resources to the TRM.  The present 
year was no exception – over 20 government agencies had been directly involved in the review process.  As a firm supporter of the multilateral trading system, China had not only honoured in good 
faith its accession commitments and its obligations, but also continuously and steadily made efforts 
for further trade and investment liberalization.  Since its accession to the WTO, China had slashed its 
tariff rates by 30 per cent on average and had re moved hundreds of non-tariff measures.  In 2009, 
even against the background of the world financial and economic crisis, new efforts had been made to 
uphold China's commitment to trade and investment liberalization and its support of the multilateral 
trading system.  Examples included China's revisi on earlier in 2009 of its Catalogue of Industries for 
Foreign Investment in Mid-West China, which had substantially improved the access conditions for 
foreign investors in many specific industrial and se rvices areas.  In the tourism sector, China had 
amended its regulations to allow fo reign-invested tourist agencies in  China to establish local branches 
without further limitations.  The protection of in tellectual property rights had become a nation-wide 
strategy in China and since 2007, China had been ma king every effort to ensure its implementation.  
As a developing-country Member, China had achie ved in merely 30 years what some developed-
country Members had taken one or two centuries to achieve. 
3. In the year since the last review, China's econo my, along with the rest of the world, had been 
affected negatively by the current unusual economic cr isis.  In spite of the positive signs of recovery 
worldwide, the profound impact of the crisis still li ngered.  Facing this gl obal financial and economic 
crisis, China had joined many other Members in fi rm opposition to protectionism in various forms.  
Against the background of this crisis, it attached  great importance to the reports issued by the 
Secretariat and the monitoring mechanism of the WT O.  This mechanism had China's full cooperation 
and support.  In the process of drafting each m onitoring report, China had provided information 
required by the Secretariat and had verified relevant  information collected by the Secretariat in the 
draft reports in a complete, detailed and timely manner.  In fact, the monitoring mechanism had 
demonstrated the great efforts China had made to ensure that any new measure under the crisis was 
consistent with the multilateral tr ading rules.  China had made tr emendous efforts to withstand the 
hard times brought by the crisis and had managed to maintain economic stability, which was also a 
contribution to the stability of the world economy.  In the third quarter of 2009, China had managed to 
achieve a GDP growth rate of 8.9 per cent, and according to the forecast of the United Nations, the 
annual growth rate for 2010 would reach 8.8 per cen t.  On the trade side, despite some signs of 
recovery, China was still not where it had been before  the crisis.  Its exports would decline by 17 per 
cent for the year, and its trade surplus would be reduced by about US$100 billion.  At the Seventh WT/GC/M/124 
Page 4  
 
  Ministerial Conference, China's Minister of Comme rce had called for a signal "to open up, to advance 
and to reform" under the financial cr isis.  China was willing to make joint efforts with other Members 
to move in this direction for a better and more consolidated multilateral trading system. 
4. The representative of the United States
 said that as Members concluded the 2009 TRM for 
China, his delegation wished to share its observations on the 2009 TRM meetings, and to make some 
observations on China's completion of eight years of WTO membership.  First, it wished to thank the 
Ambassador of China, the Chinese delegation a nd the many Chinese officials in capital who had 
worked hard to provide responses to the numerous questions raised by Members.  His delegation recognized the significant amount of time and effort the TRM required, particularly on the part of 
China's Ministry of Commerce, which oversaw China' s efforts in this regard.  He recalled that the 
TRM had been created largely because China had b een admitted to WTO membership before it had 
revised all of its trade-related laws and regulations to become WTO-compatible, and because China 
had been allowed a variety of transition periods before it took on certain WTO obligations.  The TRM 
had been an important and useful mechanism, servi ng both the interests of China and those of other 
Members, by providing needed additional transparen cy in China’s trade regime.  Members had now 
completed the last of the eight annual reviews re quired by China's Protocol of Accession, meaning 
there was one final review that needed to take place in two years, or by December 2011.  Many 
important questions had been raised at the present ye ar's transitional reviews, and many of the reviews 
had generated productive exchanges.  China had put a great deal of time and effort into reviewing and 
considering Members' questions and preparing respon ses.  At the same time, it should be noted that, 
as in prior years, China's participation in some  of the transitional reviews had at times been 
unproductive. 
5. His delegation welcomed the opportunity to continue working with China and other 
delegations as one looked ahead to, and prepared for, the final review that had to take place by the end 
of 2011.  As one looked back on the transitional re views conducted in 2009, one could see that their 
focus had changed.  China was no longer a ne w Member.  The scheduled phase-in of key 
commitments that China had made in its Protocol  of Accession had ended three years earlier.  The 
focus of the TRM was now essentially on China's adhe rence to the range of WTO rules that obligated 
all Members.  China had taken many impressive step s over the past eight years to reform its economy, 
and much of this reform was tied to China's WTO membership.  Since acceding to the WTO in 2001, 
China had made progress in implementing a set of sweeping WTO accession commitments that required it to reduce tariff rates, to eliminate non- tariff barriers, to provide national treatment and 
improved market access for goods and services imported from the United States and other WTO 
Members, to protect intellectual property rights a nd to improve transparency.  Although it still did not 
appear to be complete in every respect, China's implementation of its WTO commitments had led to 
substantial increases in trade, while deepening Ch ina's integration into the international trading 
system and facilitating and strengthening the rule of law and the economic reforms that China had 
begun 30 years earlier.  During the past year, the United States had appreciated China's willingness to 
engage with it in a wide range of formal and in formal bilateral dialogues and working groups.  His 
delegation had used those avenues both to seek prag matic resolutions to pressing trade issues and to 
help manage the complex US-China economic relationship on a long-term, strategic basis. 
6. The US bilateral engagement with China had produced concrete results in a number of 
important areas over the past year.  The two sides ha d been able to resolve significant trade irritants, 
while achieving incremental but important progress in other areas, and agreeing to pursue dialogue in 
still other areas where more detailed discussions we re needed to lay the foundation for possible 
resolution.  However, in two areas involving impor tant WTO obligations, bilateral engagement had 
failed to address the United States' WTO concerns, and it had been left with no choice but to pursue WTO dispute settlement to address those concerns ove r the past year.  Together with Mexico and 
Guatemala, it had challenged a Chinese industrial policy that generated a vast number of central, 
provincial and local government programmes promo ting increased worldwide recognition and sales of  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 5 
 
 
  famous brands of Chinese merchandise through what a ppeared to be prohibited export subsidies.  The 
United States had also filed one other case this past year, joined by the Eur opean Union and Mexico.  
In that case, these Members were challenging e xport quotas, export duties and other restraints 
maintained by China on the export of several key ra w material inputs for which China was a leading 
world producer.  As always, the United States still hope d that the parties would be able to reach a 
mutually-agreed solution, but if not, it was prepared to proceed with the litigation of the case.  Taking 
a step back, one could see China's pursuit of in dustrial policies that relied on excessive, trade-
distorting government intervention at the root of many of the problems the United States had encountered.  This government intervention, still evident in many areas of China's economy, was a 
reflection of China's historic yet unfinished transition from a centrally-planned economy to a free-
market economy governed by the rule of law. 
7. As in prior years, examples of China's problemat ic industrial policies were  readily available.  
As already noted, China continued to deploy expor t quotas, export duties and other export restrictions 
on a number of raw-material inputs where it held th e advantage of being one of the world's leading 
producers.  Through these export restraints, it appear ed that China was able to provide substantial 
artificial advantages to a wide range  of downstream industries in China, both when they competed in 
the Chinese market and in other markets around th e world.  China made selective use of border 
measures such as value-added tax rebates and expor t duties to encourage or discourage exports of 
particular products.  China continued to pursue uni que national standards in a number of areas of high 
technology, where international standards already ex isted, such as an informal requirement that all 
new 3G mobile handsets be enabled with a unique Chinese national standard for wireless internet 
access.  China maintained an informal ban on ne w entrants in China's basic telecommunications 
sector, and impediments to the foreign supply of value-added services.  China had enacted a new Postal Law in 2009 that excluded foreign supplie rs from a major segment of the domestic express-
delivery market.  China's government procurement practices included an array of new central, provincial and local government "buy China" po licies, and at times these policies extended beyond 
government procurement to require state-owned ente rprises that were engaged in commercial activity 
to purchase domestic products.  Finally, China cont inued to protect many domestic industries through 
a restrictive investment regime, particularly so -called "pillar industries".  Meanwhile, effective 
enforcement of intellectual property rights in Ch ina remained a significant challenge.  While the 
United States continued to welcome the steps China had been taking in this area, much more work 
needed to be done.  As his delegation had said on previous occasions, real progress would not be 
achieved until one began to see significant reductions in  IPR infringement levels in China, and that 
had not yet happened. 
8. In the area of agriculture, China remained among the least transparent and predictable of the 
world's major markets for agricultural products, larg ely because of selective intervention in the market 
by China's regulatory authorities.  This interventi on often took the form of capricious customs and 
quarantine practices that delayed or halted shipments, and the imposition of sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures with questionable scientific bases.  In the area of services, Chinese regulatory 
authorities continued to frustrate efforts of US providers of banking, insurance, express delivery, 
telecommunications and legal services to achieve thei r full market potential in China, through the use 
of obstacles such as an opaque regulatory pr ocess, overly burdensome licensing and operating 
requirements, and other means.  In addition, China had not yet fully opened up its market to foreign 
companies that supplied electronic payment and rela ted services to banks and other companies that 
issued credit and debit cards, and China had recen tly excluded foreign suppliers from a major segment 
of the domestic express-delivery market.  The United States understood the difficulties China confronted as it sought to transition from a planne d economy to a more market-oriented economy.  It 
also recognized the important contribution Chin a's economic progress had been making to global 
growth and development.  However, the developments  he had described indicated that important work 
remained ahead.  In particular, continuing effort s were needed to reduce market-access barriers, to 
increase transparency and predictability, and to fully institutionalize market mech anisms in China.  In WT/GC/M/124 
Page 6  
 
  conclusion, he reiterated that the Unites States apprec iated the efforts China had made in participating 
in the present year's TRM and looked forward to Ch ina's final TRM in 2011.  It also looked forward 
to working with China on a bilateral basis as it con tinued to pursue improvements in its trade regime, 
and remained committed to working with China in the years ahead. 
9. The representative of Cuba
 thanked China for the documentation, information and replies it 
had provided in the various committees pursuant to the TRM.  Since its accession and the review in 
2008, China had enacted and revised a number of laws  and administrative measures consistent with its 
commitments assumed in the WTO under its Protocol of Accession in the areas of intellectual property, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, tec hnical regulations, investment and so on.  The 
documents and data provided showed growth in i nvestment and trade with all of China's trading 
partners as a result of the progressive reduction in tariffs.  Those tariffs were lower than many 
Members, including developed countries, and were the result of the adoption of measures mentioned 
above.  Despite the negative impact of the crisis , China would continue to show growth in 2009 and 
2010 to the tune of some 8 per cent, which was a s ource of stability for the world despite the reduction 
in its balance-of-trade surplus.  China was the country that had most contributed to the reduction of 
poverty in the world and to compliance with the millennium development goals.  With regard to 
accession procedures, Cuba again wished to reitera te its disagreement with the establishment of 
commitments and procedures that went beyond tho se established in the WTO Agreements for other 
Members, as had been the case with this annual revi ew which applied solely to China and where some 
Members raised requirements which they themselves did not comply with.  This was a clear case of double standards – to speak, as had been done in various committees, of trade-distorting subsidies 
when some of the Members raising these concerns were spending milli ons on such subsidies.  Despite 
economic and social progress, China was a developing country that had made considerable efforts in 
difficult circumstances to solve development-rela ted issues it had inherited from the past.  Cuba 
wished China all success as it con tinued with its trade policies. 
10. The representative of the European Union
 thanked China for the work it had put into the 
eighth TRM review in responding to Members' ques tions during the reviews in several subsidiary 
bodies.  Transparency was an es sential element of the WTO which implied obligations for all 
Members, and this had been made all the more im portant with the challenges the multilateral trading 
system was experiencing in the context of the global financial and economic cris is.  Despite the crisis, 
the Chinese economy had in 2009 demonstrated remarkab le resilience, with GDP growth returning to 
very brisk levels following a short hiccup around th e end of 2008.  This performance was undoubtedly 
in many respects thanks to the massive support Ch ina had provided to the domestic economy, as well 
as improved competitiveness internationally following de velopments in the exchange-rate markets.  In 
the past year China had clearly been an important engine of the global economy.  The TRM had been 
an important and useful mechanism to monitor the implementation of the commitments China had 
undertaken upon its accession to the WTO.  Reform s taken since accession had helped to strengthen 
the rule of law and to make the economic environm ent more transparent and predictable for China's 
trading partners.  However, while his delegati on welcomed China's efforts to pursue further 
integration in the rules-based world trading syst em, it wished to stress that Members were still 
confronted with some important areas of concern.  It appreciated the useful bilateral dialogues in 
which the EU and China had engaged in a number of  areas.  However, overall productive, bilateral 
contacts had not been able to address all concerns , including those over export restrictions, which the 
EU and other Members had repeatedly said were a ma jor concern.  On such issues the EU counted on 
the rules and transparency mechanisms of the WT O to contribute to finding satisfactory solutions.  
The TRM represented one such mechanism, and the EU  had encouraged China to participate actively 
in it.  However, while China had taken part in  the meetings of the various committees falling under 
the TRM exercise, its commitment to the process ha d not been fully satisfactory.  In many cases 
China's replies to Members' questions had been only partial, and very often repetitive.  The replies had 
not addressed the core problems highlighted by Me mbers, nor had China been willing to provide its  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 7 
 
 
  reactions in writing, as requested by several Member s.  Therefore, while generally useful, the TRM 
had unfortunately not fulfilled all the potential Members had initially seen in it. 
11. He said that while the following list was not exhaustive, among the written questions 
submitted by the EU which had not been adequately  answered were the following issues:  local 
content requirements, steel industry developmen t policy, and TRIMs-incompatible clauses in 
contractual arrangements (G/TRIMS/W/69).  On expor t restrictions, the EU wi shed to reiterate its 
growing concern regarding China's export restrain ts on a number of key raw materials.  China 
currently applied export quotas that were generally  prohibited under Article XI of the GATT.  In 
addition, on 1 January 2009, China had applied export tariffs to 373 tariff lines in what the EC saw as 
a violation of its Protocol of Accession (G/MA/W/97) .  In several industrial sectors such as steel, 
shipbuilding, petrochemical, pharmaceuticals and co smetics there were longstanding issues which had 
been raised on several occasions.  The EU concerns  related to issues such as intellectual property – 
which had also been raised in the TRIPS Council – pricing and registration procedures, joint venture 
limitations, subsidies, local-content requirements and technical barriers.  On IPR, the list of issues 
which would require further bilateral discussions included notarisation and legalisation on power of 
attorney and evidence, IP rights and standards and pl ant-variety protection.  On Services, despite the 
fact that the EU had repeatedly raised concerns rela ted, for example, to postal, construction, real estate 
and telecommunication services, China claimed that  it had fulfilled its WTO commitments and that 
the regulations questioned by the EU were aimed at  safeguarding consumer in terest and the quality of 
service.  Regarding distribution services, China had provided some useful clarifications on the applicable legislation, but questions remained regarding the de facto  licensing requirements for certain 
services provided over the internet.  On Computer Reservation Services, China had reiterated – as it 
had in the previous year's TRM – that foreign airlines could use foreign CRS, and had refused any further discussions, saying that the releva nt regulation was still being elaborated. 
12. On financial services, a number of concerns had been raised again, e. g. the 20/25 equity cap 
for foreign investment in the banking sector, the obs tacles faced by the financial services industry in 
licensing and the requirement for on-shoring data pr ocessing.  China had insisted that all measures 
were prudential and that there was no discrimina tion in licensing procedures between foreign and 
domestic suppliers.  On TBT, the most relevant i ssues on which the EU had raised concerns in the 
2009 TRM (G/TBT/W/326) included:  transparency and predictability in the legislative process, China Compulsory Certification, information on secu rity products testing and certification, as well as 
standardisation issues, e.g. deviations from inte rnational standards, making voluntary standards de 
facto  mandatory through conformity assessment procedures, etc.  Despite discussions, these issues 
were still of concern to the EU.  On SPS the EU had raised several issues relating to restrictions on 
agricultural trade (G/SPS/GEN/968), of which many had been raised repeatedly, e.g. BSE-related 
trade restrictions on imports of beef and beef pr oducts.  The EU had also expressed concern about the 
slow progress of bilateral negotiations of SPS protoc ols and inspections that limited market access of 
EU products to China, especially for meat, fruit and ve getables.  China had offered some clarifications 
and responses during the meeting, but  had not given the EU written replies.  It claimed that these 
issues were being discussed under the bilateral co- operation mechanism and committed to continue to 
work with the EU to resolve these issues in an appropriate manner.  The EU appreciated the enormous 
challenges China faced in pursuing its transition from a planned economy to a market-based system.  
A lot of progress had been achieved, but further work  clearly remained to be done.  The EU regretted 
that China had not been willing to answer all th e questions posed by Members during the present 
TRM exercise, but looked forward to further c ooperation between China and other Members to 
address the issues that were still outstanding in a mutually satisfactory manner in other fora. 
13. The representative of Japan  said the China TRM had been quite effective at providing 
transparency as to how China was implementing its commitments under the WTO Agreement and its 
Protocol of Accession.  During the 2009 TRM pr ocess, Japan had submitted written questions in 
advance for the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in Services, the Council for WT/GC/M/124 
Page 8  
 
  TRIPS, and other subsidiary bodies.  His delega tion appreciated that China had answered many 
questions from Members, including Japan.  Having sai d that, it was regrettable that there had been 
inadequate responses provided in some committees,  including the Council for Trade in Goods, the 
Committee on Market Access and the Committee on Anti- Dumping Practices.  In particular, Japan's 
questions regarding the export restri ctions on minerals and raw material s had not been answered in the 
Committee on Market Access, and had been insu fficiently answered in the Committee on Anti-
Dumping Practices.  In the Council for Trade in Serv ices, there had also been  questions which China 
had said it would need to refer to the capital.  In  consideration of the recent trade-related measures by 
China, Japan wished to express its continued concer n regarding China's conformity with WTO rules, 
especially in such areas as anti-dumping, export restri ctions and taxes on minerals and raw materials.  
Japan would ask for further clarification from China at  various opportunities, including bilateral talks.  
It hoped for continuous efforts a nd cooperation from China to provide clear and relevant responses in 
writing to these and other questions with the aim of making this TRM process more effective.  Japan also hoped that China would continue to establish relevant laws and regula tions and make further 
efforts to implement them with a view to impr oving transparency and strengthening consistency. 
14. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 said his delegation appreciated 
the efforts developing countries had to make above  and beyond the standards set in the organization 
for accession.  Venezuela endorsed the fact that in accession pro cedures, only requirements pursuant 
to those contained in the WTO Agreements shoul d be made, and that any additional requirements 
should be eliminated.  China was a huge pillar in in ternational trade, and Venezuela considered that 
this country had given more than sufficient proof of  its compliance with the rules of the organization 
in its accession. 
15. The representative of China  thanked Members for their comments and active participation in 
the review.  It particularly appreciated the gest ure of friendship from the European Union through its 
very frank comments.  As all the issues and concerns  raised by Members had been fully discussed in 
various bodies under the General Council, and the representatives of the relevant departments from 
his capital had been involved in the previous discu ssions, he was confident that these representatives 
would convey all the comments and concerns of Me mbers back to the capital.  China was open to 
further engagement with Members in the days to come.  His delegation also wished to thank the 
Chairs of the various bodies and the Secretariat for al l the work they had done to make this process a 
smooth and successful one. 
16. The General Council took note  of the statements and of the reports submitted by the 
subsidiary bodies on the conduct of their respective reviews, and agreed  that the eighth review by the 
General Council of China's implemen tation of the WTO Agreement and the provisions of its Protocol 
of Accession had been concluded. 
2. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
17. The Chairman  invited the Director-General, as Chairman of the TNC, to report on the TNC's 
activities since his last report to the Council. 
18. The Director-General, Chairman of the TNC , said1 that since his last report to the General 
Council in November, the WTO had seen a couple of Senior Official Weeks as well as a full-fledged 
Ministerial Conference.  In his last report, he had provided Members with a detailed review of the 
year's progress in each negotiating area, including the state of play and outlook beyond 2009.  At the present meeting, he wished to update Members on the activities of the last couple of weeks, as well as 
the outlook for work during the first months of 2010 .  First and foremost, he thought all would agree 
that the Seventh Ministerial Conference had repr esented a welcome opportunity for Members to get 
                                                     
 
1 The Director-General's statement was subse quently circulated in document JOB(09)/186.  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 9 
 
 
  together and review the entire waterfront of activit ies of the organization.  He wished to extend a 
word of praise to the Council Chairman, who shoul d be credited with all the positive feedback about 
the Conference.  Thanks were also due the Secret ariat team led by Mr. R ogerson, who had ensured 
excellent preparation and logistics, and also to th e Swiss and Geneva hosts.  The number of bilateral 
and plurilateral meetings among Ministers in the Conf erence Centre alone had reached more than 250, 
and this was a good indicator of how delegations' po litical masters had appreciated this occasion to 
"catch up" and exchange ideas.  Similarly, the leve l of activity on the sidelines of the Conference had 
been impressive, with some 340 representa tives of non-governmental organizations and 
210 accredited journalists providing a wide range of interesting workshops.  The meeting had 
provided the kind of reality check – on the substantive as well as political level – that was regularly 
needed in Geneva.  On the substantive level, th e Conference had sent a strong signal of convergence 
on the importance of trade and the Doha Round to  economic recovery and poverty alleviation in 
developing countries.  The centrality of the devel opment dimension had been stressed.  Ministers had 
reaffirmed the need to conclude the Round in 2010 a nd for a stock-taking exercise to take place in the 
first quarter of 2010.  Similarly, there had been wide  support for asking Senior Officials to continue to 
work to map the road towards that point. 
19. The Ministerial Conference had also provided political impetus in the area of trade capacity 
building.  At a breakfast on the Enhanced Integr ated Framework for LDCs, Ministers had stressed the 
need to ensure effective delivery and impact on th e ground, to ensure predictable funding, which was 
needed now more than ever before, and to move from an interim to a substantive Board early in 2010.  
This had now translated into action in Geneva.  Ov er the two weeks since the Ministerial Conference, 
several of the negotiating groups had been meeting, including the past few days during the Senior 
Officials Week.  He wished to provi de a brief overview of the latest developments.  In Agriculture, on 
templates, Step 1 had moved toward initial outco mes with some outstanding issues taken up in the 
week of 7 December, and delegations were starti ng to consider Step 2, on drawing up the draft 
templates.  Separately, there had been a start to the verification process of some base data.  On 
modalities, the Chair had consulted on continued t echnical work on the SSM, and work had been done 
on tariff simplification.  The Chair intended to con tinue with the work on templates in the second half 
of January 2010 and to resume his consultations, in  various formats, on the bracketed or otherwise 
annotated issues in the present version of the draft modalities, in the first two weeks of February and 
March.  Since his last report, a NAMA week ha d taken place during the week of 7 December.  
Progress had been  made in clarifying some of the issues relating to the NTB texts under discussion.  
Work on this issue had been focused and detailed.  The next NAMA week had been fixed for early 
February, when the NTB texts would be discussed agai n.  The Chairman had called for specific input 
by 20 January, and he hoped that Members would respond to that call.  On Services, earlier that week, 
the Chair had held a further Enchilada among Seni or Officials at which there had been positive 
engagement on a number of services topics.  On domestic regulation, text-based negotiations 
continued, with the completion of a detailed discuss ion of the chapters of the Chair text, including 
consideration of a new proposal by several Member s.  In the second half of January, an open-ended 
informal meeting of the Special Session would be convened in order to discuss an expected draft 
proposal for a text of a waiver for the implementation of LDC modalities. 
20. Regarding Rules, the Group had met, with par ticipation of Senior Officials and Heads of 
Delegation, on 25 November.  The discussion had been constructive and there had been general 
support for the Chair's work programme.  The previo us week, the Chair had held a meeting cluster on 
anti-dumping, horizontal subsidies and fisheries subsid ies.  The Group had advanced its review of the 
draft Chair texts and had finished its considerati on of the fisheries subsidies roadmap.  The Group 
would hold further meetings in Ja nuary and February 2010, at which it would complete its first review 
of the draft texts, take up new proposals on subs idies and fisheries subsidies, and continue the 
AD/CVD transposition exercise.  In short, no breakth roughs had been achieved or expected, but solid 
technical discussions continued.  With respect to RTAs, negotiations on systemic issues of RTAs had, 
as he had reported earlier, unfortunately not prog ressed in 2009.  The Chair had discussed a way to WT/GC/M/124 
Page 10  
 
  reinvigorate these negotiations with Senior Official s the previous month, possibly through a parallel 
work programme in the CRTA, based on work don e under the Transparency Mechanism for RTAs.  
On Special and Differential (S&D) treatment, th e Special Session had been focusing on the 
Monitoring Mechanism.  As a result of the progr ess made, the Chairman had revised his non-paper 
which would now form the basis on which work on  the Monitoring Mechanism would continue.  In 
addition, Members would revert to addressing the Agreement-specific proposals once revised 
language or new ideas had been put forward by Members.  The Chairman would shortly make a more detailed oral statement on the work carried out in  2009 in the Special Session, as well as the work 
plan over the coming months. 
21. In the area of Environment, following the Ch air's meetings with Senior Officials on 
25 November, there had been strong support overall for moving forward on all parts of the mandate 
according to the work programme of October 2009 and the timeframes therein.  On the issue of the 
relationship between the WTO and Multilatera l Environmental Agreements (MEAs), many 
delegations seemed to share the view that the proposals on the table provided a good basis to develop 
a text for negotiation as the next step under the mandate.  Regarding the work on environmental 
goods, the Chair had emphasized the need for broad-b ased engagement and substantive inputs to be 
provided by Members in the lead-up to the February 2010 meeting, both with respect to the identification of environmental goods of interest and cross-cutting issues.  As several Senior Officials 
had pointed out when they had met with the Chai r in November, work on the environmental pillar 
should achieve a level of clarity and predictab ility by the time an agreement was reached on 
Agriculture and NAMA modalities.  In  the area of Trade Facilitation,
 a complete draft consolidated 
negotiating text had been issued on 14 December in TN/TF/W/165.  This provided, for the first time, 
a clear picture of what the new agreement would cont ain.  Much still remained to be done in the next 
months to move this draft towards a consensus doc ument, but Members were clearly now in the home 
stretch.  With respect to the TRIPS Special Sessi on and the negotiation of a multilateral register of 
geographical indications for wines and spirits, the Chair of that body had recently stepped down, but 
before doing so had circulated a report on his own responsibility (TN/IP/19) for the formal Special 
Session meeting of 27 November.  This report describ ed the work done during his tenure as Chair, the 
status of issues and the way forward, including five guiding principles for further work.  The General Council Chair had held consultations which ha d shown a consensus among Members to appoint 
Mrs. Tan (Singapore) as Chair of the Special Session, on a pro tempore basis until the General 
Council took up the slate of names for Officers of WTO bodies at its meeting in February 2010.  The 
Chair-designate had held informal consultations with  small groups of Members to listen to their views 
and discuss ideas for continuing informal consulta tions in the first week of February 2010. 
22. He then turned to the tw o TRIPS issues on which he had been mandated to pursue 
consultations as Director-General, not as TNC Chair:  the relationship between TRIPS and the CBD and the extension of Article 23 GI protection.  Members had continued to address the remaining 
thematic clusters of questions posed.  This pr ocess had covered the contract-based approach to 
managing access and benefit-sharing, in contrast wi th the use of a disclosure mechanism within the 
patent system.  A discussion had ensued on trans-boundary issues relating to monitoring and enforcing access and benefit-sharing obligations in  foreign jurisdictions.  Delegations had also 
considered possible costs and benefits of a disclos ure requirement, differing as to whether this would 
entail additional resources or training on the part  of patent offices, and the impact on patent 
applicants.  On how to manage the WTO work on genetic resources issues vis-à-vis  parallel work of 
the WIPO, IGC and CBD on a multilateral regime, Members had had exchanges on the interaction 
between these processes, the sequenc ing issues that arose, and techni cal aspects such as definitions of 
key terms.  Discussion on GI extension had con cerned the difference between GI protection under 
Articles 22 and 23, the extent of the problem raised by the proponents of GI extension, the effects GI 
extension might have in the market, in particular in  third markets, and the scope of the GI extension 
proposed, including the continuing application of  the exceptions in Article 24 of the TRIPS 
Agreement.  The latest discussion had considered whether past experience of higher protection for  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 11 
 
 
  wines and spirits could illuminate the expected lik ely effects of extending such protection to all 
products.  A particular concern related to the effe cts of extension in third-country markets – in 
particular, even if an existing producer might be able  to continue use of a term in a home market, to 
what extent, if at all, existing export opportunities w ould be curtailed due to GI extension.  In the new 
year Members would continue work through the rema ining clusters, after which he would report to 
the entire membership at an open-ended meeting. 
23. He wished to share some of his thoughts on the process forward which he had also briefly 
outlined in the Green Room meeting the previous afte rnoon.  In order to arrive at the stocktaking at 
the end of March, a combination of elements were needed.  First, some Members needed to intensify 
the bilaterals, trilaterals or quadr ilaterals beginning as early as possible in 2010 so that the fruits of 
these were shared with the rest of the membership  as soon as possible and fed the multilateral process.  
Second, all of the Negotiating Chairs had schedul ed activities starting from the end of January and 
running through to March.  It had been important to establish this work schedule early to provide a 
high degree of transparency as to the process that was guiding the work of these groups.  Third, he 
believed the practice of having Senior Officials in to wn should be continued, starting in the week of 
15 February and again in the week of 22 March.  As  had been the case in the last quarter of 2009, the 
Senior Officials Weeks were built around meetings  of the Negotiating Groups to facilitate their 
substantive engagement.  Fourth, Members should reserve  the last week of March for stocktaking.  At 
the present juncture, his sense was that Members shoul d keep open the format and exact content of the 
stocktaking, while keeping in mind that, at the presen t stage, the aim of such  an exercise was to assess 
whether 2010 remained doable.  He hoped this comb ination of elements in terms of the further 
process was helpful.  However, he also wished to st ress that this process was not an end in itself.  It 
was designed to help Members to negotiate and e ngage on substance and on closing remaining gaps, 
which was the sine qua non condition for concluding the Round in 2010.  2009 had been the year in 
which Members had lived dangerously, but collectiv ely they had managed to lift their economies out 
of the abyss.  He hoped that 2010 would be the year  in which they built on the foundations for a safer, 
more sustainable global economy.  Members could,  and had to, make their contribution through 
clinching a final Doha deal. 
24. All delegations who spoke  thanked the Director-General for his report. 
25. The representative of Tanzania , on behalf of the LDCs , said these countries supported the 
roadmap the Director-General had outlined and be lieved that continuation of negotiations at the 
Senior Officials level in Geneva as early as possible might prove necessary.  The Negotiating Groups 
had to address the remaining technical issues in Ag riculture and NAMA in order to lay the conditions 
for political decision-making.  Further consultations  at all levels, including the political level, to 
disentangle the remaining politically  sensitive issues, should be con tinued by the Director-General.  
As all were aware, the LDCs had high expecta tions from the current Round.  From the Uruguay 
Round, there had been an explicit acknowledgement  in the multilateral trade rules that not all 
countries were at the same level of development.  Accordingly, an attempt had been made to provide 
for specific rules or waivers for the disadvantaged  countries, particularly the least-developed among 
them.  The LDCs had therefore been happy wh en the Doha Round had been classified as a 
Development Round.  They had hope d, and still did, that the Round would create a more level playing 
field for them.  In the current global economic crisis, developing countries, especially LDCs, had 
suffered most.  Early and successful conclusion of the DDA negotiations without compromising its 
development contents had become more imperative than before, as it could act as a global stimulus 
package and contribute to growth in the LDCs.  Time and again, the LDCs had asked Members, among other things, for an early harvest regardi ng operationalization of duty-free quota-free market 
access for LDCs, granting of a services waiver, and am bitious and expeditious implementation of the 
Decision regarding the cotton initiative, as mandated in the Hong Kong Declaration.  They also called 
upon Members to agree to operationalize the core pr inciple of S&D treatment by granting all LDCs 
more preferential treatment than non-LDCs. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 12  
 
  26. Similarly, the LDCs reiterated their call for im plementation by developm ent partners of the 
provision of targeted technical and financial assist ance through mechanisms such as the EIF and Aid 
for Trade, in order to facilitate industrialization a nd diversification of their economies, and also to 
enable LDCs to meet their implementation ob ligations.  The cumbersome and onerous accession 
process that the acceding LDCs were currently facing had always been a serious concern to the LDCs, 
and they reiterated their call for the full and fa ithful implementation of the Guidelines for the 
Accession of LDCs and urged the establishment and adoption of an effective mechanism for fast-
tracking the accession process for LDCs.  They also th anked the Director-General for the efforts he 
had been making regarding discussions on GI extens ion and TRIPS/CBD issues.  They reaffirmed 
their call for the amendment to the TRIPS Agreement to include the requirement for disclosure of the 
country of source of origin of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and proof of 
prior consent of such country of source, to a ddress the misappropriation an d erroneous granting of 
patents, in order to enhance the development aspects of sharing the benefits in favour of LDCs.  The 
LDCs remained committed to cooperating fully w ith the rest of the membership towards the 
successful completion of the Doha Round.  They wished to emphasize that the negotiating process 
had to remain multilateral and fully transparent, w ith a bottom-up approach.  Bilateral and plurilateral 
consultations should neither replace the multilatera l negotiations process, nor affect the consensus 
reached within the multilateral context. 
27. The representative of Bangladesh
 congratulated the Chairman and the Director-General for 
having organized the Seventh Minist erial Conference so successfully.  Although there had been a gap 
of four years between the Sixth and Seventh Sessions , on average the WTO had not defaulted.  It had 
held seven Ministerial Conferences within 14-plus years, which was nearly according to its mandate.  
Bangladesh wished to congratulate Members for having found a solution to the long-standing banana dispute.  It agreed with the Director-General th at this proved there was no trade issue that lay beyond 
the reach of Members when they exhibited good will and a spirit of compromise, and the same 
pragmatism, creativity and diplomacy would help move the Doha Round negotiations forward.  His 
delegation supported Tanzania's stat ement for the LDCs and wished to stress the following ten points 
combining both process and substance:  (i) ensure and maintain full participation, inclusiveness and 
transparency in all WTO negotiations as enunciated by the General Council Chairman;  (ii) reflect the 
development dimension as the centrepiece in all areas of the Doha negotiations, and the core principle 
that an LDC should get greater preference than a non-LDC in any WTO agreement;  (iii) fully and 
immediately implement the Hong Kong Decision on DFQF for LDCs;  (iv) comprehensively and 
adequately address LDC concerns as a Disproportio nately Affected Country (DAC) under NAMA, as 
the proposed solution had limitations;  (v) address trade and development-assistance aspects of cotton 
to the full satisfaction of the C-4 countries;  (vi) agree on modalities to grant an LDC waiver in 
Services as quickly as possible;  (vii) expedite LDC accession as per the General Council Decision of 2002;  (viii) in addition to Agriculture and NAM A, advance other areas of negotiation, namely 
Services, Rules and Trade Facilitation, on a parallel basis;  (ix) conduct an intensive stock-taking 
exercise by 31 March 2010 and continue the particip ation of Senior Officials to conclude the Doha 
Round by 2010, with the usual update by the Directo r-General;  and (x) ensure that the Eighth Session 
in 2011 was a full-fledged Ministerial negotiati ng session – and Bangladesh hoped that the political 
goodwill garnered from the Seventh Session would be translated into real action.  The WTO would be one and a half decades old on 1 January 2010.  On th e eve of its 15th birthday, Members should try to 
make it a decisive year for the DDA. 
28. The representative of Zambia
 associated his delegation with the statements by Tanzania for 
the LDC Group and by Bangladesh.  The mandate from Ministers to have a stocktaking exercise in the first quarter of 2010 required enhanced dilig ence and not business as usual from delegations in 
Geneva.  His delegation interprete d stocktaking as evaluation and planning guided by substance – 
evaluation, in that Members needed to consider th e gains achieved and determine the gaps that were 
still unresolved, and planning, in that they would need to do some road mapping on the basis of the said gaps and the current evolution of the texts.  In order to have a stocktaking that would be credible  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 13 
 
 
  and instil confidence in the process, it was vita l to work towards achieving some deliverables on 
various fronts.  In this regard, Zambia had in mi nd the following:  in Agriculture, progress had already 
been made on bananas, tropical products and preferen ce erosion, which should lead to the  revision of 
the text on those issues;  in NAMA, Members could ach ieve a revised text in respect to the work done 
on NTBs;  on Services, there could be a revised text on regulations and a consensus on the LDC 
waiver;  on Trade Facilitation, one could continue to  clean up the text as it evolved, and it had evolved 
very positively;  on S&D, one could consolidate th e gains in respect of a monitoring mechanism in 
order to have a new text by the time of the stocktaking;  and on Rules, Members could move positively on anti-dumping rules as well as fisheries s ubsidies.  The necessity of conducting this 
exercise was that it would provide Members with a clearer sense as to whether 2010 was indeed 
doable.  His delegation was confident that if all Me mbers were able to translate the political mandate 
from the Seventh Session into real flexibilities and positive engagement, 2010 was still doable. 
29. The representative of the European Union
 said his delegation shared the Director-General's 
assessment of the state of play.  The DDA remained  the central priority for Europe, and the EU 
regretted that progress continued to elude Member s.  Members with difficulties with the current 
package had to be specific about their problems, and the Members they targeted had to show 
willingness to engage.  In those areas where the EU could drive progress, it had sought to do so.  For 
example, in the areas of NTBs – which the EU considered to be a key component of the NAMA balance – and Trade Facilitation, his delegation ha d demonstrated its commitment to the Round, and 
likewise in Services, Trade and Environment and TR IPS, which remained key priorities.  Where the 
EU had the tools to be pro-active, it was using them .  The EU stood ready to engage, in a constructive 
and pro-active spirit.  On this basis, Members c ould and should build a meaningful work programme 
for early 2010, which should lead into a stocktaki ng no later than the first quarter.  The EU would 
give its full support to the Director-General in deci ding the content, format and timing of this work. 
30. The representative of Egypt
, on behalf of the African Group , expressed the Group's 
commitment to advance the negotiations.  As this w as the last General Council meeting of the year, he 
wished to convey the African Group's perspectives on the DDA negotiations and its concerns over the 
lack of progress made on substance during the co urse of 2009.  The ramifications of the global 
economic crises, as well as the incremental adverse implications of the food and fuel crises, had considerably overshadowed attempts to undertake me aningful negotiations on substance on all fronts.  
The Group had placed much emphasis in 2009 on warn ing against increased protectionism and over 
devising road maps and work programmes, and so me Members had been driven by notions of 
"outcome testing", "no surprises" and achieving "c omfort" levels, which had all contributed to 
derailing and outsourcing the DDA.  Against this b ackdrop, and while the African Group remained, in 
principle, supportive of resuming engagement at the level of Senior Officials to map the way towards 
the conclusion of the Round, it ne vertheless believed that the working hypothesis for this level of 
engagement should be reviewed and improved in order to avoid the recurrence of any further 
shortcomings.  Needless to say, having agreed to in tensify the negotiations pr ior to the G20 Pittsburgh 
Summit, Members were still left with the same gaps that needed to be bridged, were still hearing the 
same positions that had become ever more entr enched, and had been witnessing growing divergence 
over substance that had become ever more predominan t.  In addition, to make matters all the more 
complex, disparities had been re-surfacing in some  negotiating areas.  The negotiating process in itself 
had not, by and large, improved, and the Group con tinued to call for full participation, inclusiveness 
and transparency. 
31. The Seventh Session had been another opportunity to accentuate the need to exercise 
leadership and engagement in order to conclude  the DDA.  One had heard throughout the Conference 
renewed pledges, and it was high time that tradi ng partners followed through and delivered on their 
political signals.  Members needed  to ensure that their work during the next three months had a 
bearing on substance in order to salvage any stoc ktaking exercise in the first quarter of 2010.  
Needless to say, there were considerable disparities as  to what this exercise truly resembled or how its WT/GC/M/124 
Page 14  
 
  results would guide Members to conclude the DDA.  For some it was the moment of truth wherein the 
resolve to conclude the DDA would be tested and, as  such, one needed to safe guard this exercise by 
moving beyond market-access expectations, ensure  a breakthrough that placed development at the 
heart of the DDA and restore confidence in the multilateral trading system.  It was truly alarming to question whether Doha could be completed in 2010.   The conclusion of the Round in 2010 was well 
within reach and doable.  This was why the Group ha d maintained its calls to build on progress made 
to date, to preserve the mandates and the sequenci ng of the negotiations, while averting any attempts 
to either reopen stabilized elements and texts, or oscillate the negotiating process and format, and 
dismiss any attempts to undermine the core de velopment components of the Round.  These were inter 
alia the premise upon which the common African position had been devised and reflected in the Cairo 
Communiqué which had been formally adopted as an African Union position on 30 November in 
Geneva.  Moreover, and while th e Group acknowledged that the more than 100 developing countries 
in the WTO did not yet constitute a homogenous group, these countries' voices and concerns should 
be heard, especially in a Round that was supposedly  destined to manifest the development component 
of the multilateral trading system.  For its part, the African Group wished to highlight that it was 
important for future work in Agriculture and NAMA to be based on the considerable convergence that 
had been attained on some issues.  It was theref ore essential that future discussions resumed on the 
understandings reflected in the December 2008 texts. 
32. As for Agriculture, the African Group appreciated th e relevant Chair's efforts to try to achieve 
meaningful results on both tracks – the discussion on templates as well as on modalities.  The template discussions had been constructive, and so me progress had been achieved in Step 1 of this 
exercise.  The Group acknowledged that the complexity  of this exercise required special consideration 
for developing countries, especially African, taki ng into account their level of development.  
However, with regard to the discussion on moda lities, while the Group welcomed the technical 
discussions taking place on some important issues, cer tain aspects in the mo dalities needed further 
clarification, especially with respect to SSM.  The African Group hoped that the necessary technical 
discussions would close the remaining gaps on the key outstanding issues.  Despite the 
aforementioned, an objective overall assessment woul d lead one to believe that the Agriculture 
negotiations had not progressed in a manner that had rendered the expected results.  Much remained 
to be done to advance the negotia tions and to address key issues of vital interest to Africa.  For 
reasons obvious to all, subsidies had acquired fresh relevance in Members' work.  The issue of cotton 
subsidies needed to be urgently addressed, given th at the world market price for cotton continued to 
be heavily distorted downwards by cotton subsidies.   As for NAMA, future work should advance in a 
manner that brought Members closer to a modus operandi for concluding the negotiations on the basis 
of the December 2008 text, provided that adequate  solutions were found to the issues pertinent to 
preference erosion and country-specific flexibilities, especially for SACU.  In doing so, one needed to 
avoid re-opening other established NAMA principles, a nd any attempts to change the voluntary nature 
of sectoral initiatives should be avoided.  In add ition, Members should ensure that such initiatives 
remained unlinked to NAMA modalities, in accord ance with the DDA mandate.  Negotiations on 
NTBs should continue to narrow differences, and the Group supported moving into a process whereby 
the various NTB proposals addressing the same area s of concern would be merged, paving the way 
for issuing a draft negotiating text; while proposals th at had not gathered sufficient support needed to 
be reconsidered.  The "Horizontal Mechanism" c ontinued to gather the Group's support and was of 
added value in addressing the NTB issues. 
33. The other areas in the Single Undertaking deser ved equal attention.  In Services, the GATS 
commitment invoking the exchange-of-information pr ovisions on subsidy programmes relevant to 
services remained unfulfilled.  Studies undertaken  by the OECD, UNCTAD, and the WTO’s Trade 
Policy Reviews indicated the prevalence of a high number and value of subsidies granted by 
developed countries to their services providers.  Su ch subsidies potentially restricted the market 
access of developing-country service providers, thereb y diminishing the value of any liberalization 
commitments that might be undertaken.  Moreover , the negotiations had touched upon the relevance  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 15 
 
 
  of using concepts and definitions established in the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures to define subsidies in the context of trade in services.  This was a st ep that needed to be 
augmented in order to devise the necessary disciplin es that would govern trade-distorting subsidies in 
the Services field.  In this context, the Afri can Group noted with concern that there remained 
considerable differences between Members concer ning the desired level of ambition of domestic 
regulation disciplines.  However, this should not be  a pretext to re-introduce "necessity test concepts" 
that were construed to erode the right of devel oping countries to regulate and achieve national policy 
objectives.  It was becoming apparent that here agai n, the negotiations were being derailed, and that 
Members were trying to deal with a symptom rather  than determining the actual cause.  Moreover, the 
Group wished to recall that Article 6:4 of the GA TS did not constitute a direct necessity test on 
Members.  Rather, it called on Members to negotiate any needed disciplines to ensure that measures 
did not create unnecessary barriers to trade.  For th ese reasons, Members should continue technical 
discussions and avoid the risk of complicating the negotiations by issuing a new bracketed domestic 
regulation text at the present stage.  Furthermore,  the Group remained adamant about the priority to 
swiftly operationalize the transitional waiver fo r preferential and more favourable treatment to 
services and service suppliers of LDCs, in order to beneficially and meaningfully integrate these 
countries into the multilateral trading system. 
34. With regard to Rules negotiations, the Group continued to caution against the issuance of 
revised draft texts, which should be contingent on  the progress made on other tracks, specifically with 
regard to Agriculture and NAMA.  However, in th e event that an agreement could not be reached on 
other tracks, Members should continue to have regular  technical discussions on the Chair's draft texts.  
One needed to ensure that the rights and obligations set forth in the draft texts could be enforced and 
complied with by all Members.  With regard to S&D treatment, it was of vital importance to enable 
developing countries to implement their commitme nts and obligations, as this would provide them 
with flexibility, policy space and balanced rules to achieve greater market access for their products of 
interest.  While the Group appreciated the efforts of  the relevant Chair to advance the negotiations on 
the Agreement-specific proposals in all its three cat egories as well as the Monitoring Mechanism, it 
remained concerned that the discussion on both tr acks had achieved minimal progress so far.  
Furthermore, while the Group regretted that no r eal progress had been achieved as far as Rules were 
concerned.  Trade Facilitation, on the other hand, was the only area where relative progress had been 
achieved.  The Negotiating Group had been able to  incorporate the comments and counterproposals 
made by Members within a consolidated text, and it was expected that negotiations would start on the 
newly-born multilateral text early in 2010. 
35. On Accession, the Group expressed its full solidar ity with all developing countries and LDCs 
that were undergoing the WTO accession process, and urged all Members to facilitate and accelerate 
the latter's accession.  It reiterated that countri es undergoing accession should not be compelled to 
make concessions incompatible with their level of development, and ther efore supported enhancing 
the structured technical assistance for acceding c ountries.  Since the positive effects of trade on 
economic development did not materialize automatically , Aid for Trade had to be seen as an essential 
component, in tandem with a balanced, development -friendly outcome to the DDA.  It was for this 
reason that the Group had expressed its concerns ove r the deliberations in the CTD regarding the 
future work programme of the AFT initiative, incl uding with regard to the vital role the WTO was 
playing in the context of AFT.  The Group hoped th at Members would give due  consideration to this 
matter under Item 15 of the present Council's Agenda  and adopt the Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 
2010-2011.  It looked forward to the report to be submitted by the Chair of the CTD on this matter, 
which it expected to reflect the comments made by  the African Group, namely with regard to the 
issues related to operationalization, mobilization of  resources and desegregation of aid flows.  The 
African Group wished to stress once again that fo r Africa, development outcomes in each of the 
negotiating areas remained the raison d’être  of the Round, and the Africa countries would join the 
consensus only if the Round delivered on concrete development outcomes. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 16  
 
  36. The representative of Angola
 said his delegation wished to commend the Director-General for 
his hard work as TNC Chair, helping Members to so lve sensitive political issues .  The past week one 
had heard the news regarding a comprehensive agr eement on bananas.  Nevertheless, Angola wished 
to exhort the parties to this agreement to resp ect their commitments regarding the financial and 
technical assistance promised, not just in terms of Aid for Trade, but beyond that.  This sort of 
pragmatic approach should and could apply to an early harvest regarding the implementation of the 
Decision in Annex F of the Hong Kong Declara tion on duty-free quota-free treatment for LDCs, a 
Services waiver, as well as for Cotton and Accessions, as mandate by LDC Ministers in the Dar es Salaam Declaration.  In the same vein, Angola wished to commend Brazil's announcement during the 
Seventh Ministerial Conference to apply DFQF to  80 per cent of imports from LDCs, and also the 
United States and EU for having resolved the bana na issue.  Angola welcomed the efforts by the 
Chair of the Agriculture negotiations to advance work  on the first step of a template, despite any real 
advance on draft modalities.  It also commended th e work by the NAMA Chair on NTBs and wished 
to see progress on specific flexibilities by country and on the issue of disproportionately-affected 
countries.  On Trade Facilitation, despite progress in pursuing text-based negotiations, based on a 
proposal presented by Members and text on S&D treatment and technical assistance for developing 
countries, Angola wished to see some real engage ment and commitment in accordance with Annex D 
of the Hong Kong Declaration and the July Framew ork.  On TRIPS matters, his delegation thanked 
the Director-General for his consultations on these issu es.  It was now time to proceed with drafting a 
text that would reflect and summarize the concerns of each Member in order to start to resolve these 
issues pragmatically and diplomatically.  His delega tion wished to thank especially Egypt, Tanzania 
and Mauritius for their hard work during the year in the role of coordinators of the African, LDC and 
ACP Groups, respectively. 
37. The representative of Israel
 said his delegation commended the Director-General's tireless 
efforts and thanked him and all the Negotiating Chairs for their work and initiatives aimed at 
advancing the negotiations into their final stage early in 2010.  Israel was confident that the remaining 
gaps in the various negotiating areas were bridgeab le, and that with due e ngagement, Members should 
be able to reach a successful conclusion of the Roun d by the end of 2010.  Israel was ready to do its 
part, modest as it might be, to secure this much-nee ded conclusion by the agreed timetable.  To this 
end, Members' first priority in 2010 should be to resume and intensify the negotiations on the basis of 
the texts they had before them, with the immedi ate aim of reaching tangible and concrete progress on 
the long-due modalities.  The landing zones for mo st of the outstanding issues, as well as the 
necessary trade-offs and compromises, were more or less clear.  The recent progress in the NTBs 
discussions in NAMA and in the template and date di scussions in Agriculture were very positive signs 
of Members' collective and constr uctive engagement to reach th e common goal of concluding the 
Round in 2010.  Like others, Israel also welcom ed the news that a comprehensive agreement on 
bananas had been reached that week.  The fact that  such a complex issue could find a solution at the 
present stage was very encouraging for the near future and could be seen as positive evidence of 
Members' will to move forward in these negotiati ons.  As for the stocktaking exercise proposed for 
the first quarter of 2010, it coul d be an important milestone to that end, even though it seemed that 
further clarifications were need ed as to the specific design of the exercise and the way it stood to 
serve as an effective tool in substantively advanc ing the negotiations.  Another avenue of promoting 
the Doha Round was through bilateral – in addition to  multilateral and plurilate ral – engagement.  To 
the best of his delegation's knowledge, there we re bilateral discussions occurring among various 
Members.  Bearing in mind the centrality of the Geneva-based process, Israel hoped that these would 
contribute to moving the negotiations forward.  Isr ael remained firmly conv inced that the timely and 
successful conclusion of the Doha Round was the single most important contribution the WTO could 
make at the global level, in order to facilitate quick  and sustainable recovery worldwide, as stated by 
many at the recent Ministerial Conference. 
38. The representative of Switzerland  said his delegation was very interested in participating in 
the further discussions which would lead Members to the stocktaking, and was satisfied that Senior  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 17 
 
 
  Officials would come back to Geneva to try to move issues forward.  It supporte d Israel's view that all 
should be better engaged in bilaterals, because dialogue was another recipe for success.  The 
following were priority areas for Switzerland.  In Agriculture, it joined those who were energized by 
the conclusion of the banana deal and congratulated all the participants who had made this possible.  
It was hoped that there would be a domino effect, leading to bigger successes and culminating in 
completion of the Round.  He recalled that the Communiqué of the recent G10 Ministerial meeting 
had stressed the priority issues for net importers th at needed to be accommodated in order to finalize 
these negotiations.  On Services, Switzerland appreci ated the discussions on domestic regulation and 
on the other pending issues.  It was still trying to imagine how to give greater visibility to such 
important negotiations.  His delegation welcomed the new text on Trade Facilitation, which was a 
very positive step forward.  His delegation was sa tisfied with the consultation process the Director-
General was conducting on TRIPS is sues and looked forward to these consultations continuing.  
However, Members should now move to looking at possible solutions, so that these areas as well could end in a landing zone.  This was very impor tant for Switzerland, as all knew.  It was not 
credible to push for a conclusion of the Doha negotia tions and at the same time try to block the work 
on these issues. 
39. The representative of India
 said his delegation wished to comment on two aspects of the 
Director-General's report.  The first related to the format for engagement in 2010, and in this 
connection the Director-General had referred to va rious versions of the "laterals" – bilaterals, 
trilaterals, quadrilaterals, plurilatera ls and so on.  He wished to remind Members that in the past few 
months and years, the bulk of the progress achieved – incremental yet substantial – had been through 
the multilateral process.  In this connection, he wi shed especially to refer to the bottom-up approach 
the Rules Chair had adopted, and the very signi ficant and steady progress that Group had been 
recording on NTBs and NAMA.  As to the work in  Agriculture on templates and so on, the emphasis 
on other modes of engagement had usually been unproductive and had mostly served to distract 
Members' attention.  What had prevented more pr ogress thus far was not the format of engagement, 
but the issue of political will.  No amount of experimentation with formats could address that issue.  
While India was ready to engage in any format, the centrality of multilateral engagement was worth 
reiterating.  Second, he wished to comment on th e Director-General's consultations on the TRIPS 
issues and to thank him for the very productive pr ocess he had been leading, which had led to 
substantial improvements in technical clarity on these issues.  India urged him to  continue this process 
in 2010.  It also hoped that Members could soon cha nge gears, to be able to move forward by having 
text-based negotiations on these issues, with the objec tive of achieving an outcome that would be an 
integral part of the Doha Round outcome. 
40. The General Council took note  of the Director-General's report and of the statements. 
3. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development 
41. The Chairman  recalled that at its meetings in Febr uary and March 2002, the General Council 
had taken note of a framework and procedures fo r the conduct of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies.  In line with the framework and pro cedures, the Work Programme was a standing item on 
the General Council's agenda and the Committee on Tr ade and Development reported regularly to the 
General Council on the progress of work in its Dedicat ed Sessions on this subject.  He also recalled 
that Ministers at Hong Kong had instructed the CTD, under the overall responsibility of the General 
Council, to continue the work in the Dedicat ed Session and to monitor progress of the small 
economies' proposals in the negotiating and other bodies.   In December 2006, on the basis of a report 
by the Chair of the CTD in Dedicated Session, th e General Council had taken note that Members in 
that body would continue pursuing the subs tantive work under the Small Economies Work 
Programme.  The latest report to the Council from the Dedicated Session was contained in document 
WT/COMTD/SE/6, and he invited the Chairman  of the Dedicated Session to introduce it. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 18  
 
  42. Mr. Servansing (Mauritius), Chairman of the Dedicated Session
, recalled that at its meeting 
on 17 November 2009, the General Council had ta ken note of the Second Report of the CTD in 
Dedicated Session and had agreed to forward it to  the Seventh Ministerial Conference.  In 2005, 
Ministers in Hong Kong had instructed the Dedicat ed Session to continue its work and to report on 
progress and actions taken to the next Ministeria l Conference.  The Dedicated Session's report had 
been circulated in document WT/COMTD/SE/6.  It was a factual summary of all the submissions and 
proposals made by the proponents of SVEs since the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  It also had a section on future work, which stated that the Dedi cated Session would consider in further detail the 
proposals contained in the various submissions that had been received to date, examine any additional 
proposals that Members might wish to submit and,  where possible, make recommendations to the 
General Council on any of these proposals.  Since th e adoption of the report, the Dedicated Session 
had had no further meetings.  He wished to highlig ht that at the Seventh Ministerial Conference, 
several Ministers and Heads of Delegation from SVEs  had stressed the importance they attached to 
the Work Programme on Small Economies and their d esire for the Dedicated Session to continue its 
work in framing responses to the trade-related issu es identified for the fuller integration of SVEs. 
43. The representative of Barbados
, on behalf of the SVEs , thanked the Chair of the Dedicated 
Session for his report and extended these countries' continued appreciation to him for his skilful 
chairmanship.  The SVEs welcomed the outcome from the Seventh Ministerial Conference, where 
Ministers had acknowledged the progress achieved to date within the Work Programme and had 
directed that the work be continued in the Dedi cated Session and in the negotiating and other bodies 
in the WTO.  The SVEs had participated activel y in this Conference and had articulated specific 
challenges and interests over the course of the pl enary debate and during the working sessions.  They 
were heartened by the recognition in the Chairman's  Summary of the particular needs of SVEs, and 
further encouraged that there wa s collective interest in addressing these concerns.  However, one was 
not yet at the finish line and more remained to be done.  These countries would therefore continue 
their constructive engagement with other Members in 2010, towards the fuller integration of their 
economies into the multilateral trading system throug h the framework of the Work Programme, and in 
other relevant WTO bodies, towards the conclu sion of a development-friendly Doha Round. 
44. The General Council took note  of the report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statement. 
4. Work Programme on Special and Differential treatment  
(a) Report by the Chairman of the Special Sessi on of the Committee on Trade and Development 
(b) Reports by Chairpersons of other WTO bodies to whom Special and Differential treatment 
proposals have been referred 
45. The Chairman  proposed, and Members agreed, to take up these two sub-items together.  He 
recalled that Ministers at Hong Kong had instru cted the Committee on Trade and Development in 
Special Session to expeditiously complete the re view of all the outstanding Agreement-specific 
proposals and to report to the General Council – with clear recommendations for a decision – by 
December 2006.  As regards the Category II propos als that had been referred to other WTO bodies 
and Negotiating Groups, Ministers had instructed  that these bodies expeditiously complete the 
consideration of these proposals and report periodica lly to the General Council, with the objective of 
ensuring that clear recommendations for a deci sion were made no later than December 2006.  
Ministers had further instructed the Special Session to  coordinate its efforts with these bodies, so as to 
ensure that this work was completed on time.  In addition, the Special Session had been mandated to 
resume work on all other outstanding issues – in cluding on the cross-cutti ng issues, the monitoring 
mechanism, and the incorporation of S&D treatment  into the architecture of WTO rules – and to 
report on a regular basis to the General Council.  In December 2008, the Chair of the CTD Special  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 19 
 
 
  Session had reported on the work in his Committee as  well as in the other WTO bodies.  He invited 
the Chairpersons of the CTD in Special Session and of the other relevant WTO bodies to update Members on the work carried out in this regard si nce then, starting with the Chair of the CTD in 
Special Session. 
46. Mr Sophastienphong (Thailand), Chairman of the CTD in Special Session
, said his report in 
document TN/CTD/24 highlighted the work carried out in the Special Session in 2009, as well as 
indicating how he proposed to continue the work in  2010.  While the report was self explanatory, he 
wished to briefly highlight some key points.  While  he had initially intended that in 2009, work would 
continue on both the Agreement-specific proposal s and the Monitoring Mechanism, the Special 
Session had focused primarily on the Monitoring Mech anism for most of the year.  This had been 
because discussions on the Agreement-specific proposal s had reached a stage where things were not 
moving forward, and after advising Members, he had decided to keep aside these proposals for the 
time being.  Needless to say, he remained ready to revert to the proposals as soon as any new ideas or 
language was put forward.  On the Category II pro posals, the respective Chairs would shortly be 
reporting on the status of work on these proposals.  In this context and in the meantime, the 
Secretariat had completed the process of identifying  and clarifying the proposals that were being 
addressed as part of the ongoing negotiations.  Based on this information, he intended to consider, in 
collaboration with the respective Chairs, how best to expedite progress on the Category II proposals.  
As for the Monitoring Mechanism, he had tabled  a non-paper in May 2009, which was based on 
submissions by Members and ensuing discussions on these submissions.  Further work had taken 
place on the basis of this non-paper, and as a result of the progress made, in November he had revised 
his non-paper, which was contained in Annex II of hi s report.  He intended to continue focusing on 
the Monitoring Mechanism on the basis of his revi sed non-paper with the hope of concluding this 
work as soon as possible.  On the Agreement-sp ecific proposals being addressed in the Special 
Session, he remained ready to revert back to  them as soon as Members put forward new ideas or 
language that would help close the remaining gaps.  On the Category II proposals, he would continue 
to coordinate efforts with the relevant Chairs in order to ensure that progress was made on these 
proposals expeditiously. 
47. Mr Walker (New Zealand), Chairman of  the Special Session of the Committee on 
Agriculture , said that four different Category II S&D proposals, all tabled by the African Group, had 
been referred to the Special Session.  These propo sals could be found in paragraphs 48-51 of a 
July 2002 submission by the African Group (TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2).  The second of these proposals 
dealt with sanitary and phytosanitary concerns and, as such, did not dir ectly fall within the purview of 
the work currently undertaken by the Agriculture negotiating group.  He understood the Chair of the 
SPS Committee would be reporting separately under the pr esent item.  The first, third and fourth of 
those proposals continued to be considered by Member s in an integrated manner, together with all the 
other S&D elements of the Agriculture negotia tions package.  Generally speaking, these S&D 
elements were reflected in the successive versi ons of the Draft Modalities text – most recently 
TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4 of December 2008 – in which spec ific S&D provisions had been strengthened and 
further clarified.  In his view, the best way to enable Members to move forward with these proposals 
was to continue to address S&D elements in an in tegrated manner as part of the work to complete 
modalities. 
48. Mr de Mateo y Venturini (Mexico), Chairman of  the Special Session of the Council for Trade 
in Services , said the Special Session had last considered Category II proposals in December 2007.  At 
that time, the African Group had presented a revi sion of its proposal (JOB(07)/216), setting out a 
mechanism to review, evaluate and recommend ac tion to Members on their compliance with the 
development provisions in Article IV of the GATS.   Since then, consultations on this issue had 
quieted and attention had been diverted to other events, notably the run-up to July 2008.  As Chair, he 
would of course respond positively to requests that the topic be taken up again at formal or informal 
meetings of the Special Session. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 20  
 
  49. Mr Valles Galmés (Uruguay), Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules
, said he had last 
reported to the General Council on the Category II S&D proposals in December 2007, and that there 
had been no new developments since then.  As he had informed the Council at that time, while the 
proposals on S&D treatment had been placed on the agenda of the Group at a number of meetings, 
there had been little discussion.  While he had indi cated that the Group would be prepared to resume 
discussion of any of these issues upon request by the proponents, no delegation had requested placing 
these proposals on the agenda of meetings of the Gr oup.  While these specific proposals had not been 
the subject of significant discussion, this did not mean that the interests of developing-country 
Members had not been receiving attention.  Th ese Members had been very active in the Group and 
had sponsored numerous proposals in all areas of the Group's work, and these proposals had received 
and would continue to receive the full attention of the Chair and of the Group. 
50. Mr Saborío Soto (Costa Rica), Chairman of the Special Session of the DSB , said his most 
recent written report on Category II proposals refe rred to the Special Session was contained in 
document TN/DS/21 and Corr.1.  Since that report, in  July 2008 he had circulated a text under his 
own responsibility (JOB(08)/81), which contained a th ematic overview of all the issues on the table in 
that body as well as a draft legal text reflecting the most recent expression of Members' proposals, 
including from proponents of Category II issues and relating to various aspects of the original Category II issues.  Accordingly, these issues were an  integral part of the DSU negotiations.  Since 
the end of 2008, his text had been the agreed basi s for negotiations.  Throughout 2009, there had been 
consultations with interested dele gations roughly every six to eight weeks on the basis of the various 
proposals reflected in his text.  In addition, earlie r in 2009, he had held an information session on 
WTO dispute settlement-related technical assistance provided by the Secretariat and the Advisory 
Centre on WTO Law.  This information session had served to facilitate the effective and informed 
participation of developing and LDC Members in these negotiations.  He would continue 
consultations on the various drafting proposals reflecte d in his text, including on the relevant aspects 
of the original Category II proposals, and was hopeful that this would allow Members to conclude the 
DSU negotiations promptly, in line with the mandate from Ministers in Hong Kong. 
51. Ms Csukasi (Uruguay), Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture
, said that in its regular 
sessions, the Committee had had various opportunities sinc e June 2003 to consider the proposal of the 
African Group, both within the framework of the m onitoring mechanism of the Marrakesh Decision 
on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net-Food Importing De veloping Countries, as well as in the framework of the Doha 
Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Is sues and Concerns.  Between 2003 and 2006, the 
proposal of the African Group had been the subj ect of examination and consultations in the 
Committee, particularly the aspect relating to th e establishment of a revolving fund as a possible way 
to solve financial difficulties in the short term e xperienced by LDC and developing-country net food 
importers.  In view of the divergence of views,  there had been no discussion of this matter in the 
Committee since May 2006.  Given this lack of c onsensus and the absence of specific contributions, 
the situation was identical to that reflected by he r predecessor in his oral report to the General Council 
almost four years earlier.  However, during these past four years, Members had preferred to continue to examine various questions contained in the Afri can Group's proposal – for example, export credits 
or food aid – in the context of the Doha negotia tions, rather than in the regular sessions of the 
Committee on Agriculture.  Therefore, it seemed obvi ous that a successful conclusion of the Doha 
Round would also be part of the solution to this issue. 
52. Dr. Cerchez (Romania), Chairman of the Committee on TRIMs
, said the Committee had 
continued its consideration of th e Category II S&D proposals, which ha d originally been submitted by 
the African Group and related to Articles 4 and 5.3 of the TRIMs Agreement.  In April 2007 Kenya, 
on behalf of the African Group, had submitted a revi sed version of the proposals, which dealt more 
specifically with the concerns of the proponents.  In June and October 2007, the then-Chairperson of 
the TRIMs Committee had held informal discussions  with interested delegations on the revised  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 21 
 
 
  proposals.  These had been further discussed at th e meeting of the Committee on 1 November 2007, at 
which Kenya had indicated that it was open to any new ideas concerning these proposals, as the 
African Group felt that it had gone as far as it could on  this issue, unless there were suggestions from 
other Members.  Since then, no further revisions  to the draft proposals had been received from the 
proponents.  An oral report to this effect had been  made to the General Council in December 2007.  
At the Committee's meeting on 23 October 2008, her predecessor had expressed his willingness to 
continue his informal consultations on this issu e should Members so wish.  Since the last regular 
meeting of the Committee in October 2008, no de legation had contacted the Chairperson or the 
Secretariat to request the continuation of the informal  consultations in this regard.  At the Committee's 
meeting of 16 October 2009, no dele gation had taken the floor with respect to this issue.  There were 
thus no further developments to report to the General Council.  She reiterated her willingness to 
continue informal consultations on this issue should Members so wish. 
53. Ms Chaves (Argentina), Chairpers on of the Committee on SPS Measures , said the Category II 
proposals referred to the Committee concerned specifi cally Articles 9 and 10 of the SPS Agreement, 
on technical assistance and on S&D treatment.  In 2005, the Committee had prepared a 
comprehensive report on these issues, which detaile d the problems that seemed to underlie the 
specific proposals.  The same report also explaine d why the proposals as currently drafted were not 
acceptable to many Members.  The report concluded with a number of possible "elements for further discussion", a number of which had been pursued by  the Committee.  As a standing agenda item, 
S&D had been taken up at each of the Committee' s three meetings during the year.  Also, the 
Committee normally held an informal meeting on S&D immediately prior to each of its regular 
meetings.  Under this agenda item, the Committe e had considered action to implement the S&D 
provisions in a concrete manner.  With regard  to progress on S&D issues, there had been some 
important achievements and activities related to th e Category II proposals in recent years.  On the 
Revision of the Procedure to Enhance Transparency  of Special and Differential Treatment, at its 
meeting in October 2009, the SPS Committee had agr eed on the revision of a procedure to ensure 
prompt responses and transparency on S&D treatment .  In response to a request during the comment 
period following the circulation of an SPS notification,  or following the adoption or entry into force of 
a new SPS measure, the importing Member should agree to consultations to discuss possible means to 
address the identified problem.  This procedure had been developed in response to Category II 
proposals on Article 10.1 of the SPS Agreement.   Regarding Procedures for Implementing the 
Transparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement, ch anges to these procedures had been adopted by 
the SPS Committee in June 2008.  The procedures shoul d be useful to developing-country Members, 
as they gave specific recommendations – for example,  on granting extensions of the comment period 
for notifications, in particular with regard to produc ts of particular interest  to developing countries.  
This would allow a reasonable interval between the publication of a new SPS requirement and its 
entry into force, in order to provide time for produ cers, particularly in developing countries, to meet 
the new requirement.  They also gave recomme ndations on according longer time-frames – normally 
at least six months – for compliance on products of interest to developing countries.  These 
recommendations addressed some of the Category II  proposals on Articles 9.2 and 10.1 of the SPS 
Agreement. 
54. Also in response to requests from developing-co untry Members, including in the context of 
Category II proposals on Article 10.1 of the SPS Agre ement, the Secretariat had developed the SPS 
Information Management System (IMS).  The SPS IMS was an on-line search tool which provided 
easy access to documents relevant to the SPS Agreem ent, allowing users to track information on SPS 
measures.  This was particularly useful to developing-country Members as it simplified finding SPS-
related information.  Technical assistance to developing and LDC Members to assist them to effectively utilize the SPS Agreement had been incr eased, improved and made more responsive to 
needs identified by Members.  The Secretariat ha d delivered almost 200 na tional seminars, regional 
workshops and specialized courses to developing-c ountry Members, along with on-line courses on the 
SPS Agreement.  Special workshops were periodi cally held on the margins of the SPS Committee WT/GC/M/124 
Page 22  
 
  meetings, and the participation of officials from de veloping countries was sponsored.  This was in line 
with Category II proposals on Article 10.1 of th e SPS Agreement.  The Standards and Trade 
Development Facility (STDF) also responded to Cate gory II proposals on Articles 9.2 and 10.1 of the 
SPS Agreement.  The STDF assisted developing count ries to enhance their expertise and capacity to 
use international standards.  It raised awaren ess on the importance of SPS issues, coordinated 
activities of donors, mobilized funds and dissem inated good practices.  The STDF had funded 
38 Project Preparation Grants and 41 SPS-related Pr ojects.  The Specific Trade Concerns mechanism 
of the SPS Committee was particularly beneficial to developing-country Members, as it provided a simple, low-cost and effective mechanism aime d at resolving specific problems with the SPS 
requirements of other Members, in line with  Category II proposals on Article 10.1 of the SPS 
Agreement.  Developing-country Me mbers had raised almost 150 specific trade concerns in the SPS 
Committee.  The Committee was finalizing the Third Review of the Operation and Implementation of 
the SPS Agreement.  It was likely to adopt several recommendations on S&D, including:  
(i) maintaining S&D as a standing agenda item;  (ii)  continuing consideration of specific, concrete 
actions to address the problems faced by developi ng-country Members in the implementation of the 
SPS Agreement and in making use of the benefits of  the Agreement;  and (iii) encouraging Members 
to provide information re garding any S&D or technical assistance  they had provided in response to 
requests under the procedure adopted by the Committ ee.  These recommendations were in line with 
Category II proposals on Articles 9.2, 10.1 and 10.4 of the SPS Agreement.  The Committee continued to take specific, practical actions to address the concerns of developing-country Members 
that had led to the Category II proposals.  It had had some significant accomplishments in recent 
years, but there was clearly more to be done. 
55. Ms Mohun (Mauritius), Chairperson of the Committee on Safeguards
, said the Committee 
had submitted a detailed report to th e General Council in July 2003 (G/SG/64).  Since then, all the 
chairpersons of the Committee, including herself,  had made efforts to advance these issues – for 
example, by directly contacting the relevant Member s to see whether there were any changes in their 
positions.  Despite these continuous efforts, to da te there was no consensus in the Committee on these 
proposals, nor did she sense any sign of new developm ents.  In short, the situation remained as it had 
been when the last report on this subject had been submitted to the General Council in 
December 2007.  She remained availabl e for any assistance Members might need. 
56. The Chairman  thanked all the Chairs for their repor ts and for their commitment to pursuing 
this work. 
57. The General Council took note  of the reports by the Chairpersons. 
5. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 – 
Communications from Honduras and Guatem ala (WT/GC/85, WT/GC/90 and Corr.1, 
WT/GC/100, WT/MIN(05)/9) – Statement by the Chairman 
58. The Chairman  recalled that this matter had first been  raised by the delegations of Honduras 
and Guatemala at the Council meeting in December 2004 .  It had subsequently been considered by the 
General Council at each of its regular meetings since then, without resolution.  
59. The representative of Honduras  requested that the present item be suspended from the agenda 
of the next General Council meeting, in light of a global solution to the economic problem of the non-
recognition of Honduras by the European Union.  Ho wever, he noted that the systemic element had 
not yet been resolved.  He underlined that the global solution had various stages, some of which 
needed to be discussed.  This was why Honduras was requesting the suspension of the item, and if 
necessary, it would request to put the item, wh ich had been discussed since 2004, back on the 
Council's agenda.  On the other hand, if all elem ents of a global settlement were agreed, Honduras  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 23 
 
 
  would communicate this in writing to the Chairman of  the General Council and would request that the 
item be definitively removed from the Council's agenda. 
60. The representative of Guatemala  recalled that Guatemala and Honduras had requested 
inclusion of this item on the Council's agenda five years earlier.  Since then, Guatemala had always 
stressed that it had two types of interest in the is sue:  one was related to trade, and the other was 
systemic.  To date, neither of these interests had been satisfactorily addressed.  However, his 
delegation was of the view that, through the recen t conclusion of the Geneva Agreement on Trade in 
Bananas and the establishment of negotiations betw een Guatemala and the European Union, both 
parties were moving in the right direction to solv e the problem from the perspective of Guatemala's 
trade interests.  His delegation also believed that this would strengthen bila teral relations with the 
European Union.  He stressed that  there was still some work to do before this matter was completely 
resolved and until the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas was included in the EU's list of 
commitments through certification.  In spite of th is, Guatemala was ready to suspend, but not to 
renounce, its trade claims in bananas under this agenda item.  Guatemal a accepted, therefore, 
temporarily removing the item from the Council's ag enda while the European Union completed its 
internal procedures on adoption of the Banana Agr eement, and concluded the certification process of 
its WTO commitments.  He wished to clarify that  this did not resolve his delegation's systemic 
concern.  Therefore, despite the fact that the matt er would temporarily not be  taken up by the General 
Council, Guatemala reserved the right to take up the systemic issue in the relevant WTO bodies and to 
continue discussing this issue in a constructive way. 
61. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
6. Information on Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas – Communication from Brazil, 
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, European Union, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (WT/GC/124, WT/L/784) 
62. The Chairman
 drew the Council's attention to th e communication in document WT/GC/124 
and invited the delegation of the Euro pean Union to introduce this item. 
63. The representative of the European Union  said that after long and complex negotiations, the 
EU and Latin American MFN banana suppliers had reached an agreement on trade in bananas.  On 
15 December 2009, the EU, together with Brazil,  Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, 
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and th e Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had initialled 
the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas.  At the same time, the EU and the United States had also 
initialled an agreement to settle their dispute on bananas.  The EU and the Latin American MFN 
banana suppliers had jointly asked to include th e information on the Geneva Agreement on Trade in 
Bananas on the agenda of the present meeting.  He was pleased to inform the Council about this 
outcome, which brought a long-running dispute over trade in bananas to an end.  Following the initialling of the Agreement, the concerned delegations  had jointly requested to make it available to 
Members in document WT/L/784.  The Agreement brought  together several elemen ts:  first, the need 
to comply with the obligation to re-bind the EU's bananas tariff in light of the recommendations of the 
Panel and Appellate Body in the dispute settlement case DS27, brought by Ecuador;  second, the need 
to provide compensation as a result of EU enlargemen t;  and third, the need to agree on the treatment 
of bananas in the framework of the Doha Round ne gotiations.  The Banana Agreement was based on 
the progress made during the WTO ministerial meeting in July 2008.  Under the Agreement, the EU would cut the MFN tariff on bananas in eight stages.   The tariff, which was currently 176 €/t, would 
be brought down to a bound level of 114€/t.  The Agreement also provided details about the 
implementation of the tariff cuts. 
64. With regard to the role of the tariff cuts in  the Doha Round negotiations, the Latin American 
MFN banana suppliers had agreed that the Agreem ent would constitute the EU's final market-access WT/GC/M/124 
Page 24  
 
  commitments for bananas, for inclusion in the final results of the multilateral market-access 
negotiations for agricultural products.  Furthermore, the parties to the Agreement had agreed to settle 
all related pending disputes once the certification pr ocess had been completed.  The parties concerned 
would launch the ratification process with thei r respective national authorities, with the 
recommendation to conclude it as expeditiously as po ssible.  His delegation was pleased to have 
contributed to achieving this outcome and tha nked colleagues from the La tin American banana 
supplying countries for their efforts to reach this Agreement, as well as the ACP partners for their 
constructive engagement.  He also thanked the Unite d States for having made it possible to find, at the 
same time, an agreement between the EU and the US on the settlement of the dispute DS27 brought 
by the United States.  He was also grateful to the Director-General for his contribution to reaching the 
Agreement, as his good offices had laid the groundw ork for the agreement which had been reached. 
65. The representative of Costa Rica
 stressed that the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas 
had made it possible to turn the page and to resolv e one of the most important trade disputes in the 
history of the multilateral trading system.  He recal led that the Government of Costa Rica had been, 
since the Uruguay Round, part of the negotiations aimed at overcoming difficulties for bananas in the 
EU market.  Two decades earlier, and a month fo llowing its accession to GATT, his Government had 
proposed an agreement to the th en European Communities during th e Brussels Ministerial meeting, 
which had not been successful.  Shortly thereafter,  Costa Rica had taken an initiative through the 
GATT relevant bodies and had coordinated the effort s of Latin American countries in the first GATT 
dispute settlement panel on bananas,  which had ruled in their favour.  The outcome of the second 
banana panel under the GATT dispute settlement sy stem had also been favourable to the Latin 
American complainants.  However, neither of the tw o reports had ever been adopted, due to lack of 
consensus.  He noted that the GATT dispute settle ment system had needed changes which had come 
only later.  The many years of disputes and negotia tions were now part of history – a history that 
showed enormous progress in the functioning of the dispute settlement system in the WTO.  The 
panel reports and the Appellate B ody reports, as well as the arbitrations under Article 21.5, had indeed 
been adopted, and this had been a fundamental factor for an agreement to be reached.  While all credit 
was due to those who had improved the dispute settlem ent system to ensure that all reports could be 
adopted, 12 years to comply with the recommendations and rulings of the Dispute Settlement Body showed that compliance with recommendations could take a considerable amount of time and that the 
dispute settlement system could be improved. 
66. He recalled that in the various stages of th e negotiations on the EU's banana regime, the 
participation of facilitators had been useful.  In pa rticular, Costa Rica was grateful for the efforts and 
the achievements of the Minister of Trade of Norw ay, Mr. Jonas Støre, who had agreed to act as a 
mediator at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  Norway's intervention had been one more proof 
of the value of determination to contribute to solv ing conflicts, and this had been done seriously, with 
rigour and impartiality and with a deep-seeded sense of the value of the rule of law.  The proposals 
made by Minister Støre, together with the efforts made by the then-ambassador of Norway, 
Mr. Glenne, had laid the foundations for the Agre ement on Trade in Bananas which had been signed 
in Geneva.  All the elements described by th e European Union, such the landing zone, the 
downpayment, the Latin American countries renouncing certain positions – for example, that bananas 
should be treated as a tropical product – and the European Union renouncing other positions, were 
based on the proposals put forward by Minister Støre.  Costa Rica was also grateful to the Director-
General for his good offices which had, in the course of 2008, taken up the dossier and had 
contributed to the considerable  progress towards an agreement. 
67. In the previous year and a half, negotiations had remained exclusively in the hands of the 
Latin American Members and the European Un ion, and both sides had shown the necessary 
determination to reach a solution.  The Government of Costa Rica was grateful for the efforts made by 
other Latin American Governments and for their c onstant, honest and pragmatic approach in the 
lengthy negotiations.  Costa Rica also wished to extend its gratitude to the EU Trade Commissioner,  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 25 
 
 
  Ms Ferrero-Waldner, the Vice-President of the EU, Ms Ashton, and to the negotiators, Messrs Guth 
and O'Sullivan, for their will to reach an agreement.  The joint efforts of all had made it possible to 
overcome the differences and to reach a satisfactory outcome.  Costa Rica was also grateful to the 
United States for also having reached a solution with  the European Union.  Two decades earlier Costa 
Rica had begun its trip on a long and difficult track , and it was now present as this chapter of joint 
work with other Latin American countries was being closed.  He felt honoured to inform the Council 
that the mission which his delegation had begun 20 years earlier had been completed and that the 
banana war was over. 
68. The representative of Honduras  expressed his delegation's s upport for the Geneva Agreement 
on Trade in Bananas, which his country had initialled  on 15 December.  As one of the five original 
complainants of Banana III dispute settlement case , Honduras found the terms of the agreement to be 
a fair outcome to this longstanding dispute.  It  looked forward to benefiting from the reductions on 
bound tariffs set out in the Agreement, which it had ha d the right to receive for many years.  Honduras 
recognized that several steps needed to be taken to  implement the agreement before its legal effect 
could come into play, that the Agreement had to be ratified by the European Union and that the 
certification process had to be completed.  Honduras would be closely monitoring all these steps to 
ensure that they were concluded in a timely and adequate way, and hoped that the Agreement would 
then be implemented strictly and in conformity with its terms. 
69. The representative of Guatemala  said his delegation echoed the statement by Costa Rica and 
stressed that the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Ba nanas represented a delicate balance.  Guatemala 
was pleased with the results achieved following inte nse and complex negotiations with the European 
Union.  The initialling of this Agreement was a step  in the right direction towards the solution of a 
longstanding problem.  However, he stressed that in itialling the Agreement was just the first of many 
steps that had to be undertaken before it entered into  force and before the disputes and complaints that 
were pending could be considered resolved.  Using the popular terminology that this matter was the 
"Banana War", one could say that a truce had been  reached with the Europ ean Union, and he hoped 
that it could soon be reported that lasting peace had been reached.  Peace also implied reconciliation, 
and Guatemala was confident that the solution to this  issue would strengthen its bilateral ties with the 
European Union. 
70. The representative of Peru  said that all delegations were familiar with the problems that had 
occurred in trade in bananas in the European mark et.  Members had tried for many years to find a 
lasting solution to the negative impact on banana exports to Europe as a result of the EU's tariff 
regime.  In the case of Peru, the EU import regime  had not only created syst emic problems, but had 
also had an economic and trade effect on the country.  Despite this situation, Peru's exports of organic 
bananas, known to be of high quality and with sp ecial preference among consumers in the European 
market, had increased considerably  over the past five years, during which Peru had gone from 
exporting 18,000 metric tonnes in 2003 to close to 95, 000 metric tonnes in 2008.  This represented an 
export value higher than US$90 million.  The Ag reement was an important step towards the 
achievement of a fair, more equitable and more open trade in bananas.  In this way, Peru's organic 
banana exports to the European market would be able to contribute more and better to the ultimate 
goal of agriculture in Peru, which was to ensure that thousands of small farmers, especially those 
living in the remotest areas of the country, could l eave poverty behind.  He stressed that his delegation 
was aware of the concerns and difficulties that so me developing and LDC Members, who were also 
exporting bananas, had with the conclusion of the Geneva Agreement.  Therefore, his delegation 
wished to give special recognition to the flexibilit y shown, and also to state that business capacity, 
quality and productive efficiency were within the reach  of all, as had been shown by the growth of 
banana exports from Peru in the past five years.   Peru was convinced that the Agreement was an 
important step towards giving new vigour to the Doha Round negotiations, with a view to a prompt 
conclusion in 2010.  He thanked the negotia ting teams from Latin American banana-exporting 
countries, ACP countries, the European Union and the United States, and all those individuals who WT/GC/M/124 
Page 26  
 
  throughout the process had contributed and mediated, in  particular the Norwegian Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, Mr Støre.  They had all helped to lead to the present successful outco me.  He also wished to 
thank the Chairman and his predecessors for thei r efforts on reaching an agreement which would 
benefit trade in bananas, but also the Doha Round,  the multilateral trading system as a whole and all 
the Members.  His delegation was also grateful to the Director-General and his team, who had 
provided countless inputs and suggestions over th e months of his provision of good offices. 
71. The representative of Panama
 expressed his delegation's satisfaction that an agreement 
between the European Union and Latin American  producers and exporters of bananas had been 
reached after nearly two decades of trade disputes.  He recalled that Panama had contributed to this long and delicate process through dialogue with the European Union and close communication with 
Latin America, particularly Central American tr ading partners, and with the United States.  His 
delegation trusted that the Agreement would be an economically beneficial solution and that it would 
be legally sustainable and lasting for all parties involved in this longstanding dispute.  With the 
initialling of the Agreement two days earlier, the im plementation phase of its provisions had started.  
In this process, the European Unio n and the other signatories could be confident that Panama would 
be a responsible and constructive partner, on which they could confidently count to undertake new 
trade initiatives of mutual benefit in the future.  Hi s delegation was also confident that in the broader 
context of the multilateral trading system, the soluti on of the longest dispute in the history of the 
GATT and the WTO would act as a catalyst to revive  the Doha Round.  Panama was also willing to 
contribute and participate responsibly  and constructively in order to  reach a swift conclusion of the 
Round. 
72. The representative of Ecuador
 expressed his delegation's satisfaction with the Geneva 
Agreement on Trade in Bananas.  He stressed that no agreement could be perfect for all those involved, and this one was no exception.  However, the text of the Agreement reflected a balance of 
rights and obligations of the parties.  It also cl early established the various phases that would have to 
be complied with in order for the Agreement to be implemented over time until the final bound tariff 
was reached.  He thanked Latin American partners for their cont ributions to the negotiation and 
expressed his delegation's appreciation to the United States for its support of Ecuador's legal claims.  
He pointed out that Ecuador had had to put considerable resources  into the payment of additional 
duties and for legal procedures in the WTO because of this longstanding dispute.  It was Ecuador's 
hope to be able to devote these resources to basic priorities in the country, such as the fight against 
poverty.  He invited the European Union to provide updates on the various stages of the 
implementation of the Agreement.  He expressed his delegation's apprecia tion for Minster Støre's 
efforts and good offices, which had established the basis for the current agreement and which had 
subsequently been continued by the Director-Gen eral.  Despite these efforts, success had been 
delayed, resulting in new legal complaints that had successfully been resolved in Ecuador's favour. 
73. The representative of Mexico
 expressed his delegation's satisfaction with the successful 
conclusion of the negotiations of the Geneva Agre ement on Trade in Bananas, which had brought the 
longest-standing dispute in the history of the WTO to an end.  It guaranteed fairer and more predictable conditions of access for exporters wh ich represented roughly 50 per cent of banana 
production in the world.  This was a very impor tant product for several of the Members who had 
participated in the negotiations.  He wished to congratulate the ACP countries, the European Union, 
partners from Latin America and all of those who had participated with Mexico in this long, complex 
and difficult negotiation.  He also wished to thank the Director-General and the Minister of Norway 
for their efforts.  His delegation hoped to see the ra tification and entry into force of the commitments 
soon, and that this progress, which had been the mo st important outcome of the year, would give a 
new impetus to the Doha Round nego tiations, so as to be able to reach a successful conclusion in 
2010.  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 27 
 
 
  74. The representative of Colombia  welcomed the Geneva Agr eement on Trade in Bananas, 
which was not only a solution to the oldest dispute in  the organization, but also pointed to a successful 
conclusion of the Doha Round.  His delegation was pleased to have been part of this Agreement 
which demonstrated, on one hand, the usefulness and effectiveness of the WTO and, on the other, 
showed that with flexibility, pa tience and persistence any objective could be achieved.  He expressed 
his delegation's gratitude to Minster Støre of No rway, the Director-General and the Secretariat, 
Mr Guth and his team from the EU, and the Lati n American team of negotiators, as well as the 
General Council Chair.  He also thanked the ACP countries and the United States, who from their 
respective angles, had also contributed to the Agreement. 
75. The representative of Mauritius,  on behalf of the ACP Group , said the Group, together with 
other Members, had signed on to support a modal ity for EU treatment of bananas in the DDA 
negotiations on 15 December 2009.  The ACP therefor e assumed the responsibility of this act.  
However, from the ACP perspective, this agreement,  while closing a long and bitter chapter of trade 
conflict on a commodity, did not deliver a uniform a nd equal level of satisfac tion to all parties.  
Banana production and trade had shaped the soci o-economic history and livelihoods of many ACP 
countries for more than a century.  It was the liv elihood of thousands of poor peasants in the rural 
areas of Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, St. Lucia, Dominica and many other small and vulnerable ACP countries.  The fortunes and hopes, and at times desp air, of these poor peasants had fluctuated with 
the vagaries of this commodity.  It only took a cy clone in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean to 
destroy whole crops and affect the destinies of entir e communities.  The deep and intricate attachment 
to bananas spanned the whole cultural dimension of existence and survival in  these communities.  He 
stressed that reliance on preferences in those ACP countries had not been a road to glorious fortunes 
nor a vehicle to seek competitive commercial advantag es over others.  Had this been the case, history 
would have been different.  There was no doubt th at the new deal on bananas and its deep tariff 
drawdown would adversely affect ACP banana producers and exporters.  For some, it would demand 
tremendous adjustment.  In some cases, it would wipe away the sector, and new sources of livelihood 
would have to be found.  The Agreement opened an  era of uncertainty for thousands of ACP peasant 
farmers who once again saw their destinies ebbing at the mercy of the banana dispute.  However, the 
Group hoped that this Agreement would be seen in its larger context and that it put an end to a long 
commercial dispute and brought stability on an issue that had spurred passion and bitterness.  More 
important, the Group hoped that this marked the begi nning of a new era in the ACP relationship with 
the Latin American MFN banana-exporting countr ies, and that it would further develop this 
relationship into a forward-looking cooperating part nership for the future.  There was now a shared 
responsibility to ensure a win-win outcome in Agri culture negotiations, and work needed to be done 
to this end. 
76. The Group was also pleased that the Banana Ag reement not only put an end to a dispute on 
tariffs, but that it also drew the curtain on a number  of other issues linked to this complex problem.  
The Group was satisfied that bananas had gotten stand-alone treatment and not tropical product 
treatment, and that this stand-alone treatment woul d be credited in the DDA Agriculture modalities as 
the treatment to be applied to bananas.  The Group also hoped that the EU had measured the full 
impact of this Agreement on the ACP countries, and stressed that the EU had an obligation to address 
the adjustment needs and other negative consequenc es that would result from the Agreement.  It was 
encouraging that the ACP and the EU operated al so within the framework of a comprehensive 
bilateral partnership through the Cotonou Agreemen t and the EPAs.  It w as now time for this 
partnership to accompany the ACP banana countri es in their fight for development and against 
poverty.  There had been a good start in the dialogue  between the EU and the ACP countries, and that 
needed to be deepened, to be expedited and to de liver in a comprehensive manner so that the Geneva 
Agreement on Trade in Bananas did not become a bitte r souvenir in the history of ACP-EU relations.  
This Agreement showed that very complex issues coul d be resolved in the WTO through negotiations.  
It was therefore a building block to address and r esolve some other longstanding and equally complex WT/GC/M/124 
Page 28  
 
  problems in the DDA, for example on tropical products and preference erosion.  He hoped that the 
Agreement would also open the way for injec ting a new dynamism into the negotiations.   
77. The representative of Dominica
, speaking also on behalf of St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the 
Grenadines , supported the statement by Mauritius on behalf of the ACP Group.  He recalled that an 
adage suggested that a good negotiation and agreem ent was one in which none of the parties was 
completely satisfied with the outcome, and said that  his delegation was not even in a position to assess 
the Agreement within the parameters of this maxi m.  In fact, the delegations concerned were not 
signatories to the Agreement, nor had they been pa rties to the dispute settlement processes.  They 
were simply not at the table.  However, he stressed that the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) banana-producing countries, the Windwar d Islands, would be the ones most negatively 
impacted and injured by the just-concluded Banana Ag reement.  As the smallest and most vulnerable 
of the banana-producing countries of the multilate ral trading system, the Windward Islands had 
experienced a gradual and progressive deterioration of their banana sectors over the previous two 
decades in terms of production, exports, employment , income earnings and foreign exchange receipts, 
with each successive change in the EU market arrangement.  This had impacted negatively on the 
food and livelihood security and rura l development of the small isla nd states and had had an impact 
on the overall growth and development of their economies.  The immediate and impending cuts the 
Agreement envisaged would lead to further decline in the sector.  Pe ople in the small islands deserved 
a good livelihood like all others in the multilateral trad ing system, and it was most ironic that, in the 
name of free trade, the freedom and right of these people to achieve and sustain a good livelihood was 
being undermined.  For these reas ons, his delegation was unable to cel ebrate the Agreement.  From a 
systemic point of view, the fact that the Agreem ent represented the resolution of the longest running 
trade dispute in the multilateral trading system was certainly to be acknowledged.  However, that was 
the most the OECS could do.   
78. The OECS remained committed to a strong and rule-based multilateral trading system.  
However, this system had to be fair, balanced and equitable.  He recalled the statement by the 
Minister from St. Vincent and the Grenadines at  the Seventh Ministerial Conference, which 
emphasized that one lesson to be drawn from the bana na dispute was that the interests of the weakest 
and most vulnerable were not always safeguarded by the multilateral system.  One could only hope 
that this systemic imbalance could be addressed in  the near future, and a good way to begin was a 
conclusion of the DDA that, among other things, provided the necessary flexibilities for small 
economies and delivered on the Aid-for-Trade commitm ents in terms of additional resources for trade 
capacity building.  There was also  a need for some vital systemic  reforms that would enable the 
interests of all Members to be fully safeguarded a nd defended.  Paragraph 150 of the draft Agriculture 
modalities text called for longstanding preference-gr anting Members to provide targeted technical 
assistance, including additional financial and capacity-building assistance, to preference-receiving Members within the context of preference erosion.   There were also other instruments in which 
similar obligations were enshrined.  His dele gation looked forward to the preference-granting 
Members fulfilling this promise and providing the n ecessary support in a manner that would enable 
farmers and, ultimately, the economy to adjust to the new circumstances. 
79. The representative of Côte d'Ivoire
 reaffirmed his delegation's commitment to the 
achievement of a rapid conclusion of the Doha R ound.  For Côte d'Ivoire, which more than ever 
aspired to be an exporting economy, it was essential, in  the light of the world economic crisis, that the 
negotiations on trade liberalization were concluded as quickly as possible.  Regarding the banana 
issue, at a time when the organization was concerne d about its future, countries like Côte d'Ivoire, 
representing only 1.7 per cent of the world's banana market, had not r eally been able to make their 
voices heard during the panels, arbitrations and nego tiations.  Côte d'Ivoire did detect in this 
Agreement some important signs of a will to compro mise in order to reconcile often widely divergent 
interests and objectives, particularly those of the ACP producers, Latin American MFN banana 
producers and importers.  However, his delegati on had certain doubts as to the architecture and  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 29 
 
 
  substance of the Agreement.  He recalled that in  July 2008, in the framework of the Agriculture 
negotiations, some Latin American partners a nd the ACP Group had reached an agreement in 
principle on two major issues that were at the hear t of the Doha Round:  the treatment of tropical 
products and preference erosion in the Agriculture modalities.  However, what had been achieved in 
July 2008 had been neither consolidated nor preser ved, because it had not been multilateralized.  As 
the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire had said in a message to the President of the European 
Commission on 6 November 2009, given the sector's st ructuring role in their national economies, the 
real concerns of ACP banana producers had to be ta ken into account.  Côte d'Ivoire had always been 
in favour of the Doha Round's principle of the Single Undertaking.  However, as an exception to this fundamental principle, Côte d'Ivoire had been r eady to accept a comprehensive solution to the banana 
problem, preference erosion and tropical products as advocated by the European Commission in its 
communication of 12 March 2009.  It was not advisable to rush a solution to the banana issue without 
any clear and manageable parameters concerning th e other pillars of the overall architecture of the 
Agriculture modalities, namely tropical products and long-standing preferences that had not yet been 
multilateralized.  The solution for th e three issues of bananas, tropica l products and preference erosion 
was one and indivisible, and focussing on a single issue could upset the balance and undermine a 
comprehensive solution. 
80. Côte d'Ivoire would have not been opposed to  an agreement based on the first reduction on 
the MFN tariff from 176 €/t to 148 €/t, which would ha ve ensured conformity with the conclusions of 
the panels, and on the latest enlargement of the Eu ropean Union to 27 member States, as well as the 
Article XXVIII procedure for the bi nding of the MFN tariff.  In th at case, and in that case only, the 
timetable and sequence of subsequent reductions c ould have been incorporated in the Agriculture 
modalities by a comprehensive solution, whose stru cture took account of tropical products and long-
standing preferences.  While his delegation co uld understand the position of certain non-banana-
producing ACP countries which were urging ACP ba nana producers to show more flexibility and 
make greater concessions, it considered that the Agreement on Trade in Bananas was undermining the 
"living together" philosophy that had structured the ACP Group for almost 40 years.  Although the 
non-banana-producing ACP countries could fear st ricter treatment under the modalities for long-
standing preference products, it had to be kept in mi nd that some of the products they exported were 
included by certain competing partners other than those of the tropical products group in the list of 
products for which they were asking for rapid liber alization.  In short, there were still too many 
uncertainties on the issue of trade in bananas in conjunction with the treatment of preferential 
products and the risks to those products that were so essential to the ACP countries.  It had to be 
recalled that these tariff preferences, apart form th eir role in the competitiv eness of the agricultural 
sectors, were also genuine development assistance t ools for the weak and vulnerable countries in the 
multilateral trading system, and that the Doha R ound was a development Round.  Furthermore, he 
emphasized that the banana sector would not only no  longer be able to develop, but it would have 
considerable problems surviving, and the same would apply to all of the fruit sectors.  He also recalled 
that cotton producers hoped to conclude, in the reasona bly near future, an arrangement comparable to 
the collective solution that was being found for the banana issue in conjunction with tropical products 
and preference erosion.  Without wishing to questi on the WTO's philosophy of trade liberalization, in 
taking note of the initialled ag reement, Côte d'Ivore wished to reserve all its rights. 
81. The representative of Cameroon
 recalled that his delegation had always expressed its 
readiness to reach a global and equitable agreement on the banana issue.  Cameroon, therefore, took 
note of the Agreement reached by the parties concer ned in order to find a global settlement to this 
dispute.  However, the Agreement was not perfect , and Cameroon would suffer collateral damage as a 
consequence.  Despite this, Cameroon welcomed this major significant progress on the banana issue 
and hoped that the safeguard clause and the accompan ying measures would be scrupulously respected 
and improved, if possible, in par ticular with respect to the financial compensation measures and the 
schedule to compensate erosion.  His delegation would monitor the development of these measures.  WT/GC/M/124 
Page 30  
 
  He thanked the Director-General for his tireless effort s on this issue as well as all the negotiators that 
had made this Agreement possible. 
82. The representative of the United States
 recalled that his delegation had worked closely over 
the years with various Latin American supplying co untries to ensure that the EU’s bananas trading 
regime was consistent with WTO obligations and di d not discriminate on the basis of the origin of 
bananas.  He was therefore pleased that negotiati ons on the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas 
had concluded in a satisfactory manner.  The United States was mindful that initialling this agreement 
was just a first step and that there were still step s that each country, and in particular the EU, would 
need to take for the Agreement to be signed and fully implemented and for final settlements to be 
achieved.  He confirmed that the US had also in itialled an agreement with the EU towards ending the 
longstanding dispute regarding the EU's bananas trading regime. 
83. The representative of China  said his delegation joined previous speakers in marking the 
historical event of the Banana Agreement, wh ich he believed was a tangible result that the 
organization had delivered.  China appreciated the efforts by the EU, the Latin American banana 
suppliers, the US, Norway, the ACP countries and the Director-General, and hoped that the end of the 
banana issue would help build momentum to accel erate work for an early conclusion of the Doha 
Round.  If such a complicated, sensitive and even emotional issue in the history of GATT/WTO could 
be resolved, there was no reason why the issues in th e Doha Round could not be resolved as well.   
84. The representative of India  welcomed the information provide d by the parties to the Geneva 
Agreement on Trade in Bananas.  Trade in bana nas was vital to the economies of several Latin 
American and ACP countries and, to the extent that  this Agreement removed the contentiousness that 
had surrounded the issue for several years, it was a welcome development.  However, it was clear that 
for several small countries within the ACP, the Agreement had not brought much.  The European 
Union, the ACP countries and the tropical products group had separately addressed a communication to the Director-General and to Chair of the Agri culture negotiations regarding the understanding they 
had reached on the treatment of tropical products and preference erosion in the Agriculture 
negotiations.  India was concerned that this comm unication created a linkage between these issues and 
the Banana Agreement.  He stressed that Indi a did not see any negotiating linkage between these 
issues, especially when the understanding on the treat ment of tropical products and preference erosion 
did not incorporate the interests and concerns of ot her Members with substantial trading interests in 
such products.  India was therefore not in a positio n to accept such a linkage and wished to put its 
concerns on this issue on record.  His country had waited a long time for the beginning of a 
multilateral negotiation on tropical products and prefer ence erosion, and would expect the Chair of the 
Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture to in itiate such a process in the following weeks.  It 
was only through an inclusive and transparent pro cess that a sustainable outcome could be reached 
which balanced the interests of all parties.  The interests of ACP countries were very important to 
India as well. 
85. The representative of Pakistan
 said that while his delegation we lcomed this amicable solution 
to one of the most technically complex, politica lly sensitive and commercially meaningful disputes 
ever brought to the WTO, it supported the statement by  India and wished to express similar concerns.  
Pakistan hoped, as other Members had said, that the same pragmatism, creativity and diplomacy would help move the Doha Round negotiations forwar d.  However, a solution in one area should be 
taken as independent and stand-alone, and without prejudice to th e positions and interests of Members 
other than the partners involved in the solution,  especially in the areas of tropical products and 
preference erosion.  These areas of the Agriculture negotiations had been muted in anticipation of an 
agreement on bananas.  However, it seemed that partners to that Agre ement had not submitted a 
proposal to the Chairman of the Special Sessi on of the Committee on Agriculture regarding these 
areas after the solution on bananas had been reached .  This was not the appropriate way to resolve 
issues which had broader coverage and interests.  The banana issue was not a multilateral one, but  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 31 
 
 
  tropical products and preference erosion certainly we re.  His delegation hoped that the Chair of the 
Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture had taken note of these concerns, which had been 
reiterated in various settings of the Special Session as well. 
86. The Director-General  expressed his appreciation that a comprehensive agreement on bananas 
that all parties could live with had been reached.  He  pointed out that this had been one of the most 
intractable disputes in the history of the multilatera l trading system, consuming thousands of hours of 
work and filling many agenda items in various Comm ittees and in the Council for years.  Therefore, 
the Agreement showed that there was no issue, howe ver intractable it might appear, that could not be 
solved with hard work, good will and a spirit of comp romise.  This had been the key to the Banana 
Agreement.  He agreed with Chin a that this provided an example for the Doha Round and for finding 
compromises to issues which might seem impossible to  solve.  There was no mountain that could not 
be climbed,  provided – as Mauritius had noted – that all accepted to look at the bigger picture.  The 
Banana Agreement was more than a deal about banan as.  It gave a lot of credibility to the WTO as a 
forum where Members could discuss, negotiate, colla borate and peacefully settle differences on issues 
they considered vital to them.  It showed that the WTO functioned.  There were still many steps to 
take to follow up on the Agreement, but he was convinced that this would be done in the coming 
months.  In closing, he thanked the many people w ho had worked hard to make this deal possible, 
from the negotiators in capitals, to the Secretariat's team.  He also wished to thank Minister Støre and 
the Norwegian delegation for their important contri bution through their good offices during and after 
the Hong Kong Ministerial, followed by his own good offices at the request of some parties under Article 3.12 of the DSU.  He would report to th e DSB on the closing of his good offices activities. 
87. The General Council took note
 of the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas circulated by 
the delegation of the European Union and others in document WT/L/784, and of the statements. 
7. The financial and economic crisis and the role of the WTO – Communication from 
Argentina and Ecuador (WT/GC/W/617 and Add.1) 
88. The Chairman  recalled that at the Council meeting in November, Members had discussed the 
communication from Argentina and Ecuador in docum ent WT/GC/W/609 and had agreed to revert to 
this matter at the present meeting.  These dele gations had recently submitted a further communication 
in document WT/GC/W/617, which was co-sponsored al so by India, and he invited these delegations 
to introduce the paper. 
89. The representative of Argentina  said his delegation wished to remind Members that in the 
previous communications in WT/GC/W/602 and 609, the authors had raised the need for the 
Secretariat to carry out a systematic and comprehens ive analysis of the impact on trade flows of the 
stimulus packages provided in response to the presen t crisis.  In the document they had submitted in 
WT/GC/W/617 they were going one step further and introducing some specific ideas on the methodological aspects that could be considered when developing such an analytical work.  It was 
quite clear that the starting point involved evalua ting the information Members had and what data was 
lacking, in order to be able to see in what way they should process this data so as to reach a 
conclusion and better understand the impact of the measures being analysed.  That was why the co-
sponsors felt it useful to tackle this  task using a two-tiered approach.  It was important to note that one 
was not starting from scratch, because there was alrea dy an important amount of data on the measures 
applied by Members in response to the crisis, wh ich were contained in a report drafted by the 
Director-General on this issue.  It should be possible to start on this basis to continue improving the 
quantity and quality of the data available.  This c ould be done, for instance, on the basis of a greater 
desegregation of the data containe d in Annex 2 of the Director-General's report in WT/TPR/OV/12.  
This would mean that Members were getting gr eater detail on the different components of the 
stimulus packages, the amounts allocated to each of the components, the kind of measures applied, the expected duration and the state of implementation. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 32  
 
  90. This first level would involve enhanced transp arency, but did not represent the final stage of 
the work suggested in WT/GC/W/617.  It would be n ecessary to consider an analysis that would help 
Members better understand the possible impact on trade flows of these kinds of measure.  It should be possible to undertake a qualitative study so as to be  able to have a better understanding of the way 
measures of this kind could have an impact on tr ade.  Such methodology had been used to analyse 
traditional measures such as tariffs, TRQs and export subsidies, and there seemed to be no reason why 
such a methodology could not be applied in the present context.  The present communication offered 
concrete examples of how this methodology had been  used in studies carried out by the OECD.  He 
wished to explain the way the two-tiered appro ach mentioned in the document would work.  The 
enhanced transparency and improved available info rmation in the first level was a fundamental pre-
requisite to be able to understand the stimulus p ackages.  However, the an alysis work in the second 
level should start only when one ha d improved data.  This was why the WTO should be able to make 
a substantive and specific contribution to the gl obal discussion taking place on the economic crisis.  
No other organization was better equipped than the WTO to analyse the way this crisis had impacted 
international trade.  In this context, this type of  study would be yet another contribution to the work 
being carried out, and would help contribute to the debate and find solutions to the crisis facing 
Members.  Members were no doubt still analysing th e document in detail, but the co-sponsors had put 
forward the elements that would help Members take a decision in this respect. 
91. The representative of Ecuador
 thanked India for joining this initiative, which was aimed at 
contributing to the debate on the fiscal and financ ial stimulus packages adopt ed in response to the 
global crisis, and the possible effects on trade.  The ideas put forward and developed in these 
documents offered a basic introduction of the con cepts and considerations currently developing for 
the drafting of a methodology to analyse these stimulus packages.  This included a two-tiered approach running in parallel, rela ted to improved available data and the methodology and level of 
analysis of these packages.  The idea was to improve existing data by presenting it in a way that  made 
it easier to evaluate and compare, while at the same  time ensuring that this data provided a basis to 
move on to the second level, which was analysis.  Regarding the second level, which dealt with the 
methodology for the qualitative analysis, the idea was to carry out a detailed and in-depth evaluation 
of the possible effects of these packages on trade flows.  It was a methodology which had been 
applied successfully by the OECD in analysing th e effects of the introduction of new policies on 
production, consumption and trade.  To do so, the li mits of the available da ta were considered, and 
one of the elements that would be analysed would be measures different from those traditionally used.  
The ideas and concepts described in the communi cation did not mean to limit Members' public 
policies, but were aimed at the improvement and balanced consolid ation of the principle of the 
transparency in the WTO.  As Argentina had said, the co-sponsors considered that the current crisis 
had made it possible to analyse both the strengt hs and the weaknesses of the multilateral trading 
system.  To be able to ensure the strengtheni ng of the WTO, it was Members' responsibility to seek 
and to promote the most appropriate measures to do away with these weaknesses, strengthen the 
capacity of the organization, and therefore strengthen the multilateral trading system, in order to be able to face up to the ch allenges in the future. 
92. The representative of India
 said the revised proposal, which India was pleased to co-sponsor, 
was specific on the elements of the analysis pr oposed.  The two-tier approach was a good way to 
proceed, and to the extent that it proposed the us e of available informa tion, it should not pose a 
problem for anyone.  He recalled that India had also  supported the earlier version of this document.  
Such an analysis was long overdue.  Clearly, su ch an exercise had to be fact-based, objective and 
transparent, and should not be aimed at finger-poi nting.  Moreover, there would be no evaluation of 
compliance with notifications or other obligations.  He recalled that India, along with South Africa, 
Argentina and Ecuador, had asked for an analysis of  the current financial a nd economic crisis and its 
implications for trade in financial services in th e Committee on Trade in Financial Services.  His 
delegation was pleased that the current proposal w ould cover a large part of the analysis proposed 
there.  The importance of such an  analysis was central to the future credibility and relevance of the  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 33 
 
 
  WTO.  India hoped that work could begin immediately, based on the approach proposed in the 
submission. 
93. The representative of Turkey  thanked the co-sponsors for their proposal, which he said gave 
due consideration to the concerns expressed at pr evious discussions on this issue and included the 
necessary adjustments to the text.  The proposal wa s now more focused, and Turkey supported it.  
Such an exercise could give Members a clearer picture of the trade effects of stimulus packages.  It was important to reaffirm that the document ai med at the improvement of transparency, but not 
finger-pointing.  It was also relevant that the anal ysis would have to differe ntiate between horizontal 
measures aimed at expanding global demand and other measures directed at specific sectors, such as the car industry or financial sector.  The submissi on could contribute to achieving transparency and 
increasing the quality of work in the WTO, thus enhancing the monitoring role of the WTO in 
countering protectionism.  Members s hould be vigilant with regard to the post-crisis period, as a new 
paradigm was likely to emerge.  The Secretaria t had proved its high sta ndards and had shown its 
competency in carrying out in-depth analysis durin g the pinnacle of the crisis.  The proposed work 
programme would give Members additional insight a nd provide a comfortable base for them to assess 
the post-crisis period. 
94. The representative of China
 said that as expressed at previous Council meetings, China 
supported the idea of analyzing the effect of stimul us packages, which had initially been put forward 
by Argentina.  Based on previous discussions, the new text was a further improvement regarding the 
operationalization of the analysis.  Therefore, Ch ina was pleased to continue supporting it and to 
engage in further discussions of this document. 
95. The representative of the United States  said his delegation had only just received the new 
proposal, and recalled that there were important r easons for the General Council’s ten-day rule on the 
placing of items for action on its Agenda.  Neverthe less, his delegation had re viewed the proposal and 
had found that it did appear to reflect some conve rgence, in that Argentina and Ecuador – and now 
India – had agreed that the lack of data woul d make any quantitative analysis difficult, if not 
impossible.  However, the new proposal raised mo re concerns, as it called for the Secretariat to 
conduct a "theoretical analysis" of the effects of specific measures on trade and production.  The United States had serious difficulties with this idea.  The WTO was a Member-driven organization, not a think-tank that charged its Secretariat to opine  widely on actions taken by central banks, finance 
ministries, and legislatures in response to a crisis.  The first stage of this proposal suggested that the 
Secretariat undertake an enormous exercise under which it would qualitatively examine and classify a vast array of measures, the majority of which were outside the WTO’s mandate.  The second stage 
would task the Secretariat with a wide-ranging "fishing expedition" to theorize on the possible trade effects of fiscal and financial measures.  His de legation also seriously questioned the idea that the 
Secretariat would pick and choose which fiscal a nd financial measures to apply a "theoretical 
analysis" to – since, as the proposal stated, "the pu rpose should not be an exhaustive list of measures." 
96. As his delegation had noted before, it shared th e interest of others in assessing the impacts 
and the implications of the actions that many Members had taken to deal with the economic crisis.  To 
the extent that Members had observations and expe riences to share on issues of relevance to the WTO 
involving actions taken to deal with the financial crisis, the United States ag reed with speakers at 
previous General Council meetings that there were  WTO fora in which to raise and discuss these.  
The existing mandates of various  bodies within the WTO provided considerable opportunities to 
explore trade-related issues related to the financ ial crisis.  For example, his delegation had been 
actively engaged in discussions with a number of Me mbers whose trade-related actions in response to 
the crisis were having a direct, negative effect on tr ade.  It had also suggest ed that the Committee on 
Trade in Financial Services begin a discussion on the financial crisis, by inviting Members to 
exchange information concerning their own experi ences regarding the effects on trade in financial 
services.  His delegation hoped that Members woul d respond to that suggestion and identify specific WT/GC/M/124 
Page 34  
 
  market developments which they felt were aggrav ated by crisis measures, together with those 
developments that were likely mitigated by tho se measures.  The United States would continue to 
support and actively participate in the monitoring exercise undertaken in the Trade Policy Review 
Body.  The present year’s focus in that body on notifi cations had been extremely useful.  This kind of 
work, which fell clearly within the WTO's mandate, s hould continue.  His delegation's shared interest 
in looking at these measures differed from others', in its belief that this discussion needed to be 
Member-led rather than Secretariat-led. 
97. The representative of El Salvador
 thanked Argentina, Ecuador and India for their 
communication.  Her delegation understood that th e objective of this communication was to improve 
transparency with regard to the measures adopted in response to the recent financial and economic 
crisis.  Her authorities were currently carefully an alysing the elements contained in the proposal, and 
were also looking at the implications of the two-tier approach, which included as a first step 
increasing transparency on these measures and as a sec ond step an analysis of the measures to be 
carried out by the Secretariat.  El Salvador's prel iminary comment was that it saw some merit in some 
of the elements in the proposal, including increasi ng transparency for the measures taken in response 
to the crisis.  This would enable Members to be tter understand the effects of these measures on global 
trade and production.  Her delegati on would continue to discuss this proposal with the proponents and 
other Members in the future. 
98. The representative of Bolivia  said that like other delegations, Bolivia wished to thank 
Argentina, Ecuador and India for presenting this new version of their proposal, which it supported, as 
there was a need to carry out the analysis proposed.  The two-tier approach would be very useful in 
carrying out the analysis, which had been requested by many developing countries, including Bolivia.  
Like the proponents, Bolivia believed that the nature of the measures taken in response to the crisis by 
many developed countries had been different to meas ures taken previously, and therefore an analysis 
of these measures in the context of WTO rules was rele vant.  It would be up to the WTO to carry out 
this analysis, taking into consideration the work of  other organizations – such as the ILO or UNCTAD 
– that were also currently analysing the crisis, as these would be important contributions to the WTO's 
analysis.  Bolivia congratulated the proponents fo r their initiative and hoped it would be approved by 
Members. 
99. The representative of the European Union  thanked Argentina and Ecuador for their revised 
proposal, which had enabled his delegation to better understand the goals the proponents were 
pursuing.  The present initiative proposed a more  in-depth qualitative analysis of stimulus 
programmes and their impact on trade.  While this was an interesting area for further work, Members 
should be cautious and, foremost, realistic in their expectations.  The EU had some concerns about the 
difficulties of designing an appropriate methodology a nd finding the appropriate data.  Furthermore, it 
wished to draw attention to the limited lifespan of  these programmes.  By the time the analysis was 
completed, the findings might be of  little relevance.  With these cav eats, the EU had an open mind on 
pursuing further work in this area. 
100. The representative of Japan  said his delegation shared the view that the rise of protectionism 
in the form of measures taken to deal with th e financial crisis should be avoided, and Japan 
understood the interest and concerns of the propo nents regarding the possible impact of stimulus 
programmes on trade.  Having said that, this new propo sal was about the concrete work to be done by 
the Secretariat, and such a discussion could be cond ucted in more appropriate bodies specializing in 
related work, such as the TPRB. 
101. The representative of Brazil  said the proposal by Argentina and Ecuador was timely and 
relevant.  It raised important issues that could have profound consequences for the multilateral trading 
system, namely the trade-related impact of financial stimulus packages.  Transparency in this area, as 
well as throughout the WTO, was essential.  This  was the key point of the communication.  Of  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 35 
 
 
  particular relevance were the proposals on how to  improve the information already available.  The 
points raised would certainly improve the report.  An  exercise that promoted transparency and made it 
easier to assess the trade-related impact of stimulus programmes was a useful tool for Members.  This exercise, however, should be a focused Member-driven review. 
102. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 welcomed the proposal presented 
by Ecuador, Argentina and India.  As his delega tion had said at previous General Council meetings, 
this was an excellent contribution to efforts made  by the WTO and its Members to ensure that the 
impact of the current financial and economic crisis  on world trade was mitigated.  Each country had 
given an individual response to the crisis, and th e General Council was the best forum in which to 
assess these.  The proposal was in line with trends set  out in 2009 by the Director-General to ascertain 
the ways in which Members had reacted to the crisis  and the measures they had taken to respond to it.  
The proposal from Argentina, Ecuador and India ai med to come up with a clear methodology that 
would enable the reports the Director-General had given Members to include the results of the most 
scientific research possible, and thus try to limit the ef fects of subjectivity.  In  order to know the effect 
on multilateral trade of measures taken by Members to respond to the crisis, the WTO should deal 
with everything that affected th e transparency of the global tr ading system, and anything that 
contributed to strengthening transparency should be  welcomed by all Members.  Venezuela urged all 
Members to support this proposal, because it would stre ngthen the world trading system.  With regard 
to the limitations the Secretariat might have in carry ing out this task, he recalled that this idea had 
been supported by all Members when the Director-Gen eral had started submitting his reports.  Thus, 
there should be no problem with this proposal.  With regard to whether this research would be 
relevant, this argument would prevent any kind of  research in any field, because the world was a 
changing place. 
103. The representative of Cuba  thanked the proponents for their revised proposal and reiterated 
Cuba's full support for it.  The proposal had b een updated and improved following comments by 
delegations.  The aim was to establish a methodology to carry out a systemic analysis of the effects of 
the stimulus packages that had been implemented as a result of the crisis.  The analysis set out in the 
proposal was very important for several reasons, am ong which were the reports of some independent 
organizations such as Global Trade Alert that had hi ghlighted the increase in protectionism resulting, 
among other things, from these stimulus packages.  In  addition, a recent study from the International 
Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development suggest ed that some of the less distorting measures 
might in fact actually have distorting effects on trade.  All of this showed the importance of analysing 
these measures, and Cuba wished to join other Me mbers in urging the membership to adopt this 
proposal as soon as possible. 
104. The representative of Switzerland  thanked the proponents for having revised their proposal.  
His delegation saw essentially three difficulties wi th the proposal.  First, the proposal essentially 
called for stating the obvious, and this was not a good idea, given the current climate.  The Director-
General's reports had presented the substance, and it would not be wise to give the Director-General 
and the Secretariat more work, wh en perhaps what was really lacking was courage on the part of 
Members to discuss the various measures within the WTO and then draw appropriate conclusions regarding the multilateral trading syst em.  Second, a whole series of international organizations were 
currently carrying out analyses, and Switzerland had no problem with the preparation of a synthesis of 
all these reports, for example in the ambit of the TP RB, so that Members had a more solid basis for 
discussion.  Third, as all knew, his delegation wa s a passionate supporter of coherence, and once 
again wished to congratulate th e Director-General for having made, with other organizations, 
extremely important contributions with regard to coherence.  Perhaps the proponents would be 
satisfied with some joint work carried out by the Secretariat in conjunction with other international 
organizations in order to try to make more ac cessible some of the reports produced by those 
organizations. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 36  
 
  105. The representative of Korea
 thanked Argentina, Ecuador and India for their effort to 
accommodate the concerns raised by Members at pr evious meetings.  As the revised proposal had 
been circulated only recently, his delegation still n eeded time to examine it.  Korea fully recognized 
the necessity of in-depth analysis in this regard.  However, it was al so very concerned that this could 
trigger political debate without providing any meani ngful solution.  For example, there was no clear 
definition of finance subsidies or services subsidies.  It was hard to expect that discussion at a General 
Council meeting could bring about any kind of defi nition of these terms.  Members already had a 
mechanism on protectionism in place under the TP RB, which had proved quite successful so far.  
Using that mechanism might be more useful a nd more relevant in handling the present issue. 
106. The representative of Paraguay  thanked the delegations of Argentina and Ecuador for their 
revised proposal.  Analysing the measures taken in r esponse to the crisis would be extremely useful.  
This present document was an improvement on the previous proposal, as it contained a clear methodological procedure.  It was important fo r all to know what had been done and which 
instruments had been used, as well as how long they  would last and which sectors they would affect. 
107. The representative of Ecuador
 said his delegation wished to clarify one point.  The proposal 
aimed to boost discussion among Members, and it was on this basis that the essential methodology 
would emerge.  The proponents were simply ask ing for a discussion among Members.  They were 
trying to strengthen the multilateral trading system a nd the principle of transparency.  Logically, the 
Secretariat would act according to the guidance provided to it by Members, and that was the 
recommendation.  In addition, it was paradoxical that those who were asking for coherence and 
transparency were those who were giving others lesso ns in protectionism, when they were talking, for 
example, about transitional reviews and were referri ng to this issue in the Committee on Balance-of-
Payments Restrictions.  Following the recommenda tion from Japan, one could try to find additional 
methodologies to the ones used by the OECD, for example by Oxfam. 
108. The representative of Mexico  thanked the three delegations for their communication, which 
provided the basis for a good discussion on this issue.  There were two elements that were opposed to 
each other.  On the one hand, there was a series of stimulus measures that might well have a negative 
effect on trade flows, and on the other, these stim ulus measures had also prevented the world from 
falling into an even deeper crisis.  Trade flows we re currently starting to recover.  In the current 
situation, support measures were being implemente d by developing countries, such as Mexico, as well 
as by developed countries.  Mexico's GDP had si gnificantly fallen during 2009, but without these 
support measures its GDP would have fallen by an ev en greater amount.  However, at the same time 
Mexico had adopted measures that strongly contribute d to liberalization.  This meant that what the 
proposals aimed to examine were just one part of th e many things Members needed to discuss in the 
appropriate forum – the TPRB.  It was there th at Members should decide which protectionist 
measures were benefiting national domestic production, and whic h were discriminating against 
foreign suppliers.  A series of studies had been carri ed out, and the OECD study, for example, showed 
the net effects of the various measures.  Other studies had recently been produced by other 
organizations.  Thus, there was a great deal for Members to discuss, but the WTO should not re-do 
work that was being carried out elsewhere, be cause Members needed the Secretariat's support in 
running the WTO on a day-to-day basis. 
109. The representative of Argentina  thanked all delegati ons who had taken the floor on this item – 
those who had been positive about the proposal and also those who had simply picked up on elements 
they saw as negative.  One point in the proposal that  was being very badly interpreted had to do with 
the fact that the Secretariat would be given more responsibility.  What the proponents were trying to 
do was to find the best way to an alyse the information, and then – using either the present proposal or 
any other that might emerge – to find a way of carrying out a sensible discussion among the membership on analysing the impact of certain Me mbers' measures on trade.  Some Members were 
trying to prevent this at all cost s.  The Secretariat did have the authority to conduct any study it  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 37 
 
 
  wished to conduct without any particular mandate – for example, the WTO's recent study on informal 
labour and trade.  No one had objected to that study when it had been presented, and Argentina 
wished to thank the Director-General for this partic ular work, which had been very useful.  It seemed 
strange that the Secretariat could carry out other wo rk, but could not carry out work of such central 
importance as stimulus measures that affected trad e.  Thus, the argument that the proponents were 
trying to put all the responsibility on the Secret ariat was really a misreading of the proposal, as 
Ecuador had also pointed out.  With regard to the comment that the proponents were trying to restate 
the obvious and have work done that  had been carried out elsewhere, this was not what emerged when 
one read the document in detail.  He was not awar e that the Secretariat was carrying out a sectoral 
analysis on the impact of the stimulus packages on international trade and, as India had pointed out, 
the proposal presented in the context of trade in  financial services had not been considered by 
Members either.  A methodology to carry out this work had been proposed but not decided.  One 
could use a very different methodology from those used  elsewhere.  It was not at all a question of re-
doing something that had already been done.  The proposal aimed to give additional value to the 
report that would be produced by the Secretariat,  and this value added would produce a significant 
discussion among the membership of the affects of these stimulus measures.  His delegation was 
aware that the document had been circulated sli ghtly late, and asked for it to be included on the 
Agenda of the Council's next meeting. 
110. The representative of India  thanked all who had participat ed in this very interesting 
discussion.  In his delegation's view, a number of dis tinctions had to be made.  No one had argued that 
issues such as this should not be discussed.  Th ere was obviously support for the idea that such 
discussions should take place in the WTO and not be confined to other fora.  What Members were 
discussing was basically that in an economic cris is, governments obviously had the responsibility to 
act and to introduce such measures as would comb at the problem and restore confidence among the 
players.  The distinction that had to be made was between all such measures and a sub-set of those measures which tended to change co mpetitive conditions and distort the trading system, and the focus 
of this proposal was clearly on the latter.  What  the proponents were trying to do was to separate, 
among all the measures that had been introduced by  various governments, those measures which were 
patently distorting competitive conditions to the detrim ent of players in the global financial system.  
Whether this should be a Member-led process or a Secretariat-led process was a bit of a non-issue, 
because what one was talking about was having a st ructured discussion based on  objective analysis.  
The Secretariat had been doing good analysis – notably for the TPRB – and there was no reason why 
such analysis should not be extended to such an issue.  One might quibble about the methodology or 
the area of focus, but Members should not be contesting the fact that the Secretariat had a responsibility to produce a fact-based analysis.  Th e question of the forum was a secondary issue.  The 
main issue was that Members were enabled to have a well informed discussion based on objective 
analysis.  Thus, to the extent that this proposal furthered that consensus, it would have done its job. 
111. The Chairman
 said that Members would have a further opportunity to discuss the issues 
raised in WT/GC/617 on 22 January, when the TPRB would take up the Dir ector-General's Annual 
Report on Developments in the International Tr ading Environment, which included a section on 
improvements in this area. 
112. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
8. Accession of developing countries – Communication from Gabon on behalf of the 
Informal Group of Develo ping Countries (WT/GC/125) 
113. The Chairman  said that on 4 December, Gabon, on behalf of the Informal Group of 
Developing Countries, had submitted the communicati on in WT/GC/125 requesting that this item be 
placed on the Agenda of the present meeting. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 38  
 
  114. The representative of Gabon
, on behalf of the Informal Group of Developing Countries , said 
the Group had asked to have this item included on the Agenda of the present meeting because no 
decision had been taken following the discussion of the proposal in WT/GC/W/611 at the Council's October meeting, and in order that  there could be further discussion and adoption of the proposal.  In 
its communication, the Group had identified a num ber of problems recalling the context of accessions 
and justifying the proposal.  Regarding the contex t, the Group recalled that since the WTO had been 
established, there had been 25 accession procedures carried out under Article XII of the Marrakesh 
Agreement.  Currently 29 different countries and cu stoms territories, the majority of which were 
developing countries, were currently negotiating modalities for their accession to the WTO.  Furthermore, some accession requests had been pend ing since 2001.  Accessions were very important 
for the WTO as an institution and also very important for the multilateral trading system.  They 
allowed the WTO to reach its objectives of achie ving universal membership and ensuring that 
essentially all global trade was subject to a multilateral agreement.  Furthermore, accessions strengthened the rules-based multilateral trading system.  The Group recognized that the accession 
process had worked well for some Members, and th ese Members had become successfully integrated 
into the multilateral economic and trading system af ter acceding to the WTO.  From those Members' 
point of view, the multilateral trading system had contributed to the opening up of new markets and 
had helped to ensure that the governments of r ecently-acceded Members respected international rules 
and obligations.  However, it had to be noted that the process required enormous efforts by 
developing countries wishing to accede, and that the necessary reforms were not always easy to implement.  Problems also arose when future Memb ers had to cope with very ambitious requests and 
expectations from existing Members, and there were  many other factors, that went from political 
instability to the capacity of the negotiating team which, of course, had an impact on the pace and 
content of the WTO accession negotiations.  This wa s why the Group felt that its proposal could serve 
as a starting point to enhance discussions to better understand the problems related to the accession process, and also to see their impact on future Members. 
115. The proposal was aimed at improving the ex isting institutional mechanisms, with the 
objective of providing acceding countries the possibility of expressing their views on the accession process.  Another key aspect of the proposal related to  transparency and called for a status report to be 
made periodically to the General Council.  The Ge neral Council could mandate the Director-General 
to draw up such status reports.  These reports would supply information to Members on the accession 
process during the year and would reflect the priorities and objectives of Members for the future, 
while fully respecting the confidentiality of the bilate ral negotiations.  It was also important to stress 
that the question of accession had been recognized as a pr iority issue in the WTO, given its mention in 
the statement by Ministers of countries in the Informal Group on the sidelines of the Seventh Ministerial Conference, as well as its mention in the Chair's summary at that Conference.  The Chair's 
summary supported an exchange of information, particularly among recently-acceded Members.  The 
Group wished to ensure a dialogue on the way to move forward so as to ensure that all the expressions 
of support for acceding Members heard at the Mini sterial Conference were reflected in tangible 
actions, so that all these acceding developing c ountries could become Members as soon as possible.  
As part of a dynamic strategy, Turkey had just made an initiative suggesting a meeting that would 
serve to establish the technical-assistance needs of acceding countries and the means available to meet 
such needs.  This initiative still had to be thrashed out within the Group.   It was in this spirit that the 
Group wished Members to examine this proposal. 
116. The representative of Turkey
 reaffirmed his delegation's support for the communication from 
the Informal Group of Developing Countries on accessions.  Many Ministers, including Turkey's, had pointed out in their statements at the Seventh Ministerial Conference the importance of facilitating and accelerating the accession negotiations. The Chair’s summary reflected well the concerns in those 
statements.  Accessions should be a priority for th e WTO.  They would reinforce its relevance.  
Acceding countries should not be faced with ambitious  requests and expectations beyond their level 
of development.  Turkey was committed to accelerating the accession of all countries to the WTO,  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 39 
 
 
  particularly LDCs.  Capacity building was important in  this regard.  Special attention should be given 
to the needs of LDCs in the accession process.  Turkey was contemplating hosting possible future 
meetings to discuss ways to provide capacity buildin g for accessions.  This would be further discussed 
within the Group.  He recalled the 2002 Genera l Council Decision to facilitate and accelerate 
negotiations for the accession of LDCs, and said that  his delegation wished to share some ideas for 
moving forward on the issue of accessions.  First, ther e was room for improvement in transparency in 
accessions.  The Director-General could act as a faci litator to provide a platform where Members and 
acceding countries could voice their concerns.  Sec ond, sharing best practices among Members, in 
particular recently-acceded Members, could prove useful.  Third, progress reports to the General 
Council, as proposed by the Group, would be useful fo r the active participation and engagement of the 
membership in the process.  These reports could be submitted by the Director-General on an annual or 
bi-annual basis. 
117. The representative of Tanzania , on behalf of the LDCs , said these countries supported the 
need for more exchanges and dialogue, as proposed  by Gabon for the Informal Group of Developing 
Countries.  The LDCs had serious concerns w ith the cumbersome acces sion procedures.  The 
guidelines for negotiations for the accession of LDCs  to the WTO adopted by the General Council in 
2002 called for an accelerated accession process in favour of LDCs through simplified and 
streamlined procedures.  The same had been emphasi zed in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  
Accession of LDCs had also been further stres sed in the Round Table Statement of the Least-
Developed Countries in Phnom Penh, and had agai n been echoed by the LDC Ministerial meeting 
held in Dar es Salaam in October 2009.  The LDC Group wished to reiterate its call for the 
implementation of the guidelines in letter and spirit,  and urged the establishment and adoption of an 
effective mechanism for fast-tracking the accession pr ocess for LDCs in the context of the principle of 
S&D treatment.  The LDC Group wished to express its sincere appreciation to all Members who had 
spoken positively on the issue of LDC accession duri ng the Seventh Ministerial Conference, where 
there had been clear momentum in favour of LD C accession and integration into the rules-based 
system of the WTO.  The political goodwill clearly  expressed and the energy generated during that 
Conference needed to be translated into real ac tions and concrete results on LDC accession.  The LDC 
Group welcomed the dialogue with acceding LDCs wh ich had been held on 28 May 2009, as it was an 
initial step in the right direction to reform and improve the LDC accession process, as mandated by 
Ministers' commitment to facilitate and accelerat e LDCs' accession.  Acceding LDCs remained 
committed to constructively engaging with the WTO membership, particularly those who had shown 
interest in LDC accessions through their active participation in th e respective Working Parties.  
Therefore, they reiterated their call for an ear ly second round of more constructive and detailed 
dialogue on LDC accession, as had been agreed in  the Sub-Committee on LDCs at its most recent 
meeting on 5 November 2009.  They hoped this requ est would find the support of all Members.  Such 
dialogue would build on the initial progress so far attained and would facilitate and accelerate LDC 
accession in accordance with the guidelines on LDC A ccession and with other related mandates in the 
WTO.  The LDCs sincerely hoped that such engagement would soon result in the successful 
completion of several LDC accessions during 2010.  They urged the Director-General to provide annual reports to the General Council on the progr ess of accessions.  This would further help keep 
alive the momentum needed in the accession process. 
118. The representative of Argentina
 recalled that the accession of LDCs was an issue that his 
Minister had mentioned in his statement at the Seventh Ministerial Conference.  It was a concern of a 
large number of countries, and the developing countries had already expressed their position on the 
issue of accessions.  His delegation supported th e statement by Gabon for the Informal Group of 
Developing Countries.  It also supported the sugg estion by Turkey regarding the possibility of 
organizing a meeting to help clarify the scope of th e issue and the changes and adjustments that could 
be made so as to simplify the whole accession process.   That was an excellent idea.  He understood 
there were several developing countries which were providing some assistance.  These could perhaps 
bring into this discussion the experience  they had had with such assistance. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 40  
 
  119. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 supported the statement by 
Gabon for the Informal Group of Developing Countri es.  His delegation invited the Members, with 
the help of the Secretariat, to  speed up the accession process, especially for developing countries.  
Venezuela wished to than k the Director-General for his closing statement at the Seventh Ministerial 
Conference, in which he had referred to the accessi on process.  However, despite all the benefits for 
developing countries stemming from being a Member of the WTO, they should not be subject to 
commitments that went beyond those that had been undertaken by current Me mbers.  S&D treatment 
should be strengthened, because de veloping countries in the process of accession had faced demands 
that went beyond trade-related elements and that could some times be understood as political 
considerations, and this was not in line with th e principles under-pinning this organization.  The 
economic reforms carried out by developing countri es should not have a domestic impact on their 
populations.  Therefore, it was essential for these  accessions to be gradual, so as to meet the 
development objective, which was one of the principles established in the WTO.  The WTO had always called for a strengthening of multilateralism, and in this respect Venezuela had to insist that if 
this were really to be possible, the necessary c onditions had to be provided through a true willingness 
of its Members to simplify the accession process, es pecially for LDCs, because LDCs had been faced 
with exaggerated economic demands that were not part of the requirements for accession established 
by the organization.  This undermined the efforts of the LDCs, just as it did the credibility of the 
organization.  Turkey's proposal was very interesti ng.  Members should study and support it, so that it 
could go forward. 
120. The representative of China
 said his delegation wished to echo the statement by Gabon for the 
Informal Group of Developing Countries, and to tha nk Turkey for its initiative on capacity building.  
It was an ongoing job for Members to improve the accession process, and the communication from 
the Informal Group in WT/GC/W/611 could serve as a starting point for Members' discussion of this 
important issue.  Many acceding developing countries had expressed the view that there was plenty of room for improvement in the transparency of the accession process.  In this regard, China hoped the 
Members could take into account the proposal in paragraph 10 of the communication, which intended 
to enable all Members to hear acceding devel oping countries' views on the accession process.  He 
reaffirmed China’s position that Members should refrain from imposing excessive demands on acceding developing countries, that went beyond thei r level of development or current WTO rules.  
China also agreed with the vi ew that accession negotiations should focus on trade and technical 
issues, rather than on non-trade or political issues. 
121. The representative of Japan
 said that transparency in the accession process was important and 
all should make full use of the opportunities already available in the process, such as participation in 
accession working parties, which were open to any Member.  The LDCs' accessions should be 
promoted in accordance with the guidelines which had been drawn up for the purpose of promoting 
their accession.  In this context, he wished to me ntion that in this spirit, Japan had concluded its 
bilateral negotiations with Samoa during the Seventh Ministerial Conference.  Certain ideas such as 
the sharing of information and experience betw een recently-acceded Members and acceding countries 
were worthy of consideration.  In the end, what  was important was the effective integration of 
acceding developing countries, including LDCs, into the multilateral trading system, so that trade could serve their economic development. 
122. The representative of the European Union
 thanked Gabon for its document on improving the 
existing institutional mechanisms on accessions.  The EU attached great importance to WTO 
accessions – the broader the WTO's membership, the more legitimate would be its mandate.  It was 
crucial to ensure that the accession process remain ed open and transparent.  The EU was therefore 
favourable to a dialogue being established between  acceding countries and Members.  It was also 
supportive of providing the opportunity to acceding countries to make their views on the accession 
process known.  However, there was no need to modify the current institutional mechanisms.  
Existing institutional arrangements could serve the purpose of enhancing the dialogue between  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 41 
 
 
  applicants and Members.  The EU looked forward to exploring ideas with colleagues in the months 
ahead. 
123. The representative of Egypt , on behalf of the African Group , associated these countries with 
the statement by Gabon for the Informal Group of Developing Countries, expressed their full support 
for and solidarity with all developing countries in the process of accession, and urged all Members to 
accelerate their accession.  LDCs in the process of  accession should not be requested to negotiate 
concessions and commitments that went beyond those th at had been made by existing LDC Members.  
No acceding African developing country should be co mpelled to make concessions incompatible with 
its level of development or that went beyond ex isting WTO rules.  The Group supported enhancing 
the structured technical assistance for acceding count ries and their capitals, in order to provide support 
to them in dealing with bilateral requests.  Ther e was also a need to consider the creation of a 
mechanism to improve the system ic transparency of accessions.  The African Group welcomed the 
proposal by Turkey and urged all Member s to give it serious consideration. 
124. The representative of the United States  said his country attached great importance to the 
effective and efficient operation of the accession process.   The United States put a great deal of effort 
into helping ensure that accessions moved al ong as quickly as possible, recognizing that each 
accession was different and that one could not pursue a one-size-fits-all approach.  One of the ways 
the United States had helped acceding developing countries was by providing a good deal of technical assistance to help them participate effectively in that process.  Like  the EU, the United States did not 
think there was a need to change the instituti onal arrangements for accessions.  These had worked 
quite well.  Among these were the guidelines on LD C accession, which the United States strongly 
supported and had been following very closely.  Hi s delegation looked forward to further discussions 
on these issues with its LDC colleagues in the LDC S ub-Committee.  With respect to transparency, it 
agreed with Japan that Members should examin e whether they could make better use of the 
opportunities that already existed, including thro ugh attendance at accession working party meetings, 
which were often sparsely attended.  The Secret ariat already provided reports on accessions to the 
General Council, which provided opportunities for discussions among Members.  His delegation had 
an open mind on the possibility of more frequent  reports.  Any discussion on the accession process 
would have to be Member-led.  Regarding the proposal by Turkey, his delegation was not sure 
whether this was to host consultations among Memb ers or something more broad, and would be 
happy to respond once this was clarified.  It would be useful for Members to get together periodically 
to share experiences and to discuss what the needs were.  His delegation had tried, in some of the 
accession working parties, to get a better sense from the acceding country of what it needed in the 
way of help.  Many Members were quite involve d in accessions and responded quite well when needs 
were identified. 
125. The representative of Saudi Arabia
 associated his delegation with the statement by Gabon for 
the Informal Group of Developing Countries, and wished to thank Turkey for its proposal to host 
discussions to help advance developing countries' , and especially LDCs', accessions.  Turkey's 
proposal was very interesting and merited suppor t, in order to advance developing countries' 
accessions. 
126. The representative of Switzerland  thanked Gabon for urging Members to think about this 
important issue, which was something Members shoul d go into in greater depth.  Turkey had also 
opened up an interesting path that was worth expl oring.  The systemic difficulties in the accession 
process were, first, the duration of the negotiatio ns.  This depended sometimes on the candidate 
country and sometimes on the Members.  Second, th e level of ambition with which one entered these 
negotiations.  These were tough negotiations, because th e negotiators had to pay to receive a potential 
treasure that they were not sure they would recei ve.  Finally, sometimes there was a problem with 
regard to proportionality.  These bilateral negotia tions seemed to drag on for very little reason 
sometimes, and because they went on for so long and over such small issues, Members could perhaps WT/GC/M/124 
Page 42  
 
  ask themselves whether they were respecting the principle of proportionality.  A more serious 
systemic problem was the enormous gap between the level of commitment of new Members and the 
level of commitment of those who were foundi ng Members of the organization – even founding 
Members of GATT – and this led to a certain leve l of unease.  Regarding LDCs, as well as small and 
medium-sized economies, Members needed to try to  simplify the accession procedure.  This was an 
issue that needed to be pushed to the fore and considered in greater depth. 
127. The representative of Cuba
 reiterated his country's support fo r the document and the statement 
by Gabon for the Informal Group, and said that Turk ey's proposal was interesting.  This issue had 
been raised by several Ministers at the Seventh Ministerial Conference, and also in a collective 
manner by the Ministerial Declaration of the Informal Group of Developing Countries.  It was 
something that all Members should have an inter est in discussing, because it was very important to 
ensure that the organization and international trade rules were genuinely universal, as there were still 
roughly 40 countries that were not Members of the WTO.  There was no doubt that the current situation needed to be discussed.  First, there s hould be no possibility of political vetoes which had 
nothing to do with trade or economic matters by a small number of Members.  Second, the accession 
process had in some cases lasted for 10 or 15 years, which was longer than the Rounds Members 
negotiated.  Third, in many, and perhaps all, cases, requirements were set out that went further than 
those set out in WTO Agreements, and that went fu rther than the subsidy and tariff reductions that 
had been required by the Uruguay Round.  This was absurd.  There were also  commitments requested 
on issues for which there was no mandate to ask for commitments – for example, on export taxes.  
Thus, he wished to reiterate that Members needed to discuss this issue and that there were problems 
that needed to be solved in or der to lighten, shorten and make more effective the accession process. 
128. The representative of Korea
 said his delegation sympathized with the difficulties developing 
countries were experiencing in the accession process .  Korea was convinced that these difficulties 
should be discussed in line with the guidelines for LDC accession.  It had witnessed the broad support 
for the sharing of experiences in accessions, partic ularly during the recent Ministerial Conference.  
The key question was whether the existing fora were  adequate to deal with these difficulties.  If it 
turned out that a new scheme was needed, the entire membership should consider appropriate 
alternatives.  Korea was read y to join in this effort. 
129. The representative of Brazil  thanked Gabon for presenting the proposal on behalf of the 
Informal Group of Developing Countries.  There wa s little doubt about the relevance of the matter of 
accession, as it dealt with the ways to transform the WTO into a universal institution, and it was not 
by accident that it had been one of the most-echoe d issues during the recent Ministerial Conference.  
Brazil supported the proposal to enhance the di alogue between acceding countries and Members.  
Like Egypt, Brazil wished to stress the importance of  technical cooperation, and in this respect felt 
that Turkey's proposal deserved careful consideration. 
130. The representative of India  said the issue of accession deserved serious discussion, as it had to 
do with the objective of the WTO to move towards universal membership.  In this connection, India 
supported the statement by Gabon for the Informal Group of Developing Countries.  His delegation 
was also pleased to note the proposal of Turkey in th is connection.  In the past, India had organized a 
number of training workshops for acceding countries,  including in the Commonwealth of Independent 
States, in the Southeast Asia region, and in Africa,  and would be happy to contribute more to this. 
131. The representative of Nepal  associated his delegation with the statement by Tanzania for the 
LDCs and supported the proposal by Turkey.  Nepal had been a victim of the accession process.  It 
had taken 15 years for Nepal to accede to th e WTO, during which it had had to make more 
commitments than some developing countries.  In th is context, his delegation requested that Members 
not repeat this process, and that they simplify the process so that no other developing countries, in 
particular LDCs, should suffer from this process.  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 43 
 
 
  132. The representative of Mexico  said his delegation supported the statement by Gabon for the 
Informal Group.  It was very important to revise th e accession process, and this needed to be part of a 
more wide-ranging review of transparency.  This wa s something that, together with other Members in 
another area, Mexico had proposed, and was part of th e whole transparency issue.  At the same time 
Mexico had provided technical assistance to countri es that had acceded to the WTO and was prepared 
to continue doing so.  It also supported Turkey's  proposal with regard to setting out the technical 
assistance needed, and would co operate in that process. 
133. The representative of Pakistan  said that accession represented one of the fundamental rights 
of countries to seek the advantages of the multilateral tr ading system.  In this context, Pakistan totally 
agreed with the proposal by the Informal Group of Developing Countries presented by Gabon, and 
felt that Turkey's proposal concerni ng assistance was very forthcoming. 
134. The representative of Turkey  said that at present, Turkey had several suggestions.  First was 
to have a meeting in Turkey to discuss ways to build capacity.  Second was to increase transparency 
and share best practices.  Third was to have progr ess reports made to the General Council.  The idea 
was for Turkey to host a meeting in  Turkey to further this idea.  His delegation was happy to consult 
with other Members who had an interest in this issue. 
135. The Director-General  said that having heard the discussion on this matter, he wished to add 
that he was actively looking at ways in which the Secretariat, within the existing mandate, could help 
enhance the transparency of WTO accession processes a nd also ensure that the technical assistance 
being provided was appropriately targeted.  He would come back to this matter at a future meeting of 
the General Council. 
136. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
9. Review of the exemption provided under Paragraph 3 of GATT 1994 (WT/L/746, 
WT/GC/W/616) 
137. The Chairman  recalled that Paragraph 3(a) of GATT 1994 provided an exemption from 
Part II of GATT 1994 for measures under specific mandatory legislation – enacted by a Member 
before it became a contracting party to GATT 1947 – which prohibited the use, sale or lease of 
foreign-built or foreign-reconstructed vessels in commercial applications between points in national 
waters or waters of an exclusive economic zone.  On 20 December 1994, the United States had 
invoked the provisions of Paragraph 3(a) with respec t to specific legislation that met the requirements 
of that paragraph.  Paragraph 3( b) of GATT 1994 called for a review of  this exemption five years after 
the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreemen t – and thereafter every two years for as long as the 
exemption was in force – in order to examine whet her the conditions which cr eated the need for the 
exemption still prevailed.  The General Council had last considered this matter at its meeting in 
February 2009, where it had been agreed that for the purposes of th e conduct of the review in 2009, 
Members would proceed in a manner similar to that in 2007, when the most recent review under the 
two-yearly cycle had been taken up.  Accordingly,  at the February Council, his predecessor as Chair 
had invited all interested delegations to speak for the record with regard to the review under the 
current cycle.  He had also invited interested delegations to submit comments and questions to the 
United States regarding the operation of the legisl ation under the exemption, to which the US had 
been invited to respond.  It had been agreed that  these statements, questions and responses, together 
with the annual report provided by the US unde r Paragraph 3(c) of GATT 1994 – which had been 
circulated in WT/L/746 – would form the basis for the review in 2009. 
138. It had been further agreed that for the purpo ses of the review, this matter would be on the 
agenda of subsequent General Council meetings in the course of 2009 as the Chairman deemed 
appropriate, or at the request of any Member.  The General Council had also agreed that it would WT/GC/M/124 
Page 44  
 
  consider this matter again at its last meeting of the year, i.e. at the present meeting, at which it would 
take note of the discussions held in the course of the review until then, and take any other action it 
might agree on.  The General Council would also take note that the subsequent review would 
normally be held in 2011.  With regard to this  exemption, he invited Members to note that, as 
provided in paragraph 3(e) of GATT 1994, the exemption was without prejudice to solutions 
concerning specific aspects of the legislation cove red by this exemption negotiated in sectoral 
agreements or in other fora.  He  drew attention to a questionnaire to the United States from Japan with 
regard to US legislation under this exemption, which had been circulated to delegations in 
WT/GC/W/616. 
139. The representative of the United States
 said his country welcomed the opportunity to 
participate in a review of the exemption under para graph 3 of GATT 1994.  This was the sixth review 
of that exemption.  The United States had con tinued to provide Members with annual statistical 
reports pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 3( c) of the exemption, including the most recent one 
that was before Members at the present meeting.  These reports provided de tailed annual reporting of 
vessel orders and deliveries from US shipyards, as required by paragraph 3(c) of GATT 1994.  
Recognizing that there were differing views on the na ture of this review, the United States had again 
organized informal consultations in which interest ed delegations had been free to ask questions and 
discuss issues without prejudice to their national positi ons.  As the Chair had just pointed out, the US 
had recently received some questions in writing from Japan, to which it would respond in written 
form, and would ensure that this submission was circulated to all Members. 
140. The representative of Japan  said his country attached great importance to this review.  Since 
1999, Japan had submitted a series of questi ons, including those contained in document 
WT/GC/W/616 for the current review.  While Japan appreciated the consultations held by the US in October, these had fallen short of clarifying the need  for this exemption.  Japan hoped the US would 
respond in writing to the question in WT/GC/W/616 with in a reasonable period of time, and that these 
responses would be circulated to all Members.  Th e exemption in paragraph 3 was a serious deviation 
from the fundamental principals of the GATT.  It had been established for one Member and had been 
maintained for years.  Japan had concerns that the continuation of this exemption undermined the 
credibility of the WTO rules as a whole.  With a view  to rectifying this situation, Japan hoped that a 
more substantial and effective ex amination of this issue would be undertaken, and that the United 
States would make efforts to take concre te action to improve this situation. 
141. The representative of Norway
 said this was an important issue for Norway as well, as the 
exemption in essence made it impossible for Norway to  sell ships to the United States.  His delegation 
had therefore participated in the current review of this waiver, as it had in previous reviews.  Norway 
had reviewed the statistical information submitted by the United States and had participated in the 
consultations that had taken place in October.  Th e review should focus on the salient points of 
paragraph 3 (b), which was the examination of whet her the conditions which had created the need for 
the exemption still prevailed.  Thus, Members ne eded to move beyond the point of discussing the 
statistical information submitted under paragraph 3(c) and address also the conditions necessitating 
the exemption.  The responses provided by the Un ited States in the current review regarding the 
continued need for the waiver had not been satisfact ory.  Depending on the content of the forthcoming 
written responses from the United States, Norway reser ved the right to present further questions and 
to consult as appropriate in th e General Council or elsewhere. 
142. The representative of Hong Kong, China  recalled that, as his delegation had said at the 
General Council meeting in February when the current year's review of this exemption had started, it 
had a systemic interest in this matter stemming fro m its recognition, like Japan's, of the exemption as 
a major derogation from the fundamental principles of  the WTO.  His delegation was also concerned 
that this exemption had lasted for nearly 15 years after the establishment of the WTO and that it might 
have a link with the US position in the services ne gotiations on maritime transport services under the  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 45 
 
 
  DDA.  As in the past, Hong Kong, China had particip ated in the current year's review conducted by 
the United States but, as also in th e past, it was disappointed with th is outcome and believed that the 
review should have moved consider ably more substantively into addressing whether the legislation 
covered by the exemption still served the objectives originally intended, and whether the conditions 
for retention of the relevant measures still prevailed.   In that connection, his delegation considered the 
questions recently submitted by Japan to be very pertinent and looked forward to the US replies to 
these.  It would also continue to hope for a meani ngful and substantive review of this matter in the 
future. 
143. The representative of the European Union  said his delegation wished to underline once again 
its concerns with this exemption.  The preva iling situation had negative economic consequences for 
the EU shipbuilding industry by closing the US mark et for ships, in which European shipbuilders had 
a strong interest.  This longstanding impediment to trade was all the more aw kward at a time when 
Members were trying to further liberalize trade in goods and services.  The EU looked forward to 
seeing the US replies to the questionnaire submitted  by Japan and sincerely hoped that the present 
review would be meani ngful and substantial. 
144. The representative of Korea  said that on the grounds of both principle and commercial 
interest, his delegation wished to reiterate its con cerns about this review.  As one of the Members 
concerned by this exemption, Korea felt that the informal consultations he ld in October 2009 had 
been insufficient in providing the necessary satisfact ory answers.  Bearing in mind the history and 
background of this legislation, which had been pass ed 100 years earlier, Korea felt there was a strong 
need for the United States to undertake a more pr actical and objective examination of whether the 
conditions for retaining th e measure still prevailed. 
145. The representative of China  recalled that his delegation had also registered its concern over 
this exemption when it had been discussed in Februa ry 2009.  A meaningful and substantial review of 
the exemption should be conducted in order to see wh ether the conditions for cr eating it still existed.  
His delegation echoed the questions  submitted by Japan and hoped to see a response in writing from 
the United States.  China wished to be included in any consultations that  might be held on this matter. 
146. The General Council took note  of the statements made in the course of the review in 2009, 
and that the subsequent review under the two-yearly  cycle provided in paragraph 3(b) of GATT 1994 
would normally be held in 2011. 
10. Initial review of the Transparency Mech anism for Regional Trade Agreements – 
Statement by the Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules 
147. The Chairman  recalled that in December 2006, the General Council had adopted a Decision 
establishing a Transparency Mechanism for RTAs to be implemented on a provisional basis in 
accordance with paragraph 47 of the Doha Ministeria l Declaration.  The Decision had been adopted 
on the basis of certain observations and understandi ngs, including that notwithstanding the current 
stage of the DDA negotiations and the timing of th eir conclusion, Members intended to conduct an 
initial review of the Mechanism pursuant to paragraph 23 of the Decision within one year.  He invited 
Mr. Galmés (Uruguay), Chairman of the Negotiati ng Group on Rules, to inform Members about the 
status of the initial review of  the Transparency Mechanism. 
148. Mr Valles Galmés (Uruguay), Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules , recalled that he 
had first reported to the General Council on th e initial review of the provisionally adopted 
Transparency Mechanism on RTAs in December 2007.  At that time the Mechanism had been 
operating for one year, and following informal cons ultations, he had reported that Members did not 
feel that enough experience had been built up to begin conducting the review at that time.  In particular, at that time no RTAs had been considered by the CTD, and hence Members thought it WT/GC/M/124 
Page 46  
 
  would be appropriate to wait un til enough experience had been gather ed about the functioning of the 
Mechanism in both the CRTA and CTD before beginni ng the review.  He had subsequently reported 
to the TNC at its meetings in July and Novemb er 2008, where he had noted that although the CRTA 
had considered 32 RTAs, the CTD had only considered its first RTA under the Mechanism in October 2008.  Thus, it was his sense that although Me mbers continued to believe that experience was 
being built up gradually, especially in the CRTA and to a lesser extent in the CTD, it remained 
insufficient to allow a review of the functioni ng of the Mechanism to be completed.  In 
December 2009, Members had completed three years of implementation of the Mechanism, and the 
CRTA had considered 64 agreements, counting goods and services notifications separately, while the 
CTD had considered three.  Although many dele gations at the recent Ministerial Conference had 
referred to the need to make the Transparency M echanism permanent, there was still no consensus on 
when would be the best time to undertake the review  of the Mechanism that was a necessary condition 
for making it permanent.  He therefore proposed to  schedule an informal meeting of the Negotiating 
Group on Rules early in 2010 to take the views of Members on the functioning of the Transparency Mechanism. 
149. The representative of India
 said it was stating the obvious to say that RTAs were proliferating 
and global trade was increasingly be ing conducted on preferential term s.  In this context, the RTA 
transparency mechanism had contributed immensely to Members' understanding of the contents of 
RTAs.  The three years of its operation had provi ded enough evidence of its utility.  A similar 
mechanism for unilateral preferential schemes was al so close to being finalized.  Given the widely 
acknowledged benefits of the RTA Transparency  Mechanism and the expectation that the 
transparency mechanism on preferential schemes would be as useful, Members should now agree to 
implement both on a permanent basis, albeit with i nbuilt provisions for periodic review.  In this 
connection, India welcomed the proposal by the Negotiating Group Chair to convene a meeting to 
discuss this particular issue.  He recalled that at the July 2009 General Council meeting, India had 
tabled a submission containing a set of five pro posals that had been intended to revitalize the 
processes of the WTO and to make the system more relevant, vibrant and user-friendly.  One of the 
issues it had raised in its submission was whether setting up transparency mechanisms was enough, or 
whether there were other aspects of RTAs that could be fruitfully examined in the WTO – for 
example, whether more could be done to reduce the adverse impact of RTAs on multilateral trade, and 
whether the information provided by the transpar ency mechanism currently in force could help 
Members to move forward towards further initiatives in building greater synergy between preferential 
and MFN trade.  These were issues that should enga ge Members if they were to retain the WTO's 
rules as the central platform for global trade.  Th erefore, while the work on substantive issues, like 
trade coverage, implementation periods, means to eval uate trade diversion etc., might continue in the 
Negotiating Group on Rules, it would also be useful, in parallel, to put in place measures that would 
allow Members to move further on implementing the transparency mechanisms and to best utilize the 
knowledge gathered on RTAs through them.  An annua l RTA review based on the Secretariat's factual 
presentation of individual RTAs capturing, inter alia , a horizontal review across RTAs, was essential.  
Based on the trends detected in the annual revi ews, Members in the CRTA could examine, from an 
educational perspective, ways to reduce the adver se impact of RTAs on multilateral trade.  To the 
extent that there was consensu s, the outcome could be a series of non-binding best-practices 
guidelines on various elements of RTAs for refere nce by Members in negotiating future RTAs.  In 
addition to greater insight about RTAs, such a pro cess would enable the WTO to play a positive role 
in influencing the evolution of RTAs based on trends over the past years. 
150. The General Council took note  of the statements.  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 47 
 
 
  11. Transparency for Preferential Trade Arrangem ents – Statement by the Chairman of the 
Committee on Trade and Development 
151. The Chairman  recalled that in December 2006, the Council had adopted a Decision with 
regard to Transparency for Preferential Trad e Arrangements, under which the Committee on Trade 
and Development had been asked to consider transparency for preferential arrangements under 
paragraph 2 of the Enabling Clause – other than RT As – and to report back within six months for 
appropriate action by the General Council.  The De cision had been adopted without prejudice to the 
results of the deliberations of the CTD.  Subseque ntly, in July and December 2007, and in July and 
December 2008, and again in July 2009 on the basis of reports from the Chairman of the CTD, the 
General Council had agreed to extend by successive  six-month periods the deadline for the CTD to 
consider this matter and to report back for appr opriate action.  The latest extension ran until 
December 2009.  He invited Mr. Servansing (Mauritius), Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Development, to report on the Committee's considerati on of this matter since his last report in July. 
152. Mr Servansing (Mauritius), Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Development
, recalled 
that he had informed the General Council in Decemb er 2008 of the circulation of a draft proposal by 
Brazil, China, India and the United States on a Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade 
Arrangements (PTAs).  After the circulation of the draft proposal – which had been introduced by the 
proponents at the October 2009 meeting of the CT D – he had held several rounds of small-group 
informal consultations in order to give an opportunity  to Members to consider it in detail, and to try to 
iron out as many outstanding issues as possible am ong themselves.  The delegations involved had 
included the four proponents as well as Barbados, Ca nada, Chile, El Salvador, the EU, Japan, New 
Zealand, Norway and St. Lucia.  These consultati ons had continued into 2009.  In light of the 
discussions and comments made in these consultations , the proponents had now prepared a revision to 
their draft proposal (JOB(08)/103/Rev.1).  The re vised draft proposal had been introduced by the 
proponents at the 8 December meeting of the CTD.  The delegations that had subsequently taken the 
floor had generally welcomed th e revision and had indicated their interest in continuing their 
consideration of the establishment of a Transpar ency Mechanism for PTAs on the basis of this 
document.  He thanked the proponents for their efforts to take into account the comments and 
concerns of delegations. 
153. The circulation of the revised draft proposal w as a clear indication that important progress 
had been made on the issue of transparency for PTAs.  In this regard, the Secretariat had completed its 
"mock" Factual Presentation of a PTA, which was based on the GSP scheme of the United States.  Of 
course, this "mock" presentation, which had been sh ared with Members earlier that year, was not the 
main document under consideration, but could play  a useful role in illustrating how the proposed 
Transparency Mechanism for PTAs might function.  As he had indicated at the 8 December CTD 
meeting, he intended to continue working with Me mbers on the issue of transparency for PTAs.  On 
the basis of the proponents' revised draft proposal, and with the use of the Secretariat's "mock" Factual 
Presentation as an illustrative tool, he would see how the process could be moved forward.  In 
particular, he would begin a series of small-group in formal consultations early in 2010.  The matter 
would also be taken up once again by the CTD at its ne xt formal meeting.  On this basis, the CTD had 
agreed at its 8 December meeting that a request for more time to deal with this matter should be made 
to the General Council.  Therefore, he request ed that the General Council allow the CTD until 
July 2010 to consider the matter and to  report back for appropriate action. 
154. The General Council took note  of the report by the Chairman of the CTD and agreed  that the 
deadline for the CTD to consider this matter and to  report back for appropriate action be extended to 
July 2010. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 48  
 
  12. Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration – Report of the Committee on its 
meetings of November and December 2009 (WT/BFA/114 and Add.1) 
155. The Chairman
 drew attention to the report of the Budget Committee in document 
WT/BFA/114 and Add.1 and invited Mrs. Swärd Ca pra (Sweden), Chairperson of the Committee, to 
introduce the report. 
156. Mrs. Swärd Capra (Sweden), Chairperson of the Budget Committee,  said that at its meetings 
in November and December 2009, the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration had heard 
progress reports about the budgetary and financial situation of the WTO and the extra-budgetary 
funds at the end of October, as well as on Huma n Resources and the WTO Pension Plan.  The 
Committee had also taken note of the progress made on the building project.  The Cantonal 
Authorities of Geneva had voted an investment of CHF 27 million for the construction of a car park of 
400 spaces for the WTO.  This car park would fulfil the last condition of the WTO to become owner 
of the CWR building and to be registered in the "registre foncier".  It would be located in the 
basement of an office building to be built in the Sécheron parking site.  The Committee had reviewed 
and made a recommendation on a proposal to amend the WTO Staff Regulations regarding the normal 
age of retirement.  This measure was required foll owing the amendments to the regulations of the 
WTO Pension Plan approved by the General Coun cil earlier that year.  The Committee had also 
examined the Director-Gener al's Budget Proposals for the Biennium 2010-2011.  The budget 
proposals had highlighted the increasing demands a nd expectations placed on the WTO, especially 
those induced by the financial crisis.  Considerin g the impact of this crisis on Members' public 
finances, the Director-General had proposed an internal post reallocation exercise and reduction of 
expenditures in a number of areas.  The proposed ov erall increase in the budge t was essentially driven 
by statutory increases and by the increase in the IT C budget, jointly funded with the United Nations. 
157. After listening to Members' concerns  expressed in both the Committee's formal and informal 
meetings, the Director-General and the ITC Execu tive Director had proposed to reduce the budget 
proposals.  The Committee had finally recommende d a budget proposal that provided for a budget 
increase of 2.5 per cent for 2010 and 2.17 per cen t for 2011.  The budget proposals contained an 
initiative to make the Secretariat a greener organi zation.  While Members were generally supportive 
of this initiative, some c onsidered the purchase of CO 2 financial offsets premature.  An addendum to 
the report regarding this issue had been circul ated.  Finally, the Committee had also discussed 
improvement in the diversification of the WTO staff,  following a joint proposal by several Members, 
and this issue would be the object of furthe r discussions in the Committee in 2010.  The 
recommendations following from the Committee's meeti ngs could be found in pa ragraphs 14, 15, 28, 
30, 34 and 35 of the report.  Briefly, they relate d to:  (i) the Director General's Budget Proposals for 
the biennium 2010-2011 with an overa ll budget of CHF 194.0 million for 2010 and 
CHF 198.2 million for 2011;  (ii) the amendment of staff regulation 10.2.  following the adjustments of the regulations of the WTO Pension Plan to re flect the change in the retirement age from 62 to 
65 years;  (iii) the endorsement of the target am ount of the Doha Developm ent Agenda Global Trust 
Fund amounting to CHF 24 million for each year of th e biennium 2010-2011;  (iv) the budget of the 
International Trade Centre, with the WTO share of CHF 18.0 million for 2010 and CHF 19.0 million 
for 2011. 
158. The representative of China
 thanked the Budget Committee Chair for her report and for her 
able leadership in the Committe e's discussions of various issues of importance to the smooth 
operation of this organization.  On the diversifi cation issue, China, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, 
Pakistan and South Africa had put forward a joint proposal on the improvement of diversification of 
the Secretariat, which had also been supported by Egypt, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and 
some other Members.  As pointed out by this jo int proposal as well as the subsequent Secretariat 
report, though various efforts had been made and the situation had been improving, diversification 
remained a serious issue, and the Secretaria t was far from being representative in favour of  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 49 
 
 
  developing-country Members.  China appreciated  the positive reaction from other Members and the 
Secretariat on this joint proposal and welcomed in pa rticular the initiative of the Director-General to 
present annually in the future a report on the effo rts undertaken to increase the diversity of the 
Secretariat.  China encouraged the Committee to cont inue its work on this important issue in 2010 and 
believed this would lead to conc rete results to help improve the diversity of the Secretariat. 
159. The representative of Ecuador  said that like China, and as co-sponsor of the proposal in 
question, his delegation believed that although ther e had been some progress, much remained to be 
done if Members were to achieve any real improvement  in the diversification of staff working in the 
Secretariat.  Ecuador was convinced that greater  diversity in the Secretariat would enhance the 
decision-making process as well as the Secretariat's capacity to understand and respond to the 
different realities of Members.  Therefore, Ecuador  supported the inclusion of diversity as one of the 
criteria to be taken into account in both the hiring of staff and for the purposes of internal promotion.  
At the same time, it wished to st ress the need for even more transp arency in the process of recruiting 
new staff, and for Members to be info rmed of the results in full detail. 
160. The representative of Pakistan  thanked the Budget Committee Chair for her report and for her 
able guidance throughout the intensive meetings of th e Committee.  On the issue of diversification of 
the Secretariat, as a co-sponsor of the joint proposal , his delegation wished to associate itself with the 
statements by China and Ecuador.  This was a serious issue for an organization that was distinctive for 
being Member-driven and giving equal status to a ll Members.  Pakistan was encouraged that the 
Director-General had taken cognizance of this i ssue and the Secretariat had produced a very good 
report on the state of play in this context in the Budget Committee's meetings.  His delegation hoped 
that Members, as stakeholders, would continue  working towards achieving fair and equitable 
diversification of the Secretariat, making it r eal role model for international organizations. 
161. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  said his delegation welcomed the 
proposal on the diversification of Secretariat staff and the praiseworthy efforts of its co-sponsors to 
initiate a broad debate on this issue, which Venezuel a considered to be a systemic one.  His delegation 
had supported the proposal from the outset, and intende d to continue to make every effort to ensure 
that the discussions achieved the outcome hoped for.   While Venezuela recognized the considerable 
efforts that have been made to date to improve a nd correct the situation, a preliminary reading of the 
Secretariat's recent report on this subject show ed that developing countries were seriously 
underrepresented in the Secretariat, and that there was a long way to go before achieving a minimum balance in the make-up of WTO staff.  His dele gation was convinced that if Members used the 
argument that the hiring of WTO staff had to be li nked to criteria of competence and excellence, one 
needed only open up the process as requested, and de veloping countries would be able to fulfil those 
standards of excellence. 
162. The representative of Cuba
 thanked the Budget Committee Chair for her report and China for 
its work on the important issue of increasing the dive rsification of the Secretariat.  Efforts had been 
made recently by the Director-General, but the situ ation of staff representativeness was far from ideal.  
The Secretariat staff needed to be representative of  the membership of the organization, particularly 
with regard to developing countries and LDCs.  This  issue could affect the Secretariat's understanding 
of the difficulties of developing countries.  This was also very tightly linked to the fact that there was 
no one-size-fits-all solution for all problems and no si ngle model of economic and trade development.  
The geographic diversity of the Secretariat was a gui ding principle for all international organizations, 
and should also be for the WTO.  This was very important and could contri bute to the Secretariat's 
capacity for analysis.  Cuba looked forward to the re port that would be presented by the Secretariat in 
2010 and hoped that more active measures would be taken to improve the current situation. WT/GC/M/124 
Page 50  
 
  163. The representative of Thailand
 said that his delegation, too, saw the importance of improving 
the diversity of the Secretariat to better reflect  the composition of the current membership.  It 
encouraged the Budget Committee to conti nue its work on achieving this goal. 
164. The representative of Nepal  said his delegation strongly supported the proposal on 
diversification of the Secretariat, and requested that  Members continue to discuss this matter. 
165. The representative of the United States  said he wished to emphasize that his country fully 
supported diversity in the Secretariat and saw no contradiction between support for diversity and 
support for maintaining the high-quality Secretaria t Members had come to appreciate and respect 
enormously.  The United States supported further discussion on this matter in the Budget Committee, 
but wished to emphasize that this discussion had to  be an objective one based on facts.  Members 
needed to look at the st eps the Secretariat had been taking, becau se having participated in the process 
for quite a while, his delegation's understanding was th at the Secretariat had made major efforts over 
the past decade to increase diversity.  To the ex tent that there had been discrimination in the 
Secretariat's hiring practices, it was a discrimination in favour of diversity.  Members should by all means look at the process and see if there was room for improvement, but they should not assume just 
from statistics that there was a problem with the way the Director-General was managing the process 
in hiring staff.  One needed to look more cl osely at the facts and not jump to conclusions. 
166. The General Council took note
 of the statements, approved  the Budget Committee's specific 
recommendations contained in paragr aphs 14, 15, 28, 30, 34 and 35 of its report, including the draft 
Resolutions referred to in pa ragraphs 14 and 15, adopted  the draft Resolutions on the Expenditure of 
the WTO in 2010 and 2011 and the Ways and Means to Meet Such Expenditure, in paragraphs 14 and 
15 of its report, and adopted  the Committee's report in document WT/BFA/114 and Add.1 as a whole. 
167. The Director-General  thanked Members for the trust they had put in the Secretariat and its 
work through the adoption of the biannual budget for 2010-2011.  After the usual discussions, Members had arrived at a solution that responded to  the basic needs of the WTO in the next two 
years.  Apart from ensuring the functioning of the Secretariat, with its current resources and the 
statutory increases, the Committee had agreed to  respond to the WTO's evolving needs with a 
proposal to redeploy 18 existing posts internally, tr ansforming two vacant Director posts into five new 
professional posts, plus creating three new professi onal posts.  This combined redeployment of 
existing resources and addition of new posts would ensure the enhancement of the Secretariat's 
activities in monitoring, outreach and dispute settleme nt functions, as he had proposed to Members in 
April 2009 when he had presented his vision for his s econd mandate.  It would also help in improving 
the grade structure in the Secretariat, and through this, to enhance diversity.  The Committee had not 
yet been ready to accept his proposal for progressive ly introducing purchases of carbon offsets for the 
Secretariat.  Nevertheless, he wished to stress that  the Secretariat would continue to work hard to 
reduce its carbon footprint, following the recommendations of an internal task force he had set up to this end. 
168. He wished to share some good news on the WT O building project.  First, the Swiss Federal 
Parliament had approved a CHF 20 million loan to th e WTO for the intra-muros part of the project.  
The work in the South courtyard – the former HEI lib rary – was due to start in the summer of 2010.  
The Cantonal Parliament had approved the grant for the construction of a 400-space parking in 
Sécheron.  He recalled that this had been fo reseen in the Headquarters Agreement of 1995 as a 
condition for the WTO to obtain the property of th e Centre William Rappard.  He was happy to report 
that with this condition fulfilled, the WTO would fi nally become the lawful owner of this building, 
thus ending a 15-year saga.  Finally, the Geneva  cantonal administrative tribunal had decided, on 
procedural grounds, to uphold the result of th e referendum of September 2009.  The WTO was 
therefore finishing 2009 on an excellent note, as far as the building project was concerned.  Work on the other parts of the project – renovation and plan s for the new building – were all advancing, so  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 51 
 
 
  there was still quite a lot of work for 2010, but for the moment things were looking good.  Thanks 
were due to the efforts of the Secretariat team, and to DDG Yerxa and Mr Do Prado, who had spent 
quite a lot of time on this matter.  To finalize on  an issue that was budget related, he informed 
Members that in the context of the Seventh Minist erial Conference, his Deputies and he had taken the 
opportunity to address with a number of Ministers the issue of arrears, in order to find a solution, in 
particular to longstanding cases, and some of these discussions had already resulted in a positive 
mood, with hopefully more progress to come in th e third part of 2010.  He would keep the Budget 
Committee informed of any progress in this respect. 
169. The General Council took note  of the statement. 
13. TRIPS Council Matters 
(a) Review under Paragraph 8 of the Decision on the Implementation of Para graph 6 of the Doha 
Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public  Health (WT/L/540 and Corr.1) – Report of 
the Council for TRIPS (IP/C/53) 
(b) Proposal for a decision on an extension of the period for the acceptance by Members of the 
Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement (IP/C/54) 
170. The Chairman  proposed, and Members agreed, to take up these two sub-items together.  He 
recalled that in August 2003, the General Council had adopted a Decision on the Implementation of 
Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declarati on on the TRIPS Agreement and Public  Health.  Paragraph 8 of that 
Decision provided that the TRIPS Council should review annually the functioning of the system set out in the Decision with a view to ensuring its effective operation, and shall annually report on its 
operation to the General Council.  In addition, in keeping with the August 2003 Decision, the General 
Council had adopted, in December 2005, a Protocol  Amending the TRIPS Agreement, which had 
been submitted to Members for acceptance and whic h, in accordance with Article X:3 of the WTO 
Agreement, would enter into force upon acceptance by two-thirds of the Members.  In view of the 
status of acceptances, however, the TRIPS Counc il at its meeting in October 2009 had agreed to 
submit to the General Council a proposal for a deci sion on a second extension of the period for the 
acceptance by Members of this Protocol.  He then invited Mrs. Tan (Singapore), Chairperson of the 
TRIPS Council, to report on these two matters. 
171. Mrs Tan (Singapore), Chairperson of the TRIPS Council
, said that at its meeting in 
October 2009, the TRIPS Council had taken up the a nnual review pursuant to Paragraph 8 of the 
Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of th e Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and 
Public Health.  The TRIPS Council's report to the Ge neral Council on this review  had been circulated 
in document IP/C/53.  The cover note to this doc ument set out factual information regarding the 
implementation and use of the Decision, the discussion on the operation of the system, as well as the status of acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement.  The TRIPS Council's report 
also contained, in an annex, the record of th e discussion that had taken place during the Council's 
review of the waiver decision.  In addition, a nother annex to the report contained a recommendation 
for a General Council decision on extension of the period for the acceptance by Members of the 
Protocol.  As Members were aware, the Protocol  Amending the TRIPS Agreement that was done in 
Geneva on 6 December 2005 provided that the "Pro tocol shall be open for acceptance by Members 
until 1 December 2007 or such later date as may be decided by the Ministerial Conference".  Given the status of acceptances at the end of this in itial period, the General Council, at its meeting in 
December 2007, had decided to extend the peri od for the acceptance of the Protocol until 
31 December 2009.  As of the present, the follo wing Members had notified their acceptance of the 
Protocol:  the United States;  Switzerland;  El Salvador;  Korea;  Norway;  India;  the Philippines;  Israel;  Japan;  Australia;  Singapore;  Hong Kong, Ch ina;  China;  the European Union;  Mauritius;  
Egypt;  Mexico;  Jordan;  Brazil;  Morocco;  Albania;  Macao, China;  Canada;  Bahrain;  Colombia;  WT/GC/M/124 
Page 52  
 
  and Zambia.  In accordance with paragraph 3 of Article X of the WTO Agreement, the Protocol 
would enter into force upon its acceptance by two-thir ds of the Members.  Given the present status of 
acceptances, at its meeting in October 2009 the Co uncil for TRIPS had agreed to forward to the 
General Council a proposal for a decision to exte nd once more the period for the acceptance by 
Members of the Protocol by a further two years, until 31 December 2011.  This proposal was also 
contained in a separate document (IP/C/54) for c onsideration and adoption by the General Council.  
She wished once more to call on those Members wh o had not yet accepted the Protocol to carry out 
promptly the necessary internal pr ocedures so that they could depo sit their instruments of acceptance 
as soon as possible. 
172. The representative of Ecuador
 said his delegation supported th e extension of the period for 
acceptance of the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreemen t and Public Health.  However, the fact that 
in six years the paragraph 6 system had been u sed only once, and that only 26 of the 153 Members 
had ratified it, raised questions about the effectiven ess of the agreed reforms and justified a thorough 
review of the matter.  One had to remember that the purpose of the paragraph 6 Decision was to address in a rapid and timely manner the public health  needs of developing-country Members.  If one 
was truly to achieve this objective, in addition to considerably reducing the transaction costs for 
developing countries, paragraph 6 and the correspondi ng Protocol had to be guided by the principles 
of effectiveness and flexibility.  For Ecuador, the in itiation of consultations by the Chair of the TRIPS 
Council was a timely and positive step, and it hoped th at this would help to clarify the questions 
regarding the flexibility and efficiency of the mechanism and the burden it represented for the 
developing countries. 
173. The representative of India
 said that the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health was a 
valuable part of the WTO acquis, because it rec ognized the primacy of public health needs and the 
sensitivity of Members to the problems faced by th e poor in the less-developed countries.  It was 
important therefore that Members implemented the D oha Declaration in letter and spirit.  Along with 
several other Members, India had worked hard on this Declaration and on the Decision of 
August 2003 on Implementation of Para graph 6 of the Declaration.  It hoped that the August Decision 
would genuinely and substantially address the probl ems faced by Members with insufficient or no 
manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector.  The fact that the Paragraph 6 system had been used only once in six years – and there too, it had taken about three years for the medicines to be 
delivered – required serious reflection on the obstacles,  if any, to use of the system.  Moreover, the 
Protocol could enter into force only after two-thirds of the membership ratified it.  As the Chair of the 
TRIPS Council had reported, only a small number of Members had accepted the Protocol so far.  The 
anticipated beneficiaries, i.e. countries with "insufficient or no manufacturing capacity", were 
virtually, and conspicuously, miss ing from the list.  He asked if this was due merely to domestic 
procedural reasons or whether it represented apathy to Paragraph 6.  Such questions also required 
reflection.  While India had no option but to agree to  an extension of the period for acceptance of the 
Protocol, it was important that Members looked into  the reasons for the slow progress.  The General 
Council had responsibility for and owne rship of the implementation of Paragraph 6, since it was the 
Council which had agreed to the August 2003  Decision on creating a legal basis for its 
implementation.  Moreover, in December 2005 the General Council had decided to adopt a Protocol 
to amend the TRIPS Agreement by including Article 31 bis.  He noted that paragraph 8 of the 
August 2003 Decision provided that the Council for TR IPS should review annually the functioning of 
the system set out in the Decision with a view to ensuring its effective opera tion, and should report to 
the General Council annually on its operation.  As  in past years, Members had once again heard the 
report of the TRIPS Council Chair.  It was now time for the General Council Chair to initiate a 
process of informal consultations to discuss obstacles , if any, to the effective implementation of the 
Paragraph 6 Decision. 
174. The representative of Brazil
 said his delegation supported the extension of the period for 
acceptance of the Protocol until 2011 and hoped to see the amendment enter into force as soon as  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 53 
 
 
  possible.  Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaratio n on TRIPS and Public Health and the system 
established thereby, were milestones in the history of the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.  
Paragraph 6 provided a much-needed and long-awaite d response to the specific situation of countries 
with limited or no manufacturing capacities.  Brazil had accepted the Protocol on amending the TRIPS Agreement on 13 November 2008.  It strongly believed in the message delivered by the Doha 
Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, according to which intellectual pr operty protection could 
not and should not supersede more fundamental valu es, such as the protection of life through access to 
life-saving drugs in developing countries.  The functioning of the system established under the Decision should be reviewed, as there was a pres sing need for rendering it more effective and 
operational.  Brazil supported the proposal that the Council hold consultations with developing 
countries and other Members interested in the syst em, in order to identify obstacles that were 
preventing developing countries from making ample use of the system. 
175. The representative of China
 said that like Ecuador, India and Brazil, his country wished to 
emphasize that the effective implementation of this system was of great importance to developing-country Members, especially the least-developed.  In  this regard, China encouraged more Members to 
notify their legislation and to make presentations on their experience in implementing the system.  
China also wished to reiterate its support for any effort and work the TRIPS Council might undertake 
to examine experiences regarding the use of the system , including the obstacles, if any, to its effective 
operation.  That being said, China believed that an  extension of the period for the acceptance of the 
Protocol was necessary in order for more Members to be able to complete their domestic legal 
procedures for acceptance of the Protocol, and therefore supported its extension. 
176. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 said that at the recent TRIPS 
Council meeting, Venezuela had not opposed the ex tension of the period for the acceptance of the 
Protocol, but it had supported Ecuador , and wished to do so again, on the subject of that Protocol's 
effectiveness and efficiency, since it had been u sed by only one developing country on one occasion, 
not to mention the curious fact that almost all the Members that had signed it thus far were in fact 
developed countries which owned most of the pate nts for medicines in the world.  Venezuela 
supported the initiation of consultations, as announced  by the Chairperson during the recent TRIPS 
Council meeting, to examine the Protocol's effec tiveness and efficiency and the problems developing 
countries had encountered in using this option which w as, in principle, created for the benefit of the 
most needy Members. 
177. The Chairman  said that in light of the report by the Chair of the TRIPS Council, he proposed 
that the General Council take note of the report of  the TRIPS Council (IP/C/53) and adopt the draft 
decision in document IP/C/54 extending the time peri od for acceptance by Members of the Protocol 
amending the TRIPS Agreement to 31 December 2011. 
178. The General Council took note  of the statements and so agreed . 
14. Waivers under Article IX of the WTO Agreement  
(a) Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 chang es into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – 
Draft decision (G/C/W/624) 
 (b) Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 chang es into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – 
Draft decision (G/C/W/625/Rev.1) 
 
(c) Review of waivers pursuant to Article IX:4 of the WTO Agreement 
 
(i) Kimberley Process Certification Scheme fo r rough diamonds, granted on 15 December 2006 
until 31 December 2012 (WT/L/676) WT/GC/M/124 
Page 54  
 
   
(ii) Canada – CARIBCAN, granted on 15 December 2006, from 1 January 2007 until 
31 December 2011 (WT/L/677, WT/L/780) 
 (iii) Cuba – Article XV:6 of GATT 1994, gran ted on 15 December 2006 until 31 December 2011 
(WT/L/678, WT/L/781) 
 
179. The Chairman
 noted that the draft waiver decisions for the matters listed in sub-items 14(a) 
and (b) had been taken up for consideration by th e Council for Trade in Goods at its meeting on 
30 October, and were matters on which the Chair of  the Goods Council had to report to the General 
Council.  In the absence of Ms Johansen (Norway) , Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods, 
and on her request and behalf, he would read out the following report on that Council's consideration 
of these two matters, and the General Council woul d then take up each draft decision for action 
separately:  "The Council for Trade in Goods, at  its meeting of 30 Oct ober 2009, had approved the 
draft waiver decision contained in G/C/W/624, which had been made in connection with the 
introduction of HS2002 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions.  The Goods Council had 
further recommended that the draft decision be forw arded to the General Council for adoption.  Also 
at its meeting of 30 October 2009, the Goods Counc il had approved the draft decision in document 
G/C/W/625, which had been made in connection with the introduction of HS2007 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions.  At that meeting Ch ina had requested to be included in the Annex to 
the decision which listed the Members covered by the waiver decision.  It ha d therefore been agreed 
that a revised version of the draft decision, to include China in the Annex, would be prepared.  The 
Goods Council recommended that this revised draft decision (G/C/W/625/Rev.1) be forwarded to the 
General Council for adoption."  
(a) Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – 
Draft decision  
180. The Chairman
 drew attention to the draft decision in G/C/W/624, which provided for a waiver 
from the application of the provisions of Artic le II of GATT 1994 until 31 December 2010.  He 
proposed that, in the light of the report by the Chai r of the Goods Council, and in accordance with the 
Decision-Making Procedures under Articles IX a nd XII of the WTO Agreement agreed in 
November 1995 (WT/L/93), the General Council adopt the draft decision in G/C/W/624. 
181. The General Council so agreed .2 
(b) Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 changes into WTO schedules of tariff concessions – 
Draft decision  
182. The Chairman  drew attention to the draft decision in G/C/W/625/Rev.1, which provided for a 
waiver from the application of the provisions of Article II of GATT 1994 until 31 December 2010.  
He proposed that, in the light of the report by th e Chair of the Goods Council, and in accordance with 
the Decision-Making Procedures under Articles IX and XII of the WTO Agreement agreed in 
November 1995 (WT/L/93), the General Council adopt the draft decision in G/C/W/625/Rev.1. 
183. The General Council so agreed .3 
                                                      
2 The Decision was subsequen tly circulated as WT/L/786. 
3 The Decision was subsequen tly circulated as WT/L/787.  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 55 
 
 
  (c) Review of waivers pursuant to Ar ticle IX:4 of the WTO Agreement 
(i) Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for rough diamonds, granted on 15 December 2006 
until 31 December 2012 (WT/L/676) 
(ii) Canada – CARIBCAN, granted on 15 D ecember 2006, from 1 January 2007 until 
31 December 2011 (WT/L/677, WT/L/780) 
(iii) Cuba – Article XV:6 of GATT 1994, grante d on 15 December 2006 until 31 December 2011 
(WT/L/678, WT/L/781) 
184. The Chairman  recalled that, in accordance with para graph 4 of Article IX of the WTO 
Agreement, "any waiver granted for a period of mo re than one year shall be reviewed by the 
Ministerial Conference not later than one year afte r it was granted, and thereafter annually until the 
waiver terminates."  There were three waivers befo re the General Council for review.  The waivers in 
sub-items 14(c)(ii) and (iii) provided that an a nnual report should be s ubmitted by the Members 
concerned regarding the operation or implementation of those waivers with a view to facilitating their 
annual review by the General Council.  The repo rts from these Members had been circulated in 
documents WT/L/780 and 781. 
185. The General Council took note  of the reports in documents WT/L/780 and 781. 
15. Review of WTO activities – Continuation 
 Reports of: 
 (a) Committees on Trade and Development (WT/COMTD/70/Add.1, WT/COMTD/AFT/W/16), 
and Budget, Finance and Administration (WT/BFA/113/Add.1) 
(b) Committee under the Plurilateral Trade Agreements (GPA/103/Add.1) 
186. The Chairman
 proposed, and Members agreed, to take  up these two sub-items together.  
Before taking up this item, he wished to say a few words regarding the reports Members would be 
considering.  Following the consideration of the Annual Reports at  the Council's meeting in 
November, a number of Committees had prepared a ddenda to cover work undertaken since their 
initial reports.  He wished to underline that it was exclusively these reports that were now before the 
General Council.  He recalled that these reports had been drawn up in pursuance of the Decision 
concerning procedures for an annual overview of WTO activities and for reporting under the WTO in 
document WT/L/105. 
187. Mr. Servansing (Mauritius), Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Development , recalled 
that the CTD's 2009 annual report had been circul ated in WT/COMTD/70 and had been adopted by 
the General Council at its meeting in November.  The addendum under consideration reflected only 
the work of the Committee since 5 November.  In particular, it reflected the discussions of the 5 November meeting of the Sub-Committee on LD Cs, the 13th Session on Aid for Trade held on 
25 November; and the regular meeting of the CTD he ld on 8 December.  While the details of these 
deliberations could be found in th e addendum under consideration, he wished to highlight a few 
points.  With regard to the regular meeting of the CTD, it was noteworthy that the proponents of a 
Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade Arra ngements – namely, Brazil, China, India and the 
United States – had introduced their revised draft pr oposal at this meeting.  This reflected important 
progress that had been made, and he would continue to work with Members in 2010 on this issue.  
Technical assistance was, of course, a major part of the CTD's work, and a summary of the work of 
the Committee would not be complete without a me ntion of this area.  The Biennial Technical WT/GC/M/124 
Page 56  
 
  Assistance and Training Plan for 2010 and 2011 had b een adopted by the CTD on 3 November, and at 
its regular meeting on 8 December, the Secretariat ha d provided an overview of the preparations being 
made to effectively implement the Plan for 2010 .  At its meeting on 25 November, the CTD had 
finalized the Aid-for-Trade Work Programme  for 2010 and 2011, which was contained in 
WT/COMTD/AFT/W/16.  The Work Programme w as the product of many consultations, and he 
wished to express his appreciation for the effort Members had put in and the commitment they had 
shown in the course of these consultations.  The hi gh level of engagement reflected the momentum 
that had been generated on Aid for Trade, a mome ntum that he hoped would be maintained, as donors 
and partner countries increasingly focussed on implem entation.  In inviting the General Council to 
take note of the Work Programme, he wished to say that even though he had forwarded it on his own 
responsibility, it reflected the broad convergence of  Members on how to proceed.  Achieving this 
convergence had been very important, but the real test  would lie in an effec tive implementation of the 
Work Programme. 
188. The representative of Ecuador
 said that with reference to the Addendum to the Report (2009) 
of the Committee on Trade and Development in WT/COMTD/70/Add.1, Ecuador appreciated the 
work done by the CTD Chair and by the Secretar iat to provide Members with a document that 
addressed the concerns of all Members and at least the minimum aspirations of the developing-country Members with regard to the Aid-for-Trade  Work Programme for the biennium 2010-2011.  
The programme presented in the addendum to the report (WT/COMTD/AFT/W/16) which had been 
brought to the attention of the General Council at  the present meeting reflected the broad discussions 
among Members in the CTD on the Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 2010-2011.  It should 
nevertheless be noted that the document entitled "Draft Aid-for-Trade Work Programme 2009-2011" 
in JOB(09)/100 prepared by the Secretariat, was a benchmark or a basic model for what future Aid-
for-Trade work programmes should contain. 
189. The representative of Dominica
, on behalf of the SVEs , thanked the CTD Chairman for the 
Addendum to the CTD's report to the General Council,  and for his efforts in seeking to arrive at a 
Work Programme on Aid for Trade that was balanc ed and represented a broad convergence of views 
from across the membership.  The SVEs valued the consultative manner in which he and the 
Secretariat had arrived at the Work Programme.  They continued to hold that it was important for 
Members to continue advancing the work on Aid for Trade towards fulfilling the mandate in this area.  
The SVEs had preferred the adoption of the Ai d-for-Trade Work Programme in the CTD and 
remained disappointed that it had not been possible to achieve this.  They were grateful that the 
General Council had taken note of the Work Programme .  What was more critical for the SVEs was 
that the Work Programme be implemented and that  it remain the working basis from which to carry 
out work on the Aid-for-Trade mandate.  The SVEs were ready to move forward and to get down to 
the business of implementing the elements containe d in the Work Programme, with the CTD Chair, 
the Secretariat and the development partners. 
190. The representative of Brazil  thanked the CTD Chair for the inclusive manner in which he had 
conducted consultations on the Wo rk Programme on Aid for Trade.  These consultations had allowed 
for an overall improvement of the original vers ion of that Work Programme.  Members now had 
before them a document that was more balanced  and therefore more conducive to the cooperative 
work needed in order to assist developing countries in overcoming the many supply constraints they faced.  Brazil was also grateful for the revisions that had been made in the text so as to reflect most of 
the concerns raised by Brazil and other likemi nded countries.  However, the Work Programme 
submitted under the responsibility of the Chair still c ontained language regarding the application of 
the Paris principles to Aid-for-Trade programmes.  Brazil wished to note that there was no consensus 
in that regard, particularly in th e context of South-South cooperation. 
191. The General Council took note
 of the statements, adopted  the addendum to the report of the 
Committee on Trade and Development (WT/COMTD/70/Add.1), and took note  of the Aid-for-Trade  WT/GC/M/124 
 Page 57 
 
 
  Work Programme (WT/COMTD/AFT/W/16) and of the addenda to the report of the Committee on 
Budget, Finance and Administration (WT/BFA/113/Add.1) and of the Committee on Government Procurement (GPA/103/Add.1). 
192. The Director-General
 said 2009 had been a good year on Aid for Trade.  The issue had gotten 
wind in its sails at the Global Review Conference in July 2009, and now, thanks to the constructive 
engagement by all Members in the CTD, there was a work plan to implement the priorities Members 
had identified together.  The CTD, under the active a nd able chairmanship of its Chair, had served as 
the forum that had facilitated comprehensive consu ltations among Members and had ensured that their 
inputs were incorporated into the final Work Prog ramme.  This high level of engagement was what 
was needed to maintain the momentum that had been  generated since this initiative had been launched 
in Hong Kong in 2005.  At the recent WTO Minist erial Conference, all Members had been unanimous 
in stressing the importance of Aid for Trade to bu ild capacity to help developing countries exit the 
current economic crisis.  There had also been a clear commitment to follow through on Aid-for-Trade 
pledges despite the difficult state of many national treasuries.  It had also been clear that given 
Members' collective objective to c onclude the DDA by 2010, they had to redouble their efforts to  
make Aid for Trade a reality for those that would n eed it most.  The effective implementation of this 
work plan would be the real test.  He looked forw ard to continuing to work with Members on Aid for 
Trade in 2010. 
193. The General Council took note  of the statement. 
16. WTO Pension Plan – Election of an alternat e to the Management Board – Proposal by 
the Chairman of the General Council (WT/GC/W/618) 
194. The Chairman  recalled that Article 4(a) of the Regulations of the WTO Pension Plan 
provided, inter alia,  for the election by the General Council of a Chairman, four members and four 
alternates to the Management Board of the Pens ion Plan.  In a communication circulated to 
delegations in document WT/GC/W/ 618, he had indicated that it was necessary for the Council to 
decide on a replacement for one of the alternates.  Accordingly, he had proposed the name of a 
representative who had kindly agreed to have his name put forward for election, and had invited 
delegations to submit any comments they might have  regarding the proposed nomination.  Having 
received no comments, he proposed that the Gene ral Council elect Mr. NG (Hong Kong, China) to 
serve as an alternate on the Management Board fo r the remainder of the Board's term, i.e. until 
May 2011. 
195. The General Council so agreed .  
17. Appointment of Officers to WTO bodies – A nnouncement by the Chairman pursuant to 
Paragraph 7.1(a) of the Guidelines (WT/L/510) 
196. The Chairman  recalled that the Guidelines for the Appointment of Officers to WTO bodies 
(WT/L/510) provided that the outgoing Chairman of  the General Council woul d conduct consultations 
on the appointment of chairpersons to the WTO bodies in Groups 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Annex to the 
Guidelines.  The Guidelines also provided, in paragr aph 7.1(a), that in order to promote transparency, 
the selection process should be started with an a nnouncement by the Chairman at the General Council 
meeting held in December each year.  Accordingly, he wished to inform the General Council that he 
would be starting the selection process for the appoint ment of chairpersons to the WTO bodies in the 
Groups he had just mentioned.  In accordance with Paragraph 7.1(b) of the Guidelines, he would be 
assisted in the selection process by the serving Chai rman of the Dispute Settlement Body, Mr. Gero 
(Canada).  In keeping with paragraph 7.1(d), Mr . Gero and he would communicate, as early as 
possible, a specified time-period in which they woul d be available to hear the views and suggestions, 
if any, of Members, individually and/or in groups.  Furthermore, as provided for in Paragraph 7.1(c) WT/GC/M/124 
Page 58  
 
  of the Guidelines, a list of past Chairs of majo r bodies was available to delegations at the present 
meeting in order to provide some structure fo r their subsequent deliberations on the possible 
distribution of chairmanships based on past practi ce and the need for balance.  In accordance with 
paragraph 2.1 of the Guidelines, representatives of Members in financial arrears for over one full year 
could not be considered for appointment. 
197. The General Council took note
 of the statement. 
18. Statement by the Chairman regarding the Chairmanship of the TRIPS Special Session 
198. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", said that as announced at the November 
General Council, he had recently carried out consulta tions regarding the appointment of a successor to 
Mr. Clarke (Barbados), Chairman of the Special Se ssion of the Council for TRIPS, who had left his 
post as head of his delegation in Geneva.  In a fax sent out on 8 December, he had informed 
delegations that his consultations had shown a consensus among Members to appoint Mrs. Tan 
(Singapore) as Chairperson of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS.  He had noted that this 
appointment would be on a pro tempore  basis until the General Council to ok up the slate of names of 
Officers for WTO bodies at its meeting in February 20 10, in line with what had been agreed at the 
October meeting of the General Council with re gard to the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups. 
199. The General Council took note  of the statement. 
19. Statement by the Chairman in connection wi th Administrative Measures for Members 
in arrears 
200. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that at its meeting in May 2006, the 
General Council approved a recommendation from the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration regarding revised Administrative Measures for Members in arrears.  Among these 
Administrative Measures was a requirement that, at each meeting of the General Council, the 
Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance a nd Administration should provide information with 
regard to which Members were under Administra tive Measures in Categories II through IV.  He 
invited the Chairperson of the Budget Committee,  Mrs. Swärd Capra (Sweden), to provide the 
Council with this information. 
201. Mrs. Swärd Capra (Sweden), Chairperson of the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration , said that as required by the decision of the General Council, she would list the 
Members under Categories II through IV of the Ad ministrative Measures as at 17 December 2009:  
Grenada and Peru in Category II;  Mali, Nicaragua  and Senegal in Category III;  and the following 
Members in Category IV:  Burundi, Central A frican Republic, Chad, Commonwealth of Dominica, 
Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djib outi, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, 
Niger, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Togo.  Since the most recent General Council meeting, 
Peru had settled its contribution to the WTO and wa s no longer subject to administrative measures. 
202. The Chairman  said that under the revised Administrative Measures, he was also required at 
each Council meeting to request those Members in Ca tegories III and IV of the Measures to inform 
him, before the next meeting of the General Counc il, as to when their payment of arrears might be 
expected.  In keeping with the Administrative Meas ures, he would report on Members' replies to the 
next meeting of the General Council.  Since th e November General Council meeting, he had not 
received any replies from the Members concerned. 
203. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
__________