RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/123 
2 March 2010 
 (10-1155) 
General Council 
17 November 2009  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 17 November 2009  
 
Chairman:  Mr. Mario Matus (Chile) 
 
  In the course of the meeting, the Chairm an and many delegations bade farewell to 
Ambassador Clarke (Barbados) and Ambassador N oor (Malaysia), expressing appreciation for their 
hard work and dedication during their time as Permanent Representatives. 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
 
1. Report by the Chairman of th e Trade Negotiati ons Committee ..........................................1  
2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and Development ......................................11  
3. Follow-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration – Report by the Director-
General on the Development A ssistance Aspects of Cotton................................................12  
4. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 
1994 – Communications from Honduras and Guatemala – Statement by the 
Chairman....................................................................................................................... ..........15  
5. The financial and economic crisis and the role of the WTO – Communication 
from Argentina and Ecuador.................................................................................................17  
6. Seventh Session of the Ministerial Conference.....................................................................21  
7. Review of WT O activities....................................................................................................... 24 
8. Statement by the Chairman regarding the Chairmanship of the TRIPS Special 
Session........................................................................................................................ ..............26  
9. Statement by the Chairman in connect ion with Administrative Measures for 
Members in  arrears ............................................................................................................. ...27 
 
1. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
1. 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. 
2. The Director-General, Chairman of the TNC , said1 that, since his last report to the General 
Council, he had met with the Negotiating Chairs  and the General Council Chairman on several 
                                                      
1 The Director-General's statement was su bsequently circulated as JOB(09)/173. WT/GC/M/123 
Page 2  
 
  occasions to exchange views on the overall process and to coordinate activities, so as to facilitate the 
work of delegations.  Delegations had already r eceived the schedule of meetings for the Senior 
Officials' Week.  The Negotiating Chairs, the Gene ral Council Chairman and himself were still fine-
tuning this programme with a view to ensure pr edictability, inclusiveness an d transparency in the 
context of an intensive meeting sche dule.  He paid tribute to the Negotiating Chairs for their work and 
commitment.  The past year had been one of modest, but nevertheless progress in all areas of 
negotiations, albeit of a different type.  In so me cases, progress had meant a better understanding of 
positions;  in some others, however, there had been tangible progress and this was about to be captured in a draft negotiating text, as was the case  with Trade Facilitation.  He pointed out that, 
before the year ended, there were two weeks of Seni or Official engagement which needed to be used 
to continue to move the ball forward.  If the Round was to be concluded in 2010, delegations needed 
to assess where things stood early in the new year an d to map the road that would lead to a successful 
result. 
3. Turning to each negotiating area,  in Agriculture, the Special Session Chair had held detailed 
consultations with Members to determine where useful  progress could be made, particularly in light of 
the subsequent renewed political mandate from th e G-20 in London and the G-8 in L'Aquila.  The 
consultations had included Room E and open-ended informal meeti ngs of the negotiating group, 
resulting in a steady programme of technical work and further discussions on outstanding issues in the texts before negotiators.  Work in Agriculture was proceeding on a two-track approach.  One track, 
related to template work, was adva ncing well, with substantive contri butions from Members.  Step 1 
of this template work concerned the identificati on of base data and appropriate tables, which was 
expected to conclude during the current month with step 2 then to start, namely the preparation of 
templates to be used for scheduling.  This technical  work would continue with every prospect that it 
could be concluded early in the new year.  The other track of work was the Chair's informal 
consultations on the bracketed and otherwise annotat ed issues in the draft modalities and associated 
documentation.  There had been discussions on domes tic support – where it was clear that a solution 
on cotton was fundamental – and on market access issues, including useful work on sensitive 
products, tariff cap, TRQ expansion and tariff simplifi cation.  The Chair's consultations would branch 
the Special and Differential Treatment (S&D) issu es in the modalities, with an opportunity in 
December and early in the new year to return to so me of these matters.  In sum, he believed that the 
work on agriculture was engaged, had the support of Members and held the prospect, given political 
will, of moving towards agreed modalities in the ne w year, although there remained work to do.  He 
urged delegations to continue in th is vein and to keep the level of  ambition, knowing that all issues 
needed to be resolved in order to conclude the work. 
4. On NAMA, the Group had spent a substantive amount of time during the year on non-tariff 
barriers.  During the course of the four non-tari ff barrier (NTB) dedicated sessions held in 2009, 
Members had been able to deepen their understa nding of the NTB proposals through questions and 
answer sessions, and discussion.  Additionally, work shops had been organized by the sponsors of 
some of these proposals in order to further enhan ce Members' understanding of their proposals.  More 
recently and as a follow-up to the last Senior O fficial Meeting, the Chair of the Negotiating Group 
had been engaging in a series of consultations  with a view to narrowing differences among 
delegations on these texts.  He recalled that, in hi s July report, it was noted that that the Negotiating 
Group had spent time on the technical exercise of sch eduling.  A Workshop on Electronic Negotiating 
Files had been organized in July , and this exercise had also been  repeated during Geneva week.  
"Scheduling" was now a regular component of all NAMA-related technical assistance programmes.  It 
was a complex but essential exercise and delegations n eeded to be familiar with the contents of these 
electronic negotiating files.  Turning to sectorals, during the year, relevant negotiations had been led 
by the sponsors of such initiatives, who had undertak en technical work which had then been used in 
outreach activities.  Information sessions had been  conducted by the sponsors on their various 
proposals during the NAMA weeks, and Members had been kept appraised of this work through 
reports by the sponsors in the open-ended transparen cy sessions.  He believed that, as a Minister at a  WT/GC/M/123 
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  recent APEC meeting had noted, results were "sublim inal".  In terms of next steps, a NAMA week 
had been scheduled for the week of 7 December whose focus would be on NTBs.  The hope was that 
discussions would be pursued on the basis of upda ted NTB textual proposals which had taken account 
of the comments exchanged during the previous months. 
5. Moving to Services, the Director-General noted that, thus far in 2009, there had been only 
incremental progress in the negotiations.  Members had agreed early in the year to continue work on 
the basis of the roadmap containe d in the July 2008 services text.  On the market access side, work 
had concentrated on technical discussions, in small groups and bilaterals, largely aimed at clarifying 
signals made at the July 2008 Ministerial gatheri ng.  On GATS rules, progress had been minimal in 
the three areas of subsidies, emergency safeguard s, and government procurement.  In domestic 
regulation, negotiations had continued on the basis of the Chair's draft.  On the implementation of 
LDC modalities, a small group of Members had been discussing a draft text of a waiver, which would 
soon be forwarded to the Special Session.  It wa s clear that the services negotiations could only 
proceed in tandem with those in the other areas of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).  Progress would therefore depend on the extent that progress was achieved in Agriculture and NAMA.  There 
was also a need for balance with in the services negotiations between market access and rule-making.  
On market access, there was clear room for offers  to be improved, while in rule-making further 
progress needed to be made, especially with respect  to the text on domestic regulation presently under 
discussion.  It was his view that headway on the issue of the implementation of LDC modalities could be made soon.  The next services cluster was planne d for the week of 8 February 2010, which would 
hopefully seek to capture any direction of the ne gotiations given by Members in the following few 
weeks. 
6. Regarding Rules, the Chair had circulated ne w draft texts on anti-dumping and subsidies, as 
well as a roadmap on fisheries subsidies, in la te December 2008.  Thus, the Negotiating Group had 
focused its efforts in 2009 on working through these documents.  To this end, the Group had 
continued to meet intensively a nd on the substance in open-ended format, in week-long clusters in 
February, May, June, Septembe r and October 2009.  The process  had been long and sometimes 
tedious, but the work had advanced.  The Group was lik ely to have completed its first review of the 
horizontal subsidies text by December and to be ne ar completion of its review of the anti-dumping 
text.  On fisheries subsidies, the Group would comp lete discussion of the roadmap in December and 
begin consideration of new proposals by Members.   It had also completed a first discussion of 
possible transposition in the context of differe nces between the provisions on anti-dumping and 
countervail.  The following week, the Group would m eet in open-ended session with Senior Officials 
to take stock across the board in the Rules area.  There had been some progress on technical issues, 
and the Group had advanced on some of the preparatory work necessary for conclusion of the Round.  There had not, however, been any signs of signi ficant convergence on major political issues.  The 
level of engagement to seek convergence on such issues had been extremel y limited, therefore a 
renewed level of commitment by all Members w as needed to bring the work to a successful 
conclusion. 
7. With respect to Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), the Negotiating Group had not met since 
early 2007, although there had been small group meetings among interested Members and between 
interested Members and the Chair.  The Negotiati ng Group had already produced a good result in this 
area with the adoption of the new Transparency  Mechanism on RTAs which had been operating 
successfully.  It remained for the Group to revi ew it and agree to make it into a permanent WTO 
instrument.  Negotiations on systemic issues of RT As had unfortunately not progressed.  It was the 
Director-General's understanding that the Chair intended to discuss ways of reinvigorating these negotiations with Senior Officials.  One could not  but be perplexed by the limited focus by Members 
on this major systemic issue for the multilateral trad ing system, especially if one compared it to the 
flurry of academic activity on this same topic. WT/GC/M/123 
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  8. On Special and Differential Treatment, work in  the CTD Special Session thus far in 2009 had 
focused on the monitoring mechanism.  This wo rk, which had largely taken place in small group 
format, had been carried out on the basis of the Chair's non-paper tabled in May 2009.  Periodic 
open-ended meetings had also been held to inform the wider member ship of the progress.  The Chair 
had recently revised his non-paper which would form the basis of work on the monitoring mechanism.  
While some progress had been made on elements of the monitoring mechanism, there were areas 
where Members would need to focus their efforts in order to reach convergence.  In particular, 
discussions were continuing on the scope of the me chanism and on the sequencing of the monitoring 
process.  There were some other issues, including those relating to the objectives and mandate of the 
mechanism, which would also need to be fine t uned.  In the coming months, the Chair intended to 
continue concentrating on closing these gaps on the basis of his revised non-paper.  In addition, he 
was keeping the possibility open of reverting back  to the Agreement-specific proposals, depending 
largely on Members putting forward new ideas and la nguage that would enable progress to be made 
on these proposals.  The Chair would be working in close collaboration with the relevant Chairpersons to determine the best way to ma ke progress on the Category II proposals which were 
being addressed in other WTO bodies. 
9. The Special Session of the Council for TRIPS, which dealt with the multilateral system of 
notification and registration of geogr aphical indications (GIs) for wine s and spirits – in short, 'the 
Register' – had held three formal meetings in 20 09, with another one scheduled on 27 November.  
In-between the formal meetings, the Chair had consulted delegations in  various settings.  The 
discussions had taken up the three categories of issu es identified in the Chair's report of mid-2008: 
(i) consequences/legal effects of regi strations and participation;  (ii) notification and registration;  and, 
(iii)  other issues such as fees, costs and administra tive burdens, in particular for developing and least-
developed country Members, and S&D.  The Chai r had signalled a need for the group to move from 
the re-statement of known concerns and establishe d positions, towards a substantive, structured 
negotiation.  Therefore, he had since June struct ured the discussions around a list of four questions 
drawn up on his own resp onsibility.  The two first questions rela ted to consequences/legal effects of 
the Register, the third question concerned Members'  participation in the Register, and the last 
addressed S&D.  The issue of consequences/legal effect s continued to be the core of the discussions.  
Several delegations had usefully explained what the implementation of the proposed systems would 
entail in their current domestic laws, e.g. how the information on the Register could be taken into 
consideration or account.  There was a serious divisi on between delegations as to whether the entry of 
a geographical term on the Register by one Member should produce a prima facie  evidence of the 
eligibility of that term for protection as a GI in an y other Member.  Further progress in discussing the 
other questions of the Chair's list and issues such as fees, costs or administrative burdens largely 
depended on the resolution of the major stumbling bl ock of consequences/legal effects.  The Chair 
was preparing a handover report and, in addition to re porting on the work hitherto achieved, he would, 
based on the discussions he had conducted, seek to identify in his report the areas where there seemed 
to be some convergence of views and those where differences remain. 
10. The Director-General further reported that good progress had been made in 2009 on Trade 
Facilitation and the outlines of a new Agreement were be ginning to take shape.  In the first six months 
of the year, the Negotiating Group had built on its  compilation of Members' proposals and comments 
on those proposals.  In September, Members had ag reed to take their work to the next level by 
drafting a consolidated negotiating text.  That process had proceeded well and the Negotiating Group 
had completed its review of all issues in its mandate .  A draft consolidated negotiating text would be 
issued shortly. 
11. In Trade and Environment, Members had agreed to  continue working on the basis of the work 
programme contained in the July 2008 Chair's Report.   With respect to the relationship between WTO 
and MEAs, a process of consultations had been init iated to clarify further the areas of convergence 
and outstanding issues with the objective of preparin g for text-based negotiations.  On environmental  WT/GC/M/123 
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  goods and services, Members had exchanged ideas and examined in more detail key environmental 
sectors at a workshop held in September.  This had provided a useful basis for the next phase under the work programme, where delegations were expect ed to identify environmental goods of interest 
and put forward concrete proposals on cross-cu tting and development-related issues, without 
prejudice to Members' positions.  This exercise ha d formally started and a few contributions had 
already been made by certain Members, while others  had given indications that work was still being 
undertaken in capitals to come forward with subm issions on goods of interest and on cross-cutting 
issues.  The CTESS would meeting later in the curren t week and again in mid-February to continue 
negotiations pursuant to the work programme.  Th e discussions would require engagement on a broad 
basis and substantive inputs from Members for a successful outcome to be achieved in the 
negotiations.  Hopefully, there was scope for further technical work to be undertaken in this area and 
linkages with other areas of the negotiations s hould not prevent this work from going forward. 
12. On Dispute Settlement, thus far in 2009, the Ch air of the DSB Special Session had continued 
his series of week-long group consultations with inte rested delegations.  The consultations had aimed 
at addressing the universe of 12 issues covered in the te xt that the Chair had issued in July 2008, and 
had been based on the drafting proposals reflected in th at text.  Each week of consultations had ended 
with a brief informal meeting of the DSB Special Session, where the Chair had reported back to the 
Membership at large and discussed the steps ahead.  Three of the 12  issues had not been covered in 
the consultations in 2009 and would be addressed at  a further week of consultations scheduled for 
January 2010.  Following that discussion, the Special Session would have covered the complete 
universe of 12 issues addressed in the Chair's text of Ju ly 2008.  Accordingly, at that point the Special 
Session would take stock of the progress made since the issuance of the Chair's text, and assess how it 
could move forward towards a prompt conclusion of the DSU negotiations as mandated by Ministers 
in Hong Kong.  He pointed out that recent discussions  had been useful, but that still much remained to 
be done to bridge the differences on the drafting la nguage reflected in the Chair's text.  During the 
following weeks and early next year, the Chairman w ould consult with delegati ons individually and in 
groups on how to adjust the negotiating process with  a view to successfully concluding the DSU 
negotiations. 
13. Turning to the two TRIPS issues on which he ha d been mandated to pursue consultations as 
Director-General – the relationship between TRIPS and the CBD and the extension of Article 23 GI 
protection – he reported continued progress in wo rking through the substantive issues, although 
negotiations were not on the verge of a breakthrou gh neither on the modalities of how to take forward 
these issues beyond the consultation process nor on th e content of what a substantive outcome would 
look like.  That was not to minimize, however, the significance and value of the concrete, focussed and thoughtful dialogue that was be ing conducted.  As for all participants on both issues he sensed 
that there was now a clearer grasp of the central policy issues and legal options, and the concerns and 
interests that drove Members' positions in these sen sitive policy areas.  The current phase of work, a 
series of thematic clusters of questions posed by participating Members, was halfway, with the next 
set of consultations expected to work through th e remaining clusters.  Then, one would have to 
consider realistically where things stood, what ha d been learned from the process so far, how the 
understanding gleaned from these consultations could be  harvested in a usable form, and then how to 
build on this foundation in the new year. 
14. The Director-General further reported on his recen t participation in meetings of African Trade 
Ministers in Cairo as well as his discussions with the Trade Ministers of APEC.  At both these 
meetings, he had briefed Ministers on the st ate-of-play of the DDA negotiations as well on 
preparations for the Ministerial Conference.  He had stressed that the timing of the Conference was 
very opportune, as it would allow Members to sen d a strong political message that concluding the 
DDA in 2010 remained a priority and that the work  programme until the end of this year should 
provide the launch-pad for a further intensificati on and a further push towards modalities in the first 
quarter of the following year.  The message he had taken back from these meetings was one of re-WT/GC/M/123 
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  commitment to the conclusion of the DDA in 2010 a nd wider-scope recognition of the important role 
of the WTO in exiting the crisis. 
15. Furthermore, he stressed that the Seventh Mi nisterial Conference, which was long overdue, 
would take place in less than two weeks and that it would be the first time in almost four years that political masters would be brought together to revi ew the activities of the multilateral trading system 
and provide the necessary guidance to  the institution for the following y ears.  He recalled that this 
regular Ministerial Conference would not be a negotiating session and that the DDA was on its own, separate track.  At the same time, he believed that  what was needed in the current economic situation 
was a platform for Ministers to review the functioning  of the system in its entirety and to renew their 
commitment to a strong, well functioning multilateral trading system.  The DDA clearly ranked 
among such issues.  The upcoming Ministerial Conference was a unique occasion for the WTO 
membership to send a number of strong signals to wo rld with respect on the entire WTO waterfront of 
issues – from monitoring and surveillance to disput es, accessions, Aid for Trade, technical assistance 
and international governance.  On th is latter point, he believed there wa s a collective interest in setting 
a positive and constructive tone for international c ooperation ahead of the Climate Change Summit in 
Copenhagen.  It was his hope that the presence of Senior Officials in Geneva the following week 
would set the stage for a positive Ministerial Conferen ce.  All had an interest in taking a constructive, 
yet lucid assessment of the engagement in the Ge neva process across the board of the DDA to the 
Conference.  This would be conducive to a succe ssful Ministerial meeting and to facilitating the 
political commitment needed to conclude the Round in 2010. 
16. With respect to the schedule of meetings for the upcoming Senior Officials' Week and in 
order to provide delegations with predictability for that week and to ensure a high degree of 
transparency and inclusiveness, the Director-G eneral would hold an informal TNC meeting on 
23 November.  At the end of the week, on 27 Nove mber, another an informal TNC meeting would be 
held to "wrap up" the Senior Officials' Week and to provide an assessment of  the week's activities.  
That assessment would also be circulated to delegations ahead of the Ministerial Conference in order 
to help set the tone for the principles of full par ticipation, inclusiveness a nd transparency identified 
for the meeting. 
17. The representative of Mauritius,
 on behalf of the ACP Group,  thanked the Director General 
for his report which had clarified many aspects of the issues under negotiations.  He informed the 
Council that the ACP Ministers of Trade had met in Brussels to reflect on the DDA negotiations and 
to prepare for the Seventh Ministerial Conference.   During their session, Ministers had reviewed the 
world economic situation and WTO issues, incl uding the DDA negotiations, in the light of the 
challenges facing the ACP's diversified membership  and their vulnerable economies.  They were 
concerned that the severe financial and economic cr isis had affected international trade and was 
impeding the capacity of developing countries to reap the benefits from global trade.  At the end of 
their deliberations, ACP Ministers had adopted a Communiqué and a Declaration2 in which they had 
emphasized that the multilateral trading system had to operate in a manner th at supported all countries 
in their development efforts.  The WTO had to contribute to development and poverty alleviation 
through trade. 
18. ACP Ministers had, therefore, raised concerns about the lack of progress in the DDA 
negotiations and had urged Members to intensify their efforts and exercise the necessary political will 
to conclude the Round.  Ministers were of the view  that concluding the Round at this time of crisis 
would enhance the much needed confidence in th e multilateral trading system, stall the rise in 
protectionism and contribute to stabilize the globa l financial and economic system.  In terms of 
process, ACP Ministers had stressed the importance of preserving and building on progress achieved 
                                                      
2 The ACP Ministerial Communiqué and the ACP De claration were subsequently circulated in 
document WT/MIN(09)/7.  WT/GC/M/123 
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  in the DDA negotiations.  They had cautioned agains t attempts to re-interpret or change agreed 
mandates and sequencing or to re-open stabilized part s of modalities texts.  They had insisted on the 
need for the negotiations to be carried out in a genuine multilateral, inclus ive and transparent manner 
to ensure the full legitimacy and balance of the outcome.  All negotiating processes should, in their 
view, be based on balanced and consensually agreed agendas.  ACP Ministers had also underlined that 
a successful conclusion of the Doha Round should ha ve meaningful outcomes in its key development 
components which included cotton, implementation issues and concerns, LDCs priorities including Duty-Free Quota-Free (DFQF) market access, small economies, commodity issues, bananas, SSM, preferences in agriculture and NAMA, and fisheries subsidies. 
19. With regard to accession, ACP Ministers had e xpressed the full solidarity of the Group with 
its acceding members, reaffirming that the latte r should not be required to undertake obligations 
which went beyond existing WTO disciplines and thei r level of development.  Ministers had urged 
development partners to make firm commitments to  provide adequate financial, technical assistance 
and capacity building, including through Aid for Trade and through existing and new delivery 
mechanisms.  Thy stressed that the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference as well as any future 
measures taken in this regard, including those which could affect trade, had to take full account of the 
development needs of countries, based on the princi ple of common and differentiated responsibility.  
They supported the establishment of a mitigation fund.  Finally, the representative of Mauritius 
emphasized that ACP Ministers looked forward to  participating in the Seventh Ministerial 
Conference. 
20. The representative of Singapore
 provided an overview of the outcomes of the APEC 
Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and the APEC Econom ic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) which had taken 
place in Singapore the previous week.3  At the AMM and AELM, APEC Leaders and Ministers had 
reaffirmed the importance of securing an ambitious  and balanced conclusi on of the Doha Round in 
2010, based on the progress achieved to date includi ng with regard to modalities, and had recognized 
that efforts had to be made to translate the hi gh-level political commitment into tangible progress in 
the negotiations.  Specifically, the APEC Leader s and Ministers had called for pragmatism and 
maximum flexibility, and to utilize all possible avenu es to accelerate the current  pace of negotiations.  
With the deadline fast approaching, Ministers had also  been instructed to assess the situation in early 
2010.  APEC Ministers had also stressed the need  for further intensification of work along the 
following lines:  first, to move into endgame nego tiations in Agriculture and NAMA, and advance in 
parallel Services, Rules, Trade Facilitation and all other remaining issues in  the DDA in accordance 
with agreed Geneva work plans.  Second, to engage  more substantively at a ll levels, including through 
text-based negotiations under the Geneva Chair-led process, and direct engagement between Members 
to evaluate and close the remaining gaps. 
21. She highlighted that there was a clear political  commitment from APEC Leaders to conclude 
the Doha Round in 2010 and stressed that the rema ining two Senior Officials Meetings in 2009 
needed to produce some concrete deliverables an d move the process forward.  Senior Officials 
Meetings were important opportunities to move into the specifics  and needed to go beyond repeating 
stated positions while intensifying engagement thr ough different channels to bridge gaps and narrow 
differences.  She also pointed out that the Seve nth Ministerial Conference, while not DDA-centred, 
would be the perfect opportunity for Ministers to take stock of progress, and continue to inject further 
political momentum necessary to carry th e negotiating process forward into 2010. 
22. Additionally, she emphasized that, in a robust defence of free trade, APEC Leaders and 
Ministers had reiterated their commitment to reject  all forms of protectionism, including through the 
                                                      
3 The Ministers’ Statement and the Leaders’ Declaration were circulated in documents WT/L/777 and WT/L/778 
respectively.  
 WT/GC/M/123 
Page 8  
 
  extension of the commitment to refrain from raising new barriers to trade and i nvestment to the end of 
2010 and beyond if necessary, regardless of whether th ese barriers were WTO-consistent or not.  
Ministers had also been instructed to continue to regularly review adherence to these commitments 
through an APEC wide monitoring mechanism.  On APEC's cooperation with the WTO, the APEC 
Secretariat had been working with the WTO on sp ecific areas for cooperation, including greater 
collaboration on the Aid-for-Trade agenda.  Minister s had taken note of this and had asked to be 
updated on developments on this fro nt.  This would hopefully help institutionalize the relationship 
between APEC and the WTO, and leverage on the synergies that existed between the two 
organizations.  The period ahead would be challe nging, and whether the Round was concluded by 
2010 or not depended greatly on the progress made over the following weeks and months.  In this 
difficult time, leadership and a display of true  willingness to move into the endgame stage of 
negotiations was needed from all Members.  She st ressed that Singapore stood ready to work with the 
NG Chairs to achieve a meaningful outcome for all. 
23. The representative of Tanzania,
 on behalf of the LDC Group,  commended the Director-
General for his efforts to accelerate the negotia tion process.  The Group hoped that the political 
goodwill garnered from the world leaders would be translated by the coming Ministerial Conference 
into real actions, in a manner that would assist th e Geneva process reach an early conclusion.  He 
stressed that concluding the DDA negotiations wo uld deliver the needed contribution to economic 
recovery and would demonstrate the benefits of the multilateral trading system, in which the LDCs 
continued to be marginalized.  The situation ha d worsened after the global economic and financial 
crisis.  As the world economy struggled to recove r from its vagaries, LDCs continued to face major 
challenges.  It was important to note, however, that concluding this Round should not come at the 
expense of its developmental components, which ensu red the integration of developing countries, and 
particularly the LDCs, in a fair, development-fri endly multilateral trading system.  The LDC Group 
believed that the negotiating pro cess had to remain multilateral a nd fully transparent, with a 
bottom-up approach.  Bilateral and plurilateral consultations could be  useful in enhancing mutual 
understanding, but should not replace the multilater al negotiations, nor should they affect the 
consensus reached within the multilateral context.  Th ere were concerns that bilateral and plurilateral 
consultations could be used to selectively re-ope n stabilized elements of the negotiations, or to 
compromise the interests of developing countries, particularly LDCs. 
24. The LDC Group reiterated its call for an early harvest in areas where consensus had been 
achieved for the LDCs' specific issues.  In view of  the burden and heavy cost which LDCs had had to 
bear as a result of the protraction to the DDA negotiations, the Group was again calling for 
operationalization of DFQF market access for LDCs, the provision of a Services waiver, the implementation of S&D provisions, and for an am bitious and expeditious implementation of the 
decision regarding the Cotton initiative as mandated in  the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  Trade 
Ministers in Dar es Salaam had taken the position th at there could be no conclusion of the DDA if the 
Cotton issue was not resolved.  These issues were c ontained in the LDC Ministerial Dar es Salaam 
Declaration, in document WT/MIN(09)/2 dated 21 October.  The Group also reiterated its call for 
implementation by development pa rtners and Members on the provision of targeted technical and 
financial assistance through such mechanisms as th e Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and 
Aid for Trade, to facilitate industrialization and di versification of the LDCs' economies and also to 
enable the LDCs to meet their implementation obligations. 
25. He further stressed that another issue of c oncern to the LDCs was the cumbersome accession 
procedures.  The Guidelines for Accession adopt ed by the General Council in 2002 called for an 
accelerated accession process in favour of LDCs, thr ough simplified and streamlined procedures.  The 
same had been emphasized in the Hong Kong Minist erial Declaration.  Accession of LDCs had also 
been addressed in the Round Table Statement of the Least Developed Countries made in Phnom  WT/GC/M/123 
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  Pehn4.  The LDC Group wished to reiterate its call fo r the implementation of the Guidelines in letter 
and spirit and urged for the establishment and adopti on of an effective mechanism for fast-tracking 
the accession process for LDCs, in line with the pr inciple of S&D.  The LDC Group welcomed the 
dialogue with acceding LDCs which had been held on 28 May , which was regarded as an initial step 
towards the right direction to reform and improve LDCs' accession process.  It was hoped that another 
round of dialogue on more constr uctive and detailed discussions shoul d take place early in 2010, in 
order to build on the initial progress attained and move the process forward.  The LDC Group 
remained ready to cooperate and engage constructively with  Members towards the successful 
conclusion of the Round. 
26. The representative of Egypt,  on behalf of the African Group , reiterated the Group's full 
support for the Director-General's efforts to adva nce the negotiations.  He informed Members that 
Egypt had hosted, on 27-29 October, an informal me eting of African Ministers of Trade.  Egypt had 
taken this initiative in its capacity as coordinato r of the African Group, with the aim of updating 
African Ministers about recent developments in the negotiations and preparing for the Seventh 
Ministerial Conference.  The African Ministers par ticipating in the Cairo meeting had reiterated that 
the early and successful conclusion of the Doha  Development Round, with the developmental 
component at its core, had become imperative as a stimulus for the growth of African economies, 
especially in light of the two-fold effect of th e economic and financial crisis on African economic 
growth and national developmental plans, recalling in this regard the African Development Bank’s 
estimates that losses in export revenues for the A frican continent would reach $251 billion in 2009, 
and $277 billion in 2010.   Ministers had considered that the successful conclusion of the Round 
depended on translating the political statements emanating from Summits and regional ministerial 
meetings into concrete actions, while not losing si ght of the developmental aspects of the Round.  It 
was within this context that they had called upon  the major players, particularly the developed 
countries, to show the required lead ership to move the negotiations forward, on the basis of the agreed 
mandates.  In this regard, they had cautioned agai nst attempts to reinterpret existing mandates and 
deviate from agreed principles, and had opposed an y form of selective re-sequencing of issues, or 
re-opening of the stabilized parts of modalities, stressing that the negotiations should preserve and 
build on progress achieved thus far, and that th e negotiating process had to remain multilateral and 
fully transparent. 
27. He further pointed out that, in highlighting th eir concern that no significant progress had been 
achieved in key issues of interest to Africa, Ministers had called upon Members to achieve an “early 
harvest” of an ambitious, expeditious and specific outcome for Cotton, and gi ve the necessary priority 
to issues of importance to African and LDC Members,  calling for a solution to the banana issue that 
would take into consideration the interests of A frican banana-producing coun tries.  Furthermore, 
Ministers had showed solidarity with African and LDC Members that were going thorough the accession process, and had urged all Members to fac ilitate and accelerate it, underscoring that African 
countries should not be required to make concessions  that went beyond their level of development and 
current WTO rules.  African Ministers had called upon the General Council to expedite action on the 
process, in order to review and recommend ways to  undertake the reforms needed to clarify the 
relevant provisions for accession and improve systemic transparency through regular progress reports 
on accession.  Underscoring the importance of Aid for Trade in addressing the supply-side capacity constraints and trade-related infrastructure, African  Ministers had stressed the need to maintain the 
momentum in securing additional, predictable a nd sustainable resources, and had reiterated the 
importance of ensuring that the offer matched the demand, and the need for improving the aid supply 
mechanism, while strengthening its monitoring an d assessment in order to maximize Aid for Trade 
effectiveness and impact.  On this  specific issue of Aid for Trade, the African Group stressed the need 
for the adoption of a work programme on Aid for Trade for the period 2009-2011, and recommended 
its adoption before the Seventh Ministerial Conference. 
                                                     
 
4  Circulated in document WT/MIN(09)/1 - WT/L/769 - WT/COMTD/LDC/16. WT/GC/M/123 
Page 10  
 
  28. He noted that the full text of the Cairo Communiqué was available in document 
WT/MIN(09)/3, and that the issues dealt with in Cairo were not different from the Communiqué from 
the ACP Group Ministerial meeting and also what ha d been mentioned by Tanzania on behalf of the 
LDC Group.  This showed that there was unity am ong developing countries on their concerns about 
the current status of the Doha Round.   The Group stressed that for Africa, development outcomes in 
each of the negotiating areas remained the raison d’être  of the Round, and that Africa would join the 
consensus only if the Round delivered on concrete development outcomes. 
29. The representative of Colombia
 thanked the Director-General and the Chairs of the 
Negotiating Groups for their efforts in prepar ing a detailed work programme that ensured 
transparency and inclusiveness for the week of Seni or Officials Meetings.  His delegation believed the 
concerns that some Members, including Colombia, had expressed recently with regard to the process 
for meetings of Senior Officials had been taken into account.  The stage was set, a well structured 
programme of meetings was available and an overflow ing thematic agenda was on the table.  Progress 
on which one could build had been made on vari ous fronts, including Agriculture, NAMA, NTBs, 
Rules and Trade Facilitation.  What was needed was the will of political decision-makers, and 
Colombia hoped that the Senior Officials w ould give a quantitative and qualitative boost to the 
negotiating work.  This ingredient needed to be present in order to have a productive week whose 
results would be reflected in the Ministerial.  This would also facilitate the achievement of the 
common objective to adopt modalities in order to be ab le to complete the Round in 2010.  A real will 
was needed to make progress in the negotiations, with  the firm conviction to conclude them as soon as 
possible.  This was a collective responsibility for all Members, and in particular the key players in the 
organization.  Colombia was committed to collaborat e as much as possible to achieve the objective of 
concluding the Round. 
30. The representative of Zambia  associated his delegation with the statements by Tanzania on 
behalf of the LDC Group and Egypt on behalf of th e African Group.  He noted that in the last few 
weeks there had been diligent and continuous e ngagement of Members in various formats of 
negotiations.  Modest but steady progress had been made in the work relating to data requirements 
under the three pillars of the Agriculture negotia tions;  the consolidation of texts under Trade 
Facilitation relating to the three articles under review ;  and possible language for consideration under 
the S&D and technical assistance and capacity build ing pillar.  Work had also progressed steadily on 
domestic regulation in the Services area and th e small group consultations on the modalities for the 
special treatment of LDCs' services and service supplie rs had reached an advanced textual stage.  In 
NAMA, several text-based proposals had been tabled to address NTBs.  However, the comfort levels 
in several key negotiating areas which was critical for the finalization of modalities and conclusion of 
negotiations by 2010 had yet to be reached.  Theref ore, there was a need for the Senior Officials to 
provide additional impetus to the negotiating process during their meetings scheduled for the week of 
23 November.  He believed that it would also be important to assess where things would be early in 
the new year, so that the necess ary adjustments could be made to facilitate the conclusion of 
negotiations by the end of 2010.  He stressed that  his delegation remained committed to the process 
and would continue to press for an early and successful conclusion of negotiations under the DDA, 
with satisfactory outcomes on positions presented by the LDC Group relating to enhanced market 
access, simplified and transparent rules of origin, Co tton, the Services waiver and flexible provisions 
for LDCs as well as capacity building support in th e area of Trade Facilitation.  In concluding, he 
pointed out that these efforts should be complemented by the full and effective implementation of the 
EIF and the Aid for Trade initiative. 
31. The representative of Bangladesh  supported the statement made by Tanzania on behalf of 
LDCs.  He stressed that the issues of DFQF ma rket access for LDCs, the waiver on Services for 
LDCs, the reduction of subsidies on cotton, together with the enhancement of technical assistance to 
cotton-producing African countries and a fast-track  accession for LCDs were  critical.  Also, in 
NAMA, as agreed at the Hong Kong Ministerial C onference, LDCs should not receive less preference  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 11 
 
 
  than any developing country.  He emphasized the importance of the development aspect of the DDA, 
which should be concluded by 2010. 
32. The representative of Kenya  associated his delegation with the statements by Egypt on behalf 
of the African Group and Mauritius on behalf of the ACP.  He noted that the two-track approach 
adopted in area of Agriculture and the "step one" process was about to be concluded and hoped that 
by the time the "step two" process started, grey issues in this area would start getting clearer to 
facilitate completion of draft modalities.  On  NAMA, his delegation hoped that the ongoing 
discussion on NTB text-based proposals would also ma ke progress.  He had specifically singled out 
these two areas because of the key importance they had for the conclusion of the DDA negotiations.  
His delegation shared the widely held view that any further work in these two areas should be based 
on the progress achieved in the December 2008 draf t modalities texts and the converge reached in 
July.  Indeed, the preservation of this progress was cr itical if the set target of concluding the Doha 
Round by 2010 was to be realised, in line with the many pronouncements made in various global 
trade and economic fora  in the recent past. 
33. He expressed appreciation for the structured prog ramme for the meetings of Senior Officials 
the following week, in line with the three mont h work programme launched in September.  He 
emphasized that their efforts could only inject  further impetus into the DDA negotiations if 
appropriate measures were taken to guard agains t reopening some parts of the two draft modalities 
texts, as well as refraining from selective re-sequencing of issues vertically.  It was imperative that the process be transparent and all-inclusive.  In conc luding, he pointed out that Aid for Trade was an 
important issue which needed to be nurtured thro ugh a clear and well designed roadmap which would 
lead to the third global review.  Such roadmap should not lose sight of key elements such as 
additionality of resources, sustained flow of adequate  funds despite the current global financial crisis 
and an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism, as well as appropriate system of disaggregating of figures to facilitate assessment of its impact on trade.  His delegation continued to 
remain constructively engaged and ready to provide support whenever necessary. 
34. The General Council took note
 of the Director-General's report and of the statements. 
2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development 
35. 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 Council's agenda and the Committee on Trade and Development reported regularly to the Council 
on the progress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on th is subject.  He also noted that Ministers at 
Hong Kong instructed the CTD, under the overall res ponsibility of the Council, to continue the work 
in the Dedicated 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, the Council had taken note that Member s in that body would continue pursuing the 
substantive work under the Work Programme.  He poi nted out that the latest report to the Council 
from the Dedicated Session was contained in doc ument WT/COMTD/SE/6, dated 23 October and 
invited the Chairman of the Dedicat ed Session, to introduce the report. 
36. Mr. Servansing (Mauritius), Chairman of the Dedicated Session
, noted that, since his last 
report, a new revision of document WT/COMTD/SE/W/ 22 had been circulated to Members.  This 
fourth revision compiled all proposals made by th e SVEs in the various negotiating groups and other 
WTO bodies.  It reflected the current state of the different draft modalities and negotiating texts, and 
any decisions taken thus far on SVE issues.  At the meeting held at the end of October, Members had 
also adopted their Second Report of the CTD in Dedicated Session to the General Council.  He WT/GC/M/123 
Page 12  
 
  recalled that, in 2005, Ministers in Hong Kong, Chin a, had instructed the CTD's Dedicated Session to 
continue its work and to report on progress and actions taken to the ne xt Ministerial Conference.  The 
Dedicated Session's report, contained in document WT/COMTD/SE/6, was a factual summary of all 
the submissions and proposals made by the proponents of SVEs since the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  It also contained a section on future work which stated that the Dedicated Session would 
consider in further detail the proposals contained in  the various submissions that had been received, 
examine any additional proposals that Members wished to submit and, where possible, make recommendations to the General Council on any of these proposals. 
37. The representative of Barbados
, speaking on behalf of the SVEs , thanked the Chair of the 
Committee on Trade and Development in Dedicated Session for his report and for his continued 
commitment to the Small Economies Work Programme  and the Secretariat for revising the SVEs 
monitoring compilation.  The group took note of the report which would be forwarded to the 
Ministerial Conference and welcomed the recommendation that Ministers should acknowledge the progress achieved thus far in the Small Economies Work  Programme and to instruct that the work be 
continued in the CTDDS and in the negotiating and other bodies in the WTO.  The SVEs Work 
Programme had served as an important platform fo r a number of developing countries with specific 
structural vulnerabilities to pool the negotiating resources with the aim of improving integration into the multilateral trading system.  SVEs had at all times  taken a constructive approach in all areas of the 
negotiations.  It had been the group's responsibilit y to identify and promote solutions to address its 
concerns, while it was the shared responsibility of all Members to ensure that these solutions, once 
agreed, were effectively implemented.  The SV Es also supported the Aid for Trade initiative as a 
mechanism to assist their vulnerable economies and l ooked forward to a quick adoption of the Aid for 
Trade Work Programme.  Less than two weeks aw ay from the Seventh Ministerial Conference, the 
SVEs were ensuring that their Ministers were well prepared to engage in the Working Sessions in 
order to continue to promote SVE's interests and concerns, while also urging a conclusion of the 
DDA. 
38. The General Council took note
 of the statements and of the report of Dedicated Session of the 
CTD in document WT/COMTD/SE/6, which would be  forwarded to the Ministerial Conference. 
3. Follow-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Decl aration – Report by the Director-General 
on the Development Assistance Aspects of Cotton (WT/GC/120 - WT/CFMC/DG/3) 
39. The Chairman  recalled that in Paragraph 1.b of its July 2004 Decision on the Doha Work 
Programme, the General Council had, inter alia,  taken note of the bilateral,  multilateral, and regional 
efforts to make progress on the development assistan ce aspects of the Cotton In itiative, and instructed 
the Secretariat to continue to work with the deve lopment community and to provide the Council with 
periodic reports on relevant developments.  The Counc il had also instructed the Director-General to 
consult with the relevant intern ational organizations, including the Bretton Woods Institutions, the 
Food and Agriculture Organization and the Internati onal Trade Centre, to direct effectively existing 
programmes and any additional resources towards development of the economies where Cotton had 
vital importance.  Periodic Reports on this matter ha d been issued by the Di rector-General in 2004 
and 2005.  He invited the Director-General to in troduce the recently issued Third Periodic Report. 
40. The Director-General  said that, in accordance with the decision in paragraph 12 of the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration, he had prepared a Third Periodic Report on Cotton5, which was a 
summary of the regular flow of reports on Cotton since 2005.  In the period intervening since 2005, 
there had been eight Secretariat Progress Reports to  Members and he had dir ectly briefed the General 
Council on several occasions.  Additionally, he had convened a High Leve l Session on Cotton in 
March 2007 with the support of General Council.  The implementation of the Doha Mandate on 
                                                      
5 Circulated in document WT/GC/120 - WT/CFMC/DG/3.  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 13 
 
 
  Cotton continued to proceed along the two tracks of the trade policy and development assistance 
aspects.  More progress had been made on the deve lopment assistance track than on the trade policy 
aspects and this had been captured in the vari ous versions of the Evolving Table on Cotton 
Development Assistance, the most recent version of which had been circulated on 9 November in 
document WT/CFMC/6/Rev.7, which included the most recent inputs by contributing Members.  He 
pointed out that he had underlined the challenges on the development aspects in his periodic letters to 
Members, providing updates to the Evolving Table.  To date, the value of development assistance 
specific to cotton stood at US$564 million, whil e assistance within the broader framework for 
agriculture and infrastructure related support stood at US$2.8 billion. 
41. On the trade policy aspects, the Director-General stressed that progress was linked to overall 
progress in the agriculture negotiations, which remain ed slow.  The basis for the negotiations on the 
trade policy aspects of cotton was anchored in th e revised draft modalities for agriculture of 
6 December 20086 and associated documents7.  He was in regular contact with all the key parties on 
Cotton and with the Chair of the Agriculture Sp ecial Session and its Sub-Committee on Cotton.  One 
of the facts underlined in the report was that th e global cotton sector was under considerable pressure 
due to a range of factors, which had been exacerbate d by the recent global financial crisis and ensuing 
recession.  Globally, cotton producers and traders had been adversely affected, although the effects of 
the crisis had hit LDCs' producers, including the C-4, the hardest.  As reflected in the report, there had 
been significant adverse effects for cotton production, consumption, stocks, prices and trade.  The Director-General also pointed out that, in his c onsultations, the desperate urgency of resolving the 
cotton question, for those LDCs for whom the cotton sector provided a "vital mainstay", had been 
frequently underlined.  As he ha d done before, he again communicated this urgency to the WTO 
membership.  This was one reason, among many, why he continued to urge Members to move rapidly 
to conclude the Doha Round in 201 0.  In concluding, he reassured the General Council that he would 
maintain his reporting functions within the framewo rk of the 2005 mandate by Ministers in Hong 
Kong. 
42. The representative of Tanzania,
 on behalf of the LDC Group , stressed that negotiations on 
Cotton had so far not attained any solution since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, despite its 
particular importance to LDCs.  The Group called upon Members to achieve an "early harvest" of an 
ambitious, expeditious and specific outcome for co tton trade-related aspects, on the basis of the 
approach advocated by the Chair of  the Agriculture Special Session in document TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4 
dated 6 December 2008.  The LDCs continued to pu sh for a solution of this long-standing issue to 
find a lasting outcome for Cotton trade-related aspects, in particular the elimination of trade-distorting 
domestic support measures and export subsidies, and the granti ng of DFQF market access for Cotton 
and cotton by-products originating from LDCs.  Cott on trade-related solutions were more important 
than the development aspect of cotton for all Africa n LDCs.   With regard to development assistance 
aspects of Cotton, the Group hoped that the mandate  contained in paragraph 12 of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration would be renewed and ur ged for continued support from all Members of the 
Director-General's ongoing consu ltative framework mechanism on Cotto n.  The Group also urged the 
Director-General to report to the next General Council and the subsequent Eighth WTO Ministerial 
Conference. 
43. The representative of Benin,  on behalf of Burkina Faso for the C-4 , thanked the Director-
General for his earlier report as Chairman of the TNC on the state-of-play of the negotiations.  He also 
thanked the Director-General for his third repor t on development assistance aspects of Cotton and 
endorsed the statements by the African, LDC and ACP Groups.  The C-4 reiterated its view that 
particular attention should be paid to the transpar ent, inclusive and multilateral nature of the Doha 
Round negotiations.  With respect to Cotton, he  recalled that paragraph 12 of the Hong Kong 
                                                      
6 Document TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4. 
7 Documents TN/AG/W/5, 6 and 7. WT/GC/M/123 
Page 14  
 
  Ministerial Declaration instructed the Director-Gen eral to further intensify his consultative efforts 
with bilateral donors and with multila teral and regional institutions a nd to explore the possibility of 
establishing a mechanism to deal with  income declines in the cotton sector  until the end of subsidies.  
However, subsidies remained and the Director-Gen eral had to report to the General Council and the 
Ministerial Conference on the results achieved.  At the Seventh Ministerial Conference, the Director-
General would present his third report, thereby comple ting the mandate he had been given.  However, 
in terms of the state-of-play of the multilateral trade negotiations, no significant progress had been 
made on the trade aspect of cotton.  The C-4 wished  therefore to insist on  the need to renew the 
Director-General's mandate, so that he could con tinue to convene meetings  on the development aspect 
of Cotton and report to the Eighth Session of the Mi nisterial Conference.  The ambitious, expeditious 
and specific treatment of Cotton called for by the Si xth Ministerial Conference had to be maintained, 
and the C-4 and the 32 other African cotton-producing countries would continue to insist on this, with 
the support of the various groups that had always supported them on this issue. 
44. The representative of Brazil
 associated his delegation with the statements by Tanzania on 
behalf of the LDCs and by Benin on behalf of the C-4.  He tha nked the Director-General for his report 
submitted pursuant to the mandate referred to in paragraph 12 of th e Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration.  He noted that some progress had b een identified in relation to the development aspects 
of Cotton.  However, his delegation was concerned a bout the lack of progress in relation to the trade 
aspects.  Brazil maintained its view that the issue of Cotton constituted a fundamental litmus test for 
the development content of the Round.  The Direct or-General's report illustrated the urgency with 
which the plight of cotton growers, particularly  in the LDCs, needed to be addressed.  Brazil 
supported the request that the Director-General's mandate to continue to report on Cotton-related 
aspects be maintained. 
45. The representative of th e European Communities8, in relation to the criticism expressed by 
delegations about the lack of progress on the Cotton issue, noted that, as far as the trade issues were 
concerned, the EC was committed to reaching a sp ecific, ambitious and expeditious outcome for 
cotton in the Doha Round.  As a result of major in ternal reforms since several years, his delegation 
believed that the EC had already implemented the Hong Kong mandate.  Concessions made by the EC 
on Cotton were specific, more ambitious than for ot her commodities and they were more expeditious.  
They went even further than the Hong Kong manda te, as they had been implemented since 2006 with 
zero duty access, zero export subsidies and zero amber box.  On the development aspects, the EC had 
mobilized significant levels of support, inter alia,  in the framework of the EC-Africa partnership on 
cotton.  Over €300 million had been committed a nd corresponding disbursements were working well. 
46. The representative of India  agreed with Brazil that progress on Cotton constituted a litmus 
test for the development credentials of the Round.   India therefore supported the C-4 proposal for 
continuing work on this issue and for a renewed ma ndate on this issue by the Ministerial Conference. 
47. The representative of Argentina  supported the statements by Brazil and India. 
48. The representative of China  supported the statements by Ta nzania on behalf of the LDC 
Group and Benin on behalf of the C-4 and e xpressed his delegation's appreciation to the 
Director-General and the Chair of the Sub-Comm ittee on Cotton for their efforts in pushing forward 
the development assistance aspects of Cotton throu gh various actions.  Such actions had been and 
would continue to be helpful in enhancing the development assistan ce aspects on Cotton.  Cotton was 
                                                      
8 On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon amendi ng the Treaty on Europe an Union and the Treaty 
establishing the European Community (done at Lisb on, 13 December 2007) en tered into force.  On 
29 November 2009, the WTO received a Verbal Note (WT/L/779) from the Council of the Eu ropean Union and 
the Commission of the European Communi ties stating that, by virtue of the Treaty of Lisbon, as of 1 December 
2009, the European Union replaces an d succeeds the European Community.  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 15 
 
 
  a central outstanding issue of the Doha Round agricu lture negotiations and China wished to reiterate 
its full support to the demands of C-4 and the African Group.  This issue should be addressed 
ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically, in acco rdance with Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  
Cotton producers in developing countries, especia lly those in LDCs, continued to suffer from the 
trade-distorting subsidies by developed-country Me mbers.  China therefore urged developed-country 
Members to substantially reduce this kind of do mestic support on Cotton and grant more development 
assistance to the C-4 and other African cotton pr oducers.  China supported the programme proposed 
by the LDCs and the C-4 so as to solve the issue of Cotton as soon as possible. 
49. The representative of Egypt,  on behalf of the African Group , expressed the Group's full 
support for the demands of the C-4 and associated itsel f with the statements by Tanzania and Benin.  
The African Group also supported the call to renew th e mandate of the Director-General to report on 
the development aspect of Cotton. 
50. The General Council took note  of the statements and of the Director-General's report in 
document WT/GC/120 - WT/CFMC/DG/3, which would be  forwarded to the Ministerial Conference. 
4. 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 
51. The Chairman  recalled that this matter had first been  raised by the delegations of Honduras 
and Guatemala at the General Council meeting in December 2004.  It had subsequently been 
considered by the Council at each of its regular meet ings since then, without resolution.   In the light 
of the views expressed at these meetings, and the requests for consultations made by Honduras and 
Guatemala, his predecessors as Chair, and he, had he ld consultations regularly in order to assist in 
finding a way forward.  He recalled that th e matter referred to the Council concerned the 
non-recognition of claims of substantial interest  submitted by Honduras and Guatemala in the very 
specific context of the EC's modification of its concessions as a result of enlargement from 15 to 25 members, and the modification of its concession on bananas in its move to a tariff-only regime as 
from 1 January 2006.  This matter had been brought to the Council in keeping with paragraph 4 of the 
1980 Procedures for Negotiations under Article XXVI II, under which, when a Member renegotiating 
its Schedule did not recognize a claim of principal or substantial supplying interest, the Member 
making the claim "may refer the matter to the Council." 
52. At the October General Council meeting, he ha d reported to delegations on his most recent 
consultations.  In view of the statements made at  that meeting, he had proposed that the General 
Council revert to this matter at the present meet ing.  The previous day he had held further 
consultations on possible ways to find a solution to  the non-recognition issue.  He had invited to the 
consultations all delegations  who had spoken on this issue at previous meetings of the Council, and 
had made clear that the consultations were without  prejudice to any Member's rights under the WTO.  
The consultations had proved useful in clarifying both the current state-of-play and its ramifications, 
as well as the steps that were intended to be taken in the coming weeks towards a resolution to the 
concerns of the delegations involved.  From what he had heard the previous day, he believed that 
there was an increasingly positive atmosphere amon g the delegations concerned and it was his hope 
that delegations were on the path towards convergence. 
53. The representative of Honduras
 informed the Council that his delegation had maintained a 
dialogue with the European Comm unities to reach a global and broad solution containing several 
elements and stages which had to be appropriately developed.  As long as these different steps were 
taking place, Honduras reserved its right on this is sue and requested that the item remain on the 
agenda of the General Council, so as to be able  to provide information on the progress made. WT/GC/M/123 
Page 16  
 
  54. The representative of Guatemala
 recalled that, since the fi rst time that Honduras and 
Guatemala had requested that this item be on the age nda of the General Council, five years before, his 
delegation had always stated that it had two kinds of interest in this matter and that the solution 
depended on the political will of the European Communities.  Alongside the political will, the 
European Communities also had the obligation of rebuilding the relationship of trust with Latin 
American countries after this trust had been serious ly dented by the events which had followed the 
conclusion of the negotiations  on the banana agreement in July 2008.  Guatemala was convinced that 
a global solution to the banana issue would put an end to all the disputes and legal proceedings which 
had existed to date, including the present claim re lating to bananas within the context of the 
implementation of Articles XXIV and XXVIII of GA TT 1994.  His delegation was working intensely 
with the European Communities and banana-supplyi ng Latin American countries with a view to 
reaching this objective.  As long as this did not ha ppen, his delegation had a mandate to protect the 
commercial and systemic interest of Guatemala.   Therefore, until the European Communities 
effectively complied with their obligations in this  matter, Guatemala would continue to exercise its 
rights in the General Council and in any ot her relevant body of the organization. 
55. The representative of Ecuador  thanked the Chairman for the information provided and for his 
and his predecessors' efforts in trying  to reach a solution on this issue.  As his delegation had stated in 
the past, this was a systemic issue in the WTO.  It  was also important for the recognition of rights of 
small exporters under Articles XX IV:VI and XXVIII of GATT 1994.  Ecuador was optimistic that 
this matter and other aspects related to the banana  issue could be solved in the near future. 
56. The representative of Cameroon  had taken note of the statements by Honduras, particularly 
with regards to the possibility of an agreement on this matter, although it was premature to speak in 
those terms.  The mentioned programme was a pos itive element and progress on this matter would be 
encouraging if it were to incorporate the interest s of the other countries in which the sector was 
fragile.  Indeed, this was the substance of para graph 14 of the declaration by the African Trade 
Ministers following their meeting in Cairo at the end of October 2009.  Cameroon would support any 
process that fitted in with this approach and was re ady to cooperate in finding a solution to this issue 
which was satisfactory for all parties concerned. 
57. The representative of Mexico  agreed with the Chairman's assessment that delegations were 
now on the right path and believed that reaching an inclusive agreement shortly was possible. 
58. The representative of the European Communities  thanked delegations for their conciliatory 
tone, after the heated discussions that there had been on this item.  He hoped that this reflected the fact 
that the EC was working hard with parties to r each a solution to all outstanding issues related to 
bananas, and to agree on a final settlement with all pa rties concerned.  It was his hope that this item 
could be removed from the agenda soon. 
59. The representative of the Philippines  welcomed the progress made in the consultations 
between the EC and Honduras and Guatemala on the issue of bananas, as well as on the systemic 
issues relating to the recognition of a substantial trad ing interest for affected Members when the trade 
affected was below the threshold of 10 per cent.  The Philippines had always considered that this 
agenda item provided an opportunity to address the systemic concerns of smaller economies with 
trade interests that were substan tial, despite their being below the threshold and welcomed the EC’s 
comments in the October General Council that they were open to a resolution of this systemic concern.  Therefore, the resolution of this item should include a constructive solution to address this 
systemic concern. 
60. The General Council took note
 of the statements made and agreed  to revert to this matter at its 
next meeting.  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 17 
 
 
  5. The financial and economic crisis and the role of the WTO – Communication from 
Argentina and Ecuador (WT/GC/W/609) 
61. The Chairman  recalled that, at its last meeting in October, the General Council had discussed 
a communication from Argentina and Ecuador in do cument WT/GC/W/609 and had agreed to revert 
to this matter at the present meeting. 
62. The representative of Argentina  recalled that his delegation ha d presented a submission at the 
May General Council meeting, contained in docume nt WT/GC/W/602.  This document had suggested 
that the Secretariat should carry out a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the effects on trade of 
stimulus measures taken in response to the crisis .  Subsequently, at the October Council meeting, 
Argentina had presented, with Ecuador, a new communication, contained in document 
WT/GC/W/609, aimed at involving Members in determining the methodology that the Secretariat 
could use to carry out its analysis.  He recalled th at it had been suggested that the Chairman of the 
General Council should hold consulta tions with the Members in this respect.  Both documents had 
been, in general terms, favourably received by Me mbers, who had considered that even if the 
appropriate framework and the characteristics of th e analysis had to be discussed, the issue merited 
consideration. 
63. The initiative was in line with that presented by Ecuador, South Africa, India and Argentina 
in the Services Council, in which an analysis of the impact of the stimulus measures on financial 
services had been requested.  This was being disc ussed at a technical level and had also been 
favourably received in general terms by most Members.   It was Argentina's intention, together with 
Ecuador and other developi ng countries, to continue working on the proposal.  In this respect, his 
delegation wished to share with the Council some ideas that could be the basis of a communication 
that Argentina intended to present at the December General Council meeting. 
64. Argentina believed it was possible to begin work on two levels:  the firs t related to improving 
transparency which could be carried out of the basis of the information available in the reports of the 
Director-General.  The second level related to the system ic analysis of this information.  With respect 
to transparency, the existing information could be  improved through a more detailed presentation of 
data, for example:  (i) reports could identify the va rious components of stimulus measures used, rather 
than presenting them in aggregated manner;  (ii)  a difference could be made between types of 
measures, for instance trade measures, production subs idies, consumption subsidies, export subsidies, 
assistance for financial problems; (iii) the amount for each component of the stimulus measures should be specified to the extent possible, not only the total amount; (iv) it should also be specified 
whether the measure was temporary or permanent, and if it was temporary how long it would be in 
place; and, (v) the status of implementation of the measure, whether it had been finalized or simply 
announced, should also be indicated. 
65. With respect to the analysis and the methodolog y to be used, Argentina believed that there 
were two possibilities: the qualitative method and th e quantitative method.  However, a quantitative 
evaluation of the impact of the measures could be difficult to carry out as it needed a great deal of 
data and of technical cooperation.  A qualitative-type  analysis would nevertheless be possible.  Such 
an analysis would make it possible to assess whet her a measure had distorting affects on production or 
trade, and measures could be then classified on the ba sis of how much distortion they could generate.  
This would be a theoretical analysis that could not  quantify the impact of each individual measure on 
trade or production, but it would rather provide  a greater understanding of the real and potential 
effects of these measures. 
66. Argentina intended to continue consulting with other delegations  and regional groups in order 
to consolidate these ideas into a new communication th at would be presented at the next meeting of 
the General Council.  Argentina was certain that th is type of analysis c ould improve the understanding WT/GC/M/123 
Page 18  
 
  of these measures' impact on international trade and would strengthen the work of the WTO in 
responding to the present and future crisis. 
67. The representative of Ecuador
 expressed his delegation's support for the proposal which 
promoted the principle of transparency that should guide the WTO.  The proposal would provide a methodology to measure the impact of stimulus me asures that had been adopted in response to the 
global crisis.  Ecuador agreed with Argentina on the need to commence dialogue among Members, in 
order to agree on the guidelines that would enable  improvements, both with regard to presenting 
information on fiscal stimulus measures and financia l assistance adopted and with regard to analysing 
information related to these measures.  On the fi rst point, the improved presentation of information 
would provide significant support for the analysis that could be carried out as it would ensure a 
minimal standard of investigative rigour, and w ould also improve any assessment of the eventual 
effects that these kind of measures might have on trade.   Regarding the analysis of the information, he 
agreed that it would be technically more feasible to  carry out a qualitative-type analysis rather than a 
quantitative analysis.  This would be the best tool  to determine any possible effects on production of 
trade, and would enable measures to be classifi ed in accordance with the distortion they might 
produce. 
68. These contributions to the discussion would be  based on methods of analysis generally 
applied in the evaluation of other trade measures whic h could also distort trade.  These inputs, as well 
as others which might be presented, sought to e nhance a constructive dialogue which could enable 
delegations to agree on the methodology to be fo llowed.  Therefore, in the next General Council 
meeting, both Argentina and Ecuador would presen t the ideas they had mentioned in a written 
document which would develop them further. 
69. In concluding, he said his delegation was di sappointed that a developed Member of the 
organization was opposing the proposal presented by  several developing-country Members, among 
which Ecuador, to carry out an analysis in the Committee on Trade and Financial Services and discuss 
the current financial crisis and the effects of ai d programmes given to private institutions in this 
sector.  This highlighted that constr uctive contributions that  were not trying to poi nt the finger at any 
individual Member were being vetoed without any ju stification, and could not be discussed in the 
Committee that should be the appropriate forum for that. 
70. The representative of India
 said his delegation looked forward to Argentina and Ecuador's 
revised submission to be presented at the December m eeting of the General Council.  He stressed that 
the financial crisis had had a serious impact on th e global trading system, especially on the trade of 
developing countries, and this involve d a number of policy as well as systemic issues for the WTO.  It 
was important that the WTO conducted a detailed forens ic analysis to highlight such issues, and India 
looked forward to the finalization of the terms of re ference for such analysis in the following meeting. 
71. The representative of the United States  recalled his delegation's detailed statement on the 
issue at the previous meeting of the General Counc il.  He emphasized that his delegation shared the 
interest of assessing the impacts and the implications of the actions that many Members had taken to 
deal with the economic crisis.  This would be an  important endeavour, and one that was likely to 
occupy economists and policy anal ysts for years to come.  The United States agreed with those 
speakers at the previous General Council meeting who had said that there were WTO fora to raise and 
to discuss these issues, and the United States would be  glad to participate in such discussions.  
However, his delegation continued to have ques tions about whether the Secretariat, without 
expressing any doubt as to its capabilities, was in a pos ition to undertake the kind of analysis that had 
been called for and about the demands that this w ould place on it.  He wished to mention that his 
delegation had a different recollection of the di scussions that had taken place in the Committee on 
Trade and Financial Services.  In his delegation's understanding, the issue was not whether the group 
would discuss this matter, but rather how to prepare for the discussion.  He had taken note of  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 19 
 
 
  Argentina's intention to lay out more detailed id eas and his delegation would reserve its judgement 
until it had had an opportunity to look at them. 
72. The representative of Cuba  recalled that, in the previous Council meeting, his delegation had 
supported the proposal by the delegations of Argent ina and Ecuador, which it considered excellent.  
His delegation believed that, if the WTO was to ta ke its proper role in facing up to the world 
challenges, particularly in the light of the cha nges that had taken place in international economic 
relations, this essential issue had to be dealt with.  His delegation had listened to the interventions by 
Argentina and Ecuador with great interest, and hope d to have the opportunity to analyse the further 
suggestions they had made soon.  Cuba supported Argentina and Ecua dor's efforts and looked forward 
to having a discussion at the following meeting of the General Council. 
73. The representative of the European Communities  recalled that his delegation considered the 
TPRB as the appropriate forum for monitoring and comparing information on Members' responses to 
the crisis and that any duplication of work should be  avoided.  The EC had already provided to the 
Secretariat all the necessary information in the fra mework of the TPRB monitoring exercise.  It was 
the EC's view that Members who considered that th ey had been adversely affected by measures taken 
by other Members, should present the basis for their c oncerns with concrete evidence.  It was not for 
the WTO Secretariat to go on a fishing expedition – this would go beyond the scope of its activities, 
and the EC had made this point in the Committee fo r Trade in Financial Services the previous week.  
He believed that it could be safely assumed that stimulus programmes first and foremost stimulated the economy, including trade, and thereby benefited trading partners as well.  In the EC, stimulus 
programmes had been carefully designed not to di scriminate, as was the case for the car scrapping 
schemes.  He stressed that his delegation was read y to look at the revised paper announced by the 
sponsors with an open mind and constructive attitude. 
74. The representative of Tanzania
, on behalf of the LDC Group , welcomed the proposal and 
looked forward to the announced revised submissi on for more detailed examination.  The current 
global economic crisis, which had its origins in th e advanced industrial economies of the developed 
world, had made developing countries, especially LDCs, suffer most from its effects and they also 
lacked the means for countering th e immediate and longer-term effect s.  Their economies had been 
devastated because the poverty eradication and soci al development programme s had been negatively 
affected by the onslaught of the crisis, which had also highlighted the continued dependence of these 
countries on the export of a narrow basket of commod ities.  The current financial crisis would have 
profound, and possibly prolonged, effects on LDCs, whose recent good economic performance had 
been heavily dependent on external factors.  Ther e was a real danger that the progress which had been 
made in reducing poverty in LDCs might be undermined.  It was therefore crucial and urgent that one 
considered ways to mitigate the effects of this worsening global economic environment on developing 
countries, and especially LDCs.  The proposal on the table went a long way in addressing this kind of 
situation.  The impact of the crisis on LDCs was twofold.  Huge stimulus packages and bailout plans 
introduced by some countries, particularly devel oped countries, on the one hand, and the resort to 
protectionist measures and policies on the other, ha d negatively affected the economies of developing 
countries, and LDCs in particular.  In such a globa l situation, the LDCs believed that the early and 
successful conclusion of the DDA had become impera tive as a stimulus for their economies.  Further 
integration of their economies in the multilateral trading system through increased regional and global 
configurations therefore remained their only hope. 
75. The representative of Zambia  associated his delegation with the statement by Tanzania on 
behalf of the LDC Group and thanked Argentina a nd Ecuador for introducing this item, as it drew 
Members' attention to the need for a detailed analysis  of the effects of the fiscal stimulus and financial 
support programmes adopted by some Members in r esponse to the crisis.  The injection of large 
amounts of public finance into sectors of any gi ven economy had the potential effect of creating 
distortions, not only on the domestic economy but also  on international trade and financial markets, WT/GC/M/123 
Page 20  
 
  due to the inter-dependence of the global economy.  However, it should also be acknowledged that 
without these interventions, the crisis would have been deeper and its effects would have been 
prolonged and more widespread.  Nonetheless, that w as not to say that the full effect of these stimulus 
and bail out packages should not be investigated. 
76. He noted that the Secretariat had already undert aken the initiative to conduct an assessment of 
the effects of the crisis through the Office of the Director-General and its report to the Trade Policy 
Review Body.  However, limited information had been made available to the WTO Secretariat to 
enable it carry out meaningful analysis in this area.  Zambia's position was that the work already 
carried out by the Director-General and reported to the TPRB formed a good basis and, in this regard, Zambia was of the considered view that the TPRB w as the most appropriate platform to advance this 
work.  The question should therefore not be that of establishing new frameworks for undertaking this 
analysis, but rather to strengthen the existi ng framework that had been created through, inter alia , the 
provision of accurate data and any relevant inform ation that could assist the Secretariat to undertake 
meaningful analysis.  This work would only adva nce if the membership committed to fully support 
the Secretariat in providing the required data and information.  Zambia looked forward to receiving a 
revised proposal from Argentina and Ecuador. 
77. The representative of China
 supported the proposal and thanked Argentina for putting 
forward some concrete ideas on how to carry out the analysis.  These ideas were of value and his delegation believed that they deserved further di scussion in the General Council.  China looked 
forward to the new written submission by Argentin a and was ready to take part in the informal 
consultations that the Chair might hold in the future. 
78. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 welcomed the proposal, which it 
considered to be a worthwhile contribution to the efforts made by the WTO and its Members to 
monitor as well as to avoid the impact of the current  financial and economic cr isis, which had had an 
even greater impact on international trade.  Th e current crisis showed the need for rapid and 
appropriate responses to be provided both on an in dividual basis by each country and in a collective 
manner.  The WTO was the place to do it with regard to international trade.  His delegation believed 
that further efforts needed to be made to achieve r esults that ensured greater clarity on the effects that 
the stimulus packages would have on the real economy.  A real methodology that would ensure that reports were the results of proper investigations needed to be worked ou t, and adopting previous 
positions needed to be avoided.  Everything that affected the transparency of the multilateral trade 
system should be avoided as this was one of the main pillars of the organization.  Therefore, any tool 
that strengthened transparency should be welcomed  by all the Members.  The proposal should be 
looking for clear terms of reference and reports n eeded to comply with a pre-established methodology 
that limited subjectivity in the areas covered. 
79. The representative of Bolivia
 welcomed the proposal, whic h her delegation considered 
appropriate and consistent.  She supported the idea of establishing a methodology, especially in light 
of the importance of transparency, and pointed out that this could also involve consultations in 
regional groups.  She recalled that her delegation ha d already supported the pr oposal in the previous 
General Council meeting, and looked  forward to the revised proposal to be submitted at the following 
meeting. 
80. The representative of Japan  agreed on the importance of an analysis of state aid and subsidies 
as proposed by Argentina and Ecuador, but was con cerned that the proposal, if implemented, could 
lead to an excessive burden on the WTO Secretaria t.  Japan believed that existing mechanisms, 
including in the TPRB, could be better utilized.  Japan  was ready to analyze the revised version of the 
paper when this was available.  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 21 
 
 
  81. The representative of Turkey  stressed that, as his delegation had already pointed out in 
previous Council meetings, Argentina and Ecuador ’s proposal on the financ ial and economic crisis 
and the role of WTO was relevant.  The asymmetrical  weight of the stimulus packages over all other 
measures in terms of both positive and negative exte rnalities was a matter of concern for developing 
countries, in particular for the LDCs, and merited a ttention so that they did not turn into general 
practices in terms of subsidies.  His delegation agr eed that the issue should discussed in detail at the 
General Council meeting in December. 
82. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
6. Seventh Session of the Ministerial Conference 
(a) Statement by the Chairman 
(i) TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints 
(ii) E-commerce 
83. The Chairman  recalled that, in his statement at the July meeting of the General Council, he 
had drawn attention to the issues of TRIPS non-viol ation and situation complaints and E-commerce as 
possible points for action by Ministers at the Minister ial Conference, in the light of their treatment in 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  At the Oc tober General Council, he had reported that on both 
issues, following consultations by the Chair of th e TRIPS Council, Ambassador Tan, for the first 
issue, and DDG Singh for the second issue, there ha d been consensus to place them issues on the 
Proposed Agenda for the Ministerial Conference.  The previous week, both Amb. Tan and DDG Singh had informed him that they each had achie ved consensus on draft texts for decision by 
Ministers, and he invited them to introduce their draft texts. 
84. Ms Tan (Singapore), Chair of the TRIPS Council
, recalled that, in paragraph 45 of the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Declaration, Ministers had direct ed the TRIPS Council to continue its examination 
of the scope and modalities for TRIPS non-viola tion and situation complaints and to make 
recommendations to their next Session.  They had al so agreed that, in the meantime, Members would 
not initiate such complaints under the TRIPS Agreem ent.  At its meeting in March 2006, the TRIPS 
Council had agreed to keep the item on non-viola tion and situation complaints on the agenda as a 
regular item, so as to allow Members who would have  new thinking to share it, and also enable the 
Council to consider improved ways of organizing its work on this matter.  Since last June, she had 
consulted on this matter at the Council's request , in particular on any recommendation that the 
Council could agree on.  At its reconvened end-o f-year meeting on 6 November, the TRIPS Council 
had agreed to recommend, pursuant to paragraph 45 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, that 
the Seventh Session of the Ministerial Conference decide to extend the moratorium on TRIPS non-
violation and situation complaints, so as to allow it more time to continue its examination of the scope 
and modalities for complaints of such complaints.  The recommendation was contained in paragraph 2 
of the addendum to the TRIPS Council's Annual Re port (2009), which had been circulated in 
document IP/C/52/Add.1. 
85. The Chairman , on behalf of DDG Singh , recalled that the seventh dedicated discussion under 
the auspices of the General Council on cross-cu tting issues under the Work Programme on Electronic 
Commerce had been held on 8, 13, 22 and 27 Octo ber and 2, 4 and 6 November 2009.  Under the 
agenda for this meeting, participants had discussed  the current situation of the Work Programme on 
Electronic Commerce in the context of preparations for the upcoming Ministerial Conference.  Members had also considered and approved the re port of the Dedicated Discussion to the General 
Council in document WT/GC/W/613, which included in  paragraph 9 a text to be forwarded to the 
General Council Chair as the input on E-commer ce to the upcoming Ministerial Conference in WT/GC/M/123 
Page 22  
 
  Geneva.  He drew attention to a number of points in the report to the General Council:  First, during 
the course of the Dedicated Discussion, all had agreed  that, given that there had been no activity in 
any of the WTO bodies charged with carrying ou t work under the Work Programme since the 
Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China in Decem ber 2005, there was a need to reinvigorate that 
work by establishing a specific plan of work wi th clear deadlines and periodic reviews.  The 
discussions at the various meetings had been based on proposals from several Members, and showed 
an evolving convergence of views.  Members had generally supported extending the moratorium on 
the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions until the next Session of the Ministerial Conference.  Some delegations had seen a need to examine the period of the extension of the 
moratorium based on the results of a meaningful Work Programme.  Members had emphasized that 
after the upcoming Ministerial Conference there s hould be focussed work u nder the Work Programme 
that would take various issues into account.  A few delegations had indicated that their position on the 
moratorium on E-commerce was linked to the exte nsion of the moratorium on TRIPS non-violation 
cases.  On the issue of recommendations for consid eration by the General Council, participants had 
discussed this matter at some length, and had been ab le to reach a consensus on the text in paragraph 
9 of the report contained in WT/GC/W/613. 
86. The Chairman
 thanked Amb. Tan and DDG Singh for the work they had undertaken and 
proposed that, in accordance with its practice, th e General Council took action on these reports.  He 
proposed that the General Council should take note of the statements and agree to forward these 
reports and the draft texts for decision by Mini sters which they contained to the Ministerial 
Conference. 
87. The General Council so agreed . 
88. The Chairman  said he wished also to address a number of different aspects of the Ministerial 
Conference, starting with the reports from th e General Council and other WTO bodies on activities 
under their respective mandates.  The Council wo uld consider these reports under the following 
Agenda item and should agree to forward them to th e Ministerial Conference.  They would form the 
basis for the Ministers' Overview of Activities of  the WTO, which would take place in accordance 
with a decision by the General Council from 1995 entitled "Procedures for an Annual Overview of 
WTO Activities and for Reporting under the WTO", in  document WT/L/105.  He recalled that, in 
conformity with this decision, the General Council reviewed every year the work across the whole of 
the WTO on the basis of such annual reports, and the Ministerial Conference did so every time it met.  
The reporting requirement was therefore a standing  obligation which would continue to apply in 
respect of future Ministerial meetings and did not need to be specifically renewed. 
89. With respect to organizational matters for the Ministerial Conference, the Chairman pointed 
out that a Consolidated Information Note had b een circulated by the Secretariat in document 
WT/MIN(09)/INF/7, with the aim of providing dele gations with an overview of arrangements for the 
Ministerial Conference in order to facilitate their preparations.  He also recalled that, as it had been 
underlined since May, the Conference was going to be  a much more lean and economical event than 
in the past.  From the start, the aim had been to hold a scaled-down, no-frills, low-key meeting of 
Ministers.  This meant that all had to adapt to more limited facilities at this Conference than at 
previous Ministerial Conferences and he called upon  all delegations to s how their understanding in 
this respect. 
90. Turning to the matter of registration of delega tes for the Ministerial Conference, he reminded 
delegations that the closing date for the on-line s ubmission of attendance sheets had been the previous 
Friday, 13 November and he urged delegations to submit their attendance sheet immediately if they 
had not already done so.  Late submission of an  attendance sheet would delay the production and 
distribution of that delegation's badges.  Badge distribution would take place in the Accreditation 
Centre and only delegation coordinators would be entitled to coll ect badges.  Finally, he reminded  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 23 
 
 
  delegations that the deadline for submitting cred entials authorizing representatives of Members to 
perform the functions indicated in the WTO Agreement was 20 November. 
91. The General Council took note  of the Chairman's statement. 
(b) Request for observer status by Palestine to the Seventh Session of the Ministerial Conference 
(WT/L/775) 
92. The Chairman  drew the General Council's attention to  the request by Palestine for observer 
status at the Seventh Ministerial Conference in document WT/L/775 and proposed that the General 
Council agree to grant this request. 
93. The General Council so agreed . 
94. The representative of Jordan  welcomed the decision of the General Council to approve the 
request by Palestine and looked forward to them as Observers at the Ministerial Conference. 
95. The representative of Cuba  congratulated the Chairman and the Secretariat for the effective 
manner in which the Ministerial meeting had been  organized.  He sought clarification as to the 
documents which would be subject to action to be taken during the Conference.  He wondered 
whether, in addition to the draft decisions on TR IPS non-violation and situ ation complaints and on 
E-commerce and to the reports to be considered unde r the Agenda item 7 of the present meeting, there 
would be other substantive documents that Minister s were going to act upon in any way.  He recalled 
that several Members, in particular developi ng Members, had co-sponsored India's proposal in 
WT/MIN(09)/W/1 and wondered what would Ministers be supposed to do about this proposal.  He also wondered when the deadline for presenting offici al papers for the Ministerial Conference closed. 
96. The Chairman
 said that the principle of not having surprises in the Ministerial Conference 
was still valid and noted that the deadline for tab ling documents for the Conference had passed.  The 
only matters on which the Ministers needed to make  a decision were those already indicated – TRIPS 
non-violation and situation complaints  and the moratorium on E-commerce. 
97. The representative of India  pointed out that in the present meeting some delegations had 
requested that the mandate for c ontinuing work on the development aspects of Cotton be renewed in 
the Ministerial Conference.  He asked how the Ministerial Conference would deal with this. 
98. The Director-General  recalled that, when he had reported on the Cotton issue, he had made it 
clear that the reporting would continue.  He had also  confirmed this in writing in reply to a letter by 
the C-4 which had recently been addressed to him. 
99. The General Council took note  of the statements. WT/GC/M/123 
Page 24  
 
  7. Review of WTO activities 
(a) Reports of: 
(i) General Council (WT/GC/W/612), Dispute Settle ment Body (WT/DSB/49 and Add.1), and 
Trade Policy Review Body (WT/TPR/249) 
(ii) Sectoral Councils (G/L/911, S/C/32 and IP/C/52) 
(iii) Committees on Trade and Development (W T/COMTD/70), Trade and Environment 
(WT/CTE/16), Balance-of-Payments Restrictions (WT/BOP/R/96), Budget, Finance and Administration (WT/BFA/113), and Regi onal Trade Agreements (WT/REG/20) 
(iv) Working Groups on Trade, Debt and Finance (W T/WGTDF/8) and Trade and Transfer of 
Technology (WT/WGTTT/11) 
(v) Committees under the Plurilateral Tr ade Agreements (GPA/103, WT/L/773) 
100. The Chairman
 noted that on a number of the reports under consideration, delegations had 
already had a substantive discussion in the respec tive bodies and he suggested that those discussions 
not be repeated in the General Council.  He recalled that the reports had been prepared 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 and underlined that  all reports from the respective bodies and from 
the Director-General would be forwarded to the Ministerial Conference for the consideration of 
Ministers. He invited any Chairpersons who wished to  draw particular attention to some aspect of the 
work carried out in their bodies, or who wished to  add anything to their reports, to take the floor. 
101. Mr. Niggli (Switzerland), Chair of the Committee on Government Procurement,  pointed out 
that, as a plurilateral instrument, the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) did not enjoy the 
visibility with many delegations of other agreemen ts within the WTO system.  In due course, this 
would certainly change.  In fact, he wished to dr aw Members' attention to the growing importance of 
the GPA in the framework of the WTO and as an inst rument of international economic policy.  This 
was due to two main factors.  The first was th e heightened importance of government procurement 
activities in many Members in the context of the ec onomic crisis and, in particular, the importance 
that was being placed by many governments on p ublic infrastructure spending as an element of 
recovery strategies.  In this context, national measures regarding procurement policies had been an 
important focus of discussion in the Committee on G overnment Procurement during the year, and the 
GPA had been a key factor in restraining the sc ope for protectionism and ensuring that government 
procurement activities were undertaken in a manne r that was consistent with the Agreement. 
102. A second major factor underlying the growing importance of the GPA which he believed the 
General Council should be aware of was its gradually broadeni ng membership.  In the year under 
review, Chinese Taipei had formally completed its accession to the Agreement, which had come into 
force for that Member on 15 July 2009.  In add ition, intensive work continued on the accessions of 
China and Jordan, and a further Member, Armenia,  had applied for accession to the Agreement.  A 
number of other Members either had applied for accession to the Agreement or had commitments to 
seek accession in their respective WTO accession pr otocols.  Details were provided in the annual 
report of the Committee.  While completion of these  accessions would take time, he believed that it 
would have the effect of transforming what had,  until now, been largely a developed countries' club 
into a quasi-multilateral instrument with a majo r component of developi ng and transition economy 
Members.  In his view, this would be a major step forward for the WTO system, and one which was necessary for the WTO to play its full role in en suring good governance of the global economy in the 
21
st century.  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 25 
 
 
  103. Mr. Niggli also stressed that, in addition to carrying forward the pending accessions to the 
Agreement, a key focus of work in the Committee during the year had concerned the negotiations on 
text and coverage issues that were mandated by the Agreement.  As Members were aware, provisional agreement on a revised text of the Agreement had been reached already in December 2006.  The 
revised text improved on the existing text in many ways, in particular by making more specific and 
concrete the various forms of S&D that were potentially available to developing Members that joined 
the Agreement.  Apart from this, the revised text was important to bring the Agreement into the 21
st 
century in other ways, for exampl e with respect to the use of electronic procurement tools.  
Negotiations on the coverage of the Agreement were  continuing, and had to be concluded, according 
to the agreement reached in December 2006, before  the revised text of the GPA could come into 
force.  He hoped that the coverage negotiations and, therefore, all as pects of the negotiations, could be 
brought to a conclusion in 2010.  A further importa nt aspect of the Committee's work during the year 
had concerned notifications.  In response to the reque st made by the Chairman of the General Council, 
earlier in the year, the Committee had been taking stock of these and examining ways of improving 
both the timeliness of notifications and their accessib ility.  This work was of critical importance to 
enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Agreem ent, and to ensure that it could play its current 
and future role as an element of the WTO system.  He would share further news regarding this aspect 
of the Committee's work in due course. 
104. The General Council took note  of the statement. 
105. The representative of Switzerland  requested that the extensive report on the state-of-play of 
the negotiations provided by the Director-General as  Chairman of the TNC be annexed to the General 
Council's Annual Report, in order to provide Minist ers with an additional basis on which to discuss 
the status of the Doha Round at the Ministerial Conference. 
106. The General Council so agreed . 
107. The representative of Ecuador , referred to the Annual Report of the Committee on Trade and 
Development and voiced his delegation's concern that the Aid for Trade Work Programme for 2009-
2011 in JOB(09)/100/Rev.2 had not yet been adopted.  He pointed out that several developed 
Members seemed to have a problem in adopting th e work programme, and that there were instead 
seeking to reshape and minimize the role of the WTO on the Aid for Trade initiative.  He recalled that 
the Hong Kong Ministerial mandate and the recommendations from the Aid for Trade Task Force adopted by the General Council defined guidelines and ac tions to be implemented.  He stressed that it 
was important for all developing-co untry Members that the Ministerial mandate on Aid for Trade be 
effectively implemented, in ad dition to the recommendations, as th is was the counter-part to the 
implementation of Marrakech Agre ement and to the commitments Members might adopt as a result of 
the Doha Round.  Aid for Trade would enable developing countries to offset the effects of commitments made.  Indeed, developing countries would always be at a disadvantage vis-à-vis  
subsidies and domestic support grante d by developed countries, particul arly in agriculture, and by the 
persistence of high agricultural tariffs their favour. 
108. The representative of the Separate Customs Te rritory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu
 
thanked those who had worked closely with his de legation to facilitate its accession to the GPA.  
Chinese Taipei had promised to accede to the GPA when it had become a WTO Member in 2002 and, 
while it had not been an easy commitment to fulf il, Chinese Taipei had strived hard and had overcome 
all obstacles to become the first new WTO Member  that had acceded to the GPA since 2001.  By 
acceding to the GPA, Chinese Taipei had committed to fu rther opening its market.  It had pledged to a 
world trade system that envisaged that internati onal trade, including government procurement, was 
done in a fair, transparent and predictable ma nner, all in accordance with the principles and 
procedures of the GPA and WTO Agreements. WT/GC/M/123 
Page 26  
 
  109. The representative of Japan
 expressed his delegation's appreciation for the monitoring 
exercise conducted in the TPRB, as well as for the progress made in several committees in improving 
the notification system in response to the reque st made by the TPRB Chair.  This had been 
particularly evident in the Rules area includi ng the Anti-dumping Committee, the Subsidies and 
Countervailing Duties Committee, and the Safegua rds Committee.  Japan believed that the 
implementation and surveillance exercises in regul ar bodies were essential for the WTO to remain a 
relevant organization in the international comm unity, and remained committed to participating 
constructively in these activities. 
110. The representative of Bolivia  recalled that her delegation had expressed concerns, at the May 
General Council meeting, about the preferences gr anted by the United States under the Andean Trade 
Preference Act which were reflected in paras 98- 100 of the draft 2009 Annual Report of the General 
Council in document WT/GC/W/612 and requested that  the report reflect the statement made by her 
delegation on that occasion. 
111. The representative of China  shared Ecuador's observation on the discussion on Aid for Trade, 
particularly on what some developed Members had been doing to undermine the important role of the 
WTO on this important task.  He also noted that there was another discouraging tendency that some 
developed Members were trying to diminish their role and long-standing political commitments on 
Aid for Trade while trying to shed much spotlight  on South-South cooperation.  As many developing 
Members, including China, had emphasized during the discussion, the developing Members were ready to contribute to achieve the common ob jective of development through South-South 
cooperation.  However, South-South cooperation sh ould be voluntary and complimentary and should 
not be used to undermine or replace the important role of developed Members. 
112. The General Council took note
 of the statements, adopted  the report of the Committee on 
Trade and Development in document WT/COMTD/70 and took note  of the reports of the other WTO 
bodies, including the reports of the Committees under the Plurilateral Trade Agreements, in 
documents WT/DSB/49 and Add.1, WT/TPR/249,  G/L/911, S/C/32, IP/C/52, WT/CTE/16, 
WT/BOP/R/96, WT/BFA/113, WT/REG/20, WT/WGTDF/8, WT/WGTTT/11,GPA/103 and 
WT/L/773.  These reports would be forwarded to the Ministerial Conference. 
113. The General Council then adopted  the draft report of the General Council contained in 
document WT/GC/W/612, on the understanding that  the Secretariat would make the necessary 
adjustments to that draft report to include matters that had been considered at the present meeting, 
including the matter raised by Bolivia.9  The Report would then be forwarded to the Ministerial 
Conference. 
8. Statement by the Chairman regarding the Chairmanship of the TRIPS Special Session 
114. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that Ambassador Trevor Clarke 
(Barbados), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS, would soon leave his post as head of his delegation in Geneva.  In keeping w ith the agreement reached by the TNC at its first 
meeting in January and February 2002 regarding th e appointment of Chairs of the TNC and of the 
bodies established by it, the Chairman of the Genera l Council should consult on the chairmanships of 
the individual negotiating bodies under the TNC.  Ther efore, would shortly be  starting consultations 
regarding the appointment of a successor to Amb. Clarke. 
115. The General Council took note
 of the statement. 
                                                      
9 The Annual Report of the General Council was subsequently circulated as WT/GC/121.  WT/GC/M/123 
 Page 27 
 
 
  9. Statement by the Chairman in connection wi th Administrative Measures for Members 
in arrears 
116. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that at its meeting in May 2006, the 
General Council had approved a recommendati on 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 
Chairperson of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration should provide information 
with regard to which Members are under Admini strative Measures in Categories II through IV. 
117. Mrs. Swärd Capra (Sweden), Chairperson of the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration said that in pursuance of the revised Administrative Measures, he wished to inform the 
General Council that the Members under Categories II through IV of the Administrative Measures as 
at 16 November were as follows:  Grenada and Peru in Category II;  Mali, Nicaragua and Senegal in 
Category III;  and the following Members in Categor y IV:  Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, 
Commonwealth of Dominica, Côte d'Ivoire, Demo cratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gambia, 
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Niger, Re public of Congo, Sierra Leone and Togo. 
118. The representative of Djibouti  stressed that the issue of arre ars was a major concern for the 
authorities in Djibouti.  The delay in the payment of Djibouti's contributions was not due to a lack of will or a lack of interest in the WTO's activities.  Rather, it was linked to or ganizational and financial 
problems.  Her delegation would s hortly be submitting a proposal to the Secretariat to regularize the 
situation and it would cooperate fully on this matter. 
119. The Chairman
 recalled that, under the revised Administ rative Measures, he was also required 
at each Council meeting to request those Members in  Categories III and IV of the Measures to inform 
him, before the following meeting of the General Council, as to when their payment of arrears might 
be expected.  In keeping with the Administrative Measures, he would report on Members' replies to 
the following meeting of the General Council.  Si nce the October General Council meeting, he had 
not received any replies from the Members concerned. 
120. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
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