RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/28 
23 September 2008 
 (08-4449) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
30 July 2008  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 30 July 2008  
 
Chairman: Mr. Pascal Lamy (Director-General) 
 
 
1. The Chairman  said that, as was customary, the first item of business at the present meeting 
was to take up the question of the Agenda.  Th e Airgram convening the meeting which had been 
circulated on 15 July had proposed three items for the Agenda.  However, given the exceptional 
circumstances in which Members found themselves, he  proposed that instead of taking up those three 
items separately, he make a statement as Chairman  of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC).  He 
did not intend to invite the Nego tiating Group Chairs to take the floor at the present meeting.  After 
his statement, he would open the floor to participants. 
2. The Trade Negotiations Committee so agreed . 
Statement by the Chairman 
 
3. The Chairman  said that, at an informal meeting of the TNC held the previous day, he had 
reported on the events of the last few days.  That report would be put on the record of this meeting1, 
and he would not repeat it but just highlight a few points.  
4. There was no escaping the fact that the intens ive efforts the whole membership had been 
putting in over the last days with the aim of establishing modalities in Agriculture and Non-
Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) had failed.  Members had been unable to bridge their 
differences despite more than a week of hard work. 
5. Much had been achieved during the present week.  Members had been very close to finalizing 
modalities in Agriculture and NAMA.  A very few issues, which had not been there, had led them not 
to establish modalities, but a huge amount of problems  which had remained intractable for years had 
found solutions.  Negotiators had been prepared to reach out beyond their entrenched positions and 
seek compromise, which they had done.  However, as he had explained in detail in his statement the 
previous day, Members had not been able to fi nd convergence in the area of the Special Safeguard 
Mechanism (SSM).  And they had not even got around to discussing Cotton.  As a result, Members 
had not been able to establish the Agricultu re and NAMA modalities during the present week. 
6. The previous day, he had outlined what this  could cost the membership.  He was sure 
delegations had all done the analysis for themselves.  He trusted that Members would resolve together 
not to lose these benefits, even if it took longer. 
                                                      
1 See Annex I. TN/C/M/28 
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  7. Everyone knew the value of what was on the ta ble, not only in Agriculture and NAMA, but 
across the whole range of the agenda, whether in Services, the fastest growing and most dynamic sector in most economies, or in Trade F acilitation, just to take two examples.  
8. Over the past few week s, the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups had circulated reports on the 
state of play in their respective areas including re flections on the way forward.  The Agriculture and 
NAMA Chairs would also shortly be circulating reports capturing the work of the last few days.
2  The 
Chairs and he were working on this. 
9. Overall, the Chairs reports underlined the bread th and depth of the progress made right across 
the Single Undertaking.  The reports also showed the wide and deep range of benefits that the present 
Round could provide – two to three times more than any previous multilateral negotiation, and he had 
not changed his number on that.  His own sense was that Members needed to build on this, and the 
delegations' own sense of whether they believed they  needed to build on this was the determining 
factor.   
10. Progress could also clearly be seen in other area s, such as the Dispute Settlement negotiations 
and Special and Differential Treatment (S&D).  G ood work had also been a ccomplished over the past 
few days in the area of TRIPS thanks to the very  good process which the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
of Norway, Jonas Støre, had led and the construc tive spirit of delegations.  He wished also to 
highlight the Services Signalling Conference which had been held on 26 July.  His report on this 
Conference would be circulated later in the day.3 
11. He believed Members all now needed to engage in  serious reflection on the next steps in their 
collective endeavour which was the Doha Develo pment Agenda (DDA).  He believed they had a 
collective responsibility to begin this  process of reflection right now. 
12. Perhaps the dust needed to settle a bit before they could have a clear idea of those next steps.  
But his view was that the progress made in Agricu lture and NAMA and in all the other Groups should 
be preserved.  This represented thousands of hours of negotiation and serious political investment by 
all the Members of the WTO.  This should not be wasted.  
13. All Members needed now to seriously reflect a bout if and when they could jump the obstacle 
of what had not been possible during the present week .  Where there had been deadlock, they had to 
find new ideas and new solutions. 
14. Members' immediate priority was to reaffirm  their commitment to the multilateral trading 
system which had come out of the present week de nted.  All Ministers present over the previous ten 
days had underlined how vital this system was, in te rms not just of trade, but also of the stability of 
the international system.  The task then, after th e necessary reflection, was to translate words into 
deeds.  The comeback should begin today.  He wish ed to encourage delegations in their interventions 
not to dwell upon failure, which was a reality and which needed to be ac knowledged, but to look 
forward to how they could do better next time.  An d he was convinced that there would be a next 
time, which was why he had said the previous day that he was not throwing in the towel. 
15. Finally, he thanked everyone for their hard work  and cooperation. He wished to pay tribute to 
the many hours of work of the Chairs of the Nego tiating Groups, and in particul ar the Chairman of the 
Agriculture Special Session, Crawford Falconer, the Chairman of the NAMA Negotiating Group, Don 
Stephenson and the Chairman of the General Counc il, Bruce Gosper, as well as Jonas Støre.  He 
                                                      
2  Subsequently circulated in documents JOB(08)/95 and JOB(08)/96 respectively. 
3  Subsequently circulated in document JOB(08)/93.  TN/C/M/28 
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  added a final word for the staff in the Secretariat, including his office, who had put in countless hours 
of work helping Members in their negotiating endeavour. 
Statements by Participants 
 
16. In opening the floor to participants, the Chairman  suggested that, in the interest of economy 
of time and given the large number of requests fo r the floor, any delegation which so wished could 
submit its statement to the Secretariat for incl usion in the records of the present meeting. 
17. The representative of El Salvador  thanked the Chairman, the Secretariat staff and the Chairs 
of the various Negotiating Groups, in particular Ambassadors Falconer and Stephenson, for their 
invaluable efforts throughout this process.  Her delegation's special thanks also went to Deputy 
Director-General Rugwabiza for th e work she had carried out to further this Round's main objective – 
development. 
18. El Salvador recognized that the positive devel opments of recent years were the fruits of a 
sustained effort made by it over a period of more than  ten and a half years.  El Salvador believed that 
a clear vision for the future and appropriate , defined objectives had enabled it to achieve 
macroeconomic, political and social stability.  Many  of the efforts made in the economic field had 
focused on achieving greater participation in inte rnational trade, increasing productivity and attracting 
foreign investment, each of which was vital for c onsolidating sustainable democracy as a basic tool 
for eliminating poverty.  Neverthe less, it was very clear that for such progress to be sustainable, 
focusing on past achievements was simply not enough;  constant work was required to build upon 
these achievements and consolidate the improvements ma de.  This was why El Salvador attached, and 
would continue to attach, great importance to the multilateral trading system guided by the rules of 
this Organization. 
19. Ever since Members had decided to launch this  new round of negotiati ons, El Salvador had 
been a hard-working and constructive participant in  efforts to achieve a successful outcome, while 
seeking the necessary space to accommoda te its interests, in particular through the Group of Small, 
Vulnerable Economies (SVEs).  Her country had maintained a spirit of compromise throughout, 
knowing full well that such negotiations would require  it to make commitments, within the framework 
of the multilateral trading system, in each and ev ery one of the disciplines to be agreed on. 
20. She was therefore grateful to all Members which had recognized  that countries such as hers 
required a certain degree of flexibility to facilitate their systematic and orderly insertion into global 
flows, and ensure structural and production-related changes in respect of th eir economic operators.  
She recognized that in the Director-General and Ambassadors Stephe nson and Falconer, her 
delegation had met with people who had listened to her country's con cerns and who had tried to make 
proposals affording it the space that small economi es such as her country's needed to achieve the 
development objectives of this Round. 
21. The fact was that, despite the efforts made by  the entire membership over the last few days 
and the progress achieved in various areas of th e negotiations, Members had still not managed to 
establish modalities in Agriculture and NAMA.  Her de legation recognized that there was work yet to 
be done in respect of a number of important issues, including intellectual property, cotton subsidies and matters relating to NAMA. 
22. El Salvador nevertheless believed that the impor tant thing to do now was to look forward, 
focus the efforts, and build upon the large amount of progress that had been made over the last few 
years, and particularly the last few days, in areas such as reduction in overall trade-distorting domestic 
support (OTDS), coefficients in the market access fo rmulas and S&D treatment.  For this reason, it TN/C/M/28 
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  believed that the texts currently on the table, toge ther with the significant advances made the present 
week, should be the basis for resuming work in the future. 
23. El Salvador was optimistic as regards the stat ements in which Members had indicated their 
readiness to maintain the offers ma de over the last few days as a basis for the continuation of work, as 
it considered the progress achieved in the present week  to be very important for ensuring the balanced 
outcome required in these negotiations. 
24. Lastly, she wished to assure the Chairman that he had El Salvador's firm support in going this 
extra mile.  El Salvador called upon all Members to ensure that this was achieved;  it was the least it 
owed to a system that it was c onvinced was, and would continue to be, the bastion of its trade 
policies.  In this spirit, and with a view to fi nding balanced convergence, El  Salvador reiterated its 
intention to continue working constructively to find solutions in the yet outstanding negotiating areas, 
so that Members could reach the finishing line in these negotiations. 
25. The representative of Lesotho
, on behalf of the LDC Group , commended the Chairman for 
the selfless effort he and the Chairs of NAMA a nd Agriculture had put towards the advancement of 
these negotiations.  He also wished to thank th e Chairman for the succinct report he had just 
delivered, amid great disappointment.  The Least-D eveloped Countries (LDCs) had come here with 
great expectations.  Although they had not expected  to conclude the Round this time around, they had 
expected the conclusion of the Agriculture and NAM A modalities so that the negotiations could move 
forward. 
26. In the approaches to the ministerial, the Chai rman had estimated that the percentages of 
success were high enough, and he believed the Chai rman had been right because, out of so many 
issues, only a few remained unresolved.  It was also true that some of the issues had not been dealt 
with up to the level of the LDCs' satisfaction, but  they had accepted that for the sake of convergence 
and because they understood that negotiations involved bargaining.  The LDCs understood that 
because of the link between cotton and product sp ecific caps, blue box, reference period of the 
specific caps, and size of the blue box which also needed minor adjustments, it had been difficult to 
discuss cotton. 
27. The expectation of the LDC Group had been th at an agreement would be reached on key 
issues of interest, such as:  operationalisation of duty-free quota-free market access (DFQF) and accompanying rules of origin in a manner that wa s commercially meaningful to them;  technical 
assistance, capacity building and financial assistance to address their supply side constraints;  a 
satisfactory outcome on non-reciprocal preferences;  simple and accessible SSM for developing 
countries, especially LDCs;  and, a fair a nd balanced outcome on the issue of cotton. 
28. The fruits of Members' deliberations during the past days and all stabilised items should be 
preserved, as the Chairman had rightly pointed out, an d should be used as a platform for the re-launch 
of negotiations, especially on those issues pertaining to LDCs.  It was the LDCs' expectation that a 
work programme would be drawn up to allow further work on outstanding issues and to forge 
convergence on other issues.  One should also not forg et other issues of importance to LDCs, such as 
TRIPS/CBD and Services, particularly provision of special priority market access to LDCs. 
29. It was important that Ministers converged in Geneva to break the walls which were 
surrounding some of the issues; unfortunately th e walls around SSM were buttressed so much that 
time was not enough to break them down.  It was clear that this was the only opportunity this year that 
Members had, especially with elections looming on the horizon in some of the major players' 
countries.  The LDCs were, however, hopeful that Me mbers, after a decent interval for cooling down, 
would be able to speak with rested mind and reflect, at that time, on why a mandate had been given to  TN/C/M/28 
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  protect developing countries against import surges.  The LDCs believed Members should not throw in 
the towel.  Together they could achieve much.   
30. Finally, he said that the LDCs' Maseru Mini sterial Declaration on Trade had urged immediate 
operationalisation of the Enhanced In tegrated Framework (EIF).  The LD Cs were fast losing hope that 
it would ever be launched.  Credibility was fast er oding.  The LDCs urged all those involved in the 
process to launch EIF without further delay.  There should be no more procrastination. 
31. The representative of th e European Communities  said that the previous day Members had 
failed.  Today and tomorrow they had to face up to the consequences of their failure. They had not fail 
for lack of time.  They had failed because they l acked the political will to close the final gaps.  
Despite the extraordinary leadersh ip and determination shown by th e Chairman, he had concluded, 
and Members now had to conclude, that these cracks could not be papered over.  In the end they had 
not been able to bring on board the coalition of the unwilling they had encountered in the final stretch. 
32. This failure weighed heavier because it came so  quickly after a week of genuine success.  
What Members had achieved in the first stages of this ministerial meeting had massively exceeded 
most people’s expectations.  They had had agre ement on 90-95 per cent of the issues at stake in 
modalities.  This had been a deal within reach.  He  believed that people would look at the question on 
which this round had broken – or the gap of figures within it – and shake their heads in disbelief. 
33. Europe had come here to negotiate.  It was easy to portray the Community as a house divided 
because of course, there were always tensions in a family of 27.  But the Community had been and 
was united in its belief in an ambitious Doha Round. 
34. The Community had tabled offers in both Agriculture and NAMA that not only went further 
than any previous EU trade liberalization offer, but further than any offer, by anyone, in a multilateral 
trade round. Not perfect, but not bad either.  This included:  a 60 per cent average cut in the EU’s 
farm tariffs;  an 80 per cent cut to its trade distorting subsidies;  and, cuts in its industrial tariffs that 
would have left it with an average tariff of  barely 2 per cent and no tariff over 6 per cent. 
35. The outline deal on the table offered twice as mu ch in terms of tariff cuts than the Uruguay 
Round, in the OECD area alone.  This package would ha ve not just reformed farm trade, but protected 
those reforms and the farmers who shouldered them  from further international pressure and legal 
challenge.  Unprecedented reform.  New market access.  An end to trade distortions.  New south-south trade.  Only Doha could have delivered these th ings in a single package.  What would have been 
a huge collective success, now had to be counted a massive collective failure.  
36. So, collectively, Members had to reflect.  Firs t, one should recall, the Members were still the 
custodians of the multilateral trading system, the shar eholders in the WTO.  They had just lost the 
insurance policy that would have bound in the ope nness of the global economy.  They had lost the 
opportunity to put in place the openness that they needed not just for next year, but ten years from now.  The decisions they took now were not for tomo rrow, but for how they wanted the international 
trading system to be functioning and performing a decade or more from now.  That had been the 
perspective that ultimately had not weighed sufficiently with some.  
37. There would be opportunity costs from failure .  Members would spend the next decade 
counting them.  But they had a responsibility to ensu re that the failure of this trade round did not 
weaken the WTO or strength of the trading system at a time of turmoil and growing protectionist sentiment.  Equally they had a duty to the principle at the heart of the Doha mandate:  the principle 
that a global trade agreement could be put at the service of development.  There was no law that said 
that only the few or the rich would benefit from globalization.  That was not the globalization TN/C/M/28 
Page 6  
 
  Members were building here.  All the economic estimat es suggested that the biggest beneficiaries of 
the Doha Round in terms of growing GDP would have been developing countries. 
38. Today Members had lost an agreement that w ould have fundamentally reformed the way the 
rich world supported its farmers so that these polic ies no longer squeezed farmers in the developing 
world.  They had lost an agreement that would have brought trade justice to the cotton trade and a 
solution to the banana wars after sixteen years of insecurity for banana growers.  They had lost the 
chance to extend from the Community to others the principle that the very poorest should pay nothing to export to those richer than them. 
39. A system of trade rules mattered for all Memb ers, but it mattered for the poorest most.  
Ultimately, that obligation to development was bigge r than the Doha Round.  So Members had to find 
a way to keep these ideas alive. 
40. Rather than focus on blame, this was the moment  to ask why it had failed.  To ask why, when 
Members had had so much on the table, they had neve rtheless let it slip past them.  Why their failure 
to bridge one small difference, in one area of the ne gotiation had left them with a much larger failure 
on their hands. 
41. So in the autumn, after a summer of reflection, Members should renew their dialogue, nurture 
their relationships.  Talk like adults about where they would go from here.  None of the politics in 
their countries would get any easier.  Their job was not to resign themselves to the inevitable, but to define for themselves what was in evitable or not.  So the European Commission team and he looked 
forward to returning to Geneva, not to take up wh ere they had left off, but to make sure what 
Members had was not entirely lost. 
42. A representative of Japan
 said that, as the TNC process ended, he wished first of all to express 
his heartfelt gratitude to the Chairman, the Chai rmen of Agriculture a nd NAMA, and the General 
Council Chairman for the efforts they had exerted for ten days in a row with a view to bringing about 
convergence of Members’ views toward agreement of the modalities by convening meetings in 
various formats.  He also expressed his appreci ation to the Services and Rules Chairmen and a 
number of the Secretariat staff for their effo rt to move forward the negotiating process. 
43. He was painfully conscious about the fact that  Ministers and representatives from a number of 
countries had been waiting outside the meeting room fo r long hours.  In spite of confidence granted to 
them, the G-7 had not been able to achieve convergen ce.  As a member of G-7, he wished to express 
his deep apology for this. 
44. It was extremely regrettable that Members had not  been able to achieve a breakthrough in this 
TNC process toward successful conclusion of the Round by the end of the year.  Its negative impact 
on the world economy and trade system was indescr ibable.  However, he was convinced that 
Members had not spent long hours in vain. 
45. Mindful of the above, he wished to emphasi ze the following two points, which he hoped to 
share with all delegations.  First, Members had had useful discussions from various perspectives 
towards convergence.  Actually they had achieve d convergence on a lot of issues.  These were 
obvious facts.  It was important for them to pin down what they had achieved in this process and to 
move on to the next step based on it. 
46. Second, the present failure, if Members learned from it, could be the mother of tomorrow’s 
success.  They should collectivel y face the failure of this process seriously and then identify and 
elucidate the causes.  This he was confident would be  the shortest path to the conclusion of the Doha 
Round as early as possible.  TN/C/M/28 
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  47. Last, but not least, he still hoped that Members would be able to reach a final conclusion in 
the near future.  Then, they would all realize that the failure of this time had served as a key stepping 
stone to that conclusion.  This was what he sincerely hoped for. 
48. A representative of Japan  said that from 21 July until the present, Ministers coming to Geneva 
had had discussion for the total of 9 days.  He had pa rticipated actively in this discussion, with a view 
to reflecting the position of food-importing countries in the outcome of the negotiations as much as 
possible. 
49. Looking at the current, mid and long term s ituation surrounding food, it was important for 
importing countries, including Japan which was heavily dependent on food imports, to work to strengthen domestic food production, as agreed upon in  the G-8 Summit.  With this in mind, in the 
present ministerial meeting, he had made argume nts on issues such as tariff capping and sensitive 
products in order to represent the interests of Japan 's farmers and consumers.  Members had not been 
able to reach an agreement this time, but nobody was to be blamed for this. 
50. Even though it was regrettable that the modaliti es had not been agreed at this ministerial 
meeting, this did not mean the end of DDA nego tiations.  He believed th at Ministers would get 
together again in order to conclude the negotia tions.  When it took place, he was determined to 
contribute to the successful outcome of the negotiations, from a viewpoint of food-importing 
countries. 
51. The representative of Kenya
, on behalf of the African Group , thanked the Chairman for his 
statement.  The African Group was disappointed that th e talks had not been able to progress to the full 
modalities stage in the areas of Agriculture and NAM A.  For the period he and his fellow African 
Ministers had been in Geneva, they had engaged c onstructively in the negotiations during the informal 
ministerial meeting.  They had exercised consider able flexibilities.  They had accepted the leadership 
of the G-7 hoping that their consultations would r esult in moving the process forward.  It was now 
regrettable that after waiting here for almost tw o weeks the negotiations had not managed to give 
them the anticipated results. 
52. At this moment it was not necessary to start apportioning blame or finger pointing as to who 
bore the responsibility of this situati on since failure of one was failure fo r all.  The critical issue at this 
time was to focus on how to move fast, to capture  and preserve the progress that Members had made 
thus far on a number of important issues in th e negotiations.  Some of these issues included non-
reciprocal preferences and tropical products where there had indeed been reasonable convergence.  
This should be the starting point when Members resumed the negotiations.  The African Group had 
expected that its key issues of interests would be  fully addressed during the ministerial meeting.   
However, it was disappointing that this had never happe ned.  For instance, the lack of concrete results 
on Cotton would continue to deprive poor farmers in Africa of their livelihood. 
53. It should be noted that the delay in establishing modalities would affect progress in other 
areas of interest to the African Gr oup, such as fishery subsidies, S&D treatment, Trade Facilitation, as 
well as development.  Members therefore needed renewed political will to reach an agreement on 
modalities in Agriculture and NAMA in order to pave the way for the conclusion of the Doha 
Development Round without any further delay.  It w as indeed with this understanding that he wished 
to assure the membership of th e WTO that the African Group woul d remain engaged and committed 
to a successful conclusion of the DDA with a development content. 
54.  In conclusion, he wished to thank the Chairman  for his focus, leadership and indeed courage 
in the process thus far, and the Chairs of Agricu lture and NAMA as well as the other Chairs for their 
commitment and hard work.  The Group's hope and pray er was that the gains made could be locked in 
and, once again, on the part of all Members that  they might show the political will and greater TN/C/M/28 
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  flexibilities to ensure and guarantee a global and multila teral system of trade that was balanced, fair, 
and took into account the development concerns of A frica, a continent that continued to believe that 
trade not aid was its future. 
55. The representative of Argentina
 said that after all the effort made during the last seven years 
of negotiations, his delegation d eeply regretted that Members ha d been unable to approve the 
modalities in Agriculture and NAMA, the structure and content of which were to be based on the 
negotiating mandate, the ministeria l agreements – in particular those of Hong Kong – and the 
principles that had given the Doha Development R ound its name.  Members had, of course, to ask 
themselves why they had failed to achieve a positive outcome under such circumstances.  In the view 
of his delegation, the problems involved related to both substance and process. 
56. With regard to the latter, there had clearly been a lack of in-depth, horizontal discussion 
consistent with the "bottom-up" approach.  Senior officials should have been involved in the process 
right from the beginning of the year, with a view to  reducing divergences so that, insofar as possible, 
only certain key and contr oversial issues remained for the Minist ers to address, together with an 
indication of the options that would facilitate agr eement.  As part of this process, which required 
broad participation, it should have been ensured that Members with the gr eatest areas of sensitivity 
were included in the informal consultations and discussions, so as to further the understanding of 
other Members and help bridge differences.  As everyone was aware, the opposite course had been 
chosen, particularly for the consultations concer ning NAMA, a move which had seriously undermined 
transparency and which had led to action being take n on the basis of assumptions rather than certainty 
when dealing with the problems that needed to be addressed. 
57.  As regards substance, the degree of the pr oblems involved differed somewhat.  Up until the 
present meeting, work in Agriculture  had been carried out on the basis of broad participation, with the 
texts being put together as positions had been clear ly identified and degrees of convergence verified, 
which had enabled options or ranges to be establis hed with a view to a decision being made.   
Nevertheless, it was obvious th at important core issues needed to mature further and should have been 
discussed in depth by senior official s during the horizontal process.  The issues concerned related to 
the following:  the final level of OTDS;  product- specific caps in the amber and blue boxes;  the 
substantial reduction of cotton subsidies;  the e nhancement of green box disciplines with a view to 
preventing a permanent increase in overall support;  the precise determination of the level of tariff 
quota expansion as compensation for the designation of  sensitive products;  tariff capping;  tariff 
simplification;  special safeguard elimination;  lib eralization of trade in tropical products;  and the 
introduction of disciplines concerning Special Products  (SPs) and the SSM for developing countries, 
so as to protect the livelihoods of poor farmers a nd the development of agriculture, without affecting 
the continuity and growth of trade flows.  In this  respect, it should be noted that consideration had not 
been given to the importance of the link between th ese disciplines and the substantial reduction of the 
distortive and protective practices of the main trading nations. 
58. With regard to this issue – one of those which had led to the failure of the present meeting – 
there had mistakenly been an insistence on exer ting pressure on the developing countries concerned, 
instead of first negotiating a significant reducti on in the domestic support and special safeguard 
measures of developed countries.  If the negotiatio ns had addressed these issues from the outset, the 
developing countries would have been given greater assurance that subsidized imports were not going 
to flood their markets in the future and thus ha ve a damaging effect on the livelihood of their rural 
populations.  This would clearly have been the correct way to proceed towards an agreement. 
59. He believed it was important to reflect on this  matter, since it had a lot to do with the 
direction of the negotiations, which had gradually shifted from its original premise.  The Doha 
mandate placed special emphasis on S&D treatment fo r developing countries, including less than full 
reciprocity in tariff reductions, the centrality of Ag riculture, and the granting of flexibilities, either  TN/C/M/28 
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  through exceptions or lesser tariff cuts for certain ty pes of product, yet such treatment seemed to have 
been seriously called into question. 
60. Failure to comply with the principle of sp ecial treatment for developing countries – or 
contradictions in this respect – was evident in th e NAMA text.  In market access, the proposed Swiss 
formula coefficients and flexibilities resulted in a hi gher tariff cut for developing countries than for 
developed countries, which was a re versal of the principle of less than full reciprocity.  The 
Chairman's proposal was not the outcome of an  intensive discussion process or a synthesis of 
differing positions with suggestions  on convergence, but a result established on a "take it or leave it" 
basis.  The flexibilities also appeared to be linke d to exaggerated reduction obligations for developing 
countries and were limited in scope by anti-concen tration and linked to participation in sectoral 
agreements on tariff elimination.  In Agriculture , the level of commitment proposed for developing 
countries was greater than the commitment require d from developed countries and ran counter to 
paragraph 24 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declar ation, under which a comparably high level of 
ambition should be ensured in mark et access for Agriculture and NAMA. 
61. For the above reasons, changes clearly needed to be made to the texts for the modalities to be 
approved.  The NAMA text, in particular, required st ructural changes if it w as to serve as a basis for 
negotiation.  Only when the text complied with th e aforementioned core principles of the Round and 
all the negotiating positions had been incorpor ated, would it be possible to move the NAMA 
negotiations forward. 
62. Argentina would continue to work hard, as it had done so far, participating actively in formal 
and informal meetings and submitting proposals, i ndividually or in conjunction with other countries 
and negotiating groups.  It was committed to the multilateral trading system, as it believed that its 
rules and disciplines ensured predictability in relati ons between nations and stimulated the investment 
process, particularly in developing countries.  In the absence of such rules, the strongest countries 
would reign and disputes would intensify. 
63. Argentina called upon the entire membership to ove rcome this situation and to return to the 
basic principles that Members should not have lost sight of.  It was their obligation to provide 
leadership and resolve on a realistic basis, acknowledgi ng the political limits that each of them had.  
Argentina was sure that this change in attitude and the suggested adjustments and improvements to 
the proposed modalities would enable  Members to move forward with determination towards the final 
phase of the Round and meet the main objective they had set themselves in Doha, namely to promote development. 
64. The representative of the United States
 said that the present meeting was not a time for long 
speeches, as the Chairman had noted, but rather was a time for reflection.  And certainly not a time for 
name calling but for constructive leadership.  So her remarks would be brief.  
65. She wished to begin by expressing her deepest  appreciation to the Chairman, the General 
Council Chairman, and the Chairmen of Agriculture and NAMA for their tireless efforts, particularly 
over the past ten days – and long nights – of intens ive work.  Members would not have gotten nearly 
as far as they had without their pers istence, patience, and dedication.  But a very special word of 
gratitude and admiration to the Chairman.  Both as EU Trade Commissioner and as Director-General, he had been the driving force and the primary vision ary of these negotiations from their very start.  
She had no doubt that he would continue to br ing these qualities to bear on this institution as 
Members collectively determined its path ahead.  Sh e also wished to thank the many people of the 
WTO Secretariat who had supported the negotiations  with their substantive contributions, their 
interpretation and translation skills, their fabulous l ogistical arrangements, and many other tasks that 
had been absolutely necessar y to operate this institution but that many delegations forgot to note.  TN/C/M/28 
Page 10  
 
  Their skills and commitment had been particularly evident during the intensive period that everyone 
had experienced in these past weeks.   
66. She also wished to acknowledge the efforts that so many of her colleagues, and their teams 
from capitals and Missions here in Geneva, had made to tackle the very difficult issues in their 
attempts to move the negotiations forward.  All had made enormous progress together.  It had been a 
huge disappointment for each one, and for the citizen s at home, that Members had not reached their 
goal.  Looking ahead, Members would have to determ ine the best way to pick up the pieces and move 
forward with the agenda of the WTO.  In that regard, she wished to assure her partners and the 
Chairman that what the US had put on the table remained on the table. 
67. In the coming weeks and months, there naturall y would be a lot of soul searching about the 
process;  could Members have been more successful if the process had been different in one way or 
another?   There was always room for improvement in managing a process.  But Members could not lose focus on the substance.  The di fficulties that frustrated their effort s over the past ten days did not 
hinge on process, but rather on the substance.  They  had faced some very difficult and complex issues 
of vital importance to the membership that had not  readily lent themselves to traditional "split-the-
difference" solutions or "lowest common denominator " solutions.  To get back  on the path to success, 
Members would all need to think hard about how they tackled these issues. 
68. Finally, she wished to assure everyone at th e present meeting that the United States remained 
fully committed to the mission of the WTO as th e foundation of the rules-based multilateral trading 
system, and to multilateral negotiations.  No-one co uld afford any diminution in this organization’s 
role as the guardian of a progressively liberalizing trading system based on non-discrimination and 
fair play for all.  It also was the centerpiece in  efforts to bring the developing countries increasingly 
into the global economy on terms that enabled them  to benefit fully from the opportunities created by 
international trade.  In conclusion, she wished to thank the Chairman on ce again for his magnificent 
leadership.  He had her delegation's full support as Members moved forward from the present week. 
69. The representative of Guyana
, on behalf of the Caribbean Community  (CARICOM), said 
Members had come to Geneva imbued with a cons tructive spirit to promote modalities which would 
reinforce the development of a rules-based multilatera l trading system.  But, in spite of repeated 
displays of flexibilities, immense goodwill, hours of hard work and much sleep deprivation, it appeared that their collective effort had all but evaporated. 
70. Members had secured some notable progress, among which had to be the entire architecture 
of rights for small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) su ch as the countries for which he was speaking.  
However, Members now stood at a place where they could not avoid the use of the word "failure" 
because some leading Members had not been able to  secure convergence on SSM.  As members of the 
G-33, the countries of the Caribbean Community rema ined firmly of the view that a satisfactory 
outcome on SSM was a sine qua non  for progress.  But, in spite of this overarching importance, it was 
inconceivable to them, it was beyond their wildest im agination to believe that, at an historic moment 
when the last word he had just uttered could alr eady have been published in Georgetown, when the 
world was attempting to put its ultimate stamp on Ma rs, Members had not been able to construct a 
bridge between the legitimacy and the abuse of the SSM.  Something else had to be at work here. 
71. He suggested that surely Members had again treated cotton in a most shabby manner.  There 
were clear political instructions on how to address the legitimate concerns of the co-sponsors of the 
Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton
4.  In order to avoid the shame the world would, correctly, heap 
upon Members for this particular issue, they shoul d try and carve out some arrangement that would 
allow an "early harvest" for the poor cotton-pro ducing farmers of West Africa and elsewhere. 
                                                      
4  Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, known also as the C4.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 11 
 
 
  72. Since he was on this matter of "early harvest ", it was necessary to note that, as this Round 
became comatose, the countries in the Caribbean were exposed to th e possible "early harvest" of an 
agreement on bananas that heralded the epitaph of their export industry.  While they appreciated the 
tireless effort the Director-General had made to keep  the ACP apprised of developments, the countries 
for which he was speaking could not and would not subscribe to the terms of the so-called "Geneva 
Agreement on Bananas", in whatever form, for th at Agreement between the EC and MFN suppliers 
sought to drive the final death nail through the ba nana industry of the Caribbean region.  The 
European Community had said that it would comp ensate Caribbean farmers for the damage done as a 
result of agreement.  How it intended to compen sate for the loss of entir e livelihoods was beyond his 
comprehension.  What was certain was that the pr oposal put on the table by the ACP was still there. 
73. He knew that the Chairman had to be very d espondent, but in CARICOM's estimate, he had 
achieved a lot and the first task had to be an atte mpt to preserve those gains.  The Chairman should 
continue to engage the participants in the few remaining areas that had not been closed and call 
Ministers back when success had been achieved, or when he believed that their participation could 
help to complete the Round.  And, he wished to st ress that quite apart from the Chairman being a wise 
administrator and a most collegiate and humane friend,  if many of the persons at the present meeting 
who had consistently harped about  this Round being a developmental one, had exhibited half of the 
commitment to development that the Chairman had demonstrated, this Round would not have failed. 
74. The representative of Venezuela  said his delegation appreciated the information the Chairman 
had provided over the previous few days concerning  the consultation process.  As his delegation had 
indicated at the start of the day, it was convinced th at, as the previous few days had shown, any results 
sought within this Organization ha d to above all take into account the demands of the developing 
countries and be based on the participation and approval of the entire Membership. 
75. Venezuela was adamant that an y results stemming from the participation of small groups of 
countries or from their efforts to reach a conclusion to the Round, such as the so-called "package", 
could not and should not represent the basis for futu re discussions, as such results were not based on 
the participation or approval of the entire Membersh ip and did not fully reflect the interests of the 
developing-country Members of this Organization. 
76. At the same time, Venezuela expected that th e discussions return to their usual setting, the 
Negotiating Groups, so as to ensure that the concerns  and interests of all developing countries, which 
had not been included in the texts presented in mi d-July, were fully incorporated with a view to 
preparing a basis for future discussions. 
77. With regard to other issues such as Services, his delegation wished to reiterate that the 
Chairman of the group should limit himself to the pr esentation of a factual report prepared on his own 
responsibility, since there was no consensus on a new Se rvices text, or any mandate for such a text, as 
pointed out by several delegations at the most  recent Council for Trade in Services meeting. 
78. Lastly, it was important to make clear that if this reduced process had failed to achieve 
successful results, it was not because of the deve loping countries or any one specific issue, but 
because of the lack of real political will, mainly on the part of the developed countries, which had, moreover, sought to impose their interests on the rest of the membership. 
79. The representative of South Africa
 said that at the outset, he wished to acknowledge and 
thank the Chairman for his personal, his Chairs' a nd his staff’s extraordinary efforts in the process 
Members had been engaged in over the ten days.  For all of them, the failure of their collective effort 
to reach an outcome on the terms agreed seven years ago in Doha was a missed opportunity.  In 
particular, South Africa regretted that Members had not achieved an early resolution of cotton, DFQF TN/C/M/28 
Page 12  
 
  for LDCs, the banana issue, tropical products, a nd others.  South Africa therefore supported the 
proposal for an early harvest on DFQF, cotton and bananas. 
80. The systemic implications for this Organisation,  for global trade and for the fuller integration 
of developing countries into the global trading system on equitable terms were matters that all 
Members would need to begin to reflect on with some seriousness.  Of course, they would all have 
varying assessments of the proximate and deeper  causes for their inability to reach a positive 
outcome. 
81. He believed that all Members would agree th at, despite their failure to conclude the 
negotiations at this time, they would have to come  back as soon as possible to make further efforts to 
conclude what they had begun in Doha.  In prepar ing for that, however, they would need to take 
important lessons from the experience of the last ten days and to begin to build a firmer foundation for 
re-starting the negotiating process.  
82. For South Africa, the developmental agenda, as Members had agreed in Doha, had to remain 
at the centre of these considerations.  The core objec tive had to be to continue to work to strengthen 
the global rules-based trading system in a manne r that supported the development aspirations of 
developing countries.  An equ itable and balanced trading system that fully took into account 
developmental prospects would enha nce the legitimacy and stability of  the system.  Members should, 
therefore, reaffirm the Doha mandate to: "…place the needs and interests of developing countries at 
the heart of [the] work programme". 
83. In doing this and in order to succeed in the negotiations, South Africa believed that Members 
should ensure that the development objectives to wh ich they subscribed were given greater weight 
than narrow mercantilist objectives.  Developm ent and increased trade were not synonymous, 
although trade growth could contribute to development.   In this regard, Members should be attuned to 
the fact that a single-minded focus on trade and mark et opening could also be detrimental to broader 
development considerations.  The construction of the agenda and pr ocess of negotiation should take 
these considerations into account. 
84. A second lesson that Members should take from the experience of the last ten days was that 
pursuing rigid formulas and frameworks that ignored th e specific situations and concerns of particular 
Members could be a recipe for failure.  In main taining its legitimacy and sustainability, the rules-
based system had to be able to respond to and accomm odate specific concerns of particular countries.  
85. In this respect, Members should reaffirm a nd meaningfully implement the principles of 
special and differential treatment and less than fu ll reciprocity in favour of developing countries, 
while taking into account real differences among deve loping countries.  Giving expression to these 
principles was first and foremost a task for all of  those in the developing world.  It was their 
responsibility to define the devel opment content they sought in ne gotiating outcomes and they should 
do so in ways that built common purpose. 
86. During this week, South Africa had said that it did not regard itself as custodian of 
development in the sense of being the only one who could define or determine when it had been or 
was being achieved, as this was something Member s had to do collectively.  His country was, 
however, champion/advocate and activist for it, and would always be.  The Chairman would have 
South Africa’s support in the efforts he would un dertake to re-start the process so that Members 
concluded what they had begun in Doha. 
87. The representative of Mauritius
, on behalf of the ACP Group , said it was a sad day for the 
WTO. Yet it could and should have been one of those moments.  Unfortunately, Members were 
breaking for summer without concluding modalities on Agriculture and NAMA.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 13 
 
 
  88. One could go for long on the reasons for this failure.  Members could mutually balance blame 
at each other.  At the end of the day, none of these would matter.  It was what Members did and how they did something to achieve modalities that would really make the difference in their lives, for the 
economies of their countries and in the global econo my.  So he would concentrate on positive action 
rather than recrimination.  But before doing that, he wished to pay a very special tribute to the 
Chairman for his great leadership, stamina and patien ce.  He wished to pay tribute also to the two 
Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA respectively and to  extend his thanks to the WTO Secretariat who 
had been under extreme pressure. 
89. He wished to believe that all was not lost.  For Members had achieved considerable progress 
over the last few days.  The presence of Ministers had helped to catalyse th e process on many issues 
and close gaps on a number of pending issues in both  texts.  How they captured this progress, how 
they ensured that the texts on the table remained their basis for continuing the negotiations and how 
they charted out a road map for the immediate futu re – these were the concerns that they had to 
address their attention to. 
90. As ACP co-ordinator, he had been involved in quite a number of consultations and 
negotiations that had resulted in reaching unders tandings on issues that had been excruciatingly 
difficult for the ACP in these negotiations.  It would be a terrible setback to set the clock back on 
these and other issues where Members had made progress. 
91. Some of the things Members could do not to set the clock back were:  (i) to send back the 
negotiations at the level of the two negotiating groups;   (ii) allow the Chairs to capture the progress 
achieved in new Chair’s texts so that it remained on the table as part of the progress that the respective 
Chairs had been trying to achieve before the mini -Ministerial;  (iii) the Single Undertaking still 
operated and so one should not fear that their ba lance was not yet in the text, when progress was 
captured;  and, (iv) Members could still, after the dust settled, perhaps in September try to fine-tune a 
few elements of the two texts and create or enable  conditions for the preparations for scheduling. 
92. His concern was to send the right signals and keep the DDA on track.  Developing countries 
needed that trade/development nexus.  Members had, therefore, to see to it that what they did and how 
they did it did not negate this.  Members owed it:  (i) for the strength and credibility of the WTO and 
the global trading system;  and, (ii) for the global economy which in these times of looming crisis needed a boost.  They owed it also to the many small and vulnerable economies which would 
continue to be marginalised. 
93. The ACP was not and would not give up on a rule-based multilateral trading system.  The 
ACP believed this was still doable, and was ready to  engage and find collectively a way forward. 
94. The representative of India
 thanked the Chairman for his report, and agreed with the way he 
had summarized the discussions since 21 July, as well as his reflections on possible future engagement.   
95. During the intensive negotiations over the previo us nine days, India had remained firmly 
convinced that Members would be able to resolve the remaining issues in Agriculture and NAMA to 
conclude the modalities, as well as to address other important issues like Services, TRIPS and Rules.  
At the end, India found it difficult to understand how Members could not come to terms with an issue that affected the livelihoods of millions of the poor around the world.   
96. It was pertinent to note that the issues on which Members had been unable to make much 
progress were issues central to the development ma ndate of the Round – trade-distorting support and 
disciplines, SPs, SSM, Cotton, DFQF, and so on.  This  had to be a cause for serious introspection.  
Members should ask themselves why they had not been able to resolve the main issues which TN/C/M/28 
Page 14  
 
  concerned developing countries in the WTO.  An answ er to this question was relevant for the future 
credibility of this organisation.  If Members were to strengthen the WTO, a way would have to be 
found to enable it to address the aspirations of the bulk of its membership.  In this connection, he 
wished to suggest that a dialogue be initiated to  consider how Members could take forward some 
issues with deep development implications on a fast track basis.  Such issues could include DFQF for 
all LDCs, Aid for Trade and the Enhanced Integrated Framework. 
97. India was obviously disappointed but not dishearte ned.  Members could not walk away.  They 
had invested too much in the Round to give up now.  If they gave up now, the world would give up on 
the WTO.   As a first step, it was important that Members captured the considerable understandings among them on a number of issues appropriately.  The cumulative understandings constituted a very 
substantial corpus of work which should serve as the platform for their further engagement.  These 
understandings were too vital for the global trading syst em to be merely consigned to memoirs.  After 
a period of introspection, Members needed to enga ge on how they could build  a programme to bridge 
the remaining gaps.  As far as India was concerned,  it remained fully committed to work with the 
Chairman to take the Round to successful completion.   
98. In conclusion, he wished to pay tribute to the Chairman for his tireless efforts to build 
consensus in the last few days.   While Me mbers might not have achieved consensus on the 
substantive issues, he believed there was no doubt  about the consensus amongst them regarding the 
debt they owed the Chairman for his leadership a nd commitment to the Round and to the WTO.  He 
wished similarly to acknowledge the efforts of  the Chairs, as well as all the members of the 
Secretariat who had worked very hard to help the Members. 
99. The representative of Mexico
 said thank the Chairman for his report, and especially for the 
leadership and the energy and determination he had di splayed in attempting to achieve an agreement.   
He also thanked the General Council Chairman , the Agriculture and NAMA Chairs and the 
Secretariat.  Notwithstanding their enormous efforts and the efforts of the Members, the present meeting was a sad day for the WTO, for the multilate ral trading system and for the economic system 
as a whole.  Nobody had won.  Everyone had lost. 
100. Despite the intense days of negotiation, both at  the technical level and the political level, 
success had eluded Members.  In one week, they  had made more progress than in years of 
negotiations.  They had been very close.  In fact, they had had within their grasp the modalities that 
would enable them to begin to draw up the sch edules of commitments in Agriculture and NAMA. 
101. Much could be said about the consequences that the decision taken the previous day would 
have on the multilateral trading system and on the prospects of higher economic growth, but rather 
than concentrate on the losses, his delegation prefe rred to concentrate on saving the great advances 
that had emerged in the course of the Ministers' discussions in recent days. 
102. Looking towards the future, his delegation consid ered it essential to reflect collectively, under 
the Chairman's leadership, on the best way of preserving what had been achieved so far.  Members 
needed to begin working as of the present.  They could not allow the consequences of this reverse to 
be even greater.  The negotiations had suffered a setback, but they were alive and Members should do 
everything necessary to sustain them. 
103. The Chairman was well aware that he could coun t on the delegation of Mexico to support the 
efforts that the gigantic task of bringing the ne gotiations back on track would require.  Mexico was 
committed to the multilateral trading system and it was the duty of all Members not only to defend it, 
but also to ensure that every day it became stronger and more solid.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 15 
 
 
  104. The representative of China  said that after ten days of day and night hard work by Ministers 
under the guidance of the Chairman, China was as disappointed as many others with the setback Members were confronted for the negotiations.  Ch ina thanked the Chairman very much and highly 
valued the tremendous efforts he ha d made during the whole process.  China's thanks also went to the 
Chairs of the negotiating bodies of Agriculture a nd NAMA, who had been engaged in assisting the 
TNC Chairman for solutions to the outstanding is sues discussed in the Green Room.  China also 
appreciated the contributions made by Members, including the great majority of developed ones 
among them, for a possible balanced and developm ent-oriented outcome of the Agriculture and 
NAMA modalities. 
105. On the substance in general terms, he said China wished to reiterate the importance of 
development dimension that the Round should de liver, without which it could never come to a 
successful conclusion.  In this regard, in addition to all the best efforts that Members had made and 
would continue to make, the major developed Me mbers needed to play in particular genuine 
leadership in the negotiations rather than in  any unhelpful activities with a view to shifting 
responsibilities onto others, including through the media. 
106. China was in full agreement with the assessment  the Chairman and many Members had made 
on the state of play of the negotiations, and would go along with any proposal the Chairman or Members made specifically on the arrangement of futu re work as far as it could facilitate an early and 
successful conclusion of the Round.  For the sake of the improvement and strengthening of the multilateral trading system, and the healthy evolutio n of the world economy at large, Members should 
not give up their efforts.  China entirely supporte d the Chairman's judgment that all the progress 
Members had made should be preserved instead of being wasted and that they should resume their 
work as early as possible on those issues still outsta nding.  China would as always continue to be fully 
committed and engaged constructively in future ne gotiations until the Round came to a complete 
success. 
107. The representative of Switzerland
 thanked the Chairman and all those he had thanked in his 
statement for the patience, stamin a, skills and engagement.  Swit zerland was disappointed, but it was 
used to it.  In the Euro 08 football competition it had been kicked out of the game at the first occasion.  
It had had a similar destiny this time, when the Ch airman had decided to play the game with seven 
football players.  
108. Members had been close to a deal. Even if th e negotiations had not succeeded, a lot of useful 
and positive work had been done, even if some impor tant issues were still open.  The first priority, as 
the Chairman had said, was the stabilization of a ll the texts and reports, the report on the Signalling 
Conference and the report of the leader on TRIPS-rela ted  consultations.  This would be the basis for 
Members to prepare the next ascension towards the goal of these negotiations. 
109. Switzerland agreed with the assessment that  on many questions, Members had made good 
progress.  The package which had been on the table since 25 July had been a compromise on a great 
number of important but also difficult elements acceptable to most Members.  There had also been a 
very positive Signalling Conference, where there had been very useful signals.  Switzerland had 
received specific signals from important markets on services sectors important to it, and it hoped that these signals would remain on the table. 
110. Domestically, Switzerland's Minister had addressed a strong message to the farming 
community that the failure of these negotiations did not mean an interruption of the reform process.  
Switzerland hoped that others would also be encour aged to pursue such effo rts, because only with 
parallel progress on the domestic front and in the D oha Round, could an outcome be reached which it 
would be possible to implement. TN/C/M/28 
Page 16  
 
  111. Switzerland would use the month of August for internal reflection, and would assist the 
Chairman in any way it could.  Several tools were available, including quiet diplomacy, technical work to find options for those issues which were not  yet ready for decision, and plurilateral reflection 
on how to improve the process.  Priority should be  given to these approaches after the summer break.  
His delegation would consult with the Chairman on whether it would be useful to organize the 
traditional Davos meeting in order to give fresh ai r to the process at the beginning of next year. 
112. In the luxury watch industry, one could find great complications, just like in WTO, with 
technical art, high precision and an enormous lif espan.  He suggested adapting these qualities to the 
Doha Round. 
113. The representative of Colombia
 said that what had happened was punishment for the "good 
students" of the Organization, for those who had not asked for exceptions and for those who had been 
ready to accept compromises and contribute to the growth of their economies by promoting trade. 
114. Colombia felt frustrated not only on account of the modalities, but also for the hours of work 
which had failed to produce results, for the Chairm an, for the Ministers, for the Chairs of the 
Negotiating Groups, in particular Ambassadors Falc oner and Stephenson, for colleagues in other 
delegations, but especially for the poor people of th e world on whose account it had been asserted that 
the modalities could not be adopted. 
115. Colombia wished to inform Me mbers that one of its priorities was to continue to seek a 
solution to the banana dispute.  It had been work ing very hard with the European Communities;  it 
recognized how difficult it was for them to achieve a balanced solution and consequently Colombia's 
efforts had taken account of all the sensitivities i nvolved.  The Director-General had presented the 
Members concerned with a package which would have  the same outcome with or without an agreed 
Round.  Consequently, in Colombia's view, the onl y good news that could be announced to the world 
from the present meeting was the settlement that had been achieved on banana trade in accordance 
with the agreement reached by the European Co mmunities and the Latin American countries in the 
early hours of the previous Sunday, 27 July. 
116.  Looking to the future, Colombia believed that  all the agreements achieved in recent weeks 
should be reflected in the Chairmen's reports. 
117. The representative of Indonesia , on behalf of the G-33 , said the Group shared the deep 
disappointment expressed by many delegations that Members were unable to achieve the objective of 
the present meeting.  It was indeed a painful failu re for them, especially knowing that they were only 
a few miles away from their common destination. 
118. The G-33 was present with a strong commitment to  engage constructively with its negotiating 
partners.  It had shown flexibilities and prepare dness to move in its position because it understood the 
concerns of some Members. 
119. The G-33 had been prepared to compromise and negotiate to find acceptable balanced 
outcomes in all areas of the negotiations.  All of  the Group were committed to finding a compromise 
and satisfactory outcomes. 
120. The Group was therefore deeply disappointed a nd regretted that Members were unable to 
reach compromise.  It applauded those who had trie d very hard to find a compromise, and regretted 
that those who could have gone the extra mile coul d not move at all.  It had been a reachable 
compromise.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 17 
 
 
  121. The G-33 continued to be ready to take a positiv e and constructive approach to any next steps 
and subsequent follow up, because like other Members, it believed that much had been achieved to 
trade and development objectives.  Members had to take a broader and longer  term perspective and 
hope that there could be a continuing process to  resolve the unresolved issues whilst keeping the 
positive results already achieved. 
122. In conclusion, she wished to take this opportu nity to extend the Group's deep appreciation to 
Chairman for his indispensable effo rts and extraordinarily strong commitment to bridge differences 
among Members.  Its appreciation also went to the Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA and to the Secretariat which had devoted immense time and ener gy and hard work to facilitating the negotiations 
forward, as reflected in the last revised draft texts.   Last but not least, the Group also appreciated all 
Members who had shown flexibilities and construc tive engagement, especially in the intense 
negotiations in the last ten days. 
123. The representative of Burkina Faso
, on behalf of the co-sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in 
Favour of Cotton (C4) , supported the statements by Lesotho on behalf of the LDCs, Kenya on behalf 
of the African Group and Mauritius on behalf of th e ACP.  He expressed gratitude to all the 
delegations that had given their support on the issu e of cotton.  This support had been very much 
appreciated by the C4.  He also thanked the Dir ector-General, the Agricu lture and NAMA Chairmen, 
and all the WTO staff for the work they had carri ed out and the willingness they had shown with a 
view to bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion. 
124. Since the meetings had started, he, on behalf of  the C4, had remained patient and constructive 
at all times and had repeatedly asked that the issu e of cotton be examined and discussed.  And yet, it 
turned out that after nine days of unproductive a nd frustrating negotiation, all the C4's hopes had been 
dashed because of a disagreement concerning the SSM.  He could honestly say that they felt 
disappointed and betrayed, and he did not use these terms lightly. 
125. That said, it was now vital for him to know what  the next step in the process would be.  The 
SSM issue that had hijacked the entire modalities package should now be assigned a deadline;  once 
that deadline was up, the remain ing issues had to be discussed. 
126. He had been told that the cotton issue would c ontinue to be discussed with the C4, in which 
case he wished to know where, when and how.  Th e C4 had always thought that the best place to 
discuss cotton was at the WTO and that the best context for such discussion was the multilateral 
framework.  He still believed this, as the C4 coul d not give up its fight.  Having been denied the 
opportunity to discuss cotton at the present ministerial meeting, the C4 would continue its efforts with 
everyone's support.  The C4 nevertheless still had faith in the future. 
127. The representative of Brazil  said that it was a sad day for the multilateral trading system.  It 
was a sour day for all countries, in particular deve loping countries that had put so much effort and 
hope in this round of ne gotiations.  Brazil, as a true believer in the multilateral trading system, had 
tried to help the negotiations all along.  It had act ed to avoid low ambition in Agriculture that would 
be incompatible with the mandate.  It had employed a lot of resources in the coordination of the G-20 
in order to move negotiations forwar d.  It had tried to find solutions for issues which were beyond the 
G-20 mandate.  It had made all efforts and left no stone unturned.  No other attitude had been 
possible.  
128. The stakes were clear: reform of the system, es pecially in Agriculture, in a way that would 
make it more inclusive for developing countries.  This had always been the main objective of the G-
20.  In a constructive and positive way, the Group ha d helped to move this negotiation forward with 
impressive results.  One just had to compare the poi nt Members were at now to the point where they 
had been when the Group had been created in Cancún. TN/C/M/28 
Page 18  
 
  129. The failure to achieve a successf ul result was clearly a loss for most developing countries and, 
in particular, for the poorest among them.  They  would continue to be exposed to unlimited 
subsidization in developed countries from the moment the present price hikes started to revert.  This 
would affect any impulse their agricultural sector mi ght have received from the present price signals.  
Export subsidies might conti nue to exist.  Special arrangements fo r cotton would not become a reality.  
Without the conclusion of the Round, one might see a multiplication of dispute settlement procedures.  
Efforts to create disciplines on fishery subsidies might be lost.  
130. Brazil remained convinced that active particip ation in international trade was essential for 
development and that a development-oriented multilat eral trading system was possible.  Reform in 
Agriculture remained the key.  
131. His delegation highly appreciate the energy a nd skill the Chairman had invested in these 
negotiations.  Brazil had no illusion that they could be  resumed in the near future, but it agreed with 
the Chairman's assessment that it w ould eventually be possible to retu rn to the table and build on the 
partial results of the last few years.  With this objective, and bearing in mind that due restraint would smoothen the way for a resumption, Brazil expected  that developed countries would not provide 
agricultural subsidies beyond the levels provisionally agreed. 
132. The representative of Israel
 expressed the gratitude of his de legation to the Chairman and to 
the Chairs for their efforts, which were highly appr eciated.  His delegation was in particular grateful 
to the Chairman for his leadership as well as hi s personal and unyielding commitment to the process 
and the manner in which it had been conducted the previous days. 
133. Significant progress had been achieved and regi stered in areas such as NAMA, Agriculture, 
Rules and Services.  While it was too early to talk  about specific process, his delegation believed that 
this process needed not to be lost, and should serve  as the basis for the future resumption of talks. 
134. At this critical point of time, Israel reaffi rmed its commitment to the multilateral trading 
system, and was of the view that after a phase of assessment and reflection, the talks should resume 
with the same vigour and determination, aiming for the conclusion of the DDA, a goal necessary to 
global trade and economic ope rators and equally important to the WTO itself. 
135. Israel was convinced that there was no substitu te for a vital and well functioning rule-based 
multilateral trading system;  the conclusion of the DDA was vital to that end. 
136. The representative of Uruguay  said that, as the Chairman had indicated and other Members 
had said, this was a time for reflection and also for action.  Indeed, Members needed to take advantage 
of the recess to reflect in order to draw the releva nt conclusions, but at the same time they should 
avoid pointing the finger at those responsible for the breakdown, since they were all responsible to 
some extent.  He said let him who was without sin cast the first stone. 
137. Such reflection should be well focused and Memb ers should think seriously about the real and 
concrete risks that protectionism would involve.   They should also reflect on the concrete 
opportunities that were still within their grasp.  In this connection, it was good to learn from some 
Members that the offers, although in complete, were still on the table.  Members should also reflect on 
the fact that there were many of them who wanted  this Round and there were  many more, probably all 
of them, who needed this Round. 
138. This was not the time to conclude that the process was bad.  There was no such thing as a 
perfect process and, above all, there was no pro cess that was better than the men and women who 
participated in it.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 19 
 
 
  139. The Chairman had talked of action, and he wondered what Members should do.  In the first 
place, they needed to draw up a clear inventory of the areas and themes wh ere consensus had been 
achieved or had been very close.  Progress already made on the basis of the text in square brackets 
should be maintained.  Later on, they would see how they could work.  However, the inventory should 
be prepared – and then Members would see how to pr oceed.  The Chairs' texts that were due to come 
out had to come out.  Then Members would see how they were to work on them. 
140. The Chairman had told Members that they should not throw in the towel.  Those of them who 
knew the Chairman would not be surprised by that statement.  What would surprise them, on the other 
hand, was that anyone at the present meeting could ev en imagine that he could or should throw in the 
towel.  The Chairman could not, should not, an d would not have to throw in the towel. 
141. Finally, he said that Uruguay had a long tr adition in this Organization and it was honouring 
that tradition during these critical times for the Round and this institution, since the President of the 
Republic had informed him of his intention to visit Geneva in the near future, as part of a regional 
visit, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Economy, to hold discussions with the Chairman on the course to be followed and to inform him of his full support for 
the multilateral trading system and the Doha Round.  Uruguay felt sure that in that task it would not 
be alone. 
142. The representative of the Philippines
 said that against the backdrop of global economic 
uncertainty, and rising prices in oil and basic commodities, his delegation had noted during the informal TNC meeting of 27 June that resolute ac tion on the part of the WTO would underscore his 
country's commitment to economic development and pr osperity.  It would also avoid a crisis of 
confidence in the multilateral trading system.  As  such, when Members had begun the Horizontal 
Process on 21st July, his delegation had been comm itted to positive and cons tructive cooperation in 
the negotiations to establish modalities in Agriculture and NAMA. 
143. At the informal meeting the previous day, the Chairman had outlined the potential benefits of 
what Members had achieved so far in these negotia tions.  Indeed, these represented economic gains 
that could substantially contribute to global prosperity and to Members' respective national 
development objectives.  In this context, his dele gation was prepared to work on the basis of the 
proposed compromise, even if it did not provide co mplete comfort to his country's most vulnerable 
agricultural sectors, nor ample comfort in the NAMA outcomes. 
144. The previous night, however, Members had enda ngered gains such as the reduction of global 
barriers to trade, including tariff peaks, and be tter opportunities for trade.  They had also made 
uncertain what could be new or clarified rules in the multilateral trading system. 
145. In response to the Chairman's question on the way forward, his delegation believed that the 
imperative to conclude and deliver a strong DDA resu lt continued to exist.  Members had to avoid, 
therefore, a long period of hibernation, even if politely called a period of reflection.  They had 
achieved so much in the course of the last few days, and it would be a complete waste of effort, time 
and resources to abandon these broad convergences now.  His delegation believed that, after the 
summer break, Members should come back with a renewed sense of commitment to building on the 
achievements of the last nine days, with a view to  completing in the near future on what they had 
failed to do at present –  work out convergence on  the remaining issues of SSM and cotton.  This 
would require three essential ingredients: fu rther genuine political will; faithfulness to the 
development mandate given by Ministers in Hong K ong;  and, someone, not from either side of the 
issue, to take the leadership in fo rmulating a balanced compromise text. 
146. That Members had failed to establish modalities in  Agriculture and NAMA was a fact.  But it 
was not for his delegation to judge today its own acti ons or those of others.  It only remained for him TN/C/M/28 
Page 20  
 
  to thank the Chairman and his team, including the Chairmen of the General Council, and Agriculture 
and NAMA negotiating groups, as well as Coordinato rs of the alliances to which his country 
belonged:  Ministers Mari Pangestu of Indonesia, Si mon Crean of Australia, Celso Amorim of Brazil, 
and Mandisi Mpahlwa of South Africa, for what ne vertheless had been monumental efforts this past 
week. 
147. The representative of Costa Rica
 thanked the Chairman for his tremendous efforts, his 
tenacity and leadership, and his ca ll at the present meeting to preserve the progress made so far.  It 
would probably take a long time to appreciate the gr avity and true extent of what all Members had 
lost the previous day.  The serious conseque nces in economic and development terms would be 
damaging to each of their countries. 
148. Costa Rica believed that the main task was to  preserve the achievements of the multilateral 
trading system.  The existing Agreements, the mu ltilateral Dispute Settlement Mechanism, and the 
balance of rights and obligations already achieved were of treme ndous importance.  The multilateral 
trading system would continue to operate, continue  to govern trade relations between Members  and 
continue to ensure security and predictability in tr ade.  The multilateral trading system could have 
been and could still be improved, and it had been with a view to achieving this that Members had 
decided to become involved in these negotiati ons.  In this respect, they had failed. 
149. Members had to face reality head on.  The reality  they had chosen was now very different to 
that which had existed the previous day.  They had lost the opportunity to contribute significantly to the improvement of the multilateral trading system.  They had decided to postpone something that 
should be unpostponable:  they ha d postponed development.  They had lost the opportunity to offer 
their producers new opportunities through better access for their products and improved rules.  They 
had lost the opportunity to eliminate agricultural e xport subsidies and reduce domestic support.  They 
had lost the opportunity to boost the recovery of the world economy. 
150. The previous day all Members had lost out, yet Costa Rica was in no doubt that those which 
would lose the most, those which would suffer the mo st from the consequences of this failure, were 
the poorest, the smallest, and the medium-sized de veloping countries.  Developed countries and 
emerging economies would find a way to move forwar d.  However, developing countries with small 
domestic markets, which needed to see an improve ment in access conditions for their products in 
other markets, would suffer most.  Developing countries which received little or almost no foreign direct investment and those with more limited growth would also suffer more. 
151. The consequences would indeed be greater for those countries which were already the worst 
off and which therefore had a more urgent need to break free of the unfortunate status quo.  Members 
had woken up on the present day to a different reality from the one that had existed the previous day.  
They had allowed the status quo to become stronger and each one of them had to face the consequences. 
152. The negotiations had broken down the previous day,  but they had contained all the ingredients 
of failure for some time now.  At some point, the Members, who were navigating the huge vessel that 
was the negotiations, had gone off course.  Every da y they had drifted further away from the port that 
they thought they had jointly decided on in Doha as their destination, namely the completion of agricultural reform and, in particular, substan tially improved market access for agricultural products. 
153. That initial destination had faded little by little  from the map and the vessel that was the 
negotiations had sailed on, battered by the sea on every side.  Over time, each one of them began to 
look for a different port.  There had been flexibility to accept the different directions that some wanted 
to take, up until the moment when others wanted  some Members to give up their Uruguay Round 
rights, and here the journey had ended.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 21 
 
 
  154. The present disagreements were not North-Sout h disagreements.  The disagreement of the 
previous day had also been a South-South disagreemen t and developing countries had to be the first to 
admit it. 
155. Members could at least be satisfied that they had made the necessary efforts to ensure that 
tropical products and preference erosion were no longer disputed issues, and his delegation, in 
particular, was satisfied that it had contributed in  this respect.  Together, Members had managed to 
add these two issues to the list of resolved i ssues that they now had to try to preserve. 
156. With regard to the banana dispute, Costa Rica was pleased that an agreement had been 
reached outside of the Round.  It could understand  initial reactions of some parties regarding the 
failure of the negotiations, but it trusted that good sense, respect for the agreement reached and good 
faith would prevail at the end of the day. 
157. Costa Rica had been and would remain loyal to the system and would be ready to resume 
work whenever the other Members were willing to do so. 
158. The representative of Côte d'Ivoire , on behalf of the African Group , said that following on 
from the statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade of Kenya, and 
ministerial coordinator for the African Group, he wi shed, under his guidance and with his blessing, to 
take the floor as the coordinator of the African Group at the WTO, to acknowledge, on behalf the 
Group, the tremendous work that the Chairman a nd his colleagues from the Office of the Director-
General and the rest of the Secretariat had carried  out to shape the DDA negotiating process and inject 
soul and humanity into the WTO.  He had, over the previous few years and in particular the previous seven months, taught the Group to appreciate and shar e his values and principles, which were based, 
amongst other things, on faith and a firm belief in  action, selflessness, and rigour in respect of 
procedures followed, intellectual reasoning and discourse on method. 
159. All these values and qualities, which were th ere to serve the WTO and the Doha Round, 
constituted, in the eyes of the Group, a guarantee that there would be a happy ending to the DDA negotiating process.  This view had been reinfo rced when the Group had seen the commitment and 
availability of the Chairs of the Negotiating Gr oups on Agriculture and NAMA, who had spared no 
time or effort in trying to ensure a positive ou tlook for these two pillars of the DDA.  The Group 
thanked both of them for their work.  He wished to also extend this appreciation to the Chairs of the 
other Negotiating Groups. 
160. The modernization of the multilateral trading syst em continued to be a necessity for everyone, 
as, in reality, it was through modernization that th e marginalization of developing and least-developed 
countries would be brought to an end and the future  of the world decided.  The group therefore found 
it difficult to provide a rational explanation for the failure of this Round of negotiations, whose very 
goal was to further development. 
161. Consequently, it was understandable why the Group had gone from feeling enthusiastic at the 
launch of the Round in 2001, to feeling resignatio n following the July 2006 deadlock, to feeling 
indignant at the current collective failure.  How were the members of the Group to explain to the 
people of their countries that a Round dedicated to development and involving the rich nations was 
unable to find an appropriate response to the cha llenges of poverty and development, in a spirit of 
shared responsibility. 
162. The African Ambassadors, senior officials and experts, who had put their hearts and souls 
into preparing for this ministerial meeting, were ex tremely disappointed.  In their view, there was no 
point in singling anyone out or laying the blame on anyone for the failure of the Round.  History 
would take care of that.  Nevertheless, they had always thought that the seriousness of a negotiator TN/C/M/28 
Page 22  
 
  could be measured in terms of how  realistic he was;  realistic me aning having an infallible sense of 
what was essential while maintaining a spirit of compromise. 
163. Unfortunately, the negotiations had shown the oppos ite to be true.  The SSM was admittedly a 
very important instrument for developing countri es, one which, under exceptional circumstances, set 
out to protect their national economies, agricultu ral policies and rural development strategies from 
food export surges, and yet, from a more global a nd in-depth perspective, it was apparent when 
looking at these negotiations, the key issues of whic h included cotton, grown as a single crop in some 
LDCs, bananas, DFQF for LDCs, and preferences, that the spirit of compromise which should have 
saved the negotiations had become a rare commod ity and had been sadly lacking in this case. 
164. The African Ambassadors, senior officials and experts, on the basis of the mandate of their 
ministers who were represented by the Deputy Prime Minister of Kenya, the Minister of Trade of 
Lesotho, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister  of Finance of Mauritius, stood ready to resume 
work with a view to ensuring a brighter future.   Members now had to consider a mechanism to 
consolidate and secure what had already been achie ved in respect of issues that were of vital 
importance not only to the African Group, but undoubtedly also to the rest of the Members. 
165. He was delighted to hear the Chairman say th at he was not throwing in the towel.  The 
African Ambassadors would not be giving up or th rowing in the towel either, however the real 
challenge for the Chairman and for them would be to keep up the pace at which he had been moving 
things forward since July 2007 following the publi cation of the draft modalities texts in Agriculture 
and NAMA. 
166. This pace had to be maintained, as slowing down would risk bringing the modernization of 
the multilateral trading system to a standstill.  In the light of the foregoing, the African Ambassadors 
and their colleagues stood ready to work with the WTO and its Members with a view to collectively 
envisaging new ways to improve the multilateral trading system while keeping in mind the development objective. 
167. The representative of Bolivia
 thanked the Chairman for his re port and his tenacity, which all 
Members recognized.  She also acknowledged th e dialogue, understanding and openness of the 
NAMA and Agriculture Chairs, which his delegation appreciated. 
168. Regarding Agriculture and NAMA, her delegati on believed that these issues should be held 
over for a non-immediate future dialogue after a suitable period of time, and not made subject to artificial deadlines that had proved worthless in the past.  When convergence really existed, it would 
be feasible to return, but not before.  If the di alogue in Geneva produced no concrete results, her 
delegation would not be in favour of renewing the ca ll for the return of top officials.  If reasonable 
results were not achieved in a reasonable time for all present in Geneva, her delegation would 
consider the need for a change in the mandate to  strengthen its developmen t aspect.  Moreover, her 
delegation did not think that the only basis of fu ture negotiations should be the texts submitted on 
Agriculture and NAMA;  rather, they should cover all the documents submitted by Members, as well 
as their positions expressed in formal and informal meetings, which had not necessarily been included 
in those texts.  All those documents, together w ith expressions of views, should have equal weight, 
and it should be recognized that none of these compone nts was static, but that they could be modified 
at any point in the future.  Regarding texts, Memb ers would have to resolve the problem apparently 
felt by some delegations because they had not been considered as a basis of discussion, even before 
the week beginning 21 July. 
169. On other matters, such as TRIPS, her delegation was most grateful for the efforts made by the 
Norwegian Minister, Mr Støre, to achieve some kind of convergence between Members.  It also appreciated having been invited to participate in the consultations that he had held.  However, if the  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 23 
 
 
  report which it was intended to stabilize was that of 9 June, as reflected in document WT/GC/W/591-
TN/C/W/50, her delegation would have difficulties,  since it did not include her country's position 
regarding no patents for life forms and the consequences for the system of patents. 
170. Regarding Rules and the fax of 14 July, there re mained a difficulty for her delegation if it was 
the report that was referred to;  if so, her delegati on would seek the inclusion of Bolivia's request to 
continue discussions on Article XXIV, as requested by other delegations in the past.  If a discussion 
was held, her delegation would like to see a balancing of possibilities, including the possibilities of S&D treatment, as well as the recognition of as ymmetries and bilateral treaty negotiations. 
171. On the question of Services, her delegation wish ed to echo the views of Venezuela, who had 
stated that there was no mandate or consensus for a text on Services.  In this connection, Bolivia had 
no difficulty with those parts that were based on a mandate, such as the treatment of LDCs.  Her 
delegation also wished to see the inclusion of the re quest by the President of Bolivia, Mr Evo Morales 
Aima, for discussion of the exclusion from the GAT T Agreement of human rights – the exclusion of 
education, water, health, energy and communicati ons.  Her delegation also supported the requests for 
an early harvest – an immediate solution to the issues of the LDCs and cotton.  Her delegation 
believed that this could be  done.  On the question of how to refl ect the positions of countries that were 
not covered in all these fields, Bolivia wished to r eserve the right to submit a job or other document 
on the subject. 
172. With regard to the decisions that could em erge from the present week for the sake of 
improving the multilateral system, her delegation di d not believe that there should be any finger 
pointing, as that would not adequately reflect the reality, but rather recognised that more than 100 
developing countries were faced with opposition to thei r aspirations for a genuine development round.  
Nor did her delegation believe that there was one gui lty party or that failure on a single item had held 
back progress.  The real problem, the real barrier , was a problem of mentalities and ideas.  When 
talking of development, those Members who were di rectly affected were not paying lip service to the 
concept, but expressing their genuine thoughts which th ey wished to see fully reflected in the texts.  
They did not wish to lose the development round,  but to win.  However, as far as Bolivia was 
concerned, the figures demonstrated that it was not wi nning with the current package, but that at best 
it had perhaps a marginal gain of less than 0.5 per cen t of its trade.  She wondered if this could be 
called development.  She did not think so.  Memb ers could and should do better.  This was what 
Bolivia favoured:  better ideas and preventing its asp irations and the concept of development from 
becoming a dead letter.  Those who had been spect ators over the previous ten days, and who had not 
been invited into the restricted  decision-making and negotiating circles, would go away with the 
certainty that the best path was one of democratic participation by all in negotiating forums.  Although 
she could speak for the 120 delegations who had re mained in the waiting room, it was her hope that 
next time they would all be re presented on an equal footing. 
173. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 said his delegation had been participating in the 
Ministerial since 21 July in the hope that Memb ers could find final consensus on the modalities for 
Agriculture and NAMA.   Not that his delega tion had underestimated the challenge, but it had 
believed – as it still did – that a successful Doha R ound could bring huge benefits to the world as a 
whole, and that everyone would strive to contri bute towards that end.  Since the beginning of the 
previous week, Hong Kong, China had been worki ng intensively with other WTO Members.  After 
the good progress Members had been making up to  the previous day, his delegation was doubly 
disappointed to see that the meeting had not resulted in a successful outcome, but had tripped on one 
of the final hurdles. 
174. Despite this disappointment, Hong Kong, China re mained firmly committed to the WTO.  As 
the Chairman had pointed out at the previous day' s informal meeting, the WTO served as the guardian 
of the global trading system and provided Members w ith an effective insurance and safeguard against TN/C/M/28 
Page 24  
 
  protectionism.  These were especially important co nsiderations for an open economy such as Hong 
Kong, China’s.  Members now faced a difficult peri od, but the WTO had shown remarkable resilience 
in the past and, dented as it might be, his delega tion was confident that it could rise again to the 
challenge.  The Chairman  could certainly  count on the support of his delegation. 
175. There had been a considerable amount of cons tructive spirit shown in the WTO over the past 
ten days, despite the hurdles Members had faced.  Members should not let a momentary set-back 
undermine the trust and confidence that had built up  among them.  Instead, they should learn their 
lesson and reflect on what they should do next.  His delegation shared the Chairman's view, that far 
more progress had been made in this Round of multilateral trade negotiations, compared to its 
predecessors and Members had been close to, very close to, clinching a deal.  His delegation was 
encouraged that there was a large group of Member s who wanted the Round, and had indicated that 
they were prepared to stand by the concessions th ey had made during this Ministerial.  Hong Kong, 
China urged other Members to do the same, so as to provide a basis for future work.  It was in the 
interest of world trade liberalization and the well-be ing of all economies, particularly the developing 
ones, that Members sustained the convergence that had emerged on the various important issues.  His 
delegation looked forward to the issuance of the Agriculture and NAMA Chairs’ reports, as well as 
the Chairman's one on the Services Signalling Conference,  to take Members to the next stage of their 
work.  Hong Kong, China firmly believed that a deal  was doable, and it would continue to work with 
other Members with a view to achieving the Single Undertaking as soon as possible. Members had to preserve and persist.  As he ha d said, Hong Kong, China's ultimate  goal, shared by many, was a 
successful conclusion of the Round. 
176. Finally, he wished to thank the Chairman, the Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA, the Chair of 
the General Council as well as the Secretariat for all th eir efforts particularly in the past ten days to 
deliver an outcome. 
177. The representative of Australia
 thanked the Chairman, the Negotiating Group Chairs, Minister 
Støre of Norway and the WTO Secretariat staff for th eir extraordinary efforts over the previous week 
and a half.  Like others, his dele gation could not hide its deep disappointment at the collective failure 
to agree on modalities in Agriculture and NAMA at this  time.  This sense of failure was made all the 
more keen by the fact that Members had been so close to their goal. 
178. Australia's disappointment was not just for itsel f and its Cairns Group colleagues, but for all 
its fellow Members and trading partners, esp ecially among the developing and least-developed 
countries, who had seen opportunities vital to their ec onomic growth and development slip, at least for 
the moment, from their reach. 
179. But one should also recognise the enormous amount  of work that had been done over the past 
seven years of this Round and how much progress Members had made and had been making right up 
until the present – progress reflected in Chairs’ texts and Chairs’ reports.  The challenge now was to 
ensure that, despite the present disappointment, progress was not lost. 
180. The failure to conclude modalities now did no t mean the end of the Doha Development 
Round.  Rather, Members should all take a little time to reflect on this failure and to assess the best 
way forward.  Australia would be ready to re-engage  swiftly with other Members.  Members were still 
close to a deal.  Australia was resilient in facing this week’s setback and remained fully committed to 
securing the conclusion of a Round which delivered practical and worthwhile gains for trade. 
181. The representative of Chinese Taipei , on behalf of the Recently-Acceded Members  (RAMs), 
said the RAMs Group shared the disappointment that the negotiating wheels had stopped turning and 
the Doha Round had come to a sudden halt.  Th e Group had nothing but praise for the tremendous 
efforts made by the Chairman, th e Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA and the Chairman of the General  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 25 
 
 
  Council, and the commitment shown by the membership  in trying to get past this milestone that had 
been set for them in the past ten days.  The Gr oup's appreciation also went to the G-7 and some 
twenty Ministers who had remained in Geneva un til the very last day of the Ministerial session. 
182. The efforts that Members had made in the past  seven years had not been easy, and should not 
be wasted.  The Group wished to suggest that Me mbers restart the negotiations as soon as possible on 
the basis of what they had achieved so far.  Th e Group also wished to en courage Members to come 
back to negotiating table to show just a little more  flexibility on a very few issues where gaps still 
existed, and to refrain from re-opening the issues that they had already agreed on the table.  The 
RAMs Group would be ready at any time to give the Chairman its strongest support.  
183. The representative of Chile  said that his delegation wished to recall what was being lost, as 
had been heard in the majority of statements at th e present meeting.  It was certain that everyone had 
lost.  Although it was clear that it was not easy to  preserve what had been achieved thus far, in 
particular over the past week,  this needed to be done and his delegation left the how and when in the 
Chairman's hands.  The EC had asked Members to reflect on why with so much to gain, they had 
chosen to throw it all overboard.  This was not logical nor rational. 
184. If one thing was clear, it was that the world was one of rebalancing forces, interests and levels 
of development.  This meant that the international process was becoming increasingly complex.  Chile wished to see the Roun d come to a speedy conclusi on, so the issues of the future could be taken up – 
bio-fuels, water, the energy crisis, environment, i nvestment and climate change.  However, this step 
forward had not been possible and his delegation fear ed attempts would be made, possibly outside of 
this institution, to do so.  His delegation hoped that the summer br eak would give delegations the 
chance to breathe more freely. 
185. His delegation thanked the Chairman, the Gene ral Council Chairman and the Agriculture and 
NAMA Chairs for all their efforts, in particular ove r the past week.  His delegation also thanked the 
Secretariat, and the other Negotiating Group Chairs for the enthusiasm, energy and determination that 
they had all displayed in these negotiations.  Wit hout their efforts Members would not have succeeded 
in getting as close as they did over the past week.  It  was that spirit and commitment to preserving the 
system that motivated Members to continue worki ng, and Chile would do so with renewed vigour 
when delegations returned in September. 
186. The representative of Nigeria
 said that, like others, his delegation wished to thank the 
Chairman for the update he had provided both the previous day and at the present meeting.  His 
delegation wished to acknowledge, in particular, the Chairman's painstaking efforts and commitment 
to the process.  His delegation also paid tribute to  the Chairman's entire team and the staff of the 
Secretariat for their dedication and for coping u nder the unusual severe pressure.  His delegation 
wished also to commend the Chairman of the Ge neral Council and the Chairs of the Negotiating 
Groups on Agriculture and NAMA for their hard work.  
187. At the informal TNC held on 28 July, Nigeria had called on Members, particularly the major 
players to exercise the required flexibilities and polit ical will so that they could reach the summit of 
Mount Blanc, which had become the fashionable targ et in the previous few days.  His delegation, 
therefore, regretted that its appeal had not been h eeded.  Nevertheless, Nigeria agreed that a lot had 
been achieved, and the present difficulties only represented a largely temporary challenge, which 
Members would soon overcome in the weeks ahead.   In the present circumstances, his delegation 
urged the Chairman and the other Chairs to remain focused and unwavering. 
188. Since the statements at the present meeting were full of analogies, he wished to contribute the 
following one.  Coming from the northern part of Nigeria, he had always found it difficult to understand why the herdsman consistently valued his cattle more th an his life.  But here in Geneva, TN/C/M/28 
Page 26  
 
  his brother and colleague from Uganda had told hi m that even cows had personality.  So, he could 
now appreciate the frustration of herdsmen when th e cattle decided to go on rampage.  However, his 
delegation trusted that as a good herdsman, endowed w ith the requisite skills, the Chairman could still 
guide and take the cattle back home. 
189. The Doha Round of multilateral trade negotia tions had never been so close to a major 
breakthrough since it had been launched in 2001.  Members had gone through several challenges, 
especially the Cancún Ministerial Conference.  Even  the WTO itself had experienced its most trying 
moments at Seattle.  But all that was behind them now.  Members therefore had to remain faithful to 
the cause and look forward to the future with hope .  His delegation agreed with several other 
delegations that this was not the right moment to  point accusing fingers on the reasons for the present 
stalemate.  
190. At difficult times like these, it was important for all Members to act responsibly, particularly 
so that they could safeguard the integrity of their Organisation and the multilateral trading system.  Nigeria, therefore, urged delegations to avoid giving the impression that any one issue had been 
responsible for the present setback.  What was most important was that with all the imperfections of 
the small group process, Members had all acted coll ectively and they should all feel collectively 
responsible.  The only differences  between them rested on the fact that some issues of high 
importance to some delegations were yet to be  treated in a fair and balanced manner.  
191. His delegation agreed with the Chairman's ove rall assessment that much progress had been 
achieved in the last few days due to constructive engagement by Ministers.  Members, therefore, needed to build on the areas where convergence had emerged.  To that end, the Chairs of Agriculture 
and NAMA should be able to capture the progress achieved to date in their respective revised 
modalities texts.  Nigeria was also supportive of further moves on other pressing issues yet to be resolved.  His delegation wished to  assure the Chairman of its support, bearing in mind the need to 
secure a truly pro-development outcome. 
192. The representative of Pakistan
 said Members stood here today having snatched defeat from 
the jaws of victory.  In the past few days, they  had alternated between soaring to new heights of 
common understanding and exploring the depths of a fe w narrowly-defined interests.  In short, they 
had wavered between success and failure.  He was de eply saddened to be making his last intervention 
at the TNC after the events of the previous evening.  Personally , he had always hoped for more, 
especially after spending the last five years negotiating these issues.  
193. The Doha Round had been born out of the unde rstanding that prosperity and opportunity 
should not only be the realm of select group of countries or people.  In this Round not only did 
Members have the potential to bridge a select set of  economic interests, but more importantly, to bring 
the world closer together.  They had the possibilit y of creating a more coherent and unified trading 
system for the world.  However, their procrastin ation had not served them well.  Members had been 
witnessing proliferation of FTA’s without realizing the signals they had been sending them about the 
weakening of the multilateral system and further marginalization of the poorer countries. 
194. Many SVEs, LDCs, and low income countries had given much to this Round.  Not only 
through their efforts to negotiate better conditions for their people, but even through the great burden 
of staffing and maintaining their operations in Ge neva.  Together, Members had discussed and agreed 
on the vast majority of a Doha deal.  Yet, somehow , their talks had been crippled by less than 5 per 
cent of the remaining issues.  
195. Smaller economies like Pakistan needed an ag reement at the WTO because it was the only 
international forum where they could negotiate on an  even footing with any and all potential trading  TN/C/M/28 
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  partners.  Sadly, a few countries that had been entr usted with great responsibility  had not been able to 
make even the small concessions necessary to  achieve a positive conclusion to the Round.  
196. As lamentable as this ministerial might have been, Members needed to reflect and learn from 
the missteps of the recurrent failures.  He believe d it had been Einstein who had defined insanity as 
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  During the last two or three 
years, Members had kept persisting with G-4 or G-7 and had expected a different result.  They needed 
to re-think the process if they were to get somewhere.  
197. Despite the current failure being a severe set -back for the Round, maybe it could still be 
resuscitated if Members could change the process and give it some more time.  They should not rush for early harvests though it might seem very tempting.  
198. With an extraordinary person like the Chairman at the helm of affairs, he was sure Members 
would soon pick up the pieces and make use of th e progress already achieved to reconstruct and 
conclude the Round.  He wished to thank the Chairman, the Chairs of the General Council, 
Agriculture and NAMA, and the other Chairs and th e Secretariat for their hard work and commitment 
and wished them the best of luck. 
199. The representative of Cuba
 thanked the Chairman and the General Council, Agriculture and 
NAMA Chairs for their efforts.  He also thanked all the Secretariat staff for their support during the 
past few days of intensive work.  He thanked also the developing-country delegations that had 
participated in these negotiations;  they had known ho w to interpret the needs and demands of the rest 
of the developing-country Members throughout the process.  His delegation was not, however, 
pleased with the outcome.  Quite the contrary. 
200. There were a lot of things that needed to be said at the present meeting, since the failure to 
reach an agreement that would benefit millions of  people living in poverty had cast a shadow over the 
entire Organization. 
201. What had happened was disappointing.  Th e rich countries' hollow and manipulative 
discourse in favour of development had finally colla psed for those who had been still in any doubt as 
to their willingness to work towards such a goal.  There was no point trying to blame what had 
happened on a particular issue or on developing countries.  There had been many areas of 
disagreement during the week, yet th e main obstacle had been the inc ongruous lack of flexibility in 
respect of the mandate. 
202. The negotiations would continue.  The Developm ent Round was not over.  There could be no 
negotiations at the WTO until this Round had been concluded, and in such a way as to ensure 
consistency with the mandate. 
203. Members now had to focus on the new starting point.  This did not mean only on the basis on 
which they would resume them work, but also  on the way in which the new process would be 
conducted, on the time required for this process,  and its pace, and on the participation of the 
Members.  Despite the complexity of the issues i nvolved, events had shown that the system's current 
design was not the most appropriate. 
204. This Round was dedicated to development, and fu ture rounds should also be, for two reasons.  
Firstly, it would take longer than the time this Or ganization had been in existence to balance out the 
levels of development of its Members, and secondly,  even when development was declared to be the 
purpose of a round, the positions and results never measured up to the stated intentions. TN/C/M/28 
Page 28  
 
  205. The process could not be resumed unless consideration was given to the proposals of all the 
Members, in particular those submitted by Members th at had not participated in the consultations the 
Chairman had convened.  It was unthinkable that wh at had been discussed over the previous few days 
by a reduced group of countries would be used as a starting point for resuming the negotiations.  Such ideas and proposals, and the package of the previous Friday, were merely a number of ideas within a 
necessary whole.  They should be given the same leve l of consideration as the ideas of the rest of the 
Members, whether these were included in the Chairs' texts or not.  This level of inclusion, rather than privileged selectivity, was the only thing that w ould provide Members with some reassurance. 
206. Even though it was difficult to narrow differenc es and reach convergence among so many, the 
Chairman had seen how difficult it also was to contain the dissatisfaction of the majority and to expect 
those excluded from a vital process to accept something that had been agreed by only a few Members. 
207. With regard to time and pace, it had also been shown that the process could not be forced.  A 
process had to go through certain necessary stages as it matured.  Delegations had been often alerted 
to this in this very meeting room.  It was importa nt to take this into account for the future.  There 
would be no justification for repeating the pattern of the previous few days. 
208. The failure of the Development Round was a failure of the politics, not to mention a blot on 
the image, of the industrialized countries, yet it unfortunately had damagi ng consequences for the 
underdeveloped world. 
209. Once again, many Members would note that a process designed for them had favoured others.  
Under such circumstances, he wondered how they coul d believe that they were constructing a fair and 
equitable system and how could they believe that t ogether they could face the challenges that, whether 
they liked it or not, affected them all.  Unless the WTO changed course, its presence in the world of 
international relations would be very brief. 
210. His delegation would reserve its comments on th e reports of the Chairs of the negotiating 
bodies until a more appropriate moment, but it would like to support the statements by Venezuela and 
Bolivia concerning the report by the Chairm an of the Council for Trade in Services. 
211. The representative of Korea
 said that despite the nine-day long negotiations that had been 
undertaken in good faith on the part of every participan t, Members had not been able to strike a deal.  
This was indeed a regrettable development.  As Members had been so close to success, his 
delegation's disappointment was that much greater, that much deeper.  
212. While Members had experienced a setback at this  time, they should make clear to the world 
that the institutions of the WTO, and the multila teral trading that it represented, were, and would 
remain, strong and solid, and serve as the foundation for international trade, particularly at a time 
when the world economy was besieged with a num ber of potentially de-s tabilizing elements.  
Members were all in this together.  If they succeeded , they succeeded as a group, if they failed, they 
failed as a group. 
213. Although Members had not been able to come to  an agreement, they had made valuable 
progress during the past nine days.  As the Chairman had rightly pointed out in his opening statement, 
this progress should not be forgone.  Further wo rk should be done on the basis of the progress 
Members had made. 
214. His delegation appreciated the courage and lead ership the Chairman had shown.  Together 
with the two Chairs of the negotiating groups, he had put up a valiant effort;  his effort would not be 
in vain.  At this time, through his efforts and t hose of the two Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA, 
Members now had two texts.  They also had more concrete numbers that they had already expressed  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 29 
 
 
  as "the basis for discussions".  His delegation believed that these documents and numbers should 
serve as a useful starting point for future work. 
215. His delegation looked forward to continuing to work towards the final agreement on 
Agriculture, NAMA, and other negotiating issues.  It  believed that that agreement should come as 
early as possible.  Korea, for its part, would do its  utmost, as it had done over the past week, to make 
its due contribution to the successful completion of the DDA negotiations. 
216. The representative of Morocco  said that when the Chairman had announced the holding of 
this ministerial meeting, many had been sceptical  as to how useful or timely it might be, re-
emphasizing that the conditions were not yet ripe  for such a meeting to succeed in breaking the 
deadlock in the negotiations. 
217. However, once the work had started in both the Green Room and the various groups, there 
had been a spark of genuine hope that some progress  could be achieved on the key issues.  And when 
the Chairman had come forward with the initia l package on Agriculture and NAMA the previous 
Friday, hope had turned into a tangible prospect of  a negotiating momentum capable of bringing about 
the breakthrough so eagerly awaited by the WTO membership as a whole, and the developing 
countries in particular. 
218. Without belittling the importance and magnitude of the outstanding issues, some of which 
were a matter of survival for developing countries,  his delegation had believe d in this momentum and 
in the impetus it would give, so that there would s till be hope of a promising – if not a felicitous – 
outcome to these negotiations.  But such a miracle had not come to pass. 
219. The Chairman's acknowledgement, the previous da y, of the failure of the negotiations was a 
serious matter and an issue of concern regarding both the WTO and the multilateral system.  At the 
present meeting, he had urged Members to rapidl y overcome their frustration and disappointment and 
to give serious thought to what should be done.  He had insisted on the need to preserve the gains 
made in the course of this week of intense negotia tions.  His delegation gladly endorsed that view, but 
at the same time it would stress that such an appr oach should go hand in ha nd with a certain amount 
of soul searching as to what Members might have done  and failed or did not want to do in order to 
prevent failure, on the one hand, and with determ ination to refrain from doing anything that could 
jeopardize the compromises so arduously achieved, on the other. 
220. Millions of people in the developing countries, w ho were bearing the brunt of the food crisis 
and soaring energy prices, wanted to continue believi ng that liberalization of world trade could help to 
reduce famine and malnutrition and lift them out of poverty.  They wanted to continue hoping that the 
development dimension of the Doha Round, whic h would ensure S&D treatment, would ultimately 
deliver the promised benefits.  Members had a co llective responsibility to see to it that their hopes 
were not dashed. 
221. The achievements of this past week were substantial and needed to be preserved and 
consolidated.  They had to serve as a basis for th e earliest possible resumption of the negotiations, so 
as to sustain the momentum.  The statements at th e present meeting suggested that delegations should 
take a break over the coming weeks, which his delegation trusted would prove favourable to a 
resumption beneficial to all. 
222.  Morocco remained committed to the dynami cs of these negotiations and intended to 
contribute to and support the efforts with a view to  bringing the Doha Round to completion, with the 
ensuing impetus that this would give to fairer a nd more equitable international trade, marked by 
greater solidarity. TN/C/M/28 
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  223.  He wished to conclude with thanks to the va rious Chairs in the nego tiations and the General 
Council Chairman for their efforts and perseverance.  His delegation also and primarily wished to pay 
tribute to the Chairman, a committed, dedicated a nd enterprising Director-General whose qualities as 
a human being included tenaciousness and persever ance as well as a profound sense of cause.  His 
delegation hoped to find all those qualities intact wh en the negotiations resumed in the near future. 
224. The representative of Ghana
 commended the Chairman, and all those who had put in a lot of 
hard work, especially the Chairs of the Negotiati ng Groups and the Ministers who had participated in 
the mini-ministerial meeting, not forgetting the me mbership, to pursue the Members' common desire 
to try to create a more modernised, equitable, fa ir and development-friendly international trading 
system.  His delegation supported the statements  by Kenya on behalf of the African Group and 
Mauritius on behalf of the ACP.   
225. It was unfortunate that after such hard work, Members' aspirations had not been realised.  His 
delegation shared the view that this was not the tim e for finger pointing.  It shared the disappointment 
which was writ large on the faces of everyone.  It ha d been said that "victory finds a hundred fathers, 
but defeat is an orphan" (Count Galeeazo Ciano).  However, "facts do not cease to exist because they 
are ignored" (Aldous Huxley) and he could thus state that Members had not succeeded because of the 
lack of political will or perhaps enough commitment from them all.  He wished to stress, nevertheless, 
that this was a big set back for all Members, especially those from the developing world, who had 
been counting on gaining greater access to the ma rkets of the developed economies for their farm 
goods and products of their basic industries.  Su ccess would have acted as a balm to the global 
economy which was currently slowing and facing ri sing protectionist sentiments, and soaring food 
and energy prices. 
226. Like the Chairman, Ghana had not given up yet.  It knew that although it was a very long 
tunnel, there was light at the end of it.  Now, wh at Members had to do was to salvage what they had 
so far achieved and work on the knotty points, drawing experience from this phase of the journey.  The importance of this Round to the multilateral trading system could not be overemphasized. 
227. Members should, however, be realistic and rec ognise the fact that the world had changed and 
continued to change and so they should change th eir attitudes and the way th ey dealt with issues of 
vital importance to developing countries as well.   
228. Pius public statements and myopic advancemen t of unenlightened self-interest in the Green 
Room would not advance the process forward.  Avenues should be created for developing countries to trade their way to prosperity.  And a more balan ced outcome of this Round was the way forward.  
This was supposed to be a development Round and a deal could only be reached if there was a more 
serious attempt to tackle issues of utmost importa nce to developing countries, especially reduction of 
agricultural subsidies, cotton, SSM and market ac cess, which would have a more positive impact on 
livelihood security, rural development and greater  industrialisation of developing countries. 
229. There should also be balance in the approach.  Matters of importance to small and vulnerable 
economies like cotton and bananas sh ould not become a political football next time.  And here he 
wished to reiterate the point made by Guyana th at the ACP’s second proposal on bananas was still on 
the table.   Ghana believed that the window of opportunity open to small and weak producers should 
not be abruptly shut.  They should be helped to restructure their production. 
230. In conclusion, he wished to assure the Chairm an that Ghana still had a lot of faith in the 
multilateral trading system and would continue to remain engaged and work towards the eventual 
success of the Round.  TN/C/M/28 
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  231. The representative of Norway  said that, like others, his delegation accepted the Chairman's 
conclusion that Members had failed at this junctu re.  His delegation was disappointed at such an 
outcome, particularly since its sense was that the gaps had been considerably narrowed over the last 
ten days.  Even though the outlined solutions to the Agriculture modalities surely represented very 
important and difficult concessions on its part, Norway  had been willing and ready to look into these 
challenges constructively. 
232. Norway had always believed in this orga nisation and the multilateral trading system.  
Strengthening the WTO through successfully conc luding the DDA was very welcome both for the 
world economy and the developing countries.  Memb ers should not let this possibility evade them.  
Norway was committed to reaching a successful outcome.  
233. Norway would, accordingly, lo ok ahead and focus on ways and means in which Members 
together could resolve the remaining challeng es facing them.  Norway was fully committed to 
supporting the Chairman in that endeavour, and th us welcomed the forthcoming reports from the 
Agriculture and NAMA Chairs.  
234. Norway would in its further work towards fi nding mutually agreeab le solutions on the DDA 
negotiations be guided by the following:  what Me mbers had achieved should be preserved;  the WTO 
was key and Members had to stay by it;  and, th ere was nobody to do the job for them;  Members had 
to do it themselves.  
235. Finally, his delegation's sincere thanks went to  all on the podium, to the Secretariat, to the 
individual Chairs.  Together they had brought Member s so close to a positive outcome.  It was their 
spirit of hard work and not to excel in gloom that should inspire the further work. 
236. The representative of Turkey  said his delegation wholeheartedly commended hard work and 
endeavours of the Chairman in the last nine days to  pave the way for an outcome in the Doha Round.  
It had been a courageous effort that he had put in.  At least, there was a consensus on this issue at the 
present meeting. 
237. Unfortunately, all the combined efforts incl uding those of the Chairs had not enabled 
Members to reach a breakthrough in the negotiatio ns.  The attempt to reach a consensus through a 
mini-ministerial meeting, even though it had been a high-risk operation, should be depicted as a 
necessary step in the negotiation process rather than a failure. 
238. It was true that substantial progress had been made across the range of issues leading 
Members close to finalizing agreement.  Howeve r, differences in opinions and in defining the 
"development round" concept and also the sensitive balance between "commercial interests" and the 
livelihood of the farmers had not been attained. 
239. There was no doubt that a successful outcome in the Doha Round would contribute very 
much to world trade, especially in an economi c environment where fiscal and food crises were 
prevailing.  As a matter of fact, the failure of this Round of trade talks could not make a world a better 
place.  A failure would be a major blow to the multilateral trading system.  Members all bore full 
responsibility in this regard. 
240. It was obvious that all Members would have benefited significantly from a more open and 
fairer multilateral trading system should the DDA have  been finalized.  His delegation also believed 
that there was the tangible political will to realize such an end. 
241. Now, the question Members were confronted with  was how to proceed rather than what went 
wrong.  In this context, Members should all reflect and look into the possible ways forward.  TN/C/M/28 
Page 32  
 
  Accordingly, he wished to put forward some sugg estions.  First of all, Members all accepted the 
merits of collective participation in finding lasting solutions to the intrigue problems of their complex 
world.  Of course, the decision making process in  multilateral fora for some was cumbersome and 
time consuming.  Yet, what emanated from th e collective wisdom was valuable for all.  
242. In the WTO, the membership has grown in number reaching 153.  The Members were fully 
cognizant of their interests and had become more confident in defending them.  New practices should 
be exercised.  For the Members it now had become more important to participate in the process.  Collective responsibility dictated collective particip ation, that would enable collective wisdom to 
emerge. 
243. Secondly, it would be useful to take new st eps once Members were c onvinced and satisfied 
with the comprehensive draft negotiation texts.  The texts should not only reflect all interests and 
concerns of the stakeholders, but in particular Members' sine qua non  positions as well.  In that case, 
those texts would serve better as basis for furthe r negotiations and make Ministers' work less 
complicated.  
244. Thirdly, the structures for the basic yet funda mental instruments and concepts such as SSM, 
SPs and DFQF for LDCc should be matured enough  by the negotiating groups before they were 
conveyed to the political level.  A Ministers' mee ting was not the level where the architecture of the 
instruments was debated.  The Ministers should bring their political wisdom to limited issues such as 
the ratios and numbers. 
245. Last but not the least, the July 2008 texts should be the bases for future work in the 
negotiations both in Agriculture and NAMA.  Adm ittedly, it would be more practicable to discuss 
first the areas on which it was believed that convergen ce had already been reached after long hours of 
discussions of the G-7.  Thus, his delegation s upported the suggestion by the European Communities 
to resume the process after the summer recess.  After all, Members needed to bounce back 
immediately in order to maintain the credibility of the multilateral trading system.  
246. In conclusion, he wished to refer to the anal ogy of a soccer team made the previous day by 
the Foreign Minister of Brazil, Mr. Amorim, which he totally shared.  Members might have lost a 
game but the tournament was not over.  The way the Chairman had led the team was outstanding.  
The team had played well.  What was needed was a last minute striker. 
247. The representative of Paraguay
 thanked the Chairman and th e Chairs of the Negotiating 
Groups, the Secretariat officials and the other person s involved in the work of the meeting for their 
tireless energy and for the unflagging commitment that they had displayed. 
248. His delegation was pleased to be able to say th at, in its opinion, the work undertaken had not 
been in vain, but rather that it formed an impor tant link in a process which, when the time came, 
would be successfully concluded, as on previous o ccasions, since the WTO, like a large star, had a 
critical mass more than sufficient to  keep it shining despite the vicissitudes that it might suffer, and 
thus a downpour such as the one suffered the previous  week did not have sufficient force to extinguish 
it. 
249. Members had come to the meeting with many difficulties and uncertainties.  The initial 
successes achieved had so filled th em with optimism that they had almost forgotten that original 
panorama, but in the end they had been unable to a ttain their objective.  They had been close and now 
they had to ensure that they took advantage of the ground they had gained so as to make a fresh 
advance that perhaps would be decisive in terms of reaching the goal.  They had to act so that this 
setback was turned into an opportunity for attaini ng an even greater success than what they had hoped 
to achieve during the week.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 33 
 
 
  250. While it had given priority in recent days to agreeing the modalities for Agriculture and 
NAMA, his delegation wished to emphasize its prac tical interest in other sectors such as Trade 
Facilitation, Services, S&D and Rules, where Memb ers needed to continue working intensely from 
September onwards. 
251. Paraguay hoped that when Members achieved this  success, the distortions in agricultural trade 
would be drastically reduced and that there would be  a substantial increase in market access, so that 
those countries who lived off agriculture would find in the exports of their products a genuine instrument for their development.  It also hoped th at transit transport would become easier and safer 
through effective trade facilitation measures that wo uld favour landlocked countries.  It hoped that 
trade in services would be endowed with a structure and content that would bring it within the reach 
of developing countries.  And it hoped that the m easures adopted for the benefit of some developing 
countries would not be prejudicial to other devel oping countries.  These were some of Paraguay's 
many hopes which, now more than ever, it s till held, since it had seen the commitment and 
determination of many delegations, as well as of the Secretariat, to achieve goals of real value. 
252. The delegation of Paraguay, which since its accession to the GATT in 1994 had been 
contributing with determination to the strengthening  of the multilateral trading system, reiterated once 
again its commitment, since it believed that that was the only guarantee for ensuring an appropriate 
trading environment for a small economy, without preferences, in a landlocked country without 
mineral resources, such as Paraguay. 
253. To achieve a consensus among more than 150 Memb ers on such diverse issues in the complex 
economy of the 21
st century was not easy, but it was possible when Members achieved the kind of 
atmosphere that the Chairman had been able to impo se in recent days in the WTO.  He suggested to 
continue therefore on the way forward. 
254. The representative of Oman  said he wished to extend the thanks and appreciation of his 
delegation to the Chairman, the Chairs of the ne gotiating bodies of both Agriculture and NAMA and 
the Secretariat for the tremendous and selfless effort s that they had exerted throughout this process, 
particularly over the last ten days in attempting to facilitate and bridge a successful conclusion to 
these negotiations. 
255. Oman was disappointed to say the least at the failure of these negotiations.  However, it urged 
Members on the need to go back to  negotiations down the track to complete the Doha Round.  Oman 
was encouraged that good progress had been reali zed on a lot of issues.  It would like to see the 
achievements that had been achieved documented a nd preserved and used as a starting point to re-
launch negotiations after all the dust had settled.  
256. Oman strongly believed that it was in everyone's interest to get back to the negotiations as 
soon as possible to finish the extra mile remaini ng as the consequences of not doing so were much 
worse to contemplate. 
257. Finally, he requested that statement made by his delegation at the informal TNC meeting held 
on 25 July be reflected in the records of the present meeting5 and associated his delegation with the 
statement by Chinese Taipei on behalf of the RAMs. 
258. The representative of the Dominican Republic  associated her delegation with the statements 
by Barbados on behalf of the SVEs, Indonesia on be half of the G-33 and Mauritius on behalf of the 
ACP Group.  Her delegation wished to express its very deep disappointment at the failure of these negotiations after the hard work carried out during th e last few months by the delegations in Geneva, 
                                                     
 
5  See Annex II. TN/C/M/28 
Page 34  
 
  and in recent weeks with the delegations from the cap itals.  In this connection, it believed it was very 
important to maintain the progress made so far a nd to use it as a basis for continuing the work. 
259. She wished to reiterate the importance that de veloping countries attached to the establishment 
of a SSM that was simple and practical, so as to be able to protect the most vulnerable sectors of their agriculture.  Her delegation regretted the fact that  it had not been possible to reach an agreement, 
since the SVEs had always displayed flexibility and openness in the negotiations, even accepting the 
compromise proposals that had been presented.  Howe ver, the SVEs were optimists and believed that 
Members were very close to being able to achieve a balanced agreement that would contain solutions 
for a genuine development round.  The Chairman co uld count on her delegation to continue working 
in that direction. 
260. She could not let this opportunity pass without mentioning a subject that was of the utmost 
concern to her Government – the possibility of an  agreement for the marketing of bananas in the 
European Union.  She was aware that the EU and the Latin Americ an banana-supplying countries had 
made progress in their discussions to reach an unde rstanding on this issue.  That agreement had 
emerged in the framework of the Agriculture modalities, which Members had been unable to 
establish, and thus the above-mentioned agreement on bananas could not be established either.  From 
the very beginning, her delegation had insisted that the negotiations on this s ubject had to take into 
account the vulnerable situation in which the ACP ex porting countries found themselves.  It wished to 
reiterate that any discussions on this subject that mi ght resume in the near future had to include the 
full participation of the ACP banana-exporting countries. 
261. Accordingly, her delegation urged the European  Union to enter into a commitment now to 
take the measures necessary to grant the ACP banana-exporting States the financial assistance 
necessary to offset the harmful impact that might  arise from a possible agreement resulting in an 
accelerated reduction of the MFN tariff for bananas. 
262. Finally, her delegation wished to thank the Chairman, the Negotiating Group Chairs and the 
Secretariat staff for their efforts to achieve a satisfa ctory outcome of these negotiations.  It shared the 
Chairman's view that a period of reflection was advisable, so that Members might return after the 
summer break with clearer ideas on how to achieve  a successful conclusion of the Doha Round. 
263. The representative of Barbados
, on behalf of the Group of Small, Vulnerable Economies  
(SVEs) said she wished to ackno wledge the Chairman's tireless effort and the efforts of the 
Agriculture and NAMA Chairs, especia lly over the last few weeks.  
264. The SVEs noted that significant progress had been  made in a number of areas.  Nonetheless, 
they also noted that there were also a number of  issues of importance to developing countries which 
had not been fully discussed and resolved.  In this  regard, the issue of cotton and the DFQF mandate 
relating to LDCs, in particular, came to mind.  
265. The importance of the SSM could not be overstated.   As part of the G-33, the SVEs had been 
and would continue to be constr uctive towards bridging the differences to ensure that there was a 
simple and effective mechanism that addressed thei r concerns, and sought to allay the concerns of 
exporting countries. 
266. In a general way, the SVEs were anxious to know that Members were going to preserve what 
had already been achieved.  The SVEs had certainly  come a long way since Doha and really did not 
look forward to starting all over again – nor to waiting too long to pick up from where Members had left off the previous day.   TN/C/M/28 
 Page 35 
 
 
  267. The Group was not laying any blame on the process, for it did not know if there was a better 
way.  It nevertheless trusted the Chairman's leadersh ip and judgment in reviewing the mini-ministerial 
process as the way forward was planned. 
268. The representative of Uganda  thanked the Chairman and his staff for the tremendous, focused 
and persistent energy and hard work that they had exerted during these negotiations.  He wished to 
also thank the Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA fo r the admirable capacity, patience, dedicated hard 
work and selflessness which they had demonstrated during these difficult negotiations.  
269. Although the predominant mood at the present m eeting seemed to be an emphasis on failure 
of the DDA talks, he wished to depart a bit from th is general pensive mood a nd instead thank all those 
who had worked so hard during the last ten days to advance the talks forw ard.  According to the 
Chairman's opening statement, the 35 Ministers had unlocked some difficult and important issues that 
had hitherto eluded delegations in Geneva.  Their wo rk during the last ten days should therefore be 
correctly regarded as an important contribution towards the very desirable but difficult human endeavour of the development and liberalization of capitalist economi es.  As everyone was aware, 
although this difficult but desirable human movement had been initiated by Adam Smith as far back 
as 1776, Members were still struggling with it to this  day.  Seen from this historical and broader 
perspective therefore, it might not be entirely correct to persist in maintaining that the efforts of the 
last ten days had resulted in failure.  Rather, Memb ers should be persuaded to say that on the balance 
of things, these efforts had resulted in a pos itive residual contribution towards the successful 
conclusion of the DDA negotiations.  In this regard, therefore, his delegation supported the 
Chairman's suggestion that Members should build on what had been achieved so far and move on, at 
an appropriate time and pace, to conclude the DDA Round. Humankind out there still awaited the 
good fruits of Members' long and hard labour of the last seven years.  
270. Finally, his delegation wished to be associated with the statements made by Lesotho on behalf 
of the LDCs, Kenya on behalf of the African Group,  and Mauritius on behalf of the ACP.  Uganda 
looked forward to working with the other Members in the not too distant future, in the continuation of 
this noble, but difficult human endeavour of the de velopment and liberalization of their economies. 
271. The representative of Guatemala
 said that his country had confidence in the multilateral 
trading system, and was convinced that all the WTO Me mbers shared that view.  As proof of that he 
could point to the endless hours of work and effort th at each one of them had invested in this process, 
both in Geneva and in their own capitals. 
272. Everyone was aware that the driving for ce behind the WTO was its own Members.  
Consequently, they were all responsible for what had occurred at the present meeting.  No one was 
guilty, no one had lost, no one had won.  They were  not confronted by a failure, but rather by a new 
challenge and what they needed was more crea tivity in order to face up to that challenge. 
273. Since the Doha Round had been launched in 2 001, Members had never been so close to 
attaining their goal.  Of the 20 themes unresolved at  the beginning of the meeting, they had managed 
to achieve convergence in 18 of them.  That was an unprecedented advance in the negotiations. 
274. Consequently, it was essential that they find the most appropriate means of preserving the 
results of the meeting.  These results were th e bridge which would bring them to a successful 
conclusion of the Doha Development Round.  He suggested looking towards the future, taking as the 
basis the results achieved and the experience gained. 
275. For Guatemala, one of the most significant achie vements of the previous days had been the 
Geneva agreement on the banana trade.  This was a separate agreement which would put an end to the TN/C/M/28 
Page 36  
 
  banana dispute.  Guatemala, as an interested party, urged the European Communities to honour its 
word in this connection and to sign it, exactly as it had been agreed on the morning of 27 July. 
276. Before concluding, he wished to thank the Ch airman and the Secretariat for the excellent 
work that had been done during the last few week s.  Guatemala was committed to the negotiations 
and ready to continue working. 
277. The representative of Peru
 said that no one was in any doubt as to the severity of the current 
international economic crisis, which many analysts  compared to the one which had stemmed from the 
financial collapse of 1929 and the devastating trade war precipitated by the catastrophic protectionism 
of the 1930s as a result of the ill-fated Smoot-Hawley Act. 
278. Although it was unlikely that such a thing could happen at the present, the memory of that 
event was relevant, as Members should be aware that  the failure to reach an agreement at the WTO 
after a nine-day ministerial meeting was a possible indication that the multilateral system was incapable of regulating and enhancing world trade, and that, as a result, each country would have to 
defend itself using its own means in a protectioni st and hostile, or at least recessionary, economic 
environment. 
279. This possibility worried Peru.  It worried his country because it knew that the wealth and 
prosperity of other nations was also  its wealth and the best hope it ha d of ensuring its own well-being.  
Peru was not an oil-producing country, it did not have a huge domestic market, nor was it an 
agricultural or industrial power.  It needed and de pended on international trade, since trade was the 
best catalyst for development.  Trade was invest ment, employment and a means of overcoming the 
poverty in which many Peruvians still lived.  Peru  was dependent on trade and the opening up and 
stability of international markets.  It had learnt this through its mistakes – gross and anachronistic 
mistakes such as autarky, economic nationalism, pr ice controls, status, strategic sectors, social 
engineering, and populism. 
280. Peru had learnt its lesson by suffering the con sequences of its own mistakes.  Nevertheless, it 
respected the right of others to make mistakes too, provided that this right was not exercised to the 
detriment of his country, relying on the alleged collec tive interest of the developing countries, one of 
which was Peru. 
281. Despite Peru's minor role in international trade,  it wanted to contribute positively to achieving 
a collective outcome.  It was very disappointed that pr iority had not been given to the interests of the 
membership as a whole.  Interna tional trade was no longer a North-South problem.  It was a global 
problem.  And it was a problem common to all, as the consequences of protectionism and market 
fragmentation would have a bearing on employment and consumption everywhere, while particularly 
affecting the poorest sectors of society. 
282. However, it was precisely because Members had fail ed at the most inopportune moment that 
they were obliged to continue th eir struggle, salvage what they ha d managed to achieve up to now and 
give themselves a fresh opportunity – one that they c ould not let slip away.  It was therefore vital to 
preserve the progress made and to continue maki ng efforts to overcome outstanding differences, 
through Geneva based negotiations aimed at finding a solution that would benefit all Members, which 
was as it should be in international trade. 
283. For example, after a dispute which had gone on for years, the EU and the MFN countries had 
initialled an agreement on bananas which had been made possible thanks to the good offices of the 
Director-General.  This was an achievement whic h had to be maintained in good faith.  In the 
statements the Chairman had made the previous da y and at the present meeting he had mentioned the 
significant amount of progress made, including in relation to tropical products.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 37 
 
 
  284. Furthermore, thanks to the efforts made by the Director-General and Minister Støre, an 
interesting work programme on the three issues relati ng to the TRIPS Agreement had been left on the 
table.  Members should resume consideration of this programme in a positive spirit under the able 
leadership of the Director-General. 
285. Someone had wisely pointed out that trade negotiations did not fail.  They simply continued.  
It was the Members' job to maintain and redoubl e their negotiating efforts until they found a new 
opportunity that would not slip away from them, as it had done this time.  He was gratified that this 
was the spirit that had informed the present meeting. 
286. The representative of Honduras  said that Honduras, a small country committed to the 
Development Round, wished to express its concer n regarding the announcement the Chairman had 
made the previous day.  The reason for its conc ern was that Honduras had been making huge efforts 
to achieve an outcome that was fair, balanced and be neficial for all the Members of this Organization. 
287. His delegation had worked with the small ec onomies group with a view to integrating its 
country more fully into world trade.  To this end, it had joined forces with the G-33, in respect of both 
the SSM and the issue of SPs.  It believed that  work to move these negotiations forward could 
continue if there was genuine and serious willingness to reach a balanced agreement.  His delegation 
would be attentive and continue with its efforts until the special safeguard provisions were improved 
in such a way as to ensure that the displacement of small-scale producers was effectively dealt with.  
It wished to point out that a number of other i ssues, apart from the SSM, had also remained on the 
table – issues which it was vitally important to resolv e.  It was particularly concerned to see that the 
agriculture sector, especially where products of export interest to Honduras were concerned, 
continued to be highly protected and subsidized. 
288. Moving on, he wished to refer to Honduras' activ e participation in the search for a settlement 
to the banana dispute, in respect of which his delegation had repeatedly asserted its country's rights 
before the Dispute Settlement Body  and the General Council.  As everyone was aware, the European 
Communities had been defeated and had refused to comply with rulings in the eleven cases brought 
before the GATT and the WTO over the last 16 years.  Moreover, despite Honduras' numerous 
requests, the EC had also failed to recognize Hondur as' legitimate interests as a substantial supplier 
under Article XXVIII. 
289. Despite this deplorable record of compliance,  and although the banana  agreement concluded 
by the EC on 27 July 2008 fell far short of fulf illing Honduras' expectations, his authorities, showing 
a high level of flexibility and willingness to reso lve the issue, had instructed him to sign the 
agreement.  That said, if the EC refused to honour its most recent commitment on bananas, Honduras 
would be obliged to reflect upon the steps that would need to be taken to protect its rights. 
290. It should be noted that Honduras had shown that it was capable of making great efforts to 
strengthen the system.  It was committed to the ne gotiating process, but it should live up to its name, 
so that it really was the "Development Round".  Las tly, his delegation wished to thank the Chairman, 
his team, and the Negotiating Group Chairs for all the efforts made. 
291. The representative of Ecuador  thanked the Chairman, the Chai rs of the Negotiating Groups on 
Agriculture and NAMA, the Chairman of the Genera l Council, and the Secretariat staff for all the 
efforts made and support given in favour of the conclusion of these failed negotiations.  He also 
thanked Brazil, Costa Rica and Chinese Taipei, as  coordinators of the G-20, the Tropical Products 
Group and the RAMs, respectively. 
292. The failure of the negotiations highlighted the lack of commitment of some Members of this 
Organization in a round that was all about develo pment.  Given the imme nse complexity of the TN/C/M/28 
Page 38  
 
  agricultural issues that had been r esolved, it was a disgrace that a si ngle issue had prevented Members 
from reaching an agreement.  The developing countri es were the first to lose out from the collapse of 
the negotiations, as it meant they woul d have to continue competing, in the area of agriculture, with 
subsidized products, distorted blue  and green box disciplines, tariff peaks, complex tariffs and tariff 
escalation, the indiscriminate application of th e agricultural safeguard, international food aid 
distortions, and so on. 
293. On top of all this, the rest of the Round's commitments had been pushed back.  When 
Members returned to the negotiating table there woul d almost certainly be fewer fisheries resources in 
the seas due to the indiscriminate application of fisher ies subsidies, they would continue to feel the 
effects of anti-dumping practices that had been sy stematically condemned by the Dispute Settlement 
Body; and there would still be a lack of transparency  in the application of customs policies, amongst 
other things. 
294. With regard to intellectual property, it was the first time in a long time that the majority of 
WTO Members, both developing and developed, had co me together to support the issue of disclosure 
through the incorporation into the TRIPS Agre ement of the disciplines of the Convention on 
Biological Diversity. 
295. It was unlikely that aid for trade would be given the level of priority some Members had been 
hoping for and the modernization of other areas of developing countries' trade would suffer a 
worrying setback.  It was also worryi ng not to have a clear future picture of the fair and differential 
treatment for RAMs which had been recognized in these negotiations. 
296. The agreements that had been reached, alt hough far from satisfying the expectations which 
countries such as Ecuador had for this round of ne gotiations, the fundamental premise of which was 
development, would at least have contributed to reducing the existing divide between rich and poor 
countries.  The negotiations had also shown th at developing countries could overcome their 
differences and reach basic understandings.  They had,  for instance, agreed on balanced treatment for 
tropical and diversified products, and the issue of preference erosion.  The Tropical Products Group 
had managed to conclude lists with  all the developed countries – a be nefit that would be extended not 
only to other developing countries, but to the entire membership. 
297. All this progress had to be consolidated in tim e for the resumption of these negotiations, and, 
to that end, institutional mechanisms should be fo und to ensure that such  convergence was preserved 
as a heritage that would facilitate conclusion of the Round.  It might be an idea for the General 
Council to take note of the progress made. 
298. Similarly, the signing of the banana agreemen t with the European Communities showed that 
convergence could be reached despite decades of di sagreement and legal claims.  This agreement had 
been negotiated in good faith by his country, under the good offices of the Director-General, and as a commitment separate from the agreement or non-agreement of modalities. 
299. The banana agreement provided for a "credit cl ause" in favour of the European Communities, 
which allowed the EC to commit itself to market ac cess for bananas in this Round or, in the event of 
its failure, in the next.  The agreement also  aimed to ensure EC compliance with DSB 
recommendations and the payment of the compensati on owed by the EC under Article XXVIII of the 
GATT by reason of its successive enlargements in 2004 and 2007.  The agreement did not therefore 
have any link with the negotiations  of this Round.  The agreement w ould allow a poor country such as 
his to save hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff payments and avoid the enor mous financial cost of 
legal proceedings.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 39 
 
 
  300. The representative of Panama  thanked the Chairman, the Negotiating Group Chairmen, the 
Chairman of the General Council, and the staff memb ers of the Secretariat for the tremendous efforts 
made to finalize negotiating modalities in the areas of Agriculture and NAMA.  He said the time had 
come to reflect upon the reasons for the present situati on and to find ways to ensure that these efforts 
could resume in an urgent time-frame. 
301. At this stage, rather than complaining, Memb ers' collective challenge was to strengthen their 
confidence – a deserved confidence – in the multilateral  trading system.  To this end, they should 
maintain and build upon the progress achieved duri ng the past few days.  Such progress should be 
reflected in the texts of the negotiating groups on Agriculture and NAMA. 
302. With regard to the banana issue, the insuran ce policy for bananas had now been issued.  Its 
adoption would strengthen the multilateral trading sy stem and ensure the settlement of the longest 
running dispute in the history of this Organization. 
303. His delegation remained hopeful that afte r the summer break, reason and sound judgment 
would prevail in favour of the stability of the syst em and compliance with the rules and jurisprudence 
of this Organization.  It was clear that the effort s should continue.  His delegation trusted that under 
the Chairman's leadership Members could ge t back on track towards their final goal. 
304. The representative of Sri Lanka , on behalf of the Informal Group of Developing Countries , 
said that although he had not formerly consu lted all the membership of the Group since the 
developments of the previous evening before making this statement, the voices of several members of 
this Group had been heard at the present meeting echoing their frustration.  Nevertheless, they had 
also expressed their determination to look into th e future with strong commitment to conclude the 
Round at an early date. 
305. This being a development Round, the developi ng countries were profoundly disappointed that 
it had not been possible to come to an agreemen t on Agriculture and NAMA modalities.  While they 
acknowledged the progress achieved during the week long ne gotiation, they were of the view that this 
setback delayed the prospects of delivering on D oha's promise of a more development friendly 
multilateral trading system.  However, as the Chairman  had rightly said, it was not time to throw in 
the towel just yet.  A committed baseball player  once said "It's not over till it's over" and for the 
developing countries it was definitely not over.  The Chairman could count on the developing 
countries being at the ready to resume the negotiati ons at any time he deemed suitable to find an 
accord.  
306. In conclusion, he wished to convey the Gr oup's sincere appreciation for the efforts the 
Chairman, the Chairmen of Agriculture and NAM A and the Chairman of the General Council had 
made throughout this mini-ministe rial meeting to find a consensus that would have set Members on 
the path to a successful conclusion of the DDA.  Th e Group also wished to express its appreciation to 
the WTO staff who had contributed in numerous ways in fulfilling their tasks. 
307. Speaking on behalf of Sri Lanka , he said that like many other delegations, his delegation was 
also disappointed that this intense days of negotia tion had not come to any fruition.  The hard work 
and dedication shown by the Chairman, the Chai rs of the Negotiating Groups, and the Members 
themselves deserved much more than the present d eadlock.  It was disheartening to note that 
Members had come so close, to be balked by failure to compromise on one issue which was of such importance to developing countries in this development Round. 
308. Sri Lanka, as a small vulnerable economy that looked forward to this Round as a means of 
accelerating development by achieving improved market  access in key markets for its exports, would 
suffer a further blow to its progress as a result of th e further delay this Round would inevitably face.  TN/C/M/28 
Page 40  
 
  Negotiations might continue unaba ted despite this stumbling block;  unfortunately, so did the 
economic and social challenges his coun try continued to face then and now. 
309. However, his delegation was encouraged by the f act that a majority of issues which had been 
on the table had seen convergence amongst Members.  It also believed that the progress of these 
negotiations should not be in va in, and should be preserved, with a view to building upon the 
foundations achieved at the earliest possible date.  
310. The representative of Nicaragua
 said her delegation was grateful for the Chairman's reports 
over the previous week and a half, during which – as he had said – progress had been achieved, 
though no convergence had been found on a number of issu es, whilst others had not even been able to 
be addressed. 
311. The rapprochement on the banana issue, which had been the subject of a 17-year long trade 
dispute, was important and of great interest for Nicaragua.  Although the agreement reached with the 
European Communities and the exporting Latin American countries did not tally with her country's position in this dispute, Nicaragua was considering th e possibility of endorsing it so as to contribute to 
the success of the Doha Round.  On that basis, a pr ompt settlement was definitely feasible, as long as 
there was commitment to multilateralism and comp liance with the Dispute Settlement system. 
312. As her delegation had already said, the SSM w as a mechanism that would enable developing 
countries to take the necessary steps to protect th eir farmers under the conditions to which they were 
entitled.  Nicaragua understood that consensus could only be reached by means of a delicate balance 
between the objectives and interests of the me mbership as a whole.  These should not prove 
irreconcilable.  The G-33 and its members had show ed signs of compromise and flexibility in the 
interests of finding that delicate balance. 
313. Her delegation supported the view expressed by others that the modalities texts presented by 
the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups should remain on the table, along with Members' proposals and positions that had not been incorporated in the text s.  This was the understanding of her delegation. 
314. She paid tribute to the Chairman's hard work  and commitment to this Organization, and 
thanked the Chairman's team, the Chairs of th e Negotiating Groups, and the Agriculture and NAMA 
Chairs in particular, as well as all the delegations that  had worked so hard in order to reach agreement. 
315. Her delegation fully agreed with the Chairman that, for the time being, Members needed time 
to reflect, which would hopefully lead to better chances of achieving a balanced agreement conducive 
to development for their peoples. 
316. The representative of Nepal
 said that his delegation commende d the Chairman's determined 
and committed efforts to take the Doha Round to  a successful conclusion and took pride in his 
leadership of the organization at this important juncture.  
317. His delegation also wished to express its deep  appreciations to the Agriculture and NAMA 
Chairs for their engagement with delegations to see as how best their needs, interests and priorities 
could be accommodated.  It also thanked the i ndefatigable Deputy Directors-General and all the 
Secretariat staff for their contributions to th e negotiation process. He wished to associate his 
delegation with the statement of Lesotho on behalf of the LDCs.  
318. Equitable trade and development stood at the fore front of the international agenda.  There was 
no alternative to multilateralism, and the rule-based system.  The indispensability of this organization 
had been well demonstrated in its membership.  Fr om the 23 original contracting parties to the GATT 
in 1948, the WTO's membership today stood at 153.  His delegation agreed with what the Chairman  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 41 
 
 
  had underlined in his opening statement in terms of  how vital the multilateral trading system was, in 
terms not just of trade, but also of the stability of the international system. 
319. The process of globalization had brought unpreced ented competition and connectivity with 
immediate and far reaching impact on the lives of th e people.  It had pro duced prosperity with 
millions and millions of people watching it from the sidelines.  To inject the human and development 
face in the process, the Doha Work Programme had been created in 2001, the purpose of which had 
been to secure a share in the growth of worl d trade commensurate with the needs of economic 
development.  In this context, enhanced market access, balanced rules and well targeted sustainably 
financed technical assistance and capacity building program were recognized to have an important role to play.  
320. His delegation had expected that the process of negotiations would take Members to the 
destination and open the doors of opportunities fo r the LDCs like Nepal to benefit from many 
concessions as mandated by the Doha Declaration, the July Package and the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration to promote their trade and economic development. 
321. Nepal was disappointed at the collapse of the ta lks.  The delivery of a development package 
had been further delayed to the poor and poorest of the poor around the world.  Poor countries had 
been hit badly from the failure.  Nepal believed th at development delayed was development denied to 
them. 
322. LDCs like Nepal faced trading constraints as well as development challenges.  Their 
difficulties included among others supply side constraints, erosion of margins of preference and market entry barriers despite the promises of e nhanced market access.  While the Government of 
Nepal was doing its best within its capacity to  promote and nurture the trade and development 
potentials in the country, it was equally essential that there should be an enhanced level of 
international support and assistance to let the LD Cs like Nepal, which was making a democratic 
transition from armed conflict, come out of th e vicious circle of poverty and underdevelopment 
through various means. 
323. As one could see today, many of the world's problems were ultimately rooted in inequality 
and injustice whether economic, political or social.  It was therefore necessary to enhance trade for 
development and help create a solid foundation for peace, stability and security around the world.  For 
this to happen, trade had to be development fri endly and help liberate people from the traps of 
dehumanizing poverty. 
324. Nepal was committed to the consolidation of th e multilateral trading system.  It wished to 
have the negotiations pursued further from where they  had stuck, preserve the gains and continue to 
work bridging differences in proposed positions.  Everyone was aware that there was a common 
interest of all in making the Doha Round a success.  Flexibility, understanding and the principle of equity, as well as urgency to conclude the Doha  Development Round, should permeate Members' 
discussions and negotiation process and constantly gui de all of them in the days ahead.  Members 
could not afford to have successive failures.  Nepa l was confident that if Members placed the needs 
and interests of the most needy at the centre of  the negotiations, there was no reason why they could 
not reach the peak of the mountain. 
325. On July 21, the Chairman had a ppealed to be inspired by the view of Mont Blanc.  Members 
should not be disheartened if they have not been able  to make it to the peak this time.  In the present 
negotiations, as his delegation had been made to  understand, great strides had been made by 
converging several issues that we re far from being reconciled before .  In an expedition, clouds did 
appear and make the mountaineers come back to the base camp. TN/C/M/28 
Page 42  
 
  326. He suggested to plan the expedition when clouds went away, or as the Chairman had said, 
when the dust settled.  Nepal for its part was read y to do what was necessary to do as its world famous 
Sherpa guides who lived at the foot hills of Mount Everest did in expedition – climb, facilitate and 
direct the summiteers towards the accomplishment of  their ambitions to reach the pinnacle of the 
Mount Everest.  In the year 1953, Nepali Sherpa  Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary from New 
Zealand had climbed Mount Everest for the first time.   They had climbed the highest peak and helped 
and served the poorest and disadvantaged people in th eir life time.  He hoped the further talks of Doha 
Round would be inspired by the courage, determina tion and vision of the two summiteers.  Nepal thus 
expected the Doha Round to meet the needs and in terests of those who were impatiently waiting to 
taste the fruits of development promis ed time and again but never delivered. 
327. In addition to these statements, and in keeping with the procedural suggestion made by the 
Chairman in this regard at the ou tset, the representatives of Malaysia
, Mali , Singapore , Thailand  and 
Viet Nam  submitted statements for inclusion in the records of the meeting.6 
328. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the reports by the Negotiating Group Chairs, 
of the Chairman's statement7 and of the statements by participants.8 
                                                      
6 The statements are reproduced in Annex III to the present records. 
7 Including the statement reflected in Annex I. 
8 Including the statements refl ected in Annexes II and III.  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 43 
 
 
  ANNEX I 
 
Statement made by the Chairman at the informal meeting of  
the Trade Negotiations Committee  
held on 29 July 2008 
 
  There is no escaping the fact that this mee ting has failed. Members have been unable to 
bridge their differences.  
 We have all worked very hard for more than  a week.  The fact that Ministers and senior 
officials have been prepared to make this enormous effort is in itself a testimony to the value that we 
all place in the WTO system.   Much has been achieved this week.  We were very close to finalizing modalities in 
Agriculture and NAMA.  Across a wide range of pr oblems which had remained intractable for years 
we have found solutions.  Negotiators have been  prepared to reach out beyond their entrenched 
positions and seek compromise.  However, we have not  been able to find convergence in the area of 
the Special Safeguard Mechanism.  And we did not even get around to discuss cotton.  As a result we 
will not be able to establish the Agri culture and NAMA modalities this week. 
 
 A difference in positions in the volume of impor ts and in the trigger in the special safeguard 
mechanism has led to failure.  We had a mandate to  create a safeguard to protect developing countries 
against import surges in food; those who feared that the safeguard would lead to a disruption of normal trade wanted as high a trigger as possible; th ose who feared that the safeguard would not be 
operational if it was too burdensome wanted a lower tri gger.  After more than 36 hours trying to find 
bridges between these two positions, today it became cl ear that the differences were irreconcilable.  
  I was hoping to come here to tell you that we had an agreement to slash and cap the level of 
trade distorting subsidies like never before; I w as hoping to announce that beef, sugar, ethanol, 
tropical products or products suffering from tariff escalation would now see an improvement of their 
market access worldwide.  I was hoping to tell you th at tariff peaks on industrial products of interest 
for developing countries had been slashed; that LDCs would consolidate DFQF in the WTO; that 
cotton subsidies in the EC and in the US had be en slashed; that export support in the form of 
subsidies, state trading enterprises, export credits  or food aid had been removed.  I would have 
welcomed the disappearance of the Special Safegua rd clause in Agriculture.  And the list goes on.  
 
 It is too easy to overlook the value of what is on the table, not only in Agriculture and 
NAMA, but across the whole range of the ag enda, whether in Services, which remains  the fastest 
moving  and most dynamic sector in most economies;  Trade Facilitation;  Trade and Environment;  
Rules – anti-dumping, subsidies and fisheries subsidies disciplines.    The reports of the Chairs of all these negotia ting groups have provided the magnitude of the 
negotiations across the board.  We will discuss that  tomorrow.  The reports also show the wide and 
deep range of benefits that the Round can provide, an d I still am of the view after this week that what 
is on the table is two to three times more  than any previous multilateral negotiation. 
  I guess that the dust will need to settle before we think about next steps and if you have ideas 
on this, please think about that for our discussion at the formal TNC tomorrow.  We have heard in the 
Green Room, which was just before this informal  TNC, a few wishes and a few ideas on what to do 
with the package on the table.  Fo r the moment the texts in Agricultu re and NAMA, even if they are 
not agreed, are on the table.  So is all the wo rk done in all the other Groups.  This represents 
thousands of hours of negotiation and of political i nvestment by Members.  What we heard in the TN/C/M/28 
Page 44  
 
  Green Room and what we probably will hear tomorrow is that this should not and cannot be wasted.  I 
will endeavour to maintain it and to try and guide  the Membership through these difficult times, but 
let us be under no illusion about the consequences of the actions today.   Today's actions will not strengthen the multila teral trading system, which has provided you 
with an effective insurance policy against protectioni sm during the last 60 years.  This failure will be 
yet another blow to an already fragile world economy.  Not to mention the consequences for 
developed and developing countries in other areas of  international cooperation like climate change. 
  On a more personal note, I am obviously deep ly disturbed by not having been able to 
contribute to this modernization of the world trad ing system in a way that makes it work better for 
development, which I think, as far as I am concerned,  is the core purpose of what we are trying to do.  
Before I conclude, let me thank the Chairs – Cr awford, Don and Bruce – who have probably slept 
even less than I have, and the S ecretariat teams for their contributions.  As I told you at the beginning 
of this meeting, I do not intend to open the floor for comments.  The discussion will take place 
tomorrow, after everybody has had a bit of time to think about what happened. 
 
_______________ 
 
  TN/C/M/28 
 Page 45 
 
 
  ANNEX II 
 
Statement made by Oman at the informal meeting of  
the Trade Negotiations Committee  
held on 25 July 2008 
 
  At the request of the delegation, the statemen t made the delegation of Oman at the informal 
meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee held on 25 July is reproduced below as part of the 
minutes of the formal meeting of the TNC held on 30 July. 
 
_______________ 
 
  We would like to inform you that Oman has re al concern in relation to the application of 
some elements of the NAMA Modalities. As you are aware, Oman is a Member of the Gulf 
Cooperation Council Customs Union that has most of  its Common External Tariffs applied at 5%. 
  Oman will be subject to the overall reductions of tariffs, and  will be affected by applying the 
Swiss formula. Indeed, after application of th e formula, Oman would be required to reduce a 
considerable number of tariffs below the level of  the GCC Common External Tariff.  Therefore, 
further flexibility is required for a number of tari ff lines that would otherwise need to be reduced 
below that of the GCC Common External Tariff. It  should be noted that Oman’s  bound rates are 
much lower than many members.   In that context and as Oman is a recently acceded member and a developing country, we are 
requesting a special treatment addressing this s ituation, as other Customs Unions in the NAMA 
modalities been treated.   We would like to bring this issue to your atte ntion in order to obtain the necessary flexibilities 
that will allow Oman’s bound rates to be in confor mity with GCC Common External Tariffs of 5%.  
 
 Mr. Chairman, let me put this request in cont ext.  The rules of the WTO seek to encourage 
and facilitate regional trade among Members through the establishment of customs unions.  This is 
particularly important for developing countries.  The GCC has set its Common External Tariff at an extremely low level of 5%, consistent with the pr inciple that the formation of a customs union should 
not unduly restrict trade with third parties.  By setting such a low Common External Tariff, we have 
achieved that objective. 
  Therefore, Oman is suggesting the followi ng draft language along the following formulation 
to be reflected in the revised NAMA text:   “As an exception, Oman shall not be required to reduce any bound rates below 5%.” 
 
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  ANNEX III 
 
Statements submitted by participants 
for inclusion in the record of the meeting 
  
 At their request and in keeping with the proce dural suggestion made by the Chairman in this 
regard at the outset, the statements submitted by a nu mber of delegations for inclusion in the minutes 
of the formal meeting of the TNC held on 30 July are reproduced below.  
_______________ 
 
 
Statement by Malaysia
 
 
 
 During the opening of the TNC on Monday, Minister Muhyiddin indicated the potential benefits of a successful conclusion of the DDA nego tiations and the missed opportunities if we were 
to fail. Now that our objective of capturing the pr overbial of Mount Blanc remains to be achieved 
despite our efforts, we have to accept the reality  and move forward from here. The draft modalities 
text as well as the package that you have put together  on Friday could be the basis for our future work.  
 
 Malaysia welcomes that all Members have refra ined from the indulging in blame game in the 
aftermath of the breakdown. This augurs well for the resumption of our efforts.    I would like to pay tribute to you, DG, GC Chair, Crawford and Don for your unrelenting 
efforts.  Thank you.  
 
_______________ 
 
 
Statement by Mali
 
 
  At the outset, I should like in my turn to pay a glowing tribute to you for your steadfast and resolute personal commitment to resolving the thorny  issue of cotton, an issue which now – I fear – 
will remain a thorn in the side of our Organization for some time to come.   
 
 We take this opportunity to express particul ar gratitude to Ambassador Crawford Falconer 
who has spared no effort to ensure that cotton is  treated with diligence and ambition in the draft 
modalities, with all due sincerity and objectivity.  We are also grateful to all the negotiating group 
Chairs, particularly Ambassador Don Stephens on, Chairman of the NAMA Negotiating Group, 
without whom this mini-ministerial – a source of le gitimate hope – would not have been convened.  In 
addition, we sincerely thank all the Secretariat staff and we commend their competence and 
professionalism.   My delegation associates itself fully with th e statement made by Mr Sanou, the Trade 
Minister of Burkina Faso, on behalf of the co-sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton.   
 
 I should also like to endorse the statements made by the Vice-Prime Minister of Kenya on 
behalf of the African Group, the Lesotho Minister  on behalf of the LDC Group, the Ambassador of 
Mauritius on behalf of the ACP Group, and all the di stinguished ministers and ambassadors who have  TN/C/M/28 
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  preceded me in supporting the cotton dossier.  I sha ll not mention them all in case I leave some names 
out.     You will appreciate that we could not fail to be highly disappointed, given that the solution was within reach.  Indeed, following the acceptanc e of the Friday package by Members and more 
particularly by the major players in the cotton dossier, we caught ourselves dreaming, believing that at 
last we were nearing the goal;  that finally, this tim e, we could return serenely and perhaps with some 
pride to Africa, to our capitals, and be received in the remote countryside by shouts of joy and 
satisfaction from millions of cotton farmers and, in pa rticular, from their families, who sent us on this 
mission. 
 
 The fateful figures had at last fallen into pl ace, and when cotton's turn came, we would 
merely have needed to apply a level of amb ition, in accordance with the Hong Kong framework. 
  Alas, Mr Chairman, that did not happen.   
 
 The most difficult aspect is that we do not belie ve that this is the place to invoke the maxim 
"Man proposes, God disposes".   What happened over the past eight days was ex clusively man-made.  Who is to blame?  I do 
not know.  We – I mean the C-4 – were in the Green  Room, but not in the G-7!  Like many others, we 
did not have much complaint about the agreed pro cess and format for channelling the negotiations.  
We were nevertheless surprised to learn from the press that the cotton issue had been blocked by 
concerns about boxes and base periods;  we were not in formed of that.  In fact, the C-4 was never able 
to engage with the other prota gonists throughout this period.   
 
 What is also certain is that the failure of the mini-ministerial is not good news for our cotton 
farmers, our authorities and even for the WTO.  Gi ven the relevance of its cause and the force of 
events, had not cotton become emblematic of the Development Round?  Is it  still emblematic?  Can 
the Round survive and should it survive?  In the final analysis, we believe that it should, that it must!   Mr Chairman, we will gladly refrain from adopting the easy option of finger-pointing, now 
that the new priority is to put the pieces of th e Doha Development Round back together as soon as 
possible.   Our countries accepted five years of genuine sacrifice which has produced no result.  Now, 
though, we are no longer sure that we  will be able to wait five more years, since by 2013, if nothing is 
done immediately, no one should be surprised to find  that the cotton issue will have been effectively 
and definitively resolved, but in the worst possible way;  that is to say, quite simply, in a way 
involving the disappearance of the cotton sectors in our countries.  I need not say how serious the consequences will be for the scale of poverty an d destitution in our rural areas and our towns. 
  As they say, the fighting would then have ended, for lack of combatants! 
 
 My delegation renews its conf idence in your ability to direct the entire process and remains 
committed to saving the Round.  
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  Statement by Singapore
 
   Thank you for your statement and report. We share the deep disappointment that we have been unable to make the desired breakthrough in securing modalities in Agriculture and NAMA.  
Despite our best efforts, divergences remain. We stal led at the final mile, after having achieved a great 
amount of progress on a substantial package of benefits for all. This simply means that we all go back 
with losses in terms of unrealised opportunities and trade gains.  But our task now is to deal with the 
political reality of an impasse in the negotiations. We  have been here before, and we each know what 
we must do to move forward. 
 
 At this juncture, I would like to make four points.   First
, let us focus on what we can do collectivel y to try to preserve the progress made and 
move forward.  It is pointless for one single member or group of members to be blamed.  We should 
all take collective responsibility for the current state of the Round. 
  Second
, so much remains on the table. And for many of us, these past days have provided the 
first real inkling of what we stand to benefit fro m the Doha Round. We should keep our sights trained 
on the strategic and economic benefits that would ensue from a successful Doha deal. There must and 
will be another effort even if we are not  fated to conclude the Round this year. 
 
 Third , we need to now reflect on a substantive work programme on how to best consolidate 
and build on the hard work of the past weeks, not just in Agriculture and NAMA, but also in the other 
areas under the Single Undertaking.  That is the least we can do moving forward.  
 Last but not least, I would like to put on record, Singapore’s continued support to you, 
Director-General. We could not have come this fa r if not for you and the Negotiating Group Chairs 
for Agriculture and NAMA, Ambassadors Craw ford Falconer and Don Stephenson. You 
demonstrated vision and leadership when it mattered, and you have our gratitude. 
  All of us have displayed a constructive spirit and determination in pressing on with 
negotiations in the hope of securing some kind of an agreement.  That in itself augurs well.  
Unfortunately, things do not always turn out the way we want them to.  Right now, the best thing would be for us to reflect on our positions and come back in Septembe r  refreshed and inspired with 
new ideas and new solutions to move forward.  
_______________ 
 
 
Statement by Thailand
 
  
 First of all, thank you for your tireless effort s in steering the Doha Round process during the 
last three years up to this point. We particularly thank you for your courage and hard work during the last fortnight in calling the Ministers to come to Geneva to try and agree on the final modalities in agriculture and NAMA.   
 Undoubtedly, we knew there were difficult issu es we needed to negotiate during these past 
ten days. Nonetheless we were determined to do all we  can to secure an agreement to the agriculture 
and NAMA modalities. We were on the verge of a hi storic agreement that will have long-lasting 
systemic benefits to the global trading system , and also tangible commercial and developmental 
benefits to all WTO Members. That is why we are deep ly disappointed by this latest turn of event. We  TN/C/M/28 
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  were under the impression that many difficult el ements under agriculture and NAMA had been 
resolved or at least, that the remaining differences were minimal, and that important progress had been made in many other areas. It is why we are somewhat surprised th at the differences that 
remained between some Members on the issue of Special Safeguard Measures (SSM), as you have 
described to us, would lead us to this present impasse.  
 
 It is doubly disappointing for us, as a developing country, for whom so many lives depend on farm exports and global market access opportuniti es, that despite our very best efforts to 
accommodate others on our most sensitive issue, na mely Special Products, others have not been 
flexible enough to allow for a successful end to th is horizontal process. Development should be for 
all-be it farm producers or end-cons umers in developing countries alike, and we feel that what we 
have failed to achieve this week, will be a lost  opportunity for long-term economic development of 
developing countries as a whole, a nd more importantly, LDCs, especially vis-à-vis the Duty-Free 
Quota-Free commitment.   
 However, you have explained that we have reached the end of the present process and time 
has in effect run out. What should we do next? We  should accept that all of us have done all we can, 
and negotiated in good faith, to tr y and arrive at a balanced and r obust conclusion to the Doha Round. 
We have achieved a great deal in the years since this Round began to get to this point where a deal 
was almost within reach. It has not happened this week. Nevertheless, we s hould all be proud of the 
vast progress we have made throughout the negotiations. Therefore it would certainly be a great 
shame if we were not to at least preserve all the advances that we have made thus far and keep the 
package intact until an appropriate time can be  agreed for us to come back and address the 
outstanding issues. On that note, I would like to caution that the longer we wait to come back to the table, the harder it will be for us to fight against the protectionist mood that pervades in these current 
times of global economic difficulties; a mood which continues to weaken the WTO. 
 
 On a final note, let me again commend you, and through you, the Chairs of agriculture, 
NAMA, the Secretariat, and all involved in the negotiations, not only for all your dedication and commitment to this Doha Development Round; but also for your faith in the benefits of a strong 
multilateral trading system. Thailand will continue to  constructively work with you and all other 
Members towards our shared goals.  Thank you. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
Statement by Viet Nam
 
 
  Thank you Mr. Chairman. Please accept the gra titude from the delegation of Viet Nam for 
your hard works in mediating for ministerial meetings  at various configuratio ns. We would take this 
chance to welcome your last Friday package as a pr eliminary, partial but important step to move the 
round forwards to a successful conclusion. Having said that, we also want to bring to your attention a 
couple of issues of our serious concern on process and substance:  
  First, on preference erosion, we listened carefully to your statement this morning stressing that this is a complex and difficult issue. And, on  this respect we could not resist our surprise and 
concern in hearing from you that there are still incl usion of some new tari ff lines in Annex 2 and 
Annex 3 of NAMA text which was, for us, by now a difficult balance. As we already mentioned in the 
NAMA meeting on 16 July 2008 and being a member of a third layer of your questionable concentric 
circle of different meetings, where information always  arrives late to us, we cautiously request to be 
informed of any new change to Annex 2 and Annex 3 of the NAMA text and this needs to be as early TN/C/M/28 
Page 50  
 
  enough for us to assess the impact on our interest. We  would like to reserve our right to come back 
with detailed responses after reviewing the upcoming revised text from NAMA Chair. 
  Second, on sectoral initiative, we are still working on the language of NAMA text dated 
July 10, 2008 and that sectoral pa rticipation will be on a voluntary basis. We find certain ambiguity 
built in your Friday package dealing with sectoral discussion, and we are expecting to have your 
clarification on candidature to Anne x Z mentioned in your package.  
  We are looking forward to hearing from you soon on any new movement on those particular issues and we shall be constructive along this process.  
 
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