RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/WGTTT/M/32 
30 September 2010 
 
 (10-4989) 
Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology 
Thirty-Second Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 16 JULY 2010 
 
Chairperson:  H.E. Mr. Hisham M. Badr (Egypt) 
  
A.
 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA .........................................................................................................1  
B. ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY ..............2  
C. ANY POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS ON STEPS T HAT MIGHT BE TAKEN WITHIN THE 
MANDATE OF THE WTO TO INCREASE FLOWS OF TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES ............................................................................................................................... ...3 
D. OTHER BUSINESS .........................................................................................................................3  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The agenda contained in Airgram WTO/AIR/3586 of 6 July 2010 was adopted .   
2. Before taking up Agenda item B, the Chairman  briefed the Working Group on his informal 
consultations that he had had with Members with  a view to solicit views on ways/approaches that 
could help make progress in the work of the Work ing Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology. 
He informed Members that in the invitation fax, dated 8 July 2010, he had requested interested delegations to meet him and provide guidance on how they wished to structure the work of the 
Working Group in the coming months so as to achie ve meaningful progress.  The EU, Japan, Canada, 
US, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, expressed in terest and came to these 
consultations. 
3. A number of ideas were discussed including th e importance of South-South cooperation in 
technology transfer, importance of country/nationa l presentations in highlighting experience with 
technology generation, innovation and its transfer, a nd the role of incentives for technology transfer 
initiatives.  Some Members felt that the Worki ng Group had done enough wo rk in exploring the 
relationship between trade and transfer of technology and that it should now focus on the 
result-oriented part of the mandate i.e., the reco mmendations on possible steps that might be taken 
within the mandate of the WTO to increase flow s of technology to developing countries. Other 
Members felt that the work in the Working Group ha d not yet reached a point where they could have a 
complete comprehension of the relationship between tr ade and transfer of technology.  They insisted 
on the need for an organic link between the an alysis part of the mandate and subsequent 
recommendations. 
4. In these consultations, the Chairman told the Working Group, he had suggested that Members 
make national presentations to enrich discussions of  the Working Group which would be instrumental 
in enhancing  understanding of th e linkage between trade and transfer of technology. The Chairman WT/WGTTT/M/32 
Page 2  
 
  stated that he hoped to continue with his informal  consultations with Members in the coming months 
with the objective of ensuring meaningful progress in our work. 
B. 
ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY  
5. Under the agenda item relating to the relations hip between trade and transfer of technology, 
useful discussions took place on a presentation by UNCTAD based on its recent report: "Technology 
and Innovation Report 2010:  Enhancing food security in Africa  through science, technology and 
innovation ".  The UNCTAD  report focused on the challenges of improving agricultural performance 
in Africa and the role that technology transfer and innovation had played in raising agricultural 
production and incomes of all farmers, including small- scale farms.  In raising key issues relating to  
the development of African agriculture farming a nd post-harvesting techniques, the report argued that 
the main challenge facing the agriculture sector in Africa was to strengthen the innovation capabilities 
of African agricultural systems as a means of addressing poverty, improving food security and achieving broader economic growth and development.  The report also highlighted the need for 
building innovation capabilities, national food secu rity, transfer and diffusion of agricultural 
technology, the technology mixes for small-scale farming and the need to adapt existing technologies 
to the local environment in ways that would enhance productivity and lower costs.  In that context, the 
report  also underscored the importance of knowle dge through learning, research or experience and 
the need for acquiring certain technological capabilities so that they could be applied in the production 
of products across sectors, including agriculture.  It also emphasized that the small-scale farmers 
needed to be at the centre of po licy so that agricultural research, development and extension services 
met the real needs of these farmers. 
6. While making some specific recommendations, the report, among others, underscored the 
need for strengthening the policy-making capaciti es, the importance of targeting agricultural 
investment, reinforcement of agricultural innovatio n systems, capacity building and building linkages 
between national, regional and intern ational research as well as revitalizing funding for Research and 
Development (R&D).  In addition, it pointed to wards the need for reinforcing international 
cooperation in the areas of R&D, technology and innovation. 
7. The UNCTAD report was well received by Memb ers and it generated a useful discussion on 
the various issues raised therein.  Members found that in providing a specific regional and sectoral 
perspective, the report helped to facilitate a bett er understanding of the significance of innovation and 
technology in addressing some of the challenges rela ted to productivity and post-harvest issues in the 
agriculture sector.  Members also found that the re port shed light on the central role of the State in 
creating an enabling environment as well as on the importance of adapting m odels to national and 
local needs.  In highlighting various facets of th e technology-transfer process as a whole, the report 
was seen as an important contribution to the discussions in the Working Group.  Some Members 
stressed the need for exploring international cooperation and multilateral solutions to technology 
transfer and invited UNCTAD to examine this aspect in its future studies. 
8. Members also found that the report highlight ed the challenges of improving agricultural 
performance in Africa and the role of technology and innovation in raising agricultural production and 
incomes of farmers.  It underscored the need fo r strengthening the innovation capabilities of African 
agricultural systems in order to be able to succes sfully address poverty issues, improve food security 
and achieve economic growth and de velopment.  They also found that to a degree, much of the 
analysis was also applicable to agricultu re in developing countries outside Africa. 
9. The report raised some important issues including:  the importance of creating an enabling 
environment for technology and innovation, the role of sustained investments in agriculture;  issues 
related to land tenure;  access to credit;  the role  of small farmers in addressing food security problems 
and hence the need for technical support to them  and the need for climate-change technologies,  WT/WGTTT/M/32 
 Page 3 
 
 
  bioenergy and structural policy reforms.  Member s expressed interest in continuing their discussion 
on UNCTAD's report at the next meeting of the Working Group. 
10. In addition, under this agenda ite m, the representative of Switzerland  also provided an update 
on the joint Public-private Initiative that the Ecole Polytechnique Féd érale de Lausanne (EPFL)  had 
taken on innovation.  At the last meeting of th e Working Group, the delegate of Switzerland had 
briefed Members on the salient features of the initiative, generally called as the Lausanne Group 
Initiative on innovation and technology generation.  The briefing had highlighted that Switzerland's 
experience in generation of technology and deve loping methodologies could provide a good model for 
considering approaches to technology transfer to developing countries.  By involving various key 
types of competences to address the technology-related issues including, among others, 
(i) practitioners of technology and its transfer;  (ii)  academics;  (iii) related federal agencies;  and 
(iv) networks/associations of firms, the initiativ e focused on building and maintaining a small group 
of competences in which people would meet to develop new methodology a nd operational procedures 
to be made available to governments and other st akeholders.  The initiative aimed at exploiting the 
underutilized extraordinary competence and potenti al existed of Switzerland in innovation and 
technology generation at "low costs" to contribute to global technological advancement.  It would 
help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that were specialized in developing technological 
solutions in finding partners in technology innova tions abroad, in particular in the LDCs and  
encourage them to modify and transfer at low costs and yet allow for a margin of profit.  The initiative 
was also developing methodologies to improve inte rnational cooperation in the area of innovation, 
technology generation and its transfer. 
C. ANY POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS ON  STEPS THAT MIGHT BE TAKEN WITHIN THE MANDATE 
OF THE WTO TO INCREASE FLOWS OF TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES  
11. Under the agenda item on possible recommendati ons that the Working Group could make, 
Members continued to have different perceptions on how to move forward.  Some developing country 
Members felt that not enough attention was being pa id to this aspect of the mandate, and while the 
Working Group had been focussing for a very long ti me on the relationship between trade and transfer 
of technology, it had yet to start looking at the issue of making possible recommendations that could 
improve flows of technology to developing countries.  The other opposing view was that, although a 
lot of useful analytical work had been done in  the Working Group, it was far from complete and 
hence, at this stage, it might be premature to start looking at making any recommendations. 
12. During the course of discussion, some Members underscored the need for examining ways to 
improve international cooperati on and finding multilateral solutions  to problems facing technology 
transfer.  In addition, Members considered a dr aft compilation of provision relating to technology 
transfer in WTO Agreements that had been prepared  by the Secretariat at the request of Members.  
The Secretariat was also  asked to prepare an update of its previous note in 2003 on the 
technology-transfer related work undertaken by di fferent WTO bodies.  The Chairman was asked by 
the Working Group to request other WTO bodies to provide an update on the work done by those 
bodies on technology and its transfer.  The Chairman  assured Members that he would provide an oral 
report to that effect in the next meeting of the Working Group. 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
13. No issue was raised under "Other Business". 
14. The meeting was adjourned. 
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