. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/19 
4 December 2009 
 (09-6306) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   English 
 
  
G10 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT 
 
Communication from the G101 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 30 November 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Switzerland.  
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 Ministers of the G-10 met in Geneva today (Monday 30 November 2009) ahead of the 
7th Session of the WTO Ministerial conference that will start this afternoon.  They assessed the state 
of play of the DDA negotiations and their pr iorities in the negotiations on agriculture. 
 
 In the context of the current global financia l and economic crisis, G-10 Ministers reiterated 
their commitment to a successful and rapid conclusion by 2010 in all the areas of the single undertaking, the first step for agriculture being achieved through an agreement on the modalities. 
They stressed their commitment to a strong multilateral trading system and to open markets as two 
important tools to help to overcome the world economic crisis. 
  G-10 Ministers appreciated the progress made in the agriculture negotiations to date and 
encouraged the Chair of the agriculture negotiations , Ambassador David Walker, to continue the good 
work in a transparent and inclus ive process. They showed confiden ce in the Chair’s ability to help 
bridging the remaining gaps among WTO member s’ positions. However, G-10 Ministers expressed 
concern on the lack of substantial progress in many  of the other areas of the DDA negotiations since 
December 2008. They stressed that more serious effort s have to be made by the Membership in order 
to reach a balanced outcome across the differe nt areas of the single undertaking. Recalling the 
common objective of finalizing the DDA in 2010, G-10 Ministers ask the other Ministers to consider 
a stock taking exercise in early 2010. 
 
 G-10 Ministers acknowledged the growing awareness among the WTO-membership of taking food security into account in the disciplines for trad e in agriculture. They noted the importance of 
both open markets and increased agricultural pr oduction and productivity taking into account the 
diverse conditions in each country endorsed at the FAO Wold Summit on Food Security in Rome, 
which confirms the G-10 approach on non trade concerns. G-10 Ministers indicated that G-10 
Members have always shown good will in trying to achieve a reasonable bala nce between liberalizing 
agricultural markets across the board and the ne ed to accommodate Members’ specific domestic 
situation and concerns. However, they noted that th e steady increase in the level of ambition in the 
negotiations on agriculture has put G-10 Members in difficult domestic political situations and left 
them with little room for manoeuvre. G-10 Minister s therefore reaffirmed their needs and priorities 
                                                     
 
1 The G10 comprises the delegations of Iceland, Isr ael, Japan, Korea, Lichtenstein, Mauritius, Norway, 
the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and Switzerland. WT/MIN(09)/19 
Page 2  
 
  which are the opposition to the introduction of a tariff cap, achieving appropriate flexibilities in the 
number, self designation including the creation of new tariff quotas and treatment of sensitive products. Concerns remained regarding the disciplines for the SSG. They also reaffirmed the need to 
address, through trade solutions, the specific concerns of net food importing developing countries.  
 It is against this background that Ministers c oncurred that an agreement can only be found by 
taking into account the main concerns of the G-10 members and by arriving at a balanced outcome in 
the three pillars of the agriculture negotiations. G 10 Ministers reasserted their willingness to continue 
working on the basis of the draft December 2008 moda lities text. Final agreement of modalities would 
be dependent on the accommodation of G10 concerns  in outstanding areas. They emphasised that any 
selective reopening of stabilised areas of the draft m odalities text would lead to unravelling of the 
delicate balance after eight years of negotiations.   G-10 Ministers renewed their determination to work constructively with all other WTO 
Members to establish balanced and mutually accepta ble modalities for further agricultural reform, and 
expressed their readiness to meet their counterparts, bilaterally or plurilaterally, during the Ministerial 
Meeting. They urged all Members to undertake the neces sary efforts to help to bridge the gaps and to 
bring the round to a successful conclusion by 2010.  
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