WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/W/609 
9 October 2009 
 (09-4893) 
General Council 
20-21 October 2009 Original:   English 
 
 
 
THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE ROLE OF THE WTO 
 
Communication from Argentina and Ecuador  
 
 
 The Chairman of the General Council has received the following communication, dated 
6 October 2009, from the Delegations of Argentina a nd Ecuador with the request that it be circulated 
to Members and included in the agenda for consider ation at the meeting of the General Council to be 
held on 20-21 October 2009. 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The extent and impact of the current globa l financial and economic crisis have a negative 
effect on the growth of international trade, placing the multilateral system in an unprecedented 
situation.  
 2. The Director-General submitted three reports to the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) on 
the financial and economic crisis and trade-related developments.
1  They were submitted as a 
preparatory contribution to the annual report by the Di rector-General that is called for in Paragraph G 
of the Trade Policy Review Mechanism manda te (Annex III to the Marrakech Agreement). 
 
3. Those reports identified measures such as State aids and subsidies (through fiscal stimulus as 
well as industry and financial s upport programmes) given to manufact uring industries (e.g. loans, 
grants, tax reliefs and "buy local") and financia l institutions (e.g. takeovers, recapitalization, and 
government guarantees, rescue packag es and bailout), adopted by some Members as a response to the 
crisis. 
 4. Director-General has indicated that as these m easures:  "… are often attached informally, and 
are of a political rather than contractual nature, it is very hard to know of their existence and how they 
are being implemented".
2  Fiscal stimulus and financial suppor t programmes "… have the potential to 
impact seriously and negatively on foreign producers who specialize in activities that are the target of 
government support in other countries … [and] they ha ve the potential to create deep and long-lasting 
distortions to global markets …".3  In the third report he added:   "The programmes will benefit 
international trade to the extent that they succeed  in achieving their systemic objectives (…) however, 
such large injections of public money into the ec onomy, and of government influence over how it is to 
be spent, do have the potential also to distort markets and competition".4 
 
                                                      
1 JOB(09)/2 (26th January 2009), JOB(09)/30 (26th March 2009),  JOB(09)/62 (1 July 2009). 
2 JOB(09)/30 (26th March 2009),  paragraph 31. 
3 JOB(09)/30 (26th March 2009), paragraph 43. 
4 JOB(09)/62 (1st July 2009), paragraph 73. WT/GC/W/609 
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  5. The data contained in the reports as well as any new information and data on those measures 
need to be evaluated through a comprehensive, speci fic, systematized and periodic analysis performed 
by the WTO Secretariat.  This draft decision e nvisages a process of consultations conducted by the 
President of the General Council in order to  bring Members an opportunity to discuss the 
methodology to be applied by the Secretariat in that analytical work. 
 
 
 
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  WT/GC/W/609 
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DRAFT DECISION 
 The General Council,  
Considering  that the extent and impact of the current global financial and ec onomic crisis have a 
negative effect on the growth of international trade, placing the multilateral system in an unprecedented situation;  Considering the collective responsibility of the members to monitor developments in the international 
trading environment that have an impact on the multi lateral trading system and, more broadly, on the 
health of the global economy;   Taking into account  the need of an analysis of the fiscal stimulus and financia l support programmes 
adopted by some Members as a response to the cris is, as suggested by the Director-General in his 
reports; 
 
Also considering  that such analysis will make a significan t contribution to the functioning of the 
multilateral system for the purpose of monitoring and preventing negative impacts on international 
trade and that this approach is consistent with the transparency mandate laid down in the Marrakech 
Agreement.   
Decides  as follows: 
  
1. The President of the General Council with the assistance of the Director-General and the 
WTO Secretariat shall undertake extensive and tr ansparent consultations with Members including, 
when appropriate, relevant international governme ntal bodies on the methodology for the analysis of 
the fiscal stimulus and financial support progra mmes adopted as a response to the crisis, and 
identified in the Director-General reports to the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) on the financial 
and economic crisis and tr ade-related developments. 
 2. During the consultations the President of the General Council shall take into account that the 
analysis referred above should: 
  * cover all goods and services;   *  include information and statistical estima tions of the trade impact of these measures;  
 *  distinguish between horizontal stimulus measures and those intended for a particular 
sector, and provide details on the individual measures according to their potential 
trade-restricting or distorting impact 
 *  facilitate the monitoring by Members on a regular basis. 
 
3. The President of the General Council will re port its findings and conclusions to the first 
session of the General Council in 2010.  
 
  
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