WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/WGTDF/8 
7 October 2009 
 (09-4854) 
  
 
 
 
REPORT FOR 2009 OF THE WO RKING GROUP ON TRADE, 
 DEBT AND FINANCE TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL 
  
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finan ce (“the Working Group”) was established at 
the 4
th Session of the Ministerial Conference in Doha  in November 2001 with the following mandate 
(“the mandate”)1:   
"We agree to an examination,  in a Working Group under the auspices of the General 
Council, of the relationship between trade,  debt and finance, and of any possible 
recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate and competence of the WTO to enhance the capacity of the multila teral trading system to contribute to a 
durable solution to the problem of external indebtedness of developing and least-developed countries, and to strengthen th e coherence of international trade and 
financial policies, with a view to safeguarding the multilateral trading system from 
the effects of financial and monetary instab ility.  The General Council shall report to 
the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on progress in the examination." 
2. This report describes the activities of the Working Group since the 6
th Session of the 
Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005. 
II. THE GROUP'S ACTIVITIES SINCE THE 6TH SESSION OF THE MINISTERIAL 
CONFERENCE 
A. OVERVIEW  
3. The Working Group held seven formal meeti ngs between April 2006 and September 2009: on 
11 April 2006, 18 July 2006, 14 September 2007, 10 July 2008, 26 November 2008, 31 March 2009, and 22 September 2009. The Working Group was chaired by Ambassador Peter Brno (Slovak 
Republic) in 2006, by Mr. Ravi Bangar (India) in 2 007, and by Mr. Martin Glass (Hong Kong, China) 
in 2008 and 2009. 
4. Immediately after the 6
th Session of the Ministerial Conference, the Working Group revisited 
a number of written submissions made by Memb ers, including communications from the ACP Group 
(WT/WGTDF/W/30) and Corr.1; WT/WGTDF/W/32; WT/WGTDF/W/35) and Argentina 
(WT/WGTDF/W/33), which had been received prior to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, as 
well as other proposals tabled by some Members si nce the establishment of the Group (in particular 
documents tabled by the European Communities and its Member States, the African Group, Cuba and 
Argentina). The aim of the exercise was to inv estigate whether the Group could find a consensus on 
                                                      
1 WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1, para. 36. WT/WGTDF/8 
Page 2  
 
  possible recommendations (if any) on steps that might  be taken within the mandate and competence of 
the WTO, according to the terms of paragra ph 36 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.
2  
5. Since no consensus could be found, in particular on the proposal to turn the Working Group 
into a permanent committee, consulta tions were held by the Chair in 2007 as to whether Members still 
had an interest in the topics that had provided th e basis for earlier examination, and whether new 
topics had emerged in the meantime. After an excha nge of views during the meeting on 14 September 
2007, and in view of the willingness of some Members to  revisit certain topics of interest to them, it 
was suggested that those Members follow up with oral and written submissions.3  
6. At the meeting on 10 July 2008, several dele gations made statements on issues that they 
regarded as important for the direction of the Work ing Group's focus, in particular to review the 
implications  for international traders and investor s (and for the world trading system in general) of 
the global financial crisis that had broken out in late 2007 – early 2008. One issue identified as 
important for the Working Group was the availability of trade finance to exporters and importers, in 
particular those in developing countries. Mature ma rkets had also been hit by the scarcity and higher 
cost of trade finance, to a point where supply seemed to have fallen far short of demand. The 
Secretariat debriefed the Group on the initiative of the Director-General to  reconvene the Expert 
Group on Trade Finance (“the Expert Group”) on 25  April 2008 (WT/WGTDF/W/38).  (The Expert 
Group comprises multilateral institutions (including the WTO, the World Bank, the International 
Financial Corporation, the International Monetary  Fund and regional development banks), the Berne 
Union of Export Credit Agencies and Insurers (“the Berne Union”), and leading private sector banks.) 
7. As the financial crisis spread internationa lly, the Working Group had an opportunity on 26 
November 2008 to discuss further elements linked to th e lack of trade financing, in particular those 
raised by Brazil in its written submission (WT/WGTDF/W/39). A representative from the Secretariat of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervisio n made a presentation on certain important 
implications of the Basel II framework for trade fi nancing, some of which had been referred to by 
Brazil in its submission, and also answered qu estions from Members. The presentation has been 
circulated as WT/WGTDF/W/42. The representative of Hong Kong, China presented a written 
submission on measures taken by his authorities to address the scarcity and rising cost of trade financing, circulated as WT/WTGTDF/W/41. The Secretariat also debriefed the Working Group on the outcome of the second meeting of the Expert Group convened on 12 November 2008. The Secretariat's report has been circulated as WT/WGTDF/W/40. 
8. In the course of 2009, it became evident that  the Working Group was the focal point in the 
WTO for the examination and the follow-up of initia tives taken in support of trade finance. Members 
supported the focus of the Working Group’s ac tivities, which were generally seen as having 
contributed both to awareness-building in the ins titution and to support for the Director-General's 
initiatives.
4  At the Working Group’s meeting on 31 Ma rch 2009, the Secretariat reported in WTO 
Document WT/WGTDF/W/44 on a number of elements gathered at the preparatory meeting of G-20 
experts on trade finance, held in Washington, D. C. on 25 March 2009.  These elements were being 
considered as the basis of a tr ade finance package to be adopt ed by the Heads of State and 
Government at the G-20 Summit in London on 2 April 2009.  
                                                      
2 The report on these discussions can be found in WTO Documents WT/WGTDF/M/13 and 14, and is 
summarized in the 2006 Annual Report of the Working Group to the General Council in WTO Document 
WT/WGTDF/5. 
3 See the 2007 Annual Report of the Working Group to the General Council (WT/WGTDF/6). 
4 WTO Document WT/WGTDF/M/18, p. 4.  WT/WGTDF/8 
 Page 3 
 
 
  9. As stated by the Chair in his concluding remarks at the meeting on 31 March 2009, it was 
well understood that some of the issues raised in th e context of trade finance could not be solved by 
the WTO, nor would they be even within the remit of the institution.5  But within its existing mandate 
the Working Group could continue to consider the is sues of contagion, availability of trade finance, 
etc. in terms of their potential impact on the r eal economy and the global trading system. The question 
of debt had been raised by some Members in the cont ext of the financial crisis, and it was agreed that 
this could be more profitably examined in future meetings. 
B. RECENT PROGRESS ON TRADE FI NANCE BY THE WORKING GROUP  
10. Since the 6th Session of the Ministerial Conference, work on trade finance at the WTO has 
proceeded along two paths:  
(a) long-term efforts to boost trade finance for developing countries through better 
infrastructure for supplying trade finance – such as the development of competitive 
banks and export credit agencies – have b een carried out under the Aid-for-Trade 
initiative. The mobilisation of partners fro m the Expert Group has allowed for an 
increase in technical assistance provided to Me mbers in this field; for example, the 
Berne Union has helped to set up export credit agencies (ECAs) in low-income 
countries; and multilateral development ba nks (MDBs) have provided technical 
assistance to local banks in developing c ountries willing to set up trade finance 
departments; and  
(b) efforts have been made from early 2008 onw ards to assess the deteriorating situation 
in the trade finance market (arising from a lack of liquidity and a reassessment of 
counterparty risk) in order to find ways of  improving the supply of trade finance and 
to encourage public and private sector en tities to work co-operatively to mitigate 
some of the heightened risk in the trade finance market through risk-co-sharing agreements.  
11. Experience from the Asian financial crisis suggests that in periods of high financial stress, all 
purveyors of trade finance – including private banks (the main players in th e trade finance market), 
ECAs, and MDBs – can benefit from pooling their resources as far as practicable (WTO, 2003).
6 
Moreover, in the absence of a comprehensive set of st atistics on trade finance, it is useful to attempt to 
establish a common assessment of the market situation via the collection of such information as is at 
the disposal of each individual institution.  
12. The regular meetings of the Expert Group have proved useful in distilling views, identifying 
issues and garnering support for collective action during the financial crisis.  
13. With the support of the Working Group, the Di rector-General has convened the Expert Group 
roughly twice a year since 2008 – on the understanding that it would meet as often as necessary and would report to the Working Group through the WTO Secretariat.  
14. Members have expressed satisfaction that the Wo rking Group has been able to re-focus its 
work on the issue of trade finance. Members have  noted on several occasions that, while the WTO did 
not provide trade finance and had no clear jurisdiction in this domain, it had contributed to managing difficulties arising in relation to trade finance since the outbreak of the crisis.
7 Other Members 
                                                      
5 WTO Document WT/WGTDF/M/18. 
6 WTO (2003), Improving the Availability of Trade Finance During Periods of Crisis, Discussion Paper 
no.2, Geneva.  
7 WTO Document WT/WGTDF/M/18, para. 17. WT/WGTDF/8 
Page 4  
 
  thanked the WTO and its partners for addressing the specific challenges faced by developing 
countries, and for looking at the different dimensi ons of the problem (the multilateral, regional and 
regulatory dimensions of trade finance challenges).
8 For many Members, consideration of trade 
finance had been one of the most concrete r esponses by the WTO to the effects on trade of the 
international financial crisis.9 
15. Discussions during the Expert Group meeting on 15 September 2009 pointed to signs of 
improvement in the market for trade finance.  Th is was welcomed by Members of the Working Group 
at its meeting on 22 September 2009. Members noted th at the trade finance package adopted at the G-
20 Summit in London was starting to bear fruit. However, the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh should 
continue monitoring the implementation of the pack age and ensure that all countries, notably the 
poorest, could regain access to trade finance on a ffordable terms (WTO Secretariat Document 
WT/WGTDF/46). 
III. CONCLUSIONS 
16. Members recommended that the Working Group continue to examine the relationships 
between trade, debt and finance, and to make appropriate recommendations on steps that might be 
taken within the mandate and competence of the WT O to enhance the contribution of the multilateral 
trading system to the alleviation of the extern al indebtedness of developing and least-developed 
countries, and to strengthen the coherence of interna tional trade and financial policies with a view to 
safeguarding the multilateral trading system from the effects of financial and monetary instability. 
17.  Members wished to continue exchanging vi ews on trade finance in relation to market 
developments after the 7th Session of the Ministerial Conference, including on internationally agreed 
initiatives. The Working Group also agreed to co nsider examining any other issues within the 
mandate, based on Members’ wr itten submissions.      
_______________ 
 
 
                                                      
8 WTO Document WT/WGTDF/M/18, paragraphs 15 and 16. 
9 WTO Document WT/WGTDF/M/18, para. 20.  WT/WGTDF/8 
 Page 5 
 
 
  ANNEX 
 
Summary of contributions received in the Working Group  
on Trade, Debt and Finance  
(July 2006 – October  2009)  
Symbol 
(WT/WGTDF/W/-) Member / Other source Title or Topic 
W/36 Secretariat Draft Report to the General 
Council 
W/37 Secretariat Draft Report to the General 
Council – Revision 
W/38 Secretariat Expert Group Meeting on 
Trade Finance – 25 April 2008 
W/39 Brazil Communication by Brazil: 
Trade Finance, Basel II, A 
New cycle of indebtness 
W/40 Secretariat Expert Group on Trade Finance 
– 12 November 2008 
W/41 Hong Kong, China Communication from Hong 
Kong, China on mitigating the 
effect of the financial crisis on export financing 
W/42 Basel Committee on 
Banking Supervision Presentation on Basel II and 
Trade Finance, for discussion 
with WTO Members 
W/43 Secretariat Draft Report to the General 
Council 
W/44 Secretariat Expert Group Meeting on 
Trade Finance – 18 March  
2009 
W/45 Secretariat Restoring Trade Finance: What 
can the G-20 do? 
 
W/46 Secretariat Expert Group Meeting on 
Trade Finance – 15 September  2009 
W/47 Secretariat Draft Report to the General 
Council 
 
 
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