WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/728 
2 July 2008 
 (08-3176) 
 Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
  
RESOLUTION 
OF THE 87
th SESSION OF THE ACP COUNCIL OF MINISTERS 
 
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  
8 – 13 June 2008  
 
Communication from Mauritius 
 
 The following communication, dated 24 June 2008,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Mauritius as Coordina tor of the ACP Group in Geneva. 
  
_______________ 
  
 
RESOLUTION 
OF THE 87
 th SESSION OF THE ACP COUNCIL OF MINISTERS  
 
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
8 – 13 June 2008 
 
 
WTO DOHA ROUND OF NEGOTIATIONS 
 
The ACP Council of Ministers,  
 
Meeting in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 8 to 13 June 2008; 
 
A. HAVING  received a report from the ACP Group in Geneva on the status of the WTO Doha 
negotiations;  
 
B. REAFFIRMING  its commitment to a fair, equitable and transparent rules-based multilateral 
trading system, as an instrument that can foster  the integration of ACP States’ in global trade 
and enhance their economic development; 
 C. HAVING REGARD to the Doha Ministerial Declaration adopted during the Fourth WTO 
Ministerial Conference held in Doha (Qatar) in 2001 which placed development at the heart 
of the negotiating mandate; 
 D. RECALLING  that the Doha Ministerial Declaratio n clearly recognized the importance of 
ensuring that developing countries’ interests a nd concerns are addressed and that Special and 
Differential Treatment (S&D) provisions shall be  integral in all aspects of the negotiations; WT/L/728 
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  E. REAFFIRMING  that the principles of transparency , inclusiveness and  bottom-up approach 
should guide the negotiations; 
 
F. REITERATING that the outcome of the negotiations  should be development-oriented, 
including in areas of interest to the ACP Gr oup, namely special and differential treatment, 
implementation issues and concerns, duty and quota free market access for LDCs, special 
concerns for Small Vulnerable Economies, l ong-standing preferences, cotton, flexibilities in 
agriculture including “special products” a nd a “special safeguard mechanism”, Non 
Agricultural Market Access (NAMA), services, tr ade facilitation and rules including fisheries 
subsidies; 
 
G.     NOTING that the Chairs of the respective negotiatin g groups have released revised texts on 
Agriculture and NAMA and reports on Rules and Services; 
 
H. CONCERNED  with the revised draft modalities Agricultu re text   treatment of the special 
safeguard mechanism which is a major deve lopmental issue for the ACP WTO Members; 
 
I. CONSIDERING that addressing the problems related to  commodities will greatly contribute 
to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals of most of the ACP States;  
 J. REITERATING that the outcome of the negotiations in Agriculture should result in real and 
effective substantial reduction of trade distorti ng domestic support coupled with meaningful 
disciplines, elimination of all forms of expor t subsidies, and substa ntial improvements in 
access to the markets of developed countries for pr oducts of export interest to ACP States as 
well as address the issue of longstanding preferences;  
 
K. RECALLING  the mandate to address the issue of cotton ambitiously, expeditiously and 
specifically within the three pillars of the Ag riculture negotiations in relation to all trade-
distorting policies affecting that sector and fu rther recalling need to find a solution to the 
development aspect of the cotton issue as mentioned in paragraph 12 of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration;  
 
L.  NOTING  that the revised text on NAMA, while cont aining elements of interest to a number 
of ACP countries, still falls seriously short of ACP expectations in the treatment of preferences; 
 M. FURTHER NOTING that ACP Member countries that would be affected by formula cuts in 
NAMA have called for additional flexibilities and a coefficient that is fair and reasonable and 
proportional to the level of ambition in agricu lture in accordance with paragraph 25 of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration; 
 
RESOLVES TO: 
 
1. Reiterate  that the development dimension must  be included in all aspects of the 
results of the Doha Round; 
 
2. Underline  that the negotiations must fully respect the Doha mandate, the July 2004 
Framework and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration; 
 
3. Reiterate that Special and Differential Treatment provisions are not privileges but a 
necessary principle for making the world trad ing system fully operational to reap the 
potentials of ACP States, and therefor e must be meaningful, operational and 
responsive to their  developmental needs;  WT/L/728 
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  4. Urge  the Chairs of all the Negotiating bodi es to ensure balance and fairness in 
addressing the proposals and concerns of ACP countries with a view to securing the development promises of the Doha round of negotiations; 
 
5. Emphasize  that both the July 2004 Framework Agreement and the Hong Kong 
ministerial Declaration recognized the importance of longstanding preferences and 
mandated that preference erosion be addr essed in the negotiations; and the mandates 
on tropical products and on longstanding preferences did not establish a hierarchy 
between the two sets of products as reflected in the chair’s modalities text and such 
hierarchy is unjustified and out of the mandate;  
 
6. Reaffirm the ACP Group support for the G33 Members which are not beneficiaries 
of the flexibilities provided to SVEs and ACP countries as regards Special Products and SSM;  
 
7. Urge  the Chairman of the Committee in agricu lture in special session to fully cover 
all issues of interest to the ACP Group in an y final draft of his revised modalities text. 
These issues include inter alia, trade and non trade solutions to preference erosion, 
Special Safeguard Mechanism, food secur ity, cotton, commodities, export credits, 
tariff simplification, rural development concerns and flexibilities for Small Vulnerable Economies;  
 
8. Reiterate that the proposal submitted by the Cotton 4 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, 
Chad and Mali) remains the basis for a satis factory solution to the treatment of the 
trade and development aspects of cotton;  
 
9. Emphasize that rice, bananas and sugar should not be treated as tropical products in 
the context of the negotiations;  
 
10. Urge  WTO Members to provide solutions, in all areas of the negotiations and in 
particular in Agriculture, that will assist the international community in addressing 
the problems associated with the high food prices and the instability of commodity 
prices so as to attain stable, equitable and remunerative prices for these products;   
 
11. Further reiterate  the vital role of preferences in the development of ACP States and 
urge in this regard the WTO NAMA Negotiating Group to fully address the issue of erosion of preferences through appropri ate and meaningful trade and non-trade 
solutions, taking into account the constructive proposals of the ACP Group in 
NAMA. In this context, it is also to  be noted that sectoral initiatives under NAMA 
particularly regarding textiles and fisher ies trade, although voluntary, would have 
highly negative implications for preferen ce erosion for ACP members. We therefore 
reiterate that the negotiated lists of pr oducts receiving preferential treatment be 
excluded from sectoral initiatives. Sectoral  initiatives must remain non-mandatory;  
 
12. Support the position of those ACP member countries that would be affected by 
formula cuts in NAMA; 
 
13. Insist  on the need for effective implementation of GATS provisions including those 
relating to flexibilities for developing countries, that stress the key importance of 
improving market access in sectors and modes of supply of export interest to ACP 
countries, and further insist on the n eed for eventual disciplines on domestic 
regulation to provide sufficient flexibility to ACP countries and to ensure that their WT/L/728 
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  right to regulate in order to meet na tional policy objectives is respected and 
preserved;  
 
14. Assert  that any agreement on fisheries subsid ies should take into account fully the 
profound importance of fisheries to the na tional socio-economic development of ACP 
countries as well as their capacity constraints and while recognizing that the correct 
balance needs to be maintained between  the objectives of sustainability and 
development, reaffirm that future disciplines on fisheries subsidies should aim to provide adequate policy flexibility and r oom-to-grow for both artisanal and small-
scale commercial fleets  and for the economic development of industrial fleets in 
ACP countries, including through the use of operating cost subsidies;  
 
15. Urge Members to develop effective Special and Differential Treatment provisions to 
aid developing countries in availing of their rights under the Agreement on Anti-dumping (ADA) and Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM); 
and effective provisions for technical assistance to ACP countries for the 
establishment and strengthening of national legal and institutional frameworks for the 
application of trade-remedy measures;  
 
16. Call upon  WTO Members to adopt rules and provisions in Regional Trade 
Agreements that allow adequate flexibilities to enable ACP member states to advance 
their interests when concluding pro-deve lopment trading arrangements compatible 
with WTO rules and provisions;    
 
17. Underscore the need for a full implementation of recommendations from the regional 
and global reviews on Aid for Trade includi ng the provision of adequate technical 
and financial assistance on a predictable and sustainable basis to all ACP countries to 
help them implement their trade related de velopment needs as well as the adjustment-
related measures including social costs resu lting from the implementation of the Doha 
Development Round; 
 
18. Urge WTO Members to agree on a common framework for Special and Differential 
Treatment and the delivery of Technical A ssistance and Capacity Building in Trade 
Facilitation; 
 
19. Call on the WTO General Council to establis h an overall operational and effective 
Monitoring Mechanism for monitoring th e implementation of all special and 
differential treatment provisions and technical assistance commitments arising from 
the Doha Round in all areas of negotiations, in cluding in particular, cotton, fisheries, 
non-trade solutions for preferences in Ag riculture and NAMA, trade facilitation, 
services, non-tariff barriers, agricultural export credits; 
 
20. Underline  that in concluding the negotiations , emphasis should be placed on arriving 
at an agreement which fully satisfies th e development dimension rather than 
timeframes; 
 
21. Reaffirm that ACP States  are committed to a successful conclusion of the Doha 
process that provides a meaningful development outcome;  
 
22. Mandate 
the chairpersons of the various ACP working groups on commodities, in 
their participation at the various consultations  to be organized in Geneva by June/July 
to ensure that ACP concerns relating, inter alia, rice, sugar, bananas are fully taken on 
board.    WT/L/728 
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  23. Reiterate  that the ACP Group can be party to a consensus decision  only if the 
modalities to be agreed are established in full and fully take into account ACP States’ development concerns and interests;  
 
24. Instruct  the ACP Coordinator in Geneva to circulate this Resolution to the WTO  
Membership, and to the WTO Director-Gener al, Chairman of the Trade Negotiations 
Committee. 
 
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