RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/21 
20 January 2006 
 (06-0277) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
13 October 2005  
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 13 October 2005  
 
Chairman: Mr. Pascal Lamy (Director-General)  
 
Subjects discussed : Page  
 
1. Statement by th e Chairman.....................................................................................................1  
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of th e Bodies Established by the TNC...................................3  
3. Statements by participants..................................................................................................... 11 
 
 
1. Statement by the Chairman 
1. The Chairman  started by recalling the roadmap to Hong Kong which Members had discussed 
during the previous meeting of the TNC.  He said th at by mid-October, Members would need to start 
approximations for landing, using pilot language, while by mid-November the Chairs of the 
negotiating groups would have to have  produced texts for the first version of the draft declaration to 
be adopted in Hong Kong.  But Hong Kong was only a stop-over before Members landed in their final 
destination end of 2006.  He said to get there a nd starting January 2006 Members, would need to go 
from general formulae to specific commitments.  Ta king the example of agriculture, he wished to 
briefly run through what would be needed once Memb ers had achieved the successful results in Hong 
Kong. 
2. First, and before each country started drafti ng its own list of detailed commitments, Members 
needed to agree on a format that all countries woul d follow; this would take them to the end of 
January.  Second, during around three months, each  country would draft schedules of commitments 
on the basis of the formulae agreed in Hong Kong.  During this period there would continue to be 
bilateral negotiations among Members, as well as br oader negotiations on a number of leftovers from 
Hong Kong, including in the rules area.  The following two to three months would go into verifying 
the draft schedules produced and a further three months into legal drafting.  This meant a total of ten 
months in the best case scenario.  This would leav e just two months of a margin of manoeuvre which 
was very thin if Members considered the similar st eps to be taken in parallel in areas such as non-
agricultural market access (NAM A), services, rules – not to mention the limited capacities in many 
developing countries. 
3. But for all this to start in January 2006, Members needed to achieve a quantum of progress by 
Hong Kong, without which they would have missed th e 2006 plane.  Turning to the present situation, 
he said that with recent developmen ts, he believed that the engines of the negotiation plane had been 
switched on again.  This was no guarantee that the engines would be able to lift the plane to the 
necessary altitude to start the approximation to Hong Kong, since a lot of work remained, but at least 
the engines were buzzing. TN/C/M/21 
Page 2  
 
  4. On substance, he would focus very much on agriculture, because he believed that all 
Members had recognized that this was the engine that had to lift the bulk of their plane.  If that engine was log-jammed, as it had been, the plane got stuc k on the tarmac.  The new momentum had come 
firstly from the important proposal on domestic suppor t made by the United States.  He believed all 
participants, whatever their positions, had recognized  this as an important contribution to advancing 
the negotiations.  The United States had now crossed th e line of a reform of its agriculture policy, 
which was after all what all Members had agreed should be the aim of the agriculture negotiations 
when they had subscribed to paragraph 13 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  This had put the 
domestic support pillar in a position more like the expor t competition – in negotiating shape, even if 
there were still elements in it which would need further approximations, such as criteria for the Blue 
Box, the overall cap or the de minimis . 
5. On market access, momentum had also come  from the proposals which had been tabled by 
the G10, EC, US, G33 and finally G20.  However, positions in this pillar were still too far apart for 
real negotiations to commence.  Members would ne ed to approximate their position on the level of 
ambition needed in this pillar be fore negotiations could commence. 
6. It was also essential that the development aspect of the agriculture negotiations be kept at the 
centre stage, as it was for the Round as a whole.  It  also meant working on the special and differential 
(S&D) treatment component in an inclusive and e ffective way, and making every possible effort to 
advance the cotton dossier. 
7. On NAMA, he believed there was consensus emer ging on the use of a Swiss formula, with a 
limited number of negotiated coefficients, even if Members were not yet there.  For the mid-
November text, Members needed a range of numbers – coefficients – for the formula; comparable 
detail on flexibilities; and agreement on how to fix the base rate for unbound tariffs.  This was the 
bare minimum, before they went on to issues such  as preference erosion, sectorals and non-tariff 
barriers (NTBs). 
8. In the negotiations on services, Members should not spend time discussing why they had not 
gone further towards their goal.  Instead, they sh ould work out how they would reach it after Hong 
Kong, by defining in Hong Kong their level of am bition, which had to match the rest of the 
negotiations, and the roadmap leading to it. 
9. On rules, Members should intensify the on-goi ng text-based negotiating process, so that by 
Hong Kong they would have undertaken a rigorous c onsideration of proposed amendments to the 
agreements.  In Hong Kong they needed a cl ear commitment to work towards achieving a 
comprehensive text in all areas of the rules mandate. 
10. On development, the greatest gains would st em from each one of the pillars of the 
negotiations and it was therefore by  advancing in those pillars that Members would start to see the 
contours of the development package.  The WT O Secretariat had produced a first paper on the 
development aspects in each of the areas under ne gotiation which had been discussed with Members 
in the Committee on Trade and Development.  This paper now awaited Members' input so that they 
could have a second discussion at the next meeting of the Committee, which he intended to attend 
personally as a sign of the importance that he a ttached to ensuring development was mainstreamed 
throughout the entire Doha Agenda.  In the work on S&D treatment, he said it was still possible, and 
necessary in his view, to harvest a good number of Agreement-specific proposals, starting with those 
submitted by the least-developed countries (LDCs).  Me mbers had also to ensure that the issues of 
implementation and TRIPS and Public  Health were taken up in an a ppropriate way in the lead-up to 
Hong Kong.  They should also ensure that they built the necessary base for an  Aid for Trade package 
for the end of the Round.  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 3 
 
 
  11. Turning to next steps, he said the Chairs of  the different negotiating groups should start 
working to refine their agenda and focus on the ma in items for Hong Kong.  On agriculture, he hoped 
that the meeting of some Members' Ministers scheduled for the followi ng Wednesday and/or 
Thursday would use the momentum created in the present week to approximate positions on market access, so that the crux of the negotiation could ta ke place in the agriculture  negotiating group on all 
three pillars.  He had made it clear to those involved in this meeting that the aim of their consultations 
should be to bring back fresh ideas and opport unities to the membership as a whole in full 
transparency and inclusiveness.  Such processes were essential as a catalyst to the progress Members 
urgently needed, but they were no substitute for the deliberations of the full membership.  For his part, 
he would continue to reach out to the different gr oupings to listen, consult and ensure transparency 
with all Members. 
12. He said he wished to say a word on the issue of implementation.  He  informed delegations 
that, in line with the mandate given to the Directo r-General in the July 2004 Decision which had been 
renewed by the General Council in  July 2005, he was undertaking a consultative process on all 
outstanding implementation issues under paragraph 12(b) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, 
including on issues related to the extension of the protection of geographical indications (GIs) 
provided for in Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreem ent to products other than wines and spirits. 
13. This process would be carried out in his ca pacity as Director-General and was without 
prejudice to the positions of Members.  He would be assisted by a number of the Chairpersons of 
concerned WTO bodies acting as his Friends and by two of his Deputy Directors-General (DDGs) – 
Valentine Rugwabiza who would take up the trade- related investment measures (TRIMs) issues and 
Rufus Yerxa would take up the issues of GIs a nd TRIPS and the Convention on Biological Diversity 
(CBD).  He would report to the TNC and to the Ge neral Council on progress in this process at their 
upcoming meetings. 
14. Finally, he wished to recall the shared commi tment to a “bottom-up” process, where texts for 
Ministers in Hong Kong had to grow out of conve rgence among negotiators.  He saw no-one wanting 
to change that.  However, there was no escapi ng the severe pressure that process put on the 
negotiators to deliver concrete progress in a very s hort time – Members had days, rather than weeks or 
months.  He also wished to mention that over th e coming weekend he would be visiting Hong Kong to 
check the premises of the Ministerial Confer ence and to engage in a discussion with non-
governmental organisations on the D oha Development Agenda (DDA). 
15. He believed that Members should stand by their target of circulating a comprehensive draft 
text in mid-November, which was essential for gove rnments to prepare themselves properly.  This 
was about 30 days from the present meeting, counti ng every day as a working day.  The amount of 
ground to be covered in this very short time was very large, but he was convinced it was not 
impossible.  It could be done, and he believed that a number of issu es were ripe for rapid movement 
once other sectors unblocked. 
16. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the Chairman's statement. 
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of the Bodies Established by the TNC 
17. The Chairman  noted that written reports had been circulated in the following official 
documents: 
Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture:   TN/AG/20; 
Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services   TN/S/22; 
Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Environment:  TN/TE/13. 
 TN/C/M/21 
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  18. He also noted that Ambassador Noor, Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Trade 
Facilitation , was not able to be at the present meeting since he was absent from Geneva. 
19. Ambassador Falconer (New Zealand), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on 
Agriculture , said he wished to focus on what he, as Ch air, saw as a sense of perspective on where 
Members were at the moment in agriculture.  Firs t, he believed it was worth reminding Members that 
they had come a very long way on th e export competition pillar.  It was fair to say that they were 
within sight of a positive outcome on the export comp etition pillar, and that some further movement 
in the area of parallelism had been seen which ga ve him confidence that it was within sight.  
However, the finality of modalities with respect to  the export competition pillar was not automatic 
and would require in itself political decisions whic h were linked to the other parts of the dossier. 
20. On domestic support, he would venture the view that Members could now, due to the 
developments of the present week, see this as being pot entially in view as well.  In other words, in the 
2004 July Decision there had been an implicit fo reshadowing of a deal on domestic support and he 
believed that up to the previous week there had been  no visible signs of the fulfilment of that implicit 
promise.  Based on what Members had on the table, w ith the right effort both in terms of the political 
commitment and genuine negotiations  that would still be needed, on e could see the basis for believing 
that the domestic support implicit deal was potentially within reach.  However, just as he had said on 
the export competition pillar, that was not autonomic.  It was also linked not only to the other pillars, 
but also to the other parts of the negotiation.  However, looked at analytically, he believed that 
Members could say now that with the right negotiating effort, they had moved significantly from where they had been the previous week. 
21. On market access, it was clear that significan t developments had been seen.  For instance, 
there had been recent proposals from the EC, US, G10 a nd G20.  There were plenty of other positions, 
but he believed that, at this moment, Members were  now talking, and talking specifically numbers.  
But they were still a very long way apart.  While he  could see that they were within reach in export 
competition and domestic support, on market access neither he nor the Members could discern at the 
present stage with any degree of confidence the b asis for a deal.  Members had made progress but 
there was no getting away from the fact that in this ar ea there was a great deal more that needed to be 
done.  Although Members had made cons iderable advances in a very short period of time, they did not 
have the luxury of digesting devel opments at a leisurely pace.  Members had to move and they needed 
to move very quickly.  They had to take further and more difficult political decisions quickly in order 
to be in the right shape to get to Hong Kong.  He believed the momentum was there and it was now 
essential for Members to seize that momentum and adva nce on the basis of it.  There were also a great 
many more things that needed to be done and he could not in any sense convey the impression that 
this would be easy, because in the July 2004 Deci sion it had been the expectation of Members that 
modalities would cover all the elements of the Decision.   This still remained the task in every respect. 
22. On process, in the light of th e developments that had occurre d, he had held a meeting the 
previous day with what he hoped had been a reasona bly representative grouping to reflect on some of 
the recent proposals.  He had done this for transparen cy, to gain clarity as to what they meant from the 
proponents so that through representative Members of different groups, the process of dissemination 
could be aided.  In the agriculture negotiations, Members were committed to a process of concentric 
circles and transparency.  He would shortly hold another transparency clinic, which were meetings 
open to all Members, the purpose of which was to ensure that all Members were aware of, and up to 
speed with, the nature of the proposals made and had an opportunity to react quickly to them, whether 
by way of clarification or to further generate a negotiating dynamic.  The agriculture week had been 
scheduled for the following week which would commence with an informal open-ended meeting.  He 
would also hold consultations by the end of that week in preparation for a further full transparency 
meeting on the Friday of that week.  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 5 
 
 
  23. He believed it was important for him to c onvey his own personal sense of where Members 
were.  Being realistic, Members would need furthe r political momentum within the following week or 
ten days if they were to move forward from where they were at present.  This was not work of a 
technical nature, although some such work would also  be necessary.  The nature of the decisions that 
Members needed to be able to move forward were  intensely political, and they would therefore need 
to maintain strong political input in order to meet th eir targets.  This political input would need to be 
made within the following week or ten days.  Fr om 24 October, Members would be in a process of 
permanent negotiation, which was the only way that they would get to the target that the Chairman 
had outlined for mid-November – having a text.  However, Members might not have to be in 
permanent negotiation if they lacked further polit ical input into the process.  He was therefore 
working on the assumption that there would be success and that Members would prepare for it, and 
this would mean that they would be mee ting constantly in various configurations. 
24. Ambassador Jóhannesson (Iceland), Chairman  of the Negotiating Group on Market Access , 
said that in the interest of transparency, as there were no minutes of his Group's meeting of 21-22 September and because he had not provided a written re port to the TNC, he wished to begin by giving 
a brief report of that meeting which had been the first since July. 
25. At that meeting, for the first time, the Group had had a discussion of the formula, flexibilities 
and unbound tariffs in an integrated manner.  The discussions had been good and had been stimulated 
largely by the presentation of Pakistan of its pr oposal, as well as a presentation by Mexico showing 
how its proposal would work.  At that meeting, he  had also reported on his consultations on product 
coverage.  In this regard, he had indicated that coordination between NAMA and agriculture with 
respect to such work should take place at the level of each Member's NAMA and agricultural 
negotiators, not at the level of the negotiating grou ps.  The Group had also had an animated discussion 
on NTBs.  One positive outcome he could report from that meeting was that the Group had agreed to 
proceed with AVE calculations on non-agricultura l products based on the guidelines contained in 
document Job(05)/166/Rev.l. 
26. Since the September meeting, he had held  two open-ended meetings of the Group and 
numerous consultations.  Turning first to the open-ende d meetings, he said that the first had been held 
on 3 October and he had convened it in order to convey his thinking on the work schedule as he had 
seen it from then until Hong Kong and the sense of  urgency that now existed in the negotiating 
process.  In his view, it was no longer a question of a NAMA week, but a NAMA month and he believed that Members had responded to this  call for an intensification of work. 
27. Earlier in the present week, he had convened another open-ended meeting.  A presentation 
had been given by New Zealand on "formula analys is" which had been followed by a question/answer 
session.  The meeting had concluded with reporting by delegations on new developments and their 
activities planned for the present week.  From the re porting, it had been clear that there had been a 
surge in the level of plurilateral and bilateral me etings among delegations, a nd this level of activity 
reassured him.  He was also hoping that these meeti ngs would result in the kind of compromises that 
would be required to prepare the groun d for a successful result in Hong Kong. 
28. He had been undertaking intensive consultations in  the past ten days in different formats.  
These had been extremely useful, in particular b ecause he believed that delegations had been frank 
and the Group had begun to engage in a discussion of numbers.  However, these consultations had 
also revealed that a large divide remained on some key elements and this was of the utmost concern to 
him. 
29. To be more specific, he believed that while the gap was less wide on unbound tariffs, it was 
extremely wide on the formula and flexibilities.  Th e crux of the problem was that there were very 
different expectations as to the acceptable outcomes on these two elements.  In short, there were very TN/C/M/21 
Page 6  
 
  different perceptions as to what should be the NAMA contribution by developed and developing 
Members.  This, in his view, was where the challeng e lay and where a lot of effort was needed to try 
and narrow the gap sufficiently in order to permit Mini sters to do the final balancing at Hong Kong.  
Compromises would be necessary; if there were none there would be no deal by Hong Kong.  He 
could only urge delegations to start negotiating those compromises now. 
30. While the focus of his consultations had been on the three issues of the formula, flexibilities 
and unbound tariffs, he had made use of the oppor tunity to take up other matters.  There were a 
number of issues which needed to be ad dressed, all of them equally challenging. 
31. Lastly, he agreed with the remarks of the Chai rman that if Members wished to conclude the 
Round by end 2006, in NAMA they needed to have  full modalities by Hong Kong.  According to his 
calculations, twelve months was the bare minimum fo r the preparation, finalization and verification of 
schedules. 
32. Mr. Jara, outgoing Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services,
 said 
the report on the work in his group was contained in  document TN/S/22.  He would not repeat what 
was contained in that report but he wished to point out a few salient facts.  Regarding the number of 
offers, this was still very poor.  There were 69 initial offers submitted, representing 93 Members, 
including LDCs.  The initial offers that remained  outstanding were 54.  He recalled that Members 
were now two and a half years beyond the date by  which submission of initial offers was supposed to 
have take place and only 15 months away from the anticipated end of the negotiations.  On revised 
offers, the total submitted was 29 – he believed th at Bolivia had submitted its revised offer the 
previous day, therefore this represented 53 Memb ers which left 62 revised offers outstanding 
excluding LDCs.  He said that at this rate, it would ta ke more than 12 months to complete the cycle of 
revised offers and therefore that would make the negotiations impossible. 
33. Members had now fully engaged in preparing a deliverable for the Hong Kong Declaration.  
The issue at hand was how to better specify the ob jectives of the negotiations on both market access 
and rules.  On market access, there had been wide  agreement that the request-offer approach was the 
main instrument and there would be many sugges tions on how to intensify and better organize the 
negotiations under this modality. 
34. On plurilateral negotiations, a nd he underlined negotiations and not agreements because 
agreements were multilateral, there had also been  some positive ideas on how to better organize these 
and to give it a better shape and transparency. 
35. On other approaches – complimentary approaches,  some ideas and proposals had been made 
and had been examined with targets both in terms of numbers and/or qualitative aspects.  He said that 
this had been carried out in-depth, in a construc tive way and there had been a serious exchange of 
views which had to continue.  One of the main issues that had been raised with regard to 
complimentary approaches, and not exclusively on this, was the question of how far Members could 
set targets without encroaching on the flexibility that developing countries enjoyed under the General 
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).  All these  approaches and ideas had been directed towards 
increasing the number, coverage and the quality of co mmitment to give direction to the negotiations 
beyond Hong Kong. 
36. On a personal note, he said that Members might greatly increase the number and the coverage 
of their commitments but this did not equal liberali zation.  To bind totally or partially an existing 
situation might be a positive thing as it brought cer tainty and stability, but it did not create new 
business opportunities.  He therefore believed that it w as useful to recall that in the end, the name of 
the game and indeed the obligation of Article XI X of the GATS was to achieve a progressively higher 
level of liberalization and this was and had to be the starting point on which to build.  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 7 
 
 
  37. Ambassador Fernando de Mateo Venturini (Mexico), Chairman of the Special Session of the 
Council for Trade in Services , paid tribute to Alejandro Jara for the tremendous amount of work he 
had accomplished in the more than four years that he had presided over the Special Session.  Turning 
to the current situation in the Special Session, he said that in his own contacts with delegations to 
date, he had been impressed with the level of  commitment and resolve with which they were 
undertaking the Council's work with a view to providing a good draft services package for Hong 
Kong that would guide the work in 2006.  He  would be relying on delegations' spirit of 
constructiveness and flexibility. 
38. The Council was now focussing on a draft services  text for Hong Kong.  At the request of 
Members, he had produced a list of possible elements for a draft ministerial text on services.  In this 
list, he had grouped these possible elements under th ree broad categories which appeared acceptable 
to Members.  These categories were:  objectives for the services negotiations, in terms of general objectives, as well as sectoral and modal;  approach es to obtaining these objectives;  and, timelines, in 
particular post-Hong Kong. 
39. He believed that the necessary balance in th e text could be found within these three 
categories, but it would be necessary to flesh them out on the basis of the still-open list of possible 
elements.  The list was not meant to be a rigid categorisation of the elements of a draft text, but rather to seek to help structure discussion.  He would also agree in particular with one point raised by his 
predecessor in the written report, namely that what had to underpin the work in the month ahead was 
the need for clear and simple, yet substantive, co llective objectives.  He had maintained the schedule 
of informal consultations for October announced in  Job(05)/164.  He would hold at least thirteen 
further rounds of informal consultati ons and one formal Special Session. 
40. On the LDC Modalities, he was aware of the im portance that the LDC Group attached to their 
implementation.  The Group had put forward a non-paper that would be the subject of consultations in 
the coming days.  While he believed that it was still too early to report on progress, he had sensed that 
Members were well disposed to work hard with goodwill and in recognition of the situation of the 
LDCs. 
41. On work in subsidiary bodies, and in particul ar the rule-making negotiations, there was work 
taking place at the informal level.  This intens ified activity testified to the seriousness Members 
attached to this work.  They w ould need to inform the Special Session of any progress for possible 
inclusion in the services draft text. 
42. The next formal meeting of the Special Session was scheduled for 31 October and 3 
November.  In the interim, as he had mentioned, it was his intention to continue consultations in 
different formats, and he hoped the Special Session woul d thus be able to respect the timeline set out 
by the TNC Chairman. 
43. Ambassador Valles Galmés (Uruguay), Chai rman of the Negotiating Group on Rules
, said he 
had no need to remind anyone in the TNC that anti-dumping was at the heart of the work of the 
Negotiating Group.  Anti-dumping had received more atte ntion from a wide range of delegations than 
any other issue in the Group, and it was of course extremely important to make as much progress as 
possible in the period before Hong Kong. 
44. In his report in July, he had outlined his vision as to what was needed in order to have by 
Hong Kong a solid basis for the final stage of the Round, and how, in his view, the Group could best 
get there.  In particular, he had reported that he  intended to intensify and develop the plurilateral 
consultations held under his auspices. TN/C/M/21 
Page 8  
 
  45. The steps that he had foreshadowed in his repor t had been taken.  In terms of process, a new 
phase was starting.  He had decided, and he had in formed participants accordingly, that the small 
group process from now on would be conducted exclusiv ely on the basis of draft treaty text.  He was 
pleased to say that delegations had taken this mess age to heart and were s ubmitting concrete textual 
proposals for amendments to the Anti-Dumping Agr eement.  The phase of conceptual discussions and 
broad approximation to the issues was now in the past. 
46. He was also asking "Friends of the Chair" to  assist him to deepen the consideration of 
particular proposals, which was an exercise which required a high degree of expertise and neutrality 
in order to examine the ultimate implications of the proposed language.   This should not be seen as 
an attempt to shrink his responsibilities as Chairman, nor should the selection of the issues for which 
he was asking support of Friends be interpre ted as an effort at covert prioritization. 
47. He had significantly increased the time allotted to  the negotiations, and in particular to his 
plurilateral consultations.  The Group had held an  eight-day cluster in September and would hold 
comparable clusters in the current month and in November.  Numerous issues had been examined in 
the consultations, and the work would continue apace.  While this imposed a heavy burden on 
delegations, he was committed to a serious examina tion before Hong Kong of all the principal issues 
that participants put before the Group in the form of  draft text of the Agreement's provisions, and that 
required time.  He would also strengthen the transparency of this process. 
48. He was grateful to delegations for their efforts to concretize their ideas, and for their restraint 
in helping to focus the wo rk by selecting key concerns to pursue.  He urged all delega tions to continue 
to exercise judgment in selecting the issues to be  moved into this advanced stage of the process.  
Thus, the process aimed at elaborating a comprehens ive draft text next year was under way.  But no-
one should be under any illusion – the divergen ces on substance were very wide, and, more 
importantly, in the coming weeks it would be necessary for negotiators to be clearer about what they wanted from, and what they wanted to do at, Hong Kong. 
49. He wished he was able to say  the work was at the same st age in the area of subsidies 
disciplines, but that was not the case.  However,  delegations seemed to be mobilizing and he was 
encouraged by recent signs of commitment.  Majo r proposals containing concrete draft treaty text 
were emerging.  He hoped that this was a sign that  the sense of urgency seen in the anti-dumping area 
was now spreading to subsidies as well. 
50. On fisheries subsidies, he continued to believe that this area was not only important and part 
of the mandate, but also that it could contribute to an overall satisfactory balance in the negotiations.  
While the Group had moved from abstract discussion to  consideration of specific elements of the 
issues at hand, this area was still far behind anti-dumping.  The Group had seen no draft treaty language on any aspect of this part of the rules ma ndate. He had therefore requested delegations to 
start indicating what could be reasonable aspirations for this area for Hong Kong. 
51. As delegations were aware, the other aspect of  the Group's mandate concerned disciplines and 
procedures applying to Regional Trade Agreements  (RTAs).  In this area, the Group was working 
intensively in line with his July report.  In concre te terms, after having reviewed in detail the Chair's 
new informal note on "Elements for an RTAs Tr ansparency Mechanism" (Job(05)/171), the Group 
had deepened its analysis of a number of outstandi ng issues in informal meetings convened for this 
purpose.  This type of meeting would continue in October and, in his opinion, could lead to a clear 
identification of the majority of the elements that an RTAs Transparency Mechanism could contain.  
There was no need for him to reiterate the enorm ous importance for the whole membership and for 
the WTO as an institution of improvi ng transparency in RTAs.  Howe ver, divergences still remained 
on the Mechanism's application to RTAs notified unde r the Enabling Clause.  He wished to make it  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 9 
 
 
  clear that he would make every effort and use ev ery safeguard to confirm and guarantee that the new 
transparency elements would not im pose changes in the Enabling Clause. 
52. On systemic issues of RTAs, the Group had undertake a systematic exploration of the 
different approaches proposed to define provision s on "substantially all the trade" and transition 
periods in GATT Article XXIV.  Another informal  meeting was scheduled for the current month, 
which would help in defining the content of the nego tiation.  He wished to add that the development 
aspects were pervasive in these discussions, although these had yet to be translated into concrete 
terms in the current phase of work on systemic issues. 
53. Ambassador Ahmad (Pakistan), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS , 
said that, as he had foreshadowed in his report to the TNC of 14 September, it had proved possible at 
the meeting of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS held on 16 September to overcome the 
procedural problems that had previously been impe ding the work of the Special Session.  This had 
been facilitated by the circulation of a Secretariat note setting out side by side the three proposals that were on the table, namely those of Hong Kong, China, the "Joint Proposal" group and the European Communities, as they related to the Special Session's mandate.  On this basis, the Special Session had 
had a useful and productive discussion of these pro posals.  However, while the discussion had been 
detailed and delegations had s hown a willingness to engage constructively, no narrowing of 
differences had been perceptible. 
54. As the Chairman had indicated in his statemen t to the TNC on 14 September, he had raised 
the issue of what the Special Sessi on needed to do for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  In the 
brief discussion that had taken place on this matter,  some delegations had referred to the Conference 
as an opportunity for Ministers to give guidance and direction for the final phase of the negotiations 
and said that they would come forward with more sp ecific ideas in due course.  Others expressed their 
readiness to participate in any consultations on this matter.  He had not yet held such consultations 
since he had been made to believe that delegations were not ready yet.  He planned to consult on this 
matter prior to the next meeting of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS, which was 
scheduled for 27-28 October. 
55. Ambassador Ali (Bangladesh), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Environment , said that the Committee on Trade and Environment in Special Session (CTESS) 
had held two meetings since his last report to the TN C in July.  First, a formal meeting had been held 
on 15-16 September 2005 and the report that he had circulated in document TN/TE/13 had focused 
mainly on this meeting.  The CTESS had al so met for an information exchange session on 
environmental goods and services the previous day, and he wished to highlight some points from that 
discussion. 
56. He first wished to recall that early in the year , delegations had agreed to intensify their work 
under paragraph 31(iii) of the Doha Ministerial Decl aration in the period leading up to the Hong Kong 
Ministerial, in particular on the issue of environm ental goods liberalization.  Delegations had shown a 
great level of commitment in this discussion throughout the year, and useful progress had been made 
on this part of the mandate.  This had been wit hout prejudice to positions on other parts of the 
mandate, which were also important. 
57. As he had previously reported to the TNC, there were two main approaches that had been 
proposed by delegations in the C TESS under paragraph 31(iii).  On the one hand, there were nine lists 
of environmental goods that had been tabled by Members.  A compilation of these lists prepared by 
the Secretariat had shown the broad range of produ cts that had been nominated by delegations as 
"environmental goods" for the purposes of this negotia tion.  While there was some degree of overlap 
in the products put forward, there was no doubt fu rther technical work would be needed to sort 
through this extensive list of products.  On the other hand, there was the "environmental project TN/C/M/21 
Page 10  
 
  approach" that had been proposed by a Member.  Under this approach, the environmental goods and 
services required for specific environmental projects woul d be subject to liberalization.  So far, this 
approach had been presented as an a lternative to the list approach. 
58. At the CTESS meeting in September, delegatio ns had agreed to have a more focused 
discussion on the environmental and developmental be nefits of products or gr oups of products that 
had been considered relevant in the context of the negotiations.  This discussion had to be held 
without prejudice to any particular approach favoured by Members.  It was against this background that an information exchange session ha d been convened the previous day. 
59. This information exchange session had been very useful for all delegations.  In the 
discussions, delegations had focused on concrete examples of products or groups of products, and 
their environmental applications.  The discussions  had been structured around five main areas: 
wastewater management;  air pollution control;  solid and hazardous waste management;  renewable 
energy; and "environmentally preferable products". 
60. In his view, the information exchange had furthe r clarified the actual link that some of these 
products had with the environment.  One of the qu estions that had arisen in this context was of 
multiple uses of certain products – whether products were used solely for environmental purposes, or 
had other uses.  It had seemed from the discussions that  out of the fairly extensive list of products that 
had been put forward, not all products bore the same  weight for the environment.  Many delegations 
had emphasized at previous meetings the distinc tive character of the manda te in paragraph 31(iii), 
which could potentially result in a "triple win" situat ion for trade, the environment and development.  
In his view, the discussions in the previous day had contributed to giving more meaning to the 
environmental and the developmental aspects of the negotiations.  It had been an informative and 
constructive discussion for the CTESS.  To continue  progressing in its work, he believed there might 
be need for more such in formation exchange sessions. 
61. The CTESS was due to meet again the following day in formal session, and delegations might 
wish to draw on the very fruitful exchange they ha d had the previous day.  He believed that in the 
course of the meeting the following day, delegations  might also wish to discuss the work ahead and 
what they wished to accomplish, especially under paragraph 31(iii), before the Hong Kong 
Ministerial.  He wished to re emphasize that ot her parts of the CTESS mandate continued to remain 
high on the agenda. 
62. Mr. Ismail (South Africa), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , said that at the last TNC meeting, he had informed Members that in the run up to Hong 
Kong it would be important for them to be clear about  what they wished to achieve by the Ministerial 
Conference.  Accordingly, he had held a number of consultations at which Members had generally 
agreed that it was important to reach a positive outcome on all five remaining LDC Agreement-specific proposals and on as many of the remaining Agreement-specific proposals as possible. 
63. Since the last TNC, the Special Session had met on several occasions both informally and 
formally, with the intention of continuing discussi ons on the remaining Agreement-specific proposals, 
with priority being given to the LDC proposals.  Unfortunately, the group had not been able to make too much headway and begin substantive discussions  on any of the remaining LDC or African Group 
proposals, mainly because the proponents had time and again sought more time to continue their 
consultations on their proposals. 
64. He said that while these consultations were no doubt important and could lead to language 
that in the run up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conf erence might be acceptable to all Members, the 
group had lost a lot of valuable time.  Even though, in view of the intensity of work in other areas 
which had drawn upon the scarce resources of the propone nts, and realising the capacity constraints of  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 11 
 
 
  these delegations, other Members had generally been understanding.  They were beginning to become 
apprehensive, as he was, about the loss of momentum in the work. 
65. He had repeatedly stressed upon the proponents th e need to very quickly begin engaging in 
substantive discussions on their proposals in light of the limited time they had to Hong Kong.  He had 
also time and again forewarned them of the perils of back loading this work.  But he could not push 
beyond a certain point and the pace of the work woul d have to be determined by the proponents. 
66. The LDCs had signalled that they should be ready in the following few days to continue work 
on their proposals.  He was hopeful that the Afri can Group would also be ready soon and that the 
group would be able to make some substantive progress by the end of the month. 
67. He wished to inform Members that he was convening a meeting with the various 
Chairpersons of those bodies to which the Category II proposals have been referred on 24 October, in 
order to get a feedback about their status and to  see how work on those proposals could be expedited. 
68. With respect to possible language for the draft Ministerial text for Hong Kong, he had 
indicated to Members that at the moment the gr oup's focus should remain addressing the Agreement-
specific proposals.  He said he intended to start examining the elements of the text for the draft 
Declaration only after the group had achieved so me progress on the remaining Agreement-specific 
proposals. 
69. The group had scheduled a considerable number of meetings in the following weeks and his 
hope was that, as soon as the proponents had signalled their readiness to engage, the group should be 
able to quickly move into a higher gear on its work. 
70. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the reports by the Chairpersons of the bodies 
established by it. 
3. Statements by participants 
71. The representative of Japan  said that the G10 had been conducting energetic discussions with 
countries and groups aimed at the success of the H ong Kong Ministerial in December.  Regarding the 
agriculture negotiations, he noted that apart from the G10, the US, EC and the G20 had made 
proposals on the tariff reduction formula, the reduction rate for subsidies and the number and 
treatment of sensitive products.  These proposals were being seriously discussed, but there still remained a wide gap in positions  between food importing countries and exporting countries.  The time 
that remained until the Hong Kong Ministerial was quite short.  In order to have a successful 
Conference, it was necessary for each country and group to come up with ideas and make effort to 
achieve progress in the negotiations. 
72. The G10 proposal aimed to disentangle the conflict between importing and exporting 
countries and to improve market access in a way th at was as equitable as possible for all Members.  
He was firmly convinced that the proposal from the G10 would make a great contribution to progress in negotiations.  The G10 was prepared to make the effort to improve market access.  However, Japan 
and the other Members of the G10 would not accept tariff capping, which ignored the differences in 
production conditions of their respective countries.  Speaking from the viewpoint of a politician in 
charge of his country's agriculture, he said that Jap an, being the largest net food-importing country in 
the world, was willing to make large contributions  in the market access and domestic support pillars.  
However, Japan's population of 130 million would not accept a modality which would destroy its 
domestic agriculture.  Both exporting and im porting countries, and de veloped and developing 
countries, needed to make the effort towards an acc eptable modality.  Japan wished to contribute to TN/C/M/21 
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  constructive discussions aimed at substantial improve ment in market access and the establishment of a 
flexible and well balanced modality towards the success of the Hong Kong Ministerial. 
73. The representative of Brazil
, on behalf of the G20 , said he agreed with the Chairman that 
Members had a major challenge before them, both in  terms of the time constraint and rhythm which 
was required to arrive at substantive results, but al so in terms of substance.  As the Agriculture 
Chairman had said, political decisions were quickly  needed to move these negotiations ahead.  The 
fact that all Members, including those of the G 20, had committed to concluding the negotiations by 
2006 indicated that they also had to translate this  commitment into concre te commitment to the 
negotiations and to come forward with positions. 
74. All Members agreed that agriculture was th e engine of the negotiations.  The G20 was 
committed to moving the negotiations forward and that was why it had prepared and adopted the 
previous day at it's second Ministerial-level me eting two additional proposals – one on domestic 
support and the other on market access.  Both prop osals contained numbers and added to the previous 
proposals by the Group which remained on the table.  This was in response to the request from other 
Members that the Group should put forward its visi on in terms of level of ambition in these two 
pillars. 
75. He believed this represented an e normous effort on the part of the G20 to do so in a short 
period of time.  The efforts were significant be cause the Group comprised of Members with both 
offensive and defensive interests a nd was more or less a reflection of the whole membership of the 
WTO.  Therefore to come to concrete numbers  on market access and domestic support was, he 
believed, a commendable effort in the display of unity  of the group and also of its commitment to the 
negotiations. 
76. He wished to acknowledge the important propo sal by the US, EC and G10, which were all 
being considered by the G20.  He wished to brie fly highlight some of the central points of the G20 
proposals on market access and on domestic support.  Since the proposals had been made available to 
delegations only at the present meeting, he would not go into the numbers.  On market access, the 
central aspect was that the Group was committed to a result, including levels of ambition that went 
beyond what Members had achieved in the Uruguay Round.  The G20 was trying to achieve this through numbers with average cuts on the part of  the developed countries of at least 54 per cent on 
average and on the part of the developing countries, 36 per cent on average.  In the case of developing 
countries, this was the maximum limit.  In trying to  develop numbers which came close to the level of 
ambitions of other countries, this was as far as the developing-country members of the Group were 
prepared to go.  The Group was thus not putting num bers that had water or which were far from what 
could be done. 
77. The G20 proposal made it clear that the deve lopment aspect of the negotiations was essential 
and had to be developed before  Hong Kong.  The provisions on Special Products and the Special 
Safeguard Mechanism had to be an integral part of  the negotiation, together with the principle of 
proportionality. 
78. One other element which the Ministers of th e G20 had stressed was the issue of full 
compliance by developed countries with the Doha mandate, in terms of s ubstantial reduction in 
domestic support and elimination of  all forms of export subsidies.  This had a clear link with the 
ability of developing countries to open up their mark ets.  The Group would within the following few 
days submit other proposals to complement its proposals on market access, on the selection and 
treatment of sensitive products, tropical products, tariff escalation, recently-acceded Members and on 
how to deal with subsidized expor ts to developing country markets.  Finally on market access, he 
hoped that the idea of the G20 proposal as the central  principle of the formula, with a linear cut per  TN/C/M/21 
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  band, was truly the middle ground and that all Member s would start converging to that idea as a way 
to moving forward the negotiations. 
79. On domestic support, the Group had retained th e central aspects of its position, which were 
that domestic support reforms had to be achieved through a combination of cuts, disciplines and 
monitoring, that the central element in terms of  achieving substantial reductions was the overall 
amount of trade distorting domestic support and that the amount of this support distributed by the 
different boxes in the Agreement, Amber or Blue, or through de minimis  should meet the overall 
objective which should not be other than to achieve  substantial cuts in trade-distorting domestic 
support in applied terms.  The numbers that the G20 had put on the table for reduction in domestic 
support, both in overall support and in the Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS), could be considered 
ambitious by many delegations. It could not be ot herwise because this was the only way for a group of 
developing countries that did not subsidize neither inte rnally nor exports, or when they did so, only at 
amounts that bore no resemblance to those in devel oped countries, to put the level of ambition in 
domestic support in line with the Doha mandate.  The G20 believed this was central to the 
negotiations and it had came up with  numbers to try to achieve a real overall reduction in trade-
distorting domestic support.  Th e G20 would also be submitting proposals on product specific capping 
and on monitoring and surveillance, as well as on othe r specific aspects, including STEs in developing 
countries and export restrictions. 
80. Finally, he said that by presenting proposals, the G20 was trying to implement the bottom-up 
approach that all Members defended, which was th e only way to move the negotiations ahead.  The 
G20 was trying through these proposals to present its le vel of ambition and indicate its commitment to 
the negotiations. 
81. The representative of the European Communities  said that in the past few days intensive 
discussions had taken place at Ministerial level.  The format of these discussions had included representatives of a wide spectrum of the WTO.  Th e various groupings of the WTO might now have 
been briefed more in detail, not only through the press, but also through focused out-reaching by their 
representatives, chairs of negotiating groups and by th e Director-General.  It was crucial that there 
was a level playing field for all Members, and it was obviously within the TNC that Members had to 
bring together and integrate, in a fully transpar ent way, all the discussions and views exchanged in 
various formats.  It was the unique forum to multila teralize the negotiations and to take on board the 
concerns of each and every Member of the WTO. 
82. His delegation was grateful to Brazil to have ta ken advantage of the TNC to present the most 
recent proposals of G20 in both domestic support a nd market access building on earlier contributions 
of the G20 last July.  As all Members were aware, the US, G10 and EC had tabled detailed contributions in the past few days.  He wished to  take advantage of TNC to share with Members the 
EC input in the agricultural negotiations. 
83. First, he recalled the negotiating proposals on domestic support as tabled by Commissioners 
Mandelson and Fischer Boël.  He had used th e expression negotiating proposals on purpose as the 
proposals were conditioned on a balanced outcome in all three pillars and by ambitious results in 
NAMA, services and the rules area, in general.  This was the very sense of the single undertaking.  As 
the French said "tout est dans le tout".  While ag riculture might be the key to progress elsewhere, he 
said ambition elsewhere would eventually be the key to a successful conclusion of this Round. 
84. The EC proposals on domestic support were by all means bold – to use an expression which 
had apparently become current currency in the WTO jargon.  Up to 70 per cent cut in its AMS; at 
least 65 per cent cut in de minimis  and a commensurate overall cut in trade-distorting subsidies, 
assuming that other major subsidizers committed  themselves to propor tionate reductions and 
introduced disciplines that led to clear reforms as envisaged in paragraph 14 of the Framework. TN/C/M/21 
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  85. As the EC had already implemented, through successive CAP reforms, steep reductions in 
trade distorting domestic reforms, WTO Members had the guarantee that the EC could deliver.  The 
EC expected other major subsidizers to deliver equally bold reforms.  While some good news had 
been heard with the US proposals earlier in the pr esent week, Members were certainly not yet there. 
86. Turning to market access, he said the EC had gone a long way.  The EC had dropped the 
Uruguay Round formula, based itself on the G20 propo sals, adopted the banded approach with linear 
cuts and eventually declared its willingness to drop  the so-called "deviation around the pivots" in each 
band which would have allowed it lesser recourse to sensitive products and more important formula 
cuts. 
87. It had been recalled by the G20 that the Doha Declaration had called for "substantial 
improvements in market access for all products".   The Framework Agreement had provided in 
paragraph 33 that such substantial improvement wo uld be achieved through a combination of tariff 
quota commitments and tariff reductions for each pr oduct, while the final negotiating result should 
also reflect the sensitivity of the product concerne d.  Hence the importance of dealing simultaneously 
with both formula cuts, less than formula cuts and tariff-rate quota (T RQ) expansion.  He said this 
was the very purpose of the EC market access ne gotiating proposal.  Formula cuts could not be 
considered independently from th e treatment of sensitive products. 
88. He said that the EC proposal which recapitula ted its position on threshol ds and cuts within 
each band adopting the pure linear approach of the G 20 had been made available to delegations at the 
present meeting.  As far as the treatment of sen sitive products was concerned there was now a clear 
link – band by band – with the general formula cuts.  This approach, which was fully in line with the 
Framework, ensured substantially improved ma rket access while allowing a differentiation 
commensurate with the sensitivity of products concerne d.  This was the very logic of paragraph 33 of 
the Framework Agreement. 
89. He said the EC proposal might require more study from the membership but it had at least the 
advantage of dealing with both formula cuts and the treatment of sensitive products.  This element 
was lacking in the G20 proposals.  For the EC, th e treatment of sensitive products was an essential 
element of the overall equation of the various "variables" which would deliver the result of 
substantially improved market access while reflecting the sensitivity of produc ts concerned in line 
with paragraph 33 of th e Framework Agreement. 
90. The Agriculture Chairman, who was a wise man, ha d said the previous day that the very fact 
that Members now had four detailed proposal s on the table constituted a sea change in the 
negotiations.  He had talked a bout seeing landing zones for domestic  support and export competition, 
but there was some way to go yet.  Positions on market access might appear wide apart but at least 
positions were now on the table.  But convergence di d not only mean meeting expectations – it also 
implied addressing concerns.  This was what give and take was about.  In order to conclude the 
negotiations successfully, Members had to move away  from brinkmanship and try to enter into the 
final balancing act – that took more than one wise man. 
91. The representative of Switzerland
, on behalf of the G10 , said the TNC was a forum not only 
where people spoke but also where people listened.  The more delegations spoke, the better it was in 
helping define flexibilities so as to achieve a result.   Having heard from others with large ambitions, 
he wished to present the proposals of the G10, which was the only group representing net importers.  
It contributed to agricultural trade accounting for 14 per cent of all imports. 
92. The G10 was in a difficult situation because it ha d to pay in all three pillars.  It could not 
compensate one pillar with another.  It was ready to take the greatest level of commitment in export  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 15 
 
 
  competition, which was 100 per cent reduction, provided that parallel steps were taken in the form of 
reduction or elimination of all export subsidies. 
93. He wished to illustrate the impact of export subsidies on market access with two examples.  
Two G10 countries giving up export subsidies would have to reduce their dairy production by 10 per 
cent.  Others, by cutting their subsidies for butter,  would no longer be competitive in the markets of 
the G10 and this would create market access opportunities for the most competitive exporters.  
Therefore in looking at the balance, Members would have to take account of this. 
94. With regard to domestic support, all members of  the G10 were in a mood of reform.  Some 
Members were more advanced than others, but they could all make a major contribution.  He said the 
G10 could fall within the areas of ambition which had b een flagged by some participants, but it had to 
ensure that Blue Box measures remained less trad e distorting than the Amber Box.  In addition, a 
product-specific cap should apply to Blue Box support that did not limit production. 
95. He wondered if the authors of the recent prop osals on domestic support would be able to pay 
the price in NAMA, services or the other areas, if  the G10 went with the level of ambition in the 
proposals, which he did not exclude. 
96. Improved market access would certainly result fro m the Round.  He noted that the mandate 
talked about market access improvements and not ta riff reductions, and emphasized that the results of 
export competition, domestic support and market access had to be looked at as a whole.  The G10's 
view was that in order to meet some expectations of exporters, certain flexibilities would be needed.  
Its proposal was, in a nutshell, to offer two avenu es which could be chosen by each Member.  Either 
the Member went the linear cut road and would then  be allowed to use 15 per cent of tariff lines as 
sensitive products, or there would be a linear cut with  constrained flexibility, where the reduction rate 
would be higher and the number of sensitive products  lower.  This was the G10's way of expressing 
middle ground.  He said that in a world of ex tremes, the middle ground was sometimes where it was 
not expected, because anything between the two extremes was the middle ground.  He did not therefore believe that it was useful to start a philosophical discussion about middle ground. 
97. The G10 had agreed to go further than just to  bind the flexibilities it had in domestic support, 
market access and also in NAMA, provided others did the same.  He said binding was not a bad thing and it had nothing to do with  water – it was to do with law.  It was an essential element in a law-based 
institution like the WTO.  Concessions were concessions , but in order to meet the ambitions of all, 
Members had to go further than the status quo in all areas. 
98. With its proposal, the G10 wished  to open the avenue of flexibilities.  A large majority of 
Members needed flexibility and the G10 was ready in  all areas to look for flexibilities for those who 
needed them.  The G10 needed flexibilities in ag riculture, some might need them in NAMA and 
others in services and the G10 was considering the se.  However, the G10 was not willing to give 
flexibilities to all those who wanted them, but rather to those who needed them. 
99. He said the G10 proposal was a simple one – two options which would bring, according to the 
calculations of each participant, real improved market access because the treatment of sensitive 
products would lead to improved market access.  In addition, the G10 had introduced flexibility when 
others had deleted it because without flexibility, Members would not come to a result.  Finally, in market access, the G10 did not support capping. 
100. The representative of the United States
 said his delegation agreed with the list of tasks 
identified by the Chairman, and although the task  before Members was daunting, the returns from 
achieving their objectives were worth their maximum possible effort.  The United States was prepared 
to make that effort in cooperation with other Members. TN/C/M/21 
Page 16  
 
  101. In this regard, the United States had recognized that many Members had been looking to it to 
help break the stalemate that they all had experien ced in the agriculture negotiations.  Specifically, 
there had been repeated calls for the United States  to announce what it was prepared to do in the 
domestic support pillar of agriculture. 
102. Since the July break, his delegation had been working intensely the political process at home, 
with Congress, farm interests and other affected se ctors, to enable it to respond to these calls for 
reform in its domestic support programmes.  On Monday of the present week, Ambassador Portman 
had announced the results of those efforts. 
103. His delegation was making available at the present meeting a detailed description of its 
proposal.  He would not repeat all the details, but wished to highlight the most important elements 
because he believed that this proposal did constitute the turning of the ignition key for this engine of 
the negotiating airplane. 
104. The United States was prepared to:  cut its a llowed Amber Box payments by 60 per cent over 
five years and, after an adjustment period of five years, to continue reducing allowable payments to 
zero; cut in half over five years the limit on allowable Blue Box payments, from the July 2004 
Framework level of 5 per cent of domestic production to 2.5 per cent and, after the adjustment period, 
to continue reductions until such pa yments were eliminated; and, cut in half the allowable payments 
under each of the de minimis  categories, with a similar phased elimination path. 
105. The results of this proposal would be to cu t actual expenditures under the Amber and Blue 
Boxes by 40 per cent in the first phase of reform.  These real, significant cuts meant that neither the 
current US Amber Box programmes nor its counte r-cyclical programme could continue in their 
current forms.  This meant the United States ha d crossed the political Rubicon of farm reform. 
106. This proposal was a conditional offer – these be ing negotiations.  To be harvested in the 
DDA, the US offer had to be met by significant contributions from other Members.  In particular, it looked to other large subsidizing countries to offe r cuts in their domestic support programmes that 
would bring their allowable payments levels much closer to that of the United States.  The United 
States also looked to its major agricultural mark ets, in both developed and various developing 
countries, to open their markets further to its major export products at a comparable level of ambition 
to that in the US proposal. 
107. The United States confidently believed that this  reform offer could provide the basis for 
unlocking the agricultural negotiations.  As such, it should give countries interested in agriculture the 
confidence and incentive to engage seriously in the other areas of the DDA negotiations, most 
particularly in NAMA and services.  The United States and others could not sell to their home 
constituencies the results of the DDA final pack age unless Members created new trade opportunities 
in manufactured goods and in services comparable  to what the United States had created in 
agriculture. 
108. The United States was prepared to move forward in  all of the key strategic issue areas that the 
Chairman had identified.  But he wished to highl ight this agricultural offer at the present meeting 
because, in the view of his delegation, it had the po tential to mark the turnin g point in Members' joint 
efforts to secure a successful Hong Kong Ministeria l and, beyond that, a realization of the highest 
ambitions of the DDA.  His delegation urged others to  make comparable efforts, consistent with their 
levels of development.  It appreciated that  other countries and groups were making negotiating 
proposals and looked forward to engaging in  detailed negotiations in the coming days.  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 17 
 
 
  109. The representative of India  thanked the Chairman for his announcement regarding the 
resumption of consultations on outstanding implem entation issues, especially the issue of the 
relationship between CBD and TRIPS which w as vital for a large number of countries. 
110. He wished to make a few comments on three areas of negotiations – agriculture, NAMA and 
services.  Firstly on agriculture, he said significan t proposals had been made in recent days and his 
delegation believed that these propo sals would provide fresh impetus to these complex negotiations.  
Over the last two years, the G20 had tried to function as the responsible middle ground in these 
negotiations, trying to find a balance between all interests in the membership.  With the G20's 
submission of two important proposals on domestic  support and market access, his delegation 
believed that the G20 had once again discharged th at responsibility.  His delegation hoped that these 
contributions would provide the basis for convergence. 
111. He agreed with the Chairman  that the major development outcomes would emerge from 
within the negotiations themselves.  As far as agri culture was concerned, his delegation believed that 
there were three outcomes which were absolutely essential for there to be a development outcome.  
Firstly, very substantial reductions in trade-distor ting support.  Secondly, a substantial increase in 
market access in developed country markets.  And thirdly, effective operationalization of S&D 
provisions.  The G20 proposals, especially the proposal  on market access, had tried to provide in great 
detail the expectations of developing countries as far as S&D was concerne d in the agriculture 
negotiations.  The Group had negotiated long and hard, and had come to a unanimous view that this 
was the minimum deliverable for developing countri es as regards market access issues.  For hundreds 
of millions of farmers in deve loping countries, agriculture was more an issue of livelihood and 
survival and not an issue of mere commerce.  His delegation believed that the G20 proposals 
submitted the previous day had provided the limit of what developing countries could be expected to 
contribute with regard to agricultural market access. 
112. Turning to NAMA, he said the Chairman had st ated that there was an emerging consensus on 
the Swiss formula with a limited number of coefficients.  If the Chairman's understanding of a Swiss 
formula included the formulation that his delegati on had presented in the Argentina, Brazil and India 
(ABI) proposal, then he had no quarrel with that asse rtion.  However, his delegation believed that the 
proposal that has been furnished through the ABI was that which best met the requirements of the 
mandate.  This was a proposal which had suppor t among a number of developing countries and 
therefore should be an important consideration in ar riving at the structure of the formula for deciding 
the ambition. 
113. He believed that the major issue which had held Members up in NAMA, was the issue of 
flexibilities, specifically the issue of paragraph 8.   In his delegation's view, any proposals which 
sought to question the mandate in paragraph 8, or to make it cond itional to other aspects, did not do 
justice to the mandate or the need for development of this important issue.  India yielded to no one in 
terms of ambition in the NAMA negotiations.  Its r ecord of autonomous liberalization and of tariff 
reductions were second to none.  But his delegation believed that progress in NAMA could only be 
made once Members recognized that there were situations in various countries which required 
treatment through flexibilities and through recogniti on of tariff structures as a basis for concessions. 
114. On services, there was a general recognition that Member had not moved enough and needed 
to look at various alternatives to jump-start the am bition in these negotiations.  He wished to reiterate 
that for many countries, like India, it was absolute ly essential that clear deliverables in Hong Kong in 
terms of ambition in services were achieved so that Members could have a balanced outcome across 
the sectors. 
115. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDC Group , said he wished to reaffirm the 
Group's commitment to an all inclusive process towards the achievement of a successful and TN/C/M/21 
Page 18  
 
  meaningful outcome in Hong Kong.  To this end, the Group appreciated the rigorous approach that 
the Chairman was taking to set the tone for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December.  
However, the Group wished to remind Members that  this Round was about development, and as such, 
the interests of developing countries and LDCs had to take centre stage. 
116. Members also needed to remind themselves of the rededication and recommitment that they 
had all made the previous July regarding the impor tant role that enhanced market access, balanced 
rules and well-targeted, sustainably financed t echnical assistance and capacity building programmes 
could play in the economic development of the developing and least-developed countries. 
117. From the LDC perspective, this Round would be deemed as a development round only when 
their interests and concerns were addressed in a manner that assisted them to utilize opportunities 
arising from trade liberalization towards the enha ncement of economic growth and development. 
118. He wished to state that the Group appreciated  the fact that there had been some grave 
difficulties amongst some Members pertaining to par ticular issues in the ar eas of agriculture and 
NAMA.  However, the LDCs and the other developi ng countries did also have issues that were of 
great concern to them and as such, agreement on any issues would need to inco rporate their interests 
on the broad development agenda. 
119. In this regard, the LDC Group wished to stress  the importance of having the following issues 
adequately addressed and reflected in the draft mi nisterial text: an early harvest on the five LDC 
specific proposals with the understanding that negotiations would continue on the remaining proposals in the coming year; enhanced and pr edictable market access which the Group believed 
could be achieved through binding commitments in line with paragraph 45 of Annex A and paragraph 
10 of Annex B of the July framework; in ser vices, full implementation of LDC modalities, 
establishing special priority for market access fo r LDCs and developing guidelines for effective 
technical assistance and capacity building.  The Group was also concerned about proposals on complementary approaches that ignored the core structural weaknesses inherent in LDCs services 
economies. Further issues were:  ef fective mechanisms to address pr eference erosion; an appropriate 
and effective mechanism to deal with the NTBs faced by LDCs; trade facilitation rules that would 
assist greatly in domestic reforms to reduce transact ion costs and enhance the free flow of trade in 
goods and services, accompanied with adequate technical and financial assistance for human, 
institutional and infrastructural capacity building; and, elimination of export subsidies within a 
credible end date, to be estab lished and substantial reduction in domestic support taking into account 
the mandate on Cotton. 
120. The Group called upon the membership to exercise flexibility towards addressing the 
concerns as outlined and looked forward to a con tinued positive engagement on these and other issues 
towards a successful outcome in Hong Kong. 
121. The representative of Djibouti
 said he believed that the work was headed in the right direction 
and if it continued along the lines established in Zurich, some progress would be achieved before 
Hong Kong.  As from the following week, a number of Ministers would be in Geneva, which could 
lead to new ideas and contribute to progress.  Th e Director-General should encourage meetings 
between Ministers, in particular those of the larg er countries because they had a very big share of the 
pie and should share it. 
122. Turning to the question of transparency, he sai d this was a critical matter.  Dialogue among 
Members was important, and the more they spoke to each other, the better the results would be.  He 
urged all Chairpersons to ensure that African countries and LDCs were i nvited to all meetings, 
whatever the format of the meeting.  This woul d reassure these small countries that they were being 
taken into account and that they were involved at al l levels of negotiation within the WTO.  In some  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 19 
 
 
  meetings, these countries had been simply forgotten and their views thus had not been taken into 
account.  They had every right to participate in decision making.  Non-resident Members also had the right to have their views taken into account and to  be informed of what was happening in Geneva. 
123. The Chairman
, in response to Djibouti, said that he and the Secretariat always ensured that 
representatives of the African Group, the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and the LDC Group 
were systematically invited to all the meetings which they organized to ensure that these countries 
were properly represented.  It was in everyone's interest that representatives of these groups were 
present and shared their positions and information, and participated fully.  For this reason, this policy 
would not be changed. 
124. The representative of Mexico  said the new proposal made by the United States could no doubt 
be improved, but no-one could deny that this prop osal, because of its content, the way in which it had 
been submitted and the discussion which had ensu ed, had brought negotiators once again to the 
negotiating table.  In just one week, it had become  possible again to think about a successful meeting 
in Hong Kong and an intensive negotiating process had been triggered.  Mexico had submitted its 
numbers jointly with other G20 countries, as menti oned by Brazil.  All of this amounted to positive 
movement in the central area of the negotiations.  His delegation believed it was time to see 
movement in other areas, particularly in NAMA a nd services, so as to be able to capitalize on the 
current enthusiasm.  Complacency should be avoi ded at all costs.  There was no longer time for 
discussion of concepts and ideas, work had to start in  earnest on what was needed for the draft text for 
Hong Kong, building on the momentum generated by the recent proposals.  This was a golden 
opportunity.  Everyone had domestic political restra ints which they would like to avoid having to 
address, but everyone also had the responsibility of maintaining the long term vision of strengthening 
the multilateral trading system and correcting market distortions.  It would be reasonable to expect 
those who were the most responsible for those distor tions to contribute the most to correcting them. 
125. The representative of Australia  said that his delegation wished to offer some specific 
comments on agriculture and services as it believed there had been positive momentum in both of 
these areas since the last TNC meeting.  On ag riculture, his delegation was pleased to note the 
heightened level of engagement in recent days.  Members had to use this momentum to drive the 
negotiating process forward – little time remain ed until Hong Kong and there was an enormous 
amount of work to do.  His delegation agreed with  the Chairman and the Agriculture Chair that the 
narrow window of opportunity had to be seized if Members were to shape an outcome for Hong Kong that allowed them to finalize the Doha Round in the next year. 
126. The US proposal on domestic support was welcom e and should provide important momentum 
to help Members break the impasse on the agriculture .  But this would only happen if others showed 
more courage with market access.  The US propo sal was an important starting place for discussions 
on domestic support.  His delegation also welcomed the fact that th e G20 had now put numbers on the 
table for market access and domestic support.  Member s needed to move forward with purpose now to 
achieve real progress in lowering all barriers to agricultural trade. 
127. Cairns Group Ministers and Heads of Delegations  had met the previous day in Geneva to 
discuss developments in recent days.  The overwhe lming view from that meeting had been that 
although significant movement on domestic support had b een seen in the present week, they were still 
waiting for a comparable move on market access from another key Member.  If Members were serious about using Hong Kong as a stepping stone to  conclude the Round in 2006, and if they were 
serious about an outcome from the Round which he lped developing countries expand their economies 
and eradicate poverty, they needed market access proposals from all Members that would provide the 
certainty of real improved commercial opportunities. TN/C/M/21 
Page 20  
 
  128. Australia had also recently been discussing with its fellow Cairns Group members the 
importance of setting down with greater clarity positions on sensitive products which needed to 
deliver genuine market access.  Without greater deta il on this issue, neither importers nor exporters 
would be able to agree on an overall market access package.  His delegation looked forward to fully 
participating in discussions on sensitive products, which it trusted would assist importing countries to 
provide even greater ambition in their general tariff cuts. 
129. On services, his delegation had welcomed the re cent intensification of work including the 
involvement of a number of Ministers in efforts to more clearly define the objectives of Members for Hong Kong and beyond.  Australia wanted an ambi tious outcome on services, not only for its own 
service exporters, but also because it needed an am bitious outcome across all areas of the negotiations 
consistent with the Doha mandate. 
130. In his delegation's view, it was not possible to  gauge or stimulate a level of collective 
ambition on services through individual, private requ est-offer consultations.  A mechanism to signal 
ambition to each other and to provide broad po litical objectives for the negotiations was therefore 
needed.  Australia had put forward a number of ideas  in the services negotiations in this regard.  His 
delegation therefore looked forward to intensifying its efforts with others to explore all ideas for 
complementary approaches that could supplement the existing request-offer process to improve the 
quality and quantity of services commitments. 
131. The representative of Indonesia
, on behalf of the G33 , said that the G33 had carefully 
followed the recent negotiations in agriculture with  great interest.  To contribute to moving the 
negotiations forward, the G33 had submitted a proposal on Special Products indicators.  The 
illustrative list of indicators would provide guid elines for developing-country Members on how to 
approach the designation of products as Special  Products, in a transparent manner based on the 
already agreed criteria.  Reflecting the divers ity in the agricultural system and policy across 
developing countries, food security, livelihood security  and rural development had been defined in 
terms of complex and multidimensional concepts wh ich were closely intertwined with each other and 
could be assessed at various levels.  The purpose of the indicators on Special Products was to 
contextualize the concepts of food security, livelihood security and rural development to the 
circumstances of each developing-country Member.  Therefore, the exercise on indicators which was 
being undertaken by the G33 was meant to be  neither prescriptive nor exhaustive in nature. 
132. The G33 had also accelerated its work to fu rther elaborate the elements for the Special 
Safeguards Mechanism, so that it was simple and effective to address both price depression and 
import surges based on price and volume triggers.  This  mechanism had to be integral to any package 
being developed in the market access pillar and remained fundamental to address the food security, 
livelihood security and rural development needs of developing countries.  The G33 appreciated and 
supported the statement by the G20 in this regard. 
133. The G33 agreed with the Chairman, that in working towards Members' deadline, process was 
just as important as substance.  At this stage of  the negotiation it was vital that all Members had 
confidence in the process.  The G33 agreed that there was a need to continue to  ensure transparency 
and inclusiveness in the process. 
134. On substance, he said the 2004 July Decision clear ly stated that the tiered formula for tariff 
reductions should take into account  the different tariff structures of developed and developing 
countries.  The G33 strongly believed that this manda te required that there would be different sets of 
thresholds and levels of cut for de veloped and developing countries.  Therefore, it did not agree with 
any suggestion to minimize S&D treatment for developing countries by suggesting common 
thresholds for both developed and developing countries and by advocating "slightly lesser" 
commitments by developing countries.  This underm ined the concerns expressed by many developing  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 21 
 
 
  countries.  Given the inequities in the agricultu ral production system between the developed and 
developing countries, if Members were to give prim acy to the development dimensions in this round, 
S&D treatment for developing countries should be m eaningful and not mere lip service.  He agreed 
with India that agriculture was a matte r of livelihood, and not just trade. 
135. The representative of China  said that his delegation was appreciative that some fresh 
proposals had been put on the table by Members and new momentum added to the negotiations.  This 
proved that the major Members were continuing to pl ay a leading role, which was a pre-requisite and 
a must if Members really wanted substantial achie vements at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, 
which would in turn lead to a successful conclusi on of the Round by the end of the following year. 
136. The Chairman had outlined on several occasions the time schedule for the work and his 
delegation believed it was necessary to take this ser iously into account in the negotiations.  What 
Members had taken in the recent days was only the first step after the summer for progress of the negotiations and their target.  More substantive steps were badly needed. 
137. Agriculture lay at the centre of the whole R ound of the negotiations, whether or not Members 
wished to say so.  His delegation had began to f eel a sense of comfort after reading the recent US 
proposal.  His delegation acknowledged that the le vel of ambition of the United States for the 
agriculture negotiations had been raised, which was encouraging.  It was particularly pleased to see 
that the statement of President Bush on the date for elimination of all export subsidies had been 
formally integrated into the US position paper.  Ho wever, all this was far from sufficient for progress 
of the negotiations, such as in the area of reducti on of the United States' own domestic support.  The 
first question his delegation had in mind in this  regard was whether the implementation of the 
proposals in the US paper would result in real and substantive cuts of its existing support.  A second 
question related to the lack of any element on further tightening the disciplines for the Blue Box.  Moreover, the US paper had also failed to contai n any substantive elements on S&D treatment for 
developing Members with regard to all the three pillars. 
138. In addition to the above and need for further movement by the US, his delegation also 
believed that Members were still con fronted with the problem of how other Members, particularly the 
EC and G10, would respond to the proposal of th e United States and make further movements on that 
basis.  The G20 had made great contributions to th e negotiations ever since its founding in 2003.  Its 
middle-ground proposal made at the Dalian Informal Ministerial on market access was the most recent.  The G20 had in the past few weeks worked out proposals on all three pillars.  As a member of 
the Group, China supported the statement by Brazil on behalf of G20 and hoped that the new 
proposals from the G20 would represent the possible solution for the negotiations. 
139. His delegation wished to see balanced and s ubstantive progress in all five major areas of 
negotiations, including fully-fledged modalities for agriculture and NAMA at Hong Kong.  Lastly, he 
wished to highlight, some important development issues.  The issues of cotton, TRIPS and Public 
Health, erosion of preferences and small economies, as well as the treatment of the newly-acceded 
Members were some of the very sensitive issu es that Members had to deal with properly. 
140. The representative of Ecuador
 thanked the Chairman and the other Chairpersons for their 
reports and said that meetings such as the present one were very important for smaller delegations.  
Ecuador had promoted trade liberalization becau se it was highly dependent on income from exports 
and maintained an economy which used no form of subsidies or domestic support help to producers.  
For these reasons, it supported the full adoption and si ngle undertaking of all the commitments agreed 
to in the Doha Development Round. 
141. In line with the principle of transparency, Ecua dor wished to underline the need to maintain 
the highest possible level of transparency in the pr eparations for Hong Kong, in order to comply with TN/C/M/21 
Page 22  
 
  the principle of inclusion in decisions.  This pro cess should allow the participation of all Members and 
Ecuador did not agree with the concept of exclusi on through parallel meetings.  Ecuador also wished 
to express its concern at the system of organization and logistics adopted for the Hong Kong Ministerial, which involved heavy financial burdens for some countries, putting their participation in the event at risk. 
142. Turning to the agriculture negotiations, he said that Ecuador supported most of the positions 
of the G20 and maintained close follow up of them.  Over the previous days, very important progress had been made in these negotiations and Ecuador hope d that greater efforts would be made to go 
beyond the commitments on liberalization and S&D ag reed to in the Uruguay Round.  Ecuador would 
continue working towards agreement on the negotia ting modalities at Hong Kong.  One of the points 
which Ecuador believed was of pa ramount importance for the promo tion of its exports and real 
market access was paragraph 43 of Annex A of the July 2004 Decision, which provided for the fullest 
liberalisation of trade in tropical products.  Ec uador was highly dependent on exports of these 
products and would therefore insist on full compliance with that paragraph.  It hoped that this issue 
would not impede the adoption of the Doha commi tments and a successful Ministerial Conference. 
143. With regard to the requests to  establish categories of devel oping countries, Ecuador believed 
that this would divide and erode the positions th at developing countries had maintained throughout 
the multilateral negotiations.  As to the erosion of preferences, Ecuador hoped that possible solutions 
would not be at the expense of market access for other developing countries, in particular through 
tropical products. 
144. In NAMA, although Ecuador had not yet taken a stand on any formula, it believed that the 
level of ambition in these negotiations would be affect ed by the results of the agriculture negotiations, 
and therefore supported moving forward on all pending issues and consolidating the political 
decisions. 
145. On the issue of trade facilitation, Ecuador wished to emphasize the need for technical 
assistance and capacity building which would be requi red for the implementation of the proposals to 
adopted in this area.  It believed that well ma naged cooperation could make a great difference in 
overcoming existing obstacles. 
146. Finally, Ecuador wished to thank the Chairm an for his decision to take up implementation 
issues in his consultations, in particular the issu e of the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement 
and the CBD.  Ecuador hoped that there would be a special mention of this issue in the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration. 
147. The representative of Mauritius
, on behalf of the ACP Group , said that Members were exactly 
two months away from the Sixth Ministerial Conferen ce in Hong Kong.  At this crucial phase in the 
negotiations, he wished to reiterate that the Hong Kong text should fully reflect the concerns of the 
ACP Group on the developmental dimension of the negotiations.  The success of this development 
round would only be gauged from what it deliver ed on development.  The ACP's vision and 
expectations were therefore based on the developm ental mandates and the instructions from Ministers 
who had called for a clear development outcome that  would allow small economies to integrate into 
the global economy in a harmonious and fair manner  and in keeping with the realization of the 
Millennium Development Goals. 
148. The ACP Group had learnt that the major players had recently started to discuss concrete 
proposals both in and outside Geneva.  The Group hoped that the discussions would move beyond the 
core or gateway issues and seriously address its needs and concerns as well.  It was more than ever 
now urgent to refocus and have the negotiations re-centred on development.  The Group wished to 
reiterate that, first, specific action was needed to ensure that the development dimension was  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 23 
 
 
  integrated in the actual negotiations as a cross- cutting principle and that it underpinned the entire 
negotiating process and outcome.  Secondly, that th e modalities to be negotiated in the different 
sectoral negotiations contained specific provisions to respond to the Group's development concerns 
and provided the required policy space and flexibilit y and that there were effective S&D provisions. 
149. He wished to set out the ACP Group's concerns and views on certain key issues under the 
negotiations.  In agriculture, the Group noted that important developments had recently taken place.  
Proposals on market access had been made by so me majors.  The ACP Group was deeply concerned 
by the sudden rise in the level of ambition in the market access pillar.  The Group believed that this 
level of ambition was not a realistic one and did not reflect the interest of the majority of the WTO 
membership.  For the ACP, which comprised sma ll and vulnerable economies, such high level of 
ambition would have devastating effects on its non-competitive agriculture.  For many in the Group, 
the agriculture sector would simply disappear.  Members should not lose sight that this was a 
development Round. 
150. On cotton, for a successful outcome in the nego tiations, there was need to eliminate all forms 
of cotton export subsidies, as well as eliminate domestic support measures a nd improve market access 
for international trade in cotton.  In this context,  it was essential that there was clear delivery on 
bound, duty-free and quota-free access for cotton and its  by-products for LDCs that were net cotton 
producers and exporters, and the creation of an emergency support fund for cotton production. 
151. Regarding NAMA, the Group continued to be preoccupied with several aspects of the 
formula, treatment of unbound tariffs, preference erosion, flexibilities for ACP countries and NTBs.  
The Group wished to remind participants that l ess than full reciprocity and S&D treatment were 
integral and cross-cutting components of paragraph 16 of the Doha mandate.  ACP States should also 
be allowed flexibilities in binding coverage commens urate with their development levels.  The ACP 
Group had taken note of the latest proposals made in Zurich by the European Community on, among others, NAMA and particularly the inter-linkages th e proposals made with development issues.  It 
welcomed some of the policy space and flexibility that was contained in the proposal, mainly 
regarding the principle of less than full reci procity, the commitment towards LDCs and small 
economies, the need to show flexibility for some sm all weak and vulnerable developing countries and 
the need to take account of their le vels of development, and the impo rtance of trade-related assistance, 
more particularly the Aid for Trade initiative.  The Group welcomed the policy orientations sketched 
in the proposal with regard to addressing the issue of  preference erosion, both in terms of trade policy 
measures, such as longer transitional periods for pa rticularly affected products, and development 
assistance policies.  The Group wished to remind Me mbers that it had tabled a concrete proposal on 
11 March that went in the direction of identifying  vulnerable products and it was in the process of 
further fine-tuning this proposal to table it in the NAMA Group with an indicative list of tariff lines.  
The Group hoped that these policy orientations would quickly translate into concrete proposals in the 
negotiations so that Members arrived at a bala nced, fair and equitable outcome in Hong Kong. 
152. On services, the ACP Group noted with concern th at the offers so far submitted had failed to 
address the existing asymmetries in the Uruguay Ro und commitments in which sectors and modes of 
supply of export interest to ACP countries had been  least liberalized.  It therefore requested for 
substantial improvement in market access in modes and sectors of export interest to ACP countries in 
order to address the existing imbalances in commit ments and to further the development objectives of 
the Doha Round.  In the case of mode 4, Members should make commitments aimed at ensuring a 
commercially meaningful outcome for ACP countries,  particularly in sectors of export importance 
such as tourism, professional services and construction services.  The ACP Group sought the 
intensification of work in the rule-making area so as to restore the balance between the market-access 
and rule-making tracks, particularly in those areas of interest to ACP countries to address their national development policy objectives.  The Group' s latest concern had em erged from the proposals 
on "complementary approaches" as they threaten ed existing GATS guidelines and procedures through TN/C/M/21 
Page 24  
 
  which developing and least-developed countries we re expected to make commitments.  These 
proposals went against Articles IV and XIX of GATS and the guidelines and procedures for services 
negotiations.  The Group wished to register its objection to these proposals. 
153. The ACP Group understood that there was ne ed for balance betw een efficiency and 
transparency in order to move the process ahead.  However, it wished to underscore that political 
ownership of the process and out come of the negotiations were sine qua non  conditions for a 
successful outcome in Hong Ko ng.  The ACP constituted a v ast constituency of the WTO 
membership and it was important the views of its members were fully taken on board in the current discussions on agriculture.  It therefore reitera ted the need for a bottom-up approach in the 
negotiations. 
154. The representative of Benin
, on behalf of the co-sponsors of the sectoral initiative1 on cotton 
and all African countries which were cotton importers or net exporters , said that at this critical stage, 
just days away from Hong Kong, the Chairpersons' reports had provided the basis for an ambivalent 
assessment, because although there had been a few si gns of movement on certain issues, on others 
there was a disquieting paralysis. 
155. During the previous three days, proposals had been made by certain major players in 
international trade on agriculture.  This had acted as a trigger mechanism which should be maintained 
to accelerate the work and to prepar e the short road to Hong Kong.  In particular, none of these recent 
proposals on agriculture contained specific solutions to the issue of cotton, on which it had been 
decided in July 2004 that it would be addressed am bitiously, expeditiously, and specifically, within 
the agriculture negotiations.  This had created disquiet and strong concern among African cotton 
producing and exporting countries.  Howe ver, they refused to believe th at this was a deliberate silence 
on the issue of cotton because the General Council July 2004 Decision on cotton was sufficiently clear and could not give rise to any equivocal interpretation. 
156. The countries for which he spoke wished to warn  that there would be no results at Hong Kong 
if the question of cotton was not taken into acc ount.  Consequently, the modalities on agriculture 
should, as of the present, begin to reflect elements of the specific commitments on cotton, on the basis 
of what had been agreed in July 2004, both on the trade-related and developmen t-related aspects.  For 
this reason, the countries for which he spoke urged the Chairman of the Agriculture Special Session to 
initiate immediately regular consultations on cott on among the Members concerned, in the style of 
room F consultations.  They were convinced that  this would advance the work and contribute to 
saving Hong Kong. 
157. The representative of Uganda
 associated his delegation with the statements by Zambia on 
behalf of the LDC Group, and Mauritius on beha lf of the ACP Group.  He said the world was 
watching with extreme interest to see whether th e Doha Round would deliver development results so 
as to meaningfully integrate the world's poor countri es into the multilateral trading system.  It was, 
therefore, the development dimension that would be  used as the yardstick to determine whether the 
Doha Round had been worthy of its cen tral theme, which was development. 
158. He wished to briefly highlight the critical areas of concern to his delegation, and on which 
Uganda wished to see results in the negotiations, at  Hong Kong, and through to the end of the Round.  
First, his delegation wished to register its concern with the process in which various negotiations were 
being conducted.  The issues being discussed behi nd closed doors were going to have a great impact 
on the economies of Members, yet some delegations we re not being involved in the deliberations.  He 
wished to stress the importance of ownership.  All Members had a stake in what was going on and 
should therefore be involved in deliberations and decision making. 
                                                      
1 Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali.  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 25 
 
 
  159. On NAMA, Uganda welcomed the new deve lopments, particularly concerning the 
introduction of numbers into the negot iations of the formula.  It was the hope of his delegation that 
this could lead to simulations to assess the im pact that these would have on the economies of 
Members.  However, it was important that di scussions on the development dimension of the 
negotiations were taken in tandem w ith those on the formula, so that  the total package could deliver 
acceptable and development-oriented results. 
160. In services, it was time to operationalize the M odalities for the Special Treatment of LDCs.  
LDCs had submitted a communication in this rega rd and they hoped that the membership could 
constructively engage on this issue so as to find pr o-development results.  In addition, his delegation 
had made it clear that the proposals for comple mentary approaches to the services negotiations 
presented challenges.  His delegation was not willi ng to go along with these approaches.  On the 
contrary, it called upon Members to deliver meaningf ul market access in sectors and modes that had 
been identified by LDCs, including Uganda.  It was al so pertinent that targeted  technical assistance be 
set up in the area of services to enable Uganda build  capacity to engage in international trade in 
services. 
161. In trade facilitation, his delegation welcomed th e work that had been done in this negotiating 
group.  It wished, however, to have clearer guidelines on the operationalization of technical and financial assistance in the context of trade facilita tion so that it could comprehend better what was 
expected of it in the negotiations, and have  the capacity to meet obligations accruing. 
162. In the area of TRIPS and Public Health, his delegation hoped that by Hong Kong there could 
be agreement on the nature, structure and mode of  amendment to the TRIPS Agreement.  It was 
critical that this matter was brought to a meaningful conclusion so as to create certainty, particularly 
for countries with no manufacturing capacity in thei r efforts to deal with public emergencies and 
pandemic diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. 
163. Finally, his delegation wished to stress the importance of the S&D LDC Agreement-specific 
proposals.  LDCs had shown a great amount of flex ibility in this area, and his delegation called upon 
Members to appreciate this and not seek undue con cessions that might water down the entire essence 
of the exercise. 
164. The representative of Norway
 endorsed the statement on agriculture by Switzerland on behalf 
of the G10 and said he wished to add a few point s from the Norwegian perspective on S&D, although 
this was fully integrated in the G10 proposal.  In order for Members to reach consensus on full 
modalities for Hong Kong, they could only act within their different political realities and constraints.  
In the case of Norway, it would have a new government by the following Monday.  He said all 
countries should be able to sustain the produc tion of key agricultural products for domestic 
consumption.  It would therefore be political su icide for any government to accept a solution that 
ruled out such production. 
165. Norway remained firmly opposed to a tariff cap.  Members could not disregard the different 
situations and sensitivities across the membership .  Due to Norway's topography and climatic 
conditions, its agriculture was not a nd would never be internationally co mpetitive.  This fact had been 
reflected in its current tariff structure.  Sin ce Doha, his delegation had, on numerous occasions, 
repeated its willingness to make concessions in agri culture.  However, those concessions could not be 
expected to be disproportionately larger than th e concessions made by other major actors in the 
negotiations.  He said that Members should keep  in mind that Norway was a net importer of 
agricultural products.  It only produced a limited ra nge of products, mainly for the domestic market 
and its limited agricultural production did not distor t the world market.  While most key players 
would gain from agriculture as a whole, or would be able to offset concessions in one pillar with gains 
in another, Norway had nothing to gain from the agriculture negotiations. TN/C/M/21 
Page 26  
 
  166. In order for the Round to be successful for all Members, there was need for an appropriate 
balance to be stuck.  This applied both within th e separate negotiating areas, as well as between the 
areas.  For this round to deliver on its promises, Members should not only get agriculture right but also have parallel developments in all areas wh en they reached Hong Kong.  His delegation's 
ambitions for this round remained high, but the picture was somewhat worrying at present. 
167. Rules was a key area for Norway and it was so mething Members could not leave until after 
Hong Kong.  Real text-based negotia tions had to be a priority.  Ministers had to, at the Sixth 
Ministerial Conference, give firm and clear guidance and direction with a high degree of specificity to guarantee a result that was meaningful in 2006. 
168. Like others, his delegation was seriously worried  about the state of the services negotiations.  
It had been somewhat encouraged by the reports by the Chairs at the present meeting.  All Members 
agreed that this was another area where progress c ould not wait until after Hong Kong.  They needed 
real and specific guidance regarding the work to be do ne after the Ministerial so that there was a level 
of comfort as to the end result.  The Services Ch airman had pointed out that the clear objective of 
GATS Article XIX was a high level of liberalizatio n and this was what these negotiations had to 
deliver. 
169. Turning to NAMA, he said his delegation agreed  with the NAMA Chairman that the informal 
discussions had been good.  Numbers were begi nning to emerge and there was an emerging 
convergence on a Swiss formula with two coeffici ents.  Many Members were engaging which was 
useful and necessary.  However, at the same time  it was essential that everybody understood that it 
was not possible to lean back and wait for everything  to be concluded in agri culture before engaging 
in proper negotiations in NAMA.  An ambitious r esult in NAMA was needed.  Without it, the results 
of the Round would be in jeopardy for all Members. 
170. On the development aspects of the negotiations , he believed that all Members recognized the 
need to ensure that this round should deliver on development.  Finally on process, he said it was 
imperative that the process was transparent and incl usive.  This was particularly important as 
Members reached the end game.  They all had to  be on board as they advanced towards final 
solutions.  There was still a lot of work that needed to be done in the weeks to come and there were 
many issues that were interlinked. 
171. The representative of Uruguay
 noted that that it was often said that agriculture was the 
locomotive of the negotiating process.  Uruguay certain ly agreed with this view because agriculture 
represented much too an important a part of its export earnings for it to be indifferent to what 
happened in that part of the negotiations. 
172. Like many other intermediate developing c ountries, Uruguay had maintained an open and 
constructive attitude in NAMA, serv ices and other areas of the negotiations.  His delegation sincerely 
believed that it had contributed to creating a critical mass in favour of a high level of ambition in the 
outcome of this Round.  His country felt itself to be part of the un-named group of Members from 
many regions who had worked to bring about substa ntial changes in the conditions for world trade.  
Surely, for this type of country, which were not just  a few, the results in agriculture at the end of the 
Round would consolidate their position of commitme nt to WTO rules and liberalization of world 
trade under fair and equitable conditio ns.  It was therefore essential that clear signals be given in 
Hong Kong that the Doha mandate woul d be completely fulfilled in 2006. 
173. For this reason, his delegation welcomed the ma jor and substantive initiatives in agriculture in 
the past week.  Despite the fact that, in his delega tion's view, they were still insufficient in order to 
reflect the level of ambition agreed to in Doha, it could not be denied that many of these proposals 
had been a step in the right direction and had cont ributed to recreating a negotiating spirit in this  TN/C/M/21 
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  Round.  Members needed to build on these initiativ es and ensure that worldwide trade-distorting 
support was effectively and substantially reduced , both domestic and export support, in order to 
ensure substantial market opening. 
174. Developing countries were not t hose responsible for distorting domestic support policies, they 
were the victims of them.  These policies should have  been reformed and dismantled a long time ago, 
but this had not taken place and now there was a great  opportunity to take a decisive step in that 
direction.  However, it would not be the developi ng countries which would take on this burden, nor 
should they once again pay the price for it.  That sai d, the legitimate defensive interests of developing 
countries in agriculture should be protected, but they should not become a factor of status quo. 
175. In NAMA, his delegation agreed with the Ch airman's guidance for Hong Kong, which was 
full modalities in Hong Kong, and could accept nothing less.  In order to achieve a balanced and 
rational agreement in terms of flexibility, Uruguay had submitted a specific proposal together with 
Chile, Mexico and Colombia. 
176. In the area of services, his delegation wished to  reiterate its willingness to continue to work 
constructively so that these negotiations would cr eate greater substantive trade opportunities for all 
Members, in particular in the modes of supply of direct interest to developing countries, with the 
ultimate objective to contributing to economic grow th.  In order to achieve this objective, his 
delegation believed it was necessary to have a work  programme which was realistic and focussed, and 
which fully respected the principl es of flexibility and progressiveness that were contained in the 
GATS, as well as the modalities in the Guide lines and Procedures agreed in March 2001. 
177. In conclusion, he said that Members had an oppor tunity within their grasp.  The objective was 
Hong Kong.  As the Chairman had said, it was clear th at there would be a great deal to be done after 
Hong Kong in order to conclude th e negotiations successfully.  However, it was even more clear that 
what Members failed to do in the period before H ong Kong would be very difficult to achieve after 
Hong Kong.  In particular, they would not be able  to achieve the same level of ambition as now.  
Therefore, the major challenge was ahead of Memb ers in the very few weeks remaining before the 
Ministerial Conference. 
178. The representative of Singapore  said that a useful discussion was taking place at the present 
meeting, but more should be heard about convergence.   Concrete signs of engagement and leadership 
had been seen in the present week from the ma jor players which his delegation welcomed.  The 
political reality was that the major players had to find the convergence on some key issues, especially 
in the area of agriculture, if the process was to m ove forward.  Continued leadership from the major 
players was a necessity in the following few weeks so  that momentum was not lost, but it was also a 
heavy responsibility on them. 
179. Agriculture would undoubtedly remain the main  locomotive for the process – this was the 
reality.  However, Members did not have to wait for ev erything to be resolved in all three pillars of 
agriculture before beginning a serious discussion in othe r areas.  At this late stage in the process, they 
needed to move simultaneously, not sequentially.  In this regard, his delegation believed that it was 
time to shift to numbers or text-based discussions  in NAMA, services, trade facilitation and other 
areas.  In NAMA, he believed that delegations ha d begun to visualize what could be termed a 
conditional range of numbers.  Members needed to get into a more intensive discussion on numbers, 
sooner rather than later.  The issue of flexib ilities and unbound tariffs were also important, and 
Members needed to have that discussion in an in tegrated manner, as the NAMA Chairman had been 
doing.  On services, he said Members should be  thinking of two phases – an outcome for Hong Kong 
and an outcome after Hong Kong.  Members needed to start a text-based discussion on outcomes for services at Hong Kong.  They needed  to send a clear signal that they needed to reinfo rce the request-TN/C/M/21 
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  offer process with other approaches in the post-Hong Kong phase, if some level of ambition was to be 
maintained. 
180. He wished to say a word on the developm ent work in the S&D Work Programme – his 
delegation believed this work was important and de served greater political attention.  His delegation 
also believed that Members needed to start paying attention to what had been termed "collateral" 
issues.  These issues had to be handled pre-emptivel y, so that the right atmosphere was created in 
Hong Kong. 
181. Finally, on process, he said it was commendabl e that the various Chairpersons had been 
undertaking different transparency exercises.  His de legation also wished to thank the Chairman for 
his outreach efforts, which helps to build  transparency and support for the work. 
182. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 said that the people and 
government of Venezuela wished to extend thei r condolences to the people and the governments of 
Pakistan and India, given the terrible consequences of the previous weekend's earthquake and also to 
Guatemala and El Salvador for the trag edy that had resulted from hurricane Stan. 
183. Her delegation appreciated the Chairman's comme nts on the current state of the negotiations 
in the Doha Round and, as a contribution to the di alogue, wished to make its own assessment.  Any 
effort to assess the current state of the negotiations  had to focus on the development dimension.  In 
other words, to what extent these negotiations were living up to the original premises which were at 
the origin of the Round – to promote fair world tr ade for the benefit of developing countries, provide 
greater market access for their products, provide S&D treatment and the development of production 
and trade capacities through world trade.  Her dele gation's general assessment of this mandate was 
that it had not yet been fulfilled. 
184. Turning to agriculture, she said this was the sector of world trade where there were the 
greatest distortions, which had a serious impact on developing countries.  According to information 
from Oxfam International in July, using crea tive accounting with respect to various support 
mechanisms negotiated in the WTO, some devel oped countries could have the luxury of exporting 
cotton and wheat at 35 and 47 per cent of their production costs respectively.  Other countries 
exported their sugar and wheat at 44 and 47 per cent  of the cost of production.  Her delegation 
wondered whether, with these levels of subsidies, one  could really talk about fair world trade.  The 
same report had quite accurately stated that world trade in food today was not based on the comparative advantages of countries, but rath er on their comparative access to subsidies. 
185. Given the current state of the negotiations, this  panorama, far from appearing being destined 
to disappear, seemed to be getting worse.  Apart from some promises that had been made in the areas 
of export competition and domes tic support, there had been little political commitment from 
developed countries for real and effective reform in the agricultural negotiations.  The most recent 
proposals by some of the larger players pointed in this direction.  It had been said that one day, in a number of years' time, all the measures which distor ted world trade would come to an end.  On the 
other hand, it was noticeable that, in exchange for these promises, developing countries were asked to 
open their markets significantly, not only in agriculture, but also services, environmental goods and industrial goods in general.  In this way, they we re being offered a cheque which could be cashed only 
at a future date, in exchange  for an immediate payment. 
186. The time had come to refuse credit to some Members, because their credit record was not 
good.  Developing countries had been told, as in the past, that if they accepted this agreement they 
would be given easy payment terms.  Some had even  been offered a Round "for free".  Her delegation 
wished to warn the developing world to be careful with such false promises.  TN/C/M/21 
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  187. From the agreements reached during the Uruguay Round and the negotiations underway, 
there were still debts to be paid to developing c ountries in terms of S&D treatment.  There were still 
debts in terms of the different provisions of the Doha mandate, including flexibility in tariff 
reductions, the designation and treatment of Special Products, improved market access for 
developing-country products and the provisions of  paragraphs 12 and 44 of  the Doha Ministerial 
Declaration. 
188. Important aspects of these concepts in agri culture were Special Products and the Special 
Safeguard Mechanism.  The concept of Special Products was based on the precepts of food security, 
livelihood security and rural development.  No resu lt that would be worthy of this negotiating round 
could lack such components.  They should be an in tegral part of the negotiations and not just residual 
elements from them. 
189. The negotiations on services appeared to be movi ng in a direction that was totally opposed to 
the mandate, threatening to further deepen the debt mentioned earlier.  The current direction of these 
would deepen even further the existing asymmetries.   Developed countries were seeking to increase 
the legal certainty of their intern ational investments in this round, particularly in mode 3.  Her 
delegation wondered what developi ng countries which had offensive interests in these negotiations 
would receive in exchange.  In mode 4, the offe rs that had been made thus far were still not 
satisfactory.  The structure of the offers on the ta ble showed, on the other hand, a clear bias towards 
the areas of interest to developed countries. 
190. Her delegation was concerned at two trends in these negotiations.  With respect to the 
classification of services, her delegation would warn that this should not become an agreement in 
itself, which would require reinterpretation of the specific commitments that were extensive and had 
been negotiated earlier.  In addition, her delegati on wished to indicate that it would not accept any 
change in the negotiating modalities agreed in Doha. 
191. Now some were saying that more effort was needed and that that complimentary negotiating 
methods should be found.  Behind the back of th e membership, a so-called core group had been 
created to analyze such proposals.  Her delegati on had said in July, and was reiterating it in the 
present meeting, that Venezuela would not accept a change  in the rules of the game used thus far.  For 
Venezuela, the modalities for the market access ne gotiation had been provided for in GATS Articles 
IV and XIX, further strengthened by Annex C of the July 2004 Decision. 
192. Her delegation wished to contribute to this discussion:  at the beginning of the present year, a 
major initiative to deepen the liberalization of  trade in services had been submitted for the 
consideration of an important group of Members by  their own trade authorities.  The initiative had 
been openly rejected by these same countries.  Her delegation wondered why some developed 
countries asked the rest of the world to accept what they themselves had rejected domestically. 
193. In NAMA, it was quite clear that the levels of ambition bore the mark of all of the tendencies 
that had been seen in the other areas of the nego tiations.  This was where could be seen the most 
frustrating requirements for harmonizing market ope ning by developing countries.  Some of the 
proposals on the table totally or partially ignored th e negotiating mandate.  Her delegation rejected the 
methodological proposal by the Chairman of the Negotiating Group for an integrated approach, negotiating simultaneously flexibilities, formula and coefficients. 
194. Once the structure of the formula and the fl exibilities had been negotiated, and these were 
issues on which there was as yet no agreement, then Members could begin to negotiate the 
coefficients.  Her delegation wished to emphasize that it did not agree with the view of the TNC 
Chairman with respect to a supposed co nvergence on a simple Swiss formula. TN/C/M/21 
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  195. As of the 1990's, developing country economies experienced a major process of de 
industrialization as a result of major changes that had taken place in the world economic structure.  
Structural unemployment became a major factor in th e cities in third world countries and this was the 
situation currently faced by their peoples.  If the present negotiating process did not immediately 
change direction, the final result would make this situation worse. 
196. Venezuela wanted to be part of the solution to  the problem of global poverty, not part of the 
problem.  The problem that had given rise to this Round was the major inequalities that existed in international trade, which had stre ngthened global poverty.  It was this view which would guide Her 
delegation's conduct along the path which remained to  be run.  Venezuela continued to be firmly 
dedicated to moving constructively along this path. 
197. The representative of Paraguay
 said his delegation welcomed the recent proposals by the 
United States, the European Communities and the G10.   It supported the statement by Brazil for the 
G20 on the agriculture negotiations, which for Paraguay continued to be the core of the negotiations.  
His delegation also agreed with the statement by Australia on agriculture. 
198. He said the various proposals had caused Me mbers ambivalent feelings.  On the one hand 
there was hope, but at the same time there was concern.  Members had seen a timid emergence of a 
possibility of changing the existing situation with re spect to agricultural trade, which had existed for 
decades and was the root cause of poverty in and marg inalization of many countries.  He had spoken 
of a possibility because if this wa s to become a reality, Members would have to take some major 
decisions.  Above all, and perhaps most important, governments in developed nations would have to 
have the political will to engage in reforms wh ich were necessary and wh ich the world had been 
awaiting from them for so long. 
199. In considering specific and very sensitive issu es, he said it was important that all Members 
were ready to offer their support to the negotiating pr ocess.  This was the moment to negotiate.  This 
was also the moment when Members should be looki ng at the potential results which growth in trade 
would bring.  A political outcome from the negotia tions would not enhance the participation and 
involvement of countries such as Paraguay in world trade. 
200. Members were aware that the adoption of decisions on agriculture was a sina qua non  and his 
delegation believed that adopting such  decisions should be a priority in the Doha Round.  But at the 
same time, it believed that the issue of developmen t should be given similar priority.  His delegation 
did not know with any certainty where Members we re on this, despite the efforts which had been 
made by the Chairman of the CTD Special Session and the expressed desire of countries to move 
forward in an agreed direction and towards specifi c objectives.  Members still needed to carry out a 
more detailed assessment of the development issue,  which needed to be included in each and every 
subject of the negotiations.  Only if Members could do that would they be able to raise their sails and 
make sure that their vessel could sail into a safe harbour. 
201. His delegation had repeatedly emphasised the importance of making progress on the mandate 
in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declara tion on small economies.  The General Council would 
soon be meeting and the Chairman of the Committe e on Trade and Development in Dedicated Session 
would provide his report on small economies.  His de legation urged all participants to contribute to 
making sure that this was a positive report, one wh ich would take Members in the right direction. 
202. Land-locked developing countries had not been recognised in the Doha Declaration and his 
delegation hoped that the specific needs and concerns of land-lock ed countries such as Paraguay 
would be taken into account and dealt with in th e framework for small and vulnerable economies.  
The concerns and interests of land-locked countri es had been expressed in the Asunción platform  TN/C/M/21 
 Page 31 
 
 
  when Ministers had agreed on a proposal which had enabled this group to express its needs and 
requirements at the WTO. 
203. He said that Paraguay had a very high level of  ambition in the negotiations on agriculture, 
NAMA and services.  His delegation therefore believed that it was important to move the process forward so that Members could have the most fav ourable possible conditions at the Ministerial in 
Hong Kong. 
204. The representative of Philippines
 associated his delegation with the statements by Brazil on 
behalf of the G20 and Indonesia on behalf of the G 33.  His delegation shared the view that Members 
needed to achieve full modalities and/or broa d agreements on the DDA issues by the Hong Kong 
Conference if they were to feasibly and successfully  conclude the negotiations by the end of 2006.  
He said that his government placed maximum valu e on transparency in the negotiations and the 
bottom-up approach in consensus building. 
205. In agriculture, his delegation appreciated the focus on putting forward real numbers by 
various groups. The Philippines acknowledged the positive offer announced by the United States in 
proposing higher levels of cuts in domestic support.  However, as the G20 had stated, the level of cuts 
needed to be improved further. The onus should no w be placed on the EC to come forward with 
significant numbers in the agricultu re market access pillar that would yield substantial new openings 
for developing countries. 
206. The G20 had already put forward what his delegation believed we re middle ground and 
feasible numbers and his delegation hoped much more progress would be made in the following week to narrow the gaps.  Among these was the need to  negotiate the appropria te number of sensitive 
products, as had been called for by paragraph 31 of Annex A of the July 2004 Decision.  His 
delegation wished to state, in the strongest possibl e way, its serious concern that the major players 
should not trivialize or underestimate the need to en sure the availability of Special Products and the 
Special Safeguard Mechanism.  The G33 had tabl ed a paper to move the discussion forward on 
Special Products and his delegation hoped that the di scussions at this critical juncture would be in a 
constructive spirit. 
207. In the other areas, his delegation wished to reiterate the importance of maintaining 
developing-country flexibilities in services and in NAMA.   In NAMA, this had to  be consistent with 
the principle of less than full reciprocity and S& D treatment, in a manner in which the paragraph 8 
flexibilities to which Members had agreed in Anne x B of the July 2004 Framework would be fully 
recognized.  It was too late at this point to attemp t to alter or modify the flexibilities agreed to under 
the July Framework.  With these concerns being a ddressed, his delegation hoped that a basis would be 
provided for the Round to truly deserve the label of a development round. 
208. There were a few other outstanding and vital issues such as in the TRIPS and rules 
negotiations.  His delegation hoped that the Chai rpersons of the other negotiating groups were 
undertaking serious efforts to narrow the divergen ces in opinions and positions among Members.  In 
closing, he wished to reiterate his delegation's be lief in the need to re-double efforts in the coming 
agriculture week, in order to utilize the momentum ove r the past days and to do the utmost to bridge 
the remaining gaps in order to achieve  meaningful results in Hong Kong. 
209. The representative of Moldova
, speaking also on behalf of Armenia, Georgia and the Kyrgyz 
Republic , said the four countries for which she was sp eaking were small low-income economies in 
transition, recently acceded to the WTO.  She said that  their main message was that the status of the 
negotiations did not correspond to their expectati ons.  It was imperative that in the short time 
remaining for the Hong Kong Ministerial the pace of negotiations in all areas should be accelerated 
with a view to reaching balanced and mutually acceptable outcomes.  In Hong Kong, these countries TN/C/M/21 
Page 32  
 
  also hoped to see concrete and positive elements in terms of development oriented results as mandated 
by the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
210. In this overall context, she once again wished to draw attention to the very substantive 
concerns of the four countries, as had been highli ghted in their two formal proposals submitted to the 
Committee on Agriculture in Special Session and the Negotiating Group on NAMA in documents 
TN/AG/GEN/10 and Corr.l, and TN/MA/W/56/Rev.l, dated 29 June and 6 July 2005 respectively. 
211. For the four countries, although their level of development was quite low, the WTO 
Agreements and the Doha Ministerial Declarati on had not stipulated any specific flexibilities.  
Therefore, in this round they could not avail them selves of the flexibilities they  needed, in particular, 
in comparison with developing countries and LDCs, which objectively had relatively similar levels of 
development. 
212. Their two proposals had taken as a basis the provisions of the paragraph 38 of the Doha 
Declaration, and paragraph l.d and other relevant sections of the General Council's Decision of 
1 August 2004, which had underlined the difficu lties faced by small low-income economies in 
transition in their efforts to implement economic and trade policy reforms. 
213. As all Members were aware, as a result of accession to the WTO, these countries, like other 
states recently acceded, had already assumed quite s ubstantial commitments with regard to market 
access in goods, both in agricultural and non-agricultu re products, with a much higher degree of 
liberalization than the vast majority of other Memb ers.  For example, agricultural tariffs of these 
countries were bound at very low levels, about 3.4 times lower compared to the Uruguay Round average final bound tariffs of developing-country Members, and more than six times compared to 
LDCs. 
214. With respect to non-agricultural products, thei r tariff bindings were already 100 per cent and 
had been expressed only in ad valorem  duties.  Furthermore, these tariffs had been bound at very low 
levels with simple average of 6.67 per cent.  Th ese were about 4.4 times lower, as compared to the 
Uruguay Round average final bound tariffs of develo ping-country Members and about seven times 
lower, compared to LDCs. 
215. She wished to stress once again that the simu lation of the currently discussed proposals had 
shown that small low-income countries in transition w ould be required to make even more substantial 
additional tariff cuts with much lower final bound rat es than the vast majority of developing country 
Members.  This would lead to even more serious  adjustment costs for their vulnerable economies, 
since in most cases their applied tari ffs were equal to the bound rates. 
216. They firmly considered that their countries, w hose tariffs had been bound at such low rates, 
should remain exempt from any kind of further reducti ons in the medium-term, in view of the still 
high tariff levels of other Members, as well as inte rnational market distortions caused by agricultural 
export subsidies and domes tic support measures exercised mostly  by developed-country Members.  
They were confident that Members had still to agre e on a realistic date for the elimination of export 
subsidies. 
217. Another subject that deserved special attention was Special Safeguards (SSGs).  She said their 
countries had neither the right to invoke SSGs nor had they been indicated yet as beneficiaries of a future Special Safeguard Mechanism.  It wa s their position that any new Special Safeguard 
Mechanism should also benefit their countries and be u sed to counter surges in imports, particularly in 
Special Products on which low-income producers depe nded.  As regards Special Products, it was their 
view that the new Special Safeguard Mechanis m should be applied to all such products.  TN/C/M/21 
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  218. She said their group of countries hoped that other Members would follow their and other 
recently-acceded Members' example with regard to  the level of commitments in the WTO, which 
would contribute to the improvement of access of Members' goods to their markets and also, from a systemic point of view, would make the multilateral trading system more balanced and sustainable for 
all Members.  Their countries were very much concerned that the results of the Doha Work 
Programme could deepen existing inequalities in the bound tariffs of Members, commitments in 
GATS sectors and other imbalances.  She expressed their high expectation that their proposals would 
be considered in a positive and unbiased spirit, a nd their contents included in the negotiating 
modalities to be agreed in Hong Kong, so that  they could appreciate the benefits of WTO 
membership, as had been stated in paragraph 49 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
219. The representative of Thailand
 said that time was running out and in the remaining few weeks 
Members needed to focus on the essential issues.  Ag riculture was the engine of the negotiations and 
his delegation still kept a high level of ambition in this area.  His delegation expected an end date for 
the elimination of export subsidies, real and meaningful opening of market access and commitments for strict disciplines and actual cuts in domestic support in Hong Kong.  While some countries might 
have a big gap between their actual and permitted sp ending, his country had nothing to spare and the 
cuts would go into flesh and bone.  His dele gation therefore hoped to see better access and 
opportunities in the world market for products of inte rests to Thailand, as well as balanced cuts in 
tariffs and agricultural subsidies. 
220. His delegation welcomed the recent serious enga gement and positive developments.  It noted 
however that differences between the key players remained wide and was concerned that their 
compromise could lead Doha ambitions to spiral downward. 
221. The G20 had come up with proposals on a tariff reduction formula and a domestic support 
reduction formula, which his delegation believe d represented middle ground among Members while 
retaining the Doha ambitions.  His delegation supported these proposals and urged Members to accept 
them as a basis for incorporating treatment on sensiti ve products and S&D.  His delegation reiterated 
that capping was an important element of the formul a.  Without capping, the cutting rate in the top 
band would be the same for tariff rates of 100 an d 1000 per cent.  This was not justifiable nor 
acceptable.  It was necessary to bring abnorma lly high tariff rates down to reasonable levels. 
222. On NAMA, Members needed to address the co re elements, including formula, flexibilities 
and unbound tariffs, that would lead to substantial improve ments in market access commensurate with 
that in agriculture.  Being ambitious, his delegation ha d agreed to the use of the Swiss formula.  Some 
degree of flexibility had to be provided together w ith fair and equitable tr eatment to unbound items.  
His delegation considered the flexibilities stipulated  in the Framework for developing countries as a 
part of the agreed package that would promote high ambitions.  Such flexibilities had no linkage to 
the formula and the attempt to link them at this crucial time would stall efforts to make progress on 
the negotiations on the formula. 
223. On services, his delegation's wish was a bala nced package which, among others, contained 
essential elements that guaranteed progressively high er levels of quality market opening, provided a 
substantial level of comfort on development and S&D for LDCs, and ensured that rules would be 
addressed appropriately after Hong Kong.  Regardl ess of the approaches or processes Members might 
eventually take to achieve the shared goals, his de legation believed that in principle, the request-offer 
process remained the main method of negotiations.  In principle, all modes and all sectors had to 
receive equal attention.  Most of all, such  approaches or processes should not undermine the 
flexibility provided under GATS Article XIX. 
224. On development, his delegation shared the view s of many Members that the DDA would only 
succeed if the development dimension was at the cen tre of the negotiations as a whole, so that TN/C/M/21 
Page 34  
 
  development was an essential part of each negotiatin g group's outcome.  In this connection, real and 
substantive reforms in the agricultural negotiations  and actual market opening for goods and services 
of export interest to developing c ountries and LDCs would count as a v ital and integral contribution to 
the development dimension of the DDA.  In additi on, Members should find an expeditious solution to 
the five remaining Agreement-speci fic LDC proposals as soon as possi ble.  It would be politically 
unsatisfactory if the Hong Kong Ministerial, whic h represented an important watershed in the Doha 
Development Round, did not deliver any meaningful  outcome for LDCs, for whom development and 
flexibility was most essential. 
225. On rules, Members had to ensure that the benef its gained from reductions in tariffs would not 
be taken away through abusive use of contingency me asures.  In this connection, it was essential that 
Members advanced the negotiations by shifting to te xt-based negotiations as soon as possible, so that 
they could focus on the improvements to the Agreements.  In particular on anti-dumping, the Hong Kong Ministerial should set a clear direction and specific guidelines for negotiations in 2006 with a 
view to mitigating the excessive effects of anti- dumping measures, preventing such measures from 
becoming permanent, strengthening due process an d enhancing transparency of the proceedings, 
among other objectives.  In closing, he said that if Members wished to finalize the Hong Kong text 
well before the Sixth Ministerial Conference, they needed to use the remaining time intensively.   
226. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 associated his delegation, as a member of the G10, with 
the statements by Switzerland on behalf of the G10 a nd by Japan.  His delegation shared the view that 
certain proposals required an extremely unrealistic  reduction in tariffs, which for Chinese Taipei 
could mean the complete disappearance of its agri cultural sector.  However, he wished to reaffirm 
Chinese Taipei's willingness to enter into substantia l commitments under all three pillars, with a view 
to reaching mutually acceptable modaliti es for further agricultural reform. 
227. As a recently-acceded Member, Chinese Taipei  had made extensiv e and substantial 
commitments in the course of its accession compared to those that had participated in the Uruguay 
Round.  In order to have the necessary policy space for the continuation of their reform processes, it 
was of critical importance that adequate flexib ilities were provided to recently-acceded Members in 
the design of modalities, particular ly under the market access pillar. 
228. On NAMA, his delegation agreed that Members should build up a consensus on the three key 
issues mentioned by the Chairman by Hong Kong.  In this context, he wished to highlight that these 
key issues were closely correlated with some other important issues, such as the special treatment of 
newly-acceded Members and the issue of sectoral liber alization.  With this in mind, the proposed 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration should specify th e future plan or roadmap to address these 
important issues. 
229. He wished to draw attention to the fact that  on the path to becoming a Member of the WTO, 
Chinese Taipei had made significant concessions in the areas of trade liberalization and tariff elimination.  Today it had 100 per cent binding covera ge of its tariff lines, with the average binding 
rate at 4.8 per cent, and a tariff structure that w as at par with, if not more liberalized than, many 
developed countries.  For this reason, the flexibilit y that had been provided in paragraph 8 of the 
NAMA framework was extremely important for his delegation if Members were to stand a chance of maintaining a pro-liberalization stance in the NAM A negotiations.  With these flexibilities included, 
his delegation would support a Swiss formula with a low value co-efficient for all Members, in order 
to create real market access and encourage not only  north-south trade, but also south-south trade. 
230. Lastly, his delegation agreed with the Chairman  that the Hong Kong Ministerial was the last 
and best chance to conclude the Round by 2006.  Members could not afford another Ministerial 
Conference without concrete results.  This would not only spell an end to any hopes of an early 
conclusion to the Doha Round but w ould also jeopardize the stability of the whole multilateral trading  TN/C/M/21 
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  system.  His delegation therefore urged all Members to be flexible, as well as realistic and pragmatic, 
in formulating the concrete outcome of the Round.  Above all, the Chairman should ensure that the 
process was inclusive and transparent. 
231. The representative of Cuba  said that his delegation believed that the only way to measure the 
work of Members, leading up to Hong Kong and the results of the Ministerial in Hong Kong would be 
if there was balance in the negotiating process.  Th is would only be determined to the extent that 
Members introduced the development dimension in  the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and as a 
result, in the WTO rules.  His delegation agreed with the statements by Venezuela and Thailand in 
this regard.  This meant that it was necessary to ha ve an effective response to the proposals that had 
been submitted on S&D treatment a nd that the results should be e ffective and operational provisions 
that would also have an economic value.  It was al so important to resolve satisfactorily the issues of 
implementation, the Decision on the Implementati on of Paragraph 6 of th e Doha Declaration on 
TRIPS and Public Health, the treatment of small eco nomies and to continue the work on trade, debt 
and finance and trade and technology transfer.  His de legation believed that all of this was essential to 
establish the necessary balance within the multilatera l trading system and for commercial treatment 
amongst unequal countries to be fairer and more equitable. 
232. The views of Cuba had been reflected in the statements by Brazil, Indonesia and Mauritius 
respectively speaking on behalf of the G20, G33 and the ACP Group.  His delegation also agreed with 
others that the proposals from the United States and the European Communities were insufficient to 
deal with the distortions that existed at present in  world agricultural trade and, therefore, greater 
commitments were needed on internal support, ma rket access and above all, on S&D treatment for 
developing countries in a manner that was effective and non-discriminatory. 
233. He wished to highlight the importance of achievi ng results in all areas mentioned in the July 
Package and in particular on disciplines on export prohibitions and restricti ons to strengthen the 
disciplines under Article 12.1 of the Agreement on Agri culture so that these would not be evaded or 
be applied in a discriminatory fashion to deve loping countries.  His delegation hoped that the 
proposals submitted by the G33 on Special Products and the Special Safeguard Mechanism would be 
examined from a constructive and positive point of  view and it also supported the establishment of 
mechanisms to ensure appropriate treatment of the concerns of th e countries that were economically 
dependent on trade preferences, as ha d been highlighted by Mauritius. 
234. With respect to trade in services, his delega tion's position was that the negotiations were 
moving along well and that they were not out of sync  with other areas of the negotiations such as 
agriculture and NAMA.  It therefore did not see the need to introduce a new focus or negotiating 
modalities that would change the existing architectur e of the GATS.  This would lead to a loss of 
flexibility and the ability of developing countries to  select the services and mode of supply for which 
they wished to take on gradual liberalization comm itments.  His delegation believed that the request-
offer approach was the best approach to achieve fa ir and balanced results in  the negotiations.  If the 
results of the negotiations to the present had not been  encouraging, it was to a large extent because the 
offers of the developed countries had not lived up to the mandate c ontained in Annex C of the July 
2004 Decision and did not provide market access to the sectors and modes of supply that were of 
particular interest to developing countries. 
235. His delegation believed that the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration should take up 
specifically the issue of the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD. 
236. Finally, he said that the 2005 Human Devel opment Report of the United Nations Programme 
for Development (UNDP), under the chapter on interna tional trade, had indicated the following:  "The 
costs and benefits of trade have been unevenly di stributed across and within countries, perpetuating a 
pattern of globalization that builds prosperity fo r some amid mass poverty and deepening inequality TN/C/M/21 
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  for others".  His delegation believed that the D oha Work Programme represented an opportunity to 
seek a balance that would reduce the gap between the rich and the poor countries.  The Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong could make a significant contribution to these results and Cuba did not want Members to lose this opportunity. 
237. The representative of Bolivia
 said that for the sake of brevity, she would not go into a great 
deal of detail.  Bolivia's position in the agriculture  negotiations had been reflected by Brazil on behalf 
of the G20. 
238. As the former Services Chairman had earlier me ntioned, she wished to draw attention to the 
fact that Bolivia had the previous day subm itted its revised conditional offer on services, in 
accordance with the General Council Decision of 1 August 2004.  This contribution was part of 
Bolivia's effort on and its commitment to the proces s of gradual liberalization in this very important 
area of trade.  This was being done on the basi s of the request-offer pr ocess which Members had 
agreed to for the services negotiations.  Bolivia ha d made adjustments and improvements in Mode 4 
commitments in its revised offer, following the guidelines set out in the document on categories of 
natural persons which it had co-s ponsored together with other developing countries.  On specific 
commitments, Bolivia had introduced new sub-sector s and improvements had been made in Mode 3. 
239. Lastly, on outstanding implementation issues,  her delegation wished to reiterate the 
statements by India, Ecuador and Cuba that the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the 
CBD was a fundamental component of the developm ent dimension.  As such, there should be a 
provision on this issue in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. 
240. The representative of Peru  agreed with the Chairman on the sense of urgency and the need for 
Members to show political will in order to obt ain full modalities in Hong Kong.  Her delegation 
appreciated the proposals that had been recently pres ented.  It hoped that these proposals would help 
unblock the negotiations and lead to genuine substa ntive commitments in favour of multilateral trade 
liberalization so as to achieve a genuine development round. 
241. To countries such as Peru, which had often dem onstrated its support of the WTO's objectives, 
the current situation in world trade was not favourable .  It was for this reason that Peru supported an 
ambitious round in all areas and wa s ready and willing to contribute to this.  As her delegation had 
stated on previous occasions, Peru sought thorough  reforms that would enable movement towards 
development, market access, greater transp arency, predictability and clear disciplines. 
242. Her delegation was aware of the role played by agriculture in the overall context of the 
negotiations, and it was for this reason that it was concerned about the emphasis in some proposals to 
negotiate exceptions and not to provi de genuine reform, particularly in the area of market access and 
reduction of trade-distorting domestic support.  If Members did not achieve genuine reform with 
substantial cuts in these two pillars, it would be very  difficult to obtain any genuine benefits from the 
Round for developing countries.  The maintenance of  high tariffs, peaks and subsidies served to 
maintain the distortions and inequities in terms of trade opportunities and were genuine impediments 
to development.  However, he r delegation appreciated the propo sals from the G20 which it believed 
were moving Members towards a greater convergence of positions. 
243. Her delegation was also concerned that the pr essure of time might lead to a view that 
Members might need to postpone cer tain issues until after the Ministerial Conference.  This would 
create a climate of mistrust and uncertainty whic h not be desirable, and her delegation urged the 
Chairman to pay particular attention to this situ ation.  Her delegation wished to see the negotiations 
carried out with transparency and inclusiveness, both in terms of Memb ers and issues.  Peru wished to 
emphasise the importance it attached to the comm itment to full liberalization of tropical and 
alternative products.  This was a pending commitme nt that should not be delayed any further,  TN/C/M/21 
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  particularly as it was part of the offensive dime nsion of S&D treatment.  Her delegation therefore 
wished to have modalities in this area for Hong Kong .  It also agreed with the statements on Special 
Products and the Special Safeguard Mechanism by  Indonesia for the G33 and Brazil for the G20. 
244. On NAMA, her delegation agreed that Memb ers needed to focus their work on the 
determination of the three elements that had be en identified by the Chairman – the formula, 
flexibilities and the treatment of unbound tariffs.  The definition of these three elements should be 
done on the basis of and in light of the Doha mandate and the framework provisions, in order to 
achieve a balance between ambition and flexibility.  In her delegation's view, the three elements were 
inter-related and it was concerned about the efforts that were being made to focus on flexibilities and 
exceptions over and above what was contained in th e mandate.  All Members should contribute to the 
Round and should maintain equity amongst the commi tments that were ta ken on by developing 
countries.  Her delegation agreed with the NAMA Chairman that there wa s greater convergence 
towards the adoption of the Swiss formula and it supported that formula. 
245. Turning to rules, specifically anti-dumping and s ubsidies, her delegation wished to achieve in 
Hong Kong a basic text which Members could negotiat e.  With respect to fisheries subsidies, it was 
pleased to see the increasing involvement of delegati ons, particularly those from developing countries 
in the substantive negotiations.  It hoped that by December, Members would have achieved more 
specific commitment levels in developing the new disciplines. 
246. Lastly, her delegation thanked the Chairman for agreeing to continue with the consultations 
on implementation issues under paragraph 12(b), in particular on the relationship between the TRIPS 
Agreement and the CBD.  She wished to emphasize the very high priority her country attached to 
carrying out effectively the mandate of bringing the TRIPS Agreement in line with the CBD.  Her 
delegation therefore wished to see, by the end of th e negotiations, an obligation to disclose the origin, 
show evidence of prior informed consent, and acc ess and distribution of benefits with respect to 
materials and genetic resources, irrespective of their relationship to traditional knowledge of 
indigenous peoples as a mandatory requirement of the patent system. 
247. The representative of Colombia  said that the recent proposals by the United States, European 
Communities, G10 and G20 had breathed fresh impe tus into the negotiations and she hoped cleared 
the route to Hong Kong.  Although her delegation had not had sufficient time to evaluate and assess 
these proposals it welcomed the fact that they had been made.  She wished to make a few comments 
on them. 
248. First, and as a general comment, her delega tion believed that the Doha mandate and the 
agreements reached in the frame work for the establishment of modalities in July 2004 should be 
preserved in all proposals.  It was concerned that  improved market access for agricultural products 
seemed to have been made depende nt on substantial results in various areas, such as GIs including 
commencing negotiations for the extension of the protection of GIs. 
249. On export competition her delegation agreed with the proposal that in the short time before 
Hong Kong, Members should define disciplines on food aid, STEs and export credits.  This would 
guarantee the total elimination of export subsid ies in all these programmes and would enable 
Members to set an early date for their elimination. 
250. Although her delegation had con cerns and contributions on NAMA, services and in other 
areas of the negotiations, for the sake of brevity she would only focus on two important aspects for 
Colombia. 
251. On TRIPS and CBD, her delegation believed th at in Hong Kong, Members should have a 
negotiating mandate to modify the TRIPS Agreement so  that patent applicants would be obliged to TN/C/M/21 
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  disclose both the source and the country of origin of genetic resources and/or traditional knowledge 
used in an invention.  Applicants should also be  obliged to provide proof of prior informed consent 
and evidence of equitable benefit sharing.  Her dele gation was aware that this was an issue which was 
still outstanding and hoped that c onsultations would begin soon. 
252. On rules, her delegation believed that c onsiderable progress had been made in the 
negotiations and that the time was right for Memb ers to obtain a mandate from Ministers in Hong 
Kong to begin negotiations on the basis of specific texts.  However, it was concerned about proposals 
which were being made to modify GATT Article 24. 
253. Regarding development, she said that Colombia was a member of the Cairns Group and the 
informal group on tropical products.  In both gro ups, it had offensive positions on agriculture and 
hoped that it would be able to see real opening in  markets of developed a nd developing countries.  
She noted that many proposals that had been made did not seem to offer such hope.  There were 148 
Members of the WTO out of which 105 were members of the Cotonou Agreement which left 43 as non-members of Cotonou.  Ten of the 43 were memb ers of the G90, leaving 33 out of which ten 
developed countries were not members of the European  Union.  This left 23, some of which were 
small economies, not members of the ACP or othe r groups, while others were countries which had 
acceded recently or which were land-locked.  Taking  all this into account, she estimated that there 
were about 15 or 17 developing countries which did not seem to have the right to the privileges and 
benefits that countries of the G90, the LDCs or  the ACP Group had.  Taking the example of a 
proposed fund to assist the G90, she said that count ries like hers would not enjoy such benefit and she 
questioned why, especially considering that they to o would have to meet any obligations reached and 
they would not benefit in the end from any market opening that would take place because of existing 
exemptions for other countries. 
254. The ACP Group had presented a document TN/C/W /32 entitled "Fundamental concerns of the 
ACP Group with respect to Agriculture."  Her dele gation had put questions to the Group on the form 
and content of this document in an informal  Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture 
including why the document had been submitted in  the TNC and not the Special Session of the 
Committee on Agriculture.  The Group had also been asked why they wished that products which had 
benefited from privileges and benefits over a long  time be classified as sensitive products.  Her 
delegation had not received clear answers on these  questions and did not view the document as 
expressing concerns but as highlight ing waivers and exceptions for th e ACP.  Her delegation did not 
believe anyone would gain from a situation like this. 
255. The representative of El Salvador
 said that his delegation was aware that this was a crucial 
stage in the negotiations and that all Members were making every effort to finalize the Round in 2006.  
On agriculture, he associated his delegation with th e statement by Indonesia on behalf of the G33.  It 
was well known that agriculture was crucial for ma ny Members' economies, in  particular developing 
countries which needed the necessar y space to apply agricultural po licies that would bring about 
development, poverty reduction stra tegies and food security.  One had to face the reality in countries 
like El Salvador that were small and vulnerable.  His delegation therefore believed that the proposals 
that had recently been submitted were significant contributions to this process.  However, he 
emphasised that the results of the negotiations shoul d take into account the needs of all Members and 
it was therefore essential that the process  was both transparent and inclusive. 
256. He agreed with the NAMA Chairman that th e three essential elements to be discussed 
together were the tariff reduction formula, flexib ilities for developing countries and unbound tariffs.  
El Salvador's view was that it was essential that th e provisions on S&D treatment and less than full 
reciprocity contained in the negotiating framework  and consistent with the Doha mandate should 
neither be diluted nor in any way be subjected to  conditions.  Rather, his delegation hoped that the  TN/C/M/21 
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  negotiations would lead to concrete actions that would promote development, and maintain and create 
further employment in the small and vulnerable countries. 
257. In services, El Salvador's view was that the negotiations should move forward in the manner 
set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the preamble of the GATS Agreement – to promote economic growth of all trading part ners and development of developi ng countries.  As his delegation 
had repeatedly emphasised, it did not favour the est ablishment of compliment ary approaches to the 
request-offer process that would reduce the flexibil ities contained in the GATS and the guidelines and 
procedures for the negotiations on trade in services.  El Salvador believed that such complimentary 
approaches could conflict with GATS provisions, thereby limiting the right to progressive liberalization by each country, without due respect to the objectives of national policy and the 
different levels of development of Members, as est ablished in the Doha Ministerial Declaration and 
paragraph 9 of the guidelines and procedures.  He wished to emphasize the importance of the 
negotiations developing in a manner that was transp arent and participatory as mentioned in paragraph 
49 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
258. He highlighted the importance that El Salvador attached to fulfilling the mandate in paragraph 
35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration on small a nd vulnerable economies.  His delegation hoped that 
the concerns of these Members would be duly taken in to account in negotiating various areas.  It also 
hoped that there would be appropriate follow up to  these topics under the auspices of the General 
Council in order to achieve specific results at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference that would 
further strengthen the development dimension of the Doha Round, which was at the heart of the 
negotiations. 
259. The representative of Brazil
 said that his delegation shared India's nuanced view of the 
perceived convergence regarding the NAMA formula.  It remained convinced that the ABI formula 
provided enough flexibility to account for all different situations and that it also implied a level of 
ambition that was far greater than some market access proposals in other areas. 
260. In rules, his delegation hoped that text-based  negotiations would not be rough, but it was 
certain that they would be long, which made it all the more important to have clear guidance from the 
Ministers in Hong Kong and to begin such negotiati ons immediately thereafter.  On services, Brazil 
would continue to work constructively with a vi ew to improving the quality of the outcome of the 
negotiations, but it would also continue to str ess the importance of preserving GATS principles and 
the negotiating guidelines.  On S&D, his delegati on looked forward to re-engaging as soon as possible 
in the CTD in order to reach a favourable outcome , beginning with the five LDC Agreement specific 
proposals. 
261. Finally, his delegation wished to thank the Chai rman for his statement regarding consultations 
on implementation issues under paragraph 12(b).  It looked forward to those consultations, in 
particular regarding TRIPS and CBD, and on TRIMs. 
262. The Chairman  said he wished to sum up a number of points which he had heard from the 
various interventions.  First, he believed that Members had convergence on the diagnosis of where 
they were, what had happened in the present week, wh ich had now been shared with all Members, and 
the prudent feeling they had that the negotiations  had been re-ignited with the hope that the 
agriculture week following would contribute to this  momentum.  In addition, it was his sense that 
Members shared the same consensus as they had at  the last TNC on the next steps and roadmap for 
the preparation of Hong Kong. 
263. Second, there had been a lot of converging me ssages on transparency  and inclusiveness – a 
message which he had well received.  The discussions  at the present meeting were about transparency 
and inclusiveness, in addition to what the Secretaria t, the DDGs and he did in addressing, more or less TN/C/M/21 
Page 40  
 
  formally, groups of Members who were not always in the core of the negotiations.  He also wished to 
follow up on the many thanks he had heard from de legations to the various Chairs of the negotiating 
groups, who had spent more time than in the past in disseminating information.  He believed the 
recognition of this by delegations was an encourag ement for the Chairs to maintain this practice. 
264. Third was the centrality of the question of deve lopment, with many nuances.  He agreed with 
India that the development content of this Round would come first and foremost through the 
negotiations on the various topics.  This did not  mean that there were not other aspects which 
Members also had to consider, like cotton or the Agreement-specific proposals of the LDCs and the 
African Group.  But most of the development di mension stemmed from the various pillars of the 
negotiations. 
265. His fourth and last point was about the sense of urgency.  He had reported briefly to the press 
the feeling he had had from the morning session of  the present meeting and which be believed had 
been confirmed during the afternoon session.  In the last TNC, Members had been looking at weeks.  
They were now looking at days and they knew that next time, they would be looking at hours. 
266. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the statements. 
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