. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/12 
28 July 2008 
 
 (08-3616) 
Trade Negotiations Committee Original: English 
   
STATEMENT OF AFRICAN, ACP AND LDC GROUPS 
ON THE WTO MINI-MINISTERIAL MEETING 
GENEVA, 25 JULY 2008 
 
   The following communication, dated 25 July 2008, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegations of Cote D'Ivoire, Ma uritius and Lesotho (coordinators of the African Group, the ACP and 
LDC Groups respectively).  
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STATEMENT OF AFRICAN, ACP AND LDC GROUPS 
ON THE WTO MINI-MINISTERIAL MEETING 
GENEVA, 25 JULY 2008 
  
1. The G90 is coordinated in the WTO Mini-Ministe rial by Ministers from the following countries: 
Mauritius, Lesotho and Kenya representing the ACP, LDCs and African Groups respectively. 
 2. The G90 Ministerial participation at this m eeting underscores the importance that the Group 
attaches to the Doha Development Round, which ai ms to place development at the center of the 
trade negotiations. 
 
Wish to state the following; 
 
3. The G90 would like to express its deep concerns re garding the latest developments in the Doha 
Development Round negotiations.  The Group str esses that the yardstick for a successful Mini-
Ministerial meeting is the extent to which the development content will be  taken into account in 
the final outcome.  
 4. Having reviewed the developments that have taken place since the beginning of the Mini-
Ministerial, the Group wishes to place on record its disappointment with the deterioration of 
negotiation  process over the past few days. These de velopments have led to the exclusion of the 
G90 from the small group of members countries, that  has been selected to further the negotiations 
on modalities.  
 
5. Most of the issues being discussed by the small Group are critical for G90 and will have 
consequences for the level of ambition and the development content of the round.  The G90, 
therefore, calls for a more transparent and all incl usive negotiating process. We also stress that the 
members of the small group cannot be expected to  carry the responsibility of the representing the 
views and positions of all members. 
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  6. For the G90, a successful outcome of the Mini-Minis terial is one that is fair and balanced, and 
fully takes into account issues central to the de velopment dimension of the Doha Development 
Round.  These issues include, inter alia; substan tive and effective reduction in trade distorting 
support, an appropriate treatment for long standing preferences, bananas, cotton, special safeguard 
mechanism, special products, flexibilities for deve loping countries in both agriculture and non-
agricultural market access (NAMA), non reciproc al preferences, non mandatory nature of 
sectorals, commercially and meaningful duty fr ee quota free (DFQF) market access for least 
developed countries (LDCs) in both agriculture and NAMA, and issues relating to small and vulnerable economies (SVEs), as reflected in the re solution of the ACP Council of Ministers (8-
13 June 2008), Addis Ababa; Maseru Declara tion on 27 February 2008; the Addis-Ababa 
Ministerial Declaration (1 to 3 April 2008), and the Decision of the last Summit of Heads of State 
and Government of the African Union in Sharm- el-sheikh, Egypt of 24 June-1 July 2008.  
 7. The G90 also calls for an equitable outcome on the TRIPS/CBD issue which is crucial for the 
group and it should be part of the Single Undertaking. 
 
8. While reiterating our willingness to engage constructively with  all negotiating partners, we 
nevertheless, call on the major trading developed partners to show leadership and explore all 
possible efforts to reach the necessary converg ence among all the Members on the major issues 
underpinning the negotiations. 
 
9. We also reiterate the need for the G90 to be fully involved in the ongoing process.  This would 
pave a way for a wider agreement among all Me mbers of the WTO to deliver the development 
outcome upon which the Doha Round was launched. 
 10. We the G90 are ready to negotiate in good faith, and therefore, we expect other Members to 
engage with us on issues of vital interest to the G90 countries. 
  
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