WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/WGTTT/W/9 
1 July 2005 
 
 (05-2865) 
Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology Original:   Spanish 
  
 
PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP 
IN THE LEAD-UP TO THE SIXTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
 
Communication from Cuba
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 23 June 2005,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Cuba.  
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I. GENERAL BACKGROUND 
1. There is widespread recognition of the grow ing importance of knowledge and technology as 
factors determining production costs, marketability, co mpetitiveness in general of a country or region, 
and the achievement of sustainable developmen t, which is understood as the process in which 
economic development, scientific/technological, fiscal, trade, energy, agricultural, industrial and other 
policies are interconnected with requirements for protecting the environment and making sustainable 
use of natural resources, within a frame work of justice and social equity. 
2. However, the process of generating, accessing,  transferring and disseminating technology is 
neither a simple nor a costless one.  It requires, inter alia , appropriate skills, institutions and policies, 
a friendly international environment and international rules that facilitate the transfer in particular 
from the developed to the developing countries of  non-obsolete and eminently clean technologies, 
these being understood as technologies capable of optimizing efficiency in the use of natural resources, raw materials and inputs and of mi nimizing waste generation, contamination and 
environmental risks stemming from th e production of goods and services. 
3. This is the backdrop against which a group of developing countries submitted a proposal 
(WT/GC/W/443) in September 2001 for the establishment of a working group to study the 
inter-relationship between trade and transfer of technology.  On the basis of that proposal, the 
Ministers decided at Doha to establish a Working Group with a mandate to examine the relationship 
between trade and transfer of technology and any possible recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate of the WTO to increase th e flow of technology to developing countries. 
4. While discussion in the Working Group has helped  delegations to gain  some understanding of 
the problem, it must be acknowledged that attention needs to be focused on the adoption of concrete 
and practical steps that should be taken within the WTO framework in order to  facilitate the transfer 
of technology to the developing countries.  
5. In recent years, specific provisions on transfer of technology have been incorporated in a 
number of international instruments, including WT O Agreements.  These provisions vary in terms of 
objectives, scope and modes of implementation, includi ng with regard to financing, and are subject to 
different terms and conditions.  In most cases,  however, they contain only "best endeavours" WT/WGTTT/W/9 
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 commitments and are not mandatory rules.  The ques tion that arises is to what extent developing 
countries benefit from such instruments and what mo re can be done in this and other international 
forums to bridge the widening technological gap between  the North and the South.  In this context, it 
is necessary to ensure that special and differential tr eatment is well established in trade and transfer of 
technology from the developed to the developing countries, starting with the ongoing negotiations.  
The developed countries should also meet their commitments under the principle of common but 
differentiated responsibility. 
6. It is necessary to encourage different modes of transfer of technology to the developing 
countries, in particular the least developed count ries, including promotional measures to establish a 
sound technological base that would enable these countries to participate harmoniously in the 
exchange of goods, services, information and knowle dge, and to promote modes of capacity building 
that would ensure proper assimilation of the technologi es transferred.  It is also necessary to eliminate 
discriminatory practices unilaterally applied against some Third World countries to prevent them from 
acquiring technologies for the free flow of trad e that are essential for their economic growth. 
7. In order to make certain that the developing countries secure a share in the growth of 
international trade commensurate with their econom ic development needs and to ensure concerted 
implementation of multilateral trade commitments, particularly in the post-Doha period, it is 
necessary, moreover, to identify ways and means of  taking full advantage of the flexibility offered by 
the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Inte llectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the General 
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the Ag reement on Trade-Related Investment Measures 
(TRIMs) and other WTO agreements, so as to incr ease transfer of technology and facilitate the 
achievement of sustainable national development goa ls.  Furthermore, it is necessary to review the 
effectiveness of the provisions on transfer of tec hnology in the WTO Agreements and to what extent 
they hinder flows of technology towards the devel oping countries, and to agree on concrete solutions 
within the Organization. 
8. Hence, far from diminishing, the importance of this Working Group is steadily growing, and 
the need to present the Sixth Ministerial Conference  with concrete recommendations that effectively 
meet the mandate established in paragraph 37 of th e Doha Ministerial Declaration remains a matter of 
urgency that should be addressed by the Members without delay. 
II. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE GROUP'S WORK IN THE LEAD-UP TO THE 
SIXTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
 We consider that at the General Council meeting in July Members should approve the 
following policy decisions as guidelines for our work: 
  1. Reiterate that the WTO is the appropriate forum for addressing this issue on the basis 
of the mandate established in paragraph 37 of  the Doha Ministerial Declaration, while 
affirming the need to design adequate pr ovisions in the WTO and improve existing 
ones, so as to promote the development of developing countries. 
  2. Reaffirm the importance of the Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology 
as being of vital use for the developing countries in the WTO framework.  Account should be taken of the implications of ma ny of the agreements for the developing 
countries, as well as the lack of workable  provisions within the Organization that 
genuinely contribute to increasing flows of  technology towards the Third World. 
  3. Reiterate the urgent need for th is Working Group to agree on concrete 
recommendations for adoption at the forthcoming Ministerial Conference in  WT/WGTTT/W/9 
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 Hong Kong, China, on the basis of the set of recommendations made by a group of 
developing countries in document WT/WGTTT/W/6 of 7 May 2003. 
   In this light and with a view to the Sixth Ministerial Conference, proposals for 
concrete solutions should be submitted for the Ministers' approval at least as regards 
the first two recommendations in the above document, i.e.:  
 
¾ Carry out a detailed examination of th e different provisions on technology 
transfer contained in the various WTO Agreements, with a view to making these provisions operational and meaningful from the point of view of the developing 
countries, including the least developed countries. 
 
¾ Look at those provisions of various WTO Agreements which may have the effect 
of hindering transfer of technology to developing countries and come up with recommendations as to how to mitigate th e negative effects of these provisions. 
 
In order to help reach this objective, we would propose stepping up the work of the 
WGTTT during the second half of the year, the more so since not enough meetings were held in the first six months of this year. 
 
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