RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/98 
23 November 2005 
 (05-5540) 
General Council 
19 October 2005  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 19 October 2005  
 
Chairman:  Ms Amina Mohamed (Kenya) 
 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
1. Report by the Chairman of th e Trade Negotiati ons Committee ..........................................2  
2. Preparations for the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference........................................4  
(a) Statement by the Chairman...................................................................................................... ...4 
(b) Attendance by Governments as observers – Requests by Timor-Leste and Tuvalu...................6  
(c) Attendance by International Intergovernment al Organizations as observers – Requests 
by: ............................................................................................................................ ...................7  
(i) Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation (AITIC).....................................7  
(ii) Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EC (CTA) ..............................7  
(iii) Basel Convention ............................................................................................................... .........7  
(iv) Council of Europe Development Bank........................................................................................7  
(v) African Development Bank ....................................................................................................... ..7 
3. Implementation of Paragraph 11 of the Decision on the Implementation of 
Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaratio n on the TRIPS Agreement and Public 
Health – Statement by the Chai rman of the TRIPS Council................................................8  
4. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committ ee on Trade and Development ........................................9  
5. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of the 
GATT 1994 – Communications from Hondur as and Guatemala – Statement by 
the Chairman................................................................................................................... ........12  
6. Committee on Budget, Finance and Admini stration – Report of the Committee 
on its meetings of June and July 2005...................................................................................16  
7. Work Programme on Electronic commerce.........................................................................17  
8. Commodities.................................................................................................................... ........17  
9. Digital archiving and derestriction of GATT official documents.......................................17  WT/GC/M/98 
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 1. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
1. The Chairman
 recalled that at its first meeting in 2002, the Trade Negotiations Committee had 
agreed that it would report to each regular meeting of the General Council. 
2. The Director-General, Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee , said that since the 
General Council's meeting in July, the TNC had held two meetings.  In the interests of transparency, 
the remarks he had made at both meetings had s ubsequently been circulated to all Members in 
documents JOB(05)/183 and 248.  At the first meeti ng, on 14 September, he had presented a precise 
diagnosis of the essential key issues which were, in his view, those that participants would have to 
resolve if they wished to achieve a coherent outco me in Hong Kong.  This list of issues had not been 
intended to be an exhaustive one, but rather had b een aimed at identifying areas that were strategic 
and had to be settled if participants were to turn the vicious circle th ey were in at that time into a 
virtuous one.  He had urged participants to try to properly target each one of the crucial subjects and 
to focus on the proper sequence of those subjects in order to move forward.  At the second meeting, 
on 13 October, he had reported that following some much-needed political involvement at the highest 
levels, the negotiations had gained new moment um, with a number of important proposals in 
agriculture.  On the domestic support pillar, a solid  contribution from the United States had injected 
new momentum to the work and had brought this pi llar closer to the one on export competition, so 
that real negotiations could start.  However, on th e market access pillar, d espite new proposals tabled 
by the G-10, EC, US, G-33 and G-20, he had said  that positions were still too far apart and had 
stressed that Members would need to approximate their positions on the level of ambition needed in 
this pillar before negotiations on numbers could star t.  It was clearly essential that Members kept up 
the pressure in agriculture, and the meetings being he ld that week were important in this respect.  
However, there was also a need for solid progress in the other key areas of the negotiations, and he 
had clearly identified NAMA and services, as well as rules, as needing urgent progress.  Regarding 
development, he had explained that the greatest gains would stem from each negotiating area, and 
reported on the development paper prepared by the Secretariat and intended to outline how 
development was mainstreamed throughout the entire Doha Agenda. 
3. At the 13 October meeting, he had also set out the minimum elements in each area which he 
believed were needed for Hong K ong.  Hong Kong had to take Memb ers two-thirds of way on the 
path to a successful conclusion.  If this did not ha ppen, the prospects of concluding the Round by the 
end of 2006 – when the window of opportunity clo sed – would be seriously jeopardized.  In 2006, 
Members would need to go rapidly from general formulae to specific commitments, and he had set 
out the steps this would entail, using agriculture as an example.  Members' margin for manoeuvre 
would be very slim – perhaps just a couple of m onths – which was all the more reason they had to 
achieve the objectives they had set for Hong Kong.  Th e interventions at the TNC, some of which had 
been made by Ministers and senior officials, had converged on a number of points:  the diagnosis of the overall situation;  the concerns about transpar ency and inclusiveness, wh ich all knew he shared 
and was trying hard to address;  the centrality of de velopment;  and Members' next steps.  He had also 
detected a strong sense of urgency.  All knew that it was necessary to move forward in all the key 
negotiating areas in parallel, and had to ensure that  political-level attention remained focussed on this 
process. 
4. Members had a shared commitment to a "botto m-up" process, where text for Ministers in 
Hong Kong had to grow out of convergence among ne gotiators, and the target was to circulate a 
comprehensive draft text in mid-November.  This  meant that Members were under severe pressure of 
time – they now had to think in terms of days, rather than weeks.  There was a huge amount of work to do in very little time.  The present week's discu ssion on agricultural market access had to build on 
the previous week's momentum, in order to allow Members to advance on all issues across the board.  
Members needed to act now;  this was the message he would be sending the Ministers he would meet 
with later that day.  Regarding implementation, he had informed the TNC that he was undertaking a  WT/GC/M/98 
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 consultative process on all outstanding paragraph 12(b) implementation issues in line with the 
mandate given the Director-General in the July  2004 Decision, which had been renewed by the 
General Council in July 2005.  This process was bei ng carried out in his capacity as Director-General, 
and he would be assisted by a number of the Ch airpersons of concerned WTO bodies acting as his 
Friends and by two of his Deputi es – Mrs. Rugwabiza would take up the TRIMs issues and Mr. Yerxa 
would take up the issues of GIs and TRIPS/CBD.  He would report to the TNC and to the General 
Council on progress in this process at their upcoming meetings. 
5. The Chairman  noted that all the statements made by Members at the most recent meeting of 
the TNC would be reflected faithfully in the records of  that meeting.  Unless Members wished to raise 
any new elements at this stage, therefore, she w ould suggest that they refrain from making statements 
so as not to repeat their positions. 
6. The representative of Mali , speaking on behalf of on behalf of the co-sponsors of the Sectoral 
Initiative on Cotton (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad) , supported the statements at the TNC by 
the African Group, the LDCs and the ACP Group.  Th ey wished to thank the TNC Chair for the report 
on the status of the ongoing negotiations on this  matter and for his tireless efforts to move the 
negotiations forward.  They did not doubt the de termination of each Member to obtain concrete 
results in Hong Kong that took account of all Memb ers' legitimate expectations, and wished to 
commend the Chair for the progress achieved in several areas of the negotiations.  However, in spite 
of these efforts, much remained to be done, particul arly regarding certain issues that were of major 
concern for the developing countries.  Prominent among these issues was cotton.  While he would not 
dwell on the importance of cotton to the economic a nd social development of a number of African 
countries, it was useful to recall certain significant fact s in this respect.  In Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali 
and Chad, cotton production accounted for approximatel y five to ten per cent of GDP.  Cotton played 
a central role in the trade balance of these count ries, accounting for some 40 per cent of total export 
revenue and more than 60 per cent of agricultu ral export revenue.  More than 10 million people 
depended directly on cotton production and exportati on.  However, the steady fall in the price of 
cotton on the international market – due essentially  to subsidies granted by certain developed 
countries to their producers – had over the past fe w years led to a decrease in the revenue of the 
countries concerned and to the impoverishment of th eir populations.  The co-sponsors of the Sectoral 
Initiative on Cotton and the other Members concerne d by the cotton issue had examined the proposals 
submitted by certain Members in the agricultural ar ea.  They had observed that in the proposals put 
forward by the major players the cotton issue re mained very much in the background.  These 
proposals failed to reflect the recommendations c ontained in the July 2004 General Council Decision 
that cotton should be addressed within the agricu lture negotiations ambitio usly, expeditiously and 
specifically.  The criteria for addressing cotton, as defined in Annex A of that Decision, signified that Members had to tackle this issue within the elem ents of modalities for the elimination of domestic 
support and subsidies, with more significant and rapi d reductions in the case of cotton.  This was why 
the co-sponsors of the Cotton Initiative had asked Mali to express their deep concern at the lack of 
any reference to cotton in the proposals that had been  made the past few days in the framework of the 
agriculture negotiations. 
7. The co-sponsors of the this Initiative wished to  convey the worries and expectations of their 
governments and populations, whic h were reeling under the impact of these measures that were 
distorting international trade in cotton.  The Minist ers of Trade and Agriculture of the co-sponsors of 
the Cotton Initiative had come to Geneva accompan ied by representatives of the cotton producers who 
would pass on the appeal of their fellow producers and provide a realistic picture of the latter's daily 
life and of the tragedy and silent death of cotton fa rmers in their homeland.  In fact, owing to the 
sharp decline in cotton prices on the international mark et as a direct result of the subsidies granted to 
cotton by the developed countries, the very life of African farming comm unities was threatened – 
poverty was on the increase and farmers were unable to  meet even their minimum survival needs for 
food, health care, housing and schooling for their children.  With the Hong Kong Ministerial – a WT/GC/M/98 
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 decisive turning point in the Doha Round of negotiations – only a few weeks away, these countries 
urged Members to step up their efforts to find concre te and appropriate soluti ons to the cotton issue. 
8. The co-sponsors of this Initiative believed in the virtues of open trade and in the ongoing 
negotiating process.  They also expected that the e fforts they were making to adapt to the rules, 
principles and mechanisms governing international tr ade would enable them to benefit from economic 
globalization.  They wished to note further that in their proposals on the cotton issue, the co-sponsors 
and the African Group had recommended the setting up  of a cotton sector support fund to curb the 
negative impact of the fall in cotton prices.  The participatory management arrangements for this fund 
had been specified.  The co-sponsors also wished to recall that the July 2004 Framework Agreement 
adopted by the General Council – in addressi ng the development of the Cotton Initiative – 
recommended the mobilization of technical and financ ial assistance to support the cotton sector in the 
African cotton-producing countries, in conform ity with the conclusions of the WTO Regional 
Workshop on Cotton held in Cotonou on 23-24 Marc h 2004.  The co-sponsors wished to thank their 
bilateral, multilateral, regional and sub-regional partners who ha d already announced or mobilized 
their technical and financial assistance to the African cotton-producing countries.  They invited 
Members and international, regiona l and sub-regional institutions th at had not yet provided such 
assistance to do so, in order to strengthen the cotto n sector.  Their countries remained convinced that 
Members would move in this direction and woul d provide the cotton-producing countries with the 
means to turn the cotton sector into one that could contribute to the promotion of development and the 
reduction of poverty, one of the major objectives of the millennium. 
9. The Chairman
 said she wished to assure the representa tive of Mali that the concerns he had 
raised were widely shared by the membership and that the cotton issue continued to receive priority 
attention in the WTO. 
10. The General Council took note  of the Director-General's report and of the statements. 
2. Preparations for the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference 
(a) Statement by the Chairman 
11. The Chairman  said1 that with regard to preparations for Hong Kong, Members had heard the 
report from the Director-General under Item 1 on recen t developments and prospects in regard to the 
work falling under the remit of the TNC, and the cr itical stage at which Members were for the success 
of the negotiations and indeed for the DDA as a whol e.  She added her full support to the Director-
General's analysis of the situation and called upon all negotiators to make the most of the recent 
forward movement.  Members could not afford to ge t stalled – they simply did not have time.   
12. As regards areas of the Doha Work Programme  not under the TNC, she had, in close 
cooperation with the Director-General  in his role as Chairman of the TNC, recently started consulting 
with delegations – in particular with the coordinators of regiona l and other WTO groupings – as well 
as with Chairs of relevant WTO bodies, to begin th inking collectively about the nature and content of 
texts to be put to Ministers in these areas.  In he r conversations with the Director-General, they had 
agreed that in order to make the best use of th e extremely limited time, she should begin this process 
with the aim of reaching a high level of convergen ce on text in these areas among the membership as 
a whole before Hong Kong.  This approach had be en welcomed by the Group coordinators, Chairs 
and other colleagues with whom she had spoken so fa r.  It was not her intention to duplicate in any 
way the work under way concerning all or most of these areas in individual WTO bodies, but rather to begin a process, in close collaboration with Chairs  and delegations, which would enable Members to 
bring it all together in due course in a coherent p ackage for Hong Kong.  Working in this way should 
                                                     
 
1 The full text of the Chair's statement was subsequently circulated in document JOB(05)/254.  WT/GC/M/98 
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 also help ensure that these subjects got the attenti on they deserved, rather than being trampled in a 
last-minute rush, and make efficient use of scarce time and resources.  At TNC meetings, the DG had set out some parameters to help focus Members' wo rk given the very short time until Hong Kong.  In 
particular, he had stated the aim of having a fi rst overall draft text by mid-November, so that 
governments had time to prepare adequately for the Ministerial.  Both the DG and she were fully 
committed – as she was sure were all delegations – to  a "bottom-up" approach to the preparation of 
this text.  This meant it had to be built step-by-step on the basis of evolving convergence among negotiators.  No delegation wanted any last-minute su rprises, and all needed to feel ownership of the 
text that went to Ministers.   
13. The modalities for this work in connection w ith Hong Kong were those laid down in Doha, 
which had been reaffirmed and s upplemented by the General Council Decision of July 2004.  She 
recalled that the July 2004 Decision not only reaffirmed the high priority given at Doha to those elements of the Work Programme which did not involve negotiations, but noted that a number of 
these issues were of particular interest to devel oping-country Members, and an important part of the 
development dimension of the overall work programme .  She believed that Members had to reaffirm 
the centrality of the development dimension of the wo rk they were doing, and to do this in substance 
and not just in name.  As the Director-General had noted in his statement to the most recent TNC, the 
greatest developmental gains from the DDA would come from the areas being negotiated under the single undertaking, particularly the market access asp ects, and it was by advancing in these areas that 
Members would start to see the contours of the devel opment package.  At the same time, many of the 
other areas of the DDA on which she would be consulting not only had considerable political 
significance for developing countries, but also a cert ain resonance for the public at large, for example 
in regard to TRIPS and Public Health.  She recalle d that the areas covered by this mandate included: 
 - TRIPS issues, notably TRIPS and Public Health as she had just mentioned, but also 
the moratorium on non-violation complaints; 
 - Small Economies; 
 - Trade, Debt and Finance; 
 - Trade and Transfer of Technology;  - Technical Co-operation and Capacity Building;  - Least-Developed Countries;  and   - Electronic Commerce.  
 She would also continue to give close support to  Mr. Ismail's work on S&D, at his invitation. 
 14. The July 2004 Decision established specific ob ligations for the General Council and other 
relevant bodies to report on these matters in line with  their Doha mandates to the Sixth Session.  In 
addition to this basic reporting requirement, ther e was also two moratoria whose possible extension 
needed to be considered.  This was the mandate under which she was working, taking into account as 
well the work that had been going on in these bodies.  Her aim was not to duplicate this work.  One 
particular area where she was well aware of the need  to give sufficient space for ongoing work in the 
WTO body concerned was TRIPS and Public Health.  She emphasized the need to avoid a "Christmas 
Tree" approach to developing text for Hong Kong, and thought that all agreed on that.  Members 
needed to present Ministers with a clear and mana geable draft.  The process she had begun was not, 
therefore, an invitation for delegations to come up with lists which they would then insist on placing 
in the text, nor was there any time or resources to spend negotiating purely declaratory or non-operational text.  Her aim, as it had always been, was to work with the membership to develop 
concise, operational texts, on the principle th at nothing would be included unless it attracted a 
sufficient degree of support across the board.  Memb ers needed to bear in mind that while Hong Kong 
was an important step towards the conclusion of th e DDA, it was not the end of the road.  In every 
sector Members needed results from the Ministeria l that would be enough to launch Members on the 
final phase, but they did not need to be definitive or exhaustive at this stage.  Insofar as the issues she WT/GC/M/98 
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 had mentioned were concerned, she believed that th e revised draft Cancún Ministerial text could be a 
useful reference point, in that it provided a good mode l of the length and level of detail to aim at, and 
of the functional nature of the texts.  She certain ly would not envisage anything much longer or more 
elaborate. 
15. She wished to make it clear that she was not yet at a stage of drafting, which could only come 
out of consultation and convergence in keeping with the bottom-up principle to which she was 
pledged.  At present, she was looking to identify the elements that would need to be put before 
Ministers at Hong Kong concerning the items she ha d mentioned.  As the bodies concerned finalized 
their work, a clearer picture was emerging concerning  these points.  Members could be sure that at 
every step she would continue to operate in full respect of transparency and inclusiveness.  She 
intended in the coming days to undertake further consultations with the Chairs of the WTO bodies 
involved, as well as with coordinators of regional and other groupings.  She intended very soon to 
broaden these consultations to include the memb ership as a whole at the level of Heads of 
Delegations.  She would also take advantage of th e presence of non-resident delegations in Geneva as 
part of the next "Geneva Week" programme, which be gan in the week of 14 November, to brief them 
on the state of play and seek their views.  The Director-General and she would ultimately need to 
bring together all the work that was currently bei ng undertaken in the various bodies right across the 
whole scope of the Doha Development Agenda.  Their intention would be to ensure a smooth 
transition between a vertical approach by subject a nd a more integrated approach, in close cooperation 
with all the Chairpersons, with the aim of arriving at  a draft consolidated text by mid-November.  She 
requested all delegations to be on call from the pres ent time on, as the Director-General, she and other 
Chairpersons would need to call on them at short noti ce in this last and crucial stretch of the process.  
Of course, and as always, their doors were always  open, and they would be glad to accommodate 
delegations wishing to consult them  in regard to process or substance.   At the last General Council 
meeting prior to the Ministerial Conference, scheduled for 1-2 December, she would advise 
delegations in some detail about the organization and conduct of work in the formal and informal 
processes at the Ministerial Conference itself, once th e Agenda became clearer.  This would be useful 
to all delegations in briefing their Ministers as we ll as other Members of their delegations in advance 
of the Ministerial.  At the present stage, she wished merely to recall that under the Rules of Procedure, 
a Provisional Agenda for the formal part of the Conference would be communicated to Members at 
least five weeks before the opening of the session,  in other words, on 7 November.  Also under the 
Rules, Members could propose items for inclusion in  the Provisional Agenda up to six weeks before 
the opening of the session, in other words, by 31 Oc tober.  In keeping with WTO practice, this should 
be done in writing to the Secr etariat before that date. 
16. The General Council took note
 of the statement. 
(b) Attendance by Governments as observers – Requ ests by Timor-Leste (WT/L/622) and Tuvalu 
(WT/L/623) 
17. The Chairman  drew attention to the communications from the Governments of Timor-Leste 
(WT/L/622) and Tuvalu (WT/L/623) requesting ob server status at the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference.  She recalled that at its meeting in  May, the General Council had agreed that in 
accordance with the Guidelines in A nnex 2 of the Rules of Procedure for the Ministerial Conference, 
requests for observer status at the Ministerial C onference from Governments not already having such 
status would be considered on their merits in accordance with the Guid elines when they were 
received.  In connection with these two requests, she proposed that, unless there was any objection, 
the General Council agree to i nvite Timor-Leste and Tuvalu to attend the Sixth Ministerial 
Conference as observers. 
18. The General Council so agreed .  WT/GC/M/98 
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 (c) Attendance by International Intergovernmental  Organizations as observers – Requests by: 
(i) Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation (AITIC) 
(ii) Technical Centre for Agricultural a nd Rural Cooperation ACP-EC (CTA) 
(iii) Basel Convention 
(iv) Council of Europe Development Bank 
(v) African Development Bank 
19. The Chairman  recalled, with regard to the request fr om the AITIC, that at the July Council 
meeting she had informed delegations of this requ est and had invited those wishing to consult the 
latter's communication to contact the External Relati ons Division of the Secretariat.  She had also 
proposed that in regard to this request the Genera l Council proceed in exactly the same way it had in 
the past with regard to requests from IGOs for ob server status at Ministerial Conferences who were 
neither observers in the General Council nor in other WTO bodies.  Accordingly, she had proposed 
that unless any objection were received by the S ecretariat by 15 August, the AITIC be granted 
observer status.  She had also indicated that she wo uld inform the General Council at its next meeting 
of the situation regarding this request, and that dele gations would have an oppor tunity to engage in a 
discussion on this request if an objection had been  received.  A reservation on behalf of a group of 
Members had been received by the Secretariat with in the proposed deadline, and there was therefore 
no consensus at the present stage to grant the request from the AITIC.  In the interests of transparency 
of the process, she requested the delegations that ha d expressed reservations on this request to indicate 
this to the membership. 
20. The representative of Egypt , speaking on behalf of the Arab Group , said that their countries 
were not in a position to consider th is request at this time.  The Arab Group wished once again to urge 
the whole membership to work to wards reaching an understanding on the observer status issue, which 
was long overdue.  They sought an agreement th at corresponded to the principles governing the 
organization and enshrined in the Agreement Establishing the WTO, and paved the way for 
expeditious consideration and consensual decisions  for all pending observership requests whether for 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference or for other WTO bodies.  The Arab Group was in principle 
sympathetic to all such pending requests, and regre tted the current state of events which it had not 
initiated.  They looked forward to  participating in any consultati ons the Chairman might convene 
concerning this matter. 
21. The representative of Switzerland , seeking a clarification, said he had understood from the 
Chairman that a reservation had been received in re gard to the request from the AITIC.  However, it 
appeared from the statement just made by Eg ypt that the Arab Group was expressing a global 
reservation vis-à-vis  all requests.   
22. The representative of Egypt , speaking on behalf of the Arab Group , clarified that as Members 
were considering the request from AITIC at this st age his statement related to this organization. 
23. The representative of Switzerland  expressed his delegation's deep disappointment over the 
Arab Group's position. 
24. The Chairman  said she had noted the request for consultations on this issue and that she 
would keep Members informed about how sh e intended to proceed in this regard. 
25. The General Council took note  of the statements. WT/GC/M/98 
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 26. The Chairman
 then said that since the Council's most  recent meeting, the Secretariat had 
received requests for observer status at the Hong Kong Ministerial from the following organizations 
that currently did not have observer status in any WTO body: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EC (CTA);  Basel Convention;   Council of Europe Development Bank;  and 
African Development Bank.  Members wishing to consult the communications received from these 
organization were invited to contact the External Re lations Division of the Secretariat.  She proposed 
that Members proceed in exactly the same way as they had in the past with regard to such requests.  
Accordingly, she proposed that unless an objection was received by the Secretariat from any Member 
by 5 November 2005, these four organizations be  granted observer status at the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference.  As in the past, she would inform the General Council at its next meeting of 
the situation with regard to these requests.  Delegati ons would have an opportuni ty at that meeting to 
engage in a discussion on any of these requests if objections were received from any delegation by the deadline of 5 November. 
27. The General Council took note
 of the statements and agreed  to the Chairman's proposal.   
3. Implementation of Paragraph 11 of the Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 
of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (WT/L/540) – 
Statement by the Chairman of the TRIPS Council 
28. The Chairman  recalled that in August 2003, the Ge neral Council had adopted a Decision on 
the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public 
Health (WT/L/540).  Paragraph 11 of that Decision provided that the Decision, including the waivers 
granted in it, shall terminate for each Member on the date on which an amendment to the TRIPS 
Agreement replacing its provisions took effect for that Member.  The Decision instructed the TRIPS 
Council to initiate, by the end of 2003, work on the preparation of such an amendment with a view to 
its adoption within six months , on the understanding that the amendment would be based, where 
appropriate, on that Decision, and on the further understanding that it would not be part of the 
negotiations referred to in paragr aph 45 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  At its meeting in 
June 2004, the TRIPS Council had agreed to contin ue its work on the preparation of the amendment 
with a view to making a recommendation by the end of March 2005, so that the General Council 
could conclude its work on the amendment at its first meeting thereafter.  The Chair of the TRIPS 
Council had informed the General Council, at its mee ting on 27 July 2004, of these arrangements.  In 
July 2005, the Chair of the TRIPS Council had info rmed the General Council of the status of the 
TRIPS Council's work on this matter, and had said that more time was necessary before the Council 
would be in a position to make a recommendation to the General Council.  He had also indicated that 
the TRIPS Council would be reverting to th is matter at its meeting in October. 
29. Mr. Choi (Korea), Chairman of the TRIPS Council  said that since the July General Council 
meeting, the most interested delegations had b een actively pursuing consultations among themselves 
aimed at finding a way forward based on some new id eas.  In the light of progress in these discussions 
and advice from delegations, he ha d resumed his consultations earlier in October.  He had started 
these consultations with separate meetings with the EC, the African Group and the US, in order to be 
fully debriefed on the discussions in which they ha d been engaged.  This had been followed up with 
joint meetings of those delegations the previous w eek, which were due to continue later in the present 
week.  He had also met with other groups of delega tions in order to keep them fully informed about 
the process and the state of play of consultations among the key players, and to hear any points of 
concern they had.  On the basis of these consu ltations, he was pleased to report that the number of 
outstanding issues now seemed to be more limited than had been evident in the earlier TRIPS Council 
discussions.  However, taking into account developmen ts in the previous week's consultations, it 
seemed unlikely that the matter would be ready fo r the TRIPS Council to agree on a recommendation 
at its meeting the following week.  Therefore, he planned, if necessary, to suspend the TRIPS Council  WT/GC/M/98 
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 meeting so as to allow more time for consultations.  Nonetheless, he continued to believe that with 
goodwill and cooperation, reaching agreement before Hong Kong should be possible. 
30. The representative of Cuba  said it was discouraging that more than two years after the 
General Council had adopted the Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha 
Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public H ealth, it had still not been possible to reach an 
agreement.  Technology was an essential factor in  economic development.  Effective transfer and 
dissemination of technology in the developing countri es at a fair and reasonable price was particularly 
important, above all, when its objective was to gua rantee access to essential medicines for the purpose 
of combating diseases.  While consultations con tinued at the WTO, millions of men, women and 
children were dying because they had no access to medicines.  Cuba supported the principles and 
rationale of the proposal by the African Group for a permanent, multilateral and, above all, 
predictable and expeditious solution to the probl em faced by developing countries with limited 
manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sect or in making effective use of compulsory 
licensing.  Cuba urged Members to work cons tructively to find a solution to this sensitive 
humanitarian issue through an amendment to the TR IPS Agreement that would substantially modify 
its Article 31(f) and ensure sustainable legal cert ainty and transparency regarding its scope and 
interpretation.  This solution should be endor sed by Ministers at the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference. 
31. The representative of Kenya  thanked the Chairman of the TRIPS Council for his report.  As 
the latter had indicated, serious consultations we re taking place and the gap now seemed to be 
narrower.  His delegation hoped that Members would be able to conclude th is matter as soon as 
possible, and prior to Hong Kong.  At the time the Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 
had been adopted, this issue might have been seen as  an African problem.  However, given the recent 
experience with the outbreak of "bird flu", it was now an issue for both the poor and the rich, and this 
might change Members' minds.  It was imperative th at all work very hard to conclude this matter 
before the Hong Kong Ministerial. 
32. The Chairman  said that all Members needed to work  very hard to ensure that these 
consultations were concl uded before Hong Kong, so that a deci sion could be take n on this matter – 
hopefully at the next General Council meeting.  At  the same time, she noted that a waiver was 
currently in place which could be used, and many c ountries had enacted legislation on that basis.  
Having said this, all needed to work extremely hard  to ensure that a decision was taken before the 
Hong Kong Ministerial.  She would be very pleased to have that decision taken even before the 
Council meeting in December, and encouraged a ll Members to do their best to this end. 
33. The General Council took note  of the statement by the Chairman of the TRIPS Council and of 
the other statements. 
4. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development 
34. The Chairman  recalled that at its meeting in Febr uary and March 2002, the General Council 
had taken note of a framework and procedures fo r the conduct of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies, under which this Work Programme sh all be a standing item on the General Council's 
agenda.  The framework and procedures also pr ovided that the Committee on Trade and Development 
shall report regularly to the General Council on the pr ogress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on this 
subject. 
35. Mr. Senadhira (Sri Lanka), Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Development , said he was pleased to be able to repor t that Members had had a very productive 
meeting of the Dedicated Session on 17 October.  Par ticipants had been pleased to have in attendance WT/GC/M/98 
Page 10  
 
 at that meeting Deputy Director-General Rugw abiza, whose responsibilities in the WTO included 
development.  Members had taken note and been encouraged that WTO management was showing 
such a strong interest in the work of small and vu lnerable economies.  At that meeting, Members had 
briefly discussed five new proposals and had begun to assess what was required in the coming days 
and weeks in order to make progress on the Dedi cated Session's report to the General Council, and 
also what the Dedicated Session could submit to the General Council Chair as a draft text for 
inclusion in the Ministerial Declaration.  Consu ltations would continue that afternoon, and he was 
sure that Members would have a first draft for the draft Ministerial text by the end of the week. 
36. He was also pleased to report that the two-tr ack approach developed by the proponents now 
had broad support in the Dedicated Session.  The two-track approach meant that small economies 
would continue to make proposals to the negotiati ng bodies and, at the same time, continue in a 
parallel way to assess and monitor how their concerns  were being addressed in the negotiations.  This 
had already happened in the Negotiating Groups  on Agriculture, NAMA and Rules, and the 
proponents now intended to do the same in othe r WTO bodies such as the Committees on TBT and 
SPS and the TRIPS Council.  The Dedi cated Session had taken note that  some of the negotiating 
bodies might not be ready to consider these proposals until the main elements in their respective areas 
had been clarified.  However, it was necessary to recognize that the negotiating groups should 
consider the proposals which addressed the trade-re lated problems of small, vulnerable economies in 
an expeditious and timely manner, in order to comp ly with paragraph 35 of the Doha Declaration.  
The Dedicated Session would monitor this process to ensure that an arrangement was found to address 
the concerns of small, vulnerable economies in  an appropriate and ba lanced manner in the 
negotiations.  He remained optimistic about addr essing the mandate of the Dedicated Session and 
about finding solutions to the trade-related probl ems of small, vulnerable economies.  With this 
objective, it was his intention to intensify work in  the Dedicated Session in the coming weeks and to 
make solid progress on the draft Ministerial text and the Dedicated Session's report to the General Council.  He urged all Members to stay engaged in  this process, so that they could arrive at 
appropriate recommendations to the General C ouncil in time for the Ministerial Conference. 
37. The representative of Barbados
, speaking on behalf of the small-economy countries , thanked 
the Chair of the CTD Dedicated Session for his factual report.  Members were at a critical juncture in the Doha Work Programme, and they would all be  judged harshly by their constituencies if the 
upcoming Ministerial Conference did not deliver eith er specific responses to, or clear guidance on, a 
methodology to confront the real concerns of de veloping countries. A realizable and meaningful 
response to the paragraph 35 mandate was one tangibl e way to achieve this.  There continued to be 
wide agreement throughout the membership on th e need for the small, vulnerable economies to 
engage with the negotiating gro ups and other bodies in the WTO in terms of tabling specific 
negotiating proposals and concerns.  This was a ra tional response to the negotiating reality in the 
organization.  Thus far, the sm all-economy countries had tabled doc uments in the negotiating groups 
on Agriculture and NAMA, and a number of Cari bbean and Pacific small economies had had a 
fruitful discussion on their fisheries subsidies propo sal in the Negotiating Group on Rules.  More 
proposals would follow.  In the meantime, having studied document JOB(05)/161 in Agriculture and 
JOB(05)/165 in NAMA, the small-economy countries believed that the respective Chairs of these 
bodies understood their concerns.  He therefore wish ed to ask that these two Chairs, when drafting 
their contributions to the Hong Kong Ministeria l Declaration, not forg et the small economies. 
38. The importance of the work in the negotiating and other bodies of the WTO had not in any 
way diminished the central role of the CTD De dicated Session.  Maintaining the integrity of 
paragraph 35 and the Work Programme, and the im portant role of the Dedicated Session, was a 
priority of the proponents.  At the 17 October De dicated Session, fruitful discussions had been held 
which would facilitate the CTD's undertaking its monitoring and reporting function, while also 
maintaining its role as a forum to discuss and take  decisions on issues and proposals of interest to 
small, vulnerable economies.  Maintaining this two- track approach was essential to success in this  WT/GC/M/98 
 Page 11 
 
 
 area, and the small-economy countries were pleased that the reaction of the wider membership had 
been very positive in this regard.  They hoped that  this understanding would be  appropriately reflected 
in the relevant documentation and texts sent to Mini sters.  It was their expectation that the text 
submitted to Ministers would reflect the work carried out and the progress made in the context of the CTD as well as in the negotiating and other bodies, and would instruct the negotiating and other 
bodies to continue to address the concerns of sma ll, vulnerable economies with the ultimate goal of 
framing responses to the problems identified.  He reaffirmed the proponents' commitment to this 
process and to a successful outcome in Hong Kong.  For these countries
., the Work Programme on 
Small Economies was the most impor tant consideration in this Round, and their Ministers and 
constituents were anticipating a meaningful ou tcome from it at the Hong Kong Ministerial. 
39. The representatives of El Salvador , Guatemala , Cuba,  Jamaica  and Honduras  thanked the 
Chair of the CTD Dedicated Session for his report,  and supported the statement by Barbados on 
behalf of small-economy countries. 
40. The representative of El Salvador  expressed her delegation's satisfaction with the latest 
progress in the Work Programme, and with the support received for the two-track approach.  
El Salvador was very pleased with the continuatio n of the work in the Dedicated Session and the 
follow-up to the discussion of the specific proposal s, as well as the attention given to concrete 
proposals in the different negotiating groups and in ot her subsidiary bodies.  This attention to the 
problems of small economies and the search for solutions to them constituted progress in the development dimension, which was the centre of th e Doha Round.  Her delegation therefore agreed 
with the sense of urgency that had been highlighted  at the present meeting regarding Members' work.  
El Salvador was working to ensure that the Hong Kong Ministerial gave new impetus to this Work 
Programme, ensuring the fuller integration of smal l and vulnerable economies into the multilateral 
trading system, and therefore supported Barbados's st atement regarding the content of the Ministerial 
Declaration. 
41. The representative of Guatemala
 said that as Members moved towards the Hong Kong 
Ministerial, it was crucial to have substantial pr ogress in the Work Programme on Small Economies, 
so as to comply with the mandate from Ministers.  Considerable headway was being made with the 
work on small economies in the CTD Dedicated Session, that would put Members on the right track for finding solutions to the problems facing such ec onomies.  The approach that had been endorsed 
for the continuation of this work, which focused on two main areas – the CTD Dedicated Session, and 
the negotiating and other bodies of the WTO – was th e right one.  This would help Members achieve 
concrete results for the small economies, th ereby enabling these countries to increase their 
participation in world trade, which was the prime obj ective of this work.  Guatemala wished to thank 
the Chair of the CTD Dedicated Session for his willi ngness to continue to strive, together with all 
Members, to prepare results for the forthcoming Ministerial Conference. 
42. The representative of Cuba
 said that the Work Programme on Small Economies needed a new 
impetus, as it had fallen well behind the schedule in itially established in the Doha Declaration and in 
the July 2004 package ag reed by the General Council, in spite of the proposals submitted in the CTD 
Special Session and a two-track approach to r espond to suggestions from other Members.  Cuba 
recalled that the General Council's July 2004 D ecision on the Doha Work Programme placed the 
trade-related issues of the small and vulnerable ec onomies in the context of the ongoing market access 
negotiations and stated that these aspects should be addressed.  If development was at the heart of the 
negotiations under the Doha Work Programme and the Sixth Minister ial Conference was supposed to 
pave the way towards a successful conclusion of those negotiations, a clear commitment would have 
to be made in Hong Kong – one that recognized th e particular circumstances of the small economies 
and responded to the problems raised by them.  This  was the only way to interpret and comply with 
paragraph 35 of the Doha Declaration and to create synergies that would ensure that the sustainable 
development dimension was reflected in WTO rules. WT/GC/M/98 
Page 12  
 
 43. The representative of Jamaica
 thanked Members for their con tinued constructive engagement 
in this process, which was aimed at implementing paragraph 35 of the Doha Declaration to frame responses to the trade-related problems identified for the full integration of small, vulnerable 
economies into the multilateral trading system.  There had been progress in recent months on the small-economy countries' initiative, particularly sinc e the CTD had agreed to a three-phased approach 
to moving the Work Programme on Small Economies forward.  There had been a thorough discussion 
on phases 1 and 2, which concerned the characteristics of small, vulnerable economies and their trade-
related problems.  Members had now moved into the third and most important phase of their work, which was to frame responses to those problems.  It was important that efforts be concentrated on this 
important phase leading up to the Hong Kong Minister ial.  Jamaica had co-sponsored a number of 
proposals tabled in the CTD Dedicated Session and specific negotiating groups, including the 
proposal for a two-track approach to moving the Work Programme forward.  It had also supported proposals on agriculture, NAMA and fisheries s ubsidies disciplines in the Negotiating Group on 
Rules.  His delegation sensed from Members a level of understanding of the issues of concern to the 
small-economy countries and the preparedness to furt her engage, not only in the CTD, but in the 
relevant negotiating groups.  Jamaica would work with other Members in elaborating specific and 
concrete proposals in areas of interest to sma ll economies and anticipated further constructive 
engagement, so as to ensure fulfilment of the mandate  in paragraph 35 of the Doha Declaration.  For 
Jamaica, this would be a critical element of and contribution to the Doha Development Agenda and a 
balanced outcome of the Round.  Jamaica welcomed the CTD Dedicated Session Chair's recommendation for Members to intensify their work in the coming weeks leading up to Hong Kong, 
including on the content of the draft Ministerial text on the Work Programme on Small Economies, 
and looked forward to particip ating actively in that process. 
44. The representative of Honduras
 said that the Work Programme on Small Economies and its 
concrete results at the Hong Kong Ministerial we re extremely important for her country.  Honduras 
hoped that Members would achieve the objectives they ha d set in this area, in particular, taking into 
consideration the proposals the small-economy countr ies had already tabled and would continue to 
table in the negotiating bodies. 
45. The General Council took note  of the report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statements. 
5. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 
– Communications from Honduras and Guat emala (WT/GC/85, WT/GC/90 and Corr.1) 
– Statement by the Chairman 
46. The Chairman  recalled that this matter had first b een raised by Honduras and Guatemala at 
the Council meeting in December 2004, and had been considered again by the General Council at its 
meetings in February, May and July.  In light of the views expressed at those meetings, and the 
requests for consultations made by Honduras and Gu atemala, her predecessor and she had both held 
consultations on this matter in order to assist in fi nding a way forward.  At the July Council meeting, 
she had encouraged further discussion among the interest ed parties with a view to reaching a mutually 
satisfactory resolution of the concerns that had been  referred to the General Council, and had urged all 
Members to continue to reflect on how they might m ove this matter forward.  In light of the views 
expressed at that meeting, she had proposed that sh e hold further consultations on this matter before 
the present meeting.  On 17 October, she had held further consultations to pr ovide another opportunity 
for the Members concerned to seek clarifications, to the extent possible, and to see if she, as Chair, 
could facilitate a satisfactory resolution to the concer ns that had been expressed regarding this matter.  
She had invited to those consultations all the dele gations who had spoken on this issue at previous 
meetings of the Council, and had made clear that the consultations were without prejudice to any 
Member's rights under the WTO.  WT/GC/M/98 
 Page 13 
 
 
 47. The consultations had shown that although th e discussions since December 2004 had helped 
to clarify the issues and the positions taken by th e delegations concerned, there was no meeting of 
minds as yet on the claims of substantial inter est submitted by Honduras and Guatemala in connection 
with the EC's enlargement negotiations as well as the modification of its Schedule under 
Article XXVIII as regards bananas.  Honduras and Guatemala had reiterated the importance of this 
matter for them, as well as their concerns for its syst emic implications, including on the outcome of 
the Hong Kong Ministerial.  The EC, for its part, rema ined prepared to further consult bilaterally with 
these delegations on a tariff line by tariff line basis to respond to concerns about their rights.  Some 
delegations at the consultations ha d also reiterated concerns about th e unsatisfactory operation of their 
own Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII process es with the EC, including the question of 
compensatory adjustment.  While she sensed a willingn ess on the part of all to explore all avenues of 
resolution, even as Members c ontinued the current process under this Agenda item, there was 
nevertheless increasing concern that this matter s hould not continue unresolved until the Ministerial 
Conference, where it risked complicating an already difficult agenda.  This was clearly an important 
issue for the Members concerned, and she understo od the sense of frustration that non-resolution was 
generating.  She was counting on the goodwill of  all Members to help resolve this matter 
satisfactorily, and urged all to put in their best e fforts to do this before Hong Kong.  She aimed to 
convene further consultations after the second arbitr ator's award on the EC's banana concession had 
been circulated, and would continue to talk with  individual delegations as much as possible between 
the present and the next Council. 
48. The representative of Guatemala  said he would not repeat th e legal arguments his delegation 
had already set out at previous meetings of the General Council.  The validity of these arguments and 
the need to recognize Guatemala's negotiating rights  were two aspects that could not be called into 
question, and this was why he wished to reaffirm them.  At the present meeting he wished to express 
some thoughts on the issue of enlargement, the pr ocedures undertaken by th e Community as a result 
of this process and the compensatory adjustment pu rsuant to Article XXIV:6.  Negotiations arising 
from enlargement were complex.  Nevertheless, the difficulty of the task did not warrant the 
Community's conducting this process solely in the li ght of its own criteria and interpretations.  The 
negotiating process should be conducted in accordance with WTO rules, not through the imposition of 
criteria or interpretations, and still less, according to the rules of a single Member.  The risk inherent 
in this situation had become even  more acute because the legal instru ments containing the results of 
the tariff renegotiations – for example, certification – had not materialized, either because the WTO 
had not been notified or because the notifications s ubmitted were out of date or incomplete.  This 
situation increased uncertainty and also encour aged untransparent and exclusive renegotiating 
procedures.  On the one hand, the interests of e xporting countries whose products played a major role 
in their economies had not been recognized, thereby depriving them of adequate compensation.  On 
the other, even if the negotiating rights of a group of countries had been recognized, such recognition 
amounted simply to lip service, as it had no practical  effect.  In such a situation, those who were 
destined to lose out or who usually suffered the most injury were small countries.  The criteria 
followed by the European Community in these ne gotiations had resulted in these rights being 
concentrated in a limited number of countries, name ly, the largest Members.  Guatemala wished to 
alert Members to this situation and to discuss it w ith them.  Although Guatemala had been affected by 
this situation this time, in future it might be other Latin American, African or Asian countries.  It was  
therefore appropriate for Members to ask themselv es what they were doing to ensure broader and 
more equitable distribution of negotiating rights.  Guatemala hoped that Members would give this due 
consideration. 
49. The representative of Honduras  expressed her delegation's appreciation for the Chairman's 
efforts to find a solution to the position taken by  the European Communities regarding recognition of 
the interests of Honduras under Articles XXIV: 6 and XXVIII of the GATT 1994.  Her delegation 
wished to set out once again its position regarding the EC's refusal to meet its WTO commitments.  
Her Ambassador was currently attending the second arbitration hearing with the EC in order to WT/GC/M/98 
Page 14  
 
 establish that, following the EC's proposal for an  MFN tariff rate of €187 per tonne for bananas – 
which was a 150 per cent increase in comparison with th e current tariff – the EC had not resolved this 
matter.  The rights claimed by Honduras – recognition of its inte rests under Articles XXIV:6 and 
XXVIII – had already been recognized by the orga nization, and Honduras had been obliged to set 
them aside for the sake of the current negotiati ng Round.  Both the failure to recognize Honduras' 
rights under Article XXVIII with respect to bananas, and the settlement of the first arbitration, were 
under the auspices of the General Council, and in or der to comply with what had been decided at 
Doha the General Council had to take action.  It was incredible that the rules of the organization were 
not being observed by the EC, and it was unaccep table that Honduras had not been given what 
belonged to it by right – both compensation under Article XXIV:6 for a series of products, and 
recognition and the relevant compensation under Ar ticle XXVIII.  Honduras, a small country, had 
formulated and faithfully complied with, even going  beyond, the applicable requirements set out in 
Article XXVIII and the 1980 Procedures for negotia tions under Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII.  In its 
view, it was unprecedented for a trading partner with gr eat ambitions in this Round of negotiations to 
refuse to give a satisfactory response to Honduras's statistical-legal analysis.  It would not have 
escaped Members' notice that in addition to refu sing to respond to Hondura s' request, the EC's 
position was extremely serious and of great concern to the system, because failure to respect the 
procedures laid down in paragraph 4 of the 1980 Pr ocedures undoubtedly called into question the role 
of the General Council, as the latter was empowered to play an active role when a request had been 
ignored.  It was clear that this provision was tota lly inoperative and a dead letter, when a Member 
could not be sure that its questions would receive a response.  Members should unite their efforts, 
because the EC was placing the credibility and e ffectiveness of the organization at serious risk. 
50. Honduras had received demonstrati ons of support and solidarity from some Members, which 
it valued and welcomed.  With full justification a nd competence, Honduras invited the EC to consider 
seriously the damage which its position was inflic ting on the WTO.  Honduras was concerned that 
several problems related to this issue all pointed to  the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  It once again 
affirmed its rights as a substantial supplier and asked  the Chairman to continue her efforts through the 
consultations.  She assured the Chairman that Ho nduras would not falter, because it was convinced 
that for the benefit of the system, the organizati on and a Ministerial Conference without problems, it 
had to maintain its course until the EC recognized its rights. 
51. The representatives of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
, Ecuador , Panama , Uruguay , 
Colombia , Costa Rica , Paraguay , Mexico  and Nicaragua  reiterated their support, expressed on 
previous occasions, for the requests by Honduras and Guatemala in this matter. 
52. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  said it was alarming that an item 
was repeatedly on the Council's agenda for a long time without arriving at a satisfactory response to 
the legitimate requests of two developing countries.   Guatemala and Honduras had a legitimate basis 
for raising this matter, and the non-recognition of their rights w as generating a very serious and 
increasingly worrying situation. 
53. The representative of Ecuador  said that while Ecuador's rights had been recognized by the 
Community, it had still not had any favourable res ponse from that delegation that would enable 
progress.  However, her delegation wished to state very clearly that the procedure at issue and the 
procedure of arbitration under the Doha waiver d ecision were distinct and separate processes, and as 
Honduras and Guatemala had noted, the second hearing in the arbitration process was currently under 
way.  Ecuador hoped that in both processes Members would arrive at a satisfactory result. 
54. The representative of Panama  reiterated his delegation's suppor t for the defense of the rights 
of developing countries, and for the statements  by Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivarian Republic of 
Venezuela  and Ecuador regarding the n on-recognition of rights under Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII of 
GATT 1994.  WT/GC/M/98 
 Page 15 
 
 
 55. The representative of El Salvador  expressed the hope that Members would very quickly find a 
solution to the problem raised by Guatemala and Honduras.  As her delegation had said on previous 
occasions, this situation generated systemic con cerns.  El Salvador therefore attached great 
importance to the Chairman's consultation process a nd reiterated its hope that this matter could be 
resolved rapidly. 
56. The representative of Brazil  said that this had become a long-standing item on the Council's 
agenda, coming right after the item on the Work Pr ogramme on Small Economies.  What was needed 
for the small economies was not just the expression of  general principles and statements of support, 
but rather concrete solutions.  The present case i nvolved a concrete problem which seriously affected 
two Central American economies th at were heavily dependent on a small number of export items.  
Brazil hoped that a favourable solution would be f ound to this matter.  His delegation thanked the 
Chair for her efforts and seconded her call for goodwill.   This was particularly needed from a specific 
sector of the membership. 
57. The representative of Uruguay  encouraged the continuation of consultations on this matter, in 
the hope that a satisfactory solution would be found ensuring the recognition of the rights of these two 
countries. 
58. The representative of Colombia  urged the European Communities to respond to these two 
countries' request and also to respond to those Me mbers whose rights had been recognized but with 
whom the Community had not negotiated.  Also , the request by Honduras and Guatemala under 
Article XXIV:6 was a different process from the arb itration process currently under way in respect of 
bananas. 
59. The representative of Costa Rica  said that like Colombia, Cost Rica also urged the European 
Communities to respond to these requests.  Like ot hers, his delegation hoped that a satisfactory 
solution to this matter could be found in the near fu ture, and agreed with the points made by Ecuador 
and Colombia to the effect that the banana arbitr ation process was a separate and independent process 
from this matter. 
60. The representative of the  Philippines  thanked the Chairman for her informal consultations on 
this issue.  His delegation continued to belie ve that Honduras's submission in WT/GC/90 was an 
important basis for these consultations.  Further consultations among intere sted parties would be 
appropriate in order to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution to this issue and to clarify the rules involved.  His delegation remained ready to partic ipate, where necessary, in any constructive process 
aimed at the resolution of this item. 
61. The representative of Paraguay
 expressed his delegation's concern at the amount of time this 
process was taking, which undermined the very credibility of the multilateral system.  Paraguay urged all parties to find a solution to this problem as s oon as possible and one that would prove the degree of 
concern of this organization for small, vulnerable economies. 
62. The representative of Mexico
 said that, as on previous occasions, his delegation wished to 
express its systemic concern regarding this matter.   All Members should be concerned at the present 
situation, not only because these were horizontal ru les, but also because – as Guatemala had noted – 
any Member might find itself in a similar situation in  the future.  It was also of great concern because 
of the time this matter was taki ng up and the increasing frustration of the Members involved, and also 
because of the way it might impact on the overall work  of the organization.  All should be concerned 
at this situation, and together all should try to fi nd a solution.  It was extremely important that the 
political will to solve this  matter be demonstrated. WT/GC/M/98 
Page 16  
 
 63. The representative of Nicaragua
 urged the Chairman to conti nue her consultations on this 
matter and hoped that a satisfact ory solution could be found. 
64. The representative of the European Communities  thanked the Chairman for holding and 
reporting faithfully on the consultations earlier that  week, and also thanked those Members who had 
spoken for their statements.  He had already made a rather lengthy statement at the July General 
Council meeting, which he would not repeat.  Howe ver, given that a number of issues had been 
raised, he wished to reiterate two points.  First,  the Community attached the greatest importance to 
following all WTO agreements faithfully and thereby ensuring that Members were able to exercise 
their rights and fulfil their obligations.  As he had already stated in the General Council on this point, 
the Community had based itself on WTO law and well-established practice when recognizing and 
rejecting claims.  The second point was one he had made before, but which nevertheless seemed to 
continue to be raised, particularly by Brazil.  That  delegation and others continued to suggest that the 
Community should in this particular case make a special effort and unilaterally grant negotiating 
rights to small, vulnerable developing countries with  a high dependency on specific products, even if 
they did not meet the long established rules and pr actice in this regard.  The Community saw that 
there might be a case for reviewing the WTO rules in this area.  However, this should be done in the 
appropriate WTO forum and not on an ad hoc basis simply because it had been raised in the WTO by 
one or two delegations.  This wa s a point he had made before.  Having said this, the Community 
remained open, as the Chairman ha d already reported, to sitting down with individual Members to go 
through line by line where they believed they had righ ts and to explain why it had rejected or accepted 
claims.  It would also be happy to engage with  Members in informal consultations.  Like the 
Chairman, his delegation did not wish to see this  matter poison Members' route to Hong Kong, and 
very much hoped to see it resolved before then. 
65. The General Council took note  of the statements and agreed  to revert to this matter at its next 
meeting, and that the Chairman would hold furthe r consultations in the meantime with the aim of 
moving this matter forward. 
6. Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration – Report of the Committee on its 
meetings of June and July 2005 (WT/BFA/79) 
66. The Chairman  drew attention to the report from th e Budget Committee on its meetings of 
June and July 2005 in document WT/BFA/79.   
67. Mr. Postma (Netherlands), Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration , recalled that the recommendations of the Committee from its meetings of June and 
July 2005 had already been adopted by the General Council in July.  The narrative report in document 
WT/BFA/79 was therefore presented solely for the in formation of the General Council.  The agenda 
for the Committee's meetings had included (i) th e preliminary budget estimates for the biennium 
2006-2007 of the ITC;  (ii) various administrative up-dates and progress reports;  (iii) the status of 
extra-budgetary activities;  (iv) an estimated cost revision for the New WTO Annex – where a 
recommendation had been made;  (v) an oral re port on the Security Enhancement Programme;  
(vi) the duration of the mandate of the External  Auditors, where a recommendation had been made;  
and (vii) an oral report on long-term temporary assis tance.  With regard to the ITC, a preliminary 
estimation had been given for the biennium 2006- 2007, including Sw F 17.2 million for 2006 and 
Sw F 17.3 million for 2007.  The Committee had also b een informed on an external consultant's report 
examining temporary assistance, which had conclude d that tasks performed by 33 of the staff 
considered were deemed to be of  an ongoing nature, and that the Secretariat was considering ways to 
address this issue.  In addition, the Secretariat ha d indicated its intention to redeploy the financial 
resources made available with the departure and non-re placement of three Directors, in order to cover 
six of the posts examined by the consultant.  WT/GC/M/98 
 Page 17 
 
 
 68. The representative of Zambia  recalled that at the Council's meeting in July, a number of 
countries that were then in arrears had been men tioned, including Zambia.  His delegation had hoped 
that the report in WT/BFA/79 would include Za mbia among the countries that had paid their 
contributions.  As it did not, he wished to announce th at Zambia had not only cleared all of its arrears, 
but had also paid in advance up to the year 2006. 
69. The General Council took note  of the statements and adopted  the Budget Committee's report 
in document WT/BFA/79. 
7. Work Programme on Electronic commerce 
70. The representative of the United States , speaking under "Other Business ", noted that pursuant 
to paragraph 34 of the Doha Declaration provision had been made for dedicated discussions under the 
auspices of the General Council related to e-commer ce.  Given developments in this area, including 
with respect to software, his delegation believed that another such dedicated discussion in early 
November would be warranted. 
71. The General Council took note  of the statement. 
8. Commodities 
72. The representative of Uganda , speaking under "Other Business" also on behalf of Côte 
d'Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe , said that these countries has thus far tabled two 
papers on commodities.  He recalled that earlier at the present meeting, the Minister of Mali, in his statement on cotton, had raised points that were pertinent to the prices of commodities.  These 
countries had thus far engaged the Committee on Trade and Development and the Chair of the 
Committee on Agriculture with a view to finding th e best way to address this issue, which was of 
utmost importance to these countries and to many other African countries whose trade was dependent 
on commodities.  This matter was one which fell under the mandate of the WTO, because it was a 
core trade issue.  As Members progressed towards the Hong Kong Ministerial, these countries wished 
to see commodities feature in the preparations for this  Conference and in the report to Ministers.  The 
sponsors of the commodity issue had identified three areas on which the work should focus.  First, the 
tariff escalations that afflicted commodity prices in the markets of developed countries should be 
eliminated, and the formula currently under negot iation should take this into account.  Second, 
Members should clarify rules under GATT Article XXXVIII for joint action to ensure stable, 
equitable and remunerative prices of primary comm odities.  Third, a consultative mechanism should 
be established in the WTO on the declining prices of primary commodities.  These six delegations 
were keen to have Ministers in Hong Kong provi de a clear mandate on these three issues relating to 
trade in commodities. 
73. The General Council took note
 of the statement. 
9. Digital archiving and derestriction of GATT official documents 
74. The Chairman , speaking under "Other Business" and on the request and behalf of the 
Director-General , read out the following statement by the Director-General on this matter: 
  "As delegations will recall, at th e October 2004 General Council meeting, 
Dr. Supachai reported on a collaborative project  between the WTO and Stanford University 
Libraries to digitally preserve English GATT o fficial documents and a number of internal 
records.  An Information Note on this issu e had been prepared by the Secretariat and 
circulated to delegations on 8 Oc tober 2004 in document WT/GC/INF/3 .  Dr. Supachai had 
emphasized two issues in particular that warranted Members' attention, namely, the question WT/GC/M/98 
Page 18  
 
 of the digital preservation of GATT official doc uments in the French and Spanish languages, 
and the question of the GATT official documents that still remain restricted.  He had requested Mr. Harbinson to arra nge consultations with Members who were interested in these 
two issues. 
  "Since the beginning of this year, Mr. Harbinson has conducted three rounds of 
consultations with a small group of Members on both issues.  On digital preservation, it has 
been reported to me that there was a genera l sense among the Members who participated in 
the consultations that digital preservation of the French and Spanish language GATT official 
documents would be desirable.  At the presen t time there are some 77,000 French-language 
and 29,000 Spanish-language GATT official documen ts that exist only in hard-copy form or 
on microfiche.  There was a discussion on wh ether Members' national institutions or 
universities might be interested in undertaking this work or whether it might be more 
efficiently carried out by Stanford University Libraries, given their experience and previous 
involvement in the project for English language  documents.  There was a general view that 
we should explore the possibility of obtaining resources from donors and of subcontracting 
with SUL.  At the same time the door should be left open for any Member to participate in the 
preservation effort, either through the granting of  funds or as an active partner or indirectly 
through a national institution. 
  "On derestriction,  it is also my understanding that the Members who participated in 
the consultations were broadly in favour of de restricting all the 50,000 or so GATT official 
documents that still remain restricted.  With th is in mind, the Secretariat will in due course 
propose for Members' consideration a draft decision for the derestriction of these documents.  
This would incorporate an adequate period of  time in which all interested Members could 
browse the restricted documents in order to id entify any – hopefully few – which they believe 
should continue to remain restricted for a further period of time.  Since this procedure could involve some Members - depending on their degree of interest – in a certain amount of work, 
I have decided that we should not embark upon su ch an exercise now but rather put it off until 
after the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. 
  "In the meantime, I would like to inform de legations that the Secretariat has prepared 
a comprehensive list of all GATT documents that continue to be restricted , which provides 
details of the titles, symbols and dates of the doc uments in question.  This list, as well as a 
large number of these restricted documents in English , may now be consulted in digital form 
on the Members' website.  Printed versions are available in the archives section of the library 
in all the three languages.  Of course, on both of these matters the views of all Members will have to be taken into account before we can proc eed further.  My intention today was to give 
all of you some forewarning that we will reve rt to these two issues early in the new year, 
when all Members will have the opportunity to di scuss them further.  I do hope that we will 
be able to make positive progress then, because I believe we have a responsibility not only to 
safeguard the legacy of the GATT but also to be as transparent and open as possible." 
75. The Chairman
 proposed that the General Council take note of the statement by the Director-
General and revert to these issues early in the new year, when all Members would have the opportunity to discuss them further. 
76. The General Council so agreed
. 
 
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