RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/WGTDF/M/15 
27 September 2007 
 
 (07-4063) 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 14 SEPTEMBER 2007 
 
 1. The fifteenth meeting of the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance was held on 
14 September 2007 under the Chairmanship of Mr. Ra vi Bangar (India).  The Working Group adopted
 
the agenda contained in WTO/AIR/3060.  
2. The Chairman  explained the context in which the meeting was taking place.  In the two 
previous meetings, the Group had considered possibl e recommendations on steps that might be taken 
within the mandate and competence of the WTO, ac cording to the terms of paragraph 36 of the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration, but no consensus could be found on such recommendations, including the 
proposal of creating a permanent committee on trade, debt and finance in the WTO.  Since then, the 
Chairman had held informal consultations to sense wh ether Members still had an interest in the topics 
that had provided the basis for earlier examination,  and whether new topics that would fall within the 
scope of paragraph 36  of the Doha Declaration had emerged in  the meantime – taking into account the 
requirements to avoid duplication of work undertaken in other bodies of the WTO.  
3. A decade after the beginning of the East Asian financial crisis and of the HIPC debt relief 
programme, the question arose as to whether Members were satisfied with the level of understanding 
achieved by the Group on the relationship between fi nancial instability and trade, and/or between 
trade and debt, and whether the risks perceived at the time of the creation of the Working Group had 
been reduced or not.  If risks were assessed to be lo wer for a particular concern or set of concerns, the 
next question was whether this was temporary or pe rmanent (for example, the issues of indebtness of 
least-developed countries, or the risk of shortage of trade finance).  Another question was whether 
new risks and concerns had appeared in the meanti me.  These questions in mind, some Members had 
requested during his consultations a stock-taking of the examination conducted by the Group to date, 
while others suggested that new topics be explored.   
4. The Chairman  wished to verify whether a stock-taking or an examination of new topics 
falling within Article 36 of the Doha Ministeria l Conference was acceptable to the Working Group;  
the Chairman suggested that, in a second step, Me mbers reflect on how and when the stock-taking 
should be conducted.   
Agenda Item A : Stock-taking of the examination conducted since the Doha Ministerial 
Conference 
5. The Chairman  recalled that he had circulated the lis t of working papers produced by the 
Group and observers since the Doha Ministerial Conference, and that any new contribution by 
Members should preferably come in writing, although the Secretariat and observers from other international organizations could always be of help, if requested by Members. 
6. The representative of Argentina
 emphasized three points. First, the content of paragraph 36 of 
the Doha Ministerial Declaration remained valid an d relevant.  The triangle between trade, debt and 
finance remained of great importance for the trad ing system, particularly as Members were committed 
to a dense set of rules in the trade area; the set of rules in the financial area still seemed to lag behind.  WT/WGTDF/M/15 
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  The situation had recently deteriorated in some segments of the financial markets, which made 
paragraph 36 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration,  in particular the call for recommendations on how 
to protect the trading system from financial inst abilities, all the more relevant for developing and 
least-developed countries.  By pursuing work in this Group, the WTO was seeking greater coherence 
between the trading and financial systems.  One contribution of the WTO to greater world economic 
stability would be to provide more market access to developing countries in the context of the Round.  
Second, a stock taking of work completed in the Wo rking Group would be welcome, in the form of a 
consolidated document that could be produced by  the Secretariat, summarizing written and oral 
contributions to date.  This document would help  update Members on issues already discussed, such 
as the effects of financial instabilities on trade, in the light of new developments in financial markets.  
Such an update would help focus further work.  Thir d, the delegation of Argentina was in favour of an 
institutionalization of the Group in the WTO, in the form of a standing committe e on coherence.  This 
position was consistent with the idea of an on-going  examination by the Group of topics identified in 
paragraph 36 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
7. The representative of Cuba
 called on developing countries to participate more actively to the 
Working Group, including in the adoption of  recommendations.  The Group was far from having 
completed its examination of issues.  For example, he  considered the problem of external debt to be 
very much alive, as outlined by the 2006 report of UNCTAD and other experts, because of the 
increase in world commodity prices such as oil and ethanol-related products, which had an adverse 
effect on the balance-of-payments and debt situ ation of net importers of such commodities, 
particularly poor countries.  The fact that other topics of interest to developing countries were still 
outstanding, in the absence of clear solutions and concrete recommendations by the Group, justified a 
continuation of work and regular updates on these t opics, in the light of new circumstances.  The 
representative of Cuba supported the delegation of Argentina in calling for a standing body in the 
WTO to look at these matters and debate solutions. 
8. The representative of the United States  appreciated the opportunity to take part in the stock-
taking during this meeting, but was of the view th at the Group had by and la rge exhausted its mandate 
after completing the review of the eight topics ag reed in 2003.  The Group had discussed all the 
proposals and papers put forth to date, and had not been informed of any new written contribution that 
would deserve further examination.  Within the framework of the Working Group, though, the U.S. 
was willing to consider other delegations' views as to  whether new topics would deserve attention, as 
long as they would fall into the mandate of the Working Group and not repeat earlier work.  Looking 
at the list of papers produced to date by the Gr oup, the U.S. representative wondered what new topics 
had not been discussed yet. In light of new circum stances, the U.S. was willing reflect on the merit of 
new proposals, in particular the proposal by Arge ntina that the Chair or the Secretariat produce a 
paper for the Group, but felt that informal consulta tions were necessary before any decision was taken 
on this issue.  The U.S. was aware of the conti nued interest expressed by many developing countries 
in the Working Group, but would be concerned if further discussion would only repeat and reiterate 
topics and competencies found elsewhere.  The U. S. remained unconvinced that a recommendation 
for a permanent body was something that her dele gation could support at this stage, as no evidence 
had been found that the substance of the work comple ted to date deserved the creation of such a body.  
The United States indeed supported greater cohe rence in global policy-making but viewed the 
involvement of the General Council as sufficient. 
9. The representative of the European Communities  (EC) said that the demands for further work 
raised the question of exactly what work was asked  for, although in principle the EC was open to 
participate in the identification of new topics.  Wh ile calls for more coherence were legitimate, the 
mandate on coherence ought to be made more conc rete, in a way where work of other institutions 
would ideally be better integrated and coordinated with that of the WTO, keeping in mind respective 
competencies.  As to the issue of recommendations by the Working Group, these could potentially be 
useful but would need to be agreed by all;  the EC was ready to play a constructive role in this  WT/WGTDF/M/15 
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  process.  The Membership should collectively refl ect on what was expected from the Group, now and 
later, while avoiding going in circles around topi cs that had been discussed already.  The challenge 
was on proponents to make new concrete proposal s, which the EC was willing to consider.  
10. The representative of Brazil  broadly supported the position of Argentina.  In trying to answer 
the question of the Chairman, Brazil believed that financial instabilities of the last few weeks and 
months showed the importance of the work bei ng done in the Working Group on the relationship 
between trade and finance.  Both "worlds" (tra de and finance, respectively) were living under 
different "regimes", including regulatory regimes, which were not à priori coordinated.  Recent 
financial instabilities had already affected the credit risk of developing countries in general, and in 
particular the credit lines that developing count ries such as Brazil accessed through regional 
development banks (RDBs), as a guarantee for co mmercial banks.  Although RDBs indicated to 
Brazil that they never incurred losses on their co mmercial credit activities with developing countries, 
stringent prudential rules forced them to scale dow n their operations in the current period at the 
expense of creditworthy developing countries.  Re sponding to the EC and the US on what concrete 
topics to focus on, Brazil suggested that the Wo rking Group analyze possible flexibilities that would 
allow multilateral financial institutions to mainta in credit lines for developing countries in such 
periods.  Such an analysis in the Group would be  welcome particularly as the broader issue of the 
availability of trade finance for developing coun tries was being discussed under the Aid-for-Trade 
Initiative.   
11. The representative of Argentina  said that he perceived at this stage of the discussion an 
interest in pursuing work in the Working Group,  bearing in mind the limitations of the mandate 
regarding overlap with other WTO bodies and inst itutions.  However, the idea of operationalizing 
coherence, with well identified t opics such as trade finance, showed that there was work ahead for the 
Group.  He reiterated the request to have a firs t document which would consolidate the ideas brought 
by the Chair in his introductory statement and those provided by Members in the course of the 
meeting.  It was important for Argentina that even if there was not an explicit mandate for 
"institutionalizing" coherence in the final reco mmendations of the Working Group, implicitly the 
recommendation would contain such an institutionali zation.  If some developing countries kept 
"repeating" a number of topics and associated concer ns, this was precisely becau se the solutions to the 
problems had not yet been found, and so the WTO ought to offer a forum for the trading community to keep discussing these concerns as a matter of coherence.   
12. The representative of Cuba
 agreed with the appropriateness of having new contributions, but 
hoped that at the same time the Chair or the Secr etariat could prepare a document providing an update 
on the topics contained in the Working Group's agenda.  In the light of the questions by the Chair, he 
invited Members to send in writing replies to fac ilitate the production of a Chair document that would 
reflect the new topics and concerns of developing country Members, and start to bring an answer to it.  By the next meeting , the discussion in the Group would be more focused. 
13. The representative of Mauritius
 supported the proposals by Argentina and Cuba regarding the 
consolidation of the work completed to date by the Group, so as to allow for a non-repetitious stock-
taking exercise based on the eight topics examined  since 2003.  The document would hence focus the 
reflection on outstanding and new issues.   
14. The representative of Pakistan  supported the position of Argentina, Brazil and other 
delegations in pursuing work under the Group's ag enda, focusing on outstanding concerns and new 
developments in financial markets.  A better focu s was necessary to optimize the time of the Group;  
if time permitted before the next meeting, she al so supported the holding of informal consultations 
that would lead to the production of a new stock-taking document. WT/WGTDF/M/15 
Page 4  
 
  15. The Chairman
 said that he sensed a desire by some Members to be updated on progress made 
in areas such as international financial stability, trad e finance, and recent initiatives to foster greater 
coherence of policies at the multilateral level.  He al so sensed that some topics that initially came up 
as concerns by the proponents of  the Working Group remained in their mind, and might deserve 
further examination.  Further, he sensed that new topics not yet examined by Members had also been 
raised during the discussion, and there was a consensu s to examine them to the extent that they fall 
within the remit of paragraph 36 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Some Members also suggested to bring out a paper to take stock of what has be en done so far, while others had proposed holding 
informal consultations in order to guide directions for such a stock taking.   
Agenda Item B
: The "how" and "when" of the stock-taking   
 
16. For topics that remain of concer n to some Members, the Chairman  suggested that written 
contributions be provided by Members on the speci fics of these concerns and how should they be 
addressed by the Group;  for topics that needed an update, one suggestion coul d be that some of the 
most economically advanced Members or emerging markets help update the Group on the work done 
in the past few years, for example, on guaranteei ng the safety and soundness of the financial system or 
on reducing international debt.  The Secretariat an d multilateral institutions which are observers in 
this Group could perhaps also be invited to contribute.  For the new topics that came up during the discussion under Item A the Chair wished to be guided by the floor.    
17. The representative of the United States
 appreciated the call by the Chair for Members to 
provide submissions reflecting the ideas put forw ard during this discussion.  The WTO being a 
Member-driven organization, she indicated that her delegation was primarily interested in papers put 
forward by other Members – with that in mind the Secretariat could perhaps pull these contributions 
into a possible paper to update the Group on where it stood in terms of outstanding work and new 
developments on particular topics.  However, this was not an open-ended invitation to the Secretariat 
or any other organization to provide new contributio ns.  Furthermore, she asked to hear from other 
delegations on how they saw the topics that they  had outlined during the meeting fit with the WTO 
mandate (for example, issues related to trade finance and prudential rules).  As regards coherence, she 
recalled that her delegation had identified certain issues found in the realm of the IMF and the WB 
that impacted the WTO and its Members, and had put forward views and ideas on what these other 
institutions should look into.  However, the WTO coul d not instruct other institutions on what to do, 
but only convey feelings and observations in relati on to the impact of identified issues on trade.  
Before launching the Secretariat into any new work, she requested that informal consultations allow 
Members to get a better sense of the parameters  under which work would be produced by the 
Secretariat.  Finally, her delegation was encouraged to hear that other delegations were interested in 
putting forward some ideas in the form of papers. 
18. The representative of Argentina  agreed with the summing up of the Chairman on Agenda 
Item A in particular with the idea of a stock-taki ng and an update exercise based on contributions by 
Members, taking into account recent global economic developments.  He said that his delegation was 
ready to take up the challenge of providing its own written contribution to the Group.  
19. The representative of Cuba  also shared the Chair's summing up and reiterated that the 
Secretariat could produce an updated document on th e topics that the Group had dealt with so far, 
once informal consultations had been held.  Ho wever, it was not clear why written contributions 
should be a pre-requisite for a S ecretariat document.  If they so wished, the Members could indeed 
submit new texts and ideas, but a Secretariat paper did not need to be based on written contributions 
only.  In all other WTO bodies, the Secretariat was guided by discussions among Members which 
were reflected in minutes providing usually enough guid ance.  Informal consultations could be useful 
in clarifying some of the new topics that have b een raised during the present discussion, not the least  WT/WGTDF/M/15 
 Page 5 
 
 
  the issue of commercial credits raised by Brazil – an  issue that was clearly linked to the relationship 
between trade and debt, as commercial credits we re aimed at financing imports and exports.  
Developing countries were dependent on such credit instruments for their trade, on trade for their development, and also on trade to repay their debt .  The topic of debt was hence clearly related to 
trade in both its origins and solutions.  The topic of coherence should also to be discussed, and, in this 
particular case, written ideas would be welcome. 
20. The representative of Brazil
 saw a consensus emerging, under which many countries had 
supported the production of a paper to be presented by the Chair/Secretariat on how to proceed with 
future work.  The delegation of Brazil had the in tention of presenting its own written contribution, 
elaborating on the oral statement made during the meeting, but it did not see it as a requirement for 
the Group to proceed with its work.  His delegati on also supported the idea of a paper presented by 
the Chair/Secretariat.   
21. The representative of the European Communities , while agreeing on the possibility for 
Members to call on the Secretariat, pointed to its lim ited resources and hence on  the need to focus the 
work of the Group in clear directions.  One shoul d be operating under the expectation that Members 
proposing new themes should come up with their own thoughts, even if preliminary, on how they saw 
the issue, how they saw it related to the work of  the Group, and what was expected from the Group on 
such topic.  However, the delegation of the EC was open to look at how the Secretariat could help the 
Group in this endeavour, although this would require informal consultations. 
22. The representative of Pakistan  supported the view of Brazil while showing understanding for 
the position of the United States.  Hence, the soluti on seemed to be holding informal consultations to 
clarify the way forward.  She also drew the Group's attention to a conference that took place under the 
sponsorship of the South Centre and UNCTAD on trad e, debt and finance, and suggested that the 
Group invite at the next meeting a representative of  the Conference's organizers for a briefing.   
23. The Chairman  concluded by suggesting the way forwar d.  He requested Members to follow-
up with written submissions.  Some Members having referred to the resource constraints faced by the 
Secretariat, he explained that written inputs from Me mbers would go a long way to facilitate the work 
of this Group and optimize Secretariat resources.  Th ere had also been a suggestion to invite another 
organization to brief the Group on the discussions taking place in their ambit on issues of concerns to the Group.  Finally, the Chairman proposed to ho ld informal consultations on the proposals made 
during the meeting, with a view to help the Wo rking Group continue its work in a more productive 
and focused way.  
24. The Chairman wished to remind the Group of its obligation to report to the General Council 
annually.  Given the few meetings held in 2007, he suggested that a report be prepared by the 
Secretariat and issued towards the end of November, with approval required on a lapse of time basis.  It was so agreed
. 
25. The meeting was adjourned . 
__________