. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/12 
28 July 2005 
 
 (05-3398) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Special Session  
 
 
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON  
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
Report by the Chairman, Mr. Faizel Ismail (South Africa),  
to the Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
 
I. STATUS OF WORK 
Since the last report to the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) , the Special Session has held 
two formal meetings and a numbe r of plurilateral consultations .   
As reported earlier, during the consultations held on how to ta ke the work on S&D forward, a 
number of Members had stressed the need to be gin examining the remaining Agreement-specific 
proposals.  In that context, Members had agreed  to address the remaining LDC Agreement-specific 
proposals.  Based on this understanding, Members ha ve, during the past few weeks been considering 
the remaining LDC proposals, which include proposals on the Understanding in Respect of Waivers of Obligations under the GATT 1994, the Enab ling Clause, the Agreement on Trade-Related 
Investment Measures and the Decision on Measur es in Favour of Least-Developed Countries.   
 
Members have generally been sympathetic towards the problems faced by the LDCs.  At the 
same time, many Members have expressed conc ern about the automaticity, open-ended and self 
granted exemptions being sought by  the LDCs in some of their earlier proposals.  While Members 
agree that it is important to provide the LDCs w ith a certain degree of flexibility and assistance to 
implement the WTO Agreements, it is clear that ther e is a difference in perception about the nature 
and extent of this flexibility.  A number of Member s feel that any flexibility should be transitional and 
should be provided on the basis of a need that is assessed collectively by Members.  Other Members, 
including the LDCs themselves, believe that there must be a degree of automaticity in granting the 
LDCs these flexibilities.  The LDCs have also proposed that where they have difficulty in 
implementing obligations, it should be mandatory for the developed country Members to provide 
technical assistance.  While mo st developed country Members accept the importance of providing 
technical assistance to the LDCs, they do not  agree that this should be mandatory.   
 
Despite these concerns, Members have been able to make progress and there has been a 
definite and discernible progress during the consulta tions towards greater convergence of positions, 
especially from Members' initial positions.  This prog ress can be attributed to the constructive and 
flexible approach adopted by Members, especially th e LDCs which have been  willing to redraft their 
proposals on the basis of the con cerns that have been expressed.   Members have, as a result, been able 
to bridge many of their differences on most of  the LDC proposals.  However, despite Members' 
flexibility some issues remain unr esolved and consequently the Speci al Session is not in a position to 
make specific recommendations on any of the rema ining Agreement-specific proposals.  But I am 
hopeful that we should be able to bridge most of  the differences in the coming months, especially 
since Members have time and again expressed a st rong commitment towards finding solutions to the 
development challenges faced by LDCs.   
 TN/CTD/12 
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In addition, some work has also been done  on the remaining Agreement-specific proposals, 
beginning with those tabled by the African Group; a first reading of which took place in an informal 
meeting held on 17 June 2005.  From the comments made  at that meeting, it is clear that there is a 
wide divergence of views on most of the proposals, especially with respect to those in Category III.  
The proponents have indicated their willingness to re draft their proposals in a manner that would take 
into account some of the views expressed on their proposals. 
 
II. FUTURE WORK 
I intend to report to the General Council that while significant progress has been made on the 
Agreement-specific proposals tabled by the LDCs, the Special Session will need to continue to work 
on the LDC proposals and other remaining Agreement-specific proposals and report on them with 
"clear recommendations for a decision" to th e General Council by the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference.  This work shall continue within the parameters of the mandate  contained in paragraph 
44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, paragr aph 12 of the Decision on Implementation-Related 
Issues and Concerns and the July 2004 Decision.   
 
The Special Session will also need to continue to  monitor and coordinate its efforts with that 
of the negotiating groups and other WTO bodies to  which the Category II proposals have been 
referred by the General Council. 
 Furthermore, as mandated in the July Decision,  the Special Session should also continue, 
within the parameters of the Doha mandate, to address all other outstanding work, including on the 
cross-cutting issues, the monitoring mechanism and the incorporation of S&D treatment into the 
architecture of WTO rules, as referred to in document TN/CTD/7 and report, as appropriate, to the General Council. 
 
 
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