RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/16 
21 April 2005 
 (05-1646) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
14 February 2005  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 14 February 2005  
 
Chairman: Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi (Director-General)  
 
 Subjects discussed
: Page  
 
1. Introductory statemen t by the Chairman...............................................................................1  
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of th e Bodies Established by the TNC...................................3  
3. Statements by participants..................................................................................................... 11 
 
 1. Introductory statement by the Chairman 
1. The Chairman
 said that, over the previous few weeks,  he had had a number of contacts with 
Ministers – at the APEC meeting in Chile, the Nord ic Africa Initiative meeting in Tanzania and, more 
recently, an informal gathering in Davos.  These contacts had confirmed that there was a high degree of political commitment to the process leading up to  the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and that 
an ambitious outcome was needed by that Conf erence if the Round was to conclude in 2006. 
2. In this connection, he had undertaken consulta tions with delegations since January on the 
objectives for 2005, looking to the Hong Kong Mini sterial and beyond, as he had announced at the 
December TNC.  His aim had been to build a co llective sense as soon as possible of what level of 
progress would be needed in each area by Hong Kong to attain an overall sense of balance.  These 
consultations had covered the broad spectrum of the membership , including an open-ended meeting of 
Heads of Delegations the previous Tu esday, and he was grateful to dele gations for their participation.  
He had also consulted closely with the negotiati ng group Chairs and the General Council Chairman. 
3. His consultations had indicated that there wa s a high level of convergence on the need for a 
substantial breakthrough in Hong Kong  in five key areas, which were: 
• modalities in Agriculture 
• modalities in Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) 
• a critical mass of market opening offers in Services 
• significant progress in areas such as Rules and Trade Facilitation, and 
• a proper reflection of the development dimension. 
 4. He had detected a strong sense of commitment at every level to flesh out the frameworks 
contained in the July 2004 Decision, to strike a balance across all subjects and to ensure that the 
negotiations contributed to development.  Participan ts had to be aware of the scale of the task this TN/C/M/16 
Page 2  
 
 implied.  There were some potentially intractab le problems ahead, and participants should not 
underestimate them.  Since the Ministerial Conf erence in Hong Kong, China was only ten months 
away, attaining the objectives would require some careful planning. 
5. First, participants had to ge t down to real negotiations in all areas, meaning real give-and-
take, and they had to do this at once.  This requi red a combination of hard work and flexibility in 
Geneva and better cohesion between  the Geneva process and capitals.  Ongoing periodic intervention 
at the political level, involving both Ministers and Senior Officials, would also be necessary, but it was well understood that the Geneva process re mained the backbone of the negotiations. 
6. Secondly, July should be a marker in the process.  Working back from Hong Kong, by July 
Members should be able to judge across the board  whether they were on course for a significant 
outcome for Hong Kong.  To allow this, they would need to see the elements of the potential outcome 
product, or what some had called "first approxi mations", emerging from the negotiating groups by 
early July at the latest.  But he wished to underlin e that these elements had to be based on the results 
of real negotiations among Members. 
7. Whatever the nature of these elements, they n eeded to be sufficiently ambitious to take 
Members to a result at Hong Kong which would in turn  allow them to enter into the end-game of the 
Round.  If Members were to have full modalities for agriculture and NAMA at Hong Kong, in other 
areas they would need to have a reasonable level of confidence that they were also heading towards an 
ambitious final outcome. 
8. The July elements, therefore, were likely to differ across the different negotiating areas, and 
the question of equivalence among them would have to  be addressed as the work evolved.  However, 
they should all already provide a sufficient level of confidence so that each Member knew that its 
areas of interest could move ahead and form part of the end result. 
9. Finally, to help guide further progress, he  said he was intensifying his already close 
coordination with the negotiating gr oup Chairs and the General Council Chairman.  The Chairs had an 
important role to play in leading the process in their respective areas.  But their ability to guide 
Members towards progress depended very much on the convergence that the negotiators could 
achieve.  The movement on substance necessary to progress in any area could only come from them. 
10. He said he would use successive meetings of the TNC and in the Heads of Delegations format 
to foreshadow these elements and their overall bala nce over the following months.  The TNC in July 
would then be used to fine-tune them.  Autumn  should be used to narrow down divergences and 
prepare a workable basis for the Ministerial Conf erence.  He would also continue to use every 
opportunity to engage Ministers, both individually and when they gathered together on future 
occasions, on the key issues in the negotiations in Gene va.  They needed to be fully aware of the work 
in Geneva, and they also needed a clear fo cus when they met in the following months. 
11. In all his work as TNC Chairman, he had consta ntly put the transparency and inclusiveness of 
the process to the fore, and he would continue to do so.  He was also well aware of the need to reduce 
the burden on smaller delegations as far as possible.   He wished to assure all delegations of the 
importance he attached to these aspects of the negotia ting process.  It could not be clearer to him that 
there was a need for the participation of all delegati ons in the process to be able to reach an outcome 
which was acceptable to all of them.  He woul d take every possible step to ensure this. 
12. There was a high level of political-level commitment to achieving a substantial outcome at 
Hong Kong and to the continuing Ministerial involveme nt that could help achieve it.  Delegations all 
knew that they had a lot of hard work before them .  If they could maintain the current level of  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 3 
 
 
 commitment and effort, and keep their focus on s ubstance, he firmly believed Hong Kong could set 
the stage for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round in 2006. 
13. He wished to make an interim report on the wo rk he had been undertaking on implementation 
in his capacity as Director-General, further to the re port he had made at the December meeting of the 
TNC.  As delegations were aware, the July D ecision had requested him to continue with his 
consultative process on all outstanding implementa tion issues under paragraph 12(b) of the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration, including on issues related to the extension of the protection of geographical 
indications (GIs) provided for in Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement to products other than wines and 
spirits.  In accordance with the July Decision, this  process was being undertaken without prejudice to 
the positions of Members. 
14. At this stage, the work continued on two tracks.   On the first track, covering all outstanding 
paragraph 12(b) implementation issues except the GI extension issue, the Chairpersons of concerned 
WTO bodies who had agreed to act as his Friends were  continuing their consultations on his behalf.  
He wished to express once again his appreciation for their efforts.  As he had reported in December, 
there was a willingness among delegations to engage, a nd in some areas, there continued to be a hope 
to be able to find ways forward.  He would ag ain urge everyone to maintain this momentum. 
15. On the second track, namely the GI extens ion issue, Mr. Thompson-Flôres was also 
continuing his technical-level consultations on hi s behalf.  He appreciated the good level of 
involvement delegations were show ing in this process, but it clearly remained a difficult issue on 
which to make progress.  Nonetheless, Mr. Thompson -Flôres was making a serious effort to move it 
forward. 
16. He wished to recall that the July Decision had asked everyone to redouble their efforts to find 
appropriate solutions to the outstanding implemen tation issues as a priority.  The July Decision had 
also asked him to report on his consultative pro cess to the TNC and the General Council by May 
2005.  This deadline was fast approaching, and de legations would need both flexibility and creativity 
in their approaches to these issues if they were to  be able to respect the mandate.  He urged all 
delegations to make every effort to allow progress to be made.  He intended to report again to the 
TNC on an interim basis at its next meeting in March. 
17. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the Chairman's statement. 
 
2. Reports by the Chairpersons of the Bodies Established by the TNC 
18. The Chairman  noted that written reports had been circulated in the following official 
documents: 
Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture:  TN/AG/15 
Negotiating Group on Market Access:    TN/MA/14 Negotiating Group on Rules:     TN/RL/11 Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development: TN/CTD/11 
 
19. Ambassador Groser (New Zealand), Chairman  of the Special Session of the Committee on 
Agriculture , said that since the present meeting was the first TNC of the year, he wished to step back a 
little and look at the work of the agriculture negotia tors since September on the basis of what they had 
with the framework and the political decisions taken th erein.  The first thing to do had been to get the 
issues out on the table and also to try and help th e different groups develop the technical basis that 
they would require in order to take those issues fo rward in the next phase of this negotiating process.  
Secondly, it had been necessary to develop a coope rative approach within the group to avoid the TN/C/M/16 
Page 4  
 
 inherent tensions in such a highly charged nego tiation, which would have  immediately knocked down 
the possibility of any forward progress.  He believe d the group had very successfully achieved that.  
Finally, it had been necessary to create the right mo ment and the right set of understandings to get the 
Sub-Committee on Cotton launched, and that had been  done informally and would take place in a 
formal way shortly. 
20. He had not been trying to push for political d ecisions up to this point, partly because of a 
personal view about the psychology of any negotia ting process that had just gone through the most 
intense process of political engagement, since one coul d not maintain such pressure indefinitely.  But 
also because he had had to look at what had been  happening in the other negotiating groups.  At the 
end of December, he had had to say to the membersh ip that, while the work had gone quite well with 
a more limited set of objectives, it was going too sl ow if the objective was to try to get full modalities 
on agriculture no later than Hong Kong. 
21. The group had established a working procedure that seemed to make sense to everyone, 
involving what he had called a "series of locks", to  allow a more intense consideration at each stage 
but also at the same time, maintain a very high le vel of transparency in the process.  By December, 
the group had also developed the idea that if there was to be any chance of getting full modalities at 
Hong Kong, one needed to have, by the end of the summer break what had been called a first 
approximation of the outcome.  This would allow ne gotiators, in the period September to December, 
to have some shape in their minds of where the real negotiation had to take place to achieve that 
objective. 
22. At the previous week's meeting, he had seen a need to focus minds on what he had called the 
crucial gateway issues.  That was to say, issues th at had to be solved that were themselves political, 
but also so technically complex that it would be in appropriate to submit them to Ministers.  He had 
not had the sense that the membership was ready to  engage in a deep discussion on a comprehensive 
basis of what the gateway issues might be, but the group had identified one in pa rticular.  This was the 
issue of the conversion of non- ad valorem  tariffs into ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs), which was a 
necessary step before beginning negotiations on ag ricultural market access.  He would not elaborate 
on this further at the present meeting, but this issu e had to be resolved within weeks, otherwise the 
entire game plan would be put in jeopardy. 
23. He wished to emphasise that he was getting a lot of cooperation from delegations on both 
sides.  It was a very difficult issue and behind it were some major political concerns, which he fully 
understood.  He was not blocked on this issue, but he  would like to see a higher level of intervention.  
Once this was resolved, there were a whole other set of issues which could not be put into a political 
process until progress was made in the group.  An exam ple of this was how could one design cuts in 
trade-distorting support in the various categories set  out in the framework until at least a working 
agreement was reached on what was going to be cut.  This was the approach conceptually. 
24. He had not suggested that the group negotiate a plan, but he had had to ensure a collective 
appreciation of exactly which issues had to be ad dressed as a priority in order to achieve some 
substance behind this phase of a first approximation.  In doing this, one had to  be realistic about the 
question of balance.  Balance would come only when  all the elements were pulled together.  Everyone 
would have to accept that, inevitably, issues woul d be highlighted that might not be politically 
convenient for some.  Everyone had to understand that he would pro ceed on the basis that the balance 
would be found at subsequent points in the negotia ting process.  He was not unhappy about the state 
of the negotiations.  They were about where one would have expected for constructive negotiations 
after the framework.  He believed the group was positi oned to do the job, but he wished to stress it 
would have to increase its work rate.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 5 
 
 
 25. Ambassador Jóhannesson (Iceland), Chairman  of the Negotiating Group on Market Access , 
said his Negotiating Group had met from 31 January to 4 February and had fini shed the first reading 
of the technical issues that he had listed in his organizational fax of 22 N ovember 2004.  He believed 
the approach adopted in the work since October had allowed for a more focussed discussion.  The 
Group had gone through the issues in the framework  and developed an approach to the elements 
singly, and this had helped Members acquire a be tter understanding of the issues at stake and the 
different positions.  He had repor ted orally to the TNC in December on the meetings held in 
November and December 2004, and his statement ha d been circulated to delegations in writing1 after 
the meeting.  His written report to the present meeting should be seen as an addition to that statement and as concluding his reporting on the work thus far, which had been more of a technical and 
clarifying nature.  The discussion at the last mee ting had been useful and his written report listed the 
issues discussed.  He had again been encouraged by the level of engagement at the meeting and delegations had also had exchang es between the Group's meetings.  He believed this was a good omen 
for the more intensive phase of work that the Group was now moving into. 
26. In consultations he had held on how to take the process forward,  various suggestions had been 
made on the organization of the meetings in Ma rch and beyond.  Many had suggested using the 
process that had been used recently in the agricultu re negotiations, and he wa s reflecting on this.  He 
wished to assure all delegations that plenary sessions  of the Group would play a central role in any 
case to ensure transparency and inclusiveness and that no decisions would be taken outside that 
forum.  It had also been evident from the consulta tions that there was a shared sense of urgency and 
the importance of speeding up the work.  There was a strong feeling that there was no time to waste 
and that the work needed to move into a more  intense phase of substantive negotiations, beyond the 
present technical and clarifying phase, and with a view to reaching a first approximation by the end of July and modalities by Hong Kong, as the Chairman had set out. 
27. On the assumption that the aim was to conc lude the negotiations by the end of 2006, it 
appeared evident that all of that year would be needed for delegations to prepare their offers and 
schedules based on the modalities adopted in Hong Kong.   Before the schedules could be tabled, time 
would be needed for Members to examine each others offers and then time would also be needed for a 
multilateral verification process of the schedules.  In  addition, time would be required for the request 
and offer process, as foreseen in the July Framework,  and for other elements that might be adopted in 
Hong Kong.  This would appear to imply that ther e was no other option than to agree on modalities by 
Hong Kong if the negotiations were to  be finished by the end of 2006. 
28. Similarly, if a first approximation was expected by the end of July, which now seemed to be a 
well-established goal, negotiators woul d need to have an outline or an idea of where they wished to go 
by late May or earlier.  It was thus extremely important to start to explore texts, concepts and ideas very shortly.  The next two meeti ngs in March and April would therefor e be crucial to that effect and 
Members would need to work arduously to start to produce convergence.  If he was to play his role as 
Chair and to lead and give direction to these nego tiations, Members would have to realize that they 
had to enable him to do that by providing convergen ce.  The Chairman had referred to this in his 
introductory remarks and he could only underline and reiterate what the Chairman had said. 
29. He understood the sensitivities regarding the tabl ing of papers prematurely and that Members 
would need time to discuss ideas they were trying to develop and which they needed to test 
informally, but he did wish to reiterate the time pressure everyone was working under – there would 
be only four meetings until the e nd of July.  It was essential to deepen the discussions on the key 
elements and to move forward in a balanced manne r and this would entail more intense engagement 
on the formula and other elements, but the trick wa s to frame the discussions in a manner that was 
conducive to progress and to avoid repetition of na tional positions.  He was reflecting on how to do 
                                                     
 
1  Circulated in document Job(04)/187. TN/C/M/16 
Page 6  
 
 that and he intended to circulate an organizati onal fax before the March meeting which he hoped 
would give some direction to that effect. 
30. While there were diverging views on the inte r-linkages between the formula and sectorals, 
and how flexibility for developing countries would f it into the picture, the key was to find an 
appropriate balance between flexib ility and ambition that everyone could accept.  And for that, there 
was a need to develop a number of instruments, or a tool kit as it had been called, for all the issues.  
This would be required to be able to deliver the necessary results and there was still a long way to go. 
31. With regard to the next meeting, the issue of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) would be taken up 
since there was a willingness to have a multilatera l examination of them.  Two papers on non-
reciprocal preference erosion were expected from the ACP and African Groups  and he would provide 
an opportunity to have a thorough discussion on these papers.  Other issues included data availability, 
product coverage, unbound tariffs and AVEs. 
32. In conclusion, he urged all participants to accel erate the pace of work.  Everyone agreed that 
results were needed and the key was input from Members, continued active engagement and bridge 
building.  He wished to stress in this regard th e importance of the Geneva process, but Ministerial 
input was also needed and he was encouraged by signs that there might be an increased focus on 
NAMA at that level.  Some delegations had indi cated their belief that the NAMA negotiations had 
suffered from lack of political guidance in the pre- July process, so political input would be very 
welcome and important in the efforts to move this area forward.  In addition, delegations should not 
only limit their engagement to the meetings, but al so use the time between them to the fullest, as he 
would for informal consultations which he intended to intensify in the coming weeks. 
33. Ambassador Valles Galmés (Uruguay), Chai rman of the Negotiating Group on Rules
, said 
that his written report was contained in document TN/RL/11 and he wished to highlight the main 
points.  The first point was that participants ha ve been very active in submitting papers for the 
consideration of the Group.  To date, the Group ha d received 170 formal submissions, which had been 
discussed in its formal meetings.  In addition,  the Group had received 31 informal elaborated 
proposals, which had been discussed in the Group's in formal meetings.  All of these submissions were 
publicly available.  Furthermore, in the area of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), four Secretariat 
notes and three informal notes by th e Chairman had been circulated. 
34. Hand-in-hand with the written side of its work , the Negotiating Group continued to pursue a 
very active schedule of meetings.  It had met thr ee times since his last report, and would hold further 
meetings the following week on anti-dumping, a nd subsidies and counterva iling measures including 
fisheries subsidies, and on 7 March on RTAs. 
35. In regard to anti-dumping, and subsidies a nd countervailing measures including fisheries 
subsidies, the meetings continue to be structur ed to include formal sessions, informal plenary 
meetings and an intensive process  of bilateral and plurilateral co nsultations among delegations had 
been started.  This structure had proved to be very  useful to the work of the Group, as it allowed for 
detailed technical discussions of the many complex issues that had been put on the table by 
participants.  In his view, it was clear that th ese detailed discussions had greatly enhanced the 
understanding in the Group of all pa rticipants' positions, which was an indispensable prerequisite to a 
satisfactory outcome of the rules negotiations.  He  was therefore satisfied with how the Group had 
conducted its business to date. 
36. Having said that, however, he was fully aware th at there was no room for complacency.  On 
the contrary, he shared the very wi despread view that the time had come to evolve the nature of the 
work of the Group, in terms of both process and su bstance, such that the area of anti-dumping, and 
subsidies and countervailing measures including fi sheries subsidies, could contribute fully and  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 7 
 
 
 positively to the successful completion of the Doha De velopment Agenda (DDA).  To this end, he had 
been consulting intensively with individual delegations to seek their views on the best way to move 
forward.  He had received many very constructiv e inputs in these consultations, and he planned to 
further explore this issue at the following week 's meeting of the Group.  There should be no 
misunderstanding, however, about wh at he could hope to do on his own.  His role as Chairman was to 
facilitate the progress of the Group's work, and he  fully committed himself and his good offices to 
that.  However, as the other Chairs had said, the real momentum and substantive input for further 
progress had to come from Members.  He therefore called on all delegations to be as concrete as 
possible regarding how the work of the Negotiating Gr oup could be intensified in  this area, in terms 
of both process and substance, and regarding the ki nd of contribution they wished the Group to make 
to the overall forward movement of the Round, and in  particular at the Ministerial Conference.  He 
further urged delegations, in doing so , to continue to demonstrate the same spirit of pragmatism and 
good will that had been the hallmar k of the Group's work thus far. 
37. With regard to RTAs, the Group had demonstrat ed a clear interest in working on aspects 
related to transparency.  This work was conti nuing, but it was already possible to identify the 
elements that could result in substantial improveme nts in understanding the functioning of RTAs and 
Members analysis of them.  The Group had also unde rtaken a first reading of systemic issues related 
to RTAs on the basis of the roadmap which the pr evious Chair had put forward and which he was 
using.  He was consulting participants to clarify the next steps to be taken in this area of the 
negotiations.  Given the wide range of systemic issues  already identified, he believed that, in the next 
phase, it was important for the Group to focus on a number of aspects of particular interest to 
participants. 
38. Mr. Ismail (South Africa), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , said that document TN/CTD/11 contained his report on the work of the Special 
Session.  At the last TNC, he had informed Member s that, based on consultations  to take the work on 
special and differential treatment (S&D) forward, he had on his own responsib ility put before them a 
conceptual approach in line with the Doha manda te and the July Decision to advance the remaining 
work on S&D.  His approach was based on a number of conceptual elements and envisaged a possible 
redrafting or merger of the remaining Agreement- specific proposals.  He wished to emphasize the 
need to address the underlying development issues ra ised in these Agreement-specific proposals in the 
context of some cross-cutting themes, including a dditional flexibility and enhanced capacity building 
for developing countries. 
39. As mentioned in his report, the intention w as not to achieve agreement on the suggested 
approach as a consensus document, but rather to u se the elements of the approach to broaden the 
perspective of the discussion in order to identif y the underlying developmental issues that the 
proposals were attempting to address. 
40. Members had discussed his conceptual approach bo th in informal consultations and in formal 
meetings, including at the meeting held on 8 Febr uary.  Although Members had been cautiously 
positive about the suggested approach, they had raised a number of concerns and sought clarifications.  
He intended to hold further small group consultations, particularly with those Members who still had 
concerns with the approach and to begin work on  the remaining Agreement-specific proposals, giving 
priority to the proposals by the least-developed countries (LDCs).  This work, in keeping with the 
mandate in the July Decision, would combine di scussions on the Agreement-specific proposals and 
the underlying cross-cutting themes of the clusters in which those proposals fell, so as to enable a 
dynamic interaction between the two. 
41. He expressed appreciation for the positive a ttitude and patience that Members had shown 
towards taking the work forward.  There was still a lot of work to be done and he urged Members to TN/C/M/16 
Page 8  
 
 continue to engage constructively and with the nece ssary flexibility that would enable them fulfil the 
July 2005 deadline. 
42. Ambassador Jara (Chile), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in 
Services  said that the Special Session had not held a formal meeting since his last report and was 
scheduled to meet the following week.  March 2005  would mark the two year anniversary of the 
benchmark for the submission of initial offers and 45  Members still had not tabled their initial offer, 
not including LDC Members.  This was a serious pr oblem, and as he had noted on previous occasions, 
the longer this situation persisted, the more serious a problem it became.  At the last meeting of the 
Special Session in December, three Members had subm itted their initial offers.  At the rate of three 
initial offers per meeting cluster, it would take un til 2009 to have a full set of initial offers on the 
table.  Members needed to face up to their resp onsibilities and play by the rules that they had 
established.  The Chairman of the TNC had sent lett ers to Ministers of Members with an initial offer 
outstanding, and he hoped that those le tters would receive a prompt reply. 
43. He wished to reiterate the seriousness of the situ ation.  The number of offers received was not 
encouraging and the quality of offers on the table was poor.  In addition, in the rules negotiations, 
with one exception little had happene d.  A great deal of renewed po litical will was required at this 
stage.  The preparation of initial and revised offe rs required internal coordination within government 
ministries and with stakeholders, which in turn required that political leadership allocated the 
necessary resources to complete the process.  The services negotiations were complex and highly technical, required time and entailed considerable expe nse, particularly for poorer countries.  Again, 
he wished to underline the need for po litical support for the services negotiations. 
44. The services negotiations were a key element to the overall negotiations, and a mediocre 
result in services could prevent Members from findi ng the balance necessary to conclude the Round 
with high levels of ambition in other areas.  If Members did not act now to redress the situation, there would not be a successful outcome in services for Hong Kong.  Political leader ship was required at 
this juncture and a change had to come quickly. 
45. Over the next weeks and months, Members need ed to define their objectives for the Sixth 
Ministerial Conference and beyond.  Through consu ltations, he would invite Members to reflect on 
their expectations for Hong Kong.  He was aware th at it was difficult to define benchmarks and levels 
of ambition in services sectors, modes of supply and rules.  However, questions could be asked, such 
as whether Members were willing to improve their offers to create new business opportunities, or 
whether Members could agree to improve offers th at went beyond standstill where possible.  These 
were pressing political questions that required prom pt answers if a first approximation for services 
was to be arrived at by May 2005. 
46. Turning to rules, he said his assessment was just as serious.  Discussions on a safeguard 
mechanism lacked a negotiating b asis; there was essentially no progress on disciplines for government 
procurement; there were preliminary ideas on subsidies disciplines; and negotiations on domestic 
regulation appeared to be the only area which held mo re promise.  Members needed to find ways and 
means to intensify work between clusters of meetings .  They needed to have a clearer idea of their 
objectives in these areas by the next cluster in June. 
47. In sum, in order to harness the political suppor t and organize work with a view to redressing 
the present situation and achieving positive results, Members had to proceed to define the problems 
and actively engage to develop optio ns and generate the appropriate pr ocesses.  As he had mentioned, 
the next formal meeting was scheduled for the follo wing week with the following meeting in the June 
cluster.  By June, much work in informal mode would have to have been accomplished in order for 
services to deliver a first approximation.  Members were aware of the heavy workload that awaited  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 9 
 
 
 and they knew that it could only be achieved if  the necessary political will and resources were 
allocated to the services negotiations. 
48. Finally, he wished to refer to the Modalities fo r the Special Treatment for LDCs that had been 
adopted by the Special Session.  He would propose to Members that at the Council's meeting in June, time be allocated for a dedicated discussion on LDCs in order to concentrate on those issues for one 
or two days and to secure their positiv e participation in the negotiations. 
49. Ambassador Ahmad (Pakistan), Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS
, 
said that the Special Session of the Council for TRI PS had not met since the last TNC and he had not 
held consultations in the intervening period.  In deed, he would say that the main positions in these 
negotiations had remained unchanged for more than 18 months.  This was particularly the case on the 
key issues of the legal effects of a registration of  a GI under the system to be negotiated and the 
question of participation, that was to say whether those effects would apply to all Members or only to 
those Members opting to participate in the system.  This did not mean that there had not been some 
useful work on some aspects, for example on the notification phase.  Nonetheless, it was necessary for 
delegations to show greater flexibility than had b een the case hitherto if the Special Session was to 
make a contribution to a first approximation, as the Chairman was seeking from the Negotiating 
Groups by the beginning of July. 
50. The next meeting of the Special Session would take place on 11 March, back-to-back with the 
regular TRIPS Council meeting earlier that week a nd he would be consultin g with delegations in 
advance of that meeting. 
51. Ambassador Spencer (Australia), Chairman of the Special Session of the Dispute Settlement 
Body , said he had not submitted a written report becau se there had not been sufficient progress in the 
DSU negotiations since the last TNC.  A meeting of  the Special Session had been held on 18 January 
which had concluded an initial r ound of discussions on an informal joint contribution covering three 
systemically significant issues.  This discussion had been quite constructive and had helped to take 
those issues forward.  This had been a good start, but if Members wanted to move further and build on 
this effort, now was the time to shift gears.  Th e signals from Ministers and Senior Officials were 
quite clear – negotiators should step up the pace of work in order to achieve real progress in all core 
areas by July in preparation for a substantive Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. 
52. He had been puzzled that in recent discussions  amongst Ambassadors, Senior Officials and 
Ministers, the DSU review had rarely been mentioned.  He was working on the presumption that when Ministers and Senior Officials referred to rul es as one of the core areas, they had in mind the 
DSU negotiations.  These negotiations were not part of  the Single Undertaking, but they were part of 
the DDA and given the systemic significance and comple xity of the matters at issue, he assumed that 
it was the view of the membership that substantial progress was needed by July, if there was to be a 
positive message to report to Ministers later in the ye ar.  In this spirit, he would be consulting with 
Members in the period leading to the next meeting on the immediate steps to be taken to move work 
forward.  He said that there were different ways to  achieve this, but Members needed to be guided by 
the objective of moving the negotiations to a final phase. 
53. While he did not wish to prejudge how Member s should proceed in order to achieve that 
objective, he wished to note two points of relevan ce.  Firstly, he believed that in this process an 
appropriate level of Ambassadorial and political enga gement would be necessary.  This subject was 
too important to be left exclusively to lawyers.  Secondly, he wished to emphasise that the main onus 
would be on delegations to pave the way towards an agreed result. 
54. Ambassador Ali (Bangladesh), Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Environment , said that the first meeting of the Special Session in the present year would take TN/C/M/16 
Page 10  
 
 place on 24-25 February.  Some useful progress had been made on the mandate of the group the 
previous year.  Several submissions had been r eceived, leading to engagement and discussion.  
Members had begun to u nderstand each other's positions, and had also articulated their views and 
concerns.  It was his belief that, on all parts of th e mandate, Members had a better appreciation of the 
expectations of individual countries or groups. 
55. At the end of the year, he had called on delegati ons to use the time between meetings to hold 
informal discussions on all parts of the mandate.  He  was aware that some informal work had already 
begun, and looked forward to this pa ttern continuing and feeding into the formal negotiations.  He had 
been informed that at the forthcoming meeting th ere would be new submissions.  He welcomed those 
initiatives, and hoped that they would contribute to the emergence of convergence in the views of the 
Members.  He would draw particular attention to the need for work on paragraph 31(iii) of the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration, so that it could feed into the NAMA process at the appropriate time. 
56. He hoped that the present year could be used to  build consensus.  As Members reflected on 
what the Special session could contribute to the outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, 
he believed they would also progress on the objec tives that had been set in the Doha mandate. 
57. Ambassador Noor (Malaysia), Chairman of  the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation
, said 
that since his last report to the TNC, the Ne gotiating Group had held a nother meeting on 7 and 9 
February 2005.  The main purpose of that session ha d been to provide Members with the opportunity 
to make contributions to the agenda of the Group' s work as set out in the Work Plan adopted last 
November.  In preparation for the meeting, nine written submissions had been received from 
Members sponsored by a total of ten delegations.  Each of them had proposed ways of responding to 
the mandate's call to clarify and improve relevant aspects of Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT.  In 
doing so, reference had been made to the other el ements of Annex D of the July 2004 Decision, in 
particular S&D treatment, cost implications, techni cal assistance and support for capacity building.  
Ideas on how to advance work had also been offered in  the form of verbal inputs, both in reaction to 
the written proposals and by deve loping additional suggestions. 
58. Contributions had also been received from inte rnational organizations participating in the 
meeting, particularly with respect to the Group's wo rk on the identification of trade facilitation needs 
and priorities and matters related to technical assist ance and capacity building.  Inputs on the issue of 
cost implications of proposed m easures had also been made.  A ll of these activities were closely 
aligned to the Negotiating Group's deliberations a nd he was heartened to see the commitment to 
further advance this work and ensure a coherent outcome. 
59. More input was expected by the next formal  meeting which Members had decided to hold on 
22-24 March.  Delegations would be  given the opportunity to revert to the proposals made at the 
February meeting with additional comments and sugg estions.  In this context, he urged Members to 
submit their contributions as soon as possibl e to provide adequate time for reactions. 
60. In conclusion, he noted that the Negotiating Gr oup had had very constructive exchanges that 
had allowed it to make considerable headway, a nd he expressed appreciation for the cooperation and 
constructive attitude of all delegati ons that had made this possible.  
61. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note  of the reports by the Chairpersons of the bodies 
established by it and of their statements.  
  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 11 
 
 
 3. Statements by participants 
62. The representative of Rwanda , on behalf of the African Group , said that given that Members 
were faced with enormous tasks ahead, they could consider having additiona l TNC meetings, in order 
to continue taking stock of the progress and gui ding the negotiations.  All Members bore a huge 
responsibility in ensuring the success of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and in delivering 
benefits to their people in terms of improved ec onomic and social welfare, which was the ultimate 
goal of the Doha Round.  In that regard, the African Group was ready and remained committed to 
working very closely with the Chairman and th e Chairpersons of the negotiating bodies.  All 
Members needed to be engaged in a constructive spir it in order to make progress in the negotiations 
and achieve the objectives of the Doha Development Round. 
63. She noted that many Ministerial gatherings we re already scheduled in various parts of the 
world and said the African Group welcomed the good will of Ministers to be regularly involved at the 
political level.  The Group believed that the involve ment of Ministers would positively influence and 
advance the Geneva process, for instance by making political decisions such as "a credible end date 
for export subsidies".  The African Group therefore welcomed more Ministerial contacts at regular 
intervals to consider a number of issues which would guide delegations. 
64. She wished to stress the need for transparency and inclusiv eness in order to ensure the 
participation and ownership of the process by all Me mbers.  Equally the issue of parallel meetings 
was of great concern to small delegations, as their limited capacity affected their ability to attend all 
meetings.  This was a very serious issue that should be addressed. 
65. This being a development round, any success would be measured by the extent to which the 
outcomes would be development-oriented.  Accordin gly, for the African Group "first approximation" 
equalled "fair approximation" and this  had to be in conformity with  the Doha mandate, and responsive 
to their needs and interests. 
66. On agriculture, she said the Group aimed to ach ieve substantial progress in the discussion on 
issues of interest to it such as the treatment of Net Food-Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs), 
exemptions of LDCs, Special Products and the Special  Safeguard Mechanism, pr eference erosion, the 
treatment of food aid and greater market access for A frican agricultural products.  Since last July, the 
discussions in the Agriculture Special Session had been technical in nature, and the Group hoped 
those discussions would translate into positive out comes.  One should recall that the objective of 
modalities by Hong Kong required subs tantial progress in technical discussions, in a manner which 
accorded special priority to the issues of interest to the African Group. 
67. On the issue of cotton, the Group wished to re -affirm its view that discussions in the Sub-
Committee on Cotton had to take into account both th e trade and development aspects, and also had to 
find an early solution to the cotton initiativ e including the drastic decline of prices. 
68. Regarding NAMA, she said the view of the Afri can Group was that the formula that would be 
agreed upon had to include S&D treatment, and the principle of less than full reciprocity among other 
elements.  Furthermore, solutions had to be f ound within the WTO for countries that would be 
affected by preference erosion.  Similarly, NT Bs had to be given more attention in the NAMA 
negotiations, as they had become huge barriers to market access. 
69. Turning to the services negotiations, the Afri can Group continued to look forward to more 
offers which took into consideration the interest s of developing countries, such as in mode 4, 
professional services, construction and tourism.  The Group hoped to achieve more commercially 
meaningful S&D treatment which would help this gr oup of countries, particul arly the least developed 
of them to address some of the challenges they faced  in services trade.  In that respect, Members had TN/C/M/16 
Page 12  
 
 to commit themselves to operationalize Article IV of GATS.  She expressed the Group's desire to 
have more discussions and proposals on how to ensu re that developing countries received targeted 
technical assistance as envisaged in Annex C of the July 2004 Decision. 
70. The African Group wished to underscore the need  for Members to intensify their efforts on 
development-related issues without  any further delay.  This was another measure which would gauge 
the success of the DDA.  The Group was disappointed  at the very slow progress made, both on S&D 
and implementation-related issues, a nd hoped that earlier pledges would be translated into reality.  For 
example, the Group wanted to see an early completi on of the amendment of the TRIPS Agreement to 
incorporate the 30 August 2003 Decision on TRIPS and Public Health. 
71. The Group hoped work in the Special Session of the Committee of Trade and Development 
would focus on achieving progress on the Agreement- specific proposals.  It should be recalled that 
making S&D more precise, effective and operational w as one of the main goals of the negotiations.  
After previously missed deadlines, Me mbers needed to deliver by July th is year, the date set out in the 
July Decision. 
72. On trade facilitation, the Group had observed th at the negotiations were moving very fast, 
with a danger that some countries would be left be hind.  Therefore it wished  to emphasize the need 
for more in-depth technical assistance from the early stages of the negotiations, so that Members 
could continuously gauge what their needs and priorities were.  The Group called upon Members who 
made proposals to assist the Group's members by accompanying each proposal, where necessary, with 
specific cost implications both in terms of financia l and institutional needs.  The Group also wished to 
emphasize that each proposal brought to the table had to come with precise and meaningful S&D 
treatment for developing and least-developed countries as that was an integral part of the trade 
facilitation negotiations. 
73. The representative of Egypt
 said that her delegation wished to  endorse and reiterate the issues 
highlighted by Rwanda on behalf of the African Group.  The TNC would increasingly play a fundamental role in moving the DDA and the Ju ly Decision forward in the coming months and 
generate the momentum needed to ensure a succ essful Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.  She 
wished to start with some remarks on process.  The work to be undertaken should be carried out at a 
parallel pace by all negotiating bodies.  Transparency  and inclusiveness had to be ensured and in that 
regard stocktaking exercises needed to be organi zed by July at which th e collective efforts of 
Members would be appraised and de legations would then determine the highest realistic level of 
ambition and the kind of outcome they would expect from Hong Kong. 
74. Turning to substance, she wished to underscore  the need to give more priority to all 
development-related issues in the DDA and to achie ve meaningful outcomes of commercial value.  
There was a growing need for progress to be ma de on all the Agreement-specific proposals on S&D 
and all implementation-related issu es and concerns.  Developing countries had agreed to enter the 
present Round of negotiati ons on the understanding that S&D tr eatment in the current Agreements 
would be made operational and effective.  They had been forthcoming in the negotiations and had 
accommodated the interest of other Members in di scussing "cross-cutting issues".  It was time for 
these Members to reciprocate and be responsive in  facilitating progress on all the Agreement-specific 
proposals which had been tabled by developing countries since Doha. 
75. Agriculture remained the core issue in the negotiations as positive developments on that track 
would give impetus and momentum to other tracks.  Work in the Special Session after July had been 
technical in nature and her delega tion agreed with the Agriculture Ch airman that it was important to 
solve technical matters before seeking political gui dance.  Members remained to be guided by the 
Chairman on the review of technical work, and when  political decisions needed to be made.  He had 
pointed out in his written report that he would condu ct discussions to develop stand-alone texts.  In  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 13 
 
 
 the view of Egypt, for those discussions to be e ffective a balance among the three pillars was needed 
and S&D had to be an integral element in all pillars .  Her delegation wished to see the development of 
friendly modalities on agriculture.  The establishmen t of the Sub-Committee on Cotton was a useful 
development. 
76. Regarding market access, it was important to fo llow the logical sequence, which was agreeing 
on the general rule first, then the exceptions.  On  domestic support, the objective in the pillar was how 
to reach an operational concept that addressed cuts, disciplines and monitoring.  To achieve an overall 
effective cut, it was essential to decide on credible technical and political starting and ending points.  
On the Green Box, a monitoring mechanism had to be developed that ensured that green subsidies 
remained green.  Regarding export competition, although technical discussions had gone a long way, 
two important issues were yet to be concluded – cr edible end date to phase out all forms of export 
subsidies, and how parallelism woul d be achieved.  Some of the key concerns that needed to be 
addressed included the treatment of NFIDCs, the trea tment of food aid, and the long-standing erosion 
of preferences. 
77. Regarding NAMA, her delegation was encourag ed by the technical discussions which had 
followed the adoption of the July Decision.  Howeve r, there was not yet a real sense of achievement, 
due to the considerable gap of interpretation of th e different components of Annex B.  Her delegation 
believed that, presently reaching a concrete commo n understanding on a limited number of issues 
could only but pave the way for a wider agre ement through focusing the NAMA discussions on the 
core modalities.  A clear and common understanding on the core modality of the NAMA negotiations, 
which was the reduction formula including the different  values and numbers of all of its components, 
had to be achieved by Hong Kong.  A formula was needed that was ambitious enough and provided 
significant market access for all Members, while at  the same time taking into consideration the 
principle of less than full reciprocity.  Her dele gation believed that the "July first approximation" 
should include a clear and common understanding on  convergence on the broad guidelines of the 
formula, in other words its type, main components and the scope of its applicability. 
78. Turning to services, she said her delegation shar ed the concerns of many Members that the 
negotiations were still lagging behind the other area s.  This growing sense of disappointment had to 
be addressed fully and in a timely manner in order to  arrive at Hong Kong with the required level of 
achievement.  In light of this, and in reaffirmation of its commitment to achieve a progressively 
higher level of liberalization of trade in services, Egypt had submitted its init ial offer in December 
2004, which introduced new and improved horizontal  and specific commitments.  Her delegation 
believed that the potential of the services negotiations  truly reflected the developmental aspect of the 
Doha Work Programme.  However, it was evident that  the initial offers submitted by the developed 
countries had not addressed the need of their de veloping and least-developed partners to obtain 
adequate market access to the sectors of their export  interests.  In order for these negotiations to 
deliver sufficiently by Hong Kong and beyond, the qua lity of the revised offers should clearly reflect 
the developmental aspect, address the intrinsic imbala nces of the negotiations, and reaffirm Members' 
commitment to the Doha mandate. 
79. On trade facilitation, Egypt had in 2004 undert aken significant efforts to facilitate trade 
through substantial legislative reforms, as well as improved customs procedures.  Those efforts had 
been undertaken autonomously in recognition of the be nefits of trade facilitation, and were not based 
on legally binding obligations.  The reforms had been made in accordance with Egypt's own 
implementation capacities and needs.  At the last m eeting of the Negotiating Group in February, sense 
of the level of ambition to the negotiations had been  given.  Numerous submissions had been tabled.  
Some of the proposals were simple, to the point, and included general principles and measures.  
Others were detailed, extensive, and duplicated to  some extent the work of other standard setting 
organizations, such as the World Customs Organizati on.  Her delegation was inclined to the former 
approach, and she wished to reiterate in this rega rd that the modalities agreed upon stated that due TN/C/M/16 
Page 14  
 
 account would be taken of the relevant work of those organizations.  Her delegation wished to 
reaffirm that the extent and timing of entering into  commitments had to relate to the implementation 
capacities of developing countries. 
80. The representative of the United States
 said his country was committed to completing the 
Doha Round before the end of 2006 because it was an essential ingredient in a concerted strategy to 
promote global growth and development for the economies of all Members.  A successful DDA could 
make a vital contribution to the development, growth  and poverty reduction goals of many partners in 
the developing world.  It was clear that for all Members, trade liberalization and domestic reform went hand in hand with deve lopment and economic growth. 
81. Completing the DDA within this timeframe was a big challenge, but it could be achieved if all 
Members intensified their efforts,  maintained a strong pace throughout  the period of negotiations, and 
recognized that a final agreement would be of interest  to them all.  In particular, Members had to be 
very attentive to important mileposts, to be sure that the work was not lagging. 
82. Looking to the Sixth Ministerial in Hong Kong at the end of the year, the goal had to be to 
ensure that Ministers were able to affirm clear guidance in the form of an "endgame document" which 
enabled Members in 2006 to finalize negotiations – from tabling and negotiating their schedules in 
NAMA and agriculture, to completing services negotiati ons and other text-based results in accordance 
with the DDA mandate. 
83. He wondered what an "endgame document" should look like.  In the areas of agriculture and 
NAMA, Members needed modalities, including the va rious formulae, and the necessary numbers.  In 
other areas, it could be draft, bracketed texts, or it could be an annotated outline of the elements to be 
converted into text in 2006, or guidance needed  to negotiate clarification and improvements to 
existing Agreements.  There would not be an identical template for each negotiating area but it would have to take Members to the point in each area that  they had sufficient time in 2006 and sufficient 
guidance from the "endgame document", which enabled negotiation of the complete package within a 
year of the Hong Kong meeting. 
84. He reiterated that it was a huge ch allenge to get to that point within ten months.  Members, 
could do it if they pushed very hard between the present meeting and July, constantly keeping their 
eyes on progress in the resp ective negotiating groups. 
85. While being attentive to the pace of each of  the negotiations, however, Members should not 
expect that each negotiation would move in lock st ep with the others.  All Members had to avoid the 
temptation to suggest that movement in one area  was not possible because they had not seen enough 
in some other area.  Each negotiation would have  its own rhythm.  What was important was that 
Members got to the necessary endgame launc hing point for each topic by Hong Kong. 
86. An important lesson learnt from the work in th e DDA thus far was the need to build in the 
necessary time for appropriate consu ltations among regional groups, in capitals and with stakeholders 
in order to bring all Members along.  His delegati on appreciated that many trading partners were 
going to be meeting early, often, and at the Minister ial level, to ensure effe ctive participation in the 
coming months. 
87. Regarding progress by the summer break, he said Members needed to be very far along in the 
development of the Hong Kong "end game document" since they would have little more than two 
months available for concentrated work before th e Ministerial.  As in the case of the Hong Kong 
document itself, the output of the work by July woul d vary in form across the topics.  Whatever the 
form of the output in each topic in July, it had to  give the membership c onfidence that they could 
bring that topic to endgame status by the Ministerial.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 15 
 
 
 88. He wished to reiterate the United States' commit ment to meeting those intermediate goals, so 
that Members achieved the final goal of a successful DDA by the end of next year.  This was the clear policy of President Bush’s Administration. 
89. Regarding agriculture, he said it was essential that Members moved immediately to develop 
and share the data on AVE tariffs.  This informatio n was necessary to proceed with the negotiations 
on market access in this area.  His delegation had st ated repeatedly, as had many other Members, that 
an ambitious package of market acce ss in agriculture was a sine qua non of an ambitious outcome on 
the domestic support pillar.  The provision of data to  negotiating partners had to be without prejudice 
to whether Members ultimately used specific or ad valorem  tariffs. 
90. On NAMA, the United States had recently suggested  that Members explore the desirability of 
a single Swiss tariff-cutting formula with a dual co efficient, in other words a coefficient X for 
developed countries, and another coefficient for de veloping countries.  This of course would be 
combined with special treatment for LDCs and c ountries with less than 35 per cent tariff bindings.  
This suggestion would bring directly  into the formula the element of  less than full reciprocity.  His 
delegation hoped this suggestion would help to move the NAMA work into a deeper level of 
engagement as the Group’s meeting in March appro ached.  Even as Members intensified their work 
on the formula in NAMA, they needed  to do the same with respect to the other essential elements of a 
NAMA package, namely, sectoral initiatives and NTBs .  All of these elements needed to come 
together to provide a clear picture on modalities. 
91. Turning to services, he said his delegation did not see new business opportunities being 
created by many of the offers on the table.  All Members needed to use the next few months to 
conscientiously review their positions  in light of the requests being received, review what they had 
offered and make appropriate impr ovements by May.  Countries that had yet to make initial offers 
needed to make those offers as soon as possible.  Significant work was therefore required with other 
ministries and agencies in Members' own govern ments who have the primary responsibilities for 
many of the services areas under negotiation. 
92. Work on market access and the rules issues in ser vices would only come together if there was 
a greater appreciation of the contribution of services to Members' economic growth, competitiveness and development.  For developing countries, servic es accounted for more than half of GDP and were 
an essential ingredient in any country’s "infrastructur e of competitiveness".  In terms of the elements 
of a services framework, Members had to think about th e best means to produce real results on market 
access, including the usefulness of benchmarks and setting deadlines for additional improvements in 
offers; how to proceed on rules and domestic regulati on; and how best to promote the linkage between 
services liberalization and development.  The info rmal services friends groups which were doing 
positive work in many key sectors needed to c ontribute to the developm ent of the framework. 
93. On trade facilitation, his delegation noted th e good progress that was being made in the 
recently organized Negotiating Group.  It commended the participants in that Group and encouraged 
all Members to support continued progress.  In the other areas of rules, that Members needed to 
determine the appropriate paths to their objectives.  The United States had particular interest in the 
work on improved disciplines on subsidies, including th e elimination of fish subsidies; more effective 
scrutiny of the WTO-consistency of RTAs; and st rengthening of the DSU, including transparency.  
His delegation recognized that various friends had other priorities among the rules and systemic topics.  The United States was committed to work ing constructively on all aspects of the Doha 
mandate. 
94.
 Finally, not as an afterthought, but rather fo r emphasis he said there was "development", 
which was the negotiation’s middle name.  As Members' analyzed their positions in each of the negotiating areas, they had to seek to incorporate the features that would best contribute to the TN/C/M/16 
Page 16  
 
 advancement of developing countries and their in tegration into the global economy, including the 
system of rules and benefits of the WTO. 
95. The representative of Chile
 said that from the past months and days his delegation had noted 
that there was the right atmosphere and level of in terest in moving the Doha Round negotiations to a 
conclusion.  These signals had been seen in the WTO, in meetings in other fora at Ministerial as well 
as Senior Official level.  The presence of many capital-based officials at the present meeting spoke 
volumes.  The Sixth Ministerial Conference required delegations to engage in a process of collective 
reflection which would define the objectives they wished to meet then.  It was not viable to conclude the Round in December as there was not enough time  and in one area of the negotiations, trade 
facilitation, negotiations had just began.  His dele gation however shared the interests of many in 
concluding the negotiations by 2006. 
96. Hong Kong had to take Members closer to the final stage of the negotiations.  In NAMA and 
agriculture, if Members did not adopt modalities it w as highly likely that they would not meet the 
objective of concluding the Round in 2006.  It had to be recalled that following the modalities, 
Members needed to prepare national schedules, to verify them, look at a possible deepening of the 
liberalization as well as other adjustments, all of which took a lot of time.  The reports on the present 
state of the negotiations had revealed that Members were behind schedule.  If they wanted to meet 
their objectives, the rhythm and the direction of  negotiations needed to change drastically. 
97. The work had to done Geneva.  Hong Kong c ould only be successful if Ministers had few 
central issues to resolve, and on which options had been developed that Members were already 
familiar with.  Over the next months, Members woul d have to gradually move towards a Ministerial 
Declaration which was balanced, but without sacr ificing the objectives that they had set for 
themselves at Doha.  It should not be  forgotten that this Declaration needed to refer to other aspects of 
WTO's work which were not part of the negotiati ons.  His delegation supported the idea that around 
the month of July the Chairman of the TNC shoul d provide Members with a realistic assessment of 
the status of the negotiations, the key problems and the dimensions and direction of the efforts that 
Members needed to make before Hong Kong.  That would make it possible to set goals for the Sixth 
Ministerial and organize the political support. 
98. However, until July, delegations needed to u se every opportunity to clear up problems and 
obstacles.  In that context, the role of the TNC and the way in which delega tions coordinated dialogue 
with capitals and Ministers were vital.  All of this had to be done in the midst of major trade conflicts, 
the selection of the new Director General, accession negotiations and the implementation of the 
Uruguay Round results, amongst other things.  In othe r words, if Members accepted the premise that 
they would conclude the negotiations in 2006, this was the year in which they had to do most of their work. 
99. On agriculture, he said an unexpected problem  had arisen which was essentially one of 
transparency – the conversion of non- ad valorem  tariffs to AVEs.  His delegation agreed with the 
Agriculture Chair that this was a problem that should be solved in the next few weeks, but not at any 
cost.  It was not reasonable for those who had tho se tariffs to expect that others would negotiate 
blindly.  Nor was it reasonable that those Member s made the submission of their AVEs conditional on 
an early definition of results in other areas of ne gotiations, such as tariff simplification or sensitive 
products. 
100. Regarding NAMA, the task before Members was enormous.  Delegations needed to open up 
dialogue, develop and assess options and negotiate on the basis of confidence and trust.  There was a 
great diversity of tariff structures and commitments assumed in the past.  To reach high levels of ambition, delegations needed flexible approach es so as not to drop down to the lowest common 
denominator with meagre results.  In that respect, recent indications from major trading partners of an  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 17 
 
 
 acceptance of dissimilar liberalization efforts on the b asis of levels of development was an important 
step forward. 
101. Turning to services, considerable effort should be made to reverse the mediocre results that 
the present situation implied.  It was imperative that  all Members participated within the same rules 
and therefore, those who had not yet submitted their in itial offers needed to do  so.  The importance of 
achieving much better offers in May in all sectors and all modes of supply should be reaffirmed.  
Members needed to intensify work on modes of supply and calmly evaluate the viability of making 
progress in the rule-making areas.  On domestic regu lation, it seemed that there was more probability 
of moving forward. 
102. On rules, the Friends of Anti-dumping Negotia tions had adopted a statement which summed 
up their position and reiterated that results on anti-dumping were a necessary pre-condition to 
achieving high levels of ambition on market access.  Members needed to move rapidly to the stage of 
initiating negotiations on texts.  Regarding RTAs, Members had made progress on transparency and 
now had to look into the viability of bridging gaps  and ambiguities in substantive rules.  Work on 
fisheries subsidies was promising which would make it possible for Members to move soon into a text 
drafting phase on new disciplines. 
103. On dispute settlement, Members needed to push fo rward the process to give shape to results 
which would fill the gaps, improve the system wh ere necessary and reverse the unfortunate tendency 
of non-compliance with DSB decisions which had br ought serious discredit to the legal viability of 
the WTO. 
104. His delegation urged Members to change approach in the work on GIs.  It was not viable nor 
reasonable that, in the absence of specific ma ndates, Members were be ing pushed towards a re-
opening of the TRIPS Agreement and an increase in ri ghts and obligations.  It was neither viable nor 
reasonable to attempt to negotiate the multilateral register for wines and spirits, the extension of 
protection to other products and the so-called "claw back" in three separate fora, without a mandate in 
two of those, in circumstances when all of these aspec ts were inter-related.  His delegation wished to 
associate itself with the suggestion by Rwanda that  TNC meetings should be held more frequently 
from the present meeting to the end of the process. 
105. The representative of the European Communities  said his delegation agreed with the 
Chairman's overall assessment of the state of negotiations.  After the Davos Ministerial gathering, the recent informal Heads of Delegations meeting and the meeting of Senior Officials hosted by the 
United States, it was fair to say th at there appeared to be a high le vel of convergence for an ambitious 
outcome in Hong Kong with a view to concluding  the Round no later than 2006.  His delegation had 
detected a strong sense of political commitment from its contacts at the Ministerial level. 
106. His delegation agreed with the Chairman's em phasis on the overall balance of the package to 
be negotiated between now and H ong Kong.  For his delegation the overall balance was of crucial 
importance.  It was clear from the various reports of the Chairs of the negotiating groups that progress 
had been uneven so far.  His delegation agreed wi th the Agriculture Chair that work on agriculture 
had made good progress and that at present the work was more or less on track.  However, that was not the case as far as NAMA or services were concerne d where a lot of catching up was needed.  On 
rules, including trade facilitation, anti-dumping and subsidies, Members were still in the clarifying 
phase or were pretty much nowhere such as on GIs. 
107. The Chairman had made it clear that an ambitious result in Hong Kong could only be 
achieved if Members agreed on a first approximation by  the summer.  This implied that work had to 
be intensified in each and every sector and also that  Members had to resist the temptation to backload 
the negotiating process.  They need ed to enter into text-based negotiations.  The model of progressive TN/C/M/16 
Page 18  
 
 approximation introduced in the agriculture negotia tions would be a good example for other sectors.  
The same applied to the process.  The system of subsequent locks would be  fruitful in other areas. 
108. While the first approximation would take differe nt forms in agriculture, NAMA and rules, he 
said the overall balance would have to be seen by July.  Very substantive progress across the board 
would be required in the months to come.  Minist erial involvement would be crucial in the coming 
period and Ministerial gatherings would be usef ul in that respect, provided they were more 
operational than in the past.  This depended on th em being focused and well prepared.  However, 
Ministerial involvement had to be much more than  a Ministerial gathering road show.  It had to 
consist in the first place of giving the appropriate gu idance and leeway to negotiators in Geneva.  It 
was in Geneva that the work had to be done, with the necessary involvement of Ministers and Senior 
Officials and this was all part of the same process. 
109. His delegation agreed with the Agriculture Chai r that Members were at a point where they 
had to solve some of the "gateway issues".  The issue of AVEs was certainly one which had to solved 
in the coming weeks before the Ministerial gathering in Kenya.  His delegation was prepared to engage, if all aspects of such a highly techni cal matter were addressed comprehensively. 
110. In the NAMA negotiations, views seemed to be  converging on addressing first and foremost 
the formula and less than full reciprocity.  Some id eas had been tabled, including by his delegation.  
Members should work those suggestions through and test them as far as their impact was concerned, 
and move subsequently to other aspects of NAMA negotiations, such as sectorals and NTBs. 
111. The Community supported the Se rvices Chairman's wake-up call.  Members needed to give 
Ministers some key questions along the lines that the Chair had mentioned such as whether or not they 
were going to liberalise – whether they woul d commit beyond their Uruguay Round commitments, 
that is, whether they were prepared to go beyond cu rrent levels of liberalisation.  In that context, 
Members should also see how best to provide comfor t, advice and support to developing countries. 
112. His delegation was encouraged by the report of the Chairman of the Negotiating Group on 
Trade Facilitation and by his expectation that by  May/June, Members would probably move to text-
based negotiations.  On anti-dumping and subsidies, Members were still in an initial stage and needed 
to find a way to transform the technical work into a text-based process, that is , an intermediate phase 
before addressing more comprehensive amendments .  In the work of RTAs, his delegation was 
encouraged by progress made on transparency and w as willing to address in parallel the rules-related 
part of the negotiations.  On environment, his dele gation was working hard to finalise a new paper on 
environmental goods with the aim of tabling it at the next Special Session. 
113. Turning to development, which ran like a red th read throughout all the negotiations, he said 
his delegation encouraged the Chairman of th e Special Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development to continue pursuing the conceptual approach which he had presented to Members late 
last year.  Although that approach might not yet be fully accepted by all, it was clear that more 
creative thinking was needed in comparison to th e process followed before Cancun, if Members 
wanted effectively to tackle the S&D work progra mme.  Aside from the work of the Special Session, 
the Community continued also to attach a strong priority to other development-related aspects, 
including implementation, trade-related technical assistance and capacity building, and preference 
erosion.  The biggest development gains in the DDA, however, would come from the key negotiating topics – agriculture, NAMA, services, trade facilitati on – and also from new trading opportunities for 
LDCs and developing countries on a South-South basis. 
114. Finally, on process, he said his delegation knew from experience, that commitment and 
political support were essential but not sufficient and not  a guarantee to move things forward.  Within 
the Geneva process, Members needed to find th e right balance between small informal groups,  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 19 
 
 
 feedback to constituencies and inclusiveness.  The ri ght balance had been found in the run-up to the 
July Decision but that would not work again automatically.  The Community urged Members to inspire themselves from what appeared  to work in agriculture and also in other sectors.  This time 
around, the process would be more complicated than  last July, as the linking up of the various 
elements of the package would be crucial.  Both the TNC Chairman and the Chairman of the General 
Council would have a heavy res ponsibility in this respect. 
115. The representative of Zambia
, on behalf of the LDC Group , said the Group remained 
committed to working with the Chairman in order to ensure that the Work  Programme was followed 
successfully and that it was in line with the ma ndates of the Marrakesh Agreement, the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration and the July Decision.  The Group hoped that Members would be able to 
strike a deal by July on most key areas, especia lly in NAMA and agriculture, taking into account the 
developmental aspects for the benefit of developing countries, especially the LDCs.  The urgency and 
the importance of these aspects of the Doha Development Round could therefore not be over 
emphasized.  As it had previously stated, the Group believed that the goodwill and spirit of 
engagement demonstrated by all Members would lead to a positive outcome from the first 
approximation. 
116. The LDC Group would liaise with the Chairpers ons of negotiating bodies regarding issues of 
specific interest to it which had been  raised in their reports, with a vi ew to putting those issues in their 
proper perspective in terms of prio ritization and emphasis.  In this regard, the Group had taken note of 
the proposal made by the Chairman of the servi ces negotiations.  The Group wished to express its 
appreciation to all Members for their continued supp ort for the LDCs and trusted that everyone would 
strive to make the Doha Development Round a r eal development round for developing countries and 
in particular for the LDCs.  Finally, the Group s upported the statement by Rwanda on behalf of the 
African Group. 
117. The representative of Djibouti  said that, after having listened to the various reports of the 
negotiating group Chairs, his delegation was under the impression that progress would be made 
compared to what had taken place in Cancún.  The meeting at Cancún was useful as a point of 
comparison and had historical value, but his dele gation hoped that what had happened there would not 
be repeated.  Zambia on behalf of the LDCs set out the special problems faced by this Group of countries, including Djibouti, which was a point his delegation made repeatedly.  Much as his 
delegation appreciated the remarks by the Services  Chair, it believed that LDCs were unable to 
negotiate.  What had been done by the Secretar iat in terms of technical assistance, although 
satisfactory, was still insufficient.  He wondered whether the technical assistance that had been 
provided met their needs and whether there was a need to go further. 
118. In its statement the United States had said that  in order to negotiate, one needed to know 
exactly what one was negotiating and this was missing  in the case of LDCs.  The LDCs had difficulty 
in coming forward with offers even in the services areas which was of particular importance to them 
as they did not know exactly what the impact of such offers would be on them.  They had be 
empowered to negotiate.  He said that LDCs could not be expected to respond to and respect the rules 
of the WTO unless they knew exactly how those rul es operated and this was the crux of the problem.  
LDCs were being asked to do the impossible – to in tegrate into the system – but they lacked the 
means.  His delegation agreed with the European  Communities that it was important for Members to 
do everything in order to achieve results through the negotiations.  It was importa nt to start in Geneva, 
as it was here that ideas would be generated, and th e results could then be submitted to Ministers. 
119. The representative of Korea
 agreed with the Chairman that this year would be critical for the 
DDA.  Members had to make significant and substa ntive progress by the Hong Kong Ministerial so 
that they could successfully complete the negotiations  by the end of 2006.  There seemed to be a 
broad consensus on the timeline for wo rk leading up to the Hong Kong Ministerial, including the need TN/C/M/16 
Page 20  
 
 for a first approximation of the possible outcomes of the Ministerial by July.  As the Chairman had 
rightly said, balance was the key element in the work.  Members had to make balanced progress in 
important areas so that the first approximation woul d reflect a balanced interest for all of them. 
120. For his delegation, a balanced first approxima tion had to have the following elements: for 
agriculture and NAMA, draft modalities or something similar; for services, a package that contained 
substantially improved market access offers and elem ents for the rules aspects of the negotiations; for 
rules, in particular, anti-dumping, something in the form of a legal text that would be the basis for serious negotiations after July; and, a reflection of the development dimension in all areas of 
negotiation. 
121. Such a list might look too ambitious, since the shape of a first approximation for services and 
rules, for instance, was not yet clear.  The rh ythm for the modalities negotiations was certainly 
different from the rhythm for other negotiations.  Bu t the fact was that, at the time of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial, Members could not go to their business communities and the general public and say that they had modalities for agriculture and NAMA but were still working on services and rules.  Their constituencies would not see a balance in such a pack age.  In that sense, ba lance was a curse, and 
neither in July nor in Hong Kong could Member s get around it.  His delegation recognized that 
achieving a balanced first approximation by July was not an easy task.  An enormous amount of hard work was needed but time was not on the side of delegations.  Korea fully shared the Chairman's 
concern on the pace of the negotiations in key areas. 
122. On agriculture, his delegation was concerned th at the issue of AVEs had surfaced as a major 
stumbling block.  It hoped that this issue would be resolved as soon as possible so that delegations 
could move on to the core issues in the three p illars of market access, domestic support and export 
competition.  In the NAMA negotiations his dele gation was encouraged by the increasing sense of 
urgency and the recent efforts to find a way to move  forward and it remained committed to the goal of 
achieving ambitious results in this important area.  Services was another important component of the 
market access negotiations, yet this area was in dire  need of a change of pace.  Members needed 
greater political impetus in the negotiations so that they could make concerted efforts to enhance both 
the number and quality of offers and reach a common understanding on the direction for the 
negotiations on rules aspects. 
123. Substantial results in the rules negotiations, especially on anti-dumping, were critical to 
harness a robust market access package.  As it had sa id at the outset, his delegation wished to have 
something in the form of a legal text by July so that Members could move on from the stage of 
proposals and comments to the stage of text-b ased negotiations.  The Friends of Anti-dumping 
Negotiations had recently held a Senior Officials Meeting to discuss the way forward in the anti-
dumping negotiations.  The results of that meeting,  including six broad objectives of the negotiations 
that the Friends had agreed had been circulated  as a room document to delegations at the present 
meeting.  His delegation hoped that others would join  the efforts of the Friends to improve and clarify 
the Anti-Dumping Agreement. 
124. The development dimension had to be an integr al part of a balanced outcome.  Given the 
experiences Members had had in this area, they need ed realism and pragmatism to make progress.  In 
this sense, his delegation welcomed the consensu s on the way forward reached at the CTD Special 
Session the previous week.  Finally, it was obvious that delegations faced a difficult time in the 
coming months, but they needed to keep high ambitions for the Hong Kong Ministerial. 
125. The representative of Canada
 said that the July Decision had been a real achievement which 
had placed Members back on the road to concluding the DDA.  Since July, Members had continued to 
make progress in defining the technical issues and more recently, in marshalling the political will to 
move to the next stage of negotiations, to the real negotiating.  As Members made this transition, it  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 21 
 
 
 was important that they reflected on what it was that  they had set out to achieve – to increase their 
individual and collective economic prosperity thro ugh enhanced trade and to make a meaningful 
contribution to development and more equitable sharing of the benefits of trade.  To achieve that dual 
goal, Members had to be ambitious.  Recent studi es by UNCTAD, the World Bank and others had 
shown that the greatest welfare gains for all c ountries, especially developing countries, were in 
ambitious outcomes in the core negotiating areas – agriculture, non-agricultural goods, services, rules 
and trade facilitation. 
126. Canada was committed to the completion of an ambitious Round by the end of 2006.  To 
achieve that, there was a need for full moda lities for agriculture and NAMA by the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference, together with a critical mass of meaningful services offers and clarity on the 
likely outcomes in the other negotiating areas – rul es, trade facilitation and dispute settlement.  There 
also had to be clarity on how the outcomes would contribute to development.  This was a daunting task and deeper engagement was needed in every ne gotiating area, at the level of Ministers, Senior 
Officials, and in each of the negotiating bodies in Gene va.  It was also important to accelerate work in 
every area, to ensure that the Hong Kong Ministeria l Conference was a successful step to the final 
outcome. 
127. In agriculture, while much progress had been made , many issues remained.  One of the issues 
that threatened success was th e conversion of specific to ad valorem  tariffs.  His delegation agreed 
with the Agriculture Chair that th is was the gateway to the market access negotiations.  It was also 
critical to the outcome not just in other pillars of th e agriculture negotiations, but also to every part of 
the market access outcomes of the Round.  This  problem had to be solved expeditiously. 
128. Turning to NAMA, he said that Members had to reflect on where they were aiming for in 
terms of opening markets.  If they could agree on the outcomes they wanted, it would guide choices of 
a formula and sectoral tariff component.  Less than full reciprocity had to be built into the core modality – the formula.  Sectoral initiatives had to be voluntary and allow for extending ambition, but 
they also needed to be built on a criti cal mass of participation in each sector. 
129. In services, Members had to find a way to reinvigorate the negotiations in time to give 
sufficient comfort in July that meaningful market  access would be achieved.  In this connection, 
Canada encouraged all Members to present compre hensive offers, whether initial or revised, and 
welcomed sectoral initiatives, as a possible tool for focusing negotiating efforts. 
130. The negotiations in the area of rules had not ye t moved beyond the issue identification stage.  
His delegation had read with interest the statem ent of the Friends of Anti-dumping Negotiations and 
there was much in that paper with which it could agre e.  However, he wished to emphasize that there 
were also important issues to be advanced in  the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures.  Much work remained to be done to  sharpen Members' requests and achieve serious 
engagement, without which there would not be suffi cient balance in Hong Kong to move forward to 
the end game. 
131. His delegation agreed with the Chair of the Special Session of the DSB that Members should 
not lose sight of their commitment to strengthen the DSU by addressing its central weaknesses in areas like compliance and transparency .  On trade facilitation, his delegation was pleased to see that 
the Negotiating Group was engaged on specific proposals.  However, delegations needed to work hard 
to catch up with the other negotiating groups.  His delegation wished to see negotiations on specific 
elements progress, so that Members could set a path  forward to complete the negotiations after Hong 
Kong. 
132. As he had already stated, the central contribution to development would come from the core 
negotiations and from S&D hardwired directly in to the core modalities.  This would require TN/C/M/16 
Page 22  
 
 developing countries to identify specific developm ent needs, so that Members could design S&D 
treatment that was calibrated to real and individual needs of these Members.  The work that the Chair 
of the Special Session of CTD was carrying out on horizontal issues was very important. 
133. Although Canada was encouraged by what had been achieved, it was daunted by how much 
remained to be done.  If Members were to succeed  and to achieve the full promise of the DDA, the 
participation of all of them was needed.  They all ha d to contribute, as they were able, and they all had 
to gain. 
134. The Representative of India
 said that the introductory statement by the Chairman and the 
reports of the Chairs of the negotia ting groups had provided very realistic assessments of the status of 
negotiations.  These showed that there was a serious  disconnect between the talk of ambitious and 
successful outcomes in Hong Kong and the current stat e of negotiations and that the situation was not 
irretrievably lost if delegations put in a lot of hard work between the present meeting and July.  His 
delegation believed that this candi d assessment would help delegations to put in that extra work so 
that they arrived at some meaningful first approximation by July. 
135. On NAMA, his delegation believed that recent di scussions had made it evident that one-size-
fits-all solutions would not work to provide an outco me that met the aspirations and concerns of all 
Members.  A range of flexibilities and options needed to be developed to address such aspirations and 
concerns, without compromising on the central objec tive of the negotiations which was a meaningful 
increase in market access,  especially to products of export interest to developing countries.  
Delegations needed to focus their discussions on de veloping a tool kit against which various formula 
approaches could be measured.  Some ideas had b een presented in recent days in that regard.  
Members needed to evaluate them along with the ap proaches that were discussed earlier to come to a 
consensus which met all such aspirations and concerns. 
136. Turning to services, his delegation agreed entirel y with the very sombre assessment that the 
Services Chair had presented.  It believed that if Members were to ensure that they achieved an 
outcome in Hong Kong in terms of market access wh ich was balanced across the three major sectors – 
agriculture, NAMA and services then, firstly, they n eeded to become serious in their offers.  
Secondly, after May, they needed to take up a po litical assessment regarding the additional value that 
the offers had brought in terms of market access a nd what additional inputs needed to be provided to 
impart a new dynamic to the negotiations. 
137. Last, but certainly not least, his delegation entirely shared the statement by the African Group 
with regard to the development dimension.  It believed that if there was one test which these 
negotiations had to pass, it was whether the outco me measured satisfactorily with regard to the 
development dimension. 
138. On S&D, his delegation had extended its support to the Special Session Chair's efforts, but it 
wished to reiterate the need to adhere closely to the mandate, which was to make S&D provisions 
more precise, effective and operational.  Any c onceptual discussions and approaches would only be 
helpful to the extent that they facilitated the reali zation of that mandate.  To this end, his delegation 
called for an early focus on the Agreement-specific propo sals, especially those of particular interest to 
the LDCs. 
139. The representative of Brazil  said that his delegation shared the wide commitment to conclude 
the Round in 2006 and was prepared to work toward s a substantial result at Hong Kong that would 
allow it to be fulfilled.  For Brazil, this mean t agreement by Hong Kong on modalities in NAMA and 
agriculture and an equivalent result in all other are as of the Round.  There was a need to identify what 
an equivalent result was in these other areas and his delegation believed they did not require as much 
technical work as NAMA and agriculture.  What w as needed was political commitment to negotiate  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 23 
 
 
 on the basis of texts and arrive at first approximati ons by July.  This would influence the outcome for 
Hong Kong, as in July, Members had to assess work  progress and determine what was realistically 
achievable in Hong Kong.  Therefore more engage ment and an increased pace in the negotiations 
were needed. 
140. Regarding process, negotiations were being c onducted at three levels – Geneva, Senior 
Officials and Ministerial.  Brazil believed that s ubstantive progress should take place in Geneva and 
this was even more important during the presen t phase when Members were dealing with very 
complex technical issues.  However, Senior Officials needed to become involved in and support the Geneva process and prepare the Ministerial gatheri ngs.  Ministers had to focus on concrete issues and 
avoid general discussions, as had been the case at some  Ministerial gatherings.  His delegation agreed 
with the European Communities that  these gatherings required careful preparations and that Members 
should avoid passing the buck from one level to anothe r.  The three levels needed to be clearly 
integrated and the TNC and its Chairman had a central  role in this, as had been indicated by Rwanda.  
Brazil supported the bottom-up approach which had su ccessfully led to the July Decision.  It was 
crucial during this phase of the negotiations that there was inclusiveness as complex technical issues 
were being discussed.  Brazil supported the method a dopted by the Agriculture Chair and wished to 
see it adopted in NAMA negotiations, and also adapted to other areas of the negotiations to deal with 
the different nature of their negotiations on texts. 
141. On balance, his delegation believed that this could not be tested all the time.  Discussions of it 
were fruitless as everyone would always see their areas of offensive interest as lagging behind and their defensive areas as moving too fast.  Accordi ng to his delegation, the solution was to have 
commitment to increase the pace of negotiations and move in parallel in all areas.  The TNC and 
Ministerial gatherings were important in this respect in permanently assessing, and correcting if need be, the balance of the negotiations. 
142. The G-20 would be holding an important meeting in New Delhi on 18-19 March.  The Group 
was committed to working with the Chairman  and other Members in moving the Round to a 
successful conclusion. 
143. On agriculture, Brazil believed the issue of AVE s was central to the negotiations.  This was 
about transparency and Members should not try to negotiate around it, but rather provide and verify 
the needed information.  His delegation wished to see this issue settled during the following week 
when the Agriculture Chair had conv ened technical discussions.  The issu e needed to be dealt with in 
terms of the methodology and should not to be linke d to other aspects of the negotiations.  It was 
important for movement to be made in order to  open the way for discussions on the formula.  As 
indicated by the Agriculture Chair, this was an important gateway issu e.  But there were other equally 
important issues where movement was required in order to arrive at a balanced agreement, such as in 
domestic support how to arrive at substantial cuts  and disciplining the Blue and Green Boxes, in 
market access how to develop a formula with th e necessary flexibilities that delivered the mandate 
and in export competition the date for ending all fo rms of export support and is sues on parallelism.  In 
this context, his delegation had suggested that s upport for these negotiations could be increased if all 
Members agreed to a standstill on all forms of export competition and export subsidies. 
144. The issue of S&D was central in all of these p illars.  There was a need to protect programmes 
of importance to developing countries and to allow the Green Box to be more user friendly to them by 
contemplating specific programmes of importance for these countries.  His delegation did not wish to 
change the nature of the Green Box and wanted it to remain intact, that is, non or minimally trade 
distorting.  There was a need for flexibility for developing countries in market access through 
proportionality and SP/SSM.  Other issues that need ed to be discussed included preferences, LDCs, 
and newly acceded countries.  Brazil also attached a lot of importance to developing monitoring 
mechanisms. TN/C/M/16 
Page 24  
 
 145. On NAMA, Brazil had opened up the way fo r discussions on the formula by accepting that 
less than full reciprocity was one of the elements of the formula and it believed that progress could be made at the next meeting.  It was prepared to make progress in the sectoral tariff component discussions as long as Members accepted that sectorals would be voluntary. 
146. Turning to services, he said there had to be a balance between market access as provided in 
the revised offers and rules.  Brazil was prepared to  present its revised offers in May and agreed with 
India that an assessment on the quality of offers made needed to be done.  It also wished to see similar 
progress on rules in services and on mode 4. 
147. Regarding rules, Brazil believed that, anti-dumpi ng was central for the final package of these 
negotiations and for a balanced outcome and that there were clear links between anti-dumping and 
NAMA.  Brazil supported the statement by the Grou p of Friends of the Anti-dumping Negotiations.  
With regard to the DSU, he said his delegation wi shed to see progress on some precise items and saw 
the DSU as part of the package.  It was worthwhile exploring what could be done in this area without 
changing the nature of the system and without co mpromising its efficiency.  On trade facilitation, 
Brazil was prepared to work with the Negotia ting Group Chairman towards progress.  In these 
negotiations, Members needed to be careful about ba lance between new obligations and related costs. 
148. Turning to the issue of development, he sai d that many delegations both developing and 
developed, had indicated that this issue was central  to the success of the Round.  Delegations needed 
to work with the Chair of the CTD Special Se ssion on the new ideas that he had proposed.  His 
delegation had some concerns on them, but agreed that Members had to take a fresh look at the 
horizontal issues of development.  Members also had to deal with the issue of implementation and the 
guidance of the Chairman was needed in this regard .  Brazil was prepared to work with the Chairman 
on implementation issues and with the Deputy Direct or-General consulting on the Chairman's behalf 
on the issue of GIs.  There was also a need to take a fresh look at the issue of preferences to determine 
if an approach could be develope d that did not impede or hinder mu ltilateral negotiations and which at 
the same time acknowledged that th is was an important issue for many countries.  It was also 
important to concentrate on LDCs and for the LDCs to  feel that they were benefiting from multilateral 
trade negotiations and were not being left aside in  terms of the success of this Round, in terms not 
only of their contribution but also the benefits that they could attain from the WTO. 
149. The representative of Singapore
 said that there had been some positive developments on the 
DDA since the last TNC in December.  With the help  of the informal Ministerial gathering in Davos, 
an important step had been taken in identifying the key elements of a balanced package for Hong 
Kong.  Her delegation shared the view that July  represented a crucial phase in the run-up to Hong 
Kong.  Members needed to fashion a first approxi mation by July which outlined, with reasonable 
clarity, the substantive shape of what Ministers w ould eventually adopt in Hong Kong.  On process, 
she said that, first, although dele gations had maintained positive atmo spherics in their discussions in 
Geneva, this was not enough.  They had to move beyond this and get into substantive negotiations, by 
thrashing out the details.  Second, one  could not realistically expect exact parallel movement in all the 
key issues by July.  What was essential was a balanced outcome, not perfect parallelism in the process.  In her delegation's view, agriculture a nd NAMA needed to show significant movement by 
July, so that clear outlines of the modalities were appa rent by then.  At the same time, there had to be 
serious engagement on the other issues.  A realistic  answer to the question of whether Members were 
on track had to be that they needed to get moving faster. 
150. In agriculture, there had been some limited movement.  The Agriculture Chair had outlined 
the importance of quickly resolvin g the issue of translating non- ad valorem  tariffs into AVEs.  This 
issue had to be resolved at the la test by the Kenya Ministerial gath ering.  Any delay on this issue 
would hamper overall progress.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 25 
 
 
 151. The work on NAMA should worry all Members.  Everyone was aware that the Chair of the 
Negotiating Group was pushing the process.  There might be a view among some that NAMA should be kept on hold until the picture in agriculture beca me clearer, but her delegation did not believe that 
such an approach was helpful to  the process.  There were still fundamental issues unresolved in 
NAMA, with not much time left to July.  The next NAMA negotiating session in March had to start 
work on the formula, and start narrowing the universe of options as July approached. 
152. On services, the Chair of the Special Session had once again painted a sombre picture.  
Ministers should, at key upcoming gatherings, clearly signal the importance of services in any balanced package.  At the same time, major services players in particular should provide leadership by 
respecting the deadline for revised o ffers in May 2005.  Her delegation would certainly do its part and 
table its revised offer within the May timeframe.  On the complex sub-set of issues under rules in 
services, Members had to be pragmatic and ask themselves what they could realistically do by Hong Kong. 
153. Regarding rules issues in goods, there was at best a mixed picture.  Trade facilitation was 
going reasonably well at the current point, but anti- dumping presented peculiar challenges.  Members 
had to focus on an achievable outcome for H ong Kong.  Both proponents and those who faced 
political constraints had to start engaging, and agree on a prioritized list of i ssues where there could be 
progress. 
154. Last but not least, development was a big questio n mark.  Everyone agreed that there had to 
be an outcome but no one was sure what that outcom e could be.  Members needed to think about this 
as development issues could break this Round if mism anaged.  The TNC needed to have a thorough 
discussion of this issue, at some point. 
155. In conclusion, she said that time and complacency  were the greatest enemies of negotiators.  
By December, they needed to present their Minist ers with a substantive outcome with at most, a 
handful of square brackets for political decisions.  What they did now would determine the success of 
Hong Kong.  They needed within the little time left  to get down to the process of negotiating and 
bridging their differences.  The TNC was central to the process, providing both a global focus and 
transparency to the negotiations. 
156. The representative of Japan
 said that his delegation fully agreed with the Chairman's 
assessment of the status of the negotiations whic h meant that Members had very little time.  The 
informal Ministerial gathering in Davos had been positive and had led to a shared a common notion of 
the timeframe and where Members had to be by th e end of 2006, Hong Kong and July.  This set a 
tight schedule, making the coming two months importa nt and a lot of work had to be done in a 
number of negotiating areas.  There were also other important dates to bear in mind, with the possibility of further Ministerial gatherings, in cluding in the ASEAN region in June within the 
framework of APEC.  These Ministerial gatherings  would provide wake up calls if Members did not 
make significant progress in the coming two months. 
157. Turning to substance, he said he wished to  highlight the pressing issues.  First, NAMA was 
lagging behind and required a lot of hard work if balance was to be achieved by Hong Kong.  Balance 
was required in the formula, sectoral approach and flexibility.  The formula was important, including 
the elements of less than full reciprocity and flex ibility.  Members needed to enter into a phase of 
specific concrete discussions, as suggested by India.   How the formula would cut into the tariffs 
needed to be understood, as well as what real mark et access gains would be obtained.  The assistance 
of the Secretariat could be sought to shade light on how different options would give the required 
results and what kind of flexibilities would be re quired in order to reflect sensitivities into the 
formula.  He hoped that this sense would be generate d soon in Geneva but if that was not the case the 
Ministerial gathering in Kenya could provide some orientation to facilitate the work in Geneva.  If TN/C/M/16 
Page 26  
 
 there was a better sense of what could be achieved on the formula, then this would also provide a 
better idea of what was needed in the sectoral appr oach.  The erosion of preferences was another area 
where more specifics were required, such as which products those who had de fensive interests were 
talking about.  In light of this information, his de legation would be ready to engage in more concrete 
ways. 
158. On agriculture, Japan was seeking a balanced result on all thr ee pillars, even in the first 
approximation.  But it recognised that, market acce ss was an important pillar where more focus was 
required.  The issue of AVE conversion was an ar ea where urgent work wa s needed.  This was a 
highly technically issue that involved different elem ents and the Agriculture Chair's initiative in that 
regard was welcome.  His delegation was hopeful that a middle ground would be found soon, so that 
this issue did not need to be raised at the Ministerial level. 
159. Turning to services, his delegation agreed with  India that Members should assess what came 
out in May in terms of revised offers.  Everyone sh ould make their best efforts in their revised and 
initial offers, but the reason why there was not adequa te political impetus in th is area was because it 
was too complicated.  Therefore, there was a need to simplify the issues in order to generate the 
necessary political impetus.  This could be done eith er by sectors or on the basis of different modes 
and should include rules.  His de legation would be assessing what came out in May.  However, it was 
also important to think in parallel on making th e services negotiations more understandable to the 
Ministers in order to get the necessary political impetus. 
160. On rules, his delegation welcomed  the more serious mode of nego tiations that had started.  It 
hoped that the statement of the six objectives circulated on behalf of Japan and others on anti-
dumping would help generate more serious discussions that could lead  at the appropriate point to text-
based negotiations.  On trade facilitation, his delega tion welcomed the good start, with good proposals 
on the table and large participation.  It hoped that  further progress would be made that would also 
eventually lead to text-based nego tiations at the appropriate moment.  Lastly, on development, Japan 
supported the initiative taken by the Chair of the Special Session of CTD on the cross-cutting 
conceptual approach and was ready to work with him. 
161. The representative of Thailand
 said that her delegation agreed with the Chairman and the 
Chairs of the negotiating bodies on the status of work .  In that connection, Members needed a sense of 
urgency and to realize that they did not have mu ch time left from the present meeting until July.  If a 
"first approximation" was their goal for July, they needed to intensify work in the negotiating groups and first of all try to find the best compromise on th e least contentious issues as much as possible.  For 
areas of negotiations on gateway issues, Members shoul d arrive at mutual understandings on them as 
early as possible so that the discussions could start.   The Chairs of the negotiating bodies would play a 
crucial role in coordinating and bridging differences among Members and they should be encouraged 
to produce as soon as possible papers on the core el ements that could help speed up the pace of the 
negotiations.  In this regard, only  sensitive or the most controversia l issues that caused an impasse in 
the negotiations should be brought to the political  level for impetus and guidance.  However, 
Members had to adhere strictly to the principle of  transparency and inclusiv eness in order to ensure 
that the outcome was productive and linked with the Geneva process.  The hard work should be done 
in Geneva as a sense of ownership and belonging was important for a successful deal. 
162. She wished to touch on the areas that, in her delegation's view, require d focus in order to 
accelerate the negotiations with a view to achieving th e July milestone.  In agriculture, the aim should 
be to achieve concrete progress in all three pillars.  On market access, the gateway issue which had to 
be finalized immediately was designing effective AVEs conversion methods that reflected the true 
protective measures of Members.  This would he lp Members make headway and achieve a tariff 
reduction formula that ensured subs tantive improvement in market ac cess and met the ambitions set in 
the Doha mandate.  The AVE issue had to be treated  as a technical one and should be worked on with  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 27 
 
 
 an open mind.  Regarding domestic s upport, the Green Box criteria needed  to be reviewed in order to 
ensure that it was truly green and would enable wo rk on a formula that ensured real and substantial 
reductions in trade-distorting domestic support.  On  export subsidies, the July Framework Agreement 
provided a basis for Members to work towards the elimination of all forms of export subsidies. 
163. Turning to NAMA, she said that while the Ch air of the Negotiating Group needed to be 
encouraged to bridge differences on issues whic h were less controversial, such as credit for 
autonomous liberalization, or deal with the outst anding issue of NTBs, an approximation of a tariff 
reduction formula would help dele gations understand how a sectoral approach would compliment the 
formula with the result that the substa ntial liberalization objective was met. 
164. On services, her delegation shared the view that political impetus was needed to help push the 
process forward.  These negotiations were not only about market access but also had other elements, 
including rules, that could make a significant cont ribution towards free and fair trade in services.  
Rules did not only include subsidies and emergenc y safeguards, but also possible disciplines under 
Article VI.4 of the GATS on qualification requireme nts and procedures and technical standards and 
licensing requirements.  Long term issues such as how a common understanding on scheduling and 
classification could improve the legal certainty, pred ictability and comparability of existing and future 
commitments were important.  A balanced result on these elements was necessary to ensure progress 
in these negotiations. 
165. On rules, in particular the anti-dumping ne gotiations, Members had submitted proposals and 
discussed technical issues for a substantial period of  time.  This included the six broad objectives on 
anti-dumping from the Friends of Anti-dumping Negotia tions.  This could help Members in securing a 
first draft text by July.  It was important for Members to engage more substantively, gather 
momentum and change gear in order to speed up and shift from the clarification phase to the text-based negotiation phase as soon as possible.  This issue should not lag behind other issues, in particular the NAMA negotiations. 
166. Regarding trade facilitation, she noted that the Chair of the Negotiating Group had informed 
delegations that the process had begun smoothly.  There were a number of proposals on the table and 
the Group had started the education and clarificatio n phase.  Her delegation believed that this was a 
good basis on which to move forward.  However, delegations had to manage the time efficiently so 
that substantial progress could be achieved by Hong Kong. 
167. On implementation issues, flexibility and political involvement were needed in order to find a 
breakthrough on some of the problematic issues.  This had to be done soon if Members wanted 
parallel progress in the negotiations. On S&D, Members had to be very pragmatic as this was a very 
important issue which could help achieve the H ong Kong objectives.  So far, Members had achieved 
fair progress and there was not much time left to start afresh on a new conceptual approach as it would hamper rather than advance the negotiations .  The Agreement-specific proposals that Members 
had already agreed upon needed to be endorsed and delegations needed to focus on finding solutions 
and making headway on the remaining proposals, bearing in mind the principles and objectives of 
S&D. 
168. The representative of Kenya
 associated her delegation with the statement by Rwanda on 
behalf of the African Group.  She said that her de legation agreed with the state of play of the 
negotiations as indicated in the Chairman's opening re marks and various reports of the Chairs of the 
negotiating bodies.  Overall, Members had had inte nsive and useful discussions in various negotiating 
bodies focusing on technical issues since the adopti on of the July 2004 Decision.  Members had had 
the opportunity not only to explain their ideas, but al so to express their concerns and sensitivities on 
various technical issues.  It was true that the complexity of the issues demanded more work and effort from all Members. TN/C/M/16 
Page 28  
 
 169. As Members looked to Hong Kong, where it was expected that Ministers would take key 
decisions on various issues and thereby set the stage for the final phase of the negotiations in 2006, it 
was of paramount importance that they had a clearer picture of the universe of issues by end of July – a first approximation.  That would allow time fo r further consultations am ong Members particularly 
on divergences, with a view to having a common understanding before the Hong Kong Ministerial.  
The political sensitivities that surrounded some of tho se issues dictated that work on technical issues 
in Geneva required political input in order to adva nce and her delegation welc omed any opportunities 
for such political input. 
170. She turned to specific areas, highlighting her delegation's expectations as Hong Kong 
approached.  On NAMA, delegations had had useful exchanges of ideas on almost all technical issues 
that had been identified for further work.  Her de legation was in agreement with the report of the 
NAMA Chair that differences on fundamental issues c ontinued to persist.  More work was therefore 
needed so that delegations could put in place all elements that would form the modalities by end of 
July 2005.  Her delegation expected that the princi ple of less than full reciprocity, the flexibilities for 
developing countries including S&D, as well as th e underlying development concerns would be 
clearly reflected in each of the elements that woul d constitute the modalities.  With respect to NTBs, 
delegations needed to change gears and move from procedural issues to the phase of tackling 
substance. 
171. On agriculture, her delegation took note of the technical work that had been undertaken and 
the projection by the Agriculture Chair in his writte n report that by end of March all issues contained 
in the framework would have had at least a firs t reading.  Just like NAMA, her delegation was 
concerned that divergences continued to persist on many issues.  However, it was important that by 
end of July Members had a full view of the elements  that would form modalities in agriculture.  More 
work was therefore needed to achie ve that target.  Her delegation al so expected to see those issues of 
particular interest to developing countries, and more so a strong component of S&D treatment, made 
clearer by July and not left to the final phase of the modalities.  As had been stated by Rwanda on 
behalf of the African Group, Kenya would also be looking at the treatment accorded to cotton within 
the agriculture negotiations. 
172. With respect to services and in accordance with  the July 2004 Decision, Members were 
expected to submit revised offers by May 2005.  She said that the initial offers so far on the table were 
below expectation as they seemed not to have ta ken into account issues of specific interest to 
developing countries.  Her delegation expected to  see a critical mass of improved offers by May 2005 
and hoped that the sectors and modes of supply of expor t interest to developing countries and LDCs in 
particular would be fully taken into account.  Furthe rmore, her delegation expected that work on rule-
making in the subsidiary bodies would be in tande m with negotiations for specific commitments in 
market access.  Substantial progress was therefor e needed in the area of rule-making and her 
delegation hoped that Members would re -double their efforts in that regard. 
173. On trade facilitation, Kenya expected the peri od between the present meeting and end of July 
to be for submission of proposals with the possi bility for Members to submit additional proposals 
after July.  Members needed to move quickly on the issue of identification of needs and priorities of 
developing countries in order to ensure a focused  approach in the implementation of technical 
assistance programmes at the country level.  More resources were needed in that respect and Kenya 
looked forward to increased funding from the developed country Members as per their commitment in 
this area.  Her delegation noted that the proposals submitted thus far in this area had little or no S&D 
component for developing countries and expected to see this changed if progress was to be registered.  
Progress in trade facilitation would also have to take  into account progress in other areas of particular 
interest to Kenya.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 29 
 
 
 174. Development was at the centre of the negotiati ons and her delegation expected that work on 
S&D provisions and outstanding implementation issu es in particular would be completed by July 
2005.  Her delegation was concerne d that progress on these issues had been slow.  While there was 
need for intensive and focused discussions, there was no doubt that  political goodwill was needed in 
order for substantial progress to be made on these i ssues.  Kenya would study the report by the Chair 
of the CTD Special Session in order to determine how to make the proposals work while at the same 
time adhering to the mandate in paragraph 44 of the D oha Ministerial Declaration.  In conclusion, she 
said that development being an integral part of th e DDA, should be the benchmark in all the elements 
under negotiation in order to ensure that the DDA de livered its promises particularly to developing 
countries.  Her delegation looked forward to working closely and constructively with the rest of the 
Membership as balance was needed in all areas of the negotiations.  The principles of inclusiveness 
and transparency had to continue to guide the work. 
175. The representative of China  said that his delegation fully supported the target set by the 
Chairman that Members should achieve substantia l progress at the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting, 
reaching consensus on modalities in agriculture a nd NAMA, with overall progress in other important 
sectors and try to conclude th e Round by the end of 2006. 
176. In order to achieve those goal s, Members needed to start on the drafting exercises as soon as 
possible so as to complete the first approximation before the end of July.  Many Members had talked about an overall balance in the process.  Accordi ng to his delegation the most important balance was 
on the one hand to keep the level of ambition of the Doha mandate and on the other, give priority to 
the development dimension and address in an effec tive way S&D treatment for developing Members.  
This was why it was important to have internal tr ansparency and inclusiven ess so that the voices of 
the developing Members, and LDCs in particular, could be heard and given full consideration.  
Furthermore, his delegation supported the statements  by the African Group, India and Brazil on this 
important issue of development. 
177. With regard to specific areas, China believed th at agriculture was at the centre of the Round.  
The historical features and current patterns of ag riculture gave rise to the complexities of these 
negotiations.  The way forward in the agriculture ne gotiations was far from clear.  To really improve 
market access, the key was the kind of formula used  and the prerequisite was conversion of all types 
of non- ad valorem  duties into AVEs.  At the same time, efforts had to be made to remove tariff peaks, 
simplify complicated tariff structures and solve th e issue of tariff escalation, otherwise there would 
hardly be any real improvement of market ac cess conditions.  The key focus of domestic support 
should be on significant reduction of trading-distortin g domestic support, aimed at real cuts instead of 
shifting boxes between different support categories.  Any attempt to circumvent obligations of export 
subsidy phase-out by whatever means needed to be gua rded against.  At the same time State Trading 
Enterprises (STEs) established for ensuring domestic raw material supply, price stability and food 
security needed to be allowed to remain unchanged.  The newly-acceded Members had made 
substantial and extensive commitments in their accession process to WTO which had been recognized 
by all Members in paragraph 9 of the Doha Ministeria l Declaration.  Their concerns in the agriculture, 
NAMA and services negotiations therefore needed to be effectively addressed. 
178. On NAMA, the formula approach for tariff reduction was the base and should be given 
priority in the negotiations with a view to reducing tariff peaks, high tariffs and tariff escalation.  All 
non-ad valorem  tariffs needed to be converted into AVEs through a uniform method and the tariff 
rates which resulted from the conversion should be  taken as the basis for tariff reduction.  The 
principle of less than full reciprocity for developi ng Members had to be built into any modality of 
tariff reduction.  For consideration of the sectoral a pproach, priority needed to be given to the sectors 
of export interests to developing Members.  The idea of a zero for X arrangement for sectors was 
appropriate and needed to be further explored a nd the issue of NTBs needed to be effectively 
addressed. TN/C/M/16 
Page 30  
 
 179. With regard to services, his delegation agreed th at the quality of most of the initial offers on 
the table did not live up to expectation and theref ore this issue had to be addressed when Members 
prepared their revised offers.  The asymmetry be tween different modes of supply which had resulted 
from the Uruguay Round also needed to be properly re dressed so that developing Members could also 
benefit from multilateral liberalization of services.   A fully-fledged rules framework would enable 
market access commitments to be effectively impl emented, therefore his delegation attached equal 
importance to the rules negotiations in the services area. 
180. On rules, China welcomed the latest proposal  from the Friends of Anti-dumping Negotiations 
and hoped there would be some ki nd of breakthrough on this important and sensitive issue.  On trade 
facilitation, the last meeting of the Negotiation Group had been encouraging.  The substantive 
discussions and active participation of Members demonstrated in that meeting would no doubt 
facilitate the negotiation process.  Priority should  be given to technical assistance and capacity 
building for the developing Members in order to achieve balanced results. 
181. Finally on the issue of development, S&D tr eatment for developing Members had to be 
integrated in all areas of the negotiations.  Any ef fort to try to differentiate developing countries 
through the concept of "advanced developing countr ies", which had no legal basis and no mandate in 
the Doha Round, would only complicate the situation and delay the whole process of the negotiations.  
On the conceptual approach, his delegation agreed  with the statements by Thailand and Kenya. 
182. The representative of Benin
, on behalf of the ACP Group , associated the Group with the 
statements by Rwanda on behalf of the African Grou p and Zambia on behalf of the LDCs.  The year 
2005 would see a very important stage in the long path of the Doha Round, which was the Sixth 
Ministerial Conference at the end of the year in Ho ng Kong, China.  In order to make this decisive 
event a success, Members needed to  work unstintingly to intensify the technical work and the search 
for positive agreements in the preparatory phase whic h was starting with the present meeting.  In the 
context of the enormous amount of technical wo rk going on in the various negotiating bodies, he 
wished to give the ACP's views on the evolution of this work. 
183. On agriculture, the Group believed that the work of  the past week had been very useful.  It 
had enabled participants to focus on one of the mo st crucial issues for the ACP Group which was the 
question of preferences.  In the July 2004 frame work, paragraph 44 had recognized the importance of 
long-standing preferences and had established a framewo rk for dealing with this matter.  It was now 
accepted by the majority of the Members, who had rep eatedly stated that the result of the negotiations 
should not lead to the distress or the disappearance of certain agricultural systems.  This implied a 
higher level of understanding from all partners for the concerns about  preferences, which remained a 
central issue for countries in the ACP Group.  The ag ricultural negotiations of the previous week had 
shown that a number of Members and other groups were favourable to a pr actical solution in this area.  
The ACP Group was willing to have a constructive ex change of views on this with all Members in 
future technical meetings. 
184. In the work on cotton, Members should maintain  their current impetus and engagement to 
find appropriate solutions to this important ques tion.  The first meeting of the Sub-Committee on 
Cotton would take place on 16 February, and the wo rk should lead to ambitious, expeditious and 
specific solutions.  The ACP cotton producers were f acing distortive trade practices, the consequences 
of which were a severe fall in the price of co tton, the disappearance of cotton production and an 
automatic alienation of small farmers.  It was t hus more than ever necessary to establish a Special 
Emergency Fund to allow ACP cotton-producing Stat es to meet the problems faced by their small 
farmers, whose competitiveness through reduced costs w as being wiped out by the effect of subsidies.  
The ACP Group counted on support from all Members in this work.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 31 
 
 
 185. On NAMA, the Group agreed with the Chairman of the Negotiating Group that the 
negotiating sessions in March and Ma y 2005 would be decisive if Members wanted to have an initial 
outline of modalities by July 2005 on the basis of which a decision would be taken in Hong Kong.  
The Group hoped the different efforts which would be made to give political input to these 
negotiations would be transparent and inclusive.   The essential concerns of the Group in these 
negotiations were well known.  The principle of l ess than full reciprocity,  as well as S&D treatment, 
could furnish essential elements for the work.  Para graph 16 of Annex B of the July 2004 Framework 
requested the Negotiating Group to take into consider ation, in the course of its work, the particular 
needs that might arise for the Members concerned because of the challenges that might be faced by 
non-reciprocal preference beneficiary Members.  In this technical phase of work, the Group was 
aware of the need to table specific proposals.  So me Members had stated that addressing the erosion 
of preferences would hold up the process of reducing ta riffs and interrupt trade liberalization.  It was 
also the case that small vulnerable economies which had small market shares because of preferential 
access, would be destabilized by the application of  a MFN tariff to all developing countries benefiting 
from preferences.  In order not to compromise inte rnational trade liberalization, the Group suggested 
an approach concerning preferences applied to a lis t of well identified products .  This was a pragmatic 
approach which the Group would promote in the NAMA negotiations. 
186. Turning to trade facilitation, he said the work of the Negotiating Group the previous week had 
enabled progress to be made through a better unders tanding of the aims and problems of the Group's 
member States, who had spoken quite clearly on the subject.  It was clear to the Group that these 
negotiations concerned mainly Articles V, VIII a nd X of GATT 1994.  Moreover, the S&D treatment 
which the Group's Members needed should not be li mited exclusively to longer transition periods.  
Targeted technical assistance and capacity buildin g would enable the Group's members to better 
assess their needs to prepare for the adjustment of infrastructures and to implement the results of the 
negotiations.  Financial support from donors was more necessary than ever in order to carry out these 
assessments and identify the flexib ilities required by their economies. 
187. In the area of services, the deadline of May 2005 was important for many of the Group's 
members.  However, their lack of technical capacitie s, together with the various constraints that these 
negotiations contain, had complicated progress in th is area.  Several Group members needed technical 
assistance in order to submit their revised offers an d become more proactive in the negotiations.  The 
Group believed, however, that progressive liberali zation which took into account its members' 
specific constraints and levels of developmen t should guide the continuation of the work. 
188. The ACP Group was very concerned at the progr ess in the review of S&D treatment.  The 
Group wished to reiterate its hope to see all Me mbers become fully engaged so that the re-
examination of all of the pending proposals on specif ic agreements could be undertaken by the July 
2005 deadline.  The Group believed that the July 2004 Decision had clearly defined the parameters for 
progress in this area.  The Group appreciated the ef forts undertaken by the Chairman of the Special 
Session in his contacts with the Chairpersons of othe r bodies in order to move the work forward.  The 
Group supported his approach of examining the proposals by the LDC Group as a priority.  Endowing the WTO architecture with precise, effective and ope rational S&D provisions rules which also had an 
economic value was essential to letting the ACP count ries be fully integrated into the multilateral 
trading system. 
189. The Group was paying considerable attention to the evolution of the rules negotiations in 
general and would continue  to support the efforts of the negotiating group Chairmen.  Turning to the 
preparatory process for the Ministerial Conference in  Hong Kong, he said that several Ministerial 
gatherings were foreseen in the near future.  The ACP Group would like the process to be more 
inclusive and transparent in order to take better acco unt of its concerns and needs.  The impetus given 
to the negotiations by these meetings was of interest to all of the Group's members.  The Group 
wished to express its determination to work positivel y toward progress in the negotiations as a whole TN/C/M/16 
Page 32  
 
 so that the results in Hong Kong would be balanced and faithful to the development label of the Doha 
Round. 
190. The representative of New Zealand
 said that the remarks made by some delegations recalled 
what needed to be done over the next period of time.  If Members were working on the hypothesis 
that they would conclude the negotiation by the end of  2006, then that year would have to be used for 
a process of exchange and verification of schedules of commitments on agriculture and NAMA.  For 
this to happen, modalities for agriculture and NAMA n eeded to be established in December.  This was 
not just a question of aesthetics, it was rather a pr actical necessity.  If Members were going to achieve 
what they wished to in 2006, they had no choice but to have the modalities established by the end of 
the present year.  Working back, if those modalitie s were to be established by December, Members 
would need to have an idea of what they would be before Hong Kong.  Some key politically difficult 
issues would have to be resolved and, therefore, a plan would have to be put into place, including at 
the political level, to get to Hong Kong and establish modalities. 
191. The idea of "first approximations" of modalitie s for agriculture and NAMA by July had come 
about, and his delegation could go along with it.  If Members did not have an initial idea of what these 
modalities would look like in July, they would only have  six to eight weeks to resolve everything that 
had not been resolved, which would not work.  They therefore had to make solid and tangible 
progress by July, so that they could see the contours of what they would finalize in a two month period after July and then put to Ministers for a fi nal decision.  It was worth being concrete about 
what had to be done.  Delegations should not delude themselves by belie ving that if they did not make 
that staging post in July, everything would be alri ght on the night – this would not happen.  It would 
inevitably be a repeat of the past and as a fam ous German philosopher had once said, history did 
repeat itself. 
192. Various terms had been used in statements about  what this kind of model would mean for the 
other parts of the negotiations.  However, his dele gation believed it did not make much sense to talk 
about first approximations in these cases, not because th ey were not important, but rather because they 
did not share the rhythm of the agriculture and NAMA negotiations.  These areas would not reach 
their end game through a process of preparati on and verification of schedules and it was worth 
bearing that in mind.  An analogy for the process to  July would be a maritime convoy.  The vessels in 
a convoy did not proceed in a straight line.  Instead, they travelled in a set pattern, some ahead, some 
behind, and they shifted positions in the course of their journey.  They all had to get to port at essentially the same time but the onl y way to ensure this was by bei ng smart about how they moved.  
Members had to bear this in mind as they approached July.  They had to take care of all the vessels in 
the convoy and ensure that they did not drop off along the way.  That could not happen by wanting all the vessels to be mechanically at the same coor dinates all the time, which would be illusory and 
possibly dangerous. 
193. In practical terms, his delegation was prepared to accept the idea that, in  July, those issues in 
which it had an interest, such as fisheries subsidies, would not be resolved.  These issues would have 
12-15 months of textual negotiation to go according to the rhythm of the rules negotiations.  What his delegation needed to be confident about in July was that those issues were  getting the same genuine 
political attention and the same co mmitment to deal with them seriously as the other parts of the 
negotiations.  Most delegations would be aware that  this was the case and there was no need for some 
kind of formalized treatment that actually obscure d the obvious negotiating judgements that could be 
made as to whether the issues that were important to  them were being taken se riously or not.  It was 
clear what was required in areas where modalities were at issue, but there was a different requirement 
in the other parts of the negotiations, such as ru les, where a modalities model was not being used.  
Instead, these areas would need something that show ed that they were in a more serious phase of 
work, but the detail of final texts was never established 15 months before the end of rules  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 33 
 
 
 negotiations.  By July, it would be perfectly acceptable to show that progress was being made 
seriously and to define the kinds of issues that were  going to be central to the end game in these areas. 
194. If Members were going to make that kind of j udgement in July, they had to be under no 
illusions about how much work needed to be undertak en in the few months that they had between the 
present meeting and July.  That had two related aspec ts to it, one of which was political and the other 
technical.  In any situation where there was a great d eal of work to be done and very little time to do 
it, there had to be some ruthless prioritization, in th is case for political attention.  Turning to what this 
meant in a few areas, he said that, in NAMA, if  Members were going to develop a first approximation 
of modalities they had to ensure that the central  part of these negotiations was far advanced over 
where it was currently.  There was a sign of flexib ility on an issue which was so central to those 
negotiations – the approach to a formula.  This n eeded to be given a high level of political attention 
over the next few months to translate a conc ept which was quite difficult, for example a 
harmonization formula with two coefficients, into so mething that would be politically understood and 
would give a sense of direction to the negotiati ons.  This would require a political sense of how 
ambitious Members really were about the industrial tariffs part of the negotiations.  He wondered 
whether they wanted to open up markets commercially  more than ever before or whether they were 
talking about simply getting bound rates closer to a pplied rates.  This kind of discussion was needed 
at both the technical and political levels so as to have  a sense of direction.  Any type of formula with 
any number of coefficients could be adapted in the di rection of doing either very little or a great deal.  
It was important that Members be honest with themselves about whether they wanted to have a genuine negotiation in this area and, if so, then de velop the technical means that would deliver such 
an outcome.  And where there was a need for flexib ility, or for full reciprocity, there needed to be 
discussion about what the priority areas were. 
195. Similarly, in agriculture, there was a large task to  be undertaken on all the pillars.  In the area 
of market access, for example, Members would not be  able to begin to define the modalities until they 
had elaborated what was on the table.  The signi ficance of the AVE issue was simply whether all 
Members were going to be prepared to go into defining formulas on the basis of equality.  In other 
words, he wondered whether countries that had put their ad valorem  tariffs on the table would be 
matched by others who had specific tariffs so that they could be converted in order to assign them to 
the different levels of a formula yet to be defi ned.  The essential question was whether all Members 
were prepared to buy into these negotiations on an eq ual basis.  All of them were aware that they had 
yet to negotiate what the outcome of this negotiati on would be and that it would be a hugely difficult 
task.  But some, like his delegation, were prepared to  go in there with all their cards on the table.  It 
was important to make sure that everyone was pr epared to put its cards on the table as soon as 
possible.  If that was left to Ministers to resolve in informal gatherings, it would be at least April 
before a process of verification of data could begi n.  It was not clear how, between May and June, 
those charged with the responsibility of coming up wi th a first approximation would do so without the 
basic data which defined the options for the mark et access negotiations.  There was very little time 
and in this particular area, it was almost a benchmark of whether Members were as serious as they said they were about moving the process forward.  This was a test case – whether there was concrete 
commitment to the process.  Fortunately it was on an issue that did not compromise anybody's negotiating position. 
196. Turning to services, he said that if Ministers we re to take up industrial tariffs and agriculture 
in the coming months, it was important that they also be engaged on services to give a political sense 
that this area mattered and was important.  For far too long this had been dealt with at a technical level 
and there now had to be political buy-in to this.  However, betw een the present meeting and July, it 
was difficult to imagine Ministers being able to fi nd time to cope with much more than the three 
issues he had mentioned.  If one wanted them to  take up also the crucial question of how the 
negotiations would contribute to development, that would be the formula for political attention in the 
first half of the present year.  The technical work that negotiators would then have to undertake would TN/C/M/16 
Page 34  
 
 be to translate that political direction into some thing that worked by July.  If Members did not 
prioritize they would not do anything.  His dele gation believed Members owed it to themselves to 
think carefully about what the realistic priorities were  in this period.  If they did not make significant 
progress over the next two or three months, they woul d realize how much harder it would be to do so 
in time to make Hong Kong a success.  The time to be  realistic and to be sober was now, rather than 
later. 
197. The representative of Switzerland
 said that there were exactly nine months before the Hong 
Kong Conference and he wondered whether Members w ould be able to deliver .  His delegation hoped 
that they would.  Members had started the R ound in 2001, yet in 2005 they still talked about 
negotiations in the future.  They should negotiate  now, but his delegation had not detected many 
elements pointing to a negotiating mood.  His delega tion agreed with those who had said that overall 
balance had to be established within the results at  the end of the negotiations.  However, balance 
existed both internally and externally.  The July 20 04 Decision had been perceived by some as being 
imbalanced in favour of agriculture.  His delegation did not completely share that view because there 
were 35 different issues that needed to be addressed  in agriculture.  His delegation urged all Members 
who had a keen interest in agriculture to make every effort not to enlarge this imbalance, but rather to 
narrow it down until the first approximation.  His delegation did not want to be among those who 
would have to try to break the rhythm in agri culture, because this was an essential negotiation. 
198. From the Chairpersons reports, it appeared that  there was little in agriculture and nothing on 
the table in the other areas.  Sooner or later, this would create a huge problem of perception, in 
particular outside the Organization.  It was ther efore urgent to put things on the table, and his 
delegation was willing to do so in all areas.  The Ag riculture Chair had referred to gateway issues, and 
it was unfortunate that the first gateway issue was one which created specific problems for his delegation.  With its whole tariff in specific dutie s, and in the knowledge that this tariff was the 
expression of national sovereignty, this was not only a technical question for Switzerland.  His 
delegation was willing to do its utmost to find a solution and it hoped that th is would be the first 
occasion since 2000, when the agriculture negotiations  had started, that exporting Members would 
show some understanding for Switzerland's needs.   The G-10 had adopted a common position on this 
issue – they wished to reiterate th at this was a highly political and sensitive issue for them.  They were 
ready to move very quickly once the conversion me thodology was agreed and provided that they had 
a clear picture of the future of tariff bindi ngs and what was expected in that context. 
199. Regarding the Green Box, the recent first discu ssions seemed to be a collection of wishes to 
change a highly sensitive area wh ere those who had to go under strong reform processes were 
dependent on the legal security of the Green Box.  If there was an adjustment to the box, it would 
delay the reform processes and also the negotiating process.  His delegation appreciated the need to 
take account of specific programmes for developing countries in that context, provided that developing countries had an understanding for his count ry's need for flexibility.  Another issue in 
agriculture which was highly political was the ga p among developing countries with regard to 
preferences.  His delegation hoped that workable  solutions would emerge, in particular from 
developing countries, and it was prepared to work with  them to find solutions.  On export restrictions, 
it was clear to his delegation that there was a pa rallelism between market opening on one side and 
diminishing of export restrictions on the other. 
200. Turning to the rules negotiations, he said that  Switzerland stood behind the group of Friends 
of Anti-dumping Negotiations and the six broad objec tives they wished to be realized as soon as 
possible.  On services, his delegation agreed with the Special Session Chair's wake up call.  In these 
negotiations, there was not only the areas of market a ccess and scheduling, but also rules.  There were 
a lot of activities taking place in different friends groups and these groups needed to come out and 
present the status of their work to all Members, so that there could be progress in all three areas.  His 
delegation was ready to work constructively in this  area.  On NAMA, his delegation was satisfied that  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 35 
 
 
 first elements of the formula were being discussed , and hoped that Members could shape the formula 
as soon as possible so that by July, they knew where they were going in this area. 
201. On other areas, he said that the work on trad e and environment, on the establishment of a 
multilateral register for GIs for wines and spirits and on S&D were important from the points of view of substance, balance and perception.  In the negotiations on trade facilitation, by July Members 
would need to have an idea of the issues that woul d be covered.  Several proposals had been made on 
how to make Article X of the GATT clearer, and proposals related to Article V on transit fees and 
formalities were expected.  In order to ensure that LDCs and developing countries could actually 
implement the provisions, it had to be understood  that any commitment was inter-related with 
adequate technical assistance and capacity building. 
202. By July, a "first approximation" would be need ed.  Not only should Members have an idea of 
where they were heading by then, but his delegati on agreed with New Zealand that they would also 
have to make a distinction between the work of th e schedule-based negotiations and the rules or text-
based negotiations.  They would also need to know by then what were the essen tials for their partners 
and which issues, even if they were controversia l, would need to find a positive answer, such as the 
issue of GI extension.  Members were also faced with a number of collateral issues which might 
impact on the negotiations and need additional time , such as bananas, comm odity issues, such as 
cotton, and some institutional matters.  His de legation hoped that Members could find common 
ground to move this very complex process forward and that their level of frustration would be lower 
in July than at present. 
203. The representative of Argentina
 thanked the Chairman for his dedication and his efforts to 
drive the negotiations, which were now showing a high degree of complexity that went far beyond 
what was being said by most participants.  As the weeks passed by, the work would increase, as 
would the nervousness about being able to meet the objectives within the deadlines.  Argentina 
believed that although deadlines helped in putting pr essure on negotiators, they could not replace the 
objectives.  The Round would have to be evaluated on the basis of its results.  With a small amount of 
ingenuity, Argentina remained convinced that the obj ective of this Round was development.  It would 
like to be sure that, in ten years time when it woul d be possible to take stock, the results would have 
contributed to the United Nations' work aimed at a substantial reduction in poverty in the world and 
complied with the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, as recently mentioned by the EC Agriculture Commissioner in a press article.  This R ound had to contribute to creating an international 
solidarity community, with less poor people, more democracy and peace and security for all. 
204. The number of meetings in Geneva had multiplie d, which was a positive sign for the future of 
the Round, but it was important for signals to begin to emerge on the central issues of the negotiations to enable coherent progress.  To date, there were only skeletons which had to be filled in with content.  
In this respect, the Agriculture Ch air had reported that technical issues were yet to be resolved, such 
as AVE conversion.  Indeed, resolving these issues, in stead of repeating the need to find balance, was 
how Members would make progress.  Switzerland had expressed satisfaction with the state of play in 
the work on modalities in NAMA, but unfortunately  the same could not be said about agriculture.  
Everyone hoped that the major countries, not in terms of the size of their territory but rather their 
economic capacity, would make major contributions  to show the way forward in this Round. 
205. Argentina believed that meetings among Minist ers were a good thing, because they implied 
greater involvement at the decision-making leve l and could make a significant contribution to 
avoiding certain problems.  However, the main wo rk had to continue in Geneva, where the brackets 
had to be filled in and meaning gi ven to definitions.  Argentina belie ved in the complementarity of the 
work in these different spheres, but all initiatives ha d to come back to the central process to ensure 
transparency and the participation of all Members. TN/C/M/16 
Page 36  
 
 206. Argentina also wished to point out that a manda te for the work did exist, and ambitions to 
include other issues far removed from the notion of  contributing to development could only to be 
interpreted as attempts to delay progress in this Round.  Taking into account the statements at the 
present meeting and all the discrepancies, his delega tion believed Members would have to work very 
hard to meet the criteria for creating a minimum agreement. 
207. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 said that as host of the Sixth Ministerial Conference, 
his country had an extra stake in its success.  Whilst the task of organizing the Conference fell 
squarely on Hong Kong, China, achieving milestone results fell on each Member.  His delegation was 
pleased that there seemed to be heightened awaren ess all around to make the most of the remaining 
ten months.  It also was pleased that Members ha d this opportunity to meet soon after the recent 
informal Ministerial gathering in Davos.  Accord ing to Hong Kong, China, three clear messages had 
emerged from that meeting.  Firstly, that it was time for Members to change gear and move to 
substantive negotiations across the board; second, ther e were hard political issues which could not be 
resolved in Geneva, and Ministers expected to be  consulted on these in a timely manner at various 
points during the year; and third, Ministers wanted negotiators to produce a first approximation of the 
package for the Ministerial by Ju ly.  For those from capitals there was a fourth message of equal 
importance, that delegations had to pull together mu ch higher quality offers in the area of services for 
tabling before summer. 
208. Working back, this called for extensive and very  concrete work on all the important elements 
of the DDA.  However, it was clear to his delegation that one area required immediate attention –  NAMA.  Members needed to identify without dela y those issues which required Ministerial guidance 
before they next met.  Specifically, his delegati on believed that these issues were: the shape of the 
formula, including the value of the coefficient(s); th e nature of participati on and coverage of any non-
mandatory sectoral component; and the flexibility for developing and least-developed countries. 
209. In his delegation's view, to break the current log jam, it might be useful to begin specific work 
on the formula first, tackling the issues of flexib ility and less than full reciprocity at the same time, 
but that would have to be done on the clear unde rstanding that the other issues would not be left 
behind.  By highlighting NAMA, it was not to say that Members could afford to go slow in other areas, quite the reverse.  It was essential to begin to distil for Ministers a list of the issues in each area 
where negotiator anticipated that political guidance w ould be essential, if the challenge was to be met 
by the summer break. 
210. Pending such guidance, his dele gation believed that it was vital for all delegations to proceed 
with work in all areas on the basis of conditiona l trust and without prejudice to final positions.  
Wherever appropriate there should be a text-bas ed negotiation, because it was quite clear that 
Ministers did not believe that it was wise for negotiato rs to confront them at the Ministerial with a 
heavily bracketed text. 
211. In conclusion, he said that there seemed to be euphoria coming out of Davos and based on the 
discussions from the present meeting, that eupho ria was wearing thin.  It was important that 
Ambassadors and Senior Officials emphasized to Mini sters the urgency of the situation if anything 
was to be achieved by July. 
212. The representative of Morocco
 associated his delegation with the statement by Rwanda on 
behalf of the African Group.  His delegation noted with satisfaction that the adoption of the July 
Decision had given new impetus and optimism to the negotiations and a great sense of responsibility.  
His delegation supported the work programme which th e Chairman had proposed for 2005 in order to 
prepare for the Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.  The political support expressed by all the leaders the Chairman had consulted recently would en able Members to move to an advanced stage of 
the negotiations marked by concessions between them  in order to have a first draft Ministerial  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 37 
 
 
 Declaration by July.  The period after July could be devoted to the remaining issues which required 
political direction.  The objective of the roadmap wa s to avoid certain experiences Members had faced 
in the past and alleviate the agenda of the Minister ial Conference to ensure its success.  To that end, 
his delegation wished to emphasise the need for balanced results which gave a central place to 
development-related issues in accordance with the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
213. In agriculture and NAMA, Morocco had to face dual challenges.  The first was to use the 
opportunities offered by liberalization, notably the reduction of customs duties, to promote trade and 
make it a true tool for development.  The second ch allenge was to face up to the inevitable erosion of 
its preferences in markets of historic partners.  Wh ile the challenge of trade liberalization was part of 
Morocco's strategy of economic openness and its e fforts to reinforce its anchorage to the global 
economy, the erosion of preferences was a direct threat  to its foreign trade.  In such a context, it was 
legitimate for Morocco to expect important concessions  in terms of tariff reductions for products in 
which it had an interest, substan tial and effective reductions in tr ade-distorting domestic support, as 
well as the elimination of all policies which di storted trade and which were linked to export 
competition.  In the latter area, it was necessary to take account also of the possible negative effects 
on LDCs and NFIDCs and to provide exceptions  so as to attenuate these possible effects. 
214. With regard to development-related issues, hi s delegation wished to thank the Chairman for 
his report on implementation and supported his call to Members to give new impetus to this area.  It 
was also urgent to address in a pragmatic manner development issues, since these were particularly 
important for a large number of Members. 
215. The representative of Pakistan  said that, from the Chairman's introductory statement, the 
reports of negotiating group Chairs  and statements made at the present meeting, there was a general 
will to move forward and to get good results by Hong Kong.  His delegation agreed with the 
Chairman that there were a few issues that n eeded to be focused on, including modalities for 
agriculture and NAMA, a critical mass of services offers, agreement on draft elements of rules 
especially anti-dumping, transparency in RTAs, tr ade facilitation and clear forward movement on 
S&D treatment.  His delegation also agreed with the Chairman's suggestion on reaching a first 
approximation by July which could mean different th ings for different groups.  Whatever it meant, 
Members needed to keep their ambition high to meet the Doha and the July Decision mandates. 
216. Turning to specific issues, he said that his dele gations agreed with the statement by Brazil on 
agriculture.  Without compromising the principle of transparency, there was a need to move on within 
the next weeks from AVEs to more substantial issues,  such as a banded formula for market access.  
Once there was a sense of the required level of am bition, then Members could work on other issues, 
such as special products and sensitive products.  Similarly, domestic support issues should be 
addressed to meet the July Decision commitment of substantial reduction in the overall levels.  On 
export competition, Members needed to move forw ard from the "parallelism" discussion in order to 
start discussing a credible date for elimination of  export subsidies.  Work in the Sub-Committee on 
Cotton needed to be expedited so that by Hong Kong, Members had an early harvest on this very 
important development/agriculture issue. 
217. On NAMA, his delegation could agree to any solution as long as it was ambitious and had an 
S&D element to take care of existing ground realities.   Once a formula was worked out, it would take 
care of other approaches.  If delegations started l ooking at numbers then they would have a reasonable 
idea as to which formula was workable.  A modified  Swiss formula which took into account current 
ground realities could serve the interest of all Member s.  Members had to make sure that the issue of 
preferences did not dilute MFN liberalization and was not at the expense of other poor countries. 
218. On rules, his delegation had seen the statemen t of Friends of Anti-dumping Negotiations and 
agreed with their proposed six broad objectives.  In light of the commitment of delegations, the TN/C/M/16 
Page 38  
 
 technical discussions thus far and the fact that there were almost 100 proposals on the table 
concerning anti-dumping, it was time to move on.  For Pakistan, having fair rules on anti-dumping 
investigations which prevented those measures fro m being be used for protectionist purposes was a 
very important factor. 
219. His delegation was satisfied that the technical debate on RTAs transparency was nearing 
conclusion, but there was need to make progress on the more substantial aspects, such as periodic 
reporting.  His delegation was satisfied with th e progress on trade facilitation and appreciated the 
efforts by Members in tabling workable proposals and by the Negotiating Group Chairman in advancing the process. 
220. On trade and development, his delegation was concerned that there was no notable progress 
on strengthening S&D treatment provisions.  His delegation fully supported the CTD Special Sessions 
Chair's conceptual approach.  As noted by the Chair, effective mark et access, enhanced flexibility in 
WTO rules, and enhanced capacity building were important objectives.  His delegation welcomed the 
Chair's efforts to work on these issues. 
221. The representative of Uganda
 said that his delegation wished to be convinced that the Doha 
Round was a development Round that would guarantee its development needs, particularly since it 
needed development most.  In that regard, his dele gation fully associated itself with the statements by 
Rwanda on behalf of African Group and Zambia on behalf of LDCs. 
222. Turning to specific issues, he said he had r ecently witnessed a situation in Uganda where 
farmers had refused to harvest cotton because th e price offered was too low.  The Ugandan 
government had to intervened with a Ug. Shs. 50 subsidy – equivalent to not more than a Swiss 
centime.  Cotton played a major role in African ec onomies as it accounted for 30 per cent of total 
export revenues.  It was also the main export pro duct where Africa had a comparative advantage.  
With recent developments in genetic engineering esp ecially in the United States, the cotton industry in 
Africa had to contend with cons umer demand volatility that came with the introduction of new 
products.  In 2003/2004, 21 per cent of the world's cotton area had been planted with genetically 
engineered varieties.  It had been estimated that  by 2007/2008, 40 per cent of the world cotton area 
would be under genetic engineering accounting for 50 per cent of world's cotton.  In 1995/96, 1 kg of 
cotton had fetched US$2 and declined to US$1 in 2001.   In 2004 the price had fallen to 74 US cents 
and this year it was 90 cents.  At the farm gate in  Uganda a farmer took home Ug Shs. 300 equivalent 
to 17 US cents.  The cause of all this was the dir ect support in the form of subsidies that major 
subsidizers gave to their farmers.  Information av ailable at World Bank was to the effect that world 
cotton price in 2002 would have been 25 per cent highe r had it not been for direct support to farmers 
in those countries which subsidized.  That suppor t caused loss of US$300 million in revenue to Africa 
as a whole.  That was more than the total debt relief of US$230 million appr oved by the World Bank 
under the HIPC initiative to none highly indebted co untries, Uganda being one of them.  An Oxfam 
study had shown that in 2001, Ma li had lost US$43 million because of subsidies.  That was equal to 
the same amount they had received as debt relief under enhanced HIPC. 
223. The Doha Round should tackle the issue of subs idies otherwise it would not deserve its name 
as a development round.  While it was known that Spain and Greece only produced 2 per cent of the 
world's output, (400,000 metric tons.) farmers in those countries took home two times the world price 
in subsidies plus the world price.  At 90 US cents per kg or US$ 900 per ton this year, the same farmers would take home US$700 million in subsid ies plus US$360 million in world price equalling 
US$1060 million.  A section of African farmers producing the same amount would take home only 
US$360 million.  This was unacceptable and had to be resolved during this Round.  His people would 
then produce for the world market, prices would impr ove and so would their circumstances.  This was 
what his delegation was negotiating as a Member of  the WTO – to gain from the multilateral trading 
system like the developed countries.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 39 
 
 
 224. It was important that major market providers for African cotton and cotton products addressed 
tariff peaks, tariff escalation and rules of origin  issues to enable Africa to export value-added 
products.  There was also a need for financial assi stance to cotton producing countries in the short run 
to support adjustment, including diversification. 
225. Regarding trade facilitation, Uganda believed that  this was central to an efficient global 
trading environment.  However, while it welcomed  the pace at which negotiations were moving, his 
delegation wished to point out para graph 1 of Annex D, of the July Decision which stated clearly that 
the aim of negotiations would include enhanced t echnical assistance and support to capacity building.  
It requested that this aspect be built in the negot iations and not be left for later, that is, the 
implementation stage.  In that regard, Uganda calle d on the relevant institutions to make the trust fund 
created to help developing and least-developed c ountries operational quickly to enable those countries 
to participate effectively in these negotiations.  His delegation hoped that the tool kits promised by the 
different bodies would be made available soon to help Members reflect clearly on the three GATT 
Articles on which the negotiations were based. 
226. Turning to services, he said that much as many developing countries wished to engage, 
Uganda for instance had not finish ed carrying out its national needs assessment to establish the impact 
of the previous liberalization under the structur al adjustment programme.  The good news ,however, 
was that it had submitted requests at the bilatera l level in response to initial requests received. 
227. Regarding export credits, Uganda took note of the Agriculture Chair's draft on disciplines for 
export credit, credit guarantees and insurance program s, particularly as they related to LDCs and 
NFIDCs in the context of the implementation of paragraph 4 of the Marrakesh Decision on Measures 
Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Le ast-Developed and Net 
Food-Importing Developing Countries and paragraph 24 of Annex A of the July Decision.  It was 
important to stress the need for adequate provisions  for favourable treatment for LDCs and NFIDCs in 
the context of disciplines on export credits in agricu lture.  His delegation recognized the need for clear 
and unequivocal S&D treatment provisions in that rega rd, including flexibility in, and extension of the 
180 days repayment period proposed by the Chair, as well as more favourable interest and premium 
rates for LDCs that wished to take advantage of th e situation envisaged in pa ragraph 26 of Annex A.  
However, while Uganda recognized the usefulness of disciplines on export credits for agriculture, it 
wished to stress more the need for financial a nd technical assistance to LDCs to improve their 
productivity, infrastructure and supply side constrai nts as a long term solution to the problem of 
difficulties in relation to export credits within the cont ext of agriculture.  This would give effect to the 
implementation of Article 15 of the Agreement on Agriculture which required Members to undertake 
measures envisaged in, inter alia , the Marrakesh Decision in favour of LDCs and NFIDCs. 
228. Uganda took note of the provisi ons of paragraph 44 of Annex A to the July Decision stressing 
the long-standing importance of preferences and the commitment to addressing the issue of preference erosion in agriculture.  It believed that preferen ces created incentives for production, export earnings 
and the attendant indirect benefits, such as empl oyment creation and general increase in a country's 
GDP.  It recalled the provisions of paragraph 2 of  the Doha Ministerial Declaration where Members 
were called upon to ensure that LDCs secured a shar e in the growth of wo rld trade commensurate 
with the needs of their economic development.  It  was hoped that lasting solutions would be found in 
that regard which were truly reflective of developm ent, which lay at the heart of the Doha agenda. 
229.
 In conclusion, he said that his delegation supp orted New Zealand's view, that it was high time 
Members put all their cards on the table and were honest with each other.  This would enable the 
Round to be brought to its logical conclusion.  He said the people of his country had waited long 
enough and were getting impatient and wanted to see results. TN/C/M/16 
Page 40  
 
 230. The representative of El Salvador
 said that his delegation supported the proposal for more 
frequent meetings of the TNC, which would be comp atible with the urgency of negotiations between 
the present meeting and Hong Kong.  It was very impor tant that substantive results were achieved at 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  His delega tion was therefore committed to combining its 
efforts with that of other Members to achieve m odalities in agriculture a nd NAMA and make progress 
in the areas of services, rules and trade facilitati on, as well as the development area which constituted 
the main part of this Round of negotiations. 
231. With regard to the agriculture negotiations, it was positive that in March the first reading of 
all issues included in the negotiating framework woul d be concluded.  Howeve r, delegations needed 
to continue to work with a sense of urgency on t echnical issues which had been dealt with earlier, for 
example the conversion of non- ad valorem  tariffs to AVEs which was an essential element to progress 
on the market access pillar.  The methodology needed to be based on the principles of feasibility and 
transparency and had to be multilaterally verifiable.  In addition, his delegation wished to reiterate that 
operational S&D for developing countries had to be an  integral part of all the elements of these 
negotiations in such a way that it enabled those c ountries to fulfil their legitimate food security and 
rural development needs. 
232. On NAMA, his delegation believed that the tariff reduction formula was the fundamental 
element.  It was important to also reduce tari ff peaks and tariff escalation and promote exports, 
particularly for developing countries.  For El Salv ador, it was essential for th e principles of less than 
full reciprocity and S&D treatment to be made opera tional as set out in the Doha Declaration and the 
2004 July Decision.  Given the importance of the issues of agriculture and market access and the 
limited resources of developing delegations, the ne xt meetings should not coincide with other 
negotiations. 
233. In the area of services, it was important that, in the results of these negotiations, consideration 
was given to the opening of sectors and modes of s upply of interest to developing countries.  As 
regards the present negotiations, the offers needed to be characterised by a strong promotion of 
development, according to the objective of the Doha  Work Programme.  Turning to trade facilitation, 
he said that from the start El Salvador had supporte d the launching of negotiations in this area because 
it believed that they would genera te benefits for all Members.  His delegation hoped that progress 
would be made in the course of the year, and th at, as established in the modalities, the needs of 
developing countries would be taken into consideration and the appropriate technical assistance would 
be made available. 
234. As it had stated previously, El Salvador believe d that it was important to solve most of the 
questions outstanding in the differe nt negotiating sectors in Geneva.  This would enable Ministers to 
concentrate their efforts on speci fic issues where political guidance w as needed, and in this way avoid 
falling into the same situation as at the last Minist erial Conference.  El Salvador believed it was of 
paramount importance for the success of this proc ess to have preliminary negotiating texts before 
August which reflected the progress achieved and the balance of interests of all Members.  All 
Members were aware of the time limit placed upon them in order to achieve the set objectives.  
However, it was essential that, regardless of the di fferent formats used to make progress in the 
process, transparency and inclusiv eness were ensured so that there was a sense of ownership, on the 
part of all Members, in the final result. 
235. His delegation wished to highlight the need for a balanced result in this Round of negotiations 
to the benefit of all Members and which woul d contribute to economic development, poverty 
reduction and improve the quality of life of  the people in developing countries. 
236. The representative of Cuba  associated her delegation with the statement by Benin on behalf of 
the ACP Group.  Her delegation agreed with the ne ed to make progress as had been emphasized in the  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 41 
 
 
 reports of the Chairs of negotiating bodies.  If Memb ers wanted July to be a marker in the process, 
they needed to make progress on the objectives set  for Hong Kong in order to have a first 
approximation by then.  Cuba believed that there were  two elements that needed to go hand in hand –  
process and substance.  The process had to be tran sparent and inclusive.  The political will heard in 
various statements had to be translated into s ubstantive progress with the aim of fulfilling the Doha 
mandate.  However, a major challenge faced by Memb ers was that there were only four months left 
until July.  This lack of time should not be allo wed to become a burden on small delegations, who 
were already facing difficulties in participating in  the negotiations on issues of interest to them 
because of their limited resources.  For this reason, her delegation requested that the demands in this 
respect made by various delegations at the present meeting be taken into account. 
237. Turning to substance, she said her delegation was disappointed by the lack of progress in a 
general sense, and more particularly in the area of development.  In order to arrive at a balanced 
result, the Doha mandate needed to be adhered to , and this set out that the development component 
was a fundamental aspect of this Round, as was also  agriculture.  The negotiations on S&D, in the 
view of her delegation, did not require a lot of technical work, but rather a high degree of political 
will.  This year the WTO would be celebrating its tenth anniversary and therefore the success of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Conference would be the b est contribution Members could make to the 
anniversary of an organization which was cent red upon creating a fair a nd balanced multilateral 
trading system.  If Members wanted to contribute to ensuring that the WTO achieved that objective, 
the package for Hong Kong needed to be fair an d balanced, with the interests of all Members 
reflected, including those of lesser-developed countries who faced major challenges in their 
economies. 
238. The representative of Chinese Taipei  said that his delegation was greatly encouraged by 
recent positive developments, especially the political will demonstrated by certain Members attending 
the World Economic Forum's Annual meeting in Davos .  In his delegation's view, what was required 
was to translate that positive po litical input into the technical work and substantive discussions in 
Geneva.  This would be vital in ensuring a successful outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference at the end of the year.  In order to have  a balanced outcome at the Ministerial Conference, 
Members had to be more focused and make faster progress on some of the key areas of the DDA, such as agriculture, NAMA, services and rules, from the present to the end of the year. 
239. On agriculture, his delegation agreed with th e Agriculture Chair that AVE conversion had 
become a gateway issue which had to be resolved in the following weeks.  Although this was a very 
sensitive issue to his delegation, it was prepared  to actively engage in finding an agreeable 
methodology for AVEs conversion.  However, it wished to point out that the outcome of the discussions should not prejudice Members' rights in rebinding their tariffs schedules in specific or 
mixed duties. 
240. Regarding NAMA, Members had had good discussions on the technical aspects since last 
November.  However, the technical issues were often interwoven with the issues of substance.  In the 
view of his delegation, it was important for Members to concentrate on reaching agreement on 
formula-related issues by the time of the Hong K ong meeting.  This would help in ensuring that 
progress in the NAMA negotiations was at the same pa ce with that in other topics, and that the 
negotiations could be finalized by the end of 2006. 
241. Turning to the services negotiations, his delegati on had taken note of the report of Chair of 
the Special Session and was concerned about the la rge number of Members who had not yet tabled 
their offers and that the current level of offers did not reflect real movement.  A "wake up" call was 
needed to move the lagging services negotiations off the mark. TN/C/M/16 
Page 42  
 
 242. With regard to the rules negotiations, his dele gation considered it closely linked with market 
access discussions in agriculture and NAMA.  It had noticed in some situations that abusive use of 
rules measures, especially in the area of anti-dum ping, had served as protectionist schemes against 
fair competition.  The proliferation of those me asures could undermine the results of hard-earned 
market access negotiation.  For Chinese Taipei, pa rallel and substantial progress in the anti-dumping 
negotiations was an essential pa rt of the Hong Kong package. 
243. The representative of Costa Rica
 said that his country had been a demandeur in the Round 
from the start.  Much had been accomplished thus  far, despite some setbacks and the 2004 July 
Decision had led to a fruitful technical phase, whic h had opened the way for s ubstantive negotiations.  
However, political will was now necessary for Memb ers to be able to move on from their hard 
national positions and develop a negotiating attitude which enabled trade offs and concessions.  For 
this, it was necessary to have more direct particip ation by officials from capitals, and his delegation 
was pleased by the presence of a number of capit al-based officials at the present meeting which 
demonstrated the commitment to progress in the negotiations. 
244. Turning to future work, his delegation agreed  with New Zealand that it was important for 
work to intensify, in order to have a first a pproximation by July, otherwise Members would find 
themselves in an awkward situation for the Hong Kong Ministerial.  The first approximation should 
include draft modalities in agriculture and NAMA a nd substantial equivalent progress in the areas of 
trade facilitation, services and rules, in particular an ti-dumping.  It was also important that the pace of 
work was accelerated in the DSU negotiations  so that the mandate could be fulfilled. 
245. The development dimension had to be part of the results in all areas, but in a responsible 
manner.  Flexibilities for developing countries to implement market access obligations was only a 
component of S&D treatment and was defensive.  Th is was only one side of the coin.  The other was 
that developing countries had to achieve substan tial improvements in market access for products of 
export interest to them as this could significantly  contribute to increasing their economic growth and 
development resulting in poverty alleviation.  This was the offensive side of S&D treatment, and for 
Costa Rica, a result without this development co mponent would be unacceptable and unjustifiable. 
246. On agriculture, he said that delegations coul d not negotiate blindly.  The AVE conversion 
process had to be transparent, with a multilaterally verifiable procedure and should not be understood 
to be a concession.  Costa Rica had a special intere st, in particular from a development point of view, 
in fulfilling the mandate which had been pending fo r many years, on tropical products.  Costa Rica 
believed that preferences should not interfere with  trade liberalization.  On NAMA, an ambitious 
formula applicable to all Members was necessary.  Th e principle of less than full reciprocity should be 
included in a formula with two coefficients, wh ich his delegation was ready to discuss.  His 
delegation found Canada's statement that the sector al component had to be voluntary to be positive 
and believed this would he lp progress to be made. 
247. The services negotiations were an integral part of the market access negotiations.  His 
delegation therefore hoped that by the end of July, th ere would be a critical mass of offers, including a 
good number of revised offers which could contribute to balance in the Round.  Costa Rica was committed to this exercise and in making progress in a balanced manner.  It hoped that other 
Members would also take into account sectors of interest to developing countries. 
248. Finally on rules, substantial results particularly  in the area of anti-dumping, was essential in 
ensuring that the benefits achieved in market ac cess negotiations were in no way compromised by the 
use of anti-dumping measures.  Costa Rica, as a Friend of Anti-dumping Negotiations had contributed 
to this discussion and was committed to continuing.  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 43 
 
 
 249. The representative of Colombia  said that her delegation believed that the TNC played an 
essential role in the negotiations in the Round.  Achi eving concrete results within this development 
Round was an objective shared by all Members.  The Chairman had proposed five areas on which it 
would be necessary to concentrate and the course of  action required to complete this task.  Her 
delegation believed the Chairman was right – in the finishing straight, form was as important as 
substance.  In this respect, her delegation agreed  to the process proposed from the present meeting to 
July, and from then to Hong Kong, and that  the Round had to be concluded in 2006. 
250. As far as substance was concerned, Colombia ha d an interest in all the areas of negotiation 
and understood that the negotiations had to move forward on all fronts.  But at the same time, it 
trusted that no Member would take advantage of this  period, in which the final results of the Round 
would start to emerge, to unbalance the process.  The time remaining was only just sufficient and it 
should not be spent in discussing issues which had al ready been resolved, such  as the interpretation of 
an agreed text, as was happening with the July Decision, or re-establishing export subsidies.  
Phantoms of this type would make it much more di fficult to achieve rapid a nd concrete results.  The 
five areas identified by the Chairman for a first approximation were very important, however her 
delegation wished to point out the challenges in th e negotiations on agriculture and on development, 
in particular because of their capacity to affect other areas of the negotiations. 
251. In the agriculture negotiations, there were many pending issues in each of the pillars.  
However, the AVEs conversion issue presented di fficulties which required intensifying the work, 
without in any way undermining the Framework agreed in July, nor prejudging its results.  At the same time, in the area of export subsidies, defining a date for the implementation of what had been 
agreed would be a clear signal of not reinsta ting subsidies which had already been eliminated. 
252. More attention should be paid by the TNC, but  also by Ministers, in the negotiations on 
agriculture, development and NAMA to preference erosion, which was an attempt to limit access 
rights for products of interest to developing countries to a major market.  In the development negotiations, Colombia believed that Members should concentrate on making the development 
dimension a reality, in line with the CTD Special  Session's mandate in paragraph 44 of the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration and the wo rk programme established in Doha. 
253. On NAMA, her delegation supported the need fo r modalities as raised by the Chair of the 
Negotiating Group, which implied having a clear idea of the direction of the negotiations and the 
elements of the modalities set out in Annex B of the July Decision.  For this, it was necessary to 
intensify technical work on the central issues.  Her delegation believed that working in a format 
similar to agriculture could help identify elements of consensus to build the first approximation of the 
modalities. 
254. Colombia attached a great deal of importan ce to the negotiations on services.  Its objective 
was to obtain an appropriate balance within the negotiations on the sectors, modes of supply and 
concrete progress in developing disciplines.  Colomb ia was participating actively in these negotiations 
and would continue to cooperate with the Special  Session Chairman in the work leading to Hong 
Kong.  Her delegation believed that  developing a first approximation of  what should be taken to Hong 
Kong required that offers be presented in some case s and revised in others to reflect the interests 
expressed by developing countries throughout the negotia tions, in particular with regard to mode 4. 
255. The representative of Mexico
 said that if Members wanted to fulfil the Doha mandate and 
conclude the negotiations by 2006, they had to co mbine serious work with much creativity and above 
all firm political will.  From the Agriculture Chair' s report, it was clear that there were important and 
urgent issues to be addressed, among them, the issue of AVE conversion was fundamental to be able to initiate market access negotiations and th ere was no time to waste on this issue. TN/C/M/16 
Page 44  
 
 256. On NAMA, delegations needed to accelerate discussions on the formula and on how to 
achieve appropriate complementarity between a high degree of ambition and the necessary 
flexibilities for developing countries.  Mexico a nd other countries had made a proposal which was 
based on this balance between ambition and flexibi lity, and the tool kit they had developed was a 
methodological formula which they we re sure would be appreciated. 
257. The report of the Chair of the Special Session of Services had left his delegation very 
concerned.  Without the necessary inputs, it would be difficult to have a product by July.  All offers 
had to be on the table rapidly and with, at the least, a decent level of quality.  In the area of rules, there 
was also a lot to be done, including on rule-making in  services.  Extraordinary efforts had to be made 
on issues such as anti-dumping and dispute settlement. 
258. With regard to the negotiations on development,  he wished to associate his delegation with 
the statements by others expressing concerns about  a new approach in which development would be 
presented as a phenomenon with merely situational ch aracteristics.  The reality was that there were 
structural problems that needed to be solved th rough measures of the same nature, avoiding made-to-
measure solutions which discriminated  against and divided developing coun tries.  On the issue of GIs, 
his delegation agreed fully w ith the statement by Chile. 
259. In conclusion, he said that optimistic political messages should not be made if they were not 
supported by concrete actions within  governments.  It was time for Members to start to defend the 
Round with the same vigour that they had defended th eir national interests thus far.  The collective 
thinking process referred to by the Chairman had to  include internal reflection within all Member 
governments.  Firstly, each Member had to assess wher e they could be flexible.  Then, it would be 
useful for Members to work individually and to seek  to build bridges with other Members with whom 
they had different or contradicting interests.  This was the best way for Members to help the Chairs of 
the negotiating bodies.  The Chairs, for their part , should organise every type of informal meeting 
possible, with the objective of being well-informed on  the different positions an d being able to reflect 
on how to contribute to achieving the agreements which Ministers expected.  Success in Hong Kong 
was not only a collective responsibility, but also th e sum of each Members' individual efforts.  
Certainly the largest players had to continue to give  clear signals of commitment.  The suggestion that 
the limit of flexibility had been reached was not a constructive attitude.  Much remained to be done, 
but there was also much to be gained. 
260. The representative of Peru
 said that her delegation agreed with the Chairman that it was 
essential to have a draft outline of the Ministerial te xt for Hong Kong by the end of July.  It also 
agreed that from September, Members would need to  devote time to adjusting the Ministerial text to 
turn it into a reasonable basis which left open only a few politically sensitive issues for decision by 
Ministers.  In addition, her delegation agreed with  the view that substantive negotiations should take 
place in Geneva as far as possible, with the par ticipation of officials from capital, to guarantee the 
highest degree of transparency and inclusiveness of a ll developing countries, in particular those that 
could not participate in mini-Ministerial meetings.  Th eir interests also had to be taken into account in 
the negotiations.  However, her delegation was also aware of the importance of involving Ministers in 
the negotiations so as to inject political impetus into the process and resolv e impasses which arose. 
261. Her delegation agreed with the main objectives for Hong Kong set out by the Chairman.  The 
reports of the Chairs had set out with frankness and obj ectivity the status of work in each area and the 
challenges that had to be overcome as a priority if  Members really wished to achieve those objectives. 
262. On agriculture, as set out by th e Special Session Chair, her delegation believed that priority 
needed to be given to a number of important issues in order to make progress in the three pillars in a 
balanced way.  Like others, he r delegation considered it essential in the coming weeks to agree on a 
solution for the AVE conversion issue on the basis of  a technical and objective analysis.  She wished  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 45 
 
 
 to reiterate that, for her delegation, it was very im portant that agreement be reached in the modalities 
on a Special Safeguard Mechanism in favour of  developing countries and on Special Products.  
Similarly, it was essential to address effectively th e long standing commitment to achieving the fullest 
liberalisation of trade in tropical agricultural pro ducts and products of par ticular importance to the 
diversification of production from the growing of illic it narcotic crops.  With regard to the erosion of 
non-reciprocal preferences, it was also extremely impor tant that this issue was taken up in accordance 
with the Doha mandate and in full resp ect of the basic principles of the WTO. 
263. Turning to NAMA, she said her delegation gave priority to the adoption of a general formula 
which included necessary flexibilities for developing  countries according to Annex B of the July 
Decision.  In that context, the flexibilities to be ag reed for the application of the formula needed to 
safeguard the principle of equity in commitments made by developing countries.  Without prejudice to 
this, her delegation believed that all Members except the LDCs should commit themselves to binding 
100 per cent of their tariff lines.  The sectoral appro ach had to be voluntary in nature and possibly be 
applied once the implications of the formula to  the economies of developing countries had been 
evaluated.  The level of ambition in NAMA woul d depend on progress and ambition in the agriculture 
negotiations. 
264. In services, her delegation believed balance shoul d be sought in the negotiation as a whole.  
On the one hand, a proper balance had to be achieve d within the market access negotiations between 
sectors and modes of supply which were bound in sch edules.  In that context, an increase in 
substantive commitments in mode 4, movement of  natural persons, in pa rticular by developed 
Members was very important to her delegation.  On the other hand, progress should be made on 
developing GATS disciplines to avoid commitments be ing undermined by the existence of regulations 
which impeded market access.  For that reason, he r delegation understood the objective of "significant 
progress in areas such as Rules" to mean progress in  rules in all areas of negotiation, including in 
services, principally in domestic regulation and subsidies. 
265. In the area of development, her delegation supp orted the work undertaken by the Chair of the 
CTD Special Session.  For Peru, development should be the guide for and context of the Round.  In 
that context, the objective should be improved and strengthened existing S&D treatment, without 
limiting it to merely a defensive approach.  On th e contrary, it should incorporate the offensive 
approach to S&D treatment, which entailed additio nal efforts by developed countries to grant better 
market access conditions to products and services of export interest to developing countries.  That was 
why her delegation believed that Members had to pr oceed with a great degree of caution so that any 
conceptual or situational approach to be consider ed should be within the mandate agreed at Doha.  
This would avoid taking up issues or systemic pr oposals which were not part of the mandate and 
which implied an alteration to the basic pr inciples of the WTO and the establishment of 
discrimination, causing prejudice to some developi ng countries which would affect the remaining 
negotiations. 
266. Turning to intellectual property, she said that although this area had not been singled out in 
the five objectives for Hong Kong, for her delegation it constituted a high priority in the final package 
and, for this reason, substantive progress should be made on the issues of traditional knowledge and 
non-violation complaints applicable in the context of the TRIPS Agreement. 
267. The representative of Ecuador  said that her delegation supporte d achieving concrete results by 
the next Ministerial in Hong Kong by establishing m odalities, in particular in agriculture and NAMA, 
and making progress in the other areas.  The Hong Kong Ministerial Conference constituted an 
intermediate step in the conclusion of the Doha Round. 
268. With regard to the procedure between the present meeting and Hong Kong, her delegation 
believed it was essential for substan tive negotiations to be held in Geneva, with political support in TN/C/M/16 
Page 46  
 
 parallel through mini-Ministerials he ld outside Geneva.  It was also essential to intensify the role of 
the TNC to inform Members of developments in th e negotiations and to give the necessary impetus to 
ensure that the negotiations progressed in parallel in a ll areas, in line with the single undertaking.  The 
principles of transparency and inclusiveness had to prevail throughout in order to achieve a balanced 
result, particularly as not all countries par ticipated in mini-Ministerial meetings. 
269. In agriculture, the conversion of non- ad valorem  tariffs to AVEs was of particular importance 
to initiating the work on modalities.  In the market  access pillar, it was fundamental to take up the 
long term commitment to achieving the fullest libera lisation of trade in tropical agricultural products 
and products of particular  importance to the diversification of production to allow the abandonment of 
the cultivation of crops from which illicit narcotics we re obtained.  With regard to the issue of non-
reciprocal preference erosion, the framework need ed to be adjusted to the Doha mandate which 
sought to substantially improve markets for all Me mbers.  Her delegation supported coordinated and 
coherent work among international organisations in order to offer alternative solutions leading to 
support for adjustment programmes, sectoral r estructuring and diversification of exports. 
270. Turning to NAMA, she said that in these ne gotiations Ecuador supported the adoption of a 
general formula which incorporated the flexibiliti es necessary for developing countries, as established 
in Annex B of the framework for modalities.  The m odalities to be agreed for the application of the 
formula needed to safeguard the principle of equity in commitments undertaken by developing 
countries.  The sectoral approach had to be voluntary in nature and be applied once the implications of 
its application on the economies of developing count ries had been assessed.  It was equally important 
to ensure an improvement in market access for pr oducts of export interest to developing countries and 
the binding of all tariff lines on the part of all Members. 
271. On services, like others, her delegation belie ved that balance was required throughout the 
negotiation as a whole.  With regard to market access, it was necessary to achieve an appropriate 
balance between the sectors and modes of supply which were bound in the schedules.  Progress 
needed to be made in the development of GA TS disciplines to avoid bound commitments being 
undermined by measures which impeded market access.  With respect to the offers being submitted, 
she said that Ecuador, as a developing country which had acceded to the WTO after its establishment 
and which had bound substantial co mmitments, had concerns about th e quality of the initial offers.  
Furthermore, her delegation had an interest in seeing the process under way under Article XXI for the 
modification and withdrawal of commitments of the 15 new members of th e European Communities 
functioned – this was an issue which would also ha ve systemic effects for the rest of the services 
negotiations. 
272. The development dimension had to be the gui de and context of the Round and the objective 
should be to improve and strengthe n S&D treatment without limiting it to a defensive approach.  It 
should rather have an offensive approach which w ould open up markets to the products and services 
of interest to developing countries.  Ecuador hoped the development dimension would not signify 
discrimination which would affect the principles and agreements which guided the Organization. 
273. Finally, on trade facilitation, she said that Ec uador supported progress in these negotiations 
which required, in parallel, necessary technical assistance and the covering of costs to enable 
commitments to be assumed in this area. 
274. The representative of Indonesia  said that the introductory statement by the Chairman and 
reports of the Chairs of the negotiating bodies had s hown the challenges ahead.  To be able to meet 
the challenge of concluding the Round by 2006, Members should set an ambitious target for Hong 
Kong, which had to include, inter alia , completing modalities on agriculture and NAMA.  To achieve 
the Hong Kong target, delegations had to work ha rd and take full advantage of the window of 
opportunity given to them by their political masters.   His delegation was confident that this target  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 47 
 
 
 could be met if there was genuine willingness from a ll Members to contribute and move the process 
forward.  The words of commitment expressed at the present meeting were comforting, however the 
true test would be when delegations  engaged in technical negotiations. 
275. At the Ministerial gathering in Davos, there ha d seemed to be consensus that by July 2005, 
Members should have a "first approximation" of the outcome for Hong Kong.  As they worked 
towards that, it was important that work was organi zed in way that trust and confidence were built 
amongst them.  All Members had to be involved in the process.  There had to be a balance between 
transparency and efficiency in th e process, as well as in substance across all issues.  With regard to 
process, his delegation shared the view of many that the involvement of Senior Officials and Ministers was important.  Using the analogy of a good cocktail, he said the mixture between Geneva 
based officials, Senior Officials, and Ministers had to be right.  The best mixture would be for process 
to be Geneva-driven. 
276. On substance, he said the first approximation had to uphold the principle of the development 
Round and adhere to the framework that Members ha d agreed to.  To increase chances of having full 
modalities by Hong Kong, Members had to aim for a first approximation that was as specific and 
detailed as possible on all issues.  This was important, not just to give a complete picture of what was 
at stake, but also to facilitate the political and tr ade off process in the autumn  process leading to Hong 
Kong. 
277. On agriculture, his delegation agreed with th e Agriculture Chair's assessment that Members 
were at the gateway, and resolving AVEs was key to moving through the gateway.  His delegation 
also shared the view of those delegations who said that AVEs were fundamentally an issue of 
transparency and should not to be linked to other issues in the negotiations.  Members had to quickly 
reach agreement on the methodology of AVE conversion,  as that was a prerequisite for further work 
on the tariff formula.  He recalled that AVE conversion was not only important to those countries using non- ad valorem  tariffs and major exporters, but also  to many developing countries like 
Indonesia, where tariffs were already bound in ad valorem  terms.  For these developing countries, the 
agreed AVE methodology would affect the implementa tion of the principle of proportionality in tariff 
reduction. 
278. Turning to NAMA, he said his delegation was ready to take the necessary steps to make 
progress in these negotiations.  In that context, it was encouraged to hear that detailed technical work 
on the formula would begin.  In his delegation's view , the formula and the principle of less than full 
reciprocity were key to making progress.  Regard ing sectoral initiatives, movement could only be 
made once there was an agreed formula, combined w ith the principle of voluntary participation.  In 
conclusion, he said that as this Round had been hyped up to be a development round, Indonesia was 
ready to work hard to ensure that LDCs and developing countries truly gained from it. 
279. The representative of Malaysia
 said that, at the present meeting, a number of delegations had 
stressed the importance of the development dimension in the D oha negotiations.  His delegation 
wished to emphasize that there had to be real progress in this area in order to achieve one of the basic 
objectives of the negotiations.  In that connection he wished to reiterate that the mandate in paragraph 
44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration which required Members to make S&D provisions more 
precise, effective and operational, should be the guidi ng principle in work on S&D treatment.  In his 
delegation's view, adopting a conceptual approach would give rise to difficulties not least by making 
the work unnecessarily complex.  Instead, Members should return to the basics and deal precisely 
with what the mandate required.  His delegati on was hopeful that this approach would enable 
Members to overcome one major roadblock on the road to Hong Kong.  Turning to the services 
negotiations, he wished to reiterate  his delegation's concern for bala nce in the work between market 
access and rules, including an emergency safe guard mechanism for developing countries. TN/C/M/16 
Page 48  
 
 280. The representative of Uruguay
 said that once Members had determined the end of 2006 as a 
desirable horizon for the conclusion of the Doha Round, the nature of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference should be adapted to the objective of ma king such a goal possible.  In other words, the 
first question Members needed to ask themselves w as what they expected as the end product of the 
Conference, and then organise their wo rk in the light of the response. 
281. With regard to the first approximation for July, his delegation believed that it was essential to 
emphasize that it could not contain a single approa ch for all the areas of the negotiations, since the 
different characteristics of each of the areas meant that the structure of the negotiation was notably 
different in every case.  This did not mean that one should not expect substantive progress by July, but 
rather that progress should take shape and be ass essed in terms of efficiency and pragmatism, 
respecting the intrinsic features of each area. 
282. For this reason, it was essential to maintain th e best possible coherence as the negotiations 
unfolded, and for that purpose, the momentum a nd the process in Geneva needed to be fed and 
supported by meetings of Senior Officials and by mini-Ministerials, which in every case, needed to 
provide added value and support to the process, without  in anyway deviating the centre of gravity of 
the negotiations.  Negotiators could not shirk thei r responsibilities by claiming that Ministers would 
solve everything.  They needed to  prepare the work of their Ministers and offer them a limited number 
of options so that they could decide on at least th e parameters within which the negotiators could look 
for technical solutions.  With respect to the specific issues, the first approximation needed to take into 
account the different rhythms which the different areas of negotiations necessarily had.  In this regard, 
his delegation supported what had been said by New Zealand. 
283. It was essential for agriculture to achieve subs tantial progress in its three pillars, guaranteeing 
compliance with the Doha mandate.  If that was not th e case, the lack of balance in the different areas 
would jeopardise, even before Hong Kong, achieving a consensus.  In that context, Members needed 
to rapidly begin effective negotiations in which they  dealt directly with the key issues, such as the 
tariff reduction formula, the reduction of domestic  support and the prohibitions and disciplines 
relating to export competition, so as to be able to  take up the remaining issues.  It was clear that 
technical aspects, such as conversion to ad valorem  tariffs, had to be resolved rapidly as a first step 
before the substantive negotiations.  This was a matter of transparency. 
284. On NAMA, delegations needed to explore to a greater degree the flexibility that had emerged 
over the last weeks, in order to achieve effectiv e general progress, without ignoring the impact that 
developments in other groups might have, such as rules, where the finalization and discussion of 
proposals was urgent. 
285. Turning to services, he said it was well known that there was a need for more technical and, 
most of all, political input in order to accelerate the completion of the process under way, without overlooking the parallel need for greater flexib ility which would facilitate and promote the 
participation of developing countries in particular, in order to have offers which were of effective 
commercial value.  On trade facilitation, to the point s already made on this issue, his delegation would 
add the need for a very strong technical assistance component for developing countries. 
286. In a chapter which was very important to this Round, development, the new approach 
outlined by the Chair of the CTD Special Session deserved very close attention, without prejudice to 
which it was possible and necessary to include the co nsideration, with the same spirit of openness and 
search for consensus, of the proposals put forward and the ways in which they could be processed in a 
manner which would effectively contribute to the conclusion of these negotiations. 
287. Finally, he wished to take up the question of process.  Everyone who had spoken at the 
present meeting had referred to the need and determ ination to work more.  However, he wondered  TN/C/M/16 
 Page 49 
 
 
 what this meant in practical terms.  For Urugua y, it meant that delegations had to put forward 
proposals which aimed to reconcile positions.  This ha d to be done by Members, but the Chairs also 
needed to be able to produce proposals aimed at conciliation, by giving them a certain amount of 
comfort and confidence that they would not massacred for their effort. 
288. The Chairman  said he wished to offer some personal reflections on what had been said at the 
present meeting.  He had some mixed feelings about this meeting.  Someone had said that the 
euphoria coming from elsewhere needed to be temper ed with the reality on the ground in Geneva, and 
he believed that was an appropriate comment. 
289. He believed all participants knew where they want ed to be by the end of the year.  They all 
saw the need to achieve something ambitious, something concrete by the end of the year to be able to 
complete the Round in 2006.  He believed they also  knew where they were at the present, which was 
based on the July Decision.  The di fficult thing was how to move from where they were to where they 
wanted to be, and he had hoped that the present meeting would give more indications in this direction.  
Some indications had been given, but participants had also given some cause for concern by restating 
positions and sometimes repeating defensive positions.  Some positions  had even been pushed so far 
that it could take quite some time before others c ould meet their demands.  In saying this, he was just 
trying to bring participants down to earth. 
290. Everyone did know where they wanted to be, and th ey needed to help each other to fill in the 
gaps from the present until July, and from July to Dece mber.  Participants did not have a wide margin 
for error.  Time was short if they wanted to meet their goals.  Many speakers had mentioned how 
much work still remained to be done if modalities we re to be reached by the end of the year.  Full 
modalities for agriculture and NAMA by the end of th e year would mean making different levels of 
progress in other areas, but this should be subs tantial enough to guarantee the path towards those 
modalities.  If there was not enough movement in othe r areas to give participants the confidence that 
their interests were being taken care of, modalities would not be achieved. 
291. The present meeting was the first of the year, a nd perhaps participants could allow themselves 
to talk about their aspirations for the year.  But as they moved forward, starting already from the 
second meeting in March, he expected delegations  to move beyond repetitio n of positions and to 
focus more on what might be acceptable to everyone .  In other words, more give and less take. 
292. He wished to go through some of the points whic h had been made, so participants could try to 
push the agenda on all fronts and ensure coherence am ong the different issues.  First, he was grateful 
to the Senior Officials who had attended the meeti ng.  This was a good example of how participants 
should aim to build up momentum.  He appreciated their participation, and saw them as helping the 
link between negotiators in Geneva and capitals.  Pa rticipants needed to use the full range of such 
possibilities to ensure a good connection be tween the technical and political levels. 
293. Some had suggested that informal mini-Minis terial meetings should not become a kind of 
road show, and he would agree that expectations of them should not be raised too high.  These 
meetings were not meant to be a negotiating forum and they could not solve all the problems.  
Negotiators should, however, try to provide some focus to them and ask Ministers to give their 
guidance on certain issues.  But one should not put all one's eggs in one basket.  He would work with 
all participants to ensure that such meetings pr ovided the right direction and space for them to move 
forward in their nego tiations in Geneva. 
294. His second point concerned markers.  Some marker s, or benchmarks or thresholds, had been 
set and it was good to be reminded of them.  Participan ts should not wait until July to realize that they 
were late in preparing some of the results for H ong Kong, but rather keep the markers under review as 
they moved along, because these we re deadlines agreed by them.  There were already the May TN/C/M/16 
Page 50  
 
 deadline for services and the July  deadline for S&D treatment, and now there were others.  For 
example, agreement on how to convert non- ad valorem  tariffs into AVEs in agriculture was an 
important one, and he would ask ev eryone to be conscious of it.  These markers had to be respected, 
although he could understand the difficulty they c ould pose for some delegations, because these were 
not just technical issues, they were also political ones. 
295. Another such area was services.  It was quite perplexing to hear countries talk about their 
ambitious goals for Hong Kong when they had not ye t submitted an initial offer in services.  Some of 
them had also urged others to come up with revisi ons of their initial offers.  With the deadline for 
revised offers in May, it was only by having a critical  mass of offers on the table that countries could 
be encouraged to improve upon their original effort s.  Once again, participants needed to remind 
themselves of these markers and try to cross these thresholds. 
296. His third point concerned "passing the buck".  Th is was perhaps not an appropriate term, but 
he believed it was a simple one.  Participants needed to avoid passing the buck, not only between 
issues, but also between actors or between the Chai rs and the Members.  It was simply not going to 
work.  This would be a waste of time and would certainly not enhance the negotiations.  Everyone 
needed each other in this process.  Everyone had a collective responsibility to ensure that they moved 
together and to try to generate substance on the basis of their own contributions.  This was not a 
question of a lack of participation, the roles of certa in actors or the lack of movement in certain areas.  
It was too late for that.  Everyone had to move, a nd to move on all fronts, and he would do his best to 
coordinate that task.  This was another point to whic h he hoped not to have to return to in the future. 
297. The fourth point concerned "first approximations".   Participants would need to reflect on this 
later on to have a better understanding of the term, but  he wished to caution that , at this stage, it was 
just a convenient shorthand.  It should not be mist aken for a readymade solution or a sort of one-size-
fits-all approach for all areas of the negotiations.  It had originally been used in the context of 
agriculture, and one should not expect the same kind of "first approximation" in every area. 
298. He wished also to caution agai nst any assumption that participants had to aim at producing a 
sort of a draft Ministerial text by July.  What th ey needed for July were, rather, appropriate positive 
elements in each negotiating area, together with  a sense of overall coherence, which could be 
developed further into decision texts and incorporat ed into a wider framework  for Ministers in Hong 
Kong.  As he saw it, the basic point was that by Ju ly all participants would need to have confidence 
that the negotiating areas of most interest to them  were all progressing in a way that could contribute 
to a significant result in Hong Kong and so take th em into the final phase of the Round.  This was 
what they should be looking for in July, and they should evolve their thinking on this as they moved 
along. 
299. His last point was the need to be transparent and inclusive at all times.  These aspects of the 
work were most important, but he would suggest that one also needed to be effective.  Transparency 
should not be at the expense of progress.  However,  if any participants believed he had overlooked 
transparency or inclusiveness at any time, they should remind him. 
300. The Trade Negotiations Committee took note
 of the statements. 
__________