RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/M/30 
11 June 2009 
 
 (09-2824) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session  
 
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 6 APRIL 2009 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
 
1. The Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services held a formal meeting on 6 April 
2009, chaired by Ambassador Fernando de Mateo of Mexico.  The agenda for the meeting, contained 
in document WTO/AIR/3345, was adopted. 
A. REVIEW OF PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATIONS , INCLUDING PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 15 OF THE 
GUIDELINES FOR NEGOTIATIONS ; AND ORGANIZATION OF FUTURE WORK 
2. The Chair  said that the last formal meeting of the Special Session had been held in the run-up 
to the Ministerial Meeting in July 2008.  Given the outcome of the Ministerial, and the cancellation of the planned follow-up in December, work in th e WTO in 2009 had broadened beyond an exclusive 
focus on the Doha Round.  In addition, the WTO was now focused also on surveillance and 
monitoring related to the economic crisis, and the revitalization of existing WTO bodies and 
instruments.  This broadening in emphasis had already had its impact in the services area.  While, in 
the area of the negotiations, there had been ongoing  discussions on the usual core topics, work in 
other areas has been given new importance. 
3. The present meeting was being held during a traditional services cluster.  Other services 
meetings had been taking place over the past few days  in the subsidiary bodies – the CTFS, the CSC, 
the WPDR, the WPGR – but also in numerous bilate rals and friends groups.  As well, a seminar on 
Financial Services and a Scheduling Workshop ha d been held.  Delegations would no doubt be 
commenting later on any developments or  progress made during those meetings. 
4. It was clear that delegations should not forget  their shared focus on negotiating a successful 
Doha outcome in services, according to the prin ciples of the mandate in Annex C of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration.  This included a satisfactory set of offers, results from the rules negotiations, 
and Modalities for LDCs.  The G20 Final Communiqué s poke of a commitment to  an "ambitious and 
balanced conclusion" to the Doha R ound.  In light of the present situa tion, there was perhaps a need to 
explore how delegations could use their time in new ways to further the services negotiations. 
5. The Chair said that he wished to hear delegations' thoughts on the status of the negotiations, 
where priorities should lie in the coming months, a nd how in practical terms future work should be 
organized. 
6. On behalf of the group of Recently-Acceded Members (RAMs)
, the delegation of Chinese 
Taipei noted that, with the current global economic downturn and a growing trend towards 
protectionism threatening to undermine the multila teral trading system, the RAMs saw an early, 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. TN/S/M/30 
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  balanced completion of the Doha Round as a key el ement of any "stimulus package". They were 
convinced that it would benefit all Members,  and wanted to see a positive outcome as soon as 
possible. 
7. The RAMs saw great value in the compromise text in the Chair's Report of July 2008, 
containing the "elements required for the completion of the services negotiations".  They appreciated 
the recognition in the text of the RAMs' "special situation" – arising mainly out of the extensive 
market access commitments undertaken  at the time of their accessions – and for agreeing to take the 
RAMs' situation into account in the DDA negotiations.   
8. It was evident to the RAMs that an improved political environment and a strong political will 
on the part of the major Members was going to be cruc ial to the ultimate success of the negotiations.   
However, RAMs were convinced that there was a need , in the meantime, to continue work on some of 
the technical issues.  In this regard, RAMs were pleased to detect some renewed momentum in the 
areas of domestic regulation, GATS rules and LDC Modalities.  They wished to encourage 
continuation of this technical work, which would he lp pave the way for the final arrangements of the 
Round.   The RAMS remained full y committed to working together with other Members towards an 
early, ambitious and balanced outcome for the DDA negotiations.   
9. On its own behalf, the delegation of Chinese Taipei
 welcomed the joint commitment 
expressed by the leaders of the G20 on 2 April to "r each an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the 
Doha Development Round, which is urgently needed."   The key word here was "urgently".  Under the 
shadow of the unprecedented global economic rec ession, the completion of the Doha round had 
become more urgent than ever.  In order to achie ve this goal, the G20 lead ers also declared their 
commitment "to building on the progress already made , including with regard to Modalities."   It was 
time for delegations to translate this renewed commitment into real action. 
10. As a strong demandeur on services, Chinese Taipei participated the previous week in a total 
of 11 services sector Friends meetings, five formal meetings in bodies related to the Council, and two 
workshops.  Friends took this opportunity to reflect  on the positive market-opening signals made so 
far, especially during the Signalling Conference in July  2008.   They also discussed possible future 
work.   The hope was to consolidate the progress made  so far, and prepare for the final stage of the 
negotiations.   
11. In concluding, Chinese Taipei  emphasized the importance of the market access negotiations 
to those in domestic regulation.  The Chair in the WPDR had made a tremendous effort so far, 
although the recently revised draft text was not in  its view satisfactory.   Chinese Taipei looked 
forward to crafting stronger multilateral disciplin es on domestic regulation, consistent with the 
mandate in Article VI:4 of the GATS.  
12. The delegation of Canada  said that it appreciated the opportunity to review the state of our 
services work, especially at such an important time  for the multilateral trading system and for the 
global economy as a whole.   During the Chair consu ltations earlier the year, Canada had joined many 
other delegations in affirming that the Chair's Ju ly report – on "Elements Required for the Completion 
of the Services Negotiations" – was the basis for wo rk in the Special Session.   Canada remained 
committed to building on progress to date, including with  respect to the Chair's July report. All of the 
elements – including market access, domestic regulations and LDC Moda lities – should advance 
more-or-less in tandem. 
13. Canada recognized, of course, that substantial progress in services would be a function of the 
momentum in other negotiating group s.  For this reason, in preparing for the present cluster of 
services meetings, the Canadian delegation took note  of the discussion at the TNC meeting held in 
December.  Members there had established two tracks of work:  the first adhering to Members' shared  TN/S/M/30 
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  commitment to the DDA;  the second focused on in stitutional issues, and brainstorming about the 
future direction of the multilateral trading system.  
14. This horizontal prescription – as set out by Memb ers and the Director-General – applied to 
services, and it was in that spirit that Canada had approached work in the preceding week.   On the 
Doha track, some Members had expressed reserva tions about resuming full-speed request-offer 
negotiations under the current circumstances.  Ca nada therefore had opted to focus bilateral 
discussions on issues of a more horizontal nature.  
15. That said, Canada was pleased that some of its trading partners were indeed willing to take up 
technical issues related to potential offers.  Partic ularly welcome was the constructive spirit of those 
who reaffirmed Ministerial signals, and expressed a willingness to pursue further improvements in the 
context of future offers. This was a commitment that  Canada gladly shared.  After all, most offers 
currently on the table dated back to 2005: before  Annex C, before the collective requests, before 
multiple rounds of plurilateral and bilateral ne gotiations, and before th e Signalling process.  
Delegations needed to be prepared to build on all of this progress to advance the Round.  
16. In addition to bilateral meetings, Canada pursu ed technical work during the preceding week, 
in the context of sectoral Friends groups. This includ ed an assessment of the state of play in market 
access negotiations.  This was a useful exercise  among like-minded Members, although the results 
suggested that the Membership as a whole faced a significant leap to advance from July 2008 to a 
viable deal on services.  
17. Beyond the negotiating track, the Friends gr oups also took careful note of the renewed 
political commitment to refrain from raising new barri ers to trade.   Canada encouraged Friends 
groups to take advantage of their networks of ex pertise and links with exporters to assist in the 
monitoring of these undertakings with regard to ser vices.   Canada also heard some interesting 
proposals in Friends groups related to the future  evolution of the GATS system. This kind of 
brainstorming on new issues was welcome and needed to be encouraged. 
18. If Members had concluded the Round last year – and if they did so in the coming year – they 
would still have to face the same question: what is next for the GATS system?  For this reason, 
Members needed to balance negotiating de mands with institutional stewardship.  
19. Ultimately, the preceding week was more of a GATS cluster than a negotiating cluster, with 
the workshops on scheduling and financial services proving to be useful additions to the regular 
agenda.   The Financial Services event, in particul ar,  provided a very timely confirmation that it was 
possible to combine an open financial services re gime with sound regulation. The recent Canadian 
experience was a case in point, and Canada continue d to see liberalization and open financial services 
markets as fundamental to economic recovery.  
20. Much of Members' work last week was prel iminary.  Canada therefore welcomed the 
opportunity to continue technical exercises along the lines described.   Another cluster of services meetings – remaining flexible on the exact mix of  negotiation and institutiona l work – was therefore 
welcome.  Canada was confident in the Chair's j udgement to determine the most appropriate timing, 
and looked forward to hearing the views of other Members.  
21. The delegation of Switzerland 
proposed taking stock of the negotiations of services in the 
Doha Round.  Like others, he wished  to start by referring to the current economic situation.  The crisis 
not only presented uncertainties relating to the future , but also raised issues with regard to the 
temptation to introduce protectionist measures.  It  was important to remember WTO experience that 
protectionism does not improve, but could easily wors en, the current economic situation.  Switzerland 
was therefore satisfied with the consultations that ha d been held, where it was clear that at expert level TN/S/M/30 
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  there was a consensus on this truth about protectionism .  It would be important in the future work of 
the WTO to reaffirm this c onsensus whenever n ecessary, and whenever opportunities presented 
themselves.  Members had a collective role to play in  that regard.  Switzerland was confident that this 
was the direction that would be followed. 
22. The delegation of Switzerland also wished to point  out that the Ministerial Conference held in 
July 2008 had provided the opportunity to Ministers to  exchange signals on possible future offers.  In 
the context of the work of the Council for Trade in  Services, it would be important in discussions – 
whether bilateral or in small groups – to continue to  work on the signals in order to clarify them when 
questions were raised.  It would be important to fo cus on substance in order to move forward, and to 
conserve momentum when Members resumed the negotiations intensively and formally.  The 
resumption of negotiations was important, and Swit zerland was confident that sooner or later the 
Doha negotiations would restart.  As had been said on many occasions, one of the difficulties that the 
services negotiations faced was a different pace.  In other areas of the negotiations, break-through was 
almost equivalent to conclusion of  the negotiations.  In the services sector, there was much work to be 
done between a break-through and a conclusion, and Members were faced with a period in which 
there was very little time to do what was needed to do  done, and too many things to do to be able to 
reach a conclusion under good conditions.  It was ther efore essential for delegations to take advantage 
of the situation and to seize opportunities.  In the current phase of the negotiations, delegations needed 
to anticipate as much as possible the technical work.  The discussions held last week, whether 
bilaterally or in sectoral groups or in Friends gr oups, would allow Members to clarify a number of 
issues which could be important when negotiations we re resumed.  There was also more formal work 
to be done.  Chinese Taipei mentioned the two wo rking parties, WPDR and WPGR.  Switzerland was 
very attached to the work being done in those two working parties, especially with regard to domestic 
regulation.  Annex C of the Hong Kong Declaration lay down clearly that in the case of the 
conclusion of the Round, the negotiations of th e WPGR should be concluded, and it would be 
important to move the work forward as much as po ssible in the current situation so that Members 
were not caught out they were pressured to meet a pa rticular date.  The CSC also had to carry out the 
necessary analyses in order to complete final offe rs under acceptable conditions.  This was technical 
work which could be concluded dur ing the current phase, even in th e absence of intensive negations 
within the context of the Doha Round as a whole.  Switzerland had also mentioned the Modalities for 
LDCs, which was also an important element of work.  There was a range of work on things to be done 
to facilitate the conditions in which negotiations in  services could be concluded, as soon as a date was 
fixed for the submission of final offers. 
23. The delegation of Tunisia
 said how important the services sector was in terms of economic 
and social development in his country.  The expansio n of this sector is one of the parameters on which 
the future growth was based.  A successful c onclusion of services negotiations would meet the 
development objectives of Doha, and would be of sp ecific importance to Tunisia.  This meant that 
Members needed to continue with the negotiations  on the basis of the mandate that was given by 
Ministers in order to achieve progress in market acc ess and in domestic regulation, so that they could 
arrive at specific conclusions that would take  into account special and differential treatment, 
Modalities for LDCs, and flexibilities for developing member countries.  Tunisia remained committed 
to the continuation of the negotiations toward a speedy and fruitful conclusion. 
24. The delegation or Norway  said that the renewed focus of the G20 on the urgent need of 
concluding the DDA was is most welcome. Not only would an agreement on the DDA give a  
significant boost to the world economy – estimated at $150 billion annually in the G20 communiqué 
before the weekend – it would also reinforce Members' common fight against protectionism. 
25. The way forward in the services negotiations was se t out in the annex to the Chair's report of 
28 July 2008. This was a good roadmap for the work ahead.  It seemed clear from the discussion at 
the informal meeting in February that Members attach ed interest to different parts of the roadmap.   TN/S/M/30 
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  This indicated that Members should be prepared to discuss further work under any part of it. The 
important thing was to focus on the areas where progr ess was feasible.  From Norway's perspective, 
there was room for useful work on the LDC mechan ism, domestic regulation and technical assistance.  
As to technical assistance Norway believed it would be  useful to have a report by the Secretariat, as 
foreseen in para 13 of the Annex to the Chair' s report.  Norway welcomed the new domestic 
regulation draft that was released recently, and looke d forward to studying it more closely. On first 
impression, it provided a useful  basis for further work.  
26. The delegation of Hong Kong, China  said that all of the meetings, the workshop, 
presentations and the seminar were extremely well organized and useful.  The breadth of these activities once again demonstrated the importance of  advancing work in services.  As was heard 
during the financial services workshop, market lib eralization could and shoul d go hand in hand with 
sound regulations.  All Members shared this goal in  good times;  the steadfast adherence to this 
principle was even more important when times are not so favourable.  From Hong Kong, China's point of view, the conclusion of  the DDA negotiations remained th e priority.  While services could 
not proceed in a vacuum, separately from other areas in the Round, the Chair's report and the 
Signalling Conference of July 2008, provided a good  basis for taking forward the negotiations on 
services.  Hong Kong, China hoped that the overall nego tiations could be revita lized soon in order to 
reinvigorate work on market access.  Meantime, in  the face of the global economic crisis, it was 
important that to keep markets open on a non-discriminatory basis, and avoid slipping backwards into protectionism.  Improving GATS rules was an important part of Members' work.  In this regard, Hong 
Kong, China was somewhat disappointed with the Ch air's Revised Draft Text  on domestic regulation, 
when measured against the mandate in GATS Article VI:4 and the numerous intensive drafting 
sessions that had gone before it.  The Chair was ex emplary, and had laid out the ground for further 
work.  Hong Kong, China looked forward to working with Members and the new Chair on the outstanding issues in formulating sound disciplines  that allowed the sound regulation of services 
sectors without restricting trade.  All in all the cluster had been productive, and there was value in 
bringing the Membership together from time  to time on DDA issues as well as on the regular 
institutional work, such as improvement to notifica tions and the updating of sectoral papers.  There 
was a need to advance this technical work, and ot her issues relating to the negotiations.  Hong Kong, 
China would support holding a similar gathering at a suitable time. 
27. Under this agenda item, the delegation of Japan
 wished to say that the preceding week's 
services meetings had provided fr uitful outcomes for the services negotiations.  However, on the 
whole, more remained to be done before delegations  could be fully confident of closing the services 
negotiations in the DDA.  Among the various friends ' meetings held during the cluster week, Japan 
convened as coordinator a construc tion Friends group and a maritime Friends group.  They were 
attended by co-sponsor experts, and there were  good exchanges of view on the DDA as well as on 
other technical and institutional work.  During the cluster week, Japan also had many bilateral 
sessions with interested countries.  About 15 sectoral  experts from Tokyo attended the meetings, and 
on many occasions they discussed issues of mutual interest with their counterparts, although those 
bilateral contacts were not in the nature of ma rket access negotiations.  Last week, Japan also 
witnessed a renewed commitment at the G20 summit in  London, where there was expressed an urgent 
need to reach an ambitious and balanced conclusi on to the DDA.  In order to keep up this renewed 
commitment in the services negotiations, more work needed to be done, taking into account all of the 
elements referred to in the Chair's report of Ju ly 2008, including LDC Modalities, domestic regulation 
and other regular agendas.  Japan remained committ ed to participating constructively in the future 
negotiations in services. 
28. The delegation of Pakistan  said that substantial work has been done in the services 
negotiations, and that by putting in more effort a successful conclusion could be reached. Services 
was no less important than other areas in the DD A, although in terms of se quencing it is reasonable TN/S/M/30 
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  that it has been placed after agriculture and NAM A. However, a set sequence was not warranted 
within the services negotiations, and all areas could be worked on simultaneously. 
29. Like many other Members, Pakistan felt that an outcome in services was even more important 
in the context of the current economic crisis, so th at any tendency to go backward could be checked.  
Pakistan hoped that the Membership would continue  working towards the conclusion of the services 
negotiations regardless of the pace in other areas,  having in mind that a finalization of outcome might 
be subject to an implicit sequencing in the DDA. 
30. The delegation of China
 noted that it had been 8 months since the last formal meeting of the 
Special Session.  It was therefore a good opportunity to review the status of the negotiations in services.  As a member of the G20, China full y endorsed the communiqué that was released in 
London, and also agreed on the urgent need to c onclude the Doha negotiations, including the services 
component.  China also thought that work should be built upon the broad agreement that had been reached among Members in July 2008, including th e sequence that had been laid out between the 
services negotiations on one hand, and agriculture and NAMA Modalities on the other.  Bearing that 
sequence in mind, China was of the view that, wh ile waiting for agriculture and NAMA negotiators to 
come up with full Modalities, work s hould continue in the services area. 
31. For China, there were a number of important issues other than market access, and during the 
preceding week these issues had been dealt with in de pth.  For example, WPDR Chair had circulated a 
paper on domestic regulation, which was a very im portant component of the services negotiations.  
China hoped that work would be continuing in an inte nsive manner, in order to fulfil the mandate that 
had been provided by Ministers in Hong Kong.  On rules, China had seen some new ideas on 
emergency safeguard measures and s ubsidies, and looked forward to further discussions in those two 
areas.  On LDC Modalities, China looked forward to seeing something concrete from the LDC group, 
and was ready to be engaged in discussions in any fo rmat – bilateral, plurilateral or multilateral.  On 
scheduling issues, China had had good discussions at th e meeting of the CSC, and wished to highlight 
the important issue of economic needs tests (ENTs) .  There were 259 ENTs in schedules.   While it 
was important to make them clearer or more pr edictable, China thought their simple elimination 
should be a priority.  If Members found it difficult to eliminate them, then they would need to be 
made clearer.  But, as in the case of MFN exemptions, priority should be put on the elimination of those ENTs.  Finally, Chair wished to declare its support for the proposal to have another cluster at a 
suitable date.  
32. From the perspective of the delegation of Australia
, the preceding week had been a valuable 
opportunity to reinvigorate progress toward conc luding the Doha Round negotiations on services.  
This was the first time negotiators had met for some time.  It was an excellent opportunity to oil some 
squeaky machinery.  Institutionally, Australia atta ched great value to the discussions in the regular 
bodies, and in the very informative workshops mark ing the tenth anniversary of the Fifth Protocol, 
and on scheduling issues.  From a negotiating pers pective, the Friends groups had very fruitful 
discussions about how to advance work, including some  creative thinking about avenues that could be 
pursued in future negotiations.  In terms of practical suggestions about  future work, technical work to 
support the DDA and market access negotiations, as well as a concerted effort to find a path forward 
in the domestic regulation negotiations, should be among the top priorities – but only as part of a 
balanced approach to all of the elements in the roadmap.  Australia supported a future services cluster 
in the coming months. 
33. The delegation of the European Communities  noted that the preceding week had been a full 
one, with meetings dominated by regular activities – all subsidiary bodies, seminars, and the regular 
Council.  The EC had participated in nine Friends  sectoral meetings and coordinated three of them 
(energy, environment and air transport).  TN/S/M/30 
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  34. The EC noted that fruitful discussions had taken place and that consensus had emerged in 
several areas, notably in support of regular work. On the DDA, the EC reiterated its commitment to a 
quick completion of the negotiations.  An ambitious and balanced outcome of the DDA remained the priority of the EC.  A multilateral trade agreem ent would be the best insurance policy against 
protectionism in these times of crisis.  During the preceding week, the EC had also held informal 
bilateral meetings, and had received various indications in terms of  readiness to confirm the signals of 
given by Ministers in July 2008. 
35. The EC was very conscious of the difficult economic environment, and knew that the current 
financial and economic crisis put enormous pressure on governments not to open their markets.  The 
package of July 2008  (the results of the Signa lling Conference and the Chair's text) constituted a 
good basis to build upon.  However, Members need ed to avoid backtracking on their signals of 
flexibility shown in 2008. 
36. The EC welcomed the G20 call to resist protectionism.  As indicated in the G20 
Communiqué, there was a need to avoid repeating the historic mistakes of the past.  The EC 
welcomed in this context an active participation of  the Membership to suppor t the Secretariat carrying 
out its monitoring on trade and investment. 
37. With respect to regular activities, the EC noted  that these were a useful complement rather 
than an alternative to the DDA.   Useful work could be done on non-DDA related activities, which 
could then be helpful for the negotiations.  The pr eceding week, the EC had addressed practically the 
full range of GATS issues within the subsidiary  bodies, the regular session of the CTS, and two 
interesting seminars on financial se rvices and scheduling.  The EC was ready and willing to contribute 
to regular activities, beginning with the updating of  sectoral papers.  The elaboration of an active 
work agenda would help contribute to an early conclusion of the DDA. 
38. The delegation of Chile
 believed that the activities of the preceding week had been very 
useful, and had laid the basis for Members to conti nue future work.  Chile wished to reiterate the 
importance it attached to continuing to strengthe n the GATS.  With respect to the market access 
negotiations, Chile had said at previous meetings th at the map set out in the Chair's report of July 
2008 was important to bring the nego tiations to their conclusion.  
39. Chile wished to refer to a point made by the Ambassador of Canada at the start of the 
meeting.  No doubt, the fact that the negotiations were being carried out on the basis of offers dating 
back to 2005 constituted a problem.  These offers, as the Ambassador of Canada said, did not reflect 
the many negotiating meetings that had been held af ter those offers were ma de.  Perhaps it would be 
interesting for the Council to explore creative ways  of invigorating the negotiations, reflecting in a 
more specific way the many negotiating processes that had taken place after those offers were made.  Chile was willing to work along with the Chair in th at regard.  Chile was fully aware that services 
negotiations were not carried out in a vacuum, and th at they were strongly linked to other areas of the 
negotiations.  But, given the current situation in th e Round, delegations had to ask themselves to what 
extent it would be possible to introduce some additi onal elements to give dynamism to the services 
negotiations.   
40. Chile noted that a new draft of disciplines on domestic regulation had been circulated 
recently, and that its content was disappointing sin ce it did not fully comply with the mandate in 
Article VI:4 of the GATS.  But, at the same time , Chile was fully committed to continue work in the 
WPDR in order to fully realize the mandate.  Do mestic regulation was an essential element of the 
negotiating package in services.   TN/S/M/30 
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  41. Finally, as other delegations have said, Chile al so believed that it was useful and appropriate 
to organize a series of meetings similar to the on es held last week, which would continue the work 
that had already been started, reflecting a desire to strengthen the institutional aspect of the GATS.  
42. The delegation of New Zealand
 participated in the preceding week's meetings, and used the 
opportunity also to meet with co-sponsors of the private education collective request which it 
coordinated.  New Zealand saw value in the precedi ng week's meetings.  It was apparent across all 
meetings that there was scope and appetite for t echnical work to continue on both DDA and regular 
work streams. 
43. New Zealand continued to see the Chair's July 20 08 text as the basis for work in the services 
negotiation.  The pace at which this could be conducted was, however, necessarily contingent on 
progress elsewhere. 
44. With others, New Zealand was particularly interested in progress on disciplines in domestic 
regulation.  This was an area that  appeared to have moved little, a nd New Zealand was concerned that 
the revised text did little to reflect past detaile d discussion on the topic.  New Zealand remained 
committed to a strong outcome in services. As repor ted elsewhere, a successful conclusion to the 
Doha Round was but one part of the solution to th e economic situation faced globally.  Members had 
a responsibility to ensure that services made a meaningful contribution. 
45. The delegation of Korea  was pleased to note that political commitments to an early 
conclusion of the DDA negotiations , and a standstill on protectionist measures, had been reconfirmed 
at the G20 summit in London.   Korea hoped that, w ith this political guidance, the breakthrough in the 
DDA negotiations would happen sooner rather than later. To this e nd, Korea was ready to play an 
active role in the negotiating process.  
46. Looking at the current status of the services negotiations, there were two kinds of progress 
made in the mini-Ministerial meeting held in July  2008:  on the one hand, an agreement on the Chair's 
report and, on the other hand, Ministers' signals indi cating the potential content of future offers in the 
market access negotiations. 
47. Members were now facing the challenge of building on this progress in the future 
negotiations.  From this point of view, the current  services cluster, which had undertaken preparatory 
work for future full-fledged negotiations, had turned  out to be well-organized and meaningful.   In 
particular, Friends meetings involving a critical m ass of stakeholders in each services sector or mode 
were good occasions to rebuild sectoral networks. Th e renewed networks woul d be sound vehicles not 
only for future market access negotia tions, but also for monitoring protectionist measures in relevant 
sectors. 
48. With regard to the next steps to be taken, Korea was of the view that, given the uncertain 
prospects of the overall DDA negotiations, work s hould focus on the subsidiary bodies' rule-making 
negotiations until the negotiations regained their mome ntum.   In the meantime, Korea was flexible on 
any specific proposal regarding the next step.  In particular, with respect to the domestic regulation 
negotiations, the Korea believed that as much importa nce should be attached to this topic as to the 
market access negotiations.  As Members recogni zed the importance of quality regulation amid the 
financial crisis, Korea could not emphasize too much  the importance of sound domestic regulation of 
services industries. Without ambitious outcomes in the negotiations on domestic regulations 
disciplines, specific commitments in market acces s negotiations might not guarantee real market 
access.  TN/S/M/30 
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  49. On LDC Modalities, Korea believed that this t opic was an equally important subject in the 
services negotiations.  Fortunately, progress had been made on an agreement on a waiver option with 
respect to LDC Modalities, as contained in the Chair's report. 
50. Korea was looking forward to more specific proposals, hopefully from LDC Members or 
other proponent countries, to facilitate the di scussion on a mechanism to implement the LDC 
Modalities.  Korea was ready to engage in th e discussion on this subject in any format.  
51. The delegation of the United States  stated that the past services week had been a positive one 
in many respects.  The US delegation had had an opportunity to discuss a number of issues with its respective colleagues.   The issues included ones re lated to the services negotiations,  as well as those 
related to the institutional aspects of the GATS.   The two were often very much related. 
52. On the DDA, it was important that services Friends reconvened to discuss signals from the 
Signalling Conference.  Even though those signals were  made at a particular point in time, the Friends 
had not had a chance to discuss them even in a pr eliminary way.  The preceding week's meetings had 
served as an important opportunity to do so. 
53. Many Friends groups had met during the preceding week.  For example, the United States had 
chaired the work of the telecommunications Friends  group, and planned to continue examining ways 
to advance the case on the benefits of liberalization of this sector, as well as other sectors.  What many Friends concluded, however, was that considerable work was still required for a successful conclusion 
of the services negotiations.  The US delegation was also encouraged by the willingness of Friends to 
examine ways that would help address recipients' co ncerns about offering commitments in particular 
sectors or modes of supply.   In all areas of the services discussions, including on domestic regulations 
and rules, it was important to listen to each others ' concerns and look for creative ways to advance. 
54. Concerning the institutional work, during the preced ing week all of the subsidiary bodies had 
met to discuss areas of interest to Members, as well as to select new chairs to continue their work.    
Two notable events that took place during the preceding week were the two workshops: one on 
financial services and one on scheduling issues.  The financial services event highlighted the fact that 
liberalization of financial services was not incompa tible with sound domestic regulatory policies.  
Indeed, liberalization and market openness and sector al regulatory reform might prove to be a key 
element of the economic recovery. 
55. On institutional work, the Friends thought that it  would be important to provide input into any 
Secretariat updating of sector papers, and would coor dinate such input in the coming weeks.  Some 
Friends found it important to work together to iden tify potential barriers to trade in their particular 
sector.  They also identified some additional work that could be examined with a view to enhancing 
market access, as well as the discussions on rules and domestic regulations. 
56. Finally, the US delegation stated that, based  on the two tracks – DDA issues and institutional 
integrity – it agreed that another cluster of meetings  would be important in order to advance issues of 
interest to Members. 
57. The delegation of Morocco
 said that the results of the G20 summit in London were 
encouraging for work in the services negotiations, bu t that the undertakings made by the G20 could 
not substitute for the positive effects that the conc lusion of the Doha Round would have.  A deeper 
liberalization of trade that took into consideration the interests of all of the Members of the WTO was therefore vital.  Given the importance that Mo rocco placed on trade in services in its economic 
development and in balancing its tr ade, it had participated actively in  the work of the Special Session 
and the Ministerial meeting in July 2008.  Morocco was pleased to see work resume in the Services 
Council and its subsidiary bodies, and the holding of interesting seminars during the preceding week.  TN/S/M/30 
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  Finally, Morocco favoured a parallel development of trade in services in all of the subsidiary bodies 
of the Council, and was prepared to commit furthe r to this development to transform the efforts 
needed to consolidate what Members had already achieved. 
58. The delegation of Singapore
 looked forward to the conclusion of the DDA as soon as it is 
possible. It had expectations for a good outcome in  services, and would do its part to work towards 
this end.    Singapore was also mindful that Me mbers were operating under various services mandates, 
and reiterated its support for furthering work on  institutional and technical work including on 
domestic regulation.  In the context of the current economic climate, Singapore wished also to stress 
the importance of refraining from raising barriers to trade. 
59. The delegation of India  said that there had been a good week of discussions on services. The 
past week had witnessed two workshops on financial services and on scheduling issues, in addition to 
the meetings of the subsidiary bodies.  Many Friends  groups also met to brainstorm on how to take the 
services negotiations forward. India, as the co-ord inator of the groups on Mode 1 and Mode 4 also 
convened a meeting, and many new ideas came forth. 
60. On the issues on the agenda, India thought that  a review of services  trade, pursuant to 
paragraph 15 of the Negotiating Guidelines, was long ove rdue.  It had become even more important in 
the current scenario to ensure that developing  countries benefited from services trade, and the 
mandate in Articles IV and XIX:2 was effectivel y implemented.  On LDC Modalities, India was 
committed to an early resolution of the issue, and was contributing to discussions being led by 
Norway in a small group format.  
61. However, India remained worried by recent ev ents.  Increasing protectionist tendencies in 
developed countries, whether in the form of restri ctions on investment or on movement of people 
were not helping matters.  The massive injections of capital into financial institutions were inevitable 
to the extent that these would help untangle financia l markets.  But privileges had a bad tendency to 
stick, and it was necessary to start thinking ab out exit paths from the current high levels of 
subsidisation of financial instituti ons in the developed world.  It might even be an opportune moment 
to pursue subsidies disciplines in ser vices with more diligence.  Finally, the WPDR Chair had issued a 
new text, which has left the delegation of India disa ppointed.  The Chair could have at least issued a 
Job document, but refrained from doing so.  Proposed disciplines on domestic regulation, which were needed more than ever, had to be built on the current  obligations.  At the very least, they should not 
dilute current obligations.  
62.  The recent G20 statement was a timely one, and India hoped that all Members would abide 
by its letter and spirit.  The onus was on devel oped countries to lead the way and refrain from 
imposing further restrictions so that credit flows and investment flows could begin again.  For its part, 
India remained committed to an early conclusion of the Doha Round, with an ambitious and balanced 
outcome on services. India also supported further techni cal work in a future cluster.  The Chair's text 
of July 2008 and the Signalling Conference were in pl ace.  India wished however to caution that while 
it remained committed to the signals it had given, those were conditional signals.  Unfortunately, 
India had not got a clear reaffirmation of signals in areas of interest, particularly in Mode 4. India 
hoped that this would be addressed appropriately. 
63. The delegation of Cuba
 said it wanted to see a good outcome in the Doha Round.  It was for 
each individual country however to define what  a satisfactory outcome would be. For Cuba, the 
results in NAMA in the July text were not enough .  Cuba wished to be involved in the continuing 
negotiations in a more detailed discussion to achieve  a balanced and ambitious outcome.  The most 
important lesson to be learnt from the G20 communiqué  was not what was said, but rather what took 
place.  The G20 had committed to non-protectionist  measures, but what was important was whether 
this would be complied with.  In a short space of ti me, the G20 had taken decisions that would have a  TN/S/M/30 
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  very important affect on other countries.  It needed to  be stated that liberalization was not contrary to 
regulation, a view that was not widely held in the past.  In all trade negotiations, when liberalization 
was demanded regulation was restricted.   
64. The main point Cuba wished to make concer ned the Chair's Report of July 2008. Cuba 
recalled the position of four Members with regard to  this Report and its Anne x.  Cuba believed that 
some elements of the Annex were not the path to ta ke for the negotiations – particularly the elements 
in paragraph 4.  In the services negotiations – unlike in agriculture and NAMA – the Modalities to 
conclude the negotiations were already present, not ably in the Annex to the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration.  There was no need to invent add itional elements, especially when there was no 
consensus.  There were delegations that were cl early opposed to the flexibilities in the GATS.  Cuba 
was prepared to continue working to deal with importa nt issues – particularly in the light of the recent 
financial events.  Finally, Cuba believed that the Modalities for LDCs must be the first outcome of the 
negotiations in services. 
65. The delegation of Brazil  recalled that the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, fashionable 
again these days, was once asked by a journalist wh ether he would change his mind on a subject if 
new evidence seemed to point in another direction.  It was said that Galbraith gave the following reply 
to the journalist: "And you? What do you do when  the circumstances change? Do you stick to old 
conceptions that no longer apply?"  WTO Members needed to ask of them selves the same question 
that Galbraith posed to the journalist.  It was very clear that political and economic circumstances 
since the launch of the Doha Round had change d dramatically. In the present case, however, the 
question was not whether Members should change thei r positions to the new circumstances, but rather 
how Members should react to the evolving environment. 
66. In the case of Brazil, the DDA had always been a top priority, and the global economic crisis 
led it to think it was even more urgent to complete the Round. The negotiating package under 
discussion last year, although far from ideal, was already worth the effort put in to the negotiations.  Now, however, within a context of renewed pr otectionism, the negotiating package under discussion 
was even more valuable, not least as an "insurance po licy" against protectionist threats. Unfortunately, 
Brazil noted that some Members denied this fact, or worse pretended not to acknowledge it, in the 
hope of obtaining further concessions in the negotia tions, however unrealistic that prospect was. 
67. It was very discouraging for Brazil to see how other Members reacted to the changing 
circumstances. The past months were quite illustra tive of the mismatch between words and deeds with 
regard to trade policy. Some countries boasted of  their commitment to finish the Doha Round, but 
then refused to undertake the n ecessary concessions to achieve a deal. Some leaders urged the world 
to refrain from protectionism, but then indulged th emselves in protectionist policies, both old and 
new. 
68. It was embarrassing for Brazil to observe how certain Members defined protectionism in a 
selective and self-serving way.  A trade minister of one Member has said that to raise tariffs, even 
within the bound rates allowed by the WTO, would be protectionism; however, to grant subsidies and 
state aid to national companies was "legitimate". Ten years ago, some ASEAN Members had been 
told to let their banks fail and let market di scipline work.  Today they were witnessing an 
unprecedented scale of bail-outs and rescue plans to save banks, car makers and insurance companies 
on the other side of the world.  
69. Those same double standards have been hamp ering the Doha Round since its inception. 
Based on those standards, Members were far from a balanced deal in the DDA, developing countries 
were not doing enough to advance the Round, and services negotiati ons were "lagging behind". All 
those assumptions revealed how selective and biased assessments could be.   TN/S/M/30 
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  70. For Brazil, it was notable that the starting point  of negotiation was already unbalanced against 
developing countries. The WTO agreements had lowe red tariffs and prohibite d export subsidies in 
industrial goods while, in agriculture, tariff peaks a nd quantitative restrictions in form of tariff-quotas 
were still widespread, and export subsidies were  still permitted. The TRIPS agreement had being 
quite effective in protecting patents of technologi cal content, but it failed to protect traditional 
knowledge and biodiversity. The GATS itself had gi ven legal certainty to services supplied through 
commercial presence, but did not foster effective lib eralization in Mode 4. As Members had seen in 
the cluster in the preceding week, less than 5 per cent of trade flows in services were in Mode 4. 
When some Members talked about the need for a "balanced" outcome in the DDA, they ignored the 
fact that the Doha Round needed to correct im balances left from previous rounds.  One could not 
achieve this "re-balancing" by trying to legalize "zeroing" in anti-dumping or pursuing sectorals in 
NAMA.  Rather, it had to be done through a deep re form of the agricultural agreement, and binding 
commitments on sectors and modes of supply of interest of developing countries in services. Nevertheless, under the selective approach of some Me mbers, liberalization should be restricted to a 
few convenient areas. 
71. Brazil noted that other statements claimed that  developing countries were not doing enough in 
the Round.  In NAMA, for instance, for the first ti me in any Round, developing countries had agreed 
to adopt a formula to cut their ta riffs across the board, and the Swi ss formula that was accepted has a 
harmonizing component.  In services, most developi ng countries had tabled in itial and revised offers, 
which greatly expanded their sectoral coverage an d "locked-in" many of the regulatory reforms 
carried out in the past decade.  True to the sp irit of pursuing double standards, the Members who 
disputed the contribution of developing country Members in the Round were the same Members that 
refused to make meaningful concessions in agriculture and Mode 4. 
72. In the past, it was said by some that "services negotiations were lagging behind".  Perhaps, 
this was one of the great contributions of the WTO to the illustrative list of Orwellian "doublespeak" – 
the use of words in their opposite meaning. Co mpared with other areas of the Round, services 
negotiations had been evolving remarkably well: dead lines had been met, offers and revised offers 
had been tabled, a text on services had been nego tiated, and a Signalling Conference had been held. 
The offers substantially expanded the sectoral cove rage of existing schedules, and provided deeper 
commitments.  Some Members complained about th e lack of ambition in domestic regulation, and 
were keen to clarify and confirm "signals".  Ho wever, those same Members pursued protectionist 
policies in agriculture – even recently resuming the granting of export subsidies on dairy products, for 
example.  It looked as though those Members were willing to carry on the imbalances of previous 
rounds.  This was "double standards" at its best. 
73. Circumstances had changed.  Some Members ha d indeed changed their positions, relying on 
protectionist measures on the one hand, and sticking to double standards in trade negotiations on the 
other.  This was not what the moment required from Members.  Double standards might be used as a 
negotiating tactic, but to continue with them in the current economic crisis would mean jeopardising 
the conclusion of the Round.  To conclude the ne gotiations, Members needed to put double standards 
aside. 
74. The delegation of Malaysia
 found the cluster meetings in the preceding week timely and 
useful.  The Chair's Report and the signals that  provided during the Signalling Conference should be 
the basis of further work.  In line with the report, areas other than market access had to be given equal 
importance and focus towards achieving a successful  conclusion of the services negotiations, taking 
into account established sequencing.  Malaysia wa s committed to working with other Members to 
achieve the desired result in the services negotiations. 
75. The delegation of Uruguay  said that the Chair's Report of July 2008 set out a clear path for 
the negotiations, enjoyed wide support from Members.  However, it was clear that a prompt  TN/S/M/30 
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  resumption of talks in agriculture and NAMA was necessary to complete the negotiations and comply 
with the established mandate.  Development and ru les were two areas where progress was mandated.  
There also needed to be a "Signalling Conference"  of the development aspects, to promote greater 
participation of developing economies in the mult ilateral trading system.  There was a need to 
promote S&D treatment for developing countries, but  especially for LDCs.  Ne gotiations also needed 
to move forward in the area of GATS rules, in te rms of subsidies, domestic  regulation and in other 
areas that were very important to developing countries.  Uruguay supported Brazil's intervention 
enthusiastically, because it summed up the situation and the status of the negotiations.  There was a 
need to go back to the multilateral negotiating table in order to give an impetus to these negotiations. 
76. The delegation of Indonesia  had had very fruitful discussions on various issues in the 
preceding week and were happy with the progress achieved in the discussions on ESM and domestic 
regulation.  Indonesia also highly appreciated th e convening of the two workshops on financial 
services and scheduling, including information on statis tics in services.  It has shed much more light 
on Indonesia's understanding of the negotiations of market access in services. 
77. The delegation of Egypt  found the services cluster during the preceding week very useful, in 
particular the two workshops on financial services and scheduling issues.  Egypt welcomed the active 
resumption of services negotiations, but had to str ess that the services negotiations were not pursued 
in a vacuum, and had to follow the sequencing of  priorities, meaning that agriculture and NAMA 
should be advanced first.  On LDC Modalities, Egypt  said they should be advanced to ensure their 
implementation before the conclusion of the Round to enhance the participation of the LDCs in world 
trade.   
78. Egypt supported efforts to advance the services ne gotiations, taking into account the interests 
of developing countries, and based  on the different mandates – the GATS, the Negotiating Guidelines, 
and Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declarati on.  With respect to the Signalling Conference in 
July 2008, Egypt participated actively and si gnalled future commitments.  However these 
commitments were conditional on achieving the delicat e balance needed to conclude the Round, with 
development at its heart. 
79. The delegation of Bolivia  said that excellent work had been  done in the meetings held during 
the preceding week.  Bolivia had not intended to inte rvene, but wished to reiterate Bolivia's position 
on the July document, the Chair's Report and the A nnex, given that it did not adequately reflect 
Bolivia's concerns.  There was already a mandate in Annex C of the Hong Kong Declaration, that 
established a very delicate balance.  Any modification had to be carefully thought out, and reflect the 
basics of the WTO – that it was a rules-based orga nization in which account had to be taken of the 
concerns of all Members.  For this reason, th e Report was not a good basis for moving forward, and 
there was a need to look for other options. 
80. The delegation of Venezuela  wished to reiterate its position in relation to the July document.  
The document needed to be revised carefully, bearing in mind that ther e had to be a consensus.  There 
was a need to listen to the voices of those who di d not agree, and take account of their concerns. 
81. The Chair   wished to make a few concluding remark s on the present agenda item.  First, all 
the speakers had spoken about the week of services m eetings as something very positive, in spite of 
the situation in which Members currently found th emselves.  The discussions held among Members, 
as well as the seminars on financial services and scheduling made it a week which allowed delegations to meet and restart the machinery.  It  had also been pointed out that it was necessary to 
continue with the technical work in a balanced way on various issues such as domestic regulation, 
rules, scheduling, specific commitments, and Modalit ies for LDCs.  The Chair pointed out that he and 
the Secretariat were available to intervene in any way Members thought necessary to expedite the 
negotiations and assist in those consultations.  So me Members had also mentioned that there were TN/S/M/30 
Page 14  
 
  non-DDA issues that which needed to be dealt with, a nd that these should be on the regular agenda of 
the Council.  Among these matters were updated sector al papers by the Secretariat, and work on 
notifications.  The Chair said he would consult on th e date of another set of services meetings, but had 
booked rooms for the week of 22 June.  
82. The Chair
 suggested that the Council take note of the statements made and revert to this item 
at its next meeting. 
83. It was so agreed .   
B. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODALITIES FOR THE SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR LEAST -
DEVELOPED COUNTRY MEMBERS IN THE TRADE IN SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS  
84. The Chair  said that at the last informal Special Session held on 5 February, he had heard a 
clear message that he should continue his consul tations with a view to advancing work on LDC 
Modalities.  For that reason, he had called for an informal meeting of the Special Session at the 
beginning of the present cluster, dedicated solely to this topic.   However, in consultations with a 
small group of interested Members, including LDCs , he had been told that the discussion on LDC 
Modalities should be dealt with at the end of the cl uster, in order to provide the possibility for new 
textual contributions from delegations.  For that  reason he had cancelled the 30 March informal 
meeting, and added the topic to the agenda of today's meeting. 
85. The Chair said he wished to hear from delegations of any progress made on the topic of LDC 
Modalities.  What further work was needed to implement these Modalities?  How should work be 
paced?  The Chair emphasized his continuing availabilit y, and that of the Secretariat on the technical 
side, in helping to advance the negotiations on this topic. 
86. The delegation of Tanzania , on behalf of the LDC Group  wished to address the first two 
agenda items in its statement.  It noted that  the services sector accounted for half of GDP in 
developing countries, and over 60 per cent in developed countries.  The performance of the sector was 
critical to economic growth and development.  For example, a well-functioning financial sector was a 
determinant of growth through efficient transforma tion of savings into investment, while efficient 
business services reduced transaction costs, and efficient telecommunication was a pre-requisite for development of many sectors.  The same applied to LDCs.  The services sector was the fastest growing component of GDP growth in many LDC c ountries.  The importance of trade in services for 
LDCs went beyond pure economic significance.  It played a major role in achieving social and 
economic development objectives.  It was a mean s of addressing poverty upgrading welfare, 
improving the universal availability and access  to basic services, and assuring sustainable 
development including its social dimension.  LDCs  were facing serious difficulty in addressing a 
number of complex issues simultaneously, and l acked the institutional and human capacities to 
analyse offers, make requests, and determine regulatory needs. 
87. Nonetheless, LDCs were committed to partic ipate in the services negotiations.  Tanzania 
urged that they be factored into the negotiating pr ocess in general, and into the individual requests 
made by LDCs.  At Doha, Members agreed to negotiations on trade in services with a view to promoting the economic growth of all trading part ners and the development of developing and least-
developed countries.  This was st rengthened by the development of  LDC Modalities in 2003, aimed at 
integrating the LDCs into the trade in services ne gotiations by taking into consideration their 
vulnerable level of development.  This was further supported by Annex C of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration, which clearly stated how and when these Modalities should be implemented.  
Despite all the efforts made, implementation of these Modalities has not been achieved.  TN/S/M/30 
 Page 15 
 
 
  88. Tanzania continued to urge Members to im plement the Modalities as agreed.  The services 
sectors in LDCs were in general limited in their competitiveness and efficiency, and their regulatory 
mechanisms were not well developed.  At the same time, many services were of strategic importance in the economic development and tr ade expansion in LDCs.  Efforts of LDCs to modernize their 
services and establish appropriate regulatory mechanisms  were constrained by their difficult situation.  
Many services were labour-intensive and could be  exported through movement  of natural persons, 
where LDCs had a comparative advantage, interest and potential benefit.  However, there had been 
virtually no liberalization of markets for cross-bor der labour services.  From the LDCs perspective, 
the issue of LDC Modalities was of critical importan ce, and Members needed to focus in the current 
year on the pursuit of the objectives of the GATS.  As  required by Article XIX:3 of the GATS, special 
treatment for least-developed country Members had to  be granted by providing special priority to 
LDCs in the implementation of paragraphs 1 and 2 of  Article IV of the GATS.  Particular account had 
to be taken of the serious difficulty of LDCs in  undertaking the negotiation of specific commitments, 
in view of their specific economic situation and th eir development, trade and financial needs.   
89. At the Signalling Conference in July 2008, Mi nisters had expressed satisfaction about the 
progress of the work on the LDC Modalities, in the cont ext of the prospect for a waiver decision.  In 
2009, the LDCs wanted to build on this politic al momentum and would put forward specific 
recommendations to be followed by intensive techni cal consultations with Members, with a view to 
concluding successfully this outstanding issue.  Ta nzania believed that 2009 would not pass without 
the implementation of the LDC Modalities, and looked  forward to constructive collaboration with the 
Membership. 
90. In conclusion, Tanzania emphasized that th e GATS covered all categories of services and 
service suppliers, and that there were services in wh ich LDCs had an actual or potential comparative 
advantage.  In order to exploit this comparative a dvantage, market access needed to be given to LDCs 
for sectors of interest to them.  Commitments had to  be made in these sectors specifically in Mode 4, 
which remained very much a focus for LDCs.   Fu rther consultations with Members on the specifics 
of the LDC request would be held in the overall hop e of seeing sectors and modes of interest to LDCs 
appearing in Members' revised offers and final schedules.  
91. The delegation of Bangladesh
 associated itself with the statement made by delegation of 
Tanzania, which was the LDC coordinator.  Servi ces negotiations were an essential part of Doha 
Round, alongside agriculture and NAMA. In view of  the current unprecedented global financial crisis, 
giving priority in market access to LDC services was more important than before. As the participation 
of LDCs in global trade in services was minimal, in  order to arrive at a developmental outcome, LDC 
concerns as the most vulnerable group had to be ad dressed in the light of the LDC Modalities. This 
was imperative for a breakthrough  in services negotiations.   
92. From an LDC perspective there were three ke y issues that had to be considered while 
preparing a services text.  First, a roadmap for gr anting waivers to operationalize the special priority 
mechanism.  Second, consideration of the LDCs' submission as a collective request on Mode 4.  
Third, a reflection of flexibilities for LDCs in the text on domestic regulations. 
93. For Bangladesh, Annex C still remained the funda mental element in formulating a services 
text.  Annex C was something that could not be re negotiated, and had four elements:  objectives, 
approaches, timelines and review of progress.  Th e timelines, unfortunately, had become outdated due 
to the postponement of negotiations several times.  However, the other three items remain valid.  It 
was time to update the timelines and arrive at new deadlines. 
94. Bangladesh said it was important to capture the progress made so far.  The Chair's Report of 
July 2008 was a solid basis for pr oceeding with negotiations.  But in paragraph 9 of the Annex to the 
report, there was reference only to paragraph 9(a) of Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial TN/S/M/30 
Page 16  
 
  Declaration.  Paragraph 9(a) reflected an importa nt part, but not the whole, of LDC Modalities. One 
could not afford to ignore paragraphs 9(b), (c), (d)  and (e) of Annex C.  Should the Chair's Report be 
updated, Bangladesh thought that the whole of paragraph 9 of Annex C should be adequately 
reflected.   
95. The delegation of Nepal
 found the services cluster of the preceding week to be very useful 
and thought-provoking.  In the future, such events needed to be organized frequently.  Nepal fully 
supported the statements made by Tanzania on be half of the LDCs, and by Bangladesh.  Nepal's 
present concern was with LDC Modalities.  LDCs ha d been discussing this matter it in their own 
group, and progress there had been satisfactory.  Si milarly, Norway was coordinating meetings of a 
small group comprised of divergent stake-holders to  discuss this.  Both of these groups were helping 
to form a consensus among Members, and Banglad esh appreciated the time and cooperative attitude 
of Norway in coordinating these meetings, and thanke d the other stake-holders for their support given 
to the LDCs.  Nepal requested the same attitude and support from other Members in order to build a 
consensus on LDC Modalities in future.  Similarl y Nepal requested other Members to open their 
markets for sectors of export interest to LDCs, in  particular Mode 4.  This opening up was more 
urgent in the context of the various cr ises that were hitting LDCs very hard. 
96. The delegation of Norway  believed there was room for useful work on the LDC mechanism. 
As to LDC Modalities, Norway wish ed to summarize the situation fro m last year.  The Secretariat 
paper of 21 February had been very useful, and ser ved to focus attention on the various options at 
hand.  The Norwegian ambassador had indicated in  the Special Session on 2 June 2008 that Norway 
was consulting with other interested Members on the way forward on LDC Modalities, notably on 
how to specify a direction for paragraph 9 in the Ch air's Report.  Some suggestions in that regard 
were presented in a room document at meeting he ld on 10 July. This document pointed to a waiver 
from the MFN obligation in the GATS as the most sa tisfactory outcome. This idea was subsequently 
incorporated into the Chair's report.   
97. The next step as Norway saw it was to draw up th e waiver as such.  As was indicated at the 2 
June meeting, Norway consulted with interested  Members on this.  These consultations were not, 
however, concluded.  Norway said that it believed it was time to take up again these consultations, 
with a view to enhancing Member s' understanding of the task at ha nd and hopefully also to contribute 
positively to the work in the negotiating group. Norw ay believed that a broadening of the circle of 
interested Members involved in the consultations would be conducive to such a contribution.  
98. The delegation of Pakistan  wished to reiterate its position as presented at the last meeting of 
the Special Session held in July 2008. Pakistan  was interested only in the provision of new 
preferential market access to LDCs.  It was necessary to  ensure that the granting of special priority to 
LDCs did not prejudice the rights of other Members.  As such, a general waiver (as opposed to a waiver on case-to-case basis) might  work to exclude developing country service suppliers, and work 
contrary to the development-oriented outcome of  the DDA.  Pakistan believed that a reasonable 
outcome on the LDC Modalities was possible through the efforts and commitment by all Members, 
and encouraged an active engagement in this regard. 
99. The delegation of Nigeria
 appreciated the recently concluded cluster meetings, which were 
useful, and the invaluable workshops that took place.  Nigeria also wished to thank the Secretariat for 
its informative Notes on the implementation of LDC Modalities, and urged Members to intensify 
consultations to ensure a satisfactory outcome on this important issue. 
100. The delegation of Colombia  said that the services week was a great success.  Taking into 
consideration the statement made by the delegati on of Norway, Colombia pointed out that it was 
interested in participating in the consultations that will take place on this topic.  Colombia said that  TN/S/M/30 
 Page 17 
 
 
  Article IX of the Marrakech Agreement needed to  be respected, and it would like the impact of a 
waiver on other developing countries to be taken into consideration. 
101. The delegation of the European Communities  recalled its commitment on the issue of LDC 
Modalities.  The EC was available and ready to help LDC Members in their reflection if they so wished, and looked forward to seeing a proposal from their side.  It was important that the LDCs spelt 
out their own ideas on this issue.  The EC had continuously shown its engagement vis-à-vis  
developing country Members, and LDCs in partic ular.  The operationalization of LDC Modalities was 
part of the package put together in July 2008, and the EC was ready to contribute actively in moving 
forward on this issue. 
102. The Chair
 said that he thought Members should cont inue to consult among themselves on the 
issue of LDC Modalities, with his assistance and the technical support of the Secretariat if that were 
was judged helpful.  Consultations needed to take  place with all interested parties, and Members 
needed to continue moving forward on this very important issue.  
103. The Chair  suggested that the Council take note of the statements made and revert to this item 
at its next meeting. 
104. It was so agreed .   
C. WORK OF THE SUBSIDIARY BODIES – REPORTS BY THE CHAIRPERSONS  
105. The Chair  said that the subsidiary bodies had met during the preceding week and, in the 
interests of transparency, he wished to call on any Ch air of a subsidiary body who wished to do so to 
report on recent progress in their discussions.  Since these were reports of past activities, he would 
call upon the outgoing chairs to make these reports. 
106. The outgoing Chair of the Working Party on GATS Rules  said that, since the last report to the 
Special Session on 6 December 2007, the Working Pa rty had held four formal meetings and two 
rounds of informal consultations, at which dele gations exchanged views on emergency safeguard 
measures, government procurement a nd subsidies.  As it had been some time since the Chair had last 
reported to the Special Session, she wished briefly to recall some of the events that had since taken 
place. 
107. During the first half of 2008, discussions in the Working Party were focused on developing 
the GATS Rules input for the consultations conducted by the Chair of the Special Session on a possible services text.  This input was now contained in the document on the "Elements Required for the Completion of the Services Negotiations" (TN/S/33).  Given that the July 2008 package did not materialise and the negotiations came to a virtua l halt across the DDA Round, in the second half of 
the year the Working Party only met once, on 2 December 2008.  
108. In 2009, as DDA discussions gradually resumed, the Chair had undertaken a number of 
informal consultations to gauge how delegations intended to pursue work on GATS Rules, especially 
in light of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaratio n mandate for Members to intensify efforts to 
conclude their negotiations on rule-making.  From  these consultations, the Chair sensed that while 
significant divergences remained on issues of importan ce, delegations appeared willing to have more 
focused discussions to flesh out the relevant t echnical and substantive aspects of the three GATS 
Rules topics.  This was confirmed by the feedback th at the Chair had received from delegations at the 
formal meeting of 30 March 2009.  At that mee ting, the OECD had made a presentation on export 
subsidies in services, which provided interesting food for thought, and there was a new contribution 
from the ASEAN Members (less Singapore) on emergency safeguards. TN/S/M/30 
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  109. The outgoing Chair said that she had passed to her successor requests for further consultations 
(i) to discuss elements contained in the new c ontribution from the delegations of ASEAN (less 
Singapore) on emergency safeguard measures;  (ii)  to continue clarifying and discussing technical 
elements of the EC proposal on government proc urement;  and (iii) to explore ideas on how to 
advance the requirement for information excha nge on subsidies for the purpose of negotiating 
necessary disciplines.  Complementing discussions by Members, the Secretariat had been tasked to 
continue with its update of notes on GATS Rules provi sions in economic integration agreements.   It 
had also been requested to compile informati on on past discussions of the Working Party on 
government procurement, so as to assist new delegations.   
110. On a personal note, the outgoing Chair stated that, while work in the WPGR could not be 
taken in isolation from the broader services negotia tions or the overall DDA Round, she believed that 
Members should increasingly be seeking to frame their discussions in terms of options to fulfil the GATS Rules mandate from Hong Kong.  These negotia tions pre-dated the DDA Round and needed to 
be brought to a satisfactory conclusion for all. 
111. The outgoing Chair of the Co mmittee on Specific Commitments
 said that, since the last report 
to the Special Session on 27 September 2007, the Co mmittee had held three formal meetings.  His 
predecessor had pointed out in his report that the le vel of activity of the Committee was very low, and 
that Members had little interest to exchange views on issues of substance.     
112. During his tenure, the outgoing Chair had held  consultations with delegations on how to 
revive the work of the Committee.  Most delega tions had taken the view that the Committee should 
prioritize its work in the near future, and that i ssues closely linked to the conclusion of the current 
negotiations had to be the priority.  They ha d identified scheduling issues and the relationship 
between old and new commitments as the priority  items in the Committee's work programme.   
113. For scheduling issues there had been a discu ssion on economic needs tests (ENT).  A 
workshop on the scheduling of specific commitments had been held by the Secretariat, whose staff 
made presentations covering a broad range of issu es relative to scheduling on a horizontal and sectoral 
basis.  Statistical measurement of trade in servi ces and the services database had also been introduced. 
114. With respect to the relationship between old and new commitments, some delegations had 
expressed their interest in having further discussion.  Certain views had been exchanged regarding the 
issue of rollback and the language to be included in  the final protocol to clarify the relationship 
between old and new commitments.   
115. There had been no substantive discussion on cl assification issues during the reporting period, 
as most delegations viewed classification issues as a medium or long-term item in the Committee's 
work programme.   
116. The outgoing Chair wished to draw Members' attention to the fact that this was an important 
issue with legal implications for all.  He hoped th at in the future delegations may engage in more 
active and substantive discussions.  As he had said in  his farewell speech at the last CSC meeting, 
Members should take advantage of the period when  there was time to discuss technical issues.  
Otherwise it would be too late to address these issue.   
117. At the request of the outgoing Chair of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation , who was 
unable to be present, the Chair delivered a report on his behalf. 
118. The outgoing Chair stated that, since his last report in September 2007, the Working Party 
had held three formal meetings, on 16 June, 26 N ovember 2008, and 1 April 2009.  At these meetings,  TN/S/M/30 
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  he had reported to Members about the informal c onsultations on the text of possible regulatory 
disciplines pursuant to Article VI:4 of the GATS.   
119. The outgoing Chair had circulated a revised dr aft text on 23 January 2008, in which he had 
attempted to bridge some gaps, and streamline some language in line with comments received by  
Members.  After a first round of discussions of the draft, he had circulated an informal Note (dated 
12 March 2008) on eight outstanding issues on whic h he had felt progress needed to be made.  
Between March and July 2008, the Working Party ha d held several informal consultations to discuss 
these issues, as well as a number of drafting sugges tions put forward by Members (compiled in an 
informal note dated 25 June 2008). 
120. Against the impasse in  the overall round, there ha d been generally a lack of  enthusiasm to 
push forward with substantive dom estic regulation negotiations after July 2008, and the Working 
Party did not undertake any substantive work on  the development of disciplines for domestic 
regulation.  On 20 March 2009,  the outgoing Chair had circulated a second revision of the draft, in which he had attempted to capture a handful of issues on which he felt sufficient progress had been 
made.  He had refrained from trying to bridge ga ps and suggest compromises where he felt more 
negotiation was required. 
121. The outgoing Chair had reported on his assessment of  the state of play at the formal meeting 
of the Working Party on 1 April 2009.  In his judgment, the second revision of the draft text, like the previous drafts, struck a broad balance between the various interests of Members.  The text may not 
have been as ambitious as some delegations desi red, but consultations ha d also shown that other 
delegations had reservations with re gard to individual obligations that the draft proposed.  In addition, 
there may have been certain concep ts that needed to be further elaborated or better understood.  All 
these issues would be taken up under the guidan ce of his successor.  The outgoing Chair was 
convinced that all Members understood the impor tance of meaningful disciplines on domestic 
regulation to facilitate the realization of ne gotiated market access and national treatment 
commitments.  Finally, he wished to recall that the Working Party had a mandate to develop generally 
applicable disciplines and could also develop di sciplines as appropriate for individual sectors or 
groups thereof.  Annex C to the Hong Kong Mini sterial Declaration comm itted Members to develop 
text for adoption in that regard.   Could Members meet this mandate?  To quote a President, yes we 
can! 
122. At the request of the outgoing Chair of the Committee on Trade in Financial Services
, who 
was unable to be present, the Chair delivered a report on his behalf. 
123. The outgoing Chair said that a workshop to comme morate the entry into force of the Fifth 
Protocol to the GATS had been held on 31 Marc h under the auspices of the Committee on Trade in 
Financial Services.  It had benefited from a di stinguished set of speakers, including financial 
regulators, as well as representatives from academia and the private sector.  
124. Issues raised during the discussion included the main factors behind the crisis, both from 
regulatory and industry perspectives;  changes to fi nancial regulation that may be expected;  prospects 
for the financial services industry;  and the imp act of the current context on financial services 
negotiations.  Two messages had come out quite clea rly from the discussion.  First, liberalization of 
trade in financial services could – and indeed need ed to  – coexist with a sound prudential regulatory 
framework.  Second, given the global nature of fina ncial services and financial institutions, policy and 
regulatory coordination among countries had become mo re essential than ever before, as highlighted 
also by the recent G20 Summit. 
125. The workshop had been followed by a formal meeting of the Committee in the afternoon.  
The workshop had proved a welcome and timely i nput to the work of the formal Committee and TN/S/M/30 
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  generated a substantive discussion on the impact of th e current crisis on trade in financial services. 
Members had attached importance to transparency wi th respect to measures adopted in the financial 
services sector in response to the financial crisis , and had indicated that the Committee should support 
the wider efforts within the WTO to monitor th ese measures.  In addition, Members had supported 
also the idea of continuing the discussions of techni cal issues started informally over a year earlier. 
The incoming Chair had promised to conduct consu ltations with Members to figure out a suitable 
work program for the Committee in the coming months.  
126. The delegation of Argentina
 said that it was concerned and disappointed by the lack of 
substantive progress in the subsidiary bodies.  The subsidiary bodies had been meant to carry out a 
large volume of work, which would have proved help ful to the Special Session.  Perhaps Members' 
participation wasn't active enough, as pointed out by on e of the chairs who had just presented a report.  
Members needed to take stock of the situation,  and endeavour to put their work not only into 
negotiating services, but also into trying to make genuine progress in the mandate of the subsidiary 
bodies.  
127. The Chair  proposed that the Council take note of the statements made. 
128. It was so agreed . 
D.   OTHER BUSINESS  
129. The Chair  announced that he had received a letter from the President of the World 
Information Technology and Services Alliance expr essing support for the DDA,  and which he had 
requested be made available to GATS delegations .  If there were no objections from Members, he 
would leave copies at the back of the room. 
130. The Chair proposed that the Council take note of the statements made, and that he adjourn the 
meeting. 
131. It was so agreed . 
__________