. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/M/30/Corr.2* 
14 July 2010 
 (10-3839) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
22 and 26 March 2010  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 22 and 26 March 2010  
 
Chairman:  Mr. Pascal Lamy (Director-General) 
 
Corrigendum  
 
 
Part of the statement by South Africa in  paragraphs 132 to 135 of TN/C/M/30 was 
inadvertently omitted.   These paragraphs should be replaced with the following complete text: 
 "The representative of South Africa  said that for developing countries that had begun this 
Round on the promise that it would address the inequities of the current trading system, and that it would create new opportunities for their development, the current impasse in the Doha Round had 
been frustrating and painful.  The distortions caused  by high levels of protection and trade distorting 
subsidies in agriculture in rich countries c ontinued to destabilize and undermine the productive 
potential of many developing countries, including S outh Africa.  The plight of cotton farmers in 
Africa was a stark reminder of inequity of the cu rrent regime.  LDCs were still waiting for some 
dividends from the Doha Round, especially the agre ement that Members had reached in Hong Kong 
to create new opportunities for their development by  providing them with DFQF market access. 
  Minister Davies had pointed out at the Mini sterial Conference in December 2009 that South 
Africa had not been part of the agreements reached  by some Members in July 2008.  South Africa 
continued to believe that the texts that had em erged were imbalanced and reflected too much 
accommodation of the sensitivities of developed coun tries in agriculture, while demanding too much 
from developing countries in terms of reducing thei r applied industrial tariffs and policy space for 
industrial development.  Despite these reservations , South Africa had been willing to work to see 
whether, on the basis of the existing texts, the specific problems posed for it and SACU arising from 
the historic injustice of South Africa's classifica tion in the Uruguay Round as a developed country 
could be resolved in a fair manner.  
 
 His delegation had recognized that the curre nt recession had caused job losses in many 
countries around the world with developing countries suffering the major impact.  South Africa which 
already had 23 per cent unemployment before the rec ession had lost close to a million jobs since then.  
His delegation therefore found it disconcerting that  the United States remained the most significant 
major player in the Doha Round which was unwilling to  work on the basis of the multilateral texts.  
Its major constituencies and business lobbies were demanding more market access commitments from 
trading partners, particularly, ma jor emerging markets including China, India and Brazil, with a 
longer list of countries in this targeted group that in cluded South Africa.  This was the main reason for 
the current impasse in the Doha Round.  
                                                     
 
* TN/C/M/30/Corr.1 was issued in English only. TN/C/M/30/Corr.2 
Page 2  
 
   
 It was clear to his delegation that as Memb ers moved forward, the only way of overcoming 
the current impasse and bringing the Round to a successful conclusion would require a renewed 
dialogue amongst Members.  This would require di scarding the mercantilist approach taken by some 
of the major players and adhering to the principl es or values of fairness; respect for the Doha 
development mandates; willingness to honour c onvergences and agreements reached during the 
multilateral process; recognition of the value of a st able multilateral rules-based trading system; and, 
willingness to contribute to strengthening of globa l governance.  All these values did not necessarily 
bring substantially more market access in the shor t term, nor could they be  added up in dollars and 
cents.  However, they were the ba sic ingredients required to secure the conclusion of the Doha Round 
in the shortest time and to build a more sustainable multilateral trading system.  
   As Minister Davies had stated at the Davos Ministerial discussions, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting differe nt results, had been recognized by Albert Einstein as madness.  A 
process that continued to work in silos of singl e issues and which did not attempt to discuss the 
balances required to make the final package accep table to all and continued with business as usual 
would lead to debilitation and risk unravelling over eight years of work.     His delegation agreed with the Chairman that  what was required now was a process that was 
multilateral, transparent and inclusive and based on the work of the Chairs of negotiating groups and 
of the TNC.  The process also had to allow for frank horizontal discussions of the trade-offs required 
across the negotiations which would permit arriving at  a fair and balanced package that all Members 
could sell to their constituencies.     The current stocktaking exercise took place in a political context.  Ministers at the seventh 
Ministerial Conference had recognized the impasse that the Round faced and felt it wise to give 
negotiators more time to find a way forward.  Mini sters would require a report. It was clear to his 
delegation that at some stage in the process, minist erial guidance and engageme nt would be required.  
How and when such engagement took place would re quire further consultations and his delegation 
left this to the judgement of the Chairman.    He asked what Members could do in the meantime .  He said that the question they needed to 
ask themselves was how they could address issues th at confronted the poorest countries, and issues 
that were of clear systemic interest to all.  In his delegation's view, while Members struggled to 
overcome the current impasse, it would be wise for th em to use their time to address some of these 
issues.  In this spirit, his delegation fully supported the LDC Group, the African Group and the ACP's request for an early harvest on issues they had hi ghlighted such as DFQF market access, a services 
waiver for LDC preferences and an early resolution of the cotton issue.  He said that it would also be 
wise to use the time available to delegations to reach interim understandings and agreements on some 
of the most important systemic issues that offere d opportunities for all and that addressed the most 
harmful practices of Members.  These issues included trade facilitation, export competition and fisheries subsidies.  His delegation urged Member s to begin a serious discussion in the following 
weeks on these suggestions as a way forward on how to successfully conclude the Round."  
 
 
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