RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/M/13
28January 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-0293)
Committee onTrade andDevelopment
Thirteenth Session
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF25NOVEMBER 1996
Chairman: H.E. Mr.Nacer Benjelloun-Touimi (Morocco)
A. Adoption oftheagenda
1. Thefollowing agenda wasadopted:
A. Adoption oftheAgenda
B. Review oftheApplication ofSpecial Provisions intheMultilateral Trade Agreements
andRelated Ministerial Decisions inFavour ofDeveloping Country Members, in
Particular Least-Developed Country Members
-Supervision oftheImplementation ofGATT 1994 PartIVandtheEnabling
Clause (WT/COMTD/7, WT/COMTD/N/2/ADD.2-3,WT/COMTD/N/5/ADD.1)
C. Annual Review ofWTO Technical Cooperation Activities asTheyRelate toDeveloping
Country Members
D. Guidelines forWTO Technical Cooperation
-Modalities
E. Other Business
2. TheCommittee agreed toinvite toitsnextmeeting thesame international organizations which
hadbeeninvited tothismeeting.
B. Review oftheApplication ofSpecial Provisions intheMultilateral Trade Agreements and
Related Ministerial Decisions inFavour ofDeveloping Country Members, inParticular
Least-Developed Country Members
- Supervision oftheImplementation ofGATT 1994PartIVandtheEnabling Clause
(WT/COMTD/7, WT/COMTD/N/2/ADD.2-3, WT/COMTD/N/5/ADD.1)
3. TheChairman recalled that,intheairgram convening themeeting, Members hadbeeninvited
tonotify totheSecretariat information relevant totheCommittee 'sreview ofthisagenda item, intime
forcirculation andconsideration atthismeeting. Notifications hadbeenreceived fromJapan, circulated
indocumentWT/COMTD/N/2/Add.2and3,NewZealand,circulatedin
document WT/COMTD/N/5/Add.1, andtheLatin American Integration Association circulated in
document WT/COMTD/7.
4. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthathehadsome briefinformation concerning
thestatus ofhiscountry 'slegislation ontheGeneralized System ofPreferences (GSP). According
toitsmostrecent renewal, signed intolawon1October 1996, itsexpiration would be31May1997;WT/COMTD/M/13
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thePresident would seekreauthorization fortheGSPatthebeginning ofthenextCongress, convening
inJanuary1997.Theprogrammeallowedfortherefundofcustomsdutiesdatingbackto1August1995,
provided proper documentation wassubmitted. Furthermore, theU.S.Executive branch hadthelegal
authority toextend theGSPproduct coverage forLLDCs onlywhile thecurrent GSPlegislation was
ineffect. During thecoming months theU.S.Executive branch would review theproduct coverage
andcertain exclusions inthatregard. Thenextlegislation would probably bedifferent fromthatwhich
wascurrently ineffect.
5. Therepresentative ofCanada saidthatareview hadbeencarried outofCanada 'sGSPscheme,
andhebelieved thatthenewGSPscheme hadcome intoforce earlier thatyear. Hehoped tobeable
tocirculate fulldetails todelegations induecourse.
6. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
C. Annual Review ofWTO Technical Cooperation Activities asThey Relate toDeveloping
Country Members
7. TheChairman recalled thattheSecretariat hadcirculated itsReport onTechnical Cooperation
for1996, indocument WT/COMTD/W/21. Thatdocument completed theinformation for1996 and
complemented anearlier report submitted totheCommittee inMay, indocument WT/COMTD/W/14,
andAdd.1 inJuneofthesame year.
8. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland regretted thattheannual report ontechnical cooperation had
beendistributed onlyshortly before themeeting. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat saidthatthe
latedistribution ofthedocument wascaused bytheheavy workload intheSecretariat inpreparation
fortheSingapore Ministerial Conference. Therepresentative ofUruguay saidthat,while itwould
beuseful toreceive documentation earlier inthefuture, heunderstood thereasons forthedelay.
9. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthathisdelegation would havepreferred
toreceive thedocument atanearlier stage butseveral improvements hadbeenmade overtheyears.
Hisdelegation hadsome suggestions forthefuture. Regional seminars should beencouraged inthe
future. Itwasacost-effective method thatpromoted abetter understanding ofthedifferent countries
andalsoabetter understanding among officials ofeachothers 'difficulties. Hewelcomed thework
thathadbeendone incompiling thehandbook onNotification Obligations, which would beofuse
tomany delegations. TheTrade Policy Review Mechanism wasalsoanelement thatdeveloping
countries, andparticularly theleast-developed, should beencouraged toundergo inthefuture. He
recalled thathisdelegation hadmade asimilar observation when discussing theAnnual Report ofthe
CTD. Atrade policy review, evenatanearlier datethanforeseen inAnnex 3oftheAgreement
Establishing theWTO, wasprobably oneofthemostcomprehensive forms oftechnical assistance that
countries could get,asitobliged themtoputtheirtradepolicy inorder andtocheck, inthepreparation
ofthereports, thelevels offulfilment ofobligations. Itwasauseful mechanism ofself-reflection for
national administrations. Inreferring tothereport ontechnical cooperation, hesuggested thatthe
Committee avoid limiting theassessment toonlyquantitative terms. Itwould beuseful toknow the
Secretariat 'sviewofthedifficulties encountered. Human resources andinstitutional capacity building,
forexample, formed themain focus oftheCommittee 'sactivity. What hadbeentheresult ofsuch
efforts? What difficulties didthecountries have? Answers tothese questions would beimportant,
notonlyfordetermining theordinary budget ofthose organizations, butalsoforassisting Member
donor governments. IfMember governments wanted tocontribute onavoluntary basis, theywould
needtohaveabetter understanding ofwhatthedifficulties were. Itwould thusbeuseful tohavea
Secretariat 'squalitative assessment ofthetypeofproblems thatexisted andhadbeenidentified during
theseminars andfact-finding missions. TheReport alsomentioned that: "Inaddition, comprehensiveWT/COMTD/M/13
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studies ontheoutcome oftheUruguay Round forrequesting individual countries orgroups ofcountries,
aswellasbackground notes onspecific issues indifferent areas ofthenegotiations, wereprepared."
Itwould beuseful tohavealistofthese notes.
10. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthathetoohadreceived thereport toolatetoread
itwithcare. Heagreed withtheEuropean Communities concerning ideas forimproving technical
assistance, asdiscussed atvarious Committee meetings ontechnical assistance overthepastyear.
Awritten, qualitative assessment bytheSecretariat would therefore behelpful, eventhough aqualitative
assessment hadperhaps notbeentheoriginal objective ofthereport. Rather, theCommittee needed
tobeinformed ofwhich technical assistance activities hadbeenundertaken. Nevertheless, some
interesting dataoranalysis existed which might beincluded, anditwould behelpful iftheSecretariat
could consider preparing another document some timeinthenextfewmonths. Suchadocument would
contain theSecretariat 'sassessment ofthestrengths andefficiencies oftheprogrammes based onits
experience incarrying outtheprogrammes. Further analysis ofthatkindmight enable theCommittee
tofocus itsefforts onthequestion ofhowtomake technical assistance asmeaningful aspossible.
11. Therepresentative ofNorway thanked theSecretariat forputting together theoverview of
technical assistance carried outinthepastyearand,inparticular, welcomed theactivities carried out
under theWTO Trust Fund forTechnical Assistance. Heencouraged theSecretariat topursue relevant
activities under theFundin1997without ofcourse interfering withactivities under theordinary budget.
Additionally, hesawmerit inthepoints raised bythedelegations oftheEuropean Communities and
oftheUnited States about aqualitative assessment oftheactivities carried out. Itwould betothe
advantage ofalldelegations tohavetheSecretariat 'squalitative assessments ofvarious activities.
12. Therepresentative ofEgypt welcomed theefforts oftheSecretariat toward intensifying
cooperationwithotherinternationalorganizations,particularlyUNCTADandtheUNDP.Hisdelegation
supported anumber ofpoints mentioned bythedelegation oftheEuropean Communities. First, his
delegation hadreceived indications thatthehandbook onNotifications hadbeenuseful, andhethanked
theSecretariat foritseffort inpreparing it.Second, hisdelegation supported thestatement bythe
representative oftheEuropean Communities regarding thedifficulties faced bytheSecretariat. Thirdly,
heconcurred withthedelegations oftheUnited States andtheEuropean Communities, thataqualitative
assessment would beuseful, andcould bedoneinaseparate paper. Hisdelegation hoped thatsuch
apaper would beready forthenextmeeting oftheCTD andthattheitemwould remain ontheagenda
forthecoming meetings sothatthereport would beadequately addressed bytheCommittee. Lastly,
hisdelegation supported theEuropean Communities 'intervention regarding thedocuments andother
efforts thathadalready beendoneinvarious countries. Further details onthespecific activities which
benefitted certain developing countries would beuseful asthese could easily bereplicated atlowcost
onceinitial work wasdone, benefitting other developing countries, inparticular, theleast-developed
among them. Hehoped tocome backwithadditional detailed remarks ontheReport atthenextmeeting.
13. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland saidhehadsome preliminary comments, notontechnical
cooperationactivitiesundertakenattheWTO,butratherontheReportitself.Inthiscontexthesupported
theinterventions byprevious speakers andsaidthatitwould beinteresting tolearnabout theproblems
andsuccesses oftheprevious programmes oftechnical cooperation. Hisdelegation realized thatthe
Secretariat hadfollowed thesame format ithadusedinthepastsince previous reports hadnotbeen
subject tothetypeofcomments which hadbeenmade atthismeeting. Future reports, however, could
beofadifferent format, which would havetobeagreed on,based ontheyear'swork andfollow-up.
Hisdelegation supported theideaofhaving anewreport sometime inthenextfewmonths, following
theCommittee 'sdiscussions onthemodalities. Particularly, theassessment andtheevaluation ofpast
programmes should becontained insuchareport, asshould thecriteria under which theassessment
oftheprogrammes would takeplace. Hesuggested thattheSecretariat prepare amore detailed reportWT/COMTD/M/13
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based onthecriteria ithadtoagree on.Hisdelegation alsosupported interventions byother delegations
suggesting thattheagenda itemberetained forthenextmeeting.
14. Therepresentative ofArgentina saidthattheReport wasanexcellent document, andhe
understood thereasons behind thedelay initscirculation. Healsoexpressed satisfaction withthework
doneonthemanual onNotifications: itwasauseful instrument forauthorities andprovided abasis
forconsultation, enabling Members tobetter comply withWTO obligations. Finally, thelackofa
qualitative analysis intheReport wasperhaps caused byalackofcontact between thecountries involved
andtheSecretariat. Delegations, aswellastheSecretariat, hadanobligation tomake contributions
tothisanalysis. Hisgovernment, forexample, could haveexpressed clearappreciation ifithadbeen
asked foranassessment onthecourses heldinhiscountry. Hisdelegation would liketoparticipate
inthepreparation ofthequalitative analysis.
15. Therepresentative ofAustralia said,bywayofpreliminary remarks, thatshewished toadd
herdelegation 'svoice tothosewhohadsuggested thattheSecretariat assess thedifficulties andsuccesses
experienced overthepastyear. Suchassessment would beuseful fortheCommittee 'sdiscussion on
modalities andtheapplication ofthetechnical cooperation guidelines, which theCommittee would
address. Itwould beuseful iftheCommittee could haveareport from theSecretariat, ofthesort
suggested byEgypt, intimeforameeting inearly 1997.
16. Therepresentative ofVenezuela thanked theSecretariat forthework ithaddoneinthearea
oftechnicalcooperation.HisdelegationrealizedthatadministrativeandotherresourcesoftheSecretariat
hadbeenstretched bythepreparations fortheSingapore Ministerial Conference. Asforanevaluation
oftheactivities, heagreed withtherepresentative ofArgentina. Thegovernment beneficiaries ofthe
technical cooperation could report onthewayinwhich theyhadbenefitted fromtheprogrammes carried
outbytheWTO. Hewondered whether adistinction hadbeenmade between activities developed
through theregular budget oftheWTO andactivities developed through theTrust Fund onTechnical
Activities.
17. TheChairman,speakinginhiscapacityastherepresentativeofMorocco,thankedtheSecretariat
fortheReport andsaidthattherewasastrong commitment tomake thetechnical cooperation thebest
available. TheReport covered alltheactivities which hadbeencarried outbyWTO incooperation
withother institutions. However, hewasoftheviewthattheReport wassomewhat vague. Inspite
ofthetables, thedetails pertinent tomaking anassessment ofthesituation werelacking. Insome parts
oftheReport, itwasdifficult todistinguish whether anactivity hadbeenoneofWTO oroneofanother
organization, suchasUNCTAD. There should beaseparate section forthecases where theWTO
hadbeeninvited along withthedelegation ofanother organization, suchastheUNDP, spelling out
whattheWTO staffhadcontributed totheefforts. Otherwise, theReport could givetheimpression
thattheWTO hadbeendoing something beyond itspurview andcompetence. TheCommittee had
tobecareful about thedescription ofthework. There hadbeenmany queries regarding theTechnical
Assistance Programme forAfrica. IftheCommittee didnotagree onwhatthereport should contain,
itwould notknow whattoexpect from it.Itwould beanarrative document without anyrealuse.
TheCommittee hadtomake surethattheReport contained enough details oftheactivities andagood
assessment soastoenable ittomake recommendations.
18. TheChairman suggested thattheCommittee revert tothisagenda itematitsnextmeeting,
anddevelop amodel orguidelines foranannual report ontechnical cooperation activities during the
course ofthenextyear. Inthemeantime, delegations would submit written contributions withaview
toassistingtheSecretariatinproducing,inJanuary1997,amoremeaningfuldocumentfortheassessment
ofthe1996 technical assistance activities.
19. TheCommittee soagreed.WT/COMTD/M/13
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D. Guidelines forWTO Technical Cooperation
- Modalities
20. TheChairman recalled thatattheCommittee 'slastmeeting on31October, hehadmentioned
thatheintended toraisethisissue attoday'smeeting withaview tostarting thediscussion onthis
important itemandcarrying itintonextyear. Headded thatthedelegation ofMorocco hadsubmitted
astatement intheBudget Committee onthatsubject andonrelated financial budgetary implications,
contained indocument WT/BFA/W/12, dated 19November 1996. TheSecretariat hadprovided his
delegation withsome answers toitsquestions intheBudget Committee, which were related tothis
subject. Since theanswers didnotfullyrespond toallthequestions, hisdelegation would redirect
itsquestions totheSecretariat inthefuture. Heintended torequest theBudget Committee tocirculate
theanswers inanofficial document.
21. Arepresentative oftheSecretariat introduced theSecretariat non-paper onWTO Technical
Cooperation:ImplementationModalities1of25November1996.TheSecretariat'sintentioninpresenting
thenon-paper hadbeentoassist delegations inthediscussions onthismatter. Ittherefore included
anindication ofthedifferent activities thathadbeen carried outbytheSecretariat intechnical
cooperation, without wanting torankthemaccording totheirrelative importance orlevelofmagnitude.
Allmodes ofdelivery mentioned inthedocument hadbeenutilized inproviding technical assistance,
some inmore detail, others inless,andtheywereallpartofthematerial andinstruments thattheWTO
usedindealing withthedifferent elements oftraining andassistance. Therelative importance depended
ontherequest received from thedifferent beneficiaries. Thedocument included some elements on
howtechnical cooperation should beorganized inthefuture, including theestablishment ofacentral
point, acentral officer oroffice, intherecipient country tobecome thefocalpoint forcommunications
withtheWTO. Anelement ofparticular importance wasthatofselecting officials ofbeneficiary
countries tobeincluded inaprogramme forthetraining oftrainers, ashadbeendiscussed andadopted
intheguidelines ontechnical assistance, andtheelement relating tolocalexpertize, alsotobeutilized
infuture technical cooperation activities atthenational, regional orsub-regional levels. Withrespect
tocoordination,theSecretariatproposedthattheTechnicalCooperationandTrainingDivisioncoordinate
andadminister WTO 'scollaboration intheareaoftechnical assistance withother organizations, for
example withUNCTAD, theITC, theWorld Bank, andalsoattheregional andsub-regional levels.
Itwould alsobetheresponsibility oftheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division tonegotiate
andexecute inter-agency programmes, which wasagrowing areainview ofthefactthatother
organizations wereincreasingly seeking jointactivities withtheWTO. Finally, some organizations
already hadjointactivities withotherDivisions oftheSecretariat, notably intheareasofcustoms duties,
intellectual property andagriculture. Thecoordination ofthose activities would alsohavetoliewith
theTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division, andtherefore withtheCTD intheensuing stage
ofsupervision.
22. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat continued, explaining that,regarding management, the
Secretariat would work according toathree-year plan, asapproved intheguidelines. Thethree-year
planhadbeenqualified inthesense thattheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division wastrying
toidentify thetypeofactivities thatwould beincluded byregion. Thiswould beindicative andwould
besubject tospecific agreement foreachyearly plan. Thepaper hadsuggested thattherebeadeadline,
bothwithrespect torequests addressed totheWTO fortechnical assistance andwithrespect tovoluntary
contributions forcertain types ofactivities, asasample datetoallow aplatform fortheactivities of
thefollowing year. Thedateof15November wasmentioned inthenon-paper, butonlyasanindication.
Another important point hadbeentoleave anopendoortoaccommodate, totheextent possible, new
requests thatwould becoming while theregular planwasbeing applied. Finally, hewanted toemphasize
that,asregardsthemodalities,thereportingwouldbedonetotheCommitteeonTradeandDevelopment,
1Non-paper fortheThirteenth Session oftheCTD of25November 1996 (JobNo.6474).WT/COMTD/M/13
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pursuant toinstructions which theTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division would receive from
theCommittee, ashadbeendiscussed under theprevious agenda item, andtheCommittee would
supervise thework inthisarea.
23. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidthathisdelegation hadonlypreliminary
comments forthetimebeing. While some interesting ideas hadbeenexpressed, thenon-paper could
beimproved, mostimportantly thepartontheModes ofDelivery. Thesame difficulty hadalready
beenencountered intheannual reports ontechnical cooperation ofthepasttwoyears. Itwasessential
nowthattheCommittee discuss themodes ofdelivery todefine, ortoredefine more clearly, what
wasmeant byeachofthose activities. Arequesting country having toselect from theinstruments
presented might bemore confused thanhelped. Itwasimportant toknow whatwasmeant byanational
seminar, atechnical mission, oradetailed in-depth seminar. What wasaspecial training course, a
practical training programme andparticipation inotheractivities ontheregional andsub-regional levels
andinGeneva? Itwasessential tohaveaclear-cut definition ofeachoftheinstruments available,
sothatdelegations could request theuseoftheonewhich would suitthembest. TheCommittee should
useitsdiscussion totrytoimprove ontheseconcepts. Hisdelegation suggested thatasection onfollow-
upalsobeincluded, ashadbeenmentioned intheguidelines, butsofarhadnotbeenreflected inthe
non-paper. Itwashisdelegation 'sviewthatitwould beuseful toreformulate slightly thelanguage
onInternational Coordination inorder tomake itclearthattheSecretariat would develop, negotiate,
andexecute inter-agency programmes forthepartthatrelated totheSecretariat.
24. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities continued bycommenting onthesection on
Management inthenon-paper. Astherepresentative oftheSecretariat hadexplained, thesection
contained some useful ideas, butpreference should begiven toestablishing acertain deadline sothat
theSecretariat would beinabetter position toplantheactivities fortheyearahead. Itwould also
beuseful iftherequests fortechnical assistance wereaccompanied byjustifications. Arequest should
notonlybeforaseminar tobeorganized inacertain capital, butshould alsocontain ajustification
onwhythatspecific seminar wasnecessary forthatcountry. Thatwould alsoassist theSecretariat
inacquiring abetter knowledge ofthedifficulties ofindividual WTO Members. Finally, hesuggested
thatthepoint which indicated thatalltherequests andcontributions should beaddressed through the
Division onTechnical Cooperation andTraining should appear earlier inthepaper, probably asthe
firstsentence inthesection onManagement, tosettheterms ofwhatfollowed next.
25. Therepresentative ofCanada saidthatitwasunclear howtherelationship between theTechnical
Cooperation andTraining Division andthelineDivisions within theWTO worked. Itwasclearthat
theTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division wasthecoordinating Division, butthedelivery seemed
tobedoneprimarilythroughthelineDivisions.Perhapsamoredetailedexplanationofhowthatdelivery
mechanism worked should beincluded inthesection onManagement, inthenextversion. Heagreed
withtherepresentative oftheEuropean Communities that,allrequests should gothrough theTechnical
Cooperation andTraining Division. Hedidnotknow ifthatwasthecurrent practice. Forinstance,
incaseaparticular country wanted aidondispute settlement issues, were requests addressed tothe
Legal Division? Hewould appreciate information onsuchprocedures aswellasonthequestion of
whoapproved thetechnical assistance activities.
26. TherepresentativeofArgentinadrewattentiontothepointonflexibilityincarryingouttechnical
cooperation. Thiswasimportant andshould bepreserved intheexercise. Secondly, hisdelegation
hadsome doubts astohowthe"Modes ofDelivery" exercise would fitwiththeguidelines already
drawn up.While theguidelines exercise hadbeenlong, ithadresulted insetting theparameters for
technical cooperation. Hisdelegation didnotseethemerits ofnegotiating Modalities inawaythat
would reproduce theexercise ofnegotiations onguidelines. Thesection ofthetextdealing withlong-
termengagements included some commitments theStates would needtotakeoninorder toreceive
technical cooperation; thatpartshould notnecessarily beinterpreted asaprerequisite inorder toreceive
technical cooperation. Forexample, itreferred tothedesirability ofestablishing a"focal point" inWT/COMTD/M/13
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acountry. Thatshould notbeaprerequisite conditioning theactual receipt oftechnical cooperation.
IftheCommittee wasgoing toadvance along those lines, itneeded tobeexplicit. Perhaps itwould
bemore useful tokeepthetextasasortofindicative non-paper, which theSecretariat could usein
future work asaguide forthepreparation ofannual reports.
27. Therepresentative ofUruguay saidthathefully agreed withwhat hadbeen saidbythe
representative ofArgentina andwished tounderscore acouple ofpoints. First, thegreatest virtue
ofthediscussion andofthenon-paper wasthefactthattheyweregeneral. Hisdelegation agreed with
theideas stated bytherepresentative oftheEuropean Communities, totheeffect thatitmight be
interesting toknow, ingeneral, whateachoneofthesubjects meant, without reaching adictionary-type
definition thatcould become taxing andrestrictive. Onepositive aspect oftechnical cooperation was
thatitwasnotrestrictive, butrather itadapted totheneeds ofeachcountry requesting theassistance.
Hisdelegation wasnotcalling foranegotiated text,which would berestrictive innature. Because
countries oftendidnotneedonespecific modality, butrather acombination ofdifferent onesoraspects
ofthem, itwould begoodtobuild insufficient flexibility. South-South cooperation wasveryuseful,
asoneoftencould learnmoreeasily fromwhatothers suffered thanfromtop-down, professor-to-student
instruction. Thatwaswhatwasbeing doneontheregional level, somaybe regional experience should
beconsidered inthefuture.
28. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland saidthatbecause hisdelegation hadreceived thenon-paper
rather late,itwould comment onitinmore detail atalaterstage. Itseemed agoodbasisforelaborating
theimplementation modalities. Toachieve theaims setoutintheguidelines forWTO technical
cooperation, itwasimperative thatsuchmodalities bedeveloped bytheCommittee andthattheybe
sufficiently helpful andprecise, sothattheCommittee could setupatypeoftechnical cooperation
which would benefit bothdonors andrecipients, and,indeed, theimage oftheWTO. There were
some errors which further workcould correct tomake themodalities more precise. First, more thought
needed tobegiven totheoperation oftheWTO Trust Fund. Pursuant toSection 24Coftheguidelines
forWTO technical cooperation, which stipulated that"theWTO Trust Fundshallbemanaged according
totherecommendations contained intheDecision taken bytheGeneral Council of18July1996 and
tothefinancial regulations andfinancial rules of5August 1996," itwasnownecessary toestablish
specific rulesforthemanagement oftheWTO Trust Fund forTechnical Cooperation. Oneideawould
befortheFund tobecomposed oftwoparts -anearmarked partandanon-earmarked part. Thenon-
earmarked contributions could beusedforanyactivities andprojects appearing intheWTO 'sthree-year
planfortechnical cooperation, andearmarked contributions could beusedforparticular projects, which
could bechosen bythedonor fromthelistsofprojects appearing inthethree-year plan. Another issue
needing reflection concerned theroleandtherange ofdonors whomight contribute totheWTO Trust
Fund.
29. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland thensaidthatthesecond problem concerned project
managementandevaluationcriteria.Section1oftheguidelinesprovidedthatWTOtechnicalcooperation
activities "beadministered bytheSecretariat andreviewed byMembers, inaccordance withoperational
directives andimplementation modalities, tobeestablished bytheCommittee onTrade and
Development," while inSection 24C, theguidelines called for"monitoring andevaluation bythe
Committee onTrade andDevelopment, based onannual evaluation oftheresults oftechnical assistance
activities, inorder toensure optimum useofresources, according toappropriate evaluation criteria."
Inhisdelegation 'sview, those operational directives andevaluation criteria needed tobeelaborated
bytheCommittee based onexisting documents, suchastheITCManual onProgramming, Project
Design, Monitoring andEvaluation. Section 22oftheguidelines provided for"follow-up ofindividual
programmes andassessment oftheireffectiveness." Itwould probably notbenecessary toevaluate
every single project, butallmajor projects andprogrammes should beevaluated andexposed according
tointernationally recognized procedures andcriteria. Suchanevaluation should takeplace nosooner
thanoneyearaftertheendoftheproject orprogramme, toallow anassessment ofthesustainabilityWT/COMTD/M/13
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ofthebenefits. Inthiscontext, hereminded delegations oftheCommittee 'sintention todevelop a
format forthereports bytheSecretariat.
30. Therepresentative ofSwitzerland continued, saying thatthethirdpointconcerned international
coordination. Section 23oftheguidelines provided fora"close institutional dialogue withother
international organizations, inparticular withITCandUNCTAD, andwithother regional institutions
toensure acoherent approach toidentify areas ofcompetence andcomplementarity." Hisdelegation
would begrateful iftheSecretariat would inform theCommittee about anyrecent stepstaken towards
suchadialogue, particularly inviewofthehigh-level meeting planned for1997 inthecontext ofthe
WTO Action PlanfortheLeast-Developed Countries. TheSecretariat could beasked toprepare an
outline ofthenecessary steps fortheimplementation ofthatpartoftheguidelines andofthepossible
roleoftheCTD inboththeprocess andthehigh-level meeting. Heemphasized thattheideas just
expressed were verypreliminary andthattheguidelines contained other provisions which required
further elaboration, ashadbeenpointed outbyother delegations. Hisdelegation planned topresent
itsideas inwriting totheCommittee, andtoparticipate actively inthework required, since his
Government attached great importance tothose issues andhoped thattheCommittee would continue
itsefforts tocarry outeffective WTO technical cooperation activities tomeet theessential needs of
recipients. Hisdelegation hoped thatfurther work would beundertaken andthattheitemwould remain
ontheagenda.
31. Therepresentative ofEgypt thanked theChairman forhisefforts fromthestartoftheprocess
regarding technical cooperation, including thoseregarding theguidelines earlier intheyear. Itappeared
thattheCommittee wasontherighttrack. Tostartworking ontheImplementation Modalities was
astepthathadbeenforeseen intheguidelines, andhence, hisdelegation welcomed thestartofthe
discussions. However, likeother delegations, hisdelegation hadreceived thenon-paper onlyrecently,
andthushadnothadtimetostudy it.Regarding theModes ofDelivery, heshared some oftheconcerns
raised bythedelegation oftheEuropean Communities. Hisdelegation wasnevertheless pleased to
seevarious modes ofdelivery listed, since inthepast,concentration seemed tohavebeenonseminars
asoneofthemostimportant modes ofdelivery, eventhough other modes ofdelivery would perhaps
havebeenmore suitable forsome ofthepurposes. Itwasavalidpoint thatcertain modes ofdelivery
would require some refinement andimprovement. Secondly, heshared theconcern raised bythe
delegation ofArgentina regarding theestablishment ofafocalpoint. Egypt hadestablished different
focal points andenquiry points, inaccordance withvarious WTO provisions. Those arrangements
wereunder thepurview ofdifferent authorities, which haddifferent areas ofcompetence. Thusitwas
unclear howthenew"focal point" would affect thecompetence ofvarious organizations andauthorities
within Egypt 'sGovernment. Hisdelegation wished toreflect ontheideamore todetermine whether
itwould befeasible tohavethenewfocal point, orwhether itwould create anadditional level of
bureaucracy thatmight notbeneeded atthatpoint intime. Regarding international coordination, there
wereseveral jointprogrammes ofcooperation withother international organizations. Hisdelegation
sought clarification onthequestion ofhowthose jointprojects would beevaluated, sincetheysometimes
fellwithin thecompetence ofmore thanoneorganization, which made theirassessment andevaluation,
aswellastheirreporting todifferent bodies, adifficult task. TheChairman hadreferred tothatpoint
earlier, regarding theTripartite Technical Cooperation Programme forAfrica. Hisdelegation would
welcome more details inthatrespect. Asmentioned bythedelegation ofCanada, therelationships
between thedifferent Divisions intheWTO were unclear, interms ofthedelivery oftechnical
cooperation programmes. Members alsoneeded toclarify theroles ofdifferent Committees within
theWTO regarding technical cooperation, inviewofacertain overlap inactivities related totechnical
cooperation indifferent Committees. Thus, themodalities should include language ontheneedto
clarify thedistribution oftheworkload andthedivision oflabour among Divisions andalsoamong
thevarious Committees intheWTO machinery. Hisdelegation alsosupported thesuggestion bythe
representative ofSwitzerland tosendcomments inwriting totheSecretariat, which could beincluded
inasecond version ofthenon-paper fordiscussion attheCTD'snextmeeting. Apaper prepared
fortheevaluation oftechnical cooperation would assist theCommittee initswork torefine theWT/COMTD/M/13
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implementationmodalities.HisdelegationintendedtosendspecificcommentstotheSecretariatregarding
thenon-paper.
32. Therepresentative ofCôted'Ivoire saidthattheinitiative concerning technical cooperation
wasconsistent withWTO 'sintention tohelpcountries participate fully. Thenon-paper wasagood
basis forthediscussion, andithadbeenimproved bythecomments ofdelegations. Herdelegation
wasoftheview thatthose countries benefitting from technical cooperation should berequired to
contribute bysubmitting reports, toallow better transparency. Comments fromcountries themselves
could helptoimprove theprogramme overtheyears. Herdelegation wished tothank theSecretariat
forallthetechnical cooperation activities ithadundertaken -including those ithadundertaken
cooperatively withother organizations -despite thefactthatithadonlylimited resources. There had
beenaseminar inCôted'Ivoire, andthefeedback hadbeenpositive. Herdelegation alsowished to
thank those countries which, despite financial difficulties, contributed totheprogramme. Finally, she
thanked theEuropean Communities forfinancing theAbidjan Seminar, which hadbrought together
African countries.
33. TherepresentativeofVenezuelasaidthatheagreedwiththerepresentativeofArgentinaregarding
thenature ofthenon-paper anditsrelationship totheguidelines thathadalready beenformulated by
theCommittee. Itwasadocument basically forinformation. Although itwasinformal innature,
itsdrafting implicitly suggested certain conditionalities, asillustrated bytherepresentative ofArgentina,
forexample, intheareaofthedesignation ofafocal point, orenquiry point. Thedocument could
beimproved through incorporating suggestions suchasthose made bytherepresentatives ofCanada
andtheEuropean Communities, which would enable acountry using ittohaveabetter ideaofwhat
hadbeendone intheareaoftechnical cooperation, andhowprogrammes hadbeendelivered and
organized. Also, while hisdelegation hadlistened withgreat interest tothecomments putforth by
thedelegation ofSwitzerland regarding theTrust FundforTechnical Cooperation, itwanted toexercise
caution. TheCommittee needed tocontemplate theimpact which theFund might haveonother
programmes thatwere already existing, suchastheoneintheITC, which hadwindows tochannel
thecontributions received forcooperation. Those activities should notbeimpaired byactivities planned
inthisbody.
34. Therepresentative ofMadagascar congratulated theChairman onthedynamic wayinwhich
hehadworked toaccelerate thediscussions andtheimplementation oftheprogramme oftechnical
cooperation. Theprogramme wasimportant fortheleast-developed countries, suchasMadagascar.
Hisdelegation wished toexpress satisfaction withthequality ofthetechnical cooperation ithadbeen
receiving from theWTO Secretariat onanumber ofoccasions. In1996 alone, seminars hadbeen
organized inMadagascar ontheimplementation oftheUruguay Round Agreements, andinAbidjan,
aswellastheMeeting forMinisters ofLeast-Developed Countries heldinGeneva forthepreparation
oftheSingapore Meeting, inaddition toother meetings fordelegations from LLDCs. Delegations
could only bepleased with thecurrent level oftechnical cooperation provided bytheWTO.
Nevertheless, given theinternational environment anditsimperatives, improvement andacceleration
were needed. Hewasthusthankful thattheChairman hadputtheissue ontheagenda oftheSub-
Committee, thereby giving itacertain levelofpriority.
35. TherepresentativeofMadagascarcontinued,sayingthatthenon-papermeritedin-depthanalysis.
Hisdelegation would provide awritten analysis atalaterstage. Itwasimportant toconsider thematch
between supply anddemand fortechnical assistance, andtoplace acertain levelofresponsibility on
thebeneficiary countries receiving suchtechnical assistance. Acountry firstneeded todefine itsown
needs. Onthebasis ofthose needs, theSecretariat could thenexplain theextent towhich itwasin
aposition torespond. Onecould notaskdonors, however generous andwilling, tofinance something
thathadnotbeenwell-structured ordefined. Regarding specific aspects ofthenon-paper, hesuggested
thatthedateof15November, which hadbeensetasadeadline forrequests fortechnical cooperation,
could beadvanced byacouple ofmonths toallow donors tocommunicate views about whathadbeenWT/COMTD/M/13
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requested bythebeneficiary country. Thiswould beforthepurpose offacilitating donations. Regarding
thequestion ofinternational andinter-institutional coordination, itwascommon knowledge thatthose
Members receiving technical assistance hadgreat difficulty indefining theirproblems. They were
aware oftheproblem ofintegration ininternational trade andageneral needfortechnical assistance,
but,duetotheoverlap andduplication among various organizations andthedifficulties indistinguishing
theirspecial capabilities, countries sometimes approached aninappropriate organization. TheWTO
could therefore assist suchcountries inbetter understanding thecapabilities ofeachorganization, so
astorefine theirrequests. TheWTO should notjustsupply technical assistance, butshould alsohave
anadvisory role,sothatcountries approaching theWTO would know howtofindsolutions totheir
problems.TheWTOhadthistypeofincidentattheMeetingforMinistersofLeast-DevelopedCountries
inpreparation fortheSingapore Ministerial Conference. Forexample, theWTO sometimes hadto
turndown arequest fortechnical assistance, since itwasnotwithin itscompetence. Insuchinstances,
countries stillhadaproblem andneeded some response. IftheWTO wasnotabletoprovide the
assistance, perhaps itcould advise countries where togoforsuchassistance.
36. Therepresentative ofKorea saidthatitwasimportant toestablish criteria toevaluate which
means oftechnical cooperation activities wereeffective. Referring tostatements made bytheSwiss
andEgyptian delegations concerning international cooperation, henoted thatsimilar kinds oftechnical
cooperation funds intheWTO, UNCTAD andITCexisted. Tobecost-effective, itmight perhaps
bepossible toimplement atypeofcoordination, such asregular consultations withtherelevant
organizations. Suchaframework could include running listsofcountries receiving technical assistance.
Byidentifying thecountries andspecifying theirneeds, cooperation among therelevant organizations
might bepromoted.
37. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat saidthathewished tocomment ontheissue raised by
thedelegate ofCanada, onthecoordination ofrequests fortechnical cooperation andontheplanning
andtheexecution ofthose requests. Asindicated inthenon-paper, theTechnical Cooperation and
Training Division wasthefocal point forthecontacts between theSecretariat andthedelegations in
theareaoftechnical cooperation, aswellasfortheorganization ofactivities related totechnical
assistance. However, therewasnodoubt that,incertain cases, therewerecountries which made requests
directly totheoperational Divisions incharge ofaspecific subject ortypeofactivity. TheSecretariat
hadbeentrying tocoordinate toavoid duplication, withaviewtoestablishing aclearprogramme of
activities performed bythedifferent Divisions. When aparticular request wasmade, theoperational
Divisions andtheTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division designed certain steps. Inmany cases
theSecretariat staffparticipating inthose activities didnotwork intheoperational Division concerned
withthatspecific subject, butstilltookonsome responsibility inactivities performed abroad because
itwaswellinformed onthesubject. There was,therefore, acoordinating rolefortheTechnical
Cooperation andTraining Division. TheReport which delegations hadconsidered earlier surveyed
thetechnical cooperation activities performed bytheSecretariat, andassuchshowed thatthere was
aclearknowledge intheSecretariat ofthevarious activities thatwerebeing carried outbythedifferent
Divisions.
38. TheChairman saidthathewasoftheviewthattheCommittee needed tostress thatithadonly
justbegun itswork ontheestablishment ofmodalities forthetechnical assistance oftheOrganization.
Itwasbetter tomove theprocess steadily because whattheCommittee ultimately sought wasto"get
itsmoney 'sworth", obtaining thebesttechnical assistance possible fortheMembers, particularly for
thedeveloping andleast-developed countries. Assome delegations hademphasized, theeffort of
clarification andtransparency wasessential iftheCommittee wanted toattract additional voluntary
contributions. TheCommittee needed tocommunicate todonors howthemoney would beallocated
andtheimpact itwould have.
39. TheChairman thenreferred tothequestion raised bytherepresentative ofCanada, concerning
therelationship between theTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division andtheother Divisions.WT/COMTD/M/13
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DidtheCommittee want aTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division which would provide the
substance oftheassistance, ordiditwant aDivision which coordinated thecontribution thateach
Division, initsowncompetence, wasgoing tomake tothecountries? Forinstance, ifthere wasa
needfortechnical assistance inmaking notifications, would theDivision dealing withnotifications
handle thesubstance, while theTechnical Cooperation andTraining Division coordinated thework?
Itwasaquestion demanding attention astheCommittee considered whatkindofTechnical Cooperation
andTraining Division itwanted, entailing important budgetary implications aswellasthesizeofeach
Division. UNCTAD 'sTechnical Cooperation Division hadadifferent shape fromthatoftheWTO;
UNCTAD 'sarrangement might beauseful source fordetermining whatwould beoptimal fortheWTO
inorder todeliver thebesttechnical assistance, and,assuch, should beontheCommittee 'sagenda.
40. TheChairman continued, referring toapointraised bythedelegation ofSwitzerland andothers.
There wasperhaps merit inestablishing aguide ontechnical cooperation attheWTO -inother words,
abooklet thatwould outline thebasic scheme andexplain thedifferent modes ofdelivery oftechnical
assistance. Hehadproposed thattheWTO havemoreregional seminars, where people wereintroduced
tothework oftheOrganization, before itprovided themore substantive technical assistance. The
basicscheme should introduce theconcept offlexibility thathadbeenelaborated bytherepresentatives
ofVenezuela andUruguay. Thescheme should bedescribed inthebooklet ontechnical assistance,
sothatpeople would know whatwasavailable andwhatthedifferent possibilities were. Inthatway
theywould beabletomake theirownrequests, andnotjustgofortheeasiest option, which wasto
participate inseminars ortoprovide forofficials tocome toGeneva fortraining. Here, also, the
Committee needed tomake surethatwhen people came toGeneva, thetraining wasmore practically
oriented. TheWTO should notgivethem lectures, which theycould getintheirowncountries or
universities, butrather offer them practical training.
41. TheChairman saidthatathirdelement forfuture discussion bytheCommittee entailed the
many questions thathadbeenraised bythedelegation ofSwitzerland, concerning theWTO Trust Fund.
TheCommittee alsoneeded tomake surethatitsmonitoring andevaluation procedures were clear.
Dates fortheevaluation andreview were tobesetinadvance. TheCommittee onTrade and
Development should havespecial meetings regarding those issues. Inhisopinion, there should be
asmall group within theCommittee onTrade andDevelopment todopreparatory andother work for
themeeting onevaluation, toprevent thatmeeting from resulting onlyindiscussion which didnot
yield results. Thecriteria fortheevaluation, asubject raised bytheSwiss delegation, represented
thefourth itemtobediscussed. Oneaspect thathadbeenmentioned wastheideaofhaving theTechnical
Cooperation andTraining Division doitsReport totheCommittee eachyearaccording tosome basic
elements agreed toinadvance. There could becertain sections, including oneontheinternal evaluation
ofprogrammes.
42. TheChairman thensaidthathisfinalpoint concerned cooperation, asubject which hadbeen
mentioned bymany delegations. Here, also,theCommittee needed tobeverycareful. AsCommittee
Chairman, hehadhadmany contacts withtheheads oftheITCandUNCTAD, Mr.Bélisle and
Mr.Ricupero, respectively. Those contacts weregeared toward ensuring acertain coherence between
theguidelines andmodalities, which theCommittee wasworking on,andtheactivities ofthose other
institutions, which would facilitate theexecution ofcommon programmes. TheCommittee needed
tomake surethatitsguidelines andmodalities werenottoodifferent fromtheirs, taking intoaccount,
ofcourse, eachorganization 'sspecificity. Hehadunderstood fromhisconversations withthem that
theywereaware ofthatpoint andthattheywould cooperate withtheWTO. Against thisbackground,
heproposed thattheCommittee invite them togivetheir views atitsnextmeeting, planned for
30January 1997. Hewould bepresiding overtheCommittee forthelasttime, taking justafewminutes
tohandtheroleofChairman overtohissuccessor. Atthatmeeting, withtheCommittee 'sapproval,
hecould invite theITC'sandUNCTAD 'sTechnical Cooperation Divisions togivetheCommittee
theirviews onhowtheythemselves conducted technical cooperation activities.WT/COMTD/M/13
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43. TheChairman concluded bysaying that,while many oftheLLDCs hadtheimpression that
theWTO waseither anaidagency oradevelopment agency, itwasneither. They seemed tocome
totheWTO forhelp. Because theyidentified theirproblems butdidnotidentify theinstitutions that
should dealwiththeirproblems, anintegrated approach wasnecessary when theycame toGeneva.
Availability ofrepresentatives ofthethree organizations tohelpthem andtheexistence ofcommon
programmes ofthethreeorganizations, would solve theproblem ofidentifying theinstitutions, which
would make adifference toLLDCs. Heclarified thathewasnotoftheview thattheWTO could
address issues thatwerenotwithin thepurview ofitscompetence. ThatwaswhytheCommittee had
attempted toinclude theconcept ofinternational cooperation initsguidelines, sothatitcould direct
thecountries thatneeded helpinsubjects outside WTO competence toother institutions inGeneva
which handled those issues. Finally, some work needed tobedoneregarding theorganization ofa
high-level meeting between thethreeinstitutions, asproposed intheCommittee 'sReport totheGeneral
Council. AsChairman oftheCommittee which made andaccepted theproposals, hehadtaken the
initiative ofmaking preliminary contact withtheheads oftheother twoinstitutions, toinform them
thatthemeeting wasscheduled totakeplace, andtoaskthem fortheir cooperation. Itwashis
understanding thatMr.Ricupero wasdirecting hisownSecretariat tostartthinking about thebest
contributions UNCTAD might make tothishigh-level meeting, andthatMr.Bélisle would bedoing
thesame. Hehadalsoconsulted withtheDirector General oftheWTO. Heinvited thedelegation
ofSwitzerland tocome forward withitscontribution onmodalities assoonaspossible. Thedelegation
ofMorocco would alsomake acontribution onthemodalities, probably before theendoftheyear.
Hethanked theSecretariat foritsefforts, which would constitute agood basis forfurther work.
44. TheChairman saidthathewished totaketheopportunity ofthefinalCTD meeting which
hewaschairing tothank theDevelopment Division forproviding himwithsupport andideas. He
alsothanked allthedelegations andsaidthattheyearhadbeenagood one. Hehadalways found
aspirit ofcooperation from them all.ItwasthewaytheCommittee should continue towork inthe
future.
45. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.