WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/135
12 March 2001
(01-1176)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  French
NEGOTIATING PROPOSALS BY THE DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
1. Market access
- Simplification and transparency of the tariff system;
- Substantial reduction of tariffs and tariff peaks by developed countries;
- Abolition of border protection measures to enable bound tariffs to fulfil their role;
- Removal of the possibility of using special safeguard measures on agricultural products from
developing countries;
- Technical and financial assistance for the standardization and packaging of products.
Special and differential treatment
- Consideration given not only to a country's level of economic development and geographical
situation but also to cases of force majeure  (war, natural disasters) for the implementation of
rules and commitments.
2. Domestic support
- Inclusion in the development box of all the financial undertakings and efforts of
least-developed countries;
- Improvement of the Green Box;
- Improvement of the Amber Box:  possibility for the least-developed countries to go beyond
their base level AMS.
Special and differential treatment
- Extension of the implementation period.
3. Export subsidies
- Elimination of all forms of export subsidy;
- Initial reduction by 60 per cent of the final Uruguay Round commitments;G/AG/NG/W/135
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- Accelerated process of reduction leading to zero of residual subsidies;
- Denunciation of the myth that export subsidies are a solution to problems of food security in
developing countries;
- Liberalization of agricultural trade and elimination of export subsidies are the genuine
solution to food security problems;
- Need for food aid to be granted to net importing developing countries without the attachment
of trade conditions and wholly in the form of grants;
- Abolition of export taxes.Special and differential treatment
- Extension of the implementation period.
Non-trade concerns
- Rights of countries to address non-trade concerns according to rules previously established by
all Members;
- Market forces alone are an insufficient basis on which to address non-trade concerns;
- Difference in non-trade concerns between developed and developing countries.  The main
non-trade concerns of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are as follows:
• Rural development (production, jobs, income).
• Poverty reduction.
• Food security.
• Environmental protection.
• Adoption of a sectoral development policy.
- Fisheries resources:  admission free from taxes and duties on fisheries
resources from the least-developed countries.
- Wood and non-wood forestry products:  admission free from taxes and duties
on endangered plant and animal species from the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
- Resources in which trade is governed by CITES.
• Farming diversity and flexibility in the formulation of national policies (landscape,
types of farming).G/AG/NG/W/135
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Special and differential treatment
- Inclusion of the above-mentioned products in the list of products covered in Annex 1 of the
Agreement on Agriculture;
- Tax- and duty-free admission of those products originating in least developed countries;
- Extension of the implementation period.
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