   
  
WT/GC/202/Rev.1  
 
14 October 2019  
(19-6635) Page: 1/2 
General Council  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT ON SPECIAL  AND DIFFERENTIAL TR EATMENT TO PROMOTE D EVELOPMENT  
CO-SPONSORED BY THE AFRICAN GROUP, THE PLURINATIONAL STATE OF BOLIVIA, CAMBODIA, 
CHINA, CUBA, INDIA,  LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRA TIC REPUBLIC, OMAN, PAKISTAN AND  
THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUEL A 
Revision* 
The following communication, dated 14 October 2019, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegations of Benin, on behalf of the African Group, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Cambodia, 
China, Cuba, India,  Lao People 's Democratic Republic, Oman,  Pakistan and the Bolivarian Republic 
of Venezuela . 
 
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1.1.  The WTO 's Marrakesh Agreement recogni zes that Members ' relations in the field of trade and 
economic endeavour 'should be conducted with a view to raising st andards of living, ensuring full 
employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income… '.  
1.2.  The GATT and WTO have recogni zed that developing countries need S&D to access and benefit 
from international markets as they face more serious challenges  compared to developed countries. 
As a result, S&D is an unconditional and treaty -embedded right that has been provided to all 
developing countries, including in Part IV of the GATT. The WTO allows developing countries to make 
their own assessment about th eir development status.  
1.3.  S&D has provided developing Members including LDCs the space to calibrate their trade 
integration and formulate their domestic trade policies in ways that help them reduce poverty, 
generate employment and integrate meaningfully int o the global trading system. Nevertheless, to 
date, the development challenges and divide persist and have in fact deepened in significant areas. 
Due to these continued challenges, Ministers at the Doha Ministerial agreed to strengthen and make 
the WTO 's S&D provisions 'more precise effective and operational '. Today, S&D remains extremely 
important for trade to be more inclusive and equitable, as well as for developing countries to meet 
their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  
1.4.  Any unilateral action depr iving developing Members including LDCs of treaty -embedded rights 
would be inconsistent with Members ' obligations, and would in fact erode the foundation of the 
multilateral trading system which functions on the basis of being 'rules-based '. This will caus e lasting 
and systemic damage to the trading system.  
1.5.  We reaffirm the following principles:  
• Developing countries ' unconditional rights to S&D in WTO rules and negotiations must 
continue ; 
• Developing countries must be allowed to make their own assessments regarding their own 
developing country status ; 
 
* This revision is to add Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Pakistan and the Bolivarian Republic 
of Venezuela  as co-sponsor s to this communication . WT/GC/202/Rev.1  
 
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  • Existing S&D provisions must be upheld ; 
• S&D must be provided in current and future negotiations.  
1.6.  Attempts to water down these principles would be a recipe for intractable deadlock at the WTO, 
including in the negotiations on fisheries subsidies. It is in the interest of the entire membership to 
avoid this situation.  
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