 
 RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/M/47 
14 January 2004 
 (04-0096) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Forty-seventh Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 27 AND 28 NOVEMBER 2003 
 
Chairperson:  H.E. Mr. Habib Mansour (Tunisia) 
 
 
Subjects discussed :   
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA ........................................................................................................1  
B. OBSERVERS ............................................................................................................................... ..2 
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers ...............................................................................2  
(ii) Further consideration of requests for observer status by the League of Arab States, 
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la 
Francophonie, and the Common Fund for Commodities ...........................................................2
 
C. NOTIFICATION UNDER THE ENABLING CLAUSE ..........................................................................2  
- Notification from Iceland (WT/COMTD/N/17)...........................................................................2  
D. DECLINING TERMS OF TRADE FOR PRIMARY COMMODITIES , AND ITS IMPLICATION TO 
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY COMMODITY EXPORTING COUNTRIES 
(WT/COMTD/W/113  AND WT/COMTD/W/121)......................................................................3  
E. PARAGRAPH 51 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING 
DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER TO HELP ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATELY REFLECTED ...............4  
- Presentation by the Trade in Services Di vision ..........................................................................4  
F. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ............................................................................................................9  
G. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING ..............................................................................10  
(i) Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2004  (WT/COMTD/W/119/Rev.1)...........................10  
(ii) Report on the Implementation of the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan  
(WT/COMTD/W/120)............................................................................................................... .26 
I OTHER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................26  
H. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (WT/COMTD/W/122/ REV.1) ........................................27  
 
 
 A. A
DOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Chairman  said that the draft Agenda for the meeting was contained in Airgram 
WTO/AIR/2209/Rev.1 of 24 November 2003. WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 2  
 
 2. The representative of the United States
 said that her delegation had an item to include under 
"Other Business". 
3. The agenda was adopted  as amended. 
 
B. OBSERVERS  
 
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers 
4. The Chairman  recalled that, at previous sessions of the CTD, Members had agreed to invite 
the following intergovernmental organizations on an  ad hoc, meeting-by-meeting basis:  the Arab 
Maghreb Union (AMU);  the Economic Community  of West African States (ECOWAS);  the 
Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO);  the Inte r-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation;  the 
Islamic Development Bank (IDB);  the African Un ion (AU);  the Organisation of the Islamic 
Conference (OIC);  the South Centre;  the South Pacific Forum;  the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP);  the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU);  and the World 
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).  He th erefore proposed that, in accordance with the 
Committee's procedures, those organisations be invited to the next formal meeting of the Committee 
on Trade and Development (CTD).   
5. It was so agreed
. 
(ii) Further consideration of requests for observer status by the League of Arab States, the 
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Interna tionale de la Francophonie, and the Common 
Fund for Commodities 
6. The Chairman
 said that, at previous meetings, the Committee had also had before it a number 
of outstanding requests for observer status.  Tho se came from the League of Arab States, OPEC, the 
Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Or ganisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and 
the Common Fund for Commodities.  As positions of  delegations were well known and on the record, 
he proposed that, unless there had been any r ecent change in Members' positions, the Committee 
would revert to those requests at its next formal meeting. 
7. It was so agreed . 
 
C. NOTIFICATION UNDER THE ENABLING CLAUSE  
- Notification from Iceland (WT/COMTD/N/17) 
8. The Chairman  said that the Committee, at its last meeting, had had before it a notification by 
the Government of Iceland contained in document WT /COMTD/N/17.  That notification related to an 
initiative taken by the Government of Iceland to improve market access conditions for exports from 
the least-developed countries (LDCs).  The delegatio n of Iceland had presented the notification at the 
last meeting of the Committee.  As the notifica tion related to improved market access for LDCs, the 
Committee had referred it to the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries for substantive 
consideration and reporting back, according to the reporting procedures established at the 32nd Session 
of the Committee.  The next meeting of the Sub- Committee would be held on 8 December 2003.  The 
CTD would thus only have the report on the Sub-Comm ittee's deliberation at its next meeting.  He 
reminded the Committee that some Members had posed certain questions at the last meeting and that  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 3 
 
 
 the Committee, therefore, had decided to keep the item on the Agenda for the delegation of Iceland to 
respond. 
9. The representative of Iceland  said that he believed that only one question remained to be 
answered.  That was the question posed by the re presentative of Switzerland on whether the Icelandic 
scheme made a distinction between the goods within the quota and those outside the quota in terms of 
the application of the zero tariff rate.  The answer  was that no distinction was made.  The quantity was 
not limited when the zero tariff was applied and the zero tariff was applied to all imports of that 
product.  He said that a question had also been put by  the representative of Sene gal at the last meeting 
to which his delegation had then replied.  He  also took note of the statement made by the 
representative of Paraguay at that meeting.  He said that he did not believe that there was a need to 
reply to that question. 
10. The representative of Paraguay  said that her delegation had put a question to the delegation of 
Iceland at the last meeting of the Committee.  He r delegation also had anot her question.  However, 
she was not certain that it was the right time to po se the new question, as no response had been given 
to the original one.  She said that her delegati on could not accept the notification proposed by the 
delegation of Iceland before responses ha d been given to the questions posed. 
11. The representative of Iceland  said that his delegation would appreciate it if the delegation of 
Paraguay could submit their questions in writing in  order for his delegation to reply to them. 
12. The Chairman  said that the delegation of Paraguay indicated that it agreed and would submit 
its questions in writing. 
13. The Committee took note  of the notification and the comments made . 
 
D. DECLINING TERMS OF TRADE FOR PRIMARY COMMODITIES , AND ITS IMPLICATION TO TRADE 
AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY COMMODITY EXPORTING COUNTRIES (WT/COMTD/W/113  
AND WT/COMTD/W/121) 
14. The Chairman  reminded Members that the item relating to "Declining terms of trade for 
primary commodities, and its implication to trad e and development of primary commodity exporting 
countries" had been treated during previous meetings  at the request of certain African countries and 
that the related document had been circulated as WT/COMTD/W/113.  At the last meeting, the 
Committee had agreed to ask the Secretariat to pr epare an inventory of documents and reports on 
primary products, including documents prepared  by other international intergovernmental 
organizations, universities, and other research instituti ons which could be useful for the discussions in 
the CTD.  In light of the interest Members had show n in the issue, he had indicated that he would hold 
informal consultations on the issue.  Those c onsultations had been held  on 18 November 2003 at 
which Members had indicated that they wished to st udy the bibliography elabor ated by the Secretariat 
before expressing views about how to deal with the i ssue in the CTD in the future.  The bibliography 
had been circulated as document WT/COMTD /W/121 of 20 November 2003.  He hoped that 
Members had had sufficient time to consider it.  He  asked for Members' views on the bibliography as 
well as on how the CTD should deal with the issue in the future. 
15. The representative of Kenya  said that the bibliography would provide a good basis for 
substantive discussions in the CTD of the issues rais ed in the paper by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda 
(WT/COMTD/W/113).  However, since Members had only recently received the bibliography, they needed time to consider the many documents lis ted in it and make appropriate comments.  He 
therefore requested that discussions on the item be  postponed to the next meeting of the Committee WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 4  
 
 and that discussions then be based on the documents listed in the bibliography and focus on the key 
issues mentioned in the paper by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. 
16. The representative of Canada
 said that her delegation suppor ted the proposal made by the 
representative of Kenya. 
17. The Committee agreed  to postpone discussions on the item until its next meeting. 
 
E. PARAGRAPH 51 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING 
DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER TO HELP ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATELY REFLECTED  
- Presentation by the Trade in Services Division 
18. The Chairman  said that Agenda Item E related to "Paragraph 51 of the Doha Declaration on 
identifying and debating developmen tal aspects of the negotiations, in order to help achieve the 
objective of having sustainable development appropriate ly reflected."  Following the Doha Ministerial 
Declaration, the item was a standing item on the Agenda of the Committee on Trade and Development.  From the 45
th Session, the Committee had successively invited the Agriculture and 
Commodities Division and the Market Access Division.  As agreed at the last meeting, it had been 
decided that the Trade in Services Division be i nvited to make a presentation of the developmental 
aspects of the services negotiations.  Members had, at the last meeting, expressed the desire that the discussions on the Agenda item con cern, in deeper detail, the link between the ongoing negotiations 
and sustainable development.  In order for Member s to prepare themselves and to facilitate such a 
discussion, and following Members' wish, a written not e relating to the oral presentation to be made 
had been faxed to Members the previous week. 
19. The Secretariat
 said that it would speak about the development dimension of the services 
negotiations as provided for in paragr aph 15 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  It would not repeat 
what was included in the written note already sent to  Members.  The Secretariat would rather make 
some thematic points regarding the services negotiati ons and how far the negotiations had come.  The 
services sector was a sector of paramount importance to the economy of developing countries.  
Services were important as they represented a large part of the GDP of any economy today.  Figures ranged from a little more than 40 per cent of GDP up  to 85 per cent of the GDP in some countries.  
The services share in GDP increa sed with the level of developm ent of the economy.  Developing 
countries had achieved higher growth rates in servic es than in any other sector of their economies.  
Apart from its sheer size, the services sector was strategically important as it was the biggest creator 
of employment opportunities, the largest generator of  foreign exchange and the fastest growing sector.  
More importantly, services also defined the quality of life in a society.  The services consumed related 
to how people lived their lives, whether it was tel ecommunications, health care, transportation, water 
or electricity supply.  There was an added strate gic dimension for developing countries as the services 
sector played and important role for the developmen t of other sectors of the economy.  It was almost 
impossible to have a competitive agriculture sect or without the backup of a competitive services 
sector.  The same was true for manufacturing or mi ning for example.  Because of the importance and 
complexity of the services sector, developing countri es faced particular challenges in their process of 
development.  The largest challenge recognized by  the GATS was that of regulation.  Developing 
countries needed to develop their regulatory structur es in a way that would help them achieve their 
development objectives.  The GATS recognised Members' right to regulate.  It also recognized that 
developing countries, when they liberalized services,  had to do so in a way which was commensurate 
with their development situation, and most importa ntly, commensurate with the level of development 
of their regulatory structures.  The GATS did not  contain the traditional concept of special and 
differential treatment (S&D) found in the GATT and in goods trade.  The GATS did not see  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 5 
 
 
 developing countries as a homogenous group.  It rather  referred to individual developing countries.  
That recognition of individuality in terms of develo pment concerns and priorities was reflected in the 
structure of the agreement itself, which admittedly, was quite complex and not very user friendly.  It was nevertheless designed that way in order to cater for the differences in each country in terms of its 
capacities, priorities and ability to develop.  Vari ous provisions of the GATS, particularly those 
related to the negotiations and the process of progres sive liberalization, reflected those development 
concerns.  Article IV related to "Increasing Participation of Developi ng Countries", Article XIX gave 
developing countries the flexibility to liberalise fe wer sectors and fewer types of transactions.  The 
GATS also contained the flexibility for developi ng countries to conclude  economic integration 
agreements and various safeguard mechanisms, su ch as the balance-of-payments safeguards.  The 
different parts of the GATS Agreement showed th at it was designed to cater for the development 
specificities of each country. 
20. The Secretariat went on to say that the challenge of regulation was not an easy one.  It was 
not a challenge that the WTO could assist with to any large extent.  The WTO could always advise 
developing countries about how to be  consistent with their obliga tions under the GATS.  However, 
the Secretariat was not equipped to competently advice them on how to introduce, for example, 
regulations for their financial services, safety regul ations for their transport sectors, or qualification 
requirements for lawyers and accountants.  The aim of  the negotiations to liberalize services was to 
liberalize in a way that did not hinder the ability of  developing countries to regulate a growing market 
and a dynamic trade environment.  The services ne gotiations had begun in January 2000.  What had 
been achieved so far reflected the same faithfuln ess to the development objectives as in the GATS.  
The adoption of the negotiating guidelines in March 2001 was an important step in that process.  The 
guidelines, contained in document S/L/93, emphasi zed the development concerns of developing 
countries and the flexibility that the GATS cont ained was reemphasized with respect to the 
negotiations:  the flexibility to liberalize less, th e right to choose the sectors in which commitments 
were to be undertaken, the particular attention that  the negotiations must give to sectors and modes of 
supply of export interest to developing countries,  the due attention to small economies and small 
service suppliers, the attention given to the pro cess of assessment of trade in services in terms of 
clarifying the role that liberalisation could play in the process of development, and to ensure that the 
negotiations take place in a way which do not disadvant age the interests of developing countries.  The 
guidelines also provided, in paragraph 15, that while assessing progress in the negotiations, Members 
had to consider ways and means of operationalising GATS Article IV  on "Increasing Participation of 
Developing Countries".  Prior to the conclusion of the negotiations, the guidelines called upon 
Members to assess the results of the negotiations in terms of the achievement of the objectives set in 
GATS Article IV.  After the guidelines had been adopted, two modalities had been adopted by the 
Council for Trade in Services:  one on the treatme nt of autonomous liberal ization and one, adopted 
just before the Cancún Ministerial Conference, on the modalities for the special treatment of the 
LDCs.  Taken together, the three completed the negotiating architecture within which the current 
round of negotiations was taking place.   
21. The Secretariat continued by saying that the process of requests and offers had started, as 
provided for in the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Members would recall that paragraph 15 of the 
Doha Ministerial Declaration called upon particip ants of the negotiations to submit their initial 
requests by 30 June 2002 and initial offers by 31 January 2003.  That process of submitting requests 
was purely bilateral in nature.  The Secretariat did therefore not have any formal means of detecting 
how many requests had been exchanged and to wh at extent they covered areas of interest to 
developing countries.  However, the process of subm itting offers was of a different nature.  Offers 
were submitted to the Secretariat and circulated to all Members.  Thirty-nine offers had been 
submitted.   He said that, attached to the writte n note that he had sent to Members prior to the 
meeting, there was a chart reflecting the number of offers.  That chart was slightly outdated as it 
reflected 35 offers while 39 offers had actually b een submitted.  The chart still provided Members 
with a rough view of the sectoral coverage of tho se offers.  That chart was rough and aggregated in WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 6  
 
 terms of assessing the offers submitted.  The role of  developing countries in pursuing their interests in 
the negotiations and provide focus on the areas of in terest to them was markedly advanced compared 
to previous negotiations.  If what happened dur ing the Uruguay Round, or even the extended 
negotiations, on financial services, te lecommunications, mode 4, or maritime transport was compared 
with the current services negotiations, it was clear that developing countries had moved several steps 
ahead in further understanding the role of services  in their economies and further defining their 
priorities and having a clear vision about where they wanted to go with the process of liberalising the 
services sector.  There was a large interest in the further liberali sation of mode 4, i.e. the supply of 
services through the presence of natural persons.  Deve loping countries had realised that they had a 
comparative advantage in achieving further liberaliz ation of mode 4 services transactions.  The way 
the subject was being treated was also remarkable, as  for the first time there was serious consideration 
of how the regulatory frameworks in areas such as  immigration and labour were interfacing with 
governments' trade policies.  That developing coun tries had done a lot of work in that area was 
displayed in the proposals submitted.  There wa s for the first time common interest between 
developed and developing  countries in that area, even though the ambition differed between the 
categories different groups of countries wished to liberalize.   
22. The Secretariat further said that there was a clear indication that developing countries had a 
keen interest in pursuing further liberalization of services.  That interest was not only shown in terms 
of securing export opportunities for exports from developing countries, but developing countries also showed growing interest in liberalizing their own ser vices sectors.  The Secretariat said that he did not 
believe that it had been common to negotiations in trade in goods that Members had been prepared to 
unilaterally bind tariff concessions.  That had repeat edly been the case in the services negotiations.  
Members had unilaterally bound market access and national treatment in important sectors such as financial services and basic telecommunications.  For example, Egypt had about a year earlier unilaterally bound the liberalization of basic te lecommunications.  One could wonder why Members 
choose to do so.  The answer was clear.  With in the domestic reform agenda, there was a more 
recognized role for liberalization of services, and impo rtant infrastructural services in particular.  That 
had led, not only to autonomous liberalization of tho se sectors, but also to binding that liberalization 
because of the role such guarantee played in attracting foreign investment and foreign technology.  
The Secretariat hoped that the more thematic view of what was happening in the negotiations that it 
had presented orally would complement the informati on in the written note to complete the picture of 
the developmental aspects of the services negotiations. 
23. The representative of Djibouti
 said that the Government of D jibouti, in collaboration with the 
WTO Secretariat, regularly organized regional semina rs in the area of services for French speaking 
countries, including Haiti.  His Government had re quested that a similar seminar be organized 
in 2004, and he hoped that that seminar would take  place.  He said that developing countries, and 
particularly African countries, found it difficult to undertake specific commitments as it was difficult 
for them to see what they would gain from doing so.  The Secretariat could assist Members in 
understanding what they would get in return if they  opened up their services sectors.  In addition, it 
was difficult for Members to understand how, and with  what future interest in mind, developing 
countries should choose to liberalize certain sector s and not others.  The Secretariat had also 
mentioned mode 4.  However, many Members were not even aware of what the final goal was with 
mode 4.  More seminars had to be organized, either  in Geneva or in the field, regarding the legal 
aspects of the services negotiations, which was a difficult area, particularly for African and LDC 
Members.  That would enhance those Members' understanding and assist them make use of the 
opportunities presented. 
24. The representative of Canada  said that her Government was involved in all aspects of the 
GATS negotiations, including those related to deve lopment.  Her Government believed that the 
market access negotiations for services were proc eeding well.  Given the wide variety of requests 
made by both developed and deve loping countries it was clear that all Members had market access  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 7 
 
 
 interests in the services negotiations.  Participati on was critical to help create a balanced overall 
package and to advance the interests of all Memb ers.  Her Government was committed to promoting 
and facilitating the participation of  developing and least-developed c ountries in those negotiations and 
recognized the special economic situation and capacity  difficulties faced by those members, especially 
in attempting to assess their own services economies in preparation for the bila teral negotiations.  In 
that regard, and as noted in the presentation, her G overnment had provided funding to the ITC to fund 
several phases of its assessment work in ten developing countries , including one LDC.  The ITC 
would work in those countries to identify services  capacity and demand, and to identify services 
industry associations and companies.  She said th at her delegation encouraged developing country 
Members, including LDCs, to contact the ITC and continued to encourage donor countries to consider 
funding similar projects in services.  Her delegation hoped that through that and similar exercises 
developing country Members, and LDCs  in particular, would be able to  more fully participate in the 
negotiations through the development of services requests and offers. 
25. The representative of India  said that many of the dimensions mentioned had to be viewed 
from the perspective of the overarching importan ce of GATS Article IV and the overriding objective 
of increasing participation of developing countries in world services trade.  One way to increase the 
participation of developing countries was through improved market-access commitments in areas of interest to them.  There were two aspects to that.  Th e first aspect was the articulation of that interest.  
As had been mentioned by the Secretariat, ther e was improved articulati on of developing country 
interests.  However, there were still a large num ber of Members, including LDCs, who had not been 
able to finalize their requests.  In spite of the im proved articulation of specific requests in sectors and 
modes of importance to developing countries, ther e was thus still a gap to be filled.  The second 
aspect was the responses to the requests that ha d been made by developing countries and the 
reflection in the various initial offers of the request s that had been made.  Particular reference had 
been made to mode 4 and it was well known that it was one of areas identified by developing countries as an area of comparative advantage which th ey wished to see reflected in the offers.  One 
way of considering the development dimension would be to view the offers in terms of the requests 
made by developing countries, not only in mode 4,  but also in other sectors and modes where specific 
interests had been articulated. 
26. The representative of Australia
 said that his delegation agreed that, since the Doha Ministerial 
Conference, Members had worked hard to put in pl ace the architecture for the services negotiations to 
proceed smoothly, including the development of the services negotiating guidelines and the 
agreements reached on modalities for autonomous li beralization and the modalities for the special 
treatment of developing countries.  He said that it was useful to recall that the architecture was in 
place for the services negotiations, and there was no need to develop new negotiating modalities or 
frameworks as called for in the other market acc ess negotiations.  The bilateral request/offer process 
was the starting point for the services negotiations .  His delegation had been encouraged by the 
number of services offers submitted to date, half of  which came from developing countries.  He said 
that it was fair to say that after the Cancún Ministerial Conference, Members had engaged intensively in efforts to build a package of specific commitments.  His delegati on also recognized the particular 
importance of mode 4 for developing countries, as expressed by others at the meeting, and as 
expressed during meetings of the Council for Trade in Services.  His Government took developing 
countries' concerns over mode 4 seriously.  Howeve r, he also underlined the wider importance of 
mode 4 commitments for all Members, including developed Members.  Mode 4 commitments had 
been one of the important elements of the market access and national treatment package his 
Government was seeking in the current round of ser vices negotiations.  Real progress in the services 
negotiations would depend on how well the participation of all Members was maximized, on how 
Members responded to deeply held  interests in market access and rule-making, and how Members 
sought to build commitments that reflected the central  role of services in all areas of their economies.  
That was true for both developed and developing c ountry Members.  In that regard, he said that his 
delegation remained somewhat disappointed that a number of developing countries, important in WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 8  
 
 terms of world trade, had not submitted their offers , and his delegation encouraged them to do so.  
However, his delegation also appreciated that a number of developing countries faced institutional 
constraints and acknowledged the amount of work requi red in producing an offer.  TA for developing 
countries was important.  His Government was th erefore considering how it might support further 
capacity building in the services sector. 
27. The representative of the European Communities
 said that her delegation wished to mark the 
fact that there had been growing participation of  developing countries in the services negotiations in 
terms of the kind of interest, input, and hard work that had been involved in preparing first the road-
map and then the negotiating guidelines, followed by  the guidelines for autonomous liberalization.  
That had helped all Members to better understand  both the importance of the service sectors for 
individual economies and the interests of individual partners.  Members had also seen a large number 
of negotiating proposals being put forward by develo ping countries, covering a vast range of subjects 
and showing that many had begun to  develop niche areas of expertise.  It was clear that the interests 
were as wide as there were developing countries.  She said that it was true that some developing 
countries still needed assistance to  identify their areas of interest and to develop the supporting 
structures which could help them continue to grow .  Her delegation was interested in contributing 
with TA in that regard.  There were a number of services sectors which in themselves could help an 
economy to grow.  Services were not only indivi dual products but were constitutive of a broader 
freedom to export other goods.  A large number of requests had been received from developing 
countries but she said that some of them had unfort unately arrived after her delegation had prepared 
its initial offer and had therefore not been taken into account at that stage.  However, that had been an 
initial offer and as the negotiations advanced there would be further time to discuss with partners 
about interests they had and interests that her dele gation had in the negotiations.  Her delegation also 
noted that it continued to receive requests from i ndividual developing countri es and encouraged those 
who had not yet put in requests to do so.  The soone r her delegation received such requests, the more 
they could be taken into account.  She said that her delegation also wished to highlight that while 
there was a large number of offers from developing countries, there were still a number which were 
outstanding, particularly from larger developing coun tries which would not be expected to have much 
difficulty in assessing their own interests in the ne gotiations.  Her delegation would continue to work 
with partners to ensure that gains for all parties could be achieved in the ne gotiations.  Her delegation 
looked forward to continue the negotiations.  Some technical work would be carried out the following 
week, and her delegation also looked forward to the contribution that that could make to the 
negotiations. 
28. The representative of Panama  said that a large part of Panama's GDP was generated by 
services.  Her delegation welcomed the gesture by th e Government of Canada to provide TA.  That 
TA was useful for her Government as it involved a study of the influence of the services sector in 
Panama.  That would help her Gove rnment design its development polic ies to better take advantage of 
the possibilities of the services sector.  Her delega tion therefore urged other Members to contribute 
more in terms of the offers they made.  That coul d assist developing countries to take better advantage 
of their services sectors as it had been shown that the services sector could make an important contribution to the development of developing countries. 
29. The representative of Colombia
 said that developing countries to a large extent had liberalized 
their services.  They had taken measures for autonom ous liberalisation in the framework of structural 
strategic programmes.  She highlighted the flexibilit y provided in paragraph 3 of Article XIX of the 
GATS and the need to seek appropriate mechanis ms to implement GATS Article IV.  Ways and 
means to improve implementation ha d to be sought, particularly to  facilitate the participation of 
developing countries through specific commitments ne gotiated in terms of sectors and modes of 
interest to developing countries' exports.  She sai d that it was fundamental to bear the concrete 
interests expressed in the negotiating process as well as in the requests in mind in the preparation of 
offers.  She also said that it was important to move discussions forward in the multilateral framework  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 9 
 
 
 on horizontal issues such as classification, nationa l regulations and disciplines, which apart from 
being fundamental, ensured the appropriate balance in the negotiations on services.   
30. The representative of Bangladesh  said that the Secretariat had stated that the negotiating 
architecture had been completed as guidelines and modalities had been agreed.  What Members had 
done was to set the broad parameters.  The results ultimately depended on bilate ral negotiations in the 
context of requests and offers.  Modalities had for example been agreed for special treatment of the 
LDCs in the services negotiations.  However, devel opmental goals would only be achieved by giving 
developing countries access in sectors and modes of suppl y of export interest to them.  The movement 
of natural persons under mode 4 had a large potentia l in that respect and his delegation hoped that 
there would be significant movement in that area in the days to come. 
31. The Chairman  asked Members on what subject they wished to hear a presentation at the 
following meeting. 
32. The representative of Mexico  suggested that, at its next meeting, the Committee consider the 
developmental aspects of the Dispute Settlement Ne gotiations which was an important part of the 
negotiations in the WTO.  He said that, although at  present the negotiations were not going far, there 
were salient elements involved in  the area of dispute settlement that were vital to developing 
countries.   
33. The Committee took note  of the presentation and the statements made and agreed  to invite a 
presentation on the developmental aspects of the disp ute settlement negotiations at its next meeting. 
 
F. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE  
34. The Chairman  recalled that, at the last meeting, he  had referred to the "Regional High-level 
Conference for Africa on Electronic Commerce Strategies for Development:  Promoting an International Dialogue" which had led to the ad option of the "Tunis Declaration on Electronic 
Commerce for Development".  That declaration was av ailable in the room in English and French.  He 
reminded Members that a preparatory process was ongoing for the World Summit on the Information 
Society which would be held in Geneva on 10- 12 December 2003, and the second phase which would 
be held in Tunis on 16-18 November 2005.  A draf t Declaration of Principles and a draft Plan of 
Action were being prepared for adopt ion in Geneva in December 2003.
1  Those documents related to 
a common vision of an information society based on the application of information and communication technologies for development.  He said that other conferences, similar to the regional African conference, but on a global level, might  take place in the future.  The Committee could 
examine the possibility of getting involved in those i ssues.  One of the theme- specific sessions to be 
held was on electronic commerce and trade.  Th e WTO and the CTD could play a role on that 
particular topic.  In Paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration Ministers had instructed the 
General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional a rrangements for handling the Work 
Programme, and to report on further progress to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference.  
From the report that the CTD had prepared in respon se to that request, and which had been circulated 
as WT/COMTD/47, it was clear that Members had not made any recent specific proposal for any 
further work on electronic commerce.  There had not  been any interventions on the item at the last 
                                                     
 
1 The Declaration of Principles (WSIS-03/GEN EVA/DOC/4-E) and the Plan of Action (WSIS-
03/GENEVA/DOC/5-E) can be found on-line at http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/md/03/wsis/doc/S03-WSIS-
DOC-0004!!PDF-E.pdf   and http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/md/ 03/wsis/doc/S03-WSIS-DOC-0005!!PDF-
E.pdf   respectively. 
 WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 10  
 
 meeting.  He therefore asked if Members had an y suggestions for how the Committee should continue 
its work on electronic commerce. 
35. There were no interventions on this item. 
 
G. T
ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING  
(i) Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2004  (WT/COMTD/W/119/Rev.1) 
36. The Chairman  said that, at the last meeting of the Committee, Members had requested the 
Secretariat to revise the draft Technical Assistance  and Training Plan for 2004 keeping in mind the 
comments made by Members, and in consultation w ith the Members.  The revised version had been 
circulated as document WT/COMTD/W/119/Rev.1 (the revised draft 2004 TA Plan).   
37. The Secretariat  said that it wished to briefly inform  Members of the work it had undertaken 
since the last meeting of the Committee.  Followi ng the discussions in th e Committee, a series of 
informal consultations had been conducted with be neficiaries and donors, some times jointly, as well 
as with regional groups, to discuss in detail the dr aft 2004 TA Plan and the possible amendments and 
additions to be made to it.  Based on the inputs ob tained, the draft 2004 TA Plan had been revised and 
circulated in document WT/COMTD/W/119/Rev.1,  dated 14 November 2003.  The Secretariat 
proceeded to summarize the main changes contai ned in the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  The 
introduction had been strengthened to  be more explicit on development issues and on the priority to 
be given to the LDCs.  That was also reflected in Chapter II, under the "Key Features of the Technical 
Assistance and Training Plan 2004", which contai ned a new (third) bullet on the development 
dimension.  The Secretariat had also added a serie s of regional seminars to  cover the development 
dimension in the Annex to the revised draft 2004 TA Pl an.  Every effort would be made to ensure that 
TA activities for the LDCs were appropriately integr ated with the Integrated Framework (IF) and with 
the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Progra mme for Selected Least-Developed and Other African 
Countries (JITAP), which provided the broader context of TA to LDCs.  On the issue of needs-assessment, the text had been made more explicit a nd included a proposal on how to carry the process 
forward.  It was first and foremost the responsib ility of developing countries to identify their needs 
and to formulate their requests for TA accordingly.  Beneficiaries could be assisted by the Secretariat 
and by outside experts.  Such needs-assessment wo uld relate both to the implementation of existing 
WTO agreements, as well as to the Doha Developmen t Agenda (DDA) negotiations.  The Secretariat 
could offer its support to deve loping countries that required assistance in conducting needs-
assessments with regard to WTO-related TA and training. 
38. Following suggestions by Members, the IF and JITAP had been moved from the heading 
"Products", to the part of the 2004 TA Plan deali ng with "Partnerships".  IF missions which were 
assimilated to national activities, would be funde d from the regular budget.  The Secretariat had 
strengthened the information on the selection process of candidates for training courses and the testing 
of their knowledge.  The revised draft 2004 TA Plan stated more clearly that  the treatment of the 
Singapore issues would depend on decisions to be take n by the Members, as well as on the relevant 
discussions in the groups covering those areas.  In  practice that meant that the Members and the 
Secretariat might have to review the 2004 TA Plan at a future occasion in light of the outcome of those meetings.  There was more detailed inform ation on choosing the venue  for regional seminars, 
which related to the question of geographical ba lance, as well as on the process of holding national 
seminars.  The Secretariat said that it was worth stre ssing, in relation to national activities, that what 
had changed was the time frame for requesting such  activities.  It was no longer a single moment, but 
it was possible for Members to requ est such activities over the full duration of the yearly programme.  
Requests made to the Secretariat for national activities w ould also be considered in  light of relevant IF 
and JITAP strategies and programmes, as well as in li ght of other information available on individual  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 11 
 
 
 country needs, including from Trade Policy Re views and through the work of regular WTO 
Committees.  Those sources would constitute a form of needs-assessment.  The relevant paragraphs 
on "Outsourcing" had been strengthe ned and so had the paragraphs on "Trade Policy Clinics".  The 
revised draft 2004 TA Plan was more explicit on the question of "Monitoring and Evaluation" and on how relevant information was channelled back into  the design of TA programmes.  In addition, 
Members had been provided with a new conferen ce room document (Job(03) /211) which contained 
the revised financial data and information concerni ng the total costing of the draft 2004 TA Plan.  The 
Secretariat repeated that the budget for the revised  draft 2004 TA Plan was not greater than the budget 
foreseen for the implementation of the 2003 TA Plan. 
39. The Secretariat went on to say that the discussi ons held with Members had been constructive 
and helpful in revising the draft 2004 TA Plan.  Those discussions had revealed, however, that a 
number of issues raised were more of a policy na ture.  They could not have been adequately 
addressed, still less resolved, in the five or six w eeks that the Secretariat had had since the last 
meeting.  That was also generally recognized.  At the same time, the Secret ariat was convinced that 
all Members agreed that it was in the best inte rest of the beneficiaries to proceed with the 
implementation of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan w ithout further delay, and ensure that it got under 
way from the very beginning of 2004.  Therefore,  in order to proceed with the preparation and 
implementation of the activities contained in the revised draft 2004 TA Plan, without, however, 
ignoring the suggestions made for consideration of  issues requiring more reflection, the Secretariat 
proposed to pursue a process of consultations with  beneficiaries and donors on those issues, a process 
which would be conducted i ndependently of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  In addition, a timetable 
could be set for addressing some of the issues, including the studies to be conducted etc.  However, 
the Secretariat suggested that such time frames had to  be agreed in the process of consultations with 
Members.  The issues to be addressed could include: 
• Consideration of a process for conducting country-by-country needs-assessments; 
• How the LDCs could be better and more fully associated with the TA activities; 
• Monitoring and evaluation, including consider ing the possibility of conducting an external 
evaluation and establishing the terms of reference for such a process; 
• As part of monitoring and evaluation of TA activities undertaken, a further review of how to 
undertake periodic assessments and how to re port to Members, including through the 
quarterly reports; 
• How best to exploit partnerships with othe r organizations, which could be addressed in 
relation to outsourcing; 
• The strategic dimension of academic partnerships and the potential for long term capacity 
building;  and 
• Issues relating to funding and access to the D oha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund 
(DDAGTF). 
 
40. That list captured the issues that Members had si gnalled as being of interest to them.  There 
would have to be agreement on priorities, i.e. in  what order to address them.  The Committee, in the 
course of next year, could revert to them, e.g. in  a mid-term review.  It might also be necessary to 
address some aspects of the 2004 TA Plan in light of  the outcome of the senior officials meeting, 
scheduled for Mid-December and more generally in  light of the ongoing work by Members in the 
context of the negotiations.  The value of regular in formal consultations with Members had been well 
demonstrated in the process of prep aring the revised draft 2004 TA Plan. 
41. The Chairman  said that Members should keep in mind that the Committee n eeded to agree to 
the implementation of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan in order to allow the Secretariat to begin to 
prepare its implementation so that activities could be delivered from the very beginning of 2004. WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 12  
 
 42. The representative of Mauritania
, speaking on behalf of the African Group, stressed the 
importance of TA for the African continent, and its benefits to development within the framework of 
the Doha Development Agenda.  More than ever, Africa was in need of such WTO programmes, and 
he said that he wished to take the opportunity to  express the appreciation of the African Group to the 
donors who, through their generous contributions, had supported TA activ ities in Africa.  It had to be 
recognized that the elaboration of a TA Plan of that scope, in the context of the dynamic process 
created by the multilateral trading system, represente d a major challenge.  Every analysis of that TA 
Plan had to be based on the decisions taken within the framework of the DDA.  In that vein, paragraph 
38 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration should be highlighted as it confirmed that TA and capacity-
building were the core elements of the developmen t dimension of the multilateral trading system.  At 
the previous meeting of the Committee, members of the African Group had expressed their views, 
concerns and priorities with respect to the draft 2004 TA Plan.  After its members carefully had studied the revised draft 2004 TA Plan the previous  day, the African Group had generally felt satisfied 
with the new components, particularly those relating to the consideration of the specific needs of the LDCs, as the majority of African countries were in the LDC category of countries.  The African 
Group had also welcomed the introduction of initiativ es such as the trade polic y clinics and distance 
learning, innovations which would give renewed impetus to TA and training.  The African Group also 
welcomed the clarifications and detailed informa tion provided on needs-assessment and selection of 
beneficiaries of the various activities, in par ticular, the Geneva-based and regional trade policy 
courses.  It was also pleased to note that the JITAP an d the IF had been incorporated in another part of 
the 2004 TA Plan since they represente d mechanisms rather than products. 
43. However, some concerns and reservations rema ined for the African Group with respect to 
certain sections of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan , as the latest version of the document did not 
provide clear answers to all the questions raised dur ing the last meeting of the Committee.  First, the 
revised draft 2004 TA Plan did not explain the ra tionale for the change in methodology by the 
Secretariat.  If there had been defects, it would be useful to bring them to light in order to learn from 
past experience.  Second, the new mechanism su ffered from a lack of transparency, while the 
Director-General's view of TA was precisely based on the concept of cooperation at all levels with 
beneficiary Members, and on transparency.  Third, with regard to national activities (paragraphs 38 to 
43), the African Group welcomed the fact that the new version gave a clearer idea of the number of 
activities (250) to be carried out in 2004 and of their geographical distribution.  The African Group did still not believe, however, that that new appr oach provided any guarantees on objectivity in the 
approval of activities, or on the principle of tran sparency.  The African Group was in favour of the 
principle of flexibility which allowed the approve d programme to be tailored to the needs of 
beneficiaries.  As a result, it allowed their needs to  evolve in such a way that they would not be bound 
by programmes which were no longer of interest to them.  Moreover, such flexibility would facilitate 
the review of topics according to their level of ur gency, and requests to be made by beneficiaries 
according to the manner in which negotiations devel oped.  Nevertheless, the new approach did not 
provide sufficient clarity over time, particularly  given the complementarity between national and 
regional activities.  Fourth, the African Group regr etted that the trade policy course for French-
speaking African countries, which had been planne d for 2003, had not taken place.  The African 
Group therefore urged the Secretariat to consult wi th the Permanent Mission of Morocco in order to 
ensure that all the conditions n ecessary for holding the 2004 course woul d be met.  Fifth, monitoring 
and evaluation of the various programmes and projects  were important TA elements.  For its part, the 
African Group believed that the revised draft 2004 TA Plan devoted a substantial amount of attention 
to that aspect.  However, monitoring and ev aluation should not impose additional burdens on 
beneficiary countries.  Sixth, on the subject of trade policy clinics (paragraph 44), the African Group appreciated the value of that innovation.  Neverthe less, the Group asked the Secretariat to include in 
that paragraph the necessity to also use African c onsultants.  That would help to build up technical 
capacity in African countries.  Furthermore, th e African Group believed that the funding for such 
activities should be found from other sources.  Seve nth, the trade policy course for senior government 
officials (paragraph 46) might be an unnecessary activ ity since in Africa those officials were often the  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 13 
 
 
 trade policy decision makers themselves and were already familiar with the focus and goals of the 
Doha Development Round.  Eight, as far as th e support programme for doctoral studies was 
concerned (paragraph 67(iii)), the African Group invite d the Secretariat to determine the criteria for 
the selection of candidates, and to give that subject broad publicity, stressing th e principle of equitable 
geographic rotation.  The African Group had noted th at the revised draft 2004 TA Plan intended to 
offer six scholarships, and asked on what basis th e scholarships had been or would be granted and 
from which Members the beneficiaries would come.  Ninth, regarding the participation of the 
Secretariat in international conferences, meeti ngs and workshops (paragraph 87), he said that the 
African Group did not believe that that activity should  be considered TA and that it did not fit in with 
paragraph 11 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.   Participation in conferences and other meetings 
were routine functions of the Secretariat and did not constitute TA.  The costs for such attendance 
should therefore not affect the TA budget.  The African Group requested the Secretariat to provide clarification on those observations and hoped that a ll the concerns expressed would be taken into 
account. 
44. The representative of the European Communities
 said that the process of consultations had 
proven to work well.  That was something his dele gation wished to see continued in the future.  He 
said that his delegation particularly welcomed wh at had been said regarding needs-assessments and 
the priorities of LDCs.  Regarding the needs-ass essments, his delegation not only appreciated the 
efforts the Secretariat might undertake but also the fact that the primary responsibility for needs-
assessments lay with the developing countries themselv es.  It was nevertheless good to know that the 
Secretariat would be ready to assist those Members that requested assistance.  There were also other 
donors and international institutions th at might be able to assist in that regard.  He said that his 
delegation appreciated having the new cost estimat es for the revised 2004 TA Plan.  However, he 
suggested that it might be useful, in the future, to  align the text of the TA Plan, the table and the 
presentation of the financial implications in a more detailed way and to provide Members with a cost estimate per product.  That was something that could be discussed in the informal consultations to be 
held over the coming year.  It was also important to raise the issue of prioritization of TA for non-
LDCs.  The offer of WTO TA was limited as was th e capacity of the Secretariat to deliver it, and 
there were different priorities and different prio rity needs among the non-LDC Members.  An issue 
that had not been mentioned was that of outreach act ivities.  He suggested that it be added to the list 
of policy issues mentioned by the Secretariat as  issues to be taken up during future informal 
consultations.  He said that his delegation particul arly welcomed the proposal that the implementation 
of the 2004 TA plan would be carried out with a parallel process of informal consultations.  In 
addition, his delegation appreciated the objective of setting a time-table at one of the first informal 
meetings at the beginning of 2004 to set the prio rities and to agree on the issues to be addressed 
during those informal consultations.  The idea of a mid-term review was a good initiative.  It was 
important not only to review the informal consultation process but also to review the implementation 
of the 2004 TA Plan, possible decisions that might be  taken in the negotiations and the implications 
for the implementation of the 2004 TA Plan later in 2004.  His delegation therefore suggested that the 
stocktaking/mid-term review be held not too late  in 2004, as it might then lose its usefulness as an 
instrument for the consideration of the 2005 TA Pl an.  He therefore suggest ed that the mid-term 
review might be held in May 2004. 
45. The representative of Morocco
 said that his delegation endorsed the statement made by the 
representative of Mauritania on behalf of the African  Group.  He would therefore not speak about the 
issues mentioned by him.  His delegation was pleased to have had a working session with the 
Secretariat at which the revised draft 2004 TA Pl an as well as the training courses had been discussed.  
His delegation had then intended to show flexibili ty.  However, certain last-minute events and 
adjustments had foiled that intention and constraine d his delegation to review its position as it was not 
possible to hold transparent discussions if people sa id one thing and did another.  That was why his 
delegation wished to make some remarks.  He said  that he would first remind the Committee of some 
facts and then make conclusions regarding the regi onal trade policy course which had been scheduled WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 14  
 
 to be held in Morocco.  There were four elements  to the reminder.  First, the regional trade policy 
course scheduled to be held in Morocco in 2003 ha d been deferred by the Secretariat by a unilateral 
decision and without consulting the Moroccan au thorities or the Moroccan mission in Geneva.  
Second, the reason for the postponement was not accepta ble to his Government.  It was not at all the 
fault of the Moroccan authorities.  The reason for the postponement was a disagreement between the 
Secretariat and the Moroccan academic partner.  Third, that academic partner in Morocco had not 
been chosen by the Government of  Morocco.  The academic partner that the Government of Morocco 
had proposed upon the request by the Secretariat had been rejected by the Secretariat.  It was 
following a Secretariat mission to Morocco that the S ecretariat itself had chosen its academic partner.  
There had unfortunately been some disagreemen ts between that academic institution and the 
Secretariat two months later and the Secretariat had then, in a discretionary manner, taken the decision 
to postpone the course.  Following that decision, his Government and his delegation had done all it 
could to encourage the Secretariat to review its d ecision by proposing to resolve the problem with the 
academic partner or to find a new academic partner.  The reply/response by the Secretariat had been a 
clear no, and the Secretariat had not used the go od offices offered by the Moroccan delegation.  The 
fourth element of the reminder was a letter to the Moroccan authorities in which the Secretariat stated 
that the regional trade policy course for Francophone African countries would be held in Morocco, but at a date which the Secretariat would communi cate to the Moroccan authorities at a later date. 
46. He said that he would continue to speak about the true facts.  The first fact was that the 
Government of Morocco had not, at any time, been informed about the decision not to hold the regional trade policy course in Morocco.  Since the letter it had received in April 2003 there had been 
a complete silence between the Secretariat and the Moroccan Mission for several months, as if the 
Mission of Morocco did not exist.  The Secretariat had in parallel engaged in a process of searching 
for other hosts to the regional trade policy cour se for Francophone African countries.  The second fact 
was that the Secretariat had taken the initiative to provoke candidates, apart from Morocco, to host the 
regional trade policy course for Francophone African countries, and without any official 
announcement.  The Secretariat could not, on its own,  decide that a regional trade policy course could 
not be held in Morocco.  Such a decision require d the Secretariat to inform all Members and to 
announce that it was searching for new hosts.  That  would give all Members the chance to propose 
themselves as possible hosts, but that procedure had unfortunately not been followed.  The Secretariat 
had instead secretly contacted some Members by lett ers, telephone and in other ways provoked other 
Members to present their candidature against that  of Morocco, while the Moroccan Government was 
awaiting the announcement of a new date from the Secretariat.   
47. The third fact was that the Secretariat had a nnounced that it had three candidates to host the 
regional trade policy course for Francophone Afri can countries:  Mauritius, Senegal and Burkina 
Faso.  The Government of Morocco had never offici ally been informed about that at any stage.  
However, it had heard from others that the Secretaria t claimed to have three candidates.  A meeting of 
the African Group had fortunately been held the pr evious day at which the Secretariat had been 
present.  The Secretariat had then confirmed that it had three candidates to host the regional trade policy course for Francophone African countries.  However, when the African Group had met alone, 
without the presence of the Secretariat, there ha d been some surprises.  The representative of 
Mauritius had denied having presented any candidature.  The reasons were first that the Government 
of Mauritius had not, at any time, been approached by  the Secretariat or had officially announced its 
candidature.  The second reason was that the Gove rnment of Mauritius actually benefited from the 
regional trade policy course for English-speaking count ries held in Kenya.  The third reason was that 
the educational university system in Mauritius was in English.  He said that he was surprised by the 
Secretariat's lack of knowledge of the educational systems in the Member countries which had led it 
to present fantasy candidates.  With respect to the candidature of Senegal he said that the Government 
of Senegal had told the Government of Morocco that it never had proposed itself as a candidate.  
What had happened was that the Government of Se negal had been officially approached by the 
Secretariat to present its candidature which the Government of Senegal had declined.  It was  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 15 
 
 
 unfortunate that the Secretariat approached some  members secretly to ask them to stand up as 
candidates against other members.  He said that he  had no information with respect to the candidature 
of the Government of Burkina Faso.  However, he  left it to the Members and the Secretariat to 
compare the infrastructures of Morocco and Burkina Faso.  The last element was the candidature of 
Morocco.  He said that his Minister had sent a lette r to the Director-General on 24 November 2003 in 
which he had reminded the Secretariat of its promis e to inform the Government of Morocco of the 
new dates it had chosen for the regional trade po licy course for Francophone African countries to be 
held in Morocco, and in which he expressed his willingn ess to ensure that that course could be held in 
Morocco as envisaged, with the nece ssary guarantees.  In order to avoid the errors committed and in 
order not to deprive the Francophone African countri es of a regional trade policy course, the Minister 
had proposed to personally head an inter-minist erial commission.  That Commission would resolve 
any problems related to the regional trade policy cour se and would ensure that the Secretariat was not 
left alone with an academic partner institution with which it might be difficult to resolve problems in 
light of antagonisms or incomprehension. 
48. He went on to speak about the conclusions wh ich he said were sad.  The Government of 
Morocco had noted with bitterness th at it had been the victim of a systematic denigration campaign 
orchestrated by the Secretariat regarding its capacity to organize a training course.  He asked all Members if the country that had organized the Marrak ech Ministerial Conference would not be able to 
organize a training course, and he said that he left it to each Member to respond for themselves.  The 
Secretariat had to date not explained why it wished  to change the venue for the regional trade policy 
course for Francophone African countries.  The Secr etariat had never explained what it had against 
Morocco, neither had it stated any failure by th e Government of Morocco to live up to its 
engagements for the successful holding of the course.  He challenged the Secretariat to state at least one mistake by the Moroccan authorities which had prompted it to choose another venue.  He said 
that he assured Members that his Government woul d then assume the responsibility for any mistake, 
if it existed.  The Secretariat had presented its call fo r other candidates as if it was an absolute right of 
the Secretariat and something normal.  If the cour ses were to change the venue annually, it should be 
the same for all courses.  He therefore asked if  the Secretariat had initiated contacts with other 
partners to host the regional trade policy course fo r Anglophone African countries.  The course held in 
Kenya had been a success, but the Secretariat could of course decide to change its venue. 
49. He further said that the second conclusion was that the Secretariat had acted in a way which 
interfered with national matters.  Instead of be ing the federator of a theme in which African 
Governments were interested, the Secretariat had set one Government off against another and had 
created friction.  The Secretariat had thereby politici zed a question which originally was of a technical 
nature, on which ministers had decided, and wh ich rather should help Members unite.  TA was 
somewhat of a bridge between the donor countries a nd the beneficiary countries.  The Secretariat 
should be the conductor of the most beautiful sym phonies of TA and enhanced capacity.  Rather, the 
Secretariat had managed to provoke antagonism amo ng Members and distracted their attention.  He 
said that he would have preferred not to have to ma ke this intervention.  He would have preferred to 
make a couple of observations and then state that his delegation was satisfied.  However, the way in 
which the Secretariat had attacked his Government had obliged him, upon the instruction of his Government, to reveal the truth in order for th e Committee to be informed about what really 
happened.  The information the Secretariat was ci rculating was apparently not correct, as had been 
shown by the claimed candidature of the Gove rnments of Mauritius and Senegal for example. 
50. He said that his third conclusion was that the Government of Morocco did not have anything 
against any other candidate.  It would be happy to enter into competition with any other African 
Francophone country as long as the candidates had proposed themselves spontaneously, would be 
examined in a transparent manner, and provided th at the choice was based on the infrastructure and 
academic capacities of each candidate and not on  the discretionary choice of one person or the WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 16  
 
 Secretariat.  His Government claimed the right to be  part of any transparent competition, not decisions 
behind the scenes in the Secretariat. 
51. His last observation was addressed to the donor countries.  He said that they had a 
responsibility as the management of the regional trade policy courses was not the property of the 
Secretariat.  It was something that had to be co -managed by the Secretariat and the donors.  The 
donors should not have to pay when the Secretaria t committed mistakes.  If a Member committed a 
mistake it had to answer for it.  The Secretariat also had to be responsible for its actions.  In order to 
avoid that similar mistakes were reproduced in the future, donors had to be more closely involved in 
order to ensure that there was tr ansparency and equity in the implementation of TA activities and that 
the Secretariat respected the rules.   The Secretariat would otherwise risk taking the Members in an 
unwanted direction, such as the present situation.  What had happened was an example of the opaque 
system, completely lacking transparency, which unfo rtunately existed within the Secretariat.  His 
delegation hoped that the Secretariat would be brave enough and would have the intellectual honesty 
to learn from what had happened in order to avoid th at it reproduced itself in the future.  He said that 
his last wish was that the me ssage from the African Group as well as the concerns expressed by his 
delegation would be faithfully a nd factually transmitted to the Director-General.  His delegation 
suspected the Secretariat of not informing the Director-General of the seriousness of certain 
situations.  His delegation also suspected the Secretar iat of not being honest in the way it reported on 
the debates in the Committee and of transmitting disinformation to the Director-General.  His delegation therefore appealed to donors to engage.  He said that his Government was ready to accept 
the verdict.  His delegation demanded the involvement  of the Director-General in order to stop the 
catastrophe.  Finally, he said that his delegation w as not in a position to adopt the revised draft 2004 
TA Plan. 
52. The representative of Japan
 said that his delegation could go along with the revised 2004 TA 
Plan.  Nevertheless, his delegation had one comme nt regarding future pl anning which related to 
evaluation and monitoring.  As mentioned befo re, his Government considered monitoring and 
evaluation as important in terms of implementing e ffective TA.  His delegation therefore appreciated 
the more detailed description of that part in the re vised 2004 TA Plan.  His delegation also welcomed 
the suggestion by the Secretariat that the effec tiveness of monitoring and evaluation systems should 
be discussed at future follow-up meetings.  His dele gation was interested in studying the possibility of 
having external evaluations.  As his delegation w as fully aware of the budgetary limitations of the 
WTO TA programme, it requested the Secretariat to study how to introduce an external evaluation 
and estimate the costs of its introduction.  Based  on that assessment, Memb ers had to discuss how 
much money they should spend on monitoring and ev aluation in order to keep the whole programme 
effective and efficient, and consequently, how ma ny programmes Members would have to deduct in 
order to introduce external evaluation.  He said that his delegation looked forward to discussing that issue with all other delegations at a future follow-up meeting. 
53. The representative of Rwanda
 said that his delegation had read the revised 2004 TA Plan with 
satisfaction and was in favour of its adoption.  His delegation endorsed the statement made by the 
representative of  Mauritania on behalf of the A frican Group.  He commended the changes made to 
the revised draft 2004 TA Plan which, as far as possible, took into account the recommendations made by Members at the previous session of the CTD.  His delegation welcomed the fact that development issues and criteria for evaluation acco rding to predetermined indicators had been 
included among the priorities of the revised draft 2 004 TA Plan.  Priority was given to LDCs, in 
particular by helping them, via the IF, to mainst ream trade more effectively into their national 
development and poverty reduction plans by boosting trade and growth.  It was urgent to extend the 
IF programme to applicant LDCs which met all the se lection criteria.  The revised draft 2004 TA Plan 
featured specific characteristics relating inter alia  to quality, development and regional balance, and 
above all flexibility that enabled Members to apply for TA at any moment in time.  That new 
approach was both innovative and useful, the mo re so since TA needs might rank differently  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 17 
 
 
 depending on progress in the negotiations or on when a need was actually identified.  The products 
proposed were designed to suitably enhance ins titutional and human capacity in the beneficiary 
countries.  His delegation noted, moreover, that the Secretariat had given due prominence to the strengthening of strategic part nerships with the beneficiaries, on the one hand, and the donor 
community and the other regional and international training institutions, on the other, in order to 
optimize expertise.  As concerned the issue of pa rtnership with the academic community for regional 
courses, his delegation deplored the fact that the course for French-speaking African countries had not 
yet taken place.  He urged the Secretariat to make  swift contacts in order to resolve that matter 
without delay.  The selection of the venue for such courses should be based on objective criteria 
aimed at maximizing the interests of the beneficiaries.  In conclusion, he said that his delegation 
recommended that the CTD adopted the revised draf t 2004 TA Plan.  It was essential that assistance 
be available as of early 2004.  Any delay would obviously hamper the Plan's speedy implementation. 
54. The representative of India
 said that he acknowledged the d iligent process of consultations 
undertaken by the Secretariat in the past weeks after the first round of discussions in October 2003.  
However, his delegation had unfortuna tely been unable to attend some of those sessions.  He said that 
there were some issues in the revi sed draft 2004 TA Plan that had to be  reconsidered.  That most of all 
concerned the section on "Outreach Programme for Parliaments and Civil Society" contained in 
paragraphs 83-86.  His delegation was not convinced  that outreach activities belonged to a TA Plan.  
If such activities should be undertaken at all under the TA Plan, they might be considered under the national activities, if Members made specific requ ests for such activities.  However, there was 
otherwise no justification for a component of outre ach activities in the TA Plan.  In terms of the 
mechanics of the outreach activities, there was a need for close involvement of the Member 
Governments and the Geneva-based missions in the pr actical conduct of such activities in order to 
organise the logistics better and avoid any misunders tandings.  Paragraph 80 rela ted to TA within the 
Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).  The langua ge used in that paragraph needed to be 
tightened to conform with the agreed language of the purpose of the TPRM.  There should be no 
departure from that language.  His delegation noted  the statement made by the representative of 
Morocco.  The issue of transparency  was an important one and a key prerequisite for the delivery of 
the TA Plan.  The CTD should therefore consider how transparency with respect to the WTO TA 
Plans could be further strengthened. 
55. The representative of Senegal
 said that his delegation associated itself with the statement 
made by the representative of Mauritania on behalf of the African Group.  The draft 2004 TA Plan 
would enable African countries to attain substantiv e training objectives.  With respect to the regional 
trade policy courses he said that he wished to make an official clarification on behalf of his Government.  His Government had never taken any initiative to ask to host the regional trade policy 
course for French-speaking African countries.  His G overnment had not made any official request to 
that effect.  His Government was interested in seei ng that the course was held as soon as possible as it 
realized how important those courses were in enab ling African trade official s to acquire the necessary 
expertise in order to effectively defend African interest s in general, and the interests of their particular 
Governments within the framework of the multilate ral trade negotiations.  In keeping with its 
tradition, his Government wished to see a solution for the holding of the regional trade policy course 
for African Francophone countries which would preser ve the unity and solidarity of the African 
Group. 
56. The representative of Switzerland
 said that the revised draft 2004 TA Plan was an 
improvement over the first draft and that several issues had been clarified.  His delegation had 
commented on the first draft of the 2004 TA Plan at the October 2003 meeting of the CTD and at an informal meeting held in mid-November 2003.  He  hoped that his delegation's earlier comments had 
been duly noted.  He would therefore not repeat all of them.  However, he would raise two closely 
interlinked points.  First, he emphasised that needs-assessments was an essential element of WTO TA.  
Paragraph 9 stated that "The Secretariat has, how ever, never been requested to undertake country by WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 18  
 
 country needs-assessment."  That was true, as was the fact that such an undertaking would be resource 
intensive, but there was internal WTO know-how wh ich came from the Trade Policy Reviews etc.  He 
said that his delegation therefore wished to invite the Secretariat to put further thinking into that 
matter and to work out how needs better could analysed  and be taken into consideration in the future.  
Second, his delegation welcomed the flexibility that had been introduced into  the national activities by 
allowing for requests at any time.  Nevertheless, ther e was also a risk that ad hoc activities would be 
requested without real justifications.  Paragraph 40 of the revised 2004 TA Plan stated that "It is the 
responsibility of the beneficiary country making a request  to ensure that this request reflects a national 
priority."  However, the Secretariat had to be able to evaluate the justification for such requests.  His 
delegation was prepared to go along with the pr oposal by the Secretariat to proceed with the 
implementation at the 2004 TA Plan as presented in the revised document and to continue discussions 
and reflection separately. 
57. The representative of Thailand
 said that her delegation welcomed the revised draft 2004 TA 
Plan and the flexibility introduced for national activities.  However, it was not clear how the 
Secretariat could ensure transparency with resp ect to both national and re gional activities and she 
asked the Secretariat to shed more light on that.  Her delegation had on previous occasions stated that 
it was interested in the issue of partnerships.  Sh e therefore requested information on the criteria and 
procedures for the selection of partners.  Like the de legation of India, she said that her delegation also 
noted the statement made by the re presentative of Morocco, in particular  with respect to transparency.  
Her delegation also supported what had been said by the representative of India on the "Outreach 
Programme for Parliaments and Civil Society".  That  should not automatically be part of the 2004 TA 
Plan, but should only be included upon specific requests made by Members for such activities. 
58. The representative of Canada  requested that the introductory comments made by the 
Secretariat be circulated to Members in writing.  She said that her delegation fully supported the 
suggestion for a parallel process of consultations  which would cover many of the areas which 
delegations had raised during the informal consultations already held.  That parallel process should 
commence quickly.  She suggested that in that pro cess it might be possible to tackle the questions of 
transparency, selection criteria for institutions a nd other points mentioned by the representative of 
Mauritania on behalf of the Afri can Group and by the representative of Morocco, supported by the 
representative of India and others.  She said that  her delegation supporte d the inclusion of the 
"Outreach Programme for Parliaments and Civil Society" in the 2004 TA Plan.  While other delegations  might  not consider them as capacity building activities, her delegation believed that they 
constituted and important element of capacity buildi ng.  Her delegation would nevertheless defer to 
the developing countries in that regard since it was more of their concern than that of her 
Government.  Given that funds were required, it w as important for the Director-General to provide 
donors with a letter in which he identified the a dditional funding required, highlighting updates of 
what was currently available and what was needed.  Such information would be useful for Members 
in order for them to provide funding. 
59. The representative of Australia
 said that her delegation had heard a number of recurring 
themes during the discussions, not only in relation to the revised draft 2004 TA Plan, but also in relation to previous TA plans.  The Secretaria t had outlined those themes and the representative of 
Canada had summarized some other themes that might be included in future consultations.  There was 
a genuine need to keep all of those issues under c onsideration.  Further informal discussions should be 
held on them as Members moved forward with the im plementation of the 2004 TA Plan.  Some of the 
specific requests made by her delegation at the last m eeting, in particular the inclusion of programmes 
targeting the Pacific region, had been included in the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  There were also 
some interesting inclusions in the section on "Monitoring and Evaluation".  It was important to state who would be setting out the objectives and how they would be set out in order to set the foundation 
for proper follow-up and evaluation.  Her delegation,  like others, was interested in keeping the idea of 
an external evaluation under serious consideration.  The idea of a mid-term review was also a timely  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 19 
 
 
 one.  Her delegation noted that the paragraph on outsourcing had been strengthened, but it was an 
issue her delegation wished to keep under future consideration. 
60. The representative of the United States  said that her delegation accepted the revised draft 
2004 TA Plan.  It was a marked improvement over th e first draft.  Her delegation also welcomed the 
Secretariat's willingness to have a parallel process of consultations and she supported the suggestion 
that that process should begin soon.  While the revi sed draft 2004 TA Plan was good, there were some 
longstanding policy issues which remained unresolved  which had been on her delegation's mind as 
Members had gone through the process of coming up w ith a TA Plan for 2003.  Her delegation would 
welcome an opportunity to work with others, bot h donors and recipients, to address some of those 
issues.  First, her delegation wished to have more discussion on and greater clarity with respect to how 
the evaluation process would work, as well as on th e question of whether a needs-assessment had 
been carried out before a training programme was designed, or how the success of a programme was 
monitored.  Her delegation welcomed the references  in the revised draft 2004 TA Plan to examining 
existing resources to facilitate needs-assessments, including by WTO Committees.  That would fill an 
intelligence gap, particularly the work done by the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade which 
had focussed on TA in the review of the Agreem ent on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).  In 
addition, her delegation welcomed  the additional paragraphs on m onitoring and evaluation in the 
revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  That showed that asse ssment was a major focus of the Secretariat, and 
that was appropriate.  However, he r delegation sought further details regarding the strategies that the 
Secretariat would employ in practice.  That invol ved more detail on how the Secretariat might attempt 
to leverage tools already in place, such as the WT O's Technical Assistance Evaluation Briefing Kit, or 
adopt methods for evaluation established in the deve lopment field, including the use of performance 
indicators, objective testing, interviews, and focu s groups.  Her delegation would also appreciate more 
details, in the course of the consultations, on how the outsourcing process would work as her 
delegation was concerned, that procurement rules restricted some Member Governments from giving 
any contractor the approval or imprimatur without a competitive process, simply because there was no 
way of guarding against nepotism and mischief.  Ther efore, it would be hard for Members to pick the 
best "TA providers" without a major competition process.  In addition, the recruitment letter distributed to Members by the Secretariat for selecti on needed more clarity.  The particular concern of 
her delegation related to the SPS and TBT fields wher e there was a distinct difference between the use 
of the term "standards" and the regulation and the regulatory processes which were governed by those 
Agreements. 
61. She went on to say that her delegation had c ontinued to raise questions about how the Trade 
Clinics would operate, and had understood that it was an evolving process.  However, the description 
that the Secretariat had used over the course of 2003 had varied in terms of where the priority would be given.  Members had on the one hand heard that it would be on countries emerging from a 
catastrophic situation, and on the other hand on help ing Members with their services offers.  Those 
were two different kinds of assistance.  Her dele gation would therefore welcome a dialogue on that 
issue.  She said that her delegation welcomed the Secretariat's attempt to be more flexible in the 
provision of national TA and training activities as we ll as the Secretariat's plan for national activities 
to be channelled through official representatives in  Geneva.  That would help to ensure accountability 
in the myriad of requests coming from a variety of actors.  Her delegation therefore hoped that the Secretariat was mindful that conducting that TA, and ma intaining a database to keep track of requests, 
would take effort, resources and much planning.  It had to be ensured that the dialogue that would be 
undertaken would also take place with other multila teral institutions in or der to ensure that the 
envisioned system would work and the Secretariat s hould explore with others how they could fill in 
the gaps in training.  She said that her delegation welcomed the points raised by the representative of 
the European Communities on ongoing deliberations th at the Secretariat was willing to pursue, and 
said that her delegation remained committed to that process.  Nevertheless, government officials had a 
responsibility for due diligence to ensure that the money they were granting through the WTO for TA 
purposes were well spent and was kept under active review. WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 20  
 
 62. The representative of Cuba
 said that her delegation unders tood that the 2004 TA Plan, under 
the new approach, would be open to improvement a nd adjustment, taking into account the evaluation, 
in particular by beneficiary Members, of the effi ciency of the innovative products on offer.  Her 
delegation wished for the issues and modalities of pr iority interest to African and least-developed 
countries to be taken into consideration in the adjust ment process.  Her delegation had, at the previous 
meeting of the CTD, expressed its desire to see  the new development-related issues, such as 
technology transfer and the relationship between tr ade, debt and finance, included in the 2004 TA 
Plan.  Furthermore, her delegation wished to en sure that the modalities for offering TA would be 
adjusted according to their contribution to Members ca pacity.  A more in-depth review of the revised 
draft 2004 TA Plan had drawn her delegation's at tention to some activitie s which broadened the 
spectrum of beneficiaries of TA.  In that respect, she shared the concern expr essed by the delegations 
of India and Singapore with regard to the outreach  activities and considered that, given that the 
WTO's resources were limited in relation to the de mand for TA, assistance should be geared towards 
institutions which were directly involved in trade negotiations and the process of legislative 
transformation, as well as in the trade decision-making process.  Her delegation also believed that the 
2004 TA Plan should be reconsidered during periodic evaluations in 2004. 
63. The representative of Venezuela  said that her delegation endorsed the revised draft 2004 TA 
Plan and the suggestion to proceed with its impl ementation as soon as possible.  Her delegation was 
also in favour of a parallel process of consultations  on what the Secretariat had referred to as "policy 
issues".  Her delegation was particularly interested  in the process of evaluating TA activities, country 
by country, and in long-term capacity-building, su bjects which were covered by the above-mentioned 
policy issues, and her delegation would be grateful if the Secretariat would invite it to join the 
consultations.  She reiterated the relevance of the comments made dur ing the previous meeting of the 
CTD as her delegation attached importance to the evaluation of TA and training.  However, her 
delegation was concerned by the fact that some Memb ers regarded the process of  internal and external 
evaluation as a means of reducing TA activities.  With regard to paragraph 68 on distance learning 
and information technology, her delegation believed that it was im portant to include a module on 
special and differential treatment and on what, in  WTO terms, was known as development issues.  
Finally, her delegation attached special importance to outreach activities organized for parliamentarians and civil society representatives.  However, it was necessary for the Missions in 
Geneva to be informed of the dates, objectives and pa rticipants of such events  in order to guarantee 
their monitoring, evaluation and that they had a positive impact.  She therefore requested more 
detailed information, in writing, on that subject. 
64. The representative of Kenya
 said that his delegation welcomed the changes that had been 
made in the revised draft 2004 TA Plan based on Members' comments during the consultation process 
over the previous few weeks.  He said that he  wished to express his delegation's support for the 
adoption of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan as he  believed that any outstanding issues could be 
resolved in the course of its implementation. 
65. The representative of Colombia  highlighted the efforts involved in designing activities that 
involved national associations which was a positive st ep towards achieving the transfer of knowledge 
on WTO issues.  Better high-quality regional TA activities were interesting, however national 
activities were necessary as they made it possible to  focus on the specific need s of each Member.  She 
asked the Secretariat what criteri a it used when distributing the venues of regional activities and 
whether an effort was made to balance venues th roughout regions.  She said that she had been 
prompted to ask that question as the Latin Americ an region had been left out from a number of 
themes.  Non-agricultural market access was such a theme and customs valuation another.  However, 
those were issues of interest to  her Government.  She said th at her delegation supported the 
delegations of Thailand, Morocco and others on the need to improve transparency.  It was important 
to establish criteria and procedures for the presentati on of requests and for the allocation of specific 
activities at the regional level.  The revised draft 2004 TA  Plan still lacked clarity in that respect.  It  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 21 
 
 
 was not clear which Members would host the various activities.  That information would be useful for 
Members before adopting the revised draft 2004 TA Pl an.  She said that her delegation was interested 
in participating in any future info rmal consultations on the issue. 
66. The representative of Djibouti  said that, as previous speakers had pointed out, TA was 
important for African Member countries, particul arly the LDCs.  He said that his delegation 
welcomed the sections of the revised draft 2004 TA Pl an relating to evaluation and follow-up.  As had 
been stated by the representative of Mauritania,  his delegation would prefer that the Committee 
adopted the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  A solution had to be found between the Secretariat and the 
Government of Morocco.  However, other Members'  requests for TA were also important and there 
were other issues related to TA that needed to be  discussed and there were a number of organisational 
issues that had to be addressed rather than to only focus on a three month regional trade policy course.  
Members would soon attempt to restart the negot iations and being prepared for them was too 
important for Members to get caught up in a logistical  issue.  He therefore hoped that a solution to the 
problem would be quickly found.   
67. The representative of Bangladesh  said that as a group the LDCs had not had the opportunity 
to discuss the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  However it was an improvement from the initial draft and 
his delegation was pleased with the special attenti on that had been accorded in it to the LDCs.  He 
said that the revised draft 2004 TA Plan was a broad framework of TA with the details still to be 
worked out and that the process of continuing cons ultations was important for the implementation of 
the Plan.  The Plan possessed many positive elemen ts such as the component on institution building 
which was key to developing indigenous capacity.  However, there were a number of concerns which 
he believed were not insurmountable  and which could be addressed with transparency and trust.  He 
said that the representative of Morocco had rais ed certain concerns, which he was certain the 
Secretariat would be able to address.  TA was a recurrent theme in the Doha Declaration and in view of the ongoing workload and the ambitious DDA it was becoming increasingly vital for developing countries.  The revised draft 2004 TA Plan had atte mpted to incorporate views of all Members and the 
sooner the Secretariat began with implementing it th e better it would be for all beneficiary Member 
countries.  
68. The Secretariat
 assured Members that the Director-General would receive a full report on 
Members' discussions on the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  He said that he was pleased with the 
support shown for its implementation.  All the staff involved, whether in the Institute for Technical 
Cooperation and Training or in the operational divi sions, would be encouraged by knowing that the 
efforts that they deployed in delivering quality TA  to beneficiary countries were appreciated.  The 
Secretariat would deal with Members' comments by issue and without attribution.  As requested, the 
Secretariat's speaking notes had been circulated and along with the comments that he was about to make, would form an integral part of the minutes  of the meeting.  Members recognised that the 
revised draft 2004 TA Plan was innovative and that many of the changes were welcome 
improvements.  The changes which had been introdu ced were designed to improve the effectiveness, 
efficiency, relevance and sustainability of the TA  programme.  If something was not broken, it had 
not been fixed.  The Secretariat said that Members who had read the 2001 and 2002 Audit Reports would recall that it was those four elements ag ainst which TA activities would be measured when 
they were evaluated.  Everything that was include d in the 2004 TA Plan was aimed at achieving those 
objectives.  The Secretariat had been somewhat su rprised over the concern regarding transparency.  
With respect to the regional activities, he said that, in previous TA Plans, the majority of the venues 
chosen for the courses were always indicated as venu es "to be confirmed";  in that respect things had 
not changed.  The Secretariat had noted the desire  expressed by a number of delegations for a balance 
in the geographical distribution of the venues for such activities.  In selecting those activities the 
Secretariat had engaged in an interactive process with Members and regional groups to find the best 
venue for a particular activity.  That had to respond to a number of criteria which included the 
partners with which the Secretariat worked and it was often the partners who decided where the WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 22  
 
 activity would take place because they had the infrast ructure in the place to carry out that activity.  
There were also logistic concerns in terms of how  easy it would be to get the participants to a 
particular venue.  A venue could not be chosen if the air connections were unreliable or non-existent.  
As far as national activities were concerned, the onl y change was in the time-frame.  Countries would 
be able to request national activities throughout the ye ar and not just once.  There would be a de facto 
control of those activities as Members could obtain information from the quarterly reports on where 
those activities had been held and what they relate d to.  That was one of the reasons why Members 
had requested that the Secretariat prepare quarterly reports.  The Secretariat would write to all the beneficiary Member countries urging them to consider their priorities for possible national activities for 2004.  Some might be ready could do so, while ot hers might prefer to wait for the evolution of the 
negotiations or wait to make requests in light of th eir evolving needs.  Those requests would be taken 
into account and the Secretariat would not be constr ained by requests that had been made earlier.  
That would also involve an interactive process be tween the Secretariat and the beneficiary Member 
countries.   
69. The Secretariat He continued by saying that the Secretariat had noted the suggestion made 
that further consideration be given to outsourcing in  the framework of the consultations that were to 
take place.  That being said, the Secretariat assure d Members that that did not involve an enormous 
innovation as some of the remarks might have led an  uninformed observer to believe.  The WTO had 
been outsourcing activities for years although there ha d been no structured process for it.  However, 
when deemed necessary consultants had been called upon to help in the delivery of activities.  Among 
other reasons, outsourcing had been necessary because there were times when the Secretariat did not 
have available the expertise for a particular activ ity, or in some cases the Secretariat did not possess 
the necessary specific expertise.  The secretariat sa id that it was important to distinguish between 
outsourcing to individuals and outsourcing to instit utions.  For outsourcing activities to institutions, 
the Secretariat would need to reflect further.  Howe ver, many institutional pa rtnerships already existed 
and in many instances those institutions took on a si gnificant part of the burden of carrying out the TA 
activities.  That burden was either logistic, substa ntive or both.  With respect to outsourcing to 
individuals, the only consideration for the Secretariat was to ensure that the individual's qualifications 
and competence was what the Secretariat was looking for and to ensure that they matched the quality 
of resource persons from the Secretariat.  The Secretariat assured Members that it had and would continue to call on experts from every region.  The Secretariat would examine contracting, tendering, and what had been referred to as due diligence in  the framework of the ongoing consultations.  
Members should not think that the Secretariat only contracted individuals from certain regions.  The 
Secretariat had outsourced activities to locally b ased consultants in Nairobi and West Africa who 
were knowledgeable in WTO issues.  The Secretaria t would continue to do so in the future.   
70. The Secretariat went on to say that there w as no intention to enhance the monitoring and 
evaluation function at the expense of TA activities.   Even at the present time the monitoring and 
evaluation function was not financed by funds design ated for TA and that would remain the case.  As 
regards the outreach activities, the Secretariat  said  that some delegations had expressed concern that 
the outreach activities per se  might not be a proper form of TA, and even if they were they would be 
better carried out on a national basis.  Regional out reach activities had already been part of the WTO 
TA programme and had been viewed as highly su ccessful by the beneficiary countries.  The 
Secretariat  therefore proposed that it continue as planned and moved forward the outreach activities 
to the beginning of 2004 to enable a review of their implementation in the middle of the 2004, as 
agreed to by Members.  Geneva-based delegations w ould be closely involved in the planning of those 
activities and he hoped that that would be acceptable to Members.  Some Members had remarked on 
the Secretariat's attendance at conferences and sym posia saying those were not really TA activities.  
The Secretariat only attended such activities if th ey possessed a clear TA component and that was 
often at the request of beneficiary countries.  T hose requests were made by the beneficiary countries 
either individually, or as a group, or through thei r regional institutions.  An example was the Post-
Cancun Expert Group Meeting for African Trade Nego tiators and Officials taking place in Accra at  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 23 
 
 
 which the Secretariat had been invited to provide r esources to delegations that would be attending the 
meeting.  There was also the example of the series of mini-Ministerial meetings that had taken place 
prior to the Cancun Ministerial Conference and to which the Secretariat had been asked to send its 
experts as resource persons.  The Secretariat coul d not have responded to those requests if such 
activities did not form part of the TA programme.  With respect to the funding for the 2004 TA Plan, 
the Secretariat would be sending letters to donors asking them to provide the financial resources 
needed to implement the 2004 TA Plan.  The fina ncial basis on which the revised draft 2004 TA Plan 
had been developed was contained in Job(03)/211.  W ith respect to the trade policy clinics, that was 
an issue which Members could discuss in the consu ltations.  Any subject that Members wished to 
have on the agenda of those ongoing consultations  would be taken on board.  There had been a 
request to cover transfer of technology and trade de bt and finance in the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  
Although it was not specifically mentioned, the activ ities related to trade and development which had 
been added would cover that.  One Member had rai sed the issue of the criteria for allocating certain 
subjects to particular regions.  That had been raised in the context of the activities on NAMA and Customs Valuation not being foreseen for certain re gions.  The Secretariat had been told by the 
relevant divisions that those activ ities had taken place in those regions  recently and it therefore did not 
seem appropriate to reschedule them there so soon.  However this could be reviewed.   
71. The Secretariat  continued by recalling that the trade policy courses had been introduced as a 
new product in 2002 but that they had been introd uced in less than optimal conditions.  At the time 
the Secretariat had not possessed sufficient resources  to implement them, even when the concept was 
almost finalized.  The regional trade policy cours es were part of the regional capacity building 
activities and they fulfilled the Secretariat's aims of an integrated approach towards partnerships for 
training and capacity building, the first of which was to expand the capacity of the WTO's capacity 
building.  The Secretariat was moving from four th ree-month trade policy courses a year, which were 
all held in Geneva, to eight three month courses in 2004.  That was a significant increase in the 
number of people that could benefit from those activ ities.  The second was to reinforce institutional 
partnerships; that had been achieved successfully in  the Nairobi regional trade policy course that had 
been running over the past two years.  The third was to engage in joint lecturing, i.e. reinforcing the capacity of individual resource persons who worked with the Secretariat in delivering those courses, 
thereby enabling them to become a part of regi onal resources.  The fourth aim was to establish 
academic networks among regionall y-based institutions and individuals.  The partners which the 
Secretariat sought to work with were universities , not  Governments, and they needed to fulfil certain 
criteria.  They needed to possess faculties of law and economics with recognised resident expertise in 
WTO matters;  a good network with other resource persons and academic institu tions in the region;  
they needed to be willing to engage in a partners hip with the WTO and accept an important role in the 
management of the course both in terms of substance a nd logistics.  There also had to be a satisfactory 
infrastructure available at the venue.  The process was not a beauty contest.  The activity should not 
be merely seen as a training activity.  It w as aimed at building capacity in the region and the 
specifications were accordingly more complex.  There had been no undertaking with any of these 
regional institutions that they would be partners fo r life.  As long as conditions were satisfactory the 
Secretariat would continue with the partners they were currently working with, if not then a change 
could always be considered.  Even with respect to the partnership with the University of Nairobi, the 
Secretariat had experienced some difficulties and ha d at one point even considered that if those 
difficulties were not removed, it would look for a nother partner for the regional trade policy course 
for Anglophone African Member countries.  The Secretariat confirmed that the Senegalese 
Government had not put itself forward as a host for a regional trade policy course.  In some instances 
the Secretariat had taken advantage of its presence in a country to explore with universities in that 
country whether there were any prospects of partne ring with that institution.  That was the case for 
Mauritius and Burkina Faso.  In a few days the Secr etariat would be going to Senegal with the same 
intention to see whether it could develop a partne rship with the Université' Cheikh Anta Diop in 
Dakar.  The Secretariat had noted the Government of Morocco's proposal concerning delivering the course in collaboration with another institution in Morocco.  That institution would be given the same WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 24  
 
 rigorous and objective consideration as would any othe r candidate that was being considered to host a 
regional trade policy course.  The Secretariat  re iterated that the regional trade policy course for 
Francophone African countries would be held in 2004.  It was important to move forward and begin 
implementing the activities outlined in the revised dr aft 2004 TA Plan without losing any time.  The 
Secretariat looked forward to the consultative process  that would take place to elucidate some of the 
complex issues that Members had identified. 
72. Another representative of the Secretariat
 said that he would address the points raised on 
monitoring and evaluation.  The Secretariat agreed  that some of the comments made would require 
further discussions.  With respect to the external evaluation, he said that the Secretariat had noted 
Members interest in studying the issue.  That would mainly involve the costs a ssociated with such an 
initiative as well as the kind of evaluation that woul d be appropriate.  The Secretariat would work on 
that and keep contact with delegations for that pur pose.  A reference had been made on the objectives 
and a question asked as to who was responsible for that.  The Secretariat assumed that Members were 
referring to paragraphs 108 and 109 of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan and said that the TA providers 
would set out objectives for each activity before it took place, as well as indicators to measure the 
achievement of such objectives.  Those had to be in line with the general objectives set out in the Plan 
for each product.  The strategy put in place to car ry out the evaluation was a combination of self 
evaluation and evaluations carried out on-site by the Technical Cooperation Audit Unit.  The 
Secretariat had also begun to plan the activities in  advance with the TA providers while setting the 
objectives and indicators of achievement that would a llow the effects of the activity to be measured.  
A process was also underway to revise some of the forms as well as the practical exercises and 
questionnaires that were used to test effectiveness during the implementation of a TA activity.  The 
briefing kit could also be improved but the Secretar iat would need more prac tical experience before 
attempting that.  Finally, the Secretariat would begin to work on post-facto  evaluations with a view to 
expanding the coverage of its work to include sustainability, something that was mentioned in 
paragraph 111 of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  The Secretariat would report to Members on that. 
73. The representative of Morocco  said that he agreed that the regional trade policy courses were 
not part of a beauty contest.  He stressed that TA was not the private property of the Secretariat.  TA was a triple partnership involving the donors, the Secretariat which was charged with the modules and 
organizational aspects, and the organising countries.  Since the Secretariat had given up the old system, it had taken over and politicised TA and cap acity building for its own purposes.  The African 
Member countries continued to believe that what wa s given with one hand should not be taken away 
by the other.  TA needed to be delivered in the context of the rights and obligations of each Member.  
The Secretariat was there to serve the Members, and if an organising country had to be blamed for 
something then that needed to be done in a transpar ent manner.  He agreed that the Secretariat did not 
have an eternal union with its partners.  However, if problems arose, then they had to be addressed 
with respect and in transparency.  The Secretar iat should not just give up on its partners.  The 
Secretariat had neglected its responsibility in that respect.   
74. He further said that his delegation was not tr ying to host the regional trade policy course for 
French-speaking African countries at any price; hi s delegation was fighting for the sake of principle 
and transparency.  The Ambassador of Morocco should  have been invited by the Secretariat and given 
the details of why the course could not be held in  Morocco.  The Government of Morocco would then 
have drawn the lessons and withdrawn its candidacy.  Instead, it appeared that there was a campaign 
behind the scenes to shift the course from Morocco.  He said that he was pleased to hear that the 
Secretariat had used its presence in certain countri es to contact universities in those countries.  The 
Secretariat could nevertheless not deny that letters  had been sent to Trade Mi nisters or that telephone 
calls had been made to some Trade Ministers urgi ng them to accept to host the regional trade policy 
course for Francophone African countries.  He said th at the Secretariat had acted irresponsibly and 
interfered inadmissibly.  The respect between th e Secretariat and the Members had to be re-
established, as had the Secretariat's respect for its ro le.  The Secretariat was there to implement policy.   WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 25 
 
 
 TA should remain a uniting issue between develope d and developing countries in order to allow 
developing countries to better integrate into the multilateral trading system and prepare them to 
negotiate better.  The Secretariat was making TA a subject of dissension and was setting countries off 
against one another.  His delegation did not insi st on hosting the regional trade policy courses.  If 
there had been an open competition to host the re gional trade policy courses, then his Government 
would have put forward its candidacy like other Go vernments.  However, there should be no secret 
campaign.  Certain Members could not be ignored and later be told that the selection was no beauty contest.  All Members were sovereign, paid thei r contributions and had to be respected.  The 
Secretariat had to keep to its neutrality.  However, it had failed to do so with respect to the selection 
of host for the regional trade policy course for Fren ch-speaking African countries.  The Secretariat 
had rather used the matter to undermine the reputati on of his Government by questioning its capacity 
to organise the course.  It was for the principle of  transparency that his delegation was pursuing the 
matter.  His delegation was therefore seriously considering a reform of the Secretariat .  He concluded 
by saying that his delegation requested the interven tion and arbitration by th e Director-General, that 
the donors got involved, and that the question be reso lved before the revised draft 2004 TA Plan could 
be adopted. 
75. The Chairman
 said that a number of delegations had ur ged Members to adopt the revised draft 
2004 TA Plan in order to allow the Secretariat to begin its implementation.  He suggested that the 
Committee take note of the issues that  needed to be resolved.  He said that he would approach the 
Director-General in an attempt to facilitate the consultations with a view to reaching a satisfactory 
solution, particularly on the issue of the regional trade policy courses.  An amicable solution needed 
to be found on the issue and Members needed to  keep up the spirit of dialogue, coexistence and 
friendship between themselves and the Secretariat, and also the general atmosphere in the negotiations.   
76. The representative of India
 said, with respect to the proposed solution on how to treat the 
outreach activities, that in the 2003 TA Plan the outr each activities had been adopted but not as part of 
the Plan.  They were contained in an Addendum to the 2003 TA Plan and carried a footnote which 
referred to a review of whether those activities should  be included in future TA Plans.  Since that 
review had not been carried out, a way out would be to treat the activities as they had been treated in 2003, i.e. that they again be adopted in the form of an Addendum to the 2004 TA Plan and that the requested review be carried out as soon as possibl e.  He supported the suggestion made by the 
representative of the European Commu nities that informal consultations be carried out on the review, 
a suggestion he hoped would be acceptable to all. 
77. The representative of Morocco
 said that he noted the Chairman's intention to consult the 
Director-General and appreciated that the Chairm an offered his good offices.  Notwithstanding that, 
his delegation was still not in a position to adopt the revised draft 2004 TA Plan.  The question of the regional trade policy courses had raised a system ic question which went beyond the question of 
whether Morocco could or could not host the regional trade policy course for the Francophone 
African Member countries.  He said that what had happened should serve as a lesson.  That was why 
his delegation insisted that the Director-General interv ened to settle the matter.  He said that there was 
no rush as the implementation of the 2004 TA Pl an would not begin before January 2004.  
Nevertheless, he assured Members that his delegatio n would take all Members' interests into account 
and was ready to partake in consultations to settle the issue.   
78. The Chairman
 said that Members were faced with a time constraint because the Committee 
had to forward the 2004 TA Plan to the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration so that it could in turn make a recommendation to the Ge neral Council for funding the Doha Development 
Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF).   WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 26  
 
 79. The representative of Mauritania
 said that the African Group had a special interest in the 
implementation of the 2004 TA Plan, and was partic ularly impatient to see it adopted.  The African 
Group was ready to assist the Chairman in facilitating his task.  As he wished for the revised draft 
2004 TA Plan to be adopted in its entirety, he suggested that the meeting be suspended until the 
following day to allow Members to continue  consultations with the Chairman.   
80. The Chairman  said that he welcomed that suggesti on but that the Director-General was 
currently in Latin America and would not be available in Geneva the following day.   
81. The representative of Canada  suggested that all the regional courses be included in an 
Addendum to be dealt with at a later stage and th at the rest of the revised draft 2004 TA Plan be 
adopted as it was. 
82. The representative of Morocco  said that he accepted the proposal made by the representative 
of Canada. 
83. The representative of Mauritania  said the Francophone African region had not benefited from 
a regional trade policy course in 2003.  He theref ore hoped that the proposal that had been made 
would not delay the organisation of the course.  He hoped that the Francophone African Member 
countries would not lose out again in 2004.  The objective should be for a solution to be found quickly 
so that the regional trade policy course for French-s peaking African countries could be held early in 
2004.   
84. The Chairman  suggested that the Committee authorise the Secretariat to transmit the revised 
draft 2004 TA Plan, excluding the sections relati ng to the regional trade policy courses and the 
outreach activities, to the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration who would make a 
recommendation to the General Council regarding th e financing of the DDAGTF.  He said that the 
question of the regional trade policy courses was s till before the Committee and he would continue 
consultations with all concerned so that  a satisfactory solution could be found. 
85. It was so agreed . 
(ii) Report on the Implementation of the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan  (WT/COMTD/W/120) 
86. The Chairman  said that the second sub-item related to the Second Quarterly Report on the 
Implementation of the 2003 TA Plan  (WT/COMTD/ W/118/Rev.1) which the Secretariat had revised 
following comments made at the previous meeting of the CTD and the Third Quarterly Report on the 
Implementation of the 2003 TA Plan  (WT/COMTD/W/120). 
87. There were no interventions on this sub-item. 
88. The Committee took note  of the documents.   
 
I O THER BUSINESS  
89. The representative of the United States said that her delegation earlier in 2003 had submitted 
questions to the delegations of I ndia and Sri Lanka regarding their free trade agreement (FTA) and the 
notification they had made to the Committee.  He r delegation had since received responses to those 
questions in writing.  She said that her delega tion believed it would be useful for the entire 
Membership if those responses were provided in a mu ltilateral context.  That information would be of 
interest to other Members of the Committee.  She said that trade w ith the United States accounted for 
only about 15 per cent of those Members' trade outsi de of their FTA.  Other Members who accounted  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 27 
 
 
 for the remaining 85 per cent of the trade might be  interested in that agreement.  Her delegation 
believed that a review by all interested WTO Members was required under the Enabling Clause and 
that that transparency exercise was desirable.  That experience had convinced her delegation that 
Members concerns could best be channelled th rough the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(CRTA) where appropriate procedures coul d be developed in that regard.   
90. The representative of Japan  informed Members that his Government was in the process of 
contributing Sw F 600 000 to the DDAGTF as it had ple dged at the informal Ministerial meeting held 
in Tokyo in February 2003. 
91. The representative of India  said that his delegation's positi on on the notifications under the 
Enabling Clause to the CRTA was well known.  Howeve r, since it had been brought up he reiterated 
that the existing notification procedures for FTAs u nder the Enabling Clause were satisfactory and his 
delegation saw no need for any changes or requirements of such notifications to be considered in any 
other WTO body other than the CTD.  With respect to the questions that had been raised by the 
Government of the United States on certain aspect s of the India - Sri Lanka FTA, he said that 
responses to those questions that had been sent to th e delegation of the United States were strictly in a 
bilateral context.  His delegation was not ready to  accept any further obligatio n to provide additional 
clarifications in any other forum in the WTO becau se the notification requirements of that FTA had 
already been met.   
92. The representative of Sri Lanka  said that he agreed with the statement made by the 
representative of India.  His delegation had already provided responses to the questions raised by the 
delegation of the United States.  However, his delegation reserved the ri ght to make additional 
comments at a later stage on that issue.   
93. The Committee took note  of the statements made. 
 
 
Reconvened Session on 28 November 2003 
 
 H. A
DOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (WT/COMTD/W/122/ REV.1)  
94. The Chairman  said that the 2003 Annual Report covered the activities carried out in 2003 in 
the CTD in Regular Session, the CTD in Dedicated Session which covered the issue of small economies and the Sub-Committee on LDCs.  He recalle d that the last meeting of the General Council 
in 2003 was scheduled to take place on 15-16 Dece mber and the Committee would have to adopt its 
report before that meeting.  He said that the revised draft annual report contained in 
document WT/COMTD/W/122/Rev.1 was available to Members in the room.   
95. The representative of Morocco
 said that he wished to comment on paragraph 5 of Section A 
which related to Technical Coopera tion and Training, particularly the sentence relating to the regional 
trade policy courses.  He said that his delega tion had made a concession as requested by the 
representative of Canada of allowing the Committee to adopt the revised draft 2004 TA Plan with the 
exception of the regional trade policy courses.  At  the outset his delegation had reservations on the 
entire revised draft 2004 TA Plan but in order not to prevent the Secretariat from beginning with its implementation or depriving African and other developing countries of the benefits of the delivery of 
the national and regional activities, his delegation ha d limited its reservations to the regional trade 
policy courses.  The Chairman had himself clarified that the proposal by the representative of Canada 
applied to all the regional trade policy courses wh ich, according to his understanding, would not be 
adopted.  His delegation therefore did not agree w ith the wording as it appeared in paragraph 5.  WT/COMTD/M/47 
Page 28  
 
 However, his delegation could accept any wording st ating that the revised draft 2004 TA Plan was 
accepted with the exception of the chapter relating to the  regional trade policy courses which would 
be the subject of adoption subseque nt to consultations by the Chairm an and the Director-General, and 
the good offices of some donors.  His delegation did not wish for things to get out of hand.  The 
situation was clear as far as his delegation was c oncerned.  The delegations  of Senegal and Mauritius 
had stated that they had not requested to host a regional trade policy course.  The African Group had 
requested the Secretariat to consult with the delegation of Morocco on the matter as a matter of 
urgency.  There was a roadmap which his delegation wished to follow.  His delegation was ready to 
consult with the Secretariat and othe r partners, but insisted that the Director-General intervene in the 
matter. 
96. The Chairman
 said that, at the previous day's meeti ng the Committee had agreed to adopt the 
revised draft 2004 TA Plan with the exclusion of  the regional trade policy courses which would be 
subject to consultations carried out by the Chai rman with the Secretariat and the delegation of 
Morocco.   
97. The representative of th e European Communities  said that it had a suggestion to make in 
connection with the revision of the TA section of the revised draft annual report.  He said that his 
delegation had been encouraged by the outcome of the consultations that the Secretariat had 
undertaken with Members during the six weeks since the last CTD meeting.  His delegation therefore 
welcomed the Secretariat's intention to continue  the consultation process with all Members in the 
early part of 2004.  Members appreciated that and c onsidered it to be worthwhile and had agreed to 
carry out a review in the middle of 2004.  He ask ed whether the Committee c ould agree to include a 
sentence at the end of paragraph 5 or 6 along the lines of the Committee welcoming the intention of 
the Secretariat to pursue a process of consultations with all Members in the early part of 2004 on a 
range of issues concerning TA and along the lines  of the Committee setting itself an objective of 
taking stock of those discussions in the spring.  Th at was something that would be included in the 
minutes of the meeting but it would also be wort hwhile for anyone considering the report of the 
Committee in isolation from the minutes to get that idea in terms of future process.  He said that he 
would not insist on its inclusion, but if other Me mbers agreed he thought that that addition would 
improve the report.  
98. The representative of the United States  said that her delegation supported the suggestion made 
by the representative of the Europ ean Communities and agreed that it would be opportune to have the 
prospective consultations reflected in the report. 
99. The Chairman  said that, in view of the suggestions th at had been made by the delegations of 
Morocco and the European Commun ities, he proposed two amendments to the revised draft annual 
report.  The first related to paragraph 5 of Sec tion A on Technical Cooperation and Training.  He said 
that on the sixth line after the document symbol th e sentence would read "The Committee authorized 
the Secretariat to proceed to implement the 2004 T echnical Assistance Plan  as presented in that 
document, with the exception of the regional trade policy courses, which will appear in an Addendum 
pending the consultations to take place under the good offices of the Chairman of the Committee and 
will be adopted at a later date.  The outreach ac tivities will be treated as had been done in the 2003 
Technical Assistance Plan, i.e. they will be moved into a separate Addendum with a footnote stating 
that "Within the context of a full review of tec hnical assistance and capacity building, a decision will 
be taken on the inclusion of such regional activiti es in technical assistance and capacity building for 
subsequent years."  He said that the second amendm ent would be included at the end of paragraph 5 
and would read "The Committee welcomed the inte ntion of the Secretariat to pursue a process of 
consultations with Members on a range of issues concerning technical assistance and agreed to undertake a stocktaking exercise after the first quarter of 2004."  WT/COMTD/M/47 
 Page 29 
 
 
 100. The representative of Morocco  said that his delegation suppor ted both amendments but with 
respect to the first amendment wished to add the wo rd "all" after the words "with the exception of" so 
that the phrase would read "with the exception of  all of the regional trade policy courses".   
101. The Committee adopted  the revised draft 2003 Annual Report with the suggested 
amendments.   
 
__________ 
 
  