. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/40
14 August 2002
(02-4452)
Committee on Trade and Development Original:  English
THE JOINT ADVISORY GROUP (JAG)
The following communication has been received from the Secretariat of the International
Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) in response to the request made at the 41st Regular Session
(1 July 2002) of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development for background information on the
proposal to issue documentation in Arabic and Chinese.
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I. WHAT IS JAG?
1. The programme of the Centre is reviewed annually by the Joint Advisory Group on the
International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, open to Member States of UNCTAD and Members of
WTO.  While the Group has neither legislative nor budgetary authority, it has come to be the main
intergovernmental policy forum of the Centre, with the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD
and the WTO General Council reviewing its report and recommendations annually, thus performing
their formal role of policy organs of the Centre.
II. BACKGROUND
2. Since the late 1960s, when ITC became a joint UNCTAD/GATT(WTO) operation,
interpretation during the Group meetings has been provided in six languages (Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish) and the related documentation in four languages (English,
French, Russian and Spanish).
3. The question of providing documentation in Arabic and Chinese in addition to the four other
languages was raised for the first time at the thirty-fourth session of JAG in 2001, and the following isan extract from the Report of the JAG:
"The current language arrangements for th e JAG sessions called for documentation
to be submitted in four languages (English, French, Russian and Spanish);
interpretation was effected in the six official United Nations languages.  Two
representatives requested documentation in all six languages as was customary inUnited Nations meetings.  Another representative, insisting on the joint United
Nations/WTO nature of JAG, was not in favour of increasing administrative costs."
4. The issue was again raised at the thirty-fifth session of JAG in 2002 and the following is an
extract from the Report:
"At the thirty-fourth session of the Joint Advisory Group, held in the spring of 2001, a
proposal had been made for issuing official documentation of the Group in the Arabic
and Chinese languages, in addition to the current languages of issuance (English,
French, Russian and Spanish).  While it was also observed that the administrativeWT/COMTD/40
Page 2
costs for this purpose should not be increased, insisting on the joint United
Nations/WTO nature of JAG, it was agreed that this should be reflected in the report
of the JAG and be brought to the attention of the parent bodies of ITC.
Two representatives asked for information on the status of this request.  The
secretariat informed the Group that the 2001 report had been submitted to theGeneral Council of WTO and to the UNCT AD Trade and Development Board.  The
request had also been costed and included in the ITC budget submission to the United
Nations and to WTO but no decision had been taken.  Consequently, ITC had no
authorization to proceed and the documentation for the current JAG session had been
issued in the traditional way.
Responding to a question from one representative on action which could be taken at
this juncture, the secretariat suggested that a letter could be sent to the Chairman ofthe thirty-fifth session of JAG asking him to raise the issue again with the UNCTAD
Trade and Development Board and th e WTO Committee on Trade and Development
when this session’s JAG report was presented.  On the occasion of the next budget
cycle, a formal budgetary request could be made following a formal endorsement by
both bodies of the proposal."
5. Following the JAG meeting in April 2002, the Chair received a letter from the Ambassador of
Egypt, asking that he raise the issue at the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD and at the
WTO General Council on the occasion of the submission of the JAG report.
III. COST
6. For information purposes, JAG is funded from  ITC’s Regular Programme Budget.  It is
currently budgeted at SF 268,700 of which SF 132,112 is for the translation, production and
distribution of documentation and SF 80,528 for inte rpretation.  The addition of two languages would
amount to SF 77,400.
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