RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/WGTDF/M/6
25 July 2003
(03-3986)
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 5 JUNE 2003
1. The Working Group held its sixth meeting on 5 June 2003 under the Chairmanship of
Ambassador Hernando José Gómez (Colombia).  Th e Working Group adopted the Agenda contained
in WTO/AIR/2108
2. The Chairman said that, as proposed in the agenda, discussion at the meeting aimed at
achieving consensus on the Report (WT/WGTDF/W/21) of the Working Group to the General
Council.  The Group as a whole had spent a consider able amount of time on the examination of the
relationship between trade, debt and finance, reflected in the 20 submissions received by the Group
since the Doha Ministerial Conference. All submissions were listed in the Report. He added that theactivity of this Working Group had been acknowledged during the General Council Meeting of 13
May 2003 by Heads of Delegations and the Heads of the WTO, IMF and World Bank.
3. The Chairman reported on the outcome of his consultations with a large number of Members
on his proposed list of themes, for possible agreement and integration in the draft Report to the
General Council. He understood that the text that came out of the consultations on 9 May 2003
provided a good basis for consensus, and it had therefore been incorporated into the Report. The rest
of the report was not new to Members. It was by and large the words of the 2002 Annual Report,which had been approved by the General Council at the end of last year. Taking into account these
elements, he suggested that the Working Group focus essentially on the list of themes, and on the
conclusion of the Report.
4. Members proceeded to the examination of the report section by section. Section I and II
received little or no comment as it reflected the 2002 Annual Report. Most interventions focused on
section III (the list of themes) and section IV (the conclusion). The discussion benefitted from
numerous interventions and statements by a large number of Members. The representatives of
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Ch inese Taipei, Colombia, the Dominican Republic,
Egypt, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Switzerland, Turkey, and
the United States provided significant input to the discussion, presenting amendments and proposalsto the text, which are reflected in the final draft (WT/WGTDF/W/2).
5. Following discussion of Section III and IV, with several successive versions of drafts,
consensus was achieved, although certain delegates made the point that final confirmation was
pending agreement of their capitals. The Chairman thanked all Members of the Working Group for
their constructive engagement in the work of the Group in the past eighteen months, and particularly
during this meeting. Delegations had showed great openness of mind, despite the different interests at
play, and he hoped that the consensus could be confirmed at the General Council and the Ministerial
Conference.
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