WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSS/2
22 November 2000
(00-4981)
Council for Trade in Services
Special Session
STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL FOR
TRADE IN SERVICES TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL1
10 OCTOBER 2000
1. The Council for Trade in Services has so far held five meetings in Special Session devoted to
the mandated negotiations under Article XIX of the GATS.  The next meeting is scheduled to take
place on 6 December 2000.  Those meetings are scheduled back to back with the regular meetings of
the Council.  They are also scheduled along with m eetings of subsidiary bodies in order to facilitate
the participation of capital-based officials.  During these meetings, the Council is focusing on matters
relating to the organization and content of the services negotiations.
2. At its meeting of 5 and 6 October 2000, the Council held some very substantive discussions
on the development of guidelines and procedures for the negotiations on the basis of a number of
proposals by Members and of a revised Note by the Secretariat.  In the context of the assessment oftrade in services exercise, mandated by Article XIX of the GATS, a seminar on services statistics was
held on 3 October 2000.  Experts from capitals and from other international organisations participated
in the seminar.
3. The Council also continued discussions on other matters relating to the negotiations under
Article XIX including the use of a “cluster” approach in the negotiations and the proposal by a group
of developing country Members for an Annex to the GATS on Tourism Services.  The Council has
also agreed to organize a seminar on Tourism, which is to be held early next year.  On clusters,Members continued to debate the possible use of th is approach in specific commitments negotiations,
on the basis of a note by the Secretariat.
4. Separately from the Article XIX negotiations per se , since my last report, the Council has also
held two special meetings on the review of exemptions from Article II GATS (MFN), and its first
special meeting on the review of the Annex on Air Transport Services.  The next meeting on thereview of the Air Transport Annex is scheduled to take place on 4 and 5 December 2000.
5. It seems to me that the services negotiations are proceeding with a very positive spirit and that
substantive work is being done by the Special Sessions of the Services Council and by the Council’s
subsidiary bodies, as we approach the end of the first phase of the negotiations and the stocktaking
exercise of March 2001.  In particular, the last meeting of the Special Session has seen anintensification of the debate on the development of guidelines and procedures for the negotiations and
on Members' objection for the round, with an increased number of proposals by Members.  More such
contributions have been promised.
__________
                                                     
1 This report is identical with the oral report made by the Chairman to the General Council on
10 October 2000.