WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/386
15 November 1999
(99-4913)
General Council Original:  Spanish
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Technical Assistance/Institutional Capacity
Communication from Cuba
The following communication, dated 9 November 1999, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of Cuba.
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Introduction
1. The first Ministerial Meeting of the WTO, held in Singapore from 9 to 13 December 1996,
declared as one of the functions of the organization the "integration of developing and least-developed
countries and economies in transition into the multilateral system".  Likewise, Membersacknowledged that "developing country Members have undertaken significant new commitments,
both substantive and procedural, and … the range and complexity of the efforts that they are making
to comply with them", as well as the important ro le that will be played by greater availability of
technical assistance in helping them to attain those objectives.
2. The Third Ministerial Conference should reconfirm that the principles and objectives guiding
the provision of WTO technical assistance to developing countries remain fully applicable in the lightof their continuing difficulties in complying with the obligations arising from membership.  Such
compliance calls for better technical knowledge of the implications of thei r participation in the
Agreements, the building of institutional and human capacities for the implementation of
undertakings, the adaptation or creation of the necessary institutional infrastructure (legal,
administrative and national policies), as well as bringing it into line with multilateral trade rules.
Proposal
3. In Seattle, Members should reconfirm the responsibility of the World Trade Organization in
furnishing developing countries with the necessary technical assistance in their process of integrationinto the multilateral trading system.  The Third Conf erence should therefore assign the costs of this
item to the Organization's regular budget, not by means of resource reallocation within the general
budget but by the provision of new funds.  At the same time, the resources administered by the trust
fund should be increased.
4. Drawing on the experience it has gained so far, the institution should direct its efforts in this
area of work towards achieving greater efficiency in the provision of technical assistance, based on
demand from the beneficiaries, in particular, by using information technology in such a way as to help
prepare the developing and least-developed countries for the forthcoming WTO trade negotiations.
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