RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/M/44
15 April 2003
(03-2080)
Committee on Trade and Development
Forty-fourth Session
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 7 MARCH 2003
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh)
Subjects discussed:
A. A DOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA ............................................................................................1
B. O BSERVERS ............................................................................................................................... ..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. N
OTIFICATION UNDER THE ENABLING CLAUSE RELATING TO THE GENERALIZED
SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES ...........................................................................................................2
- Notification from Canad a (WT/COMTD/ N/15/Add.1)................................................................2
D. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING ................................................................................7
- Information regarding the commitments made by the Secretariat during the
consideration of the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan (WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4) ..................7
E. D ECLINING TERMS OF TRADE FOR PRIMARY COMMODITIES , AND ITS IMPLICATION TO
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY COMMODITY EXPORTING COUNTRIES ....................23
F. E LECTRONIC COMMERCE (WT/COMTD/W/110).....................................................................27
G. P ARAGRAPH 51 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING
DEVELOPMENTAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER
TO HELP ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
APPROPRIATELY REFLECTED ....................................................................................................28
H. N OTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AMONG
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ..........................................................................................................29
I. E LECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE CTD.........................................................................32
J. E LECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON LEAST -DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES ............................................................................................................................... .32
K. O THER BUSINESS ......................................................................................................................32
A. A DOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA
1. The Chairman said that the draft agenda for the meeting was contained in Airgram
WTO/AIR/2028/Rev.1 of 4 March 2003.  He said that  he had put agenda item F (Consideration of
GATT Article XVIII, sections A, C and D) on the agenda as it was the first meeting of the Comm ittee
on Trade and Development (CTD) after it had reported to the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC)
in December 2002.  However, in light of the recent developments in the TNC, it was hisWT/COMTD/M/44
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understanding that there was no need for the CTD to consider the matter further at that stage.  He
therefore proposed that item F be deleted from the agenda and that he would brief the incoming
Chairperson of the CTD of the work carried out in the Committee and advise him to consult with the
TNC Chairperson regarding further steps, if any, th e CTD should take with respect to Article XVIII as
an outstanding implementation issue.
2. The agenda was adopted with that change.
B. O BSERVERS
(i) Request for attendance of ad hoc observers
3. The Chairman recalled that, at previous sessions of the CTD, there had been agreement to
invite the following intergovernmental organizations  on an ad hoc, meeting-by-meeting basis:  the
Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the Economic Comm unity of West African States (ECOWAS), the
Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), the Inte r-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation, the
Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), 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 proposed that, in accordance with CTDprocedures, those organisations be invited to the next formal meeting of the CTD.
4. 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 Internationale de la Francophonie, and the Common
Fund for Commodities
5. The Chairman said that, at the last few meetings, the Committee had also had before it a
number of outstanding requests for observer status.  They came from the League of Arab States,
OPEC, the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the Organisation Internationale de la
Francophonie, and from the Common Fund for Commodities.  The positions of delegations were well-
known and on the record.  He proposed that, if there had not been any recent change in Members'
positions, the Committee would revert to those requests at its next formal meeting.
6. It was so agreed.
C. N OTIFICATION UNDER THE ENABLING CLAUSE RELATING TO THE GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF
PREFERENCES
- Notification from C anada (WT/COMTD/N/15/Add.1)
7. The Chairman said that the delegation of Canada had submitted a notification regarding
improved market access for least-developed countries (LDCs), contained in document
WT/COMTD/N/15/Add.1.  He said that he had been informed that Mr. Brian Morrisey,
Director General, Economic Policy Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade,
Canada, would present the notification.
8. The representative of Canada said that he was pleased to present the notification containing
the initiative by the Government of Canada to enhance market access for the LDCs in accordance
with the Enabling Clause.  He also said that, judg ing from what he had seen of the report on the trade
policy review of Canada that would be held the following week, he antici pated that the WTO would
once again recognize that the Government of Canada pursued an open trade policy, and that CanadaWT/COMTD/M/44
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had benefited significantly from its liberalized trade regime.  Trade had led the economic growth of
Canada for the last decade.  It was only in the last few months that domestic economic activity had led
economic growth in Canada.  The Canadian econom y was strong, the fundamentals good and growth
projections for 2003 and 2004 were anticipated to lead the Group of Eight industrialized
countries (G8).  While trade was important for Canada, he said that his Government believed that
trade was important for all countries.  Part of his responsibilities, as Director-General for EconomicPolicy in the Foreign Affairs Department of th e Government of Canada, included his Government's
relations with developing countries.  In addition to trade relations, it included relations from the
perspective of development, debt, and the international institutions that dealt with developing country
issues.  The Government of Canada had been following the development policy evolution in the
international community during the past five years.   The International Conference on Financing for
Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico on 18-22 March 2002, had been a seminal event which had
set out a new blue-print for relations between developed and developing countries.  Later in 2002, thePrime Minister of Canada had chaired the Annual Meeting of the G8 held in Kananaskis, Canada.
Key to that meeting was the initiative to enhance relations between the G8 and African countries.  The
Canadian initiative of increased market access for LDCs had been taken in that broader overall
development context.
9. He further said that, although the WTO was a trade forum, he wished to situate the Canadian
initiative more widely to show that the Governme nt of Canada was attempting to develop a coherent
policy on trade and development.  One example was that the Government of Canada, amongst other
nations, had been promoting the inclusion of trade in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers that were
being developed in the context of the World Bank and were being used by the IMF.  The Governmentof Canada was of the view that economic growth had to be developed in order for poverty reduction
to be achieved.  Trade was one contributor to economic growth, although not the only one.  Canada
had benefitted from its trade relations and from the advantage of having a good neighbor which had
enhanced Canada's economic position.  Enhancing trade would contribute to poverty reduction, as
identified in the Millennium Goals that all Go vernments had agreed to in the United Nations.
Investment could be stimulated by trade liberaliz ation, particularly in the LDCs, and that would
provide further opportunities for growth.  Aid in itself was not sufficient to alleviate poverty.  The
initiative by the Government of Canada was therefore to provide duty-free and quota-free access for
all products originating in 48 LDCs, with the exception of three types of agricultural products which
were under supply management in Canada, i.e. da iry products, poultry products, and eggs.  However,
those exceptions only represented about 200 tariff lines out of the 8000 tariff lines in the Canadian
tariff which provided complete duty and quota-free access for products originating in LDCs.
Nevertheless, the Government of Canada had, even  in those supply-managed products, made in-quota
access commitments which were open to any country to benefit from.  The LDC tariff (the LDCT in
Canada) concerned approximately 90 per cent of the Canadian schedule prior to the new initiative.
The Government of Canada had, with the new initiative for LDCs, moved into sensitive sectors of the
Canadian economy, such as textiles, clothing, sugar, foot-ware, that had, in Canadian economic terms,traditionally enjoyed a higher form of protection than other products.  It had not been an easy task for
the Government of Canada to secure a consensus to undertake the initiative for LDCs.  He said that he
believed that it was through the initiative of the Prime Minister of Canada, and his commitment to the
African Agenda as expressed through the NEPAD, and the support of Mr. Pettigrew, Minister for
International Trade, that the LDC initiative had materialized.
10. He continued by saying that the existing rules of origin, applicable to the 90 per cent of the
tariff lines which already entered duty and quota-free, had been extended to the products under the
new initiative for LDCs with one exception.  That exception related to textiles and apparel.  The rules
of origin originally established did not deal with textiles and apparel.  Some textile products hadalready been granted duty-free access under the previous regime.  However, the rules of origin did not
take account of the current structure of world trade in textiles and apparel.  The Government of
Canada had therefore established new liberal rules of origin to cover textiles and apparel.  There were
two ways that an apparel product could qualify for the Canadian GSP scheme for LDCs.  First, if theWT/COMTD/M/44
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product was entirely produced amongst any LDC and Canada.  However, few products were currently
produced that way because most LDCs did not have the capacity and the investment necessary to
produce the fabric required for apparel.  In order to ensure that the new initiative for LDCs was a
genuine trade initiative, the Government of Canada had thus introduced a second means by which a
product could qualify for the GSP scheme for LDCs.  The new initiative permitted that accumulation
of up to 75 per cent of the value of a product might originate in any country eligible for Canada'spreferential tariff under the GSP scheme.  More than 100 countries were eligible for Canada's
preferential tariff under the GSP scheme.  The intention was to make the new initiative a genuine
development assistance program and keep entirely to the spirit of the Enabling Clause.  That meant,
with respect to textiles, that if the yarns had been made in any of those 100 countries or Canada, those
yarns could be sent to any LDC and be turned into fabric.  That fabric could then be sold to Canada
and be considered as originating in the LDC and therefore receive duty and quota-free treatment.
11. He went on to speak about the manufacture of apparel.  If yarns and fabric made in any of the
more than 100 countries eligible for Canadian G SP treatment were sent to an LDC and manufactured
into an apparel product, the Government of Canada only required that 25 per cent of the value added
be produced in the LDC for the product to receiv e duty and quota-free treatment into Canada.  A
number of other GSP schemes had 50 per cent value-added requirements for similar imports.  TheGovernment of Canada was of the view that a requirement of 50 per cent was too high and might not
generate sufficient trade amongst the LDCs.  Th e Government of Canada had, along with its own
analysis, used work carried out by UNCTAD when examining the value added in apparel.  It had
found that the lowest value-added producer identified, which was Senegal, produced a value-added of
27 per cent while some countries produced up to 40 per cent of the value added.  The Government ofCanada had thus decided to use 25 per cent as a threshold in order to ensure that it was below the
lowest value added of any LDC.  That would ensure that all LDCs had a genuine opportunity to
benefit from the Canadian initiative.  What was required was that the product be sewn or assembled in
the LDC.  The Government of Canada did not wish to have products produced in other developing
countries shipped to LDCs for a label to be sewn on and then shipped to Canada, as that did notgenerate any real economic activity in the LDC.  The intention was to generate real economic growth
in the LDCs, while at the same time ensure that other developing countries had the opportunity to
benefit from the new initiative.  The idea of limiting the beneficiaries to developing countries was to
encourage South-South trade and the reduction of barriers between developing countries and LDCs.
As the LDCs did not produce textiles, the textiles had to come from other developing countries.  Alldeveloping countries could thus benefit from the new initiative if they were prepared to trade among
themselves.
12. He finally said that, as the new initiative touched the two sensitive sectors of textiles and
apparel, the Government of Canada had to ensure that domestic Canadian interests were adequately
taken into account.  One other condition for eligibility for duty and quota-free treatment in textiles and
apparel was therefore that each LDC sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with theGovernment of Canada.  That MoU only required th at LDC authorities enable the Canada Customs
and Revenue Agency to verify that a product actually qualifies as originating under the LDC initiative
when the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency wished to carry out such a verification.  The LDC
Governments were not required to do anything else than cooperate by allowing Canadian inspectors to
visit the LDCs to verify that countries claiming benefits were entitled to them.  The Government ofCanada intended to enforce that verification strictly as there was scope for false claiming.  Any
shipment identified as not qualified would immediately be stopped.  It was therefore in the interests of
all LDC Governments to ensure that their manufactu rers were aware of that rule and would cooperate
with the Canadian authorities.
13. The representative of Djibouti said that he welcomed the initiative taken by the Government
of Canada to assist developing countries and LD Cs.  He encouraged the Government of Canada to
continue to take such initiatives for countries who did not export much.  Djibouti did not have many
products to export apart from live animals which were exported to Europe and the Middle EasternWT/COMTD/M/44
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countries.  Exports from Djibouti mainly consisted of services as Djibouti had a service-based
economy.
14. The representative of Bangladesh, speaking on behalf of the LDCs, said that his delegation
subscribed to the view that enhanced trade contri buted to poverty reduction.  On behalf of the LDC
Group of countries he extended his gratitude to the Government of Canada for its initiative to provideduty and quota-free access to essentially all imports from LDCs.  The new initiative, which had
actually been effective from 1 January 2003, added 903 tariff lines to the duty-free tariff items for
LDCs.  The improved preferential scheme included a wide range of agricultural, textiles, apparel and
footwear products.  Those products were of critical importance to the LDCs and accounted for a major
share of their export earnings.  LDCs had been  requesting duty and quota-free treatment for their
products with relaxed and flexible rules of origin.  In fact, enhanced market access through reduced or
zero-tariffs was meaningless if access was denied because of non-tariff barriers.  He was particularlyhappy to see that the new measure was accompanied by relaxed rules of origin requirements.  The
initiative taken by the Canadian Authorities clearly demonstrated the Canadian Government's
commitment to the Doha Ministerial Declaration in which Ministers had committed themselves to
consider additional measures for progressive market access improvements for LDCs.  Meaningful
integration of LDCs into the Multilateral Trading System required efforts by all WTO Members.  The
measures taken by the Government of Canada would encourage other Members to make further
improvements to their preferential schemes for LDCs, and thereby fulfill the mandate of the Doha
Ministerial Declaration.  Measures such as that of the Government of Canada could help arrest the
increasing marginalization of the LDCs in intern ational trade.  Trade with the Quad countries
accounted for more than two-thirds of LDC trade.  Canada was thus an important destination for LDC
exports.  He said that he hoped that the opportunities provided through the new initiative would
further boost LDCs' exports to Canada and acceler ate economic growth in LDCs.  The LDCs looked
forward to enhanced cooperation with the Government of Canada.
15. The representative of Mauritania thanked the Government of Canada for the new initiative.
He also thanked other WTO Members who had taken similar initiatives and hoped that other
Members would follow.  Following LD Cs' experiences with similar initiatives, he said that it would
be desirable for the Government of Canada to consider practical measures, in coordination with the
potential beneficiaries, which would enhance the usefulness of the new initiative.  Such measures
could for example include information sessions in  the LDC capitals with the Canadian commercial
missions to further explain the new measures.  It could also include, within one or two years, an
evaluation of the real impact of the initiative on bilateral trade.  That would be an essential measure of
the effectiveness of the initiative and would indicate any obstacles to its use.
16. The representative of Cambodia thanked the Government of Canada for having opened its
market to exports from Cambodia.  He said that Cambodian exports to Canada had increased by one
hundred percent.  His delegation hoped that other WTO Members would take similar measures tofacilitate Cambodian exports.
17. The Chairman said that the representative of Mauritania had raised a point regarding
increased information by the Government of Canada in LDC capitals.  He said that he was aware that
the Canadian High Commission in Bangladesh had been active and interacted with the authorities ofBangladesh, the business agencies, and with private sector organizations.  The new initiative by the
Government of Canada was well known and appreciated by the authorities in Bangladesh.
18. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation acknowledged the
value of the initiative taken by the Government of Canada and noted that there were still a few
exclusions.  His delegation hoped that the example set by the Government of Canada and the
European Communities would inspire other members who were in a position to follow-up with
similar initiatives to give effect to the Doha Ministerial Declaration as well as to the Third United
Nations Conference on the LDCs, held in Brussels in May 2001.WT/COMTD/M/44
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19. The representative of Japan said that his delegation appreciated the initiative taken by the
Government of Canada.  It was particularly impressive since the duty and quota-free treatment was
accompanied by generous rules of origin.  It was a clear realization of the commitments made at the
Doha Ministerial Conference.  He said that hi s delegation would provide information regarding
positive steps taken by his Government at the next meeting of the Committee.
20. The representative of Haiti said that his delegation wished to join those delegations who had
already congratulated the Government of Canada for its new initiative.  That initiative was important
as it included agricultural, textiles, clothing and foot-ware products.  Haiti was an LDC in which the
processing industry was important.  The initiative by the Government of Canada seemed to follow the
"Everything-but-arms" initiative of the European Communities, but might even go beyond that
initiative.  He hoped that other members would follow those initiatives to increase duty and quota-freemarket access for LDC exports, including agricultural , textiles, clothing and foot-ware products.  That
would enhance the integration of LDCs into the Multilateral Trading System as those products were
of primary interest to LDCs.
21. The representative of Tanzania said that her delegation wished to join other delegations in
thanking the Government of Canada for its new initiative.  Her delegation hoped that other members
would follow suit to increase the market access for LDCs as stated in the Doha Ministerial
Declaration.
22. The representative of Ethiopia said that he wished to join other delegations in congratulating
the Government of Canada for its new initiative.  That initiative was a good addition to other
measures taken by other Members such as the European Communities and the United States.  His
delegation hoped that other Members would take similar initiatives.  Nevertheless, his delegation was
worried about the inevitable erosion of preferences following the tariff reductions currently being
negotiated under the Doha Round of negotiations.  His delegation hoped that Members havingprovided LDC preferences would consider ways of safeguarding preference margins and securing the
benefits of the initiatives when the negotiated tariff reductions came into force.
23. The representative of the United States said that her delegation joined others in commending
the Government of Canada for its new initiative.  All Members were struggling to find ways to bring
more coherence and practical benefits to the LDCs.  One of the most important elements that the
Government of Canada had decided to grapple with in its new initiative was the South-South
component.  That component was critical to the success of the Doha Development Round of
negotiations, and the work done by the Government of Canada was important in that respect.  She also
welcomed the signal it sent of political will to move forward.
24. The representative of Canada said that Members' interventions had encouraged his delegation
to believe that the initiative was a step in the right direction on what was a long road for all Members.
The Government of Canada had been inspired by the initiatives taken by the Governments of the
European Communities, the United States and other members' Governments.  The Government of
Canada had attempted to go even further than those initiatives.  Although an initiative could not be
judged by only two months of existence, he said that the import statistics of the apparel sector inCanada showed that, in the first two months of 2003 since the initiative came into effect, imports from
the LDCs had increased by 16 per cent.  That was a positive growth rate.  The overall rise in apparel
imports into the Canadian market was less than 4 per cent.  LDC exports were thus growing four
times that rate.  That was a sign that the new initiative had the potential to produce good results.  The
representative of Ethiopia had raised the important point of safeguarding margins of preferences.That had to be carefully considered from a trade-policy perspective.  If WTO Members always had to
ensure that the current margins of preferences were kept they would never be able to put their tariffs
at zero.  What had to be done was to find other ways to encourage economic development, and that
was exactly what the Government of Canada had attempted to do by introducing the new initiative.WT/COMTD/M/44
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There had been wide public consultations, showing a lot of opposition in Canada, before the
Government had taken the initiative.  There had even been suggestions to limit the initiative to
African beneficiaries following the G8 initiatives for Africa.  The proponents of that view had said
that there was very little trade between Canada and Africa.  Other opponents had claimed that there
was no point in taking such an initiative as the quotas would be removed in 2005 as a result of the
conclusion of the Doha Round of negotiations.  The Government of Canada had nevertheless decidedthat it was better to take the initiative before the quotas were removed to see if any country could
benefit from the initiative in the meantime and possibly even establish itself in the Canadian market.
The Government of Canada had also decided to keep the initiative in the WTO context, consistent
with the Enabling Clause.  However, what was even more important were stable environments in the
LDCs, which would encourage investment and open markets, consistent with their own economic
needs and social development.  The Doha Development Agenda was a fundamental agenda for all
Members.  All Members needed to work hard to ensure that the Cancún Ministerial Conferencebecame a success.
25. The Chairman suggested that, as the notification by the Government of Canada related to
improved market access for LDCs, the Committee refer it to the Sub-Committee on LDCs for
substantive consideration and reporting back, accordin g to the reporting procedures agreed to at the
32nd Session of the CTD.
26. It was so agreed.
27. The Chairman drew Members’ attention to a letter that he had received from the Chairman of
the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries.  The Committee had, at its 41st session, forwarded
notifications from Japan and Switzerland to the Sub-Committee for substantive consideration and
reporting back.  He noted that the Sub-Committee had reported back on its discussions on the two
notifications, in so far as they pertained to LDCs.  Copies of that letter were available to Members.
D. T ECHNICAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING
- Information regarding the commitments made by  the Secretariat during the consideration of
the 2003 Technical Assistance Plan (WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4)
28. The Chairman said that, as Members would recall, the Secretariat had made a number of
commitments in connection with the consideration of the 2003 Technical Assistance (TA) Plan.  The
Secretariat would make a first report on those commitments.
29. The Secretariat (DDG Dr. Ali Rana) said that, as the Chairman had pointed out, the
Secretariat had been asked to make a number of commitments during the discussions on the 2003 TA
Plan.  Some of those commitments were to be delivered within specific time-frames while no time-
frame had been given with respect to the others.  He was pleased to report that the Secretariat was
working on all of the commitments and that, in th at respect, he intended to inform Members about
progress on all of them.  He said that the Secretariat had actually already delivered on two of them
and that he would deal with them in order.  Th e first commitment the Secretariat had fulfilled was to
provide detailed information on TA activities carried out in 2002 before the end of February 2003.
That commitment, as far as the Secretariat had understood it, related to a desire to get a full picture of
the implementation of technical TA activities carried out in 2002.  That information had beencompiled in document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4, which had been circulated to Members prior to
the meeting.
30. The Secretariat (Mr. Paul Rolian, Director, Technical Cooperation Division) said that
document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 summarized the implementation of TA in 2002.  The
Secretariat had delivered the largest number of TA activities ever in 2002, i.e. 488 activities, of which
481 had been executed in 2002 and seven in 2003 as roll-over activities.  Considerable progress had,WT/COMTD/M/44
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at the same time, been made in the planning and programming process of the executed activities, since
the Secretariat could report an average of 92 per cent implementation of the 2002 TA Plan
(90 per cent for national activities and 95 per cent for regional activities).  That implementation rate
was also the result of the natural evolution of the 2002 TA Plan throughout the year, since, as reported
at the 43rd Session of the Committee held in November 2002, 122 activities provided for in the 2002
TA Plan had to be cancelled for a variety of reasons, including cancellation by recipient countries;problems in joint delivery with other Agencies (in particular with respect to the Integrated Framework
(IF) and mainstreaming activities);  not enough progress to justify the execution of the planned
activity (which concerned in particular accessions,  negotiating groups, trade negotiation skills);  and
civil unrest/insecurity.  After deducting those activities and the nine entries in the 2002 TA Plan
related to the development of tools for TA, the total number of activities in the 2002 TA Plan was
383.  Furthermore, a total of 134 ad hoc activities had been carried out in 2002, which, in terms of  the
number of activities undertaken, represented 27 per cent of the 488 activities undertaken in 2002.  Interms of cost however, those activities represented less than half that percentage since, in most
instances, the only costs incurred were those rela ted to the participation of WTO staff.  Table I of
document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 contained a breakdown of activities by region and table II a
breakdown of activities by subject matter.  In that context, he said that the Secretariat had made every
effort to implement the priorities set by Members, both in terms of regions and in terms of subjects,without prejudice to the global coverage of its TA activities.  With respect to the implementation of
Members' commitments on technical cooperation and capacity building contained in the Doha
Ministerial Declaration, he recalled the Director-General's interim report (WT/GC/W/484) to the
General Council in December 2002, in pursuance of the mandate contained in paragraph 41 of the
Doha Ministerial Declaration.
31. The representative of the United States said that her delegation noted that the Secretariat
planned to provide Members with an evaluation of the 2002 TA Plan in late March 2003.  She asked
if that was the evaluation referred to in the commitm ents made by the Secretariat.  Her delegation was
deeply interested in that evaluation.  In the preparations for the 2003 TA Plan there had been agrowing sense that Members needed to consider the quality of the activities from the perspective of
the beneficiaries, rather than exclusively concentrate on quantity.  Document
WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 was useful in terms of defining the scope of the activities, where
activities had taken place, and the type of activity delivered.  However, she requested the Secretariat
to comment on how Members could get a policy assessment of where the greatest utility was found bythe beneficiaries and where the beneficiaries thought that there were deficiencies.  That type of
information would be useful as Members began to consider guidelines for 2004.  Her delegation
would appreciate if some information on the lessons learned could be included in the periodic
reporting on the implementation of the 2003 TA Plan so that those lessons could be incorporated
when Members considered the 2004 TA Plan.
32. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had made seven commitments.  The first was to
provide detailed information on activities carried out in 2002 before the end of February 2003.
Document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4, which had just been presented to Members, aimed at
responding to that commitment.  The second co mmitment was to provide a full evaluation of the
activities carried out in 2002, by March 2003.  The third commitment was to produce quarterly reports
on activities during 2003.  The fourth commitment was to produce a structured plan on how toincrease outsourcing to other multilateral institutio ns.  The fifth commitment was to review, together
with Members, the underlying terms of referen ce of the Doha Developmen t Agenda Global Trust
Fund (DDAGTF), including issues of  access to the Fund and its management.  The sixth commitment
was to circulate an information note on the Trade Clinics and further consult with Members on their
modalities.  The final commitment was to accommodate the suggestion for small island countries inthe Pacific to also be considered as countries from a region constituting a special challenge along with
those countries already referred to as such in the draft 2003 TA Plan (WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1).
As there was an overlap between some of those commitments he suggested that the Secretariat might
wish to report on the other commitments as well.WT/COMTD/M/44
Page 9
33. The Secretariat (DDG Dr. Ali Rana) said that the second commitment also related to the
implementation of the 2002 activities.  However, in addition to the figures on the activities
implemented, Members had also requested the Secretariat to provide a full evaluation of the activities
carried out in 2002, by March 2003.  In keeping with that undertaking, the Secretariat was preparing
the Technical Cooperation Audit Report for 2002, whic h would be circulated to Members before the
end of March 2003.  That paper could then be considered at the next meeting of the Committee.
Regarding the third commitment, to produce quarterly reports on activities to be carried out in 2003, it
was the Secretariat's intention to circulate the first such report by mid-April to cover the first quarter
in its entirety.  The fourth commitment was to produce a structured plan on how to increase
outsourcing to other multilateral institutions.  The Secretariat would provide a progress report on the
ongoing work undertaken by the Secretariat to consider the possibility of outsourcing technical
cooperation activities and to consider preliminary elements of a structured plan on how to increaseoutsourcing by the use of outside consultants and cooperation with other multilateral institutions.
With the ever-increasing demand for technical cooperation activities and the limited resources
available during the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, the WTO Secretariat would have to
find an adequate balance between time spent on technical cooperation as compared to time devoted to
other core activities, such as servicing committees and negotiations in particular.  The reportsprepared by the Secretariat's 1998 Task Force on Enhanced WTO Technical Cooperation and the
2000 Task Force on Technical Cooperation and Training respectively, were useful starting points for
that process which would also build on consultations with interested parties (IGO, academics, former
staff and former trade diplomats), before being submitted for Members' consideration in the CTD.  As
a resource base, outside consultants would constitute a reservoir to which the WTO Secretariat couldhave recourse to supplement its own limited human resources for technical cooperation/training
activities.  They would all have to fit carefully constructed profiles in order to be useful in
complementing in-house human resources for techni cal cooperation activities.  At the same time,
increasing recourse to outside consultants was probably inevitable since the Director-General's recent
proposal on increased human resources had met with limited success in the budget process.  While theSecretariat had requested 46 new posts in 2003, Members had only agreed to six.  The terms of
reference of the establishment for the DDAGTF clearly indicated that the Fund could be used for TA
activities to be conducted by outside experts if it was deemed necessary.  That implied that the
Secretariat was fully responsible for the co-ordination and execution of all subcontracted activities.
34. The Secretariat went on to provide some statistics regarding the recent practice of
outsourcing.  The Secretariat had used outside consultants sparingly in the past two years.  Nineteen
consultants had been used in 2001 for around 40 assignments dealing with 25 technical cooperation
and training activities.  In 2002, 28 consultants had been used for just over 30 assignments.  Those
consultants had been drawn from several sources, and included former WTO Secretariat staff, former
Ambassadors and academics.  Their compensation involved the payment of an honorarium
comprising either a fee of CHF 600 per day or a lump sum per assignment negotiated with the WTOdivision involved.  The payment of daily subsistence allowance (DSA) was not automatic, and travel
expenses were paid when appropriate.  In some cases, only DSA and travel expenses were paid, and
the honorarium was waived.  As part of the consideration of outsourcing, the Secretariat had drawn up
a roster of experts in 2002 on the basis of indications provided by the Membership of names of
individuals and their areas of expertise.  That roster was being updated and expanded by the TrainingInstitute, with contributions from all divisions, to take account of recent WTO experience in
outsourcing to outside consultants.  One way to improve the current procedure for hiring outside
consultants would be to devise a more elaborate, open and transparent process.  Guidelines might be
required for establishing a roster of experts and procedures for selecting resource persons, as well as
for the proper management of such a roster.  The guidelines would also govern overall legal andadministrative provisions with regard to the use of outside experts as well as related financial aspects,
including consultancy fees, DSA, insurance coverage and travel expenses.  The guidelines could also
contain provisions regarding an overall assessment of experiences with regard to outsourcing and a
related cost/benefit assessment.  Such an assessment would also allow for a further refinement ofWT/COMTD/M/44
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relevant provisions, where required.  Experts to be considered for inclusion in the roster could include
former trade policy officials, former GATT/WTO staff Members, academics, recognised experts in a
specific field, trainers, and officials from other international organizations and recognised bodies.
35. He further said that one focus in the work on outsourcing had been on the WTO's relationship
with partner institutions.  The Secretariat's current policy was reflected in a note on "Inter-AgencyCooperation: State-of-Play" dated July 2002 (WT/COMTD/W/102) and in the 2003 Coordinated
WTO Secretariat Annual TA Plan (WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.2).  The Secretariat's policy underlined
that inter-agency arrangements and strategic partnerships were essential in order to respond fully to
the significant technical cooperation mandates in the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Those
arrangements were also necessary in areas outside the strict competence of the WTO.  The Secretariat
had endeavoured over the past 18 months to develop and formalize its cooperation with different
partners at the regional and international level in order to respond adequately to the DohaDevelopment Agenda Mandates.  That cooperation wa s generally embodied in MoUs.  The Secretariat
had also engaged in reformulating existing MoUs to render them relevant to the Doha Development
Agenda.  In negotiating MoUs or other such arrangements, financing arrangements and cost-sharing
ratios had always been a sensitive issue.  To date, the Secretariat had insisted on negotiating
appropriate cost-sharing arrangements with partners to finance jointly organized activities.  TheSecretariat was also attentive to the need to pr eserve the integrity of WTO Members’ negotiating
positions.  When policy differences arose in negotiations with other institutions, partnerships for
capacity building activities were limited to areas of ag reement.  However, there was need for a clearer
policy on the issue, as the MoUs signed with that large network of organisations, agencies and banks
were still far from being harmonized.  The Secretariat was in the process of preparing a set ofguidelines to allow for a more coherent approach to WTO partnerships, whether in terms of financing,
capacity building, or sharing of expertise.  That would allow the WTO to present its potential partners
with one or two standard agreements to serve as a basis for negotiations.  The Secretariat had
developed standard DDAGTF agreements for Members' funding.  The most recent MoUs signed with
other organisations fell mainly into two categories.  The first was texts where the two parties merelyexpressed their wish to cooperate in general or on specific matters, but where it was clear that there
was no intention to enter into concrete engagements immediately.  Such MoUs generally left it to
future "implementing agreements" to define the precise areas of cooperation and the nature of that
cooperation on a case-by-case basis.  The second category of MoUs were "Framework agreements",
where the two parties expressed their wish to co-operate in general or on specific matters and set outthe terms of their cooperation in such a way that mo st of the issues that would be recurrent in the
course of the implementation of the framework agreements (e.g., financial arrangements,
administrative issues, etc.) were dealt with, leaving only a limited number of questions specific to an
activity, to be addressed in each particular case.  There was actually a third category of MoUs signed
by the WTO earlier, including with the IMF, th e World Bank and the World Customs Organization.
Those were mandated by the provisions of the WTO agreements, and their negotiation and approval
involved WTO Members directly.  They each had a format of their own as a result.
36. The Secretariat further provided Members with so me elements for an initial discussion in the
Committee on the fifth commitment, which was to review, together with Members, the underlying
terms of reference of the DDAGTF, including issues of access to the Fund and its management.  He
started by referring to Annex B of document WT/BFA/56 of 18 December 2001 of the Committee onBudget, Finance and Administration (the Budg et Committee).  That Annex reported on the
deliberations of Members in the Budget Committee and provided some guidance on the operation of
the DDAGTF.  The Secretariat was guided by what Members had asked it to do.  He recalled that it
was clearly stated in that document that the purpose of the DDAGTF was to finance technical
assistance to developing countries and/or economies in transition, and especially LDCs, in accordancewith the commitments made in the Doha Minister ial Declaration and the agreed Co-ordinated WTO
Secretariat Annual TA Plan, or responding to the criteria specified in the New WTO Strategy for
Technical Cooperation.  Access to the Fund should be  provided to:  LDCs, developing countries, and
economies in transition, and to non-residents.  Areas and activities to be funded included:WT/COMTD/M/44
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commitments made in the Doha Declaration, activit ies contained in the TA Plan, activities identified
in the Strategy for Technical Cooperation, "trade policy clinics" and other activities requested by
Members, Geneva based activities, including the Geneva week, or TA activities that were held in
Geneva back to back with regular WTO meetings.  With respect to cost, the DDAGTF was used to
cover all costs related to the effective functioning of  the activity, including local administrative costs
and costs for simultaneous interpretation for regional seminars, if deemed necessary.  The DDAGTFwas presently managed by the Technical Co-operation Division (TCD) and the Administration and
General Services Division (AGSD), who reported to the Budget Committee in accordance with
established financial rules and regulations.
37. He continued by saying that the sixth commitment made by the Secretariat in connection with
the 2003 TA Plan was to circulate an information note on "Trade Clinics" and further consult with
Members on their modalities.  The Secretariat was in the process of elaborating the concept of "tradeclinics".  The Director-General had introduced the idea of establishing "trade clinics" to assist
Members address particular problems.  The Director-General had a precise idea of the direction he
wished the initiative to take.  First, the Secretaria t had refined the scope of the initiative from "trade
clinics" to "trade policy clinics".  The purpose of the trade policy clinics was to provide Members
with a one-stop service to answer urgent questions concerning their trade policies and practices.  AMember seeking that service would receive a diagnosis of the trade issues of concern to it and
practical recommendations on how they might be addressed.  It was envisaged that the clinics would
help fill in any gap in planned TA activities, and help answer the types of questions that were not
covered by present WTO activities.  It would also provide the Secretariat with a mechanism to
respond quickly and flexibly to urgent TA needs over the course of the year.  Second, there would bea coherent link between the trade policy clinics and the existing technical assistance and capacity
building activities.  There were already numerous activities that addressed some of the concerns.  The
clinics would help avoid duplication and optimise the use of scarce Secretariat resources.  In addition,
as part of a coherent framework for technical cooperation and capacity building, the results of the
trade policy clinics would feed back into the regular WTO technical assistance programme and helpensure that WTO activities were well targeted and meaningful.  Third, related to the point on
coherence, the Secretariat already had experience in evaluating trade policies and practises,
particularly through Trade Policy Reviews.  The trade policy clinics would utilise that expertise and,
as far as possible, build synergies with the Trade Policy Reviews.  That was already happening in
some cases.  The Trade Policy Review Division continued to receive requests from Members todiscuss the results of their TPRs.  The clinics could help coordinate, systematize and extend that
growing demand for Secretariat expertise in diagnostic and prescriptive trade policy work.
38. Fourth, he said that the clinics would be light in administrative design, flexible and quick to
react to the needs of Members.  The Secretariat did not intend to create another layer of technical
assistance.  Existing Secretariat mechanisms should be used, to the extent possible, to coordinate,
administer and deliver trade policy clinics.  Fifth, the clinics would mainly be about diagnosis andprescription.  Upon request, a trade policy clinic would study the problem/s identified by the Member
and provide a diagnosis of what needed to be done.  In other words, trade policy clinics would be an
important preliminary component of a technical assistance programme.  In that regard, the trade
policy clinics should not be viewed as a stand-alone product but as an integral part of the WTO
technical assistance and capacity building programme.  Sixth, the Secretariat expected trade policyclinics to involve, not only the WTO Secretariat, but also other international organisations which
might have particular expertise relevant to the needs of the Member in question.  For example, if a
Member requested expertise on customs or intellectual property-related matters, the delegation to
address such concerns could comprise staff from the World Customs Organization (WCO) or the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or related bodies.  That would be an importantopportunity to build coherence with other international organisations and mobilise their resources and
knowledge.  Seventh, in light of the constraints on Secretariat resources some prioritisation of the
beneficiaries of the trade policy clinics would be required.  The Secretariat would be guided by the
Members in that respect.  In addition, the Secretariat could only respond positively to a request toWT/COMTD/M/44
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establish a trade policy clinic, if it had the resources to do so.  In that regard, it might be productive to
consider a regional approach to the clinics, particularly in cases where several countries in a region
shared similar problems or concerns.  There were clearly a number of practical and operational
questions that would need to be answered.  The Secretariat hoped to be able to circulate an
information note on the trade policy clinics in the near future.  He said that it would be useful at that
stage to hear Members' preliminary views on those ideas, as that input would help the Secretariatshape the initiative and ensure that it effectively met the needs of the Members.
39. The Secretariat went on to the seventh and final commitment made by the Secretariat in
connection with the 2003 TA Plan which was to accommodate the suggestion for small island
countries in the Pacific to also be considered as countries from a region constituting a special
challenge along with other countries already referred to as such in the draft 2003 TA Plan
(WT/COMTD/W/104/Rev.1).  That request had been made by the delegations of Australia andNew Zealand.  The Secretariat had accommodated that request in the second revision of the 2003 TA
Plan, dated 10 December 2002 (WT/CO MTD/W/104/Rev.2).  The specific revision was contained in
Chapter X, Section D, paragraph 42 on page 17 of the English version.
40. The representative of Djibouti said that his Government had benefited from TA since
1998/1999 when the first French regional seminars had been held.  Since then, one or two seminars
had been organized each year.  His Government ha d thus benefited from both regional and national
events.  A seminar had been held a few weeks earlier on trade and investment in cooperation with
UNCTAD.  That seminar had been a real success and the Minister of Trade of Djibouti had addressed
a letter of congratulations to the Director-General.  The two organizations had complemented eachother well and the participants in that activity had written a joint communiqué requesting that that
type of seminar be held on a regular basis.  The Government of Djibouti had both attempted to
evaluate its needs and follow-up to the training provided.  He asked what new elements Members
were looking for in terms of follow-up and evaluation.  He asked whether there would be new
methods or a new team of staff.  It became increasingly difficult to provide technical assistance as thethemes discussed within the WTO broadened.  When the WTO had come into existence a certain
number of activities had been carried out per year.  However, the number of activities had increased
many times since then.  There had to be realistic expectations on WTO TA activities.  Many of the
WTO staff Members knew the problems and needs of the developing country WTO Members.  It was
nevertheless important that the WTO Secretariat collaborated with other organisations which hadmore experience than the WTO in certain areas.  Collaboration with other agencies would
complement the knowledge of WTO staff.  He knew of successful collaboration between the WTO
and ITC, UNCTAD and the World Customs Organization.  If the Secretariat considered changes to its
delivery of technical assistance, such changes would therefore have to be well thought through.
41. The representative of Senegal said that his dele gation continued to believe that TA was at the
heart of the Doha Development Agenda.  The issue of TA therefore merited Members' attention.  The
had presented new ideas for TA which his delegation hoped would be put into practice.  He said that
he had a question with respect to the trade policy clinics and their relationship to the Trade Policy
Reviews.  He asked if the idea was that the trade policy clinics would complement the Trade Policy
Reviews if the Trade Policy Reviews revealed deficiencies in the trade policies of developing
countries, or, whether the trade policy clinics were something distinct from, but parallel to, the TradePolicy Reviews.  If so, he asked if developing countries Members would have to request trade policy
clinics in particular sectors.  All Members were concerned that duplication had to be avoided and that
the available resources were concentrated in the most important areas.  There had been needs
assessments in areas such as technical barriers to trade and almost all developing countries had
responded.  If the idea of trade policy clinics was to be upheld, he suggested that it would makeoperational sense to begin in an area such as technical barriers to trade where practically every
developing country Member encountered difficulties.  He asked whether it would be possible to
consider the needs assessment of each developing country Government and attempt to respond to the
needs expressed.  He had been told that the WTO Secretariat would attempt to guide MembersWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 13
towards different other international organizations depending on the types of needs Governments
identified.  However, Members knew that there were coordination and follow-up problems in
developing countries.
42. The representative of Canada said that the her delegation was pleased to see that the
Secretariat had been able to deliver on 92 per cent of the planned activities.  That was an impressive
percentage given that the delivery of TA was additional to other roles the Secretariat had to play.  Herdelegation was awaiting the document on trade policy clinics in order to review that initiative more
closely before commenting on it.  She asked what percentage of requests for TA the Secretariat had
fulfilled in 2002.  Her delegation regretted that the report had neither provided the costing nor an
indication of the human resource requirements for the delivery of the activities.  She therefore asked
whether that information would be included in th e evaluation by the Technical Cooperation Audit
which her delegation was eager to receive.  She asked how many of the ad hoc activities delivered in
2002 that had been identified as needs by the developing country Members.  She noted that somecountries and regions had received ad hoc activities although all their planned activities had been
delivered.  That was true for certain categories of TA.  Her delegation therefore hoped that the
Secretariat could ensure a proper balance when accepting ad hoc requests in the future.  With respect
to outsourcing her delegation recognized that the additional stress on the Secretariat's human
resources and encouraged the Secretariat to continue to actively seek alternatives in the delivery offuture TA in order for it to better concentrate on its own mandate and in order for Secretariat staff not
to face undue hardship with respect to their workloa d.  In order to properly track the fulfilment of the
Doha Ministerial commitments on TA and capacity building, her delegation encouraged the use of the
categories used in the trade-related TA and ca pacity building database in the TA reports.
43. The representative of Barbados welcomed the creativeness that the Secretariat had shown to
ensure successful delivery of the 2003 and future TA Plans.  Because TA was of primary importance
to her Government and a necessary tool for developing country Members, her delegation welcomed
the possibility of increased use of outside consultants.  Her delegation recognized the challenges of
having consultants from outside the WTO deliver a message from the WTO.  Nevertheless, it was
important to attempt to respond to as many TA needs as possible.  She therefore encouraged theSecretariat to elaborate ways to source competent ex perts.  Her delegation was interested in having a
closer look at the guidelines that the Secretariat was elaborating.  Whatever criteria used for the
identification of consultants, it should include the consideration of regional experts.  There was an
interesting linkage between identification of regional consultants and the initiative carried out by the
WTO Training Institute to create relationships with regional academic institutions.  The WTOSecretariat would become more familiar with regional experts through a strengthening of those
relationships.  She urged the Secretariat to continue to consider experts outside the ambit of former
staff members and former Ambassadors as Members who had not had their nationals serve as regular
WTO Secretariat staff would otherwise be at a disadvantage.  Her delegation believed that the trade
policy clinics seemed to be useful.  It was necessary to maintain the flexible nature of the initiative.
Concerns had previously been expressed from with in the Secretariat and by some Members about the
number of ad hoc activities.  Her delegation had nevertheless expressed the view that there was a needfor a certain amount of flexibility.  She said that she looked forward to more information about the
trade policy clinics, and especially on how they w ould be requested and to what extent they would
influence the Secretariat's assessment of Member's TA requests.  She asked whether there would be a
formal linkage between the trade policy clinics and Member's TA requests and said that, if that was
the case, there should be a more widespread use of the trade policy clinics.  She welcomed theSecretariat's decision to accommodate the request made by the delegations of Australia and
New Zealand for a recognition of the small island states of the Pacific as a region with special
challenges.  The Caribbean had also rightly been recognized as such a region.  That recognition for
the small island states of the Pacific was welcome as small island developing states had special needs
and specific vulnerabilities which required focussed responses.  Such sensitisation among theSecretariat and Members was necessary.WT/COMTD/M/44
Page 14
44. The representative of the United States said  that her delegation welcomed the suggestion
made by the representative of Canada that it would be useful for Members if future documentation
could provide more information on the human as well as the financial resources used in implementing
the TA Plans.  She was aware of the fact that the Budget Committee had received information on the
budgetary aspects.  However, having informati on on both the budgetary and the human resources used
would help Members understand the WTO TA requirements.  She said that her delegation wasinterested in outsourcing as it was concerned about the ability of the Secretariat to deliver effectively
on the large number of activities foreseen during 2003.  The implementation of the 2003 Programme
had begun late as it had taken time for Members to agree to the 2003 TA Plan.  During the
preparations of the 2003 TA Plan, delegations had known that some time would be lost in the run up
to the Cancún Ministerial Conference when delegations would be preoccupied in negotiations.
Outsourcing was therefore also time sensitive.  The delivery of the activities planned for 2003 had to
be undertaken, preferably at an accelerated pace, to enable the Secretariat to deliver on the entire 2003TA Plan.  It would be helpful to consider the use of regional expertise as suggested by the
representative of Barbados.  With respect to th e guidelines for the DDAGTF, she said that her
delegation appreciated the thoughts outlined by the Secretariat on the administrative questions such as
the scope of access.  However, she had not heard anything about the strategic vision and the TA
priorities.  She asked how Members collectively could define the key activities that met the needs ofthe Doha Development Round and identify, from a br oader point of view, what Members' priorities
were.  Once that work was done, Members would have a sense of what WTO TA was meant to
achieve.  That would assist Members in considering future TA plans from a broader perspective, and
not only respond to individual TA requests.  WTO TA was at an early stage of being built up.  It
would therefore be useful to have a discussion on the strategic vision for WTO TA and its priorities inconnection with the drawing up of the guidelines for the DDAGTF.
45. She went on to say that her delegation was interested in the evolution of the ideas of trade
policy clinics.  There had been a lot of debate on what some Members thought to be an excessive
number of ad hoc activities.  However, that was understandable given the fact that the number of
activities to be delivered had increased in 2002.  The trade policy clinics could help to retain a certainamount of flexibility in the process, while at the same time ensuring that the agreed TA Plan would
remain the principal focus of Members.  Her delegation was concerned about how the trade policy
clinics would be built into the 2003 TA Plan as they  had not been budgeted for, and looked forward to
hearing how the Secretariat proposed to resolve th at.  She asked whether it would be possible for the
Secretariat to build in the qualitative aspects of TA into the quarterly reports that the Secretariatwould provide.  For example, she suggested that  the quarterly reports include summaries of the
questionnaires that the participants in activities ha d to fill out at the end of seminars.  That would
respond to questions such as whether the participants felt that the activity was useful and whether they
would have preferred another mode of delivery.  Building in some kind of ongoing qualitative
assessment of the activities recently undertaken would be useful in order for the TA Plans to be fine-
tuned while they were being implemented.  She said that her last point related to new modes of
delivery of TA.  Some delegations had previously indicated that WTO TA delivery was tooconcentrated on seminars.  She suggested that modern information technology be utilised more.  A big
network of on-line learning was available that the WTO might learn from and a component of on-line
learning might be built into the WTO TA Plan.  Given the resource constraints of the Secretariat, her
delegation suggested that the Secretariat consider  alternative approaches to TA delivery.  She
supported the suggestion made by the representative of Canada to integrate the TA database with theongoing delivery of WTO TA.  It was important to ensure that that database was used.
46. The Secretariat (DDG Dr. Ali Rana) thanked Members for their useful comments and
important questions which would assist the Secretariat in meeting some of the commitments
undertaken.  He informed the representative of Djibouti, who had asked about future TA Plans, that
although the Secretariat was in the process of implementing the 2003 TA Plan, it would soon begin toconsult with Members on the 2004 TA Plan to ensure an early start in the preparations for the coming
year.  The Secretariat would continue to consult with Members on its TA activities.  He encouragedWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 15
Members to send their regional representatives to such consultative meetings during which
delegations could work together with the Secretariat in planning the activities to be carried out in
2004.  The representative of Senegal had posed a question regarding the relationship between the
trade policy reviews and the trade policy clinics.  Trade policy reviews assisted Members with some
of their diagnostic work since many years back.  That was the type of work the trade policy clinics
could also elaborate on.  With respect to the request for TA in the area of technical barriers to trade,the Secretariat would be guided by Members needs.  If that was one of the issues of concern to the
Government of Senegal and if it submitted a request to the WTO Secretariat, such a request would be
considered.  The whole concept of trade policy clinics was being developed and was not yet at a stage
where it had been operationalized.  The Secretariat would issue a note on the trade policy clinics
before the next regular meeting of the CTD.  Regarding the appeal by the representatives of Canada
and the United States to use the TA database, he encouraged the donors to provide more information
to the database.  The Secretariat was also of the view that it was an important tool for eliminatingduplication and an important source of information for all Members.  The more statistics provided to
it, the more useful it would become.
47. He further referred to the comments made by the representative of Barbados and said that a
note on the trade policy clinics would be circulated before the next regular meeting of the CTD, after
having incorporated some of the suggestions that had been made by delegations.  He concurred withthe importance of including regional experts and regional academic institutions when the Secretariat
considered the issue of outsourcing.  The regional trade policy courses being held in Africa, and soon
to be held in the Caribbean and in Asia, would be one way of building regional institutional capacity.
That was a first way to use regional experts.  He agreed that ad hoc activities could be useful, but
trade clinics were another useful and important initiative.  The Secretariat would continue to beguided by Members with respect to how such clinics might be requested and how they would be
applied.  With respect to the strategic vision and priorities mentioned by the representative of the
United States in the context of the guidelines for the DDAGTF, he said that the Secretariat would be
guided by any comments made by the Members.  The concept of trade policy clinics was an evolving
idea, for which some key elements had been introduced and on which Members' feedback would beimportant for the idea to be operationalized.  With respect to comments on the content of the quarterly
reports he informed Members that back-to-office reports from all the activities undertaken already
existed.  Those were useful in terms of evaluating the individual activities.  The monthly meetings of
the Secretariat-wide Technical Assistance Management Committee reviewed activities and aimed at
increasing coherence and improving internal Secretariat coordination in the TA delivery.  The back-to-office reports also guided the WTO TA Audit.  It would be useful to consider new modes of
delivery as suggested by the representative of the United States.  The Secretariat had access to
different toolkits for negotiations.  It was considering different proposals and welcomed any further
proposals by Members which could improve the delivery of TA.
48. The Secretariat (Mr. Paul Rolian, Director, Technical Cooperation Division) said that one
delegation had raised the question of whether there was a way of knowing what percentage of the TA
requests made for 2002 had actually been met.  That was unfortunately not possible as the procedureswith the 2002 TA Plan had been different from those for the 2003 TA Plan.  The 2002 process had
been a consultative one in which the Secretariat had received inputs from Members and Committees
before producing the 2002 TA Plan.  However, the Secretariat did not have a list of 2002 TA requests
by Members as it had for the 2003 TA Plan.  It was correct that the Budget Committee had received
some documentation with respect to the TA budget.  The yearly budget estimates in the BurgundyBook contained a report on the work days spent on TA by each Division.  That would give Members
an idea of the proportion of staff time that was spent on TA.  However, the Technical Cooperation
Division would attempt to put some useful information together for the delegations of the
United States and Canada who had requested it.  Regarding the fact that some ad hoc activities had
been carried out in places where there had been full implementation of the TA requested, he said thatthere was no perfect correlation between the activities requested and the activities received on the one
hand, and the need to carry out additional activities which could not be foreseen when the requestsWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 16
were made, on the other.  The Secretariat would consider how to correlate the content of the TA
database with what it reported back to Members.  The TA Audit had mentioned last year that it was
important to have a critical mass of information in order to make a sensible assessment of the overall
TA delivery.  That was why the WTO TA Audit had undertaken to provide the CTD with an annual
report on the TA activities carried out.  However, that did not mean that the Secretariat would not take
lessons learnt in the context of the activities reported on in the quarterly reports into account, or notseek Members' guidance if issues arose during the implementation.
49. The representative of India said that his delegation looked forward to the full Audit of the TA
activities carried out in 2002 and the note on the trade policy clinics.  He said that it would be useful
for Members to get the note on the trade policy clinics in advance of the next meeting of the
Committee for Members to have time to study it and contribute to the initiative by the
Director-General.  He asked whether the Secretariat intended to circulate a draft note on outsourcing.
If not, he said that it would help delegations if they could get a written copy of the ideas outlinedorally by the Secretariat in order for Members to study them further and send them to their capitals.
His delegation welcomed the comments made by the representative of Barbados regarding linkages
with regional academic institutions in the context of the overall TA Plan and with respect to
outsourcing in particular.  An important element of the TA Plan was to strengthen the capacity of
existing academic institutions which could provide long-term assistance to their governments andstakeholders.  Various delegations had mentioned a number of points relating to the need for better
delivery of the TA Plan and enhanced coordination.  In that context he referred to 43
rd Session of the
Committee at which it had been agreed that all issues relating to technical cooperation would be
considered early in 2003.  It had been noted that such a consideration would not be made with the
intention to micromanage WTO TA activities but rather to provide broad guidelines and to ensure thatWTO TA activities met the needs of the recipient Members.  His delegation hoped that Members
could have such a discussion at the next meeting of the Committee while considering all the notes
promised by the Secretariat on various aspects of the 2002 and 2003 TA Plans.  Footnote 1 of
document WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.2 on the 2003 "Outreach Activities" was also relevant in that
context.  It stated that "Within the context of a full review of technical assistance and capacitybuilding, a decision will be taken on the inclusion of such regional activities in technical assistance
and capacity building for subsequent years."  With respect to the document containing information on
the implementation of WTO TA activities in 2002 (WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4) he said that two
activities relating to investment were listed as having been held in India during the same period of
time.  It seemed to his delegation that that was one and the same activity.  He therefore asked theSecretariat to verify that and, if necessary, issue a corresponding corrigendum.
50. The representative of Japan said that individual issues had been raised in the discussions on
the 2003 TA Plan had been raised in order to ensure the best use of the limited resources available,
without affecting the quality or the number of activities when implementing the 2003 TA Plan.  His
delegation therefore agreed that each activity implemented would have to be coherent with the 2003
TA Plan.  Regarding the activities implemented in 2002 in cooperation with other organizations hesaid that document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 showed that some activities had not been
implemented due to a lack of resources on the part of the organization the WTO was cooperating
with.  That document also showed that there had been  a rather high number of ad hoc activities.  The
Secretariat had said that the number of ad hoc activities would be reduced to within 5 per cent in
2003.  He was raising that issue because his Government would be contributing to the implementationof the 2003 TA Plan in two spheres.  First, it had and would be contributing to the DDAGTF.  In
2002, his Government had contributed CHF 600,000.  In addition to that, he said that he was pleased
to announce an additional contribution by the Government of Japan CHF 210,000 to the DDAGTF.
His Government therefore sought modalities by which its development agencies could cooperate with
the WTO in implementing the WTO technical cooperat ion activities.  That was the second sphere in
which his Government would be contributing.  However, it was a difficult one due to the different
fiscal year applied in Japan.  The development cooperation projects of the Government of Japan were
developed with a different time frame.  It was therefore difficult for his Government to incorporate itsWT/COMTD/M/44
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activities into the WTO TA Plans.  One example was found on page 24 of
document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4.  At the bottom of the column there was an activity entitled
"WTO-UNCTAD-JICA Workshop on the Relationship between Trade and Investment".  JICA stood
for Japan International Cooperation Agency.  That activity had been categorized as an ad hoc activity.
However, that activity did not change the original purpose or shape of the 2003 TA Plan.  His
Government had simply attempted to add its resources for WTO TA activities.  The original targetcountries had not been changed.  Although his delegation did not wish to see a high level of ad hoc
activities, there was a need to make some room for such activities as they could reduce the costs borne
by the Secretariat and could provide beneficiary countries with opportunities to participate in the
meeting of the Working Group on the Relationship between Trade and Investment, held back-to-back
with the above-mentioned workshop.  He said that he wished to draw Members' attention to the
positive aspects of such activities for Members to co ntinue to arrange for such activities in the future.
51. He went on to say that the hoped that the process for establishing guidelines for outsourcing
would be transparent.  His delegation would comment on the guidelines when a draft note was
presented to Members.  Regarding the modalities of the trade policy clinics, he said that his delegation
was pleased to hear that their administrative design was going to be light.  However, when the
Secretariat presented Members with ideas in writing he hoped that that paper would include the
administrative implications of the trade policy clinics.  Since many developing country Membersfaced difficulties in utilizing certain special and differential treatment (S&D) provisions in different
agreements, he believed that the trade policy clinics might respond to questions regarding how
Members might make use of S&D provisions.  It was important to identify the key needs of
developing countries and it might be possible to do that through the trade policy clinics.  A feedback
system should therefore be included in any document produced by the Secretariat.  Lastly, he said thathis delegation was aware of the specific difficulties faced by small island Members and that there had
been a request for more countries to be considered as countries from a region constituting a special
challenge.  However, the formula was not important.  What was important was the content and
substance of the activities.  Some input from the Dedicated Session on Small Economies would be
necessary to identify the common needs of the Members who faced special challenges.  Regionalexperts might also be able to provide information on the special challenges faced by those Members.
52. The representative of Bangladesh said that, if statistics were an indicator of the success of any
TA Plan, then there was no reason for Members to be unhappy as 90 per cent of the planned national
and 95 per cent of the planned regional activities had been implemented.  However, whether they had
built capacity in the beneficiary countries was a different question.  The information was provided byregion and by subject matter.  That format made it difficult to get an overview of the amount of TA
provided to the LDCs.  He asked what the rational of the format was and whether the Secretariat could
accommodate the LDC category within that format.  The listing of activities was also important to
understand the kind of TA provided.  It was also important for Members to understand who the lead
agency was in the delivery of each particular activity.  He had found at least two activities to which
the WTO had been invited but for which the WTO had not been the main organizer, like the LDC
Ministerial Conference in Benin and the WIPO seminar in Bangladesh.  The former had beenorganized by the United Nations and the latter by WIPO.  He said that it would assist Members if the
listing of activities could be made more focused and include information regarding which activities
the WTO had actually organized itself and which activities the WTO had been invited to but which
mainly had been organized by other organizations.  The WTO should cooperate with other agencies to
facilitate the delivery of TA activities.  However, 122 activities had had to be cancelled for a varietyof reasons in 2002.  One of the reasons mentioned was problems in the joint delivery with other
agencies.  That had been particularly difficult in relation to the Integrated Framework (IF).  Although
a different fora existed where issues related to the IF could be discussed he asked the Secretariat to
inform Members about the type of problems associated with the delivery of the IF.
53. The representative of Morocco said that his delegation supported the general orientation
outlined by the Secretariat to achieve a real strengthening of the capacities of developing countriesWT/COMTD/M/44
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and LDCs.  The strengthening of capacities was a complex process which demanded an integrated
approach.  His delegation believed that the 2003 TA Plan, which had been qualitatively improved,
would contribute even more to enhanced specialization, and involvement of regional academic
institutions.  The first experiences in that respect had been gained from the regional trade policy
courses in Africa and he was pleased to hear that those courses would be continued and extended to
other regions.  Such initiatives had to be taken in collaboration with other institutions with relevantexperience.  Similar to other delegations, he had some questions with respect to the trade policy
clinics, and especially with regard to the recomme ndations that might come from those clinics.  He
suggested that it might be useful to learn from other organizations who had experience in capacity
building in the trade field.  ITC and UNCTAD with its Trade Point Programme had already used the
trade clinic concept.
54. The representative of the European Communities sa id that his delegation was interested in the
evaluation that would be carried out on the 2002 TA Plan.  It also had an interest in getting more
information on the inter-relationship between the activities implemented and the financial and human
resources deployed.  On the question of outsourcing he said that his delegation looked forward to an
opportunity to consider the outsourcing plan that the Secretariat was working on.  Outsourcing was
important to enable successful delivery of the 2003 TA Plan and future plans, given the resource
constraints faced by the Secretariat, the difference in competence in various areas between the WTOSecretariat and other agencies, and the possible scope to utilise more local and regional delivery
mechanisms.  The DDAGTF was important and Members had to revert to it in the future on the basis
of ideas and papers that would be forthcoming from the Secretariat.  On the issue of trade policy
clinics he said that he hoped that the Secretariat would soon present its ideas in writing.  It was
important to get the links between the trade policy clinics and other diagnostic processes right at theinternational inter-agency level and in the recipient countries.  The resource implications of the trade
policy clinics would have to be considered.  It was also important to integrate the idea of the trade
policy clinics into future TA programmes.  He understood the idea that in order for the trade policy
clinics to be effective they would have to respond to urgent needs of Members and that they therefore,
in some sense, were impossible to predict.  Ho wever, if Members were to do their TA work well,
those elements would have to be considered and be integrated into the exercise.  His delegation
envisaged a continuous process of improvement in terms of programming, coordination and delivery
of TA.  That process of improvement had to be kept in mind when considering what had been
achieved in 2002;  what was being achieved in 2003; and to consider what could be done better in the
future.  It was not premature to begin to consider the strategy for coming years.
55. The representative of Australia said that her delegation particularly welcomed the information
from the Secretariat regarding the acknowledgement of the special needs faced by small islands
economies in the South Pacific.  Her delegation noted the helpful comments made by the
representatives of Barbados and Japan with respect to that issue.  She said that the information
provided in document WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 would serve as a useful complement to the findings
of the TA Audit and the full evaluation, when it became available.  She said that the Australian
Government had announced, on 12 February 2003, that it would contribute a further $A 500,000 tothe DDAGTF for TA in 2003.  Her Government hoped that that contribution would contribute to
efforts to put developing countries in the best position possible to take advantage of the opportunities
that the Doha Development Round had to offer.
56. The representative of Mauritius said that while the reported implementation rates at national
and regional levels were impressive, it was important for Members to get a proper evaluation as
mentioned by the delegations of Canada and the United States.  His Government had benefited both at
the regional and at the national levels.  The activitie s carried out in Mauritius had also been audited
and that audit should reveal some of the good work that had been done.  The representative of
Barbados had raised concerns about the ad hoc activities.  It was the high share of ad hoc activities
compared to planned activities that worried delegations as it raised questions with respect to thepredictability and continuity of the TA Plans.  He shared the views expressed by other delegationsWT/COMTD/M/44
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that, when outsourcing it was important to utilize resources from accredited institutions in various
regions, especially local universities and other trade institutions in developing countries.  With respect
to the trade policy clinics he said that his delegation looked forward to the report that the Secretariat
would provide to Members.  He hoped that the trade policy clinics would bring additional value to
what was already being done.  The efficiency and results of the 2002 TA Plan would only be gauged
after the full evaluation report had been provided.  He thanked the Government of Australia for itscontribution to the DDAGTF and said that he hoped that other Members would follow that initiative.
57. The representative of Tunisia said that the first table of the review of the 2002 TA Plan
(WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4) showed that the African region had the lowest implementation rate.  In
that context he asked how the Secretariat intended to follow up on the activities that had not been
undertaken in 2002 and for which funds had already been allocated.  His delegation attached
importance to the implementation of those activities as his delegation had based its requests on real
and urgent needs, in particular following the larg e range of issues treated in the Doha Development
Agenda.  He drew the Secretariat's attention to the fact that the national activities related to services
and agriculture undertaken in 2002 mentioned on pages 7 and 43 of document
WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 did not relate to the 2002 TA Plan but rather to the JITAP programme.
The financial burden of those activities had been born by the Government of Tunisia.  With respect to
outsourcing he said that, as attendance at WTO meetings was restricted to a few people, it limited theknowledge outside consultants had of the negotiation process.  It was therefore important to be careful
when outsourcing in order to ensure the quality of the TA provided.  He said that it had to be ensured
that any outsourcing was done in a fair manner to consultants representing all WTO Members.  His
delegation would come forward with specific comments on the trade policy clinics once the
Secretariat had issued a detailed report on the issue.  He drew the Committee's attention to the factthat results of national studies had not been implemented.  That was particularly true for the needs that
the Government of Tunisia had in terms of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
58. The representative of China said that his delegation believed that the TA activities offered
were useful to developing countries, particularly the LDCs and the recently acceded Members of the
WTO.  It provided them with opportunities to better understand the WTO Agreements and therebyhelped improve their implementation of those agreements.  TA activities assisted developing country
Members participate fully in the new round of negotiations.  He believed that Members should stick to
the principles they had agreed to when formulating the 2004 TA Plan.  The possibility of making ad
hoc requests was one of them.  That TA activities should be demand and member driven was another.
There had to be a balance in the TA activities offere d to different Members.  That balanced treatment
was important and was reflected in the 2003 TA Plan.  However, flexibility had to be applied in
treating ad hoc requests.  Factors such as a specific need and situation, the status of the requesting
Member in world trade, how long it had been a Member of the WTO, and the availability of human
and financial resources had to be taken into account.   With respect to the financial resources, he said
that Members should not only rely on the DDAGTF but should also seek other forms of financing.
Taking his own Government as an example, he said that some of the WTO TA activities from which
the Government of China had benefited in 2002 had either been financed or co-financed by theGovernment of China, through bilateral assistance or through other international organizations.  While
attempting a balanced treatment of all Members, as reflected in the 2003 TA Plan, reasonable
flexibility needed to be given to the treatment of the ad hoc requests, as long as the human resources
were available in the Secretariat.  However, an alternative solution existed if the human resources
were not available in the Secretariat.  An example was when the Government of China had requestedan ad hoc national seminar on services in 2002 which had been financed by third party resources.
That request had been turned down by the WTO Secretariat because of human resource constraints.
However, while turning it down, the Secretariat had proposed other possible experts.  That was a way
of assisting Members when the human resources of the Secretariat were lacking.
59. The Secretariat (Mr. Paul Rolian, Director, Technical Cooperation Division) said that the
commitment by the Secretariat to provide an evaluation of the 2002 TA activities by the end ofWT/COMTD/M/44
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March 2003 would be honoured.  That evaluation would respond to many of the comments made
about the desire to have a fuller picture of what had happened in 2002, compared to what the
Secretariat had been able to provide in the document containing statistical information on the
implementation of the 2002 TA Plan (WT/COMTD/W/ 101/Add.4).  Several delegations had agreed
with the suggestion made by the representative of Ca nada about the desirability to have a link in the
reporting between the activities implemented and th e financial and human resources needed to carry
them out.  If something more was needed than the information that had already been made available
to the Budget Committee, the Secretariat would be happy to consider how it might provide such
information.  Several delegations had expressed an interest in the th ree commitments that DDG
Dr. Rana had referred to and for which he had promised further documentation:  namely the issues of
outsourcing, access to the DDAGTF and the trade clinics.  The Secretariat would be working on all of
those issues and would take the useful comments that had been made into account in the more detailed
proposals it would be making.  However, as far as the guidelines for the DDAGTF were concerned,
the Secretariat was of the view that that was some thing for Members to decide.  The Secretariat would
follow any guidance it received.  Many comments had also been made with respect to the ad hoc
activities.  The message to the Secretariat seemed to be that a degree of flexibility had to be
maintained.  The question was what degree of flexibility and in relation to what.  That was also
something that the Secretariat would be reflecting on when proposals for the 2004 TA Plan wereelaborated and in carrying out the activities for 2003.
60. He went on to respond to the questions raised by the representative of Bangladesh and said
that five regional LDC-specific activities had been undertaken in 2002.  At least one LDC had been
invited to over 80 regional activities which meant that in 80 regional activities there was at least one
LDC present.  Twenty-four per cent of the 109 planned national activities executed in 2002 had takenplace in and benefited LDCs, i.e. 45 activities.  With respect to the identification of lead agencies for
the activities he said that that was not always as straight forward as it might appear.  It was
particularly difficult to identify a lead agency for jointly programmed and delivered activities when
the WTO Secretariat worked in collaboration with partner agencies.  A lead agency was not always
established for joint activities.  The practice had so far been to merely identify the agency with which
the Secretariat collaborated for any given activity.  With respect to the question of cancellations of
activities and why the IF and mainstreaming activities had been singled out as being problematic, he
said that it was not always possible to deliver activities planned 12 to 15 months in advance since
many of them require the establishment of appropriate mechanisms in the beneficiary countries as
well as among the six core agencies collaborating on the IF and the donor community.  TheDiagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS) could only be conducted once local and international
experts had been recruited.  Roundtables could  only take place once the various stakeholders had had
time to review priority areas of action identified in the DTIS, and a lead donor had been identified.
Finally, the time-frames in which the different agencies operated were not always the same.  With
respect to the point made by the representative of Tunisia, he said that it was statistically true that the
lowest implementation rate was found for the activities planned in Africa.  However, it was the lowest
percentage of the highest number of activities.  The more activities were planned, the more likely itwas that something might happen that would make it impossible to carry out some of the activities.
The Secretariat was considering the re-programming of  some of those activities.  Nevertheless, if the
conditions which led to the cancellation of the activity in the first place had not changed, the activity
could probably still not be carried out.  The representative of the European Communities had made a
comment about having a continuous process of improvement of WTO TA as it was implemented.The Secretariat would consider if improvements could be made, although it would not consider
changing the 2003 TA Plan as it had been agreed by Members.  More importantly, the Secretariat
would soon begin to consider what kind of progra mme to propose to Members for 2004.  That was
what he had referred to when speaking about the ad hoc activities.  How such activities were to be
considered was a function of how the overall TA Plan was conceived.
61. The Secretariat (Mr. Alberto Campeas, Director, Development Division) said that, as
delegations would recall, the 2003 TA Plan had an Addendum 2 containing "Outreach Activities"WT/COMTD/M/44
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(WT/COMTD/W/104/Add.2).  The first of the outreach activities listed there was a Trade and
Environment Symposium for NGOs to be held in Geneva.  Linked to that activity was a footnote
which stated that the Secretariat would consult Members in the Committee on Trade and Environment
(CTE) and the CTD on the modalities, agenda and participation in respect of that symposium.  The
CTE had been consulted at its meeting on 14 February 2003 and he said that the Secretariat would, at
the current meeting, welcome any input from the CTD on those points.  He informed the Committeethat the focal point in the WTO Secretariat for the event was the External Relations Division
(Mr. Hans-Peter Werner and Mr. Bernard Kuiten) and that the Symposium, which was being financed
by the Government of Norway, was scheduled for 16-17 June 2003.  An information note would be
issued to Members later in March 2003.
62. The representative of Egypt asked the Secretariat to provide information on the outcome of
the consultations with the CTE relating to the Trade and Environment Symposium for NGOs.  He
further asked whether the paper on the Trade a nd Environment Symposium for NGOs would include
the issues to be discussed at the Symposium and its expected outcome.  He also asked whether the
CTD would approve that document or simply take note of it.  With respect to document
WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4 he questioned the activitie s described as "Conference/Briefing".  One
example in the area of Trade and Environment could be found on page 50.  He wondered how theCITES Conference could be described as a TA activity and how it related to paragraph 33 of the Doha
Ministerial Declaration.  He assumed that the activities labelled "Conference/Briefing" meant that a
WTO official attended that Conference, and that, in the case of the CITES, the WTO, attended the
Conference as an observer and briefed the participants about the WTO.  He questioned how that could
be regarded as TA, especially as the participants in those conferences came from both developed anddeveloping countries.  He asked if the travel costs for the WTO Secretariat person attending that
Conference was covered by the Trust Fund reserved for TA.
63. The representative of Malaysia said that TA remained a cornerstone of WTO activity and
welcomed the contributions made to the DDAGTF,  particularly the announcements made by the
delegations of Australia and Japan.  She noted the comments that had been made by the delegations ofthe United States, Canada and the European Communities and those that had been made at previous
meetings by developing country members regarding the need for effective, targeted TA.  The
evaluation of the activities carried out in 2002 was going to be helpful in that respect and would help
Members plan the activities for 2004.  Future TA plans should lead to more substantive outcomes in
the area of capacity building.  Her delegation agreed that there should be a proper regional balance ofthe WTO TA activities, including the host countries for regional activities.  However, she knew that
the location chosen sometimes depended on the partner organization.  She therefore suggested that the
WTO Secretariat explore with the other organizations the possibility of some rotation of host
countries for regional TA activities.  Her Government had had the opportunity to host a regional
activity in 2002 from which it had benefited a lot.  Nevertheless, based on previous experience, her
Government felt that more importance should be attached to coordination with the host country when
organizing regional activities.  That would facilitate the delivery of the activity and would ensure amore substantive outcome.
64. She further said that the Secretariat needed to be careful in the selection of consultants to
outsource to in order to maintain the quality of the TA delivered.  Her delegation therefore supported
the establishment of proper criteria and guidelines for the sourcing of the experts.  The use of
ex-Secretariat staff or former Ambassadors, as well as academic staff was welcome.  She hoped thatthere would be a balance between developed and developing country experts.  However, that should
not effect the overriding criteria that the experts should possess the requisite expertise.  Her delegation
thus agreed with the suggestion made by the representatives of Barbados and Tunisia for a regional
perspective in the sourcing of the experts.  She sought clarification with respect to the preparation of
the roster and whether it would be made available to Members as some Members might wish to makeuse of that list of experts for their own technical cooperation programmes.  She said that her
delegation was of the understanding that the trade clinics were meant to address Members' tradeWT/COMTD/M/44
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policy problems from a macro perspective.  Appropriate resources would therefore have to be made
available.  She asked who the Secretariat envisage d would be in position to provide that diagnostic
analysis and the corresponding trade policy advice and if there were any particular linkages between
the trade policy clinics and the IF.  Her delegation welcomed the suggestion made by the
representative of the United States for different modes of delivery to be considered.  On-line delivery
had been proposed and she said that she believed that that could be helpful.  For example, the materialused in WTO TA delivery could be made available online for officials in capitals to be able to access
it.  There had been a recent proposal for the attachment of capital based officials in the missions.  That
was a practical way of enhancing developing countries' expertise in the WTO by actual on-site
experience.  It would also enhance Members' ability to participate in the WTO and she asked whether
that was part of the 2003 TA Plan.  Lastly, she said that her delegation welcomed the attention given
to the economies from regions constituting special challenges.  She sought clarification as to how they
would be treated in the 2003 TA Plan.  She asked wh ether they would be involved in the activities for
the regions already identified or whether a separate category would be created for them.
65. The representative of Thailand said that her delegation agreed with other delegations that the
qualitative aspect of the TA Plan was important.  Her delegation was therefore awaiting the evaluation
of the implementation of the 2002 TA Plan.  She sought more information on the partnerships
between the WTO and other organizations and suggested that it would be useful for delegations to getupdated information on that cooperation.  There seemed to have been some recent developments in
that area as she had learned that the WTO had signed an MoU the previous week with the
International Institute on Trade and Development in Thailand.  Her delegation was grateful for that
and hoped that that cooperation would improve the TA delivered in the Asian region.  With respect to
the trade policy clinics she said that her delegation supported the thrust of the idea and saw it asanother way to help developing countries.  However, it had to be flexible and should not duplicate
existing TA programmes.  She therefore looked fo rward to receiving more information on the trade
policy clinics from the Secretariat.
66. The Secretariat (Mr. Alberto Campeas, Director, Development Division) said, in response to
the query by the delegation of Egypt, that the CTE had been informed, just as the CTD had been at the
current meeting, of the future organization of the Trade and Environment Symposium for NGOs.
There had been no detailed discussion in the CTE which seemed to indicate a positive reception by
Members of the plans by the Secretariat.  The External Relations Division of the Secretariat was in
charge of preparing the programme.  If Members wished to see specific elements reflected in the
programme, he suggested that they contact the Exte rnal Relations Division in order for their ideas to
be included.
67. The Secretariat (Mr. Paul Rolian, Director, Technical Cooperation Division) said, in response
to a question posed by the delegation of Egypt, that attendance at certain conferences allowed the
Secretariat to hold back-to-back activities during which the Secretariat explained the work of the
WTO in the particular field, such as the link between  trade and environment.  Such activities were not
only open to Governments but also to the environmen t community at large.  The Secretariat saw this
as a good way to pass an important message.  Several of the activities referred to had been part of the2002 TA Plan.  The ones that had not been inscribed in the 2002 TA Plan had been carried out in the
same spirit of taking the opportunity, at a low cost (the cost of sending a staff member) to brief the
Conference attendees of what the WTO was doing in the area of trade and environment.  The
representative of Malaysia had suggested that the Secretariat be careful when establishing the roster of
experts to outsource to, and that it should ensure that developing country experts be included.  Heassured delegations that anybody who had the necessary qualifications, competence and profile could
be included in the roster.  He was convinced that many such experts would come from developing
country regions.  The roster could be made available to Members if the persons in question authorized
the Secretariat to transmit the information to others;  it would otherwise have to be treated in
confidence.  He said that the Secretariat was not currently thinking of making a special link betweenWT/COMTD/M/44
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the trade policy clinics and the IF.  However, if ways of tying them together became apparent they
could be more closely linked in the future;  but they were separate initiatives for the time being.
68. The representative of Egypt said that, what Members had decided in the 43rd Session of the
CTD when the issue of the Trade and Environment Symposium for NGOs had been discussed was
that the modalities of the Symposium would be approved by both the CTD and the CTE, and not that
every interested delegation had to individually contact the External Relations Division.  What hisdelegation expected was that a draft, including the issues to be discussed and other aspects of the
Symposium, be circulated both in the CTD and in the CTE.  The CTD and in the CTE would then
approve the plans for the Symposium before it was to be held.
69. The Chairman said that the delegation of Egyp t had requested that the subject matter for the
Trade and Environment Symposium for NGOs be referred to Members so that Members could
comment on it in both the CTD and the CTE and that the Symposium could only be organized
thereafter.  The Secretariat had drawn his attention to  a problem with regard to the sequencing of the
Trade and Environment Symposium for NGOs and the need to consult the Members of the CTD and
the CTE.  As the Symposium would be held in mid-June it seemed difficult to ensure that an
additional meeting of the CTD would be held sufficie ntly in advance of the Symposium to discuss its
modalities, agenda and participation.  He therefore proposed that the External Relations Division soon
circulate a paper regarding the Trade and Environment Symposium for NGOs.  Members would thenget an opportunity to discuss that paper at the CTE meeting in April 2003.  Any comments by any
Member of the CTD could be communicated  to the organizers of the Symposium.
70. He further said that additional reports on some of the seven TA commitments made by the
Secretariat would shortly be circulated Members and that all of those issues could be discussed at the
next meeting of the Committee.
71. The Committee took note of the document and the statements made.
E. D ECLINING TERMS OF TRADE FOR PRIMARY COMMODITIES , AND ITS IMPLICATION TO TRADE
AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY COMMODITY EXPORTING COUNTRIES
72. The Chairman said that the agenda relating to "Declining terms of trade for primary
commodities, and its implication to trade and development of primary commodity exporting
countries" had been included on the agenda upon the request by the delegation of Kenya.  It had also
been requested that the item be taken up directly after the item on technical cooperation.
73. The Committee agreed to that request.
74. The representative of Kenya said that the request for the item to be added to the CTD Agenda
had been made by her delegation and a number of other Commonwealth Members.  They had
intended to circulate a non-paper as a basis for discussions.  That paper contained some preliminary
ideas on action that could be taken under the WTO rules-based system to deal with the crisis situation
which had been created by the long term trend of declining commodity prices and its implications for
the trade and development of developing countries, most of which were heavily dependent on exports
of primary commodities.  The continuous series of WTO meetings held during the previous two
weeks had made it impossible for the interested delegations to meet and finalize the paper.  It had
therefore been decided that she should make a brie f statement highlighting some of the issues in the
non-paper.  She expected to be able to submit the non-paper to the Secretariat within the coming two
weeks for circulation to Members.  She said that her statement was being made on behalf of the
delegations of Uganda, Tanzania, Lesotho and Zi mbabwe who had all agreed to co-sponsor the
non-paper.WT/COMTD/M/44
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75. She went on to say that, until the last months of 2002, the prices of primary commodities had
prevailed at exceptionally low levels.  For instance, the prices of coffee, cocoa, sugar and palm oil had
declined by nearly 70 per cent in the 22 year period from 1980 to 2002.  The prices of other
agricultural commodities had also declined during the same period, but by a lesser percentage.  They
included the prices of cotton and vegetable oils like coconut oil, which were almost 50 per cent lower
in 2000 when compared to the prevailing price-levels in 1980.  Nearly 50 developing countriesdepended on three or fewer commodities for a large proportion of their exports.  In the case of Kenya,
Uganda and Tanzania for example, three primary commodities (i.e. coffee, tea and cotton) accounted
for between 42 to 44 per cent of their merchandise exports.  The prices of a number of commodities
had risen in recent months.  However, in the case of agricultural commodities such as coffee, cotton
and vegetable oils, that was the result of poor harvests caused by bad weather and drought in some of
the producing countries.  In the case of cocoa, the rise in prices partly reflected the impact of civil war
on production in Côte d'Ivoire.  The present sudden ri se in commodity prices was thus temporary.  It
was a result of short-term supply constraints and did not reflect any long lasting trend towards
improved balance between world supply and demand.  The secular trend towards a decline in the
prices of those commodities and their volatility had created a crisis situation in most of the
commodity producing countries, as there was a close relationship between world market prices and
poverty levels.  In most of the countries, the production of crops such as coffee, cocoa and sugarcanewas undertaken by poor subsistence farmers, who in most cases were heavily indebted.  The decline
in prices for their produce had further reduced their meager income.  Small scale coffee and cocoa
farmers were currently getting a third of the price they had been receiving in earlier years.  The result
was that an increasing number of farmers who produced those crops were living below poverty levels.
The worst affected were the heavily indebted countries, which directed major portions of their foreignexchange revenue towards the servicing of debts.  The ability of those and other developing countries
to alleviate poverty and to integrate themselves into the fast growing global economy was therefore
greatly dependent on how quickly they were able to address the decline in the terms of trade for
primary commodities.  That observation lead to the question of what action WTO Members could
take and why action was necessary in the WTO.  She said that, in the view of her delegation and ofthose that were co-sponsoring the non-paper, there were two reasons why it would be necessary to
address, in the ongoing work and negotiations in WTO, the problems posed to the trade and
development of developing countries by declining prices of primary commodities.  Firstly, as all
countries attached political importance to the role of the WTO, raising the crisis situation created by
declining commodity prices for discussions in the WTO might bring to the attention of the general
public the need and urgency of taking early action at the international level.  Secondly, and more
importantly, that would facilitate a resolution on the basis of WTO's rules-based system, including, in
the context of the ongoing negotiations for the liberalization of trade in the agricultural sector.
76. She further said that, in the past rounds of negotiations held under the auspices of the GATT,
the negotiations for the liberalization of trade in primary agricultural commodities which were
produced predominantly in the tropics, had not been held in the negotiating group on agriculture, but
in a separate group constituted for that purpose.  The priority attention given to the removal of tariffsand non tariff measures affecting trade in tropical products in the past rounds, resulted in the
elimination of tariffs on almost all tropical products in their primary form by all developed countries.
However, some of those countries still maintained duties on an MFN basis on imports of processed
products, except in cases where duties had been lowered under preferential arrangements.  In the
present round of negotiations, no separate negotiating group on tropical products had been constituted.Negotiations addressing problems in the trade in those products were expected to take place in the
Special Session  of the Committee on Agriculture, which was responsible for negotiating the
liberalization of trade in agricultural products.  In his first draft containing possible modalities that
could be adopted for negotiations on agriculture, the Chairman of the Special Session  of the
Committee on Agriculture had proposed that "In implementing their market access commitments,developed country Members should take fully into account the particular needs and conditions of
developing country Members by providing for greater improvement of opportunities and terms of
access for agricultural products of particular interest to these Members, including the fullestWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 25
liberalization of trade in tropical products, wh ether in primary or in processed form, ...".1  Further, in
order to ensure that reductions made in the MFN tariff did not lead to a sudden disruption of trade to
countries which benefit from preferential access, the paper proposed that, in implementing their
commitments, "participants extending preferential treatment, should undertake to maintain to the
extent possible, the nominal margins and other terms and conditions they accord to their developed
country partners".  However, past work and the negotiations in the GATT had centered almostentirely on securing improvements in the access for tropical products in the markets of developed
countries through removal of tariffs and other barriers of trade.
77. She then said that the focus in the present round of negotiations would be to also secure
further improvements of market access, particularly through securing further reductions in the tariffs
applicable to processed products and on the removal of tariff escalation.  Some progress might also be
made in requiring developed countries to reduce trade distorting domestic and export subsidies
(including export finance and credits) which they granted to tropical products such as cotton andsugar.  Unless definite decisions were taken to broaden the area of negotiations, issues relating to the
impact of declining prices of primary commodities on trade and development were not expected to be
covered by the negotiations.  UNCTAD had so far provided the main forum for discussions on the
problems faced by commodity exporting countries as a result of declining prices of primary
commodities and their vola tility.  Its mandate to work on commodity issues had enabled it to
renegotiate, in the second half of seventies, the existing international agreements on commodities such
as those on coffee, cocoa and sugar and to promote the establishment of the common fund for
commodities.  She noticed that, when taking into account the role which UNCTAD had played in the
past and was playing at present in the commodity field, it was often argued that the WTO should not
get involved in the discussions on the stabilization of prices.  In that context, she said that she thought
that it was important for Members to note that during the same period negotiations for developing
commodity agreements for coffee, cocoa and sugar had been held in UNCTAD, arrangements for the
management of supplies, through inter alia, contro l over production of bovin e meat and diary products
had been adopted during the agricultural negotiations in the Tokyo Round (viz. Agreement on Bovine
Meat and International Agreement on Dairy Products).  The International Agreement on DiaryProducts had also provided a mechanism for the maintenance of prices at agreed levels.
78. She continued by saying that a more definitive legal basis for negotiations on stabilization of
prices of primary commodities that were of export interest to developing countries was provided in
Part IV (chapter on Trade and Development) of the GATT 1994.  Its Article XXXVI, which laid
down principles and objectives, stated that:  There is a need … to devise … measures designed tostabilize and improve conditions of world markets in these (primary) products including in particular
measures designed to attain stable, equitable and remunerative prices.  Those provisions were
complemented by Article XXXVIII on "joint action" which inter alia stated that towards that end,
Members might negotiate and adopt "international arrangements" providing for:  Improved and
acceptable conditions to access to world markets of primary products of particular interest to
developing countries;  and Measures designed to stabilize and improve conditions of world markets in
these products, including measures designed to attain stable, equitable and remunerative prices forexports of such products.  Taking into account the responsibility which the above-mentioned
provisions of GATT put on WTO Members, the non-paper intended to propose that the CTD examine
on a priority basis the impact which the crisis situation created by declining prices had on:  the trade
and development of countries which were heavily dependent on exports of primary commodities;  and
their capacity to pay and service their foreign debts.  Such an examination, as envisaged inArticle XXXVIII, should further aim at drawing out a program for "joint action" that could be taken in
the course of ongoing work and negotiations in WTO.
79. Before concluding, she emphasized that her delegation, as well as the delegations of Uganda,
Tanzania, Lesotho and Zimbabwe on whose behalf she was making the statement, were keen on
                                                     
1 TN/AG/W/1WT/COMTD/M/44
Page 26
ensuring that the recommendations of the CTD on the type of action that could be taken in WTO to
deal with the problems posed as a result of declining prices of primary commodities, was made
available, as appropriate, to the Cancún Ministerial Conference.  Since there would be at best two
regular sessions of the Committee before that date, the sponsors of the non-paper considered that it
might be necessary for the Committee to convene special sessions or appoint a Sub-Committee to
consider the issues relating to the prices of primary commodities which she had raised.  To facilitatediscussions on those issues, she requested the incoming Chairman to arrange for informal
consultations in the third week of March, immediately after the circulation of the non-paper.  That
consultation would enable Members to agree on the background research papers that would be needed
for the examination of the various elements to which she had referred, and allocate the responsibility
for preparing them among the WTO, UNCTAD, the Commonwealth Secretariat and other agencies
which would be invited to participate in the discussions on the subject.  She said that she had
highlighted the main issues in the non-paper, as that would enable delegations to study them and comeprepared to participate in the informal discussions to be held.  For people in Kenya, and those in about
50 other developing countries which were heavily dependent on exports of primary commodities, the
ongoing Doha Development Round would only be m eaningful if it succeed in finding solutions,
during the course of the negotiations, to the proble ms posed by declining prices of commodities.  If
the Doha Development Round failed to find such solutions, the Round might not have any significantimpact on the trade and development of those countries.  She encouraged other Members affected by
declining primary commodity prices to consider co-sponsoring the non-paper when it was circulated.
80. The Chairman said that that the declinin g terms of trade for primary commodities was
important to many primary commodity exporting countries.  However, he said that it might be
difficult for Members to address the issue at the current meeting as the paper referred to by therepresentative of Kenya had not been circulated.
81. The representative of Barbados said that her delegation welcomed the work that other
delegations had put into emphasizing the importance to primary commodity producing developing
countries of trade in those commodities.  That trade was important to their economic development
programmes.  The representative of Kenya had clearly outlined how the lack of stability ofcommodity prices could provoke crisis situations in the exporting countries.  Her delegation fully
endorsed the initiative to raise the issue of commodity trade in the WTO, and specifically in the CTD,
with a view to examine what trade-related action might be necessary, and possible, in the WTO.  That
consideration should be made with the short term aim of making recommendations for action to the
Cancún Ministerial Conference.
82. The representative of the United States said that she found the statement by the representative
of Kenya interesting.  Although she realized that the co-sponsors were still working on the paper, she
wondered if the oral statement made by the representative of Kenya could be circulated in writing.
83. The representative of Kenya said that what the co-sponsors intended to circulate was the non-
paper that they were still working on.  Her statem ent had been made with a view to introduce other
Members to the work of the co-sponsors and for the Committee to agree to have a substantive
discussion after the non-paper had been circulated.
84. The representative of Japan said that his delegation was concerned that the representative of
Kenya implied that the solution to the issue, on which a paper was yet to be submitted for discussion,
might have a decisive impact on the ongoing round of negotiations.
85. The Chairman suggested that the item would be included on the Agenda of the next meeting
of the Committee.  He said that he would inform the incoming Chairperson of the discussions held
and the request made by the delegation of Kenya.  Depending on when the paper was circulated, he
suggested that the incoming Chairperson might organize a discussion at the next regular session of theWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 27
Committee or hold an informal discussion before that.  He also suggested that the Committee take
note of the statements made.
86. It was so agreed.
F. E LECTRONIC COMMERCE (WT/COMTD/W/110)
87. The Chairman said that agenda item E on Electronic Commerce was a standing item on the
Agenda of the Committee.  At the 42nd Session of the CTD, the delegation of Canada had asked for a
document which would update delegation's memory on the work that had been carried out in the CTD
with respect to electronic commerce (e-commerce).  Document WT/COMTD/W/110, which aimed to
respond to that request, showed that the CTD had actually been one of the most active of the four
subsidiary bodies of the General Council which were tasked to consider the issue of e-commerce.  An
extensive educational process had been undertaken on issues relating to electronic commerce and
development.  He invited comments on the document and asked Members for ideas about how theywished to handle the issue of e-commerce in the CTD.
88. The representative of the United States said that her delegation had only recently seen the
document and was therefore not in a position to comment intensively on it.  However, her delegation
would study it and use it to consider what further work the CTD might undertake on e-commerce in
the future.
89. The representative of Canada said that her delegation's preliminary view was that the paper
appropriately outlined the important work carried out by the CTD.  She noted that the CTD had been
one of the more active of the four subsidiary bodies to the General Council currently engaged in the
Work Programme on E-commerce.  Her delegation looked forward to continued work in that areawithin the CTD.  E-commerce represented an important means of doing business in the knowledge-
based economy and had the potential to benefit developed and developing countries alike.  Her
delegation looked forward to building upon the work already carried out in the CTD in the area of e-
commerce and welcomed other Members' views on how best to proceed.
90. The representative of Egypt said that the pape r outlined the good work that had been carried
out on e-commerce in the CTD.  As mentioned by the representative of the United States, the paper
had recently been circulated which was why his comments were preliminary.  He would provide more
detailed comments at a later stage.  His delegation believed that the process had to be reactivated.  It
had been shown that e-commerce could be one way of enhancing the economic performance ofdeveloping countries and LDCs.  The papers submitted in the past as well as the seminars convened in
the WTO and elsewhere outlined the major areas that would require consideration in the discussions
on e-commerce.  Most important were the questions of how a developing country could be e-ready for
it to reap the real benefits of e-commerce and how the negative implications of e-commerce on
exports from developing countries could be mitigated.  The representative of Canada had, in an earlier
intervention, underscored the importance of South-S outh trade.  He believed that enhancing the
e-capacity of developing countries would contribute substantially to their economic development.Paragraph 15 of the Secretariat paper captured the issues that needed to be addressed under the rubric
of e-commerce and mainstreaming trade for developing countries' growth.  His delegation believed
that Members should base their discussions on the report submitted to the General Council in 2000.
The focus should be on the issues which fell within the competence of the CTD.  Members could also
draw on the relevant papers issued in other relevant international organizations.  The aim should be toformulate a set of recommendations for Ministers to consider.  His delegation looked forward to
continue the work on e-commerce at a faster pace in order to make operational the means that would
help developing countries reap the benefits of e-commerce.WT/COMTD/M/44
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91. The Chairman suggested that Members take note of the document and the comments made and
keep the item as a standing item on the agenda.
92. It was so agreed.
G. P ARAGRAPH 51 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON IDENTIFYING AND DEBATING
DEVELOPMENTAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS , IN ORDER TO
HELP ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE OF HAVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATELY
REFLECTED
93. The Chairman said that agenda Item G was a standing item on the agenda which related to
paragraph 51 of the Doha Ministerial Declarati on on identifying and debating developmental and
environmental aspects of the negotiations in order to  help achieve the objective of having sustainable
development appropriately reflected.  Shortly af ter the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable
Development it had been agreed that the CTD migh t consider the negotiated documents that emerged
from that Summit.  Those documents, in their prelim inary versions, had been circulated to Members in
multi-symbol document WT/COMTD/W/106 - WT/CTE/W/220, as the CTE had also wished to
consider them.  In that context, he informed Memb ers that the final versions had been circulated as
document WT/COMTD/W/106/Rev.1. - WT/CTE/W/220/Re v.1.  He said that Members had had some
time to consider how they wished to deal with the issue in the context of the CTD and sought Members'
views on how to move the issue forward in the CTD.
94. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation's views on the issue
were well known.  He was therefore not in a position to respond to the Chairman's request for new
ideas on how to deal with it.  His delegation maintained the view that paragraph 51 of the Doha
Ministerial Declaration was important.  It was of importance and mutual interest to all delegations to
give effect to it in a more substantive way than Members had previously been able to.  What had been
said in the CTD and in other WTO fora in recent w eeks had reinforced the benefit and mutual interest
of taking the instruction in paragraph 51 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration forward in a more
concrete manner.  The representative of Kenya had raised an item relating to commodities which
seemed linked to other aspects of the Doha Development Agenda, in particular to market access,
subsidies and developmental concerns.  Apart from those particular points raised with respect to
commodities, Members were aware of the discussions relating to S&D and in determining themodalities of the market access negotiations.  One important theme in that respect was how to take
account of the particular concerns and interests of developing countries.  It was not an aspect that was
only taken up in the context of the market access negotiations, but it was an important element of the
more regulatory discussions taking place in other groups within the structure of the Doha
Development Agenda.  It was increasingly urgent to reach agreement on how to give effect to
paragraph 51 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  He further said that his delegation attached
importance to the NGO seminar on sustainable devel opment to be held in June 2003.  He suggested
that to maximize the synergies between the meetings of the CTD and that Symposium, it might be
useful to schedule a future meeting of the CTD back-to-back with the Symposium.  That would create
greater scope for interaction, in an informal manne r, between the two events.  Such interaction was
important in order to give an effective focus to the outreach activity in form of the Symposium.
95. The Chairman said that he would discuss the issue of scheduling a future meeting of the CTD
back-to-back with the NGO Symposium with the incoming Chairperson of the CTD.
96. The representative of the United States suggested that Members initially consider a practical
way to proceed.  Much work was being done in other WTO bodies such as the consideration of the
modalities with respect to S&D, reciprocity in the context of market access, the overarching S&D
issues, the S&D monitoring mechanism, and work in the rules area.  In light of all that she asked
whether it would be possible for the CTD to periodically receive information from Secretariat staff onWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 29
what the different negotiating groups were doing in relation to the development agenda.  Her
delegation was flexible with respect to how that might be done.  However, as delegations seemed to
have concerns about what the Committee could do with respect to paragraph 51 of the Doha
Ministerial Declaration, she suggested that an information process might be a pragmatic start that
would assist delegations understand the breath and the depth of the relationships.  She agreed with the
representative from the European Communities that learning from other ongoing events, such as theNGO Symposium on sustainable development, might be useful in deciding on how to treat the issue in
the CTD in the future.
97. The representative of Malaysia said that the suggestion made by the representative of
United States to receive information on what the negotiating bodies were doing that might be linked
to paragraph 51 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration was a good idea.  She said that, since the CTD
might not have the resources to do everything at once, she suggested that the Committee requestinformation from one or two negotiating groups at a time in order to allow for discussions.  She said
that what the representative of Kenya had said on commodities might relate to the agricultural
negotiations and suggested that it might be useful to begin by inviting information regarding the
agricultural negotiations.
98. The Chairman said that the proposal made by the representative of United States, supported by
the representative of Malaysia, was helpful and th at he would consult with the incoming Chair and
encourage him to arrange for such briefings from Secretariat staff.
99. It was so agreed.
H. N OTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AMONG DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
100. The Chairman said that, at its 43rd Session of the CTD, the delegation of the United States had
suggested and the Committee had agreed to include an item on the agenda of its following meeting
relating to notification procedures for regional trade agreements (RTAs) among developing countries.
101. The representative of the United States began by stating her delegation's support for the
efforts made by developing countries to enhance regional trade integration through RTAs, such as the
India-Sri Lanka RTA notified to the CTD.  Her delegation noted the rising interest among developingcountries in RTAs and regional liberalization.  That was a positive development which her delegation
encouraged, and which her delegation believed that other WTO Members should encourage.  Her
Government was also pursuing bilateral and regional trade integration as well as multilateral efforts to
promote more open trade among nations.  She said that her delegation was pleased that other
Members saw the value of more open markets with their neighbours.  At the same, time her delegation
had always believed that those agreements had to be consistent with WTO rules and that there should
be a forum to allow Members to better understand them.  Transparency in the trading system was a
fundamental obligation and right in the WTO.
102. She went on to say that, at the 43
rd Session of the CTD in November 2002, her delegation had
requested the Committee to include an item on the agenda relating to notification procedures for
RTAs among developing countries.  The aim of that request was to consider positive steps the CTDcould take to improve the review process for the purposes of greater transparency in RTAs.
Paragraph 4 of the Enabling Clause specified that an opportunity for review and discussion had to be
provided if interested WTO Members so requested.  Her delegation was interested in a discussion and
review of all such agreements.  To begin the process, her delegation was finalizing a set of questions
concerning the India-Sri Lanka RTA and looked forward to receiving responses to them.  She hopedto provide both delegations with the questions within the next couple of days.  The questions her
delegation had developed requested some additional information of interest to all traders.  Her
delegation sought a better understanding of the basic nature and scope of the RTA and how it hadWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 30
operated since its entry into force.  As a practical matter, and in keeping with the various mandates of
the respective WTO committees and councils, she said that it would be appropriate to consider
questions and answers and any other follow-up in the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
(CRTA) rather than in the CTD, as highly technical questions were involved.  The CRTA would
therefore be a more appropriate forum given the expertise it had developed over time.  A review in the
CRTA did not in itself prejudge whether an agreement was subject to the Enabling Clause,Article XXIV of the GATT or Article V of the GATS.  She noted that the CRTA had been notified of
agreements under the Enabling Clause in the past as well as agreements under the GATT and the
GATS and that the CRTA was in the process of reviewing a great number of such agreements.  Her
delegation wished to begin the process by raising questions and get an opportunity to consult,
preferably in the CRTA.  However, the CTD could also be involved if Members found that helpful as
it had a mandate in that area.  Her delegation was prepared to have a joint exercise of the CRTA and
the CTD if there was such a desire.  What her delegation considered necessary was a publicdiscussion in order for all Members to be kept informed.
103. The Chairman said that it created a slight probl em for the Committee that the delegation of the
United States raised one particular RTA as that agr eement had already been notified and discussed in the
CTD.  In fact, the CTD had already taken note of it.  He agreed to deal with the item as a general issue
but asked how the Committee could address an  item that had already been settled.
104. The representative of the United States said that her delegation was of the view that there was
no time-limit for asking questions about specific RTAs, nor had her delegation forgone its right to
raise it in the context of other committees' activities.  She had simply used the example of a recentlynotified agreement.  Her delegation was pleased that that RTA had been notified and was grateful to
the parties to that agreement for having done so.  However, that the CTD had taken note of the
notification was not necessarily the end of the process.  Her delegation was not trying to begin a
process that was particularly burdensome.  The questions her delegation would pose were not
overwhelming in number or scope.  Nevertheless, th e India-Sri Lanka RTA could serve as an example
for the Committee to consider a logical way of dea ling with notifications of RTAs among developing
countries in the future.  Such agreements were proliferating.  It was therefore an important point of
principle to ensure that there was an opportunity for other members to raise questions when such
agreements were notified.  The Governments of India and Sri Lanka had chosen to notify their RTA
to the CTD.  That was why her delegation had raised the question in the CTD.  There was anotherappropriate WTO body which had oversight over RTAs.  However, she understood that there were
differences of view on the appropriate forum.  Her delegation did not only wish to discuss a particular
agreement but also consider how notifications of RTAs among developing countries would be dealt
with in the future.  She said that her delegation welcomed any ideas about what an adequate approach
for review would be in the CTD.  The fact, that  an agreement was notified under the Enabling Clause
did not mean that other WTO Members did not have the right to raise questions and have them
answered.  Her delegation would welcome the participation of the CTD in the process.
105. The Chairman said that he had been under the impression that it was the general procedures
for notifying RTAs among developing countries that the delegation of the United States wished to
discuss.
106. The representative of India said that the agenda item under discussion related to notification
procedures for RTAs among developing countries and not to any particular RTA notified earlier under
the Enabling Clause.  At the 43rd Session of the CTD, when the representative of the United States had
requested the inclusion of the agenda item, it had been clarified that the intention was to discuss the
transparency aspect of RTAs notified under the Enabling Clause, not to discuss any specific RTA.The representative of the United States had raised a number of substantive points.  However, since
reference had been made to the RTA notified jointly by the Governments of India and Sri Lanka he
said that he would reiterate his delegation's position.  The India-Sri Lanka RTA had been notified to
the CTD in June 2002 under the Enabling Clause.  The notification had been put on the agenda of theWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 31
CTD for its meeting in July 2002.  At the request of some members, it had been kept on the agenda
for the October 2002 meeting of the Committee.  Members had therefore had ample opportunity to
comment and share their observations on that notification.  The Committee had thereafter proceeded
to take note of the notification at its meeting in October 2002.  In fact, the Secretariat had also been
asked to provide a clarification regarding the notification procedures for RTAs notified under the
Enabling Clause.  The Enabling Clause provided for regional or global arrangements amongdeveloping countries for the mutual reduction or elimination of tariffs and all non-tariff measures.
Such RTAs were notified to the CTD.  His delegation did recognize the transparency obligations in
paragraph 4(a) of the Enabling Clause.  Keeping those transparency obligations in mind, the
Governments of India and Sri Lanka had jointly notified their RTA to the CTD.  His delegation
believed that it had complied with the transparency ob ligations alluded to by the representative of the
United States and fulfilled its obligations according to the practice in the CTD.
107. He continued by saying that the existing rules dealt with the issue of transparency for RTAs
among developing countries in a sufficient manner.  There was no need to revisit the issue.  It had
been mentioned that paragraph 4 of the Enabling Clause provided for some sort of review or
examination.  His delegation's view was that no examination was foreseen by the Enabling Clause.
The practice in the CTD had been that RTAs under the Enabling Clause had been notified andMembers had had the chance to comment and make observations.  The notification had thereafter
been taken note of by the Committee.  With respect to the questions and answers mentioned by the
representative of the United States he said that the Committee was not currently discussing any
particular RTA.  It was discussing transparency and notification procedures in general.  He would not
make any specific response with respect to the RTA between India and Sri Lanka as doing so wouldraise a more substantive issue in terms of the practice followed in the CTD for RTAs notified under
the Enabling Clause.  He said that, regarding the suggestion to also notify such agreements to the
CRTA, his delegation maintained the view that the existing rules were sufficiently clear and addressed
the question of transparency recognized in paragraph 4 of the Enabling Clause.  Any additional
onerous burden on developing countries, either in relation to notifications of RTAs to the CRTA orany review or examination was not warranted, particularly in view of the relatively small share of
world trade covered by those RTAs.
108. The representative of the European Communities said that the delegation of the United States
had raised what his delegation also considered to be an important issue that merited further
consideration in the CTD.  His delegation recognized the value of regional integration for developing
countries, whether in the form of agreements between developing countries or between developing
and developed countries.  His delegation had gained much experience from its own practice of
concluding agreements with developing countries.  His delegation had also come to recognize that
regional integration between developing countries was an important component of that process and a
complement to the integration of developing countries into the Multilateral Trading System.  It was
important to consider the design and content of agreements between developing countries to ensurethat they contributed to the development of the countries concerned.  All members of the CTD had a
strong interest in understanding and receiving information about the many RTAs concluded among
developing countries.  He therefore supported the call for a discussion of initiatives that Members
might take to ensure continued and effective transparency in the area.  He also acknowledged the
technical skills and knowledge that resided in the CRTA.  He was aware that the CTD would not beable to take conclusive decisions on the issue immediately.  However, the issue merited further
attention in the coming months and at the next meeting of the CTD.  He said that the implications that
a general debate on notification requirements would have on individual, already concluded RTAs was
an aspect that needed to be addressed.
109. The representative of Egypt said that his delegation supported the statement made by the
representative of India.  He said that his delegation was of the view that the Enabling Clause should
not be treated in the same way as Article XXIV of GATT 1994.  The difference was clear in that that
Article XXIV required the passage of an RTA through some kind of an examination andWT/COMTD/M/44
Page 32
consultations.  The Enabling Clause, recognizing the burden and the cost that such an examination
might have on developing countries, did not provide for that type of exercise.  All it required, as
mentioned by the representative of India, was that the developing country parties to an agreement
promptly notify it.  No examination should be carried out, either in the CTD or in the CRTA.  The
CTD should only take note of the agreement, as long as it was consistent with the Enabling Clause.
110. The Chairman recalled that, when the issue had been discussed in 2002 at the 43rd Session of
the CTD, the Secretariat had provided a clarification regarding the notification obligations for RTAs
among developing countries.  What the Secretariat had said was that Members had to indicate under
which legal cover they notified their RTAs.  The WTO body receiving such notifications would then
decide where it would go, i.e. whether it should be referred to the CRTA or not.  There were two
elements to the issues raised by delegations.  The first related to the procedure the CTD should follow
for RTAs notified under the Enabling Clause.  The other element related to specific RTAs that hadalready been notified.  His personal inclination with  respect to the second element was that, once an
RTA had been taken note of in the CTD, Members should be careful in going back to the matter.
With respect to the first element regarding the pro cedure for dealing with RTAs, he suggested that the
CTD seek a legal opinion from the Secretariat and keep the item on the agenda and revert to it at the
next meeting.
111. It was so agreed.
I. E LECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE CTD
112. The Chairman said that the incoming Chairperson was unable to attend the meeting.  As he
wished to hand over the Chairmanship in person, he suggested that Members revert to that item at the
beginning of the next session of the Committee.
113. It was so agreed.
J. E LECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON LEAST -DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES
114. The Chairman said that, following consultations with Members, it was his understanding that
Members would be pleased to see Ambassador Molander of Sweden continue his work as
Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries.  Ambassador Molander had takena number of initiatives during the course of 2002 which the Members of the Sub-Committee on
Least-Developed Countries had appreciated.
115. Ambassador Molander was re-elected Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed
Countries.
116. The representative of Sweden thanked Members for the continued confidence that Members
had put in the Ambassador of Sweden to continue to chair the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed
Countries.  He said that the Ambassador of Sweden hoped that positive results could be obtained in
advance of and at the Fifth Ministerial Conference, especially with respect to the accession of LDCs.
K. O THER BUSINESS
117. No matter was raised under Other Business.
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