WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION
RESTRICTED
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
2 April 2003
(03-1852)
Committee on Trade and Development
Fourth Dedicated Session
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 10 MARCH 2003
Chairman: H.E. Mr. Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh)
Subjects discussed:
A.
ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA ............................................................................................ 1
B.
COMMUNICATION FROM A GROUP OF SMALL ECONOMIES WITH RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR ACTION BY THE GENERAL COUNCIL (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8) ............................................. 1
C.
RESPONSES TO A QUESTIONNAIRE FROM THE UNITED STATES REGARDING
WT/COMTD/SE/W/3 (WT/COMTD/SE/W/7) .......................................................................... 7
D.
OTHER BUSINESS ........................................................................................................................ 9
A.
ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT AGENDA
1.
The Chairman said that the draft agenda for the meeting was contained in Airgram
WTO/AIR/2046 of 28 February 2003.
2.
The representative of Guatemala said that she wished to make a brief statement under Other
Business.
3.
The agenda was adopted as amended.
B.
COMMUNICATION FROM A GROUP OF SMALL ECONOMIES WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
ACTION BY THE GENERAL COUNCIL (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8)
4.
The Chairman said that agenda Item B related to a communication from a group of small
economies with recommendations for action by the General Council. He reminded Members of the
mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration in which Members agreed to a
Work Programme, under the auspices of the General Council, to examine issues relating to the trade
of small economies. The objective of that work was to frame responses to the trade-related issues
identified for the fuller integration of small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system,
and not to create a sub-category of WTO Members. The General Council was required to review the
Work Programme and make recommendations for action to the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
5.
He said that the Fourth Dedicated Session was important because the Fifth Ministerial
Conference was approaching and Members needed to begin considering what recommendations for
action to make to the Fifth Ministerial Conference. The submission entitled "Recommendations for
Action by the General Council – Draft Decision on Small Economies" (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8) was
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 2
made by the delegations of Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Fiji Islands,
Mauritius, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga and Trinidad and Tobago.
6.
The representative of Mauritius said that he was pleased to announce that the delegations of
Honduras and Paraguay wished to be added as co-sponsors to the submission. He said that there were
a number of other delegations which were in the process of consulting with their capitals and which
might wish to be added as co-sponsors of that submission in the future. He would inform the
Secretariat once he had the complete list of sponsors. He said that Ministers had entrusted Members
with three responsibilities in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. First, Members were
to identify the trade-related issues relating to small economies after which, they were to frame
responses to those trade-related issues. Finally, they had been entrusted to ask the General Council to
make recommendations for action to the Fifth Ministerial Conference. The question to ask was
whether they had fulfilled those responsibilities, and he believed that they had. On 1 March 2002
when the General Council adopted the framework and procedures for the conduct of the Work
Programme on Small Economies1, it was decided that the Work Programme on Small Economies
would be conducted in the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) in dedicated sessions and
that that Work Programme would remain under the overall responsibility of the General Council.
Paragraph 3 of the Work Programme stated that "As instructed by Ministers in Doha, the overall
objective of the Work Programme shall be the timely completion of the mandate as contained in
paragraph 35 of the Doha Declaration". He said that, at the First Dedicated Session of the CTD held
on 25 April 2002, a group of small economies had submitted document WT/COMTD/SE/W/1 in
which they indicated the nine characteristics that made their countries vulnerable. Those delegations
also demonstrated how the nine characteristics had negative implications on their economies. They
showed how characteristics such as limited availability of exploitable land, prevalence of natural
disasters, physical isolation, and geographical dispersion and remoteness adversely affected the trade
and development of small economies. Many delegations had asked what a small economy was and
the submission of that document had been an attempt by that group of countries to address that
question. He believed that they had been successful in doing so. The group of small economies
possessed a genuine desire to help Members understand what a small economy was and what it was to
be a small economy. Judging by reactions at the First Dedicated Session, Members had considered
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/1 to be a good basis for further work.
7.
He further said that, encouraged by that positive response, the group of small economies had
attempted to tackle the second responsibility given by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference,
of framing possible responses to address the vulnerabilities and concerns of small economies. At the
Second Dedicated Session, held on 1 July 2002, which in his view had been the most important
session, the small economies had submitted document WT/COMTD/SE/W/3 which contained
17 proposals. He said that, according to the small economies, those proposals would go a long way
towards addressing their concerns and solving their problems. The 17 proposals were classified under
seven headings which included preferences, regional trade agreements, subsidies, WTO rules and
procedures, technical assistance and capacity building, graduation of small economies and accession.
After having framed those 17 proposals, the group of small economies had welcomed members
requests for clarifications on those proposals. The delegation of the United States had shown an
interest in the proposals and submitted a questionnaire to the group of small economies in which it
sought clarification on those proposals. Responses to the questions posed by the delegation of the
United States had been provided at the Third Dedicated Session (document WT/COMTD/SE/W/7).
He said that he had been unable to attend that meeting but that the statement made by the
representative of the United States at that meeting indicated its appreciation for the responses that the
group of small economies had provided. He believed that, in responding to the questionnaire put
forward by the delegation of the United States, the group of small economies had provided the
necessary clarifications. The Chairman had earlier requested Members requiring further clarifications
1
WT/L/447
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 3
to submit their questions in writing. The group of small economies had insisted on receiving any
questions in writing as many Members representing small economies who had to be consulted were
not represented in Geneva.
8.
He went on to say that four months had elapsed since the last meeting. Since his delegation
had received no questions from other delegations he hoped that he was not mistaken in assuming that
the responses given to the questions posed by the delegation of the United States were acceptable and
that there was no need for further clarifications. He therefore suggested that Members move to the
third responsibility and request the General Council to use the 17 proposals contained in
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/3 as a basis for making recommendations for action to the Fifth
Ministerial Conference. That would be a logical way to proceed as members had fulfilled the first
two responsibilities given by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference. It was not too early for
Members to begin considering recommendations from the General Council to the Fifth Ministerial
Conference. There were many issues that small delegations had to deal with in the WTO. It was
therefore timely for Members to consider recommendations if they were to fulfil the mandate given by
Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference.
9.
The representative of Paraguay endorsed the statement made by the representative of
Mauritius that his delegation wished to be added as co-sponsor to the
submission (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8). He reiterated his delegation's support for the work being done in
the Dedicated Session. His delegation would continue to support any work towards the fulfilment of
the mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the purpose of which was
to ensure the full integration of small and vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system.
His delegation supported the request made in paragraph 5 of document WT/COMTD/SE/W/8 that
"the CTD requests the General Council to use the proposals contained in WT/COMTD/SE/W/3 as the
basis for making recommendations for action to the Fifth Ministerial Conference, for the fuller
integration of small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system."
10.
The representative of the United States agreed that Members were still in the process of
fulfilling the mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. She said that
the Secretariat documents and the submissions that the proponents had tabled had been helpful.
However, Members were still involved in the process of framing responses to the trade-related issues
relating to small economies. Nevertheless, her delegation did not object to Members considering
practical recommendations to make to the General Council in those discussions. Members were at a
practical phase of considering ideas and trying to identify those ideas which had the greatest potential
to result in practical outcomes and where recommendations to the General Council therefore would be
most useful. Although Members were making progress, she did not believe that they had reached the
third stage as suggested by the representative of Mauritius. She said that some of the questions that
her delegation had posed at the Third Dedicated Session in follow up to the responses to her
delegation's questions (WT/COMTD/SE/W/7) had not been distributed to Members. There had been
an effort in coming up with those questions to highlight areas where additional attention could result
in constructive ideas. For example, her delegation had pointed out that some interesting work was
being carried out in relation to subsidies. Her delegation believed that the idea of having regional
authorities carry out anti dumping procedures, perhaps even countervailing duty investigations on
behalf of requesting countries was a good one which should help small economies. It would therefore
be useful to provide technical assistance in that area. Her delegation had asked whether it would
possible to provide examples from the area of standards and technical barriers to trade (TBT) where a
Member requesting technical assistance (TA) to comply with specific technical regulations had not
been granted that assistance. That would give useful information about where meaningful TA had
been provided and where it had not for Members to consider the most useful future approaches. With
respect to notifications, she said that her delegation had considered whether Members could work
together to identify alternative ways that would make the notification process easier for small
economies. For example, her delegation noted that reliance on the dissemination of hard copies of
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 4
notifications on standards posed difficulties for small economies. The question was whether there
was a way for small economies to utilise, not only the Internet facilities provided by the WTO, but
other user friendly databases on TBT notifications which some Members provided to their own
business communities. She said that while there were a number of ways that regional cooperation
could be approached, that did not mean that a new regional body would have to be established.
Regional cooperation could be established in a virtual way through electronic networks or meetings.
There were a range of options available and if Members considered other possibilities and established
best practises they might discover that those possibilities could be advantageous for small economies.
11.
She continued by saying that her delegation had noted that small economies desired to
participate in international standard setting bodies. At the last meeting, her delegation had indicated
that questions regarding participation in international standard setting bodies were complex and
needed to be viewed from several perspectives. It was not only a question of having the money to
attend a meeting, it was a matter of determining which the most relevant meetings were. The question
was how to find mechanisms that would enable small economies to establish where they needed to
direct their scarce resources and where they really needed assistance. Her delegation had attempted to
identify more practical questions than those her delegation had initially posed to try to understand the
proposals in document WT/COMTD/SE/W/3. She suggested that more time be spent on answering
those questions and finding possibilities for Members to cooperate with other relevant bodies for
some of the questions to be answered and practical responses framed which would enable Members to
make recommendations with real meaning. She concluded by saying that her delegation remained
interested in advancing a process that would enable small economies integrate more effectively in the
multilateral trading system. Her delegation looked forward to working with other Members to
intensify and focus the process. Members should not only consider the breadth of the ideas put
forward by the small economies but rather try to refine practical ideas which would lead to real
recommendations.
12.
The representative of Djibouti said that the representative of Mauritius had clearly explained
how the Work Programme on Small Economies had developed. He said that the representative of
Mauritius had played an important role in the work on small economies from the outset and his
delegation had always given its full support to the endeavours of establishing a group of small
economies. The group of small economies had flagged different issues they wished to discuss and it
was time for Members to request the General Council to make recommendations to the Fifth
Ministerial Conference. He agreed with the representative of the United States that there were some
issues, for example those relating to technical assistance, that needed to be discussed. He said that it
seemed that most Members agreed and he therefore suggested that the delegations of the United States
and Mauritius engage in bilateral consultations to see how matters could be further facilitated and to
find solutions that would lead to recommendations to the General Council.
13.
The representative of Jamaica said that his delegation supported the intention behind the
submission made by the group of small economies (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8). It was necessary for
Members to move to the next stage of work in the Dedicated Session if they were to fulfil the mandate
given by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference. That mandate was inter alia "to frame
responses to the trade-related issues identified for the fuller integration of small, vulnerable
economies into the multilateral trading system". That required Members to draw on the work already
done and to develop and agree on concrete recommendations to be put to Ministers at the Fifth
Ministerial Conference. That was an integral part of the Work Programme on Small Economies that
needed immediate attention. He said that Members had to draw on the proposals already tabled and
develop other elements that responded to the needs of small economies. Doing that would ensure a
substantial outcome.
14.
The representative of the European Communities said that, like other delegations, his
delegation shared a strong interest in fulfilling the mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 5
Ministerial Declaration. However, his delegation did not believe that Members had identified all the
trade-related issues that needed to be identified and that they had reached the stage where they could
consider framing appropriate responses to those trade-related issues and consider recommendations to
the Fifth Ministerial Conference. He said that the representative of the United States had outlined
some pertinent issues which, in his delegation's view, were important when considering the question
of framing responses for the integration of small economies into the multilateral trading system. The
purpose of the work in the Dedicated Session was not to establish a sub-category of WTO Members.
That was motivated by the same considerations that had featured in the work on S&D. The objective
needed to be to facilitate the integration of small and vulnerable economies into the multilateral
trading system rather than perpetuating the small economies' problems of isolation. That was the
reason why his delegation felt that Members had not yet sufficiently analysed all relevant factors.
Analysing those factors would enable Members to establish what the appropriate responses should be
and enable them to conclude whether or not, and if so how far, changes to WTO rules should be part
of that appropriate response. With respect to the specific proposals that had been submitted by the
group of small economies, he said that his delegation had expressed an interest in further exploring
the idea of regional approaches to regulatory issues such as trade defence instruments or sanitary and
phytosanitary measures (SPS) and TBT. A regional approach might also be pursued in the area of
competition policy. There were other points that had been raised in the submissions by the group of
small economies that could be addressed, and some were already being addressed in the context of
S&D-related work carried out in other bodies. Members needed to ensure coherence and
complimentarity in the work they undertook. His delegation felt that the issues that had been raised
and the specific proposals that had been tabled by the group of small economies had not been
sufficiently explored for Members to make recommendations to the General Council for action at the
Fifth Ministerial Conference. His delegation was prepared to explore and discuss those issues further
in order to move the process forward.
15.
The representative of Cuba said that her delegation was of the view that the process of work
on small economies had been successful and that Members had carried out the work necessary to
identify the trade-related issues that affected small economies. The problems faced by small
economies had encouraged Ministers to agree to the commitment contained in paragraph 35 of the
Doha Ministerial Declaration of coming up with solutions to the problems that affected small and
vulnerable economies. Her delegation believed that Members needed to begin to consider concrete
and specific recommendations to the General Council. Those recommendations should be based on
the proposals that the group of small economies had tabled. In that respect, her delegation endorsed
the statements made by the representatives of Mauritius and Jamaica. She supported the request made
in
the
submission
(WT/COMTD/SE/W/8)
that
the
proposals
contained
in
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/3, which the group of small economies considered important, be used
as a basis for recommendations to the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
16.
The representative of Mongolia said that his delegation believed that small and vulnerable
economies could participate in the multilateral trading system in a more meaningful way. His
Government had acceded to the WTO in 1995 and had always believed that the multilateral trading
system could benefit small economies such as Mongolia. With respect to size, he said that Mongolia
was approximately 30 times bigger than Switzerland, but its economy was vulnerable and its trade
volume was minuscule as a percentage of world trade. Mongolia was a landlocked country between
Russia and China and had an economy based on the export of very few products. Its economy would
fail if the world market price of those products collapsed. Mongolia experienced problems such as
severe winters that resulted in the death of millions of animals every year. He said that his delegation
therefore supported the work being done by the group of small economies.
17.
The representative of Barbados said that his delegation supported the statement made by the
representative of Mauritius. His delegation believed that the small economies had clearly identified
the peculiarities of small economies and had tabled proposals that addressed the implications of those
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 6
peculiarities in past Dedicated Sessions. In addition to the work that the small economies had done,
he recalled that the Secretariat, in its paper entitled "Small Economies: A Literature Review"
(WT/COMTD/SE/W/4), had highlighted a number of areas which clearly demonstrated that small
economies had specific problems which negatively affected their participation in the multilateral
trading system. He said that the objective of the work carried out by the group of small economies
was to fulfil the mandate in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and his delegation did
not wish to go to the Fifth Ministerial Conference without having fulfilled that mandate. While the
five months leading to the Fifth Ministerial Conference might seem long, it was actually a short
period of time considering the issues that Members needed to deal with. The group of small
economies did not intend to create a new category of countries but hoped to find solutions to the
problems that they faced in the multilateral trading system. His delegation was willing to work with
Members in order to move that process forward. He said that he appreciated the comments that had
been made by the delegations of the European Communities and the United States. The group of
small economies had tabled 17 proposals and in their comments, the delegations of the European
Communities and the United States had only focused on some of them. There were other proposals
that related to regional trade agreements for example, which were important to the small economies
and he hoped that Members would provide feedback on the other proposals in the consultations that
would follow.
18.
The representative of Norway said that Members needed to draw on the work that had been
done in the Dedicated Session in their future deliberations. Her delegation agreed with the delegation
of the European Communities that it was unclear what kind of problems should be addressed and
which group of countries were affected by those problems. What made it difficult was that Members
were not supposed to create a two tier system of WTO Members. Her delegation was fully committed
to the mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and hoped that
Members would consider it in a practical and pragmatic way in order to find flexible solutions that
would address the problems of the small economies. She noted that Norway in some respects was a
small economy, but Norway would not and her Government did not wish to qualify for the measures
that were being discussed.
19.
The representative of Honduras said that his delegation wished to be added as co-sponsor to
the submission (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8). He agreed with the representative of Mauritius that it was
time for Members to begin considering recommendations from the General Council to the Fifth
Ministerial Conference. His delegation's main interest was that Members fulfil the mandate contained
in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. He supported the statement made by the
representative of Mauritius that those recommendations should be based on the proposals that had
been submitted by the group of small economies.
20.
The representative of the Dominican Republic said that his delegation supported
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/8 and the statement made by the representative of Jamaica. He said
that his delegation was interested in the meaningful integration of small economies into the
multilateral trading system. He looked forward to Members making progress in the process to
achieve that goal.
21.
The representative of Thailand said that, although the submission made by the group of small
economies (WT/COMTD/SE/W/8) was short, it had many implications. Her delegation would
therefore need more time to study it. She reiterated her delegation's position that Members should not
create a sub-category of WTO Members when considering recommendations from the
General Council to the Fifth Ministerial Conference, according to the mandate contained in
paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.
22.
made
The representative of Sri Lanka said that his delegation associated itself with the statement
by
the
representative
of
Mauritius
and
supported
the
proposal
in
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 7
document WT/COMTD/SE/W/8. His delegation believed that there were still some unanswered
questions. One of those questions was whether Members had reached an agreement on how to
identify a small economy. Identifying small economies should not be based on simple criteria. He
believed that it should be based on a composite index and should not be exclusively based on
population as a cut off criteria. It was necessary to develop a composite index to identify small
economies. He said that even if Members reached an agreement on the definition there was still other
work to be done.
23.
The representative of Mauritius said that his delegation welcomed the statements made by the
delegations of the United States, the European Communities and Norway, in which they said that they
were willing to further explore the proposals that had been submitted by the group of small
economies. Those delegations had suggested that Members concentrate on practical ideas such as
how small economies could conform with their present obligations. It was positive to receive such
reactions. He said that Members needed to consider a process that would enable them to begin to
consider practical ideas and solutions. He asked the Chairman how Members should proceed so that
consultations between the group of small economies and those Members that had expressed an
interest in their proposals could take place. Such consultations would enable Members to come up
with practical solutions. He said that he agreed with the representative of Barbados that the group of
small economies had not had the intention of creating a sub category of WTO Members. Small
economies were developing countries who had specificities and vulnerabilities which needed to be
addressed. Since there was a general desire to move the process forward, he asked what mechanism
the Chairman could propose to help Members fulfil the mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the
Doha Ministerial Declaration in a timely manner.
24.
The Chairman said that Members seemed convinced of the need to focus on the nature and
content of the report to be made to the General Council for recommendations to the Fifth Ministerial
Conference. To prepare for that report, the issues relating to small economies in accordance with the
mandate of paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration needed to be further examined. There
had to be an identification of relevant issues, and questions needed to be answered. Where help was
needed, it could be acquired from cooperation with WTO expert bodies. He said that the proposals
submitted by the group of small economies as well as the Secretariat papers constituted a useful basis
for continued discussions. Accordingly, he suggested that item B remain on the agenda and suggested
that in the interim, interested Members should consult among themselves on clarifications of the
issues raised. Members could draw on the Chairman's services if they felt that there was a need to do
so. He said that he would brief the incoming Chairperson on the work Members were doing in the
Dedicated Session.
25.
It was so agreed.
C.
RESPONSES TO A QUESTIONNAIRE FROM
WT/COMTD/SE/W/3 (WT/COMTD/SE/W/7)
THE
UNITED
STATES
REGARDING
25.
The Chairman said that agenda item C related to the submission made by the group of small
economies (WT/COMTD/SE/W/7) containing responses to a questionnaire from the delegation of the
United States regarding document WT/COMTD/SE/W/3. He said that Members had, to a certain
extent, already discussed that item under the previous agenda item. The item had been kept on the
agenda because some members had indicated that they required more time to study the submission.
26.
The representative of Canada said that her delegation continued to believe that the role of
regional bodies in the implementation of agreements was an area of work that could be further
explored, in particular in response to some of the questions that had been raised. For example, in the
wording of some of the proposals relating to SPS and TBT, she suggested that it might be useful to
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 8
explore which regional bodies the proponents believed could act as competent authorities in
implementing the agreements.
27.
The representative of Mauritius agreed that there was a need for further consultations and said
that his delegation appreciated that the Chairman was prepared to chair those consultations if
necessary. In response to the representative of Canada's remarks, he said that the group of small
economies was suggesting that all matters be taken up in consultations with a view to fulfilling the
mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. His delegation did not wish
that process to be delayed and agreed with the representative of Barbados that there was not much
time left until the Fifth Ministerial Conference. He suggested that, the process of information seeking
not take too long in the forthcoming consultations which would involve Members coming up with
practical ideas and solutions, as Members needed to begin to consider practical solutions as soon as
possible. His delegation looked forward to those consultations and he insisted that all the proposals
be discussed during those consultations because the small economies believed that their proposals
represented a package that addressed their concerns.
28.
The representative of the United States said that one of the challenges that Members faced
was the wording of the mandate contained in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration that
Members were not supposed to create a sub category of WTO Members. Members therefore needed
to consider solutions that could meet that test. If Members were not careful, they could identify
solutions to the trade-related problems of small economies which would lead to differentiation. Some
members were talking about identifying criteria without creating a definition, while others were
discussing the need for some other solution. Although she agreed that it would be useful for Members
to begin to engage in informal consultations, she urged Members to recognise that if they were going
to consider all the proposals, which her delegation was prepared to, they had to recognise that some
proposals might be more practical than others in dealing with the question of definition. Without
suggesting that Members ignore some proposals, she said that Members needed to realise that they
had a difficult challenge ahead of them. Ministers had walked a fine line when agreeing to
paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and Members would have to do the same when
coming up with solutions. She urged Members to begin considering practical solutions. Some
proposals were more complicated than others which meant that Members would be involved in
difficult debates on how to find solutions in those areas. Her delegation was not trying to avoid
dealing with some of the ideas in the proposals, but some of the ideas had the potential of creating
discord rather than consensus in the Dedicated Session.
29.
The Chairman said that it would be useful to pose some of the questions that Members had
raised directly to the proponents in informal meetings because in the formal meetings it might not be
possible to have a thorough discussion of the nature that was desired both by the small economies and
other interested Members. He said that the representative of Mauritius had requested that Members
provide their questions in writing as that would facilitate forwarding them to members of the small
economy group who did not have permanent representation in Geneva and could not be present in the
meetings. He said that he could not give guidance on the holding of informal consultations as he
believed that that should be decided among interested Members. He agreed that there was little time
left in the lead up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference and that Members needed to work quickly in
order to fulfil the mandate in paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. However, he was
certain that the informal consultations would concentrate on coming up with practical solutions for the
issues that had been raised by the group of small economies.
30.
The Committee took note of document WT/COMTD/SE/W/7 and the statements made.
WT/COMTD/SE/M/4
Page 9
D.
OTHER BUSINESS
31.
The representative of Guatemala said that she acknowledged the leadership the delegation of
Mauritius had shown in the work on small economies. Her delegation had participated in the
discussions of the Dedicated Session for a long time. In the wake of the Doha Ministerial Conference,
as the criteria of small economies became more apparent and a list was drawn up of the characteristics
of the small economies, it had become clear that her Government's priorities did not coincide with the
predominant interests of the group of small economies. Information gathered from sources outside
the WTO had led to the establishment of population and vulnerability index criteria which would
exclude Guatemala from being a small economy. At the end of 2002, the Government of Guatemala
had decided to withdraw from the group of small and vulnerable economies. The delegation of
Mauritius, coordinator of the small economy group, had been informed of that decision. She said that
her delegation was grateful to the group of small economies for its efforts to accommodate her
delegation's concerns in drafting the different submissions that had been tabled by the group of small
economies.
32.
The Chairman said that he would inform the incoming Chairman of the discussions in the
Dedicated Session. The next meeting was tentatively scheduled to be held during the "Geneva Week"
to facilitate the participation of non resident WTO members and observers.
__________