JULY 2008 PACKAGE: BRIEFING NOTES

Groups in the WTO

A number of countries have formed coalitions in the WTO. These groups often speak with one voice using a single spokesperson or negotiating team. Below are the compositions of some of the most active groupings in the WTO.

Other briefing notes:
> Director-General's letter to journalists
> Agriculture
> Non-agricultural market access (NAMA)
> Services
> Rules
> Intellectual property
> Other Doha issues
> Aid for Trade
> Jargon buster
> Country groupings

Regional groups

Groups

Description

Countries

ACP

African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Fiji; Gabon; The Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Kenya; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Papua New Guinea; Rwanda; St Kitts and Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Suriname; Swaziland; Tanzania; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe

African group

 

All African WTO members

 

Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Egypt; Gabon; The Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Kenya; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Africa; Swaziland; Tanzania; Togo; Tunisia; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe

APEC

 

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Nineteen WTO members and two governments in accession negotiations:

Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States; Viet Nam

EU

European Union, in the WTO officially called the European Communities

Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom

MERCOSUR

Customs union

Argentina; Brazil; Paraguay; Uruguay

 

Groups with common interests

Groups

Description

Countries

Cairns group

 

Composed of agricultural exporting nations lobbying for agricultural trade liberalization.

Argentina; Australia; Bolivia; Brazil; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Guatemala; Indonesia; Malaysia; New Zealand; Pakistan; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; South Africa; Thailand; Uruguay

G-10

 

Coalition of countries lobbying for agriculture to be treated as diverse and special because of non-trade concerns

Iceland; Israel; Japan; Republic of Korea; Liechtenstein; Mauritius; Norway; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei. Not to be confused with the Group of Ten Central Bankers.

G-20

Coalition of developing countries pressing for ambitious reforms of agriculture in developed countries with some flexibility for developing countries

Argentina; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; China; Cuba; Ecuador; Egypt; Guatemala; India; Indonesia; Mexico; Nigeria; Pakistan; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; South Africa; Tanzania; Thailand; Uruguay; Venezuela; Zimbabwe

 

G-33

Also called "Friends of Special Products" in agriculture

Coalition of developing countries pressing for flexibility for developing countries to undertake limited market opening in agriculture

Antigua and Barbuda; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bolivia; Botswana; China; Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; India; Indonesia; Jamaica; Kenya; Republic of Korea; Mauritius; Madagascar; Mongolia; Mozambique; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Pakistan; Panama; Peru; Philippines; St Kitts and Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Tanzania; Trinidad and Tobago; Turkey; Uganda; Venezuela; Zambia; Zimbabwe

G-90

Coalition of African, ACP and least-developed countries

Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Egypt; Fiji; Gabon; The Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Kenya; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nepal; Niger; Nigeria; Papua New Guinea; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Suriname; Swaziland; Tanzania; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe

Cotton-4

Main African cotton producers

Benin; Burkina Faso; Chad; Mali

SVEs

 

Small and vulnerable economies

Barbados; Bolivia; Cuba; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Fiji; Guatemala; Honduras; Mauritius; Mongolia; Nicaragua; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Trinidad and Tobago

RAMs

 

Recently acceded members. They are arguing for lesser commitments in the negotiations because of the liberalization they have undertaken as part of their membership agreements

Albania; Armenia; Bulgaria; China; Croatia; Ecuador; Jordan; Kyrgyz Republic; Moldova; Mongolia; Oman; Panama; Saudi Arabia; Chinese Taipei; the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Ukraine

LDC group

Least developed countries: the world's poorest countries

Angola; Bangladesh; Benin; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Central African Republic; Chad; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; The Gambia; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Haiti; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mozambique; Myanmar; Nepal; Niger; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Zambia

NAMA 11

Group of developing countries seeking flexibilities to limit market opening in industrial goods trade

Argentina; Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; Brazil; Egypt; India; Indonesia; Namibia; Philippines; South Africa; Tunisia

Paragraph 6 Countries (NAMA — refers to §6 of the first version of the NAMA text)

In favour of reducing the number of new bindings they would have to contribute and to increase the average target from 27.5%. (Except Macao, China)

Cameroon; Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Ghana; Kenya; Macao, China; Mauritius; Nigeria; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Zimbabwe

Low-Income Economies in Transition

Seeking to secure same treatment as LDCs

Armenia; Kyrgyz Republic; Moldova. Georgia formally withdrew.

Friends of Ambition

Seeking to maximize tariff reductions and achieve real market access

Australia; Canada; Chile; Costa Rica; European Communities; Japan; Hong Kong, China; Korea; New Zealand; Norway; Singapore; Switzerland; United States

Tropical products group

Seeking greater market access for tropical products

Bolivia; Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; El Salvador; Honduras; Guatemala; Nicaragua; Panama; Peru

 

> See a visual representation of how the agriculture groups intersect
> Download this briefing note in MS word format