WTO: 2012 NEWS ITEMS

TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT


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Work of the Committee on Trade and Development

At the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference held in December 2011, ministers reaffirmed the link between trade and development and called on WTO members to “fully operationalize the mandate of the CTD as a focal point for development work”. The chairman of the Committee, Ambassador Mothae Anthony Maruping of Lesotho, said that he had been consulting informally with delegations in the past few months in order to hear views and suggestions on the work that the Committee could carry out in this regard.

Members discussed a proposal by Cuba and Ecuador which calls for an update to a Secretariat document on the implementation of special and differential treatment provisions. In addition, an informal paper by the African Group was introduced. Members welcomed these contributions. In his concluding observations, the Chairman indicated that further discussions were needed and that he would be holding more informal consultations.

 

E-commerce and development

A decision on electronic-commerce at the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference instructed WTO members to “emphasize and reinvigorate the development dimension in the Work Programme, particularly through the CTD to examine and monitor development-related issues”. Since the beginning of this year, members have been discussing how the CTD can proceed on e-commerce based on the decision. Cuba and Ecuador have proposed holding a workshop on “e-commerce, development and small and medium sized enterprises”. The proposal has been circulated in document WT/COMTD/W/189.

At the meeting, members expressed appreciation for the initiative by Cuba and Ecuador. Some comments and ideas were shared, including on the potential scope of the workshop. The chairman encouraged members to engage in further discussions to fine-tune the proposal.

 

Technical cooperation and training

Members listened to the presentations of the 2011 Annual Report on Technical Assistance and Training and the 2011 Technical Cooperation Audit Report. Ms Bridget Chilala, Director of the WTO’s Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), noted that 2011 was a year of challenges. Due to insufficient funding, the number of activities decreased by almost a quarter in 2011. The ITTC had also developed further the Progressive Learning Strategy and gradually introduced the Results-based Management in the design and implementation of the technical assistance activities. Members and observers expressed their thanks and continued support to the work on technical assistance.

 

Report of the ITC’s Joint Advisory Group meeting

The Chairman of the Joint Advisory Group, Ambassador Francisco Pirez Gordillo of Uruguay, presented a report of the International Trade Centre (ITC)’s Joint Advisory Group meeting held on 21 to 22 May 2012. He said that the main objective of the meeting was to discuss ITC’s 2011 annual report and the Strategic Plan for 2012-2015. Government representatives announced their voluntary contributions to the ITC trust fund and contributed to the general discussion on ITC’s activities and the future of the organization. WTO Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, in his address to the meeting identified four priorities for ITC: trade facilitation; Aid for Trade and global and regional value chains; least-developed country (LDC) issues; and regional integration.

Jargon buster 

Place the cursor over a term to see its definition:

• CTD

• ITC

• LDCs

• special and differential treatment (S&D, SDT)

> More jargon: glossary

 

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