The Director-General said:

“Considering everything I have heard from members over the last three weeks, I see very little prospect of delivering a detailed and substantive work programme by the end of July. Nevertheless, we must keep working. Whether we can deliver a work programme is in the hands of the members and their ability to bring forward new proposals in the coming days which will pave the way to find consensus.”

The Director-General gave his view that members have made significant progress in understanding each other's positions, but as yet it is not enough to provide a sufficiently clear roadmap on the way forward. He said that while this is disappointing, we should not be discouraged because the work programme was intended as a tool to help deliver outcomes at the Ministerial Conference in Nairobi this December, and we can now build on the progress that has been made to date. He continued:

"Success in Nairobi remains the ultimate target of our work. Nairobi is about showing real and definite progress in implementing the Bali decisions, delivering for developing and least developed countries, and delivering outcomes that allow us to conclude the DDA. This must be the focus of our work during the second semester.

“The most important thing I heard today was that, regardless of what happens in the coming weeks, every member remains strongly committed to finding convergence between now and December which will allow us to agree significant outcomes in Nairobi. I share this commitment.”

The Director-General also announced that the next meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee will be held on 24 July and the General Council will be held on 27-28 July.