Summary of General Council meeting of 18 October 2018

The following items were discussed by the General Council:

1. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee and Report by the Director-General

The Chairman referred to the Director-General's report at the 16 October Informal TNC and HODs meeting. The Director-General's report was circulated in JOB/TNC/71. At that meeting, the Chairs of Negotiating Bodies also provided their reports on the negotiating work where updates were available, and 55 delegations took the floor.

2. Implementation of the Bali, Nairobi and Buenos Aires Outcomes — Statement by the Chairman

The Chairman reported on the work taking place in WTO regular bodies to fulfil the Bali, Nairobi and Buenos Aires Ministerial mandates. His full statement can be found in JOB/GC/202. The Central African Republic (LDCs), Malawi (ACP) and Chad spoke.

3. Work Programme on Small Economies — Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and Development

The CTD Chair reported that the 37th Dedicated Session on Small Economies would be held on 1 November focusing on best practices and policy approaches for addressing the challenges identified in its previous meeting. Guatemala (SVEs) spoke.

4. Twelfth Session of the Ministerial Conference — Date

The General Council formally agreed that MC12 would be held on 8-11 June 2020. Kazakhstan spoke.

Under “Other Business”, Kenya announced two events organized in Nairobi: a High-Level Blue Economy Conference on 26-28 November and the Africa E-Commerce Week on 10-14 December, and the Chairman updated delegations on his consultations for the vacancies on the Chairmanships of the CTE and CTE SS and made an announcement regarding Members and Observers in arrears.