Work Programme on Small Economies

The Ministerial Conference decides as follows:

We reaffirm our commitment to the Work Programme on Small Economies and take note of all the work conducted to date. In particular, we note that document WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/Rev.7 and its previous revisions reflect the work of the Dedicated Session up to the Tenth Ministerial Conference. We take note of the work carried out since 2013, including that on the challenges and opportunities faced by small economies when linking into global value chains in trade in goods and services, and instruct the CTD to continue its work in Dedicated Session under the overall responsibility of the General Council.

Furthermore, we instruct the Dedicated Session to consider in further detail the various submissions that have been received to date, examine any additional proposals that Members might wish to submit and, where possible, and within its mandate, make recommendations to the General Council on any of these proposals. The General Council shall direct relevant subsidiary bodies to frame responses to the trade-related issues identified by the CTD with a view to making recommendations for action. We instruct the WTO Secretariat to provide relevant information and factual analysis for discussion among Members in the CTD's Dedicated Session, inter alia, in the areas identified in item k of paragraph 2 of the Work Programme on Small Economies and, in particular, to continue its work on the challenges and opportunities experienced by small economies when linking into global value chains in trade in goods and services. We request the Secretariat to also conduct work on the challenges small economies experience in their efforts to reduce trade costs, particularly in the area of trade facilitation.

The CTD in Dedicated Session shall continue monitoring the progress of the small economy proposals in WTO bodies and in negotiating groups with the aim of providing responses, as soon as possible, to the trade-related issues identified for the fuller integration of SVEs in the multilateral trading system.