Doha Ministerial Draft: Debt and Finance and Transfer of Technology

Draft Declaration 26 September

Reactions to the Draft

Draft Declaration 27 October

Comments

Alternative Formulations

31. We agree to an examination, under the auspices of the General Council, of the relationship between trade, debt and finance, and of any possible recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate and competence of the WTO to enhance the capacity of the multilateral trading system to contribute to a durable solution to the problem of external indebtedness of developing and least-developed countries, and to strengthen the coherence of international trade, financial and monetary policies with a view to safeguarding the multilateral trading system from the effects of financial and monetary instability. We instruct the General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling this examination and to report on progress to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference.

A group of developing countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe) had proposed in July 2001 that the Doha Ministerial Conference should establish Working Groups to study the inter-relationship between Trade and Debt, and between trade and Finance, respectively.

The general response of developed countries to these proposals has been negative.

30. We agree to an examination, under the auspices of the General Council, of the relationship between trade, debt and finance, and of any possible recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate and competence of the WTO to enhance the capacity of the multilateral trading system to contribute to a durable solution to the problem of external indebtedness of developing and least-developed countries, and to strengthen the coherence of international trade, financial and monetary policies, with a view to safeguarding the multilateral trading system from the effects of financial and monetary instability. We instruct the General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling this work. The General Council shall report to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on progress in the examination.

The language in the 27 October draft is the same as in 26 September draft, except in the last part of the last sentence. There is no substantive change. The proposed course of action in para 30 is vague as regards both the institutional arrangements as well as the content of this exercise. Accordingly, some changes, as in the next column, can be proposed to give clear guidelines about the process as well as the substantive outcome of this exercise.

30. We agree to an examination, under the auspices of the General Council, of the relationship between trade, debt and finance, with a view to formulating and of any possible recommendations on steps that should might be taken within the mandate and competence of the WTO to enhance the capacity of the multilateral trading system to contribute to a durable solution to the problem of external indebtedness of developing and least-developed countries, and to strengthen the coherence of international trade, financial and monetary policies, with a view to safeguarding the multilateral trading system from the effects of financial and monetary instability. We instruct the General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling this work. The General Council shall report with recommendations to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on progress in the examination.

32. We agree to an examination, under the auspices of the General Council, of the relationship between trade and transfer of technology, and of any possible recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate of the WTO to increase flows of technology to developing countries. We instruct the General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling this examination and to report on progress to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference.

A group of developing countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe) had proposed in July 2001 that the Doha Ministerial Conference should establish a Working Groups to study the inter-relationship between Trade and Transfer of Technology.

The general response of developed countries to this proposal has been negative.

31. We agree to an examination, under the auspices of the General Council, of the relationship between trade and transfer of technology, and of any possible recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate of the WTO to increase flows of technology to developing countries. We instruct the General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling this work. The General Council shall report to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on progress in the examination.

The language in the 27 October draft is the same as in 26 September draft, except in the last part of the last sentence. There is no substantive change. The proposed course of action in para 31 is vague as regards both the institutional arrangements as well as the content of this exercise. Accordingly, some changes, as in the next column, can be proposed to give clear guidelines about the process as well as the substantive outcome of this exercise.

31. We agree to an examination, under the auspices of the General Council, of the relationship between trade and transfer of technology, with a view to formulating and of any possible recommendations on steps that should might be taken within the mandate of the WTO to increase flows of technology to developing countries. We instruct the General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for handling this work. The General Council shall report with recommendations to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on progress in the examination.