report by the chairman of the committee on trade and development in special session, ambassador hARALD neple (NORWAY),

to the General Council

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1.1.  As reported by me earlier, I have been in close touch with Members, especially the proponents of the Agreement-specific proposals. I have held a number of informal consultations and sought clarity from the proponents on their preparatory work on the Agreement-specific proposals. In all my discussions, I reiterated the urgency of concluding this work so that substantive discussions could begin on the proposals in the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development (Special Session). 

1.2.  I am happy to report that at an informal open-ended meeting of the Special Session held on 2 February 2015, the proponents have tabled two lists of special and differential treatment (S&D) provisions that they would like to be taken up as part of the post-Bali Work Plan.

1.3.  The joint room document by the African Group and the Africa Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) Group contains 14 S&D provisions, whereas the submission by the LDC Group contains 25 such provisions. In their brief intervention the proponents stated that the best endeavour nature and the procedural complexities of these provisions needed improvement/simplification, with a view to making them precise, effective and operational, in line with paragraph 44 of the Doha Declaration.

1.4.  The proponents also indicated that they were in the process of preparing concrete textual proposals which they hoped to table in the Special Session soon.

1.5.  While welcoming the African Group/ACP Group and the LDC Group submissions, some Members, however, flagged their inability to engage in any substantive discussion till the time the proponents tabled textual proposals. They felt that the best way to guarantee engagement on these proposals would be to ensure that the proposals indicated: (a) the challenges/problems being faced by the proponents with respect to the implementation of each provision identified in the lists; (b) the experience with respect to their utilization; and (c) whether the proponents (or Members) intended to raise them in the Monitoring Mechanism.

1.6.  I have urged Members on the urgency and the need for getting into substantive work as quickly as possible. This is the only way we can make progress in our work in time for the deadline for finalizing the post-Bali Work Plan.

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