IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ASPECTS OF THE

COTTON-RELATED DECISIONS IN THE 2004 JULY PACKAGE AND
PARAGRAPH 12 OF THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL DECLARATION

Item 2C - Coherence between Trade and Development Aspects:
Update on the Development Aspects of Cotton

Report of the 26^th Round of the Director-General's

Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton^[1]

23 November 2016

1  INTRODUCTION

1.1  The 26^th Round of the Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton (DGCFMC) took place on 23 November 2016, under the chairmanship of Deputy Director-General David Shark.

STATEMENT BY THE C4 COORDINATOR

1.2  The Ambassador of Mali, speaking on behalf of the C4 countries and all other cotton‑producing countries from ACP, Africa and LDCs, expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in the negotiations on the cotton dossier. 

1.3  She made reference to the C4 Ministerial meeting held in Bamako from 26 to 28 October 2016, whereby Ministers reaffirmed the importance of the cotton sector in their countries and made an earnest appeal to eliminate all kind of export subsidies and domestic support for the cotton sector in the run up to the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11) to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2017.

1.4  She expressed concern with the continued drop of international cotton prices which, compounded by high production costs, constituted a high obstacle for African countries to continue reforming their cotton sector and enhancing their competitiveness. 

1.5  She thanked North-South and South-South partners for their technical assistance and financial support to develop the cotton sector in Africa. She expressed appreciation to China for its financial support which had made possible the participation of the C4 focal points in the DGCFMC. She encouraged donor countries to facilitate the participation of other LDC cotton sector focal points in the DGCFMC consultations.

1.6  The Ambassador of Benin, speaking on behalf of the LDC Group, stressed that the cotton sector for LDCs in Africa was of utmost importance for their economies. He pointed out that WTO Members should tackle the issue of domestic support for cotton which had not been addressed satisfactorily for the past 14 years. He urged developing country Members to implement the commitments on cotton in relation to export competition as of 1 January 2017.