REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS
ON IMPROVING THE FUNCTIONING OF
THE WORKING PARTY ON STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES

ADOPTED ON 20 october 2023

1  iNTRODUCTION

1.1.  This report is being prepared at the request^[1] of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG). All CTG subsidiary bodies were asked to produce written reports summarizing their discussions on improving their respective functioning, and describing the improvements they had agreed on. On 30 June 2023, the CTG Chair held a meeting with the Chairs of the subsidiary bodies at which all Chairs were requested to submit their reports no later than in the first week of November 2023, and to ensure that all improvements made since the conclusion of MC12 were appropriately reflected in those reports.^[2]

1.2.  Reference is made to document G/L/1456 - G/STR/32 containing the report on the functioning of the Working Party submitted on 28 November 2022 by the Chair of the Working Party, under his own responsibility, to the CTG. The report described the functioning of the Working Party as well as steps taken over the years to improve that functioning. Based on what was contained in that report and in all other reports of Chairs of CTG subsidiary bodies, the CTG Secretariat circulated a "Comparison Matrix" providing a general overview of the main elements that seemed to be comparable across the reports.^[3]

1.3.  At the regular autumn meeting of the Working Party on 21 October 2022, the Chair of the Working Party reported to Members on the consultations ongoing at the time at the level of the General Council and the CTG regarding WTO reform, and indicated that all subsidiary bodies were tasked to take stock of what had been done in their respective bodies and explore ways to improve their daily functioning and better deliver on their respective mandates. The Chair of the Working Party also referred to the consultations held by the Chair of the CTG with delegations and with the Chairs of the CTG subsidiary bodies, and to the request by the CTG Chair to all those Chairs to submit, under their own responsibility, reports on the current functioning of their different bodies.^[4]