report
(2019) of the committee on trade and development
1 introduction
1.1. This report covers the work of the Committee on Trade and
Development (CTD) in 2019. An overview is provided of the work of the CTD's
Regular Session, the Dedicated Session on the Monitoring Mechanism on Special
and Differential Treatment, the Dedicated Sessions on Regional Trade Agreements
and Small Economies, the CTD's work on Aid for Trade, and the work of
the Sub‑Committee on Least Developed Countries.[1]
2 regular
session
2.1. The CTD in Regular Session held three formal meetings on 5 April (108th
Session), 28 June (109th Session) and 22 November 2019 (110th Session).
The minutes of these meetings are contained in documents WT/COMTD/M/108, WT/COMTD/M/109
and WT/COMTD/M/110[2],
respectively.
2.2. Members agreed to continue to invite a number of intergovernmental
organizations on an ad hoc
meeting-by-meeting basis. A full list of intergovernmental organizations with
observer status in the Committee is contained in document WT/COMTD/W/22/Rev.8. The
CTD continues to have outstanding requests for observer status from the League
of Arab States, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),
the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), the Organisation
internationale de la Francophonie, the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and the Groupe de la
Banque Africaine de Développement.
2.3. At the 108th Session, a briefing was provided by the
Chairperson of Sub-Committee on Least Developed Countries – Ambassador Monique
T.G. Van Daalen (Netherlands) – on the work of the Sub-Committee. At the same
meeting, the Committee re-elected Ambassador Van Daalen as the Chairperson of
the Sub-Committee for 2019. Ambassador Chad Blackman (Barbados) was elected
Chairman of the CTD.
2.4. Also, at the 108th Session, the Committee agreed to
implement new document symbols for notifications and subsequent documentation
relating to regional trade agreements (RTAs) and preferential trade arrangements
(PTAs), so as to have a document structure similar to that used by the Committee
on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA).
2.5. A notification was made by Trinidad and Tobago under Section C of
Article XVIII of GATT 1994 (WT/COMTD/N/58).
[1] There were no meetings in 2019 of the CTD’s Dedicated Session on
Preferential Trade Arrangements. The Special Session of the CTD, dealing with
the issue of special and differential treatment, has its own reporting channel.