Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

                Director-General

18 November 2024

Dear Ambassadors/Permanent Representatives,

Madame la Représentante permanente/Monsieur le Représentant permanent,

I am enclosing the latest version of the Evolving Table on Cotton Development Assistance (_WT/CFMC/6/Rev.37) for review by Members in advance of the next Round of the Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton (DGCFMC), scheduled for 28 November 2024.

This Evolving Table (ET) contains project updates by Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore. In addition, the document includes updates on projects implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

I am pleased to report that the total value of active cotton-specific projects under Part I "Cotton-specific development assistance" now stands at USD 328 million.  This represents a slight decrease of about 9% compared with the previous amount of USD 362 million recorded in the previous revision of the ET. Furthermore, the value of disbursed amounts now stands at 26% of the committed amounts, down from the previous ratio of 39%.

The total number of active projects under Part I also increased to 49 (up from 42 in the previous revision). As regards Part II "Agriculture and Infrastructure-Related Development Assistance", there are 35 active projects.

Part III of the ET compiles the cotton focal points in developing countries, with updates received from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Togo.

Part IV of the ET compiles cotton-related development assistance requests submitted by developing country Members. A total of 10 project requests have been submitted by Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Mali, and the C-4 as a group, for consideration.

I also refer you to the latest version of the Table on Domestic Cotton Sector Reforms (_WT/CFMC/22/Rev.22) which contains updates received from Burkina Faso and Benin.

The 42^nd Round of the DGCFMC will be held on 28 November 2024, starting at 10 a.m. The twenty-second Dedicated Discussion of the Relevant Trade-related Developments on Cotton will take place in the afternoon of the same day, starting at 3 p.m.

The enclosed document will form the basis for the 42^nd Round of Consultations of the DGCFMC.

Yours sincerely,

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala