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 42nd 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 42nd Round of Consultations of the DGCFMC.
Yours
sincerely,
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala