Thematic Session on Cotton By-Products Development
in Least-Developed Countries (LDCs)

28 May 2021, 10:00-13:00 (ROOM W/INTERPREFY)

Report

1  INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON, DIRECTOR OF THE AGRICULTURE AND COMMODITIES DIVISION mr EDWINI Kessie

1.  The chairperson welcomed all participants to the Thematic Session on Cotton By-products Development in Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), organized in the context of the May 2021 WTO Cotton Days. He reminded participants that the session stemmed from the WTO-ITC-UNCTAD Joint Initiative on Cotton By-Products (hereinafter, the "Joint Initiative on CBPs"), as endorsed by WTO Members at the 29 November 2018 meeting of the Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton (DGCFMC)^[1].

2.  He addressed a special welcome to all those who were connected from capital and expressed his gratitude for their participation considering the time difference.

3.  Considering that it was the first Thematic Session on Cotton By-Products that he was chairing on behalf of the DG, as well as on behalf of the incoming DDG in charge of Agriculture, he reminded participants of the origin of the Joint Initiative on CBPs.

4.  He stated that, under the 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Cotton^[2], developed countries and developing countries in a position to do so had committed to grant, to the extent provided for in their respective preferential trade arrangements, duty-free and quota-free market access for exports of cotton and cotton-related agricultural products from LDCs. Further, he noted that these "cotton‑related agricultural products" were listed in the Annex to the Nairobi Decision, and included important products such as cottonseed oil for human consumption and cottonseed cake used as phosphorus-rich animal feed.

5.  He recalled that the Cotton-4 (C-4) and other cotton producing LDCs, in referring to the list of cotton-related agricultural products annexed to the Nairobi Decision, had, at various DGCFMC and trade-related Dedicated Discussion meetings, highlighted several supply-side constraints hindering their ability to fully exploit the production and trade potential of these cotton-related products. The C-4 had also underscored that value addition and trade for cotton by-products was one key component of their "Route du Coton" programme^[3].

6.  He recalled that in the spring 2018 meeting of the DGCFMC, UNCTAD had reported on three years of work and success stories related to the development of cotton by-products in various COMESA countries and Tanzania, as described in document WT/CFMC/57. He also mentioned that ICAC referred frequently to the unexploited potential of various by-products in their presentations.