What trade Ministers agreed upon

20 December 2015, 12:00AM

Ministers responsible for Trade of the A.C.P. Group of States, meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, 14 December, 2015 having considered the status of work on the issues being considered for decision at the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the W.T.O., 15 - 18 December 2015, reaffirm their declaration found in WT/MIN (15)/3 and emphasized the importance of securing a development centred outcome here in Nairobi.

In keeping with their commitment to a rules based multilateral trading system, they stressed the necessity for a clear commitment in Nairobi to concluding all unresolved issues in the D.D.A. on the development mandate with a view to yielding specific development milestones in the post-Nairobi phase.

They urged all Members to show the required political will to achieve consensus in all remaining areas of the D.D.A.    

As an additional building block in that regard, key decisions must be taken in Nairobi on development and L.D.C. issues, in particular decisions for both developing countries and L.D.Cs based on the G90 special and differential treatment proposals, decision to preserve the flexibilities for developing countries, including L.D.Cs, N.F.I.D.Cs, S.V.Es, and Members of customs unions, in all relevant negotiating areas in the D.D.A, decision on the developmental and food security aspects of fisheries subsidies disciplines, decisions submitted by L.D.Cs, including on cotton, and a decision to establish a Non-Tariff Barriers Work Programme under the Committee on Trade and Development, which are all to be considered during this Conference.

They stressed the importance of ensuring that the negotiations post-Nairobi respect the principles of fairness, inclusiveness and transparency and take into account the positions of the  A.C.P. Group of States in areas such as agriculture, services, NAMA, rules, including fisheries, and Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights negotiations, contained in the A.C.P. Declaration on the Tenth W.T.O. Ministerial Conference.

20 December 2015, 12:00AM
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