Like Minded Group (LMG) Position: WT/GC/58 21/12/01

Chairs and vice-Chairs will have the responsibility of coordinating negotiations and of ensuring that all views expressed by the Membership are accurately reflected.

A candidate who will exercise impartiality all the way from the beginning up to end of his tenure of office.

Chairpersons shall ensure that meetings of groups convened as according to procedures outlined in Preparatory Process in Geneva.

They shall oversee orderly conduct of the meeting and ensure that minutes of the meetings are circulated within a fortnight (2 weeks) to all members after a meeting.

1. The General Council shall guide the work of the TNC in order to keep the negotiating process under the supervision of the membership. Therefore, it is proposed that:

The TNC shall work in accordance with direct instructions from the General Council.

The TNC shall report to the General Council, at least once every 3 months. The General Council shall take stock of progress of the meetings and make an assessment before agreeing to the next programme of negotiating meetings.

The overall conduct of negotiations shall be supervised by the TNC under the authority of the GC.

It is our Group's view too that the General Council shall be the supervising body of the TNC and at no time should the opposite be allowed.

As envisaged in DMD, GC should exercise overall supervision of the TNC.

The negotiating procedures and structures of the TNC should be approved by the General Council.

The Chairpersons of both the TNC and any negotiating groups that may be set up under the TNC should be approved by GC.

GC should instruct the work conducted in the TNC.

The General Council shall ensure that Chairs of the TNC and other relevant negotiating bodies are selected in a fully transparent and inclusive manner which reflects a balanced and proportional representation of the membership and ensures their active participation throughout the process. Therefore, it is proposed that

Chairs and Vice-Chairs shall be selected as a result of an explicit consensus in formal meetings.

Distribution of Chairs and Vice-Chairs between developed and developing countries shall proportionately reflect the present composition of the WTO membership.

Chairs will be selected from the membership within the General Council. Chairs will be appointed for no longer than 1 year, with the possibility of re-election if so decided by consensus.

The General Council shall ensure that Chairs of the TNC and other relevant negotiating bodies are selected in a fully transparent and inclusive manner which reflects a balanced representation of the membership and ensures their active participation and accessibility throughout the process.

Chairs and Vice-Chairs shall be selected as a result of an explicit consensus from within the membership of the General Council and shall reflect the balance in the membership.

He/she (Chair of TNC) should be in office for only one year to allow for rotation among regions. In a case where the Chairman comes from a developed country, his/ deputy should come from a developing country and the later shall automatically assume the Chairmanship the following year.

Specific negotiating groups shall be kept to a minimum wherever possible, since the proliferation of negotiating bodies is a major concern to developing countries, especially smaller missions. Therefore, it is proposed that:

All negotiations should take place in special sessions of existing bodies. In the event new bodies are to be set up, the number should be kept to the minimum.

The constraints of smaller missions shall be taken into account in developing a programme of work and calendar of meetings.

Specific negotiating groups shall be kept to a minimum since the proliferation of negotiating bodies is a major concern to developing countries, especially smaller missions.

All negotiations should take place in special sessions of existing bodies. These negotiations should be scheduled back to back with the regular meetings.

The constraints of smaller missions shall be taken into account in developing a programme of work and calendar of meetings.

All negotiations conducted only in meetings open to all members. Meetings, as a rule, should be formal ones.

Minutes of all the meetings should be made available within 2 weeks of the meeting and before the next meeting of the group.

For non-Geneva based delegations, a formal meeting of the GC should be organized either just before or after Geneva week.

All meeting minutes shall be an accurate and objective account of what was actually said, and all opinions shall be recorded verbatim. The minutes of each meeting shall be made available to Members within 10 days of the conclusion of each meeting.

All informal and other consultations on draft decisions and/or negotiating texts shall be undertaken only in open-ended meetings.

Any negotiating text shall be made available to all participants at least 2 weeks in advance, in all three of the official languages of the WTO, in order to allow for reasonable consideration in Geneva and by our authorities in capitals.

All disagreements shall be reflected in bracketed texts and/or alternative language formulations.

Before the end of the negotiations, an evaluation shall be undertaken, under the supervision of the General Council, on the extent to which S&D Treatment objectives have been attained and the balance in the outcomes of negotiations have been taken into account, as set out in the Doha Declaration.

Any mid-term review shall also consider the above points.

Any negotiating text shall be made available to all participants at least two weeks in advance, in all three of the official languages of the WTO, in order to allow for reasonable consideration in Geneva and by our authorities in capitals.

All minutes of the meetings shall be an accurate and objective account of what was actually said, and all opinions shall be recorded verbatim. The minutes of each meeting shall be made available to Members within 10 days of the conclusion of each meeting.

All informal consultations meeting undertaken at all levels shall be held in open-ended and inclusive manner and with the institutional framework of the WTO.

All disagreements shall be clearly reflected in the texts under consideration.

It must also be stated that no green-room process shall be allowed to make decisions on negotiations. All negotiating decisions should be made in the General Council which will provide the final negotiating text on the basis of Members' consensus.

LDCs also wish to emphasise the need for Members to exercise complete transparency and explicit consensus when it comes to preparatory work to establish negotiating structures and processes.

Geneva: Goal to Finalize agenda for the Ministerial Conference and a broad work program from the agenda. The Draft Ministerial Text should reflect priorities and interests of entire membership.

All consultations should be transparent and open-ended. Prep. Process should take place primarily in Geneva, under close supervision of GC and chaired by the Chairman of General Council.

Periodic meetings of capital based officials welcome. Any negotiating procedure to be adopted should be approved by members by consensus at formal meetings.

Draft agenda should be drawn up only after members have been given an opportunity to express their views.

Once agenda and parameters are agreed, there should preferably be no changes. Changes may be permitted if so decided by the entire membership.

There should be frequent formal meetings of the GC to take stock of the progress in the preparatory work and minutes should be drawn up of such meetings. This would help Geneva based delegations that are not able to participate in a particular meeting.

Negotiating text should be made available at least 2 weeks before the date of the meeting in which the text is considered.

Each negotiating group shall set up a drafting group that shall have the sole responsibility for drafting proposals for further consideration. Such drafting groups will have equitable geographical and developed and developing countries distribution (agreed by consensus).

Reports and draft decision of the neg. groups will be sent up to higher bodies after consensus in neg. body.

Where there is no consensus, differing views of members with alternate suggestion for decisions will be reflected in drafts sent to higher bodies for a decision.

The draft ministerial declaration must be based on consensus. Under no circumstances should a draft min. dec. be forwarded by the Chairman of the GC/DGWTO under personal responsibility.

Or: If there are differences on specific issues, such difference should be fully and appropriately reflected in draft min. declaration by stating differing positions or through brackets.

If there is significant opposition to inclusion of any issue in the Draft then such an issue should not be included in the Draft.

The agenda for the conference should not be adopted at the ceremonial opening session, but at the first formal session immediately thereafter.

The facilitators should be identified by consensus preferably in the preparatory process in Geneva, through consultations among all Members and should be person from countries that do not have a direct interest in the subject assigned for consultations. The same set of person should not be appointed as facilitators over and over again.

The facilitators should approach issues with an open mind and work towards bridging gaps among members.

Consultations by facilitator should be at open-ended meetings only.

Consultations should be marked by transparency, inclusiveness and opportunity to every Member to express views. Facilitators should report to the Committee of the Whole or its equivalent body periodically and in a substantive way.

There is no place for "green room" meetings, which lack transparency and where participation is decided on considerations about which not many are aware and is limited. The facilitators/Chairman could convene meetings of proponents and opponents on any issue and any other interested member should be free to join such meetings. For this to be achieved, the schedule of each meeting shall be announced at least a few hours before the meeting.

All negotiating texts and draft decisions should be introduced only in open-ended meetings.

Late night meetings should be avoided. No formal or informal should be held after 9pm.

Language of draft declaration should be clear and unambiguous. Ambiguity works against the interest of Developing countries.

All meetings of the Committee of the Whole should be formal.

The Secretariat and the DG WTO as also all the chairpersons and facilitators should play a neutral/non-partisan role. They shall not express views explicitly or otherwise on the specific issues being discussed in the Ministerial Conference.

Discussion at the Ministerial Conference should be limited to issues not agreed upon in the Geneva process and should be based on the various alternate texts developed at Geneva.

Any new draft on specific issues should be circulated among all members at least 12 hours in advance so that members have sufficient time to consider them. For ensuring transparency in the negotiating process, any draft on specific issues should clearly indicate the member country(ies) suggesting the draft.

Extension of duration of Ministerial Conferences should be avoided as many delegations make their travel and accommodation arrangements only for the duration of the conference as decided upon earlier. Last minute extensions without even formal approval for the same creates numerous problems and many delegations are unable to participate in the crucial final stages of the conference.

During the Uruguay Round, it was discussed that Conf. Be held at the WTO, itself. Apart from convenience, it would result in saving costs and efforts. Many developing countries find it prohibitively expensive to participate in the Conferences. Further, every host wants the Ministerial to be a success, which places the participants under enormous pressure.