Work Programme on Small Economies

The Ministerial Conference decides as follows:

We reaffirm our commitment to the Work Programme on Small Economies and take note of all the work conducted to date. In particular we note that document WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/Rev.6 and its previous revisions reflect the work of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) up to the Eighth Ministerial. We take note of the work carried out since 2011 including that on the effects of non-tariff measures on Small Economies and instruct the CTD to continue its work in Dedicated Sessions under the overall responsibility of the General Council.

Furthermore, we instruct the Dedicated Session to consider in further detail the proposals contained in the various submissions that have been received to date, to examine any additional proposals that Members might wish to submit and, where possible, and within its mandate, to make recommendations to the General Council on any of these proposals.

We instruct the General Council to direct relevant subsidiary bodies to frame responses to the trade-related issues identified by the CTD with a view to making recommendations for action. We instruct the WTO Secretariat to provide relevant information and factual analysis for discussion among Members in the CTD's Dedicated Session, inter alia, in the areas identified in item (k) of paragraph 2 of the Work Programme on Small Economies and, in particular, the challenges and opportunities experienced by small economies when linking into global value chains in trade in goods and services.