Canada’s Statements – General Council Meeting

March 6-7, 2023

Follow-up to outcomes of ministerial conferences

2) (a) (i) Committee on trade and development mandate: focal point for consideration and coordination of work on development in the WTO – Communication from India (WT/GC/W/865)

• I would like to join others in welcoming incoming Permanent Representatives.
• Special farewell to Cheryl.  Truly a model for what we should strive for here at the WTO.  My only regret is that we were not able to work together for a longer period of time.
• I would like to thank India for its proposal on strengthening the mandate of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) as focal point for consideration and coordination of work on development. 
• The retreat held recently was constructive, and I personally appreciate India’s initiative in putting forward a proposal so quickly. 
• Retreat was a constructive and safe space to explore issues that are quite difficult for us.  A good step but a first step. 
• Perhaps it might be too soon to suggest any concrete changes to the CTD.  We should take a step back and use this safe space spirit to have further discussions, build on momentum of retreat.

2) (a) (i) Cont. – Reinforcing the deliberative function of the WTO to respond to global trade policy challenges – Communication from the European Union (WT/GC/W/864)

• Thank the EU for a thoughtful and timely paper, and we would be interested in exploring these issues further at the WTO. 
• We would like to hear more from the EU on the specific focus in each area, as well as how their proposals will be carried out to ensure meaningful discussions. 
• We look forward to engaging further with the EU with a view to understanding how we can support their proposals and work together.
• We look forward to engaging with EU, India, and all others to see how we can find a way forward.

(a) (ii) Work programme on electronic commerce – Report by the facilitator

• Thanks to the Facilitator for the report and her work. We are pleased with the reinvigoration of the Work Programme and by the level of participation by Members.
• The dedicated session offers an opportunity to deep dive into topics of interests to Members and increase our overall understanding of the development dimension of e-commerce.
• We agree with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Members that participation from international organizations and private sector would be valuable. Building on the first semester of our dedicated sessions, we could use the subsequent semester to engage these stakeholders on the same four topics that have been identified. This will help to even further deepen our discussions.   
• In support of the facilitator’s leadership, we believe we should concentrate our efforts under the dedicated sessions avoid potential duplication.  

Trade related challenges of the least-developed countries and way forward: proposal for WTO smooth transition measures in favour of countries graduated from the LDC category – Communication from Djibouti on behalf of the LDC group (WT/GC/W/807/REV.2)

• We thank the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group for this proposal.  We look forward to further technical discussions.      
• Our view is that any extensions of LDC-specific special treatment should be based on clearly-identified needs.  Canada would be pleased to have discussions on this issue in the LDC subcommittee of the CTD. 
• We look forward to in-depth engagement.  Thank you. 

Policy Space for industrial development – a case for rebalancing trade rules to promote industrialization and to address emerging challenges such as climate change, concentration of production and digital industrialization – Request from South Africa

• We are reviewing carefully and with an open mind.
• We recognize the significant challenges faced by developing countries, but we remain unconvinced that relaxing existing disciples is the right approach - would need to see compelling and specific evidence of where the rules are a real impediment - and we have not seen that yet.
• More generally, we do believe this subject is worth further discussion.
• We do believe that approaches to attract more investment, such as the Joint Statement Initiative on investment facilitation for development, are promising.
• And we do believe that stronger market-oriented disciplines, such as for agriculture, would benefit all of us.
• Look forward to further discussions.