NOTE: THIS BRIEFING NOTE IS DESIGNED TO HELP JOURNALISTS AND THE PUBLIC UNDERSTAND DEV ELOPMENTS IN THE CANCN

MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE. WHILE EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE T O ENSURE THE CONTENTS ARE ACCURATE, IT DOES NOT PREJUDICE MEMBER GOVERNMENTS' P OSITIONS. Day 5: Conference ends without consensus The Cancn Ministerial Conference ended on 14 September after Chairperson Luis Ern esto Derbez concluded that despite considerable movement in consultations, membe rs remained entrenched, particularly on the Singapore issues. Chairperson Derbez, who is Mexico s foreign minister, had held consultations immed iately after the previous evening s heads of delegations meeting ended at about 1 am. He described his consultations at a later meeting with all ess conference. He said that because speech after speech ns meeting had been about the Singapore issues trade and ompetition policy, transparency in government procurement, s first consultation with a smallish group of participants roup of subjects. WTO members and at pr in the heads of delegatio investment, trade and c trade facilitation hi had been about this g

The consultations, which ended at about 4 am revealed that this was the most dif ficult issue, and he therefore decided that the next consultations, which began at about 8:30 am would start with this subject, he said. These consultations were with a larger group representing a wide range of region al and other groups. During these consultations positions shifted, allowing the possibility of dropping negotiations on one or two subjects, Mr Derbez said. He then suspended the consultations for transparency, so that participants could me et their respective groups. But when the participants returned it was clear that there was no consensus and so he decided to close the meeting. Mr Derbez then reported to the heads of delegations meeting at about 4:00 pm. He proposed a six-paragraph ministerial statement, which was approved in the closi ng session at almost 6:00 pm. This instructs member governments officials to conti nue working on outstanding issues with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose an d taking fully into account all the views we have expressed in this Conference. The ministers asked the General Council Chairman and the WTO Director-General, t o coordinate this work and to convene a meeting of the General Council at senior officials level no later than 15 December 2003 to take necessary action. Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said there was no hiding the fact that th e deadlock was a setback. He said he was disappointed but not downhearted. He sa id it is important to ensure the negotiations are put back on track. If the Doha Development Agenda fails, the losers will be the poor of the world, he said. He pledged to work hard for a successful outcome. Mr Derbez concluded that members have to learn from the lack of consensus, that business as normal will not succeed, and that some soul-searching is needed. He blamed part of the deadlock on a failure to move a way from rhetoric no one can live off rhetoric, he said. The WTO and its members can still make a difference for he poorest, he said. The ministerial statement

1. As we conclude our Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancn, we would like to e xpress our deep appreciation to the Government and people of Mexico for the exce llent organization and warm hospitality we have received in Cancn. 2. At this meeting we have welcomed Cambodia and Nepal as the first least-deve loped countries to accede to the WTO since its establishment. 3. All participants have worked hard and constructively to make progress as re quired under the Doha mandates. We have, indeed, made considerable progress. How ever, more work needs to be done in some key areas to enable us to proceed towar ds the conclusion of the negotiations in fulfilment of the commitments we took a t Doha. 4. We therefore instruct our officials to continue working on outstanding issu es with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose and taking fully into account all the views we have expressed in this Conference. We ask the Chairman of the Gene ral Council, working in close co-operation with the Director-General, to coordin ate this work and to convene a meeting of the General Council at Senior Official s level no later than 15 December 2003 to take the action necessary at that stag e to enable us to move towards a successful and timely conclusion of the negotia tions. We shall continue to exercise close personal supervision of this process. 5. We will bring with us into this new phase all the valuable work that has be en done at this Conference. In those areas where we have reached a high level of convergence on texts, we undertake to maintain this convergence while working f or an acceptable overall outcome. 6. Notwithstanding this setback, we reaffirm all our Doha Declarations and Dec isions and recommit ourselves to working to implement them fully and faithfully.