Communiqué

1. African trade negotiators, officials, academicians, trade unions, civil society, private sector, and regional economic communities met in Tunis, Tunisia from 25 to 26 November 2004, to deliberate on key technical and strategic issues related to the July Package adopted by the WTO General Council on 1 August 2004. The meeting also provided an opportunity to evaluate the outcome of the July Package and the implications for African countries; and more importantly to set out a roadmap for African countries in the more important “modalities stage” of negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The meeting also identified technical and analytical aspects of the negotiations that required the urgent response of regional and international organisations, needed to inform the negotiating processes of African countries in Geneva. Accordingly, the discussions focussed on the elements in the July Package of importance to African countries, namely agriculture, cotton, NAMA, services, trade facilitation and development aspects of the Doha Round.
   
2. The meeting underscored Africa’s commitment to continue to engage fully and actively in the negotiations aimed at achieving a pro-development outcome from the Doha Round. It was noted that the Doha Declaration adopted at the Fourth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference contained an unprecedented strong political commitment by the WTO Members to make the Doha Round a truly development round. The success of the Round therefore will ultimately be measured by the seriousness with which it addresses the development issues and the potential real positive developmental gains that will result for African countries.
   
3. The meeting urged for strong coordination of efforts both at the technical and political level between the African Geneva Group and other groupings of developing countries at the WTO. The meeting also identified specific areas where further collaborative research was needed from regional and international organisations as well as from academic and research organisations that would allow Africa to positively contribute to the modalities stage of the negotiations leading up to the 6th Session of WTO Ministerial Conference.
   
4. The meeting discussed the Tunis Roadmap and Work Plan for the Post July 2004 negotiations phase. The report of the deliberations and the issues identified will be further developed and refined by the African Group in Geneva. The Roadmap will be finalised as soon as possible and will be formally announced.
   
5. The participants welcomed the initiative of Tunisian Government to hold a Ministerial Meeting on Trade Facilitation to be held in 2005.
   
6. The participants expressed sincere thanks to the Government and the people of Tunisia for hosting the meeting, for their warm hospitality and the excellent facilities put at their disposal.
   
7. The participants thanked the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UNDP, African Development Bank, and the African Union for organising the meeting in collaboration with UNCTAD, African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), AERC, TWN, International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP), the Southern African Trade Research Network (SATRN) and ENDA Tiers-Monde.

Tunis, 26th November 2004