CINA

26 November 2005

In line with the procedure set out at the General Council meeting in October and the meetings of the TNC in September and October, the attached draft text is being presented by the Chairman of the General Council and the Director-General for Members' consideration, with the following observations.

It should be emphasized that this draft text does not purport to represent agreement overall, and it is without prejudice to any delegation's position on any issue. It draws on and incorporates much work done by the Chairs of the negotiating bodies and other WTO bodies. Their consultations have in many cases produced inputs for the present draft which are either fully agreed by Members or reflect a high level of convergence. In other areas, the text reflects a lower level of convergence. In some areas where important substantive differences persist, this draft attaches a report by the relevant Chair, on his own responsibility, setting out the present situation as he sees it.

The attached text is a first draft. Any possible revision of it will depend upon further progress towards convergence among Members, with whom we shall be consulting intensively in the very limited time remaining before the General Council considers the text it will send to Hong Kong.

In carrying out these further consultations, we shall continue to be guided by the principles of consensus-building and working in a "bottom-up" way.

We urge Members to approach this draft text in a constructive spirit and with respect for the positions of others. We will continue to work with you all to facilitate agreement in the short time ahead of us.

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The full text you can get here:

http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min05_e/draft_min05_text_e.doc