Amb.Walker had already announced that in the week of 17 May he would continue to hold large meetings and smaller consultations for members to discuss “templates” (explained below) and data, and issues that he describes as “bracketed and otherwise annotated” in the 2008 draft documents, which are the basis of present discussions.

In this 3 May meeting, delegations made a number of suggestions on issues they would like to discuss, and how the work on templates could be fine tuned.

Templates and issues

Drafting the templates is highly technical and is intended to be neutral, without affecting the size of cuts or other adjustments to reach the new commitments.

The basis for discussing the substance of the negotiations is in the 2008 draft “modalities” and related documents. These contain parts in square brackets (“bracketed”), indicating that they have not been agreed. They also contain notes (“otherwise annotated”) by the then chairperson, Crawford Falconer, suggesting possible further convergence or questions to be discussed.

Amb.Walker's assessment of the present situation in both groups of topics is in his 22 March report to the Trade Negotiations Committee.

Some delegations suggested the consultations should also cover areas of the draft text that are ambiguous or need political interpretation, and one said the talks should look at the amendments to the Agriculture Agreement that would eventually be needed.

Some suggested ways to fine tune the technical work on templates so that delegations can see more clearly where the work is heading and have more time to prepare themselves.