389. We believe that transparency is an important pillar for the effective functioning of the WTO. As enumerated in the paper, LDCs and developing countries have genuine capacity constraints in terms of institutional requirements and human resources to fulfil the onerous notification obligations. Delays in notifying cannot be attributed to wilful non-compliance. Therefore, instead of punitive measures, we need to adopt an inclusive approach to incentivize the participation of LDCs and developing countries for complying with notification obligations. The other aspect which we need to consider is that transparency permeates all areas of our work in the WTO including processes of decision making in the organization and the ministerial conferences. It should, therefore, be applied to our work including priorities in negotiations and deliberations in the various regular bodies. We also need to ensure that the processes are transparent, inclusive and provide opportunity for participation of all Members.
390. Notification obligations cannot be seen in isolation only for certain areas related to goods. They should be applied holistically to all Agreements under the WTO. There are significant notification gaps which have been listed in the paper, in areas such as agriculture, services and TRIPS, where transparency needs to be strengthened. Our efforts should be to create a suitable ecosystem to strengthen the capacity of Members by providing technical assistance, simplification of notification requirements and reducing the administrative and technical burden for delegations who do not have the resources and capacity.
391. Lastly, we again wish to reiterate that any approach suggesting a resort to counter notifications, additional obligations and punitive measures will only deepen the divide amongst Members and we should rather focus on engaging in an inclusive and constructive approach to strengthen our work in this area.
