167. The representative of Bangladesh, speaking on behalf of the LDC Group in the WTO, welcomed the Council's Decision of 29 November 2005 (IP/C/40) extending LDCs' transition period until 1 July 2013, or until such a date on which they ceased to be an LDC. Given that the economic, financial and administrative constraints faced by LDCs had not changed to date, the need for flexibility to create a viable technological base was even more necessary than previously.
168. He said that LDCs were committed to the multilateral trading system and the TRIPS Agreement. It was hoped that, during this extended transition period, LDCs would be able to build up capacity to implement the Agreement. Built into this process was technical assistance and capacity building that was to be offered to LDCs. Without such assistance, the transition period could not be utilized effectively. This relationship between the extended transition period and the building up of implementation capacity was very important. Given that the expected targeted technical and financial assistance had not been delivered in the past, his delegation requested that a clear plan be drawn up detailing the nature and type of technical and financial assistance to be provided to LDCs. To facilitate targeted technical and financial cooperation programmes, paragraph 2 of the Decision called on LDCs to provide as much information as possible on their individual priority needs for technical and financial cooperation, preferably by 1 January 2008. In some cases, LDCs might require technical assistance to identify and prioritize such needs. Arrangements had to be made accordingly in the WTO for LDCs to be able to undertake such needs assessments.
169. The LDCs were still reviewing the information submitted to the Council on technical cooperation activities related to the TRIPS Agreement. The implementation of the Agreement had development implications. The provision of technical assistance and capacity building should not be conditional on compliance with the Agreement. The Agreement contained both rights and obligations with built-in flexibilities to allow countries, especially LDCs, to promote their social policies, development goals and interests.
