Note by the UNCTAD secretariat

The substantive agenda item for the eleventh session of the Conference (item 8) and its subthemes were approved by the Consultations of the President of the Trade and Development Board on 14 May 2003 (TD/B/EX(31)/L.3).

At its fiftieth session (949th plenary meeting, on Friday, 10 October 2003), the Trade and Development Board approved the draft provisional agenda for the eleventh session of the Conference.

With regard to organizational matters, the secretariat will issue an addendum to the present document.

I. Provisional agenda for the eleventh session of the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

1. Opening of the Conference

2. Election of the President

3. Establishment of a Sessional Committee

4. Election of Vice-Presidents and the Rapporteur

5. Credentials of representatives to the Conference:

(a) Appointment of the Credentials Committee
(b) Report of the Credentials Committee

6. Adoption of the agenda

7. General debate

8. Enhancing coherence between national development strategies and global economic processes towards economic growth and development, particularly of developing countries:

1. Development strategies in a globalizing world economy
2. Building productive capacity and international competitiveness
3. Assuring development gains from the international trading system and trade negotiations
4. Partnership for development

9. Other business:

1. Periodic review by the Conference of the lists of States contained in the annex to General Assembly resolution 1995 (XIX)
2. Report of the Trade and Development Board to the Conference
3. Financial implications of the actions of the Conference

10. Adoption of the report of the Conference to the General Assembly.

II. Annotations to the provisional agenda

Inaugural ceremony

1. The inaugural ceremony of the eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will be held on the morning of Monday, 14 June 2004, in the premises of the Anhembi Convention Centre, São Paulo, Brazil. A detailed programme will be circulated prior to this event.

Item 1: Opening of the Conference

2. The rules of procedure of the Conference are contained in document TD/63/Rev.2.

3. The 265th (opening) plenary meeting of the eleventh session of the Conference will be held on the afternoon of Monday, 14 June 2004, in the premises of the Anhembi Convention Centre.

4. Rule 16 of the rules of procedure provides that: "At the opening of each session of the Conference, the head of that delegation from which the President of the previous session was elected shall preside until the Conference has elected a President for the session".

Item 2: Election of the President

5. Rule 17 of the rules of procedure of the Conference provides, inter alia, that the Conference shall elect a President from among its members.

6. It is customary for the head of the delegation of the host country (Brazil) to be elected as the President of the Conference.

Item 3: Establishment of a Sessional Committee

7. In accordance with rule 62 of the rules of procedure of the Conference, the Conference may wish to establish a main committee (Committee of the Whole) to consider and report on the specific substantive items referred to it by the Plenary. In line with rule 63 of the rules of procedure, the main committee may set up such subsidiary bodies as may be required to carry out its functions.

8. Pursuant to rule 65 of the rules of procedure of the Conference, the main committee shall elect a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman and a Rapporteur. Under rule 17, the Chairman of the main committee is to be elected before the election of the Vice-Presidents of the Conference and, in accordance with rule 22, shall be a member of the Bureau of the Conference.

Item 4: Election of Vice-Presidents and the Rapporteur

9. In accordance with rule 22 of the rules of procedures, the Bureau of the Conference will consist of 35 members, comprising the President and Vice-Presidents of the Conference, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole and the Rapporteur of the Conference. The Conference will need, therefore, to elect 32 Vice-Presidents.

10. The Conference may wish to decide that the composition of the Bureau should be such as to ensure equitable geographical distribution, i.e. 7 members from Africa, 7 from Asia, 7 from Latin America, 9 from Group B, 4 from Group D, and China. In accordance with past practice, the regional coordinators and Chairmen of subsidiary bodies should be fully associated with the work of the Bureau.

Item 5: Credentials of representatives to the Conference

(a) Appointment of the Credentials Committee

12. In keeping with past practice, the Conference may wish to decide that the Credentials Committee shall be composed of the same nine States as were members of the Credentials Committee of the General Assembly at its most recent (fifty-eighth) session.

(b) Report of the Credentials Committee

13. In accordance with rule 14 of the rules of procedure, the Credentials Committee shall examine the credentials of representatives and report to the Conference. Rule 13 provides that the credentials of representatives and the names of alternate representatives and advisers shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the Conference, if possible not less than one week before the date fixed for the opening of the session. The credentials shall be issued either by the Head of State or Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Item 6: Adoption of the agenda

14. As indicated in the introductory note to the present document, the substantive item of the provisional agenda (item 8) was approved by the Consultations of the President of the Trade and Development Board on 14 May 2003.

15. Suggestions regarding the organization of work of the Conference will be circulated in an addendum to the present document (TD/391/Add.1).

Item 7: General debate

16. The general debate is expected to open on the afternoon of Monday, 14 June 2004, in Room B of the Anhembi Convention Centre, and to conclude on Thursday, 17 June 2004. Statements will be broadcast on the Internet in accordance with the order in which delegations have been inscribed on the list of speakers. The texts of statements that are remitted to the secretariat will be reproduced and distributed during the Conference in the language version(s) in which they are received by the secretariat. Information on the opening of the list of speakers is being provided in a note.

17. In accordance with rule 39 of the rules of procedure and guidelines approved by the General Assembly, speakers will be requested to limit their interventions to a maximum of 7 minutes. To this end, delegations might consider making available the full text of their statements and concentrating on salient features during interventions in the general debate.

Item 8: Enhancing coherence between national development strategies and global economic processes towards economic growth and development, particularly of developing countries:

Achieving the agreed development goals for the Millennium will require greater coherence between, on the one hand, international processes and negotiations, notably in the fields of trade, investment, finance and technology, and on the other hand diverse national development strategies with a view to accelerating economic growth and promoting sustainable development. The role of UNCTAD within its mandate should be to help build that coherence.

1. Development strategies in a globalizing world economy
2. Building productive capacity and international competitiveness
3. Assuring development gains from the international trading system and trade negotiations
4. Partnership for development

18. Under this item, the Conference is expected to have before it a pre-Conference text prepared by the Preparatory Committee, which was established by the Trade and Development Board at its fiftieth session in October 2003 under the chairmanship of the President of the Board. The text will be transmitted to the Conference by the Board meeting in special session, after its finalization by the Preparatory Committee in Geneva.

19. The Conference will also have before it the submission of the Secretary-General of UNCTAD (TD(XI)/PC/1), as well as any other submissions to it by member States or groups of member States. More detailed information on documentation will be provided at a later stage.

Item 9: Other business

(a) Periodic review by the Conference of the lists of States contained in the annex to General Assembly resolution 1995 (XIX)

20. The membership of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and of the Trade and Development Board is listed in document TD/B/INF.199.

21. Paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 1995 (XIX), as amended, states that the lists of States contained in the annex to that resolution "shall be reviewed periodically by the Conference in the light of changes in the membership of the Conference and other factors". The list was last reviewed by the Conference at the ninth session in 1996. The Conference will be appraised of any action to be taken.

(b) Report of the Trade and Development Board to the Conference

22. Pursuant to paragraph 22 of General Assembly resolution 1995 (XIX), the attention of the Conference will be drawn to the reports of the Board submitted to the General Assembly since the tenth session of the Conference.

23. The Conference may wish to take note of the reports of the sessions of the Trade and Development Board since the tenth session of the Conference.

(c) Financial implications of the actions of the Conference

24. Estimates of any financial implications of action proposed by the Conference will be submitted by the secretariat, if required, in pursuance of rule 32 of the rules of procedure.

Item 10: Adoption of the report of the Conference to the General Assembly

25. In accordance with past practice, the report of the Conference will be submitted to the General Assembly.