Over
50 developing countries have made use of Article 20 of the Agreement
enabling them to invoke a 5 year delay for the application of the
provisions of the Agreement. For 27 of those countries the delay period
ends at the end of 1999. The Secretariat will draw up a plan to assist
countries that have not started preparatory work in order to be ready
to implement the Agreement by the deadline.
For
another 25 developing countries the delay period for the application
of the provisions of the Agreement will expire in the course of the
year 2000 or early 2001. Similar arrangements will be made on a regional
and individual basis for those countries to assist.
