. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/138
2 December 1999
(99-5337)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
THE GAMBIA
Statement by the Honourable Musa H. Sillah
Secretary of State for Trade, Industry
and Employment
May I first of all congratulate you on your assumption of the Chairmanship of this august
gathering.  I am confident that under your leadership, we will have fruitful deliberations on the manyformidable challenges that are facing us.  I would therefore like to assure you of the Gambian
delegation's full support and cooperation.
May I also seize this opportunity to express my delegation's sincere appreciation and gratitude
to the American authorities, particularly the Organizing Committee, for the warm welcome and theexcellent facilities they have placed at our disposal.  In the same vein, I would like to pay special
tribute to Director-General Mike Moore and his staff for facilitating the participation of my delegation
to this Conference.
My delegation would like to address the issue of implementation.  The importance of this
issue cannot be over-emphasized, because it constitutes one of the fundamental elements that can
translate into concrete reality the promises that the new trade regime holds for developing countries.
Of particular importance is the issue of unfettered duty-free market access for the products of
the least-developed countries.  I say unfettered access because experience has shown that promises of
market access are often combined with unilateral sanitary and phytosanitary standards which frustrate
any attempt to exploit the market access offers made by developed countries.
Indeed while Article 2.3 of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures prohibits
unilateral actions that distort market access possibilities, so far experience has shown that SPS
measures have constituted major trade barriers to agricultural and horticultural exports from
developing countries, especially from the least-developed countries.  Thus both the Agreements onTechnical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures have not been effectively
implemented – much to the detriment of least-developed economies.
My country therefore fully endorses and subscribes to the call for the discussion here in
Seattle and beyond to focus on modalities that seek to strengthen standard-setting disciplines andprocedures.
Another issue of vital importance to my delegation is the implementation of the Integrated
Framework for Trade-Related Assistance to Least-Developed Countries.  We should be bold to state
that so far, the framework has been totally disappointing.WT/MIN(99)/ST/138
Page 2
Just last week, we convened in Geneva the Gambia's roundtable conference on trade,
investment and private sector development within the context of the Integrated Framework.  The
gathering suffered not only from poor donor turnout, it also failed to prompt firm pledges from the
limited number of those who attended.
The disappointing and bitter experience of the roundtable has been shared with other LDCs
through a statement we have circulated to delegates here in Seattle.  The Government of The Gambia
strongly calls for the improvement of the Integrated Framework mechanism in general and in
particular for better mechanisms to mobilize resources to finance not only the costly preparatory
process which the Integrated Framework entails, but also the projects and programmes agreed upon.
The Government of The Gambia will continue to sensitize all the development partners on the need
for firm and bound pledges within the context of the Integrated Framework.
Furthermore, the Government of The Gambia calls for an urgent independent review of the
Integrated Framework.  The aim of that exercise is to reach a common understanding of the objectives
of the Integrated Framework, the institutional arrangement for its implementation and the expected
outcome of the initiative.  The review exercise wi ll also identify modalities for the mobilization of
resources to facilitate the implementation of the various projects and programmes proposed by the
least-developed countries.  This alone can move the programme forward.
Finally, may I add my voice to the call by many developing countries, particularly the least-
developed ones, for greater assistance to address the supply-side constraints that have hithertoinhibited the growth of our exports.  Indeed, supply-side constraints account for the criticism levied
against the Lomé Conventions.  The preferential market access that the EU has given over the years to
the ACP countries under the Lomé Conventions has fa iled to improve the exports of ACP countries in
general.  This shows clearly that duty-free market access for exports is of no use when the capacity to
export is quasi-non-existent.
Our development partners must therefore match market openings for our exports with
innovative, concrete and result-oriented measures that aim at enhancing our competitiveness through,
inter alia , infrastructure and human resources development, exports diversification as well as human
and institutional capacity building.
__________