WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/ST/131
12 November 2001
(01-5743)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth SessionDoha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  French
BENIN
Statement by H.E. Mr Lazare Sehoueto
Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment Promotion
I should like to thank and congratulate the authorities of Qatar and the City of Doha for giving
the WTO the opportunity to hold its Fourth Ministerial Conference.  My thanks and congratulations
also go to Mr Mike Moore, Director-General of the WTO.  Indeed, I regard my presence and that of
other so-called least-developed countries at this meeting as one of the major outcomes of the new
vitality you have injected into this Organization by promoting greater involvement of these countries
in the multilateral trading system.  This is an ac hievement for which I thank and congratulate you and,
through you, not only the members of your team but also all the governments whose contributions and
political will have made it possible to organize these proceedings.  I also congratulate the countries
that have recently acceded to the Organization, and in particular the People's Republic of China, with
which Benin maintains excellent relations.
On behalf of my country's delegation, I observe that the multilateral trading system has made
significant strides in recent years.  We should, however, look beyond any legitimate satisfaction that
might be derived from these encouraging developments and acknowledge – since this is no secret –
that many Members of our Organization find themselves powerless, swallowing their frustration at a
situation imposed in the name of political correctness, with the continuously dashed hope that their
partners will finally understand their predicament and listen to reason.
Today, there are many of us in the least-developed countries, the ACP and other countries
who share that feeling.
It is common knowledge that feelings of powerlessness and injustice are hardly conducive to
active participation or a constructive attitude.  This is why I should like to encourage our dear friends
in the European Communities and the United States of America in particular to become more closely
involved in the democratization of relations among the WTO Members.
Inequality precludes negotiation.  Most countries will view negotiations in the WTO as a
fool's game if the concerns of least-developed, AC P and other countries are simply ignored or politely
acknowledged by means of a few hollow commitments.  The main task of our Organization is to serve
as a forum for negotiations among its Members – the weakest as well as the most powerful – to
contribute to and oversee the strengthening of trad e disciplines, to monitor compliance with the rules
and statutory obligations, and to ensure fair trade.
This Fourth Conference provides a unique opportunity to assess our weaknesses, to define the
major obstacles hampering our economies, and particularly those of the least-developed countries in
their efforts to promote liberalization and growth.  Our Conference will have to make it clear that this
task cannot be successfully accomplished as long as the development concerns of developingcountries are not taken seriously and duly addressed.WT/MIN(01)/ST/131
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The paradox for us developing countries is that our domestic regulations, which provide for
full and unrestricted liberalization, based on the rule of law and our strict adherence to the WTO
contractual obligations, nonetheless do not allow us to benefit from the opportunities offered by this
approach.
For countries such as Benin and many other developing countries that are doing their utmost –
with the ardent faith of the newly converted and under the aegis of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank – to dismantle all that appears to them to constitute trade barriers, obstacles and
constraints, the question is why the United States of America and the European Communities, for
example, are maintaining their domestic barriers and are not only continuing to subsidize their
agricultural exports but are also, and exponentially, granting subsidies for their domestic production.
We must have the courage to assess the cost of the impact of their domestic policies on our
countries, our economies and our populations.  And everyone will then understand the feelings of
powerlessness and frustration experienced by many of the Organization's Members.
The WTO must go further still.  While the developing countries must try and understand the
domestic constraints facing the developed countries, these in turn must realize that there are choices to
be made between domestic constraints dictated by the need to ensure the well-being of their citizens
and the need for survival of the peoples of the South, and that the governments of developing
countries are compelled to seek their help in selecting priorities.  These are the terms in which we
must address the issues pertaining to the Agreement on Agriculture, the Agreement on intellectualproperty rights and their relation to public health and nutritional problems, issues pertaining to trade
and the environment, and implementation-related issues.
The challenge for countries such as ours lies first and foremost in framing laws, regulations
and agreements in such a way that market access for our products can be attractive as well aseffective.  Today it is quite clear that market access conditions for products from least-developed
countries are so stringent that they cannot but weak en, if not jeopardize, our trade, hence placing our
production system in an ever more precarious and disturbing situation.  I shall not dwell upon the
difficulties faced by our human resources in making the adjustment needed both to find their way
through the regulatory jungle and to attain the requisite management and performance levels.
I shall be quite frank in saying that there is no longer any doubt that the Members of the
World Trade Organization are committed to a multilateral trading system, based on liberalized rules.
From the developing countries' standpoint, if we ar e not careful we shall be building a market that will
be no more than a fool's bargain, in which the inexorability of market forces will condemn a cotton
producer from Mali or Benin to death, while the one from the United States of America will enjoy the
inalienable right to life.
This Fourth Ministerial Conference provides us with the perfect opportunity to take stock of
the strong points and weaknesses of the WTO, and especially to address the weaknesses, in order to
strengthen the Organization and enable it to respond to the needs and concerns of its Members,
including the various problems and obstacles encountered by developing economies and, in particular,the least-developed countries, in successfully integrating into the global economy.
Consequently, I would like to express my wholehearted and unconditional support for the
Declaration by the Ministers responsible for trade matters from the ACP Group, submitted to this
Conference, as well as for all the initiatives taken on  the African continent.  In addition to this, and to
clarify certain matters, I am submitting for your consideration a series of proposals and suggestions
for the negotiations to come on the following crucial issues:
(a) The Agreement on Agriculture;WT/MIN(01)/ST/131
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(b) the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical
Barriers to Trade (TBT);
(c) the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights;
(d) the General Agreement on Trade in Services;
(e) the issue of special and differential treatment;  and
(f) implementation issues.
Nevertheless, allow me at this juncture to highlight two or three aspects relating to the
suggestions which I have submitted to you in detail.
1. The Agreement on Agriculture
For many of our developing countries, our economies and trade are largely based on
agriculture or, indeed, a monoculture of speculation.  Yet besides the poor economic and politicalmanagement of which many of our governments, I regret to say, continue to be guilty, I must ask you
to bear in mind that the more globalization gathers momentum, the more poverty and extreme poverty
spread, so devastating and tragic is the impact fo r farmers in the least-developed countries of the
policies pursued by the United States, Europe, or the newly industrialized countries, which maintain
tariff peaks, tariff escalation, barriers of all kinds to prevent agricultural products from the least-developed countries from having access to the markets of developed countries, as well as domestic
support, particularly so-called "Green Box" measures.
Meanwhile, if we are tempted to resort to export restrictions on raw materials, which are often
justified by sensible domestic policies, we are regularly subjected to industrial intimidation.
2. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
We strongly support the idea that the protection of local or traditional knowledge, including
pharmacopoeia and medicine, should be clearly indicated in the Agreement.  This provision could be
a powerful tool for recovering, for the benefit of humanity, a priceless wealth of knowledge which
today remains marginalized.  Similarly, it would only be fair to grant farmers the same rights as those
obtained by plant breeders.
In addition, relaxation of conditions for the exploitation of patents for essential medicines will
lead to improved access to health care for many of the world's peoples, including those in developing
countries and particularly least-developed countries, affected by the urgent problems of malaria,
AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases which have a disastrous impact on human life and economies.
3. Implementation issues
I would like to point out that several commitments made concerning least-developed
countries have not been fulfilled.  Consequently, I would like to see more substantial efforts to pursue
and to improve technical assistance and capacity building through the Integrated Framework.
I would like to express my desire to see the waiver for the ACP/EC Cotonou Partnership
Agreement granted by the end of this Conference.   Autonomous initiatives such as the AGOA, taken
by the United States of America in 2000, and the EBA (Everything But Arms), adopted by the
European Union at the beginning of this year, are also market-opening measures that other developedcountries should be encouraged to take.WT/MIN(01)/ST/131
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The delegation of Benin firmly hopes that the results of this Ministerial Conference will see
the continuation of efforts to improve the situation in poor countries.  That is a reasonable, and
therefore the only sustainable, basis for meeting the major challenges taken on by the WTO.  My
country, Benin, supports these challenges;  they are our challenges, and we will work tirelessly to rise
to them, in the interests of our and all the world's citizens.
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