WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/515
2 September 2003
(03-4581)
General Council Original:  English
FIFTH WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Communication from Malawi
The following communication, dated 25 August, has been received by the Director-General
from the Secretary for Commerce and Industry of Malawi.
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I have the honour to submit for circulation to WTO Members, Malawi's Position Paper on the
Fifth Ministerial Conference to be held in Cancún, Mexico from 10 to 14 September 2003.
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I. THE NEED TO FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT
1. The Doha Work Programme which was launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001 can only be
effective if it accomplishes the following developmental goals:
(i) creating a multilateral trading system which is pro-growth and pro-poor and takes
into account differences in income, economic size, technological development, and
private sector capacities amongst member countries;
(ii) improving supply capacities; and
(iii) distributing the benefits of globalization and liberalization to all countries especially
Least Developed Countries(LDCs) and all sections of the population so as to reduce
poverty.
2. Malawi endorses the common position on Cancun adopted by LDC Trade Ministers in June
2003 in Bangladesh, African Union Trade Ministers’ Meeting in June 2003 in Mauritius. Malawi’sspecific priorities are:
(i) Operationalization of special and differential treatment for LDCs, and injection of
new and effective special and differential provisions for LDCs in market access
negotiations;
(ii) The creation of sustainably expanded and demand-driven technical and capacity
building assistance to develop infrastructure for trade, address costs of
implementation of agreements, and improve supply capacities.  In this regard, MalawiWT/GC/W/515
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is calling for increased provision of financial resources to the Joint Integrated
Technical Assistance Programme(JITAP) and Integrated Facility (IF);
(iii) The availability of financial and technical assistance to increase agricultural
productivity and diversify exports in order to take full advantage of market accessopportunities;
(iv) The preservation of existing preferences and compensation for any loss of market
access resulting from multilateral trade liberalization;
(v) The creation of mechanisms to resolve the issue of access to essential medicines for
all illnesses and conditions of public health on affordable terms for those developingcountries and LDCs with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities to deal with
public health problems, especially those resulting from HIV/AIDS, Malaria,
tuberculosis and other epidemics;
(vi) To ensure the reform of the rules on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures to
prevent such measures  acting as barriers to trade and develop local capacity to deal
with compliance issues.
3. Funding development
- Existing initiatives
Malawi’s position is that:
(i) Debt relief should be provided for social and economic (productive) development and
should aim at developing supply capacities to meet market access opportunities.
Malawi welcomes the Highly Indebted  Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
(ii) Resources for the WTO Trust Fund should be increased to ensure that developing
countries have sufficient finance to meet the costs of implementing WTO agreements
and other international obligations.  Funding of activities for LDCs should be
expanded.
- New needs
Malawi recognizes that:
(i) The high cost of transport  and other trade related infrastructure have been identified
as some of the major causes of Malawi’s poor export competitiveness and that as
such resources should be provided to improve trade-related infrastructure with a viewto achieving  the Development Agenda.  This is an urgent matter and requires positive
coherence between WTO trade rules and policies pursued by the World Bank and
IMF.
(ii) Gains from trade liberalization will not be evenly distributed and that Malawi will not
benefit because of its high dependence on preferences and weak supply capacities.  A
fair and poverty-focused trading system should therefore aim at ensuring that all
countries share gains.WT/GC/W/515
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II. STATUS OF THE CURRENT ROUND OF THE MULTILATERAL TRADE
NEGOTIATIONS
4. Malawi is disappointed with the slow progress in addressing the Work Programme set out in
the Doha Declaration.  The progress has been slow due to deadlocks and missed deadlines on a range
of key negotiation issues.  Malawi’s position is that it is now time for member states, especiallydeveloped countries, to resolve substantive differences and engage on development issues.
5. The Ministerial Conference must provide an opportunity for members to reiterate the
development dimension of the Doha agenda and resolve the current impasse and lack of progress
under the Doha Work programme.
III. AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATIONS
6. The agriculture sector is very important to Malawi because apart from providing food
security, it is the backbone of Malawi’s economy.  Agriculture contributes to export earnings andemployment creation.
7. Malawi depends on existing preferences and, as such, proposes that:
(i) Existing preferences that have historically been accorded to developing and least
developed countries should remain, be expanded and secured under the framework of
the Agreement on Agriculture.  If there is any liberalisation, the process should beproperly managed and monitored so that short-term adverse effects of such reforms
should be minimized.  In the long term, Malawi hopes to develop the capacity to
compete effectively;
(ii) Malawi will need compensation for loss of market access for products of comparative
advantage in order to build capacity for efficient production at lowest cost possible;
(iii) Financial and technical assistance should be provided to Malawi to improve
agricultural infrastructure, productivity and diversification and for the
development of facilities and systems in order to comply with Sanitary andPhytosanitary and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) requirements for
exporting agricultural commodities. Financial and technical assistance should
also be provided for increasing local fo od production, value added, and capacity
in marketing, storage and distribution in accordance with the Malawi Growth
Strategy;
(iv) Expansion of scope for Special and Differential (S&D) treatment should allow
Malawi to employ policy measures which will target the viability of small-scale and
subsistence farmers, rural poverty alleviation, food security, as well as product
diversification.  However, there is need for coherence between the Bretton woods
institutions and the WTO on the application of such  policies in order to comply with
the S&D provisions;
(v) The ‘modalities’ agreed should produce results which provide avenues for Malawi’s
agro-industries to develop.  Tariff peaks and tariff escalations should be removed by
developed countries  to enable Malawi  develop an agro-processing sub-sector;
(vi) Non-tariff barriers to agriculture tr ade such as trade distorting Sanitary and
Phytosanitary measures and Technical Barriers to Trade have become serious barriers
for Malawi’s exports.  Such barriers should be eliminated and standards should beWT/GC/W/515
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harmonized. Developed countries should exercise restraint in applying such measures
to products from LDCs;
(vii) As proposed by Mr. Harbinson, LDCs should be fully exempted from any tariff
reduction commitments and should be given bound duty  and quota free access;
(viii) Trade distorting domestic support measures, export subsidies and tariff peaks and
tariff escalation maintained by developed countries hurt exports of many least
developed countries and should therefore be eliminated.  These subsidies and other
interventions seriously depress world income and world prices of agriculture
products, for example cotton and groundnuts.  In particular, Malawi shares other
African countries’ concerns about cotton subsidies;
(ix) There should be more simplified and transparent tariff quota regimes which should
benefit Malawi;  and
(x) Food aid provided by members to meet emergency situations, humanitarian and
development objectives and to address chronic food deficit situations in LDCs should
be allowed.
IV. TRADE RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (TRIPS)
8. The objective of the Doha Round is to reduce poverty and the objective of the Declaration on
the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health is to promote access to medicines for all.  The health of
Malawians depends on the availability of affordable medicines for all illnesses and conditions of
public health importance.  Malawi therefore believes that the Declaration on TRIPS and Public
Health should:
(i) allow imports of all essential medicines and other medical supplies of public health
importance at affordable prices;
(ii) not restrict coverage to specified diseases;(iii) use existing public procurement procedures to deal with the risk of re-export and call
for changes in legislature to avoid re-export by private sector;
(iv) provide for financial and technical assistance to build capacity for local
pharmaceutical producers;
Malawi underscores that:
(v) work on the review of Article 27.3(b) as well as examining the relationship between
the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) should
continue;
(vi) work on the review of protection of Traditional Knowledge should continue;  and(vii) protection of geographical indications should be extended to include other products of
commercial interest to LDCs and developing countries.WT/GC/W/515
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V. TRADE IN SERVICES
9. In view of the complexity of the issues, Malawi proposes that:
(i) Financial and technical assistance should be provided to undertake comprehensive
studies of the impact of autonomous liberalization, undertake continuous assessment,
and to assist Malawi in making requests and offers;
(ii) Financial and technical assistance is also required for building capacity and
enhancing competitiveness of Malawi’s service sectors;
(iii) Access to developed countries for all workers under mode 4 of the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) should be facilitated and calls for
commercially meaningful offers to be made on this mode;
(iv) WTO Members should assist Malawi in obtaining training and transfer of skills and
technology, and undertake other specific measures that support the development of
infrastructure and services exports for Malawi’s services suppliers;
(v) Malawi requests maximum credit for those services which it has liberalized
autonomously.  Other Members should not request credit from Malawi;  and
(vi) Rule making work, especially in the area of establishment of Emergency Safeguard
Mechanism as provided for in Article X should be expedited.
VI. MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
10. Malawi strongly affirms that least developed countries should not be required to reduce tariffs
nor increase bindings, and that developed countries should commit themselves to deeper reductions
and provide flexibility for gradual reduction of tariffs by developing countries .  Malawi’s position is
that:
(i) Malawi must be given maximum credit for unilateral liberalization;
(ii) Malawi will be seriously affected by erosion of preferential margins due to Most
Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff reductions.  The effects of this must therefore be offset
by establishing compensatory and other appropriate mechanisms that will address the
immediate impact of erosion of pref erences as well as promote exports;
(iii) Developed countries should eliminate tariff peaks, tariff escalation as well as non-
tariff barriers to products of export interest to developing and least developed
countries; and
(iv) Developed countries should immediatel y provide duty and quota free market access
for all products from LDCs  along with flexible and simplified Rules Of Origin that
take into account the industrial capacity of developing and least developed countries.
VII. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING
11. Technical Cooperation and capacity building are core elements of the development dimension
of the multilateral trading system.  Trade-related technical assistance is vital for Malawi to increase its
trade-related supply capacity and to meet technical standards and SPS measures in order to benefit
from the multilateral trading system.  In the Doha Ministerial Declaration, technical assistance runsWT/GC/W/515
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throughout the text as a recurrent theme.  In particular, paragraph 42 of the Doha Ministerial
Declaration, recognizes that integration of the LD Cs into the multilateral trading system requires,
inter alia,  trade related technical assistance and capacity building.
12. Malawi welcomes the Integrated Framework (IF) and the Joint Integrated Technical
Assistance Programme (JITAP) which are aimed at assisting LDCs enhance their trade opportunities,
develop supply capacities for increased exports, and effectively integrating LDCs into the global
economy.  Financial assistance to these two progra mmes should therefore be increased.  Malawi also
welcomes bilateral technical assistance provided by some developed (donor) countries in the area of
trade and poverty reduction.
13. In the light of the commitments on technical cooperation and capacity building outlined in the
Doha Declaration, Malawi proposes that:
(i) financial and technical assistance programmes for Malawi should be substantially
increased and targeted to meet the needs identified in the Malawi Growth Strategy
and IF Diagnostic Study;
(ii) institutional capacity of Malawi including development of human resources should be
strengthened;
(iii) training of government officials and training of trainers in WTO issues should be
strengthened;
(iv) the follow-up to the Diagnostic Trade Integrated Studies (DTIS) should be made
sustainable and predictable with adequate resources;
(v) developed countries should provide increased resources to the Global Trust Fund to
enable WTO provide adequate Technical Assistance for LDCs;
(vi) developed countries should enhance the support that is aimed at improving the
participation of the private sector and other stakeholders in the IF
process/programmes so that  supply side constraints are appropriately addressed;
(vii) access to financial resources for the projects identified in the DTIS should be
facilitated through simplified procedures and modalities;  and
(viii) the operationalization of the programmes identified in the IF and DTIS should be
expedited.
VIII.  NEW ISSUES (SINGAPORE ISSUES)
14. In view of the overwhelming opposition by deve loping, least developed, and some developed
countries, including Malawi, of the workload generated by the Doha Work Programme and of its
limited resources, Malawi proposes that:
(i) Working Groups on Investment, Comp etition Policy and Transparency in
Government Procurement should continue working on the process of clarifying these
issues; and
(ii) Any agreement relating to Trade Facilitation should not introduce new requirements.
Emphasis should be on the provision of effective technical assistance and capacity
building.WT/GC/W/515
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IX. TRADE, DEBT, FINANCE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY
15. Malawi calls on developed countries to meet the commitments of the Monterrey
Declaration and proposes that:
(i) greater coherence in global economic policy making should be fostered between the
WTO and Bretton Woods Institutions; and the Bretton Woods institutions shouldimplement the relevant Ministerial decisions adopted on this subject in previous
conferences;  and
(ii) interaction between governments and donor agencies on trade should be strengthened
at the country level, including where appropriate, giving trade a more prominent role
in Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes (PRSP) and other national development
plans;  and
(iii) the ongoing working group on Trade, Debt, Finance and Technology Transfer should
continue.
X. IMPLEMENTATION RELATED ISSUES
16. Malawi is concerned that despite a clear mandate by the Doha Ministerial Conference that
implementation-related issues and concerns should be an integral part of the Work Programme, most
of the issues remain unresolved.
17. Malawi, therefore, proposes that: all outstanding issues be addressed on a priority basis.  The
key being implementation of Special and Differential Treatment for developing and least developedcountries; transfer of technology under TRIPs; provision of financial and technical assistance to
address supply capacities and review of the agreements which have an impact on developing and least
developed countries.
18. Further, all S&D proposals submitted by LDCs should be addressed, without apriori
exclusions, with a view to making them precise, effective, and operational and thereby convertingthem as binding commitments of member states; and S&D treatment that facilitates development
efforts of LDCs through the expansion of trade and investment should be incorporated into the
multilateral trading system.
XI. NEGOTIATIONS ON RULES
19. Malawi’s proposals on WTO rules are as follows:
(i) In view of the importance of Malawi’s regional negotiations, the negotiations on
Article XXIV of GATT 1994 should provide flexibility for developing and leastdeveloped countries;
(ii) a simplified procedure for investigation of anti-dumping and countervailing measures
should be devised;  and
(iii) recognizing that subsidies may play an important role in economic development and
poverty alleviation programmes of least-developed countries, subsidies required for
development, diversification and upgrading of infant industries and in particular
industries with substantial poverty alleviation potential in LDCs, should be treated as
non-actionable.WT/GC/W/515
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XII. WTO PROCEDURES
20. Processes for negotiating the Doha Work Programme must be transparent.  The procedures of
the WTO must enable all countries to participate effectively .  Malawi believes that clear and open
procedures should replace informal meetings a nd that proposals should come from properly
constituted meetings, rather than individual responsibility, and that countries which lackresources and experience to participate in such  meetings should receive additional support.
XIII.  RECOMMENDATIONS
21. For the Doha Work Programme to be beneficial to  Malawi, the 5
th WTO Ministerial
Conference must meet Malawi’s special needs and vulnerabilities.
22. Malawi will lose from the agricultural liberalisation that will benefit others.  A
development–focused settlement must offer compensation for its loss of access.
23. Malawi has difficulty in taking advantage of the market access that it now has.  A
development-focused settlement must provide financial and technical assistance to diversify,
improve infrastructure, meet standards and rules of origin, and to facilitate trade .
24. Diseases and ill health intensify Malawi’s economic poverty.  A poverty-focused
settlement must allow it affordable access to essential medicines for all aspects of public health.
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