WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/343
9 February 2000
(00-0495)
Original:  English
DECLARATION OF THE MINISTERS OF TRADE OF THE
LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, SEATTLE, 29 NOVEMBER 1999
The following communication, dated 7 February 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Bangladesh with the request that it be circulated to Members.
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The Minister of Trade of Least Developed Countries:
Having met in Seattle on the eve of the Third WTO Ministerial Conference,
Recalling the Comprehensive New Plan of Action (CNPA) in the context of the Third WTO
Ministerial Conference adopted by Senior Advisor to Minister of Trade in LDCs in Sun City,
South Africa on 25 June 1999,
Recalling further the declaration adopted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of LDCs in their
Ninth Annual Meeting in New York on 29 September 1999,
Determined to reverse the marginalization of our countries in international trade and enhance
the LDCs effective participation in the Multilateral Trading System,
1. Endorse the Comprehensive New Plan of Action in the context of the Third WTO Ministerial
Conference as submitted by the Coordinator of  LDCs (Bangladesh) to WTO General Council in
document WT/GC/W/251;
2. Commend the UNCTAD secretariat for its activities in favour of LDCs which aim at
capacity-building and identification of a trade negotiating agenda from a development perspective;3. Express appreciation to the UNCTAD secretariat for organizing, and the Government of
South Africa and UNDP for sponsoring, the Coordinating Workshop for Senior Advisors to Ministers
of Trade in LDCs in Sun City, South Africa, in J une 1999 which resulted in the adoption of the CNPA
to assist LDCs consolidate their bargaining positions in future multilateral trade negotiations;
4. Note with serious concern the continuing marginalization of LDCs from the mainstream of
the globalizing world economy as reflected in LDCs low and declining share in world trade,
investment and output aggravated by the heavy and external debt burden;
5. Reiterate LDCs determination to actively participate in the process of global trade rule-
making and in identifying issues of interest to  LDCs in order to safeguard and promote potential
benefits and to protect against possible risks and losses;
6. Reaffirm the commitment of LDCs government s to continue to pursue macroeconomic and
sectoral policies conducive to promoting growth and development and eradicating poverty in LDC;WT/L/343
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7. Emphasize the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Marrakesh
Declaration and Ministerial decisions in favour of LDCs;
8. Note that significant scope exists for improving market access conditions for LDCs and call
for early action to provide bound and duty-free, quota-free market access for all products originating
in the LDCs;
9. Call for the elimination of export subsidies by developed countries, within an agreed time-
period, particularly for agricultural products of export interest to LDCs;10. Reiterate that in the area of service negotiations, due consideration should be given to
improved commitments with respect to movement of natural persons to enable LDCs to draw more
effective benefits from trade in services;
11. Call upon LDCs development and trading partners to provide broad, deep and faster debt
relief to LDCs, to promote comprehensive and we ll coordinated support measures to enhance LDCs
efforts to face major challenges in overcoming marginalization, in particular through transfer of
technology and more FDI and ODA flows;
12. Emphasize that the meaningful and beneficial integration of LDCs into the global economy
and multilateral trading system requires concrete actions by the LDCs and their development partners
to strengthen LDCs' supply capacities, inter alia  through the development of physical and institutional
infrastructure and human resources development, unencumbered and improved market access, and
retained flexibility in the use of appropriate policy instruments to strengthen competitiveness of
sectors of strategic importance and export diversification for the development of their trade;
13. Note that the scope of the Multilateral trade agenda, the structure of negotiations and the
time-frame will have great bearing on the ability of LDCs to participate actively in the light of limited
human and financial resources;
14. Call for the treatment of the special and differential provisions and measures in multilateral
trade agreements in favour of LDCs as obligations and binding by making them an integral part of the
rules and disciplines governing the multilateral trading system;
15. Call for taking into account, in future multi lateral trade negotiations, the development needs
of LDCs and that the forthcoming negotiations shoul d help to improve the implementation of existing
agreements and commitments and should incorporate the proposals submitted by the LDCs;
16. Agree that, based on the proposals contained in the CNPA, LDCs will pursue a common
negotiating position as a means of improving their collective bargaining, and strive to build coalitions
with other developing and developed countries sympathetic to LDCs interests;
17. Call for the establishment of a clear, simplified and fast-track procedures for the accession of
LDCs which are not yet Members of the WTO to complete the process within one year of application.
LDCs seeking accession should automatically have the status recognized and not be subjected to
commitments that go beyond those of LDCs Members of the WTO;
18. Emphasize that the provision of well targeted  technical assistance would be of particular
importance in areas such as (i) implementation of WTO Agreements;  (ii) enhancing supply response
capacities;  (iii) support for forthcoming negotiations;  and (iv) accession of LDCs to WTO;WT/L/343
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19. Reiterate the importance of effective and timely implementation of the Marrakesh Declaration
on improving the contribution of the WTO to Achieving Greater Coherence in Global Economic
Policy-Making;
20. Emphasize the importance of the extension of transition periods for LDCs for periods which
take into account the availability of resources required to implement individual agreements;21. Urge the UNCTAD secretariat to continue strengthening its efforts to assist LDCs to facilitate
the formulation of a positive agenda in trade negotiations and through technical assistance to
strengthening their capacity to defend their interest in future negotiations;
22. Note with concern the slow progress in the implementation of the Integrated Framework and
the lack of results from the few Round Tables held so far arising mainly from the different perceptions
on the role and purpose of the IF process between LDCs and their development partners;
23. Emphasize the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Integrated
Framework for Trade Related Technical Assistance Activities as a key instrument in supporting LDCs
to integrate into the multilateral trading system;
24. Call for an independent review of the Integrated Framework process to reach a common
understanding of the objectives of the Integrated Framework, the institutional arrangement for its
implementation and expected outcome of the exercise and modalities for the mobilization of resourcesto facilitate the implementation of various projects proposed by LDCs by core agencies according to
their mandates.
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