. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/387
15 November 1999
(99-4914)
General Council Original:  Spanish
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development
Paragraph 9(d) of the Geneva Ministerial Declaration
Communication from Cuba
The following communication, dated 9 November 1999, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of Cuba.
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Introduction
1. The Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on Trade and Environment established the close link
between trade, the environment and sustainable development.  However, in practice, sustainabledevelopment is seen by the developing countries as increasingly threatening and unattainable because
of the accelerating pace at which trade is being liberalized without properly implementing the results
of the Uruguay Round, in particular the provision on special and differential treatment for the
developing countries.
2. The objectives of economic growth and sustainable development can be achieved
simultaneously if the basic principles of Agenda 21 and the 1992 Rio Declaration are respected, above
all the principles establishing the indispensable requirement to eradicate poverty and the commonresponsibility for the environment, but differ entiated according to levels of development.
3. The continual liberalization of trade in an increasingly interdependent world needs to take
place in a context of globalization of solidarity and international cooperation to ensure that the
commercial requirements of a non-discriminatory, fair and equitable multilateral trading system
provide a true incentive to improve production practices in the developing countries rather thancontributing  to a deterioration in the environmental and living conditions in those countries.
4. The funds currently provided by the developed countries for international cooperation are not
sufficient to finance the recovery of the productive and competitive capacity of the developing and
vulnerable economies which have been damaged by neo-liberal globalization.  Nor have the
developing countries been able to obtain the financial resources provided for by the internationalcommunity to implement the activities set out in Agenda 21.
5. The generation of wealth and the elimination of poverty are part of the solution to the
problems of the environment in the developing countries, and depend heavily on market access
opportunities for their exports.  The trade restrictions imposed on various products for environmental
purposes and the need to incorporate production met hods and processes in the final product seriously
limit market access for the developing countries.WT/GC/W/387
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6. Environmentally sustainable development in the developing countries also calls for effective
ways of disseminating and transferring environmentally clean technologies.
Proposals
7. The Ministers should give importance to the following elements and take them into account
for the future work of the WTO.
8. The Committee on Trade and Environment, whenever it conducts an analysis, should
consider, inter alia , the consequences for the sustainable development of the developing countries as
the only way of ensuring their economic growth coupled with better environmental protection.
9. The Committees on Market Access and Technical Barriers to Trade shall contribute to
achieving sustainable development as one of th e objectives of the WTO by ensuring that no
unnecessary barriers are imposed or unilateral measures taken in the name of environmentalprotection which affect market access by the developing countries.  In this context, the requirement to
incorporate production methods and processes in the final product shall be considered unacceptable.
10. The proposed working group on transfer of technology should consider effective ways for
developing countries to have access to environmentally clean technologies, thereby contributing to
their sustainable development.
11. The Committee on Trade and Development, in coordination with the Committee on Trade and
Environment, should evaluate the type of technical assistance required by the developing countries in
order to fulfil specific objectives aimed at ensu ring their economic growth and the elimination of
poverty as essential factors in achieving sustainable development, so that specific technical
cooperation funds can be allocated to that end.
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