WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/86
1 December 1999
(99-5298)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third SessionSeattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
CROATIA
Statement by H.E. Mr. Nenad Porges
Minister of Economy
(Speaking as an Observer)
Allow me this opportunity to thank the Government of the United States of America and the
City of Seattle for hosting this Conference.
I should also like to extend our appreciation to the Director-General and to the Secretariat of
the WTO for their efforts in preparing this Conference.
At the outset of the new millennium, we have gathered here to assess the benefits that trade
liberalization has brought to the world's economies and to address new initiatives aimed at further
increasing global trade and economic growth.
There are no doubts that the multilateral rule-based trading system has in the past years and
decades contributed to widespread economic development, growth, employment, stability and
increased welfare.  The WTO system has proved to be the most effective mechanism for economic
integration of world economies through progressive liberalization and the elimination of trade
barriers, including market access, which has significantly contributed to the enhancedcompetitiveness, and export capacities of many countries.  The objectives reflected in the WTO basic
principles, such as non-discrimination, fair and equitable treatment and transparency, have been to a
large extent translated into a working agenda that enables the benefits of trade liberalization to be
extended as widely as possible.
This is why the majority of countries in transition, developing countries and the
least-developed countries are seeking to join this system as soon as possible.  Active participation in
the WTO shall only give positive impetus to the reform processes undertaken by these countries and
their increased integration shall only contribute to the universality of the WTO itself.
However, on the verge of the new round of multilateral trading negotiations, we are facing a
situation where it is unclear, how these countries shall actively participate in this ongoing as well as
forthcoming process.  They are told that they can  participate in the new Millennium Round, but at the
same time some of them are prevented from joining the Organization, notwithstanding the fact that
they have proved the full compliance with WTO ru les and disciplines and provided significant market
access concessions.
Unfortunately, Croatia has been one of these countries.  After six years of exhausting and
comprehensive negotiations, and after bringing all of its legislation and implementation practice in
compliance with the WTO rules, principles and disciplines, which has been recognized by WorkingWT/MIN(99)/ST/86
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Party Members, Croatia has through no fault of its own, been prevented from concluding its WTO
accession process.
Croatia has now, for almost half a year, been faced with a situation where it must choose
between two different concepts of audiovisual services that could not be reconciliated even during theUruguay Round and are, by their very nature, so conflicting that in accepting one the other is naturally
repudiated.  Namely, the concept of accepting audiovisual services commitments, driven by
commercial interests, is confronted with the other concept of taking certain exemptions based on the
preservation of cultural tradition.
We have been asked to give our consent and agree to concepts that can only be regarded as
WTO plus commitments which go beyond what the majority of current WTO Members had beenobliged to adopt.  Even so, Croatia tried to find middle ground that would accommodate commercial
and cultural concerns, but hitherto, no solution acceptable to Croatia's negotiating partners has been
reached.
This has put Croatia and a number of other European acceding countries in a hostage position.
After many rounds of formal and informal multilateral and bilateral negotiations within Croatia's
accession process, this bitter situation has prompted us to draw at least three conclusions:
- In order to avoid possible impediments and delays of the accession processes, WTO
Members should refrain from requiring acceding countries to undertake commitmentsand concessions, that are not based on, or required by, existing WTO Agreements and
other principles agreed by and valid for all WTO Members.
- In order to establish a fair and equitable accession framework, there should be no
discrimination regarding the scope of commitments and concessions required fromacceding countries, regardless of their size, trade leverage, geographic position,
political affiliation or other specific criteria.  However, due account should be taken
of the position and needs of the least-developed countries.
- Adequate rules, procedures and mechanisms should be prepared and accepted by
WTO Members in order to prevent unjustified delays in accession processes.
At this point in time, we can only express our disappointment by the fact that the seriousness
of the accession problems has not been recognized by WTO Members.  Members have failed to
address the issue of precisely regulating and thus accelerating accession processes in a comprehensive
and meaningful way in documents to be adopted by the Third Ministerial Conference.  Statements of
political support are very important, but they have no effect if they are not translated into concreteactions.
Does the present situation mean that WTO Members have decided not to pursue the objective
of making the WTO system truly universal in scope and coverage?  Does this mean that they have
overlooked the importance of finding modalities for the effective participation of the economies intransition, developing countries and least-developed countries in the world trading system?  Does this
mean that WTO Members can live with the fact that no new European country shall become a WTO
Member due to the conflicting and unresolved "WTO plus" issue of audio-visual services?  Croatia
would like to believe that the only answer to those questions is NO.
We still hope that WTO Members shall recognize the serious danger imposed to the
credibility of the Organization due to the blockade of new accessions that is not based on any WTOWT/MIN(99)/ST/86
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agreed rules and principles.  Therefore, Croatia appeals to the whole WTO community to reconsider
the conclusions and lessons learned from accession processes.  I am confident that if more attention is
paid to accessions, it shall result in adequate action even during this Ministerial Conference.  The aim
of the action should be accommodating concerns and resisting attempts to misuse accession processes
by linking them with some otherwise unresolved WT O issues pertaining to the next round of global
trade negotiations to be launched in Seattle.  Croatia strongly believes that only such a step could
bring the WTO much closer to its goal of becoming a universal and comprehensive trade
organization.
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