. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(03)/ST/62
11 September 2003
(03-4812)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fifth SessionCancún, 10 - 14 September 2003Original:  English
JORDAN
Statement by H.E. Dr. Moh'd S. Abu-Hammour
Minister of Industry and Trade
It is a great pleasure to represent Jordan in the Fifth Session of the World Trade Organization
Ministerial Conference being held here in Cancún, Mexico.  On behalf of the Government of Jordan, I
wish to sincerely thank the Government and the Mexican people for their warm hospitality and
excellent arrangements for the organization of this important event.  I wish also to express my thanks
and gratitude to the Chairman of the General Council and to the WTO Secretariat for the tremendousefforts they have put into the preparation of this Conference.
We are all gathered here with an essential goal.  The Doha Ministerial Conference delivered a
very ambitious agenda and launched a promising round of negotiations and it is a shared
responsibility among all of us to bring these negotiations to a success.  Let us strengthen themultilateral trading system and make it work for all;  subsequently it will have to respond to the
challenges and needs of the world community.
Jordan shares the disappointment and concerns of the membership for the general lack of
progress in the current round of negotiations.  Regrettably, many deadlines were missed and a number
of key issues are left unresolved.  Therefore, it is our task here to seriously move these negotiations
forward and faithfully implement the Doha Developm ent Agenda, to eventually reach the anticipated
outcomes and fully respond to the needs and interests of all Members.
The progress made on the TRIPS and public health issue deserves a lot of appreciation.  We
welcome the decision on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the
TRIPS Agreement and public health and the accompanying statement of the Chairman of theGeneral Council.  We believe that such a decision will highly contribute to solving a vital
humanitarian issue and will be beneficial for all.  The constructive spirit of cooperation and
understanding shown by the United States to resolve this issue reflects a high level of responsibility
and it deserves appreciation.
Trade related issues are of importance to vitalize the soul of the rule based trading system.
Transparent dialogue through the participation of all Member States on these issues will ensure better
understanding and lead to mutually acceptable results.
I would like here to recall the Doha Ministeria l Conference in which Jordan participated for
the first time as a full Member, wherein the Ministers in their Declaration recognized the extensive
and far-reaching market access commitments undertaken as part of the accession process by Jordan
and a number of recently acceded Members.
Jordan as a recently acceded Member, which has undertaken commitments far in excess to
those undertaken by Members at a comparable or higher level of economic development, stresses the
need to accommodate its extensive commitments within  this round of negotiations.  Special treatmentWT/MIN(03)/ST/62
Page 2
and appropriate flexibility should be provided for recently acceded Members in the market access
negotiations in goods and services. Furthermore, such treatment and flexibility should be effectively
addressed within the frameworks and the modalities for the negotiations on agriculture and the
negotiations on market access for non-agricultural goods.
In the area of services negotiations, Jordan welcomes the progress achieved so far and will
remain positively engaged in these negotiations with the view to securing the benefits and interests of
all Members.  We welcome the Members' offers submitted so far, but we also share the overall
disappointment in the quality of the offers, particularly in sectors and modes of supply of export
interest to developing countries.
The emphasis on capacity-building will have a significant impact on overcoming
some of the shortcomings that small developing countries are confronting.  Furthermore, greater
coherence should be sought among international institutions to help fostering the understanding of the
linkages between trade and other related issues i.e. poverty reduction programmes, debt, and
socio-economic programmes.  In this regard, regional trade, economic and financial organizations have
important roles to play in facilitating trade liberalization and better understanding and implementingWTO work to respond to the national needs, and accordingly shall allocate the resources to achieve
better technical assistance and capacity-building programmes.
In conclusion, Jordan sincerely welcomes the accession of Cambodia and the Kingdom of
Nepal.  It is evident that their accession will positively contribute to the multilateral trading system.Likewise, we urge Members to accelerate the accession process of:  Algeria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan and Yemen and to effectively implement the Decision of 10 December 2002.
Let us hope that this Conference will result in positive outcomes that would contribute to the
benefit of all Members.
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