. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(03)/ST/36
11 September 2003
(03-4799)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fifth SessionCancún, 10 - 14 September 2003Original:  English
ICELAND
Statement by H.E. Mr. Halldór Asgrimsson
Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade
The shadow cast by the terrible terrorist attacks on this day two years ago still looms over us.
The tragic death this morning of Anna Lindh, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, an esteemed
colleague and a personal friend, further deepens this shadow.  Once again we have witnessed how
irrational forces can threaten the fabric of our democratic societies and our normal way of life.  We
have to be steadfast in our determination not to let these events control our agenda but on the contrarywork on towards our common goals.
This Organization has come together here in Cancún to make this a better world for future
generations and create new opportunities for the developing countries.  We have to assume our
responsibilities to all mankind.  I knew my friend Anna Lindh had high hopes for the success of thismeeting and the best way to honour her memory would be to continue our work towards that end.
The multilateral trading system is a proven vehicle in promoting economic development and
growth and is central to the future prosperity of our nations.  But more than ever, particular attention
needs to be paid to the needs of the least-developed countries, ensuring that they fully reap the
benefits the multilateral trading system has to of fer.  A prerequisite to our future success is
recognition of the fact that Members, be they developed or developing, have different interests anddifferent sensitivities, which must be taken into account in the pursuit of further trade liberalization.
A case in point is agriculture.  Iceland is in full support of the Doha agenda and will continue
to play a positive and constructive role in its advancement.  However, our diverse agricultural sectors
- which have developed in very different production conditions and through which we pursue a widerange of policy objectives - must be afforded a realistic opportunity to adapt to the realities imposed
by substantial reform.
Iceland places tremendous emphasis on non-trade concerns and development considerations
so that the potential benefits of further trade liberalization in agriculture can be universally sharedamong consumers and producers.  We as Members must also share the burden of reform in a balanced
and equitable way.
We are concerned that the draft Declaration fails to incorporate the sort of flexibility our
different interests require.  We have two main concerns:
First, in agricultural market access the harmonization proposal of tariff capping falsely
presumes that one size really does fit all.  We also see no justification for the mandatory expansion of
tariff quotas.  It needs to be emphasized that Iceland already imports more than half of its domestic
food consumption and most of those products enter the market without any tariffs or quantitativerestrictions.  On these issues, we are actively pursuing a better balance of interests.WT/MIN(03)/ST/36
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Second, we need to retain appropriate flexibility in our domestic support commitments.
Iceland's domestic support policies reflect the severe difficulties we confront in maintaining a viable
agricultural sector on the edge of the Arctic Circle.
Iceland's objective in the elaboration of modalities is to safeguard the ability to sustain
domestic production through policies that are appropriate to our production conditions.  Non-trade
concerns must be addressed in a meaningful and effective way.  In our case, production-linked
policies have proven to be necessary tools to accommodate our diverse policy objectives in
agriculture and further commitments must take this into consideration.  What we simply require is the
sort of flexibility which the European Union by virtue of its size and range of agriculture will continue
to have in favour of certain regions, or the United  States will continue to have in support of its
marginal agriculture.
With respect to export subsidies, we stand ready to undertake commitments with a view to
their abolition.  But this flexibility rests on the appropriate balance being found across all three pillars.
On non-agricultural market access, we have a balanced but fragile proposal for our
consideration and we thus caution against upsetting it.  This proposal seems to provide enough
flexibility to accommodate the needs of developing Members and newly acceded Members.  We
welcome proposals on tariff elimination in certain sectors, such as for textiles and fisheries products
which are important sectors for developing countries.  We also emphasize the elimination of so-called
nuisance tariffs, which is long overdue.
We are pleased that a solution has been found regarding the access of developing countries to
low-cost pharmaceuticals.
We strongly support advancement of the so-called Singapore Issues and it is essential that a
time-frame be set for their negotiation.  Services are a prime stimulus of world economic growth and
they remain a key issue in these negotiations.
We welcome the progress made in the negotiations on fisheries subsidies and the growing
awareness that this is an issue that needs to be effectively addressed.
It is fundamental to the well-being of the multilateral trading system that the fruits of our
labour here in Cancún be rightly perceived as a success.  I urge you to keep in mind that the principles
of adaptability and flexibility must be key ingredients in our continued endeavours.
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