. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/ST/87
11 November 2001
(01-5670)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth SessionDoha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  English
GUYANA
Statement by the Honourable Clement James Rohee, MP
Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation
On behalf of the Government of Guyana, I would like to congratulate the Government of
Qatar for the excellent work they have done in hosting this very important Conference, particularly in
these difficult times.  I would like also to express my sincere thanks for the warm welcome and
hospitality extended by the people and Government of Qatar.  It would be remiss of me if I neglected
to express my appreciation to the WTO Director-Gen eral Mike Moore and the staff of the Secretariat
for their unrelenting efforts in organizing this Conference.
Our encounter at the last WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 1999 raised a multitude of
critical challenges for the WTO and the multilateral trading system.  The journey from Seattle to
Doha, has been preoccupied, and rightly so, with the quest for pragmatic responses to the onerous
issues which have emerged, especially in relation to the global inequities and inbuilt disadvantages
militating against the progress of developing countries generally and small, vulnerable developingcountries in particular.
While there is little doubt that the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations provided for a most
comprehensive and far-reaching trading agreement, the impact on many vulnerable developing
countries has been disastrous.  More specifically, the distribution of benefits from the multilateral
trade liberalization process is clearly in favour of the developed countries.  The developing and least-
developed countries have suffered from a high degree of marginalization and have been, greatly
constrained in their efforts to implement and be nefit from the provisions of the WTO Agreements.
Such marginalization should be addressed and a concerted effort should be made by the global
community to redress this situation by institutin g programmes of assistance for capacity building and
institutional strengthening.  The developed countries should also make a firm commitment to
implement the provisions of the Agreements, which provide support to developing countries and grant
them much needed time to improve their global competitiveness.
On this essential issue of support for developing countries and the necessity of adequate time
to improve competitiveness, I must emphasize the critical importance of the waiver application for the
ACP-EU Partnership Agreement.  The ACP Member States including Guyana, are greatly concerned
over the prolonged delay in the consideration and approval of this request and it is our sincere hope
that this untenable situation will be expeditiously resolved.  At the recently concluded ACP Ministersof Trade Conference in Brussels on 5-6 November, the Ministers discussed this issue at length and
incorporated our concerns in the Declaration of ACP Ministers of Trade on the 4
th WTO Ministerial
Conference which also encompasses the position of the ACP on all the major WTO issues of interest
to our Group.  We urge that the issues raised in the Declaration be carefully examined and the
concerns articulated therein be taken into account.
If we are to achieve a positive and balanced agenda, particular attention, should be given to
the special needs and interests of developing and least-developed Member countries in all trade
negotiations and liberalization processes.  Every effort should be made to implement fully the existingWT/MIN(01)/ST/87
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WTO provisions on Special and Differential treatment for small, vulnerable developer economies,
especially in the areas of anti-dumping, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to
trade.
We urge that the TRIPS Agreement be implemen ted to allow countries to address the grave
public health crisis faced by numerous developing and particularly least-developed countries in orderto ensure access to affordable medicines.  A co mmitment to this effect should be made at this
Conference.  We are not prepared to leave this to the vagaries of private sector priorities and the WTO
Dispute Settlement processes.  Governments must implement their public health obligations to their
populations.  To do otherwise will be a sacrifice on the altar of the WTO.  We will not do this.
This Ministerial Conference should agree as an overriding priority to put implementation
issues on a fast track.  Nothing less would be acceptable, otherwise, we would be merely perpetuating
the spirit of Seattle and thereby continue to undermine the multilateral trading system.  If we cannothave past undertakings of the developed countries implemented, our people will consider us gullible if
we accept future undertakings from them.  We are not gullible.
My country, as a Member of the WTO, would like to contribute constructively to a restoration
of confidence in the multilateral trading system, but this cannot be achieved if the Uruguay round
provisions are honoured in the breach.  We are not opposed to the concept of negotiations, but wesimply cannot negotiate a text that is stacked against the interests of developing countries.  We have
not come to Doha as spoilers or obstructionists.  We approach Doha in the same way as we
approached the Uruguay Round which is in good faith, believing that there is something to be gained
from the multilateral trading system.  However, we will not repeat the mistakes of the past.  We do
not want to dominate, neither do we not want to be dominated.  We worked just as hard after Seattle,in fact, we worked even harder but when we see that there is minimal progress on the implementation
issues, we feel a sense of being cheated.
We all debate upon the vagaries of trade liberalization and globalization, and the integration
of our economies into the global trading system, yet we fail to recognize the interaction between trade
liberalization and globalization.  Those who suffer from delusions of grandeur about the benefits ofglobalization and trade liberalization must ask themselves about the millions of voices who remain
unconvinced about these twin processes.  There c ontinues to be a growing disconnect between our
intentions and what we are delivering.  We have valid expectations now as we had when we
participated in the Uruguay Round.  While we have persistently worked to open our economies on the
one hand, on the other, the industrialized states have conversely failed to open up their markets.
A final warning.  Nothing can be agreed here except by consensus.  There is a suggestion that
some wish to repudiate the principle of consent.  That would be the end of the WTO.  I counselagainst any such instinct.
I must seize this opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations to the People's Republic of
China on their historic accession to the WTO.  The Government of Guyana looks forward to working
closely with China in the WTO forum in seeking to  make the multilateral trading system a fair and
equitable system.
The WTO system must work for all of us on an equal level.  The problems and concerns of
developing countries are real and our develope d country partners must measure up to their
commitments and undertakings to provide support, including special and differential treatment and
structural adjustment assistance for our economies.  The WTO must be mandated to address this as a
matter of priority and such a mandate should come from Doha.
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