. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/79
1 December 1999
(99-5264)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third SessionSeattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  French
HAITI
Statement by H.E. Mr. Gérald Germain ,
Minister of Trade and Industry
The delegation of Haiti is pleased to be able to work under your wise leadership to correct the
imbalances and inequities of globalization and to step up the process of effective integration of the
least developed countries into the multilateral trading system.  Haiti supports the new action plan
adopted at Sun City in June 1999, the position of the Group of 77 expressed at Marrakesh in
September 1999 and the declaration of the second  ACP summit in Santo Domingo in November 1999.
We attach great importance to the following issues:
• Implementation of existing agreements and decisions;
• the new round of negotiations;
• the new subjects of negotiation;
• action in favour of the LDCs and technical cooperation.
Haiti believes that priority should be given to the implementation of the existing decisions
and agreements over any possible new round of nego tiations.  Indeed, we must identify the numerous
shortcomings in implementation and correct them if we wish to avoid recourse to protectionist
measures and promote growth, full employment, development and stability for the 135 Members ingeneral and the LDCs in particular.  We must deal urgently with the problems of implementation, in
particular in the fields of anti-dumping, the Agreement on Subsidies, sanitary and  phytosanitary
measures, technical barriers to trade, textiles and clothing, trade-related aspects of intellectual
property rights and special and differential treatment.
Haiti questions the holding of a new round of negotiations intended to go beyond the subjects
included in the incorporated programme, i.e. agriculture, services and the TRIPS Agreements.  Wethink that it is premature to plan on negotiations aimed at reaching a multilateral agreement in areas
such as investment, labour standards, environmen t and competition policy within the framework of
the WTO.  These areas, although of interest to th e WTO, should continue to be dealt with by the
specialized agencies of the United Nations system.  However, we encourage the different working
groups set up to study the links between trade and these different areas to pursue their work.
With a view to the complete and effective integration of the LDCs in the multilateral trading
system, Haiti would like the WTO to truly commit itself to stepping up the implementation of the
integrated framework by providing the necessary technical assistance and financial resources in
cooperation with the leading multilateral bodies, the bilateral donors and the governments concerned,the aim being to strengthen the supply capacity of the LDCs.  To that end, the WTO's technical
cooperation activities should be financed from the regular budget so that all Members, including the
LDCs, contribute.WT/MIN(99)/ST/79
Page 2
Haiti encourages the WTO to take the necessary steps to ensure that products from all of the
least developed Member countries are given duty free and quota free market access.  We call for a
substantial reduction, or even elimination, of tariff and non-tariff barriers affecting market access for
the LDCs.
We cannot hide our disappointment at the failure by certain of our partners to follow up the
integrated framework seriously.  Indeed, despite the efforts made by both the public and private
sectors alike to prepare and conduct the sectoral round table on trade in conformity with the
recommendations of the high-level meeting of Octobe r 1997, despite the spirit of coordination that we
contributed to creating among the six agencies involved in Haiti, and despite of the partnership
structure established between the public and private sectors on the occasion of the sectoral round table
on trade held in Port-au-Prince last November, very few of our partners have kept their promises tofinance the projects submitted.  Finally, Haiti would like to draw the attention of its partners to the
fact that this round table experience revealed that coherence, however important, is worthless if it is
not followed by action.  Consequently, we encourage the WTO to take steps to establish an
operational institutional mechanism which would ensure  coherence between it and the institutions, in
particular the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, whose interventions affect thedevelopment process of the developing countries in general and the LDCs in particular.
__________