. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/ST/50
10 November 2001
(01-5632)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth SessionDoha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  English
LATVIA
Statement Circulated by Mr Maris Riekstins
Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Allow me on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Latvia to express my pleasure for
having this opportunity to address the Fourth Mini sterial Conference of the WTO held in Doha, Qatar.
First of all, I would like to welcome the excellent work of the WTO Secretariat and the Qatari
authorities to arrange the Fourth Ministerial Conference.  We welcome the tremendous efforts of theChairman of the General Council, the Directors-General and the Members of the WTO in striving to
prepare a draft of the Ministerial Declaration, which would serve the interest of every Member of this
organizations.  We are of the view that the draft of the Ministerial Declaration presents a middle
ground between the various positions expressed by the Members during the preparatory period.
Latvia attaches great importance to the launching, at the 4
th Ministerial Conference, of a new
comprehensive round of multilateral trade negotiations and is committed to continue to work hard
towards this objective.  Changes in the global, political and economic climate have proved the
necessity of the launch of a new trade round.  We believe that the results of the negotiations should
give a considerable boost of economic liberalization, contribute to the global economic confidence
and strengthen the multilateral trading system.  Also a new trade round will show that the WTO is
capable of staying relevant to the growing global economy.
Latvia is in view that the WTO new round should be based on a balanced and comprehensive
agenda, reflecting the interests of all the Members of the multilateral trading system.  It is to be
directed at strengthening access to markets and further trade liberalization, at cooperation in trade
issues.  It is essential to keep the markets open and not to allow protectionist movement to develop atthe situation when a significant part of the world is facing economic slowdown.
Latvia had achieved considerable progress in economic development for the past decade due
to an open and liberal foreign economic policy.  Our progress proves the success of liberal trade
regime and shows Latvia's capacity to cope with the competitive pressure.
Nonetheless, Latvia also has certain concerns and preoccupations regarding the negotiating
agenda.  Latvia emphasizes that agriculture in one of the key issues of the new negotiations.  Non-
trade concerns are of vital importance to us in the further reform process of trade in agriculture
products.  We believe that the one-size-fits-all approach will not be appropriate to address non-tradeconcerns, because it will not sufficiently take into account the diversity of country situations.  We
support liberalization of trade in agriculture products, and call upon recognizing special difficulties
faced by agriculture sectors of transition economies.  Transition economies have introduced liberal
trade regimes and the majority of non-tariff measures have been eliminated already.  We therefore
propose that a specific flexibility should be allowed in the negotiations on agriculture for the purposeof future tariff reductions and other market across commitments of transition economies.  We believe
that such a provision would, inter alia , exempt low tariff from further reduction commitments.WT/MIN(01)/ST/50
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We acknowledge the importance of multilateral negotiations on agriculture and services
launched last year.  We want to see the momentum of the negotiations in agriculture and services
sustained.  Nonetheless, we are convinced that th e negotiating agenda comprising only core market,
access negotiations is no longer sufficient.  The process must be further developed to make the WTOcapable of reacting to the challenge posed by the global economy.  Therefore, Latvia actively supports
inclusion of the subject in investment into the new round of negotiations.  We all need to look beyond
our narrowly defined concerns and should look ahead to start new comprehensive trade negotiations.
Latvia attaches particular importance to the ro le of the developing countries in the trading
system.  We are of the strong view that the results of new negotiations should facilitate the integration
of the developing countries into the multilateral trading system.  Trade has always been an importantinstrument of economic and political development.  Hence, involvement of the developing countries
into the global trading system will contribute to the world welfare and security.  We welcome strong
emphasis of the Ministerial Declaration on the aspects of development, and in particular, the
important role of enhanced market access, balanced rules, and well targeted, sustainable financed
technical assistance and capacity-building programmes clearly set out in the Declaration.  Moreover,in each and every field of new negotiations we are committed to pursue the goals of sustainable
development.  In our view, the agenda before as signals to the outside world that the WTO Members
are now launching the new negotiation with development aspects in the heart.
In conclusion, as a strong supporter of a successful Ministerial Conference, I would like to
express my conviction that we must launch a comprehensive broad based round of negotiations in
order to assure the future and relevance of the multilateral trading system.
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