. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/ST/146
12 November 2001
(01-5752)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth SessionDoha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  English
HOLY SEE
Statement by H.E. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
Permanent Observer to the WTO
(Speaking as an Observer)
Allow me, first of all, to express my thanks and congratulations to His Highness Al Khalifa
Al Thani and to the people of Qatar for the kind welcome and the excellent arrangements that have
been made for us on the occasion of this Conference.  My delegation's appreciation goes also to theChairman of the General Committee and to the Director-General for their tireless efforts during the
preparatory period.
The Holy See's hope is that this Fourth Ministerial Conferences at Doha will be, and will be
remembered as, the "development Conference" of the WTO.
The integration of the poorer economies into an equitable world trade system is in the interest
of all.  The enhanced development of the poorer countries is a contribution to global progress,
international security and peace.  In a globalized economy no one can be insensitive to the situation of
those who are lingering on its margins.  Inclusiveness is both a moral and an economic value.
Let there be no mistaking:  the world needs a World Trade Organization.  The poorer
countries in particular need an equitable, rules-based system, in which they can participate in global
trade on the basis of the highest achievable equality of opportunity.  Both justice as well as long-term
economic efficiency require such an aim of inclusion.
Trade liberalization can bring great benefit to poorer countries.  Too often, however, this has
remained just a theoretical, indeed even an ideolo gical affirmation.  For the future, the World Trade
Organization must take greater stock of exactly how trade liberalization affects the poorer countries in
concrete, verifiable terms, on a country-by-country basis.  It must help identify the factors that still
prevent developing countries from achieving the benefits they desire from participation in the global
trading system.  It must learn from and apply, as appropriate, the lessons of those countries that havemanaged to make trade work for development.  It must apply policies that help redress the
disadvantage that the poorest countries encounter.  The Holy See welcomes the moves that have
already been taken in this direction.  Those moves must now be translated into enduring reality.
The WTO cannot exempt itself from examining its results in the light of the overarching
development targets that the world community has set for the fight against poverty.  These
development targets are centred on the human person.  It is the creative and innovative capacity of
people that is the driving force of any modern economy.  It is the lives of people, individuals and
families, that are the victims of an economic downturn.
I wish to address just two specific trade-related questions that are of special interest to
fostering human development for the poorest countries today.  The first is the relationship betweenWT/MIN(01)/ST/146
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trade rules, and especially intellectual property rules, and health.  Governments have a primary
responsibility to protect the lives and security of their citizens.  The Ministerial Conference should
give a clear message that there is nothing in the rules of the international trading system that should
prevent governments from addressing urgent public health needs.  Where flexibility exists within such
rules, then there should be a concerted attempt to make that flexibility work fully, rapidly and in anunobstructed way.
The second area is that of market access for products in which the poorest countries have
advantage.  In international trade, as in any sect or, rules are there in a special way to protect the
weakest.  Prolonged protectionism and other trade practices which bring disproportionate benefit to
wealthier sectors of the world's economies cannot be the basis for an equitable rules-based system.
Reform in the area of market access for the products of the poorer countries especially agriculture andtextiles, cannot be put aside indefinitely, without causing irreparable damage the multilateral aide
system itself.
A more equitable application of a rules-based global trading system is an essential dimension
of development policy.  The poorer countries will enjoy greater success in trade related questions ifthese are pursued within a broad understanding of development and solidarity.  Technical assistance
must be made available to facilitate implementation of existing  WTO agreements, but also to
improve the trading capacity of poorer countries.  Access to medicine must accompanied by
programmatic investment is an effective health system.  Market access must be accompanied by
investment in the improvement in production methods and standards.
Clearly the WTO cannot take over all dimensions of such a wide development mandate.  We
must respect the limited trade related mandate of the WTO.  But we must also remember that it is the
same consensus of governments that act in other organizations, including those which aim at the
protection of labour standards and the environment.  Only a coordinated vision of development andstructured cooperation between agencies will ensure the trade related and the development related
goals proceed hand-in-hand.  "The economy", Pope J ohn Paul II reminds us, "is only one aspect, one
dimension of the whole of human activity" and "economic liberty is only one element of human
freedom".  May this Ministerial Conference be the moment in which we shape trade policies that
really become a driving force for the integral development of the entire human family.
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