./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/13
9 November 2001
(01-5548)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth SessionDoha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  English
UNITED NATIONS
Message of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan
Delivered on His Behalf by Mr. Rubens Ricupero
Secretary-General of UNCTAD
The outcome of your Conference can be decisive for the future of the multilateral trading
system, for the world economy as a whole, and therefore for the hopes of many millions of human
beings.
The world economy is now growing at the slowes t pace in a decade, and the risk of global
recession is rising.  The impact on the world's poorer nations will be devastating.  Already their efforts
to reduce poverty are hampered by lower commodity prices, weakening exports, declining foreign
investment, and in many cases violent conflict.  The World Bank estimates that, because of the
slowdown, as many as 15 million more people could find themselves living in poverty in 2002.  Up tofive million of these are likely to be in Africa.
To halt and reverse this trend, we must restore market confidence, create new export
opportunities, and resume growth.  Now, more than ever, we need to resist the siren voices of
protectionism, and work out multilateral solutions to our problems.
Trade can be a key engine for growth.  Therefore, a commitment to continue to open markets
is even more important for developing countries and transition economies than for the rest of the
world.  That is why, in the past decade, many of them have unilaterally liberalized their trade policies,
without waiting for reciprocity.  Yet fully open markets remain a distant goal.  Agricultural trade,
especially, is distorted by subsidies, on which OECD countries spend more than US$300 billion a
year – a sum approximately equal to the entire gross domestic product of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The new round of negotiations you are about to launch must be a "development round" in
more than name.  It must address the central concerns of the developing countries, and strengthen
their competitive position.  I would urge negotiators to ask themselves, at every step in the road,
"How can we resolve this problem in a way that w ill enable countries to develop, and enable people to
escape from poverty?"
Eliminating trade barriers is a necessary condition for this to happen, but not a sufficient one.
It is equally important that developing countries achieve the technological, social and economic
capacity to take advantage of market opportunities.  They need to invest in education, in infrastructureand in institutions.  The international community can, and must, help them to do so.
In one respect at least, the timing of your Conference is highly auspicious:  it coincides with
the successful conclusion of negotiations on the accession of China – an event of historic proportions
for the world trading system.  Some 30 more developing countries and economies in transition areeager to join.  I hope they will soon be able to do so, and that the decisions on their applications will
be made through a transparent and inclusive process.WT/MIN(01)/13
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I also welcome the strengthened cooperation between the WTO and the United Nations.  This
has been especially reflected in the preparations for the International Conference on Financing for
Development, to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, next March.  These preparations have involved closer
cooperation than ever before among member States, the UN system, the Bretton Woods Institutions
and the WTO.  I encourage you to keep up this spirit of creative partnership, particularly in yourefforts to ensure that developing countries receive the technical assistance they need in the negotiating
process.  For our part, we at the United Nations are committed to continuing to provide such
assistance through UNCTAD and our Regional Co mmissions, with the help of the UN Development
Programme.
After the tragic events of 11 September, the world faces two possible futures:  a mutually
destructive clash of so-called "civilizations" turning in upon themselves, or a global economy rootedin universal values.  The latter must be our choice – but it can only be achieved if the global market is
genuinely open to all, and offers real hope to those currently trapped in poverty.
If ever there was a time when broad agreement on the rules of the international trading system
was vitally needed, among nations rich and poor, that time is now.
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