. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/142
2 December 1999
(99-5339)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
MALAWI
Statement by the Honourable S.D. Kaliyoma Phumisa
Minister of Commerce and Industry
First of all, let me join the previous speakers  in thanking the Government and people of the
United States of America for their warm welcome.  I am also thankful for the excellent facilities made
available for this important conference.
This Conference is of historical and far-reaching importance in that it will lay the foundation
for the programme of work that will guide the multila teral trading system in the new millennium.  It is
the expectation of my delegation that the outcome of the Conference will facilitate further
development and reduction of poverty of Member States, particularly the least developed countries
As we enter into the new round of negotiations, it is necessary to take stock of what we have
achieved following the last two Ministerial Conferen ces, particularly with respect to implementation
of Marrakesh Agreements and special measures for the development of LDCs including the integrated
framework for trade-related technical assistance to LDCs.
Malawi, as a least developed country, continues to face difficulties in implementing the
Uruguay Round Agreements.  These include:
- The inability to comply with World Trade Organization obligations including
notification requirements;
- inadequate human and financial resources to enable us to review and align our
national laws, rules and regulations to WTO requirements;
- the complexity of the nature of the obligations;
- lack of access to technical assistance.
Malawi still faces a number of trade, and economic-related problems such as debt burden,
decline in commodity prices, weak competitivene ss, limited technological capacities, supply-side
constraints, inadequate infrastructure, balance-of-payment problems and rising transport costs due toour land-lockedness.  In this regard, I wish to e xpress my delegation's concern at the lack of quick
implementation of the integrated framework for as sistance to address some of these problems.
I wish to stress the importance of the special and differential treatment and suggest that it
should be made an integral part of the multilateral trading system and be made operational.  It should
be noted that agriculture is the mainstay of Malawi's economy.  Food security and maintenance of
agriculture-based livelihoods are some of our developmental goals.  But, export subsidies practised byWT/MIN(99)/ST/142
Page 2
developed countries on agricultural exports have distorted the market and rendered our exports
uncompetitive.
Malawi, therefore, would advocate for:
- Duty-free, quota-free access for all primary and processed agricultural products from
LDCs to markets in developed countries;
- technical and financial assistance to LDCs to enable them to increase their local food
production, capacity in marketing, storage and distribution;
- exemption for LDCs from undertaking commitments on domestic support and export
subsidies;
- signficant tariff reductions by developed countries in agricultural trade;- elimination of export subsidies in agriculture by developed countries and the review
of blue-box measures which are currently in favour of developed countries;
- elimination of non-tariff barriers in agricultural trade.The negotiations in the services are expected to present both opportunities and challenges to
the least developed countries.  Therefore, technica l assistance is needed for modernization of services
and formulation of appropriate regulatory framework.  Liberalization in this sector should be gradual
and geared towards national development policy objectives.
There is indeed a large share of WTO's work programme ahead regarding the review of the
Agreements and other work provided for under the existing Agreements and decisions.  In
undertaking these tasks there is a need to relook at  the problems which have been identified in the
course of implementation.  The exports of textile and clothing for example from LDCs should not be
subjected to anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures.
On the new issues such as investment, competition policy, transparency in government
procurement, trade facilitation, electronic commerce, it is important to have deeper analysis of themand possibly negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
In conclusion, we would like to reiterate Malawi's commitment to implementation of WTO
and other Agreements.  Malawi like any other least developed country, will strive to contribute to the
strengthening of the multilateral trading system despite our limited financial and human resources.  Itis our hope that given the support of the WTO cooperating partners, Malawi can be fully integrated
into the multilateral trading system.
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