WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(03)/ST/119
13 September 2003
(03-4917)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fifth Session
Cancún, 10 - 14 September 2003Original:  French
REPUBLIC OF GUINEA
Statement by H.E. Mrs Hadja Mariama Déo Baldé
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
It is a great honour for me to be participating on behalf of the Government of the Republic of
Guinea in the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
On this occasion, I should like first of all on my own behalf and that of my delegation to
sincerely thank the people and Government of Mexico for the warm welcome and hospitality
extended to us since our arrival in this beautiful city of Cancún.
I should also like to thank the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and all the
donors for the financial efforts they have been kind enough to make and which have enabled part of
my delegation to attend this conference.
Lastly, I should like to join the delegations which have already taken the floor in
congratulating you on your election as Chairman of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the WTO.
The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, the first meeting to be held after the launch of the
Doha Round on multilateral trade negotiations, gives us the opportunity to take stock of the progress
made in these negotiations and to draw the necessary lessons at the halfway stage, with a view to
ensuring the full success expected of them in satisfying the essential needs of our populations.
The Conference must therefore enable us to set clear objectives so that the negotiations
undertaken can reinvigorate the common purpose of our Organization.
The Conference is being held at a particularly important time for international economic
relations, in which trade is coming to occupy a pre-eminent position despite the increased
marginalization of the developing countries, particularly the LDCs, whose market share is decliningday by day.
More than ever before, this situation is now  deepening our apprehensions and concerns and
weakening our hope in a fair and equitable trading system which would open up much greater
development perspectives for our countries, confronted as they are with several challengessimultaneously, the most important of which, at the present time, is poverty reduction.
Given our awareness of the danger of marginalization, we all reaffirmed in Doha our
commitment in favour of a "development round" and gave precise mandates for that purpose to our
negotiators.WT/MIN(03)/ST/119
Page 2
At the present stage of implementation of the Work Programme, the only achievement to
which we can point and which deserves to be mentioned is the one relating to TRIPS and Public
Health.
The Republic of Guinea, like all other developing countries and LDCs, welcomes the progress
made and hopes that, over and above this admittedly praiseworthy agreement, the necessary
conditions will be established to enable the deve loping countries, and the LDCs in particular, to
produce for themselves the medicines they need.  That is the only condition that could guarantee
health security for the populations of these countries.
To that end, the Guinean delegation considers that close cooperation between poor and rich
countries, involving the private sector concerned, could in the future constitute the appropriate
solution to this problem.
Thus, my delegation, basing itself on Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, proposes that the
developed countries promote technology transfer with a view to the local manufacture, in poor
regions, of generic drugs through the relocation of manufacturing units based on extensivecooperation to ensure improved management of the drugs manufactured.
My delegation is also concerned at the lack of progress in the negotiations since Doha,
particularly on crucial subjects such as agriculture, market access, special and differential treatment,
etc.
This inertia is likely to jeopardize the future of our populations which are engaged in a daily
struggle for their survival and expect the new trading system to do much to improve their increasingly
precarious living conditions.
For that reason, my delegation considers the achievement of significant progress in the
agricultural negotiations to constitute a guarantee of success in the outcome of the Doha Work
Programme.
Concerning paragraph 24 of the Draft Ministerial Declaration on the LDCs, we welcome the
objectives established in the ongoing negotiations with regard to the questions of duty-free and quota-
free market access for products originating from LDCs.
As regards special and differential treatment, my delegation stresses that it must form an
integral part of all the WTO agreements, as indicated in the Doha Mandate, and invites Members to
find rapid solutions to all these issues, including t hose relating to capacity building in respect of offers
for the LDCs.
On the question of services, we consider that a moratorium should be granted to the
developing countries to enable them to prepar e for straightforward entry into the negotiations
concerning this sector.
In the meantime, they must be able to regula te their services sectors in the light of the
development programmes and to have access to the comparative advantages obtainable inter alia  from
the movement of persons under the provisions of "mode 4".
Accordingly, my delegation calls on the deve loped countries to show understanding for an
LDC exemption from all new commitments in the services sector, as long as they do not correspond
to development programmes and policies that reflect their real needs, while they benefit from the
support of the international community for their promotion.WT/MIN(03)/ST/119
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In this connection, my delegation affirms its support for the common positions of the ACP,
the LDCs and the African Union, as expressed in the various declarations.
As far as the Singapore Issues are concerned, as things stand at present it would be difficult
for our countries to enter into negotiations given the constraints they face in connection with theimplementation of the results of the Uruguay Round, on the one hand, and the lack of clarification of
these issues, on the other.
For that reason, we support Option 2 in the Draft Cancún Ministerial Text and request that
these issues be referred to the working groups in Geneva for further clarification, without disregarding
our requirements for assistance in assessing the impact of the implementation of these agreements on
our economies.
With regard to folklore, genetic resources and traditional knowledge, it is important to
emphasize the need for their preservation in an unaltered state and to support developing countries so
as to enable them to make the best possible use of the resources available to them in these fields.
This is also true for geographical indications, concerning which the Republic of Guinea
requests their extension to other products, particularly in favour of the LDCs, in order to enable the
latter to take advantage of the many opportunities they offer.
Concerning technical assistance and the integrated framework, it has to be acknowledged that
LDC participation in international trade is one of the major objectives of the WTO and of the other
international institutions.
For that reason, it is important for the LDCs to obtain the necessary support to enable them to
produce goods in sufficient quantity and quality and to participate more effectively in internationaltrade and derive benefit therefrom.
Accordingly, the LDCs are entitled to expect their WTO partners and the other international
organizations to ensure that the integrated framework effectively and efficiently meets their needs,
that it is of high quality and that it has an optimum impact on the development of their foreign trade.
The Republic of Guinea is pleased to be one of the LDCs benefiting from the pilot project
under the integrated framework.  For the implementatio n of project activities, it will be organizing, at
the end of October 2003, a national workshop on validation of the results of the diagnostic study
prepared by the team of World Bank consultants.
Guinea thanks all the development partners invo lved in this programme for the efforts they
have already made and invites them to continue thei r support along these lines with a view to enabling
it to carry out this programme of importance to th e Guinean economy.  Their effective participation in
the funding of the development projects adopted as a result of sectoral competitiveness studies is
eagerly awaited.
In this connection, Guinea proposes the organization of an international conference on the
integrated framework, the main purpose of which will be to mobilize funds for the financing of
projects to be adopted under the integrated framework programme, a programme established on the
basis of the commitments of each of the parties concerned.
With regard to the sectoral initiative in favour of cotton presented by Benin, Burkina Faso,
Mali and Chad, my delegation welcomes the fact that this issue, which is today of crucial importance
to millions of poor peasant farmers engaged in a harsh daily struggle for their survival, has been
included in our agenda.WT/MIN(03)/ST/119
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It should be noted that, apart from the four co-sponsors of the initiative, all cotton-producing
countries throughout the African region are concerned by this issue.
You will therefore readily understand that the Republic of Guinea, itself a cotton producer,
closely associates itself with this initiative and calls for fine words to be followed up by concreteactions in order to find a viable solution to the problem.
Consequently, my delegation calls for the affected countries to be granted effective and
adequate compensation for the injury they have sustained over a number of years because of lost
earnings caused by the fall in the price of cotton on the international market, and for the full and
speedy elimination of all forms of subsidization adversely affecting the cotton sector.
My delegation therefore appeals to all concerned and interested Members to be open-minded
and to act in a spirit of goodwill, so that at the conclusion of our deliberations in Cancún we can give
renewed hope to the populations of poor cotton-producing countries.
In conclusion, my delegation joins others in welcoming and congratulating Cambodia and
Nepal on having succeeded, albeit with great difficulty, in acceding to our Organization.
We take this opportunity to urge Members to show more flexibility and understanding in
facilitating the accession of other least-developed countries to the WTO.
I thank the President of Mexico, His Excellency Mr Vicente Fox, and yourself, Mr Chairman,
and the Secretariat, for the excellent organizational arrangements for this WTO Ministerial
Conference, and I wish the Conference every success.
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