WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/80
1 December 1999
(99-5287)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  French
MAURITANIA
Statement by H.E. Mr. Ahamdy Ould Hamady
Minister of Trade, Handicrafts and Tourism
Allow me first to congratulate you on your election as the Chairperson of this important
session and on the ability with which you have guided our work.
I should also like to thank the Government of  the United States of America and the city of
Seattle for their welcome and hospitality.
Our thanks go to Mr. Mike Moore and his colleagues in the Secretariat for the excellent
organization of this Conference and also to our brother, Ambassador Mchumo of Tanzania, for the
patience, tact and competence with which he has headed the General Council's preparatory meetings.
This Conference is important in more than one respect:- It is being held five years after the establishment of the World Trade Organization,
but more than 50 years after the creation of GATT;
- It is taking place on the eve of a new millennium;- It seeks to launch a new round of multilateral negotiations.
In the past 50 years and more, the international economy has experienced rapid integration
under the combined effect of greater trade, a massi ve increase in investment flows, and advances in
disseminating information.
The creation of the WTO has in some respects crowned this evolution and is a symbol of the
advent of a more global economic system.
The challenge now is to manage an increas ingly globalized economy in an international
context marked by an end to ideological divisions.  However, this globalization has not yet removed
the existing gap between developed countries and developing countries.
The immense wealth in the in developed countries stands in frightening contrast to the low
living standards of the peoples of developing countries.
International trade has not always achieved the objectives have been set for it and which in a
sense constitute its raison d'être – raising living standards and increasing production in those
countries.WT/MIN(99)/ST/80
Page 2
The causes of this state of affairs, but also the potential solutions, have been diagnosed so
much that it would be idle to recall them here.
The fact is that the developing countries have not benefited as they had expected from the
multilateral trading system.
This persistent situation accentuates the marginalization of many countries, undermines the
confidence of the public in the multilateral system and fuels protectionist inclinations.
Our Organization should respond to the expectations of hundreds of millions of human beings
by remedying this situation and by striking a balance between the right and obligations of developing
countries.
These countries are still awaiting the implementation of the special provisions contained in
the WTO Agreements that take account of their economic and trade conditions and, more particularly,
those relating to the granting of special and differential treatment.
Moreover, this concept should be reviewed and refined so as to take account of developments
in the multilateral trading system since Marrakesh.  The situation of the least-developed countries
calls for special attention, for they are experiencing the most acute difficulties.
The Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance approved in 1997 is still
suffering from the inadequacy of the resources allocated to implement it.
The objectives of the Integrated Framework – market access, human and institutional
capacity-building, improved trade infrastructure, etc.  – have lost nothing of their urgency.  For this
reason, my country has just launched the preparatory process for a Round Table to implement therecommendations of the High-Level Meetings.
Despite an inauspicious international economic environment, my Government has for its part
implemented wide-ranging political, economic and social reforms over the past 15 years.
With them it has been possible to establish the rule of law, to stabilize the economy, to
liberalize the main sectors of activity, to markedly  improve access to primary health care, to achieve a
full-time education rate of more than 90 per cent, to launch a wide-ranging campaign to promote skills
for all, and to establish a Commission to promote human rights and combat poverty.
Our Conference, being held on the eve of a new millennium, must bring innovative, real and
practical solutions to all these difficulties, more particularly by strengthening technical assistanceprogrammes and mobilizing suitable resources.
In any event, globalization does not deserve its name as long as two-thirds of mankind
continue to live in the current precarious conditions, and the launching of further multilateral trade
negotiations will be pointless as long as earlier commitments remain a dead letter.  Apart from thehigh priority that should be attached to im plementing earlier commitments, the new negotiations
should pay special attention to issues such as transfer of technology, appropriate safeguards for
developing countries, export financing, commodity markets and equitable integration of the
developing countries into the multilateral trading system.  The goal of the future round of negotiations
must be clearly spelt out:  development.  On th e other hand, matters falling within the competence of
other international organizations must be avoided.
The universality of the World Trade Organization must be further affirmed by facilitating
accession by new Members.  In this connection, my country welcomes the recent bilateral agreement
between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China, which will facilitate theWT/MIN(99)/ST/80
Page 3
membership of that country in our Organization.  Indeed, accession by the People's Republic of China
and other candidates for membership can only strengthen the credibility of the multilateral trading
system, for more thorough-going WTO rules that should go hand in hand with expansion of the
Organization.
This Conference affords the opportunity to reaf firm our attachment to the multilateral trading
system but also to settle the urgent problems of development, poverty and inequality that are being
faced by dozens of developing countries.
Nothing is more urgent than the moral obligation and economic imperative of halting
spiralling impoverishment and continued marginalizat ion in an economy that is now being globalized.
The greatest challenge facing mankind on the eve of this new millennium is unquestionably to
make sure that all peoples benefit from the immense possibilities offered by scientific and technical
progress and economic integration.
Economic disparities should not take over from ideological divides as further sources of
world-wide division.
Increased trade flows, greater investment flows and technological advances now offer
unprecedented opportunities.
It is our common duty to ensure that the cons equent advantages are amply distributed and to
lay the foundations for growth and prosperity for mil lions of human beings who feel that, so far, they
have been kept outside of this extraordinary process of globalization.
This objective is within our grasp and the best time to achieve it is at this highly symbolic
changeover from one millennium to another which, we hope, will herald a bright future.  In doing so,
we will have made a major contribution not only to the world's prosperity but also to the foundations
of international peace and security.
__________