WT/MIN(17)/62  
 
13 December 2017  
(17-6901) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Eleventh Session  
Buenos Aires, 10 -13 December 2017  Original: English  
 
PACIFI C GROUP MINISTERIAL DECLARATION  
DELIVERED AT WTO 11TH MINISTERIAL CONFEREN CE  
IN BUENOS AIRES ON 1 2 DECEMBER 2017  
The following communication, dated 13 December 2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
Pacific Group1. 
 
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1. We the Ministers and Heads of Delegations of the Pacific Group met in Buenos Aires, 
Argentina on 09 December 2017 in the margins of the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference:  
2. Extend  our sinc ere thanks to the Government and people of Argentina for the warm 
welcome and gracious hospitality of  this beautiful country.  
3. Recogni ze that this Ministerial Conference is taking place in a period of growing challenges 
in the global economy and in particul ar, a step back from multilateralism  is likely to put at risk the 
future of the WTO and its contribution to global economic prosperity.  
4. Re-affirm  the importance of preserving the rules -based multilateral system of the WTO that 
provides an open, transparent  and predictable system that promotes the rights and interests of all 
Members, particularly the small Members, noting that the Pacific Group are Small Island 
Developing States (SIDS) and constitutes LDCs and SVEs, which attach great importance to trade 
as a vehicle to achieve robust development and enhance our integration into the global trading 
system.  
5. Acknowledge  the need to make the rules -based system more equitable and accessible for 
Small Island Developing States in order for them to fully benefit from  the opportunities created by 
the multilateral trading system and to facilitate their integration into the global economy.  The 
Pacific Group commends the ongoing work to address the participation of SVEs in global value 
chains and supports the continuing and re -invigoration of work under the mandate of paragraph 
35 of the Doha Declaration to frame responses for the full integration of small  economies like the 
Pacific into the multilateral trading system to facilitate their successful integration. Such work  
should try to holistically address the economic and environmental vulnerability of SVEs to trade 
given the threat of climate change.  
6. Express disappointment at the unwillingness of some Members to address the development 
concerns of developing countries, including SVEs and LDCs across many areas of the Doha 
negotiations and in particular, on the development proposals submitted by the G90. These 
proposals aim to promote value -adding activities, economic diversification and industrialisation as 
well as to pr omote international competitiveness by strengthening compliance with international 
standards. The Pacific Group whose share of global trade averages 0.04% remains in the margins 
of the global trading system and look to flexible and equitable rules that wil l enhance their trade. 
The Pacific Group calls on members to engage constructively on these proposals to address the 
genuine development concerns of developing countries and LDCs.  
                                                
1 Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.  WT/MIN(17)/62  
 
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  7. Express concerns  that development and in particular, the link between trade and 
development is now in question in the WTO. The Doha Development Agenda which was intended 
to deliver development benefits to developing countries and LDCs, remains elusive, despite the re -
iteration at every Ministerial conference of the centrality of d evelopment and special and 
differential treatment as an integral part of the negotiations.  The Pacific Group underlines the 
point that trade is not an end in itself, but a means to an end – that trade is a means to deliver 
development benefits, as enshrin ed in the Marrakech Agreement.  This is also reflected in the SDG 
Agenda 2030 in which trade is not a standalone goal but an enabler or vehicle t o achieve many of 
those goals. The Pacific Group renews the call for the WTO to ensure that the small and vulnerable 
economies like the Pacific are not left behind or left outside the multilateral trading system.  
8. Commend  the progress on the fisheries subsidies negotiations, noting the significance of 
this resource sector to the food, livelihoods and the econom ic development of the Pacific Group. 
The Pacific Group urges Members to bridge remaining differences on the proposed incremental 
outcome on the most destructive subsidies to fisheries resources being submitted to this 
Conference. Subsidies to IUU fishing f uels overfishing and subsidies to fishing of overfished stocks 
are both destructive to fish stocks and should not be tolerated. An outcome on these two issues 
would contribute to achieving the Doha as well as the Hong Kong mandates and the 2030 
Sustainable  Development Goal 14.6 which mandates the elimination of harmful fisheries subsidies 
by 2020.  However the Pacific Group underlines that further negotiations on overfishing and 
overcapacity in the post -Buenos Aires work should provide appropriate special a nd differential 
treatment to enable Small Island Developing States to fully develop their fisheries resources in 
future and preserve the rights of coastal states to their resources as well as appropriate transition 
periods and implementation assistance.  
9. Express concerns  that the Geneva process has not been able to complete its work or 
agreed to any area in the core Doha issues for Ministers to endorse at this Eleventh Ministerial 
Conference. Ministers are now faced with the challenge of reaching consensus o n many issues that 
are open ended and are plagued by huge divergences in positions. We urge Members to work 
together to bridge the gaps in their positions and show flexibility for the few issues that may be 
possible to reach agreement on at this Conference  and leave others that require more time to the 
future work pr ogramme for post -Buenos Aires.  
10. Emphasi ze the importance of continuing negotiations on the remaining elements of the 
Doha issues post -Buenos Aires to deliver development outcomes and that negotia tions including 
on the core areas of Agriculture, Services and NAMA, should also provide appropriate and effective 
flexibilities for LDCs and SVEs. In addition, future work should include the continuation of the 1998 
Work Program on E -commerce to address t he digital divide and development concerns of 
developing countries and LDCs, as well as continuing discussion on how to facilitate the 
participation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) into global trade.  
11. Support  the Declarations made by the ACP a nd LDCs.  
 
Buenos Aires, Argentina  
12 December 2017  
 
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