. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/658 
27 October 2006 
 (06-5190) 
 Original:   English 
  
 
 
STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE AFRICAN UNION CONCERNING 
THE SUSPENSION OF THE DOHA ROUND OF NEGOTIATIONS 
 
Communication from Benin
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 20 October 2006, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Benin.  
 
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  The African Union deeply regr ets the suspension of the WTO Doha Development Agenda last 
July owing to the inability of the main trading powers to show the flexibility needed to narrow the gap 
separating their negotiating positions and to m ove on towards the completion of the Round. 
  Africa is the continent with the largest numbe r of least developed countries and is currently 
the most marginalized region in the multilateral trad ing system.  Consequently, it is on Africa that the 
continuing international trade distortions are taking the heaviest toll. 
 
 International trade plays a leading role in the promotion of economic development and the 
reduction of poverty, and is essential to attaining the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals 
for Africa.   For millions of our citizens, the Doha Devel opment Agenda represents the hope of improving 
their living standards and freeing th emselves from absolute poverty. 
  WTO Members, in particular the developed countries, have a duty, a responsibility, and a 
moral obligation not to disappoint the African c ountries and their belief in the multilateral trading 
system by failing to honour the promises made at Doha. 
 
 The African countries cannot accept the current d eadlock and the failure of the trading powers 
to act on the promises made to them and to the other developing countries, particularly the least 
developed countries, to place their interests and c oncerns at the heart of the Doha Work Programme. 
 
 As far as we are concerned, the failure by th e major trading powers to translate their political 
commitment to the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda – as reaffirmed in 
St Petersburg – into flexibility in their entrenched  negotiating positions is extremely serious.  Their 
failure to reach a compromise on the reduction of ag ricultural subsidies and agricultural market access 
lies at the basis of the suspension of the negotiations  in July, only a few weeks after the St Petersburg 
summit, a suspension which put paid to any hope of concluding the Round by the end of this year. 
 WT/L/658 
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   Agriculture is at the heart of the Doha Devel opment Agenda.  Most Africans, and particularly 
the poorest among them, depend on agriculture for their subsistence.  The survival of these 
populations is seriously threatened and their poverty aggravated by the domestic agricultural subsidies 
and agricultural market access barriers.  
 If the Doha Round is to remain faithful to the development dimension that is so fundamental 
to it, it must remedy this situation.   We welcome the recommendations of the WT O Task Force for operationalizing the Aid for 
Trade initiative. 
 
 We call upon WTO Members to work diligently to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Aid for Trade initiative, which,  although not part of the single undertaking of 
the Doha Work Programme, is nevertheless an essential complement to the trade opportunities that would result from a pro-development outcome of the Doha Round. 
 
 We strongly urge all WTO Members to resu me the Doha Round negotiations as rapidly as 
possible.   To that end, we call upon the European Union and the United States in particular to show 
their political commitment to supporting – not throu gh declarations but by changing their negotiating 
positions – the efforts at reform and good governance that our countries have undertaken, which lie at 
the foundation of the economic growth record ed in Africa over the past three years. 
  We repeat that Africa remain s committed to concluding the Doha Round, which is a priority 
for the development of our countries.  We also reaf firm our determination to join the other Members 
of the WTO in working towards a resumption of the negotiations as rapidly as possible. 
  At this critical moment, we urge all WTO Memb ers, and in particular the G-6, to break the 
current deadlock.  Every additional month of trade distortions adds to the soaring economic and human cost, which has become unsustainable for our populations.  
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