RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
2 March 2006 
 (06-0910) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005  
 
  
SUMMARY RECORD OF THE SIXTH MEETING 
 
Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, China
 
on Thursday, 15 December 2005, at 3 p.m.  
    Chairpersons
: The Honourable Martin Bartenstein (Austria) 
     (for Agenda Item 1) 
 
     Secretary John C Tsang (Hong Kong, China) 
     (for Agenda Item 3)   
Subjects
: 1. Overview of Activities of the WTO (Agenda Item 1) 
  2. Accessions (Agenda Item 3) 
 
 
1. Overview of Activities of the WTO (Agenda Item 1) 
 The following statements were made: 
 
Trinidad and Tobago The Honourable Kenneth Valley 
Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister in the Ministry of Finance WT/MIN(05)/ST/62 
Jamaica The Honourable Keith D. Knight 
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign 
Trade WT/MIN(05)/ST/63 
El Salvador HE Mr Francisco Lima Mena 
Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the WTO WT/MIN(05)/ST/64 
Bahrain HE Dr Hassan Fakhro 
Minister of Industry and Commerce WT/MIN(05)/ST/65 
Bolivarian Republic of 
Venezuela HE Mr Ali Rodriguez Araque 
Minister of Foreign Affairs WT/MIN(05)/ST/66 
Cuba HE Mr Ricardo Cabrisas 
Minister of Government, Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers WT/MIN(05)/ST/67 
Guatemala HE Mr Marcio R. Cuevas Quezada 
Minister of Economy WT/MIN(05)/ST/68 
Portugal HE Mr Manuel Pinho 
Minister of Economy and Innovation WT/MIN(05)/ST/69 WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
Page 2  
 
  Costa Rica HE Mr Manuel Gonzalez 
Minister of Foreign Trade WT/MIN(05)/ST/70 
Italy The Honourable Claudio Scajola 
Minister for Productive Activities WT/MIN(05)/ST/71 
Madagascar HE Mr Roger Marie Rafanomezantsoa 
Minister of Industrialization, Commerce and 
Private Sector Development WT/MIN(05)/ST/72 
Burundi HE Mrs Denise Sinankwa 
Minister of Trade and Industry WT/MIN(05)/ST/73 
Liechtenstein HE Mrs Rita Keiber-Beck 
Minister of Foreign Affairs WT/MIN(05)/ST/74 
Senegal HE Mr Mamadou Diop 
Minister of Commerce WT/MIN(05)/ST/75 
Mexico HE Mr Sergio García de Alba 
Minister of the Economy WT/MIN(05)/ST/76 
Greece HE Mr Evangelos Bassiakos 
Minister of Rural Development and Food WT/MIN(05)/ST/77 
Nigeria The Honourable Idris A.D. Waziri 
Minister of Commerce WT/MIN(05)/ST/78 
Benin HE Mrs Massivatou Latoundji Lauriano 
Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment 
Promotion WT/MIN(05)/ST/79 
Burkina Faso HE Mr Benoît Ouattara 
Minister of Trade, Enterprise Promotion and Handicrafts WT/MIN(05)/ST/80 
Former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia HE Mr Fatmir Besimi 
Minister of Economy WT/MIN(05)/ST/81 
Food and Agriculture 
Organization (Observer) Mr Hartwig De Haen 
Assistant Director-General WT/MIN(05)/ST/82 
 
 
2. Accessions 
 The Chairman
 said that, under this Agenda item, the Ministerial Conference would formally 
conclude the WTO accession procedure for Tonga, and at the same time review ongoing accession 
processes and welcome those that had recently been  completed.  With regard to the accession of 
Tonga, he recalled that in November 1995 the Ge neral Council had established a Working Party to 
examine Tonga's request for accession to the WTO Agre ement.  The Report of the Working Party on 
the Accession of Tonga was now before the Ministerial Conference in documents WT/MIN(05)/4 and 
Add. 1 and 2.   Mr. Stuart Harbinson, Chairman of the Working Party
, introducing the report, said he was 
delighted that the sustained efforts of the G overnment of the Kingdom of Tonga to negotiate 
accession to the WTO had met with success.  There could not have been a better occasion than the 
present Ministerial Conference to acknowledge that  achievement.  Tonga had requested accession to 
the WTO in June 1995.  The Working Party had been established in November that same year, but the 
first meeting had not been held until April 2001.  With the Geneva process formally under way, the  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
 Page 3 
 
 
process had gradually gained momentum.  The To ngan Government had done an admirable job in 
meeting the challenges along the way.  Tonga was a relatively small economy which naturally faced 
considerable resource constraints and was very far away from the WTO headquarters in Geneva.  He 
therefore wished to pay particular tribute to th e Tongan team, whose persistence, hard work and 
dedication spoke volumes for Tonga's commitment to  its historic task and had made the present 
occasion possible.  He also wished to express gratitude and appreciation to the broader WTO 
membership.  Their diligence, goodwill and constructive spirit had contributed to an achievement that 
reinforced the role of the WTO as a truly global organization.  In addition, his colleagues in the 
Secretariat deserved enormous credit for their wholehearted support throughout this process.   
 
 The results of the negotiations, constituting the terms of entry of the Kingdom of Tonga into 
the WTO, were contained in the following documents: the report of the Working Party (WT/MIN(05)/4), the Schedule of Concessions a nd Commitments in Goods (WT/MIN(05)/4/Add.1) 
and the Schedule of Specific Commitments in Se rvices (WT/MIN(05)/4/Add.2).  These had been 
adopted by the Working Party at its meeti ngs on 18 November and 1 December 2005 on an ad 
referendum basis.  By this act, the Working Party had completed its mandate and had forwarded the 
documentation to the Ministerial Conference for de cision as appropriate.  The Appendix to the report 
reproduced the draft Decision and the draft Protocol  of Accession of the Kingdom of Tonga to the 
Agreement Establishing the WTO.  In accordance  with usual WTO practice, the Protocol of 
Accession incorporated the specific commitments unde rtaken by Tonga in the report of the Working 
Party.  Upon its accession, Tonga would become the f ourth Pacific Island state to join the WTO.  This 
was an important step in the integration of this uni que region into the global trading system.  It was a 
region that faced particular challenges because of its geography, but which had so much to be proud 
of in so many ways.  All could surely learn much from Tonga.  He firmly believed that in return, the 
WTO would provide Tonga with a secure and predic table trading environment and a sound basis for 
the growth of its economy.  In his capacity as Chai rman of the Working Party, he recommended the 
report of the Working Party, as well as the draft Deci sion and Protocol of Accession, for approval by 
the Ministerial Conference.   The Chairman,
 on behalf of the Ministerial Conferen ce, thanked Mr Harbinson for having 
served as Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession of Tonga.  
 The Ministerial Conference approved
 the text of the Protocol of Accession of Tonga and, in 
accordance with the Decision-Making Procedures unde r Articles IX and XII of the WTO Agreement 
agreed in November 1995 (WT/L/93), adopted  the Decision on the Accession of Tonga.1  T h e  
Ministerial Conference then adopted  the report of the Working Party on the Accession of Tonga in 
documents WT/MIN(05)/4 and Add. 1 and 2. 
 
 The Chairman  said it gave him great pleasure to welc ome the Decision just taken with regard 
to the Accession of the Kingdom of Tonga to the WTO.  Tonga would thus become the 150th Member 
of the organization.  Tonga's entry into the WTO clearly signalled a further move towards universality 
in the WTO's membership and increased the depth and diversity of the organiza tion.  He wished to 
congratulate HE Dr Feleti Sevelé, Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries of Tonga, as well as 
his delegation and the Government of Tonga, on th e successful completion of Tonga's WTO accession 
process.    The Director-General
 said that the Decision just approved by the Ministerial Conference on 
the accession of the Kingdom of Tonga was truly sign ificant and to be welcomed on several counts.  
Tonga was a small and vulnerable economy with a leadership strongly committed to reform and 
openness, based on its integration into the rules-orie nted multilateral trading system.  The efforts of 
Tonga and the action taken by Ministers to welcome it into the WTO family were both, therefore, 
                                                      
1 The Decision, as well as the text of the Protoc ol of Accession, was subsequently circulated in 
document WT/L/644. WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
Page 4  
 
  very strong signals of faith in the WTO system.  Members should bear this in mind as they strove to 
advance the Doha Development Agenda in the da ys ahead and beyond.  He again congratulated 
Tonga and all Members, and assured all that the Secretariat would continue to do everything 
necessary to facilitate Tonga's effective involveme nt in the evolution of the organization.   
 
 Under this agenda item, he felt it appropriate  also to make some general comments on the 
subject of WTO accession.  All knew that the establishment of the WTO had seen the accessions dossier taking on an increasingly high political profile.  In recognition of the importance Members attached to this subject, he was pleased that  there was a separate item regarding accessions on the 
agenda of this Ministerial Conference.  Successive Di rectors-General had attached the highest priority 
to the accession process, and he wished to take this oppor tunity to reaffirm this priority and to stress, 
once again, the strong commitment of the Secretariat in  this area.  Members had reason to be satisfied 
with the WTO's record.  Since the establishmen t of the WTO, 21 Governments had joined the 
multilateral trading system.  The new Members represented a range of economies, from truly global players – such as China and Saudi Arabia – to im portant emerging and transition economies – such as 
Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Jordan and Oman.  All new Members made the WTO family not only 
bigger, but also stronger.  He also recalled that  at the Cancún Ministerial Conference in 2003, the 
WTO had had its first success with accessions on the LDC front, when Cambodia and Nepal had 
joined the WTO.  He was pleased to report that these two countries had completed their ratification 
processes and that, consequently, they were now full-fledged WTO Members.  This Session of the Ministerial Conference was also the first in which Saudi Arabia was participating in the WTO's work 
as a full-fledged Member.  He was sure that all delegations welcomed these countries as partners and 
wished them success.    However, this was not all.  It was significant to note that the accession negotiations of some economies in line for entry had recorded steady progr ess –  such as Algeria, Kazakhstan, the Russian 
Federation, Ukraine and Viet Nam,  as well as small economies like Bhutan, Cape Verde and Yemen – 
and this despite the fact that Members had been busy with advancing the D oha Development Agenda.  
Other acceding countries, after years of inaction, had begun to seriously enga ge and move forward in 
their accession processes – such as, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovi na, Montenegro and Serbia.  
Many others were poised to activate or reactiv ate their accession negotiations.  Taking all these 
developments into account, he predicted that 200 6 would again be a big and active year on the 
accessions front.  He was sure that all would rise to this challenge.  The Secretariat remained more 
than ready to do all it could to f acilitate and advance these negotiations.  He believed this would be a 
very useful opportunity for Members and attending  acceding delegations to share their impressions.  
All looked forward to hearing their views and comments.  
 The representative of Tonga
, speaking as an observer , said it was an honour and privilege to 
have the opportunity to address the Ministerial Conference on the completion of the Kingdom of Tonga's accession to the WTO.  This was indeed a momentous and historic occasion for his country.  
On behalf of the Kingdom of Tonga, he wished to  congratulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on its 
own accession.  Tonga was privileged to be accedi ng at the same time as its illustrious fellow 
Kingdom.  He thanked the Chairman of the Minist erial Conference, as well as the Government and 
the people of Hong Kong, China for their warm welc ome and generous hospita lity, and congratulated 
the Hong Kong Organizing Committee on the excellent a rrangements for this Ministerial Conference.  
As many had said, Hong Kong offere d living proof of what a liberalized international trading system 
could produce.  During Tonga's accession process, there had been times when his Government had 
wondered how the country – as a very small, vulne rable, island atoll econom y – had finally made it 
this far.  This had been a long journey, of ten difficult and, at times, seemingly endless.  
Representatives of Tonga had had to travel many ti mes to Geneva in order to explain and plead 
Tonga's case.  Tonga had persisted in its belief that despite some niggling doubts as to where exactly 
this journey would end, it knew that the WT O process was positive and forward-looking.  Tonga 
regarded WTO membership and the multilateral trad ing system it espoused as vital for the security 
and growth of its economy.  While  Tonga's contribution to international trade was minute, it was  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
 Page 5 
 
 
imperative that Tonga traded in a fair, secure, tran sparent and predictable rules-based environment.  
However, Tonga recognized that a ttaining membership in the WTO would provide only some of the 
solutions to its economic problems.  Tonga ha d to undertake the necessary domestic policy and 
institutional reforms before it could reap the maxi mum benefits of this membership.  While Tonga 
was committed to the trade liberalization process, this  should be at a pace that its small and vulnerable 
economy could sustain.  There should be due recognition of the special situation of recently-acceded 
Members who had undertaken extensive market-acce ss commitments at the time of accession.  These 
countries' obligations could only be truly met if th ey were proportional to their capacity to deliver.  
Tonga supported the call for targeted technical assi stance to acceding LDCs and ACP states to assist 
them with costly and complex accession processes, which urgently needed streamlining and 
simplification.  Tonga pleaded with Members to  exercise restraint and understanding in making 
onerous demands during the accession process, and to  exercise flexibility in the accession of LDCs 
and of small and vulnerable economies.  Tonga  fully supported the ongoing Work Programme on 
Small Economies and urged Members to adopt specifi c measures that would facilitate the fuller and 
more meaningful integration of these economies into  the multilateral trading system, in accordance 
with their level of development.  In this connection, Tonga applauded the pledges made by some 
developed countries for increased funding and support for Aid for Trade.  However, this should be 
supplemented by freer trade and market access.  On behalf of his Gove rnment, he thanked the 
members of the Working Party on the Accession of  Tonga for their support and understanding during 
the accession process.  Tonga was also very grateful  for the assistance provided by the Pacific Islands 
Forum Secretariat and its members, the Commonwea lth Secretariat, Overseas Development Institute 
and AITIC.  His Government also thanked those Members who had directly assisted Tonga in its 
journey to accession, to the WTO Secretariat for its  invaluable support and assistance, and to the 
Chairman of Tonga's Working Party for his guidance and stewardship.  Finally, he also wished to 
thank the Ministerial Conference for accepting Tonga as a Member.  
 All representatives who spoke welcomed the Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries of 
Tonga to the Ministerial Conference, welcomed  the completion of Tonga's accession process, and 
looked forward to working with Tonga in the WTO.  Tonga's accession would strengthen the 
multilateral trading system and would make the WT O a truly universal organization.  They also 
welcomed Saudi Arabia as the 149
th  Member of the WTO and looked forward to working with Saudi 
Arabia in the WTO. 
 
 The representative of Sri Lanka  said that Tonga's accession was a historical landmark for the 
entire membership of the WTO, and would unque stionably open up fresh opportunities and many 
challenges.  As for Saudi Arabia's accession, this was of particular importance to Sri Lanka, given its 
excellent bilateral trade, economic  and cultural ties with that count ry.  The President of Sri Lanka, 
who had visited Saudi Arabia several times, greatly  valued the friendship between the two countries 
and their peoples.  It was Sri Lanka's intention to  further strengthen its historical ties for mutual 
benefit and also for the simple reason, as his Presid ent had stated soon after taking office, that Saudi 
Arabia had stood with Sri Lanka in good and bad tim es.  In recent years, migrant worker remittances 
from Saudi Arabia represented the most important s ource of foreign exchange earnings in Sri Lanka.  
There were more than 350,000 Sri Lankans employed  in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka's most important 
emerging labour market in the entire Gulf region.  Sri Lanka was pleased that the contribution of Sri 
Lankan workers was appreciated as having supported th e development effort in Saudi Arabia.  Saudi 
Arabia was also one of Sri Lanka's most important  trading partners in the Middle East.  Sri Lanka 
appreciated Saudi Arabia's consideration of its requests for enhanced market access, lowering the 
bound rate of duty applicable to tea.  The "Sa udi Fund for Development" had also enabled the 
carrying out of a number of important national proj ects in Sri Lanka, including the Mahaweli, Neuro 
Trauma Unit in the National Hospital and the Kinniya Bridge Project.  Saudi Arabia was also assisting 
various cultural and religious activities of the Musl im community of Sri Lanka, including donation of 
the "traditional date fruit" from His Majesty the Ki ng of Saudi Arabia for Sri Lankan Muslims during 
the holy month of Ramadan every y ear.  Following the tsunami natural disaster in Sri Lanka, Saudi 
Arabia had also provided valuable assistance to victims and had suggested various tsunami-related WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
Page 6  
 
  projects.  Sri Lanka looked forward to working very  closely with Saudi Arabia and to sharing their 
common trade and economic interests under the negotiation agenda of the WTO.   The representative of Australia
 said that Tonga's accession was of particular significance to 
Australia, given its strong and warm  relations with its South Pacific neighbours.  Australia was the 
largest aid donor to Tonga and was contributing to improved governance, stronger economic growth 
and better service delivery.  A decade had passed since Tonga had begun its accession process.  It had not been easy for a small, developing South Pacific Island country such as Tonga to enter into such a 
resource-intensive process, which was another reason to applaud Tonga for having shown the 
commitment to conclude these negotiations.  Tonga's accession was significant in a number of ways.  
It had given momentum to Tonga 's domestic economic liberalizati on, which would hopefully boost 
Tonga's long-term economic growth and development.  Other sma ll developing countries, a number of 
which were currently in the process of accession, s hould be inspired by this and see that it was a 
worthy undertaking.  WTO membersh ip was the major pathway to great er integration into the global 
economy, not least for developing countries like Tonga.  Australia had provided assistance, where it 
could, to developing countries in this aim.  Australia's development assistance program to Tonga 
focused on improved governance and broad-based econom ic growth.  Australia provided resources to 
the updating of Tonga's Customs Service, which should  help Tonga meet its WTO obligations in this 
area.  Another important area of Australia's assistan ce related to the devel opment and management of 
Tonga's fisheries resources.    
 As regards Saudi Arabia, Australia had been a long-standing supporter of its accession.  This 
reflected the two countries' strong trade and politi cal relationship, as well as important and growing 
commercial ties across a range of sectors.  Australia congratulated Saudi Arabia on its efforts to open 
its foreign trade regime, including steps to reduce tariffs and eliminate non-tariff barriers.  These 
efforts would significantly improve transparency an d predictability for trade with Saudi Arabia and 
help accelerate its integration into the world econo my.  Australia looked forward to working with 
Saudi Arabia in the WTO to promote the two countri es' common interest in global trade reform.  The 
commitments Saudi Arabia had made in its accession to the WTO would expand the scope for it to trade globally and further strengthen the multilatera l trading system.  Regarding the accessions issue 
generally, he reiterated Australia's commitment to the accession process in the WTO.  Australia gave 
priority to the negotiation of terms of membership that gave appropriate weight to the WTO rules and 
the objective of opening markets.  Australia l ooked forward to seeing other accessions move toward 
conclusion, and would conti nue to be an active participant in th e process.  Special attention should 
also continue to be paid to the needs of l east-developed countries, and to showing appropriate 
flexibility in negotiating terms for their accession.  
 The representative of Georgia
 said that at every WTO Ministerial Conference, Ministers 
opened the door to new Members that were trying to fu rther liberalize trade relations to the benefit of 
all.  It was now time to welcome Saudi Arabia and Tonga.  He hoped these countries would actively 
participate in the intensive, transparent, fair and inclusive process of world trade talks.  He also hoped 
that by the time of the Seventh Session of the Ministerial Conference the membership would be 
further enlarged, and would welcome as Members Georgia's neighboring countries – namely, Ukraine, 
Azerbaijan and Russia.  Georgia had completed its bilateral accession negotia tions with Ukraine and 
fully supported its membership in the WTO.   Regarding the Russian Federation, Georgia was still negotiating with it.  Georgia fully 
supported the membership of the Russian Federation in the WTO and hoped that the next round of 
negotiations would produce meaningful results in order to move the accession process forward.  
However, it had to be emphasized that despite num erous negotiations and the agreement reached in 
the Protocol signed in May 2004 in Tbilisi, no pr ogress had been made by the Russian Federation 
with regard to issues that were critical for Georgi a.  Georgia had serious concerns about the following 
issues.  First and foremost, there were two ille gal customs check-points between Georgia and the 
Russian Federation.  Illegal flow of goods betw een the Russian Federation and the secessionist parts  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
 Page 7 
 
 
of Georgia violated the bilateral agreement on customs check-points between the two countries.  
Moreover, Georgia considered this a trade-distortin g measure and an illegal action that contradicted 
the fundamental principles of the WTO.  Georgia fully supported the legalization of these check-points, and its support for the accession of the Ru ssian Federation to the WTO was conditional on the 
effective resolution of this problem.  Second, in or der to ensure legal trade with excise goods between 
Georgia and the Russian Federation, it was of utmo st importance for both countries to open excise 
lines on the Russian side of the legal customs check- points of Kazbegi-Upper Larsi and in the Port of 
Kavkaz.  Third, Georgia encouraged the Russian  Federation to comply with the principles and 
regulations of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as the bilateral agreement on in tellectual property signed 
between Georgia and the Russian Federation in 2004, and to take active steps in order to fight with 
numerous cases of falsification of Georgian wine and mineral waters on the Russian market.  Georgia 
reiterated its readiness for a constructive dialogue  with the Russian Federation and hoped that the 
above-mentioned issues would be dealt with by th e Russian Federation in an appropriate manner. 
  The representative of Saudi Arabia
 expressed his Government's gratitude to all Members for 
their support for Saudi Arabia's accession to th e WTO.  Saudi Arabia recognized that the WTO 
embodied high and noble principles and objectives of the multilateral trading system that had 
contributed significantly to economic growth and devel opment.  It appreciated the role of the WTO as 
an organization dedicated to the expansion and liber alization of world trade and the elimination of 
discrimination in international trade relations.  It  shared the view that trade liberalization and 
strengthened rules led to a progressively more open world trading environment.  As a Member, Saudi 
Arabia was now working with other Members to  strengthening the WTO through the Doha Round, 
and with developing countries to ensure that they  secured an increasing share in international trade 
commensurate with the needs of their economic deve lopment.  Saudi Arabia looked forward to an 
early and successful conclusion of the multilateral trade negotiations under the Doha Development 
Agenda. 
 
 The representative of the United States  expressed his pleasure at attending a Ministerial 
Conference that was celebrating the achievements of  those countries that had acceded or completed 
their accession process to the WTO since the pr evious Ministerial Conference.  The WTO 
membership was a community of countries rich in  diversity that shared a common commitment to 
the rules-based system of the WTO.  As many trading partners knew, the US President had 
repeatedly made accession to the WTO a central element in his strategy to promote peace, 
prosperity and development throug h trade.  These objectives would be pursued as the negotiations 
continued with some of the United States' pa rtners. Negotiating accession provided the double 
benefit of creating a strong multilateral trading syst em and strengthening US bilateral relations with 
the applicants.  The evidence was clear – US coop eration in the WTO had been the starting point 
for deepening its partnerships with many Members.  
  Regarding Tonga's accessi on, the United States commended Minister Sevelé and his team 
for their vision and determina tion.  Tonga's accession had produced  a framework of new laws and 
regulations to facilitate commerce, full tariff bindings and broad commitments for trade in services.  These WTO commitments had been accompanied by  extensive commercial reforms, enhanced 
transparency, and a commitment to the rule of la w.  Tonga's accession showed how trade could be 
used to supplement and reinforce domestic refo rm programs, create new opportunities through 
opening markets, and achieve economic development.   The United States looked forward to Tonga 
completing the domestic ratifi cation process and joining the WT O family.  As regards Saudi 
Arabia, he wished to congratulate HE Minister Ya mani and his team, particularly Dr Fawaz Alamy, 
the Kingdom's lead negotiator.  King Abdullah's plan for domestic reform and economic expansion 
had provided the vision and direct ion for this accession.  It reflecte d a decade of steady effort and 
progress towards greater transparency, expansion of  the rule of law, and broader political and 
economic reform.  Many members of the negotiat ing team were present at the meeting.  Their 
efforts had resulted in many new pieces of legislat ion and regulation, most notably in the areas of 
intellectual property protection and services.  Sa udi Arabia had also made important market access WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
Page 8  
 
  contributions.  But, most importa ntly, there now existed in Saudi Arabia a strong cadre of trade 
professionals committed to using the rules-based system of the WTO to advance the Kingdom's 
economic objectives.   A number of other accession applicants had made  progress in their respective negotiations 
since the Cancún Ministerial Conf erence in 2003, most strikingly Cape Verde, Kazakhstan, the 
Russian Federation, Ukraine and Viet Nam.  These countries were to be congratulated for their 
efforts and encouraged to press on to a speedy co nclusion of their accession negotiations.  Among 
LDC applicants, Samoa and Bhutan had also made  great strides in thei r accession negotiations.  
Two additional LDCs – Afghanistan and Sao Tome and Principe – had also recently applied for 
accession.  The United Stat es also welcomed Iraq as an accession applicant.    Accession to the 
WTO also presented a unique oppor tunity for th e applicant to use the WTO in the service of 
economic reform and commercial expansion.  WTO provisions, developed through consensus and negotiation through decades, were now a proven framework for economic expansion, both domestically and internationally.  Therefore, becoming a Member changed the way the world 
looked at a country's economy.  This helped attr act investment and encourage expanded domestic 
commerce.  For WTO accession a pplicants, the long-term gains from making the changes necessary 
to join the WTO far outweighed the short-term di fficulties.  This was especially true for LDC 
accessions.  These accessions were conducted unde r guidelines that called for simplified 
procedures, realistic market access requests, us e of transitions for implementation of WTO 
provisions, and recourse both to S&D treatment an d technical assistance.  The United States fully 
endorsed these guidelines, which they had helped develop and approve in late 2002.  Transitional 
periods for implementation became roadmaps for development of basi c trade policy infrastructure.  
The accession process itself became an  occasion for focusi ng technical assistan ce towards agreed 
goals established by the applicant country itself.  On behalf of the United States, he wished to welcome the new colleagues and congratulate them  on this important achievement, and looked 
forward to working with them in this great a nd essential organization.  To the ten LDCs in the 
accession process, he said the United States stood read y to work closely with them to realize 
their goal of joining the WTO.   The representative of New Zealand
 said that with the accessions of Saudi Arabia and Tonga, 
over three-quarters of the world's nations were now Me mbers.  With other applicants such as Samoa, 
the Russian Federation and Viet Nam in the process  of joining the WTO, it was now on the path of 
becoming a truly universal body.  New Zealand placed  the highest priority on the WTO.  It was a 
democratic organization, owned and accountable to  the people through its Member governments.  It 
provided the only multilateral rules-based trading sy stem in the global economy, and helped ensure 
that the trading interests of large and small countri es alike were respected.  The WTO was clearly not 
perfect, but it was the best system Members had to win the benefits of fair and free trade between 
nations.  The WTO's increasing developing-country membership was very important, thus ensuring 
that the benefits of globalization reached all secti ons of the developing world.  Developing countries 
now constituted four-fifths of the WTO membership.  They played an essential part in ensuring that 
the Doha Development Agenda kept to the obj ective of putting developing countries needs and 
interests at the heart of the Doha Work Programme.   
 
 As a fellow South Pacific country, New Zealand welcomed Tonga, which joined its neighbours Fiji, the Solomon Isla nds and Papua New Guinea as Members.  He wished Minister 
Sevelé and the Tongan delegation "Ma lo Elelei" and congratulated them on this special and historic 
occasion and achievement.  He paid particular tribut e to Mr Sevelé for his leadership, determination 
and courage to implement the reforms necessary for Tonga's progress as a modern nation.  For this 
contribution – "Malo Apaitol".  New Zealand and T onga enjoyed a very close relationship.  Their 
shared Polynesian heritage, the large percentage of  Tongan leaders educated in New Zealand, and the 
large Tongan community in New Zealand of over 50,000 people underpinned and strengthened the 
two countries' relationship.  The Tongan people had made a major contribution to New Zealand, 
adding not only the richness of their culture an d their economic contribution, but also their  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
 Page 9 
 
 
contribution on the rugby field.  New Zealand was aware of the challenges faced by Tonga and other 
small economies in embracing trade liberalization,  including capacity and governance challenges.  
However, the development potential inherent in fair trade rules and in the protection afforded by the 
WTO dispute settlement processes were especially impor tant for small economies.  In its accession to 
the WTO, Tonga was taking on commitments commensu rate with its level of  development.  New 
Zealand stood ready to assist Tonga in meeting its new WTO obligations and was committed to work 
in partnership with Tonga and all of its Pacific ne ighbours to provide assistance where this could help 
them achieve to their full economic potential.  He also welcomed Saudi Arabia as a newly-acceded Member of the WTO.  As an agricultural exporter,  New Zealand appreciated the moves Saudi Arabia 
had made to improve trade in agricultural comm odities.  New Zealand looked forward to supporting 
Saudi Arabia as it implemented its WTO commitm ents and changes that would strengthen and 
encourage their mutual trading relationship.   The representative of Fiji
 said that as Members celebrated the accessions of Saudi Arabia and 
Tonga, they should also recognize that the WTO accessi on process needed to be streamlined to ensure 
that unreasonable demands were not unfairly placed on applicant countries, particularly the LDCs and 
the small and vulnerable economies.  Fiji acknowle dged the positive elements contained in the 
guidelines on LDC accession adopted in 2002.  It pa rticularly welcomed the provision of technical 
assistance to acceding countries.  The fact that the text had been adopted acknowledged the existence 
of a problem.  However, the promise encapsulated in  the text had not thus far reduced the problems 
faced by LDCs in their accession negotiations.  The main problem was the lack of objectivity in the 
basic rules governing the negotiating process.  This  shortcoming allowed major trading partners to 
freely impose demands on applicant countries, which often went far beyond the commitments undertaken by existing Members at similar stages of  development.  Some Members might believe that 
it was right to charge an accession fee to aspirant Members.  However, as a rules-based organization, it was only fair that the fee be reasonable and e quitable, and not beyond the commitments undertaken 
by the requesting Members themsel ves.  The WTO should correct th is abnormality and ensure that 
acceding LDCs, as well as small and vulnerabl e economies, were required to undertake only 
commitments commensurate with their level of development.  His delegation hoped that in 
welcoming Tonga as the fourth
 Pacific Forum Island country in the WTO, the two acceding LDCs in 
the region, namely Samoa and Vanuatu, would receive  Members' full support to accelerate the process 
of their respective accessions. 
 
 The representative of the Solomon Islands  noted that Tonga's accession process had started 
almost ten years earlier and had involved long and complicated negotiations.  In that process, Tonga 
had undertaken some important economic reforms.  The final package of terms and conditions to 
which Tonga would adhere would fu rther strengthen its economy.  Of the fourteen Pacific Island 
countries, only three –  Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands – were Members.  With Tonga's 
accession this number would increase to four.  This was a historic day for the Pacific region, for 
Tonga and for the WTO, as Tonga's accession would further strengthen the WTO by making it more universal and hence increasing its depth and diversit y.  Samoa and Vanuatu, two other Pacific Island 
countries, were still in the accession process.  Like Tonga, their accession process had started almost a decade earlier.  His delegation therefore looked forwar d to another historic day, hopefully soon, when 
Members would welcome these countries into their fold .  He expressed gratitude to the Chairman of 
the Working Party on Tonga's Accession and to memb ers of the Working Party for the constructive 
spirit in which the negotiations had been conducted, as well as to Ministers for accepting Tonga's 
final accession package.  
 The representative of China
 said that his country had always been supportive of Tonga's 
accession.  This accession would not only help T onga integrate into the world economy but also 
enhance the representativeness of the organizati on.  China and Tonga enjoyed long-standing 
friendship and sound economic and trade relations.  He  was very confident that their trade would be 
further promoted after Tonga's accession.  With respect to the currently acceding countries, China 
hoped that their accession negotiations would be comple ted in the near future, so that the organization WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
Page 10  
 
  would become as universal as it should be.  China would continue to be constructive in these 
negotiations.  It had concluded bila teral market access negotiations w ith the Russian Federation, Viet 
Nam, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine, and urged Members who had not reached bilateral 
market access agreements with these countries to c onclude their negotiations at an early date.  For 
acceding LDCs, their negotiation process should be f acilitated in accordance w ith guidelines adopted 
in 2002.  China had acceded to the WTO at the Mi nisterial Conference in 2001, at which the Doha 
Development Round had been successfully launched.  Some said that China had brought good luck to 
the WTO.  China hoped that Tonga's accession at the present Ministerial Conference would also bring good luck, so that Members would see a br eakthrough in these difficult negotiations. 
 
 The representative of Thailand, on behalf of the ASEAN Members
, said he wished to 
comment briefly on the accession is sue, both in broad terms an d on the ongoing accessions of 
several countries.  The accession process was so metimes long and technically daunting.  Technical 
assistance to acceding governments was vital for developing countries, and for LDCs in particular.  
ASEAN commended the good work carried out by th e Secretariat as well as other international 
agencies, such as UNCTAD, in helping provide targeted as well as general programmes for 
technical assistance and capacity building.  The adoption by the General Council of guidelines for 
LDC accession, which ASEAN welcomed, had accel erated and facilitated LDC accession 
processes.  ASEAN wished to make specific comment s in relation to the recently-acceded Members 
as well as acceding countries, to which ASEAN offere d encouragement.  After many years of hard 
work and constructive engagement, ASEAN was pleased that Tonga's acces sion process had been 
completed, commended Tonga's tremendous effort and looked forward to working closely with 
Tonga as a full Member in 2006.  ASEAN also we lcomed Saudi Arabia as a full Member, and was 
confident that the latter was already making substa ntial contributions to the many ongoing issues 
being discussed at this Ministerial Conference.  With regard to the ASEAN members in the process of accession – Viet Nam and Lao PDR – ASEAN had been  very supportive of their efforts in their 
respective accession processes and looked forward to  welcoming them as full Members as soon as 
possible.  With respect to the Russian Federation, one of the world's largest economies that had yet to 
join the WTO, this accession would be another si gnificant step towards making the WTO a truly 
representative global trade organization, and would enable  that country to reap the benefits of a rules-
based multilateral trading.  Regarding Ukraine, its accession process had started in late 1994, and that 
country's accession would further strengthen the trading demographics of the WTO.  The accession 
process in the WTO was as vibrant as ever, and A SEAN looked forward to seeing more conclusions 
of ongoing accessions and welcoming the 29 acceding countries to the WTO family.   The representative of Swaziland
 congratulated the Chairman on his election to the 
chairmanship of the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  He wished to thank the Government and People of 
Hong Kong, China for their warm welcome and to  commend the Government of Hong Kong for the 
excellent facilities for this Conference.  Like previo us speakers, he also heartily congratulated Saudi 
Arabia and Tonga on their accession as the 149th and 150th Members of the WTO, respectively.  
Tonga was a member of the African, Caribbean  and Pacific Group of States (ACP), of the 
Commonwealth, and was a small economy like Swaziland,  as well as a friend.  His delegation looked 
forward to forging an even closer cooperation with Tonga and to welcoming more friends, in 
particular small and vulnerable States as new Members. 
  The representative of India
 welcomed the completion of the work of the Working Party on the 
Accession of Tonga.  His delegation congratulated the Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries 
of Tonga on this historic achievement.  Tonga ha d displayed the utmost commitment in achieving its 
development objectives through multila teral cooperation.  India was certain that WTO membership 
would help Tonga enhance its trade and investment opportunities.  In turn, Tonga's accession further 
enriched the WTO's diversity and strengthened multila teralism.  India noted with great satisfaction 
that Saudi Arabia, another valued friend, was al ready participating in the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference as a Member.  India shared close po litical, economic and trade ties with Saudi Arabia 
spanning several decades.  Saudi Arabia had star ted its accession negotiations in 1993 and had made a  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
 Page 11 
 
 
tremendous effort to achieve its obj ective of full integration into the multilateral trading system.  India 
hoped that its economic cooperation and trade relati ons would be further st rengthened with Saudi 
Arabia's accession to the WTO.  India looked forwar d to closely working with Saudi Arabia in the 
WTO so as to ensure that the multilateral tradi ng system responded positively to the needs and 
concerns of developing countries.  India also noted that the accession processes of some 29 countries 
were currently under §way.  The accession process had lately assumed onerous proportions for the 
acceding Members.  In particular, as far as LDC accession was concerned, India urged Members to refrain from seeking onerous commitments from these countries, so as to preserve the spirit of the 
decisions taken by Ministers at Doha in 2001 and subsequently by the General Council in 2002.  For 
other countries as well, the accession process needed  to be made simpler and more expeditious. 
 
 The representative of Papua New Guinea
 welcomed Saudi Arabia and Tonga.  His delegation 
was particularly grateful for the final acceptance of  Tonga's accession, a small Pacific island country, 
after ten years of struggle due to the unreasonabl e demands imposed by several Members.  This 
accession had demonstrated the truly global nature of this important organization.  The inclusion of 
Tonga increased the membership of  the Pacific Island countries in the WTO to four.  Two other 
countries of the region, Vanuatu and Samoa,  were going through the accession process, which 
hopefully would be expedited.   Papua New Guinea looked forward to working closely with Tonga in 
the years to come.   The representative of the Russian Federation
, speaking as an observer , joined previous 
speakers in congratulating Saudi Arabia and Tonga  on their successful accession to the WTO.  He 
expressed appreciation to the current and former Directors-General and to the Secretariat directly involved in the accession process, who had worked hard to facilitate the accessions process.  His 
delegation strongly supported the efforts of other acceding countries, including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, 
Belarus and Viet Nam, who were close neighbours and partners of the Russian Federation.  His 
delegation hoped that the next enlargement of th e WTO family was not far away.  Early accession to 
the WTO was a top priority of the Russian Federation's economic strategy.  His country's accession to the WTO would mean that its foreign trade would be  covered by clear and predictable WTO rules and 
principles.  Another essential goal of his country's  external economic strategy was to strengthen the 
stability and predictability of its economic policies.   This would boost foreign trade and investment 
and, consequently, contribute to the country's prosperity.  As a Member, the Russian Federation 
would have an important contribution to make to the multilateral trading system.  The Russian 
Federation represented not only one-seventh of the world's cust oms territory, but was a high-capacity, 
dynamic and emerging market, and by far the la rgest economy among all acceding countries.  The 
growing participation of the Russian Federation in world trade had a positive impact on trade and 
economic development in the region. 
 
 The Russian Federation had made major progr ess in its transformation to a market-based 
economy.  Looking back and comparing the economic  environment of the Russian Federation of the 
mid-1990s to the present one, the progress achieved was evident.  This had required a complete 
reform of relevant legislative parts of his country's participation in world trade.  It was his country's 
intention to comply fully with the requirements  of the WTO prior to its accession.  The Russian 
Federation had intensified bilate ral negotiations on market access for goods and services and was now 
close to an agreement with most of its partners – to date, it had complete d negotiations with 51 of 
58 Members of the Working Party.  Only a few issu es remained to be resolv ed with the remaining 
Members.  The WTO should recognize that duri ng the accession process, independent of its accession 
negotiations, the Russian Federation had continued to substantially liberalize access to its market, in 
both goods and services.  Its accession process was in the final stretch, and major issues had been 
resolved.  The Russian Federation was ready to join its partners to complete the work necessary to 
finalize its accession.  The WTO could count on the Russian Federation as a Member to do its full share to bring the Doha negotiations to a successful conclusion.  WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
Page 12  
 
   The representative of Belarus
, speaking as an observer , said that full-fledged integration of 
the Republic of Belarus in the multilateral trading syst em was a priority of its foreign policy.  This 
had been proven by considerable reinforcem ent of its WTO accession efforts throughout the 
multilateral trade negotiations launched at Doha.  As  a result, Belarus had managed to agree with 
Members on a significant number of issues that were part of the accession package.  However, 
Belarus still did not have the draft report of the Wo rking Party in place.  Bela rus fully supported the  
UN Secretary-General's statement in his report to the 60th Session of UN General Assembly that the 
WTO accession process still created a number of obstacl es for acceding countries.  In this regard, 
Belarus joined all those who proposed looking at wa ys to keep the commitme nts of acceding countries 
at a level which corresponded to their economic situ ation and the obligations of existing Members.  
This could be done by reconfirming the case-by -case approach to accessi ons in the spirit of 
Article XII of the WTO Agreement, as opposed to  a one-standard-for-all approach, which had been 
practiced by some Members.  Absence of flexibilit y had resulted in the following:  First, in some 
cases it had left new Members with a "commercially  viable" package of commitments that did not 
actually add commercial attraction to the count ry.  Second, it had strengthened domestic WTO-
sceptics.  Finally, and worst of all, the political l eadership was likely to consider accession as a one-
time foreign policy achievement rather than a long-term choice of economic strategy.  This 
Conference was the sixth Ministerial Session that was calling in its declaration for rapid conclusion of 
unfinished accession negotiations, but the number of acceding countries did not decrease from one 
Ministerial Session to the next.  This fact clearly indicated that the WTO, to put it mildly, was not too preoccupied with its enlargement and its status as a truly universal organization.  All would agree that 
a situation where many accessions took longer th an a WTO negotiating round was not normal.  
Sometimes it even seemed that accession was not a pr ocess but a status.  The solution was that the 
process should be more rules-based and have a tim e-frame.  In this respect, Belarus called upon 
Members and acceding countries to commit themselves to conclude accession negotiations by the next 
Ministerial Conference, in particular those who se working parties had been established under the 
GATT.  This would consolidate the Doha Round by  adding new important markets and, eventually, 
bringing the WTO membership as close to universal as ever.   The representative of Ukraine
, speaking as an observer , congratulated the new Members and 
welcomed the accession processes of the Russian Fede ration, Kazakhstan, Viet Nam and Belarus.  
Regarding Ukraine's accession process, his county ha d been trying to accede to WTO for more than 
12 years.  This process had definitely been more positive than negative.  On the positive side, it had 
helped Ukraine's economy, as a huge amount of vari ous legislative amendments had been enacted.  
Moreover, Ukraine's economy was more compe titive and had received a free trial course in 
international trade.  After 12 years of negotiations , Ukraine was not formally and legally a Member, 
but acted and lived within WTO regulations.  More than 80 per cent of its proposed tariff 
consolidation had already been enact ed by Ukrainian legislation.  In fact, Ukraine had already faced 
some short-term consequences such as a negative tr ade balance.  This was extremely positive, because 
Ukraine would overcome these problems in the near fu ture.  In connection with the completion of its 
accession negotiations, Ukraine would do its best.  Se ven bilateral negotiations  were still under way, 
and Ukraine was ready to complete them in the near  future.  His delegation requested Members of the 
Working Party and the Secretariat to proceed qui ckly.  The more quickly  Ukraine acceded to the 
WTO, the more the WTO would gain, even in terms of its budget, as the Director-General had 
mentioned earlier.  Ukraine was quite flexible in its  negotiations and had liberalized its market, but it 
would not jeopardize its national economy.  Ukrain e strongly believed that the WTO was a crucial 
international trade organization and wished to in crease WTO staff in order to enhance collaboration 
with other organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank and non-governme ntal organizations in 
terms of maintaining macro-economic stability in the world.  Ukraine urgently requested the 
establishment of a think tank which could elaborate remedies for the world economy to address global wealth imbalances.  It was Ministers' responsibilit y to convince those people who two days earlier had 
shouted "No WTO" to think "Yes WTO".   WT/MIN(05)/SR/6 
 Page 13 
 
 
 The representative of Vanuatu , speaking as an observer , said that perhaps more than any other 
country, Vanuatu knew a bout the long and difficult process of access ion that often placed severe demands 
on small developing countries .  Vanuatu had made a commitment ten years earlier to start the WTO 
accession process.  It had made this commitment b ecause it believed that being a Member of the 
multilateral trading system would help strengthen its economy and integrate it into the world economy.  
Being a Member was especially important at the presen t time, when development was the main focus of 
current discussions within the context of the Doha Development Round.  The discussions taking place in 
Hong Kong were based on the principl e that every Member had an equal voice.  It was only on this basis 
that agreement could be reached to create an effect ive, fair, rules-based system.  However where there 
were rules, there were exceptions, and until now th e exception had been in the accession process, which 
many had described as unfair and imbalanced, particularly for developing countries.  This unfairness in the 
accession process had already been acknowledged by Me mbers.  Vanuatu welcomed the adoption of 
guidelines on LDC accessions by the General Council in 20 02.  It was important now to make sure that 
those guidelines were implemented.  Given the ch allenges Vanuatu had had to face in its accession 
negotiations before the adoption of  these guidelines, its a ccession process would be a key test as to whether 
these guidelines had been implemented.  Denying th e gains of the Doha Round  to any of the acceding 
LDCs would clearly go against the goals of the Round.  Vanuatu was pleased to see that Tonga, as a 
Member, would ensure that the Doha Round was of  real benefit to develo ping and least-developed 
countries.  Vanuatu hoped to join the WTO in the near  future and looked forwar d to Members' support for 
its accession process, and also looked fo rward to cooperating closely in th e future in pursuit of common 
interests in trade. 
 
 The Ministerial Conference took note  of the statements regarding the ongoing WTO 
accession processes, and the expressions of welcome and support for the accession of Tonga and for 
those accession processes that had recently been completed.  
 The meeting adjourned
 at 7.50 p.m. 
 
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