WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/5 
14 December 2005 
 (05-5960) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
 
Statement by Right Honourable Peter Mandelson
 
Commissioner for Trade  
 
  As we meet today, the eyes of the world are, lite rally, on us.  It is not often we can say this 
without an element of exaggeration.  Today we can.  
 We must live up to it.  We have a responsibilit y to make this Conference a success.  I believe 
we can.  As I have said before, Europe is here in Hong Kong to do business with
 others, if others 
are ready to do business with us.   Europe continues to seek a balanced and ambitious outcome to this Round. 
 
 I accept that we will not be able to achieve as much as we wanted in Hong Kong.  I regret 
this, but I am not discouraged.  We should not lower our sights.  We must uphold the vision of a Round that delivers a serious boost to the global economy and above all helps developing countries, 
especially the poorest.  
 Our task is to make as much progress as we can.  The draft Ministerial text gives us a good 
basis.  We must build on this.  Our target shoul d be to establish the strongest possible platform to 
rapidly take forward and conclude  negotiation of the Round in 2006. 
  We should identify further steps of agreemen t we can reach this week, breaking down the 
deadlock and creating new flexibility. 
 
 Above all, we must maintain the goodwill and the good chemistry between us to hit the 
ground running in the new year in order to comple te the Round.  We cannot afford to wait again. 
When the finishing line is in sight, it is the time to quicken our pace. 
 
 We will not succeed, in Hong Kong or after, if we continue to focus on only one part of the 
Round.   Agriculture is important.  Trade distorting subsidies must be cut back.  Substantial 
improvements in market access must take place.  We  have to complete work that was begun in the 
Uruguay Round.  That includes eliminating expor t supports and disciplining programmes which do 
not simply feed the hungry but also reward the already well-fed.   That is why, in the course of the Round, the EU has launched, and is implementing, 
significant agricultural reforms, and why we are making major negotiating offers in export 
competition, market access and domestic support.  What we are already doing, and what we have 
further proposed, is ambitious.  It has not been matched by any other major WTO Member.  I have 
been disappointed that others have  not seen fit to engage with us on the offer we put forward in WT/MIN(05)/ST/5 
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 October.  Agriculture Commissioner Fischer Boel a nd I remain ready to discu ss, explain and justify 
that offer.   But a single issue Round cannot succeed.  We need  more to negotiate about.  That's why the 
success of the Round will depend on our
 ambition to liberalize trade in industrial goods and services,  
and to strengthen trade rules. 
  Opening markets in these areas, if we do it caref ully, sensitively, and with the flexibilities and 
exemptions appropriate for developing countries,  can provide more opportunity, for both developed 
and developing countries, than what we do in agriculture. 
 
 For us in Europe, as our rural economy continues to diversify and adjust, as we absorb the full 
impact of reform, we will need to show that through the Round new opportunities are opening up in 
areas of trade in which we can enjoy an advantag e.  The only Round that any of us can accept is a 
Round in which we can show what we will get for what we gave.  Is anyone an exception to this 
political reality? I think not. 
  Let me finish where I began, on developm ent.  Because this is a development Round. 
  Trade has huge potential when put at the service of development.  Here at Hong Kong it is 
essential that we record a specific, early outco me that benefits the poorest WTO Members. 
 
 We must get this right.   All developed countries should commit to providing duty- and quota-free access to all products from all least-developed countries.  Those a dvanced developing countries in a position to do 
so should make the same commitment.  Europe h as led on this.  I welcome those deciding to do the 
same.   We need to confirm the promise of special and differential treatment for developing countries.  
The least-developed countries should be exempt from liberalization if they wish.  For other 
developing countries there must be recognition th at obligations should be proportionate to their 
capacity. 
  Last week the Membership's decision to ame nd the TRIPS Agreement to  provide better access 
to affordable drugs showed that th e WTO can shape its rules to reflect  humanitarian needs.  This was 
a powerful signal.  We should now agree an exte nsion of current LDC exemptions from the TRIPS 
Agreement. 
  We need to agree a substantial new package of  Aid for Trade – helping build the capacity to 
trade that must go with market opening.  The EU gi ves more trade-related assistance than the rest of 
the world combined.  It is time for ot hers to make a similar commitment. 
 
 Of course, these things are not a substitute for the wider development goals of the Doha 
Round.   I want to finish with four short words.  We can do it
. 
 
 We can make this meeting the success we need  to keep the Round moving and to give us a 
springboard for ending our work next year.   WT/MIN(05)/ST/5 
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  We can also keep alive the bigger vision of gr owth, welfare and justice in the international 
trading system – spreading the benefits of trade for all developing countries, including the neediest 
ones.  That is what justice means for trade, and it lies at the heart of what Europe brings to this 
Ministerial Conference.  
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