. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/70 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6042) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
COSTA RICA 
 
Statement by HE Mr Manuel Gonzalez
 
Minister of Foreign Trade  
  
Many thanks, Mr Chair and distinguished Member s of this Organization.  In November 2001, 
Costa Rica attended the Ministerial Conference in D oha, Qatar, firmly determined to contribute to 
launching a new round of multilateral trade negotiations.  The Uruguay Round marked a decisive step 
forward in various areas of trade and the birth of  the World Trade Organization, but many issues 
remained pending. 
Agriculture was introduced into the discip lines of the multilateral trading system, but 
significant commitments on liberalization were left fo r later.  The forty years it has taken to open up 
trade in industrial goods is still a major constraint  that has not allowed, and still does not allow, 
agricultural exporters to reap the benefits  of freer, fairer, market-oriented trade. 
Four years have gone by since the Round was la unched and agriculture is still the focus of 
negotiations as, for the developing world, it represent s the balance that must be achieved in order to 
move forward on other issues of interest to all the WTO’s Members.  The current round of 
negotiations, also called the Development Round,  has acknowledged the need to recognize the 
limitations of developing countries in deriving greater benefits from free trade.  For a country such as 
Costa Rica, the way in which trade assists deve lopment only has one response based on the most 
important principle of the multilateral tradi ng system:  non-discrimination among countries.  
Disregarding this fundamental principle could alter the most solid foundations of this institution, to 
which 150 countries now belong following the recen t accession of Tonga and Saudi Arabia, to whom, 
on behalf of my country, I bid a warm welcome.  Tr ade is an instrument for development, but there 
are many other elements that contribute to this ob jective, for example, appropriate domestic policies, 
tools to make these viable, ethics and accountability  in public administration, as well as a business 
sector that is committed to its own development, but these are responsibilities for each country.  The most valuable gift which the GATT-WTO system has given us is the principles, rules and procedures 
to promote more equitable and fairer trade, especially for developing countries such as ours. 
Nevertheless, the proposals on de velopment now being put forward in the current negotiations 
and at this Ministerial Conference leave us with c onsiderable uncertainties as to the road along which 
we must move.  The international community as a whole can agree that trade should lead to higher 
living standards for all the world’s inhabitants and mu st help to alleviate poverty, but trade alone is 
not responsible, as mentioned above.  Costa Rica fi rmly believes in trade as a valuable tool for 
achieving development objectives.  Where we cannot agr ee is that, in the name of development, some 
developed countries justify their decision not to op en up their markets and to exercise discrimination 
among developing countries when implementing their trade policies. 
For us, it is a serious matter to discriminat e among developing countries, but it is an even 
more serious matter if this un ilateral practice becomes a consta nt and it is sought to use the WT/MIN(05)/ST/70 
Page 2  
 
 multilateral system to legalize many of the discrimin atory policies and practices applied by developed 
countries to give preference to certain groups of developing countries to the detriment of others.  
Accepting such an approach by some Members of the WTO would be to undermine the guiding principle of the multilateral trading system, non-discrimination, and would allow such classification of countries to have an impact on Costa Rica, not  because it would not receive certain benefits but 
because such discrimination would lead to distorted competition for the same products and on the 
same markets.  The best example we can give is the struggle that has been going on for over a decade 
to give Latin American bananas access to the Eur opean Union, whose origin does not only date from 
the expansion of European integration but also lies in the historical relationship between this region 
and countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacifi c - the ACP countries.  We are against the fact 
that this increasing classification of developing coun tries allows discriminatory treatment within this 
Organization, but I also wish to state, on behalf of the developing country I represent, that we support 
special and differential treatment for developing c ountries and the need to take into account the 
concerns of least developed countries by me ans of solutions that go beyond trade. 
This ministerial meeting will have to resolve fundamental problems so that the negotiations 
can continue along the right path and within th e right timeframe in 2006.  Concluding the Doha 
Round with success will enable the multilateral trading system to be strengthened and this is good for 
all the WTO’s Members, but especially, for a co untry like Costa Rica, because achieving this 
objective will allow us to strengthen disciplines a nd rules, as well as effective procedures for the 
settlement of disputes and, on a multilateral basis,  improve access for the goods and services produced 
and exported by Costa Rica.  Secondly, because such strengthening enables us to harmonize 
international trade rules and procedures in an in creasingly large number of areas, thus helping to 
guarantee trade without discrimination and greater predictability and transparency, which are essential 
for exporters.  Thirdly, because it is through the multila teral trading system that we can close the gap 
between developed and developing countries and resolve issues that regionalism cannot resolve, for 
example, achieving the phasing-out of subsidies fo r agricultural exports and reducing the domestic 
support given by highly protectionist countries. 
In this respect, I would like to share with y ou the efforts made by Costa Rica to give another 
vision of development, a proactive vision, which cons iders that the best way of helping countries in 
the developing world is to give them better intern ational trade opportunities and to open up markets in 
developed countries, but without fo rgetting south-south trade.  In such a context, there will be 
opportunities for all, precisely because it is based on n on-discrimination.  Costa Rica wishes to ensure 
that the export interests of developing countries w ill meet with tangible results in market access.  
Together with other Members with which we sh are the same level of ambition, Costa Rica has 
promoted alliances such as the Group of Tropical  and Alternative Products and the Most-Favoured-
Nation Group and takes part in other groups in order to achieve its foreign trade policy aims and to 
add a grain of sand to building up the multilateral trad ing system.  This shows that the size and level 
of development does not mean renouncing our ambition to  ensure that internati onal trade makes a real 
contribution to raising the living sta ndards of our populations and people. 
Lastly, I should like to express the gratitude  of the Government of Costa Rica to 
 His Excellency, Mr John Tsang, the Chair of th e Ministerial Conference, to the people of Hong 
Kong, and to all those who have worked and looked after us with such friendship, hospitality and 
generosity.  Likewise, I should like to express our gr atitude to Mr Pascal Lamy, Director-General of 
the WTO, the Deputy Directors General and the Secr etariat, as well as to Ms Amina Mohamed, Chair 
of the General Council, for their tireless effort s in preparing this Ministerial Meeting. 
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