WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/37 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6021) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:  English 
 
  
SOLOMON ISLANDS 
 
Statement by the Honourable Walton Naezon
 
Minister for the Department of Commerce, Industries and  
Employment  
  
1. My delegation wishes to thank you Chairm an, and your Government for hosting this 
Conference and for the very warm hospitality.  I al so join the chorus of welcome being extended to 
the delegations of Saudi Arabia and Tonga, the two newest Members of our Organization.  We 
certainly look forward to work ing very closely with them. 
2. Members of this Body adopted the Doha Deve lopment Agenda in November 2001, which we 
believe offered some hope to countries such as Solomon Islands.  That agenda not only embraced a 
balanced Work Programme, but also an expande d negotiating agenda, whic h we considered was 
necessary to address the many challenges confronting our trading system. 
3. Solomon Islands commended the hard work of  the Chair of the General Council to produce 
the draft text for us to consider how best to fulfill our mandate.  However, we believe that the 
ambition in the text, particularly on Development I ssues, falls well short of what will be required to 
meet the Doha Mandate and unlock its potential.  We  have not only failed to meet the many deadlines 
of the Programme, but have also lost the very development dimension of the agenda. 
4. This is the time to reclaim it if we are to meet  the needs of all its Members, including Small 
Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) like my own.  Paragr aph 35 of the Doha Declaration adopted at the 
Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha is indeed  a response to the needs of Small Vulnerable 
Economies. 
5. Progress on the Work Programme h as indeed been made over the past two years.  And this 
can be attributed to the increasing recognition by the majority of our membership of the specific 
structural characteristics and problems of Small Vulnerable Economies and the shared view that 
Paragraph 35 must be respected.  The SVEs ha ve already tabled negotiating proposals in Non 
Agricultural Market Access, Ag riculture, Rules and the Committee on Trade and Development and 
Dedicated Session on Small Economies. 
6. It is therefore our expectation that the road map that we will formulate for the 
post-Hong Kong phase will include clear instructions  that Members address the specific needs of 
SVEs in the relevant negotiating bodies in orde r to advance the Work Programme and deliver 
meaningful results by the end of the Round.  To this end my delegation fully endorses the Statement 
delivered by Barbados on behalf of  the Small Vulnerable Economies. 
7. My delegation has said this before and I will reem phasize - that if there is one resource that 
Solomon islands, or any other country in the Pacifi c region can claim to have in relative abundance - 
it is fish.  The fisheries sector is of extreme importance to Solomon Islands, not only as a source of WT/MIN(05)/ST/37 
Page 2  
 
 revenue from fishing access fees but also for providing employment, exports, income earning 
opportunities for small scale fisheries and food security. 
8. My delegation is therefore deeply concerned that the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules is 
introducing language in fisheries subsidies discip lines that will create the possibility of disputes 
against countries, based on sustainable development.   We therefore do not think WTO is the best 
arena to deal with sustainable/environmental issues. 
9. Any new rules on fisheries subsidies disciplines should not prohibit nor subject to subsidies 
disciplines on the following: 
 (a) Any development assistance to developing countries; 
 
 
 (b) assistance to artisanal or  small-scale fisheries; 
 
 (c) access fees in fisheries access agreements;  and 
 
 (d) fiscal incentives to facilitate the development of capabilities of small vulnerable 
coastal states. 
 10. These kinds of assistance, fees and incentives are vital if we are to develop our economies as 
well as our domestic fisheries sector.  They are even more vital for those states where fish is the only 
resource they have - and have in abundance. 
11. As a Least Developed Country our major concern in the current Round of negotiations is 
ensuring that the rules of the multilateral trading system provide the necessary flexibilities to enable 
LDCs undertake development programmes in a coordinated and beneficial manner. 
12. One of the five LDCs specific proposals is on duty- and quota-free market access for LDCs 
exports in foreign markets.  Any agreement on th is should be indiscriminatory. Furthermore, if 
developed countries are true in their commitment to  a free multilateral trading system, they should 
limit their list of exempted products to give th e proposal a true meaning for exporting LDCs. 
13. Market access alone is not sufficient.  Multilate ral opening will have a greater impact on 
preference erosion for a LDC like Solomon Islands,  thus the provision of adequate and targeted 
technical assistance and capacity-building is impor tant.  I therefore would like to refer you to 
Paragraph 6 of the Livingstone Declaration, where we call for "increased resources and an effective delivery mechanism for trade capacity-building to  address the inherent supply-side capacity 
constraints faced by LDCs with a view to enabli ng them take advantage of increased market access 
opportunities."  If we are indeed committed to the effective integration of the weakest into the 
multilateral trading system, then there is need to  deliver on targeted technical assistance. Solomon 
Islands therefore endorse the Statement delivered by Zambia on behalf of the Least Developed 
Countries. 
14. 
 We give our full support for the proposed Aid fo r Trade.  Apart from technical assistance, 
assistance on infrastructure development will assist sustainable integration of the weakest economies 
to global trade.  We also call for greater bi nding commitments from the developed countries to 
provide debt relief for the poorest nations, to pr ovide their governments with fiscal policy space in 
development and economic planning. 
15. On services, we want to see real sectoral a nd modal offers from the developed countries on 
the export interest of the developing and least deve loped countries.  More specifically, we want the 
mode 4 issues to be addressed beyond professionals  and skilled labour.  Services liberalization needs  WT/MIN(05)/ST/37 
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 to be extended to less and semi skilled labour whic h are a more readily available pool of labour in 
poor countries. 
16. The accession process took Tonga ten years befo re it finally became a Member of this 
Organization.  We are concerned over the excessi ve demands made in the accession process for LDCs 
and Small, Vulnerable Economies.  We therefore would like the rule of law to be introduced on 
accession, through the establishment of a panel of e xperts so that applicant countries have legal 
protection that the law creates in the event that a pa rty feels that the terms of reference of a working 
party has been exceeded.  This is  exactly the right bestowed on all WTO Members during a dispute. 
17. The final outcome of this Round should be de velopmental oriented and this includes the 
delivery of meaningful, concrete  and operational responses to the trade-related problems of Small 
Vulnerable Economies and Least Developed Countries in all areas of the Doha Development Agenda.  
Only then our integration into the multilateral tr ading system can be facilitated. We must put 
development back at the centre of our negotiating agenda and give clear directions as to the way 
forward.  
 
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