. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/172 
17 December 2005 
 (05-6191) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
BELARUS 
 
Statement by HE Mr Andrei Kobyakov
 
Deputy Prime-Minister  
 
(Speaking as an Observer) 
 
 
It is a great pleasure for me to express our gratitude to the Government of Hong Kong, the 
People’s Republic of China and to the WTO staff for the excellent management of this Conference.  
I think we all agree it would be a shame if in th ese conditions the necessary decisions are not taken, 
and these decisions are expected by people all over the world.  
The main objective of the ongoing round of multila teral trade negotiations is to review the 
WTO rules on the different fronts.  First of all, it re lates to the subsidies in agriculture.  We all agree 
that the current rules are already out of date and s hould be considerably changed.  In this regard, we 
urge the developed countries to elaborate the concre te schedule of elimination of export subsidies in 
agriculture with a view to creat e a fair competition in trade of agricultural products, including on 
cotton.  At the same time, we would like to unde rline the crucial importance of assisting the least 
developed countries in the form of providing qu ota-free and duty-free access of their products to 
developed countries’ markets.  
Full-fledged integration of the Republic of Bela rus in the multilateral trading system is a 
priority of its foreign policy.  As a result, Bela rus has managed to agree with the WTO Members on a 
significant number of issues that are part of the accession package.  However, the negotiations are 
extremely difficult.  And this is not Belarus’ fault. 
 
Objective analysis shows, that insufficient pr ogress in the Doha Round, on the one hand, and 
protracted WTO accession negotiations, on the other hand, have the same deep underlying causes. 
The main one is the one-standard-fits-all approach  to countries, promoted by 4-5 WTO Members, 
which ignores individual features of their social and economic development.  A question arises 
whether such anti-diversity attitude can deliver  benefits to the world economy and trade? 
 
The answer is clear in the case of Belarus.  Development of the Belarus’ economy, foreign 
trade and regulatory framework covers all items of  the Doha Development Agenda without exception. 
To highlight just a few economic indicators fo r Belarus between 2005 and the beginning of the 
Doha Round: 
 - Belarus’ GDP has more than doubled (from 12 to 25 billion dollars); 
  - trade with WTO Members also has in creased more than twofold (from 5.5 to 
11.4 billion dollars), i.e. trade with WT O Members in the coming year will exceed 
the county’s GDP at the beginning of the Doha Round; WT/MIN(05)/ST/172 
Page 2  
 
 - the trade-weighted average customs tariff went down to 8.5 per cent, and this does 
not take account of imports under the free-trade areas, representing two thirds of the country’s total imports. 
 
On this basis we have elaborated a solid negotiating position on our WTO accession, and we 
are checking it against the positions of the WTO Members in the Doha process. 
 
Given that our country is so deeply involved in the international trade and has effectively 
been abiding by the WTO rules for a few years,  the necessity of Belarus becoming a WTO Member 
appears obvious.  In real life there are 29 acceding countries still outside the Organization, some of 
them negotiating WTO entry for over a decade.  This is as long as the Uruguay Round and the 
Doha Round taken together!  
Moreover, I would like to bring your attention to the distortions arising in the process of 
accession to the WTO.  The acceding countries face ex cessive demands and are expected to take 
commitments that going far beyond those of WTO Me mbers.  The most evident confirmation of this 
situation is the paragraph 56 of the Draft Ministerial Declaration on the special status of recently acceded members.  
This Conference is the Sixth Ministerial that is  calling in its declaration for rapid conclusion 
of unfinished accession negotiations, but the numbe r of acceding countries does not decrease from 
one Ministerial to another.  It appears necessary to admit with candour, that it is not incidental, that 
the item on the WTO accessions always stands as the l ast one in ministerial declarations.  In addition, 
unlike other WTO bodies, Working Parties on accessi ons are not subordinated to the General Council 
and even do not have tentative time-frames for c onclusion of the negotiations!  These facts clearly 
indicate, that the WTO, to put it mildly, is not preoccupied too much with its enlargement and 
obtaining the status of a truly universal organization! 
 
Nevertheless, we are of the opinion, that the means to make the WTO Members more 
committed to the accession of new Members and to transform the WTO enlargement into a managed 
process are there. What needs to be done is to ensure  real participation of the acceding countries in all 
of the Doha Round negotiations. Such a right is li sted in the Doha Declaration, but until present 
remains on paper.  Only real involvement and participation of the acceding countries in the 
Doha Round negotiations will allow us to prove, th at the WTO enlargement is indeed part of the 
Development Round.  
The example of my country shows, that the Re public of Belarus, as well as other acceding 
countries, has a great deal to offer to contribute to a successful conclusion of the Doha Round and to 
strengthen the multilateral trading system.  Belarus is ready, together with the WTO Members, to take 
responsibility for the future of the WTO as a univer sal organization, based on law, pragmatism and 
human endeavour. 
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