WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/75 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6048) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   French 
 
  
SENEGAL 
 
Statement by HE Mr Mamadou Diop
 
Minister of Commerce  
   I should like first of all to join with th e speakers who have preceded me in expressing, on 
behalf of His Excellency Mr Abdoul aye Wade, President of the Repub lic of Senegal, of the Prime 
Minister, of the whole Government and of the Se negalese people, our gratitude to the Hong Kong, 
China authorities for the excellent organization of  the Conference and for the hospitality which has 
been extended to us – to my delegation and mysel f – since our arrival in this beautiful city. 
  Several months ago a dramatic event occu rred in Ceuta and Melilla north of Morocco.  
Thousands of young Africans tried to cross the ba rbed wire put up by the Spanish guards, whose 
response led to several people being killed or w ounded.  Among these young people there must have 
been many who had left their cotton fields in Sene gal, Mali, Burkina Faso or Benin – I could go on – 
to cross deserts and oceans in search of the possibilit y of a better life, since their lives had been ruined 
by the iniquitous rules of world trade.  
 For both the North and the South, a struggle to achieve fairer trade rules is of vital 
importance, for if we were to lose this battle not hing could prevent tens and hundreds of such events 
like those in Ceuta and Melilla from being re peated in the years and decades to come. 
  Despite the numerous efforts already made by  the developing countries and the LDCs with 
regard to liberalization, statistics show that Africa has not yet obtaine d the results that it should have a 
right to expect from the multilateral trading system  in order to ensure its development and reduce 
poverty.  In fact, the very opposite has occurred:   as our continent has opened up its market, its 
descent into the hell of exclusion fro m the world market has increased. 
  Thus, twenty years ago, Africa as a whole, including all the regions, had 12 per cent of world 
trade.  Ten years later, it made up no more than eight per cent of that market.  Today, it accounts for 
hardly two per cent of foreign trade.   This situation is unacceptable!  
 It is regrettable to record that the fine  words at Doha, which centred on "trade for 
development" are still in essence a dead letter.   It is a matter of urgency that our efforts overcome the mental block which focuses on the deadline for the single undertaking, when certain development issues should have been dealt with 
long ago. 
 
 That leads me to mention Senegal's priority  issues which, moreover, are in line with the 
well-known concerns and interests of the member countries of the WAEMU, ECOWAS, the African WT/MIN(05)/ST/75 
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 Union, the LDCs, and the ACP countries, and largely coincide with those of a number of developing 
countries.   On the development issues, Senegal notes with  satisfaction that the Members have committed 
themselves to giving all due importance to the Inte grated Framework Programme  in order to make it 
an instrument for funding development with a view to strengthening the production and supply 
capacities of the poorest countries.  We simply hope that at the conclusion of this session the resulting 
financial resources will be mobilized within reasonabl e periods of time so as to fund the development 
projects listed by the countries eligible.  
 With regard to agriculture the implementation of the decision to abolis h, in accordance with a 
precise timetable, all forms of subsidi es should be initiated as soon as possible. 
  With regard to the issue of cotton which, since July 2004 was to have been addressed 
"expeditiously, ambitiously and with specificity", it  is regrettable to note that so far no concrete 
measure has been taken on this issue.  Meanwh ile, African cotton farmers have suffered a loss in 
income estimated at $45 million.  Accordingly, Senegal fully supports the proposals of the co-
sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton.   The cotton issue is a decisive test of the w illingness of the Members of our Organization to 
take genuine steps to eradicate poverty and prom ote development in line with the paradigm 
established at Doha.  What is requi red to provide a solution would not be too costly for those involved 
in this business in the North and could bring a hi gh return in terms of confidence in the multilateral 
trading system.   With regard to aid for trade, our country insists on the need for aid that helps to expand and 
diversify our exports.  It is only on this basis that  the objectives of "trade but not aid" will be fully 
attained, since it has been establishe d that an increase of one per cent in our share of world exports 
would bring Africa five times what it receives an official development aid.   As far as trade facilitation is concerned, Sene gal would like the negotiations to go beyond the 
mere improvement of customs formalities and procedures.  Bold programmes to support the 
modernization of port, airport and land infrastru ctures and institutional capacity-building must be 
implemented so as to promote the development of  trade, in particular intra-African trade. 
  In general terms, Senegal is asking that by  the conclusion of our  proceedings concrete 
solutions will have been found to the issues cont ained in the development package proposed by the 
least developed countries, namely:  
 
- Duty-free and quote-free access for the products  of the LDCs to the markets of the 
developed countries and of the developing coun tries able to do so, on a binding basis; 
 - concrete decisions to be taken on the cott on issue in line with the proposals made by 
the cosponsoring countries; 
 - the establishment of a simple, effective and applicable special safeguard mechanism 
that would be triggered on the basis of volumes and prices and would allow the introduction of additional duties; 
 
- treatment of the issue of preference erosion by accompanying measures that would 
allow our export sectors that have been harm ed to benefit from means of adjustment 
on their export markets;  WT/MIN(05)/ST/75 
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 - the implementation of appropriate tec hnical cooperation so as to promote the 
strengthening of production and supply capacities with a view to achieving fuller 
integration of the LDCs into the multilatera l trading system and into world trade. 
  The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference will have only truly achieve its objectives if, at its 
conclusion, it keeps alive the flame of hope lit in  Doha by giving new impetus to the round so that, 
when we come to take stock, developmen t will be seen by all as a tangible outcome. 
 
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