WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/13 
13 December 2005 
 (05-5922) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005  
 
  
ADDRESS BY MR. PASCAL LAMY 
DIRECTOR-GENERAL 
  
 It has been reported to me that someone on ce referred to WTO Ministerial Conferences as 
"medieval".  I don't know who that was – but that  person surely had not seen Hong Kong and the way 
it organized this Conference.  
 Rather than medieval, the sight of the skyscr apers of the central district, from the hallway 
outside, and the venue for this meeting, are closer to  futuristic science-fiction.  I wish therefore to 
express our gratitude to the authorities and to the pe ople of Hong Kong for the arrangements made for 
this Conference, which confirm this city ’s tradition of hospitality and efficiency. 
  Before coming to Hong Kong, you received a Dr aft Ministerial Text, together with the letter 
that Ambassador Amina Mohammed and I sent to Secretary Tsang, in which we explained the 
conditions under which that doc ument was approved by the General Council on 2 December, plus 
some questions to guide your work.  The draft brought no surprises – there was no magic involved. 
  Last September, when I took office as Director-General of the WTO, I said I didn't have a 
magic wand – you surely remember that.  Well, in the meantime, I have kindly been provided with a 
magic wand.  Here it is - but I'm afraid it is not work ing very well yet.  I think it is the sort of magic 
that only works if everyone believes in it.  So let' s put fantasy away and try to combine our hopes and 
our powers, your hopes and your powers, to advance th e negotiations so that they can be completed in 
2006.  
 Having sent you a draft, I do not need to present you with a work plan for this week.  This 
Ministerial Conference is your Conference – it is ther efore in your hands and in the hands of your 
negotiators to work as best you can.   Today, I would like, with you, to take a quick 360 degrees look at the WTO, its past, its 
present and its future. 
  Let us never forget that the WTO is a system – a rather complex one, with its idiosyncrasies, its strengths and weaknesses, its assets and its liabiliti es – and that this system is yours.  You are the 
stakeholders of the WTO, and in your quality as ma nagers of these assets that you own jointly, it is 
your task – and your interest – to improve it. 
  You are the heirs of almost 60 years of tradition in trade negotiations, of a remarkable set of rules and decisions, and an impressive body of lega l interpretations.  You ha ve also inherited a well-
oiled machine that oversees and ensures the implementation of a balanced system of rights and obligations.  You have every reason to be prou d of the past achievements of your collective 
enterprise.  So much for the past. 
 WT/MIN(05)/13 
Page 2  
 
  The current state of affairs is somewhat more  heterogeneous.  On the one hand, the day-to-
day and dispute settlement activities are doing relativ ely well.  Although the number of disputes has 
risen considerably, most of the decisions are respected and implemented, without recourse to 
retaliation – which speaks for the credibility of the di spute settlement mechanism.  Only a handful of 
the more than 300 disputes submitted to the WTO since its creation in 1995 have not yet been 
resolved. 
  The negotiations part of your activities, on th e other hand, could certainly be improved.  
There is also a lot of room for improvement in public acceptance of the WTO, as there is in its 
marketing activities.  The WTO – the crowds in and certainly outside this building will remind you 
with sound and sometimes fury – is not the most popular international organization around, to say the 
least.   Even if it is famous throughout the world, the WTO is a very small business:  its budget for 2006 is only 140 million US dollars – five times less than the budget of another international 
organization – FIFA – the Fédération Internati onale de Football Association, for example 
(US$700 million), and almost ten times less than the budget of a famous NGO!  I will certainly have to use your magic to see if we can get a more  powerful engine for the WTO car, which is getting 
bigger and bigger, and now includes two newcomers, Saudi Arabia and Tonga. 
  As for the future of the WTO, it started in Doha in 2001 and it is up to you to decide, in this 
assembly, how you wish to fashion the years to co me.  If the WTO is to maintain and increase its 
current activities, then you must take a further step  and commit yourselves to a new investment in the 
improvement of its rules, through the success of the current negotiations.   How do you decide on this collective investment?  The WTO decision-making process, as 
you all know is, let us say, difficult.  The difficulty stems from the fact that all stakeholders – all of 
you – have decided that you have exactly the same right, no matter how big or small, no matter how 
powerful or weak, no matter how rich or poor you are:   you all have the right to speak, the right to 
agree, the right to disagree.  In sum, in spite  of all criticism, the WTO decision-making process is 
democratic.  If it were different, taking decisions on the negotiations would probably be easier.  But it 
would not be as legitimate.  Reaching agreement in  the WTO is difficult because it is done bottom-up 
– and it is good this is so.  It takes more time , it is more burdensome and cumbersome, but I am 
convinced it remains the best way to take decisions th at impact directly the lives of billions of people. 
  In short, you should indeed be proud of this healthy and democratic common institution.  But 
like any stakeholder, you should also look beyond your immediate needs, you should think 
prospectively, you should care about the future. 
  Let me tell you a little secret I learnt since I took office as Director-General:  there is an apocryphal and funny Secretariat guide to the languag e of trade negotiators in the old GATT.  This 
guide tells you that, in those years, when negot iators said "Mr Chairman, we seek a balanced 
agreement", what they really meant was "t his agreement had better contain everything
 we demand";  
when the negotiators said "we have demonstrated fl exibility", they really meant "we have successfully 
concealed our intransigence";  and when the nego tiators announced "we are prepared to make our 
contribution to an ambitious outcome", they real ly meant "we will only support agreements where 
others make all the concessions – and we make none"!  This attitude , as we all know, is part of our 
past. 
 
 This is the past because today, what we rea lly need are negotiators that are bold, open-minded 
and prepared to take some risks, as successful stak eholders.  Ministers often face the difficult task of 
explaining to national constituencies that they have  gained something in negotiations, even if the 
negotiating process is not over.  The many people  who benefit from open trade are usually politically  WT/MIN(05)/13 
 Page 3 
 
 
 silent, whereas those fewer who are affected by it can be politically very lo ud.  We all understand the 
need of each and every delegation to take  home some gain from trade negotiations. 
  The reality is that the true magic of these negotiations is to achieve results where all 
participants are winners, all will be able to declare vi ctory.  But for that, some risks must be taken.  A 
popular Chinese proverb says "If you don't go into th e cave of the tiger, how will you get its cub?" – 
in other words:  nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Repeating long known positions, using 
negotiators' language, refusing to understand the r easons of counterparts and avoiding any risks – 
including political risks – will get us nowhere.  Worse, it might put to risk valuable assets amassed 
with so much effort by our predecessors in the past .  On the other hand, taking a bit of risk – a 
calculated risk – will mean a chance for improved rul es, for a level playing field, for free and fair 
trade – in short, the best chance for deve lopment, the backbone of the Doha Round. 
  Short of a magic wand, I can only give you my best advice:  be open-minded, be bold, be courageous.  Enter the cave of the tiger and le ave Hong Kong with a prize in your hands – the 
assurance that the Doha Development Round h as a real chance of coming to a happy end. 
  Thus, it remains for us to work hard, to liste n, and to make decisions, thinking not only of 
ourselves, but also of our children and grandchildren.  
__________