. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/114 
16 December 2005 
 (05-6113) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
ZIMBABWE 
 
Statement by the Honourable Obert Mpofu
 
Minister of Industry and International Trade  
   On behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Zimbabwe and indeed on my 
own behalf, allow me to join other speakers before me, in expressing my sincere thanks to our host, 
the Government and people of Hong Kong, China fo r the warm hospitality and excellent facilities put 
at our disposal since our arrival for this Conference.  It is with such an environment that we remain 
encouraged and optimistic that our delib erations will be crowned with success. 
  As a Member of the WTO, and its predecessor the GATT since in 1948, we are committed to 
the multilateral trading system.  We recognize the critical role international trade can play in 
promoting and shaping the economic development of our country and the eradication of poverty 
amongst our people.  But at the same time, we stand guided by the fact that for us to enjoy our full 
share of benefits of the multilateral trading syst em, that trade needs to be fair, promptly and 
continuously addressing trade imbalances.  
 Agriculture is the most important sector of  our economy.  It has a telling and significant 
economic and social influence on all our population.  We would like to appeal to all those with the 
ability to subsidize their farmers not to act without  restraint as their actions are inflicting enormous 
damage to our economies, destabilizing market s through unfair competition, driving down world 
prices of our major agricultural exports, ruining the lives of tens of millions of peasants and frustrating development. 
 
 Market access and levelling the playing field on domestic support are key issues for unlocking the natural agricultural trade potential our  developing economics are endowed with.  In this 
regard, subsidies should not be allowed to have the effect of debilitating food security, livelihoods and 
welfare of our people.  It is also critical that problems of commodity price decline facing many 
developing countries such as ours be addressed within  the multilateral trading systems and with a 
sense of urgency.   Cotton is a cash crop on which depends the income of some 33 African countries and millions of farmers.  We cannot overemphasize the necessity to remove expeditiously all forms of distorted 
subsidies, which have penalized Africans for decades and banished them to perennial emizeration.  
We urgently require an ambitious timeframe within  which to remove these subsidies in order to save 
the livelihoods and dignity of the tens of m illions of Africans affected by these subsidies. 
  Value addition is an important element of our  industrial development policy through which 
we aim to improve the quality of life of our people an d participate meaningfully in international trade. 
We therefore, do not wish to be burdened by de mands for opening up our markets for the industrial 
goods sector without ensuring that we meet our national industrialization policy objectives and WT/MIN(05)/ST/114 
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 aspirations, first.  Only gradual liberalization will en able us to adjust and foster gains in productivity 
and increased competitiveness for our economies.   Long-standing non-reciprocal preferences have long been recognized as playing an important developmental role in our economies.  We still ne ed these preferences to re main in place so as to 
allow us policy space we so desire to develop our na scent industries.  There should, therefore, be no 
rush to eliminate these preferences until satisfactor y means to mitigate the negative effects of their 
removal have been identified and put in place.   Services have emerged as one of the most important sectors in the modern economy.  It is the 
right of developing countries to reap maximum benef its from this economic field.  We are at one with 
those who do not wish developing countries to be stampeded into opening this sector before their own 
people have developed sufficient and effective capacities to compete.   As Members of the developing countries comm unity we are mindful of the necessity of the 
multilateral trading system to pay particular heed to  the needs of least developed countries.  Only a 
fair multilateral trading system can deliver benefits for all.   Finally, it is our hope that we shall all rema in faithful to the spirit and ambition of the Doha 
Development Agenda established in 2001.  
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