. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/152 
17 December 2005 
 (05-6172) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
TANZANIA 
 
Statement by the Honourable Professor Mark Mwandosya
 
Minister for Communication and Transport  
   Let me start by thanking the Governme nt and people of the Hong Kong Special 
Administrative Region of China for their warm hosp itality.  Excellent facilities have been put at our 
disposal for this Conference.  The entire interna tional community awaits its outcome as the staging 
post for the final lap in the march towards the development promise fla gged at Doha in 2001. 
  For those of us who view trade, especially through the Multilateral Trading System, as a 
crucial vehicle for economic growth , this Conference represents a critical moment for the realization 
of the noble objective of poverty eradication and th e realization of the Millennium Development 
Goals (MDGs).  I would like to thank the Chai rperson of the General Council, Her Excellency 
Ambassador Amina Mohamed, and the Director-General of the WTO, Mr Pascal Lamy, for presenting us with a draft Ministerial Declarati on that provides a good basis for our discussions. 
  Let me also use this early opportunity to c ongratulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the 
Kingdom of Tonga upon their accession into the WT O and welcome them into the community that 
constitutes the Multilateral Trading System (MTS).  I further urge that the processing of accession for 
other waiting Least Developed Countries  (LDCs) be handled expeditiously. 
  Over the last three days, the coordinators of the groups to which the United Republic of 
Tanzania belongs have addressed this Conference.  They include those of:  the LDCs Group;  the 
African Group;  the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group;  the G20 and the G33.  I wish to 
associate my delegation with their statements.   The lack of concrete progress on many fronts of  the negotiations over the last year has given 
rise, in recent weeks, to the notion of recalibration or lowering of the expectations for the Sixth WTO 
Ministerial Conference.  While this is an inevitable,  response to the reality we face, we underline that 
it should not lead to a redefinition of the ultimat e objective of the Doha Round and its underlying 
development mandate.  Furthermore, its outcome should not prejudice the interests of LDCs as 
mandated in the Marrakesh Agreement and the D oha Declaration, and reiterated in the July 
Framework Package of 2004.  We, in particular, make  reference to the imperative of making Special 
and Differential Treatment (S&D) pr ovisions precise, effective and operational to allow LDCs to take 
on or comply with WTO obligations in a manner and to the extent that is consistent with their 
financial and technical capacities, as well as r esponding to their specific development needs. 
  We regret to note that in recent days ther e have developed adverse attitudes towards the 
special flexibilities that the Membership had committed  to, for the LDCs with the aim of helping them 
to build their trade capacities and integrate beneficial ly into the Multilateral Trading System.  It is my 
fervent hope that Hong Kong will not be remember ed as the Conference th at dimmed the hopes of 
LDCs to extricate themselves from this unenviable category. WT/MIN(05)/ST/152 
Page 2  
 
  My delegation is of the view that the fulf ilment of the commitments on LDCs is possible 
through outcomes that respond to their specifi c concerns on the core issues under negotiation 
including the following:  
• Ensuring secure and predictable duty-free and quota-free market access opportunities 
for all agricultural and non-agricultu ral products of interest to LDCs; 
 
• expeditious elimination of all trade dist orting instruments in agricultural trade 
including export subsidies and domestic s upport measures.  Priority must also be 
given to addressing the specific development related issues pertaining to cotton, in 
response to the plight of all the cotton producers in LDCs and other developing countries that heavily depend on cotton for their economic survival; 
 
• in Non-agricultural Market Access (NAMA) , sustaining the flexibility of LDCs to 
determine their own level of binding c overage in response to their specific 
development needs;  and 
 
• ensuring that negotiations on Trade in Servi ces conform to and uphold the integrity of 
the architecture of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).  The in-built 
flexibilities in the GATS that provide cr itical policy space for LDCs and other 
developing countries, have to be retained  as mandated under the Doha Declaration. 
Even more important, we cannot over-emph asize the need for opening up market 
access opportunities for services, especially on Mode IV, in favour of the LDCs, given the fact that Mode IV provides the mo st practical avenue for LDCs to benefit 
from the multilateral trade in services. 
 
 We appreciate that over the last two year s, a significant evolutionary process in WTO 
negotiations has made the process a bit more transp arent and inclusive.  This provides a foundation 
for the successful conclusion of the Development Round  that responds to the needs and expectations 
of the broad membership of the Organization.  This  makes success a distinct possibility, especially if 
we marshal the necessary political will to give and ta ke, and to build on compromise so as to ensure 
more equitable sharing of the benefits of expanding  world trade across the rich and poor countries of 
the world.   One of the issues receiving prominent attention at this Ministerial Conference is the recent 
initiative on Aid for Trade.  We welcome the enthus iasm that this has gene rated and consider its 
timing quite opportune.  It goes without saying that, for developing countries and LDCs in particular, 
the reformed trade rules to emerge at the end of the negotiations will yield meaningful results only if 
supply-side constraints are addressed resolutely to en able them to generate the needed tradable goods. 
  We underline, therefore, that this should be the context within which the Aid for Trade 
initiative is developed and implemented rather than  just focusing on adjustment issues resulting from 
the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.  
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