. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/ST/104 
17 December 2011  
 
(11-6755) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   English 
 
  
SOLOMON ISLANDS 
 
Statement by Mr. Robert Sisilo 
Permanent Secretary 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade 
 
 
At the outset may I begin by saying that we are disappointed that the 8th Ministerial 
Conference is only likely to have a low ambition and that the Doha Round of negotiations remains 
deadlocked.  After a decade of negotiations, it is time we deliver on the Doha Round’s development 
mandate as a matter of priority.  
To achieve that we must resist all attempts to  compromise the ‘Single U ndertaking’.  This is 
an important insurance policy for small and vulnerabl e economies like mine.  We therefore note with 
disappointment that in the negotiations leading up to  the Ministerial, certain countries have attempted 
to include the so-called new issues on the Conference agenda.    
Let’s get our priorities right.  And this is to deliver, first and foremost, on the outstanding 
development issues related to the DDA.  Some of these outstanding issues are contained in the various 
proposals the ACP, LDCs and Small Vulnerable  Economies Groups have submitted on SDT, AfT, 
fisheries subsidies, NAMA and to which my delegation fully subscribes.  
Despite these reservations, there are two causes for optimism at this Ministerial Conference.  
First is the accession to the WTO of the Russian Federation, Montenegro and two Pacific Island 
Countries, namely Vanuatu and Samoa.  Solomon Islands congratulate these 4 countries on their full 
membership of the WTO. 
 
The accessions of Vanuatu and Samoa will help to  further integrate countries in our region 
into the multilateral trading system and bring the tota l number of Pacific WTO member states to six.  
And more importantly for the future of the WTO,  these accessions will help reinforce the important 
role of the institution in an era where it s relevance has been called into question. 
 
The second cause for optimism in the Ministerial ag enda is the proposed Ministerial decisions 
on LDC issues.  We support the proposed decision fo r a Services Waiver for LDCs.  Although it is not 
as ambitious as the original LDC proposal, we belie ve that it could provide new opportunities for our 
service providers in developed countr y markets in our region and beyond. 
 
We also welcome the proposed decision to fac ilitate an easier and mo re efficient accession 
process for LDCs.  This would facilitate the possibl e accession of other LDCs in our region should 
they decide to accede in the future.  WT/MIN(11)/ST/104 
Page 2  
 
  With a low-ambition outcome of this 8
th WTO Ministerial Conference on the Doha Round of 
negotiations, we are all losers today.  But among loser s there are the big and the small losers.  In what 
way, one might ask?    
Firstly, human nature, we all know, does not rea lly like a vacuum.  So if multilateral action 
stalls, other initiatives such as bilateral and regional tr ade deals will move in to fill the gap.  There is 
now a risk that the rich and industrialised countries will resort to bilateral agreements and reach trade 
deals among themselves, ignoring some of the poorest and smallest nations.  
But even if offered bilateral and regional tr ade arrangements, we would hardly likely to 
emerge as the net beneficiaries when negotiating with a major trading power.  We will be squeezed 
and when we squeak nobody will hear us.  This is  the painful truth about one-on-one deals with a 
major trading power- they allow powerful trading nati ons to exert so much pressure that the weaker 
ones simply succumb.  
Second is the "spaghetti bowl" of different rules that exporters  from poor and small countries 
have to grapple with when they do business in many countries.  Imagine having to satisfy the different 
requirements of the different ‘Rules of Origin’ of the different trading arrangements.  It will be a real 
nightmare.  Poor and small countries, lacking the tec hnical and administrative capacity, will be left to 
swim, sink and drown in this “spa ghetti bowl” of rules.       
 
The multilateral trading system and the WTO therefore provides the only avenue through 
which poor and small vulnerable countries like mine  can build alliances with other like-minded 
countries and groups and negotiate co llectively and effectively with ma jor trading power(s).  Yes we 
will not get everything we will ask for.  But who will?  But at least when we speak and squeak, 
someone sitting here will hear us a nd hopefully come to our rescue.  
 
The WTO may not be perfect, but it embodies our best and perhaps only hope for an inclusive 
and impartial global trading order.   The alternatives are exclusive and discriminatory trading blocs 
that will shut out the weakest economies and spark destructive trade wars.   
 
So for my delegation at least,  the Doha Development Round still remains the center of gravity 
of our negotiations and we must therefore mobilize all our resources to concluding it.  And the sooner 
we do that the better for all of us. 
 
__________