. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/42 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6004) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
BOLIVIA 
 
Statement by HE Dr Jorge Asin
 
Vice Minister of Foreign Relations and Foreign Trade  
  
 At the outset, permit me to express the gratitude of the Government of Bolivia to the Hong Kong, China authorities for their welcome and the excellent organizational arrangements for the 
conduct of the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference. 
  A little more than a decade ago, countries from the five continents, with different economic 
structures and even different systems of government, banked on trade disciplines in all fields being regulated by the World Trade Organization.  
 Since then, we have held periodic ministerial meetings designed inter alia  to issue mandates 
and assess the status of compliance with our decisions, which over the years have enabled the process to become ever more inclusive, enabling all Member s to participate, regardless of the size of their 
economies.  In this context, one of the main successes of this multilateral organization was the 
adoption of the "Work Programme" approved in No vember 2001, in Doha, which guides our work 
and has given rise to the "Development Round" in response to the many and various needs of 
developing countries like Bolivia.   Since our last meeting in the warmth of  Mexico, in September 2003, our permanent 
representatives in Geneva have been able to lay the groundwork for the fu ture negotiating modalities 
through the approval of the so-called "July 2004 package". 
 
 The impetus generated by that framework do cument, based on the Doha Mandates, which 
identified priority issues and areas of negotiati on, should be the central pillar for continued 
negotiations pending conclusi on of the Development Round. 
 
 In Bolivia's view, the conclusion of the Round will be meaningful only if it produces new 
options for our young workforce through substan tial improvement in access to industrialized 
countries' markets for its agricultural output, so  that agriculture will continue to be the raison d'etre  of 
these negotiations.  Accordingly, we shall continue to make a construc tive contribution to the debates, 
through the G-20, which has succeed ed in combining the offensive and defensive interests of the 
developing countries, and through the Cairns Group,  which effectively complements our interest in 
eliminating subsidies and trad e-distorting domestic supports. 
  It is extremely important for our country that improved market access should be reflected in a response to commitments undertaken by all Members,  by implementing full liberalization of tropical 
products and substitute products for illicit crops, a task in which we share responsibility with the 
international community. WT/MIN(05)/ST/42 
Page 2  
 
  However, market access cannot be limited to only one area of production;  the cost burden 
assumed by Bolivia as a result of the trade libera lization process over more than two decades also 
requires new outlets for our growing s upply of value-added industrial goods. 
  At the same time, trade liberalization in th e burgeoning twenty-first century would not be 
complete without the growth of the services sector, a gradual process which will, we hope, be 
intensified having regard to the flexibilities permitte d under the Agreement, the principle of  special 
and differential treatment which prevails in this  Organization and the proportionality of individual 
countries' contributions.  
 The Doha Mandate, a benchmark for many of us because it contains a platform responsive to 
the interests of all Members, additionally provides for what was perhaps one of the wisest and most 
timely decisions adopted by us in 2001, namely  paragraph 35, which calls for the framing of 
responses to trade-related issues, with a view to th e fuller integration of small, vulnerable economies. 
 
 That mandate has enabled countries like Boliv ia, together with others with similar 
characteristics and problems, to submit initial prop osals reflecting the size of their economies, an 
exercise which will be used by us, in the el aboration of the negotiating modalities, to make 
contributions to the liberalization process.   With political backing from all Members, the te chnical exercise in the area of negotiations 
and trade facilitation, a fundamental issue for a la ndlocked country like Bolivia, in which effective 
negotiating guidelines for the next stage have been agreed in barely 12 months, gives us grounds for 
optimism about the preparation of the 2006 work programme.   This Ministerial Conference, which includes "aid for trade" as a new component of the 
"development package", designed to reinvigorate the intermediate stage of the process in which we 
are engaged, will bear fruit if we succeed in inco rporating lines of action that correspond to the needs 
and priorities of developing countries like Bolivia.   We need not recall the numerous past inst ances of failure to fulfil the commitments 
undertaken for the establishment of an open and fair trading system which secures markets and 
eliminates subsidies and all trade-distorting domestic  support.  On the other hand, we cannot pass over 
the continuing failure to match words with deed s;  market liberalization is advocated, but 
protectionism continues to be practised, maintaini ng the privileges of a few and marginalizing much 
of the world's population.  
 In conclusion, we wish to place on record that what we do or fail to do on this occasion will 
be judged by history.  
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