WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/102 
16 December 2005 
 (05-6086) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
NIGER 
 
Statement by HE Mr Mahamadou Salissou Habi
 
Minister for Commerce, Industry and Promotion of the Private Sector  
   First, allow me to express my deepest thanks for the warm hospitality extended to us since our 
arrival in this beautiful city of Hong Kong.  My th anks also go to the organizers, who have given us 
an opportunity to address this august assembly. 
  This meeting is taking place, need I remind you, in a special context.  In September 2003, at Cancún, we hoped that the Doha Development Ag enda, a veritable programme for development, 
would be evaluated.  Alas, that was not the case.  
 Fortunately, after what was perceived as an e normous disappointment, th anks to consultations 
held in Geneva and elsewhere in search of a compromise, the negotiations were re-launched.  
Agriculture, a core issue of the ne gotiations, has been discussed at length.  But despite progress, we 
by no means consider the agricultu re issues to have been settled. 
 
 The WTO reflects divergence as well as conve rgence among its Members, and is no more 
than what we want it to be.   For Niger, it has been and is the forum in which our c ountries can negotiate and form 
alliances with other, more developed countries in our  search for fuller integration into world trade. 
  
 Our attachment to WTO ideals and our faith in them are what prompted us to come to 
Hong Kong.   It is our hope that the Sixth Conference will embody the will of every person and every country here present to support development in the interests of the multilateral trading system. 
 
 We acknowledge that while discussions on some issues have advanced significantly, in agriculture the results are still mixed.   For many of our countries, cotton is a source of foreign currency on which we can draw in 
order to meet the serious challenges of combating poverty and pursuing development. 
  The proposals on cotton that we have received a nd heard do not measure up to what are, after 
all, quite legitimate expectations on the part of cotton producers.   To speak plainly, export subsidies are unjust and must therefore be eliminated according to a 
clear, specific timeframe. 
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  Our peoples' aspirations have to do with sust ainable development, poverty reduction, peace, 
food security, health, education, employment – in short, attainment of the millennium development 
goals.   Meeting those goals will require much more th an mere lip service and pious wishes:  there 
must now be a firm commitment to make availabl e to us the resources needed to attain them. 
  For Niger in particular, there can be no meaningful progress without a solution to the thorny issue of food aid, a recurrent problem  which is se riously jeopardizing the country's efforts to improve 
the welfare of its people. 
 
 While commending the international community on the surge of solidarity shown towards us, 
we hope that future action will fully involve the au thorities of the beneficiary countries in order to 
assure the quality of the aid.  
 We are well aware that other challenges await us.  Of these, I will mention production, quality 
standards and capacity-building in all areas.   We welcome in this connection the decision of the Dispute Settlement Body and firmly 
support the proposals by the cotton initiative countries for the elimination of these subsidies, which 
are killing development, no more no less. 
 
 We also support the proposal to reduce the ta riff peaks applied to agricultural products from 
developing countries and duty-free and quota-free access to be granted on a mandatory basis to developed country markets for all agricultura l products from the least developed countries, 
accompanied by less restrictive rules of origin. 
 
 For non-agricultural products as well, duty-fr ee and quota-free access should be granted on a 
mandatory basis to the least developed countries.   The negotiations on services have enabled us to note and duly appreciate the flexibility of 
some industrialized countries regarding Mode  4, the movement of natural persons. 
 
 On trade facilitation, we note that the goal of producing a draft text in August 2005 was not 
attained.  We are confident that it will be, taki ng into account the capacity-building needs of land-
locked countries such as Niger.  
 We noted with deep satisfaction the Augus t 2003 waiver concerning intellectual property 
protection, and we hope that it will be given the fo rm of a legal amendment.  We reiterate in this 
connection the African countries need to obt ain essential medicines at affordable prices. 
  Real success in the negotiations is still possi ble if the final text includes suitable provisions 
for small economies and if we commit ourselves to special and differential treatment, on which the 
ACP States have made some very relevant proposals. 
  Our success will be all the greater if we ach ieve an increase in technical assistance for 
capacity-building in the developing countries.  
 Let us examine the proposals before us realistica lly and responsibly so that we can obtain fair 
and balanced results.   This will demonstrate our commitment to making the multilateral trading system the pledge of global solidarity in trade. 
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  To this end, we support all the proposals that pursue this goal, particularly the ones produced 
by our discussions in regional and subregional ec onomic integration organizations, by the least 
developed countries and by the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States.   Before concluding, I wish to reiterate my tha nks to the organizers of the Conference, and to 
the authorities and people of Hong Kong, Ch ina, for their legendary hospitality. 
 
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