. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/109 
16 December 2005 
 (05-6078) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   French 
 
  
HAITI 
 
Statement by HE Mr Fritz Kenol
 
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism  
 
  The Haitian delegation has the pleasure of wi shing you every success in conducting the work 
of this sixth meeting of the highest organ of the World Trade Organization, the institution responsible 
for supervising the multilateral trading system. 
  Allow me, Mr Chairman, on behalf of my Government, the Haitian people and in my own 
name, to express my most sincere thanks to th e authorities of Hong Kong, China for the welcome 
extended to the Haitian delegation, in  particular, and for the logistical facilities placed at the disposal 
of all delegations, in general, with a view to  ensuring the smooth progress of these proceedings. 
 
 Through you, allow me to greet my colleagues, the Ministers, and all the officials present, and 
to congratulate Mr Pascal Lamy on his election as Director-General of the World Trade Organization 
in the very midst of this negotiating round, dubbe d the Development Round, which is so important to 
Haiti. 
 
 I also welcome the accession of Saudi Arabia and Tonga to the Organization.     Despite the differences expressed in Cancún in  September 2003, I remain convinced that we 
are all aware of the need to give effect, as quick ly as possible, to the commitments undertaken in 
Doha in November 2001.  Our presence today in H ong Kong is a testament to that resolve.   
 
 While the Fourth Ministerial Conference, held in Doha in November 2001, marked the launch 
of the Development Round, the issue of developmen t was in fact addressed in the context of the 
multilateral trading system prior to the inauguration of the Doha Round. 
 
 Thus, in the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO, signed on 15 April 1994, the 
Parties recognized the need to en sure that developing countries, and especially the least developed 
among them, secure a share in the growth in interna tional trade commensurate with the needs of their 
economic development.  Special and differential treatment (S&D) in favour of these countries is 
consistent with that approach.  We therefore request, as provided in paragraph 44 of the Doha 
Declaration, that all S&D provisions be reviewed with a view to strengthening them and making them 
more precise, effective and operational.   At the end of the 1980s, Haiti began a process of  trade liberalization which reduced its MFN 
duties to an average of 2.9 per cent, with zero rat es for roughly 67 per cent of its tariff lines.  In 
addition, in the context of its accession to the WT O in 1996, Haiti bound its customs duties at a very 
low rate and submitted a schedule of specific commitm ents providing for a degree of liberalization of 
trade in services.  These reforms were unfortuna tely not accompanied by adequate measures to 
cushion the potentially negative effects of the opening up of our economy. WT/MIN(05)/ST/109 
Page 2  
 
  
 We cannot fail, in this connection, to re fer to the potential importance for Haiti of the 
Integrated Framework.  As a pilot country in th e first phase of implementation of the programme of 
trade-related technical assistance and capacity-build ing on behalf of the LDCs, Haiti derived no great 
benefit.  It thus places great hope in the enhanced Integrated Framework, to help it better integrate 
trade into its national development plan.  In th is connection, we reiterate our full support for 
paragraph 43 of the Doha Declaration.  We welcome the fact that the commitments referred to in that paragraph were endorsed in the Decision adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004.  We 
would like them to become an integral part of th e agreements to be concluded at the end of this 
negotiating round. 
 
 While it is clear that each c ountry bears responsibility for its ow n development strategies, it is 
equally clear that the success of those strategies, in  the case of a country like Haiti, depends largely on 
the complementary policies of its development partners , both bilateral and multilateral.  It is with this 
in mind that we venture to draw the attention of our  development partners to the need for technical  
assistance to be provided to us on the basis of th e order of priority we have ourselves established. 
  Much remains to be done in this De velopment Round.  However, we are bound to 
acknowledge that the situation of the least deve loped countries has received a measure of special 
attention, particularly in the negotiations on agriculture and market access for non-agricultural 
products (NAMA).  This is reflected in the fact  that the LDCs are under no obligation to reduce 
customs duties in these two areas of negotiation.  Regarding access to the markets of developed 
countries, we are extremely concerned about the pr eference erosion to which these negotiations might 
give rise.  Given this reality, we would argue in favour of flexible rules of origin, and technical 
assistance enabling us to comply with technical sta ndards and the sanitary and phytosanitary standards 
established by our partners. 
 
 In the area of services, we hope that our part ners, particularly the de veloped ones, will take 
greater heed of the interest we have always shown in  Mode 4.  This mode of service supply is of great 
export interest to Haiti.  We would also like to see tourism accorded more importance in the services 
negotiations as we are convinced that it can contribut e to technology transfer, to attracting foreign 
direct investment and to strengthening our infrastructures. 
 
 It is with great satisfaction that we welcome the approval by Members of an amendment to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Inte llectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which sets the seal 
on the General Council's Decision of 30 August 2003 on TRIPS and Public  Health.  This waiver will 
enable developing countries, and more particularly th e LDCs like Haiti, to deal with scourges such  as 
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major pandemics. 
  We also welcome the General Council deci sion of 2 December 2005 to extend, until 
1 July 2013, the transition period for implem entation of the TRIPS Agreement by the LDCs. 
  In conclusion, Mr Chairman, I wish to point out that Haiti's efforts to liberalize its economy 
were unanimously recognized in the course of the trade policy review of Haiti conducted in 
November 2003.  I hope that in return our partners  will give us the necessary support to facilitate the 
harmonious integration of our economy into the mu ltilateral trading system to which we are fully 
committed, as we have said before. 
 
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