. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/157 
17 December 2005 
 (05-6154) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   French 
 
  
MOLDOVA 
 
Statement by HE Mr Igor Dodon
 
Vice Minister of Economy and Trade  
   Allow me on behalf of the Government of th e Republic of Moldova to convey sincere thanks 
to the authorities and people of Hong Kong, China for their gracious hospitality and for the excellence 
of the arrangements made for the smooth running of this important Conference.  The Republic of 
Moldova commends the efforts the WT O Secretariat and the Director-General in particular devoted to 
the preparation of the Draft Ministerial Text.   The Republic of Moldova is aware of the importance of the WTO multilateral negotiations 
and the benefits that can accrue for countries.  It c onsiders the Draft Ministerial Text to be a basis for 
our discussions here at Hong Kong. 
  The success or failure of the Sixth Ministerial Conference, and hence the quality and extent of the WTO's contribution to the recovery and growth  of the world economy, will depend largely on the 
ability of the Membership to ag ree on a work programme in whic h development and development-
related concerns have pride of place. 
  Having a number of concerns on specific issues , the Republic of Moldova feels compelled to 
make some proposals.  It is quite clear from the conditions that the Republic of Moldova and other 
recently acceded countries had to meet in order to  join the WTO, that during the accession process 
these countries undertook considerable and extensiv e commitments which were significantly higher 
than those of other Members of the WTO. 
  Furthermore, the multilateral trading system is not altogether just and fair for small low-income countries with economies in transition.  On e shortcoming of the system is that the WTO 
agreements provide for no flexibility for the so-ca lled economies in transition to take account of the 
specific and difficult situations that they may face. 
  Agriculture is the most sensitive and the most  essential sector for the Republic of Moldova, 
and it must accordingly be given an important role  in the multilateral negotiations.  For Moldova, the 
WTO negotiations on agriculture are the most comp lex and difficult.  They also hold the greatest 
interest because most of Moldova's population (s ome 65 per cent) depends on this sector of the 
national economy, where the simple average custom s tariff is 12 per cent and the maximum tariff 
25 per cent.  Besides, during the WTO accession process Moldova undertook not to apply special safeguard measures for groups of sensitive products and export subsidies.   Moldova's annual per capita gross national pr oduct is US$542 according to data from the 
World Bank and is lower than that of several developing countries.  In addition, Moldova's 
commitments are comparable to those of the deve loped countries.  The Republic of Moldova is a 
"small low-income country with an economy in  transition" and has a low level of export WT/MIN(05)/ST/157 
Page 2  
 
 diversification, three groups of products (alc oholic beverages, fruit a nd vegetables and textile 
products) accounting for some 75 per cent of total e xports.  Market access is very liberal and WTO 
bound tariff rates are often identical to applied rates.   The simple average bound tariff rate is 8.5 per 
cent and the applied rate, 6.3 per cent.  
 The market access concessions undertaken by  the Republic of Moldova during the accession 
process are very significant, and should be treated by WTO Members as a major contribution to the development of the multilateral trading system.  Wh atever the formula applie d to reduce bound rates, 
this means real and essential reductions for Mold ova and the other recently acceded countries, which 
are in the process of implementing the commitments they made during accession. 
 
 The situation is much the same in servi ces.  During accession, the Republic of Moldova 
undertook broad and liberal commitments.  Of the 160 or so subsectors in the classification used by the WTO, Moldova has undertaken  market access liberalization commitments in approximately 150, 
with only a few non-essential restrictions in some of the subsectors. 
 
 As to the trade facilitation negotiations, Mol dova fully endorses and aligns itself with the 
position of the land-locked countries.   In terms of the mandate set in the Doha Minist erial Declaration, particularly in paragraph 9, 
which notes the market access commitments already made by a number of countries on accession, the 
Republic of Moldova finds that the Draft Minister ial Text does not fully reflect the constraints 
involved.  The draft therefore needs to be enla rged on to include provisions for recently acceded 
countries with small economies that set out specific flexibilities and additional opportunities, particularly in agriculture, NAMA and services.    
 We have stated our position in multilateral mee tings in the context of the Doha Round, both 
individually and in conjunction with other recently acceded countries, small low-income countries with economies in transition and th e group of land-locked countries. 
  I take this opportunity to welcome the accession to the WTO of Saudi Arabia and Tonga and to express encouragement for the accession processes of other countries now in negotiation, in 
particular our main trading partners , the Russian Federation and Ukraine. 
  In conclusion, we hope that the multilateral trad ing system will be capable both of adapting to 
changing situations in specific cases and of mee ting the needs of the WTO Membership in general, 
including small low-income countries with econom ies in transition that have recently acceded. 
 
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