WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/130 
17 December 2005 
 (05-6142) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   French 
 
  
TOGO 
 
Statement by HE Mr Jean-Lucien Savi de Tove
 
Minister for Trade, Industry and Handicrafts  
 
  At Doha, we agreed to make the Doha Round  one of development and poverty reduction.  
The Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong gives us the opportunity to implement that 
commitment in a spirit of solidarity towards the poorest countries. 
  Before going any further, however, permit me to discharge the pleasant duty of conveying to 
the conference a message of support and best wishes for success from His Excellency Mr Faure 
Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Togolese Re public, and from the Government and people of 
Togo. 
 
 I wish to congratulate and thank the Hong Ko ng, China authorities for the warm welcome and 
generous hospitality extended to us since our arrival.   Mr Chairman, your masterful conduct of our proceedings demonstrates the full extent of your 
skills and capacities.  I congratulate you heartily. 
  I should also like to extend my sincere congrat ulations to Mr Pascal Lamy on his dynamism 
and his conscientiousness in the service of our Organization.   I would be remiss if I did not also congrat ulate Ms Amina Mohamed, Chairperson of the 
General Council, and the Organizing Committee for the Conference, on their strenuous efforts in 
preparing the Conference.   The Uruguay Round agreements laid stress, among other things, on the need to:  
 - Effectively implement special and differential treatment measures in favour of 
 developing countries and the l east developed countries (LDCs); 
  - devote special attention to their problems with a view to enhancing their economies 
  and their trade; 
 
 - help them to adapt to the new internati onal economic and trade environment, to find a 
  place for themselves in that environment and to benefit from it.   Following the establishment of the WTO, the hope of winning this gamble was strengthened by a number of new topics and by various assist ance programmes in favour of the developing and 
least developed countries. 
 WT/MIN(05)/ST/130 
Page 2  
 
  These lofty objectives, which are shared by the WTO Members, reflect the overarching 
principles of globalization and the new international trading system.  They are designed inter alia  to 
give concrete expression to the closer relations, complementarity, interdependence and solidarity of 
nations and of their economies, w ith a view to their harmonious a nd sustainable development and the 
improvement of living conditions at national an d international level, through the reduction of 
disparities characterized by affluence and social we ll-being for some and poverty and deprivation for 
others.   The principles and motives are certainly worthw hile, but complex.  They entail advantages as 
well as drawbacks for countries of all sizes and conditi ons.  It is no easy task, therefore, to reconcile 
disparities of interest and advantage.  The industr ialized countries, with their plentiful resources, 
derive full benefit, while the developing and least  developed countries find themselves consigned to 
the sidelines.   The assessment made at the Doha Mini sterial Conference in November 2001 was a 
disappointing one.  The hopes raised by the Uruguay Round agreements, the establishment of the 
WTO and the new assistance programmes did not materialize.  Implementation of the agreements and commitments was, on the whole, inadequate.  The pr ovisions on special and differential treatment in 
favour of developing and least developed countries were not implemented;  instead, protectionist 
barriers and arbitrary measures were used to block their exports, thus jeopardizing their chances of 
development. 
 
 It is for that reason that the present nego tiating round, the Doha Development Round, was 
launched to facilitate th e harmonious integration of the poores t countries into the global trading 
system.  
 The Fifth Ministerial Conference, held in Cancún in 2003, saw no progress in the negotiations 
on the Doha Mandate;  the expect ed results were not obtained. 
  The long-standing aim of improved market access as a means of improving living conditions for all is still blocked by discrepancies of interest  and relative power and by trade-distorting practices, 
including tariff measures and non-tariff barriers, pa rticularly subsidies and domestic supports which 
adversely affect the exports of the poorest countries. 
  This state of affairs continu es to generate all manner of hum an problems for our hard-working 
populations, including the cotton producers in particular.  
 In these circumstances, after more than a half century of the international trading system and 
irrespective of pious intentions, the results are inconclusive and the poorest countries' share of world trade continues to shrink.   The Doha Development Agenda  negotiations should serve to reduce imbalances in the 
international trading system.  However, despite th e considerable efforts that have been made, the 
development issues central to the Doha  Agenda have not been translated into action.  That is not fair. 
  In this connection, the Togolese delegation is concerned about continued lack of agreement 
on matters of importance to the least developed c ountries.  It is therefore important that the 
international community gathered at this Sixth Mi nisterial Conference should arrive at compromise 
solutions to enable the commitments and intentions established at Doha to produce genuinely tangible 
results.   The Togolese delegation hopes, therefore, that a ll concerned will be able to reconcile their 
divergent interests so that the hopes genera ted by the Doha Agenda can be fulfilled. 
  WT/MIN(05)/ST/130 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Consequently, I urge the WTO Member States and the international community as a whole, to 
demonstrate political will and solidarity so that just  solutions can be found to the concerns of the 
poorest countries.   In this connection, my delegation firmly endorses the positions expressed by the WAEMU, 
ECOWAS, the African Union, the least develope d countries and the ACP countries which, in the 
main, reflect the concerns and positions of Togo.   Our concerns and positions relate to agricu lture and, more particularly, cotton, non-
agricultural products, services, special and differe ntial treatment, trade facilitation, trade and 
environment, trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, implementation issues, technical 
assistance and capacity-building, etc.   My delegation seeks, inter alia , 
 
- Implementation of the July package thr ough a framework agreement on development 
supported by firm commitments for the st rengthening of produc tion and marketing 
capacities and by technical and financial assi stance involving technology transfer; 
- duty-free and quota-free access to developed country markets for all agricultural and 
non-agricultural products originating fr om the least developed countries; 
- substantial reduction of domestic support measures; 
- elimination of all forms of agricultural e xport subsidies and introduction of a discipline 
on export credits; 
- special and differential treatment in fa vour of the developing and least developed 
countries, taking account of concerns in respect of food security, improved living 
standards in rural areas, protection of local production and increased production 
capacity and competitiveness. 
By addressing the cotton issue ambitiously, expeditio usly and specifically, it should be possible to: 
 
- Eliminate export subsidies of all kinds by 31 December 2005 and phase out domestic 
supports for cotton under a precise timetable; 
- establish an emergency fund to compen sate for income losses linked to the 
deterioration of the terms of trade and provi de and technical and financial assistance to 
strengthen the cotton sector with a view to promoting the processing of fibres, thereby adding value to derived products. 
 The cotton problem is an unresolved human dr ama with commercial aspects;  any efforts to 
develop the cotton sector will be doomed to failure.  A cogent decision thus needs to be taken urgently 
in Hong Kong. 
  Appropriate technical and financial assistance to  the developing and least developed countries 
will enable them better to define the challenges asso ciated with liberalization of trade in services and 
to promote South-South exchanges of experience.  
 The use of technical standards and regulations  for protectionist purposes is an obstacle to 
development.  The developing and least developed countries must be given appropriate technical and 
financial assistance to enable them to comply with quality requirements.  WT/MIN(05)/ST/130 
Page 4  
 
  It is important to adopt a protocol layi ng down binding rules for the commitments to be 
undertaken by developed countries in respect  of special and differential treatment. 
  It is also necessary to look beyond concerns relating to customs procedures in the trade facilitation negotiations and to make sufficien t recourses available to finance the physical 
infrastructures needed for the production and expedited movement of goods. 
  The use of environmental measures for pr otectionist purposes should be prohibited. 
  It is also necessary to transform the Integrat ed Framework into an instrument for improving 
the supply capacities of the least developed countries. 
  Lastly, funding for LDC projects with long-term  implications for the development and supply 
capacities of those countries, and better provision for the objective of upgrading their economies, in 
particular by non-discriminatory debt cancella tion, are essential to enhancing LDC trade. 
 
 In conclusion, I should like to associate my delegation with the congratulations extended to 
Saudi Arabia and Tonga on their accession to our Organization.   These new accessions demonstrate that the international community is increasingly committed to the cause of the multilateral trading system in the WTO framework. 
 
 Our institution should therefore be given the r esources it needs to fully achieve the lofty aims 
of liberalization, market access, transparency and, above all, development, in a spirit of solidarity, 
justice and equity for all.  
 I hope that the work of this Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference devoted to the Doha 
Development Agenda will have a successful outcome , so that countries and peoples may be imbued 
with greater confidence in a multilateral trading system that benefits us all.  
__________