. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/SR/12/Add.1 
14 February 2006 
 (06-0621) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005  
 
  
SUMMARY RECORD OF THE TWELFTH MEETING 
 
Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, China
 
on Sunday, 18 December 2005, at 10 p.m.  
 
Chairperson :  Secretary John C Tsang (Hong Kong, China) 
 
Addendum  
 
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  In its statement at the closing session of the Ministerial Conference on 18 December 2005, following the adoption of the Ministerial Declarati on, the delegation of Cuba announced that it would 
be handing in to the Secretariat the full text of the statement it had intended to make at that session for 
inclusion in the records of the meeting.  The statement received from the delegation of Cuba is 
reproduced hereunder.  The statement made by Cuba at the meeting of Heads-of-Delegation held just 
prior to the closing session of the Conference is reproduced as Annex I of the summary records in 
WT/MIN(05)/SR/12.   
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  "My delegation would like to state, for the r ecord, that it deplores the meagre results achieved 
at this conference, which are reflected in the draft Declaration.  Yesterday, a minister from one of the 
developed countries said that we could not leave H ong Kong empty-handed after eight days of work.  
With all due respect, my delegation would like to point out that it is not simply a case of eight days: 
we have gone through more than four years of negotiations, which have involved numerous mini-
ministerial meetings and meetings of senior offici als and experts, tons of  printed paper and, for 
underdeveloped countries, high communication and travel  expenses.  And yet, after four years, this 
Declaration contains nothing but meagre results wh ich basically serve to continue accommodating the 
interests of the leading developed nations in fiel ds such as agriculture, trade in services, and NAMA, 
while the plight of poor farmers who are unable to  compete with the multinationals, and of workers 
who are losing their jobs as a result of liberalizati on, remains hopeless.  What is about to be approved 
today will not provide any significant solutions to the serious problems facing the majority of 
underdeveloped economies.  It still seems ironic to  be calling this round the "Development Round", 
when the greatest concessions are being made in  favour of the developed countries and when no 
significant progress has been made on issues such as  implementation and small economies.  We have 
yet to reach decisions that would make the provisions on special and differential treatment operative and obligatory without delay.     "With regard to paragraph 46 of the draft Ministerial Declaration on e-commerce, my delegation decided to remove its s quare brackets, it being understood that this meeting would record 
our determination to revert to this matter at a fu ture General Council meeting in the context of the 
reinvigoration of our work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce.  We took this decision on the understanding that at that futu re meeting, the adverse consequences of cases of WT/MIN(05)/SR/12/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
discrimination in e-commerce affecting developmen t in underdeveloped country Members would be 
examined, along with the inconsistency of such  discrimination with WTO rules, and that 
recommendations would be made with a view to r esolving the matter.  As you all know, Cuba has 
suffered for over 40 years from the application of uni lateral measures of this type, which run counter 
to WTO rules.  We would also like to say that we have procedural and substantive reservations 
regarding paragraph 46, since a decision of this natu re should be the result of an exhaustive technical 
discussion on its implications and not a decisi on taken in the interests of one Member.   
  "With regard to Annex C on services, I wish to  reiterate the words spoken yesterday by our 
Minister of Government in reference to the previous version of that Annex, and I quote:  the draft text 
we have before us does not substantially change the content of Annex C of the draft Ministerial 
Declaration, on which Cuba has clearly set out its position from both a procedural and substantive 
point of view.  This new text has not provided an  adequate response to the dissatisfaction expressed 
by many delegations since the preparatory process in Geneva.  It still contains a high level of 
commitment for the underdeveloped countries whic h jeopardizes many developing economies.  The 
text does not even mention Article IV of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which 
establishes the commitment to prioritize the services  of underdeveloped countries.  As on previous 
occasions, specific deadlines have been  introduced at the last minute for the submission of the second 
round of revised offers, draft schedules of commitmen ts and even so-called "p lurilateral" requests.  
The fact that the previous deadlin es imposed have not yet been met by the majority of underdeveloped 
countries has been entirely overlooked.  In order to move towards a certain balance among all these 
demands, an early deadline must be set for the Counc il for Trade in Services to meet its obligation to 
assess this type of trade and its impact on underd eveloped economies.  If such an assessment is not 
carried out, the commitments deriving from this round might not have the social, economic and 
commercial impact that the underdeveloped countries n eed to achieve sustainable development.  We 
believe that by accepting commitments of the type found in Annex C on services, we are 
compromising our future and our development, and contributing to the inequality in international 
trade to the detriment of underdeveloped countries.   "While Cuba will not oppose the consensus for the adoption of this Declaration, it would like 
to place on record its firm reservations in respect of  paragraphs 1, 2 and 7 of Annex C on services, to 
be taken into consideration during the negotiating process and up until the conclu sion of this round.  
We also wish to state, for the r ecord, that we will never accept provi sions that run counter to Cuba's 
economic and social development objectiv es and its national policies on services." 
 
 
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