WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/44 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6022) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
SPAIN 
 
Statement by HE Mr Jose Montilla Aguilera
 
Minister of Industry, Tourism and Commerce  
  
 It has been four years since the Doha Deve lopment Agenda was launched and we have an 
important responsibility to meet the expectations of society, on the basis of an established timetable, 
by giving a decisive boost to the issues that will make up the final agreement. 
 The world economy and, in particular, the de veloping world needs to give effect to the 
opportunities that greater liberalization of the trade in goods and services can offer us. 
 Spain is already aware, on the basis of its own experience, of the benefits that can flow from 
the opening up of the econo my to the outside world. 
 The recent economic and social success of  many developing countries has been based 
specifically on such opening up to the outside world,  which has brought them a substantial flow of 
direct investment and sustained growth. 
 However, there are still many developing c ountries that have been largely excluded from 
benefits of technological advance and the opening up of markets.   
We cannot allow ourselves to return to our own countries without having traced out the way 
forward that will enable them to take up those opportunities. 
If this Development Round has a successful conc lusion we shall be helping – all of us 
together – between ourselves, to ensure that some of  the main needs of the most disadvantaged part of 
humankind are met. 
We are aware that we have arrived at this Conference having only travelled part of the way, 
but this should not make us lower our ambitions to  attain a successful and balanced outcome in which 
the aspirations of all find reasonable satisfaction. 
I should like, if I may, to mention a number of issues that we shall have to examine during 
these days.   
In the first place, I should like to emphasize that  we are clearly aware of the importance that 
agriculture has for the development of ma ny of the countries represented here.   
In Spain agriculture is also an important sector, not only on account of the employment that it 
generates, but also because of the role that it play s in a balanced rural environment and the non-trade 
concerns of society.   WT/MIN(05)/ST/44 
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  The gradual opening up of the agricultural sector , which will undoubtedly have to take place, 
should be accompanied by a strengthening of the pr otection of geographical indications as indicators 
of quality and origin. 
I wish to stress that Spain has fully accepted from the very beginning the European Union's 
proposal for the elimination of all forms of export subsidies in response to one of the most frequent 
demands, made in particular by developing countries. 
We also wish to find sufficiently specific and realistic parameters that would enable us to 
offer a substantial improvement in market access, involving less effort for the most sensitive products 
of each Member. 
Likewise, we shall have to find a common criterion for reducing domestic support which 
distorts trade. 
None of this will be possible without due flex ibility on the part of the Members and without a 
strict evaluation of the proposals. 
However, important though agricultural products are in world trade, industrial goods are even 
more important. 
No Development Round can be envisaged that does not make possible substantially improved 
market access to industrial sectors of both the devel oped countries and, in particular, the developing 
countries. 
 Spain is in favour of agreeing the formula that would best achieve this objective.   
  I should like at this point, ladies and gentlemen, to call your attention to a group of products 
which, on account of their implications for the c onservation of non-renewa ble resources and for the 
environment, should be treated with special care;  I am referring to fish products, in particular 
prepared or preserved tuna fish.   This is a issue which clearly comes with in the GATT and which calls for discussion and 
analysis of the effects of the application of the modalities in the dismantling of tariffs on fish 
products.   In addition, I think it necessar y to stress the increasing importance which the service sector 
has for all our economies.  
 We have a good example of that before us here  in Hong Kong itself, whose service sector has 
grown steadily in recent years and now produces 88.6 per cent of the gross domestic product. 
  How is it possible to suppose that the Doha R ound can conclude without progress in the trade 
in services, a prime example of the positive imp act of trade liberalization on growth and 
development? 
  How could we accurately quantify th e scale of liberalization attainable? 
  To confine ourselves to purely cosmetic proposal s would be to deceive ourselves and let slip a 
unique opportunity to achieve greater degrees of effi ciency and effectiveness in such an important 
sector of economic activity. 
  Furthermore, Spain wants international trad e rules that are clear and simple and whose 
application would not involve excessive cost.  WT/MIN(05)/ST/44 
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 If that is important in general terms, it is even more so for the developing countries and for 
small- and medium-sized enterprises, which generate most employment in the world. 
  We welcome, therefore, the progress achie ved in the Group on Trade Facilitation and 
encourage it to pursue its work with equal dedication. 
  However, if anything is relevant in the current  discussions it is the conditions required so that 
the developing countries and, in particular, the l east developed countries can take advantage of the 
opportunities of trade liberalization. 
 
 This is a matter that is a task not just for a few of us but for all of us.   Ensuring special and differential treatment will be achieved more easily insofar as we all  accept our share of responsibility in accordance with our level of development. 
 
 We hope that tariff-free and quota-free market  access for goods from the least developed 
countries, which the European Un ion has already initiated, may become a reality in many other 
countries as soon as possible.   As regards this Conference and the process to  which it will give rise, Spain is ready to 
cooperate constructively and openly in the search for a compromise that looks to the future and brings 
benefits to all WTO Members, though without lo wering our legitimate aspirations in the present 
negotiating round.   I hope the outcome of this Conference will fulf il the hopes placed in us and you may be sure 
that Spain will collaborate with ambition and ge nerosity so as to achieve our objectives.   
  A country which, in the interests of transparen cy and participation has included for the first 
time representatives of the NGOs, employers a nd trade unions in its official delegation. 
  I should like also to take this opportunity to give a warm welcome to the countries that have 
completed their process of accession since our last session:  Cambodia, Nepal and Saudi Arabia.  We 
also view very positively the finalization of  the accession of Tonga, which we hope to see as a 
Member of the Organization.   In conclusion, I should like to thank the H ong Kong, China authorities for their hospitality 
and the excellent organization of this Sixth Minist erial Conference and acknowledge the efforts that 
that has undoubtedly involved, in a city which is a clear illustration of the positive impact of trade 
liberalization on growth and development.  
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