WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/W/29 
15 August 2005 
 (05-3633) 
Trade Negotiations Committee 
21 and 28 July 2005 Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
STATEMENT BY EL SALVADOR 
  
 The following statement by the delegation of El Salvador, under agenda item 4, at the TNC 
meeting of 28 July 2005, is being circulated at the request of that delegation. 
 
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 Like previous speakers, I wish to thank the Ch airs of the negotiating groups for their reports.  
I take advantage of this opportunity to comment  on certain aspects of this Round of Negotiations. 
 
AGRICULTURE
 
 The entire membership of this Organization h as acknowledged that agriculture is of critical 
importance to the economies of developing countri es, which must be able to pursue agricultural 
policies that are supportive of their development goa ls, poverty reduction strategies and food security. 
  On that basis, and speaking from the perspec tive of a small and vulnerable economy such as 
that of El Salvador, we reiterate our expectati on that the present Round will achieve a balance that 
includes "operationally effective" modalities for special and differential treatment. 
 
 With regard to the market access pillar, we underscore the im portance of special products and 
the special safeguard measure.  We acknowledge th e valuable input from the G-33, which should be 
taken into consideration and analy sed carefully as from September.  As to the designation of special 
products, El Salvador is of the view that this should be done on the basis of the already established 
criteria. 
 
 We would furthermore point out the need to ensure that the current de minimis  margin is 
maintained in the levels of support of developing countries.   We believe that these measures are necessary to  the implementation of effective policies and 
strategies for poverty reduction and food security, whose importance for developing countries has 
already been recognized, as I said earlier.   To conclude on this point, we fully endorse the statement made by the Ambassador of Indonesia on behalf of the G-33. 
 
NAMA
 
 We recognize the importance that some Member s attach to the level of ambition of these 
negotiations.  That ambition should, in turn, be firm ly balanced by concrete and effective measures to 
ensure flexibility.  TN/C/W/29 
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  El Salvador believes that here, as in othe r areas of negotiation, it is essential that the 
flexibility afforded by the provisions on special and differential treatment and less than full 
reciprocity which are contained in the negotiatin g framework and are consistent with the Doha 
principles, should not be watered down in the c ourse of the discussions or, worse, subjected to 
conditions.  We hope, on the contrary, that they will give rise to concrete action to promote 
development and the creation and maintenance of jobs  in countries such as mine.  We repeat that 
these principles should be reflected.   As a member of the group that instigated  the mandate on small economies, El Salvador 
considers that the flexibilities afforded by the provi sions of paragraph 8 of Annex B are the minimum 
necessary in order for these Members to realize thei r legitimate development aspirations.  Work is 
accordingly needed to build on those flexibilities further in order to respond adequately to the 
concerns of such Members.  
SERVICES
 
 We note with satisfaction the increase in the number of offers, both initial and revised, that 
have been submitted in the last few months.   With regard to the figures in the Chairman's report on the status of offers, we echo the point 
made by the Chairman that they provide no informat ion on the quality of what is being offered or on 
the economic importance of the sectors covered.  This can only be determined by each Member in 
accordance with its own interests. 
  As to the summary in Annex I of the report, in our view this does not reflect the importance of each and every sector and mode of supply for all Members.  
 As for future work, El Salvador believes th at the negotiations on trade in services should 
continue to evolve in keeping with the objective set in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, namely 
promoting the economic growth of all trading part ners and the development of developing countries. 
  Furthermore, the liberalization process should show due respect for national policy objectives 
and the level of development and the size of the economy of each Member, as agreed in the 
Guidelines and Procedures for the Negotiations in Tr ade in Services adopted by the Council for Trade 
in Services in 2001.   As regards ways and means of stepping up the offer and request process and additional 
approaches to measure and encourage progress in these negotiations, El Salvador reiterates its 
conviction that initiatives in this area should on no account be to the detriment of flexibility for the 
scheduling of commitments as provided for in the GATS and the Guidelines and Procedures for the 
Negotiations.   Domestic regulation is a matter to which El  Salvador attaches importance because it believes 
that disciplines on domestic regulation could contribute to lowering the various barriers that our 
service providers currently come up against and he nce afford real advantages in market access in 
sectors opened.   Lastly, any such discipline we agree on must in corporate the special and differential treatment 
needed by developing countries, and respect the right of every Member to regulate service supply in 
its territory and establish new regulations, in order to achieve its legitimate national policy objectives. 
  TN/C/W/29 
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 TRADE FACILITATION  
 El Salvador attaches great importance to this i ssue because it is a trading instrument that will 
help to make our economies more competitive.  We accordingly note with great satisfaction the 
progress made so far.  In our future work, it will be most important to allow ourselves time to analyse 
the many proposals that have been tabled in so short a period, so that we are in a position to 
determine, inter alia , the costs, needs, priorities and techni cal assistance that each of the proposals 
involves.   It is important that the developing countries s hould make the most of the benefits that will 
derive from agreements on trade facilitation and keep  down any costs involved.  To that end, as the 
negotiating modalities agreed on last July indicate,  technical assistance and capacity building for 
developing countries will be essential.   With regard to future work, we emphasize the importance of paying due attention to defining 
measures for special and differential treatment for developing countries. 
 
 The Doha mandate includes several other topics that I will not refer to here, though I will 
comment on a number of cross-cutting aspects:   The first and most relevant is the "developmen t dimension", which is at the heart of this 
Round of Negotiations.  In our view, this is a ke y element in securing the commitment of the entire 
Membership to the Doha Round.  I repeat that El Salvador attaches priority to defining measures for 
special and differential treatment and to the Wo rk Programme on Small Economies, which is under 
the responsibility of the General Council.   Secondly, inclusiveness and transparency ar e unconditional prerequisites as we progress in 
the negotiations.  We would already urge your successor as WTO Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, 
to move the negotiating process forward with peri odic consultation sessions open to all Members in 
addition to the formal and informal ne gotiating sessions on each negotiating topic. 
  Thirdly, I wish to refer to our future work in  the lead up to the Ministerial Conference and to 
pledge El Salvador's total commitment to the task s we will be taking up after the summer break, with 
a view to attaining balanced results in Hong Kong that will fulfil our countries' legitimate aspirations 
in terms of the development they seek and need.   As has already been mentioned, early this morning in the United States, the Free Trade 
Agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States was ratified.  It 
had already been ratified by El Salvador.  We wish to share with the membership our satisfaction at an 
agreement that is a clear example of our commitmen t to trade liberalization, which is balanced and 
fully geared to development, in which our country has a stake.   Lastly, I should like to thank you on behalf of  my delegation for the work you have done for 
this Organization during your term as Director-General.  We wish you every success in your 
stewardship of UNCTAD. 
 
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