. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/ST/131 
16 December 2011 
 (11-6882) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   English 
 
  
UGANDA 
 
Statement by Hon Amelia Kyambadde 
Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives 
 
 My Delegation would like to thank the Governme nt and People of the Canton of Geneva and the 
Federal Government of Switzerland for the warm hospitality accorded to us. We also thank the 
Director General and the WTO Secretariat for the ex cellent arrangements made for this Conference.  
 I welcome the newly acceded Members to the WTO family. Your accession is a reflection of your 
belief in the Multilateral Trading System. Uganda fully associates herself with the Statements made by the Coordinators of the LDC Group, The 
Africa Group, the ACP Group and the G. 33. 
 
In the last three years, the worl d has witnessed a global economic crisis which has led to a contraction 
of individual national economies by up to 5%, or higher in some cases. This may have been averted if 
we had moved faster to conclude  the Doha Development Agenda.  
 
We in Uganda express our concern that the DDA is at a stalemate ten years after its launch, even 
though it was estimated that some 500 million people w ould be lifted out of pove rty at the conclusion 
of this Round. This figure is more th an a half of the population of Africa. 
 In my country Uganda, poverty was as high as 56% in  1992, two years before the conclusion of the 
Uruguay Round. A combination of policies; includi ng domestic reforms, limited opening up of the 
markets to our products within the region as a resu lt of Regional Integration Agreements, as well as 
the undertakings made in the Uruguay Round, spurred growth at an annual average rate of 5%. This 
effectively reduced poverty to about 30% currently, which is still high and translates to about 10 
million persons out of a population of  about 30 million. The remaining incidence of poverty is partly a 
result of non positive response by the global economy to our domestic efforts towards improving our 
supply side constraints and capacities. The positive response can only come through open and liberal 
markets.   It is our belief that non-tariff barriers such as standards, especially private standards, are strong impediments to market access for our products . These can be comprehensively addressed, if 
agreement is reached in the DDA. In order to conc lude the DDA, negotiating parties in this forum, 
especially the developed and more advanced devel oping countries, must take courageous and bold 
steps, exercise flexibility and see the bigger picture of global economic growth a nd prosperity for all.  
 Uganda would like to see concrete de liverables in the following areas:  
 
i. Meaningful duty free and quota market access fo r products of export interest to the LDCs 
outlined in Decision 36 of annex F of Hong Kong Ministerial declaration.  WT/MIN(11)/ST/131 
Page 2  
 
  ii. A speedy operationalisation of the services waiv er that grants preferential treatment to 
services and service suppliers of Least Developed Countries. 
iii. Sufficient flexibility to developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, to 
engage in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs)  in the pursuit of economic development.  
iv. Extension of the exemption on Pharmaceutical Patents for LDCs beyond 2016 and the 
Transition period under Article 66.1 of the TR IPS Agreement. There should be commensurate 
technical and financial assistance to enable LDCs to develop the necessary capacity and infrastructure to implement the TRIPS Agreement.  
v. Ensure that preferential rules of origin applicab le  to imports from LDCs  are transparent and 
simple in accordance with the proposal submitted by LDCs   
vi. Monitoring Mechanism for Special a nd Differential Treatment for LDCs; 
vii. Consolidating and mainstreaming development in  the work of the World Trade Organization, 
by maintaining the centrality of the Commi ttee on Trade and Development (CTD) and 
strengthening its role as the focal point fo r the consideration and coordination of all 
development related activities in the work of the WTO. 
 
Uganda recognizes the importance of Capacity bu ilding for trade. We therefore appreciate the 
progress made so far with the Aid for Trade initiative a nd reiterate that priority should be attached to 
effective and progressive implementation of  the Enhanced Integrated Framework. 
 It is unfortunate that the Doha Round is at an im passe. We urge all Member States, particularly the 
developed and advanced developi ng countries to exercise maximum fl exibilities that should allow the 
successful and early conclusion of the DDA.  
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