. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/W/58 
7 February 2006 
 
 (06-0494) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA 
 
Reservation of the Republic of Cuba regarding ser vices in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 2 February 2006, was received from the delegation of 
Cuba and is being circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services.  
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1. The Government of the Repub lic of Cuba reiterates to WTO Members its reservations 
concerning the decisions on services in the Ministerial Declaration, which were publicly expressed at the Heads of Delegation meetings on 17 and 18 D ecember 2005 and at the closing session of the Sixth 
WTO Ministerial Conference on 18 December 2005. 
2. The Republic of Cuba objected to the irre gularities in the negotiating process before and 
during the Conference, as well as the non-transparent and much less participatory procedures used for 
the adoption of decisions, which resulted in a te xt on services which Cuba did not and does not now 
support. 
3. Despite being rejected by a large number of c ountry Members, the revised drafts of Annex C, 
dated 17 and 18 December 2005, did not substantially change its c ontent in relation to the draft 
Ministerial Declaration, document WT/MIN(05)/W/3, of 7 December 2005, which gave preference to 
a text that fundamentally favours the interests of  developed countries, to the detriment of most 
Members. 
4. The delegation of Cuba played no part in th e earlier decision to transform Annex C into a 
consensus text despite continued opposition from  a considerable number of delegations from 
underdeveloped countries. 
5. The Republic of Cuba considers that the Anne x C negotiating mandate is qualitatively more 
ambitious than that contained in paragraph 15 of  the Doha Ministerial Declaration and alters the 
balance of interests between Members, placing unde rdeveloped countries at a disadvantage.  Annex C 
on Services is also more prescriptive and specific th an its counterpart in the July 2004 Package, 
impairing the flexibilities provided for in the Gene ral Agreement on Trade in Services and in the 
negotiating guidelines agreed in 2001. 
6. The Cuban reservation regarding pa ragraphs 1, 2 and 7 of Annex C is based on the fact that 
the new plurilateral, sectoral and modal negotiatin g approaches will in practice affect the flexibility 
mechanisms available to enable  underdeveloped countries to liberalize only the subsectors of their 
choice and to the extent that they themselves determ ine, which could have im plications for strategic 
sectors of their economies. TN/S/W/58 
Page 2  
 
  7. Moreover, Annex C of the Ministerial Declaration sets out objectives for modes of supply 
which entail commitments to greater liberalization and qualitative parameters to measure the level of 
liberalization that are inconsistent with the economic and social policy objectives of Cuba.  
Commitments on elimination or substantial reductio n of economic needs tests and MFN exemptions 
are presented without making an explicit distin ction between develope d and underdeveloped 
countries, thus eliminating the possibility for th e latter to use them as necessary instruments for 
sustainable development. 
8. In addition, unrealistic time-limits have b een set for submission of the second round of 
revised offers, for submitting final draft schedules of commitments and for presenting plurilateral requests, without taking into account the fact that  it has not yet been possible for most underdeveloped 
countries to meet the previous deadlines.  Conseq uently, the Government of the Republic of Cuba 
considers these time-limits to be merely indicative. 
9. The Republic of Cuba has always considered th at a prior assessment of the results of the 
liberalization of trade in services, so as to measure  its impact on the economies of the underdeveloped 
countries, should be a precondition for undertaking ne w commitments.  In th e absence of such an 
assessment, we consider that the results of this Round might not have the social, economic and trade 
effects required by underdeveloped countries to achie ve sustainable development.  Consequently, an 
early date should be set for the Council for Trade in Services to meet this requirement. 
10. As a result, none of the points mentioned in the previous paragraphs obliges the Government 
of the Republic of Cuba to undert ake commitments that run counter to or limit Cuba's economic, trade 
and social development objectives.  Similarly, Cu ba's participation in any of the above-mentioned 
modalities or approaches will be carried out on a vo luntary basis, and it will therefore maintain its 
sovereign right not to participat e in them when it so decides. 
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