. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/58 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6047) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
MONGOLIA 
 
Statement by HE Mr Sukhbaatar Batbold
 
Minister for Industry and Trade  
   It is our great pleasure to be here, enjoyi ng Hong Kong's warm hospitality and excellent 
organization, and participating in  this 6th WTO Ministerial Conference.  We have many critical 
choices to make this week. 
  I offer my warm appreciations to Director-General Pascal Lamy and Ambassador Amina Mohamed who have made all their best  to make this meeting successful. 
  Mongolia has a keen interest in all the negotia ting issues on the table, but like other Members 
we have clear priorities.  Our economy is one of the most open, with few restrictions on trade and 
investment.  Our average MFN applied tariff is just  5 per cent, down from 15 per cent since we joined 
the WTO in 1997.  Our average bound tariff is only 20 per cent.  More than half of our exports are minerals and gold.  Textile and leather products , including raw materials, make up another 25 per 
cent. We are working hard to diversify our producti ve base, to take better advantage of our natural 
resource and livestock wealth, and our strategies fo r the agriculture and NAMA negotiations reflect a 
desire for more open markets for the downstream products of those sectors.   I wish to express my appreciations to Secr etary General Kofi Annan for his message of 
support for land-locked countries who truly need a sp ecial treatment in the multilateral trading system. 
In this respect, we, the Ministers of the land-lock ed developing countries have presented our views in 
the Communication. 
  I also want to reiterate our position on special  products and special saf eguard mechanism that 
has been presented jointly by the G-33 members.  
Agriculture
 
  As a net food importer with a strong need to  develop the rural economy to create sustainable 
employment and eliminate poverty, Mongolia requir es due flexibility in terms of WTO obligations 
and rules.  The Marrakesh Decision on Net F ood Importing Developing Countries must be taken 
seriously by all respective multilateral institutions. 
  Mongolia reiterates its position that establishing any disciplines on food aid practices shall be based on the needs and interests of the recipient de veloping countries.  At the same time, we stand 
ready to work on ways to avoid its commercial displacement.   
 My Government calls upon our trading partners to abolish any non-tariff barriers that are not 
compliant with the WTO rules for export of Mongolia's livestock products.  WT/MIN(05)/ST/58 
Page 2  
 
 Trade facilitation
 
  Mongolia recognizes the vital importance of trade facilitation in improving its competitiveness. In fact, recent studies show that  removing trade facilitation obstacles could reduce 
exporters' costs by up to 30 per cent in some c ountries - especially land-locked countries like our own, 
Given the fact that land-locked developing countries' competitiveness is already dented by hefty
 
transport costs, such potential for savings makes tr ade facilitation a very high priority for Mongolia - 
not only in the WTO context, but also in the dome stic reform agenda. We are making considerable 
advances in customs modernization and paperless trading. 
 
 Our need is to get our products to the end-users quickly and cost-effectively.  Around half of 
our exports must transit neighbouring countries in or der to reach end-users overseas.  In order to 
maximize benefits from the trade facilitation ne gotiations, Mongolia has submitted several proposals 
together with like-minded countries to make ope rational and to improve GATT Articles V, VIII 
and X. 
 
 We call on all Members to participate actively in  finding effective solutions to transit-related 
obstacles faced by land-locked developing countries. Such solutions, including national treatment for goods in transit, would help integrate the land-lo cked developing countries better into the global 
trading system. 
 
 Mongolia also invites the WTO Secretariat and the donor community to provide technical 
assistance to the land-locked developing countries to  participate actively in the negotiations on trade 
facilitation.  For this purpose, the WTO might c onsider establishing a Trade Facilitation Chapter 
within the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund. 
 
Services  
  We are pleased to inform Members that we have significantly liberalized our services sector 
since joining the WTO, particul arly in such key sectors as communications, financial and business 
services.  Like other developing Members, we have a particular interest in Mode 4 issues and would 
like to see improved commitments, particularly for independent professionals and contractual service 
providers.  Other issues
 
 
 In the NAMA negotiations, Mongolia stands for exclusion of those countries whose bound  
tariffs are already in the lower band from further commitments. 
  My country as a small economy strongly advocates that paragraph 35 of the Doha 
Declaration be implemented expeditiously and sm all and vulnerable economies be given all necessary 
support and special treatment through an appropria te work programme.  In this respect, Mongolia 
fully supports the proposals contained in the Communiqué presented by the Ministers of the small and vulnerable economies. 
 
 Taking this opportunity, please allow me to congratulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 
the Kingdom of Tonga on their successful accession to the WTO.  We express our strong support for those countries, which are working on their accession, including the Russian Federation and fellow land-locked developing countries. 
 
 Mongolia urges all other WTO Members and espec ially those that have the largest stakes in 
the global trading system to show the necessary flexibilities in order to move the negotiations 
forward.  We need to make th is Round truly developmental. 
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