WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/132 
17 December 2005 
 (05-6143) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   French 
 
  
ANGOLA 
 
Statement by HE Mr Aguinaldo Jaime
 
Deputy Prime Minister  
   I have the honour to express, on behalf of the Angolan Government and my accompanying 
delegation, my sincere and profound gratitude to the people and Government of Hong Kong, China, 
for the hospitality they have extended to us since our arrival and for the excellent environment they 
have provided for the work of this Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO.   Four years have passed since the historic la unch of the Doha Round.  Regrettably, however, 
the mandate given by Members at the Fourth Confer ence and in the Doha Declaration has not always 
been fulfilled, especially in the areas of capital impor tance for the trade of the developing countries in 
general and the least develope d countries in particular. 
  The indecision and missed deadlines that have characterized these years have sent a negative 
signal to the international community and called into question the credibility of the WTO as a 
multilateral forum capable of arriving at a satisfact ory solution for the serious problems faced by its 
most vulnerable Members. 
  Now, in this beautiful city of Hong Kong, we  have the opportunity to turn this situation 
around, firstly, by reaffirming the collective comm itment made at Doha and placing the interests and 
needs of the developing countries at the centre of the work programme and, secondly and fundamentally, by making constructive progress and gi ving that commitment material expression, in 
keeping with the ambitions expressed at Doha. 
  In this respect, we hereby reaffirm the validity and relevance of the Declarations of 
Livingstone, Cairo and Arusha a nd the conclusions of the Sevent h Meeting of ACP Ministers of 
Trade, which reflect the concerns and aspirations  of the LDCs, the African countries and the ACP 
countries with regard to the outcome of the trade negotiations in progress. 
  Today, Angola is at peace and is slowly  but objectively and c onsciously laying the 
foundations for its economic and soci al development, the aim being to expand its productive capacity 
and increase the competitiveness of its exports of non-petroleum products so as to enable it to 
integrate more closely into the international tradi ng system and thus take advantage of the concessions 
and improved market access linked w ith the Doha Round negotiations. 
  Nevertheless, we are aware that our efforts ar e insufficient to the extent that our country's 
development does not depend on us alone.  
 Indeed, the solution to the innumerable problems th at we have to deal with every day in order 
to promote economic progress depends not only on re ducing external constraints, such as the 
fluctuation of basic product prices, low levels of fo reign direct investment (FDI), the external debt WT/MIN(05)/ST/132 
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 burden, and dependence on one or tw o export products, but also on c onsistent domestic trade policies 
and on the potential of the general technical assi stance provided by the inte rnational community for 
human and institutional capacity-building.   In this connection, we welcome the launch of  the Aid for Trade programme which, together 
with the Integrated Framework, will provide a sound b asis for the integration of trade into the national 
poverty reduction strategies.   My country believes in the virtues of multilate ralism and continues to be firmly committed to 
the success of the trade negotiations begun at Doha in  2001.  In our view, it is essential for the success 
of this Round for agreement to be reached in a ll the areas of negotiation during this Ministerial 
Conference in Hong Kong.   We invite all delegations to show goodwill a nd redouble their efforts to achieve the closest 
possible convergence in the course of our work. 
 
 Thus, it is essential for world trade that the ou tcome of the Doha Round should be to create 
substantial opportunities for increasing the export cap acity of the developing countries and their rate 
of economic growth.  Indeed, there is no point in demanding market access if we lack the capacity to 
export, in terms of both quantity a nd quality.  Only if their capacity  to produce high-quality goods and 
services is substantially increased will the developing  countries be able to take advantage of the real 
opportunities offered by trade liberalization and the globalization of the world economy. 
  We therefore urge this Sixth Conference to give more concrete expression to these worthy 
ambitions and place development at the heart of the objectives to be achieved.  
 In fact, we believe that the success of th is Sixth Conference will depend on the negotiations 
making substantial progress in the following areas:   - The modalities for agriculture in relati on to the three negotiating pillars (market 
access, domestic support and export subsidi es) and the rapid solution of the cotton 
problem; 
 
 - market access for no n-agricultural products; 
  - a critical mass of offers concerning market opening in the area of services, 
particularly in the sectors of importance for the developing countries and through 
mode IV (presence of natural persons); 
  - progress on the issues relating to the rules of trade (anti-dumping, regional trade 
agreements) and trade facilitation; 
  - concentration on development issues, in pa rticular, special and differential treatment; 
preservation of the political dimension and fl exibility in multilateral rules so as to 
reflect developing country concerns; im plementation of improved and specific 
technical assistance and capacity building programmes that make it possible for our 
countries to apply the WTO agreements. 
 
 I would like to conclude, first of all, by we lcoming Saudi Arabia and Tonga to the WTO and 
congratulating them on their accession.  I also welc ome the recent approval by the General Council of 
the decision concerning the extension to 2013 of th e implementation by the least developed countries 
of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Inte llectual Property Rights and the decision, approved 
on 6 December 2005, to amend the intellectual pr operty agreement so as to make permanent the 
decision on patents and public hea lth initially adopted in 2003.  Th is decision of the General Council  WT/MIN(05)/ST/132 
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 means that, for the first time, a basic WTO agreement has been amended to reflect the interests of the 
poorest countries.  We trust that the operation of the new rules will be made as practical and easy as possible and that the humanitarian purpose which inspired the amendment of the agreement will 
always be kept in view when it is being applied.  
 Finally, I would again like to express my country's strong commitment and readiness to 
contribute, together with all the other Members of the WTO, to the complete success of this 
Conference.  
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