. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/52 
24 February 2005 
 
 (05-0779) 
Committee on Trade and Development Original:   English 
  
 
SUBMISSION BY THE MALDIVES TO THE FIFTY-SECOND SESSION  
OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT ON 22 FEBRUARY 2005
1 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 22 Februa ry 2005, is being circulated for Members' 
information at the request of the delegation of Maldives. 
 
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1. The delegations may be aware that Maldiv es made a submission to the General Council 
meeting of 11-12 February 2004 regarding th e issue of its possible graduation from the 
United Nations' list of least-developed countries (L DCs), and the possible consequences of graduation 
to the Maldives.  The delegations may also recall that in that submission the Maldives made proposals 
for specific actions by the WTO and the WTO Members on the issue.  The Government of the Maldives appreciates that the delegations expressed their support on the matter during that meeting. 
2. The delegations may also be aware that the Maldives made a submission to the Integrated 
Framework Steering Committee meeting of 13 February 2004 on the same issue.  The Government of 
the Maldives expresses its gratitude to the Steeri ng Committee which decided on the same day that 
the Maldives would continue to benefit from the Inte grated Framework (IF) even if the country were 
to graduate from the least-devel oped country status.  Since then  there have been encouraging 
developments with regard to the Maldives participat ion in the IF, and the Government keenly awaits 
further progress in the matter. 
3. The above submissions have been made based  on the assumptions that the Maldives would 
continue to progress on its development trajectory.  However, the Government of the Maldives has 
always highlighted its vulnerability to natural di sasters and economic shocks.  The Government has 
always felt that whatever the statistics showed, the Maldives was not ready to lose the package of 
benefits that comes with being an LDC.  But being an LDC, it was our technical inability to 
demonstrate our points – and the flawed graduati on criteria – that the recommendation to graduate 
Maldives was made in the first place.  Concerne d organizations failed to recognize these facts.  
Although the Government never agreed with the re commendation for graduation of the country, it had 
to accept it, but it did so grudgingly and rightly so. 
4. The Government never expected to take a ts unami as an example to make its point of 
vulnerability.  As the delegations may be well aware,  the Maldives is one of the unfortunate countries 
that has been adversely affected by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.  Decades of hard work and 
development has been reversed in a matter of mi nutes, with losses amounting to 62 per cent of the 
gross domestic product.  Development has been set back by at least two decades.  Losses amount to 
US$470.1 million.  The two main industries, tourism a nd fishing have been hard hit.  Disaster struck 
                                                     
 
 1 This submission has been made without prejudice to the rights of the Government of the Maldives to 
make additional submissions to the WTO on the matter or to make appropriate revisions to this submission as 
may be necessary.  WT/COMTD/52 
Page 2  
 
 at the peak of the tourist season when resorts were  full.  Immediately after the disaster, occupancy fell 
to as low as 40 per cent.  Forty per cent of the fish ing fleets were affected.  Fishermen stayed ashore 
for weeks after the shock of both psychological and economic impact.  Fish catch has declined by 30 per cent, exports contracted by 25 per cent. 
5. Social costs are incalculable.  Thirteen of th e 198 inhabited islands have been completely 
destroyed. Schools, hospitals powerhouses in many other islands have been severely damaged.  
Eighty-two deaths and 26 missing.  Entire families ha ve been lost.  Eleven thousand families have 
become refugees in their own country.  This is not in any measure marginal losses to a country with a 
population of under 300,000.  Scores of businesses have  been entirely wiped away.  Infrastructure on 
some islands have been completely dest royed, and severely damaged in others. 
6. The present submission to this session of the CTD is therefore being made under unexpected 
and very severe circumstances.  The tsunami disaster h as awakened the world to the reality that highly 
vulnerable countries such as the Maldives have neit her the resources nor the resilience to withstand 
and bounce back from natural disasters of the magnit ude of the Boxing Day tsunami.  Rebuilding the 
economy requires massive financial resources and c ontinued international support measures in all 
aspects of international relations. 
7. In this context, the Maldives is rethinking its  position on the issue of graduation.  The 
Government feels now more than ever, that the international trading system, as well as the 
international community should, rather than depe nd entirely on the statistics, look closely into the 
finer dynamics of the situations on the ground in countries such as the Maldives, in determining the 
kind of treatment they want to give to such countries. 
8. In the wake of the tsunami disaster, the Governme nt is now firmly of the view that in these 
circumstances the Maldives should not be graduated.  While the Government appreciates the fact that 
the question of graduation is not up to the WTO, it firmly believes that this organization has the 
opportunity to take the initiative to acknowledge that indeed it is not appropriate to graduate the 
Maldives under the present circumstances.  The Govern ment is also of the view that, the WTO should 
immediately make appropriate provisions to enable  its Members to legally continue to give the 
Maldives even after the graduation the same treatme nt in areas of WTO rules that they have been 
giving so far.  The Government believes that now is a good time to demonstrate to the world that the 
WTO indeed has a human dimension. 
 
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