WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/39 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6020) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
CZECH REPUBLIC 
 
Statement by HE Mr Milan Urban
 
Minister of Industry and Trade  
   At the outset, I would like to fully associate my self with the words of gratitude expressed to 
the authorities and people of Hong Kong for hosting the Sixth Minister ial Conference in the city that 
has become one of the symbols of dynamism and active participation in the world economy. 
  Like many preceding speakers, I wish to congratulate Mr John Tsang on his assumption of the Chairmanship, to thank the Chairman of th e General Council Mrs Amina Mohamed and the 
Director-General Mr Pascal Lamy and his staff for their hard work in preparing for our Conference. 
 
 The Czech Republic participates at the Minister ial Conference for the first time as a member 
State of the European Union.  We endorse and fully support the statement made yesterday by 
Commissioner Peter Mandelson.  And now I would li ke to stress some of our points of view. 
  The word "development" in the abbreviation of  DDA is not there just by chance and it is our 
view that this Conference shall address developmen t issues as a priority matter.  The goal of this 
Round commenced in Doha is indeed in deeper in tegration of developing and especially the Least 
Developed Countries (LDCs) into the world economy .  In this context, we shall improve LDCs' 
market access by a commitment from all industria lized WTO Members to full duty-free and quota-
free market access for products originating in LDCs.  A similar commitment by developing countries 
in a position to do so would be appreciated.  We sh all help the LDCs cotton producers by eliminating 
export subsidies into this sector.  We also support the adoption of a meaningful and feasible package 
of decisions in the field of special and differential treatment for developing countries.  Finally, the outcome should also contain appropriate measures in the area of Aid for Trade with the aim to allow 
respective countries to profit fully from the results of our talks.  I shall underline that the aim of these 
proposals is not to create two-tier membership with duality of rights and obligations among WTO 
Members. 
  The Czech Republic remains the proponent of amb itious results of this Conference.  The fact 
that we had to recalibrate our expectations sh all not be associated with lower ambition for the 
outcome.  Our negotiators in Geneva did not reach a level, which would make it possible to adopt at 
this Conference full modalities.  Therefore, it is  highly desirable to give here clear political 
instructions, which would facilitate progress of the ne gotiations leading to the concrete results within 
a relatively short period of time.  These instructions  should be part of our declaration, which, we 
believe, will be adopted by consensus at the e nd of the Conference.  Hence, this Conference 
represents an important opportunity and we must thi nk about it seriously.  Its failure would hurt all of 
us and, in the first place, those who are legitimatel y awaiting of this development Round an asset, i.e. 
developing and least developed countries. 
 WT/MIN(05)/ST/39 
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  We should bear in mind that the interdependen ce is growing up considerably in today's global 
world and its negative influence may touch all of us at the end of the day.  Finally, and perhaps most 
importantly from the political perspective, given th at we focus on development, we certainly should 
avoid temptation to create the confr ontational north-south atmosphere. 
 
 We are fully aware of the fact that reach ing a result acceptable for all Members of our 
Organization is not an easy task and will require  a high degree of mutual understanding for needs and 
interests of the others.  Solutions we shall see in long-term prospects achieved through further 
deepening and improving of the multilateral, rules- based process of international cooperation and 
trade development.  International cooperation in this context is th e basic pillar for economic growth, 
global security and conflicts prevention.  At  the same time it is the best  way on how to guide the 
unavoidable globalization process for the be nefit of all people on the Earth. 
  Allow me now to briefly touch upon some other parts of the text presented to the Ministers.  I 
start with the issue of GIs where the Czech Republic is disappointed with the present state of play and 
expects progress to be achieved at this Conference .  In the context of protection of geographical 
indications, we support negotiations on extension of additional protec tion for geographical indications 
other than wines and spirits as well as the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines and spirits.  
 Some time ago I heard that the door to success of DDA is closed and the key to open it is 
green.  Indeed, a number of delegations put agriculture in the centre of our negotiations.  My country 
stands ready to find a solution for the objective to est ablish fair and market-oriented agricultural trade. 
Recognizing the importance of agriculture, we will su pport balance in between three pillars as well as 
balance within other areas of negotiations.  For us it means that any solution to be agreed has to take 
into account different ways of farming across th e world and interests of all Members including 
non-trade concerns, such as rural development, e nvironmental protection and food security to which 
we attach great importance.   Development dimension in NAMA negotiations is very important.  The result, which will 
lead to the real market access improvement, non-tari ff barriers elimination, and will take into account 
interests of developing countries, can deliver in th at respect.  We support a non-linear formula that 
will result into cuts of all tariff lines, will addr ess high tariffs and tariff peaks and also will limit 
differences between average tariffs rates.  The pr oblem of unbound tariffs rates should be addressed in 
an effective way as well.   Even though the NAMA negotiations are very complex, they go in the right direction. 
Unfortunately, for the time being, the situation in the services negotiations is  different.  We find 
results reached so far very disappointing.  I have th e impression that in this area the key problem is to 
define a generally acceptable level of ambition.  Divergent positions on alternative methods, which 
we consider useful, confirm it clearly.  The lack  of progress in services negotiations is rightfully 
criticized by the services industries in many coun tries, including developing ones.  We should assume 
that the responsibility lies with all of us. 
 
 Thus, we expect that this Conference will help  us to reach pragmatic, realistic and time-bound 
results.  We encourage also those proposals leading to more effective use of a limited time we have at our disposal.  
 Czech Republic remains active in the area of Tr ade and Environment.  We call for a full and 
faithful completion of the mandate given by the Doha Ministerial Declaration.   In the area of the trade facilitation we s upport the adoption of simplified procedures 
improving and accelerating the circulation and transit of goods.  These negotiations will result in what 
we call a "win-win" situation, as they will bring benefits to all WTO Members.  WT/MIN(05)/ST/39 
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  In day-to-day life, the World Trade Organization keeps proving its importance and underlines 
the advantages of the multilateral trading syst em, in which the regionalism plays only a 
complementary role.  From the WTO activities, I wish to stress the importance of the dispute 
settlement system and the specific role, which the WTO plays in the field of technical cooperation and capacity-building. 
 
 I would like to welcome new Members of our Organization – Nepal, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia 
and Tonga and to express my strong belief that their membership will be beneficial for the multilateral 
system as well as for themselves.  
 In conclusion, the need of a successful conclusion of the
 Round is evident.  It is underlined by 
the overall situation of world economy and by the fact that fulfilling DDA could help millions of 
people from developing countries to improve their  burdensome situation and bring them out of the 
poverty.  A failure of our present negotiations would please only our traditional critics.  
 Please let me again assure you of our full support to ideas and goals of the World Trade 
Organization and commitment of the European Uni on to the final success of the Doha Development 
Agenda.  
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