. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/10 
14 December 2005 
 (05-5937) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session 
Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
 
 
ARGENTINA 
 
Statement by HE Mr Jorge E. Taiana  
Minister for Foreign Relations, International Trade and Worship  
 
 
 On behalf of the Argentine Republic, I should like to thank the Hong Kong, China authorities 
for their generous hospitality and for the magnificent welcome extended to us in  this fascinating city. 
  I congratulate you, Mr Chairman, and the other members of the bureau, on your appointment.  
Under your guidance, we hope to be able to achieve results that bring us closer to the objective of 
finalizing these negotiations next year. 
 
 May we also associate ourselves with those delegations that have welcomed Tonga to our Organization and offer encouragement to the other co untries that are close to concluding negotiations 
for their accession.  The inclusion of new Me mbers will strengthen the WTO and the multilateral 
system. 
 
 The Uruguay Round produced positive results, bu t it also produced imbalances and inequities 
which need to be corrected.  We must now reve rse the disadvantageous situation in which the 
developing and least-developed countries have been placed. 
 
 During this week of intense work in Hong Kong, we must rekindle the spirit of the Doha 
Mandate and maintain the level of ambition that we agreed to there.  We must move forward in 
particular on issues of interest to developing  countries which should not be asked to undertake 
disproportionate commitments.  
 One of the biggest problems in international trad e is the persistent lack of symmetry, in terms 
of liberalization, between industrial and agricultural products. 
 
 The existence of negative discrimination against countries that produce agricultural goods and 
processed agricultural products undermines their potential for sustained growth and prevents any 
improvement in the income levels of  the majority of the world's population.  Unfortunately, these are 
the people who live in developing countries.  It may even be that these countries continue to be 
developing countries precisely be cause of that discrimination. 
  In agriculture, this Round is supposed to eliminate all forms of export subsidies, drastically 
reduce domestic subsidies and facilitate improved mark et access for agricultural goods.  If it does not 
do so, it will have failed, even if we say the opposite. 
 
 The scenario and the actors in this negotiation are not the same as in the past.  Since Cancún, the G20 has continued to prove itself a powerful tool for developing countries in the agriculture 
negotiation. 
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 Together with our partners, we have put forward proposals on most of the issues, thus 
demonstrating a responsible attitude and a desire to reach agreement.  Our pr oposals are appropriately 
ambitious, balanced and responsive to the interests of  the developing and least-developed countries.  
But they are also relevant to the search for accept able forms of consensus be neficial to all Members. 
 
 At this point, no-one can be in any doubt that the engine of this negotiating process is 
agriculture, for on it depends the survival of millions of persons, particularly in the developing 
countries. 
 
 The problems of developing countries will not be solved by piecemeal improvements or by 
handouts or unfulfilled promises.  Trade liberalization must fit into  an appropriate political, economic 
and social context. 
 
 It cannot operate in a vacuum or be implemen ted selectively.  It should serve globally to 
achieve economic efficiency on equitable terms and give rise to better income redistribution, the 
elimination of hunger and the eradication of poverty.  
 Nor can such liberalization be isolated from the need to preserve an adequate active-policy 
space for governments pursuing economic and social ob jectives.  To claim that trade liberalization can 
ignore those needs is to oversimplify the negotiating equation. 
  As in any negotiating process, it is obvious that each Member must properly weigh the costs 
in relation to the benefits.  Clear ly, in overall terms, the benefits for developing countries must be 
greater than their costs, otherwise this will not be seen as the Development Round. 
 
 Moreover, it is in fact development rather th an trade liberalization which must be the primary 
objective of this negotiation, if it is really desire d to correct the existing imbalances and to achieve a 
more equitable distribution of the benefits of globalization. 
 
 In this connection, we note that the aspirations of some Members in respect of industrial 
goods and services are out of all proportion to what they are prepared to offer on agriculture, so that in 
addition to adversely affecting the space needed for industrial policy and the exercise of regulatory 
sovereignty in the area of services, they jeop ardize the possibility of achieving the consensus 
necessary for the conclusion of negotiations. 
 
 In a frequently adverse financial and commercial context, Argentina is striving to emerge from the biggest economic crisis in its history.  Like so many other developing countries, we would 
benefit from improved multilateral trade conditions , improved market access for our products and the 
necessary policy space for growth based on equality and social inclusiveness. 
 
 Let us use the days we have in Hong Kong to fulfil the Doha Mandate.  The multilateral 
trading system must begin once and for all to serv e as a guarantee for improved market access and a 
better standard of living for millions of people.  This  is the challenge we face.  We hope this time to 
be equal to the occasion. 
 
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