WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/4 
14 December 2005 
 (05-5971) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
  
QATAR 
 
Statement by HE Sheik Mohammed Bin Al-Thani
 
Minister of Economy and Commerce  
   This report prepared for the Sixth Ministerial Conference elaborates on some of the technical issues made in Qatar's Minister of Economy and Commerce speech.  It places the greatest emphasis 
on the Development measures necessary to stimulate growth and promote development. 
  At the WTO Trade Policy Review in February 2005 Members noted the commitment of Qatar to the multilateral trading system, its development st rategy, and to its progressive integration of the 
economy in the international trading system.  
 This latest multilateral trade negotiations, the Doha Round, was launched in Qatar in 
November 2001 with an ambitious Development Agenda  as its centrepiece.  This included special and 
differential treatment for all developing countries  consistent with their trade, financial and 
development needs, inclusive of large relativ ely competitive countries, small economies, and 
especially the least developed. 
 
 Qatar's statement highlights some of the areas in which it believes that the Hong Kong 
Ministerial should take decisions.  They should not be held hostage pending agreement on progress in 
the two areas of Agriculture  and Services  considered of vital interest to the major trading countries.  
In each of these sectors there are very important bene fits to be gained by developing countries.  By 
agreeing to modalities of potential benefit to the fa rmers, small and medium size enterprises, service 
providers and consumers in  developing countries, developed coun tries will join words to deeds and 
send the clearest message that Doha is a Development Round.  
Development in all sectors of the negotiations 
 
 Ministers in Doha, in the Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns 
committed the Committee on Trade and Development to identify and take action on those Special and 
Differential Provisions considered mandatory.  At the same time to consider the non-binding ones to 
be made mandatory.  The Committee has made little or no progress on the many issues proposed by 
developing countries.  This raises questions re garding the Development outcome of the Round. 
 
Special and Differential Treatment
 
  The Agreement-specific proposals for special and differential treatment should be made 
operational in the course of 2006, especially fo r the LDCs, and implemented in a flexible and 
consistent manner by providing l onger transition periods, exemptions from certain obligations that 
would impair their development prospects. 
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 Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns
 
  In Doha, Ministers agreed to take immediate action to address the most pressing implementation issues identified by developing countr ies [JOB(01)/152/Rev.1].  Progress in this area 
is disappointing though the issues have been we ll identified since 2001.  The Hong Kong Ministerial 
should take decisions on these measures. 
 Agriculture
 
  Qatar recognizes the importance of this sector to all Members and supports the proposals in 
the Trade Negotiations Committee in favour of devel oping countries.  It is claimed that without 
movement on these issues the Round will be blocked.   There is however room for movement on 
several areas in which immediate action would begin to lift the burden of poverty from producers in 
many developing countries.  The Hong Kong Minist erial should take decisions in these areas: 
 
1. Cotton – early relief, in 2006, should be provided for the African cotton producers. 
 2. Least developed countries – binding duty free access and the removal of non-tariff barriers, 
technical assistance to meet the standards set by technical barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary measures should be prioritized;  rul es of origin should be adopted that allow for 
cumulative treatment. 
 
3. Development Measures -  the modalities for th e designation of their sensitive products should 
include exemptions from tariff concessions, a nd the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) 
should be agreed.  Special measures to compensate net food importing countries and 
preference erosion should also be agreed. 
 
4. Market Access – modalities for minimum acc ess volumes of developing country exports 
should be agreed, including through zero-rated tariff quotas for those products of export interest to developing countries. 
 5. Export Competition – a target date for the elimin ation of export subsidies should be set, with 
due account taken of the need for adjustme nts by food importing countries to potential 
increase in prices.  This is to ensure that  their food security interests are not harmed. 
 6. Domestic Support – developing countries should be exempt from any new disciplines.  
Non-Agricultural Market Access
 
 1. Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers – the WTO ru les guaranteeing less than full reciprocity in 
tariff concessions should be emphasized;  tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation should 
be singled out for significant reductions;  the classification of goods considered to be environmental should be given fast track cons ideration for tariff reductions;  products of 
special export interest to developing countries, including energy products should be agreed;  
border taxes, including excise taxes should be removed on these products. 
 2. Development Measures – the modalities for comp ensatory measures in both trade and finance 
for preference erosion should be agreed. 
 
Technical Assistance and Capacity-Building
 
 1. The Doha Development Agenda  included many commitments in  each trade sector, and in the 
section of its own, on technical assistance and capacity-building.  This was further 
underscored by additional commitments in the July 2004 General Council decision on Trade  WT/MIN(05)/ST/4 
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 Facilitation.  These commitments are considered  of equal force as other commitments, if 
developing countries are to be in a position to negotiate and implement agreements in their 
interest. 
 2. The fulfilment of these commitm ents has been slow in coming, and almost entirely in the 
form of funding for the traditional GATT/WTO workshops and training of officials.  These 
have value.  However, more qualitative support is  required to ensure that developing countries 
have the capacity, from the supply side to secure  the benefits from new markets and to take 
advantage of the trading rules. 
 
3. Any new initiative by developed countries re garding finance and trade linkages should be 
assessed in light of the substantial costs to de veloping countries in building both infrastructure 
and institutions to meet existing obligat ions under the Marrakesh Agreement. 
 Trade Facilitation
  
 
 The technical assistance and capacity-building, wh ile recognised to be of vital importance to 
developing countries in lowering transaction costs, have met with negligible results.  The emphasis 
has been on defining or clarifying the rules.  1. There should be tangible support for buildin g infrastructure and the necessary institutional 
mechanisms by mid-2006. 
 2. There should be implementable modalities for gi ving effect to the commitments for technical 
assistance and capacity-building. 
 
Services
 
  Services make a significant contribution to Qatar's economy.  This sector is the largest employer in the economy.  Qatar is a substantial ne t importer of services.  Qatar's policy of economic 
diversifications puts a high premium on expanding it s domestic services sector, with special attention 
to tourism.  Qatar has made scheduled commitments in six main services categories and recently 
tabled its Initial Offer in the Doha Round (TN/ S/O/QAT, 7 July 2005).  It includes entry and 
temporary stay of natural persons and environmental services.   1. The issue outstanding from the Uruguay Round, namely the Emergency Safeguard 
Mechanism (ESM), the mandated review and assess ment of the impact of the "progressive 
liberalization'" by developing countries should be fast tracked. 
 2. The offers by developed countries should be improved substantially, especially for Mode 4 of 
the GATS Movement of Natural Persons. 
 3. There should be no revision of the GATS frame work for negotiations.  Proposals for so-called 
complementary approaches to include numerical  targets and "benchmarking" modalities are 
not part of the Doha Development Agenda. 
 Trade and Environment
 
 
 Qatar as a petroleum and major natural gas producer engaged in refining processes gives high 
priority to environmental issues.  As indicated above the importance of the services sector and the 
significant expansion in the tourism field is an  added impetus for protecting the environment. 
 1. Qatar's Gas Initiative tabled in the Committ ee on Trade and Environment, 28 January 2003, 
has gathered significant support.  at this Ministerial Conference, there should be recognition WT/MIN(05)/ST/4 
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 that systems of combined-cycle natural gas fi red generation and advanced gas turbines, as 
well as gas-to-liquid products, with their energy  efficiencies, would be a major contribution 
that trade liberalization could make to improving the environment. 
 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
 
 
1. There should be formal amendment to the TRIPS agreement to allow countries access to 
essential medicines for HIV/AIDS and other pandemics. 
 2. The moratorium excluding TRIPS from GATT 1994 Article XXIII non-violation complaints 
should be extended. 
 Rules
 
  Members agreed in Doha to clarify and improve disciplines in the Agreements on 
Anti-Dumping and Subsidies and Countervailing Measu res, in addition to fisheries subsidies and 
Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs).  Qatar suppor ts the thrust of the proposals to strengthen 
disciplines on fisheries subsidies as a contributio n of trade to the objective of "sustainable 
development".  1. In the area of Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, Articles 8 relating to non-actionable 
subsidies should be reintroduced and a new cate gory added to assist developing countries in 
their diversification programmes. 
 2. In the area of Anti-Dumping, there should be a moratorium on measures taken against the 
products of export interest to developing coun ties, and the Agreement should be reviewed for 
possible discontinuation.  In its place stronge r Safeguard measures should be agreed for 
developing countries against the disruptive effects of developed countries' exports. 
 3. Regional Trade Agreements should include flexibilities to allow developing countries to 
create and expand trade among themselves, including, inter alia , amendments regarding 
"substantially all the trade", "reasonable period of  time", and in respect of dispute settlement 
procedures.  Such South-South arrangements sh ould be supported by targeted technical 
assistance measures. 
  Qatar is pursuing an open trade policy based  on the firm assumption that its continuing 
development across the range of economic sectors will smooth its integration into the multilateral 
trading system.  The Doha Deve lopment Agenda implemented in a balanced manner will provide 
developing countries increased opportunities to secure the necessary gains from trade, and increase 
employment.   There should be a new impetus to identifying practical trade measures to facilitate the transfer to technology .  There have been notable examples of such transfers facilitated in the WTO, 
through the Information Technology Agreement, the GATS Protocol on Telecommunications, and the 
recent agreement among a few countries for high tec hnology semi-conductors in the so-called Multi-
Chip Wafer (MCP) Agreement.   In summary, Qatar restates the main elements of its economic strategy as reported in its Trade 
Policy Review of 2005:  the liberalization of th e economy and trade;  reduction of tariffs and 
removing restrictions in line with its commitmen t to WTO, increasing and diversifying exports;  
creating better access to world markets, enhanci ng trade cooperation by si gning bilateral economic, 
commercial and technical cooperation agreements;  establishing free-trade areas, customs union with 
GCC countries and negotiating free trade agreement (FTAs). 
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  Qatar is convinced that decisions in Hong Kong reflecting the spirit and letter of our joint 
commitments in the Doha Development Agenda will make a lasting contribution to peace and 
security.   Qatar is ready to make its facilities in Doha av ailable, at an appropriate time in 2006, for an 
in-depth assessment of the development aspects of tariff concessions and strengthened rules and 
disciplines negotiated.  it would be a good occasion also, to assess the substantial welfare gains to 
developing countries, estimated by  the World Bank among many others. 
  This would be proof that trade liberalization contributes to growth, employment, sustainable 
development, and overall development. 
 
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