./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/99
2 December 1999
(99-5320)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third SessionSeattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
Statement by the Honourable Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman Taib
Minister of Industry and Primary Resources
I would like at the outset to thank you,  the US Government  and the people of Seattle for
hosting this important Conference.  I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate
Mr. Mike Moore on his appointment as the new Director-General.
Our meeting here ln Seattle is being held at a critical juncture.  It is the last Ministerial
Conference before we step into the new millennium.  More importantly, it is being held when the
world is struggling to keep pace with the rapid changes brought about by globalization.
The events on the streets testify to this.  In our view, they also serve to remind us of the
objectives embodied in the Preambles of the Marrakesh Agreement.  The pursuit of higher standardsof living, full employment and benefits to developing and least-developed countries has become even
more urgent.  Our discussions therefore accord us the opportunity to address such concerns and
collectively chart the road map of the global trading system in a balanced manner.
At this juncture, I wish to recall a very important mandate from the Second Ministerial
Conference in Geneva.  The mandate was to evaluate the implementation of the Uruguay Round
Agreements and the realization of their objectives.
We have now had almost five years to implement the Uruguay Round Agreements.  The
evaluation conducted of their implementation clearly i ndicates that there are real difficulties.  Frankly
speaking, benefits are largely confined to developed countries, with their edge in technology, know-
how and infrastructure.  For many others, the promise of economic growth and development remainslargely unfulfilled.
We need therefore to strengthen the special and differential treatment provisions contained in
the Agreements.  Meanwhile, technical assistance to developing and least-developed countries should
be stepped up.  The mandated reviews of  these Agreements should also effectively address issues of
concern and interest to developing and least-developed countries.  This, I strongly believe, is the key
to enable developing countries to share the benefits of the Uruguay Round Agreements.
The preparations for this Ministerial Conference, which began a year ago, have incorporated
the many concerns of Members on the need to further improve and strengthen the world tradingsystem.  More than 150 proposals were submitted to the General Council for consideration.  Our
officials have been working hard in Geneva over th e last few months to decide which issues should be
included for negotiations and which should be categorized for future work programmes.WT/MIN(99)/ST/99
Page 2
Therefore, apart from the mandated new negotiations in agriculture and services, the other
issues proposed for inclusion in new negotiations must be closely examined in order to avoid
overloading our work programme in the coming years.  In addition, my delegation would also support
negotiations on non-agricultural tariffs, if products of interest to developing countries are included.
Many other proposals are however, not yet ripe for negotiations.  We thus believe that
exploratory work on the Singapore issues of trade and investment, trade and competition,
transparency in government procurement, and trade facilitation should continue.
It would also be appropriate to extend the appl ication of the Declaration on Global Electronic
Commerce until the Fourth Ministerial Conference and establish a horizontal non-negotiating group.
As this technology is at the embryonic stage in most developing countries, we believe that studies oftrade-related issues arising from electronic commerce should also consider how best to enable these
countries to benefit.
Brunei Darussalam, like many other WTO Members, subscribes to core labour standards.
Nonetheless, we feel compelled to reiterate our Singapore agreement that the International LabourOrganisation is the competent body to deal with such issues.
ln conclusion, we would like to stress that new negotiations and the future work programme
should take into account fully the needs of developing countries.  These new negotiations should aim
at providing greater benefits to all Members, in particular, timely and effective market access fordeveloping and least-developed countries.  This, to our mind, is the only feasible and credible way of
ensuring that the world trading system does not further marginalize some Members.  We must move
forward with vigour  and renewed commitment to reinforce our collective undertaking to strengthen
the multilateral trading system.
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