GRAND BAIE MINISTERIAL DECLARATION ON THE FIFTH MINISTERIAL
CONFERENCE OF THE WTO
We, the Ministers of Trade of the Member States
of the African Union (AU) met in Grand Baie, Mauritius,
from 19 to 20 June, 2003 to consider a number of issues
of developmental importance to Africa, including coordinating
our position towards the Fifth Session of the WTO Ministerial
Conference to be held in Cancun, Mexico from 10 to 14
September, 2003:
1. Take note of the outcomes of recent Ministerial
meetings of Eastern and Southern African countries in
Nairobi, SADC in Lusaka and LDCs in Dhaka as well as
the work under the NEPAD Initiative.
2. Recognise that trade can serve as a tool
for development and make an important contribution to
the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.
We recall the collective commitment we undertook at
the Fourth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference,
held in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001 to place the needs
and interests of developing countries at the heart of
the WTO work programme.
3. Express serious concerns at the general lack
of progress in the current round of multilateral trade
negotiations as evidenced by missed deadlines on key
issues and negotiations of importance to African countries.
The most critical of these have been the lack of progress
on the negotiations in agriculture, TRIPS and public
health, special and differential treatment and implementation-related
issues and concerns. We call on WTO Members to inject
momentum in these negotiations in order to ensure that
the Cancun WTO Ministerial Conference yields positive
results for African countries and makes the Doha Work
Programme a truly "Development Agenda".
4. Are deeply concerned at the failure to meet
the deadline for the establishment of the modalities
for further commitments in agriculture, which is a major
set-back for the reform programme. Agriculture is of
critical importance to Africa's development and holds
the potential to lift millions of our people out of
poverty. Progress in the agricultural negotiations is
essential for the successful conclusion of the Doha
Work Programme.
We strongly urge WTO Members to fulfill the commitments
undertaken in Doha as contained in the mandate for the
agricultural negotiations. Recognizing the vital importance
of long standing preferences for African countries,
we welcome the proposals on preferences as contained
in the Harbinson text and we also call upon WTO Members
to address the issue of the erosion of preferences.
We further call upon WTO Members to exempt LDCs from
any reduction commitments.
5. Express our full solidarity with African
countries that are affected by subsidies on Cotton provided
by developed countries and strongly support actions
initiated by some African countries in the WTO to urgently
remedy the negative consequences of these subsidies
that affect millions of African farmers.
6. Note that the Services Council has not satisfactorily
met the requirement of carrying out the assessment of
trade in services as stipulated in the GATS.
We reiterate the need to respect the principle of progressive
liberalization and promote and facilitate the participation
of African countries in international trade in services,
and liberalization by developed countries in sectors
and modes of export interest to them. We further reiterate
that due respect must be given for the Member's right
to regulate trade in services and liberalize according
to their national policy objectives. We call for the
full implementation of the Guidelines and Procedures
adopted in March 2001, particularly giving due consideration
to the needs of small service suppliers of Africa. We
call for the expeditious completion of the work on modalities
for LDCs.
7. Are deeply concerned at the failure to find
a multilateral solution that would enable Members with
insufficient or no manufacturing capacities, make effective
use of the compulsory licensing under the TRIPS Agreement
as mandated by Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public Health. We reiterate our support for
the Chairman's text of 16 December 2002, which was done
in a spirit of compromise and enjoys the overwhelming
support of WTO Members.
We call upon other Members who have not joined the
consensus on this text to do so. We believe that Members
acting in accordance with the terms of the Chairman's
text, will be properly discharging their obligations
to address public health problems in accordance with
the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health.
8. Affirm that the objectives of the negotiations
on non-agricultural market access are to facilitate
the development and industrialization processes in our
countries. The modalities and the actual negotiations
must reflect these goals appropriately by addressing
tariff peaks and tariff escalation, taking fully into
account the special needs and interests of developing
and least-developed countries, including through less
than full reciprocity in reduction commitments and the
principle of special and differential treatment.
We are deeply concerned that the draft elements of
the modalities proposed by the Chairman of the WTO Negotiating
Group on Market Access for Non-Agricultural products
do not take into account the specific vulnerabilities
of African industries, especially in the textiles and
clothing, leather and fisheries sectors. It is a matter
of grave concern to us that the proposals made by some
African countries in Geneva have not been considered,
especially with regard to erosion of preferences, and
revenue implications which are of critical importance
to Africa.
We urge that the modalities should take full account
of all our concerns, in particular, the erosion of preferences.
We welcome the Chairman's proposal to exempt LDCs from
making any reduction commitments. While recognising
the special needs of LDCs, the proposed studies on LDCs
should be extended to other African countries and should
include the effects of previous liberalization measures
as well as the potential impact of any proposed modalities.
9. Emphasize the importance of completing the
work programme on special and differential treatment
(S&D) we endorsed at Doha. We reiterate that all S&D
provisions in the WTO Agreements must be reviewed with
a view to strengthening them and making them more precise,
effective, binding and operational. We are deeply concerned
that the mandate on S&D treatment has not been met.
We call upon the WTO to conclude this work, as a matter
of priority, before the Cancun Fifth WTO Ministerial
Conference.
11. Express our concern about the lack of progress
and missed deadlines regarding the implementation-related
issues. We call upon the WTO to conclude this work,
as a matter of priority, before the Cancun Fifth WTO
Ministerial Conference. We further urge the full operationalization
of the Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible
Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on LDC’s and
Net Food Importing Developing Countries.
12. Recognize the complexity and importance
of the Singapore issues and note that WTO Members do
not have a common understanding on how these issues
should be dealt with procedurally and substantively.
Taking into account the potential serious implications
of these issues on our economies, we call for the process
of clarification to be continued.
13. Reaffirm the need for a coherent and holistic
approach at the multilateral level on issues of trade,
debt and finance. We also stress the need to operationalize
WTO provisions that relate to the transfer of technology.
We consider these issues to be of significant developmental
importance to our continent and call for the continuation
of the work of these Working Groups beyond the Fifth
Ministerial Conference.
14. Are convinced that our sub-regional and
regional integration organizations are pillars of the
African Economic Community, and are essential for the
promotion of Africa’s socio-economic development and
serve as the dynamic building blocks for our effective
integration into the Multilateral Trading System (MTS).
We anticipate that such initiatives will be anchored
to development-friendly WTO disciplines arising out
of Doha work pertaining to the clarification and improvement
of the WTO disciplines applying to regional trade agreements.
15. Welcome the adoption the work programme
on small economies and request the General Council to
use the proposals made by the group of small economies,
pursuant to the framework and procedures of the work
programme on Small Economies, as the basis for making
the recommendations for action at the Fifth Session
of the WTO Ministerial Conference, for the fuller integration
of small, vulnerable economies into the MTS. We take
note of the WTO Director-General's initiative of establishing
"trade policy clinics".
16. Reiterate that technical cooperation and
capacity building are core elements of the developmental
dimensions of the MTS and the Doha work programme. We
urge for the increased collaboration among all agencies
in the delivery of requisite technical assistance.
17. Welcome the launching and commencement of
the second phase of the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance
Programme (JITAP II) for least-developed and selected
African countries by the ITC, UNCTAD and the WTO and
the extension of the programme to additional eight African
countries. We are confident that the programme will
build on its successful track record. We commend the
three agencies for their work and request our development
partners to avail the requisite resources to enable
them deliver the programme and expand it to all African
countries in an expeditious manner.
18. Welcome the revamping of the Integrated
Framework (IF) and expect that it will be fully and
effectively implemented in order to contribute to trade-related
capacity building needs and overall development objectives
of LDCs. We underscore the need to ensure country-ownership
both at the pre-Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies
(DTIS) and the post-DTIS follow-up, particularly in
respect of implementation of trade-related capacity
building projects at country level and the mainstreaming
of trade in national development plans and the PRSPs.
In this context, we welcome the donor initiative for
the use of IF Trust Fund Window II resources for this
purpose.
We therefore call upon bilateral and multilateral donors
to enhance their contributions to the IF Trust Fund
in order to enable the core agencies deliver on the
projects and programmes identified by the recipient
countries.
19. Take note of the adoption by the General
Council in December, 2002 of new guidelines on WTO accession
procedures for LDCs and call upon WTO Members to fully
implement these guidelines. In view of the difficulties
experienced by LDCs and other African countries in their
accession process, WTO Members should refrain from making
excessive or onerous demands on their applications.
20. Are concerned about the lack of transparency
and inclusiveness in the WTO negotiations and decision-making
processes. We call for measures to ensure the effective
participation of our countries in the processes leading
to the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, at Cancun and
beyond.
21. Regret the deadlock over the issue of granting
of Observer Status in the WTO bodies and in this regard,
we pledge our support for the granting of Permanent
Observer Status to the AU and other inter-governmental
organizations in view of their trade policy mandate.
We call upon other WTO Members to support us in this
effort.
22. Express our appreciation for the contribution
of the Commission of the AU, UN-ECA and the UNCTAD for
the continued technical support.
23. Thank the Government and People of the Republic
of Mauritius for hosting the meeting, for their warm
hospitality and for the excellent facilities they put
at our disposal. Done in GRAND BAIE, MAURITIUS on this
day of 20th JUNE 2003
23.06.
2003
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