Check against delivery
Mr. Chairman,
I would like to join the other
speakers in congratulating you on your election as Chairman of the
6
th> WTO Ministerial Conference, and to thank
Hong Kong, China, for hosting this conference. Hong Kong is an
excellent choice of venue, as it is one of the world’s most
open economies and has shown an impressive rate of economic growth
rate over the past decades.
There are mixed expectations for
the outcome of the conference. Under your able leadership, I am
confident that if we all make a real effort, we will be able to
take the Doha round a significant step further.
Mr Chairman,
The Doha Development Agenda has a
single overriding goal: to ensure that international trade boosts
economic development and alleviates poverty. In order to reach this
goal, we need to secure and inprove a strong and fair multilateral
trading system.
Norway has benefited from the
expansion of this trading system, which is built on rules and
regulations and the principle of mutual advantage. Now our task and
responsibility is to further expand the system and to facilitate
the inclusion of developing countries in a way that will offer them
real opportunities for trade, development and social progress.
The stakes are high. Either we
succeed in expanding the global trading system so that it
safeguards the interests of all. Or we will fail, and see the start
of the total disintegration of the multilateral system.
It is vital that we are inclusive.
The interests of Members and groups of Members vary. In a final
agreement, the interests and concerns of the entire membership will
have to be duly reflected in a balanced way as part of the Single
Undertaking. This will require compromise, mutual respect and hard
work.
Mr Chairman,
Norway has clear interests in the
negotiations on NAMA and services. Our fish exports are in great
demand all over the world. Yet they face innumerable hurdles and
protectionist measures. We are determined to strengthen WTO rules
in order to prevent benefits from market access negotiations from
being undermined by trade remedies that are applied for
protectionist purposes.
Norwegian agriculture faces severe
challenges due to our harsh climate. One third of mainland Norway
lies north of the Arctic Circle, we have a short growing
season and much of the country is mountainous. Therefore, we cannot
compete on the world market. We export very few agricultural
products and already import half of what we consume.
We are willing to contribute in
these negotiations. The offer we are making together with our G10
partners represents net losses in all the negotiating areas. I note
that some partners have stated that they are prepared to give on
domestic support if they gain on market access. For us, the
question is all about giving. We are prepared to give, and we
realise that our agricultural sector will have to undergo profound
changes. But there are limits. We need an agreement that reflects
the fact that our agricultural sector differs from those in Central
Europe or the Americas. One size simply does not fit all. It is
vital for Norway to maintain a sufficient level of protection to be
able to sustain a viable agricultural sector and our non-trade
concerns.
In the light of this, Norway is
firmly of the view that a tariff cap should not be part of the
solution and that the different tariff structures of the various
Member States will have to be taken into account. All Members
should be able to designate an appropriate number of sensitive
products.
Mr Chairman,
We have to make further progress on
non-agricultural market access in this round of negotiations. Like
many developing country Members, we are looking for ambitious
results. We stand by our commitments in the Doha mandate to reduce
and eliminate tariffs on products of particular interest to
developing countries in areas where peaks and escalation
prevail.
And I repeat, one size does not fit
all. The interests and concerns of developing countries vary
widely. The flexibility needed by small and vulnerable Members with
a narrow industrial base is not the same as that needed by other
developing country Members. We will contribute constructively to
viable solutions to these Members’ concerns. To succeed we must
negotiate the level of ambition and the type of flexibility granted
to developing countries in an integrated manner.
Mr Chairman,
Rules constitute an important part
of market access and should therefore be negotiated in parallel
with market access issues.
Services play a crucial role in
economic growth for developed and developing countries alike. We
have high ambitions for the services negotiations. And again, it is
important to find ways of both achieving an ambitious result and
safeguarding the legitimate concerns of the poorest Members.
This round is a development
round. Most of the development gains will be from increased
market access. Given the recalibration of expectations for this
ministerial conference and the postponement of the end date, it is
important at this stage to send a strong development message to the
rest of the world. We need an “early harvest”, and we are
ready to contribute to this end.
Norway supports the elements that
have been discussed in this connection. An early harvest would be
an important signal from Ministers that the development round is
being taken seriously.
In the light of this, Norway
welcomes the agreement reached on TRIPS and Public Health in Geneva
last week. But we need to go further. We need a mandate to
negotiate an amendment to the TRIPS agreement that requires the
disclosure of the source or the country of origin of genetic
material or any traditional knowledge on which a patent application
is based.
A bold decision should also be
taken on duty and quota-free market access for products originating
from least developed countries. Norway is already providing
such market access for all LDC products. We challenge others to do
the same. This would be a substantial outcome of Hong Kong and and
an opportunity we should not miss.
We also appreciate the importance
of cotton for Africa, and will contribute positively to efforts to
find a viable solution.
Substantial increases in aid for
trade would be an equally positive signal to developing countries
that rich countries are willing to do their share. We
therefore urge all Members to pledge substantial increases in
trade-related technical assistance here in Hong Kong. Norway
will for its part make a significant increase in its contribution
to the Integrated Framework.
Mr Chairman,
The LDCs are not expected to take
on new commitments in this round. Therefore, the new Norwegian
government has decided to withdraw all its services requests to the
LDCs. Each country should be able to decide how to organise its key
infrastructure sectors. Norway knows from experience that the
development of such key sectors was essential to the development of
its own national economy.
Therefore, we have withdrawn
requests related to higher education and other education services,
retail sale of electricity and water distribution services
vis-à-vis developing countries.
As we look ahead beyond this round,
we must not be afraid of addressing new issues. Proposals have been
put forward to include ILO standards in future WTO negotiations.
Norway supports the idea, which is backed by labour unions, of
promoting coherence between the work of the WTO and the work of the
ILO.
Before closing, I would like to
take this opportunity to welcome Saudi Arabia and Tonga to the WTO
family. We trust that the negotiations on the applications that are
still outstanding – including the major trading partner Russia, as
well as Ukraine, Vietnam and others – will be brought to a
successful conclusion as soon as possible.
Mr Chairman
Norway regrets that we do not have
a draft ministerial decision with proposals for full modalities in
the main negotiating areas on the table here in Hong Kong.
Nonetheless, I am still optimistic. We all agree that the level of
ambition for the round should remain unchanged. We can still finish
the negotiations in the course of 2006.
Together we must ensure that Hong
Kong is a constructive and dynamic start to the final step of the
Doha Development Round.
