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.