. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(03)/ST/123
13 September 2003
(03-4904)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fifth Session
Cancún, 10 - 14 September 2003Original:  English
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
Statement by Mr Horatio Versailles
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of International
Trade and CARICOM Affairs
Let me first extend a warm welcome to all of the new Members of the World Trade
Organization and to Cambodia and Nepal whose Member ship is to be approved at this Ministerial.
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis sees th is Fifth World Trade Organization Ministerial
Conference as an opportunity to address the development focus of the Doha Development Agenda
and to honour the commitments made and loudly trumpeted when the Round was launched.  Let us
grasp the opportunity to fashion appropriate measures to reverse the growing marginalization of small
vulnerable island developing economies as the multilateral trading system has not responded to theneeds of these economies.  We find that of 21 Small Island Developing States, 18 have negative
balances of trade and the United Nations Development Programme in a publication titled " Making
Global Trade Work for People " has documented that some 67 developing countries have suffered loss
of market share, contraction of manufacturing capacity and increase in unemployment as a result of
the liberalization process.  Clearly liberalization is not working for a large number of countries.
This traumatic development is in large part due  to the rules of the multilateral trading system
which imposes binding obligations on Members - irrespective of their size and special circumstances -and some policies of the developed countries which created a combination of circumstances that have
compromised the limited options for structural adjustment available to economies like St. Kitts and
Nevis, and threaten the very viability of the economic base, social stability and their sovereignty.
If the liberalization process is to contribute to poverty alleviation and not poverty creation in
small economies, their unique characteristics must be recognized and addressed in the WTO.  St. Kittsand Nevis, one of the smallest of small economies; with an area of 269 square kilometres
approximately 45,000 persons, a Gross Domestic Product of US$220 million and annual government
revenue of less than US$90 million, does not possess the conditions to encourage economies of scale
activities neither do we have the human, administrative institutional and financial resources to
implement the WTO Agreements effectively nor to undertake new additional obligations.
We were promised in the Doha Declaration that implementation and related issues were to be
given the utmost importance, but to date there has been little progress, and the majority of the issues
remain unresolved.  Fellow Members let us use this opportunity to seriously and effectively address in
a substantive manner, all the outstanding implementation issues before us.
We share with other small economies, serious concerns regarding the possible introduction of
the Singapore Issues into the multinational negotiations, as there is no common understanding
amongst WTO Members on how these issues should be dealt with.  Further to expect small economics
such as mine to implement new obligations would simply serve to undermine the credibility of the
WTO, as even with the best will in the world;  St. Kitts and Nevis does not have the resources to
implement new WTO obligations, nor would it make any economic sense for us to divert our limitedWT/MIN(03)/ST/123
Page 2
resources or development assistance to undertake new obligations the benefits of which are not
evident to us.  We therefore do not support the commencement of negotiations in these areas.
Small size, exposition to external shocks and limited options continue to constrain our efforts
to diversify and structurally adjust the economy.  As a single commodity exporter our small export
trade in sugar , is only possible through special preferential arrangements that exist for the marketing
of this commodity.  Without long-standing preferences which offset the loss of competitiveness, we
would lose most of our export trade, setting back or even reversing our sustainable developing
prospects.
For small economies preferences are of incalculable benefit and their impact on global trade
is negligible and too small to threaten any countries interest - in fact in the case of St. Kitts and Nevis
our percentage of world merchandise export is 0.000007 per cent.
The Caribbean call on WTO Members to provide for the maintenance and security of such
preferences through flexible rules and modalities that allow for exemptions based on special
development needs.
Another matter of great concern to small economies and the Caribbean is the threat of tariff
reductions and the effect on government revenue.  Import taxes account for as much as 50 per cent of
government revenue in some Caribbean countries.  It is therefore critical that high tariff revenuedependent countries be exempted from further tariff reduction to provide them with the flexibility to
take the decisions consistent with their development needs.
At Doha Ministers reaffirmed that provisions for special and differential treatment are an
integral part of the WTO Agreements and agreed to review these provisions with a view strengthening
them and making them more " precise, effective and operational ".
Regrettably all the deadlines have been missed and no agreement on the eighty-eight (88)
proposals presented has been reached.  For small vulnerable island developing states, special and
differential treatment is at the core of these states participation in the multilateral trading system.  The
Havana Charter long ago recognized this principle that Member states are not created equal but have
different resources and capacities, are at different stages of development with special needs.  Our taskhere is to give practical expression to this principle so that a country like mine with total merchandise
exports of US$44 million would not be expected to undertake the same level of commitment and
obligations as a country with exports of US$770 billion.  The constraints of small size are not
temporary, so special and differential treatment should not be looked at as exceptions to the general
rules, but as an integral part of the multilateral system.
The viability of the global trading system is dependent on an effective mechanism that allows
small states to fully benefit from increased intern ational trade - an outcome vital for economic growth,
development and poverty alleviation.  We must ensure that this Ministerial frame the responses
mandated at Doha, which are essential if the small economies are to meaningfully participate in the
multilateral trading system.
Fellow Members let us not expand the scope of the WTO to make it cumbersome and
unmanageable.  Let us remember that the Membership of the WTO will soon be 148 countries andcomprises a very diverse group with different resource bases and levels of development.  Let us not be
distracted by other subject areas, which are really not meant for the WTO, but let us forge ahead and
provide the political leadership to negotiate a successful conclusion for all at this Ministerial.  Finally
let us also put in place the necessary instruments to support the socio-economic development we have
been mandated to secure for our people and let us live up to the commitment made in Doha and makethis truly a development Round.
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