WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/75
1 December 1999
(99-5288)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
LESOTHO
Statement by Honourable Mpho Malie
Minister of Trade, Industry and Marketing
On behalf of my delegation, and on my own be half, I wish to congratulate you and your
Bureau for having been elected to steer the deliberations of this August body.  I also wish to express
our sincere gratitude to the people and government of the United States of America and the SeattleHost Organization for the warm reception we have received and excellent facilities which have been
made available to us.
It is fitting that we have gathered here on the eve of the new millennium to take stock of our
achievements since the Marrakesh Conference which gave birth to the World Trade Organization and
also to map the way forward into the next century.
The establishment of a rules-based multilateral trading system was our major achievement in
this century.  The vision derived from the imperativ e that the economic interactions of the world must
be governed by a system of rules and not just the interplay of economic muscle or military power.
Allow me at this me at this juncture to highlight a couple of issues that are of paramount
concern to my delegation.
It is our firm belief that the International Trading Community must intensify its effort to
accelerate the integration of developing countries, in particular, the least-developed countries into theglobal economy.  Conscious attention must also be paid to the African nations, most of which are
least-developed.  Otherwise, we will never enjoy full economic and social justice of the world.
The African continent, is abundantly endowed by nature;  its opportunities are infinite and its
potential boundless.  However, these potential and opportunities are yet to be fully exploited.
We in Africa, are deeply concerned that our continent's share of the global merchandise trade
has been steadily declining, from 5.9 per cent in 1980 to 4.2 per cent in 1985 and dropping further to
2.3 per cent in 1996.  It is unacceptable that in this continent of about 700 million people,
approximately 300 million people live in poverty.
As we are about to enter the new millennium, our continent faces the following basic and
fundamental challenges;
- The need to embark on high impacting development programmes with the objective
of eradicating poverty in a reasonable time-frame;WT/MIN(99)/ST/75
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- The need to keep up with the momentum of globalization and liberalization of global
trading markets in goods and  services, within the framework of a rules-based
multilateral trading system.
- And, the need to adopt new technological advances and realize their impact on
comparative advantages of our economies.
We are mindful of the fact that in a world of unequal economic and political power, the
creation of a leveled playing field where all actors are treated equally is indeed a difficult task.  This is
a challenge to all of us if liberalization and globalization of the world economy is the goal of the
Multilateral Trading System.
We believe that the integration of African economics into the global trading system is not
only an African challenge but also a moral duty of the International Trading Community.  To this end,
we wish to commend the Director-General, Mr. Mike Moore for setting as one of his main objectivesto work towards contributing to the integration of th e least-developed countries into the global trading
system.  Indeed, as he rightly pointed out to us during the recent conference of OAU/AEC Ministers
of Trade held in Algiers, the world now exists polarized by poverty and opportunity, as it was once
polarized by the Cold War.
It is our well considered view that in order to advance the integration of the developing
countries, in particular the least-developed into the global economy, the following considerations
should be made:
With respect to the implementation of the existing Agreements and Decisions;
- the implementation of the provisions relating to special and differential treatment by
the developed countries in favour of the developing countries must be made in amanner which is generalized, non-discriminatory and non-reciprocal.
- And, close cooperation and working links between the IMF and the World Bank must
be enhanced in order to enable the developing countries, especially the
least-developed countries to develop trade-elated human and institutional capacity in
order to participate more effectively in the WTO and in the trade negotiations.
The importance of the technical assistance provided by the WTO for enhancing the capacity
of the developing countries cannot be over-emphasized.  We call upon members to commit
themselves to making available the required financial resources necessary for meeting the needs of the
developing countries.  We further call upon member s to strengthen the current funding mechanism of
technical co-operation.  To achieve this, technical cooperation must be financed from the regular
WTO budget while voluntary extra budgetary contributions should continue to play an important role.
Closely related to the issue of technical co-operation is the Integrated Framework which was
launched by the least-developed countries in 1997 following the High Level Meeting on Integrated
Initiatives for the Least Developed Countries' Trade Development.
This was a sound approach, but in practice, it has not been successful due mainly to
inadequate funding, implementation problems and poor coordination among the six core agencies.  It
is our firm belief that to revitalize this initia tive, Ministers should mandate the General Council to
review the implementation of the indicative and the review should be completed no later than
July 2000.  While still on the issue, I wish to commend the Director-General on his recent decision to
appoint a special coordinator for least developed countries.WT/MIN(99)/ST/75
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Another important consideration that must be made here relates to the proposal to extend
bound duty-free and quota-free market access to all products originating from the least-developed and
developing countries  We are aware that this is a big decision, which may present some problems for
some Members, but we wish to appeal to them to muster their political will and make the right
decision.  This is a crucial issue for our economic development.  In conclusion,  I wish to addressmyself to the issue of a new round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations.
In our view the central challenge of the new negotiations is to ensure that issues of
development are addressed decisively.  Meeting this challenge will serve to strengthen the multilateral
trading system, enhance its legitimacy and crea te a sustainable basis for a new round of global
economic growth from which all WTO members can benefit.  This Conference represents the
opportunity to deliver the launch of new negotiations with the development objective at the center of
our considerations.
In conclusion, it is our strong belief that we need to collectively embrace fully our shared and
differential responsibility for global economic development.  This rules-based system should be
strengthened so as to allow us the opportunity to manage our globalized world economy.
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