. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(03)/ST/5
10 September 2003
(03-4744)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fifth Session
Cancún, 10 - 14 September 2003Original:  English
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Commission
Statement by Mr Pascal Lamy
Commissioner for Trade
It is nearly two years since we met, in the shadow of 9/11, and a sluggish world economy.
The responsibility we shouldered in Qatar was to launch new round of global trade talks for 15 years,and to commit to conclude by the end of 2004.  We showed - and I think it is something of which we
should be intensely proud - that the international community can respond to a major political
imperative with flexibility and solid practical measures.
The need for the timely and successful conclusion of that round is if anything even clearer
today.  The overall economic situation is no better, and indeed one of the paradoxes with which we
are wrestling is that while slow growth makes our job as negotiators more difficult, our success, in
delivering the results, is more necessary than ever.
But let us not forget that we called this new Round the Doha Development Agenda.  Cynics
say that this is simply post-Seattle spin, a wolf masquerading in sheep's clothing, the re-branding of a
discredited process.  If so, I wonder why developing countries have entered into the process with suchenergy and commitment, something which I welcome with great enthusiasm.  The DDA has clearly
become a genuine process to address the needs and concerns of all WTO members, including
developing countries, and this has already created the conditions for a new approach in the treatment
of development issues.
Just take, for example, the deal on access to medicines.  Vital if we are to show that the WTO
and the multilateral system is not just about mindless liberalization, or kow-towing to globalization.
Of course, we have much more work to do to ensure delivery in practice, on the ground.  But the deal,
however long we waited for it, shows that the WTO can and will put people before markets.
I think most delegates to this conference would also agree that we have taken the
development dimension seriously across the board.  We have made real progress on the issue of
implementation, and we are on the way to re-vamping the application of special and differential
treatment, both in a series of specific measures, and of course SDT appears in each and every one of
the individual market access negotiations.  And when it comes to committing money to Trade Relateddevelopment assistance, the European Union is ready to put its money where its mouth is - our total
contributions amount to around half the total commitments for 2001-2002 recorded by the WTO.
But let us recall that the goal remains:  the integration of developing countries into the world
economy.  In years to come, they will not thank us if we only manage to create a two tier membership
in the WTO.  So let us continue down this path of integration and avoid the creation of a group of
Members who have second-class responsibilities, but also only second-class rights.WT/MIN(03)/ST/5
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That is why I am so pleased that we have made real progress, at last on the accession of least
developed countries into the WTO.  This year in Cancún, we will welcome the entrance of Cambodia
and Nepal and hope to move ahead on other important negotiations, such as Russia, Vietnam and
Saudi Arabia, where the EU has just completed its bilateral negotiations.
But what do we have to do specifically in Cancún?  To put it simply, we need to make
practical progress on the series of tough issues we identified in the Doha Declaration.  From
agriculture to industrial tariffs, from environment to the so-called Singapore issues.  We all know
what they are.  On agriculture, we have shown repeatedly our willingness to look for agreement, from
the ambitious proposals we put on the table in January, to the agreement we concluded - at the urgings
of our partners - with the United States over the summer.  On the so-called Singapore issues, we have
shown understanding and indeed flexibility across th e board on all four issues in order that the
negotiations can be launched at this meeting, and we are still ready to listen to your concerns.  On
non-agricultural market access, we have come quite a long way, but there is still some work to do to
lock in a text which must be sufficiently ambitious but agreeable to all.
Finally, and perhaps most of all from the political perspective, given that this round will
continue to focus principally on development, we sh ould avoid trying to re-create the confrontational
north-south atmosphere of the 1970s and 1980s.  It would be a great mistake to see the situation this
way, and at odds with the reality.  For there are many lines of division in our debates, many south
positions, many north positions.  On geographic indications, for example, the EU shares a similar
point of view to India.  On trade defence, the initiative comes from Asia to find new disciplines, butfor our part we are ready to look at how this can be achieved.  On the question of the disclosure of
origin of genetic resources, the proponents - India, Brazil and China - have the active support of the
EU and others.  On the dispute settlement review , the EU, Costa Rica and Jamaica all agree on the
need to increase the rights of third parties.  And last but not least, on agriculture, our position de base
is very supportive of developing countries, where we have been the first to pioneer the notion of theDevelopment Box, for instance.
Because what, in a word, characterizes the European Union's position at this Conference, and
in the Doha Development Agenda as a whole?  In a single word, openness.  Open to address the
concerns of others on the substance of these negotiations.  Ready to go the extra mile to bring us to
agreement.  I hope we can get to agreement this w eek on several of the outstanding issues before us,
and believe we can.
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