WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/77
11December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5234)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Original: English
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
BELARUS
Statement byMr.Mikhail Marinich
Minister ofForeign Economic Relations
(Speaking asanObserver)
Thedelegation oftheRepublic ofBelarus isgrateful toyouforthisopportunity toparticipate
intheWTO Conference, sograciously organized bySingapore. Forus,economies intransition, waiting
tojoinyourOrganization, thisforum provides amoreprofound understanding ofthemultilateral system
oftrade andeconomic relations, regulated bytheWorld Trade Organization.
TheRepublic ofBelarus isayoung independent Statethatgained itssovereignty inJuly1991,
afterthedisintegration oftheSoviet Union. Itissituated between Poland, Russia, theUkraine and
theBaltic States. Shortly afterthedeclaration ofindependence westated ourintent tojointheWorld
Trade Organization. Ourintent issupported byconsistent policies aimed atliberalization offoreign
economic activities. Asoftoday, ourcountry haslaiditsbasic legislative foundation inthesphere
offoreign trade, adopted lawsnecessary forregulation offoreign economic activities. These laws
havebeenformulated inaccordance withinternational standards andprovide forfaster development
offoreign trade andinflow offoreign investments,
Wearecurrently creating anational export control system intended tostrengthen international
security andtoprevent proliferation ofmassdestruction weapons. TheBelarussian Government also
attaches great importance tobilateral andmultilateral agreements ontrade andeconomic cooperation,
avoidance ofdouble taxation, protection ofinvestments, which isanother illustration ofouraimof
integration intotheworld trade system andobservance ofWTO principles.
Toputitinamore general vein, thetransition from theformer system ofcentral planning
toamarket economy hasbeentheyardstick ofBelarus 'economic policy. Yet,onthisroad, wehave
beencoming across anumber ofobstacles, nottobeovercome inanhour.
Thesystem oftrade andpayments oftheex-USSR hadbroken up,andmany enterprises
practically losttheirmarkets andsuppliers ofrawmaterials. Consequently, wehadtoreform the
economy and,simultaneously, work outthelegislative system anditsbasic institutions fromscratch.
Most unfortunately, atthesame verytime, economies intransition, including theRepublic
ofBelarus, found themselves under pressure oftheUruguay Round 'sresults, which setstillmore rigid
criteria, namely WTO rulesandregulations, fornewindependent States. Allofthem, including Belarus,
feelthispressure intheprocess oflonganddreary negotiations onaccession toWTO.
Since WTO isauniversal negotiational forum setuptoregulate multilateral world trade,
nowadays itshould beadapted tosolving theproblems ofdevelopment asmuch aspossible. Economies
intransition, webelieve, should beregarded inthisverycontext. What weneedisconcrete help,
individual approach toevery economy intransition, because suchasmall country asBelarus, notrichWT/MIN(96)/ST/77
Page2
atallinresources, cantakeitshistoric chance ofdynamic growth anddevelopment primarily bymeans
oftrade. Naturally, full-fledged dejureparticipation intheinternational trade system, fathered by
WTO, might considerably easethewaytoeconomic growth ofthesenations. Wedonotaskformuch:
simply amore flexible, lessstrict accession procedures.
Webelieve thatWTO istheright organization which could assist economies intransition,
including Belarus, inquicker articulation ofsuchcountries intheworld system ofinternational trade.
Thisisnotarequest forprivileges andpreferences. Thisisanappeal tounderstanding ofourobjective
situation.
ThePresident andtheGovernment ofBelarus arecurrently conducting systemic reforms. Some
political groups inBelarus, including communists, donotapprove ofthese measures. Therecent
nationwide referendum hasreflected people 'ssupport ofthepolicy ledbythePresident andthe
Government. Theplebescite hasbeenparticipated by84percentofthepopulation. More than80per
centofthem havevoiced theirsupport ofthePresident. Thenation hasupheld thepolicy aimed at
acceleration ofreforms, consolidation oftheCustoms Union withRussia, Kazakhstan andKirghiztan,
strengthening oftrade andeconomic relations withourneighbours: theUkraine, Poland, Lithuania,
Latvia andother countries. Belarus wants peace andmutual understanding. Wehavenonationality-
related problems inourcountry. Yetwedohaveeconomic problems thataredifficult totackle because
oftheneedtoimplement theChernobyl relief programme. Tenyears agoatragic accident happened
attheChernobyl power plant, which issituated ontheterritory oftheUkraine. Asaresult, more
than70percentoftheentire radioactive fallout wenttotheterritory ofBelarus. Itkeeps having its
severe impact notonlyonthemoral andpsychological situation, butontheeconomy aswell.
Over therecent period, theBelarus Government hasbeenallocating some 20percentofthe
Statebudget fortherelief measures, likehousing oftheaffected population inintact regions, medical
care,remediation ofterritories, etc.Webelieve thatthesefactsshould beremembered when oneregards
Belarus.
There isstillonemore important thing Iwould liketosingle out:there canbenorecourse
tothecommunist pastinmycountry. Belarussians arefullofenthusiasm toprotect theircountry 's
sovereignty anderect anindependent State, named theRepublic ofBelarus.
Thisiswhycountries likeBelarus arenotafteranykindofprivileges orpreferences. We
simply needequal conditions ofaccess toworld markets, according tocommon rules oftheWorld
Trade Organization, without discrimination orrestrictions.
Iamreferring tothese points because Belarus hasalready faced point blank theproblem of
anti-dumping setagainst itstwobasic export products: potash fertilizers andchemical fibres. The
methods ofanti-dumping dispute settlements usedbyEUexecutive bodies arbitrarily label Belarus
andothernewindependentStatesascountrieswithstate-ownedtradeand"non-market"economy(despite
thefreemarket developments inBelarus andeventhelarge-scale agreement, concluded between the
Republic ofBelarus andEUin1995, which stipulated thetransitional status ofBelarus).
Noonewishes tofindoutwhyithappened. Cananew, fledgling independent country, not
yetexisting onsome maps, butalready withexisting anti-dumping sanctions, beblamed?
Didithave necessary facilities toregulate foreign trade operations? Evidently not.
Unfortunately, theobjective aswellasthehistorical factor, which accompanies thecreation ofanew
country isdisregarded. Consequently, theRepublic ofBelarus isdeprived oftheEuropean market
tosellitsexportable products.WT/MIN(96)/ST/77
Page3
Naturally, thisisasevere blow forthestillmaturing economy ofBelarus. Itinnoway
consolidates itsindependence andsovereignty. Itsimply pullsatrump forpolitical groups inthecountry
which oppose thereforms.
Werequest theEuropean Union, WTO, torestore justice inrelation toBelarus andtoexpedite
cancellation ofrestrictions imposed bytheEuropean Union ontrading inpotash fertilizers andchemical
fibres.
Inconclusion, Iwould liketoconfirm thattheRepublic ofBelarus submitted itsMemorandum
ofAccession toWTO inDecember 1995withonlyoneintention -tojoinWTO andwork inaccordance
withthecommon rules oftrade, onjustconditions, withconsiderations given tospecific features of
different countries (regions), participating ininternational trade. Wehopethatthedeclaration tobe
adopted willtakenoteoftherequests coming from non-member countries.