. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/ST/79
11 November 2001
(01-5673)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth SessionDoha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  English
NIGERIA
Statement by the Honourable Mustafa Bello
Minister of Commerce
Let me, on behalf of the Nigerian delegation, join the other speakers before me
to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on your election.  I must also pay special tribute to
H.E. Mr. Mike Moore, Director-General of the WTO and the Chairman of the General Council,
Mr. Stuart Harbinson, for their efforts at evolving a multilateral trade agenda that addresses the
concerns of all Members.  I also wish to express our sincere appreciation to the Government and
people of Qatar for the warm reception accorded my delegation and for the excellent facilities thathave been provided for the Conference in this beautiful city of Doha.
2. The Fourth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference is taking place at a time when the
greatest challenge confronting the WTO is the need to reassure all that the multilateral trading system
intends to and can operate equitably and fairly to promote prosperity for the generality of the world's
populations.  The 4th WTO Ministerial Conference is also timely as it affords the WTO yet anotheropportunity to convince the forces of protesters against globalization that have become a normal sight
at economic gatherings since Seattle two years ago of its good intentions.  It is for these reasons that
my delegation believes the WTO must be seen to be fair to all, since no system, however rule-based,
can command the respect of all unless it is also regarded  as equitable, fair and just.  I would, therefore,
urge you, as I did in Seattle, to give this issue the urgent attention that it deserves so that we can both
individually and collectively ensure that the system works for all.
3. Developing countries are under increasing pressures as a result of the poor performance of
our national economies, arising from the asymmetries associated with the process of globalization and
the imbalances inherent in the Uruguay Round Agreements.  There is therefore an urgent need to
address issues relating to capacity-building, supply-side constraints as well as market access in sectors
of export interest to developing countries.  In that regard, we welcome the initiatives by both the
European Union and the United States under the ACP-EU Cotonou Partnership Agreement and theAfrican Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).  My delegation therefore calls on all Members to
amicably consider and approve the waivers necessary to secure these trade preferences.
4. Nigeria remains convinced that the time has now  come for the multilateral trading system to
decisively address issues of development and ensu re that they form the centre-stage of any future
WTO programme.  We firmly believe that this can be achieved through committed measures tofacilitate the integration of developing countries, particularly African countries into the global
economy.  It is therefore important that the implementation issues be fully addressed and resolved at
this 4th Session of the Ministerial Conference at Doha.  Equally important is the need to make the
special and differential treatment provisions of the WTO mandatory and binding so that African
countries can derive the expected benefits from the multilateral trading system.
5. It is also my delegation's view that the following elements should be addressed towards
achieving a development agenda.  An area of utmost importance to developing and least developed
countries of Africa is agriculture.  Indeed, 70 pe r cent of the poor and 95 per cent of the extremelyWT/MIN(01)/ST/79
Page 2
poor live in rural areas.  Under these circumstances, we expect the mandated negotiations for the
continued liberalization of trade in agriculture to address the particular problems of predominantly
agrarian and net-food importing developing countries.  The crucial question here is market access free
of all forms of TBTs.  Equally important also is the dumping of cheap subsidized agricultural products
in our countries.  My delegation therefore calls on our trading partners, while preserving the existingpreferential schemes, to also commit themselves to the reduction of subsidies, elimination of tariff
peaks and tariff escalation, and disciplines to prevent the abuse of, sanitary and phyto-sanitary
measures, technical barriers and environmental requirements.
6. On services, we call on the developed countries to facilitate the increasing participation of
developing countries in trade in services and the expansion of our service exports including, inter alia ,
the strengthening of our domestic services capacity and its efficiency and competitiveness.  This will,
no doubt, require flexibility and concerted efforts to promote the development of services sectors ofinterest to developing and least-developed countries of Africa and others.
7. For obvious reasons, we are not able at this point in time to negotiate another round of
tariff reductions in industrial goods.  Many of our countries have been experiencing negative
consequences as a result of the various liberalization measures we undertook under the Uruguay
Round negotiations and from autonomous liber alization within the Structural Adjustment
Programmes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Capacity utilization has fallen considerably
and the adverse effects of unemployment are evident in all our countries.  My delegation, therefore,
considers it necessary for the WTO to conduct a study an the implications of the existing
liberalization measures on industrial products and the development concerns of developing and least-
developed countries of Africa and others.
8. It is also common knowledge that Africa is the region worst affected by HIV/AIDS, and that
the TRIPS Agreement presents difficulties for access to essential medicines to combat this pandemic.
Together, HIV/AIDS and other diseases like malaria and tuberculosis are killing more people in
Africa now than those killed in the first two world wars.  To adequately confront the issue, my
delegation is convinced that TRIPS should in no way be a barrier to addressing this critical situationin any way possible.  Therefore, nothing in the TRIPS Agreement should prevent our countries from
taking action to address public health.
9. Regarding the new issues, let me reiterate our expectation that the educational process in the
Working Groups should continue.  Apart from the fact that the investment regimes in our countries
are already liberalized without any significant inflow of foreign direct investment, the Singapore
mandate clearly stated that any decision to enter into negotiations on these issues should be by
consensus.  As at now, there is no consensus to negotiate on these issues.  My delegation is also notinclined to agreeing to any unilateral or plurilateral decision on these issues.  Moreover, since the
principle of a single-undertaking was introduced into the WTO, we cannot backslide by accepting any
opt-in/opt-out conditions.  However, if we cannot reach a consensus on these issues, it is only logical
and reasonable that the multilateral trading system remain inclusive and collectively binding.
10. In conclusion, it is our strong belief that while we need to collectively embrace the
obligations in the WTO, it is also important to r ecognize that this should be through our differential
capacities.  To achieve this, my delegation would like to re-emphasize the need for greater
cooperation between the WTO and the other multilateral finance and development institutions in order
to achieve greater coherence in global economic policie s.  We also call for the full implementation of
measures to cancel the debt of African countries, so as to generate surplus resources for a moreeffective participation in international trade.  Our position is based on the fact that all the existing
Agreements recognize our relative capacities and developmental limitations.
__________