WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/3
2 November 1999
(99-4724)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original: English/
               French/
               Spanish
MESSAGE OF THE MINISTERS OF THE GROUP OF 77
TO THE THIRD MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Morocco, Marrakesh, 13-16 September 1999
The following message has been received from the Permanent Mission of Morocco with the
request that it be circulated to the Third Session of the Ministerial Conference.
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1. We, the Ministers of the Group of 77 and China, meeting at the Ninth session of the
Ministerial Conference of the Group of 77 in Marrakech, Morocco, from 13 to 16 September 1999 to
prepare for the forthcoming tenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD), to be held in Bangko k, Thailand, in February 2000, have agreed to
transmit the following message to the Third WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Seattle from
30 November to 3 December 1999.
2. We see the liberalization of international trade under WTO rules as a powerful and dynamic
force for accelerating growth and development.  We are strongly committed to persevering in the
pursuit of liberal and open trade policies which integrate the development dimension. The challengefor the Third WTO Ministerial Conference is to make resolute progress along the path towards an
open international trading system whose benefits are equitably distributed.
3. We note with great concern, however, that the benefits of the existing multilateral trading
system continue to elude developing countries. Progress towards full liberalization in sectors ofparticular interest to them is lagging behind, and significant imbalances between rights and
obligations exist in multilateral trade agreements (MTAs), as well as in conditions of market access.
The persistence of these anomalies could erode the confidence of developing countries in the
multilateral trading system and strengthen the hand of those who would wish to retreat into misguided
protectionist policies and approaches.
4. We therefore attach utmost importance to addressing the issues and difficulties faced by
developing countries that have arisen in the course of the implementation of the WTO MTAs. In this
way developing countries can achieve a share in the growth of international trade commensurate with
their economic development needs. The non-realization of benefits by many developing countries inareas of interest to them has resulted from the failure of major trading partners to fully and faithfully
meet their obligations in these areas, particularly textiles and clothing. We therefore urge that the
question of the implementation of Marrakech Agreements and Decisions be addressed and resolved at
Seattle by the Third Ministerial Conference of the WTO.
5. In particular, the special and differential provisions in the WTO MTAs, many of a "best
endeavour" nature, which have largely remained unimplemented, must be operationalized if thedeveloping countries are to derive the expected benefits.WT/MIN(99)/3
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6. We believe that the negotiations provided for under the "Built-in Agenda" should be launched
without delay responding to the priorities of developing countries:
• In agriculture, the objective should be to incorporate the sector within normal WTO rules,
addressing the particular problems of predominantly agrarian and small island developing
economies and net food-importing developing countries.
• Negotiations on trade in services should be carried out within the existing architecture of
GATS and aim at the liberalization of sectors of special interest to developing countries and
the movement of natural persons, while taking account of the impact of electronic commerce.
• The mandated reviews under the WTO MTAs ought to redress imbalances and to ensure that
provisions in favour of developing countries are effectively implemented.
7. We call upon developed countries to demonstrate a firm and unequivocal commitment to
opening their markets to the exports of developing countries, and to provide duty free and quota free
access for the exports of the least developed countries.  This should not affect WTO members'
existing commitments relating to preferential schemes. Any future negotiations should address the
elimination of tariff peaks and tariff escalation and should introduce further disciplines to prevent theabuse of measures such as antidumping, countervailing duties and safeguard actions, sanitary and
phytosanitary regulations and technical barriers to tr ade, as well as to prevent the apparent revival of
the use of voluntary export restraints.  The work  programme on the harmonization of non-preferential
rules of origin should be achieved rapidly, to attain simplified, harmonized and more transparent
rules.
8. We will collectively pursue a positive agenda for future multilateral trade negotiations which
should also pay particular attention to such issues as transfer of technology, appropriate safeguards for
developing countries, credit for autonomous liberalization, export finance, commodity markets and
the integration of the developing countries into the multilateral trading system on equitable terms.These negotiations should make operational the provisions under the TRIPs Agreement relating to the
transfer of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge
and seek mechanisms for a balanced protection of biological resources and disciplines to protect
traditional knowledge; enable developing countries under the TRIMs Agreement and the Agreement
on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures to use measures necessary to implement their policies fordevelopment and export diversification and upgrading.
9. The Singapore Ministerial Declaration confirmed that ILO is the competent body to set and
deal with all issues relating to labour standards. We therefore firmly oppose any linkage between
trade and labour standards.  We are also against the use of environmental standards as a new form of
protectionism. We believe that issues relating to such standards should be dealt with by the competent
international organizations and not by the WTO.
10. We are convinced of the need for differential and more favourable treatment of developing
countries. This includes assistance to developing countries to help overcome transitional costs and to
allow time for achieving development goals and enhancing competitiveness. The concept of special
and differential treatment should be reviewed and strengthened to take account of the changingrealities of world trade and of globalized production, and must be accompanied by capacity-building,
enhanced market access and measures taken by industrialized countries to encourage their enterprises
and institutions to transfer technology and know-how and invest in developing countries.
11. Eliminating trade barriers will not be enough to accelerate the integration of developing
countries into the multilateral trading system.  We therefore call upon the international community toWT/MIN(99)/3
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expand technical cooperation and capacity-building programmes, and to provide support for
overcoming supply-side deficiencies and improving the trade infrastructure in developing countries,
particularly the LDCs and small economies.  There is a need to strengthen their export sectors and
stimulate the positive contribution which the commodity sector can make to development through
diversification. Implementation of activities within the integrated framework for trade-relatedtechnical assistance endorsed by the 1997 WTO high-level meeting on LDCs' trade development
needs to be accelerated, and we call on our development partners to provide the necessary resources
for this objective.
12. We note the importance for all countries of consistency between national trade policies and
the multilateral trade agreements. In this regard, we express our concern at:
• the continuing use of coercive economic measures against developing countries, through,
inter alia , unilateral economic and trade sanctions which are in contradiction with
international law, in particular new attempts aimed at extraterritorial application of domestic
law, which constitute a violation of the United Nations Charter and of WTO rules; and that
• the preferential trade access granted to some of our countries continues to be tied to
conditions not related to trade. We believe that these harmful practices, which conflict with
WTO rules, should be eliminated.
13. The universality of the World Trade Organization should be achieved as soon as possible in
order to strengthen the multilateral trading system . We strongly believe that appropriate assistance
should be made available to developing countries seeking accession.  They should be offered termsthat do neither exceed nor are unrelated to the commitments of developing country and LDC members
of WTO. We urge that all WTO members refrain from placing excessive or onerous demands on
applications from developing countries. Therefore, there is a need for a transparent, streamlined and
accelerated accession process that is in keeping with WTO rules and disciplines.
14. We recognize the importance of regional and subregional integration. Such arrangements
facilitate trade and investment flows, economies of scale, economic liberalization and the integration
of their members into the system of internatio nal economic relations within a framework of open
regionalism, enabling progress towards a more open multilateral system.
15. We attach importance to achieving greater complementarity in international economic policy
making. The international institutions involved should pursue mutually supportive policies which
would enable developing countries derive maximum benefit from the Multilateral Trade Agreements,
while respecting the rights of developing countries enshrined in these Agreements.
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