General Secretariat of the ACP Group of States
Press release
Brussels, 1 August 2003.
ACP Ministers today adopted a declaration for the next WTO ministerial
meeting (Cancun) and decided the whole Group will have a single overall
spokesman at this meeting.
The ACP Ministers of Trade, meeting in Brussels
on 31 July and 1 August 2003, have arrived at a common position to be expressed
at the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun. This position is
reflected in a Declaration which the Group will address to the WTO, to be included as an official working
document for the Cancun conference.
The ACP Ministers of Trade also appointed a
single overall spokesperson for the whole Group: Hon . Jacob NKATE, Chairman of
the ACP Trade Ministers’ meeting and Minister of Trade and Industry of
Bostwana. He will be assisted by
deputies in charge of each of the main
issues on the agenda of the Cancun conference.
In their Declaration, the ACP Ministers
identified the following issues as being among the most crucial for Cancun : Doha Work programme (including Special and
Differential Treatment, Implementation
issues, Agriculture, Services), TRIPS and Public Health, Singapore Issues and
the Decision Making Process.
Doha work programme. Concerned by the slow progress
in the implementation of the Doha work programme, and that important deadlines
on issues of particular interest to developing countries have been missed, the
ACP considers that concrete progress has
to be made in some of these issues, including Special and Differential Treatment and Implementation before the
Cancun ministerial meeting.
On Agriculture, the ACP expresses concern at
the failure to meet deadlines for the establishment of modalities for further
commitments in Agriculture and considers that progress in this matter is
essential for the successful conclusion of the Doha work programme. The ACP
reiterates the need to improve market access for all agricultural products
originating from ACP states, and the need for developed countries to eliminate
the export subsidies and to reduce trade distorting support especially when
having a negative impact on ACP countries.
More specifically, the ACP calls upon the Cancun ministerial conference
to take a decision on the rapid elimination of subsidies to cotton and adopt
measures so as to compensate those countries adversely affected by these
practices. On sugar, they deeply regret the recourse to the WTO dispute
settlement procedures by Australia, Brazil and Thailand against the EU Sugar
regime which could result in serious
adverse effects in the ACP states concerned.
TRIPS and Public Health. The ACP underscores
the commitment in the Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health that the TRIPS
Agreement should be interpreted in a
manner supportive of WTO's Members right to protect public health and to
promote access to medicines for all.
They are deeply concerned by the impasse in finding a solution to the issues
and urge the WTO to forge a legally binding multilateral solution before the
Cancun meeting.
Singapore Issues. The ACP Ministers reaffirm
that the discussion in the WTO on these issues thus far confirms that each has
its own peculiar aspects and complexities and that WTO Members have not reached
a common understanding on how any of these issues should be dealt with. They
recognise that most ACP States do not have the capacity to negotiate
meaningfully these issues. Furthermore, the benefits of negotiating a
multilateral framework for all the Singapore issues are not evident and this,
coupled with the fact of scarce resources and limited capacity in this area,
does not provide a basis for the commencement of negotiations on these areas.
Decision making process. The ACP requires the
creation of a transparent, democratic, all-inclusive and consultative
decision-making process in the WTO. They want to be represented at all formal
and informal meetings. They reiterate the importance of taking decisions by consensus.
Among other issues addressed by the ACP
Declaration are the following : Services, Market access for non -agricultural
products, Trade related aspects of Intellectual property rights, Anti-dumping
and subsidies, Regional Trade Agreements, Dispute settlement, Trade and
environment, Small economies, Trade, Debt and Finance, Trade and transfer of
technology, Technical co-operation and capacity building.
In addition to the preparation of the WTO
Ministerial Conference, ACP Trade ministers undertook an evaluation of the
state of negotiation of the ACP-EU economic partnership agreements. They emphasised
that Phase I (negotiations All-ACP / EU) should result in a binding outcome for
both the ACP and the EU.
contact :
Hegel Goutier
+32 2 743 06 04
fax 743 06 58