You will recall that when we last met, I had said that the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference must take countries 2/3ds of the way towards the completion of the Doha Round, whose target date is the end of 2006. That target date corresponds to the end of the negotiating mandate of one of our Members — the United States, whose Trade Promotion Authority will be expiring.
Since then, you may have heard that Members decided to “recalibrate” their expectations for Hong Kong. I hasten to stress that by recalibration Members meant neither a lowering of the level of ambition for the Doha Round, nor a license to let the final 2006 end date slip.
The Round must be completed on time, and must fulfil its promise of a cross-cutting developmental outcome. The call for recalibration was necessary only in order to adjust expectations to the “real” state of the negotiations.
Immediately prior to this Conference, Members demonstrated their serious engagement in the Doha Round by taking two important decisions — ones that will undoubtedly make a difference for developing and least-developed countries.
First, Members agreed to give least-developed countries until 2013 to comply with the provisions of the WTO Agreement on intellectual property rights with respect to trademarks, copyrights and other protection.
They also agreed on an even longer extension of the implementation period for pharmaceuticals — 2016. This important step was taken to help least-developed countries integrate into the multilateral trading system. It recognizes that a “one size fits all” set of rules would ignore the reality of the different stages of development that WTO Members are at.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.
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