Mr. Chairman,

I would like to join others in congratulating you upon your election as Chairman of the 5 ^th> WTO Ministerial Conference. Your able leadership on TRIPS and Public Health in Doha was paving the way for an agreement. Having you preceding over this important conference, leaves me reassured that we will succeed. You can count on Norway’s full support.

I would also like to extend our warmest thanks to the Government and the people of Mexico for hosting the Conference, and for the warm and hospitable reception in this beautiful beach-resort of Cancun.

Mr Chairman,

In an increasingly globalized world, cooperation across borders through effective multilateral institutions is crucial. Economic growth and development in all nations – not least in the developing countries – depend on a strong and fair multilateral trading system. Therefore, coherence in policy formulation and coordination in day to day operations between the WTO, the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN system, is of the greatest importance. I am pleased to note that the Director General of the WTO, the president of the World Bank, and the Managing Director of the IMF, are fully committed to maintaining the close cooperation between these three institutions.

Mr. Chairman,

The most important challenge of the Doha Development Agenda is to establish a set of WTO rules that are relevant to all members, irrespective of their level of development. The overall aim must be to make developing countries able to benefit fully from a common, global set of trade rules, that protect against discrimination and “the law of the jungle”, and provide predictable and fair trading conditions. We must make this a true development round.

The launching of this round was no easy task. After failing in Seattle, we succeeded in Doha. We have now a unique opportunity to strengthen and further develop the multilateral trading system, making it equipped to meet the economic challenges and realities of the 21st century.

We are negotiating a broad spectre of issues within the single undertaking. At this midpoint of the negotiations, and most certainly at the conclusion of the round, agriculture will be at the centre of events.

Agriculture was an important, new extension of the multilateral trading rules, resulting from the Uruguay Round. New rules and disciplines in agriculture is difficult for almost all Members. For some of us it is vital to maintain a sufficient level of protection, in order to be able to maintain a viable agricultural sector. A maximum tariff level is extremely difficult for a country like Norway. For others, strengthening of their export interests requires further liberalization.

Decisions and political guidance at this ministerial, must reflect a balance of interests which we all can live with. Thereby, we will contribute to a successful final stage of the negotiations.

Trade liberalization has been, and still is the core activity of the multilateral trading system. After eight rounds of tariff negotiations over more than 50 years, non-agricultural market access is still an “unfinished business”. We hope to be able to progress further in this round of negotiations, in particular in areas of export interest to developing countries, such as textiles and fish products.

We do, however, appreciate that many developing countries have not been part of this process from the start in 1948, and that they may need some more time to catch up. We are convinced that a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda will have to include substantial and ambitious results on non-agricultural market access. The foundation for this must be part of an agreement here in Cancun.

Save for the adoption of modalities for Least Developed Countries, no other major decisions are required in services. This does not imply that these negotiations are of less importance than agriculture and non-agricultural market access. Services accounts for a large part of economic growth, both in industrialized and developing countries. Viable results of interests to all must be part of a final package. Norway is looking for ambitious results in maritime services, telecommunications, energy services and financial services.

Nor do the rules negotiations require any decisions now. For the end-result of the round, however, disciplines must be strengthened and improved, in particular in antidumping. This is necessary in order to prevent that improved market access is undermined by abuse of the anti-dumping agreement. Disciplines in fisheries subsidies is also an important issue, with a clear environmental dimension.

Mr. Chairman,

Let me express my appreciation of the fact that a solution to the remaining issues on TRIPS and Public Health was found before this meeting. This will ensure that no Member is excluded from the benefits of the important decision we took in Doha. Hopefully, this agreement will set the tone for our work here in the days to come.

[Technical assistance is a prerequisite for many developing Members in these negotiations. This is why we have increased our trade related technical assistance over the last couple of years. We appreciate the important work by the WTO Secretariat and within the Integrated Framework. Norway will also in the future continue to be among the major contributors to trade related technical assistance. ]

We welcome the completion of the accession process of Nepal and Cambodia. We trust that the negotiations on the applications still outstanding – including a major trading partner like Russia – will be brought to a successful end as soon as possible.

Mr. Chairman,

Our task over the next few days is to take the necessary decisions and give the guidance required for the Doha Development Agenda to be successfully concluded on time. The round is vital for the future of the entire trading system. Our meeting is vital for the final stage of the round. This is the perspective in which we must see the Cancun Ministerial Conference.