South African statement to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Negotiating Committee, Geneva,

Thank you Mr Chairman

At the outset, I want to acknowledge and thank you for your personal, your chairs and your staff's extraordinary efforts in the process we have all been engaged in over the ten days. For all of us, the failure of our collective effort to reach an outcome on the terms agreed seven years ago in Doha is a missed opportunity. In particular we regret that we have not achieved an early resolution of cotton, duty free quota free market access for least-developed countries (LDCs), the banana issue and tropical products and so on we therefore support the proposal for an early harvest on duty free quota free, cotton and bananas.

The systemic implications for this organisation, for global trade and for the fuller integration of developing countries into the global trading system on equitable terms are matters that we will all need to begin to reflect on with some seriousness. Of course, we will all have varying assessments of the proximate and deeper causes for our inability to reach a positive outcome.

I think all members will agree that despite our failure to conclude the negotiations at this time, we will have to come back as soon as possible to make further efforts to conclude what we began in Doha. In preparing for that, however, we will need to take important lessons from the experience of the last ten days and begin to build a firmer foundation for re-starting the negotiating process.

For South Africa, the developmental agenda, as we agreed in Doha, must remain at the centre of these considerations. Our core objective must be to continue to work to strengthen the global rules-based trading system in a manner that supports the development aspirations of developing countries. An equitable and balanced trading system that fully takes into account developmental prospects would enhance the legitimacy and stability of the system. We must, therefore, reaffirm the Doha mandate to "place the needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the work programme."

In doing this and in order to succeed in the negotiations, it seems to us that we must ensure that the development objectives to which we subscribe are given greater weight than narrow mercantilist objectives. Development and increased trade are not synonymous, although trade growth can contribute to development. In this regard, we must be attuned to the fact that a single-minded focus on trade and market opening can also be detrimental to broader development considerations. The construction of the agenda and process of negotiation must take these considerations into account.

A second lesson that we must take from the experience of the last ten days is that pursuing rigid formulas and frameworks that ignore the specific situations and concerns of particular Members can be a recipe for failure. In maintaining its legitimacy and sustainability, the rules-based system must be able to respond to and accommodate specific concerns of particular countries.

In this respect, we have to reaffirm and meaningfully implement the principles of special and differential treatment and less than full reciprocity in favour of developing countries, while taking into account real differences among developing countries.

Giving expression to these principles is first and foremost a task for all of us in the developing world. It is our responsibility to define the development content we seek in negotiating outcomes and we must do so in ways that build common purpose.

During this week we said that as South Africa we do not regard ourselves as custodians of development in the sense of being the only ones who can define or determine when it has been or is being achieved as this is something we must collectively do. We are, however champions/advocates and activists for it, and will always be.

Director-General you will have South Africa's support in the efforts you will undertake to re-start the process so that we conclude what we began in Doha.

Thank you

Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
30 July 2008