./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/74
1 December 1999
(99-5324)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
BOTSWANA
Statement by the Honourable Daniel K. Kwelagobe
Minister of Commerce and Industry
On behalf of the Government and the people of Botswana, I would like to take this
opportunity to thank the Government of the United States of America for hosting the
3rd WTO Ministerial Conference here in this beautiful city of Seattle.  This Conference affords
Member States an opportunity to review the work of the WTO, reflect on the status of the
implementation of the various Agreements, and to collectively strive for further and more equitable
liberalization of trade.
Botswana reaffirms her commitment to the multilateral trading system as an engine of growth
and development.  However, we note that the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements has
been a highly technical and complex process, posing major challenges for developing countries.
Botswana is among the countries that have found it extremely difficult to fully implement these
Agreements due to lack of technical and human capacity.
It is our firm belief therefore that the most urgent task facing the WTO and its Members is to
press for a more rigorous implementation of these Agreements, to balance the rights and obligationsof its Members and to facilitate the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading
system through the provision of more focused and coherent technical assistance.  We believe that the
proposed round of multilateral trade negotiations should be based mainly on the need to implement
the existing Agreements, promote free trade between developed and developing countries as well as
among developing countries and in particular, extend bound duty free treatment of exports from least-developed countries.
We also believe that the special and differential treatment for our countries must be seen as a
basic principle and be fully incorporated and operationalized in these Agreements.  This principle
should be reconfirmed to closely link it to the development policies and capacities of our countries toimplement the Uruguay Round Agreements.  The transitional periods associated with the
implementation of the various Agreements should also be reviewed to reflect the economic realities of
our countries.
With regard to the on-going renegotiations between the EU and ACP group of countries, we
are of the view that the ACP countries still need to maintain preferential access into the EU market to
facilitate their smooth integration into the multilateral trading system.  It is in this regard that we urge
WTO Member states to support the request for an extension of the waiver for the current EU-ACP
trade agreement.
While we recognize the importance of adequate protection of intellectual property rights to
attract foreign investment and transfer of technology, we are still in the process of developing ourintellectual property rights legislation and creating internal capacities to implement this Agreement.WT/MIN(99)/ST/74
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Botswana therefore, supports proposals for extension of the transitional period for compliance with
this Agreement.  Further, we support proposals for a "peace clause" to ensure that developing
countries are not challenged for their non-compliance during the period of negotiations of the new
round.
The current imbalances in the rights and obligations under the Agreement on Agriculture
between developed and developing Members of the WTO is of serious concern to Botswana.  We
believe that the focus of the forthcoming negotiations on Agriculture should be to develop appropriate
modalities to redress the imbalances faced by developing countries.  A decision to allow for flexibility
on domestic support for developing countries will serve us well in our endeavour to promote food
security.  And the small economies, land-locked a nd island countries require assurance that their
special circumstances would be considered during the new round of multilateral trade negotiations.
A large proportion of the population in Botswana is dependent on the agricultural sector.  The
output from this sector, however, does not meet domestic demand.  As a result, Botswana is a
net-food importing developing country.  Botswana, therefore, supports the implementation of the
Marrakesh Decision on Net-Food Importing Developing Countries, especially the establishment of the
revolving fund facility to assist Net-Food Importing Developing Countries.  We believe the Decision
on Net-Food Developing Countries has to be urgently implemented as a matter of priority.
With regard to the issues relating to environment and labour standards, Botswana believes
that these are important issues which have to be addressed in promoting sustainable development.However, while we support improvement of environmental standards, we note that the existing
Working Group on trade and environment, which we believe has to continue to study and analyse the
relationship between the two issues.  Indeed, on core labour standards, we note that the Singapore
Ministerial Conference took a definitive decision to refer this matter to the appropriate organization,
the International Labour Organization.
Finally, as we approach the next round of negotiations, it will also be critical that developing
countries be assisted to participate effectively in the negotiations of the new round.  This should be
done through the provision of technical assistance.
We are convinced that the issues outlined have to be addressed more rigorously if we are to
put the multilateral trading system on a more sustainable path in the new millenium.  This is the majorchallenge facing the WTO Member States.
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