São Paulo Round

Chairman|Host|Other Speakers|Developments     We, the Ministers of Participants to the Agreement on the Global System of Trade Preferences Among Developing Countries (GSTP); Having assembled in a special session of the GSTP Committee of Participants in São Paulo, Brazil on 16 June 2004 to review the implementation of the Agreement since its entry into force in 1989; Having acknowledged the report of the President of the Committee of Participants on the prospects and challenges confronting the Agreement; Cognizant of the need for concerted action to harness the enormous potentials of the Agreement in promoting and expanding trade among developing countries; Having noted the Decision of the Committee of Participants at its Seventeenth session in Geneva, Switzerland to sponsor the Third Round of GSTP Negotiations; Hereby declare: We reiterate our commitment to promote and sustain mutual trade, and to further economic cooperation among the Participants through the exchange of concessions within the framework of the Agreement. To this end, we have launched on the date of this Declaration the Third Round of GSTP Negotiations aimed at invigorating and furthering the objectives of the Agreement. To harness the potentials of the Agreement, we envisage a package of substantial trade liberalization commitments on the basis of mutuality of advantages in such a way as to benefit equitably all GSTP Participants. We are convinced that an ambitious package of trade liberalization commitments would promote economic complementarities among the Participants especially at the interregional level. In the Third Round of negotiations, we shall work towards developing concrete preferential measures to be accorded in favour of the least-developed country Participants in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement. We underscore the need for broadening participation in the GSTP, mindful that developing countries have become a dynamic force in the growth of the world economy and trade. We are pleased to extend an invitation to all the members of the Group of 77 and China to accede to the Agreement. In this regard, we are grateful to the Group of 77 and China and the Group of 15 for their continuous encouragement and the political support extended to the GSTP. We commit ourselves to be more involved in the affairs of the GSTP. We encourage the GSTP Negotiating Committee to take all necessary steps to facilitate and conclude expeditiously the Third Round of Negotiations. We thank the Secretary-General of UNCTAD for the technical support extended to the Committee of Participants and look forward to continued support of the secretariat. São Paulo, Brazil 16 June 2004 Last updated: 17 February 2006 10:04