Assembly/AU/Decl.3 (VIII)1 Page 1 DECLARATION ON WTO NEGOTIATIONS We, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the African Union, meeting at the 8th Ordinary Session of our Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 29th – 30th January 2007; Recalling the decision of the international community at Doha in November 2001 to put the interests and concerns of developing countries at the center of the New Round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations; Taking into account the enormous financial and human resource costs that have been incurred by our Member States since the launch of the Doha Round in 2001; Recalling our earlier Declarations on the Doha Development Agenda negotiations; Mindful of the decisions taken by the Heads of State and Government of the United Nations Organization at the Millennium Summit +5, held in New York in September 2005, regarding the need of development, as well as the ways and means for attaining this central objective; Further recalling the recommendations of the G-8 Summit held in Saint Petersburg in 2006 and the commitments taken by the major trade players concerning the achievement of the Doha Round objectives; Taking note of the Report of the Third Extra-Ordinary Session of AU Conference of Ministers of Trade, held in Addis Ababa on 16th January 2007; Aware that there are many systemic trade issues of importance to Africa’s development which are beyond the reach of bilateralism and which can be best addressed within the framework of a rules-based multilateral trading system; Further aware that Africa will be a major loser if the Doha Round fails to deliver on its development promises and does not lead to a strengthening of multilateralism; Convinced that a successful completion of the Doha Round, with development at its core, is critical to Africa meeting the challenges of development, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; Taking note of the expressions of support for Africa’s development aspirations by some of our development partners.