16 June 2003
DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: SYMPOSIUM
Supachai: Doha talks key to reviving the world economy
Opening Session — Comments for the Director-General
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Let me reiterate the importance I attach to such efforts and take this opportunity to inform you about some related initiatives I have taken as Director-General. I am setting up two informal processes, one for NGOs and the other for business, to facilitate my dialogue with them. By taking this personal initiative, I hope to add to further transparency and understanding on the complexities of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ. Both Bodies held very constructive preliminary meetings yesterday.
I am also very keen to strengthen the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ as an institution to respond effectively to future challenges. We could benefit from fresh ideas and I have therefore asked a small group of eminent persons to serve as my Consultative Board and prepare a report on how to strengthen and equip the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ. I am meeting them today and tomorrow as some of them are participating in the symposium.
Before I make my welcoming remarks and introduce this morning's guest speakers, allow me to say a few words about this symposium. In the course of the next three days, you will have the chance to attend a series of work sessions on a wide variety of topics. These range from agriculture, services trade and development questions to trade and gender issues, GMOs and bio-safety, eco-labelling and questions linked to trade and competition and trade and investment. There are 22 such work sessions scheduled, a number which makes this symposium the most ambitious ever organized by the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat. The formula initiated last year – that of having civil society representatives organize sessions on topics of their choice – proved so successful that it is being followed again this year. Of the 22 work sessions, five are organized by the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat and 15 are being organized by non-governmental organizations or international organizations. There are two sessions which are being organized by governments.
This is a welcome development and reflects the strong interest many governments now have in engaging with the public to discuss what is really at stake with these negotiations. The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat has also tried to assist where possible with the travel and accommodation costs for civil society and government representatives coming from least-developed countries.
Before giving you a brief overview as to what I think are the biggest challenges facing us before and in Cancun, allow me please to thank the Government of Norway. It is thanks to the funding support of the Norwegian government that allowed the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ to plan such an ambitious symposium and to ensure that many people are here today who otherwise could not have afforded to pay their own way. For that, Madame Secretary of State Thorhild Widvey, I and my staff are truly grateful as are I am sure all of us here today.
Economic and Political Background
As many of the participants in the Symposium will come to Cancún in less
than three months for our Ministerial Conference, I would now like to
refer to the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. I believe that if we
are to achieve a more prosperous, equitable, just and stable world, we
must have a successful and timely outcome of the Doha negotiations. I
further believe this outcome is possible if governments are prepared
politically to commit to the overall endeavour and can find the courage
and resolve necessary to negotiate earnestly and with flexibility. I
welcome the recent encouraging signs of high-level political commitment
to the Round and to finishing it on time from OECD Trade Ministers, G8
leaders, APEC Trade Ministers and Ministers from all other parts of the
globe. I am also grateful to UN leaders for their recent expressions of
support for the Doha Agenda. We must urgently turn these words into
action.
Economic Environment: All regions of the world are now
experiencing economic uncertainty and slow economic growth. After an
average rate of trade growth in the 1990s of 6.7%, global trade
experienced a 1% decline in 2001 and grew by just 2.5% in 2002. Early
indications suggest growth in trade volume for 2003 will be little or no
better than 2002. It has become increasingly evident to political and
business leaders the world over that the weak global economy urgently
needs the stimulus that significant further liberalization of world
trade can bring. A successful conclusion of the Round is thus key to
reviving the world economy. Failure is not an alternative. It will send
a very damaging signal around the world about prospects for economic
recovery.
Development Environment: Trade's role in the development process
has never been more widely recognised. Research shows clearly that no
other area of international economic cooperation or development
assistance – whether debt relief or foreign aid – can offer developing
countries the gains that ambitious trade liberalization can generate.
According to IMF/World Bank estimates, elimination of barriers to
merchandise trade in both industrialised and developing countries could
result in welfare gains ranging from US$250 billion to US$620 billion
annually, of which a third to a half would accrue to developing
countries. Contrast these figures with the US$50 billion provided to
poor countries each year in aid or the estimated US$50 billion that is
required (additionally) each year to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals. Poor countries need to grow their way out of poverty. Trade is a
powerful engine for growth.
Multilateral Environment: We are in a period of growing global
uncertainty and profound challenges to multilateralism. The Doha
negotiations offer governments an opportunity to demonstrate renewed
commitment to multilateral cooperation and to shared responsibility for
addressing problems such as poverty and unemployment, which are so
closely bound up with issues of international security and stability.
Overall State of Play
It is 19 months since the Doha Development Agenda negotiations were
launched; they are due for completion in a further 18 months. In the
meantime, we have just 53 working days until Ministers gather in Cancún,
Mexico.
Where do we stand? I warned some time ago the Round would face imminent
gridlock unless focused political energy was applied to avert it. So
far, we have avoided the worst and I am grateful for the responsible way
governments have engaged in the negotiating process. Although key
deadlines have not been met, Members are continuing their constructive
discussions and are making determined efforts to find solutions.
I am encouraged as well by the commitment of Members to maintain a high
level of ambition and to finish the Round successfully and on time. It
is vital that we prepare for Cancun with these goals firmly in place, no
matter how complex and difficult their realization may be. Lowering our
expectations for the Round's outcome would not make an outcome any
easier to reach; it could even make it harder.
Other encouraging signs include full engagement in the negotiations from
almost all Members, developed and developing alike; tabling of ambitious
proposals in many areas of the negotiations (for example, proposals for
zero tariffs in industrials); clear evidence that Members are starting
to make positive linkages in the negotiations; increasing engagement
from senior officials and capitals along with growing support for
initiatives to draw them even more fully into the process; and growing
activism and involvement of Trade Ministers.
However, fundamental concerns remain. We cannot gloss over the missed
deadlines on TRIPS and Health, special and differential treatment,
implementation-related issues and more recently in areas of agriculture
and market access for non-agricultural products. Nor can we pretend the
setbacks have been cost-free. Failure to meet the deadlines on issues
that were to be addressed before Cancun has simply postponed our
work towards the Ministerial Conference. If greater flexibility is not
found and understandings not reached on at least some of these issues,
Ministers may be faced with an unmanageable task at Cancun.
I do not intend to dwell on these issues which will be discussed during
the three days of the symposium. I suggest that we move to our guest
speakers. Thank you.