°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ NEWS: SPEECHES DG PASCAL LAMY
Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Asia
and the Pacific
Pascal Lamy's remarks at the opening session of the Aid for Trade
conference in Manila, Philippines
SEE ALSO:
>
Press releases
> °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ news archives
> Pascal
Lamy's speeches
Welcome to this first regional review of Aid
for Trade for Asia and the Pacific. First, I want to thank our partner
in this event, the Asian Development Bank. President Kuroda and his
team have done the heavy lifting in terms of preparations and
organization — and the superb result comes as no surprise to anyone
familiar with the focus, energy and professionalism of this
institution.
I also want to thank our host, the Philippines Government, which has
been an enthusiastic supporter of this concept since I first discussed
it with President Aroya in April. It is entirely fitting that we are
holding this event in one of the more dynamic countries in what is
easily the most dynamic region of the world economy. China, India and
other Asian powerhouses have offered a new model — and a new
inspiration — to the developing world. One which harnesses
globalization — through trade and integration — to provide an
unprecedented engine for growth, rising living standards and poverty
reduction. Part of our challenge over the next day and a half is to
learn from Asia's success, and share the lessons.
This meeting has one purpose: helping countries in Asia and the
Pacific build the capacity they need to take advantage of trade. It is
part of a global initiative — launched at the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ's 2005 Hong Kong
Ministerial Conference — to scale up international financial
assistance for trade capacity building in developing countries. The
second of three regional conferences — following one in Lima last week
and preceding one in Dar es Salaam in early October — it will provide
the regional perspective on Aid for Trade, culminating in a “Global
Review” in Geneva on 21–22 November.
The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ's main contribution to growth and development — for this
region and for the world — is the current Doha Round of multilateral
trade negotiations. In terms of market opening and strengthened
international rules, it promises to have a greater impact than the
Uruguay Round. But while trade opening is indispensable to
development, it is not sufficient in itself. What Asia has shown us is
that countries also need access to the basic infrastructure that
drives globalization — 21st century transport corridors and
telecommunications networks that can connect exporters to world
markets; modern customs facilities that can move products rapidly and
efficiently across borders; testing labs to ensure that exports meet
international standards; and the sophisticated expertise and
institutions needed to navigate a highly complex world trading system.
Some of these pieces are already in place in this region but others
are not, and the necessary investments cannot be supplied by poorer
counties alone. Aid for Trade is about helping to fill these “gaps” —
mobilizing and leveraging the required financial resources — and
providing a catalyst for the increased trade, investment and growth.
It is about helping developing countries to benefit from the world
trading system. But it is also about strengthening the world trading
system itself — by ensuring that its opportunities are more widely
shared.
These are major challenges and we only have a short time to address
them — so let me suggest three key issues we should focus on:
First, the importance of national vision — backed by a comprehensive
strategy for getting there. No one can tell a country how to trade or
become more competitive. The only successful export-led growth
strategy is one which countries want themselves — that they design and
implement on their own — and that remains on course over the
long-term. So the first step towards mobilizing Aid for Trade is to
make trade capacity and infrastructure a national priority shared
across government — including trade, finance, planning, agriculture,
and other key ministries. And because trade crosses borders, these
priorities are often regional in scope — which means finding new ways
to finance and implement projects regionally. I hope we can spend time
over the next day and a half hearing about your strategies — including
your regional strategies — and how you plan to execute them.
Second, we need to focus on the financing that is required, how to
mobilize it, and how to deliver it more efficiently and effectively.
Yesterday you had a chance to discuss one of the existing programmes
providing Aid for Trade in the area of standards. This joint programme
is an example of how targeted aid for developing countries to meet
food standards can help them access world markets. I hope we will have
a chance over the next day and a half to discuss a broad range of
programmes and projects — and the kind of resources, both development
assistance and multilateral lending, needed to advance them. Part of
the challenge is to get donors and international agencies to focus
more on trade and growth in their own development planning — and to
make the case that in today's open and integrated global economy there
can be no long-term poverty reduction or other social goals without
increased trade and economic growth. We are not going to close the
financing gap over the next day and half. But we are going to lay out
the immediate and long-term steps for doing so.
Third, we need to focus on the role of the private sector — for the
simple reason that it is farmers, businesses and companies that trade,
not governments. I am encouraged that we have so many private sector
representatives with us. We want to hear from you about the obstacles
you face and the priority steps that need to be taken. We also want
hear how the private sector's views and ideas can be incorporated more
directly into national trade planning and strategies. And because
private investment — both foreign and domestic — must be a major part
of the answer to capacity and infrastructure building, we need to
focus on the incentives that are required to leverage private
resources.
What we are undertaking is ambitious. I think ambition is good — it is
how we will get results. But just as improvements in trade capacity
and infrastructure will not happen overnight, we cannot expect — nor
should we try to find — all the answers in Manila. We need to remind
ourselves that this is a work in progress — and that we are at the
beginning of what will be a long road. The important thing is to get
the process launched — which we are doing.
We also need to remind ourselves that there is no one magic solution
to the challenges I've outlined, but many solutions — and that the
answer is not to create a new mechanism, but to get the many existing
mechanisms to work together more effectively. Success will depend
fundamentally on “coherence” — cooperation with all of you in this
room, with your colleagues in capitals, and with practitioners on the
ground. This meeting is not about imposing “top down” answers. It is
about raising awareness, sharing information, and creating incentives
— by shining a “spotlight” on the issue — to get all of us working
together to find and deliver solutions.
I started by saying that our goal is more and better Aid for Trade —
all aimed at helping developing countries to take advantage of trade
opening and the trading system. That is the benchmark against which
our success — or failure — will be measured. But implicit in that
challenge is the importance of changing mind-sets, not just building
more roads and bridges. Today's global economy is fundamentally
changing the development dynamic, creating huge potential for
developing countries to harness trade as an engine of growth. It is my
hope that this conference will encourage us to focus on the profound
economic changes around us, on how to adapt to — and exploit — these
changes, and on how Asia's vision of development can be spread to all
countries in the region.
This is an inspiring challenge in an inspiring region. Let's get
started.
> Problems viewing this page?
Please contact [email protected] giving details of the operating system and web browser you are using.