Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman World Trade Organization
Ministerial Conference Plenary Session Seattle, Washington -- 
November 30, 1999
                                
                                
                                            Release No. 0472.99
                                
Statement
                               by
                                
             Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
        World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference
                        Plenary Session
            Seattle, Washington -- November 30, 1999


     "Friends, colleagues and distinguished guests:

     "On behalf of the United States, as host and Chair of the World Trade
Organization's Third Ministerial Conference, let me welcome all of you to
Seattle.  Let me also applaud and thank Director-General Moore, the members of
the WTO Secretariat, the governments of the State of Washington and King
County, and the Seattle community for the hard work they have done to prepare
for this event.

     "As we meet today, we look ahead to the launch of the first multilateral
negotiating Round since the creation of the WTO.  We also look back, across
the five decades to the day the United States joined 22 other nations to found
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.  Over these fifty years, we have
worked together   each of us with our own individual goals in mind; but, at
our best, mindful of a broader mission of mutual benefit, shared prosperity,
and strengthening peace.  And the accomplishment has been remarkable.

     "We have reduced tariffs by 90%, and broadened our agenda to address
quantitative restrictions, technical standards, subsidies, government
procurement, intellectual property, agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary
standards, services, and dispute settlement.  We have expanded membership,
from the original 23 GATT members to today's 135 WTO members, extending the
trading system's principles of open markets, transparency and rule of law
throughout the world.  And as a result, we have given the people of all our
nations an unprecedented set of opportunities for growth, prosperity, and
confidence in the future.

     "Fifty years after the foundation of the trading system, therefore, we
can take pride in the work we have done together.  But we also must not let
pride in our accomplishment make us complacent in the face of the challenges
and opportunities before us today.

     "We note with applause, for example, the entry of the Kyrgyz Republic,
Latvia and Estonia into the WTO since the last Ministerial.  We also see
progress toward entry for many other economies, for example in our conclusion
of bilateral negotiations with China.

     "On a broader scale, we support and look forward to the launch of a new
Round of trade negotiations: the ninth since the foundation of the trading
system, and the first since creation of the WTO.  Our goals are a negotiating
agenda which is ambitious enough to meet the challenges of a new century and
address the top priorities of all participants; focused enough to complete
within a reasonable period; and able to achieve results that meet the standard
our predecessors have set.  In such a Round we can:

          Aggressively reform agricultural trade by lowering trade barriers,
     substantially reducing trade-distorting subsidies and other measures. 
     Thus we can create opportunities for farm and ranch families worldwide,
     support rural prosperity, and increase food security and fight hunger by
     giving WTO members access to diverse sources of food at market prices.

          Further open world trade in services and industrial goods, helping
     promote worldwide growth and allowing more nations to gain access to new
     technologies, find new markets around the world, and create high-wage
     employment.

          Examine the basic questions of trade facilitation and customs, to ensure
     that trade proceeds as smoothly and easily as it should in today's high-
     tech world.

          Meet the challenge of the 21st century, notably by ensuring that
     electronic commerce develops as freely as it should, and by helping us
     to ensure that farmers and ranchers can use biotechnology products
     approved through transparent, science-based, and timely regulatory
     processes, and consumers enjoy the benefit of safe and beneficial
     products.

          Promote development worldwide, by opening markets more fully to products
     especially from the least developed countries, and offering
     significantly expanded technical assistance to ensure that all members
     gain the full advantage of the system.

          Ensure sustainable development, by opening trade in areas such as
     environmental goods and services that improve environmental protection;
     and eliminating environmentally damaging subsidies such as agricultural
     export subsidies and fishery subsidies that contribute to overcapacity;

          Create a Working Group on the links between trade and core labor
     standards; and

          Ensure that the WTO itself meets the test of a more open and democratic
     world, by improving transparency and accessibility to the public
     throughout the organization.

     "This is a broad, ambitious, and achievable agenda.  We can give it
momentum through specific accomplishments in market access and transparency in
government procurement, and extension of the moratorium on application of
customs duties to electronic transmissions which place us on the road to
success.  And we can proceed with the assurance that we are on the right
course.  We take pride in the record of the past; we see the opportunities of
the present clearly; and we look to the future with confidence and hope.

     "Thank you very much."

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