WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/9
9December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5180)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Original: English
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
UNITED KINGDOM
Statement bytheRight Honourable IanLang, M.P.
President oftheBoard ofTrade
Head oftheDepartment ofTrade andIndustry
Itisagreat pleasure tobespeaking today atthisfirstMinisterial Conference oftheWorld
Trade Organization. Iwanttotakethisopportunity toexpress mysincere thanks toourverygracious
hosts fortheirhospitality andfriendship.
Myfellow trade Ministers andIaregathered hereinSingapore ataverysignificant timein
thedevelopment ofmultilateral freetrade. Huge progress onfreeing upworld trade hasbeenmade
overthepast50years. Butthetaskofmaintaining thecommitment tothemultilateral system and
toglobal liberalization remains asgreat asever.
Putting intoaction themeasures agreed intheUruguay Round willleadtoanincrease inworld
incomes andprovide aboost toworld trade andliving standards. Tenyears afteritscompletion, the
results oftheRound willhaveincreased world tradebybetween 9and24percent,andworld incomes
byoverUS$500 billion peryear. Theincomes ofdeveloping andtransition economies should, after
fullimplementation, besome US$116 billion peryearhigher. These aretruly staggering figures.
Butitisnotenough. Wehaveadutytoensure thatthisstimulus toglobal prosperity isfollowed through
inthefuture andisshared byall.
TheUK'spriorities fortheWorld Trade Organization arefocused onissues which aremost
important intackling thetradebarriers which confront ourbusinesses andthose ofourtrading partners.
Wewanttopushahead withwork onthese issues inaspirit ofcooperation notconfrontation.
Sowewould liketoseeasubstantial newwork programme. Ibelieve thatthisoffers benefits
tothedeveloped anddeveloping economies alike. Some examples:
Standards: weneedcloser cooperation between theWTO andinternational standards-setting
bodies; weneedthese bodies toconcentrate theirwork onthose standards andtechnical regulations
which areofrealpractical importance totrade; andweneedWTO Members tomake much more
useofinternational standards rather thangoing theirownway. Wecannot restonourlaurels inthis
field, there ismuch more work todo.
Trade facilitation: astraditional tradebarriers fallaway, thesimplification ofimport andexport
regulations andprocedures hasbecome anincreasingly significant priority. Theburden ofcompliance
withthese regulations could amount toasmuch as10percentofthevalue ofworld trade ingoods.
So,aswithstandards, theaimshould betowork together withother organizations todevote priority
resource andnegotiating effort inthose areas which arecritical tofreeing uptrade.WT/MIN(96)/ST/9
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Government procurement: herewesurely needanewdialogue involving allWTO Members
toexploretheenormousbenefitsavailablefromextendingtransparentandnon-discriminatorypurchasing
practices. Nooneneedfeelthreatened byadialogue.
These threeissues cover areaswhere internal liberalization intheEuropean market hasyielded
enormous benefits. Wewanttoexplore thescope forgetting comparable benefits around theglobe.
Butthere ismore.
Weallstand tomake great gains from further liberalization ofinvestment. Again, forthe
present, theemphasis intheWTO should beonanalytical, exploratory andconfidence-building work.
Thatshould notcutacross negotiations currently under wayintheOECD foraMultilateral Agreement
onInvestment, anditreally should notthreaten anyone, developed ordeveloping.
Those aresome ofourpriorities fortheworkprogramme. Notsodivisive assome otherissues.
Andpractical. Wealsowanttomake realprogress atSingapore withthenegotiations which arealready
under way. Letuscomplete, atleastinoutline, anInformation Technology Agreement aimed atthe
rapid elimination oftariffs onITproducts withaswideaparticipation ofcountries aspossible. And
letusmake realprogress onthebasic telecommunications negotiations. Ihopethatwewillseealot
ofimproved liberalization offers thisweek.
Inallthis,letusreaffirm theprimacy ofthemultilateral system. Wehaveunder wayinthe
WTOaveryimportantdebateontherelationshipbetweenregionalgroupingsandthemultilateralsystem.
Wearecommitted tothework oftheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements. Wemustdraw on
theenergies channelled through these arrangements toreinforce, andnotdetract from, multilateral
liberalization.
Another important issue istherelationship between trade liberalization andtheprotection of
theenvironment. Thisiscomplex anditisessential toprovide aframework inwhich bothcanbe
achieved inharmony. Wetherefore continue tosupport thework oftheTrade andEnvironment
Committee.
Letusalsoreaffirm ourpolitical commitment toimplementation ofthenewrules and
commitments agreed during theUruguay Round. Fullimplementation isakeytothecontinuing success
oftheWTO. Itmust beapriority forgovernments asitisforbusiness andconsumers.
Toensure thatthegains fromtradetrulyareshared wemustaddress theinterests ofthepoorest
countries andpromote theirintegration intotheworld trading system. ThatiswhytheUnited Kingdom
welcomes theDirector-General 'sproposal thattariffs should bebound atzeroforproducts fromthe
leastdeveloped countries. Theleastdeveloped countries arethe48poorest countries intheworld:
theirexports toallcountries account forjust0.4percentofworld trade. And,notleastintheirinterests,
wewould liketobegin newwork onways toreduce thesignificant trade barriers created bycomplex
preferential rules oforigin.
Itisalsoofoutstanding importance forustowork attheintegration intotheworld tradesystem
ofthose countries which arenotyetWTO Members. Ongoing accession negotiations areacrucial
partoftheWTO 'swork, notleastthose withRussia andChina. These negotiations arenoteasyfor
thecountries concerned. Prospective WTO Members mustaccept WTO rules. Butforourpartthe
willisthere: wewantyouin.
Some countries haveproposed thattradeandlabour should formpartoftheWTO 'snewwork
programme. HereIhavetodisagree. While Britain isasstrongly opposed tochildlabour andforced
labour asanyone else,weseenocasefortaking trade measures insupport ofsocial standards. ThisWT/MIN(96)/ST/9
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would onlyweaken theeconomies ofthecountries concerned andmake themlessabletoremedy social
problems. WetaketheviewthattheInternational Labour Organization istheappropriate forum for
promoting labour standards, nottheWTO. Thisisalsotheviewofmost ofEuropean industry, as
theUnion ofIndustrial andEmployers Confederations ofEurope haverecently confirmed. Weknow
itisalsotheviewofmostother countries around theworld. Letusnotdivide theWTO onthisissue.
Letusinstead lookforward onmatters where wehaveinterests incommon.
Thebuilt-in agenda provides aclearandimportant programme ofworktotheendofthecentury.
Thisandasubstantial newworkprogramme, withrealpractical priorities, cangivetheWTO theforward
momentum itneeds.
Tothose whosaythatdigestion oftheUruguay Round results isalltheycancopewith, I
sympathise. ButIhavetosaythatthatisnotenough. Wemustdrive theagenda forward: wewill
allgaininthelongterm. Wedonothavetocommit now. Butwedohavetoprepare now.
So,first, asuccessful outcome from theSingapore WTO Ministerial -setting intrain a
comprehensive work programme onabroad front ofcoretrade issues. Weshould thendevote our
efforts through 1997 toapractical dialogue andtakeuptheresults when wenextconvene. Ibelieve
thatthenextMinisterial Conference should thentakeplace early in1998, wellwithin thenexttwo
years, and50years aftertheGATT started.
Second, anewmultilateral trade negotiating Round launched before theendofthecentury,
delivering afurther bigliberalizing package before 2010. Thenegotiations scheduled inthebuilt-in
agenda would naturally formpartofanewround oftrade negotiations before theendofthecentury.
Theother trade issues Ihavementioned would complement these -andletusnotforget tariffs, that
staple commodity oftrade negotiations which isstillvital.
Third, letusbevisionary. Looking tothefuture, letusconsider acommitment bothbymy
European Union colleagues andbyother WTO Members toglobal freetrade. By2020. Thiscould
complement various regional initiatives forfreetrade. Ifthewhole ofAPEC cansetitself atarget
forfreetrade by2020, whycannot theWTO dothesame?
What doImean byglobal freetrade? Imean thecomplete elimination oftariffs, import quotas
andvoluntary export restraints onworld tradeinallgoods. Imean theremoval ofnon-tariff barriers,
inthefieldoftechnical standards, public procurement, andtradedocumentation andprocedures. And
Imean something verysimilar across theservices sector.
Ihopethatmycolleagues willreflect onthebenefits wewould secure foroureconomies and
forourfellow-citizens through theachievement ofglobal freetrade. Butfirstanewwork programme.
Andthenanewround.