PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/290
29 April 2002
(02-2455)
MOORE STRESSES DEVELOPMENT ROLE AT WTO
Following is a speech delivered today (29 Apri l) by Mike Moore, Director-General of the
World Trade Organization, to the Public Symposium on Doha Development Agenda and Beyond inGeneva.PRESS/290
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Allow me to warmly welcome you to this public symposium. This is not an official WTO
event and the opinions offered are the responsibility of the speakers. I am pleased to see so many of
you here today. Nearly 700 people have registered to attend this symposium. That is certainly a sign
that dialogue and debate with the public at the WTO is not only possible but desired. I am alsoimpressed that so many of you are interested in the subject of the Doha Development Agenda. The
work programme has been discussed in many inter-governmental meetings since November last year
but has not yet been given the public hearing it deserves. That is your job. As representatives of civil
society, academia, the business community, governments and the media it is your responsibility - as
the end users of the system - to come to grips with the reality behind the difficult but very real issueswhich confront not only international trade, but the prospects for improving people's welfare across
the globe.
During the next two and half days, I expect tough debate and discussion on everything from
market access issues and whether or not we need investment and competition rules, to the trade and
environment interface and what more needs to be done to help developing countries build trade
capacity.
The importance of clearing the air on what is at stake in the current negotiations is obvious.
The decisions which will be taken in the next few years will have long term repercussions the world
over. These decisions require courage and keen, focused vision. And at the end of the day, no one will
get everything they hoped for. But all countries taking  part in these negotiations should get something.
We will never conclude an agreement if they do not. Nor will we get the support of many of you in
the room, if you do not feel that your views are being heard, understood and incorporated into national
positions. There are many who call for more representation and some who openly criticize the
decision making processes of the WTO because decisions are made by trade officials appointed
mainly by elected governments. Critics say this is  not good enough. I can agree with that, but we have
not yet found a better option.  Perhaps someone here will have some ideas they'd like to share on this
subject of legitimacy. It needs more thinking and we have only just scratched the surface. That's why Iwas so keen on having two sessions included in this symposium. The first concerns the role of elected
representatives – the parliamentarians - the WTO and trade negotiations in general. Parliamentarians
are not only stakeholders, they are legislators. At the end of the day, they are the ones who have to
ratify the agreements and adapt their national laws to any new international treaty obligations. They
should be informed as to what kind of progress is being made or isn't being made on issues of interestto them. I think it is high time that we have a discussion on their role and am only too pleased that this
session on the WTO and the role of Parliamentarians – a first at the WTO itself – will take place.
The second work session will deal with the "Functioning and Financing of the WTO" and will
include seasoned trade negotiators and former WTO General Council Chairmen. We now have 144
governments as WTO Members. Another 28 countries want to join. How are we going to respect the"consensus principle" in about five years time when the organization will account for more than 170
Member governments? How will this work and shouldn't we soon start to discuss the need for some
sort of managerial structure capable of taking care of the day-to-day business of the WTO? And how
will we continue to finance the increasing and infinite demand for more technical assistance and
cooperation for developing and least-developed countries in the system? I am very pleased that this
session includes some very experienced trade negotiators, including Arthur Dunkel, the former
Director-General of the GATT.
Allow me to speak briefly about how this year 's symposium is organized.  This morning we
will hear from six distinguished speakers each recognized for his leadership in government, politics,
science or humanitarian affairs. The speakers represent the issues which go the heart of today's
multilateral trading system. First we will hear form Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam
International. He will be followed by Ernesto Ze dillo, the former President of Mexico. After Mr.PRESS/290
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Zedillo, we will hear from a newcomer to th e WTO, His Excellency Sun Zhenyu, the WTO
Ambassador for the People's Republic of China. After Ambassador Sun's intervention, I propose to
open the floor for some comments or questions. I kindly ask that you not all raise your hands at once
and please do not be offended if I do not ask you to speak. In the 16 work sessions which follow this
morning's interventions, there will be ample time for you to interact and address your key concerns.
As a matter of fact many of this morning's speakers are taking part in the work sessions this afternoonand tomorrow so you will have plenty of time to state your concerns.
Afterwards, we will hear from the Mexican WTO Ambassador Eduardo Perez Motta who will
be conveying a message from his Minister of Econ omy, Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista. As many of
you know already, Mexico will host the next Ministerial Conference in 2003. Many believe that the
hardship we encountered and overcame in Doha last year was just a foretaste of the difficultnegotiations which await us in Mexico next year. The upcoming Ministerial will provide a major
challenge to the WTO's Membership but also for the Mexican authorities who are trying to assure as
much participation as possible for representatives of civil society.
After Minister Derbez's intervention I will give the floor to Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, who will
present his recent research on the state of the world today. Dr. Lomborg will be followed by Professor
Jagdish Bhagwati a renowned economist who has done much to propound the benefits of an open
multilateral trading system. The last (but certainly not least speaker) this morning will be Mr. TonyJuniper, of Friends of the Earth. Following Mr. Juniper's intervention, it is my hope that we will still
have enough time to again open the floor for a few more comments and questions related to the
interventions made in the second half of this morning's programme. Again, I ask you for your
understanding and reiterate that time will be allott ed in the individual work sessions to state your
concerns. This afternoon and all day Tuesday has been devoted to the various work sessions related tothe Doha Development Agenda. Many of the sess ions have been organized by non-governmental
organizations. These sessions will continue on Wednesday  morning, followed by a one-hour closing
session. The moderators of the various sessions have been asked to write up summary reports of the
main points raised in their session. These will be posted on the WTO's website. The moderators from
Wednesday morning's sessions will be asked to make short oral reports at the closing session on themain issues raised in their meetings.
Before handing over to today's speakers, I'd like to say something about where the WTO is
today and how important it is for governments to work on many different fronts simultaneously to
achieve their goals. Many institutions now have a renewed focus on development issues and providing
financial assistance for developing countries. The WTO launched a Development Round of tradenegotiations in Doha last year while the UN Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey
last month was a huge success with new commitments to pay for government's goals of reducing by
half extreme poverty by 2015. Open trade will play a role in these ambitious plans. Successful
liberalisation of trade could boost the world economy by $2.5 trillion and lift 320 million people out
of extreme poverty during the same 13-year period. The gains to developing countries from fewer
subsidies and less protection in agriculture alone would return about five times all the overseas
developed assistance combined and eight times more than all the debt relief granted thus far.
The Doha Development Agenda and trade will also play an important role in the upcoming
Johannesburg conference on Sustainable Development or what is often referred to as "Rio plus 10".
At Doha, governments committed themselves to negotiations on the relationships between MEAs
(Multilateral Environment Agreements) and the WTO Agreements to ensure there are no legal
contradictions. The aim of the WTO negotiations is to enhance the mutual supportiveness of trade andthe environment. That is why negotiations will also cover trade barriers to environmental goods and
services. Governments also agreed to give priority to the effect of environmental measures on market
access, and those situations in which the elimination or reduction of trade restrictions and distortions
would benefit trade, the environment and deve lopment, the so-called triple win scenario.
Governments will also address labelling requirements for environmental purposes, because many fearunilateral decisions on such issues as labelling could become disguised, even targeted, protectionism.
What has been apparent for several years already is that, unless there is global action, there will bePRESS/290
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local reaction, which could damage poorer countries. The best way to move forward on these thorny
issues is to do so in a negotiation.
Many developing countries are deeply suspicious of developed countries because they fear
protectionist motives and point out that agricultural subsidies in OECD countries cost $1 billion a day
and result in job losses for poor countries, as well as pollution in rich countries due to intensive,
subsidised farming inputs. Fish subsidies by rich countries have a similar impact on the environment,another area of deep differences between governments that will be addressed in the negotiations.
All serious research shows that poverty is the gr eatest threat to the environment. People don't
live in polluted squalor by choice, nor do they trek miles to strip trees for charcoal by choice. There is
a direct connection with rising living standards and better environmental outcomes. Higher education
and living standards reduce birth rates.  The same is true of the environment. Rich cities are cleanerthan poor cities.  Every time we lift people from poverty, we lift environmental outcomes.
 All this shows the wisdom of Kofi Annan's sequence of conferences to tackle poverty at
Monterrey, then sustainable development. These are two sides of the same coin.  Let us hope that
those who seek freedom to choose win, and not those who seek central controls to get desired results.
History shows that the most polluted places and poorest people are those which have suffered from
governments that tried to plan outcomes by central and government control. The best environmental
outcomes have come as a result of democracy, open markets, an active civil society and a free mediato keep politicians and businesspeople honest, accountable and responsive.
I thank you for your attention. Allow me now please to give the floor to our first invited
speaker, Mr. Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International. Mr. Hobbs, you have the
floor.
ENDS