WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/344
15 February 2000
(00-0568)
Original:  English
UNCTAD X
STATEMENT BY THE HON MARK VAILE MP,
MINISTER FOR TRADE
Communication from Australia
The following communication, dated 14 February 2000, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of Australia with the request that it be circulated to Members.
_______________
Mr President, I join with others in expressing to you our warmest congratulations on your
election as President of the Tenth Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development.
I wish to extend our thanks to the government and people of Thailand for hosting this
conference and for the fine welcome and excellent facilities that have been provided for us to do our
work.  I also wish to acknowledge the leadership of Secretary-General Ricupero and the work of the
UNCTAD Secretariat.
Since we met in South Africa, it has become clearer that we need to accelerate the
achievement of growth and development on a basis which is sustainable, alleviates poverty, empowers
communities, fosters human rights, achieves manageable debt levels, improves governance, and
extends the benefits of freer trade and investment in a globalizing world.
We can take some heart that the reform and restructuring of UNCTAD over the last five years
has allowed the Secretariat, governments and providers of assistance to focus better on these key
priorities of trade and development.
But the challenges to which I have just referred are ongoing and there is still more to be done
if UNCTAD is to grow in global relevance.
UNCTAD must truly assist developing count ries to implement successful development
policies.  It must also assist developing countries to maximise the contribution international trade
makes to their growth and development.  Internatio nal trade - both exports and imports - is a powerful
force for integration, for efficiency, for technol ogical improvement, and for achieving growth.
In Australia's view, the recent failure of governments to reach a consensus to launch new
broad-based negotiations in the World Trade Organization in Seattle was a setback to growth,
sustainability, and social development.  It was a disappointment for all economies but particularly for
developing countries because of their economic vulnerability.WT/L/344
Page 2
A welcome step was made in Geneva last week to get underway the negotiations mandated in
the Uruguay Round.  But this is not enough, and Australia calls on all WTO members to re-visit the
unresolved issues of Seattle and show flexibility so that a balanced and equitable trading system can
be put in place as soon as possible.
In this regard, developed member countries bear a particular responsibility to show flexibility
and exercise the will to launch new multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO.  In our view, a trade
round securing the liberalisation of agriculture, manufactures and services offers the best opportunity
to rectify imbalances in the trading system.  We believe strongly that the decision to launch a new
round can and should be taken this year.
Developing countries too should not stand back, but work for and grasp the potential of this
emerging opportunity for better access to markets in the future.  There is an important role for all of
us here - for developed countries to provide more effective technical assistance, for developing
countries to prioritise their needs and for UNCTAD to more sharply focus its training, technical
assistance, research and analysis and capacity building activities.
We believe a more focused UNCTAD has a valuable role to play in assisting and promoting
the integration of trade and development policies.  With success will come improved investment and
technology flows and enhanced trade performance, along with accelerated opportunities to advance
other important development objectives, such as sustainability, poverty alleviation, social
development and equality.
For UNCTAD, the integration of trade and development policies requires a targeted program
over the next four years which provides for evaluation of results by the membership.  In particular, the
UNCTAD program should:
Firstly, give priority to helping developing countries draw up a positive agenda for future
WTO trade negotiations focused on:
- areas where trade reform would benefit them, and- strategies for pursuing these reforms in negotiations.
Secondly, focus on formulating approaches which deepen the interaction between trade and
development policies through an action orientated examination of:
- the changes in trade policies at the national and international level that are needed to
facilitate successful development policies;
- as well as enhancements to development policies that would take greater advantage of
the multilateral trading system to promote sustainable growth.
Thirdly, give higher priority to improving the capacity of developing countries to participate
in the multilateral trading system and to pursue sustainable development particularly through:
- active participation in the integrated framework for trade-related technical assistance
for least developed countries, and
- a strong emphasis on capacity building at the human and institutional levels.
Australia believes these priorities would engender greater coherence in key domestic and
international policies and contribute materially to the development task.WT/L/344
Page 3
Also important to meeting the twin challenges of globalisation and development are sound
domestic policies, including comprehensive programs of good governance, so that all resources -
domestic and foreign - are mobilised effectively.  We see a partnership with developing countries as
important to securing these essential underpinnings of sustainable development.
We all have a particular responsibility to back this up by not only launching new broad-based
negotiations in the WTO this year, but by moving promptly to conclude them with results that achieve
an equitable and liberalising multilateral trading system which applies equally across all sectors.
In this regard I draw attention to the serious imbalances which exist in access to markets and
the distortions in the conditions of competition which apply particularly to trade in agriculture, and
which are so limiting on the prospects of many developing countries.
Mr President, Australia pledges its commitment to working with you and our colleagues to
achieve outcomes from this conference, in the ongoing work of UNCTAD, and separately in the WTO
and elsewhere, which implement the objectives and outcomes I have outlined.
__________