WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/129
12December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5299)
Original: English MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
MALAWI
Statement byH.E. Mr.Francis Mbilizi
Deputy-Secretary ofCommerce andIndustry
Firstofall,letmejointhepreviousspeakersinthankingtheGovernmentandpeopleofSingapore
forthegenerous hospitality accorded toallofusandtheexcellent facilities made available forthis
Conference. Letmealsothank theWTO Secretariat andthecountries which havecontributed inone
wayoranother tomake thisSession agreat success.
ThisConference isofhistorical andfar-reaching importance inthatitwillsetthecourse and
paceoffuture conduct ofthemultilateral trading system. Malawi applauds theWTO fortheprofound
roleitisplaying inproviding acomprehensive andregulatory framework inthiseraofglobalization
inorder toensure asustainable pathtogrowth anddevelopment. Ourexperience overtheyears has
shown thatglobalization hasnotbenefited allStates inanequitable manner. Webelieve thatitis
necessary thatinourdeliberations these realities should notbeforgotten sothatthedecisions made
should alsocreate equal opportunity fortheweaker members oftheglobal economy, especially the
leastdeveloped countries (LDCs) inthisOrganization. Weshould avoid making worse thecurrent
situation whereby theLDCs arebeing marginalized. Inthisrespect, Iwishtoechotheconcerns of
mycolleagues fromtheLDCs whohavespoken already ontheproblem related totheimplementation
oftheWTO Agreements.
Twoyears ago,when wesigned theFinal ActoftheUruguay Round atMarrakesh inMorocco,
wetookaboldstepinaccepting thesingle understanding. Wetooktheresponsibility ingood faith
ascompared toourlevel ofdevelopment. Wewere assured thattheMarrakesh Declaration would
ensure regular reviews oftheimpact oftheresults oftheRound onLDCs andalsothattechnical
assistance would beforthcoming. Furthermore, weconfirmed ourresolution tostrive forgreater global
coherenceofpoliciesinthefieldsoftradeandfinance,includingtheenhancementofcooperationbetween
WTO, theIMFandtheWorld Bank. Iwould liketostress thatourexpectations havenotbeenfully
met, particularly thepromised technical assistance intheMarrakesh Declaration hasnotbeen
forthcoming.
Malawi, withtechnical andfinancial assistance from UNCTAD, recently undertook astudy
toassess theimpact oftheUruguay Round Agreements onhereconomy. According totheresults
ofthestudy, theimmediate challenge facing Malawi, asaWTO Member State, istoalignhernational
legislations toconform withtherelevant provisions oftheUruguay Round Agreements andalsoto
build human resources andinstitutional capacities necessary forimplementing these Agreements, and
therefore become anactive participant inthepost-Uruguay Round multilateral trade system.
Inorder toundertake these enormous tasks, Malawi willcontinue torequest more assistance
fromtheWTO andother cooperating international institutions, notably UNCTAD, ITC,UNDP, the
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World Bank andtheIMF, inorder forhertocopewiththenewsituations, withpriority focus on
measures forincreased productivity andcompetitiveness.
Some oftheMinisters whohavespoken before mehaveproposed theinclusion ofnewissues
intothemultilateral trade system, while others havestrongly spoken against this. While ourposition
onthenewissues istotally inlinewiththeSADC 's,Iwould liketopresent briefly Malawi 'sposition
onthese newissues.
There isaproposal thattheAgreement onGovernment Procurement befurther negotiated to
achieve national treatment andmost-favoured-nation treatment forallgovernment procurement inall
WTO Member States. MyGovernment does notsupport theprinciple ofbringing government
procurement intothemultilateral trade system atthistime.
Proposals havebeenmade bysome delegations thatstudies beundertaken inorder toidentify
linkages between trade andcorelabour standards. Mycountry believes thattheissue ofcorelabour
standards should continue tobehandled bytheInternational Labour Organization (ILO). Wedonot
seeanyjustifiable reasons forbringing theissue oflabour standards intotheWTO. Weneedto
acknowledge thateconomies oftheWTO Member States haveweak andstrong points. Some have
cheap labour depending onthecostofliving. Such countries should notbepenalized. Theissue of
corelabour standards should notbeusedasaprotectionist measure bysome countries, otherwise this
willdefeat theroleoftheWTO infacilitating international trade.
Mydelegation haslistened attentively totheproposals thathavebeentabled regarding trade
andcompetition. Weareoftheviewthattheissueoftradeandcompetition isasensitive andcomplex
matter which requires careful study byexperts inUNCTAD before itisdiscussed intheWTO. As
regards theproposals thataworking group beestablished intheWTO, mydelegation would liketo
support theideaprovided thatthework ofthegroup should bebased onthestudy thatshould bedone
byUNCTAD.
Theissue oftrade andinvestment isofparticular importance tomycountry andother LDCs
which havelimited production capacities. Mycountry attaches greatimportance totherolethatforeign
direct investment plays ineconomic development. Mydelegation isoftheviewthattheissueoftrade
andinvestment should behandled byUNCTAD whowere recently mandated atMidrand tohandle
suchissues. TheWTO should merely playacomplementary role. Mydelegation isconvinced that
anyattempt toharmonize national policies intheareasoftradeandinvestment would impede onMember
countries 'ability toformulate national policies andobjectives intheiroverall development strategies.
Thebuilt-in agenda represents anadequate framework forfuture discussions. Mycountry
isinterested indiscussions ontheunfinished business intheareas offinancial services, basic
telecommunication services andother provisions oftheGATS Agreement.
Inconclusion, Iwould liketosaythatweneedtoremind ourselves thatweshould work to
sustain theprinciple ofthe"single undertaking" which brought together bothdeveloped anddeveloping
nations intothemultilateral trading system. TheMarrakesh Ministerial Declaration, particularly
regarding LDCs should berespected toavoid frustrating theresults oftheUruguay Round.