WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/11
30 November 1999
(99-5168)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT'S WELCOMING REMARKS
Thank you, Ambassador Barshefsky, Director-G eneral Mike Moore, Secretary General
Kofi Annan, fellow ministers, distinguished guests, welcome to Seattle.
There could be no more appropriate a venue for our deliberations than this.  Once known as
the Gateway to Alaska, Seattle today is Gateway to the World.  Trade helps Seattle thrive;  and our
mission today is to help the world thrive by reaffirming our commitment to a global trading systemthat is free, fair and responsive to the concerns of all people.
Since ancient times, trade has helped create wealth, drive progress and spur exploration of
new frontiers.  These trends have quickened over the past half century as general rules for trade have
gained wider acceptance through a series of eight negotiating rounds.
During this period, trade's share of world production has tripled.  The volume of trade has
increased by a factor of 18.  And the global system of trade rules has expanded from 23 participants to
135.
As a result, hundreds of millions of people have lifted themselves out of poverty, and the
genius of free enterprise has been unleashed from Mongolia to Malawi and from Sydney to Santiago.
Today, it is not possible to be an economic leader without also being a leader in trade.
Not everyone is comfortable with this reality, as we can see and hear in the streets of this
democratic city.  Globalization has raised legitimate questions that we must address together.
But we have learned from history that attempts simply to stifle trade through protectionism
and closed markets usually backfire.  Especially today, such measures will not work, for modern
prosperity depends on technology, which is fuelled by knowledge, which knows no boundaries, and
has no reverse gear.
Instead of shrinking from change, our responsibility is to shape it – so that we may forge a
future in which the benefits of trade are more widely shared in a world that is more fully free.
One step we can take here in Seattle is to  welcome our new Members – Kyrgyzstan, Estonia
and Latvia – into the WTO.  We all win when nations grow by embracing the WTO principles of faircompetition, transparency and the rule of law.
And as any Secretary of State or Foreign Minister would attest, international trade is a parent
not only to greater prosperity, but also to stability.  It fosters higher levels of economic
interdependence, stimulates transnational dialogue, and nourishes the habit of settling differences
peacefully, through legal arguments instead of lethal arms.WT/MIN(99)/11
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So we welcome new Members.  We also encourage the aspirations of those in the process of
accession, including China.  Nothing would do more to reinforce the global nature of our trading
system than the constructive participation of a country containing one-fifth of the world's people.
The second step we must take this week is to strengthen the WTO by making it more
transparent and accountable.
This Organization cannot be effective without public trust.  And to retain that trust, it must be
open and above board in its methods and meetings.  It must work overtime to ensure that it is – and is
perceived to be – a public interest, not a special interest organization.
At the same time, we must be realistic in our expectations.  The WTO cannot solve every
problem.  It is not responsible for every ill.  Its main job is to set rules for buying and selling across
national borders.  But because trade affects our lives in so many ways, trade rules cannot be
considered in isolation.  The WTO must work in partnership with others to reinforce global standards
that elevate and enrich people's lives.
The third and most ambitious step we must take this week, as President Clinton has said, is to
launch a new trade round for jobs and development in the 21st century.  This begins with a core
commitment to fair and open trade.  We must build on the progress our predecessors have made to
lower trade barriers, eliminate unfair subsidies, enhance transparency, and reform government
procurement.
We must strike a fair deal for farmers by establishing a level playing field for the production
of food – the world's oldest industry, while shielding our newest industries from duties and
discrimination.  The Internet and e-commerce must remain free to fuel growth and expand knowledge
around the equator and from pole to pole.
We must all do this;  and we must do more.Last month, the earth's population surpassed six billion human beings.  Almost one in four
live on less money in half a year than is spent to st ay in a hotel room in this city for a single night.
More than one in two have never made a telephone call.
The divide between rich and poor both within and among nations is too wide, but this is not
because of the WTO principles of fairness, openness and good governance.  On the contrary, one way
to narrow the divide is to implement those principles more broadly.
That is why we must strive to spread the benefits of the global trading system more widely
every year, so that good jobs are created in every region, incomes rise at every level, and access to
new technology is available in every community.
Our goal should be to help lift living standards throughout the developing world, and
especially in the poorest countries.  When governments with limited resources accept WTOresponsibilities, we should do more than just open the door.
They have shown the will;  we should help them find the way to meet their obligations,
modernize their economies, and reap the benefits of access to world markets.
OPTION ONE:  We should also proceed with other measures, outside the WTO, to
relieve the burdens of international debt.
I am proud that America has been a leader, under President Clinton, in supporting the
use of debt relief to attack poverty, improve health, provide education and conserve theWT/MIN(99)/11
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environment.  We have extended our generalized system of trade preferences.  And we are
working with Congress to furth er open our markets to friends in the Caribbean, Africa and
Southeast Europe.
OPTION TWO:  With this in mind, the Unit ed States is joining Canada, Japan and the
European Union in a plan to enhance market access for the least-developed countries.  And to
work with other WTO Members and international organizations to take full advantage of the
opportunities provided by liberalized trade.
One of the great challenges that WTO Members face is to forge a common approach to the
issues that arise at the intersections of trade and labour, and trade and the environment.  These issues
are not separate in the real world.  They cannot be treated as separate by our institutions.  But inseeking a common approach, we must acknowledge our differences.
For example, an industrialized nation with a highly trained workforce will have a competitive
advantage in productivity.  A developing nation with a large, but less highly trained workforce will
have a comparative advantage in labour costs.  These advantages must be respected.  After all, at themost basic level, the very idea of trade is to allow us to benefit from our differences.
That is why trade is so often a win-win proposition.  Workers in developed nations gain when
trade stimulates growth and expands markets in the developing world.  Development deepens when
internationally recognized core labour standards are observed.
The purpose of our trading system is to lift the quality of life and work for all people – to
foster competition that creates jobs, increases productivity, improves performance, and broadens
consumer choice.  It is not to cut costs at all costs.
Accordingly, no government need fear a WTO decision to study the relationship between
trade rules and worker rights.  No government should feel threatened by placing an ILO observer at
the WTO.  The purpose in each case would be to gain more knowledge so that we may address
legitimate concerns and rebut false ones – and move towards a consensus within the WTO that will
help us maintain support outside it.
We must also study the relationship between trade and the environment – recognizing, as
Vice-President Al Gore has said, that a strong economy and a clean environment go hand in hand.
To benefit people the most, development must be sustainable.  So we should look for ways to
combine economic and environmental best practices – for example by eliminating tariffs on the
transfer of green technologies, or halting subsidies that contribute to over-fishing.
As I said earlier, the WTO cannot solve every problem.  But I think we would agree that in
such a vital area as the environment, trade rules should at least do no harm.  Impacts on the
environment should be taken into account.  And we each have a right to protect health, safety and the
environment in our own countries in our own way, consistent with science-based regulation.
A century ago, the great debate in America was how to cope with technological change that
was bringing this vast continent together, creating huge new corporations, and concentrating large
amounts of capital in a small number of hands.  The turbulence created then for localities by a
nationalizing economy was as deep as that experienced now by nations trying to cope with aglobalizing economy.
At the time, many Americans wanted to return to a small-town past, and to deny or stop all
that was new.  Others argued that everything bigger was automatically better and that it did not matter
if millions of people were left behind.  Fort unately, some of our leaders were wise enough toWT/MIN(99)/11
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comprehend both the promise of change and the need to guide it, so that the benefits would reach the
hardworking many and not just the privileged few.
Today, our challenge is similar in kind, but global in scope.  A retreat into the past is neither
possible nor desirable.  Closer economic ties, enhanced trade and technological breakthroughs are notthreats;  they are allies.  But neither integration nor innovation is sufficient in itself.
As Mahatma Ghandi once said, "There is more to life than increasing its speed".Our job is to build an international trading system that is grounded in the rule of law, based on
proven principles of accountability and good governance, and able to offer people everywhere the
opportunity for a better life.
That is a mighty tall order.  But there is no better time than the start of a new century to set
great goals.  And there could be no worthier mission than this for the representatives gathered here,
before the eyes of the world, bearing the hopes and anxieties of this generation, and a sacred
obligation to the next.
This week, here in Seattle, let us embark upon that mission – and let us do so together.  Thank
you very much.
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