RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/TF/COH/S/3
21 October 1999
(99-4573)
COHERENCE IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING:
WTO COOPERATION WITH THE IMF AND THE WORLD BANK
Report (1999) by the Director-General
Pursuant to paragraph 2 of the Decision of the General Council on "Agreements Between the
WTO, the IMF and the World Bank"1, this report informs Members about the activities carried out by
the WTO under its cooperation agreements with the IMF and the World Bank2.
Over the past twelve months, the WTO Secr etariat has placed emphasis on developing its
cooperation with the staff of the IMF and the World Bank to assist developing and least-developed
countries to take greater advantage from their involv ement in international trade and their participation
in the multilateral trading system, in support of broader efforts geared towards poverty alleviation and
economic development.  The importance of integrating developing countries more fully into the
trading system, including through improved market access for their exports, was stressed in thestatements of finance and development Ministers at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in
September (WT/TF/COH/2).  Earlier in the year, the Executive Boards of the IMF and the World
Bank had given attention to this issue (WT/TF/COH/3 and 4).
The Director General, the Managing Director of the IMF and the President of the World Bank
have each drawn attention to the complementary nature of efforts being undertaken by the
international trade, development and finance communities, to open markets to exports fromdeveloping countries, and especially the least-developed and poorest among them, to assist these
countries in building up their capacity to trade, and to help relieve the problems of indebtedness of the
highly indebted poor countries (HIPC).  They have pointed out that, when taken together, these efforts
represent the essence of adopting a more coherent approach to global economic policy-making, and it
is important that substantial progress is made on all three fronts.
In this context, the area in which the staff of the three organisations can make the most direct
contribution, through their cooperative efforts, is in assisting developing countries to realize the
expected benefits of their participation in the WTO and their implementation of WTO commitments,
in terms of the contribution this makes to their economic development.  Assistance is being providedalready to help developing and least-developed countries participate more effectively in the WTO and
in its institutional machinery, for implementation,  for complementary policy reform, and for building
trade-related capacity.  Subject to the availability of resources, the three organisations have agreed to
cooperate more closely in these areas and to increase their support for these countries, in the light of
the decisions that will be taken by WTO Ministers in Seattle and by the member Governments of theIMF and the World Bank.
                                                     
1 WT/L/194 of 18 November 1996.
2 The last report is contained in WT/GC/13 of 19 October 1998.WT/TF/COH/S/3
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Consultations between the Director-General a nd the Managing Director of the IMF and the
President of the World Bank
The Director-General attended the meetings of the IMF Interim Committee and the
IMF/World Bank Development Committee in April and in September.  Copies of his statements areattached.
On both occasions, the Director-General held private meetings with Mr. Camdessus and
Mr. Wolfensohn.  Their discussions covered recent developments in the world economy, the
contribution of trade and of the rules-based trading system to the development of a constructive
response to the financial crisis in emerging markets and to supporting a broad-based recovery in
economic activity, IMF and World Bank efforts to advance the Cologne debt initiative for HeavilyIndebted Poor Countries, putting trade to work more effectively for poverty reduction and economic,
human and social development, and preparations for the WTO's Third Ministerial Conference.
On the basis of their discussions, the three heads are exploring the possibility of issuing a
Joint Statement prior to the Third WTO Ministerial Conference.
Mr. Camdessus and Mr. Wolfensohn have accepted the Director-General's invitation to
address the Third WTO Ministerial Conference.
WTO Observership in IMF and World Bank meetings
Pursuant to paragraph 5 of the WTO/IMF cooperation agreement, and paragraph 4 of the
WTO/World Bank cooperation agreement, the WTO Secretariat is invited, in an observer capacity,  to
attend meetings of the Executive Boards of the IMF and of the World Bank on general and regional
trade policy issues, including the formulation of Fund or Bank policies on trade matters.
In the past twelve months, the WTO Secretariat attended World Bank Executive Board
meetings on "Global Economic Prospects in Developing Countries" (November 1998 and March
1999) and on "Bank Support of Trade Issues for De veloping Countries" (September 1999), and IMF
Executive Board meetings on "World Economic Outlook" (March/April and August/September
1999).  In addition, as noted above, the Director-General attended the Interim and Development
Committee meetings.
 IMF and World Bank Participation in WTO meetings
The IMF and the World Bank are regularly invited to attend, in an observer capacity, the
formal meetings of most WTO bodies (with the exception of the Dispute Settlement Body, the
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration, and dispute settlement panels).  The IMF also
participates regularly in consultations of the Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions.
Following the decision of the General Council, on 16 February 1999, to authorize its
Chairman to convene special informal meetings from time to time, at the request of delegations or theDirector-General, to discuss coherence issues, representatives of the IMF and the World Bank have
been invited to participate in informal General Council meetings on Coherence.  At the meeting on
27 May, IMF and World Bank representatives made presentations on the results of the April Interim
and Development Committee meetings, and on work that the IMF and the World Bank are
undertaking that is of potential interest to WTO Members in the context of preparations for the WTO'sThird Ministerial Conference
3.
                                                     
3 WT/TF/COH/1 and 2.WT/TF/COH/S/3
Page 3
In July 1999, the IMF was invited to consult with the dispute settlement panel that examined:
"India – Quantitative Restrictions on Imports of Agricultural, Textile and Industrial Products".
Joint Research and Analysis
The WTO Secretariat has intensified its collaboration with the staff of the IMF and the World
Bank in a number of areas.
Joint Seminars.  Three seminars were organized under the coherence mandate in the last year,
each designed around a major research theme.  They covered "Regionalism" (in June),
"Developing countries participation in new trade negotiations" (in September), and
"Developing countries and trade in agriculture" (in October).  Copies of the papers deliveredat the seminars are available from the Secretariat.
Treatment of Monetary Reserves.  On 18 June, the WTO Secretariat circulated a note on 'The
Treatment of "Monetary Reserves" in WTO Balance-of-Payments Committee Consultations'
in response to a request by a delegation (WT/TF/COH/S/2).  The paper was prepared with thecooperation of IMF staff.
Task Force on Small States.  Last year, the WTO was invited by the World Bank to join the
Advisory Board of the World Bank/Commonwealth Secretariat Task Force on Small States.
The WTO Secretariat participated in two meetings of the Advisory Board (in December 1998and February 1999), and attended the final Task Force meeting in July as an observer.  A final
report has not yet been agreed (WT/COMTD/W/61).
International Task Force on Commodity Risk Management.  Managing risk is highly volatile
commodity markets remains one of the major challenges for development, especially for the
poorest countries.  In order to address these and other issues, the World Bank convened an
International Task Force on Commodity Risk Management in Developing Countries which
included a representative from the WTO Secretariat as well as from other international
institutions, producers' and consumers' or ganizations, major commodity exchanges, and
commodity trading firms.  Its mandate was to explore new, market-based approaches to assist
developing countries to better manage their vulnerability to commodity price fluctuations.
The Task Force's report, entitled:  "Dealing with Commodity Price Volatility in DevelopingCountries:  A Proposed for a Market-Based Approach", was released in September 1999, and
can be consulted in the Secretariat.
World Bank/IMF/WTO Conference on Capital Flows, Financial Crises and Policies.  The
WTO Secretariat participated in this conference in April 1999, and presented a paper on
"Financial services trade, capital flows, and financial stability".  Copies are available from the
Secretariat.
Data Exchanges.  Under the IMF/WTO and World Bank/WTO cooperation agreements
(paragraphs 9 and 7, respectively), the WTO Secretariat now provides the IMF and the World
Bank staff with access, on a confidential basis, to the Integrated Database of the WTO and to
final schedules of commitments of WTO Members.  Subject to the same confidentiality
requirement, the Fund makes available to the WTO Secretariat the publications files of the
International Financial Statistics (IFS), Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPS), Government
Financial Statistics (GFS), and Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS).  The Fund's staff also
makes available to the WTO Secretariat historical data and aggregate projections in the
"World Economic Outlook" (WEO).  Considerati on is given to specific additional requests
pertaining to the IFS, BOPS, GFS and DOTS databases, as well as requests for projections of
individual country data to be used in the WEO and for other statistics.  The World BankWT/TF/COH/S/3
Page 4
provides the WTO Secretariat access to the Bank Economic and Social Database (BESD), as
well as the Statistical Annex of the Global Economic Prospects and the Developing
Countries.
IMF country reports.  Under the WTO/IMF cooperation agreement (paragraph 11), the IMF
makes available to the WTO, for the confidential use of the WTO Secretariat, copies of IMF
staff reports and related background staff papers on Article IV consultations and on use of
Fund resources for common members and on Fund members seeking accession to the WTO,
subject to the consent of the member concerned.  These documents contain details of the
IMF's trade policy advice and conditionality.  They are used by the WTO Secretariat for
reference purposes, notably in the course of the preparation of Secretariat documentation for
the Trade Policy Review Mechanism.
Technical Cooperation
Joint Vienna Institute. The WTO Secretariat works with the IMF, the World Bank, BIS,
OECD, EBRD and the Austrian government as co-spons ors of the Joint Vienna Institute, established
in 1998 to provide training support for countries making the transition from centrally-planned to
market-based economies.  Applied Economic Policy courses, where trade issues figure prominently,
are held twice yearly from September to December, and February to April.
General Contacts Pursuant to Paragraph 10 of the IMF Agreement and Paragraph 8 of the
World Bank Agreement
Pursuant to Article 10 of the WTO/IMF cooperation agreement, the WTO Secretariat and the
IMF staff consult, as necessary, on issues of possible inconsistency between measures under
discussion with a common member and that member's obligations under the WTO Agreement, and onissues of possible inconsistency between measures under discussion with a common member and that
member's obligations under the Fund's Articles of Agreement.  Both the WTO Secretariat and the IMF
staff take care to ensure that cooperation in this area  is conducted in such a way as to respect fully the
separate mandates, confidentiality requirements and the necessary autonomy in decision-making
procedures of the two organisations, and that cooperation does not result in cross-conditionality nor
extra conditions on WTO Members.
The exchange of views and information on trade and trade-related issues is an important
requirement for greater coherence in policy-making, and the three organizations continue to draw
extensively on the work and expertise of each other.  For example, WTO reports utilise inputs from
the IMF and the World Bank on macroeconomic, trade,  and social developments.  Similarly, the IMF
and the World Bank use information on trade, trade measures and related issues from WTO sources,particularly to ensure that their policy advice does not include WTO inconsistent measures.
High-Level Working Group on Coherence
The High-Level Working Group on Coherence, consisting of senior staff from the IMF, the
World Bank and the WTO, last met in November 1998, when discussions focused on trade
developments in the wake of the emerging markets' financial crisis, efforts to address the economic
problems faced by small states, regionalism, credit for autonomous trade liberalization, and
preparations for the Third WTO Ministerial Conference.
Least developed and net food-importing developing countries
The IMF and the World Bank report regularly to the Committee on Agriculture on financial
support they provide to these countries in this area, through adjustment programmes or emergencyWT/TF/COH/S/3
Page 5
lending in the case of the IMF, and through agricultural development projects, structural adjustment
lending and emergency lending in the case of the World Bank (G/AG/W/42/Rev.2).WT/TF/COH/S/3
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59TH MEETING OF  THE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
(JOINT MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOARDS OF GOVERNOR OF THE
WORLD BANK AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND)
28 APRIL 1999
Statement by Mr. Renato Ruggiero
POLICY COORDINATION IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY:  TRADE, FINANCE AND
DEVELOPMENT LINKAGES AND NEW WTO NEGOTIATIONS
The world economy is vastly more open, integrated, and competitive today than it was fifty
years ago when the Bretton Woods institutions and the GATT were created.  Twenty-five per cent of
global output is now traded internationally, and national economies are increasingly tied together not
only through trade but through foreign direct inve stment and international capital markets as well.
As globalization advances, the task of managing the international economic system
successfully becomes more essential, but it also becomes more complex.  It necessitates much closer
cooperation in designing and implementing mutually-supportive trade, financial and development
policies than was the case in the past.  The IMF, the World Bank and the WTO have special
responsibilities to meet this challenge, and increase the coherence of global economic policy-making.
The financial crisis and its aftermath have dominated the international economic agenda for
the past two years.  If it had erupted onto a systemically weak trading system, the consequences would
have been unimaginably worse.  The WTO has been a pillar of strength and stability for the global
economy as the depth and extent of the financial crisis has unfolded.  It is functioning well and
effectively, and has given governments and the private sector confidence that the situation, whiledeeply worrying, can nonetheless be managed.  Steady integration of the world economy has seen
stronger and more sustainable growth taking hold throughout the developing countries, leaving their
economies generally in much better shape to confront the current economic difficulties.
The crisis has led to a huge and complex process of economic re-adjustment taking place, not
only in the crisis-hit countries but globally.  Many basic and traditional relationships have been
disturbed.  One example is the emergence of large global trade imbalances, with consequent risks ofdestabilizing exchange rate movements and protectionist pressures.  Until stability is restored, the
private sector will be faced with significant new uncertainties, notably in international trade.
Much of the international community's attenti on is being focused quite properly for the time
being on restoring order to financial markets and on undertaking necessary adjustment measures inthe crisis-hit economies themselves.  While it is vi tal that these efforts continue, they need to be
complemented by policies to assist long-term reco very of economic growth and development in the
world economy.
Concrete steps to further liberalize international trade and strengthen the trading system have
a central role to play.
For the crisis-hit countries, increased exports and imports are an absolute necessity as they
take steps to rebuild their foreign exchange reserves, re-establish their creditworthiness on world
financial markets, and restoring growth in their eco nomies.  Without such a prospect, their acceptance
of the current situation cannot last long, nor can a crisis-management strategy alone succeed.
Reinvigorating trade-led growth is important for ensuring the next few years produce a balanced and
sustained recovery in the global economy.WT/TF/COH/S/3
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In December, WTO Members will hold their Third Ministerial Conference and formally
launch new trade negotiations.  The Conference will provide a unique opportunity to take new
initiatives under the WTO's mandate from a broader perspective than has typically occurred in the
past - the perspective of comprehensive global economic governance.  We can no longer be satisfied
with pursuing the trade, finance and development agendas in an artificially separate way.  Clearly,specific responsibilities, mandates and decision-making processes must continue to be respected
scrupulously, but the manifold complementarities and synergies that exist must be seized and acted
upon.  The links between resolving international debt and balance-of-payments problems, increasing
market access, enhancing supply responses and capacity-building in developing countries - in short
restoring sustainable, broad-based economic growth in the world - need to be explicitly recognized.
Progress needs to be made on all fronts in a concerted, coordinated way.
Ideally, we would wish for a world economy that  is growing broadly and strongly and is in
sound macro-economic and financial health as the best background for the Ministerial Conference and
for launching new trade negotiations.  In fact, the global economic situation this year will present
many serious distractions from the agenda of further liberalization.  Trade ministers, in close
cooperation with Finance and Development Ministers, must ensure that the negotiations are notthrown off course.  Problems in one area cannot be solved independently of the others.
The Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank will be held in Washington just eight
weeks before the WTO Conference in Seattle.  Finance and development ministers should take that
opportunity to throw their weight behind the launching of an ambitious agenda of WTO negotiations.The WTO deserves their support.  It has proved its worth in the past two years by preventing any
reversal towards trade restriction during the Asian financial crisis.  New WTO negotiations, aimed not
only at further trade liberalization but also at strengthening the international economic system, can
complement the IMF and World Bank's own efforts to restore sustained growth and development and
tackle the systemic challenges of globalization.WT/TF/COH/S/3
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53RD MEETING OF  THE INTERIM COMMITTEE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
26 SEPTEMBER 1999
Statement by Mr. Mike Moore
In eight weeks time, at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle, trade ministers will launch
new multilateral trade negotiations, and set the WTO's future work programme and priorities.  The
Seattle Conference is an opportunity to make further progress in advancing liberal economic policy
reforms, and facilitating the integration of developing countries into the world economy.  It is also anopportunity for the WTO to contribute to improving the functioning of the global economic system.
Together with steps being taken in the IMF and the World Bank, to strengthen the international
financial system, to provide debt relief to the poorest countries, and to tackle the goal of development
comprehensively, new WTO trade negotiations offer the means for all countries to take greater
advantage of the opportunities that globalization has to offer.
Liberalising trade and strengthening the trading system
The core responsibility of the WTO is to ensure the proper functioning of the rules-based,
trading system.  Over the past two, difficult years, it  has performed that task very effectively, ensuring
that markets remain open, that trade policy reform stays on track, and that tensions in the trading
system – which are inevitable in times of large-scale re-adjustment in the global economy, such as we
have experienced recently – are defused quickly and cooperatively.
Increased trade and investment now have a major contribution to make in restoring a
sustained expansion of world economic activity that is widely-shared.  The momentum of reform
towards more liberal policies must be maintained.  Structural weaknesses and distorted markets not
only cripple competition and undermine the benefits of liberal economic policy-making, they also
impede the effectiveness of macroeconomic, financial and development policies.  There is a big
agenda of trade liberalization and policy reform still to tackle in the WTO, one which extends both
deep into traditionally sensitive sectors, such as agriculture and textiles, and wide into new areas, such
as electronic commerce, high technology goods, services, and trade facilitation.  Countries havestrong opinions as to the agenda for a new round.  Good Governance is also important to assure and
encourage foreign investors.  Good governance also assures taxpayers.  Among the issues which are
discussed in Geneva are trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement.  Both of these
offer "win win" possibilities for all WTO Members.
The new trade negotiations must be balanced if they are to succeed, but they must also be
inspired by new priorities for cooperative trade policy-making that have emerged as markets have
become more open and competitive, and national economies have become more inter-dependent.
Globalisation holds great potential, for achieving higher rates of economic growth and development,
for creating jobs and raising living standards, and for the fight to eradicate poverty.  At the same time,it is placing much greater demands on governments to coordinate their policies internationally.
Twenty years ago, the effects of much domestic regulation and policy-making were barely felt beyond
national borders;  today, they resonate in the global economy.  In this context, fostering durable
economic growth and sustainable development that is  broadly shared depends, to an important extent,
on the global policy framework within which govern ments operate.  The need for inter-governmental
cooperation, in setting trade, development, financial and macroeconomic policies has never been
greater;  the rules-based trading system is an es sential element of the framework for cooperation, and
it must grow with the times.WT/TF/COH/S/3
Page 9
Trade and development
The benefits of economic interdependence do not accrue automatically.  Poorer countries, in
particular, are having to struggle hard to adapt to meet the many new challenges the global economy
presents.  Integrating them more fully into the world economy, so they can lift their livings standards,represents one of the most urgent and important tasks facing the WTO, UNCTAD, the IMF and the
World Bank.
Trade and the trading system have to be put to work, more effectively than in the past, for
economic, human and social development, and for the fight against poverty.  This requires action both
by the developing countries themselves, and by their trading and development partners.
The evidence from developing countries which have adopted liberal trade policies and
market-based reforms, along with sound macroeconomic policies, speaks overwhelmingly in support
of the benefits that are to be had in terms of economic growth and development:  new resources are
generated, productivity is increased, investment is encouraged, jobs are created.  That alone does not
spell automatic comprehensive development, but it provides governments with the means to act
comprehensively, to improve human, social and environmental conditions.  Without a growing
resource base, their options in these areas are severely limited.  If they are to succeed, the new WTO
negotiations have to create a climate in which developing countries, and especially the poorest among
them, are encouraged to press ahead confidently and spontaneously with their own trade policy
reforms.
They will need the support of their trading partners and their development partners.
Improving market access for exports of goods and services where developing countries hold a clear
comparative advantage is essential.  Resistance from  their trading partners to liberalizing "sensitive
sectors" would be a recipe for deadlock in the negotiations.  Nor should the poorest countries be askedto wait for several more years before new market opportunities open up for them.  Following the
visionary lead of my predecessor Renato Ruggiero I am proposing that WTO Members agree in
Seattle to accord, at once, unrestricted market access to the poorest countries, and thereby
complement action being taken in the IMF and World Bank to relieve these countries' foreign debt
burden.
On its own, market access is not enough.  Many developing countries, and particularly the
poorest among them, at present lack the domestic production capacity and capability to fully exploit
their comparative advantage and compete successfully on world markets.  Targeted financial and
technical assistance is needed, to help them develop that capacity.  This requires a long-term
commitment, from the WTO, UNCTAD, the World Bank and the IMF, and from other multilateral,
regional and bilateral development partners.  We need an integrated, well-funded and properly-focused strategy to help developing countries build  the productive capacity they need to be full
partners in the global economy.  All the agencies need to co-operate to ensure an integrated
"one-stop" shop strategy to work to build capacity, through technical assistance, so nations can
implement existing agreements and are in a position at Seattle and after Seattle to engage more
effectively to promote their legitimate self interests.WT/TF/COH/S/3
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60TH MEETING OF  THE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
(JOINT MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOARDS OF GOVERNOR OF THE
WORLD BANK AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND)
27 SEPTEMBER 1999
Statement by Mr. Mike Moore
This meeting could not be more timely.  It gives me an opportunity to pay my respects to our
sister organizations, to report to Finance and Development Ministers, share our ambitions and seek
Ministerial assistance in capitals.
Two months from now, in Seattle, the United States Government will host the Third
Ministerial Conference of the WTO.  Trade Ministers will launch new multilateral trade negotiations,
and set the WTO's work programme and priorities for the next few years.  Development must be – and
will be - at the very centre of this agenda:  we must use it to bring developing countries into the
mainstream of the world economy so they can share mo re fairly in its benefits.  In this we will need
the active support of finance and development minist ers, and of the World Bank and the IMF, as well
as UNCTAD and UNDP not only to make Seattle a success, but to help keep trade on the agenda in
the months ahead and to ensure nations can engage throughout the round.
We have an opportunity at Seattle to put practical substance to the instructions of our leaders
and ministers who want us to act in a more coherent manner and who have told us development can’t
wait.
We will be judged at the launch of the new r ound, not by what we say, but by what we do.
After years of analysis, the very poor and indebted nations want more than reports.  We have sufferedfrom a paralysis of analysis.
What would be the real cost to the wealthiest nations if all barriers to exports from the poorest
nations were lifted?  That would represent just 0.5 per cent of world trade.  For example, Africa has
seen major declines in its share of trade since the launch of the Uruguay Round.  This is not entirely
the fault of the trading system.  Sovereign governments have responsibilities here, but when they
develop export potential based on the advice and exhortations of people like us, the door is slammedfirmly shut.
Improved market access gives the gift of opportunity. Reductions in tariffs in sectors such as
textiles, clothing, and agricultural products are of primary interest to developing countries, and a key
to achieving a balanced outcome in Seattle.  Put this alongside action on debt relief, extending thebenefits of E-commerce, more on good governance including ‘win-win’ agreements on transparency
in government procurement and trade facilitation - then we see the makings of a coherent package that
means something.  We could do this at Seattle then move to wider needs.
Developing countries need better access to modern technology and services, such as
telecommunications, financial services, information technologies, and electronic commerce.  Some
have portrayed these as developed country trade issues.  Nothing could be further from the truth.
Liberalization in these sectors is about access to the building blocks of modern economies.  Instead of
seeing technology as a barrier between North and South, we should see it as a bridge – and we must
work together, not only in the name of social justice, but because we are all, in the end, each other’scustomers.WT/TF/COH/S/3
Page 11
Developing countries, and particularly the poorest among them, need access to the trading
system itself, and to the WTO's institutional machinery.  We don’t have a world trade system until the
30 developing countries and transition economies seeking accession are inside the system.
We need to make the system work for them.  We need to improve participation in the WTO,
particularly for the least developed countries who currently feel marginalized and lack a sense of
ownership of the system. They need assistance in implementing existing commitments, dispute
settlement, and developing trade policy expertise, the better to promote their legitimate self-interest.
A Seattle achievable will be to enhance and improve the delivery of technical assistance, especially
through the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance for Least-Developed
Countries.
We need to make explicit the link between demand and supply – between access to markets
and the capacity to benefit from this access. I believe Jim Wolfensohn's Comprehensive Development
Framework is an ideal vehicle for integrating trade-related capacity building more closely into
development, and helping to make trade work for human development and poverty alleviation. We
need to see the WTO's technical assistance and World Bank capacity building as two sides of thesame coin - an integrated strategy to give developing countries the productive resources they need to
be full partners in the global economy.
Our work with the Bank on a new coordinated programme of trade support and capacity
building for developing countries is advancing well, and I am in a position to report in Seattle thatdeveloping countries have the full backing of the WTO, the World Bank, and the IMF as they engage
in new trade negotiations.  I thank the Bank and the Fund for renewing that pledge at recent meetings.
We know this requires new resources.  No-one wants the trade agenda competing for funds with other
development priorities, but we cannot advance in Seattle with an unfunded mandate for development
assistance.
I will be asking Trade Ministers in Seattle to find the funds we need to support more effective
trade-related technical assistance for developing countries, particularly to help them meet their
resource needs for financing implementation of their WTO obligations.  It is in the interests of all that
agreements are better understood, and therefore more quickly implemented.
A new round is an opportunity to encourage developing countries themselves to continue
using openness and liberalization as tools for th eir own economic growth.  This means engaging
confidently and readily in further liberalization of their own trade regimes, correcting structural
weaknesses and market distortions in their own economies, and locking in their reforms under WTO
rules.  Good governance, which can be improved through trade facilitation and transparency in
government procurement, can also play an important  role in securing the right environment for growth
by reassuring investors and taxpayers.
Our task in the WTO this year is to secure a successful Seattle Conference and to launch a
balanced new round of trade negotiations.  But our goal is not freer trade for trade's sake.  It is about
better living standards for all countries – developing and developed alike.  Because only with higherliving standards can we achieve better health care and education, the eradication of hunger, a cleaner
environment, a more peaceful and just world.  Th is is our common objective. I’m looking forward to
working with you.  You will have my total co-operation.
__________