WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/34
10December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5216)
Original: English MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
JAPAN
Statement byH.E. Mr.Yukihiko Ikeda
Minister forForeign Affairs
Onbehalf oftheGovernment ofJapan, Iwould liketoexpress mysincere respect andgratitude
toPrime Minister Goh, Chairman Yeoandofficials oftheGovernment ofSingapore aswellas
Director-General Ruggiero andthestaffoftheWTO Secretariat, whohavemade greatefforts toprepare
forthisConference.
Japan'saverage tariff rateonindustrial goods willbecome 1.5percentafterimplementing
itsUruguay Round commitments, butinaddition tothat, Japan hasaccelerated inApril the
implementation oftariff reduction on697items ofindustrial products forapproximately twoyears.
Thisacceleration wasimplemented asapartofvoluntary liberalization measures intheframework
ofAsiaPacific Economic Cooperation, APEC. AndinthelightofJapan'sconviction inopenregional
cooperation, myGovernment hasapplied thisacceleration oftariff reduction toallcountries onthe
most-favoured-nationbasis.ThereasonthatJapanistakingsuchmeasurestoadvancetradeliberalization
eveninthepost-Uruguay Round period isthatmyGovernment believes thatitcontributes tothegrowth
ofworld economy andthepromotion ofJapan'snational interest.
ThisConference provides animportant opportunity toadvance theliberalization ofworld trade
andpromote itssmooth development andexpansion. Needless tosay,itisimportant toensure the
fullimplementation oftheresults oftheUruguay Round, but,thatalone isnotenough. Itisessential
forustodemonstrate thatwearecommitted topromote further liberalization aswellastoaddress
newissues relating totrade.
Based onsucharecognition, Iwould liketoshare withyoumythinking from three aspects
centering onissues onwhich Japan hasbeen taking initiatives, namely, thepromotion offurther
liberalization, formulation ofmultilateral disciplines anddispute settlement.
Firstofall,onadvancing tradeliberalization, Iwould liketomention thenegotiation ontrade
inservices aswellasfurther liberalization. Onthecontinuing negotiations intheservice area, we
havetoadmit candidly thefactthattheWTO wasnotabletoachieve sufficient results inthepasttwo
years. Wehave toadvance thenegotiations onbasic telecommunications whose deadline isnext
February, aswellasonfinancial services, withadetermination toreach agreement onanMFN basis
within theagreed time-frame. Furthermore, astothemaritime transport services, Istrongly hope
thatallMembers willpositively participate inthenextnegotiations toattain agreement.
Ontheissueoffurther liberalization, Ibelieve itisimportant toadvance further liberalization
inareas where wecan,inaddition tothose works whose timetable isagreed upon. Ontheelimination
oftariffs intheareaofinformation technology, which canberegarded asthebasic infrastructure for
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thefuture industry, known asITA,Iardently hopethatwewillhaveanagreement asthemostsignificant
achievement ofthisMinisterial Conference intheareaoftrade liberalization. Also, Iwould liketo
mention thatameaningful outcome wasachieved inagreeing totheexpansion ofthescope ofthelists
oftariff elimination onpharmaceutical products.
Ibelieve thatformulation ofmultilateral disciplines willbecome anincreasingly important
function oftheWTO inorder toensure thesmooth flowoftradeagainst thebackground ofdeepening
economic interdependence andglobalization. Japan hasthusfartaken initiatives inpresenting proposals
fortheWTO toimprove itscapacity toreview regional trade agreements tomake surethatthey
complement andreinforce theWTO, andtoensuring thattheWTO andtheMultilateral Environment
Agreements respect andcooperate witheachother since weregard these areas asbeing important for
theWTO. Ihavemuch toexpect forcontinued work inthefuture.
Japan isproposing thatthework relating to"trade andinvestment" and"trade andcompetition
policy" should beinitiated intheWTO asnewchallenges forthefuture. With regard totrade and
competition policy, itisimportant totakeupthisissue including theaspect ofpreventing theabuse
oftrade measures which distort competition. Iamencouraged bythesupport ofmany developing
Members ininitiating anexamination ofthose issues. Undoubtedly, these issues encompassed new
problems. Therefore, Ibelieve thatitisappropriate tostartwithan"educational process" which does
notprejudge thefuture course tobetaken. Japan alsowelcomes work tobeundertaken towards the
development ofanewarrangement centering ontransparency ofgovernment procurement.
Withregard todispute settlement, Iampleased tonotethattheWTO isfunctioning effectively
since itsstart. Japan regards thisfunction oftheWTO veryimportant andrespects it.Having said
this,wemustalsokeepinmind thatwhile utilizing thedispute settlement mechanism under theWTO
Agreement, itsspirit istowork ashardaspossible tosettle disputes atthestageofbilateral consultations
between theparties concerned, andresort tolegal dispute settlement procedures involving apanel
consistedofthirdpartiesonlyininevitablecasesasprovidedforintheDisputeSettlementUnderstanding.
Inaddition tothese three aspects, Iwould liketoaddthat,inorder tostrengthen theopen
multilateral trading system, itisimportant toprovide assistance todeveloping countries, particularly
theleastdeveloped among them, through suchmeans asadoption ofaplanofaction, sothattheycan
beintegrated inthesystem andbenefit fromtradeliberalization, aswellastorealize aprompt accession
ofChina andother economies which areintheprocess ofapplication.
Finally, since weareasking theWTO Secretariat todoagreat dealofwork, Iwould liketo
emphasize howimportant itistosupport theactivities oftheWTO Secretariat, sothatitsablestaff
members mayperform theirfunction tothefullest.
Iwishtoconclude myremarks byurging myfellow Ministers toexert flexibility inorder to
sendinunison aclear message totheworld, through thisConference, ofthedirection inwhich we
wanttoseetheWTO toadvance inthefuture.