WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/2
9December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5172)
Original: English MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Commission oftheEuropean Communities
Statement bySirLeon Brittan Q.C.
Vice-President oftheEuropean Commission
Letmebegin bythanking you,Chairman, andyourcolleagues intheGovernment ofSingapore
foryourhospitality. Youhavesetastandard which others willfindhardtomatch inyears tocome.
Inlessthantwoyears, theWTO hasmade anexcellent start. Theimplementation ofobligations
hasgone, wethink, surprisingly well. Thedispute settlement system haslived uptoexpectations in
providing aneffective basisforthepeaceful resolution ofdisputes. Much ofthecredit forthatsuccess
goestoRenato Ruggiero andtotheSecretariat. They alldeserve appropriate recognition.
Ifwearetoearncredit, too,thisweek, wemust show thatWTO Ministers canlookahead
andsetadirection fortheOrganization.
Letmemention justfourimportant factors towhich WTO must react.
First,theemerginginformationagethrowsupparticularproblems,someofwhichareimmediate
(likecompleting thetelecommunications negotiations andfreeing trade inITproducts) andsome of
whicharelongerterm(liketheneedtoprovideproperprotectionforelectronicdata,particularlypersonal
data).
Second, wehavetheremarkable changes going oninChina, aswellasacontinuing process
ofeconomic renewal elsewhere inAsiaandinLatin America. Thisisfundamentally changing the
waytheinternational economic system works but,most important, itisspreading more broadly the
responsibility forshaping thatsystem. Hence theurgent needforWTO enlargement.
Mere membership ofWTO doesnotalasguarantee anybenefit from recent developments in
theglobal economy. Thethirdtrend Iwould therefore liketohighlight isthecontinued marginalization
ofmany intheleastdeveloped countries.
TheEuropean Union isready tomake commitments toopenfurther itsmarket toimports from
allleastdeveloped countries andwillstudy inaconstructive spirit withallitspartners thedifferent
options advanced intheplanofaction. Wewanttodefine inacoordinated way,intheWTO, concrete
contributions byallinvolved forearly implementation.
Iwould callonallWTO Members tomake asimilar pledge thisweek. Even developing
countries should make some contributions, totheextent thateachisable. Thisshould beahighpriority
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Myfourth point isthattrade isnowadomestic political issue forallofus,developing and
developed. WTO excites worldwide attention andalltoooften suspicion. Formethismeans that
concerns about environment, about labour standards andother apparently domestic political issues are
nowthelegitimate concern oftheWTO because theyareconcerns ofourconstituents. Only when
WTO isseentomeettheaspirations ofourconstituents canwebesureofkeeping thewayopenfor
continued trade liberalization.
Howshould werespond toallofthese challenges? TheroleoftheWTO isthedevelopment
offairtrade rules andthepursuit ofevereasier market access. Where rules exist, weimplement,
monitor, adapt, review andrevise. Thatisthebuilt-in agenda. Itisthecentre-piece ofmuch ofthe
work which theWTO willdooverthenexttwoyears andisvitally important. Butitsparameters
arelargely agreed; thechallenge there isnotwhattodo,buthowtodoitsuccessfully.
More difficult istoaddtothebuilt-in agenda onissues where rulesareneeded butdonotexist.
Thatisthefuture work programme. Itisthenatural complement ofthebuilt-in agenda, making the
WTO aliving political organism. Without it,thebuilt-in agenda would quickly degenerate toaprocess
ofmechanical review, atriumph ofform oversubstance.
How should westart? Itseems tomethere arefourkeyareas ofwork weneedtoaddress
thisweek.
Themost immediate isthecompletion oftheITAandthetelecommunications negotiations
where wesimply must deliver. Ishould nothavetosaythatweallhavetomake afurther effort.
Butwedo.Ifwedonotmake substantial progress onbothissues thisweek, withnewoffers tabled,
thenourmeeting willnotbethebigsuccess weallwant.
Looking ahead, wemustmake financial services apermanent partoftheWTO 'sdisciplines.
WTO mustalsopickupthenewsubjects likeinvestment andcompetition. Ihopeoncewehavebeen
abletotakeahardlookoverthenextfewyears, wewillseethatthetimehascome tomove to
negotiations inthese areas. Theeconomic caseisoverwhelming; thearguments offered against
negotiations inthese subjects seem short-sighted andultimately wrong.
Investment indeed seems tomethetoppriority forWTO intheyears ahead. Investment brings
benefits toall.Sixty percentofforeign direct investment flows fromtheEUandtherestoftheOECD
aretonon-OECD countries. Non-OECD countries provide 30percentoftheworld 'snewFDIeach
year. Itisaninterest weallshare.
Itisalsoanissue which isprimarily fortheWTO because itinvolves thedevelopment ofan
appropriate framework ofbinding rules. Weshould beunder noillusion thatallfirms, whatever their
size,prefer toinvest inlarge markets andinsecure markets. Bigger countries havenoproblems
attracting funds. Butmany small- andmedium-sized countries needasecure legal environment to
attract theirfairshare ofinvestment capital. WTO ruleswillhelpprovide thenecessary underpinning.
Finally, labour standards andenvironmental protection remain important. Environmental
protection isaserious issue forusall.Theresults oftheWTO 'swork todatefallshort ofour
expectations. WTO 'scredibility isatstake, andthere ismuch todo.
Thelanguage emerging sofarontrade andlabour standards respects theconcerns ofthose
whoareworried thatdiscussion ofthissubject could beacloak forprotectionism. Weshare thedesire
toensure thatthatshould notandwillnothappen. Ithink wehavethemakings ofanunderstanding
onthatissue, which Ihopewillprovide thebasisforsome WTO continuity beyond Singapore inthis
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Inconclusion letmeemphasize justtwopoints. Thefirstisthatweneedtoensure thatthe
WTO isaforward-looking organization. Thechallenge istotaketheexisting built-in agenda, together
withthenewissues embodied inourwork programme, anddevelop apackage which fullyreflects
thechanging needs oftheworld economy, embracing theparticular problems oftheleastdeveloped
amongst usaswellastheneeds ofthemore affluent parts oftheworld economy.
Finally, wemusthavearecipe forWTO success. Mypersonal recipe forWTO istoadvance
onstepatatime, without immediate long-term commitments, butwithrealliberalization nowanda
serious programme ofwork toprepare formore liberalization inthefuture.
Awork programme doesnotprejudge anypossible future decision tomove tonegotiations.
Thiswillbeforusalltotakefreely, later: there canbenocoercion intheWTO. Butthisweek's
decisions should make itpossible forustolaunch induecourse thefurther broad-based round oftalks,
which could properly becalled theMillennium Round, thatIpersonally believe wecanstartbythe
endofthecentury. Thatisnotsomething todecide today. Butinallourdecisions hereinSingapore,
weshould prepare ourselves sothattheWTO isready totakeupthatchallenge intheyears ahead.