WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/70
11December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5244)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Original: French
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
GREECE
Statement byH.E. Mr.A.Baltas
Deputy Minister
Ministry ofNational Economy
Iwould liketobegin bythanking theGovernment ofSingapore forwelcoming ussowarmly
tothisgathering oftheWorld Trade Organization (WTO) andbyoffering ourcongratulations onthe
organization ofthisfirstMinisterial Conference. Iwould alsoliketothank theDirector-General and
theSecretariat oftheWTO fortheirefforts inensuring thesuccess ofthisConference.
Thetransition fromGATT toWTO andtheimplementation oftheMarrakesh Agreements have
made itpossible tobuildupanewmomentum towards thedevelopment ofamultilateral trading system
which isbothmore integrated and,above all,based onmore effective cooperation attheglobal level.
However, asthecentury draws toaclose, theeconomic andtrading environment continues toinspire
acertain amount ofconcern. Thesurge inthedevelopment oftechnologies, offering newprospects
foreconomic development, hasbeenaccompanied byagenuine revolution inproduction, intheuse
ofresources, which hashaditsimpact onsocial relations. Consequently, eachparty must assume
itsresponsibility atthenational andinternational levels inaccordance withitsneeds anditscapacity.
Atthenational level, efforts should bedirected towards introducing theadjustments needed
tomaintain or,ifnecessary, restore economic balances, aprerequisite foreconomic expansion and
more effective participation intheglobal market.
Attheinternational level, inaworld which isbecoming more andmore interdependent, these
efforts could come tonaught iftheyarenotsupported byahealthy international economic environment
andanefficient multilateral trading system benefiting allparticipants.
SincetheMarrakeshAgreementsmarkanimportantstepforwardinstrengtheningthemultilateral
system, weconsider thattheprimary objective oftheWTO Ministerial Conference should betoassess
theimplementation oftheWTO Agreements.
Thecommitments contained intheagenda incorporated intheWTO Agreements arenot
renegotiable. Inthisconnection, Iwould liketomention thetextiles sector, onwhich aspecific
paragraph hasbeenincluded, wrongly, inthedraftDeclaration, andtostress thattheEuropean Union
hasscrupulously respected itscommitments.
With respect toagriculture, itgoeswithout saying thatwearealsoinfavour ofthestrict
application oftheAgreement. Anyattempt topushmatters beyond whathasalready beenagreed would
berisky, andwedonotthink thatitisintheinterest oftheWTO toendanger thebalance which was
sopainstakingly established attheendoftheUruguay Round.
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Regarding services, wemust focus above allonthesuccessful conclusion ofthesectoral
negotiations which havenotyetbeencompleted inthefields oftelecommunications, financial services
andprofessional services, sticking totheestablished timetables. Atthesame time, itisessential that
weshould continue ourwork ontherulesoftheAgreement onTrade inServices andachieve concrete
results inthatarea. Thiswould helptoprepare theground forcontinuing theprocess intheframework
offuture negotiations inallareas ofservices.
Asregards trade andtheenvironment, weattach great importance tothework being doneby
theWTO. Theaimofourdiscussions inthatareashould betodrawupbinding andtransparent rules,
particularly withrespect totrade measures ininternational agreements concerning theenvironment.
Inviewofthegrowing interaction between tradeandinvestment andintheabsence ofoverall
rules ontheliberalization andprotection offoreign investments, itwould beuseful tohavefurther
discussions onthatsubject. Thepurpose ofsuchdiscussions would betoclarify thedifferent positions
andestablish asufficiently broad consensus among members inorder tobeabletodefine ourobjectives.
Onthesubject oftrade andcompetition, weconsider thatsince theglobalization ofmarkets
raises important issues thatdeserve particular attention, WTO Members should initiate discussions
aimed atpromoting abetter understanding ofwhattherules ofcompetition canachieve, bearing in
mind theprogress already made attheinternational levelwithin UNCTAD andtheOECD.
Asregards trade andcoresocial standard s,wemustexamine thelinkbetween those standards
andtrade policy. However, itisessential thatwereassure thelow-wage countries thatthediscussion
ofthese questions willnotundermine theircomparative advantages. Weareallwilling torecognize
theessential roleoftheILOinthefieldofcoresocial standards andtheneedtoensure thatthose
standards donotleadtodisguised protectionism. Thatbeing thecase, weareallthemore convinced
thatclose cooperation between theILOandtheWTO willhelpustoattain ourobjectives.
Weareentirely infavour ofpursuing themultilateral process ofliberalization ofinternational
markets, which istheprimary objective oftheWTO. Thatprocess willproduce concrete results by
concludingtheInformationTechnologyAgreement(ITA).Inourview,theAgreementmustbebalanced,
mustcover tariffandnon-tariff measures, andmustprovide fortheparticipation ofthegreatest possible
number ofcountries.
Another priority oftheSingapore Conference istoinvite WTO Members toshow thepolitical
willneeded tospeed uptheadmission ofsuchprimary trading partners asChina andtheRussian
Federation, aswellasothercountries thatarenotyetmembers. These admissions willhelptostrengthen
themultilateral trading system andtoreduce potential tensions attheinternational level.
Oneofthegreatsuccesses oftheUruguay Round wastounitetheindustrialized countries and
thedeveloping countries inacommon understanding ontheadvantages oftheliberalization of
international trade according tointernationally agreed rules. Wegivehighpriority toassuring the
leastdeveloped countries thattheywillnotbemarginalized andtaking steps tointegrate them into
theinternational trading system. Inthatconnection, mycountry fullysupports thePlanofAction for
theleastdeveloped countries, andwehopethatthejointUNCTAD/ITC meeting planned fornextyear
willproduce positive results forthose countries.