WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/67
11December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5238)
Original: English MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
ISRAEL
Statement byMr.Zohar Peri
Director, Foreign Trade Administration
Ministry ofIndustry andTrade
Onbehalf oftheGovernment oftheState ofIsrael, Iwould liketoexpress ourappreciation
toyou,Mr.Chairman, totheDirector-General andtheSecretariat oftheWTO asawhole whohave
laboured forthesuccess ofthisConference. Iwould alsoliketothank ourSingapore hosts fortheir
warm hospitality andsuperb organization ofthismeeting.
Everynation,beitdevelopingordeveloped,smallorlarge,bringstothisforumuniquestrengths,
needs, andexpectations. What binds ustogether isourcommon interest indeveloping andflourishing
within anagreed multilateral trading system.
Thesuccess oftheWTO stems fromthefactthatittranscends geographic andpolitical borders,
andfocuses onourshared pursuit -expanding international trade inorder toenhance economic
development tothebenefit ofallMember countries.
Asasmall country withfewnatural resources, Israel ishighly dependent onitsforeign trade
which represents 80percentofitsGDP. Forus,theexpansion ofinternational trade isatoppriority
andweattach great importance tothewellfunctioning oftheWorld Trade Organization.
Wehavedemonstratedourcommitmenttotheconceptofanopeneconomicsystembyunilaterally
implementing apolicy ofimport liberalization, abolishing non-tariff barriers andreducing tariffduties
evenbeyond ourcommitments andobligations within theframework oftheUruguay Round.
Wehavealsoliberalized trade inagricultural products beyond theobligations undertaken in
theUruguay Round Agreement. Butwestillfeelthatprudence isadvisable indealing withthissensitive
sector.
Ourgoalofenhanced import liberalization hasbeenfacilitated bythefree-trade agreements
concludedwithourmajortradingpartners,withintheframeworkofArticleXXIVoftheGATT.Indeed,
exposure toforeign competition through bilateral free-trade areaagreements haspaved thewaytothe
extension ofgreater liberalization andwider exposure alsovis-à-vis theotherWTO Members countries.
Weviewfree-trade agreements asameans togreater integration intotheglobal economy, and
weregard regional agreements ascomplementary tothemultilateral trade system andconsistent with
itsrules. Wearenowpreparing ourselves totherealization ofthisvaluable lesson closer tohome,
namely, weareready tolaythefoundations forgrowing trade andeconomic relations withour
neighbours intheMiddle East.WT/MIN(96)/ST/67
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Inthiscontext, Iwould addthatonlylastmonth, weparticipated together withrepresentatives
ofourbusiness community, intheThird Middle East/North Africa Economic Conference inCairo,
within theframework oftheMiddle Eastern Peace Process. ThisConference gaveustheopportunity
tohearfirsthand theimportance which participating countries attach toregional trade agreements,
andthecontribution suchagreements canmake totheeconomic progress andthewell-being ofthe
peoples intheregion.
Thepolitical changes inEastern Europe havehadamarked impact onourtrade withCentral
andEastern European countries aswellaswithcountries inAsia. With some ofthese countries, we
haveconcluded orweareintheprocess ofconcluding free-trade agreements. With other countries
which arenotWTO Members, wehavesigned trade agreements incorporating theMFN concept.
Exchanges withthese newtrading partners havesubstantially contributed tothetrade growth inthe
lastfewyears.
Atthesametime,imports haveexpanded totheextent thatIsrael'smostacuteeconomic problem
istoday itsbalance-of-payments deficit. Forasmall country likeIsrael, thisstateofaffairs cannot
beallowed tocontinue foranylength oftime. However, itisourfirmintention tosolve thiskind
ofproblem, asfaraspossible, bycreating newexport opportunities, rather thanbyrestricting imports.
Israel regards mostfavourably theproposal todevelop aninformation exchange programme
toassist thenegotiations onservices commitments scheduled tobegin bytheyear2000. Webelieve
thatsuchaprogramme willcontribute tofurther transparency andwillassist Member countries inthe
achievement offurther liberalization. Israel'sspecific commitments reflect anopenandliberal overall
regime intradeinservices. Israel regards favourably thepresence offoreign financial service suppliers
within itsborders andwelookforward toproductive negotiations inthisfieldinApril 1997.
Withregard totelecommunication services, Israel'sofferanditsfurther opening ofinternational
telecommunication services reflect Israel'sintention toachieve greater liberalization inthisfield; we
arenowexamining thepossibility ofintroducing further improvements inouroffer.
Inthefieldofinformation technology too,Israel already maintains averylowlevelofduties
withalarge product coverage.
Israel recognizes thegrowing importance oftheexisting linkbetween investment andtrade
intheinternational economy. Inthisregard, Israel'sinward andoutward investment regime isopen,
stable andliberal. Inrecent years ithasserved asamotor foreconomic growth.
Inregard topublic procurement, Israel favours theexpansion oftransparency inallrelevant
procedures. Allnations stand togainfrom greater access topublic tenders. Here, Iwould liketo
stress thatIsrael isaparty totheplurilateral Government Procurement Agreement, andhasalready
taken upon itself substantial obligations toopenitspublic tenders.
Webelieve thatitisessential thatlargedeveloped nations alsocommit themselves toremoving
restrictions andenhancing national treatment alsotowards small foreign enterprises.
Regarding accession, wewelcome theaccession ofnewMembers totheWTO, andnotethat
dueconsiderationmaybegiventosmallanddevelopingcountries,inviewoftheirlimitationstoadopting
WTO obligations immediately upon accession. However, wewould liketostress thatitisessential
thatacceding countries when taking uptheirnewWTO commitments, undertake tocomply withthe
basic principle ofnon-discrimination.WT/MIN(96)/ST/67
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There arestillmany important issues which deserve ourattention -topics thatshould be
rule-based andbrought intotheframework oftheWTO forourmutual benefit.
Ourwork isnotoverbyanymeans, butweremain firminourcommitment tothemultilateral
trading system, motivated bytheconfident knowledge thateconomic growth isachieved byconsensus
foreveryone 'sadvantage.