WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/41
10December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5211)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Original: English
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
PHILIPPINES
Statement byH.E. Mr.Cesar B.Bautista
Secretary ofTrade andIndustry
Allow metoexpress thePhilippines 'gratitude totheSingapore Government forgraciously
hosting theWTO 'sfirstMinisterial Conference.
IntheSingaporean tradition, towhich wehavegrown accustomed, andwiththevaluable
cooperationoftheWTOSecretariat,arrangementshavebeenexcellent.Wetrulyappreciateyourefforts,
andIspeak foracountry thathashadveryrecent experience inhosting animportant international
gathering!
Permit mealsotocommend theDirector-General andhiscolleagues intheWTO fortheir
competent handling ofthenegotiations inGeneva; andourofficials inGeneva, many ofwhom are
withustoday.
Work during thefirsttwoyears oftheWTO were onthewhole productive, andprovide an
impetus topursue whatweaimed toaccomplish atMarrakesh almost three years ago.
During thelasttwoyears, wesawworldwide liberalization efforts unprecedented inGATT
history. Although bumps along theroadhinder thefullimplementation ofcommitments, theexperience
ingeneral hasnotbeendiscouraging. Philippine exports havegrown around 20percent,ifnotmore.
Andtoday, withgrowth being anchored onfirmexport andinvestment expansion, concrete andpositive
stepstowards therealization ofourobjective ofspreading prosperity more equitably, especially tothe
poorest ofourregions, hasbegun.
Wesaw,too,thecontinuing harmonization ofdomestic legislations inaccordance withthe
WTO Agreements. Thisisimportant tousforonlyinthiswaycanweensure afair,freerandequitable
playing fieldforalltheMembers oftheWTO, where thestrong andpowerful cannot coerce, andwhere
thesmall andweak canbemasters oftheirdestiny.
Idonotdeny thatthere have been problems withcompliance among developing country
Members. ButIbelieve thatthrough pragmatism, flexibility, andtechnical cooperation fromtheWTO
andespecially from Members whohavehadgreater experience, weshould beabletosuccessfully
complete thisprocess.
Itwillbeimportant topreserve whatwehavethusfarachieved.
Indeed, itwould bemostunfortunate ifmarket access isfrustrated bytheindiscriminate use
ofanti-dumping, countervailing, andsafeguard measures.
Andworse, itwould bedisastrous ifMembers resort toblatantly protectionist andunilateral
measures -whether intheguise ofstandards, theprotection oftheenvironment, orother excuses.WT/MIN(96)/ST/41
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Intheend,itallboilsdown togood faithandastrong commitment totheopenandequitable
multilateraltradingsystem.Letuskeepthisinmind,andseizetheopportunityforgrowthandprosperity
offered bythefullimplementation oftheUruguay Round results, inletter andspirit.
Theoutstanding issues, thatprevented ourofficials fromagreeing onadraftdeclaration, have
indeed beenexacting onallofus.Weare,afterall,assessing whathasbeenaccomplished inthefirst
twoyears ofWTO, andwhatneeds tobedoneinthefuture. Asinthelaworeconomics professions,
there could easily beasmany views onthese topics asthere areWTO Members. Youcanimagine
howthankful IamthatIamachemical engineer!
But,succeed, wemustinourfirstMinisterial Conference. MyGovernment believes thatwe
can-andthatwemust -come toterms withtheissues thatappear todivide us.Ourvision ofthe
WTO 'sfuture, complemented withnegotiating flexibility, which Ihope weallhaveinabundance,
should allow ustoreach aconsensus ontheseissues. Ourtaskofbridging thegaps, therefore, iscrucial.
Intheinterest oftime, allow mefornowtobroadly touch onafewtopics thatconcern us.
Firstly, textiles andclothing. Thesignificance ofthissector, especially todeveloping countries,
cannot beunderestimated. Textiles andclothing products accounts foraround afifthofthePhilippines '
totalexports.
Theexperience inthelasttwoyears intheimplementation oftheAgreement onTextiles and
Clothing (ortheATC) hasnotbeenencouraging. Forexample, wesawhappen whatwefeared most:
theintegration ofveryfewrestricted products intoGATT andWTO during thefirststage.
Theproducts thatarecrucial tousremain restricted, andmayindeed remain sountilthevery
endoftheMFA's10-year phase-out period.
Then, recourse totransitional safeguards wasrather unbridled, andserves toundermine the
purpose oftheprogressive liberalization weagreed inMarrakesh.
There werealsochanges inrules oforigin, which areparticularly worrisome asthese kinds
ofchanges -which violate thestandstill weagreed upon intheATC andtheAgreement onRules of
Origin -canpotentially wipe outawhole industry inthePhilippines. Thisindustry employs some
5,000 workers, whoattheendofthedaymaylosetheirjobs. They willofcourse blame theWTO,
where ironically labour standards arechampioned bytheveryMembers whounilaterally change the
rules.
Secondly, agriculture. Thefullimplementation oftheagriculture agreement continues tobe
veryimportant tousbecause close tohalfofourpopulation derive direct employment from the
agricultural sector. Inthisregard, anexchange ofinformation andanalyses, toenable abetter
understandingofpolicyissuesandchallenges,isindispensableinensuringthatwewillbeabletocontinue
thereform process, asagreed inMarrakesh.
Onbehalf ofmycolleague, HisExcellency Mr.Salvador Escudero, Secretary ofAgriculture
ofthePhilippines whoisherewithme,IwishtoputforththeviewthattheCommittee onAgriculture
should devote more attention totheissue ofcompliance withdomestic support andexport subsidy
commitments, including inparticular thegrowing tendency ofsome Members tocircumvent export
subsidy commitments byre-instrumenting these intodomestic support measures.
Wehavespenttoomuchtimeonmarketaccessissues,andnotenoughonthosesupportmeasures
which are,inourview, theprimary source ofdistortions inglobal agricultural trade, andwhich alsoWT/MIN(96)/ST/41
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explain whydeveloping countries areconstrained toerecttrade barriers ifonlytoprotect themselves
fromtheanti-developmental impact ofexport subsidies. TheCommittee needs tomaintain thebalance
thatwasoriginally envisaged intheAgreement.
Afinalpoint withrespect toagriculture. Iwish toflagthatweareconcerned about the
increasing trend intheuseofunjustifiable anddiscriminatory sanitary andphytosanitary measures that
impair market access. ThePhilippines, therefore, supports theagreed work programme ofthe
SPSCommittee,amongothers,withrespecttonotificationandimprovedtransparencyintheSPSregime.
Andthirdly, thenewissues. Wehaveexpressed ourhighest concern forlabour standards.
Ourdifficulty, however, isintheareaofrecognizing linksbetween trade andlabour standards, and
whattodoafterthat. Historically andsubstantively speaking, wedonotconsider thisasanissuefor
theWTO, butfortheILO.
Wecontinue tohavedoubts about whether weshould begin worknowintheareasofinvestments
andcompetitions policy, orwaituntilthereview oftheTRIMS Agreement in2000, asweagreed in
Marrakesh. Wealsocontinue toevaluate theproposed terms ofreference forthese issues. Asthey
stand, theterms ofreference maynotevenreflect atallthedevelopmental needs ofdeveloping countries.
Ongovernment procurement, weneedtolookintohowthislinks upwiththePlurilateral
Agreement onGovernment Procurement (orGPA), andbecertain oftheimplications oftwoparallel
agreements ongovernment procurement -although differing insizeofmembership andobligations.
More importantly, weneedtoseeiftherearenetbenefits tothose many Members which donotadhere
totheGPA.
Trade facilitation isoneareawhere questions linger, including theforeseen relationship between
theWTO andrelated work inother fora.
Ihavenotreferred toother topics intheWTO inmystatement.
Butletitnotbeinterpreted thattrade andenvironment, andRegional Trade Agreements, are
notkeytopics forusbecause theyindeed areofutmost importance.
Norcanitbesaidthatwehavelittleornointerest intheimplementation ofother Agreements
likeservices, andtheobligations ofthose Agreements, say,onnotification andlegislative compliance.
Wehavealsoparticipated inliberalization initiatives bothintheWTO andother fora,andeven
unilaterally ifthenational interest sodictates. Here, inSingapore, weareready tocontinue the
engagement onsectoral initiatives suchasinformation technology.
Toconclude, Ihopethatconcerns wehaveraised willbetaken positively, andwillserve as
aimportant input aswebrave thechallenge ofcompromise.
Attheendoftheday,andthisrefers particularly tothenewissues, weneedtopreserve the
practice ofconsensus.
Consensus iscrucial toanyandalldecisions about thefuture agenda oftheWTO. Without
it,themultilateral trading system wehavebuiltthrough pragmatism inthelast50years willhavebegun
todisintegrate.
WithyourableChairmanship, theindispensable support ofMr.Ruggiero andhisWTO team,
andtherequisite goodwill oftheMembership, Iamconfident thatwewillbeabletoresolve our
differences.
Iwishusallgood luckandasuccessful Conference.