October 3, 1998
Washington
Joint Statement by the Heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO)
The present difficult period for the world economy places a premium on cooperation and collaboration between the international organizations involved in the global economy.
Recent developments in the global economy have further raised the importance of our collaboration. In our discussions today we have re-emphasized that pursuit of policies facilitating a return to more orderly financial markets and exchange rate stability are the immediate requirements for recovery. These policies, combined with sound macroeconomic fundamentals, appropriate social safety nets, nondiscriminatory trade liberalization, structural and financial sector reform, and the orderly integration of financial markets along with the safeguards and prudence such integration requires, are critical to promoting the common objectives of high-quality economic growth, poverty alleviation, and broad-based economic development on a sustainable basis.
Trade
liberalization has yielded enormous benefits to the world in the last fifty years; we must
be on constant guard to counter any tendency to slip back into protectionism, which would
be a tragic mistake and a self-defeating strategy in an interdependent world. History
teaches this lesson all too clearly. Indeed, resorting to protectionism would make the
present problems much worse by inhibiting trade flows and the benefits they bring. Markets
must remain open, and here all countries have a role to play. Pressing on with the agenda
for the liberalization of trade in goods and services, including appropriate
implementation of the Financial Services Agreement, will make a key contribution to a
durable recovery. We also continue to give high priority to the accession of candidates to
the WTO.
The goals we have outlined are a critical objective in which the IMF, World Bank, and WTO
have complementary roles. We will continue to search for additional means to enhance the
coherence of global economic policymaking by building on the strong base of collaboration
established in recent years. A collaborative and mutually supportive approach based on the
principles embedded in our institutions is a key ingredient for international economic
recovery and sustained high quality growth that we all seek.