Your
Excellencies
I am pleased to join you today. It gives me an opportunity to reaffirm
the priority I attach to Africa's concerns and interests.
Just two months ago, I had the honour of joining the Assembly of
African Union Heads of Government in Maputo. At that meeting I urged
leaders to step up their engagement in the Doha Development Agenda. As
we stand here on the eve of the WTO's Fifth Ministerial Conference, I
should like to repeat — with more vigour and urgency — that same message
to you.
As I said in Maputo, the Doha Development Agenda is a vitally important
tool in Africa's efforts to unlock the continent's economic potential,
to raise the living standards of your peoples and to fight poverty. It
is an opportunity to consolidate and build upon the significant
autonomous reforms that many African countries have undertaken in the
last twenty years. It is an opportunity to strengthen the framework of
WTO rules which alone guarantees stability and predictability in
international trade.
Because the DDA has the potential to significantly contribute to your
economic development I really encourage you to make every effort to
participate as fully as you can. Certainly, by negotiating as a group
and by forming alliances with other Members you can both help overcome
your resource constraints and also increase your negotiating leverage.
Already Africa's increased participation has started to bear fruit. The most recent example is, of course, the Agreement on TRIPS and Public
Health. Finally a solution has been found for countries which do not
have the capacity to produce essential medicines under compulsory
licence themselves. This is a significant and long awaited breakthrough
that should help Africa deal with AIDS and other diseases. This
achievement would not have been possible without the leadership and
unity of African countries. I should like to express my very great
admiration both for your patience and for the extremely effective way in
which you helped bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion. Hopefully you will be able to replicate that same effort here in Cancún.
It is also partly through the efforts of African and other developing
countries that development issues are at the heart of the Doha Agenda. Moreover because of your efforts LDC's issues have been given priority
attention in the negotiations and Members have been encouraged to adopt
autonomous measures such as AGOA and the Everything But Arms
initiative. Recently Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali presented a sectoral initiative on cotton, which has generated a great deal of
support. It has succeeded in focusing the attention of the
international community on the harmful effects of trade-distorting
subsidies across the board on agriculture. The Cancún meeting is an
opportunity to make progress on this issue.
What is at stake for African countries in the DDA:
Let me now turn to the Doha Work Programme and touch upon some priority
issues for Africa — particularly market access in agricultural and
non-agricultural products, services and also special and differential
treatment.
MARKET ACCESS
The biggest gain for poverty alleviation and development will lie in
further liberalization of agriculture, non-agricultural market access
and trade in services.
Agriculture is pivotal to a successful conclusion of the Doha Round. It
is of course, the backbone of the economies of many African countries,
in terms of employment and its contribution to GDP. Many proposals have
been made reflecting a complex array of interests, ranging from
countries which want to see modest reform on all three pillars, to Net
Food Exporters, Net Food Importing Countries, Preference-Receivers and
countries with food security interests and other non-trade concerns.
These diverse interests are also reflected on the African Continent
itself, so you no doubt understand the challenge with 146 countries
involved in the negotiations. Any agreement on a so-called framework
for modalities must necessarily be a compromise; but it must be a
compromise that reflects the ambitious Doha Mandate. In particular, it
must have the potential to deliver significant improvements in market
access; reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export
subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade distorting domestic
support. Special and differential treatment for developing countries
must be an integral part of all elements of the negotiations. To reach a
successful agreement on Agriculture which is clearly so important to all
Members, flexibility and a willingness to accommodate the interests of
others is required on all sides.
NAMA:
African countries also have a big stake in the negotiation on
non-agricultural market access. Issues of concern that have been
highlighted by African countries include the elimination or significant
reduction of tariff peaks and tariff escalation which impede their
efforts to diversify their exports and develop their manufacturing
bases. Good progress has been made on the basis of draft elements for
the modalities provided by the Chairman of the Negotiating Group on
Non-Agricultural Market Access. There are, however, still issues to be
clarified and differences to be resolved, including the formula for
tariff reductions. Account has to be taken of the principle of less
than full reciprocity and thought must be given to addressing adjustment
costs that may arise from tariff cuts, including revenue shortfalls and
preference erosion. On adjustment costs and preference erosion, I am
pleased to report to Ministers that my discussions with the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund, under the WTO Coherence Mandate,
are yielding positive and encouraging results. These two institutions
are examining the issues of adjustment costs arising from further trade
liberalization and will indicate how they can be of assistance to
affected WTO Members within the Doha negotiations. I have to emphasise
that the role of the WTO will be crucial in that regard.
SERVICES
African countries have not been as active in the negotiations on
services as compared to other market access areas. I hope I can urge
you to become much more involved in the negotiations and submit your
requests and offers as soon you can. Mode 3, for example, has the
potential to help you to attract foreign direct investment. Some
countries have used mode 3 commitments to help attract FDI and inject
greater efficiency in certain key sectors of their economies,
particularly in telecommunications and financial services. These
important infrastructural services are really crucial if countries are
to participate more effectively in international trade. I know that
mode 4 is also important to most of you and I hope that progress will be
made. Again, this will depend on your level of engagement and your
willingness to undertake commitments in other areas.
SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT
African countries have been particularly active in the discussions on
Special and Differential Treatment. A significant number of proposals
have been made by the African Group and the LDCs. It was, of course,
unfortunate that the original deadline of December 2002 was not met,
notwithstanding the hard work of all delegations. As you are aware,
agreement has been reached in principle on twenty five proposals in
Geneva and I really urge to consider harvesting these here in Cancún. I
am aware of the hesitation on the part of some African countries that
the remaining issues might not be addressed. But let me stress that the
Chairman of the GC and I are absolutely committed to finding appropriate
solutions to the remaining issues as reflected in paragraph 11 of the
draft Ministerial text.
Africa needs to show leadership at Cancún
Since the launch of the DDA, your ambassadors in Geneva have worked hard
and articulated Africa's priorities in the negotiations, as reflected
most recently in the “Maputo Declaration on the Fifth Ministerial
Conference of the WTO”; and the “Mauritius Ministerial Declaration on
the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the WTO”.
The draft Ministerial Declaration referred to Ministers by the Chairman
of the General Council and myself reflects the progress made so far. Here in Cancún, Ministers have the opportunity to inject momentum to the
negotiations – by working to bridge the differences that remain and
provide direction to move the process forward. This will of course be
very hard work, and should not be underestimated given the very
divergent positions on certain issues. But we should always keep in
mind our overarching objective of strengthening the multilateral trading
system to the benefit of each and every Member. The Doha Development
Agenda has something in it for every country. This should make
trade-offs possible and Africa must look at the areas in which it could
accommodate the interests of its trading partners.
African countries have the greatest stake in these negotiations given
the tremendous boost it could provide to their efforts to eradicate
poverty and attain sustainable economic development. I urge you, once
again, to remain engaged at the highest level in these negotiations to
ensure its success. From the side of the WTO Secretariat I can assure
you that we are totally committed to supporting you, including through
our technical assistance and capacity building programmes. I hope that
we will be able to adopt the necessary decisions at the end of our
meeting which would facilitate the integration of your countries into
the multilateral trading system. |
