Address by Mr. Tom Kitt T.D., Minister for Trade at the NGO Seminar on the WTO Millennium Round of Trade Negotiations Italian Room, Dept of the Taoiseach, Government Buildings on Friday, 29th October, 1999

I am delighted to able to talk to you here to-day in the run up to the Third Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation, which will take place in Seattle from 30 November to 3 December next. As you know, it is expected that this Ministerial Conference will launch a Millennium Round of trade negotiations in the WTO in 2000. Like the Uruguay Round, completed in 1993, this new Round will aim to reduce further tariffs and trade barriers world-wide.

As I mentioned in my letter to you, as part of our preparations for the Ministerial, I am anxious to hear the views of a broad range of interests. I arranged this seminar to-day to outline our thinking on the New Round and also to hear your views. You, as civil society, have an important role to play in assisting me and my Government colleagues in finalising our preparations for Seattle next month.

Eight rounds of trade liberalisation and strengthening of multilateral trade rules have made a major contribution to global prosperity, development and rising living standards. Since 1951, global trade has grown seventeen fold, world production has more than quadrupled, and world per capita income has doubled. The multilateral system has helped a large number of developing countries to successfully integrate into the international economy and developing countries’ share of world export trade has increased by nearly 50% over the past three years.

The WTO, since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, has brought about major improvements in market access and more predictable rules that have benefited the membership as a whole, in particular smaller countries. Over the period 1995-97, the volume of global trade increased by almost 8% annually, far outpacing the growth in G.N.P. WTO and OECD studies on the impact of the Uruguay Round have confirmed the positive impact on the world economy as its results are taking effect.

Existing WTO Agreements pre-commit Members to certain follow-on reviews and negotiations across the so-called called Built-In-Agenda topics covering issues such as Services, Agriculture, Intellectual Property, Technical Barriers to Trade and Investment Measures. Negotiations in these areas have to take place in the New Round and should result in increased liberalisations.

In addition, the Singapore WTO Ministerial meeting in 1996 launched an examination of the new topics covering the “Trade and ...” subjects including Trade and Investment, Trade and Environment, and Trade and Competition. The examination of these topics has to be reported back to the forthcoming Ministerial and consideration given as to how progress will be made on the issues. Apart from the Built-in-Agenda issues and Singapore new topics, however, there is no automatic prior commitment to a wider, comprehensive New Round negotiation.

Ireland, in co-operation with our EU partners, is eager to set ambitious goals for the New Round. The reductions in barriers from the Uruguay Round in 1993, together with the establishment of the WTO, have been of direct benefit to Irish exporters, who have in turn been the main engine of economic growth here.

Ireland, along with all other EU Member States, supports the idea of a broad based, comprehensive round of WTO negotiations to commence in 2000 and to be completed within three years. We feel it is important that we strive for a balanced Round; one which encompasses a broad range of issues within which all participants can identify the topics of importance to them and where all participants can see advantages and gains accruing to them.

Some of you may have reservations on a comprehensive round. But only a broad agenda which takes into account the priorities of all WTO members will be able to deliver those issues which are dear to us and which correspond to the concerns expressed by parts of civil society. The alternative will be a narrow approach based on the so-called ‘built-in agenda’, focusing essentially on agriculture and services. This would mean no initiative for developing countries. It also would mean no trade and environment.

You already know what a comprehensive round is about: it means tariff reductions, new market access in services and improved rules in areas such as competition or investment. But we also want the Round to be about sustainable development. A central part of making this a reality is ensuring that environmental, social and economic concerns - the three pillars of sustainable development - are effectively addressed throughout the negotiations.

Specifically, on the environment component, we shall be pushing for greater clarity between WTO rules and trade measures pursuant to Multilateral Environmental Agreements; seeking to clarify the relationship between WTO rules and process and production methods and pushing for unequivocal recognition of the precautionary principle.

On health issues, we are committed to maintaining our ability to keep our high levels of health protection, and we want to encourage protection of animal welfare. In this regard, the Council of Ministers for Agriculture recently resolved that “international acknowledgement of animal welfare rules must be one of the key points of the negotiating brief for the WTO Millennium Round”.

In the social field we want to encourage the adoption of agreed labour standards, in co-operation with the ILO, and without undermining the competitive position of least developed countries. As Minister with responsibility for Labour Affairs, I have been continuously advocating closer co-operation between the WTO and the ILO. I will continue to actively pursue this objective.

On development, we want genuine market access benefits to the poorest countries to help them to reduce poverty. This is why the Community has proposed that all industrialised countries commit themselves to granting duty-free access for essentially all goods from least developed countries by 2003.

In addition, the needs of developing countries must be taken into account across the board of WTO negotiations. New WTO rules in areas like competition and investment and trade facilitation must be designed in a way to favour development.

Overarching all this of course is transparency. Within the WTO, the Community has been making proposals for the early derestriction of documents and minutes of meeting, and supporting more regular and structured contacts and exchanges with NGOs. Such exchanges should continue during the New Round.

There is a need also to harness the international institutions in a major effort at capacity building the developing world and to ensure that the right domestic policies are put in place. But the WTO is only one element of global governance. We cannot harness globalisation through the WTO alone. Other international organisations will also have a role to play.

Before embarking on a New Round, we in the Community felt it very important to test the impact on sustainable development. The Sustainability Impact Assessment, currently underway, is a key component in our efforts towards such a result: to test the Community’s proposals; and to shift the discussions from slogans to a more fruitful debate on substance.

The Consultants who are carrying out the Assessment of the New Round, the University of Manchester, have received clear instructions to solicit input from civil society and representatives of civil society have been encouraged to help the University with their knowledge and expertise. In this regard, the consultants organised a meeting last week in Brussels with Civil Society and Member States to discuss the methodology it has developed to carry out the Assessment.

The development of the sustainability impact assessment methodology is the first phase of the project. In the second phase, leading up to the Ministerial, the consultants will carry out a broad assessment of the EU’s negotiating objectives. The study will examine their global impact and not just their impact within the EU. Once the agenda for the New Round is agreed at Seattle, the Community then proposes to refine the study further as necessary. Further meetings with civil society will be held at this stage.

In addition to a decision to launch a new round of trade negotiations, I would hope that the Seattle Ministerial will take decisions that will strengthen the WTO as an institution. These could include improvements to the Dispute Settlement Understanding, the creation of an institutional basis to better address development concerns, the improvement of co-operation between the WTO and other major international institutions and improved procedures to create greater transparency and public awareness of the WTO.

Our case for a New Round is built on the fundamentals of the approach I have outlined: our overall economic growth and the creation of real jobs, in Ireland but also elsewhere; the environment, the goal of sustainable development, the integration of the least developed countries, high standards of health and safety protection, and the long term interest of the working population.

Traditionally business interests have achieved primacy in trade negotiations but now we must take a broader sweep of views into consideration. Environmental and consumer interests need to be considered along with the interests of developing countries. I look forward to hearing your views to-day on our proposed approach for the Millennium Round. As Minister with responsibility for Trade, and as the Minister representing Ireland at Seattle, this will then enable me to balance the various national interests and maximise benefits to Ireland.