Brad DeLong
Statement by H.E. Mr. Murasoli Maran, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Republic of India
...Our assessment has all along been that the Uruguay Round Agreements have not served all the membership well. There are critical gaps that need to be urgently addressed.
Asymmetries and inequities in several of the agreements including those relating to anti-dumping, subsidies, intellectual property, TRIMs and the non-realization of expected benefits from agreements such as textiles and agriculture during implementation have been a matter of great concern. The special and differential treatment clauses have remained virtually inoperative. The textile sector has thus far witnessed a mere 4 per cent of integration of the restrained items by the developed countries. Even in areas, where developing countries began to acquire trade competitiveness, anti-dumping or subsidy investigations have been initiated in increasing numbers. The TRIPS Agreement places the rights of a patent holder on a higher pedestal than obligations. However, it does not confer corresponding rights to countries or indigenous communities whose bio-resources or traditional knowledge are put to use...
We believe that trade negotiations should concentrate on core issues of market access ensuring smooth flow of trade based on the principle of equity. Similarly, given the emerging prospects, we should examine the constructive role that the e-commerce and information technology can play in our development process. Regarding agriculture sector, the developed countries should eliminate export subsidies and other trade distortive support. At the same time, future negotiations in agriculture must not in any way limit the flexibility of large rural agrarian economies to support and protect their domestic production as well as achieve the objectives of food security and rural employment.
I would like to also add that we are opening up our economy to foreign investment in a transparent manner and we are committed to progressive economic reforms and liberalization in our own interest and according to our own judgement and pace. We do not, however, subscribe to the view that a multilateral framework on investment is either necessary or desirable.
Much has been said about inclusion of non-trade issues such as environment and labour standards on the WTO agenda. India is second to none in its commitment towards environmental protection and sustainable development. The very ethos of India's culture and history is not only to respect but also to worship nature. The issue here, however, is different. The multilateral trading system has been designed to deal with issues involving trade and trade alone. India in good faith had agreed at Marrakesh to the establishment of a WTO Committee on Trade and Environment. We would, however, strongly oppose any attempt to either change the Committee's structure or mandate which can be used for legitimizing unilateral trade restrictive measures. Attempts aimed at inclusion of environmental issues in future negotiations go beyond the competence of the multilateral trading system and have the potential to open the floodgates of protectionism.
On the issue of labour, India is fully committed to observance of labour standards and has ratified most ILO conventions. We also cherish all the values of democracy, workers' rights and good governance. These issues however are not under the purview of the WTO. At Singapore, we decided once and for all, that labour-related issues rightly belong to the ILO. India resolutely rejects renewed attempts to introduce these in the WTO in one form or another. Any further move will cause deep divisions and distrust that can only harm the formation of a consensus on our future work programme...
Statement Circulated by H.E. Mr. Mohammed Benaissa, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco, on behalf of the Ninth Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 and China
The Ninth Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 and China, which was held in Marrakesh from 13 to 16 September, was an historic occasion that allowed the Members of the Group of 77 to come together in a spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and shared perceptions of development. The meeting also represented the culmination of a long period of reflection conducted in Geneva. The Ministers of the G-77 countries set out their positions on a whole range of issues in the field of trade, finance and development. In doing so, the Group was constantly aware that the international community is about to embark on a series of vital meetings, which could and should result in a new vision of the global economy and a new approach to development as a whole. And of course one of the most important of these meetings is the WTO Seattle Ministerial Meeting, and in fact a significant part of the Marrakesh Declaration was designed as a self-contained "message to Seattle"...
A major concern of the developing countries is that the benefits of the existing multilateral trading system continue to elude developing countries, and that progress towards full liberalization in sectors of particular interest to developing countries is lagging behind. The danger the Ministers see here is that the confidence of developing countries in the multilateral trading system could be eroded and the temptation to retreat into misguided protectionist policies could grow. For the G-77 Ministers, the non-realization of benefits by many developing countries in areas of interest to them has resulted from the failure of major trading partners to fully and faithfully meet their obligations, particularly in respect of textiles and clothing. They therefore urge that the question of the implementation of Marrakesh Agreements and Decisions be addressed and resolved at Seattle by the Third Ministerial Conference of the WTO. In particular, the special and differential provisions in the WTO multilateral trade agreements, many of a "best endeavour" nature, which have largely remained unimplemented, must be operationalized if the developing countries are to derive the expected benefits...
In the field of agriculture, the Ministers' objective is to incorporate the sector within normal WTO rules, while addressing the particular problems of predominantly agrarian and small island developing economies and net food-importing developing countries. And it cannot be emphasized enough that the crucial question here is access. In the real world, integration means access. The Ministers therefore call upon developed countries to demonstrate a firm and unequivocal commitment to opening their markets to the exports of developing countries, and to provide duty free and quota free access for the exports of the least developed countries. This should be done without affecting WTO Members' existing commitments relating to preferential schemes. Any future negotiations should address the elimination of tariff peaks and tariff escalation and should introduce further disciplines to prevent the abuse of measures such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard actions, sanitary and phytosanitary regulations and technical barriers to trade, as well as to prevent the apparent revival of the use of voluntary export restraints. The work programme on the harmonization of non-preferential rules of origin should be achieved rapidly, to attain simplified, harmonized and more transparent rules...
As you know, the developing countries have played a proactive role in the preparations for Seattle, and this is no accident. At Marrakesh, the Ministers declared that they will collectively pursue a positive agenda for future multilateral trade negotiations and that such negotiations should also pay particular attention to such issues as transfer of technology, appropriate safeguards for developing countries, credit for autonomous liberalization, export finance, commodity markets and the integration of the developing countries into the multilateral trading system on equitable terms.
The Ministers further declared that negotiations should make operational the provisions under the TRIPS Agreement relating to the transfer of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge, and seek mechanisms for a balanced protection of biological resources and disciplines to protect traditional knowledge; they should enable developing countries under the TRIMs Agreement and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures to use measures necessary to implement their policies for development and export diversification and upgrading...
Let me make clear at the outset that the Members of the Group of 77 and China are unanimous in recognizing the importance of labour standards and the welfare of workers in general throughout the world. This is clearly an important feature of development. The Group of 77 is therefore ready and willing to discuss these issues. However, two things must be emphasized.
Firstly, and as explicitly stated at Marrakesh by the Ministers of the G-77 and China, the developing countries are firmly opposed to any linkage between labour standards and trade. And secondly - and this follows on logically from the first point - the question of labour standards should be dealt with by the competent international organizations and not by the WTO. And in this we are simply endorsing the position established in the Singapore Ministerial Declaration. Let me just recall that, on the question of core labour standards, the Declaration stated unequivocally that the International Labour Organization is the competent body to set and deal with these standards. This is the position of the Group of 77 and China.
And of course, when we do discuss labour standards in the ILO, we will base ourselves on the principle, also agreed upon at Singapore, that the comparative advantage of countries, particularly low-wage developing countries, must in no way be put into question...