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Lamy's speeches
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Hello,
I am happy to be here with you again today, this time to present and
discuss the development paper on which the Secretariat has worked hard so
that we can better understand the numerous development aspects of the Doha
Development Agenda and the ongoing negotiations.
When Ministers adopted the Doha Declaration, they demonstrated their
awareness of the crucial linkages that exist between trade and
development. The needs and interests of developing countries are
clearly at the heart of the Doha Development Agenda.
Our task through this Round is to ensure that the development
dimension remains at the very centre of these negotiations in
every area of the Round's agenda. As I have said on many occasions,
development is at the core of this Round. Development is the raison
d'être of the Doha Round.
The development gains which can be realized span all the sectors now
being negotiated. It is for this reason that we have worked hard to
prepare a paper which highlights all of these elements in a more
analytical way, pillar by pillar. And I wanted personally to present
the paper to you today.
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Agriculture is obviously of critical importance to all
developing and least-developed countries, and is also in many ways the
key to the negotiations. Developing countries stand to gain from
increased market access in developed markets and expanded
opportunities in other developing countries. They will also gain from
substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support in
developed countries and from the elimination of all forms of export
subsidies. The UR contributed in this direction. Developing country
agricultural exports increased by 24% between 1995 and 2003 and
developing countries have increased their share of world exports from
40 to 42%, at a time when agriculture exports increased from $299
billion to $352 billion. Trade growth has been particularly strong
between developing countries which increased by 32% between 1995 and
2003. We must now ensure that the DDA takes developing countries well
beyond that.
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In agriculture, we should not forget such issues of importance to
developing countries as cotton, commodities, tropical products and
addressing preference erosion. On all these issues there are proposals
on the table addressing if not responding to the concerns of
developing countries. Also to keep in mind in the agriculture
negotiations, as in all areas of the negotiations, is the issue of
special and differential treatment, including the flexibility to
designate a number of products as Special Products based on criteria
of food security, livelihood security and rural development needs.
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In the NAMA negotiations, market access is a key issue for
developing countries. I should add that market access interests lie
not only in developed country markets, but also in other developing
country markets and improved opportunities in South-South trade. In
addition to addressing high tariffs, tariff peaks and tariff
escalation, it is also important that non-tariff barriers, that hinder
and distort trade, be equally addressed. We are also aware of certain
specific concerns of developing countries including the preservation
of policy space, the need to provide adequate protection to infant
industries, the maintenance of unbound duties in sensitive sectors and
preventing the loss of tariff revenue. LDCs, meanwhile, consider as
key the improved market access possibilities in the form of duty
free/quota free access for their development goals and hope to secure
more of this type of access to other developed markets as well as to
more advanced developing countries. The UR contributed in this
direction. Developing country industrial exports increased quickly in
the last 10 years. From 1995 to 2003, the average of world export
growth rate is 5.5% for industrial products. During the same period of
time, the same average for developing countries has been 7.4%. We
must now ensure that the DDA takes developing countries well beyond
that.
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As for the development dimension in the Services negotiations,
developing countries stand to gain considerably from the further
opening of trade in services, both on the part of their trading
partners and in terms of their own policy regimes. The sectors
addressed so far by individual developing countries extend across all
major services covered by the Agreement and all modes with a focus on
movement of natural people (mode 4) as well as cross border supply of
services under modes 1 and 2. At the same time, there are adjustment
costs that may be involved with liberalization which will need to be
addressed with adequate prudential supervision and through assistance
and capacity-building programs.
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Turning to Trade Facilitation. This is, of course, a more
recent area of negotiation. However, I think the gains to be enjoyed
from lowering trade-related transaction costs are well recognized. I
should highlight that this is an issue of particular importance to
landlocked developing countries and LDCs, for which steps to
facilitate transit traffic along with facilitating their own cross
border trade can produce a marked reduction in their import costs and
an improvement in their export competitiveness in world markets.
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In the area of Special and Differential Treatment, gains would
accrue to developing countries by making the S&D provisions more
precise, effective and binding. In the ultimate analysis, the S&D
provisions must respond to, and be reflective of, the concerns of
developing countries, and especially the least-developed countries
amongst them.
The points that I have raised are just a few of the development
aspects in each of the sectors under negotiation. I hope I have given
you an idea of the numerous results that these negotiations can
produce in terms of “development”. All of these important subjects for
the developing countries appear in our draft Ministerial Declaration
and will be at the heart of our discussions this week. They will also
be part of our work in Hong Kong and after Hong Kong to the end of the
Doha Round.
Before beginning our discussions, let me finish by giving you my main
conclusions on the current state of play as regards development at
this stage of the negotiations.
Firstly, the fact is that we already have on the table a
number of proposals which have a considerable potential for
development. I am thinking, among other examples, of the reduction in
agricultural subsidies, both domestic support and export subsidies.
In short, the developing countries have much to gain in all sectors of
the ongoing negotiations.
Secondly, since the developing countries are the potential
winners in the current negotiations, they cannot afford to disregard
these advantages and benefits which are already considerably greater
than those resulting from the Uruguay Round. Failure of the ongoing
negotiations would mean loss of earnings for the developing countries.
To revert to the example of agriculture, it would mean that we were
missing the historical opportunity to ensure and lock in real cuts in
trade-distorting agricultural subsidises used by rich economies. In
fact, without the Doha Round, these countries could even further
increase the distortions that currently plague the agricultural
trading system. Virtually all countries would lose — but developing
countries would lose more than others, since the lack of further
reform in the agriculture sector in developing countries would mean
that the current situation would not change — or could even get worse.
Thirdly, I am very much aware that these
negotiations, and generally the opening up of markets, must translate
into real benefits to all people in their everyday lives. For that to
happen it is clear that developing countries will need technical and
financial assistance, if they are to build the supply-side capacity to
benefit fully from the opportunities that the Doha Round will provide.
“Aid for Trade” will therefore need to accompany the results oft he
round to assist developing countries increase their capacity to
participate in the multilateral trading system.
In conclusion, let me say that this paper before you represents an
overview of the potential that could be realized for development
gains. What is already on the table can translate into a good result
for development. It would certainly be disastrous if what we have
disappears because we fail to move the negotiations forward. The
overall goal is to ensure that the package stays on the table and
translates into real benefits at the end of the round — benefits for
developing countries and least-developed countries, for small
economies and for land-locked developing countries. |
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Download the Secretariat note: Developmental Aspects of the Doha Round of
Negotiations (Word format, 29 pages, 266KB)
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Lamy says the Round’s development potential
must be preserved