I’m delighted to be here today as a guest of the Commonwealth Business
Council. Let me congratulate the Council for organising this event. They
have done a wonderful job. They have brought us together from across the
Commonwealth to share our views and concerns, in our long tradition of
frank and free exchange.
Let me also welcome all of you here to London. I’m sure that over
the next two days, we will enjoy a series of fruitful discussions on a
topic vital to all our citizens, trade.
We are now less than 50 working days away from Cancun. Success at
Cancun is vital to keeping Doha on track, making sure the target date of
1 Jan 2005 doesn’t slip and developing a framework for trade that is
not only free but also fair.
Halving global tariffs would raise global income by $400 billion
resulting in developing country gains of $150 billion a year, three
times current aid flows, lifting over 300 million people out of poverty
by 2015.
Over 1 billion people live on less than a dollar a day. Tens of
thousands die from malnutrition and disease every day. More than half a
million women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year. Too many of
these people are from our Commonwealth. Too many are black. And too many
are women.
It is our responsibility, as the 4th largest economy in the world, to
put this right. Looking across the Atlantic to the US and across the
Channel to Europe, we are well positioned to influence. And stand poised
to do so, using our roots with the Commonwealth to inform our input.
Over £45 billion of UK trade is with the Commonwealth. We’re not in
these negotiations just for UK plc. We’re here to do what is right.
The Commonwealth’s soul of trust and understanding can revitalise
our unstable world, where for too many, it is about mistrust and
misunderstanding. We can and will add weight to your voice. I know too
many of you have felt marginalised from negotiations. We will help build
a world where there is security and prosperity for all.
Today I want to talk about the four areas where I think we need to
see progress, but also I want to hear your views. I think the four
priorities are:
- TRIPS/Medicines
- Agriculture
- Non Agricultural Market Access
- Special and Differential treatment
Let me say a little more about each one.
I find the long dealing in implementing the Ministerial Declaration
on TRIPs and Public Health unacceptable and bad for the Doha Round.
This isn’t just a negotiating pawn. Solving it, is part of a wider
jigsaw to make sure that poor people and countries can get better access
to the medicines they need. At Doha, WTO Ministers agreed to find a way
to deliver and set a target date of 31st December 2002. By that date,
all WTO members could agree to the deal on the table. All bar one. The
US.
The position remains the same. We are in close touch with the US and
other major players to try and find some solution. And I know that until
we do, developing countries will remain sceptical about developed
countries’ commitment to a ‘development’ Round. It’s vital we
solve this by Cancun. I’m glad G8 leaders are committed to do this at
Evian. We must all now combine our efforts and work into translating
that commitment into a reality.
The second issue is agriculture, probably the most important issue
for the developing world. Liberalisation of agricultural trade could
boost developing country exports by as much as $100 billion a year by
2015. For Africa, this means an increase of 1% in GDP growth annually.
Desperately needed when Africa has lost half its share of world trade,
halved over the last generation.
Agricultural markets are amongst the most heavily protected. In the
OECD, we spend $310 billion every year on agricultural support, six
times the amount we spend on aid. We must tackle distortions in global
agricultural trade. Tackling high tariff barriers, domestic support
regimes and our subsidised exports. The Doha offered a mandate to do
this and it was hugely disappointing that the 31 March deadline was
missed.
Since then, the spotlight has right been on the EU. CAP reform was a
“litmus test” of the EU’s commitment to the WTO agriculture
negotiations. The deal agreed by the EU 10 days ago was an excellent
response, underlining our commitment to reforming the CAP and
progressing on agriculture in the Round. Breaking the link between
production and subsidy is a historic move. Farmers will now be free to
tailor production to market demands and won’t have to produce a
certain amount in order to get a subsidy with all the damage and
distortion this creates.
The EU has responded. Others, particularly the US, must now do the
same.
The third area I want to highlight is Non-Agricultural Market Access,
the so-called NAMA, negotiations. Manufactured goods make up more than
75% of developing country exports, up from about 25% in the mid-1960s. A
genuinely liberalising NAMA deal would allow this trade to increase
substantially, by tackling distorting developed world tariffs.
Under the current (Girard) proposals, global tariffs in textiles,
clothing and footwear would be eliminated. They would also go a long way
towards removing industrial sector tariff escalation, a “tax on
development”. This could increase developing country incomes by over
$80bn per year. Full liberalisation would double these gains. But this
is not just a North/South issue. The NAMA negotiations could give a huge
boost to South-South trade.
South-South trade now accounts for around 40% of developing country
exports of manufactured goods. Yet tariffs on South-South trade amounted
to $57 bn in 1995,16 times higher than tariffs on North-North trade in
manufactures. If these were removed, the benefits could be huge.
The fourth priority is changing the rules on Special and Differential
Treatment, providing developing countries with flexibility in
implementing WTO agreements. I regret that little progress has been made
on this. I want to see the rules changed to allow for more effective
Special and Differential Treatment across the WTO system.
We need to recognize the different needs and capabilities of
individual countries rather than imposing a “one size fits all
approach”.
I support an approach to Special and Differential Treatment which
helps integrate all Commonwealth countries into the world trading
system.
We’re all working together for success at Cancun.
The peace, prosperity and security of all our citizens depend on it.
Two years ago at Doha, we all united behind a vision of a peaceful world
with trade systems that are free and fair. Since then, there has not
been as much progress as we’d have liked. And world security and
stability has suffered as a result. We must all come together now to
deliver a safer world for our citizens, our countries and our futures.
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