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Strong
plea for success
at Mexico meeting
Commerce
Minister, Ravi Karunanayake - Access to markets a matter of life
and death for small countries
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Commerce
and Consumer Affairs Minister, Ravi Karunanayake made a fervent
appeal for success of the fifth World Trade Organisation
ministerial meeting in CanCun, Mexico stating it was a matter of
life and death for small countries such as Sri Lanka who are
looking for access to world markets to ensure the economic welfare
of their people.
The
minister also used the conference to effectively network with
colleagues from the 148 countries attending the sessions to push
for greater market access for Sri Lankan goods.
In
a series of bilateral meetings with heads of delegations, the
Minister lobbied for Free Trade Agreements receiving positive
responses from several countries including Bangladesh, which
indicated a deal could be clinched in a matter of months.
Minister
Karunanayake also met with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick
where the fullest US support for Sri Lanka's current efforts to
rebuild the nation was assured.Minister Karunanayake's |
Indian
counterpart, Jaitley too extended similar support and expressed
satisfaction with the manner in which the Free Trade Agreement between
the two countries was operating.
Given
the hotly debated issue over agricultural subsidies at the conference
where there was a sharp division of opinion between a-group of 22
countries headed by India and Brazil on the one hand and the USA and EU
on the other, Minister Karunanayake in his address called for rhetoric
to be replaced with action.
Following
is the full text of the Ministers address :
At
the outset let me express my profound appreciation to the government of
Mexico for making splendid arrangements for hosting this fifth WTO
Ministerial Conference in CanCun and making our stay pleasant and
comfortable.
I
am also pleased to convey the good wishes from the Prime Minister, the
government and the people of Sri Lanka, who have high expectations of a
successful conference.
Mr
Chairman, today, in Sri Lanka we are fully engaged in trying to end a 20
year civil conflict that has stunted economic growth and left too
many of our people in poverty. What does this have to do with our work
here in CanCun? In Sri Lanka we see examples every day of the
inextricable linkages between peace and economic performance and because
of this, we are committed like never before to successfully implementing
fundamental economic reforms. Trade reform lies at the centre of these
efforts. Sri Lanka is a relatively small country and unless our people
can effectively gain access to world markets, we cannot succeed in our
efforts to improve economic welfare and it will be difficult to bring a
lasting peace. Success here is indeed a matter of life and death. We
cannot afford to leave CanCun without success.
Mr
Chairman, we launched the Doha Round of negotiations with the conviction
that its successful conclusion would generate benefits to all WTO
members from increased market opportunities and welfare gains through
the multilateral trading system. We also placed the needs and interests
of the developing countries at the heart of our work programme. We know
that eliminating all barriers to trade in goods would generate up to an
extra US$ 620 billion in global income and that half of these benefits
would accrue to developing countries. This would lift huge numbers of
men, women and children out of poverty and provide a strong foundation
for global peace and prosperity. We cannot permit our work here to fail.
Here
in CanCun we must take critical decisions and give political guidance to
realise the ambitious objectives we set for ourselves in Doha. This
Ministerial Conference must be the occasion to match rhetoric with
action.
Mr
Chairman, I have listened to many of my colleagues these last several
days and I know that they share a strong commitment to succeed here. It
is clear that much creativity and great courage will be required to
reconcile the many different positions expressed here. However, I
believe it is also clear that if the DDA is to become a truly
development round, we must all strive for ambitious and comprehensive
progress in all key areas: agriculture, manufactured goods and services.
Liberaliiing trade for only a few products or a single area will not be
sufficient. Yes, achieving ambitious and comprehensive progress will
require us all to take major steps - perhaps more than many of us might
wish. But, we cannot permit our work here to fail.
Mr
Chairman, we are indeed pleased that after a long and complex
consultation process, we were able to find a solution to implementation
of the paragraph 6 of the Doha decision on TRIPS and Public Health to
address problems of members with insufficient manufacturing capacity in
the pharmaceutical sector. The decision on this issue has sent a
powerful signal to the world community that the world trading system is
capable of providing solutions for highly sensitive humanitarian issues
of this nature, which affects millions of people in developing
countries.
Mr.
Chairman, the negotiations on agriculture are the single most important
development issue and hold the key to the success of the Doha Round. A
genuine development round must have broad based improvements in market
access conditions for agricultural products. Sri Lanka is a net food
importing country, but we also depend heavily on our agricultural
exports of tea, rubber and other commodities. And we also have many
subsistence farmers struggling to escape from poverty. Their economic
future depends upon what we do here.
Sri
Lanka's commitment to liberalisation in agriculture is firm. The
daunting challenge that we face is finding a path to do this that takes
account of the interests of all of our people, especially the poor.
In
this context, we believe that the ministerial text provides a basis for
us to move forward with the negotiations. Like many developing
countries, we will require the flexibility to designate special products
and the establishment of a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for
developing countries. This will be important to countries like Sri
Lanka, with low bound tariffs.
Mr.
Chairman, non-agricultural market access negotiations is also a central
element to achieve the ambition of the Doha mandate, and agreeing to a
non-linear tariff cutting formula and sectoral approach are central
elements to realise the ambition of the Doha mandate. However, ambition
should be balanced with flexibility.
On
services, we agree that services are the infrastructure to the 21st
century economy and it is a pre-requisite for economic development. More
than one-half of Sri Lanka's GDP is derived from services.
Liberalisation of the trade in services makes economies efficient and is
essential for a competitive goods sector. It is from this development
perspective with a vision to make Sri Lanka a services hub that we
approach services negotiations. In order to demonstrate our commitment
to DDA we have submitted our initial offers for circulation. More must
be done and we will go much further.
It
is also our hope that developed countries would undertake significantly
greater market access commitments, particularly in mode 4. This will
increase the opportunity for professionals and skilled workers to
compete in the markets in developed countries. Like all forms of trade
liberalisation, providing greater market access under mode 4 will be a
win-win situation for both developed and developing countries.
On
Singapore issues, our position has been, and will continue to be that
each issue should be treated on its own merit. We appreciate that the
draft text provides two options either to agree to negotiations or to
continue with clarification of the issues in the working groups. Our
position on trade facilitation and transparency in government
procurement is to agree to modalities for negotiations based on the
relevant annexes.
On
trade and investment, we are prepared to take a flexible position.
However, modalities to be agreed to should provide required comfort
level as an appropriate basis to commence negotiations.
On
trade and competition, it is a complex issue on which two options are
given. Since this issue has not been adequately clarified, considering
different needs of the member countries, some of which do not even have
national laws to deal with their domestic competition policies, we
support a soft agreement on competitions.
Mr
Chairman, I would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate my
comments yesterday to wholeheartedly welcome Cambodia and Nepal which
have joined the WTO family, the only two least developed countries to
join the WTO since its establishment.
In
conclusion, let me emphasise that Sri Lanka brings a somewhat different
perspective to this crucial ministerial meeting. We are at a turning
point, with a unique opportunity to bring peace and prosperity to our
people, many of whom have known only war and poverty. The stakes could
not be higher for us. Mr Chairman, we cannot leave CanCun until we
succeed. Together we can make a difference.
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