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Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox: Stop the clocks until WTO agreement is reached

30 July 2004

Speaking just hours before last Friday's deadline for an agreement at the WTO in Geneva, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox stressed the critical importance of the current negotiations to the 53 Commonwealth countries and the world as a whole.

Winston Cox
Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox

While the Commonwealth is not a negotiating entity at the talks, "we certainly believe…that a rules-based international trading system is in the best interests of all of our members, both industrial and developing," Mr Cox said.

"The Commonwealth Heads of Government mounted a trade mission at the beginning of the year to put its political energy and momentum behind reaching a conclusion on the framework agreements in July. The point that was made in all capitals was…that developing countries will require special and differential treatment if they are to benefit from the trade rules, so I am very heartened by what I have heard Mr Supachai say."

The WTO Director General, Supachai Panitchpakdi had earlier stated that "the least developed countries are going to be exempt from all the basic agreement that we have. They are going to gain all kind of concessional treatment in all areas," while developing countries in general would be allowed to make "less deep cuts" and would be given more time to implement new agreements. The WTO Director General anticipated "a deal that realises the goal of what we call the Development Agenda."

On whether the talks might nonetheless stall again, Mr Cox said: "I certainly hope the talks do not stall because a rules based system is going to be most important for all of our members. It is better to have trade with rules than trade without rules. The danger is if the multilateral system is not put in place, many developing countries may find themselves considerably disadvantaged in bilateral negotiations with very powerful partners. So it is absolutely important that if necessary the clocks be stopped and there is a long pause between a minute to midnight, and midnight [the WTO's deadline] so that there be an agreement."

Mr Cox's comments echoed the repeated calls from Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon for a genuine development round that delivered on past promises so millions could be lifted out of poverty. But he underlined the point that it was for each individual Commonwealth country to determine its own negotiating position: "As far as we are concerned, we have provided countries with information, which is a very important part of our work in trade…and the capacity to implement and defend their positions…to ensure that they get the best deal out of the negotiations and I believe that they are using that information to their best advantage to ensure that the deal is fair to them."

See also:
WTO trade deal offers hope for world's poor - but we have far to go

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