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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Secretary-General Meets WTO Director-General

17 June 2002

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon today met Mike Moore, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in Geneva to convey to him the concerns of many Commonwealth countries on trade issues and to discuss the on-going Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.


Mr McKinnon pointed out that a rules-based multilateral trading system was very much in the interest of poor and vulnerable countries. "Increased trading opportunities are the most powerful means of reducing global poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. We must therefore be committed to ensuring that the Doha Round strengthens the multilateral trading system and delivers a development dimension that spreads the benefits of globalisation".


The Commonwealth Secretary-General emphasised that it was important to address implementation issues related to the Uruguay Round early on, to build up the confidence and goodwill necessary to have a successful outcome to the process. He pointed out that it was also important for the industrial countries to open markets and phase out trade distorting subsidies, especially in areas where developing countries have a competitive advantage, such as agriculture, processed foods, textiles and clothing.

Mr McKinnon expressed great concern that the negotiating environment had been adversely affected by the Farm Bill passed in the United States which authorises spending of US$ 180 billion in direct payments and subsidies to US farmers over ten years, and by the increases in tariffs for steel imported into the US. Mr McKinnon hoped, however, that the encouraging signs coming out of the Monterrey Conference, with optimism about a 'New Deal' for developing countries, would help translate rhetoric into reality.


The Commonwealth Secretary-General also drew attention to the fact that the Doha Declaration set an ambitious negotiation timetable. "This is stretching the negotiating capacities of Commonwealth developing countries to breaking point as many of them do not have the technical expertise readily available to participate effectively in these complex discussions. The Commonwealth is therefore attaching the highest priority to providing technical assistance to these countries." Mr McKinnon and Mr Moore discussed ways in which the Commonwealth and the WTO could collaborate in delivering this support.


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