Speech at a Reception for Commonwealth Ambassadors in Brussels
Date: 2 Mar 2005
Speaker: Secretary-General Don McKinnon
Location: Dorint Hotel, Brussels, Belgium
Speech by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon Don McKinnon
I'm very pleased to welcome you all here this evening.
This is my third visit to Brussels in the last three years.
I had discussions this afternoon with José Manuel Barroso and several other Commissioners. I also met John Kaputin who has just taken up his ACP responsibilities. And I met Javier Solana just before welcoming you here.
So, it has been a frenetic half-day in Brussels, and you would all be familiar with that.
My discussions are part of annual high-level meetings between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the European Commission. They differed somewhat this time from past occasions for two reasons.
The first is that we came with a clear determination to raise the level of strategic partnership between the two organisations. We came not with a shopping list or wish list, but with a message:
Securing political momentum in the Doha Round
The Commonwealth is a grouping of 53 countries; the Union has 25 members. Both groupings cherish democracy; both favour free and fair trade; both recognise the need to do more to help developing countries grow and prosper.
There is plenty that we have in common, and plenty to talk about in future. And, we can build strategic partnerships on some of the world's pressing political issues…quite easily in fact when the will exists, as indeed it now does.
We tested this message and approach last month when I hosted Peter Mandelson to a WTO seminar for your Commonwealth counterparts in London.
A great deal is at stake for Commonwealth countries in the DDA. They stand to win a lot or to lose a lot, depending on whether their interests and their needs are reflected in the outcome.
But the WTO trade talks aren't just about negotiators in Geneva. It is also about the totality of human security. You can't negotiate a global trade deal today in a globalised world without looking at the bigger picture, and taking that bigger picture into account.
Trade then is also a political issue. And no deal will ever be reached - and even less, implemented - without real, sustained political impetus. Trade negotiations are conducted by officials, but they are driven by leaders.
That is why you, as Commonwealth Ambassadors in Brussels, can also play an important role in taking this process forward.
You are in a strategically important position between the technocrats and the political leadership, and in a strategically important city. You have the ability to highlight the role that Commonwealth leaders can play in generating a strong consensus on trade.
The Commonwealth, as you know, does not constitute a formal trading bloc. But with its diverse membership, it is ideally placed to generate consensus on international trade matters.
Our membership is present in every single key grouping around the WTO table and beyond: the G8, G20 G90, the Quad, the Cairns Group, the OECD, the G77 and so on. We are present and active in all of them. And we can affect the outcomes of the DDA.
My presence here in Brussels, then, is part of a strategy aimed at making sure that the Commonwealth message on trade is being heard. In November, I will be looking to secure a very strong pro-DDA outcome when the 53 Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in November, just before the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting.
And then at Hong Kong itself, I intend to convene a meeting of Commonwealth Trade Ministers to drive forward our agenda and determination to get development dividends from the Round.
Peter Mandelson made a number of positive remarks about the centrality of development at that seminar of ours in London. I congratulate him and the Commission for this policy setting.
The point is that we can collaborate as partners on such issues, and use our collective will and resources to make a difference.
Building a strategic partnership with the European Commission
I said there were two reasons for this visit being a bit different to the previous ones. As I've just said, the first is that we came determined to step up the political engagement between our two organisations - a political engagement of purpose, clear and unambiguous.
The second reason is that we wanted to come here with something which gives effect to that new type of relationship. We came with some clear proposals to work together as partners over the next five years in areas that are certainly a priority for the Commonwealth.
We already have one such initiative in place. Last year we launched what we call the, "Hub and Spokes" trade capacity project. It is a collaborative effort between our two organisations which has shown our ability to work together. And it is building real, tangible trade negotiating capacity in ACP countries.
The proposals we have sketched and presented this time come together under two headings. One is, "Democracy and Governance". This covers ideas such as supporting citizen participation in the democratic process; supporting institutions of the African Union and NEPAD; and supporting public sector management.
The other heading is, "Trade and Development" and covers further work to get the Doha Round on the right developmental track; work to get small states further up the trade negotiations agenda; initiatives to improve access to the European market for developing country exports; and promoting investment to increase trade capacity.
All in all, then, a busy time in Brussels but we've come with a road-map, the signals from my discussions have been very positive, and the Commonwealth is very much carving out a name and a role for itself here. You, of course, have a role in keeping that Commonwealth flame burning brightly and that Commonwealth agenda clearly on the EU radar screen.
Thank you.
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Speech at a Reception for Commonwealth Ambassadors in Brussels
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