Archives

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake making a Cancun statement at the fifth WTO Ministerial Meeting on September 12 said:

"Sri Lanka is fully engaged in trying to end a twenty 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 everyday 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 poor 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.

Minister Karunanayake said 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 realize 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 good and services. Liberalizing 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.He said 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 liberalization 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.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 realize 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. Liberalization 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 the 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 liberalization, providing greater market access under mode 4 will be a win-win situation for both developed and developing countries.

"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 whom do not even have national laws to deal with their domestic competition policies, we support a soft agreement on competitions," he said.

Minister Karunanayake also welcomed Cambodia and Nepal which joined the WTO family, the only two least developed countries to join the WTO since its establishment.

He said Sri Lanka brings a somewhat different perspective to this crucial Ministerial Meting. We are at a turning point, with a unique opportunity to bring peace and prosperity to our people, many of who have known only war and poverty. The stakes could not be higher for us. We cannot leave Cancun until we succeed. Together we can make a difference," Minister Karunanayake said in conclusion.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager