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WTO Meeting Concludes: Final Goodbyes and Spins WTO Director General Mike Moore told the press that “it is enormously disappointing that we were not able to finally put together a package for the least-developed countries…and we weren’t able to put together the package we want for technical assistance for the marginalized. But I can report to you that all that work and implementation elsewhere is not lost. We can start again. This is not the first time a round has been postponed.” USTR Charlene Barshefsky noted the “progress in each of the texts in differentiating particularly the least-developed but also developing countries from those more developed.” She added, “I think that there was a very good spirit on the part of the developed countries and indeed some of the higher-income developing countries to ensure that whether the subject was agriculture or tariff or non-tariff barriers, capacity building and so on, that special provision was drafted to ensure more benefits for those countries, for better access for those countries through a process of negotiations.” USTR Charlene Barshefsky’s Remarks “…Delegates have taken up some of the most profound and important issues and policy decisions imaginable, including issues that previous Rounds could not resolve, and matters that have not come before the trading system in the past…and made progress on many of them….The issues before us are diverse, complex and often novel…we found that the WTO has outgrown the processes appropriate to an earlier time…We needed a process which had a greater degree of internal transparency and inclusion to accommodate a larger and more diverse membership…we found as time passed that divergences of opinion remained that would not be overcome rapidly. In our collective judgment…it would be best to take a time out…and prepare the way….The Ministerial will then resume its work.” WTO Director General Mike Moore’s Statement “We have never had so many ministers at a WTO meeting. They came from all over the world, from the small island countries to the great democracies…They probably represented over a billion voters, and they came to a conference to try and put together a package that would advance living standards in their own countries....We will not lose the hard work we did, and have yet to finish, for the least-developed countries, and we’ll never turn our backs on those members of this organization who worked so hard…there is no greater honor than to serve your country this way. We had a first in Seattle, an assembly of legislators from dozens of parliaments….Their votes in the congresses and parliaments decide the fortunes of this institution. So we’re taking time out because that was the judgment of the team. It’s happened many times before…we’ve got a mandate to continue doing some of this work….” President Clinton’s Remarks about the WTO Meeting “We made progress at the Seattle WTO trade meetings, although significant differences remain. I remain optimistic that we can use the coming months to narrow our differences and launch a successful new round of global trade talks…bringing down barriers in agriculture, manufacturing and services, keeping E-commerce tariff-free and ensuring that trade will lift living conditions for working people everywhere while protecting the environment….A successful WTO must be more open and accessible to all citizens around the world. I am determined to move forward….” US Commerce Secretary Daley’s Press Conference US Commerce Secretary William Daley told reporters that he agreed with the AFL-CIO’s John Sweeney that no deal is better than a bad deal. However, he added that he thought that progress had been made on many issues and that the failure to reach an agreement was not a failure for the USG. He defended President Clinton’s so-called bombshell when he suggested that the meeting should incorporate labor standards into the discussion. Daley noted that President Clinton has been saying this for seven years, since labor was brought up in the NAFTA negotiations. He also pointed out that the USG would not impose standards, but that these would be set in an international forum.
www.state.gov/www.issues/economic/wto.html |