World Trade Organisation director-general Pascal Lamy defended the organisation and the trade multilateralism in his farewell speech to the General Council on Thursday.
‘Together, we have strengthened the WTO as the global trade body, as a major pillar of global economic governance,’ Lamy told members at his last General Council meeting before leaving office on August 31.
He said the trade multilateralism worked in Hong Kong in 2005, worked in the adoption of a transparency mechanism for Regional Trade Agreements, in the renegotiation of the Government Procurement Agreement, and in the simplification of the rules governing the accession of least developed countries to the WTO.
‘And I am now convinced we will see it work in Bali with the successful conclusion of a deal on trade facilitation together with some development, LDC and agriculture issues, and even possibly with the delivery of the ITA (Information Technology
Agreement),’ he said.
Eleven new members’ accession into the WTO family, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Ukraine, also demonstrated its function, Lamy said.
Lamy said that despite the heavy headwinds and the turmoil in the global economy as well as on the geo-political scene, ‘together we have made this organisation larger and stronger’.
‘This, I believe, is our main achievement during these last eight years,’ he said.
Lamy, former European Union’s trade commissioner before heading the WTO in 2005, called the eight years of his two consecutive tenures ‘transformational years’.
‘We have seen the rise of China to the number one world exporter, significant progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, and developing countries accounting for more than half of the world’s economic activity and more than half of global exports,’ he said.
‘We have also seen challenges such as two food crises, the biggest financial and economic crisis since the 1930s, pandemics and natural catastrophes which have severely impacted the functioning of global production chains.’
‘And the WTO has remained solid in the midst of the tempest,’ he said.
He called on WTO members to look beyond their own interests and also care about the institution, as owners and stakeholders.
He also said that ensuring greater fairness between winners and losers of trade opening will be needed for gaining sustained support for more open trade.
-With New Age input
