Dialogue: Healthy WTO a powerful force for global wellbeing

MIKE MOORE* says that in the year since the Seattle summit, the World Trade Organisation has made progress on several fronts.

A year ago, the streets of Seattle were full of hope, protest, anger and tear gas. The World Trade Organisation's Seattle summit was certainly not dull. Unfortunately, it was not a success, either.

The assembled ministers failed to launch a new round of world trade talks. This was not the first time that ministers had failed to reach agreement. Even so, pundits were quick to sound the death-knell for the WTO.

Had their premature obituary proved right, it would have been a disaster for the world. The WTO is a powerful force for good.

It is a place where 140 Governments get together to negotiate rules, ratified by national Parliaments, that promote freer trade and provide a transparent and predictable framework for business. Freer trade means faster economic growth, cheaper imports, and more choice for consumers.

The WTO also helps countries to settle their trade disputes without coming to blows. By holding Governments to rules to which they had previously agreed, it promotes the rule of law in international trade. The alternative is the law of the jungle, where might makes right.

One year on from Seattle, the WTO is alive and well. It has been a good year. We have purged the bad blood that poisoned relations among member Governments. We have demonstrated that the WTO can function effectively and fairly. And we are witnessing a new boom in world trade.

In the first half of this year, world goods trade rose by 14 per cent, four times faster than in 1999. Asia's exports rose by about A quarter. Imports of the five Asian developing countries most affected by the financial storm in 1997-98 rose rose above their pre-crisis levels.

Latin America's exports rose by about 20 per cent, the United States' by 14 per cent. The WTO estimates that world trade will rise by 10 per cent in 2000 as a whole, as fast as in the best years of the 1990s.

At the WTO itself, we have made progress on at least five fronts.

First, we began negotiations on agriculture and services, which together account for more than two-thirds of the world economy.

The US, and the rest of the world, has a lot to gain from further liberalisation in these areas. Cheaper food. Cheaper telephone calls. Better financial services. A faster spread of the internet.

Liberalising agriculture and manufacturing alone would add more than $250 billion a year to the world economy, according to the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London. The gains from services liberalisation, though hard to quantify, could be even bigger.

Second, we have welcomed five new members: Jordan, Georgia, Albania, Croatia and Oman. Lithuania will become our 141st member soon. This is a dramatic vote of confidence in the WTO.

So when you see a few thousand protesters in the streets of Seattle, Washington, London or Prague, remember that more than 20 million people have joined the WTO this year.

And each new member brings us closer to being a truly world trade organisation.

Many more countries are about to join. By far the biggest is China. Its decision to join the WTO suggests that it has opted for reform rather than reaction, openness instead of isolation. China has concluded bilateral agreements with all WTO members that requested one, except Mexico. The US Senate and House of Representatives have both voted convincingly for permanent normal trade relations with China.

True, China's long march towards WTO membership is not yet over. There is still work to do to reach agreement on China's accession protocol, which sets out the rights and obligations of WTO membership. But China will join soon.

Third, we are doing more to help developing countries get a better deal from the world trading system. We have set up a mechanism for dealing with their difficulties in implementing their WTO commitments. We have worked through an important package to help the world's poorest countries.

Twenty-seven richer countries, including the US and the 15 members of the European Union, have offered to open their markets more. Technical assistance has been increased. And we are cooperating more closely with other international organisations that promote development, such as the World Bank.

Fourth, we are involving all our 140 members more in our work. The WTO has always been very democratic. It operates by consensus, so every country, however small, has a veto. But this year we have held more general council meetings, where all members can put their case, than ever before.

We got the representatives of the 30 member countries that don't have missions at the WTO more involved by running a special week in Geneva for them. We organised a meeting of African trade ministers and officials to encourage them to play a fuller role at the WTO. Fifth, we are doing more to reconnect the WTO with ordinary people everywhere. The WTO is already one of the most open and accountable international organisations. Nearly all WTO documents are posted on our website immediately.

I hold regular meetings with parliamentarians and make a point of testifying before parliamentary committees as often as possible. We host regular briefings for non-government organisations which also take part inWTO gatherings and symposiums. But we can, and must, do better.

All this progress has done a lot to improve the atmosphere at the WTO. We are now ready to build on this year's achievements. Our task for the year ahead is to broaden support for further multilateral liberalisation. The freer-trade coalition is pathetic and fragmented. We need to mobilise it and unite it. We are ready to rise to that challenge.

* Mike Moore is director-general of the World Trade Organisation.