SINGAPORE AGENDA

EU198
Nico Gozos and Pam Vasquez
July 24,2010
SINGAPORE AGENDA
 First Ministerial Conference since the WTO started on 1 January 1995
[Singaporean Government was the official host of the Ministerial]
 Trade, foreign, finance and agriculture Ministers from more than 120
World Trade Organization Member governments and from those in the
process of acceding to the WTO participated
 It included plenary meetings and various multilateral, plurilateral and
bilateral business sessions which examined issues related to the work of
the WTO's first two years of activity and the implementation of the
Uruguay Round Agreements
GOALS OF THE SINGAPORE
MEETING
 assess the implementation of our commitments under the WTO
Agreements and decisions;
 review the ongoing negotiations and Work Programme;
 examine developments in world trade;
 and address the challenges of an evolving world economy.
ROLE OF WTO
 They envisage a world where trade flows freely
 They renew their commitment to:
 a fair, equitable and more open rule-based system;
 progressive liberalization and elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in
goods;
 progressive liberalization of trade in services;
 rejection of all forms of protectionism;
 elimination of discriminatory treatment in international trade relations;
 integration of developing and least-developed countries and economies in transition
into the multilateral system; and
 the maximum possible level of transparency.
TRADE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
 They have sought to fulfill the objectives reflected in the preamble to
the WTO Agreement of conducting their trade relations with a view to
raising standards of living worldwide.
 rise in global trade facilitated by trade liberalization within the rules-
based system has created more and better-paid jobs in many countries
INTEGRATION OF ECONOMIES;
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
 They commit themselves to address challenges such as the scope and
pace of change in the international economy, including the growth in
trade in services and direct investment, and the increasing integration of
economies offer unprecedented opportunities for improved growth, job
creation, and development
CORE LABOUR STANDARDS
 They renew their commitment to the observance of internationally
recognized core labour standards
 They also support and affirm the International Labour Organization
(ILO) who is the competent body to set and deal with these standards
for labour
 They believe that economic growth and development fostered by
increased trade and further trade liberalization contribute to the
promotion of these standards
 They reject the use of labour standards for protectionist purposes, and
agree that the comparative advantage of countries, particularly low-
wage developing countries, must in no way be put into question
MARGINALIZATION
 They commit themselves to address the problem of marginalization for
least-developed countries, and the risk of it for certain developing
countries
 They will continue to work for greater coherence in international
economic policy-making and for improved coordination between the
WTO and other agencies in providing technical assistance
REGIONAL AGREEMENTS
 They note the importance of existing regional arrangements involving
developing and least-developed countries
 They reaffirm the primacy of the multilateral trading system, which includes
a framework for the development of regional trade agreements
 They renew their commitment to ensure that regional trade agreements are
complementary to it and consistent with its rules
 They welcome the establishment and endorse the work of the new
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
 They shall continue to work through progressive liberalization in the WTO
as they are committed in the WTO Agreement and Decisions adopted at
Marrakesh, and in so doing facilitate mutually supportive processes of
global and regional trade liberalization.
ACCESSIONS
 They will work to bring the 28 applicants expeditiously into the WTO
system.
 It is important that the 28 applicants now negotiating accession contribute to
completing the accession process by accepting the WTO rules and by offering
meaningful market access commitments.
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
 They consider DSU’s impartial and transparent operation to be of
fundamental importance in assuring the resolution of trade disputes, and in
fostering the implementation and application of the WTO agreements.
 The Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) offers a means for the settlement of disputes
among Members that is unique in international agreements.
 They renew their determination to abide by the rules and procedures of the
DSU and other WTO agreements in the conduct of their trade relations and
the settlement of disputes
 They are confident that longer experience with the DSU, including the
implementation of panel and appellate recommendations, will further
enhance the effectiveness and credibility of the dispute settlement system.
IMPLEMENTATION
 They attach high priority to full and effective implementation of the
WTO Agreement in a manner consistent with the goal of trade
liberalization.
 Implementation thus far has been generally satisfactory, although some Members have
expressed dissatisfaction with certain aspects. It is clear that further effort in this area
is required, as indicated by the relevant WTO bodies in their reports.
 With respect to industrial market access, monitoring of implementation
would be enhanced by the timely availability of trade and tariff data.
 Progress has been made also in advancing the WTO reform programme in agriculture,
including in implementation of agreed market access concessions and domestic
subsidy and export subsidy commitments.
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
 They acknowledge the fact that developing country Members have
undertaken significant new commitments, both substantive and
procedural, and they recognize the range and complexity of the efforts
that they are making to comply with them.
 In order to assist them in these efforts, including those with respect to notification and
legislative requirements, they will improve the availability of technical assistance
under the agreed guidelines.
 They have also agreed to recommendations relative to the decision they
took at Marrakesh concerning the possible negative effects of the
agricultural reform programme on least-developed and net food-
importing developing countries.
 
LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
 They remain concerned by the problems of the least-developed countries
and have agreed to:
 a Plan of Action, including provision for taking positive measures, for example duty-
free access, on an autonomous basis, aimed at improving their overall capacity to
respond to the opportunities offered by the trading system;
 seek to give operational content to the Plan of Action, for example, by enhancing
conditions for investment and providing predictable and favourable market access
conditions for LLDCs' products, to foster the expansion and diversification of their
exports to the markets of all developed countries; and in the case of relevant
developing countries in the context of the Global System of Trade Preferences; and
 organize a meeting with UNCTAD and the International Trade Centre as soon as
possible in 1997, with the participation of aid agencies, multilateral financial
institutions and least-developed countries to foster an integrated approach to assisting
these countries in enhancing their trading opportunities.
TEXTILES AND CLOTHING
 They confirm their commitment to full and faithful implementation of the
provisions of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC).
 They stress the importance of the integration of textile products, as provided for in the ATC,
into GATT 1994 under its strengthened rules and disciplines because of its systemic
significance for the rule-based, non-discriminatory trading system and its contribution to
the increase in export earnings of developing countries.
 They note concerns regarding the use of other trade distortive measures and
circumvention. They reiterate the importance of fully implementing the
provisions of the ATC relating to small suppliers, new entrants and least-
developed country Members, as well as those relating to cotton-producing
exporting Members.
 They reaffirm that as part of the integration process and with reference to the
specific commitments undertaken by the Members as a result of the Uruguay
Round, all Members shall take such action as may be necessary to abide by
GATT 1994 rules and disciplines so as to achieve improved market access
for textiles and clothing products.
TEXTILES AND CLOTHING
 They expect that the TMB shall make findings and recommendations
whenever called upon to do so under the Agreement.
 They emphasize the responsibility of the Goods Council in overseeing,
in accordance with Article IV:5 of the WTO Agreement and Article 8 of
the ATC, the functioning of the ATC, whose implementation is being
supervised by the TMB.
TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT
 Full implementation of the WTO Agreements will make an important
contribution to achieving the objectives of sustainable development. The
work of the Committee has underlined the importance of policy
coordination at the national level in the area of trade and environment.
 They intend to build on the work accomplished thus far, and therefore
direct the Committee to carry out its work, reporting to the General
Council, under its existing terms of reference.
SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS
 They are determined to obtain a progressively higher level of liberalization
in services on a mutually advantageous basis with appropriate flexibility for
individual developing country Members, as envisaged in the Agreement, in
the continuing negotiations and those scheduled to begin no later than 1
January 2000.
 In this context, they look forward to full MFN agreements based on improved market
access commitments and national treatment.
Accordingly, they will:
 achieve a successful conclusion to the negotiations on basic telecommunications in
February 1997; and
 resume financial services negotiations in April 1997 with the aim of achieving significantly
improved market access commitments with a broader level of participation in the agreed
time frame.
SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS
 They also look forward to a successful conclusion of the negotiations on
Maritime Transport Services in the next round of negotiations on services
liberalization
 In professional services, they shall aim at completing the work on the
accountancy sector by the end of 1997, and will continue to develop
multilateral disciplines and guidelines.
 They encourage the successful completion of international standards in the accountancy
sector by IFAC, IASC, and IOSCO.
 With respect to GATS rules, they shall undertake the necessary work with a
view to completing the negotiations on safeguards by the end of 1997.
 They also note that more analytical work will be needed on emergency
safeguards measures, government procurement in services and subsidies.
ITA AND PHARMACEUTICALS
 They welcome the initiative taken by a number of WTO Members and
other States or separate customs territories which have applied to accede
to the WTO, who have agreed to tariff elimination for trade in
information technology products on an MFN basis as well as the
addition by a number of Members of over 400 products to their lists of
tariff-free products in pharmaceuticals.
 Taking note that a number of Members have agreed on a Declaration on Trade in
Information Technology Products
 
WORK PROGRAMME AND BUILT-IN
AGENDA
 They endorse the reports of the various WTO bodies
 Bearing in mind that an important aspect of WTO activities is a continuous overseeing of
the implementation of various agreements, a periodic examination and updating of the
WTO Work Programme is a key to enable the WTO to fulfil its objectives.
 They agree to a process of analysis and exchange of information, where
provided for in the conclusions and recommendations of the relevant WTO
bodies, on the Built-in Agenda issues, to allow Members to better
understand the issues involved and identify their interests before undertaking
the agreed negotiations and reviews
They agree that:
 the time frames established in the Agreements will be respected in each case;
 the work undertaken shall not prejudge the scope of future negotiations where such
negotiations are called for; and
 the work undertaken shall not prejudice the nature of the activity agreed upon (i.e.
negotiation or review).
INVESTMENT AND COMPETITION
 Having regard to the existing WTO provisions on matters related to
investment and competition policy and the built-in agenda in these areas,
including under the TRIMs Agreement, and on the understanding that the
work undertaken shall not prejudge whether negotiations will be initiated in
the future, they also agree to:
 establish a working group to examine the relationship between trade and investment; and
 establish a working group to study issues raised by Members relating to the interaction
between trade and competition policy, including anti-competitive practices, in order to
identify any areas that may merit further consideration in the WTO framework.
 In the conduct of the work of the working groups, they encourage
cooperation with the above organizations to make the best use of available
resources and to ensure that the development dimension is taken fully into
account. The General Council will keep the work of each body under review,
and will determine after two years how the work of each body should
proceed.
TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT
PROCUREMENT
They further agree to:
 establish a working group to conduct a study on transparency in
government procurement practices, taking into account national policies,
and, based on this study, to develop elements for inclusion in an
appropriate agreement; and
 direct the Council for Trade in Goods to undertake exploratory and
analytical work, drawing on the work of other relevant international
organizations, on the simplification of trade procedures in order to
assess the scope for WTO rules in this area.
TRADE FACILITATION
 In the organization of the work referred to in Investment and
Competition and Transparency in Government Procurement, careful
attention will be given to minimizing the burdens on delegations,
especially those with more limited resources, and to coordinating
meetings with those of relevant UNCTAD bodies.
 The technical cooperation programme of the Secretariat will be
available to developing and, in particular, least-developed country
Members to facilitate their participation in this work.
 They instruct the General Council to consider how this historic event
can best be commemorated.
 Noting that the 50th anniversary of the multilateral trading system will occur early in
1998