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Author
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Date
and source
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Quotes
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Geethanjali Nataraj of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and
Pravakar Sahoo of the Institute of Economic Growth |
5 August 2003 Business Line, India |
One must remember that good trade policy begins at home. The
surest way to liberalise and progress is to reform one's domestic
economy, Whether one follows the regional or multilateral
track, reforming the domestic economy is imperative in order to
maximise the gains from trade liberalization. |
|
Gary S. Becker |
21 April 2003 Business Week |
The antiglobalization movement may get its wish for a breakdown in
the world economic order because of sharp reductions in the
international movement of capital and people due to terrorism and a
more divided West. But the biggest losers will be not the
relatively rich members of the G7 countries but rather the nations
that want to extricate the mass of their populations from extreme
poverty and disease. |
|
US Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick, speaking about
earlier threats to bring an international trade case against the
EU's ban on genetically altered food. |
3 March 2003 |
"We both recognize this is a time of international tension and
uncertainty." Despite differences "the plain fact is that the
United States and the European Union are joined at the hip
economically." |
|
US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow |
5 January 2003 Financial Times, through the Interfax News Agency |
The big question is: can Russia in the year before elections
make the necessary decisions to find reasonable compromises on
access to the Russian market in such sensitive areas as financial
services, banking, insurance, civil aviation, motor vehicles,
agriculture and telecommunications, where a balance will need to be
found between protecting industries that are still in transition and
providing access to other traders. |
|
Jerry Haar, researcher at the University of Miami's North-South
Center |
20 December 2002 The Christian Science Monitor |
Chile has always been the beauty queen in terms of neoliberal
economic reform. |
|
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan |
10 December 2002 Dow Jones Newswires |
After the declaration of independence, the foreign economic and
trade policy of Armenia has been directed toward integration into
the world economy, stimulation of exports, attraction of investments
and intensification of the cooperation with international
organizations. |
Niall Fitzgerald
Chairman, Unilever |
17 October 2002 |
"There are no meaningful trade negotiations if they (the US and EU)
are not committed to liberalise. If our leadership would be
truly bold, they would acknowledge the immensely beneficial effect
from serious early offers of trade liberalisation - eg on
agriculture and textiles - and put down their offers at ane earlier
stage of the process instead of the last days of the negiotiations." |
|
Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi |
16 October 2002 |
"FYR of Macedonia's forthcoming accession to the WTO is an important
event. It commits a young and economically reforming country
to the multilateral trading system while creating a more predictable
environment for business, trade and investment." |
| New
Zealand Agriculture and Trade Minister, Jim Sutton |
27
November 2001
Agence France Presse |
"
I do not see these free trade areas and closer economic
partnerships as new defensive walls that divide regions because
they exclude neighbours who don't belong(...) Rather, they signal
a determination to head even faster towards the goals that all WTO
members are committed to (...) The WTO provides the broad
framework of rules for international trade and a forum for
pursuing trade liberalisation at a global level but high quality
closer economic partnership deepens economic interaction." |
| Russian
President, Vladimir Putin |
16
October 2001
Reuters |
"
We expect to join the World Trade Organisation and consider
that our priority, but many of our goods are not
competitive and we must carefully analyse
the consequences...We feel confident joining the WTO will have a
positive impact on the entire Russian
economy but details matter here and we would
like to hear your opinion on that." |
| Centre
for International Economics, Australian Agency for
International Development, Australian Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade and Australian Treasury |
16
October 2001
Report entitled "Globalisation and Poverty - Turning the
Corner" |
"
Two notable examples among many ‘new globalisers’ are China
and India. When these two countries rose out of the list of the 20
poorest countries in the 1980s,they took a large share of the
world ’s population out of extreme poverty. Around 2.2 billion
people in these two countries have,on average,seen their material
standards of living rise remarkably over the past two decades. At
the same time,people in some other,smaller countries have remained
poor. Many newly formed states have weak institutions and have
been impoverished by the conflicts that led to their
formation,creating new entrants to the ranks of the world ’s
poorest countries. Encumbered by internal conflict,poor
governance,anti-business policies and low participation in
international trade,these countries have excluded themselves from
the process of globalisation,sometimes even producing declining
incomes and rising poverty."
Link to the full Report
(pdf format, 725 KB, p. 32) |
| Agence
France Press |
8
October 2001
Agence France Press |
"
Jordan and Syria have signed a free trade agreemeent aimed at
increasing annual two-way trade by more than 100 million dollars
in the years to come, officials said Monday.(...) The new
agreement will effectively replace the 1975 Jordan-Syrian trade
convention which is seen "incompatible" with new trade
laws and requirements by the World Trade Organisation." |
| Hong
Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Industry, Chau Tak Hay |
8
October 2001
Dow Jones International News Service |
"
In the process of globalization, we (Asian countries) are like
riding on a bicycle. If you don't move on, you fall." |
| WTO
Director-General, Mike Moore
|
18
September 2001
Statement at the Press Conference marking the conclusion of the
work of the WTO's Chinese Taipei Working Party |
"
Mr. Chairman, can I, on behalf of the wider Membership of the WTO
and our Staff, thank you for your commitment, for your
professionalism and the Vice-Minister for the result. This is an
important day for the WTO. In my time here, the last two days have
been probably the most exhilarating, knowing that history has been
made and things will not be the same and to see Chinese Taipei,
along with China, Lithuania, Oman, Jordan, Croatia, Albania, in
the last two years, all become active members of a rules-based
system. It serves as an example that is extremely important. I do
think it sends a message of a people's commitment to a world order
run by rules, an order where the definition of civilised behaviour
is settling differences by the rule of law, through dispute
systems and by agreement. So, I think this is a splendid day, and
for the Staff that has given so much of its time and professional
work to this enterprise, thank you for your professionalism and
for the way in which this was achieved. I look forward to a better
future, knowing this is becoming, day by day, a truly world
organization." |
| Reuters |
5
September 2001
Reuters |
"
China bought $71.35 billion worth of goods from Asia in the first
half of 2001, half its total imports. But some of that was raw
materials and equipment to make goods to export. Except for Hong
Kong, China accounts for just a small part of the exports from
most Asian economies: 11.6 percent for South Korea, 7.4 percent
for japan and four percent for other countries, Deutsche Bank
Estimates."
|
| Batuk
Ghatani, quoting an EU Economic policy paper |
4
September 2001
The Hindu |
"
It is noted that China's total trade rose from $20 billion in 1979
to $237 billion in 1994 and with Hong Kong added could be heading
towards the $500-billion mark."
|
Chairman
of the Cato Institute, William A. Niskanen
|
27
July 2001
Highlights from the
"Fight Back With Free Trade" Press Conference
National Press Club, National Press Building, Washington D.C.
|
"
A new comprehensive, multilateral trade agreement is especially
important at this time to maintain the momentum of increased trade
and economic growth in those developing countries that have
recently joined the World Trade Organization. It is encouraging,
but not accidental, that the governments of these same countries
have also supported our government in the fight against terrorism,
because international trade promotes both economic growth and more
civil relations among nations."
|
| Vice
Chairman of State Development Planning Commission of the People's
Republic of China, Chunzheng Wang |
5/6
July 2001
Speech at the Credit Suisse Winconference 2001, Interlaken,
Switzerland
|
" Globalisation is both an opportunity and a
threat for emerging countries like China. The opportunity lies in
greater exchange with the outside world, including foreign
investment and tourism. The threat comes from increased
competition, accentuating the need for speedy internal reform and
modernisation. " |
| Deputy
Prime Minister for social issues, culture and education in the
Russian government, Valentina
Matvijenko |
5/6
July 2001
Speech at the Credit Suisse Winconference 2001, Interlaken,
Switzerland |
"We
want to increase our integration in the international community
and become a full member of the WTO. We cannot understand why such
unreasonably high demands are being placed on us." |
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