Dean Rodrigo Noguera Calderón,

Professors, students,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. I am very pleased to be in Universidad Sergio Arboleda today. Thank you for the kind invitation.

I would also like to greet the Brazilian Ambassador to Colombia, Amb. Maria Elisa Berenguer.

This is my first time visiting Colombia as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization. And I am even more pleased to be here at such a unique moment for the country.

The great Gabriel Garcia Marquez once wrote: “I am at the mercy of a destiny that isn’t my own.”

My impression is that, for many years, this has captured a wider sentiment in Colombia. But no longer!

After over half a century of conflict, Colombia seems to be poised to enter a new, more peaceful, prosperous era, seizing its own destiny.

This will bring a range of new economic opportunities for the country. And I think that trade can be key in seizing those opportunities.

Amid a mixed global economic environment, trade can act as a driver of broader economic growth and job creation. It certainly isn’t sufficient by itself, nor is it the only driver. But it is an essential component of any strategy for sustainable economic growth.

And trade itself has evolved considerably in recent decades. Technology has been revolutionised. New economies have emerged. Over the last 20 years developing countries’ share in global merchandise trade has increased from 27 per cent to over 43 per cent.

And, largely as a result of these shifts, production chains have become increasingly international.

The parts for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner come from over 40 suppliers based in over 130 sites around the world. Even seemingly simple products are often made in complex global networks. A jar of Nutella can contain hazelnuts from Turkey, palm oil from Malaysia, cocoa from Nigeria, sugar from Brazil and flavouring from China.

These globalised networks of production are known as global value chains. They are often seen as being very positive, because they can make it easier for developing countries to start trading. The logic is that it is easier to develop the skills and infrastructure needed to make one part of an engine than it is to build the whole aircraft.

Of course this is true — but many developing countries still struggle to join these global value chains. And when they have joined, they often find it difficult to move up the value chain, towards making the more complex components, with higher value-added.

So, these new networks of production offer both opportunities and challenges for countries like Colombia.

Indeed, Colombia has been working to increase its participation in global value chains. Today, the country’s participation in these value chains amounts to around 38% of exports — whether because these exports use imported components, or whether because they will become components in other countries.

However, this is lower than the average figure for other developing economies, which is around 48%.

So there is more to do. And here the WTO can play an important role.  

I believe that with our existing system of global trade rules, and by delivering further reforms, we can help Colombia seize these opportunities, and further integrate into global chains.

I think there are three clear ways that the WTO can help.

First, we can help by offering Colombia an open, transparent, rules-based platform for doing business overseas.

By creating the WTO in 1995, and by agreeing its legal texts, our members provided the equivalent of a constitution for global trade.

That constitution enshrines the basic, perennial principles of trade, helping to avoid unilateral, discriminatory or arbitrary measures.

Today, the organization has 162 members — and rising — at all stages of development. 98% of global trade occurs under this framework of rules.

So what does that mean in practical terms?

On a daily basis, the WTO provides a forum for policy dialogue and information sharing, where members can monitor each other’s practices and regulations to ensure that agreements are being observed.

This may sound technical, but it touches on so many of the things that matter to all of us.

How the trading system is run affects the big issues like the health of the economy and its potential to grow, develop and create jobs. But it also affects more everyday issues like the price of goods on the high street, or even the level of chemicals in toys and toxins in food.

The unique thing about the WTO is that all members have an equal voice in these discussions.

And Colombia is very engaged across the board.

Your Ambassador, Gabriel Duque, is a very active and well-known figure in Geneva. He currently chairs the WTO group that looks into new rules in services trade. And he played a very important role in steering discussions leading up to our successful ministerial conference in December last year. I’ll come back to that conference in a moment.

Another area of our work, which frequently makes the headlines, and where Colombia is closely involved, is our dispute settlement arm.

This mechanism helps WTO members settle their trade differences in an open and transparent manner. In just 20 years we have successfully dealt with more than 500 trade disputes.

Colombia has taken part in 58 of these cases as a complainant, respondent or interested party. That’s more than one in ten out of all cases handled — so clearly Colombia sees great value in this function.

The WTO also provides practical support for countries to participate in discussions and to improve their ability to trade. The support is delivered through a range of initiatives that build capacity and skills. Colombia, for example, is a beneficiary of the WTO’s Aid for Trade programme, which helps countries tackle their infrastructure constraints to trade.

Now, this is just an overview. But nonetheless, I think it gives a sense of how the framework of the WTO, in itself, helps trade to flow smoothly, and helps Colombia to improve its trading terms.

So that’s the first way that the WTO serves Colombia and supports its entry into global value chains.

The second way is by implementing recent reforms to the trading system.

In the last two years the WTO has agreed some major reforms which can make a big difference for Colombia.

At our Ministerial Meeting in Bali in 2013, members took a range of important decisions, including the Trade Facilitation Agreement.

At present the costs of moving goods across borders can act as an insurmountable barrier which stops businesses trading — especially small and medium-sized businesses.

The Trade Facilitation Agreement will slash those costs by streamlining, simplifying and standardising customs procedures. In fact, we expect that, when fully implemented, the Agreement could reduce trade costs in Colombia by around 13%.

For developing economies alone, this could mean a boost in exports of almost $730 billion per year. In total, it could increase global merchandise exports by up to 1 trillion dollars per year.

By making trade flow more easily, quickly and cheaply, the Trade Facilitation Agreement can help Colombia integrate into global value chains — and benefit from the boost in economic growth that they can bring.

Colombia was a proponent of trade facilitation right from the start. The country’s delegation in Geneva actively participated in negotiations and sponsored a considerable number of proposals.

And that commitment remains as strong as ever.

I met President Santos earlier today and I’m pleased to say that we had an excellent discussion, touching on a range of trade issues. During that conversation he showed his belief in the importance of trade facilitation — and therefore the need to move ahead and ratify this deal.

So the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement is one important recent reform. Another major breakthrough came just last December, at our subsequent ministerial meeting — this time held in Nairobi.

On that occasion, members took the historic decision to abolish agricultural export subsidies. This is the biggest reform in agricultural trade rules in the last 20 years.

By eliminating this trade-distorting support, this deal will help to level the playing field in agriculture markets to the benefit of farmers and exporters in Colombia.

Countries have often resorted to export subsidies during economic crises — and recent history shows that once one country did so, others quickly followed suit. Because of this decision, no-one will be tempted to resort to such action in the future.

Of course, there is much more to do in order to reduce distortions in agricultural markets, but this is a major step forward.

In fact, eliminating these subsidies was actually one element of the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals — so it is a big achievement that we delivered this, just three months after the goals were agreed!

In Nairobi, members also agreed on other important steps on food security and on a package of measures to support least-developed countries to export their goods and services.

In addition, during the Nairobi meeting a group of WTO members — including Colombia — struck a deal to expand the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement.

This deal will eliminate tariffs on 201 additional IT products, including latest generation semiconductors, GPS devices, advanced medical products and machine tools.

Trade in these products is worth around $1.3 trillion each year — that’s about 10% of global trade. This is larger than global trade in automotive products, for example. With this agreement, tariffs in these products will be reduced to zero — and legally locked-in at zero.

This will lower the costs of doing business for companies of all sizes here in Colombia. It will support lower prices — which will have a knock-on effect on many other sectors that use IT products as inputs, helping to foster Colombia’s integration into value chains.

Implementing this range of recent agreements will make a big difference.

But the work does not end there. In fact, we’re just getting started.

This brings me to a third way that I think the WTO can support Colombia — which is by delivering more outcomes in the future.

We need to deliver further reforms to the trading system which can further support developing countries like Colombia to trade and compete.

And let me explain why it is important to do this at the global level.

While the WTO has successfully negotiated a number of deals in the last two years, for some time before that, global trade negotiations delivered very little. As a consequence, countries turned to other initiatives, such as regional trade agreements, to advance their economic interests.

These initiatives are positive — they work well with the global system under the WTO, and help to spread the benefits of trade. WTO rules actually provide the basis for many regional agreements.

However, regional agreements also go beyond WTO rules in some areas, and we need to think about the implications of this for the future. Complying with different rules in different jurisdictions can be challenging for businesses. And therefore it can curtail opportunities for Colombian companies to join global value chains and operate in international markets.

Ensuring consistency at the global level is essential. 

Regional initiatives have long worked well alongside the multilateral system embodied in the WTO. We need to ensure that this continues to be the case. Therefore we need to ensure that the WTO keeps on delivering, and our rules keep evolving.  

So where do multilateral negotiations stand today?

After the positive results of Bali and Nairobi, members have started a discussion on how the WTO can do more, and faster.

It is clear that all WTO members want to deliver on the so-called Doha negotiating issues, such as domestic subsidies in agriculture, and improved market access for agricultural produce, industrial goods and services.

However, they do not agree on how to tackle them.

Despite members’ differences, there are some important commonalities. For example, there is a strong desire to maintain development at the centre of our work.

And some members would like to start discussing other issues as well, which could improve the functioning of global value chains and foster the participation of developing countries.

A range of such issues has been suggested — such as steps to support small and medium sized-enterprises, e-commerce, investment facilitation, fisheries subsidies, private standards, just to name a few.

In each of these areas, members have not yet gone into detail on what they would like to discuss under those broad headings. More work will be needed to explore these points. And I think more work is needed in understanding the challenges faced by developing countries in taking part in global value chains so that we are in a better position to tackle them.

This debate has already started — and I can’t over-emphasise how important it could prove to be. It could determine the shape of global trade talks for years to come.

There are opportunities here to make real progress. Colombia’s engagement in this work will be as important as ever.

It is a chance to ensure that the WTO is taking action on the issues that matter most to you, and that trade continues to support the country’s economic and trading objectives.

Colombia is on the verge of a new era.

I want to support you in ensuring that this new era is prosperous, as well as peaceful.

Trade and the WTO can be your partner in this effort.

Thank you.