Ambassador Barry Desker,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning — I’m delighted to be here in Singapore. I would like to thank the S. (Sinnathamby) Rajaratnam School of International Studies for hosting this event today.

Singapore has a history of defying expectations.

This is a country with few natural resources, limited amounts of land and a relatively small population.

Economic success was always going to be improbable at best.

And yet, on a per capita basis, Singapore is now the third richest country in the world.

It is a phenomenal story — and many ingredients have contributed to it. But I think it is clear that one key ingredient has been trade.

This is one of the world’s most open economies.

In 2013 average applied tariffs were just 0.2% on all goods, 1.4% on agricultural products, and on non-agricultural products they were zero.

Last month we in the WTO released our most recent trade statistics and, once again, Singapore rated as one of the top traders in the world.

I think Singapore’s recent history is a case study in just how powerful trade can be in supporting growth and development.

It is no surprise therefore that Singapore was a founding member of the WTO — and that it remains a champion of the multilateral trading system.

So now, as Singapore celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence, and as the World Trade Organization marks its 20th anniversary, I think it is a good moment to look at the role that the trading system has played to date — and how we can seek to strengthen it for the future.

 

WTO AT 20

I have no doubt that the WTO has contributed a great deal over the two decades.

At the most fundamental level, we have provided the rules-based trading system, which today covers around 98% of global commerce. This framework has become crucially important for the strength and stability of the global economy.

And the value of the system was plain to see in the trade policy response to the 2008 crisis — which was in sharp contrast to what happened to the previous crises. In the early years of the Great Depression, between 1929 and 1933, retaliatory trade restrictions wiped out two-thirds of world trade. This mistake was not repeated this time around. After 2008 the response was mostly very calm and restrained.

Under the WTO, governments know that they are bound by rules and obligations that are common to all, and so they have the confidence to resist protectionist pressure in most areas.

We also provide a forum where countries can sit down and monitor each other’s practices and regulations to ensure that agreements are being observed. And when issues arise, we offer a place for dialogue that very often results in mutually acceptable understandings.

If those understandings prove elusive, we offer a dispute settlement mechanism that has a highly enviable track record on the international stage. In just 20 years we have successfully dealt with almost 500 trade disputes, helping our members to settle their differences in a fair, open and transparent manner.

Moreover, we support developing countries to integrate into the trading system. The WTO is the only place where developing and least-developed countries have a seat at the table, and have an equal say on global trade issues. We also provide technical assistance to those countries that need to improve their trading capacity.

Therefore, considering all of these elements — and others, I think that the value of the system is beyond doubt.

Indeed, at a time when the global economy is more interconnected than ever, it is difficult to imagine a world without the WTO.

But, of course, as the global economy evolves, so too must the WTO.

And we have evolved significantly since 1995.

In addition to welcoming over 30 new members, ranging from some of the world’s biggest economies to some of the least-developed, we have also taken important steps forward in updating trade rules.

In this way we have delivered some important practical gains — from which Singapore and other countries around the world stand to benefit.

 

WTO DELIVERING PRACTICAL GAINS

The last time I visited this region was in December 2013 — for the WTO’s historic Ministerial Conference in Bali.

Our members came together there and delivered a set of breakthroughs in our negotiating work.

They took ten important decisions on a range of topics — from cotton and food security to a package of measures in support of LDCs.

And they also delivered the Trade Facilitation Agreement.

This is an area where Singapore is ahead of the pack, clearly. Goods and services cross these borders with great ease thanks to efficient customs and transport networks.

Many countries aspire to achieve this level of performance — and that is essentially what the Trade Facilitation Agreement aims to deliver. 

By making the movement of goods across borders faster, easier and cheaper, it is estimated that this Agreement will reduce trade costs by up to 15% in developing countries.

Moreover, it could deliver an annual boost to the global economy of up to $1 trillion per year.

And, for the first time in the WTO’s history, there will be practical help with implementation for developing countries. The Agreement states that assistance and support must be granted to help developing countries achieve the capacity to implement its provisions.

This means a boost in the technical assistance that is available to develop customs infrastructure where this is most needed.

And we have set up a new initiative — the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility — to ensure that LDCs and developing countries get the help they need to develop projects and access the necessary funds to achieve this wherever such funds are.

The challenge now is ratification. Two-thirds of WTO members must ratify the Agreement for it to come into force.

Singapore has shown great leadership throughout the Bali negotiations — and was one of the first to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement. I want to take this opportunity to thank the government and the people of Singapore for the support that they have given to these efforts. Bali simply would not have happened without the support of Singapore.

And on top of the economic benefits I have talked about, our success in Bali has served to strengthen the WTO. So the positive effects are truly systemic.

Of course there have been other areas where negotiations have progressed in recent years.

The Information Technology Agreement is one such example — and it is no surprise that Singapore was a party to this agreement when it was struck here in this very city, at the WTO’s first Ministerial Conference in December 1996.

By eliminating duties on certain products, this initiative has helped to support the boom in global trade in IT products that we have seen since then.

Singapore is, I know, now negotiating with 24 other WTO members to expand this agreement to include a wide range of new products with a global trade value of roughly $1 trillion.

And I have no doubt that Singapore will continue to show leadership in this regard.

 

THE TRADE LANDSCAPE

In fact, Singapore has participated in a wide range of trade arrangements. It has negotiated nearly 20 regional or bilateral deals, either on its own or with ASEAN.

In this country, as elsewhere across the region, much attention is focused on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose negotiations are ongoing as well as other initiatives such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in Asia. 

These negotiations promise to deliver agreements that will profoundly impact the way that companies trade and invest in this region.

Some suggest that such agreements may undermine our efforts to build a stronger multilateral trading system.

I profoundly disagree. There are many reasons for this — but let me outline just a few today.

First, these initiatives are underpinned by the rules and structures of the multilateral system — and therefore they are actually mutually reinforcing — or symbiotic even.

Second, trade liberalization is contagious and when countries agree to open markets in a regional setting they are more inclined to do so globally as well. In this way these agreements can serve as building blocks towards multilateral efforts.

Third, regional initiatives, like APEC, have been laboratories which have produced important new initiatives including in areas where WTO work is now taking place. The Trade Facilitation Agreement is one example of this — as is the initiative to cut tariffs for environmental goods.

Fourth, there are many big issues, such as agricultural or fisheries subsidies, which simply cannot be efficiently tackled outside the WTO.

There is no question therefore that the different types of trade agreement must work together. They are two sides of the same coin.

 

THE WTO AGENDA

Nevertheless, it is true the pace of progress on Doha has been a major source of frustration. I was a negotiator myself for many years — so believe me, I feel that frustration as acutely as anyone.

We need to deliver more outcomes, more quickly — particularly for our developing and least-developed members. 

So I am very pleased to say that, after many years of paralysis, the Doha negotiations are back on our priority list.

At the end of 2014 all members recommitted to the process and to delivering a work programme by July this year.

And this is even more important when you consider that our next Ministerial Conference is happening in Nairobi this December. This is the first such meeting in Africa since the WTO was created. And of course this puts even more emphasis on the need to deliver outcomes for developing countries.

The big, tough issues of agriculture, services and industrial goods, as well as all other issues, are all back on the table.

So there is a lot at play for Singapore in these negotiations. And I think we have momentum behind us.

We started a very intensive process of talks in January this year and so far we have seen good progress and strong engagement, much more than the work done in the whole of year 2014.

Members are engaging on the detail, leaving their comfort zones, and are beginning to bring some new proposals to the table. There is a clear sense that they are moving away from finger pointing and moving into a solution-finding mode.

This doesn’t mean however that our work is done. We still need to bridge some very significant gaps.

Moving the Doha Development Agenda forward is still going to be incredibly difficult. But members are committed to pushing these efforts forward.

On a global scale, a successful deal would help to inject much-needed growth into the world economy.

On a national level, it would offer important gains in key sectors.

And in a systemic sense, it would strengthen the multilateral trading system immeasurably for future generations.

 

CONCLUSION

So we have a big year ahead of us.

There are a series of milestones on the horizon.

• We have the Global Review of Aid for Trade at the end of June, when we will be discussing all of our technical assistance work in developing countries. So that’s very important.
• There are the UN Summits on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa in July, and on the Post-2015 Development Agenda in New York in September.
• And we have the annual WTO Public Forum in October.

Positive outcomes in all of these areas would be the best way to mark our 20th anniversary — and to underline the benefits that the WTO can deliver, particularly for our developing members.

I said at the outset that Singapore’s success was improbable.

But, actually, in a sense, you could say similar things of the WTO.

In an era when multilateralism is under considerable strain on many fronts, the WTO continues to grow and welcome new members. And despite the huge diversity of our membership — or perhaps because of that diversity — we continue to work together and defy expectations.

That’s what we did in Bali — and, with Singapore’s support, and a bit of political will — I think we can do it again this year.

Thank you for listening.