DISCURSOS — DG ROBERTO AZEVÊDO

Observaciones iniciales del Director General Roberto Azevêdo

Más información

  

Thank you Chair.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning – and welcome to this event marking the 20th anniversary of the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement.

It’s great to see so many friends of the ITA and the multilateral trading system here today.

Many of you were central in making the ITA happen. So let me start by congratulating you all.

I think this is a landmark that is worth celebrating.

It is a major success story for this organization. It was the WTO’s first tariff-cutting deal. And its expansion in 2015 is our most recent.

By facilitating trade in ICT products, this work has helped to strengthen a very important sector.

Information technology is changing our world.

ICT products are the backbone of today’s economy – they are present in almost every aspect of production, and every aspect of our lives.

If you want to have a modern, productive economy, you have to make sure that ICT products are available to all. And by lowering their prices through trade, you will lower business costs and increase productivity across the economy.

That means that more people can access the benefits that these new technologies offer.

Everyone stands to benefit – consumers and businesses. And since today is the UN’s first MSME day, let me underline that these technologies can help MSMEs in particular.

 

By eliminating tariffs on a range of ICT products, the ITA has helped to transform the sector.

Exports in the products covered by the original ITA tripled from 549 billion dollars in 1996 to approximately 1.7 trillion dollars in 2015. This represents an annual growth rate of 6 per cent in these exports.

Today, ITA products account for a remarkable 15 per cent of all global manufacturing exports. This is bigger than global trade in automotives or pharmaceuticals.

So I think that the benefits of this deal are clear – and the rising participation of WTO members in the ITA illustrates this point. 

ITA membership has increased from 29 WTO members in 1996 to 82 today.

ITA participants now account for approximately 97 per cent of world trade in the products covered by the Agreement.

And participants are following through with their commitments under the Agreement. The vast majority of them have completely eliminated import duties and other charges on key goods and inputs for the IT sector.

But of course that’s not the end of the story.

Inspired by the success of the ITA, a group of WTO members struck another deal in December 2015, during the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. They agreed to expand the ITA to eliminate tariffs on a new generation of ICT products

Trade in this new list of products accounts for around 1.3 trillion dollars a year.

So, together, the ITA and the ITA expansion have become hugely important drivers behind the diffusion of information technology and innovation.

I’ve pointed to the rapid growth in this sector, but just as important are the positive spill-overs that these deals can bring.

These technologies facilitate affordable access to the Internet – which is essential to connect people to markets and to trade.

They help people to connect to global production networks.

They support innovation throughout the economy.

They bring efficiency gains through novel business models and distribution methods, across a wider range of sectors – from retail distribution and logistics, to financial services.

And they bring benefits in other areas as well.

For example, the ITA expansion includes medical products, thereby improving access to cutting-edge technologies, such as ultrasonic scanning and magnetic resonance imaging equipment.

Of course, the success of the ITA is also notable because of what it says about the WTO.

It shows that members can work together – in different formats – to tackle the obstacles that they face and bring solutions to the table.

I think there are important lessons to learn from this deal. And that’s why we have produced the new publication that we are launching today.

It is titled "20 Years of the Information Technology Agreement: Boosting trade, innovation and digital connectivity".

It will be available today on the WTO website.

It reviews the impact of the ITA and its expansion, and shares insights on the role of ICT for development, including its contribution to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

I think that the ITA experience can provide some useful insights.

And this is very timely, as WTO members seek to build on the successes of our Ministerial Conferences in Bali and Nairobi and deliver further reforms to the multilateral trading system.

Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this important publication – particularly Xiaobing Tang and Roberta Lascari.

 

Today’s event is an important opportunity to mark the achievements of the ITA – and to consider its lessons.

This is a great opportunity for all stakeholders – governments, businesses, academics and the broader civil society – to review the evolution and impact of the ITA.

It is also an opportunity to look at what lies ahead, and explore new ways of further expanding trade in ICT products to promote growth and create jobs.

So let’s get to it.

I wish you all a very successful symposium – and look forward to hearing about your discussions.

Once again, my congratulations to all involved in this achievement.

Thank you.

Compartir


Compartir


Si tiene problemas para visualizar esta página,
sírvase ponerse en contacto con [email protected], y proporcionar detalles sobre el sistema operativo y el navegador que está utilizando.