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WTO-APEC Roundtable on Trade Facilitation, Introductory Statement by Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, World Trade Organization Director-General

Geneva, Switzerland, February 10, 2005

I am very pleased to welcome you to the WTO and to open today's WTO-APEC Roundtable on Trade Facilitation.

The decision of WTO Members last July to launch negotiations on Trade Facilitation created an important new dimension to the Doha Development Agenda. Requirements and procedures applied to the cross-border movement and transit of goods have long been recognized as a potentially significant source of trade restriction. Multilateral rules have existed in this area since the inception of the GATT. As tariffs and non-tariff barriers have fallen through successive Rounds of negotiations, it has become apparent that improved trade facilitation practices have the potential to contribute to increasing the volume of world trade. Faster processing of imports and exports, using streamlined procedures, can bring efficiency gains to the whole economy, revenue gains to the government, and commercial gains to private business. Trade Facilitation is a vital part of the market access package that is being negotiated in the Doha Round.

The negotiations on Trade Facilitation are aiming for a judicious mix of results. Improved multilateral rules to expedite the movement, clearance and release of traded goods. Enhanced technical assistance and capacity-building support for developing countries. And effective international cooperation on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. Special and differential treatment for developing countries is a key component of the negotiations. The mandate calls for an innovative approach that links the implementation capacities of developing and least-developed countries to the extent and timing of them entering into new commitments in this area. This is an approach that was endorsed recently by the Consultative Board that I established to consider how the WTO could be reinforced and equipped to meet the institutional challenges that face the WTO. In this, and possibly other respects too, the Trade Facilitation negotiations will be breaking new ground that will have an important bearing on the future of the multilateral trading system.

Today's Roundtable can contribute importantly to the task that negotiators in the WTO are facing on Trade Facilitation. APEC has considerable experience on the benefits trade facilitation can produce in terms of an improved trading environment. APEC has also gained experience on the challenges that have to be faced at the national level to implement improved trade facilitation practices. WTO negotiators can benefit from learning more about APEC's experience on what has worked and what has not, how the reform of trade facilitation procedures should be sequenced and what has been found to be the best recommendations in this area.

Our approaches may differ, with APEC building on voluntary undertakings and focusing naturally on the particular needs of the Asia-Pacific region. But there are also many similarities. Both the WTO and APEC have a mixed developed/developing-country membership with a wide spectrum of views and capacities that have to be taken into account. And we share the same goals. We wish to improve our international trading environment for the mutual benefit of all our Members.

I see this Roundtable as an excellent opportunity to bring in the particular perspective of our developing-country Members, and I am very pleased to see them so well represented here, especially from Africa and the Caribbean. Their active participation will be key in the Doha negotiations.

We have embarked on an important enterprise that will deliver positive results for us all. And while it may not always be easy to move forward, and difficulties are likely to accompany us along the way, I am confident that we can make this work if we join forces. I believe that a great deal can be achieved by working in coalitions of common cause, and I look to all of you as partners in that mission.

Thank you.

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