From Africa Recovery, Vol.13#4 (December 1999), page 30 (box within article on trade)

Trade must benefit the developing world, says UN Secretary-General

The following are excerpts from the address prepared by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for presentation at the opening ceremony of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle on 30 November. Because of the disruptions caused by the anti-WTO protests, the opening ceremony did not take place and the speech could not be delivered directly to the delegates.

In the past, developing countries have been told time and again that they stand to benefit from trade liberalization, and that they must open up their economies. They have done so, often at great cost. For the poorest countries, the cost of implementing trade commitments can be more than a whole year's budget. But time and again, they have found the results disappointing -- not because free trade is bad for them, but because they are still not getting enough of it....

They found that rich countries had cut their tariffs less than poor ones. Not surprisingly, many of them feel they were taken for a ride. Industrialized countries, it seems, are happy enough to export manufactured goods to each other, but from developing countries they still want only raw materials, not finished products. As a result, [industrialized countries'] average tariffs on the manufactured products they import from developing countries are now four times higher than the ones they impose on products that come mainly from other industrialized countries....

So it is hardly surprising if developing countries suspect that arguments for using trade policy to advance various good causes are really yet another form of disguised protectionism....

What is needed is not new shackles for world trade, but greater determination by governments to tackle social and political issues directly -- and to give the institutions that exist for that purpose the funds and the authority they need. The United Nations and its specialized agencies are charged with advancing the cause of development, the environment, human rights and labour. We can be part of the solution....

But this meeting and this organization must not be distracted from their vital task -- which is to make sure that this time a new round of trade negotiations really does extend the benefits of free trade to the developing world. Unless we convince developing countries that globalization really does benefit them, the backlash against it will become irresistible. That would be a tragedy for the developing world, and indeed for the world as a whole.

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