| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Tita Freeman |
| September 6, 2005 |
(202) 496-3269 |
Business Roundtable Joins International
Business Organizations in Call for New Commitment to Achieving
Balanced and Ambitious Agreement
WASHINGTON, DC - Six of the world's leading business organizations
today called on member nations of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) to intensify their efforts to achieve a successful conclusion
to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). In a policy statement
titled "Advancing the Promise of Doha," chief executive officers
and their equivalents from around the world stressed the importance
of the DDA and urged stronger political leadership to put
the DDA on the road to a successful conclusion.
Today's statement is the first in a series of coordinated
activities by the six business organizations in the run-up
to the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December,
2005. The next major step in the initiative will be a CEO
Summit in Washington, D.C., on September 21, 2005.
"As international business leaders we know first-hand how
important trade and investment liberalization is to sustained
economic growth for developed and developing countries alike,"
the six organizations say in the statement. "We are committed
to working with the WTO leadership, our own governments, other
WTO members and other international business groups to make
the Doha Development Agenda a success."
"Since its founding in 1995, the WTO has been an engine
of market liberalization and has helped provide the security
and reliability needed for worldwide economic growth and prosperity."
The business organizations that signed the statement are:
- Business Council of Australia (Australia)
- Business Roundtable (United States)
- Canadian Council of Chief Executives (Canada)
- Consejo Mexicano de Hombres de Negocios (Mexico)
- The European Round Table of Industrialists (Europe)
- Nippon Keidanren (Japan)
The paper outlines four keys to negotiating a successful
DDA:
- Agriculture: All WTO members - particularly the major
players - urgently need to demonstrate the political will
to make substantial progress in the agricultural negotiations
and, where necessary, to take politically difficult decisions
on agricultural reform. Elimination of export subsidies,
sharp limits on the use of trade-distorting domestic support,
and significant reductions in tariff rates and other barriers
in the end will significantly benefit both exporters and
consumers.
- Industrial Goods: WTO members should commit to substantially
reducing or eliminating tariffs on all industrial goods.
Agreement on the means to achieve these objectives is
long overdue.
- Services: Services are central to the evolution of the
global economy. It is inconceivable that the negotiations
would conclude without a significant, and commercially
valid, agreement to liberalize trade in services.
- Trade Facilitation: Bringing down the transaction cost
of trade would lead to significant and immediate gains
for exporters, domestic producers and consumers around
the world.
"The world's business leaders recognize what is at stake
with these negotiations and are very concerned with the status
of the DDA, which is currently more than two years behind
schedule," said Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and
CEO, The McGraw-Hill Companies and Chairman, Business Roundtable
International Trade and Investment Task Force. "It is vital
that WTO members not lower expectations, but instead intensify
their efforts and show real progress during the months leading
up to the conference in Hong Kong."
The policy statement details the benefits that would flow
from a successful conclusion to the DDA negotiations and the
adverse consequences that would result from its failure. For
example, the World Bank estimates that the income gain for
developing countries from significant services liberalization
could be as high as $900 billion (US) by 2015.
"We congratulate Pascal Lamy on his ascension to the position
of WTO Director-General and pledge our full support for his
efforts to ensure a successful completion of the DDA," McGraw
concluded.
Business Roundtable will be sharing "Advancing the Promise
of Doha" with Members of Congress and other government leaders
in an effort to increase awareness of the crisis in the DDA
negotiations and help build support for a successful DDA.
The other signatories of the paper will be conducting similar
policy discussions in their respective nations.
To view the report, click here.
# # #
Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an
association of chief executive officers of leading corporations
with a combined workforce of more than 10 million employees
and $4 trillion in annual revenues. The chief executives are
committed to advocating public policies that foster vigorous
economic growth, a dynamic global economy, and a well-trained
and productive U.S. workforce essential for future competitiveness.
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