Build on Momentum, Deliver on Ambitious Agenda, Business Leaders Advise WTO Trade Ministers

September 5, 2003

Canada’s business leaders are urging members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) gathered in Cancǧn, Mexico next week to seize the opportunity to deliver on an ambitious agenda for spreading the full benefits of trade and investment liberalization to developing countries.

Thomas d’Aquino, President and Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), congratulated WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi, negotiators, trade ministers and business leaders on their recent resolution of one of the most difficult issues blocking broader progress, that of access to affordable medicines for least developed countries.

“Resolution of this issue marks a vital step toward achieving the full potential of the WTO’s Doha Development Agenda,” said Mr. d’Aquino. “The challenges that lie ahead on other issues will require more of the same extraordinary good will, commitment, leadership and vision, but it is now clear that meaningful progress is possible.”

The next critical set of issues involves trade in agriculture. Mr. d’Aquino said the most urgent task facing trade ministers in Cancǧn is to reach agreement on a process that will lead to completion of negotiations on agricultural market access, export subsidies and domestic supports by the target date of January 1, 2005.

Better access to advanced economies for agricultural products will be critical to accelerating economic growth and raising incomes in developing countries, but continued liberalization of trade in industrial products is also important, he added.

“If this round of multilateral trade talks is to make a real difference in improving the lives of people in the developing world, negotiators need to dramatically strengthen current intentions regarding tariffs on industrial products,” Mr. d’Aquino said.

In a major statement on the WTO negotiations in May, the CCCE suggested that at a time when the effectiveness of international institutions is increasingly being questioned, ministers in Cancǧn must demonstrate that the multilateral path is indeed the best way to advance the human condition around the world.

The CCCE statement laid out a sweeping 12-point agenda that highlighted the importance of progress on liberalizing trade in services, reducing non-tariff barriers and improving the dispute resolution process as well as the issues of industrial tariffs and agricultural trade. The Council also called on WTO ministers in Cancǧn to address negotiating procedures for effective investment rules, competition policy, transparency in government procurement, and trade facilitation.

“The objectives of the negotiations launched two years ago in Doha are not just important for people in the developing world,” added Mr. d’Aquino. “Only a strong multilateral rules-based system can provide the predictability and security that Canadian businesses need in order to flourish both at home and in the global economy.”

The CCCE continues to work with other leading business organizations globally to encourage bold action by WTO member governments. In late May, for instance, CCCE Chairman Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc., together with his counterparts at business organizations in the United States, Japan and Europe, signed an open letter to the leaders of the G-8 countries ahead of their meeting in Evian, France.

The letter, also signed by the chairmen of The Business Roundtable, The European Round Table of Industrialists, International Chamber of Commerce, Nippon Keidanren, and The Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe, said that success in Cancǧn would help both workers and consumers around the world and be of particular benefit to those in low- and middle-income countries.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian corporations, is Canada’s senior business organization. Its members head companies that administer in excess of $2.1 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $500 billion and account for a significant majority of Canada’s private sector investment, exports, training and research and development.

The CCCE was Canada’s private sector leader in the development of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the WTO agenda, and continues to be actively engaged in international trade and investment issues. Formerly known as the Business Council on National Issues, the Council changed its name and expanded its mandate in 2001 to engage more effectively beyond Canada’s borders.