WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/360
12 October 1999
(99-4299)
General Council Original:  English/
French
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
The WTO and International Economic Policy Coherence
Communication from Canada
The following communication, dated 1 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Canada.
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Proposal
1. Canada proposes that Ministers, in Seattle, commit themselves to promoting greater
coherence in  economic and related policies.  Building on existing decisions and declarations,Ministers should agree to establish a working group to report to the next Ministerial Conference on:
(a) options to enhance cooperation between the WTO and other international economic
organizations with a view to promoting cohe rence in international trade, finance and
development policies;
(b) the relation between trade policies and other dimensions of good economic
governance at the national level;
(c) options for enhancing the contribution of trade-related and other technical assistance
to capacity-building in developing countries;
(d) ways to improve the efficacy of, and synergies between, the multilateral surveillance
processes of various international economic institutions;
(e) the relationships between appropriate trade, developmental, social and environmental
policy choices in the context of the experiences of and challenges faced by all WTOMembers in adjusting to globalization.
2. The working group should, with particular attent ion to the concerns of developing countries
and the risk of marginalization of the least developed countries, encourage exchange of information
and discussion on the experience of WTO Members in this regard; an analysis of experience to datecould usefully inform the ongoing work of the group.
Rationale
3. The experience of the last 50 years demonstrates convincingly that trade liberalization has
contributed significantly to improving both national and global welfare.  As reflected in various WTOWT/GC/W/360
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agreements, transparent, objective and predictable regulation provides the certainty necessary for
private actors to have confidence to trade and invest.  Such economic activity in turn generates the
wealth necessary for governments to fulfill the so cial and public choices of their citizens.  More
broadly, there is a growing recognition that coherence among a range of trade, financial, economic
and social policies – good economic governance -  is critical to the effectiveness of efforts tostrengthen markets and to promote economic growth and development.
4. In today’s interdependent world of an increasingly globalized economy, economic change is a
constant.  Accordingly, policy planning and implementation at both the national and international
level should explicitly recognize and address these linkages.  Maximizing complementarities and
synergies should help all governments to ensure that their citizens continue to benefit from
globalization.  In fact, the Marrakesh Declarat ion on the Contribution of the WTO to Achieving
Greater Coherence in Global Economic Policy-Making recognizes that coherence between thestructural, macroeconomic, trade, financial and development aspects of economic policy-making
increases the effectiveness of these policies.
5. A number of factors have contributed to this increased awareness, including the accelerating
pace of globalization, a broadening of the trade agenda, more direct involvement by many
international institutions in trade policy questio ns, growing public attentio n to the relation between
trade and other concerns, and the expanding membersh ip of the WTO, with developing countries and
countries in transition now a majority of the membership.  The social impact of the recent financial
crisis has been particularly prominent in raising questions about the effects of globalization and the
links between trade policy, financial and economic policies, and development objectives.   As stated
by former Director-General Renato Ruggiero, the challenge is “not just to build a coherent globalarchitecture, but to build a new political constituency for globalization”.
6. There have been, as a consequence, many initiatives to increase dialogue and co-ordination
among international organizations and to increase public understanding of these connections, several
of which have involved the WTO.  The Marrakesh Declaration on coherence, the formal cooperation
agreements between the WTO and both the IMF and the World Bank, the High Level Working Groupon Coherence, ongoing WTO-UNCTAD cooperation, and the partnerships that led to the development
of the Integrated Framework all represent important milestones. However, more can be done.  The
World Bank, for example, is considering a joint declaration by the heads of the World Bank, IMF and
WTO on the convergence of the trade and development policy agendas.  The International Labour
Organization (ILO), in co-operation with other inte rnational institutions, is conducting important work
on the social dimensions of trade liberalization.  UNEP is undertaking work on trade-related issues
and is co-operating with the WTO.  To maintain and focus momentum, Ministers should decide inSeattle on ways to build on these efforts.
7. In the area of technical assistance, intensified cooperation should be sought to ensure that
priorities are targeted and there is appropriate sequencing in the implementation of trade policy
reforms.  Developing countries, both those already members of the WTO and those contemplating
accession, would stand to benefit from a renewed commitment to joint efforts in this domain.
8. In the area of policy analysis and formulation, the working group should address, in
particular, the shared economic and social policy challenges that all WTO Members, in particular
developing countries and countries in transition, encounter in coping with the rapid pace of change in
the international economy and trading system.  An examination of experiences in adjusting to
globalization, such as the specific trade-related economic and social challenges facing developingcountries, as well as and the risk of marginalization of the least developed in particular, also should be
included among its specific tasks.  It should also examine ways in which the trade policy components
of the IMF, World Bank and other IFIs activities could better contribute to furthering the
liberalization objectives of the WTO, and how the exchange of information and cooperation inWT/GC/W/360
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multilateral surveillance processes of various institutions could be strengthened.  The working group
could be asked to report to the next Ministerial Conference.
9. The creation of a working group could, by providing a  forum in which these issues would
receive serious ongoing consideration, help in responding to broad public concerns about coherence
among economic policies and the role of international economic institutions, notably the WTO, incontributing constructively to ensuring that the benefits of the rules-based trading system and of trade
liberalization flow to all citizens.
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