WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/265
20 July 1999
(99-3039)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Negotiations on Trade and Environment
Communication from Switzerland
The following communication, dated 20 July 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Switzerland.
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1. Switzerland suggests the following elements for a draft Seattle Declaration:
Proposal
2. Negotiations shall aim to strengthen the coherence between trade and environmental policies
(i) by clarifying the relationship between the multilateral trading system and multilateral
environmental agreements through the establishment of appropriate principles, rules or procedures
and (ii) by elaborating instruments to take better account of basic principles of environmental
protection and of current issues stemming from the interdependencies between trade and environment.
Background
3. Switzerland supports a new round of negotiations leading to a further substantial step forward
on the track of progressive liberalization in international trade.  However, the work carried out by the
CTE has shown that there is an inherent interrelat ionship between trade and environment.  In order to
ensure that further trade liberalization also reflects legitimate environmental concerns, the SeattleDeclaration needs to refer not only to the overall objective of sustainable development as recognized
by the WTO, it should also include, as a subject for negotiations, issues resulting from the
interdependency between trade and environment.  Addressing these issues during the upcoming
negotiations would complement the useful analytical work of the CTE.
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