./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/13
1 December 1999
(99-5262)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third SessionSeattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
CANADA
Statement by the Honourable Pierre S. Pettigrew
Minister for International Trade
I am honoured to be here in Seattle to represent Canada as we strive to launch a new round of
global trade negotiations.
As we are all aware, there is activity both inside and outside this building.
In our many plenary sessions and more informal meetings, we often deal with complicated
questions of process, but all based on a simple question - how?  How do we come together to launch
this new round?  How do we find the spirit of compromise that will allow us to reap the rewards of so
many years of hard work and principled rule-making?
But outside, in communities around the globe, some citizens are asking another question -
why?  Whether for or against free trade, they are asking:  why is the WTO essential?  Why do we
need to further liberalize global trade?  Why not simply appreciate the gains we have made, and slow
this process down?
The answer to both questions lies in the future, in what kind of world we want to continue to
build.
The World War II generation surveyed the planet's problems and decided to build strong,
democratic institutions that have guided our so cial and economic evolution in profound ways.  The
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and the WTO are part of that legacy, part of  that
knitting together of the globe that has made us prosperous and served the cause of  peace.
I believe that we are now poised at a juncture in our history that, while very different, is no
less important.
Profound change, driven largely by technology, is sweeping across our societies.  Most of us
call this globalization.
Many of us are excited by it, because it promises enormous opportunities and openings in the
economic, social and intellectual realms.  The world is coming together as never before.
But just as in earlier periods of great change, such as the Industrial Revolution, some citizens
are being excluded.  Many of us now realize that while market economies are efficient, market
societies leave much to be desired.
So it is important not to get lost in our ideology or to become too rigid in our thinking.
Canadians know much about the importance of cultural diversity and pragmatism.WT/MIN(99)/ST/13
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We founded and built a citizenship that departs from the traditional model of the nation-state,
and built a country on compromise, accommodation and diversity.
I believe this same spirit of accommodation could help advance our talks this week.
First of all, surely we can agree that it is not acceptable to manage a global trading system in
which some countries are far from being full Members, and whose citizens are not benefiting from the
advantages of global trade.
Better access to our markets and technical assistance for the world's least-developed countries
must be a priority for the next round of talks.  If they are not, we risk creating a growing disparity
between have and have-not countries.
Let me now turn to a priority that is crucial to Canada - agriculture.  These new negotiations
must result in the elimination of export subsidies, the drastic reduction of trade-distorting domestic
subsidies and substantial improvements in market access.  We are once again facing the results of an
agricultural subsidy war.  This is seriously hindering agriculture in developing nations and decimatingour farmers' incomes in countries such as Canada.  It must stop.
Coherence and coordination among our many international organizations is also vitally
important.  Too often, countries are caught in a tug-of-war between widely different, even
contradictory visions or policies of the key international organizations.
That is why Canada has proposed a working party on globalization to ensure that the WTO
works in coordination with UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade and Development), the ILO
(International Labour Organiza tion), UNEP (UN Environment Prog ramme), the IMF (International
Monetary Fund) and others.
On services, Canada has made it clear that the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in
Services) must remain a bottom-up agreement that allows countries the flexibility to liberalize
services that it feels will benefit their societies, while retaining their right to advance their vital social
interests.
Lastly, we must ensure that the WTO becomes an organization where the world's citizens feel
at home.  We have to release more information to our citizens, more quickly.  We must continue to
invite them in and to listen to their ideas.
Transparency, therefore, should be a guiding principle.  We made a good start this week, but
there is still much work to be done on this front.  The WTO cannot solve all of the world's problems,but the more it draws upon the wisdom, energy and innovation of the world's citizens, the stronger
and more representative it will become.
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