WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/FIFTY/ST/2
19 May 1998
(98-2207)
50th ANNIVERSARY
Geneva, 19 May 1998
UNITED NATIONS
Statement by Mr. Rubens Ricupero,
Secretary-General of UNCTAD, on behalf of
Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations
(As An Observer)
I speak today on behalf of Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
It is very appropriate that the UN should address this Conference on the 50th Anniversary of
the GATT.  For the UN is not just one among many observers.  It is the major source of legitimacy in
the international system, and the cornerstone of the system of international organizations.
Moreover, it should be recalled that the United Nations was the political and legal framework
within which the event we are commemorating today took place.  The GATT was an Agreementdrafted and negotiated within a UN Committee.  And it was concluded as an annex to the
International Trade Organization (ITO) approved at the Havana Conference in 1947.  To be precise,
that Conference was known as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment.  Even
though the ITO never came into being, it is worth recalling that it was the UN which convened the
Havana Conference, provided it with preparatory support, and later provided staff who went on toform the first GATT Secretariat.  The GATT became the cornerstone around which the multilateral
trading system was built.
The interface of trade and development was first articulated by the Latin American countries,
at the Havana Conference.  Later, the achievement of independence by the developing countries of
Africa and Asia gave further impetus to a global initiative to create an international trading system
consistent with the promotion of economic and social development.  UNCTAD was established in
1964 with the mandate to pursue this objective.
As the logical successor to the GATT, the WTO represents a new order in multilateral trade.
It intensifies multilateral trade disciplines and extends them into new areas.  And it provides the
improved, and more secure, access to markets that is a prerequisite for successful export--oriented
development strategies.  On the other hand, it imposes stricter constraints on the scope of policy
options open to developing countries in pursuing their development strategies.
Developing countries are now attempting to participate effectively within this system.  This
implies having the ability to exploit export opportunities, meet their obligations to defend their
acquired rights, formulate development-oriented trade policies and pursue these policy objectives in
the course of trade negotiations.  Building what we at UNCTAD call "a positive trade agenda" is a
prerequisite for developing countries, if they are to participate in future negotiations on a more equalfooting and to defend their interests.
As its first Ministerial Conference demonstrated, the WTO has become a forum for
continuous multilateral negotiations.  Many countries find themselves simultaneously engaged in
trade negotiations at the regional and subregional levels.  Thus, the building of developing countries'WT/FIFTY/ST/2
Page 2
capacity to defend their interests effectively in trade negotiations, and to establish the universality of
the WTO, is an essential task.
As we all agree, the trade liberalization process must maintain its momentum.  But, priority
should be given to trade barriers targeting the exports of developing countries in both goods and
services.  Tariff peaks should be reduced and so-called trade remedies further disciplined.  Access for
the temporary movement of natural persons should also be facilitated.
The concept of special and differential treatment in favour of developing countries should be
adapted so as to aim at improving their ability to compete in a globalized world.  Subregional
integration among developing countries is providin g them with a training ground for competing in the
global market, thus facilitating their participation in trade negotiations.
Meanwhile, the search for greater coherence between the trade and financial system should be
pursued.  As is so clearly demonstrated by the current Asian crisis, the trade system bears the burden
of adjustment to inadequacies in the financial sy stem.  At this Conference the international trading
community is being called upon to demonstrate solidarity in the trade field, so as to assist Asian
countries in remedying their situation.
A word of caution is required at this juncture on the extension of the frontiers of the trading
system into new areas.  The use of the trade rules as a mechanism for imposing disciplines in non-
trade areas would create heavy strains on the system.  The WTO must be seen as a partner in theoverall international effort - carried out by the UN and its various agencies - aimed at the promotion
of sustainable development and human rights, and pursuit of the goals of the UN Charter.
We are all caught up in the fast current of globalization.  But this does not mean that we
should allow ourselves to be carried aimlessly along the tide.  The challenges of globalization,
particularly that of avoiding the marginalization of the weaker members of the internationalcommunity must be addressed by the WTO, as by all other international organizations.
As Mr. Annan stressed in his message to the last weekend's meeting of the G-8, and as has
been re-emphasized by Mr. Renato Ruggiero, Director -General of the WTO, trade barriers facing the
least-developed countries should be immediately abolished.  In addition, they should obtain
international support to support their competitiveness and their ability to attract investment.  Buildingtheir capacity to compete effectively, and on equal terms, is a moral and practical challenge of the
highest order to us all.  In cooperation with the WTO and other agencies, UNCTAD is fully engaged
in this task.
Looking back to the Havana Conference, we should recall that it tried to deal with two major
goals - trade and employment.  Those were the days when statesmen and economists still believed in
the possibility of full employment.  Nowadays, in practice this goal has been virtually abandoned.  In
OECD countries alone, there are 35 million jobless.  In the developing world, the number runs into
the hundreds of millions.  Inequality inside, and among, nations has not been reduced.
 Trade is certainly not to blame for the failure of the 20th century to solve this burning
problem.  But, at a time of global trade liberalization, the existence of mass unemployment, job
insecurity and acute inequality undoubtedly has had something to do with the malaise - -even
backlash, in places - against trade and investment liberalization that we have noted in various quarters.Such preoccupations have shown their face in such diverse fora as the US Congress' debate on "fast
track", the OECD negotiations on a plurilateral investment agreement, and the protests and
demonstrations of recent days here in Geneva.WT/FIFTY/ST/2
Page 3
No one should be fooled by the festive atmosphere of these celebrations.  Outside there is
anguish and fear, insecurity about jobs and what Thoreau described as a "life of quiet desperation".
That is also part of the reality as much as the impressive achievements of global liberalization.  It is
the sacred duty of the United Nations system, WTO and the Bretton Woods Institutions to create
reasons to believe in the future and to give people back sound reasons to hope.
_________