| The Japanese PM on the upcoming trade talks. Excerpt: |
This round must succeed. It has the potential to be historic. Not only does it aim at more ambitious levels of trade liberalisation than previous rounds but, more importantly, it embraces enhanced integration of developing nations into the WTO system as equal beneficiaries and participants, rather than allowing them to be further marginalised or alienated by the flourishing regional trade agreements. Today, developing nations account for four-fifths of all WTO members.
Japan is deeply and actively committed to this goal, not only because it is the second largest economy in the world and the largest net importer of agricultural products; but because the country owes its present economic prosperity to the opportunities for growth provided by the post-second-world-war multilateral free-trade system and domestic structural reforms, backed by development assistance and advice from the international community. Creating an upward spiral where trade promotes development and development in turn enhances trade is in the interests of developing countries today, just as it was in ours.
The issue is of particularly pressing importance for the least developed countries (LDCs) and other small, vulnerable economies. In the area of agriculture, where these countries generally have a comparative advantage, Japan provides no export subsidies, has already made substantial cuts in trade-distorting domestic support and will further liberalise its market in conjunction with agricultural reform | and with that backhanded slap at the EU, especially France, he goes on to say some interesting things about the relationship between all members of the 'supply chain' and about ways to increase the likelihood that aid and trade together actually do create increased wealth in many countries at once |
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