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No Step Back on Trade Liberalization: Mike Moore
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Mike Moore said Wednesday in Shanghai that the current slowdown of the world economy should be regarded as an impetus for greater trade and investment liberalization rather than being a reason for taking a step backwards in the process of building a multilateral trade mechanism.
Moore told a press briefing in Shanghai that preparations for the launch of a new round of WTO multilateral trade talks are well under way.
"I feel relaxed about the process," he told reporters at the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai.
Moore is here as a special guest attending the two-day Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Moore said that the launch of a new round of WTO multilateral talks will help resist and head off the slowdown of the world economy.
"The world economy is faltering a little. We need this (new round) in global terms and we should not stand still," he said.
He noted that there are growing concerns about the pace of regionalism and bilateralism.
"The faltering of the world economy and corresponding loss of government revenues should be turned into impetus for governments to work harder to get things going rather than a reason to slowdown in the process of trade liberalization," Moore said.
He cited statistics from the University of Michigan in the United States that a total removal of trade barriers will add two trillion U.S. dollars to the world economy, equivalent to "adding two Chinas to the world economy."
Moore said that APEC has been a useful and profound organization in bringing together member economies to create a culture and climate to promote trade liberalization.
"APEC helps put trade facilitation as an issue on the global agenda, so these meetings are important," he said.
He said that the WTO will not be a world trade organization if China is not a member. "It would be inconceivable for a new round to begin and China not be part of the WTO inside that negotiation, " Moore said.
"It would be just historically inconceivable if we don't have China in the course of the new trade round, given China's influence. It would be a failure of the political world of monumental dimensions," he said.
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