BUSINESS IS UNITED IN SUPPORT OF THE WTO MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM

We, business organisations representing companies from developing and developed countries are united in wanting to make the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference a success. In September in Cancun, we look to the 147 WTO Members to take important steps towards a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations by 1 January 2005.

A successful Cancun Conference will:

• send a confidence-boosting signal to investors, traders and consumers at a time of great economic uncertainty;
• bolster the rules-based multilateral trading system and foster international cooperation;
• clear the way for the final phase of the DDA negotiations.

We therefore call on WTO Members to intensify their efforts to overcome differences and divisions, in a cooperative and constructive spirit. Solutions which take into account the various interests at stake can be found for all issues on the Doha Development Agenda. Trade and investment liberalisation are essential for global economic growth, job creation, and consumer choice in developed and developing countries.

Business is the key driver of the global trading system. Through national and international trade and investment activities, business creates employment and the wealth necessary to raise living standards and environmental protection around the world. In this capacity, we present the following business charter for Cancun. It engages its signatories, but is open to all horizontal and representative business organisations that share our approach and objectives.

We support the ambitious and forward-looking DDA negotiations, aimed at accommodating all countries at various levels of development. All issues on the DDA should be addressed on their own merits and progress in parallel. For business, the following issues are essential:

• substantially improved market access commitments for agricultural and non-agricultural goods;
• further liberalisation of trade in services;
• simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures (trade facilitation);
• a framework of rules for international investment;
• more transparency in public procurement markets;
• clarification and improvement of the WTO anti-dumping rules and of other rules-related agreements, where appropriate, to ensure effective, non-discriminatory and impartial operation;
• further improvement of the Dispute Settlement Understanding including greater transparency.

We underline the crucial importance of the agricultural negotiations, especially for many developing countries that depend heavily on this sector for their export earnings or for their economic growth. In addition, a lack of substantive progress in this area risks derailing the other items on the DDA which are vital for future economic growth, employment and development. It is time for all WTO members to engage seriously and realistically in the agriculture negotiations and to contribute to the liberalisation process by making meaningful and balanced commitments in the three pillars of the DDA negotiations, market access, export subsidies and trade-distorting domestic support, while also taking into account the specificity of agriculture and concerns of developing countries.

=>	renew a strong commitment to the multilateral process with a road map for the conclusion of the negotiations by January 2005;
=>	keep the DDA on track and facilitate progress in all areas of the negotiations. We call on WTO Members particularly to agree on:

• the conditions to move agriculture negotiations forward;
• modalities for non-agriculture market access negotiations combining tariff and non-tariff measures;
• the basis for starting negotiations, without prejudice to the eventual outcome, on the Singapore issues;
• clear guidelines and significant progress on special and differential treatment for developing countries and least developed countries;
• renewed commitment for further services liberalisation across the four modes of delivery.

The WTO contributes to development and growth in all countries through improved market access for goods and services and by establishing clear rules for economic actors. The Doha Development Agenda will further integrate developing and especially least developed countries in the global marketplace and enable them to reap more fully the benefits of trade and investment liberalisation. We firmly support strengthened and effective technical assistance, capacity building and other needed structural reforms in developing countries as integral to achieving the full benefits of trade liberalisation.

We look for time-bound progress on issues of most importance to developing countries including implementation issues and special and differential treatment. For the phasing-in of new WTO obligations, we support granting flexibility to developing countries according to their different levels of economic development and competitiveness. Meaningful special and differential treatment should be granted to least developed countries.

Technical assistance should focus on capacity building and facilitating the full participation of developing, least developed countries and small developing economies in the negotiating process. Efforts should also be pursued to increase synergies and efficiency between the existing assistance programmes.

While regionalism/bilateralism can be a useful means for liberalisation, multilateral liberalisation is our end goal. Therefore, we call on WTO members to allocate all the priority and necessary resources to the ongoing DDA negotiations so that they can be successfully concluded by the agreed 1 January 2005 deadline. A strengthened multilateral framework will ensure that bilateral and regional trade initiatives provide benefits to the entire global economy.

Time is short but the promise of the DDA can still be achieved.