[ Nippon Keidanren ] [ Policy ]

Hong Kong Joint Business Declaration:

A Call for Substantial Progress Towards Trade Liberalisation

November 21, 2005

United by a common vision:

Our organizations represent business from many countries and regions around the world, accounting for around 65% of all global trade. We have come together--united by a common vision--to advocate for the liberalization of global trade and the concomitant economic benefits for all countries through the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations. Through multilateral trade liberalization, we can continue to expand the sphere of economic opportunity, and strengthen the rules that support the global trading system, while countering the unproductive instincts of protectionism and unilateralism.

The final Doha agreement needs to ensure that all WTO Members, notably developing countries, participate in and benefit from the gains of trade liberalization. This requires genuine market liberalization by all countries, since an ambitious outcome of the DDA will generate substantial economic growth for the global economy at large. We must therefore commit to the success of the Hong Kong Ministerial and the conclusion of the DDA by the end of 2006.

Because of its critical importance to global development, we call on political leaders to demonstrate greater vision, ambition, and responsibility and to commit to meaningful outcomes in the DDA negotiations. Now is the time to put short-term politics aside and aggressively pursue the level of progress that will guarantee the conclusion of the DDA by the end of 2006. There has already been too much delay. Nevertheless, it is still possible to achieve ambitious and concrete results that will produce tangible economic benefits for all countries by the end of the negotiations in 2006.

The Hong Kong Ministerial is a critical milestone for the DDA and the framework for the successful conclusion of the DDA must be achieved in all areas of the negotiations: industrial market access, services, agriculture, trade facilitation and rules. Such progress will only be realized if all WTO Members demonstrate willingness to compromise throughout the negotiations.

WTO membership (149 countries and growing) is truly representative of the global community, comprised of developed, rapidly emerging countries, and many poorer countries. WTO rules need to recognize those differences and specific development needs. While we believe that multilateral trade liberalization will promote development among the broader WTO membership, and we strongly support the development focus of this trade round, we also believe that these results can best be realized through comprehensive trade liberalization. As such, each country's contribution to the DDA should therefore include an understanding of its economic development. We especially hope that the DDA would lead to improved trading opportunities for the least developed countries. Appropriate and effective technical assistance should be developed in close cooperation with the countries concerned.

Negotiating issues:

Committed to success in Hong Kong:

We are committed to making the Hong Kong Ministerial a success. It is the final staging post to the conclusion of an ambitious DDA by the end of 2006. We will therefore continue to work together in support of achieving substantial commitments to trade liberalization and stronger multilateral trade rules over the coming months. We will step up our activities and be in Hong Kong to support the negotiating process and the strengthening of the multilateral trading system and convince our politicians to move the negotiations forward quickly.


Africa

Confederation of Tanzania Industries
http://www.cti.co.tz/
CTI is Tanzania's leading confederation for industry.
Kenya Association of Manufacturers
http://www.kam.co.ke/
KAM is Kenya's leading representative organization for industry.
Federation of Uganda Employers
http://www.employers.co.ug/
The Federation of Uganda Employers represents business across Uganda since 1961. The FUE gained recognition by government as the sole organization representing employer views.

North America

Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
http://www.cme-mec.ca/
Canadian Manufacturers is Canada's leading industry association. Its members produce three-quarters of the country's manufactured goods and about ninety percent of Canada's merchandise exports.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce
http://www.chamber.ca/
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is Canada's leading business organization bringing together companies large and small from every sector of the economy and in every corner of the country.
The United States Chamber of Commerce
http://www.uschamber.com/
The United States Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing 3 million businesses of every size and sector, including 2,800 state and local chambers of commerce and 830 business associations around the United States, and 102 American Chambers of Commerce in 87 countries.
Coalition of Service Industry
http://www.uscsi.org/
CSI is the leading US business organization dedicated to the reduction of barriers to international trade and investment in services. CSI was formed in 1982 to ensure that trade in services, once considered outside the scope of trade negotiations, would become a central goal of future trade liberalization initiatives.
The National Foreign Trade Council
http://www.nftc.org/
The National Foreign Trade Council is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves some 300 member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
COPARMEX
http://www.coparmex.org.mx/
COPARMEX (Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana): The Employers Confederation of the Mexican Republic is an organization of entrepreneurs that speaks with authority on behalf of enterprises from all sectors, in every part of our country.

South America

National Confederation of Industry
http://www.cni.org.br/
The National Confederation of Industry is the chief institutional representative of the Brazilian industry. It focuses on improving the competitiveness of Brazilian industry and integrating it to the world economy.
Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo
http://www.fiesp.org.br/
The Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) is the leading regional manufacturing sector organization in Brazil, and is comprised of 132 sectoral trade associations representing over 40% of the country's industrial GDP and more than 140.000 companies.
Service Coalition of Exporters
http://www.ccs.cl/
Service Coalition of Exporters (CES), Chile represents services exporters across Chile.

Asia

Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries
http://www.hkcsi.org.hk/
The Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries was founded in 1990 by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. It is the Chamber's service policy think tank. With representatives from more than 50 service sectors, the HKCSI is the major private sector voice for Hong Kong's service industries.
NIPPON KEIDANREN
http://www.keidanren.or.jp/
Nippon Keidanren is a key organization in Japan, consisting of more than 1,300 companies and about 130 industrial sector associations, and represents the interests of all businesses.
Japan Services Network
Japan Services Network represents service industries in Japan.
Chinese National Federation of Industries
http://www.cnfi.org.tw/wto/
Chinese National Federation of Industries is the trade association representing Taiwanese Business Community.

Australia

Australian Services Roundtable
http://www.servicesaustralia.org.au/
The Australian Services Roundtable is the peak business body for the services industries in Australia

Europe

Union des Industries de la Communauté européenne ; UNICE
http://www.unice.org/
UNICE is the voice of business in Europe. It represents 39 national business federations from 33 countries including the 25 EU Member States.
European Services Forum
http://www.esf.be/
The European Services Forum (ESF) is a network of representatives from the European services sector. We are committed to actively promoting the interests of the European services sector and the liberalisation of services markets throughout the world in connection with the GATS 2000 negotiations.
The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union ; AmCham EU
http://www.amchameu.be/
The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU) is the voice of companies of American parentage committed to Europe towards the institutions and governments of the European Union.

Southern Mediterranean

Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises
http://www.umce-med.org/
http://www.tusiad.org/
UMCE is a regional professional organization which gathers the main professional organizations of the twelve Mediterranean Partner Countries: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia & Turkey.

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