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Alliances || ASEAN
12th ASEAN Summit: DDA Statement
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STATEMENT ON THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA OF THE WTO
- We, the leaders of ASEAN, take pride in warmly welcoming Viet Nam's membership in the WTO. We applaud Viet Nam for its tremendous efforts in completing a long accession process. We strongly encourage the Lao People's Democratic Republic in its application for Membership in the WTO. We pledge our support to make this process as expeditious as possible, leading to the Lao PDR's early accession.
- We reaffirm our commitment to the Doha Round and to attaining an ambitious and balanced overall outcome. The impasse in the negotiations must be broken, and to this end, WTO Members, particularly the major players, must demonstrate flexibility by moving beyond their current positions in key areas of the Round and display resolve in concluding the Doha Round in a timely manner. We thank Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO, for his message on the Round, and encourage him to further engage all WTO Members in pushing the process forward.
- Breakthroughs in the critical negotiating areas of Agriculture and NAMA are needed to put the process back on track. This will entail forging rules and disciplines on and making substantial reductions in trade distorting domestic support by the major players and real reductions in both agriculture and industrial tariffs. Movement in other areas is equally important and urgently required. Whilst this is a shared responsibility and involves contributions from all WTO Members, the major players in the Round – both developed and developing – must show the requisite leadership and political will to create the basis for the successful conclusion of the Round, including intensified numbers-based negotiations in Geneva.
- ASEAN Member Countries are prepared to make contributions to ensure an outcome to the negotiations that will allow our economies to develop and prosper. The Round offers a major juncture to put in place significant reforms and reductions in trade-distorting farm support, create meaningful and substantial market access in agriculture, industrial goods and services, and introduce improved WTO rules and trade facilitation arrangements. These should especially benefit and provide strengthened S&D treatment for developing and least developed countries. After all, the development dimension is central to the Doha Round.
- We instruct our Ministers, Senior Officials, and representations in Geneva to intensify their effort and involvement in the negotiations to ensure that the Leaders' will and aspiration on the Doha Round, as presented in Cebu, is carried out. We have no doubt that a successful Doha Round will spur economic growth, and offer a tangible means to reduce poverty globally, and in the ASEAN region. The Doha Round, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to boost our drive towards development and prosperity in ASEAN.
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