Minister Laments Delay in Implementing UNDP Programme
The new Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in her maiden interview with journalists on Monday spoke about her plans to transform the organisation. James Emejo, Nume Ekeghe, Oluchi Chibuzor and Hamid Ayodeji bring th
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Mariam Katagum has lamented the delay in the kick-off of the Nigeria-United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Country Programme (CP) 2018-2022.
But she noted that though a lot of time had been lost prior to the commencement, the federal government would work to ensure that the desired results are still achieved within the project stipulated period.
Speaking during the inauguration of the Steering and Programme Coordinating Committees for the project, Katagum, who chairs the body said it would move fast in ensuring timely and effective implementation as enshrined in the country programme.
She therefore urged members to put in their best to enable Nigeria derive maximum benefit from the programme, particularly in areas where it has competitive and comparative advantages, in line with the diversification agenda of the federal government.
The minister, in a statement issued by the ministry’s Assistant Director of Information, Mr.
Oluwakemi Ogunmakinwa, also thanked the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, for the confidence reposed in the committee to deliver on the project.
Katagum, further vowed that the committees will bring their wealth of experience and technical expertise to bear on the national assignment which is expected to positively impact on Nigerians now and in the future.
She said: “We, as a committee, will move fast to ensure timely implementation of the programs and projects, as enshrined in the Country Programme.
“Let me at this point congratulate other members of the steering and programme coordinating committees and assure them of my leadership and cooperation, in the effective implementation of the Nigeria UNIDO Country Programme 2018 – 2022”.
The minister pointed out that the expectations of the ministry in the programme are enormous and understandable, especially in terms of technical cooperation, as well as enhancing industrial competitiveness, market access, innovation and investment promotion.
He urged UNIDO to come up with an action plan for each of the thematic groupings, with assigned responsibilities.
Good day to everyone wherever you are around the world. I want to thank you for being here. Let me say that a few minutes ago, the general council of the WTO, agreed on my selection as the seventh director general of this organisation. I am deeply honoured and humbled by the support I have received from WTO members. I will say it’s exciting and daunting at the same time because I take the reins of WTO at a time of great uncertainty and challenge. We have the twin shocks of the pandemic- the health side and the economic side - which is challenging for many including challenging for livelihoods in many parts of the world and it has formed deep economic devastation in parts of the world. So, the WTO at this time is also facing some of the challenges and it’s clear to me that deep and wide-ranging reforms are needed - and as I said before, it cannot be business as usual at the WTO. We need to look at the priorities and I will speak to them in a moment. We need to modernise our rules, we need to look at what the WTO can contribute to solve the present situation of the pandemic, we need to look at procedures. So much needs to be done and that’s why I talked about wide-ranging reforms. But of course, it will not be easy because we also have the issue of lack of trust among our members which had built up over time among the US and China, US and EU and even between developing and developed countries members and we need to walk through that if we are to achieve the reforms that the WTO needs to achieve in order to be relevant in this modern age.
Trade is very important and trade makes up 60 per cent of GDP and it’s also very important if we are also to come out of this pandemic both in terms of how to make sure there’s a freer flow in supplies to deal with the public health emergency and also for economic revival and sustainability recovery of the globe. Without trade, it cannot happen. Of course, GDP growth contributes to trade and looking at some trade rules and liberalisation of trade can contributes to faster GDP growth. So, I think trade is very important from all sides. And when we look at the membership of the WTO, we must be mindful that whatever we do will benefit more members not just big members or middle-sized countries, but also small ones or small island economies and I think this is very important.
Let me speak very quickly to some of the priorities as I see them and as i shared with the General Council. I think first and foremost, we need to focus on the issue of COVID-19 and what can the WTO do to contribute to the solutions; how to accelerate all these organisations that are trying to accelerate supplies and vaccines to poor countries. The WTO can look at export restrictions and prohibitions from members. The international trade center says there’s almost still a 100 members which still have these restrictions and prohibitions. How can we lift them and be very transparent about them, making them temporary so that there’ll be a freer flow of goods? Secondly, how can we also encourage or find what I call a third way in which vaccines can be manufactured in many more countries while taking care that we do the storage, research and innovation which is linked to intellectual property. Then, we have the issue of the dispute settlement system, which people call the jewel in the crown of the WTO. There’s no point really agreeing on more rules, the only place in the world where trade disputes do not work is paralysed. So, it’s a priority to really reform that and take account of inputs of all members to make sure we come up with a dispute settlement system that works. And there’s need to modernise the rules of the WTO to attend to 21st century issues. What do I mean by that- we have to look at the digital economy which has become so prominent during this pandemic. E-commerce is key and it’s going to grow in leaps and bounds as we move on.
Now the WTO does not presently have rules that undertake e-commerce, so how
to put those rules in place to complete the negotiations will be very important. I must mention fishery subsidy negotiations; it speaks to sustainability of our oceans, it helps fulfill one of the SDGs. I forgot, there’s one thing that is very important as a priority to me; it is also the fact that e-commerce will help us women and micro small and medium size enterprises.
Trade is about people and we have to constantly keep that in front of us. And then let me just mention quickly traditional issues like agriculture, issues of industrial subsidies, agricultural subsidies, and there are also procedural issues. I have said in my speech that we need to look at procedures for appointing the director general; issues of how to make sure consensus does not stand in the way of innovation in the organisation. So, there are a lot to do and these are some of the issues I pointed out as priorities. I should also perhaps end by talking about strengthening the secretariat. The secretariat of the WTO has very talented staff and among the best you can find in the world of trade. So, how can you have that to work better and support members. These are some of the things I think we should be looking at.
What can you say about the rejection of your selection last year by former United States President, Donald Trump?
I think I was surprised when that came at the decision making meeting because there had been no indication previously that there was any problem with the US. But, you know that’s the way life works so that when things happen you take them in your strength and move on. And so it was absolutely wonderful when the Biden-Harris administration came and broke that logjams, joined the consensus and gave such a strong endorsement to my candidacy. So that has set a very good stage and to joined other 163 members to endorse the candidacy I think it’s wonderful.
How do you feel about your appointment as DG of the WTO?
I feel an additional burden; I can’t lie about that. Being the first African and the first woman means that one really has to perform. I have always said these are wonderful things and groundbreaking. I am grateful to members for electing me, making that history but the bottom-line is that if I really want to make Africa proud, I have to produce results. That’s where my mind is at now- how do we work together with members to produce results?
So, with respect to dispute settlement, i will tell you that every member agrees that the dispute settlement system needs reform- from developing to developed countries - the United States to China to India to the EU, everyone agrees. But they have various opinions about what types of reforms are needed. So how we set about it is to first try to work with member-states to on the main issues with respect to the dispute settlement system. What are those reforms, what are the challenges they see and what are the reforms they’ll like to see? So I will flesh out the reforms and put them together, get members to agree on this and once they agree that these are the set of reforms, we put together one by one to implement these reforms.
And I hope we can take this to the ministerial meeting which is estimated to take place by the end of the year. So they have like eight months to try to work this out. I think it will take some time to really put it all out but at least we should get a good start.
What should Africa expect from your leadership at the WTO to advance AfCFTA which commenced this year?
Of course, as the DG for all members, I must work to advance the interest of every single member. But that being said, Africa is at unique juncture where it is implementing one of the largest free trade agreements in the world. The WTO is working on facilitating the agreement. We are pushing that out and we are trying to see how we can get investment into the continent. It would be very important and we would do absolutely do everything to try and facilitate that. The continent must also do its part to make conditions more suitable for investments to come in. For example, if you look at the area of pharmaceutical products, we import more than 90 per cent of the pharmaceuticals we use on the continent. So, how can we help facilitate investments so that the continent can have the ability to manufacture more of their medical products and commodities? And the WTO is looking at what we can do on the investment side and it would be very important working with organisations in partnerships like the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World bank and so on.
What would be your first call to action as you assume duties as WTO DG and how do you plan to use the political momentum of your appointment in the near term?
As soon as I get to Geneva in a couple of weeks, my first action would absolute be to speak with all the ambassadors, start meeting with them because if we are going to move fishery subsidies, I need to talk to Ambassador Santiago Wells to find out what are the sticky point and which delegation needs to be talked too and where I can help to move that forward. So, I would meet with the ambassadors to flesh out what is blocking some of the issues. In fact, there is also the possibility to get an agreement on accepting the world food program for instance from export restrictions. So, my main priority is to make those political visits and of course I want to speak to the staff and I would like to have a town hall at some stage to thank the deputy director generals who have been doing a great job in running the place. I would have a transition meeting with them so that whilst they are still there, they can
Trade is about people and we have to constantly keep that in front of us. And then let me just mention quickly traditional issues like agriculture, issues of industrial subsidies, agricultural subsidies, and there are also procedural issues