17 May 2010 DDG Jara inaugurates WTO Chair at Morocco’s Mohammed V-Souissi University

In a ceremony in Rabat, Morocco, on 17 May 2010, Deputy Director-General Alejandro Jara welcomed Mohammed V-Souissi University into the WTO Chairs Programme for developing countries. He said that the event represents recognition of the University as well as an encouragement for its students and researchers to focus more on the WTO, which is “an important building stone in global governance”.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today at Mohammed V University, the first university created in Morocco following independence and a pioneer in educating many eminent people who have made and continue to make the country's history. As we all are aware, His Majesty the King of Morocco is among the illustrious who, as students sat on the benches of this University. Where better to inaugurate the WTO Chair than this prestigious institution?

The choice of the University Mohammed V‑Souissi to launch the WTO Chairs Programme is a natural outcome of the fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation initiated several years ago in the course of which the University has played a very important part in our technical assistance and training programmes, particularly those organized for French‑speaking Africa.

Over several years in the recent past, officials representing the governments of this region would come to Morocco for a few weeks to study in detail the various WTO Agreements and Rules. The University was of great help to the WTO in that context, providing substantive as well as logistical input. The University's academic staff involved itself thoroughly in the sharing of knowledge about multilateral trade rules that took place in these training courses. At the same time there were exceptional opportunities for establishing contacts and networking with academics from several countries in French‑speaking Africa who likewise played an active part in the courses.

We at the WTO are also very glad to note that after that enriching experience, rather than calling it a day the University went on to focus on the future, establishing a Masters course aimed at training young Moroccans in the subtleties and complexities of international trade and the WTO. Several classes have already completed this training and I believe that some of the graduates have already been recruited by institutions involved in international trade.

Without doubt, in the world we live in today the economic challenges are of such proportions that they warrant an effort by all countries, particularly emerging countries such as Morocco, to focus on human resources with the capacity to analyse and innovate and the ability to infuse virtuous dynamism into the economies of their countries.

We gladly and warmly encourage outcomes and projects of this kind and I believe that the WTO Chair comes at an opportune moment to boost such dynamism.

Thanks to its human capacities, Morocco is viewed on the international scene as an open and dynamic emerging economy. Major reforms have been launched and large‑scale structuring projects are under way, such as the Tanger Méditerranée large deepwater port, various plans to structure entire sectors of the economy including the “Green Morocco” plan for agriculture, the “Emergence” plan for industry or the ambitious programme to boost exports. It goes without saying that all these projects are reliant on women and men able to carry them forward and who need the proper training. Academic institutions play a central role in this respect.

The WTO set up the Chairs Programme in 2009, a year in which the world economy took a severe battering, as bad as anything in the last seventy years. The crisis was no coincidence, but a manifestation of the global challenges we are currently facing. It was also a test of the international community's ability to tackle such problems. In addition, the crisis highlighted the crucial role that cooperation and governance play worldwide in securing growth and creating jobs.

All countries were affected, although some resisted better than others thanks in part to sound macroeconomic management. I am glad to observe that despite the crisis, growth in Morocco was maintained at around 4.7 per cent in 2009, and is forecasted to remain equally positive in the next two years. Your country has managed the crisis well on the whole, but it will be necessary to remain vigilant.

The world economy now appears to be emerging from the crisis, although it would be rash to assert that it is all over and that we can behave as if nothing happened. The nascent recovery is still fragile. We need to attend to some financial sector reforms, we must manage exit strategies so as to avoid inflation and the dangerous piling up of sovereign debt, while staying out of the hole from which we are emerging, and we have to tackle the serious unemployment problem, which, I fear, will remain stubbornly high for a while, even if everything else goes well.

The comparison between what happened to output and growth last year and what we are predicting for this year is stark. Output fell in volume terms by 2.3 per cent last year, and trade by a massive 12 per cent. The consensus forecast for output growth in 2011 is a positive 2.9 per cent, and we have just released our estimate of global trade growth, which is a rebound of nearly 10 per cent over 2010. Admittedly, this is from a low base, but it is still a very promising turnaround.

On 21 April last, the IMF revised upwards its estimate for growth of the global economy, now forecast to be +4.2 per cent in 2010 and +4.3 per cent in 2011. The world economy is literally cut in two. The so called developed countries will see soft growth in 2010 and 2011 of 2.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.

The emerging economies and developing countries for their part have returned to “vigorous but sustainable” growth of +6.3 per cent in 2010, to increase to +6.4 per cent in 2011, again according to the IMF. For Morocco the forecasts are fairly good and growth should vary between 4 and 5 per cent between this year and 2011.

By historical standards, the economic contraction of the last couple of years was of alarming proportions. For a while there was genuine uncertainty as to how the world economy would extricate itself from what could have become free fall. Yet when we compare this crisis with that of the 1930s, the speed of the turnaround this time was remarkable. This is no doubt in part because we have learned how to manage the economy better. But I think that there is more to it than that. Back then, we did not have institutions for international cooperation like we have today.

I am thinking particularly of trade relations and the WTO. In the 1930s, just like in the recent crisis from which we are apparently emerging successfully, trade was not a proximate cause of economic contraction. But in the 1930s, a contagion of inward‑looking trade policy and protectionism prolonged and deepened the recession. That has not happened this time. We certainly live in a more trade‑dependent world now and governments would certainly have thought twice about the implications of turning their backs on trade. But I am sure that a vital factor also at play was the existence of an institutional setup of international trade rules.

The WTO reacted to the crisis in several ways and on several fronts: for one thing trade flows worldwide had to be kept clear of any obstruction, such as lack of available financing for exporters particularly in developing countries. For another, to avoid any protectionist tendencies there had to be collective and very close monitoring of measures taken by governments of our Member countries in the context of the crisis.

We all know that governments can do things to restrict trade without infringing their WTO obligations, but the rules draw a line beyond which it is not possible to go without breaking the system and, more importantly in my view, the WTO has created a culture of cooperation. The trade rules have withstood the protectionist pressures but we now need to ensure that this culture of cooperation brings the Doha Round to its completion. We need to ensure that the rules of the WTO, which are a public good, are improved and updated. Failure may be costly on a global scale.

The Doha Round, already the longest round in the history of multilateral trade negotiations is also one of the most ambitious rounds. It is not by chance that it is the first round of negotiations to be termed a “Development Round”, development issues being at the core of our concerns. True to say, it has not been the easiest of rounds and there are those who would already like to bury it. To them, I would advise caution. For although not easily visible, there has been progress. The body of decisions and compromises reached in July 2004, at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in 2005 or even at the controversial meeting of July 2008, already exceeds by far the results of the Uruguay Round.

But let us try not to lose sight of the importance of this Round for the global economy. A successful result in the Doha Round negotiations would offer real possibilities for strengthening the multilateral trading system together with additional opportunities for all countries, whether developed or developing, to fulfil their aspirations and play a more constructive role in the world economy. A successful Doha Round will correct a number of remaining distortions in the trading system and create a more level playing field. It will also build better foundations for more effective multilateral management of issues, which will further increase in importance over time.

Interaction between trade and economic development is just as important as the resolve to complete the Doha Round. To open markets and liberalize trade is clearly very important, but trade is no panacea on its own. It is a very useful instrument to be put to good use along with many other ingredients of public policy. Open trade needs a context in which to deliver its benefits. The benefits of trade work in an environment where other conditions are met. These include the necessary investment in infrastructure and in institutions. Suitable economic measures and policies, and infrastructures, to underpin a country's competitiveness are the ingredients of a “mix” allowing trade to deliver its benefits. Capacity‑building is an important ingredient of such a “mix”. This is why the WTO has consistently strengthened and developed its role in technical assistance and training.

The development of partnerships between the WTO Secretariat and the trade policy‑related academic community in Member countries is at the core of the WTO's technical assistance and training. “Joined up” capacity‑building simultaneously enhances the capacity of the WTO to train government officials, builds institutional and human capacity for such training in developing countries, contributes to the development of WTO‑related curricula in academic institutions of higher learning, and promotes WTO‑relevant research intended to strengthen national and regional negotiating capacity.

Fourteen WTO Chairs have been established worldwide through a competitive selection process, involving the participation of an external Advisory Board. The fact that Mohammed V‑Souissi University has been selected for this programme is a tribute to its competence. The Chair award also shows that the academic communities in Morocco, as well as the Government, are deeply involved in understanding the main practical aspects of international trade policy.

The WTO Chairs Programme provides financial support to beneficiary institutions for a period of four years. It facilitates continuous interaction between these institutions and other think‑tanks across the world. Institutions awarded a chair provide students, civil society and other stakeholders with a deeper understanding of trade policy issues, disseminate the results of research, promote discussion of international trade and trade cooperation, and provide analytical input into the formulation and implementation of trade policy. They also act as partners of the WTO Secretariat in organizing technical assistance activities.

The Mohammed V‑Souissi University project is quite ambitious, its aim being to use the Chair as a catalyst to prompt greater interest and more research in international trade and in Morocco's experience at the WTO. The Chair will also seek to establish closer ties between the University, its academic staff, the students, ministerial departments and the private sector. There are also to be local and training activities for officials or even for civil society.

I extend my warm congratulations to the President of Mohammed V‑Souissi University, Mr Chkili; the Dean of the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences, Mr Berjaoui, and the holder of the Chair, Vice‑Dean of the Faculty, Mr Ghoufrane, for their selflessness and their support for the programme.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the great honour officially to inaugurate the World Trade Organization Chair at the University Mohammed V‑Souissi. The Chair is awarded in recognition of the value we attach to your University and to the soundness and dedication of your teaching staff. It is also awarded as an encouragement to your researchers and students to further their interest in multilateral trade issues and the WTO, which is an important stone in the building of world governance.

I wish you every success and thank you for your attention.