Policy Statement & Submission

Background

1. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is a strong supporter of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). From the days of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), we have taken an active part in providing the private sector's input into the Hong Kong negotiating position. Since the launch of the Uruguay Round of GATT, the Chamber, through its service policy think tank the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries (HKCSI), has been an active contributor to the negotiations on services trade liberalisation among the international network of service industry bodies.

2. With the formation of the WTO in 1995, the Chamber has continued to participate actively and positively in multilateral negotiations. We were an advocate of China's entry to the WTO, and a strong and vocal supporter of the launch of the Doha Development Agenda.

3. The Chamber and HKCSI has registered as an accredited non-governmental organisation (NGO) with the WTO for every Ministerial Conference since the first one held in Singapore in December 1996. The Chamber was represented in the Ministerials in 1996 (Singapore), 2001 (Doha) and Cancun (2003). In both Singapore and Doha, the Chamber representative was the only NGO to have participated in the Ministerial from Hong Kong.

4. The Chamber's participation in various Ministerial Conferences has proved very useful. Apart from involving the private sector in the WTO, it has enabled the Chamber and the government to work closer together on multilateral issues.

5. However, we have observed from previous Ministerial Conferences that we could have worked even closer with the government if we had been able to be registered as a member of the official delegation. Our USCSI counterpart, for instance, has been able to attend the Ministerial, from Singapore onwards, as full-fledge delegates, even though they are not government officials. By giving better access to information, meetings and venues, this arrangement has enabled them to achieve more in their involvement in the Ministerial, not only in first-hand knowledge but also in relating back more effectively to their constituencies.

6. Therefore, while the Chamber and the HKCSI shall continue to be registered as NGO's to the Ministerial Conference, we propose that we should be accorded the same treatment and be invited to join the official delegation of the HKSAR government.

Possible concerns

7. We raised this concept previously with the Hong Kong government, but we have not had any favourable response. We suspect that this might be due to a number of concerns on the part of the Hong Kong government.
- Firstly, there may be the concern that once the Chamber is represented in the official delegation, then other trade and industry bodies may have to be invited too.
- Secondly, to extend it further, other non-trade bodies such as labour unions or environmental groups may make a claim on the government to have them also represented in the Hong Kong delegation.
- Thirdly, there may be a concern that a delegation comprising non-officials may heighten the Administration's financial burden in taking part in the Ministerial.
- Fourthly, it may be difficult to ensure that all members of the HKSAR delegation share the same negotiating position and hence toe the same line for Hong Kong.

8. In our view, however, all these concerns can be allayed.

9. First of all, if the Hong Kong delegations were to have only one non-official representative for the business sector (not uncommon among some WTO members), it would stand to reason to appoint the Chamber to nominate that representative, given our long-time record in WTO negotiations.

10. Secondly, a decision to limit non-governmental participation in the delegation to only the business sector would not be difficult to defend – after all, the WTO is a primarily a trade agenda. On the other hand, we would not consider it a big concern if labour and environmental groups were to be involved. Labour and environment are well-established WTO agenda and the engagement of labour or environmental groups should be seen as a positive, rather than negative, step. Quite a few other jurisdictions have labour and environmental representatives on their delegations.

11. Thirdly, with regard to resources, our proposal is to involve non-governmental representation on the official delegation on the understanding that the private sector representative should finance their own participation. Hence it would not create any additional financial burden at all on the government. But even so, it might well be worthwhile for the government to consider providing some sponsorship of NGO's participation, as a way of obliging them to work for Hong Kong in a more positive way. In any case, the amount is not likely to be substantial as few people are likely to qualify in practice.

12. In our view, the real concern is the last one, namely, that it might be difficult for the government to impose on non-officials the obligation to toe the government negotiating line. Against this, however, it should be considered that:
- In light of the actual negotiating logistics (how the negotiations were organised), the non-officials will not in fact be taking part in the negotiations. Hence it is extremely unlikely for them to be able to jeopardise the negotiations in any way.
- Compared to other jurisdictions (e.g. the European delegations), the range of views in Hong Kong on the WTO is much less diverse. If these other jurisdictions can manage the diversity of views within their official delegation, then surely the same task should not present insurmountable difficulties for Hong Kong.
- If it were deemed necessary, the non-officials could be asked to sign some sort of undertaking to work for the interest of Hong Kong, as an additional safeguard. Alternatively, the government may consider instituting an “expert advisory group” for the WTO negotiations, and limiting participation of NGO's to this group only. This will help ensure that the participating NGO's reflect the mainstream views of Hong Kong and appreciate HKSAR's negotiating position.

13. Thus it is our views that all the concerns over the participation of non-governmental representatives in the WTO delegation can be satisfactorily addressed.

Aligning with international best practice

14. The concerns aside, it is important to appreciate the rationale behind the involvement of non-governmental groups in the official delegation, namely, that Hong Kong should follow international best practice in involving civil society in multilateral negotiations. Civil society as represented by NGO's are important stakeholders in multilateral negotiations. To have them represented in the official delegation will help facilitate their work in the Ministerial, improve communication between government and the wider community, as well as enhance ownership of the private sector in the negotiations. It is also a positive way to recognise the private sector's contribution.

15. We have studied the list of 3,800 delegates from more than 240 delegations attending the Cancun ministerial. Our study shows that a total of 386 people from 58 delegations were non-officials (see full list attached).

16. The full list of non-governmental members in the official delegations to the Cancun Ministerial is attached. It can be seen from the list that the background of the non-officials is very wide-ranging. Some examples include:
- chambers of commerce
- agriculture federations
- parliamentarians
- labour unions
- green groups
- consumer advocacy bodies
- social service agencies
- human rights groups
- religious organisations
- private companies
- academics

17. The range of jurisdictions was no less diverse. The list includes nearly all advanced countries – only two (Iceland and Switzerland) of the 30 OECD countries were not represented (20 OECD countries were featured in the list and of the 10 that were not, 8 of them were represented through the European Commission). Significantly, many of the delegations with NGO representatives were from developing countries (e.g. India, Botswana, Philippines, etc). As a major player of the WTO, Hong Kong appears conspicuous by its absence.

18. In conclusion, we believe we have made a strong case for including non-governmental representatives in Hong Kong's official delegation to the WTO. We therefore recommend that the government adopt this practice in the forthcoming Hong Kong Ministerial. The Chamber would be happy to offer one or two representatives to be thus appointed to the delegation.

Attachement:
- Non-Governmental organisation representatives on WTO delegations - Cancun Ministerial