Distinguished delegates,
It is a great pleasure
for me to welcome you to Geneva to the
UNECE Workshop on Trade, Business and
Investment in a Wider Europe. This meeting
takes place under the auspices of the
UNECE Committee for Trade, Industry and
Enterprise Development.
This Committee works
towards creating a supportive environment
for trade, industrial and enterprise activities,
and assisting in the integration of all
countries - particularly the emerging
market economies - into the European and
global economy.
The enlargement of the
European Union in 2004 to include 10 new
members will greatly change the framework
for trade, business and investment in
the region. The enlarged Union will have
more than 450 million inhabitants. Its
frontier will shift dramatically to the
south and to the east.
Todays Workshop will
explore the shape and direction of economic
integration in the region in the next
decade. I hope it will provide a valuable
opportunity for Governments, the business
community, civil society and academic
and research institutions to think beyond
the process of EU enlargement and the
WTO trade negotiations.
UNECEs HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTION
TO EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
UNECE has for over 55
years been promoting cooperation in Europe.
It was UNECE that originally drew up the
European Unions Single Administrative
Document, which has become the cornerstone
of international trade in Europe.
The European integrated
railways networks, and the motorway network,
are also brainchildren of UNECE. Both
have greatly eased the movement of goods,
people and ideas throughout Europe.
In trade and transport
facilitation, Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI), UN/EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange
for Administration, Commerce and Transport)
and the TIR Convention, are just a few
examples of UNECE work.
During the period of
the Cold War, UNECE was the only forum
in which the two diametrically opposed
systems could engage in dialogue and discuss
economic cooperation. It was through this
dialogue that UNECE was able to acquire
intrinsic knowledge of the central and
eastern European economies. It has been
able to accumulate long time series of
data and interpretations that provide
a historical dimension indispensable to
understanding the transition process.
The annual studies produced by UNECE are
valuable for decision makers at all levels
of the government administration as well
as for the business community and for
scholars.
UNECE AND EU ENLARGEMENT
Today, we are facing
new challenges and opportunities in the
European region, with the political map
due to be redrawn once again after EU
enlargement. This enlargement will create
particular challenges for the new neighbouring
countries. UNECE wants to help in seeking
solutions and bridging the gaps between
the enlarged EU and the rest of Europe,
especially South-Eastern European countries,
Russia and other CIS countries.
Already the EU is one
of the biggest strategic players in the
UNECE. The enlarged EU will be an even
more important economic pole. UNECE sees
the integration process within the context
of a Wider Europe as a building block
for the future of a stable, prosperous
and secure Europe.
In my view, the EUs
new neighbouring countries should be further
integrated into the enlarged EU and cooperate
more intensively among themselves.
Building a free trade
area in a Wider Europe that could eventually
extend the Single Market would ensure
the prospects of prosperity and security
in Europe.
ENLARGEMENT: CENTRAL AND EASTERN
EUROPE, THE CIS, THE SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN
COUNTRIES AND THE EU
As of 1 May next year,
the EU will consist of 25 countries.
With a population of around 450 million,
it will have a gross domestic product
of almost 10,000 billion; the
equivalent of more than 10 trillion
US dollars. This will change fundamentally
its political, geographic and economic
weight on the European continent.
Promoting regional and
sub-regional cooperation and integration
are preconditions for political stability
and consequently economic development
throughout the non-accession countries.
The EU is actively promoting a wide range
of bilateral and multilateral initiatives
to promote trade and cooperation with
the neighbouring countries.
It is one of our priorities
at UNECE to further increase our already
close cooperation with the EUs new neighbouring
countries. UNECE should reinforce its
efforts to support its relations with
the future EU border countries - Russia,
the western CIS, South East Europe and
countries in the Southern Mediterranean.
Many of the lessons we
have learned in supporting the transition
of Central and Eastern Europe to market
economies are highly relevant to the CIS.
UNECE is happy to offer its assistance
in all fields of its expertise. Today,
we are looking particularly at harmonization
of technical standards and trade-related
norms.
Implications of EU enlargement
for the CIS, particularly the central
Asian countries
Few studies have so far
been undertaken to examine enlargement
effects on other countries of the region,
for instance, on those of Central Asia.
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
and the Republic of Moldova will obviously
be the most affected, due to their more
developed economic and social connections
with both the EU and the acceding countries.
Most discussions on the
implications of EU enlargement for the
CIS focus on the countries sharing a common
border with one or more candidate country.
However, one may assume that to the extent
that Russia is affected, there will be
consequences for Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan,
as most of the countries in the region
are economically interdependent.
Studies of the effects
of EU enlargement on some sectors like
trade, and energy in non-acceding countries
forecast some short-term negative implications
that could be mitigated by increased cooperation
in a Wider Europe. There is some dispute
about the investment effects of EU enlargement
on non-acceding countries. Most of the
regions countries have already attracted
FDI in their natural resources, especially
hydrocarbons. New investment decisions
by foreign and domestic firms, say, in
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in this sector,
will depend on the world oil price fluctuations.
Since there is no obvious evidence that
this will be influenced by EU enlargement,
it is very uncertain that the candidate
countries accession to the EU will influence
investment inflows to countries in Central
Asia, particularly in the energy sector.
FDI in non-acceding countries in non-energy
sectors will depend on further progress
in reforms in the countries and could
be accelerated by prospects for an enlarged
free trade area.
Russia as a major player in the
Central Asian region
Russias transformation
has been one of the most significant features
of the last 10 years. Its future relationship
with the EU is thus an issue of profound
importance for Europe.
Russia plays a leading
role in the Central Asian region, as a
legacy from the Soviet Union and also
because of the scale of the Russian economy.
The so-called successor
States have during the last decade opened
up new channels of cooperation with the
outside world, but they have also renewed
their links with Russia. Most of these
countries depend on Russia for their trade
and for the transport of gas and oil.
For instance, in 1996,
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed a quadripartite
agreement with Russia and Belarus, which
supplemented the existing Customs Union
by providing for the coordination of economic
and social-cultural policies. Kazakhstan
wishes to preserve its close relationship
with the CIS in spite of the fact that
in 1995 it became a member of the Organisation
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the
Islamic Development Bank.
Recently, on 23 February,
2003, President Putin and the Presidents
of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan reached
an agreement on the creation of a provisional
joint economic space including the four
countries mentioned before. The ultimate
goal of this economic alliance will be
the creation of a regional-integration
arrangement with the intention not of
replacing the CIS but of giving priority
to economic links over political relations.
Russia and most of the
CIS have Partnership and Cooperation Agreements
with the EU. Currently, the EU and Russia
are negotiating bilaterally to create
a Common Economic Space, and we will undoubtedly
hear more about this during todays meeting.
Southern Mediterranean
Countries
Regional trade and integration
is one objective of the EUs Mediterranean
policy. The EU has Free Trade Agreements
(FTAs) in place with the countries of
the Southern Mediterranean within what
is known as the Barcelona process. This
process has since 1995 been the framework
for the EU and the Mediterranean partner
countries to recognise that these countries
could benefit from their geographical
proximity to form a closer association
to create a wider area of economic cooperation
and stability.
South East European
Countries
As far as the South East
European countries are concerned, we at
UNECE believe that we must concentrate
our technical assistance on this sub-region,
especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia
and Montenegro, The former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia, and Albania. Following EU
enlargement, these countries will have
an even greater strategic geographical
position.
I endorse and strongly
support the EU approach to these countries
which has already entered the so-called
Stabilisation and Association Process
(SAP), offering a prospect of further
integration into the EU structures to
the South East European countries when
they have made more progress towards peace
and prosperity.
CONCLUSIONS
Regional integration
is a source of innovation and progress
in both institutions and standards. For
economic agents and member States, regional
and sub-regional integration organisations
provide a stepping stone towards the global
economy, and can help less-advantaged
countries to manage the impact of globalisation.
Regional and sub-regional integration
can lead to the adoption of programmes
or action plans to establish a set of
guiding principles and commitments specific
to the region and contribute to the development
of global programmes.
The European market seems
likely to become the world economic leader
in the twenty-first century. To do so,
it will have to meet several requirements,
including closer integration of the economies
of Western Europe, expansion into Central
and Eastern and South-East Europe and
association with the countries of the
CIS.
I believe that the progress
the EU has already made, as a uniquely
successful experiment in regional integration,
in building the EU-15 today and the EU-25
next year, will be a relevant example
to other regions in two aspects: (1) how
to promote reforms in order to make integration
possible as in the case of candidate countries;
(2) how to deal with globalization challenges.
Regional integration
is the efficient avenue through which
to integrate countries into the world
economy. This is an instrument to manage
the complexities of our interdependent,
globalized world.
I see the role of UNECE
becoming even more relevant in the coming
years, especially in relation to the twin
trends of globalisation and regional integration,
offering as it does an open and accessible
platform to all its 55 member States for
economic integration within the framework
of a Wider Europe but at the same
time within the future closer European
and transatlantic cooperation.
Distinguished delegates,
The Workshop on Trade,
Business and Investment in a Wider Europe
is the second workshop in the UNECE s
project on Wider Europe. Earlier, the
Energy Sector Wider Europe Roundtable,
which took place in January this year,
discussed implications of EU enlargement
on the energy sector. The next workshops
on Wider Europe will be focused on environmental
and transport aspects.
Despite the comprehensive
agenda of todays workshop, many trade-related
issues might not be discussed. Therefore,
I would appreciate it if, as a part of
your conclusions, you would propose those
issues which are indispensable, like customs
matters, visas, other legal instruments
for cross-border cooperation, harmonization
and standardization, the TIR convention,
etc., which will need further attention
if the development of trade between the
enlarged EU and non-acceding neighbouring
countries is to be assured.
I wish you successful
deliberations.
Thank you for your attention.
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