Letter to the Editor - Celebrating Seychelles’ accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) |02 May 2015

On Tuesday April 28, 2015, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) organised a number of events to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Marrakesh Agreements establishing the WTO in 1995. At the high level event organised on this occasion, I was honoured as the executive secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and a Seychellois to be invited by the director general of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, to speak on the global environment and trade.

In my opening remarks, I said I was proud to be a Seychellois and proud that my country is now joining the WTO as its 161st member. I took the opportunity to speak about the strong political commitment Seychelles also pledges to the environment and that the main assets the Seychelles brings to trade are actually unique to Seychelles, being affected by globalisation-related phenomena such as climate change and invasive species. I further explained how important it is for Seychelles to be part of the WTO and to deliver the message that we need to place sustainable development at the forefront on any discussions on trade.

We need to celebrate this accession to the WTO, as it is a significant achievement for the government and people of Seychelles. Mostly, it gives Seychelles the right to the most-favoured-nation treatment: In simple terms, this means treating other people equally, i.e. under the WTO agreements, countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners so, If one grants another a special favour, for example a lower customs duty rate for one of their products, it has to do the same for all other WTO members. Thus, smaller countries would then equally benefit from advantages that larger countries grant to each other, leading to a better bargaining power for Seychelles when negotiating for example, food supplies and infrastructure loans. It also provides Seychelles with access to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and enhances the credibility of internal domestic policy and legal reforms. With better access to foreign markets, Seychelles could negotiate cheaper and better prices for local products as well.

Despite the many challenges and vulnerability faced by small island states, being part of this important global trade process is based upon a long-term vision, which will further strengthen Seychelles’ economic development and trade relations especially with regard to tourism, fisheries and the financial markets – its main pillars. To maximise its participation and benefits from the WTO membership Seychelles will need to strengthen its institutional capacity as well as continue to pursue the reforms it has embarked on since 2008. Seychelles needs sustained economic growth and stability to enjoy the fruits of WTO membership.

In my intervention at the High Level Panel as the executive secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, I explained that trade and environment are twins whose goals have intertwined but also in need of a common  focus i.e. sustainability. There is an urgent need to ensure that our planet is not engulfed by purely economic gains and to that end, it is important to reach consensus among nations on appropriate mechanisms that preserve and restore the balance of nature, while ensuring fair and equitable access to resources and addressing poverty. On the issue of chemicals, we need to change the perception that all chemicals are the privy of laboratories, as many chemicals underpin development and livelihood whether in agriculture, food production, medicine, our homes and other areas. I warned that the continued use of hazardous chemicals and wastes poses long-term and serious threats to human health and the planet as a whole.

We need to agree on those chemicals and wastes that are so dangerous that they need to be regulated, so that they may be either eliminated, restricted or phased-out and not moved across borders, especially towards most vulnerable countries, without proper information or without being properly handled. The challenge of waste management often goes unnoticed, although careful consideration of wastes should form entirely part of the trade discussions, as these may slowly or drastically contaminate our water and soils, our oceans and eventually our food. Accumulation of hazardous chemicals in mothers’ milk and in our bodies are an eminent danger and we should all be concerned about its potential long-term effects on our communities and populations, whether in urban or isolated parts of the planet.

Rolph Payet
Executive secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions