Developing countries dispute draft agenda
Charlotte Denny Thursday November 1, 2001 The Guardian
Hopes of a successful launch to a new round of global trade negotiations received a severe setback yesterday when a key meeting of World Trade Organisation delegates failed to agree a draft agenda for the talks.
WTO members meeting in Geneva had planned to approve the agenda before a key summit of trade ministers next week in Doha, Qatar, but developing countries dug their heels in, angered that the draft failed to reflect their concerns.
A statement from Nigeria said the draft, which sets out a "work programme" for the coming years and is to be presented to the ministers, was "empty of content on the issues of interest to developing countries."
Several delegations warned that the WTO is poised for a repeat of its disastrous Seattle conference two years ago, where it failed in its last attempt to launch a round. "The climate is not really that much different from the climate before Seattle," said Federico Cuello Camilo, ambassador of the Dominican Republic.
At the Seattle meeting, trade ministers began discussion with key areas of the agenda still undecided and a 30 page long draft declaration which contained several versions of the most contentious issues.
Ministers found it impossible to settle entrenched differences in the space of four days, and the meeting finally collapsed after developing countries walked out in protest over the negotiating tactics of the big trading powers and US threats to impose trade sanctions on countries with low labour standards.
The developing world is emerging as the pivotal group ahead of Doha. Despite European Union and US protestations that the new round will be in the interest of poor countries, many say they see little advantages in a wide-ranging round of talks, and plenty of disadvantages.
Developing countries are also angered that the US has refused to back a formal statement that WTO rules protecting patents can be overridden where a country faces a national health emergency.
They accuse Washington of double standards, after the US threatened to break the patent of the company producing the main anti-anthrax drug, in order to force it to reduce the price.