< http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/ignored.htm > Third World views ignored, new text for new round with new issues by Chakravarthi Raghavan
Doha, 13 Nov 2001 - After going through what now clearly is seen as mere motions, verging on the fraudulent, of a process for taking note of concerns of the majority of the membership who are opposed to new issues, without any intention of seeking a genuine consensus, a new draft text for a ministerial declaration - Job(01)/140/Rev.2 - was put forward here, this time from the Chair of the Ministerial Conference, and one which is worse from every point of view of developing countries.
The texts were presented at a noon meeting of the Committee of the Whole, who have been reassembled two hours later to react, and discuss and negotiate.
There is no agreement on any of the issues, and the texts, in almost every part, is in effect square bracketed. But unlike even the Harbinson-Moore texts brought to Doha on their own claims of authority, this one by Sheikh Yusuf Hussain Kamal, does not even say on the face of it that this is not an agreed text.
African and Asian delegations were extremely angry on first glancing through the texts, but as they went into the meeting, the outcome was not at all clear.
And at a second meeting today of the Committee of the Whole (that began at 1400 hrs local time), a number of delegations objected strongly to the texts on the new issues, on the environment paras and negotiations. These included India, the ACP group, the African group, and the LDCs. Though none of them formally declared they will withhold consensus, it seemed clear to many in the meeting that this could be the case.
It was not clear how this is going to be handled between now and midnight (the time announced and set for the closure).
In a late development, India, the LDCs, the ACP countries and the African group have rejected the Singapore issues in the new draft. The Conference is recessed till 11.00pm (local time) to find a way out.
Unless the objections of India, the African group and others on the new issues are met, the Conference faces virtual failure.
The four new 'Singapore issues' have been brought on board - with negotiations to be launched on government procurement and trade facilitation, and a process for developing what amounts to a framework for trade and investment, and trade and competition, that theoretically will be subject to a decision to be taken at the 5th ministerial conference.
But given the experience of the WTO processes witnessed so far, there should be no doubt left in anyone's mind in any developing country, that if the present text (which again is full of suggestio falsi and suppressio veris, that characterised the Harbinson-Moore texts, and its process and claims of transparency and hence legitimacy - words of Moore at the Doha opening), or its substance, remains as part of a new round of trade negotiations, and governments acquiesce in it, the developing world has been taken one step further on a path towards losing its political independence.
Semantically, whether to negotiate or not is a matter to be decided by Ministers at the 5th ministerial, but given the way the Geneva and Doha processes have been run, and things decided, there should be little doubt at least among the peoples, parliaments, domestic businesses and others, that full fledged negotiations are in fact sought to be put under way.
The paragraphs on the mandate on investment and competition provides that Ministers agree that at the 5th session a decision will be taken on whether to launch negotiations in these two areas.
Nevertheless, the paras of the draft on investment (paras 20-22) is clearly based on the assumption that there will be future recognition. Though it is placed within square brackets (meaning not agreed), the text assumes the need for a multilateral framework, and the mandate for further work or study is all focussed on the various points that a framework generally contains.
Like the old GATT, where a framework was developed side by side with the preparations for Havana, and tariff concessions were negotiated and exchanged initially to bring it into being, or like the GATS where as part of the Uruguay Round a framework was developed, and commitments sought on a request/offer basis, but a minimum applicable to everyone, a framework on General Agreement on Trade and Investment is to be worked out over the next two years, and on the GATS approach, and then a decision taken on whether to negotiate or not.
The approach on Trade and Competition (paras 23 to 25) is no different.
As for government procurement and trade facilitation, the text calls for the launch of negotiations.
And given the way, the Harbinson-Moore proposals for the organization of the work programme and negotiations are set up, with ability to add, improve and change along the way, this text is nothing but an open-ended invitation for open-ended negotiations for global government (on behalf of foreign corporations).
Objections too have been brushed aside to launch full-fledged negotiations aiming at tariff peaks and tariff escalations, as also the high tariffs (in developing countries).
The high agricultural tariffs are not mentioned in the agriculture text.
In the rules area, while anti-dumping rules are to be examined and negotiated as in the Harbinson-Moore text, the scope is sought to be limited a little bit (from the US perspective), with a formulation suggesting that not only the basic concepts, principles and effectiveness of these agreements and their objectives are to be preserved, but also the 'instruments' (square bracketed to suggest there is no agreement yet), of the anti-dumping rules.
The paras on trade and environment (though square bracketed) calls for negotiations on reduction or elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to 'environmental goods and services' - which seems a way of bringing in a 'cluster' approach to services negotiations that was rejected in agreeing on modalities. Also, to be negotiated are procedures for regular information exchange between multilateral environmental agreements secretariats and the relevant WTO committees and the criteria for granting observer status.
On labour standards, the formulation now removes the wording that the ILO is the appropriate forum for a substantive dialogue on labour rights. This implies that the WTO could be used to bring up the issue. - SUNS5009
The above article first appeared in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) of which Chakravarthi Raghavan is the Chief Editor.
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November 14, 2001 W.T.O. Nations Agree to New Round of Trade Talks By REUTERS Filed at 12:00 p.m. ET
DOHA (Reuters) - Trade ministers from more than 140 countries sealed agreement on Wednesday to launch a new series of talks to liberalize global commerce, aiming to lift millions from poverty and boost the world's tottering economy.
After six days of haggling at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in the Gulf state of Qatar, ministers agreed to begin ``broad and balanced'' negotiations next year on cutting farm subsidies and industrial tariffs and tackling a host of other barriers to trade.
The hard-fought success will breathe new life into the WTO, battered by a disastrous failure to reach a similar agreement in Seattle two years ago.
It will also provide a psychological boost to the global economy at a time when many countries are teetering on the brink of recession in the aftermath of the attacks on the United States on September 11.
``Today the members of the World Trade Organization have sent a powerful signal to the world. We have removed the stain of Seattle,'' U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said.
``By agreeing to launch new global trade negotiations, we are helping to deliver growth, development and prosperity throughout the world. We are also providing a sign of hope -- the hope of economic opportunity and the hope of political purpose by almost 150 nations,'' Zoellick, who led the U.S. delegation, said.
Previous trade rounds, with broad agendas aimed at distributing the benefits of liberalization fairly between members, have been credited with driving the world's economic motor for nearly half a century.
The World Bank has calculated that launching a new cycle of market-opening talks, coupled with related reforms, could add a whopping $2.8 trillion to global income by 2015, a decade after the round is expected to end.
AN EXCERCISE IN COMPROMISE
Agreement eluded the ministers right up to the last moment when India, a vocal defender of its national interest, settled for a statement explicitly acknowledging its reservations about opening talks on competition codes, investment rules and other areas it fears would put poor countries at a disadvantage.
``With this clarification, I am pleased to state that India has joined the consensus on the adoption of the texts before us,'' India's Murasoli Maran told fellow ministers to warm applause.
Maran's refusal to budge for more than 18 hours beyond the WTO's self-imposed midnight deadline sent officials scrambling to draft amendments to a carefully constructed text put together over the six days and two all-night bargaining sessions.
The WTO, which also welcomed China and Taiwan into its midst during the six days, agreed to embark in January on a ''round'' of talks to last no longer than January 2005 to boost trade flows and ensure all countries trade on a level playing field.
To get an agreement, nations had to swallow politically painful compromises -- none more so than France, which eventually dropped its fierce opposition to language pointing to the eventual abolition of agricultural export subsidies dear to Europe's politically potent farmers.
France settled for the addition of a deftly drafted caveat that the outcome of the talks would not be pre-judged.
``It has been difficult because we have been dealing with some of the most sensitive issues,'' said relieved WTO Director-General Mike Moore, who took the helm of the trade watchdog weeks before the fiasco of Seattle.
In the end, a second failure was unthinkable for ministers, who feared it would have hobbled trade growth by spawning bilateral trade deals and mutually hostile regional blocs -- the very thing the WTO was created to avoid.
The questions with which ministers grappled were often arcane but the outcome of a new trade round will affect the price and availability of goods in shops around the world.
Millions of workers could lose their jobs, and millions of others find work, as industries rise and fall because of market-opening moves set in train in Doha.