World Markets Analysis | By Andrea Bohnstedt | August 21, 2003
In the wrangle over the agenda for the next WTO round in Cancun, Mexico, 77 nations have formally opposed taking up the disputed so-called 'Singapore issues' at the upcoming head of delegations meeting. The 77 have instead asked that the study process on these issues should continue. This has met with the resistance of the chair of the WTO general council, who argues that ministers, and not heads of delegation, who were to decide on whether negotiations on the Singapore issues, are to be included. The so-called Singapore issues, ie. trade rules on investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation, are mainly pushed by some developed countries. On behalf of Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Mauritius, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Kenya's ambassador, Amina Chawahir Mohammed, placed a draft ministerial text for the Cancun meeting. In this text, the African countries argue that the benefits of a multilateral agreement is not obvious to them. Citing the lack of a common multilateral context, the African countries argued that that it would be premature to include these issues in the next WTO round. Multilateral agreements were bound to have important implications for developing countries that had not been sufficiently investigated. They therefore demanded that the Singapore issues should continue to be studied in the different working groups as foreseen.
The text also asked for more transparent, democratic and equitable processes - both in the preparation of the WTO round and the meeting itself - with any proceedings to fully reflect the issues raised by all member countries and not just by a minority.
Significance:Developing countries were more than disappointed with the outcome and implementation of WTO regulations after the last WTO round, particularly with regard to agricultural subsidies and market access . It is encouraging to see that they are seeking coalitions on these issues for the next WTO round (see South Africa: 20 August 2003: SA Trade Ministry Briefing to Prepare for Cancun WTO Round), although it remains doubtful how much leverage they will actually be able to create over the large industrialised countries.World Markets Analysis:
