SUNS #5089 Thursday 28 March 2002
south-north development monitor SUNS [Email Edition]
twentysecond year 5089 thursday 28 march 2002
publisher: third world network, 228 macalister road, 10400 penang, malaysia
chief editor: chakravarthi raghavan, rm c504, 8-14 av. de la paix, ch-1211 geneva 10, switzerland; tel (4122) 7344274; fax 7401672; email: suns@igc.org, internet http://www.sunsonline.org
advisory board: fayza aboulnaga, savitri kunadi, ali mchumo, rajmah hussain, luiz felipe de seixas correa, ransford smith
As a non-profit service, subscriptions are intended to cover or contribute to costs of operations. terms and special conditions: information available from publisher.
[c] 2002, SUNS - All rights reserved. May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or service without specific permission from SUNS. This limitation includes incorporation into a database, distribution via Usenet News, bulletin board systems, mailing lists, print media or broadcast. For information about reproduction or multi-user subscriptions please contact suns@igc.org
Geneva, 27 March (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- Agricultural trade negotiators have agreed on a work programme of meetings and schedules to set out by 31 March 2003, the negotiating proposals for a comprehensive agreement in agriculture.
The schedules and work programme for developing modalities of the negotiations were set this week at the Special Session on Agriculture, after some tough negotiations.
The negotiations are to be chaired by Mr. Stuart Harbinson of Hong Kong China.
The bargaining, that one stage threatened to become a deadlock, was over the effort of the EC to put off any discussions of export and domestic subsidies until September - by then the French elections would be over, and the EU hopes to complete the review and reform of its own Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The US and the Cairns Group wished to address the export subsidies issue, and the modalities for reductions with a view to phasing out of export subsidies.
A number of developing countries, and particularly the 'friends of the development box' resisted efforts to get discussions first on modalities of market access, insisting that until the question of modalities on export subsidies and domestic support were dealt with, the market access could not be discussed.
Ultimately, a compromise work programme was agreed, with meetings set for June (export subsidies), early September (market access), late September (domestic support), and a further meeting in November.
By mid-December, the Chairman hopes to circulate a overview paper, which is to be discussed in January, and thereafter taking up of the drafting of modalities.
Trade diplomats said that they expect the initial next three meetings will deal with technical issues of modalities, while cross-sectoral issues, including what will be cross-linkages for several negotiators. For example several developing countries have made clear that their own positions on market access would be linked to the extent of reductions in export subsidies and domestic support in the developed countries.
The 4th Ministerial meeting at Doha has set a 31 March 2003 deadline for agreeing on modalities for further commitments, including the question of Special and Differential Treatment. The Doha declaration envisages a January 2005 deadline for a final agreement on agriculture and other subjects that are part of the single undertaking.
The modalities stage of the negotiations has to agree on targets, including numerical targets for achieving the objectives of the negotiations.
The Doha meeting has agreed on comprehensive negotiations without prejudging the outcome, and has set as objective of the negotiations: "substantial improvements in market access; reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support".
All this will or may involve some rule-making.
After the "modalities" have been agreed, they will be used for members to produce their first offers or "comprehensive draft commitments".
The deadline for this has been set as the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Mexico, a few months after 31 March 2003.
The negotiations for modalities will begin with technical work on detailed possibilities for each of the three "pillars" of the agriculture agreement: export subsidies and competition; market access; and domestic support. Issues such as special and differential treatment for developing countries and non-trade concerns will be an integral part of all of these.
The chairman of the special sessions named to lead the delegations, Mr. Harbinson indicated Monday that he will bring these together in an overview document by the end of 2002, and based on this there would be intensified negotiations in the early months of 2003 to draft a "modalities" documents, which has to be agreed by 31 March 2003.
The schedule of meetings set, according to the programme on "modalities" provides for:
* June meeting on export subsidies, competition and restrictions, with informal sessions on 17-19 June, and a formal one on 20 June.
* early September meeting on market access - informal 2-3 September, and formal on 4 September.
* late September meeting on domestic support - informal 23-25 September, formal 27 September.
* a November meeting for follow-up - informal 18-20 November, formal 22 November.
Harbinson hopes to circulate by 18 December an overview paper, though some trade diplomats said this could spill over to early January 2003.
A January 2003 meeting is set for comprehensive review based on the overview paper - informal/formal 22-24 January. Thereafter there will be a drafting exercise to produce the first draft of a modalities document.
A February meeting is set for comments on the first draft of modalities document - informal/formal meetings on 24-28 February, when a second draft will be prepared.
A March meeting - informal/formal 25-31 March - is set for consideration of the final text.
Trade diplomats said that very difficult questions would need to be addressed, first at the technical level, and then in terms of figures and dates for each of the modalities.
The discussions on export subsidies would need to cover various issues under this, as also the questions about export credits - all of them or only identifiable portions that provide export subsidy.
Similarly, under market access - issues of tariff quotas and the transparency of administration, whether tariffs should be cut by a formula approach, and which formula or something else.
Also under this would need to be addressed issues of safeguards or special safeguards (which currently are a privilege available only to the developed countries).
The various complaints and loopholes that have emerged, and used by the industrial countries, that enable them to shift their support, whether on exports or domestic support, across products (depending on the world market prices) and how to discipline them would also need to be looked at both at technical and other levels.:
