International Trade Daily | August 31, 2001
MEXICO CITY--A conference of World Trade Organization ministers taking place here Aug. 31-Sept. 1 seeks consensus among developed and developing nations on a new comprehensive round of trade-liberalizing talks at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, senior Mexican trade officials said Aug. 30. The meeting will focus on topics such as the implementation of the Uruguay Round of talks, as well as themes "that worry developing nations," including trade-related investment measures, information on special treatment for developing nations, market access for textiles, and technical support for developing nations in implementing WTO accords, the officials said in a "seminar" on the WTO talks.
Agriculture, the environment, competition and investment, and antidumping rules and subsidies are also on the agenda, the officials said. Important divisions exist between WTO member nations on all of those topics, they said, and must be smoothed at the Mexico meeting and a series of other ministerial meetings to be held between now and Qatar, they said. The Qatar meeting, to be held Nov. 9-13, will determine if there is a new comprehensive round of WTO trade negotiations.
The Mexico conference--alluded to as a "mini ministerial"--will be attended by top trade officials from the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, and Uruguay, and Qatar, as well as WTO Secretary General Michael Moore.
Conference Not a Substitute for Geneva
Gerardo Traslosheros, the director general for multinational commercial affairs with Mexico's Economy Ministry, said that "the purpose of the meeting is not to substitute the process in Geneva" ... and that ministers are "simply trying to meet and decrease the differences that still persist." He said that the "flexibilization of parties stances is being sought" in order to "get to Qatar without a repeat of Seattle."
The WTO's Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 1999 was marred by violent protests and no accord for holding a new round of trade liberalizing talks was reached. Traslosheros said that the aim is to arrive at Qatar with a consensus on a new round of trade talks already in hand.
Eduardo Perez Mota, Mexico's ambassador before the WTO, said that the Mexico conference will not produce a declaration by ministers in attendance, but that there will be final statement by Mexican Economy Minister Ernesto Derbez.
Both Translosheros and Perez Mota said that Mexico, as the world's seventh largest trading nation, supports a new round of trade talks at Doha.
However, Mexico wants to see advances on themes such as the elimination of subsidies for agricultural exports. "It should not be the countries with the strongest treasuries" that are able to compete successfully in agriculture trade, Traslosheros said. "Mexico wants to see the elimination" of export subsidies for agriculture products, he added.
Traslosheros also said that Mexico wants to see new rules that ensure that environmental limits on trade are based on scientific fact. He gave as an example the controversy over access of Mexican tuna exports to the United States, which Mexico says has been limited despite measures taken to ensure statistically negligible dolphin deaths in tuna catches. Mexico will hold consultations with Washington on the tuna issue in September.
Perez Mota said that economic development would be a key issue at the conference, and that a new round of WTO talks would help poor nations and their citizens. "It is logical and obvious that clear rules which are respected by everyone helps the poorest," Perez Mota said.
He said that the WTO would be a viable organization with dispute resolution and other responsibilities even in event that a new round of talks is not agreed to at Doha. Moore has said that the WTO would be "condemned to a long period of irrelevance" if members cannot agree on a post-Doha agenda.
Zoellick to Attend
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will participate in the conference, USTR said in a news statement. Following the Mexico City conference, Zoellick will accompany U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to a gathering of the Cairns Group of agriculture exporting countries in Uruguay, also in preparation for Doha. "I look forward to a high level exchange at both these meetings to better understand the interests of these key countries as we look forward to Doha," said Zoellick. "We will also be presenting our perspective on the importance of opening markets for the United States and the global economy."
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