The International Herald Tribune | August 18, 2001 | Martin Khor
GEVEVA - The World Trade Organization's fourth ministerial meeting is due to be held in Doha, Qatar in November. The brief period left before then will be crucial in determining the WTO's future.
The European Union, Japan and the United States are pushing strongly for a new round of negotiations to further liberalize global trade. They want to expand the WTO's mandate by negotiating new treaties or rules to include investors' rights, competition policy, transparency in government procurement, trade facilitation and the environment. The European Union is putting out a media spin that there is almost a consensus among WTO members in favor of such a "broad, comprehensive" round, and that only a couple of hard-line developing countries are opposed. Yet a large number of developing countries do not agree that Doha should launch negotiations on the proposed new issues.
They include Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jamaica and Tanzania, representing the least developed countries, and Zimbabwe, representing the Africa Group.
Such countries point out that problems involved in implementing the existing WTO agreements have not been resolved. Many developing nations have not realized the benefits they expected because rich countries have been slow in applying their commitments to open their markets, especially in textiles and agriculture. Developing countries have also encountered major problems when carrying out their own obligations under existing WTO agreements. Problem areas include intellectual property, subsidies, agriculture, and investment measures.
The truth is that a majority of WTO members are not prepared to agree that the Doha meeting start negotiations on new rules or agreements on new issues. They are against the WTO increasing its mandate.
They also oppose new rules that would encumber them with new burdens and obligations that could well block their development prospects.
The credibility of the WTO is at stake among its developing country members. Between now and November, the organization must put itself back on track as a trade body working for the interests of the majority, not the powerful few.
To do this, rich nations must agree to rectify the inherent imbalances in the WTO system and its rules, and not apply pressure on weaker states to accept new rules and obligations that would make the imbalances much worse.
The writer directs the Third World Network, an international organization based in Penang, Malaysia, involved in development and environment issues in the Third World. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune. [Not to be reproduced without the permission of the author.]
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