International Trade Reporter | Volume 18 Number 35 | September 6, 2001
MEXICO CITY--A two-day conference of trade ministers from 18 World Trade Organization members "edged forward" in ironing out differences over whether to initiate a new round of comprehensive trade talks, WTO Director-General Mike Moore said here Sept. 1, but India continued to insist that implementation issues from the Uruguay Round agreements need to be addressed "up front" before developing nations will agree to a new round of talks.
Both U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said that the Mexico City "mini-ministerial" had given new momentum to efforts to reach a consensus on the agenda for a new comprehensive round of trade talks, expected to be launched at the WTO's fourth ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, to be held Nov. 9-13.
The informal gathering of trade ministers--largely geared to addressing the concerns of developing nations--was held Aug. 31-Sept. 1 in an effort to narrow differences among members over a new round of global trade talks.
Following the talks, Mexican Economy Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said, "The result of the meeting was very positive. It allowed us to get close on ideas that are key--in agriculture, the environment, protection of investments, the rules for carrying out trade, and how to prepare gradually for talking to regional colleagues. And later when the moment arrives for the Qatar meeting so that with everyone there, there is a common phraseology, so that at least there is not a problem with semantics."
Despite claims from Lamy and Zoellick that important progress was made in reaching a consensus on an agenda for the round, some diplomats in Geneva said there appeared to be little concrete evidence that members were closer to reaching an agreement (see related report, this issue).
The main areas under discussion were implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, as well as 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 conference was attended by the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uruguay, and Qatar, as well as Moore.
"We edged forward in this meeting," Moore said, adding that "there are still of course substantial differences." He noted that "ministers are meeting in all sorts of configurations" around the world in September in an effort to reach consensus on a post-Doha agenda.
Fear of Failure
Moore warned that a global economic slowdown could lead to reluctance to increase trade liberalization, and that "we are already seeing glimmers" of increased protectionism. Moore has said that the WTO "faces a long period of irrelevance" if the organization's members cannot agree at Qatar to start a new round of trade talks.
WTO members failed to reach a consensus for starting a new round of trade talks at the WTO's Third ministerial meeting in Seattle in late 1999.
Lamy said that "the fate of the multilateral trading system, which we all know is shaky" is at play in Qatar. "If we fail in Doha, it is a big problem for all of us," he said. "This meeting has proven to be an essential staging point on the road to Qatar."
India Sees 'No Convergence.'
However, India continued to insist that it wants to see implementation issues related to the Uruguay Round addressed "up front." The Indian ambassador to the WTO, S. Narayanan, has said that the WTO cannot fix implementation problems of the previous round of talks through a new round of talks.
Indian Trade Minister Murasoli Maran said following the Mexico City conference that India continues to be concerned with implementation of the Uruguay Round. "India raised its voice" on implementation issues in the meetings, he said.
"There was some kind of opposition to all of our views. ... I don't think there was convergence ... no convergence took place," Maran added.
Maran said that a list of 93 items that India has stressed as being of concern "have been on the table for the last three years," and insisted that developing nations "deserve all help and assistance" in implementing the Uruguay round of talks.
Maran asked rhetorically, "What are the costs and what are the benefits [of increased trade liberalization]?" He highlighted the backloading of the implementation of the WTO's Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, which sets out a 10-year timetable for the eventual elimination of all quantitative restrictions on textile and clothing products, as an example of India's implementation concerns.
Zoellick said that "15 or 20" of the concerns on India's 93-point list have already been addressed. He said that there is a general sense that implementation issues will have to be dealt with "before Doha, at Doha" and after Doha.
Developing countries, led by Egypt, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, have insisted that the difficulties they face in implementing and complying with existing WTO agreements must be addressed before they can agree to new negotiations that go beyond the mandated talks on agriculture and services already under way. As part of the exercise, these countries have called for a review of agreements clinched during the Uruguay Round of negotiations concerning the protection of intellectual property (TRIPs), trade-related investment measures (TRIMs), agriculture, services, textiles/clothing, customs valuation, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, sanitary/phytosanitary measures, and safeguards.
Lamy said, "India has insisted on implementation. There is goodwill on implementation."
Last month, India hosted a meeting of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, where trade ministers resolved that any move to add further issues to the agenda of the talks could risk overloading the agenda and making it unsustainable (see related report, this issue).
Maran said that India would meet with "like-minded" nations in Geneva the week of Sept. 3 to discuss the concerns of developing countries.
A U.S. trade official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity Aug. 30 said that a key objective of the Mexico City meeting was for trade ministers to obtain a better understanding of the political difficulties each country faces in launching a new round, so that they can "go home and reflect" on how to address those concerns before Doha.
"[T]his [meeting in Mexico City] is designed to ensure that ministers are involved in the process directly at an early stage," the U.S. official said. "One of the lessons from Seattle [where trade ministers failed in November-December 1999 to begin new trade talks] was that ministerial involvement was too late and had to deal with too many issues. And the idea is to have this ministerial involvement earlier on and narrow down the issues that ultimately ministers will have to deal with in Doha."
Copyright c 2001 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.International Trade Reporter:
