-
Prelude
to Doha: An untransparent, manipulative process; a biased and imbalanced
text (Martin Khor)
With the approach of the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference
in Doha, developing countries have been at pains to make it clear
both within the WTO General Council and at international and regional
meetings that they are firmly opposed to the launching of a new round
of WTO trade negotiations involving new issues. Instead, they have
been calling for a review of some of the WTO agreements, a resolution
of their problems in implementing some of these agreements and a reform
of the WTO decision-making process. Despite this, the developed countries,
led by the EU and the US, have been bent on launching a new trade
round by one means or another. A reflection of this determination
was the manipulative process employed by the WTO officials to secure
the transmission of the draft of the Ministerial Declaration which
is to be issued at the Doha meeting and which will, in effect, set
the work and mandate of the world trade body for the next couple of
years.
-
Doha
preparatory process delegitimised by deceit and duplicity (C.Raghavan)
The whole legitimacy of the preparatory process at Geneva for
the Doha Ministerial has been called into question by the manner in
which the draft documents for the Ministerial were settled. Despite
the clear absence of any consensus, the Chairman of the WTO General
Council Stuart Harbinson and WTO Director-General Mike Moore refused
to incorporate in the draft texts, or in separate texts forming part
of the official documents or even in their letters under cover of
which the texts were transmitted to the Doha Ministerial, the dissenting
views of many developing countries on the key issues raised in the
draft documents.
-
Revised
Doha draft texts ignore developing-country concerns (B.L.Das)
As the following analysis by a leading trade expert of the
revised draft Ministerial Declaration and the revised draft ‘Decision
on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns’ - two of the key documents
for the Doha Ministerial - reveal, they fail to take into account
the interests of the developing countries.
-
WTO
proposals fail to redress implementation grievances of developing
countries(C.Raghavan)
Developing countries have severely criticised the package of
proposals put forward by the Chairman of the WTO General Council and
the Director-General of the WTO to resolve the problems faced by developing
countries in implementing some of the existing WTO agreements.
-
Developing
countries say 'no' to negotiations on 'new issues'
The following are extracts from the statements presented at
the WTO by the Ambassadors or senior officials of several developing
countries that expressed opposition to the launching of negotiations
on the ‘new issues’ or ‘Singapore Issues’ (investment, competition,
transparency in government procurement, trade facilitation) and to
the establishment of elements of a new round. The statements were
made during the informal WTO General Council meeting held on 2-3 October
to discuss the 26 September draft Ministerial Declaration.
-
Draft
Doha texts fail to reflect developing-country concerns on TRIPS
(Cecilia Oh)
Developing countries are bitterly disappointed that the concerns
they have voiced on TRIPS during the preparatory process for the Fourth
Ministerial Conference have not been accurately reflected in the draft
WTO texts for the Doha meeting.
-
'Clean
text' for WTO Ministerial, dirty slap in face of Africans (Tetteh
Hormeku)
When the first draft of the Ministerial Declaration for the
WTO Doha meet emerged, it appeared as a ‘clean’ text. But if the text
was uncluttered by brackets suggesting alternative formulations, it
was only so because the Chairman of the WTO General Council who prepared
it had chosen to ignore the strong dissenting views articulated by
developing countries.
-
NGOs
condemn manipulation of draft Doha Declaration
Above is the text of a joint NGO statement condemning the manipulative
process by which the draft Ministerial Declaration was transmitted
by the WTO General Council Chair and the WTO Director-General to the
Fourth WTO Ministerial meeting in Doha. The statement was drafted
by some participants at a regional workshop on trade, WTO and human
development held in Penang, Malaysia on 2-3 November 2001.
-
G77
High-level Advisory Group against new issues on WTO agenda (C.Raghavan)
A High-Level Advisory Group of the developing-country Group
of 77 has recommended against including new issues in the agenda or
work programme of the WTO Ministerial Conference at Doha, and against
further expanding the frontiers of the WTO trade system to new and
uncharted areas.
-
G77
and China seek redressal of 'development deficit' at WTO (C.Raghavan)
In a declaration on the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference at
Doha, the Group of 77 and China have emphasised as a priority before
any negotiations on new issues, the resolution of the ‘implementation’
grievances of the developing countries and the redressal of the ‘development
deficit’ in the WTO.
-
WTO
takes another hit over lack of credibility and transparency (C.Raghavan)
On 13-14 October, some 22 Trade Ministers, apparently chosen
by the WTO Director-General Mike Moore from a select list, gathered
in Singapore for a meeting which, inter alia, discussed a possible
change of venue of the Fourth WTO Ministerial from Doha to Singapore.
(Since then it has been confirmed that the WTO Ministerial will be
held in Doha.) The inability of the Director-General and the General
Council Chair Stuart Harbinson to provide satisfactory answers about
this exclusive meeting, in particular about its status, organisation
and proceedings, has seriously damaged the trade body’s credibility
and exposed once again its lack of transparency.
-
Don't
link opposition to globalization with terrorism (C.Raghavan)
Attempts to implicate critics of globalisation and of the proposal
for a new WTO round in the events of 11 September are contemptible,
says a long-term analyst of the WTO.
-
Lessons
not learnt at the WTO (C.Rammanohar Reddy)
Will the WTO at its Ministerial in Doha come up with a transparent
and inclusive negotiating process? The signs, unfortunately, are that
the WTO has not learnt too many lessons from the Seattle debacle.
