|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Nov23/03) Geneva, 6 Nov (D. Ravi Kanth) — Efforts are apparently underway to turn the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13), taking place in Abu Dhabi in February next year, into one of “productive interactions” among trade ministers for arriving at decisions under the overall rubric of a “reform ministerial”, said people familiar with the development. Such a process could kick the mandated issues in agriculture and development, as well as the restoration of the WTO’s two-stage dispute settlement system down the road. Attempts could be stepped up to conclude a full fisheries subsidies agreement at MC13, as it is a priority issue for a major industrialized country, said several people, who asked not to be identified. An indication of the process that could be adopted at MC13, which commences in just about three months’ time, came from the chairperson of the WTO’s General Council (GC), Ambassador Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme of Botswana, at a General Council meeting held last week. The chair said that the upcoming MC13 should be structured in a manner that enables trade ministers “to have productive interactions with each other and to take decisions instead of negotiating.” In a restricted document (Job/GC/367) circulated on 2 November, seen by the SUNS, the GC chair said: “suggestions were made on (i) structuring MC13 in a manner that enables Members to have productive interactions with each other, and to take decisions instead of negotiating; (ii) structuring an outcome document reflective of a reforming WTO in both form and substance; and (iii) laying a solid foundation in our work in Geneva that would allow this to happen in Abu Dhabi – including through appointing facilitators, having forward-looking work plans and facilitating Members’ effective participation in the entire process.” She said that the “reform-by-doing work has also continued to advance in WTO bodies.” The chair said that “at the Closing Plenary, Senior Officials were pleased to note that a significant and credible reform-by-doing package was emerging – which should be acknowledged and blessed by Ministers at MC13.” “CONFOUNDING” THE ISSUES Ambassador Molokomme’s statement seemingly confounded the issues and raised fresh doubts, said several people who asked not to be quoted. After she issued her statement, the response from members at the GC meeting was anything but favourable to either the statements issued by the GC chair or the Director-General, who is also the chair of the Doha Trade Negotiations Committee, said people, who preferred not to be quoted. Several members seemed rather piqued over the attempts to reduce the ministerial meeting to one of discussions instead of negotiating the issues, as was the practice with all WTO ministerial meetings since 1995. According to the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995, the three core functions of the 164- member trade body are the negotiating function; the enforcement function, which now remains dysfunctional with the Appellate Body in limbo on account of the United States; and the implementation function. While the ongoing discussions on WTO reforms are centred on both the negotiating function and implementation-related issues, the discussions on reforming the dispute settlement system (DSS) are being hived off to an informal process that is being overseen by a facilitator. The informal process of the ongoing DSS discussions came under scrutiny at the recent informal General Council meeting. Against this backdrop, it is not clear what is the import of the GC chair’s statement in that for the first time, there would be “productive interactions” among trade ministers in order to take decisions instead of negotiating, said people, who asked not to be quoted. Though there were calls to conclude the negotiations in Geneva before MC13, it is highly unlikely that there would be much progress on any of the issues in the coming days before the Christmas break in December, said several trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted. So far, apart from the LDC graduation issue, members seem sharply divided on several issues in agriculture and development, as well as on fisheries subsidies and reform of the dispute settlement system. The GC chair’s call for “structuring an outcome document reflective of a reforming WTO in both form and substance” appears somewhat like “putting the cart before the horse”, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted. According to paragraph three of the MC12 Outcome Document (WT/MIN(22)/24) trade ministers merely acknowledged “the need to take advantage of available opportunities, address the challenges that the WTO is facing, and ensure the WTO’s proper functioning. We commit to work towards necessary reform of the WTO. While reaffirming the foundational principles of the WTO, we envision reforms to improve all its functions. The work shall be Member-driven, open, transparent, inclusive, and must address the interests of all Members, including development issues. The General Council and its subsidiary bodies will conduct the work, review progress, and consider decisions, as appropriate, to be submitted to the next Ministerial Conference.” The footnote attached to paragraph three appears to give room for bringing the non-mandated plurilateral Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) issues into the discussions when it states: “For greater certainty, in this context, this does not prevent groupings of WTO Members from meeting to discuss relevant matters or making submissions for consideration by the General Council or its subsidiary bodies.” Yet, the language in paragraph three apparently does not make or turn MC13 into a “reform ministerial”, as is being constantly exhorted by the GC chair. It is important to recognize this paragraph in the MC12 Outcome Document as one of the other contending goals/ objectives before members, said several people, who asked not to be quoted. It is against this backdrop that the Africa Group, at last week’s informal GC meeting, reminded the GC chair as well as the WTO DG and the members of its proposal on “A Development Perspective on Institutional Reforms”, contained in document WT/GC/W/895. The Africa Group’s proposal among others outlines the core principles that are indispensable for a truly multilateral trading system, such as inclusivity, transparency and development, the preservation of consensus decision-making in line with GATT Article 9, the safeguarding and preservation of special and differential treatment, as well as preservation of the Member-driven character of the WTO. “Under Heading 4 of this African Group submission, we also outlined minimum standards of conduct that must be upheld within WTO bodies, including in the build-up to and during Ministerial Conferences. Although we will not list them all in the interests of time, they do all remain fundamentally important to us,” the Africa Group said. Further, the Africa Group said it expects that “the relevant committees will accelerate work towards delivering a substantively meaningful MC13 centred on development.” More importantly, it emphasized that “as Members and Groups of Members will table various proposals of possible Decisions, Declarations, or even paragraphs for incorporation in the MC13 outcome documents, as the Africa Group intends to do, we trust that inclusivity in practice will be visible in agenda-setting, in negotiating processes, and in the outcomes to be agreed.” +
|
||
