Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 30 • 4th September 2003
GC CHAIR ISSUES NOTE TO ACCOMPANY DRAFT MINISTERIAL TEXT AS MEMBERS PREPARE FOR CANCUN MEETING
With only few days to go before ministers meet for the fifth WTO Ministerial from 10-14 September, participants and civil society organisations are already convening in Cancun, Mexico, for a number of workshops, teach-ins, meetings and informal talks between Members. Meanwhile, WTO General Council Chair Carlos Perez del Castillo, with Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, issued a cover note to accompany the draft ministerial text at Cancun, highlighting areas where major divides persist between Members. While the process generally has moved from Geneva to Cancun, Members managed to agree on a pre-Cancun solution to poor countries’ access to essential medicines in Geneva over the weekend (see related story, this issue).
Cover letter
Following the final meeting of the General Council on 27 August, Chair Perez del Castillo forwarded — on his own responsibility — a draft ministerial text outlining decisions for ministers at Cancun (see BRIDGES Weekly, 28 August 2003). This text was not agreed by Members, and did not reflect all positions (http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/cancun/docs/Job.03.150.Rev.1.pdf). To accompany the text, Chair Perez del Castillo wrote a cover letter, dated 31 August, highlighting specific areas of contention (http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/cancun/docs/coverletter.pdf). The cover letter stresses agriculture as the most sensitive area of negotiations, and notes that while a number of Members consider the current agriculture annex of the draft ministerial text as an appropriate starting point for negotiations, others do not, and maintain that their own inputs remain on the table for deliberation.
The cover letter further highlights the draft framework for modalities for negotiations on non-agricultural market access, and two paragraphs in particular, as being the object of contention. These two paragraphs deal with the type of formula to be used for tariff reductions, and a sectoral tariff component. There are Members looking for a more ambitious formula, and other looking for a less ambitious formula and a voluntary sectoral component. The fours so called Singapore issues of investment, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation also stand out as issues where Members are far from reaching agreement. The cover letter notes that while the draft ministerial text lays out the options of either launching negotiations or continuing the clarification process, Members may also consider possible intermediate approaches not reflected in the current draft. The annexed draft modalities of the draft text represent only one possible option for modalities, which has not been agreed and is not the outcome of negotiations.
The cover letter further notes that the paragraphs on special and differential treatment for developing countries, and on implementation issues, might not fully satisfy all Members. The note highlights three new paragraphs, included in the draft text after requests at a late stage in the Geneva-process: on a sectoral initiative on cotton, on commodity issues and on coherence.
On timing and deadlines, the note concludes that Members have suggested that they be coordinated across issues.
Agenda for Cancun
The provisional agenda and proposed order of business for Cancun were set in late August (http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/cancun/docs/Cancun_MC_proposed_agenda.pdf and http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/cancun/docs/Cancun_MC_proposed_order_of _business.pdf). The agenda comprises an item on the overview of WTO activities, where ministers will base their work on the draft ministerial text covering all relevant items. The brief agenda also proposes the election of officers and discussion of the dates and venue for the next ministerial. In addition, the proposal by four West African cotton producing countries to address problems related to cotton subsidies is listed as a separate item.
The meeting will be chaired by Mexican trade minister Luis Ernesto Derbez. He will appoint facilitators to assist him: senior ministers that will carry out general functions, as well as issue- specific "friends of the chair". The Chair will announce these facilitators only as the meeting begins.
ICTSD reporting.