Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 42 • 11th December 2003
Singapore Issues: Talks Marked By Confusion, Disagreement On Way Forward
WTO Members have not reached any agreement on how to deal with the controversial Singapore issues — investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation — despite a series of informal consultations last week. The negotiating environment was, according to one trade delegate, "shrouded in confusion and lack of clarity". Two informal consultations on 4-5 December, focusing on trade facilitation and government procurement, were part of a second round of informal talks on the Singapore issues initiated since the breakdown of Doha round negotiations in September (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 December 2003).
Confusion with regard to overall approach to the Singapore issues
While discussions on the Singapore issues were set to focus specifically on trade facilitation and government procurement, overarching questions remain to be resolved with regard to the way forward. A large number of developing countries, including Kenya, have indicated their willingness to consider one issue (trade facilitation) within the Doha round of trade negotiations, with the other issues being dropped from the WTO agenda altogether. Others countries have said they could consider discussing both trade facilitation and government procurement. The EC, Canada, US and Switzerland have voiced their support for a "two plus two" formula proposed by the Chair, which would see negotiations undertaken on trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement, and further clarification on the remaining issues within working groups. Many countries are tying overall progress to movement in other key areas, especially agriculture, though there has been o such movement yet. Some developing countries have also stressed the need for ‘explicit consensus’ on modalities for the Singapore issues before negotiations can proceed, a point that has been put forward strongly by India and Malaysia.
India sees plurilateralism as ’slippery-slope’
During informal talks, most developing countries came out against the idea of negotiating plurilateral agreements on the Singapore issues. At a 4 December meeting of ambassadors, WTO Members were reportedly surprised when the EC indicated that it would like to see all four Singapore issues retained in the WTO, if necessary through plurilateral negotiations. This, for many Members, represented a shift from the EC’s offer towards the end of the Cancun ministerial conference to drop three out of four issues entirely from the WTO agenda. A number of developing countries said the WTO was a forum only for multilateral trade negotiations.
According to trade sources, some Members — including India — felt that if the plurilateral approach was accepted for the Singapore issues, it would set a dangerous precedent for other issues such as environment, labour and geographical indications. One trade diplomat remarked that even many developed countries, apart from the EC, were not comfortable with the idea of plurilateral agreements, although they had not said so openly. Australia had remarked earlier that if a plurilateral approach had to be taken, it could be taken outside the WTO, citing the exmaple of steel, for which a plurilateral agreement is being negotiated within the OECD.
One trade diplomat said that, "dropping issues from the single undertaking or from the Doha agenda is not the same as dropping them from the WTO agenda, which is what the EC had offered in Cancun".
Derbez text and others considered in trade facilitation talks
WTO Deputy Director-General Rufus Yerxa, on behalf of General Council (GC) Chair Perez del Castillo, conducted informal talks on trade facilitation among 30 delegations on 4 December. Most developing countries, including Malaysia, Egypt, the Philippines, China, Indonesia and India, were unwilling to engage in technical aspects of the discussion fearing it would pre-empt the status and position of the Singapore issues within the current trade round as a whole. These countries wanted the overall status of the Singapore issues to be clarified before discussing technical aspects. Kenya pointed to national and regional efforts in developing countries to address trade facilitation, and cautioned that multilateral rules could undermine these efforts.
Members also raised questions as to what draft text should serve as the basis for talks. A number of developing countries wanted their submission of 4 September (WT/MIN (03)/W/4, available at http://docsonline.wto.org) to serve as a basis, in addition to the 13 September "Derbez text" that came out of Cancun.
Why binding rules on government procurement?
At a 5 December informal consultation on transparency in government procurement, some Members expressed concerns similar to those raised a day earlier related to the overall process. While the meeting was meant to focus on technical aspects of government procurement, a number of Members objected to the Chair using Annex D of the "Derbez text" as the basis for discussions. They said that modalities should not be ‘pre- negotiated’ so long as many other key issues had not been clarified. Some countries questioned the need for the dispute settlement understanding to apply to a possible agreement on transparency in government procurement, especially if the agreement was to cover only transparency and not market access.
HODs meeting discusses overall process
At an open-ended heads of delegation (HODs) meeting on 9 December, Chair Perez del Castillo said that the process of consultations on the Singapore issues would continue in 2004. Stressing the need to build on work done since Cancun, he said he intended to present a detailed report on the outcome of consultations on the Singapore issues at the 15 December GC meeting. He added that all delegations would be presented with an opportunity to state their positions on the Singapore issues for the record at this meeting. According to one developing country delegate, the Chair in his report would likely indicate that the ‘possibility’ of starting work on modalities for trade facilitation and government procurement existed, and would suggest that Members reflect and decide at the level of the GC on how to proceed on investment and competition policy. This, according to the delegate, was to ensure ’strategic space for manoeuvre’ both for the Chair and delegations.
ICTSD reporting; "EC’s Shift On Singapore Issues Sours WTO Green Room Meeting On Trade Facilitation," TWN INFO SERVICE ON WTO ISSUES, 3 December 2003; "Wrangle Over Singapore Issues," THE STAR, 8 December 2003; "Drop 3 Or At Least 2 Singapore Issues Altogether From The WTO, Say Developing Countries At WTO Meeting," TWN INFO SERVICE ON WTO ISSUES, 4 December 2003.